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"You can't be serious with this one?" Piper asks, pointing to the paper in front of her while looking back at the sole surviving vault dweller.
Her eyes are wide and a disbelieving smile is spread across her lips, patience decreasing with her lover while Blue's list of how to survive in the Commonwealth grows. It is one thing to try and give people advice with regards to survival, but this is ridiculous.
"Well, why not? This is important too!" Nora's own annoyance is shining through at her girlfriend's lack of understanding.
"Believe it or not Blue, most people have been doing this their own way long before you thawed out."
"Piper!" Nat yells at her not-to-bright sister in aid of their permanent guest. She likes "Blue" since the woman was always bringing her gifts and fixing things, even though she takes up a lot of her sisters time, but she's nice. The younger Wright sister normally stays out of the 'Adult' conversations and has no idea what they are talking about now, but that last comment was rude.
"No... that's not what...I didn't mean it..." Piper sighs covers her face with her hands and tries to backtrack after she sees Blue's hurt reaction, and hears her sister yell.
"God, nothing I say comes out right," Piper says aloud, dropping her hands to her side and her head down in defeat. Even though she writes for a living, Piper has always had a difficult time when it comes to saying the right thing.
"I didn't mean it like that. I only meant that people have been doing that..." She says pointing to the first rule with a smile. "To include you, for a long time, and I truly doubt they need your advice in that area."
"Yeah, but how many people are getting hurt or worse because they aren't thinking about the dangers that are out there when they are doing that." Blue points to the same rule then looks back at Piper with a serious expression.
"A death claw isn't going to wait till you're done..." Blue tries to inform Piper like its the most obvious thing in the world but gets interrupted.
"I know..." Piper holds up her hand so Blue doesn't finish her thought. "And I think it's incredibly adorable that you're thinking of the well-being of others all the time, but I think this one should be left alone."
"Fine." She says in defeat. "I'll leave this one out."
"There's an entire list of things that the people of the Commonwealth may need advice on and this..." Piper begins while massaging Blue's shoulders, but pauses.
Nora looks up at the reporter to see why she is silent; it's normally not a good sign when Piper is silent.
"Wait, do you think about this when we are?..."
"No!!!" Nora's answers quickly in a defensive tone. "No..." She repeats with a little less conviction, and turns her attention back to the paper in front of her, feeling the reporter's eyes boring a hole in the back of her head.
"Not really. Well, at least not here at home...No ...But, I mean, out there is dangerous..." Blue points while trying to get out of the impending argument; failing miserably.
"Oh my god! You seriously think of that while we..!"
"What are two talking about?" Nat asks the 'Adults' about their odd conversation.
"Nothing!" They both answer in unison, eyes wide, forgetting all about the twelve-year-old in the room, and sighing in relief when she doesn't push further.
"Can we just forget the last part of the conversation ever took place?" Piper whispers to her soon to be dead lover while feigning a smile at her sister. A thought runs through her mind of how easy it would be to end all of this by just moving her hands a little higher from her shoulders and squeezing.
"Well, you brought it up." Nora gets her attention away from the murderous thoughts.
"Only because you said you think about things like this," Piper says a little louder but through gritted teeth, fingers digging into flesh.
"Not like you don't."
There is a pause and some sort of growling noise coming from the woman she loves while Nora keeps her attention on the paper in front of her, and the pain in her shoulders that is growing by the second. She is trying to anticipate the smack to the back of the head with something heavy, but strangulation will work just as well.
But something worse happens instead.
"I'm so going to regret this..." Piper says after some, not to calming breaths. "but what are you talking about?"
"You give me advice, and tell me what to do." Blue sputters through her answer all while praying she can rewind time.
"Oh, god!" Piper, she says in a high pitched tone, throwing her hands up in the air and looks to the sky above.
"There is not enough Jet in the world to deal with you sometimes, do you know that?" Piper looks at the woman who is now staring back at her and wonders how she got this lucky.
"Are you serious? Do I really have to spell it out right now why I do that you ass?" Piper is now seething and Nora wants to go find a death claw nest to hide in.
"No," Blue says after a moment, sounding like a child when she realizes how much of an ass she truly is.
