Nate hadn't said much since he had gotten into his power armor. They rode the Vertibird in silence as it took them to the edge of the Glowing Sea to a single outpost that had been made. This was as far as the Vertibird could go without the constant rad-storm causing interference. Nate hits the ground with a dull thud as Paladin Danse joins him. Once the Vertibird was gone, and he was sure it was after he slowly steps out of his power armor. He finds what was left of a old wall and slowly sits down. Danse slowly stands by him, unsure what to say. He didn't seem to have to say a word as Nate speaks up. "I was wrong..." Danse slowly kneels down in front of Nate. "About what?" "My son...everything, being frozen, I had no idea how much time had past." He takes a shaky breath as he continues. "I didn't miss ten years of my son's life...I missed sixty...." Danse feels his eyes go wide at this news as he tries to shift closer, still in his armor. "How..?" "I met him...he's not my son. He's a monster created by the Institute for their own selfish needs. He didn't even seem to care Nora died trying to save him!" Like it had been for the greater good. "And...I don't even know how to feel outside of...just numb. All my hopes...God I feel like I failed..." Danse lets out a low sound, he really wasn't good with this sort of thing. But he carefully places a armored hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault Nate...that they choose you..to tear what little you had of this world from your grip..."
Danse takes a sharp breath as he sees Nate's eyes had turned glassy. "It's my fault...I should had come home sooner. But no I had to enlist, join the army, left my pregnant wife alone, and for what!" He picks up a broken piece of brick and throws it. "For this!" He throws his hand out to the empty void that was the Glowing Sea. "My son, had a hand in creating the newer modals of synths. You should have seen it, their base is spotless. Not a speck of dirt, like the war never happened and to them I guess it didn't..." Danse remains quiet as he lets Nate get out all his anger. He slowly seems to realize what he was doing as he looks down. "I....I am sorry, I should be focused on the mission....I didn't mean..." Danse tightens his hold, just slightly. "Don't worry about it, what you just told me though..." His brown eyes seem to grow dark. "Are you sure you can do this?" Nate stood there for the longest time, unsure, but he slowly nods. "Blood or no...this needs to end. People can't keep living in fear that they'er loved ones can be replaced at any moment." He slowly heads for his power armor. "I'm going to own up to this, by any means necessary, by helping Virgil out." He puts his helmet on as he turns to Danse. "You don't have to come if you don't want to.." Danse looked slightly uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to let Nate do this alone, so the two of them walk together into the glowing mist.
Nate was thankful they knew where the cave was now. Because not far from them was a giant Deathclaw, roaming the area. The moment they got to the cave however Danse remained outside. While he wasn't going to stop his friend from helping that, thing. The idea that Cutler might could had been saved still stung. But Nate explained that this cure, wasn't a sure thing. He was still finding it hard to let this go however. It wasn't long before Nate was outside again. "I'll be awhile before he knows it works...guess there's not much to do now but head back." Danse holds out his arm as he sees the Deathclaw again. "We might have to wait a bit, this one has been pacing the area since we got here." Nate takes a look to see the large beast. He feels a chill go up his spine. "I fought one in Concord, I'm still not sure what they...are, or at least what they used to be..." Danse lowers his head a bit as he speaks. "From what I remember, they were originally created before the Great War by the government to supplement human troops in battle, Deathclaws were derived from mixed animal stock, primarily from the very common Jackson Chameleon." Nate feels himself stutter a bit. "You're joking, no way, I remember going out and trying to catch those as a kid. That thing..." He points to the large Deathclaw. "Was once a harmless lizard until someone decided, hey, lets mess with nature." Danse lets out a low chuckle. "To but it so bluntly, I suppose your right." Nate shakes his head to see it was gone. "We should go, before it comes back." Danse rises his weapon, and they both head back the way they came.
Later that night, Elder Maxson had gotten word that decoding the holotape, would take some time. With any luck they would figure something out, but he would just have to be patient. Hell the fact they even had this information, he was willing to take this slow. Rushing would just cause mistakes and he doubted they would get a second shot at this. As he sits there, going over some of his paperwork, he hears a light knock at his door. A small part of him couldn't help but smile. "Enter.." He didn't have to look up to know who it was as the sound of a chair being pulled out echos in his room. "Long night ahead?" He looks up and almost drops his papers. there she was, just sitting in a simple white T-shirt and her uniform pants. Her holotags hung neatly just above her firm breast, which took him a minute to look away from. "Becoming a bit more...casual in your approach aren't you?" She blinks as she looks down. "Oh..I wasn't aware this was against the rules, I love the uniform, but it I get to warm to quickly in it.." For some reason her body didn't sweat normally so it was easy for her to become over heated. Something she learned the hard way at work after getting stuck in grill during the summer. After a minute or so he shakes his head. "No...it's...fine..." God he wasn't about to complain right now even if he was having a really hard time keeping his eyes up.
