[Jitter bug]

((Okay I typed this twice already and it was longer before I lost it those times... Time for the short plain bare bones one.))

The young woman's face went slack with shock when he immediately obliged. She'd expected his pride to force her angered words into an argument, the lack of said argument left her speechless for less than a second before her expression turned thoughtful.

Fen would slow them down but an extra pair of eyes and hands as well as his knowledge of the Vaults could benefit them. He could tell them of places to look that people might not normally know of and the functions of some things that they wouldn't otherwise know. Also, judging by how depserate Ricky seemed to get rid of Fen, the man would help deter strangers they wouldn't want to meet.

"As unpleasant as you find him it'd be beneficial to keep him with us." She said, listing none of the reasons she'd found as she turned to Fen, pointing the knife in his face, the sharp tip less than an inch from his face, "But you have to earn the right to stay with us and continue to stay with us."

[Jurinjo]

((D8 So many people losing their posts. I better copy/paste each time now...if I can remember))

Fen nodded his thanks. "Good good, I have skills yes...computers and demolitions. I can also fight with a sword I brought but....I haven't used it for so long." he admitted.

This was surprising turn of events. Fen happened to have skills that made up for what Ricky didn't know. But it was still only a claim not yet proven. "Yeah that sounds fair to me. You don't get to stay in any group if you don't have something to give back anyways." he said simply stating a fact rather than trying to drive a point home but Fen took it all in a serious stride. "This suitcase...is a good start. You know what this is right?" he asked after accepting it from Fen.

"Yes, it is for Terraforming." Fen could see the young man somehow knew about it. Was this a good thing? So long he had been away from other people he wasn't sure how to read Ricky's words or face. "But I don't recommend using it till it's properly inspected. The GECK uses a cold fusion reactor and if that is broken we all go kaboom!" They were at the open gate out now. Ricky stepped out with ease forgetting how he lied to Lea about the demolition charges which should've gone off about time Fen dramatically said "kaboom".

[Jitter bug]

((I'd been losing them a lot before and forgot twice in a row to copy paste.))

Thalea followed along with the two, cleaning her knife and beginning to put it away as they walked but when the ghoul uttered the dramatic sound she jumped with a soft cry, the clatter of metal ringing against the floor as her knife fell from her hands.

She too had forgotten about the charges but her mind threw the memory at her in the instant she heard the unexpected sound. When she discovered that the charges had been a lie she glared at Ricky, bending to scoop up her knife, wanting badly to stab him with it but resisting the urge though blood began to drip from her fingers as her hand tightened around the blade. "You lied to me?" She asked angrily, her voice barely controlled, "Did it ever occur to you to say as much?!" She snapped at the tall man.

It seemed she had a hot temper and was quick to anger. She knew she lost her temper often but never bothered to change it when she could remain calm when the situation demanded it completely and wholly.

[Jurinjo]

Ricky's senses hit full alert and he turned to his now acclaimed 'partner'. "What-?" She cut him off with anger. Deadly intent burned in her eyes.

"err...no I completely forgot about that bluff heh..." he took a step back waving his hands slowly and nervously. "Bright side though you got more than we could have hoped for."

Fen spoke up though not exactly for Ricky. "P-please calm yourself Lea. You're bleeding."

[Jitter bug]

The young woman blinked when her bleeding hand was brought to attention and she seemed more worried about the knife than her hand, only shaking some of the blood off her hand before carefully cleaning the blade, a disgusted sound leaving her mouth. She slipped the blade back into her pocket and closed her hand into a tight fist to put pressure on the wound. It wasn't a particularly a big wound but it was deep at the base of her index finger which was why it had bled as it had.

"I'm fine." She said to Fen, shaking her head and taking out a square of fabric and wiping her hand, watching the blood well up again from the wound before wadding up the fabric in her fist and holding it. "I suppose it's too late to warn you that I have a temper with a short fuse." She directed at no one in particular.

[Jurinjo]

((hmm out of the vault now...I didn't plan on anything after this.))

