Strong and Strange

Local Settlement 1

I walked my own direction and found out from my map that a local settlement was nearby. I decided Danse could wait so I went to a place called Diamond City.

"You open these gates right now Danny Sullivan! I live here, you can't just kick me out!" A woman said through an intercom outside the walls of Diamond City.

"I'm sorry, Piper. But the Mayor is pretty steamed. That paper you wrote was all lies. The whole city's in a tizzy." Danny Sullivan said through the intercom.

I didn't know what to do with the gate closed so I walked toward the woman who seemed mad.

"Hey, you. You want into Diamond City, right?"

"Huh? I don't have to..." I said, confused.

"Shh. Play along." Piper shushed. "What's that? You're a trader up in Quincy? Huh. You have enough supplies to stock the stores for a month? Hear that, Danny? Are you letting us in or are you going to be the one talking to crazy Myrna about missing out on all the supplies?"

"Alright, alright, sheesh. Don't have to take it so personal. Give me a second." Danny said.

"Better head inside before Danny catches us on the bluff." Piper said, waiting for the gate to open all the way.

"Piper! Who let you in?! You devious, nerd racking scruffbag! That treacherous paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts!" the Mayor exclaimed when he saw Piper.

"Oh yeah? Just wait for the next paper!." Piper said. "Why don't we ask the newcomer, huh? What do you think about the press?"

"Uhh... what newspaper?"

Piper scoffed. "Mine! Publick Occurrences."

"Uh... not usually in the newspapers... we usually had digital news." I said, thinking about the times in the jedi temple.

"Digital, huh? When did that ever come? The only news that goes through the Commonwealth is through traders and travelers... and my newspapers." Piper said.

"Oh I didn't mean to bring you into this argument here. No, no. You seem like Diamond City material. See the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth! So, tell me what brings you here." the mayor asked.

"I - I'm just a traveler trying to find my way around... actually I kinda want to go home too..." I said.

"So you're lost. I'm sure a caravan can escort you to wherever you live..." Piper suggested.

"I'm not exactly lost. I think I know what happened but I just need confirmed navigation things and some spare parts to fix something."

"Ah, what are you fixing that will help you?" The mayor asked. "I'm sure we can help you."

"I- I'm fixing my ship to go back home and discuss things with my... partners..." I hestigated even telling them what I was doing there...

"Wait... ship? You mean like... sea ship or..." Piper sounded confused.

"Never mind. I'm just a traveler. I need to get going." I made my way to the secondary entrance to Diamond City, ignoring Piper and the Mayor. I explored most of the place first. There was a noodle stand and many stores around the middle of the city. "Hey, hey. Do you need any weapons or armor? You look like you need some." a man at a weapon's stand asked.

"Nah. I'm fine." I said.

"You look like you need some good modifications for your... weapon there. At least some armor too."

"I doubt you have any modifications for this." I said, bracketing modifications with my fingers. "I'm fine with my own clothes for now." I walked away but was again confronted by another vendor.

"You look like you need a swatter." A guy in some sort of uniform said.

"A what?" I asked.

"Newbie, huh? Well... they used to play this game called baseball where one team beats the other team up with these things called baseball bats. The team who beat up the other team the most wins." he said.

"Uh... ok?" I was still confused.

"So. You need a swatter to replace that old short thing you got there?"

"No. This old short thing is very deadly so I'm good."

"That's not true. That thing wouldn't even hurt a fly. I'll just show you!" He walked away with the swatter he was currently holding out to an empty area. There was a dummy there and he swung his bat at it and it fell down even with a concrete base and even ground. He looked at me proudly. I unhitched my lightsaber and ignited it, surprising the baseball guy. I swung it at the dummy, obviously cutting it in half. I put away my lightsaber, put it on my belt, and walked away. Piper soon came up to me. "I saw what you did there!"

"Uh.. yeah? Sorry?" I said, confused. Piper dragged me into her office and had me sit.

"Nah it's ok! I need to know all about you. Diamond City's gonna love this!"

"I am NOT going to tell you anything!" I refused.

"That secretive, huh? At least tell me what you can." She pleaded.

"Maybe another time.." I suggested.

"I know you're trying to get away from this. Come on... please?"

"I don't need everyone knowing about everything about me and my..." I sighed. I would probably need to use the force for this. "You will let me leave this office and I will not do an interview." I said, waving my hand casually.

"Fine. I'll let you out of my office and you won't do an interview."

I was surprised at the difference of speech but I walked out, not wanting to stay for too long. I went to the Dugout Inn where I used the Force to bypass more conservations with the other people. But then I had a problem. "You need a room? Just 10 caps." the room man said.

"Caps?" I asked. I only had a certain amount of credits in my pockets. "Would you take these?"

"I don't know what those are... caps only please." he said.

"I don't know where to get those, sorry." I sighed, walking out of the building. I came out of the city and looked around. I decided to go back to the police station to debrief with Paladin Danse. It hadn't been too long since we came our separate ways... but I didn't want him to keep waiting for me. I entered the police station and it seemed like Danse had already gotten there.