Mason stepped out as the elevator door opened, a kid running up to him and asking an odd question.
"Hey, mister, are you really from the Commonwealth?"
"Nah, I'm from the moon. Still got some cheese on the bottom of my boots," Mason responded, earning a laugh from Garvey and Heather.
"I guess that was a dumb question. I bet it's your first time here. I can show you around the vault if you want. Just five caps."
"Alright, here you go," Mason said, handing the kids some caps.
"Yes! I gotta show you to Erin. She's gonna flip." Austin began the tour leading them to what looked like a storage room.
"This is the Depot. The Combes family runs it. Erin and I are best friends. Her mom and dad fight a lot, so I don't like to go in when they're around. If you need something, they're the ones to have it," Austin explained, concerning Mason. Parents should know not to fight in front of their kid. That could seriously mess them up.
"What do they fight about?"
"I shouldn't tell you this, but everyone says Mr. Combes is sleeping with Tina. Mrs. Combes doesn't know, but he's always leaving her to do all the work while he hangs out with Tina."
Mason did not understand what was going through the man's head. Why the hell would he marry someone just to cheat on them?
"Next stop, the overseer." Leading Mason to a staircase on the other side of the vault, at one point saying, "I bet you've killed a lot of strange things." That was true; Mason had killed a lot of weird things. "The Overseer's office is up there. They're busy up there and don't like to be bothered. She makes the rules, but she's nice. I like here."
"That's good and all, but does she take care of people who break rules?"
"Security mostly takes care of people that break the rules. But she's in charge of all the security officers. It doesn't happen very often. Next stop, the diner. Now we gotta go downstairs. That's where the diner is."
As he led the way, the kid told Mason about how everyone ate there and how it got crowded sometimes, and how the people who ran it, the Summersets, were nice.
"Hello, Austin," the lady, whom Mason could assume was Mrs. Summerset, greeted as they came up. "I see you're showing our guests from the Commonwealth around."
"Yes, ma'am," Austin responded. "This is the Sunshine diner. Gran says they take all her hard work and turn it into swill. Mr. and Mrs. Summerset run the diner. They're pretty nice. Mrs. Summerset's pies are still the best."
"Well besides the pies, how is their food?" Mason questioned, though he wasn't too concerned since they were carrying enough.
"I like it. Mrs. Summerset always sneaks me seconds," Austin answered.
"I'll save you a slice of pie, Austin," Mrs. Summerset said.
"Next stop, Horatio. I told you they were nice," Austin said, leading Mason to a barber that was beside the diner.
"Do you like your hair?" Not right now, he didn't. Hadn't cut it for a while and needed to shave. "I like mine. I hate combing it though. Gran makes me comb it."
Entering the barbershop, a man who looked to be in his early thirties greeted Austin.
"Austin, that hair of yours is a mole rat's nest."
"This is where Horatio fixes up people's hair. Erin's mom comes here all the time. Gran hardly comes here at all. She makes me cut my hair though. It's not fair."
Scratching his jaw, Mason asked, "Would he cut my hair?"
"Sure. He can turn your hair into just about anything. I wanted to make mine look like a skull, but Gran wouldn't let him. Next stop is Gran."
So he'll be meeting the person raising him. That was nice.
"Let's go see Gran. I live with her. She's not my real grandmother though. My parents died when I was real little."
Before leaving the shop, Mason noticed a magazine on a table or shelf of some sort, and after asking Horatio, grabbed it and put it in his bag. Following Austin to a garden of sorts, Mason noticed it was like the greenhouse at Graygarden but notably smaller.
"Hi gran," Austin greeted a lady who was tending to carrots.
"Austin? What are you doing here? Are you bothering that stranger from the Commonwealth?"
"Everything's alright ma'am," Mason assured her. "He's just showing me around the place."
"Hmph," she responded. Oh well, he's had worse responses.
"That's Gran. You can call her Dr. Penske. She acts all grumpy but it's not for real," Austin informed.
"Says you."
"She runs our hydroponics lab. It's where we get all our food."
That was concerning. What if they didn't grow enough? "You don't get anything from the Commonwealth?"
"Nope. Gran grows it all here. She's really smart. Next stop, Miss Katy. I'll show you where I go to school. I bet you didn't have to go to school."
He would lose that bet horribly.
Leading Mason through a hall that led to another section of the vault, they stopped in front of a room with a sign above it that said 'SCHOOL.'
"This is the school. Miss Katy runs it. It's boring most of the time, but Gran says I have to go anyway."
