Chapter Text
Nuka-World was just as depressing as Aries had promised it was. Dust and soot hung heavy in the air, coating everything with a dull, gray film. Perhaps in its prime it had been something more. Now it was just… a corpse. A reminder of what it had been.
After leaving the tunnel, the rest of the had been surprisingly uneventful. Aside from Knight Errant grabbing her zweihander and demolishing a pack of mirelurks when they got too close to the caravan, there had been surprisingly nothing. No raiders. No Blood Eagles. Not even a single mole miner dared to grunt in their general direction.
The woman that they delivered the supplies too didn’t even blink at the bullet holes or singe marks on the crates. She signed the form, waved her “staff” members to unload the wagon, and that was that. And now the three of them were wandering around Nuka-World.
Well. Right now, the two of them were wandering around Nuka-World. Knight Errant had found an ammo machine by the gigantic red pavilion tent and was now feeding caps into it. Carver and Aries watched a patron challenge Bruno, the local strongbot, to an arm-wrestling match. It didn’t take long. Carver winced at the sound of cracking bone and quickly looked away at the sight of it poking through the man’s skin. Bruno seemed unconcerned with the man’s cries. The robot simply chirped something cheerful about respecting the magnificent Bruno before moving onto his next victim.
“Maybe I should give it a try?” Aries asked him. “See if I could win a prize for our lovely lady?”
Carver nearly choked. He whipped his head back towards Knight Errant. She hadn’t appeared to hear, lucky for them. “I don’t have the stimpaks to encourage your stupidity.” He said, watching as Bruno wandered up to the knight with his sales pitch. He rolled his eyes and looked away.
Aries gave a dry laugh. “You sound like Shelley,” he complained to his nephew.
“I suppose that she got all the brains in the family?” Carver shot back good-naturedly.
Aries jokingly flexed one arm. “While I was stuck with all this brawn… it’s a right tragedy, really.”
A couple bottles of Nuka Cola appeared in front of them. “What’s a tragedy?” Knight Errant asked, her arms full of toy Nuka-Cola trucks and stuffed animals she was trying to stuff in her pack.
Carver took one of the bottles before watching the knight wrestle with her bag. “Didn’t take you for the souvenir type.” He said, pocketing the cap before taking a sip.
The knight gave a small laugh. “Only one of these are mine. The rest are for Kirean’s kids. I happened to run into him before we left. He asked if I could bring something back for them.” She told him, zipping up her pack.
“Look at that. Second day on the job and already on your second delivery.” Aries said, lifting his mask to drink his own cola. “He’ll reimburse you for those, don’t worry.”
Knight Errant popped open her own bottle. “No need. I won them from Bruno.” She said easily, taking a sip.
Carver choked on his drink, coughing hard, eyes watering as Aries patted his back. “A… you won… How?” He asked, remembering the man with the broken arm.
“Bruno doesn’t just have a contest for arm-wrestling,” the knight said, looking over to where the injured patron was being injected with what looked like a stimpak. “He has a trivia function as well. You get a prize for every right answer.” She shrugged and took another sip.
Aries grinned. “Trivia, huh? Figures. Outsmart the robot instead of risking a broken arm. I suppose the Brotherhood of Scavanging would have had a fit if you dented any tech in the process.”
The knight rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Please. It’s very Blue Ridge to risk the broken arm just to prove that you can.” She said quickly.
Carver couldn’t see Aries’ eyes with the mask like this, but he saw the smile change. The neutral smile shifted to amusement… and then into something hungrier. Something that made Carver’s stomach drop. He couldn’t… not now. Not here, right?
Aries turned toward her, never mind that his mask was still lifted so he couldn’t see her, and leaned one arm over the light post that she rested against. “I’ll have you know…” he began, his voice dipping subtly deeper.
Oh no. Carver was not sticking around to watch his uncle make a sober fool of himself in front of the knight. He began to walk off quickly. “I’m going to… I’m going to see what else there is.” He said quickly, not bothering to see if they had heard him. He just needed to get away as quickly as possible before he was witness to anything else.
He took another drink of the Nuka-Cola before shaking his head. Aries had never acted like this. Never. Sure, the man had been unhinged, funny in that dry, sarcastic way of his, maybe even a bit inappropriate at times, but never like this. Never like some… lovesick Casonova. And definitely not with anyone from another fraction.
Then again, the knight herself wasn’t really like any of the other fractions, was she? She wore the Brotherhood symbol, yes, but yet she was also tied to the Foundation. She didn’t flinch around ghouls. Not to mention just how well they fought together… He paused for a moment and glanced back over his shoulder. They were still exactly where he’d left them, Aries leaning in with his mask still raised, taking slow drinks from his bottle, and Knight Errant standing steady beneath him.
Nope. He turned back around, walking away. That was far above his paygrade. Way above his understanding. If Libby were here, then maybe…
“Greetings, stranger. I see you have traveled far to visit my humble stall. Are you interested in seeing what the future holds for you?” An elegant but mystical voice drifted toward him.
Carver turned. A robobrain, their cover painted to look like a pre-war fortune teller, sat behind a velvet-draped box. Their ‘eye’ if you could call it that, was fixed on him. “No, sorry,” Carver muttered, already trying to turn away.
The robot made a soft sound. “Do you doubt my abilities to read the stars and cards, dear child?”
Child? Carver blinked. It even talked like an old fortune teller too. “Everyone knows that fortune telling is fake.” He said.
