New Vegas: Blood Ties

Tom slid back off the table and walked around the joint for a bit, trying to think what he could do until the group had to meet up at the bar. He saw a single chip on the floor next to the slot machines, Tom didn't exactly take to gambling, but he was good at it. He slipped the chip into one of the slot machines and he pulled the arm, suddenly afterwards 30 chips avalanched out of the hole in the bottom.

Tom knew he should stop, but it didn't matter if he lost, none fo it was his. He walked over to the blackjack table and bet all 30 chips, at first he only an ace of spades and a seven of hearts, he played for another card, five of hearts, in total he had 13 now, he wasn't going to stop yet, he didn't have to, the next card he got was eight of clubs, twenty-one on the dot. Tom now had sixty chips, he strolled over to the cashier and recieved his sixty caps, he could buy his whisky now.

He walked over to the bar and signalled the barman to come over to him, Tom slapped 10 caps onto the bar, "I'll have that whisky now", the man slid the bottle of whisky down the bar. Tom grabbed the bottle, rolled the cap off and he swigged the bottle whilst looking around the Brimstone in the Gamorrah. There was that man who had agreed to the same job he had.

After this Tom placed the whisky back on the bench and brushed his hands through his hair. He brought his hands down to his view, he looked at his hands, which were heavily scarred and bandaged, Tom had a rough time in Denver, and while he climbed over the Rockkies Mountains.
 
Yasmin ordered another scotch while the scarred up NCR soldier thought her offer over.

The aches in her torso were still there, not even the burn of the liquor going down her throat detracted from it. She'd taken a serious beating fighting in the pit, but had won all four of her fights nevertheless.

A little smile tugged at her mouth as she thought about the 'reward' Red Lucy had given her, though it hadn't eased any of the pain she'd been in, it just made her forget about it for a while. Though she could have sworn she hurt more after it.

Given her situation now, needing to pay for a group to go on this goose chase, she mentally berated herself for being a dumb ass and blowing most of her winnings right there in the Thorn betting on the other fights. Though honestly, who the hell would have guessed two fire geckos could beat a deathclaw. They were never THAT easy to kill when SHE had come across them in the desert.
 
Brad was getting bored. Should he start gambling again? Nah, he'd done enough for one night.
He saw that british fellow from earlier having some whisky and sat down next to him.
"Hey, I think we started off on the wrong foot. If we're working together we shouldn't start off on the wrong foot. I'm Brad. And you are?..."
 
Mark gloomed again, he was almost beginning to enjoy the day with the company of an old friend and here comes someone talking business... bummer. Mark listened the whole conversation. The whole thing sounded too good to be truth, and he didn't trusted this overconfident woman, walking into strangers, asking them if they wanted in on a treasure hunt just like that.

"What...? Me...? You're the merc baby, I just came here to have fun."

If what this woman was saying was true though, he could have one of the most sought afters things in the wasteland, early retirement, perfect to ditch the army for a life of comfort. If he left the NCR Army now he would have to get another kind of job, and he wasn't really good at anything else, but with the wealth of an expedition like this he could settle for life.
 
Tom sniggered to himself at a personal joke as the man from earlier raised an arm to him, "My name..." Tom paused for a couple of seconds and thought to himself about the situation, "The name, the name is Tom, nice to meet you..Brad, I see you're interested in this..job likewise am I" Tom had took several gulps of his whiskey through what he was saying, not caring for manners.

"I see the job's not the only thing your interested in," Tom lifted his bottle in the way of Yasmin, subtly so only him and Brad knew what he was signalling, "I saw you eyeing her up earlier".
 
"Eh, I'd never have a shot with her." Brad said, "just look at her." He said, taking a gulp of his scotch.
 
Tom cleared his throat and looked at Brad square in the face, "I never was a sucker for good looks, but yeah why don't you have a shot at it, i'll even be there for yer' to make sure you don't cock it up and make a fool of yer'self", Tom sipped from his bottle again and gestured towards the NCR guys.

"Now what do you think those two guys are doing here?"
 
(I am sorry for not posting. I will post more often now, just pretend I was here for the last page or so)

David followed the others. He smiled when Tom came over to him and decided this might be worth while. After while of thinking it over, he decided he would do this. He would tell her later. He had been sitting in the sidelines, but when Tom was talking to the young man, he butted in and said,"You seem like a nice guy, and in a world like this, there aren't many. She seems like a focused woman, so I doubt she's a shallow bimbo. Go ahead, I'll back you up as well."

David then turned to Tom, and said,"I'm sorry I didn't answer you earlier, it was surprise mostly. I came over here through Arizona. Had a nasty tustle with some legion folk, but I got out before they knew who I was. So how are you?"
David looked at the NCR soldiers. He didn't feel comfortable with them around, but as long as he acted like he was a normal merc, he should be fine. David scratched his face, and realised he had a grown a beard. He had been so focused on getting here and staying alive that he hadn't noticed until now. He smiled, and waited for Tom to reply. Before that he told the bartender to tell the young lady he accepted her offer. It didn't seem right to interupt her conversation.
 