"Your gran is a smart woman, Austin," Miss Katy said from her desk.
"Well it's good to know kids are still getting an education these days," Mason told her.
"If you say so," Austin replied. "Next stop is the medical clinic. Let's go downstairs. I'll show you the clinic. Doc Forsythe and Rachel are okay, I guess."
Walking down the stairs, Austin added on to what he said. "But I don't go there unless I have to. Or unless Gran makes me." Standing outside the clinic, Austin explained, "This is our medical clinic. If you get hurt or sick, you come down here. Dr. Forsythe says I can't bother him or Rachel when they're working."
"Do you ever get sick?"
"Just colds and stuff. Hardly anyone here gets sick. Mr. Summerset broke his foot once though. They put a cast on it and he had to walk with crutches. Now we go see Erin. She's going to be surprised when she sees you. She didn't believe me when I said I'd bring you to her."
Leading Mason to a room after taking him back up the stairs, Austin introduced him to a child sitting on the ground with her parents eating at a table by a bunk bed?
"Erin! Look who I found. The stranger from the Commonwealth."
"Wow!" Erin exclaimed. "You're really from the Commonwealth?"
Mason really didn't see what the big deal was since, according to Officer Edwards, he wasn't one of their usual traders, so he shouldn't be the first person from the Commonwealth she's met.
"It's no big deal. I'm just a person like everyone else," Mason smiled.
"Yeah, but nobody in the vault hunts for their own food, or get into fights with guns."
"Well it's definitely interesting, I can tell you that."
"Thanks for doing my tour," Austin beamed. "I was so cool to show you off to everyone."
"Turning to leave, Erin stopped Mason before he could, asking if he'd seen her cat.
"I did on the way in. But by this point they've probably left. But if he has, I'll find him for you," Mason assured her, noticing her tense up when he said the cat probably left.
"Thank you! His name is Ashes. He's the sweetest little, gray cat. I just want him to come home."
Leaving, Mason stopped by Dr. Forsythe medical, who asked if he could take some of his blood.
"As long as you don't take too much," Mason grinned.
"Excellent! Just have a seat and I'll draw some blood." After he drew some blood, Forsythe patched it up and smiled. "There. Hardly hurt a bit, eh? Thank you. This will be a great help. Now I need to get these prepared immediately."
When Mason left the clinic, Mason headed to see Horatio, needing to get rid of the facial hair growing. Cursed thing was annoying him.
"Ah, I was hoping you'd stop by. Now I know from experience the Commonwealth shows no mercy when it comes to hair. So how about a trim?" Horatio greeted Mason, surprising him.
"You've been outside the vault?" Mason questioned, surprised by what he said.
"Quincy, born and raised," he said, surprising Mason again. "My mother, may she rest in peace, she was a doctor. Imagine her surprise when she learned I'd rather cut hair than stitch people up. But enough about me, how about that hair of yours?"
"Did you say you were from Quincy?"
"Sure did. Looks like I was one of the lucky ones too. Last I had heard, Gunners had taken over."
"Fortunately, some people survived," Mason said, making Horatio smile. "They're living over in Sanctuary now."
"That's good news. Now, about that hair."
"Just a trim and shave."
"Alright. Let's see what the Commonwealth has to work with. Just have a seat."
After about five minutes, Horatio set down his scissors and showed Mason his hair.
"And that's that," Horatio finished as Mason checked his hair. "Now, why don't you see if the Combes have anything for you."
Heading up to The Depot, Mason saw Mr. Combes leaving the place while his wife was behind the counter.
"Our Commonwealth guest," Alexis greeted as Mason stepped up to the counter. "Welcome to The Depot, and pardon the clutter. I don't get much time to tidy up these days.
"Didn't even notice," Mason remarked as he looked around. Sure there was stuff lying around, but it wasn't a mess, and everything looked organized.
"Thanks for being polite. Let me know if there's anything I can get you. I've got a little bit of everything lying around here. When you're dealing with items over two hundred years old, work just accumulates like crazy. Some days it's all I can do to keep my head above water. But you probably don't want to hear about all that. Let me know if you want to take a look."
"Do you run this place by yourself?"
"Well there's my husband, Holt, but once you need him, he's nowhere to be found. I swear the cat is more helpful than he is."
"Why do you say that?"
"I really shouldn't get into it."
Mason noticed there was something she wasn't telling him, and while it wasn't any of his business, he was always bugging into other people's problems. "It's alright, you can tell me."