The robot gave a realistic sounding gasp. “Impossible! I am not programmed to be a fraud. My circuits were designed to predict the future with,” a burst of static interrupted her, “percent accuracy.”
That was less than reassuring. Carver turned to walk away.
“I am Lady G, Nuka-World’s on Tour’s resident fortune teller, seer of stars, and gazer into the unknown,” she continued smoothly. “A free prediction to start you off: I envision your uncle having a great time here… Now, how can I be of service?”
Carver glanced back to Aries who was still in the same position as when he had left him. No one would ever assume they were related. They shared no similar features, no similar mannerisms, just a family tie born from Shelley and his mom’s marriage. “How did you know…?”
“The stars, the cards, fate, it all whispers to my servos. If I hadn’t lost my crystal ball during the storm, it too would tell me… though, if it were a good crystal ball, I suppose I would have seen that coming…” Lady G said, interrupting him. “To me you are a mystery. But to the fates? Well… we could see. For a small fee, of course. Are you interested in having your fortune read, or no?”
Well, he might as well pretend that he’s having fun. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small handful of caps. “Alright. Tell me my fortune.”
A small metal hand quickly whisked the caps that away. “Very well, dear. Your fate is a tapestry laid out before me… Give me a moment to wrap myself in it, and return to you with truths to come.” Lady G leaned in, scrutinizing him closely. Carver shifted uncomfortably. He was already regretting this.
“Ah… I see two threads woven into your tapestry. One has been intertwined with you with some time, steady, familiar… a bond forged in shared trials. The other a newer thread, recent and bright, it winds around your path with surprising ease… as though it was always meant to be there.” She said, the eye shining bright. “Oh… oh dear. Darkness approaches the thread that walks beside you… yet it does not strike where fate once intended. The danger has shifted. The shadow now reaches for the new thread instead. Their fates, exchanged. What was meant for one… now seeks the other. You must be ready to act. If either thread is lost… your path forward becomes clouded. Perhaps… irreparable. Your tapestry warns you, dear traveler. Heed it well.”
Carver rolled his eyes. Typical fortune teller nonsense. “And what do I have to do to… act?” He asked the robot.
A spark popped inside her casing. “I’m sorry… the stars are not in position for this fortune. Come back later to see what the fates have in store for you.” Lady G said.
“Got it. Thanks.” Carver said, already walking away, the so-called prophecy forgotten.
“Remember: yesterday is a mystery. Today is history… but tomorrow is a gift… Wait. That is not right.” The mystic’s voice broke in almost human frustration. “Error! Pete, it happened again!”
Carver shook his head and kept walking. There were a few red trailers that were selling food, but radscorpion kebabs were a little adventurous, even for him. The roller coaster also had seen better days by the looks of it, he realized, eyeing the missing sections.
“Looks like the Giddyup Buttercup ride survived,” Aries said suddenly, his voice muffled behind his mask.
He was going to get Aries a bell and force him to wear it around his neck. “I think I need a tetanus shot just by looking at it.” Carver muttered, looking at the rusted horses. One leg squeaked, wobbled, and fell off as they watched. “Did you come here? Before the war?”
Aries nodded. “Once or twice. Too many people for me. Shelley loved it, though. Would ride the coaster for hours if Dad let her…” his voice petered out, lost to memories.
Carver watched him for a moment. “I’ll take your letter to her when I visit next,” he promised him. “Though I’ll be sure to tell her that you also got yourself into plenty of trouble without her.”
A bark of laughter escaped Aries. “That’s probably the only part she’ll believe.”
Carver dropped his empty bottle in the overflowing garbage bag. It looked like it hadn’t been emptied for years. “So,” he began lightly, “where is Knight Errant? You looked pretty cozy talking to her.”
Aries adjusted his mask around his face. “The Lady G called her over. Claimed she saw something in her ‘tapestry’ that needed attention. While she’s getting her fortune told, I figured I should find out where you disappeared to.”
“The robot needs more material. She said something similar along the same lines for me.” Carver told him.
An amused chuckle escaped Aries. “Did she tell you anything interesting at least?”
Carver shook his head. “Not really. Something about two threads intertwining and darkness approaching, but she sounded like those fortune teller machines we always see.”
“Two stranger approach you in the night, one has a knife and the other walks in light… that kind of nonsense?” Aries asked dryly. “Well. Let’s see what they tell our guardian of steel.”
There was the sound of light footsteps behind them. Well, speak of the devil. Knight Errant approached them quietly, fiddling with the scarf around her neck. She looked deep in thought, almost concerned.
“Did the Lady G tell you anything interesting?” Aries asked as she stood beside them.
Knight Errant glanced at him before looking over the rusting ride. “She told me to stop hiding behind armour and open my heart to new opportunities.”
Carver shrugged. “Exactly the kind of typical fortune teller nonsense that they bank on.”
“It’s… it’s not just that,” Knight Errant said quickly. “The whole fortune was ‘Knight of Steel, you hide behind armour even when you wear none. Open your heart to new opportunities before they pass you by’.”
Aries tilted his head slightly, intrigued. “Interesting…”
“Do you want to share with the rest of the class?” Carver asked, slightly annoyed.
Knight Errant looked at him. “She called me ‘Knight’. I’m not wearing my armour, I have no insignia on me, nor have you guys called me by my title around her. How did she know?”
Holy shit. Carver’s eyes went wide as he thought about it. She was right. While at Nuka-World Aries had only teased her about being part of the Brotherhood, he had never called her knight.