Publick Occurrences

57 2 6

by kitfvk

by kitfvk

"Readers, there is someone new in our city. Not a trader, nor mercenary, but a vault dweller!"

Piper hissed through her teeth, jabbing at the backspace key on a terminal that not only survived a nuclear winter but also the Commonwealth's most enthusiastic journalist. She sighed, closed her eyes and waited in vain for her mind to clear. Blue. Vault suit. Black hair. Green eyes. Blue. She racked her brain for a descriptor which would actually read well. A woman, dressed in ultramarine. At least three weapons on her person. Freckles. Really, really cute freckles. Vividly green eyes and somewhat scraggly coal coloured hair...
"Piper!"
Nat. Little sister. Receptionist? Gnat.
"A lady is here saying you wanted to see her. She's... funny lookin'... bright blue and all that. New here, that's for sure"

Shit!

Hurriedly tidying her desk and straightening her cap, Piper tried to calm herself. "Okay sis, uh.. send her in" Nat nodded, a little confused. She'd never seen her big sister nervous before. She didn't like it very much. She left the room, returning promptly with a woman in tow.

Piper stood, brushing down her coat, checking for her pad in her pocket and a pencil behind her ear- wrong ear, that was where a precious cigarette was stashed. The woman in blue smiled with a warmth which melted Piper like she was wax. She was nervous. No, more... Apprehensive. She was taking her time to figure out her company and surroundings.

She could have described the shack the sisters' called home as almost cosy. The corrugated iron walls rusted into a deep red and bare, mismatched wooden planks made up the floor. There were two beds (one suspiciously less sunken from a lack of use) a desk, a terminal and a mechanical printing press. The terminal nearly roared, a few centuries of dust caked to the fan does not make for a quiet computer. The noise drew the woman's attention where she noticed a few words flickering in green on the black screen.

"Is that your next edition?"

Two thoughts battled for dominance in the front of Piper's mind. Firstly the blue one's voice, low, curious. She had forgotten quite how compelling it was in their brief previous encounter at the gate. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, was that her attempt at a legible article (an obsessive jumble of phrases and an appreciation for freckles) was still displayed on the monitor. A few seconds too late the backspace key was again being punched by a frantic index finger until the screen glowed black, in the odd way which screens do.

"So!" Piper blurted out unexpectedly loud, making herself jump in an attempt to change subject. "Um... Interview?"

A/N: sorry I've edited this again, I do it every time I regain interest in this story. The next Chapter is in the works!

Chapter song is Awkward by FIDLAR because Piper is very new to this, bless her.