"As long as I'm no where you or your blades when it flares I think I'll live." Ricky joked lightly thinking of the kind of hell he'd be in when she had PMS. "Since Fen is now travelling with us I was planning to head southeast. Hopefully no animals found my cache there. If they do it'll be radroaches so only harm would be less good food."

"I wish to be helpful in battle since it seems inevitable to happen at some point. Could we spar later Lea?" Fen pulled out his Chinese officer's sword from his bag enough to be seen still in its sheath. "I'm very good at being unseen but used up my daggers cutting meat."

Ricky didn't need any hints as to the source of where he got that meat. No doubt the first couple days in whatever hell he spent his time in had caused his primal instincts to show its ugly head. "haha out of sight but not out of smell you stinky ghoul." he said giving an exaggerated expression. For the first time in forever Fen finally laughed. he and ricky could maybe get along after all.

[Jitter bug]

"Your proximity to me when I'm angry, blades or no, make no difference if you don't aggravate the situation or you're not the source of aggravation." she said after allowing a smile in credit to his joke. She unfisted her hand and stretched it experimentally but it no longer bled though she knew it would if she held something tight enough so she placed the fabric back in it's respective pocket and pulled out some gauze to wrap around her hand.

Thalea eyed the sword then Fen, "If you use something blunter than that or you keep it in its sheath while we spar. I've never fought against a sword before and I'd rather not risk injury if I turn out to be bad at it. I have some knives I found a week back that are for practice." Which reminded her, "If I'm to be staying with you Ricky then let's take a detour to my shelter so I may gather my things."

[Jurinjo]

((Sorry for lameness >.< Maybe we should fastfoward to your shack and get some rest? ...only for something to happen of course. Don't want things to stagnate.))

Fen nodded about a blunter edge "I agree, I don't want to get cuts either."

Ricky meanwhile never turned the face them. He was paying attention for any opportunist who may have stumbled upon the entrance to the Vault. "Sure no problem. A shack is more welcome than a cache to rest at anyway." he said noting that while it was still clear daylight the shadows told him the sun was now descending along its arc in the sky.

[Jitter bug]

((It's fine. I'm not great at doing that though so excuse the excrutiatingly short post and the bad ff. Didn't get far.))

Thalea made a face and shook her head. "It's not a shack and I very much doubt you'd be able to fit through the entrance. You'll have to clear away some rubble." She said, leading them north back to her shelter.

Indeed it was far from being a shack. It was a hollow in the rubble of a fallen building and the entrance was merely a hole created when she'd moved rubble out of the way to see what might have been inside.

With a slight frown at the child sized hole she looked at them and kicked a rock out of her path to begin helping them clear it. Once the hole was big enough she crawled inside without another word, knowing the inside was big enough for more than just three. She went to the very back of the cluttered room to a pile of blankets, obviously where she slept.

[Jurinjo]

((I don't think it's bad, probably your mood just making you think so though. Hope you're doin better now))

Ricky followed the way there. "wow you're right..." he said working to clear some of the rubble as well. "My cache is a lot like this, but a building nearby is pretty safe. Assuming the mutants hadn't gotten past the Brotherhood. They got their hands full these days. But meh that's just my habit of thinking the worst breaking through." he said dismissing the possibility that were true.

Getting in required a bit of maneuvering with the two bags he was carrying plus his own size. Fen had better luck with his skeleton build and only a single sports bag. The room inside was deceivingly large enough. Ricky brushed aside some annoying bits of concrete and made himself comfortable.

[Jitter bug]

((Most likely it was. I'm hard on myself when I'm tired or in any kind of mood other than happy or good.))

The young woman watched to make sure the two men got in just fine before motioning to a part of the room that was almost separated from the rest of it by some rubble, looking to Fen expectantly as if to silently tell him that was where she expected him to sleep. It wasn't his appearance or her lack of trust towards him that made her want him to sleep in the recess, it was the fact that his smell wouldn't permeate the room during the night if he slept there that did it.

After she took her ginger hair from the pigtails she kept it in for the day she rubbed at her face and shook her head as if trying to clear her mind so she could rest.