"So can we please get through this?" Piper nearly begs while looking for a cigarette.
"Okay," Nora says in relief since Piper seems to be calming down even if she is having a conversation with herself now about how to make a body disappear.
"Now, they're not necessarily in order, but I can fix that..."
"Later!" Piper says a little harsher than she intended, and it looks like she has developed a new twitch.
"Just, read them." She says a little calmer while inhaling the freshly lit cigarette.
''Number one; Never travel alone.'' Nora reads each one off and then looks for Piper's reaction since it technically is her paper it'll be printed in. When she receives a nod she continues.
"Two; Just because an area has been reported as being clear, doesn't mean it will be the next time you're there.''
"Now those two I think we all can agree on," Piper says after taking a seat on the couch and immediately feels relief in her feet after another long day of walking.
These rules may not be necessary, especially the original one Nora tried to add, but Blue has made a name for herself, so when she meets someone for the first time they tend to listen to what she has to say, even her rules. Blue couldn't think of a better way to get her rules on survival out to everyone than putting it in the Commonwealths only paper, but she may not make it to the end of the list with how things are going.
'Always carry a backup weapon.' Blue begins to read them off faster, mainly so she doesn't get yelled at again, or give Piper ideas.
'Always make sure you can pack up camp in under fifteen seconds in case of an attack, no matter the time of day.'
'Never sneak up on anyone, unless you plan on attacking them.' Nora continues to read them off one by one.
'Never let your guard down, no matter where you're at.'
'Remember that everything is trying to kill you.'
'Adhesive is your friend.' That earns a slight chuckle.
Nora continues to read through her list of rules to follow. Most, if not all of them are apart of her daily living routines due to having experienced them once or twice. It isn't much fun having to go through all of this at a constant, but it gives her the knowledge she needs to survive and continue to help people.
'Always travel light.'
'And last but not least; You always, always always, take your weapon with you when you use the bathroom. And for God sakes check the area before you go.'
"What's that supposed to mean?" Piper had been partially listening while trying to relax but this last rule hits close to home.
"Nothing, I just wanted..." Nora turns to face Piper and sees how mad she is getting, again.
"To tell people how to go to the bathroom now, or how I should? Besides I thought we were going to keep that incident between us?"
"We are but..."
"But you want me to print it is that it? How Piper Wright got caught with her pants down and no way of defending herself against a death claw...oh har har har you're a riot!" Pipers voice grows with each word spoken and it is made worse with how small the room is, and how close she is to Blue. Being nose to nose tends to increase the volume when someone is yelling.
It is at this point where Nat decides to leave her home since the 'grownups' are having a tiff, and go get some food considering that no one in her home will be cooking anytime soon.
"I'm not saying that you should put in the paper that you're the influence for some of these. I'm just saying that they need to be in there." Blue says, pleading with her lover to listen, ducking away from the paper that is now being tossed around the room.
In some small way Nat kind of feels bad for Blue, since that last comment may have her sleeping on the couch, or outside in the mud.
"And I'm just telling you to kiss my..."
Nat is surprised to see how nice it is outside as she closes the door to the Publick Occurrences building and heads into the center of Diamond City, but not before turning on her heels to go back since she forgot some caps. Before she opens the door to her home Nat puts an ear to the wood and listens in, then she decides against it. The last time her sister and Blue got into it Nat had left but when she returned she had walked in on them fumbling to go upstairs and then they started making weird noises, and she didn't want this time to be the same.
She sighs, turns around, looks up at the rising sun, and steps off of her porch where she usually stands to sell the paper. She eventually finds herself sitting at the Power Noodles counter with a fresh bowl in front of her, courtesy of the Piper Wright noodle tab which Nat just made up, but Piper owes her for having to leave.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka"
"You said it Takahashi...Adults are weird." Nat says while slurping noodles into her mouth then she looks up at the protectron robot with an inquisitive stare.
"You know what? After I eat I'm going to interview you for the paper since our latest article isn't going to make the cut." She rolls her eyes and then takes another mouthful.
"I think our readers want to know how you make these noodles taste so good." She says staring at the noodles from Diamond City's favorite eatery.
"What do you say?" She asks looking back at the robot in front of her.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka"
"Can I quote you?"