Ahead Of Ourselves

Date Night

Date Night

It was Thursday again, which meant I had another chairman meeting with what was left of the old committee from when Benny was still around. Swank always had something stupid to say that was a thinly veiled attempt at getting more caps to the Tops; I knew he was embezzling, but I couldn't be fucked to deal with that right now.

The meetings usually lasted almost 3 hours of nonstop political, financial business talk. It was exhausting. This was the one thing I regretted about taking over Vegas.

By the time one of those assholes had finished talking, I was nearly asleep, or I would be, if not for the headache. I left the  conference room and headed back for the 38, taking the elevator all the way to the cocktail lounge. After that, I definitely needed a drink.

I stepped into the bright, empty bar and immediately looked around to see what we had. There was lots of empty scotch bottles; I guess House had a favorite. After some digging, I finally found some whiskey and poured myself a small glass, sipping on it and cringing a bit; I did love my whiskey, but that didn't make it burn any less.

I sauntered over to the window and looked down on the Mojave. I took the time to relax and sat on a stool nearby as I let my thoughts return to the normal state of things and stray from the business and professional environment I had been in all morning.

Down at the casino level, Yes Man was doing some routine check ups on the tech around the building, making sure everything was working properly. The diagnostics all came back good, and he noticed that the elevator had last gone to the cocktail lounge; the other securitrons usually stayed on their assigned floors, so he had to assume it was me who had gone up when he was in the back looking around. His circuits tingled with excitement and he decided to join me, and soon a loud clunk echoed in the glass room. I turned towards the sound and felt my whole body soften and relax when I saw his familiar boxy form in the doorway.

"Hey, you." I smirked and swirled the liquid in my glass as he rolled to my side.

"Hey!! You came home so quietly, I didn't even see you pass through the casino!" He shrugged.

"Yeah, I just really needed a drink. I figured you'd probably be busy with something." I didn't feel like I had interrupted him now that he took the time to come up to me. "But now that my meeting is over, I've got the rest of the evening free." I took a small sip, letting the aged, woody flavor relax me.

"That's great! You have any ideas on what you'd like to do?"

"Honestly? Just hanging out sounds good. Sitting up here and watching the people go by.. even if I can hardly see them from here, sometimes I wonder about every individual I see. I watch what they do and kinda make up little stories about them." I admitted with a laugh.

"Wow! That sounds like fun! I'd like to try that, if you'd like to show me how!" He chuckled back and took my hand delicately in his claw, bringing me closer to the window.

I watched people minding their own business and spotted a rather drunken NCR trooper stumbling around the strip.

"Ah, like that person. They've clearly had a lot to drink, and I like to theorize why."

"Well they're NCR! Thats reason enough to drink!" Yes Man joked, "but maybe they were gambling and you know how they do the cheap drinks- probably ordered a bunch of em for hardly any caps and came back out to dry up another casino!"

"Damn, you're right." I snickered, "NCR troopers on the hunt for a fuckin' booze cruise."

"Now is their adventure from one casino to the next, and the challenge is making it there without falling over!" We shared a laugh and spotted a person who was pacing back and forth. "What about them?"