It wasn't long after everyone had settled into sleep, no more than an hour after, that the sound of a pebble woke Thalea from her sleep. The sound was so soft that if she'd been anyone else she wouldn't think anything of it but the red-head knew that it was an abnormal sound to hear. Opening her eyes she saw dark shapes but it was so dark in the room that she didn't know if it was Ricky, Fen, or someone unknown who was only able to get in now that the entrance had been cleared for the two men.

Her Raptor throwing star slipped sliently from a leather pocket on her thigh and a hunting knife came just as silently from her lower back as she rolled to the balls of her toes, crouched on the floor as she crawled quietly for the last place she'd seen Ricky. It'd do no good to make it known she'd been woken if the shapes were unfriendly and could over power her.

[Jurinjo]

Ricky slept soundly as the shadows crept in. Even being closer to Fen didn't wake him despite the brief struggle which Lea heard. Fen was not unconscious, but gagged with is eyes rolling around in his head.

The intruder knew he couldn't search their belongings with the other two still alive and able. He cocked his shotgun as quietly as it could be done. A sound Ricky recognized immediately in his sleep. His eyes opened and muscles tensed as his brain took the split second to process what was around before acting to what was about to unfold.

[Jitter bug]

By the time Ricky woke, Thalea was close enough she practically heard him wake, the change of breathing was truly the only sign. She didn't want him to jump to conclusions and strike out if he saw her shadow so close so as a precautionary action she nudged his foot with the toe of her own. She didn't know what to do, only how to run in situations like this so acting by instinct she took a pebble, one just big enough to disturb the somewhat loose rock at the foot of the entrance, and threw it towards the entrance. She wasn't trying for a distraction, she was trying to get one of the men to go towards the dim light leaking into the hole. It would give her enough of a silhouette to get a clear target with a knife or her bow.

It was simply too dark inside for any other kind of fighting, they needed light, she needed light at least, she needed to see whoever was in her cave of a shelter, how big they were and what they had on them. She wasn't one to waste an opening so slipped away the bigger of her blades for a single throwing blade, throwing it when the small slide of rocks drew a rather unlucky, or stupid, man's attention. Her cheeks flushed in frustration when the knife hit high on his body, only hindering him but not disabling him completely.

[Jurinjo]

It was too dark to see anything and would take a minute to adjust to the lack of light, if there even enough light to see by at all. Reflexivly his foot twitched to the light tap a sure give away he was awake. But before the man could shoot, thankfully, he gave a stifled cry of pain. The voice, he knew, wasn't Fen's.

He quickly jerked up with his shotgun in hand he clicked off teh safety, pumped then pulled the trigger. Ricky had no way of knowing where Fen was though so he focused his shot in tight. A loud boom echoed in the small confine of the place followed by a scream of agony. He got him!

"Lea get a light!" Being quick was important has this man may have not been alone and seeing would make the others easier to get rid of. Plus it was dangerous to remain in here, especially if one had a grenade...

[Jitter bug]

Lea's hands fumbled around, the sound of metal hitting stone as her Raptor throwing star sparked. After only seconds of fumbling she found something that felt like it might give light before her fingers fell on a high intensity grade glow stick and even less time for her to break it and shake the solution together to illuminate most of the room. Tossing the light to illuminate the men more but provide a veil of darkness for herself showed there were only a few more men left. Judging by the way they were mostly taking Fen's things they thought he had something they wanted. Thalea glanced at Ricky then his pack before she stood herself, pulling her crossbow from her back and positioning the bag containing her bolts in a more reachable position, flipping the safety off and taking aim.

She wasn't a great shot but she managed to hit one of the remaining men before they realized exactly what was going on.

[Jurinjo]

"Shit!" cried one man as his other partner in crime started to shout in pain of an arrow stick into his flesh. This should've been easy! Even if the trio did wake 4 against 3 people who were sleeping should've been more than enough to take them. But no he and his friends were getting their asses whooped. He turned to flee but to his surprise the ghoul already recovered from the blow afflicted to his head and grabbed the man. In a second the intruder was kissing the dirt as Fen held him there.

"That was...easy." Rick said unimpressed. "What were you after?" he said addressing the two still alive but specifically looking at the guy Fen had pinned down.