"Holt's just changed. He's never around, always claiming he has some errands to run. Back when we first met, he seemed devoted till the end. He actually taught me everything I know when it comes to fixing things. He'd spend every minute he could with me, and of course Erin after we had her. Now, it's like we don't exist, and every conversation we have is a fight."
What the heck caused that big of a change? It couldn't have been that Tina lady Austin told Mason about. If she's been raised in the vault, then he probably wouldn't have gotten married to Mrs. Combes in the first place. "Have you tried to talk to him about it?"
"I've tried, but he won't listen to me. He's always saying he doesn't have time," she answered.
"You'll get past this," Mason assured her. "Even before the bombs fell, the first few years of marriage were always the toughest. It can be hard work, but he'll come around." And if he didn't, Mason wouldn't mind making him.
"I hope you're right. It'd be nice if he was even around long enough to discuss it these days. But enough about me. I should get back to work. But let me know if I can help you with anything."
It was apparent she didn't want to talk about it anymore, so I decided to drop it and browse.
"I might be interested in buying or selling."
"Great, I have all sorts of odds and ends."
Browsing through what she had, Mason saw a gun labeled 'Overseer's Guardian' priced at nearly three thousand caps. Counting how much he had, Mason knew they had enough, but it would take a great deal of money, so he went through what they had. Putting it all into one pile, Mason checked what they had.
A total of three hundred seventy bullets, some glasses, a few guns including the lever-action rifle Mason had found at the fraternal post, the armor they found on a Mirelurk, and all the junk they had brought the price down to sixty-eight caps. Handing the caps to Alexis, Mason told her he'd see her around and headed down to the diner, greeting Mrs. Summerset as he walked up to her.
"Hi."
"You're that traveler Austin was showing around earlier that Gwen let in. It's always nice to see a new face around here." Mason knew she must have been referring to the Overseer since she was the one that had Edwards allow him in. "I could never get used to calling her that. I've known that girl since she was in diapers. If you need any food for the road or just feeling hungry, you let me know. Our menu isn't quite as... exotic as the Commonwealth, but it'll do in a pinch."
That was nice. All Mason had was meat at the time, and it did get boring after a while, so Mason decided to see what she had.
"Let's see what you've got."
"Selection isn't what it used to be, but it'll do in a pinch."
Getting some soup and bottles of water, they sat down at one of the school tables with the school teacher. Pulling the dog bowl out, Mason poured some water and food into it before setting it on the ground.
"Think I'll pretend to I'm a vault dweller while I'm here," Heather smiled. "You know, get the full vault experience minus the evil experiments."
"This place seems fine," Mason responded. "Doesn't seem to be any experiments here like in Vault 111. This one I'm guessing is perfectly normal."
"Seems that way to me, Mason," Garvey said. "These folks seem to live normal lives. At least as normal as you can in a vault."
Noticing Miss Katy staring at him, Mason turned to her.
"Can I help you?"
"You're that new traveler. You must have had so many adventures out in the Commonwealth."
"A few," Mason admitted, recalling the things he's done. "Nothing I'd write home about."
"Stop being so modest. My kids would love to hear anything you've done out in the Commonwealth. Would you mind talking to them, and sharing one of your experiences?"
"I guess, but fact of the matter isn, they're really not that interesting."
"I won't let them take up too much of your time."
To be fair, Mason had a lot of spare time. Figuring Ashes would be fine for a day, and it probably not going too far, Mason decided it was alright to delay, though not for too long.
Finding the generator room after they finished eating, Mason was a bit disappointed. It was covered in dirt, crates were piling under the stairs, there were a lot of problems.
Seeing two people near the back, Mason heard them discussing something about drugs and not getting caught. This wasn't any of his business, and decided not to get involved. Turning to leave, the woman approached Mason, looking to talk to him.
"Hey, outsider. Do me a favor, if my good for nothing brother asks you for Jet, tell him to buzz off."
"Who's your brother?"
"His name's Bobby, and he's my poor excuse for a twin, so you can get a good idea of what he looks like." Not really. "He's a junkie, and he's getting careless. If he gets caught, we're both in trouble. And, as much as I'd like to leave this canned paradise, that's not how I want to go."
"You wanna leave the vault?" Mason questioned, finding it odd, but did have a place she could go to if she wanted to.
"More than you know. There's gotta be more to life than this vault. But if I leave, it's on my own terms. Not because Bobby screwed up. Now I admit, I've got my own share of the blame here. Bobby gets his chems from me, and I keep him on a short leash. But not anymore. I'm cutting off his useless ass."
