Chapter Text
The harsh morning light was unforgiveable.
Hot and bright, it happened to land perfectly right across Aries’ eyes, causing him to stir. Making his head throb more painfully than it already did. He groaned, rubbing at his temples as the night came back in shattered bits and fragments. There had been the successful caravan run that they had just finished up, they were even given a few extra caps as thanks for their thoroughness. He remembered that he and Carver got a room at the nearby inn so the brahmin could rest before they headed out in the morning.
After that, everything started going a little hazy and disjointed, like a skipping record. He remembered that there was laughter, a lot of laughter and voices. He and Carver talking over glasses of amber liquid… dancing to something on the jukebox… talking to several faces that all started to blur together.
He sat up, already preparing to apologize to Carver. It was far from the first time that his nephew had to help drag his sorry ass to bed. Nor would it be the first time that they were late getting on the road due to his poor actions the previous night before. By now it should be an occupational hazard for the young man.
As his vision cleared, he became aware of two distinct things:
One. This was not the room that he and Carver had rented. Their room had two narrow beds in it, where there was only one here. If he glanced more to the side, he could see a small pile of blankets and pillows untouched, but no other bed.
And two. There was someone in the bed with him. Sleeping beside him. A hand placed over her eyes, hair sprawled messily over the pillow, and her chest slowly rising and falling with deep, slow breaths. Completely undisturbed by the morning light and his movements.
She was also completely dressed, as was himself, Aries realized as he glanced down at himself. His shirt was a little rumpled, slightly more stained than usual, but he was fully clothed. His jacket was hung on a hook on the wall, along with the bag he kept hidden around his neck, the mask he wore beside the bed.
His mask…
He reached up, touching his scarred face. The raised marks of the assaultron’s blades were still there. So, he hadn’t been magically transported into someone else’s body, he was still him. So then why...
“Are you awake?” A voice asked him.
Aries turned. The woman was sitting up, composed and calm, completely unbothered. “Awake, yes. Alive? That distinction is currently under review.” He said as he carefully fitted the mask over his face again. The mask gave a low hiss as it sealed shut around him, filtered air rushing into his lungs. Good. It was still functional. He was worried that, after similar outings, that something would have happened to it.
The woman watched him slip the mask over his face. “Good,” she said, giving a small nod before speaking again. “I want to assure you that nothing inappropriate happened between us.”
He looked over at her, his gaze slipping down to the bed underneath them, the shared blankets that covered them both. “Nothing?” He asked her as he looked back up at her. “Then, I must ask, why are we in such a suggestive arrangement?”
“You were drunk,” the woman stated plainly, swinging her legs off of the bed. She took a moment to stretch before continuing. “You had no idea where your room was, so I brought you to mine. And when I tried to get into that little makeshift bed you see on the floor, you grabbed my arm and pulled me in with you instead”
Under his mask, Aries flinched slightly. Did he seriously drag her into the bed like some regular Wasteland brute? How unfortunate. Yet, underneath it all, she had chosen to stay.
“You just happened to bring me here? No deeper motivation or hidden agenda? Or are you simply my knight in shining armour, delivering me from my own poor decisions?” He asked her, mentally trying to recover.
An amused smile flickered quickly at her lips before disappearing. “You happened to be hanging off of me all night.” She told him, getting up and heading to the closet. “You were talking to me about robotics and behavioural programming. Went into considerable detail. Was actually quite fascinating.”
“I do make a habit of being both unforgettable and intellectually enriching to those I meet on my grand adventures,” Aries told her, but he paused when the woman pulled out her own jacket. He recognized that insignia.
The great sword with wings and gears.
The all too familiar insignia of the Brotherhood of Steel.
The woman fixed her collar, completely unaware of the bombshell she had just silently dropped on him. “Well, if you ever want a job that isn’t caravanning, I know some people who would be very interested in speaking with you.” She said, grabbing her own pack before turning back to him. “In the meantime though, I would advise you to slow down your drinking. It isn’t very good for your liver.”
Well. That was sound advice. And advice that he was very good at ignoring.
She nodded to Aries before heading to the door. She paused as she opened it, turning back to him and gesturing towards the window. “I believe I see your brahmin and nephew outside and ready to move.”
Aries watched the door close behind her before he released the great sigh that he had been holding in. Carver was going to flip. Like Aries’ own sister, he possessed a strong opinion on what constituted appropriate behaviour.
Almost sleeping with a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. Well. He would not be as amused. There would need to be some detail omission in the retelling.
Speaking of nephew…
Aries slipped out of the bed, grabbing his jacket and securely tying the scarf around his neck. He shouldn’t keep the boy waiting anymore than he already had.
He was doing a quick sweep of the room, just to make sure that he hadn’t dropped anything else in his drunken stupor when he realized something. “She never told me her name,” he realized, looking to the door like it would respond or magically fill in the gaps where his memory failed him. It shouldn’t surprise him, the Brotherhood valued their secrecy. Completely closed off from those they consider outsiders, any type of information was a closely guarded resource, one’s name would be one of many things that they would hide from the rest of the world.
Still… there was something about the woman. Something that didn’t quite the align with the rigid Brotherhood stereotype that they were known for. There was a hidden warmth to her. And she did not seem to fear the great art of communication.
She was… intriguing. Despite himself, Aries couldn’t help but hope that he would run into her again.
Carver was waiting by the brahmin, his arms folded, watching him approach. “There you are,” he said, adjusting his own scarf to hang loosely around his neck. “I was starting to think that you weren’t going to show.” The brahmin tossed their heads at the sight of Aries, they too excited to see him in their own way.
“Apologies, my dearest nephew,” Aries said cheerfully, wrapping an arm over Carver’s shoulders. “I simply got lost on the great trail of life. But rest assured, I’ll always make my way back to you.”
The man glanced up at his uncle, skepticism written deeply into every line on his young face. “How about you tell me what actually happened?” He asked.
Aries laughed as he hopped up onto the wagon seat. “You don’t believe me? You wound me deeply.”
“I saw you last night, Aries. You can’t hide from me. You were hanging all over that Brotherhood of Steel soldier. Talking her ear off about something or the other. The other soldiers were keeping a close eye on you.” Carver climbing up beside him, ignoring the way Aries turned around to stare at him. “I tried to grab you, but you waved me off. Told me that you would meet me in our room after you finished your ‘lesson’. Never did.”
Well. So much for omitting specific details. Aries’ fingers tightened on the reins for a moment, trying to come up with something. “Well, such educational enlightenment rarely comes to those at a polite distance. And I have always been most generous with sharing my great knowledge.”
Carver sighed and shook his head. “Is that what we’re calling it? Generous? Great?” He asked.
Aries clicked the reins, the brahmin beginning to steadily clod forward. “I would suggest that you direct your attention to the road,” Aries said instead, keeping his own forward. “We have other concerns to worry about other than my… generosity.” He pretended not to hear Carver’s snort beside him. Refused to entertain the way his thoughts drifted to questions on where the woman disappeared to.