She pulls out a bottle of Nuka-Cola and drinks it slowly. She needed the sugar rush. It helped with the aftermath of her monthly visitor. She lets out a small groan as she places the cold bottle on the top of her head. It was the only minor side effect of a hard battle to get her body back to normal. "Low blood sugar sucks..." He moves a bit closer. "Something...wrong?" She did look a bit more pale then normal as she just shakes her head. "Oh...no sorry, I'm okay, just a minor side effect of something I went through last year..." Her eyes go wide as she lowers the bottle. "And no I'm so not talking about that..." She looked a bit panicked about it as he crosses his arms at her. If she was in poor health, he needed to know about it. "Out with it soldier..." He was using his authority to coax it out of her as she blushes deeply. "Do I have to..it's...a little personal..." He wasn't going to budge on this as she hides her face. She should have just kept quiet. "Okay okay, but don't blame me for...tainting your mind with this. It happened last summer, before I had quit my job.." She shuffles a bit, still feeling rather uncomfortable about talking about this. "Lets just say, for whatever reasons, my um...body magically decided to throw me the middle finger and things got more stressful then what was necessary." He gives her a confused look as she sinks into her chair. "Oh my God...fine, I stopped having my period okay, for the love of...it just...stopped, no reason what so ever. Just, nothing, for three months!" She lets out another groan. "So I went to a doctor and as it turned out it was...a serous problem, but one that could be solved with medication..."
She wanted to sink into the floor by now. "That...just made things SO much worse. I was only taking half of what they gave me, wasn't working so my doctor told me to try the whole pill they gave me..." Her eyes go wide. "Oh dear Lord that was a bad idea, I was at work and out of nowhere it just felt like someone was stabbing me in the stomach. Like to the point where I was going so pale my boss started to notice.." She lets out a low cough. "It's....fine now, but I still get...a few side effects...so...yeah..." Poor Maxson looked horrified by all of this as she slams her hand on the table. "I tried to warn you!" He lets out a small nervous sound as he tries to shake it off. "But you are fine now correct?" "Yes, still a few minor pains, but it's nothing I can't handle." He shakes his head at this slowly. "I'm no expert...but I have worked along side my fellow sisters to know....that.." Even if it still made his skin crawl. "I'm just sorry you had to deal with something that completed...by yourself..." She looks down at this and nods. "I really didn't have anyone to talk to. And for the first time in...ages a part of me wished that my mom could had been there...." She lets out a low sad sigh. "But a part of me knew it wouldn't have changed anything...God it's been over ten years now..." It slowly hit her the last time she had talked to the woman, was when she was eighteen. "Sorry.." Maxson shakes his head at this as he slowly places his hands under his chin. "It's fine, if...nothing else if it helps to talk about....the hardships you had to endure." She blushes again at this. "Thank you...I appreciate it."
She rubs her arm a bit as she blinks. "Oh, I never asked, there's no rule against these are there?" She points to her tattoo as he shakes his head. "No...as long as it's tasteful." He had never considered the idea, but he wasn't against it. Again as long as it wasn't anything, inappropriate. "Good I'd hate to have to find a way to cover this after all the hard work that had been put into it." He moves his chair closer as he takes a hold of her arm and takes a look. He had seen a few tattoos in his day, but nothing like this. The line work, the color, it was so perfect. However had done this piece was talented. He moves his hand to touch it, but stops. "May I?" He didn't want to cross some line as she nods. "Be my guest, doesn't bother me any..." He trails his finger over the flower. He recalled what she had said about it. That she had gotten it to remember her friend Ty who had been shot. "I've never seen art work this well done before..." She wasn't sure what to say to that. "I had to find a really good artist. That one, since it's colored, costed me about....five hundred caps.." He gives her a surprised look as she gives him a nervous smile. "You should see my other one. It's bigger and that one cost me way more!" He had never gotten a good look at it. "May...I see it?" She rises her brows a t him, a bit surprised at how bold he was becoming. "Sure."