"He'll get his chems from somewhere else if he's addicted. It won't help," Mason said, noting she was a chem dealer. Something he'd have to work around if she came to work for him.
"Why do you think I'm talking to you? The only other place he could get chems from is outsiders. Believe me, if someone else was dealing in this can, I'd know.
Finishing the lovely conversation, the woman left, and the guy Mason could assume was her brother came up.
"Hey, outsider. You lost? No trading going on here."
"Just looking around," Mason answered, already not liking the guy.
"Well, only the old generators to see down here. Oh and hey, if you got any Jet on you, I may be willing to take it off your hands. Say, 75 caps?"
He had just finished arguing with his sister about this not even two minutes ago, and he was already trying to get more drugs.
"I don't sell drugs. I'm not a dealer," Mason growled, glaring at the man.
"Hey, forget I asked, seriously," Bobby said, holding his hands up as he backed away. "And if you could keep this little conversation under wraps, I'd appreciate it. Just don't let Tina know. She'd be all over my ass."
That woman was Tina? When Mason looked at her, he could see the appeal, especially south of the equator, but he still didn't understand why Mr. Combes would cheat on his wife.
Walking back to the table where everyone else was, Mason sat down by Heather, grabbed some paper and a pencil from his bag, and began writing. Drinking water throughout the night, it was nearly nine in the morning when he had finished. Garvey had fallen asleep across from Mason, Dogmeat was curled up at his feet, and Heather was using Mason's shoulder as a pillow. Blinking, Mason turned his head away, still not used to this. It took him a while to get used to Nora hugging him, so this was practically uncharted territory for him. When Heather began to stir, Mason gently woke her up, making sure not to shake her awake.
"Wake up. I gotta head to the school real quick," Mason told her.
"Five more minutes," Heather groaned, indicating she wasn't completely awake. He didn't know what to do, but he'd rather get the story-telling done as soon as he could.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to get going," Mason insisted as Heather looked at him with a frown, making Mason feel bad for waking her up. "Better to... get it done now than later."
"You're carrying me when we leave," Heather replied, and after thinking about it, Mason realized it wasn't a bad idea. She was light, so it would be easy to carry her.
"Alright, I'll be back in a few," Mason told her before reaching under the table to pet Dogmeat.
Walking to the classroom, Mason noticed a few vault dwellers either turn away or hide their faces as he walked by. Although he didn't know how vault dwellers normally acted, it was still weird for him.
Entering the classroom, Miss Katy was in the middle of a math lesson, so he leaned against the door frame and let her finish. After finishing the lesson, she called him over and turned to the children.
"Children. Children, listen up," she said as Mason strolled to the front of the class. "We have a guest today, who is going to tell us stories about the Commonwealth."
"Did you ever fight a deathclaw?" Austin asked.
"How do you know about deathclaws?" Mason responded, concerned and confused since those should not be in a vault.
"I hear stuff. Gran heard about them from some Commonwealth guy." That explains it.
"Well, my friend Preston helped me kill one once."
"Cool! What happened?"
"Well, a group of raiders had him trapped."
"But you rescued him, right?" Erin asked.
"Well he's in this vault, so I would assume I did. That or I'm traveling with a ghost." This earned a couple laughs from the kids. "Anyway, he showed me where to find some power armor I could fix up."
"Power Armor! Wow."
"After powering it up, I ripped a minigun off a nearby vertibird, and with Preston using his musket and me using the minigun and a pistol, we cleared out the raiders. We were completely caught by surprise when the deathclaw came out."
"I bet you were glad he was there."
"At one point, the deathclaw had hit my dog, which, I will admit, ticked me off. I unloaded two magazines into the deathclaw, with Preston providing fire support until the thing was dead. And yes, Erin, that is a lot of bullets."
"Thank you so much for that story," Miss Katy told Mason. "Children, say thank you."
After the class thanked him, Miss Katy held out a magazine to Mason. "And we have a thank you gift. Here."
"Thanks," Mason responded. "I love comic books. Need to find glasses that will help with reading."
After thanking her for letting him come in, and the story, Mason held the magazine in his hand and walked back out to the dining room. Finding everyone awake, Mason put the magazine in his bag and put it on, handing Heathers to Garvey. Picking up Heather, they walked to the elevator while Garvey stared at them oddly.
"Made a deal with her so I could talk to the class early," Mason explained as Heather hit the button to open the elevator.
"I suppose that makes sense."