Tom was in a good mood that David had come around, it had been a year and a half that Tom had seen David, and it was kinda' lucky that they both happened to be in the same place, "Well I didn't have much luck myself going through Arizona, I got myself caught up in one of those gladiatoral things they got going on over there, got myself some nasty injuries, but also got my freedom, I think I might settle soon somewhere nice, maybe Goodsprings, get some brahmin, bighorners and set up a lil' ranch, the Mojave..well let's just say i've got better hopes here than I ever had back east."
 
Brad looked at david and tom. "guys, I don't have a chance. Might as well keep my dignity." He looked over at the 2 ncr men. "As for those guys, if I know ncr, they're making sure nobody has a good time."
 
David nodded and replied saying,"Thats good for you. I hear your search for the Lone Wanderer didn't go well. I'm sorry, you could've sorted things out. Anyway, I'm planning on continuing to be a merc. Maybe this lady will hire me for other jobs. I need the money, and I don't have anything else to do."
David ordered a bottle of whiskey. He payed the bartender 10 of his caps and lifted it up slightly, saying to Tom,"Cheers". He then drank some of it, and smiled. It was good to be back among friends.

He then turned to Brad,"Kid, who cares about dignity. This is vegas baby. There are people selling their bodies for money, and you think this will lose your dignity? Besides, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Me and Tom, are old merc buddies. We did some jobs on the east coast. Those guys are ex-rangers or soldiers. You can see it from the way they act. We're bunch of bastards, and somebody dosen't hire a bunch of bastards unless they really need help. She might not get what she wants, and none of us are gonna give a shit. So she'll need a nice guy. Even if its just as Friend. We all have to start somewhere, mate. Just be yourself around her." Davdi then drank some more whiskey, and sat down on a bar stool.
He then said one last thing to Brad,"Oh and kid, compared to the goverment I used to know, the NCR are nice guys. So don't be so biased towards them. They have a lot of troubles, so understand if they get a little pissed at people relaxing when they're trying to hold a bunch of slavers at the door."
 
"Hey, there's nothing I despise more than the legion, I'm just wondering why these guys need to be acting like police in vegas while every other settlement they have is struggling."
He looked over at Yas.
"Know what? You're right."
He walked over to Yas.
"Hey, Yas right? So, um, I see you like scotch too."
 
"So you want to stay a merc, yeah I thought I would settle down, I know i'm only twenty-two, but after all these years of travelling i'm getting a feeling I need to give it a rest for a couple of years" Tom paused for a couple of seconds, using the time to take a sip of his whisky, "I had a lot of trouble going through Arizona, got captured by some legion fellas' and had to work in the gladiator pits to earn my freedom, then I managed to get to Denver, where I helped the NCR with some oddjobs and freelance stuff just to get some money, didn't turn out too well though, I feel from a ledge when I was climbing the Rockies Mountains and lost my backpack, so if your keen eyed enough you would have noticed I have still got the same armour and weapon, but look at me talking away like the world revolves around me."

Tom lowered his voice to a whisper, so that he and David were the only ones who would be able to hear it in the bar, "Have you found anything about, y'know the Enclave?"
 
Yasmin looked at the guy and then down at her drink then back up and couldn’t help but smile a bit. She enjoyed his nervousness. “Uh, yeah. I guess. And your name is…?” she held out her hand with the scabbed up knuckles to shake with, and wanted to see his reaction to the ‘less than dainty’ aspects of her appearance.
 
He shook her hand, ignoring the scabs. He'd seen much worse on khan women. "Brad."
 
“Well, nice to have you on my little team. What’s your fee? I pay up front before we start.“
Yasmin remembered that there were still 3 more she had to pay and wondered how much work she’d end up needing to do. Hopefully they’d all be as cheap as Carib was. After all, as far as they were concerned, the job would be easy and they’d get their own rewards at the end.
 
"Well, from my experience the standard for a job like this is usually 100 caps for a simple hire, but since you're going to be getting something out of this in return, I'm willing to pay 75. Plus my protection. Sound fair?"
 
"sounds fair. Anyway why Did you even give me that offer? I'm not good with hth combat, which is obvious just by looking at me, and I had a pathetic gun until I visited silver rush. And I'm sure there are plenty of people around here who are better in a fight. Are you in a big hurry to get this done?"
 
Yasmin ordered a bottle of scotch to save having to pay for individual glasses. Also to save dirtying the glasses, she screwed off the lid and downed a good portion in one go.
“I’m extremely anxious to get this done as fast as possible.” She looked at Brad and raised her eyebrows. “News of a recently uncovered, untouched base filled with all kinds of valuable technology has been discovered. The people who found it couldn’t get in, but how long till you think people who do have the skill to break in hear about it and get over there? That’s why I want to get moving as quickly as possible.”
She took another swig of scotch and closed her eyes, finally feeling the warmth that had been pooling in her stomach start to seep through her body and ease the aching from her bruises. Putting the bottle down and recapping it, then turned on her stool to rest her elbows behind her on the bar top and look out at the casino.
“As for hiring you, you were hanging around and listening in, so I figured you had some interest in what I had to say.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “You aren’t a drunk or a on duty soldier from what I can see, and now you have a decent weapon, so you fit the bill of what I’m after. Though you might not be that great in combat, I am, but I’ll need all the hands I can get breaking into and then transporting any goods we find. Now your turn. If you aren’t that great a fighter, why take this job and spend so much money getting a better gun?
 
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