She turns around in her chair as she lifts her shirt up for him. Not really caring that he would see her bra strap. She jumps a bit when she feels his finger tips, but slowly relaxes. She didn't mind it just surprised her a bit. He was in complete awe of what he was looking at. A brightly painted sword, pointed down to a symbol he had never seen before. He works his fingers down to the base of her back and she yelps, jumping away, giggling. "Okay, that's enough..." Her face looking flushed as he pulls his hand away. "I am...sorry, I did not mean to..." She holds her hands up to stop him. "No no it's nothing you did. I should have warned you I'm...extremely ticklish. Do not get any ideas, I kick, and hard, and you saw what I did to Veris..." He flinches at that as he nods, eyes wide. She lets out a low laugh. "Oh relax, I wouldn't do that to ya, it's just fair warning is all.." He nods, still sitting rather close to her. "It's...I never seen anything quiet like it before..so well done, it must had hurt.." She winces a bit and nods. "Like hell, but, I was so willing to go through with it..." She blinks as she leans forward a bit. "Just fair warning, just because you turn twenty-one does not mean you can drink yourself stupid. Just a tiny bit of advise..." He narrows his eyes at this. "I've been drinking for years, I think I can handle it.." She felt a bit bad for bring it up. Poor guy probably never even got to celebrate his birthday. "Well I tell ya what, when your birthday does come around, I'll do something nice for ya." He gives her an odd look. "You don't even know what that is..." "Tell me and I will." She gives him a sly smirk.
He lets out a low grumble, but slowly gives in. "April fourth..." "Ahh, a month before mine, I'll be sure to write it down...now all I need is an actual calendar then maybe I'll have an idea on what day it is!!" Seriously how did they keep track as well as they did was beyond her. "How do you do it, keep track of everything?" Maxson gives her a light shrug. "You get used to it I suppose, but now I'm afraid to even ask what you are planing.." She just sits back as she gives him a cocky smile. She follows through by wiggling her brows at him. "Oh I'm not going to tell." "I'm going to regret this aren't I?" He was starting to feel flustered again from the way she was looking at him. He had no idea how she managed to get his heart racing like that. He had to shift forward just a touch. "And what about you?" She blinks at this as she looks at him. "What about me?" "Your birthday..." She shakes her head at this. "Oh gosh, I stopped celebrating that ages ago, so no worries.." The less she thought about it the better in her mind. "But if you ever need some poorly voice advice, I got a ton of it.." He lets out deep sigh as he rubs the side of his head. "What it's true..." Again there was a bit of a gap in their ages, but it hardly seemed to be an issue for him. If he had a thing for older women, she wasn't going to question the guy. "But if you really want to do something, that's fine, far be it for me to stop you...just...no cake..." His brows knit at this. "I can't eat the stuff...or anything made with dairy...makes me a touch sick..." He gives her a surprised look, but nods. While milk was a bit of a rarity, he would still keep that in mind. Last thing he wanted was to make her ill.
"Eighteen was not a good year for me..." She lets out a low laugh as she sits back. "Ah well what can you do?" Maxson moves slowly as he takes a hold of her hand. He was surprised at how warm her hands were. It was rather pleasant. It was strange, but the only thing he could think of was to try and make things better. Even if he had no clue how to even go about it. But she just holds onto him lightly and that seemed like it was enough. "I should let you get back to your work.." He sighs deeply as he looks at his paper work. "I'll be fine." She gives him a sly look. "Why sir, are you shrugging off your work. I'm turning into a horrible influence for you aren't I?" He half rolls his eyes at her. "Now if I can only convince you to lose the beard I'd be in heaven." He lets out a huff at this. "I like my beard..." She leans forward, running her fingers through it. He could not hold back the small moan that leaves his mouth. Her eyes seem to light up at this. "Ohhh....did I just find something you liked?" He feels his face warm, but he couldn't find the strength to stop her. In fact he feels his eyes close as she continues her assault on his beard. "You are really enjoying this aren't you...?" He lets out a low sound as he lowers his head. "Alright you win, besides I don't think you'd be as intimidating without it." He slowly turns his eyes to her as she finally lets him go. He felt routed to his chair, but at some point she did have to leave, before anyone started talking. Once alone again he slowly brings his hand up. He was shaking slightly, wondering if he was falling far to fast for this woman. He feels his heart pounding in his chest. "s**t..."