Stepping into the elevator, Heather pressed the button to go up, and they went back up to the surface. Walking out of the cave leading to the vault, Mason set Heather down and put their armor on when they got down to the lake. Taking care of some bugs as they walked around the lake, Mason found Ashes sitting on a dock.
"How did you know the girl's cat would be here, Mason?" Garvey asked.
"Intuition," Mason responded, looking down at the cat. "Ashes, you need to go home. Erin misses you. Head back to the vault and I'll see you when I get back."
Turning to walk back, Mason hears gunfire in the distance, coming from the direction of the ballpark.
"Merde! Come on!" Mason yelled, pulling out his rifle as he took off in the direction of the gunfire, the others following behind. "If there's gunfire, people are fighting. And if people are fighting, we've got to help!"
Running through the streets, they come to an open area, Mason seeing people wearing umpire uniforms fighting Super Mutants. Running up to the nearest one, Mason kicked it to its knees before slamming the stock into its head. Going to grab its head, Mason pulled the trigger, the bullet tearing the hand and piercing the skull. Heather making quick work of another, Mason ran to the third floor, finding one of them glowing red. What was with some creatures doing that?
"Come at me, gâteau de merde!"
Running at Mason, the Super Mutant raised its board high before swinging down, leaving a cold feeling in Mason as he dodged it. Kicking it in the stomach, the Super Mutant fell off the edge of the roof, landing on a mine. After hearing the explosion, Mason headed down, being approached by one of the people.
"Damn. Not afraid of mutants, huh? You're our kind of guy."
Looking around, Mason sighed, seeing where they were.
"Let's head on in," Mason said, already walking towards the entrance to the stadium. "May as well get some trading done.
Walking in, Mason could hear a woman arguing with a man over the speaker before he got there. Something about how he couldn't just lock her out. Approaching her, the woman finishes her argument before speaking to Mason.
"You. You want in to Diamond City, right?" The woman whispered. Looking at her, Mason noticed she was wearing a press cap with a red leather coat, her teeth surprisingly straight.
"Just traveling through," Mason answered, not enjoying being dragged into her mess.
"Shh. Play along," she whispered before yelling into the speaker. Mason hoped she knew she didn't have to do that. "Wha-what's that? You said you're a trader up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to keep a general store stocked for a whole month? Huh. You hear that, Danny? You gonna let us in or are you gonna be the one talking to crazy Myrna about losin' out on all the supply?"
"Geez, alright," Danny said, sounding defeated. "No need to make it personal, Piper. Give me a minute."
So the woman's name was Piper. Definitely had a great set of vocals.
"Better head inside quick before ol' Danny catches onto the bluff."
"Let's get this over with," Mason responded, taking his helmet off and holding it with one hand.
Mason saw an overweight man walking through the gate, and for someone acting important had a patched suit and fedora. And he was fuming.
"Piper! Who let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut! You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer! The level of dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts."
"Ooh, that a statement, Mr. McDonough? 'Tyrant Mayor Shuts down the press.' Let's ask the newcomer? You support the news? 'Cause the mayor's threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster."
Mason was wondering why he got dragged into this. He didn't know her, and while she was a beauty, he wouldn't defend her that easily. It was one thing to but into marriage problems or gunfights, but petty arguments was another.
"Listen, Nuka-Cherry, I just got here. Any crap between you two is your business, not mine."
"Oh, I didn't mean to bring you into this argument, good sir," the man said. "No, no no... You look like Diamond City material. Welcome to the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. Safe. Happy. A fine place to come, spend your money, settle down. Don't let this muckraker here tell you otherwise, alright?"
"Shut your mouth, William Taft," Mason responded, something about the guy rubbing him the wrong way. "I can feel my intelligence leaving as I speak."
"He's got you there McDonough. Guess not everyone gets won over by that shark smile of yours."
"Hmm, was there anything you came to our city for?"
"That's none of your concern, toi petite chienne."
"Well whatever you do, don't bother going to Diamond city Security for help."
"I've had enough of this Piper. From now on, consider you and that little sister of yours on notice."
The mayor turned to leave before Mason grabbed him by the tie, lifting him up, forcing the mayor to look him in the eye as he stood on his toes, Mason bending his neck to stare him in the eyes.
"So you will orphan a goddamn child because of one article," Mason growled, pissed at the man. "If I ever, and I mean ever, see you outside of Diamond City, away from all these guards, you don't want to know what will happen. And that's a fucking promise." Releasing the man, the mayor dropped to the ground, a few of the guards with their rifles aimed at Mason.
"I-It's alright," the mayor said, a few of the guards lowering their rifles as he did. "We just just had... a small disagreement."
Turning away, McDonough looked at Mason fearfully, turning tail and going back to an elevator leading to the top floor, leaving Piper and Mason standing there with his companions.
When Mason looked at Piper, she smiled before saying, "I'm impressed. Not everyone has the courage to stand up to McDonough. Look, I gotta go get settled in, but, um, stop by my office later. I have an idea for an article you'd be perfect for." Finishing what she was saying, Mason noticed she had fiddled with her fingers, making Mason wonder why she was nervous.
Heading into the ballpark, Mason pushed back memories, being greeted by the sight of a shantytown. How was this the 'Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth?' There wasn't anything remarkable about it. The wall wasn't guaranteed to last forever. Finding someone who looked like a doctor, Mason walked up to him, and the man sighed.
"A new patient. A new file to open. Do you have a legitimate medical concern, or is this about our facial reconstructive services?"
Facial reconstruction? Mason wondered how they could do that without the technology from before the bombs.
"No facial reconstruction. Just soaked up some rads and took a few hits," Mason sighed.
"Alright. Let's flush your system and see what we can do about those wounds," the doctor responded.
Leading Mason to a chair, the doctor injected two syringes, one that got rid of all radiation and one that began closing some wounds, including the bullet glaze from a few days ago. However, a scar would still be left due to it not being healed immediately.
"That'll be thirty caps," the doctor said, and after handing him the caps, they began looking for a place to stay for the night.
Needed rest after not having slept for a few days. He couldn't head to the vault, they had no bed for him to rest, and if he didn't get any, his mind could go blank at the worst moment.
Finding a place called the Dugout Inn, Mason found it nice, considering they found a way to turn a dugout into a bar.
Walking in, Mason took a look around before finding a table to sit at.
"Can you go see what the room situation is like right now?" Mason asked Heather.
"One room is normally available all the time, but I'll go see if it still is," Heather responded, leaving to go find the owner.
Once she's out of earshot, Mason turns to Garvey and asks, "What's on your mind? You look like you've got something troubling you."
"Look..." Garvey said, taking a minute to take a deep breath. "I know I put you into an almost impossible position when I asked you to lead the Minutemen." Not really. Mason could've said no relatively easily. "I didn't have any right to ask you to take that on. I guess I was kind of desperate at that point. I still don't know why you said yes... if it was for me, or for the Commonwealth, or for some other reason." Other reasons. "It doesn't really matter. I just want you to know that I appreciate what you've done. If you look at where we were then, to where we are now... I can hardly believe it.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Mason grinned. "Means a lot, coming from you.
Finishing the conversation, Heather walked up to them, a smile evident on her face.
"We got a room!" she beamed. "It was just ten caps."
Counting some of his caps, Mason handed them to her. "Shouldn't have paid for our room. Would've done it myself. Even before the war, ten cents was the difference between being able to purchase something or not. Now, how many beds does it have?"
"One. So fine for me and you, bad for Preston since he has nowhere else to sleep."
"There's a simple solution," Mason said, already knowing what to do. "Preston, go get your rest first. You only need six hours of sleep, right?"
"Yes sir."
"And Heather, you only need an hour more than I do, correct?"
"Pretty much."
"In that case, Garvey, you get rest first. You need more hours of sleep, and Heather, we'll rest after him.
"Sure," Heather smiled, and Mason didn't know why, but something in him wanted it to stay there. Sure, they were friends, but he had no plans for anything else.
"Alright then. Heather, how does he get to the room."
"It's just through the hall, door number two," Heather replied.
"Thanks," Garvey said as he stood and walked away.
"So, Mason," Heather said as she leaned over his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"
"How I should buy a house here. It's a lot cheaper in the long run, and when we have people coming through, they can always use the place when they're here."
"You're always thinking of others, aren't you?"
"Better than always thinking of myself," Mason answered. "Go mingle with the patrons of this bar. Can't socialize with me twenty-four seven."
Looking like she wanted to say something, Mason flashed her a smile, assuring her it was alright as she went to talk to other people. With Garvey sleeping, Mason went through their stuff, deciding what to sell the next day, including some ammunition they didn't need.
While he was, various women, and a few men, came up and offered him a drink, though Mason would always state he had someone. He didn't enjoy lying, but he didn't like to drink with strangers. Sure he helped them daily, but he didn't have much to say and preferred to go on his way pretty fast. When Preston woke up, he walked out to him, Heather and Mason headed to the room. Taking his flannel off, Mason put it away, laying down on the bed with Heather joining not long after.