Taking Independence

Jane Forester. Protect the people at a minute's notice. Originally from Quincy.

[takingindependence]

(Slim) “ ahh, i can’t – i can’t do that.”

[Prompt]

“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit, Slim,” she countered, a small frown pulling at the corners of her lips. Despite her disagreement, she shrugged her shoulders, defeated. “But I’m not going to try and force you. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

[takingindependence]

“ look at this badass.”

[Prompt]

Jane let out a laugh at the comment, shrugging the leather jacket from her shoulders and draping it on the back of a nearby chair.

“It’s not mine,” she said with a shake of her head, “just borrowing it while my heavier jacket gets repaired.” 

[takingindependence]

(Grant) “ damn. dead, huh?”

[Prompt]

“Looks like it,” the Minuteman replied with a deep sigh, standing up from her kneeled position by the corpse. It appeared the person had passed well before the pair had showed up - the body was cold to the touch and already stiff, but there wasn’t much of a smell yet.

“Don’t see any obvious signs someone else caused it,” she said, looking over at Grant to better get an idea of what he was thinking about the situation. 

“I mean, we were told they seemed ill. Could have just been their time? ”

[takingindependence]

“I told you, I know a guy.”

[Prompt]

A small smile spread across her face at the comment, and Jane looked over at the makeshift stall set up by the pathway, where a very animated preteen was arguing prices with a fully grown adult man. It seemed the preteen was winning.

“Well, if you trust his judgement, I will.”

[takingindependence]

(Slim) “Where are you hurt? Is all of this from you?”

[Prompt]

“No, not all of it,” she replied, continuing to walk past Slim, but grabbing his arm as she did, pulling him along beside her. “I’m mostly okay. Just a few scratches, but I think the Raiders I got away from are trying to trail me, so we gotta keep going.”

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) “ hey, what about this one? you seen this one before?”

[Prompt]

Jane glanced over at the bottle Matthew held up and furrowed her brows. It was dark brown, almost black in color, and was the right shape for a Nuka Cola drink, but not one she had ever seen before. She made her way over to him so she could see the label, but was stumped.

“Nuka Cola Dark?” Jane read aloud, the uncertainty clear in her voice. It would seem whoever lived in the old house close to the theme park might have grabbed some goodies from Nuka World.

“No, I’ve never seen this one before,” she concluded, shaking her head and handing the bottle out for him to take. “But then again, I’ve never seen so much Nuka Cola stuff in one place in my life, so I’m not surprised there’s some weird flavor hanging out on the shelf.”

[takingindependence]

(Starling) “ how many of you escaped?”

[Prompt]

“Not many, from what I hear,” she said quietly, staring down into her cup of coffee. Jane took a moment to settle the shake in her hands before she continued.

“I wasn’t there,” she said, before pausing again as her voice had cracked midway through. She took a deep breath and let it out before starting again. “I had gone up to Diamond City to trade some leather work my pa had made. I came back and... everyone was gone.”

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) “ where are we?”

[Prompt]

“Just went to grab some coffee,” she replied, setting a mug down on the table in front of Matthew. “Wasn’t sure how you took it, so it’s just got a little sugar in it - enough to take the bitter bite out of it. Hope that’s alright.”

[takingindependence]

(Grant) “I’m actually pretty good at being alone at night.”

[Prompt]

Jane leveled as straight-faced an expression she could manage, but her eyebrows betrayed her as they rose.

“That so?”

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) “I’m sorry about tonight.”

[Prompt]

“Don’t be sorry,” she said with a laugh and a shake of her head. “Who doesn’t appreciate some excitement in their day?”

[takingindependence]

“Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?”

[Prompt]

“If you knew what the Gunners were capable of, you wouldn’t think it was harsh.”

[takingindependence]

(Starling) “ i need you to trust me. ”

[Prompt]

“Okay, I trust you,” she replied with a nod of her head, forcing herself to take a moment to slow her quick thoughts. “What do we do now?” 

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) ❝ I’ve had worse. ❞

[Prompt]

“Doesn’t mean I’m going to ignore the current situation,” she replied with a laugh, pulling out a clean rag from her bag before pressing it to the wound on his upper arm. After a minute, she pulled the rag away to get a better look at the injury.

“Looks like the bullet just grazed you, so I don’t need to get out my sewing kit,” she teased, before pressing the rag back against his arm. “Once it’s slowed it’s bleeding, I’ll clean it up some before we move on.”

[takingindependence]

(Grant) ❝ The hell with this. I’m goin, downstairs to get me a drink. You want somethin’? ❞

[Prompt]

Jane raised her brows at the sudden comment, fully expecting there to be nothing but silence between the two for the entire time they were sat in the same room. At the request, Jane offered him a smile.

“Coffee, please. With a little sugar, if you don’t mind.”

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) “She doesn’t hate him. She just doesn’t like him very much.”

[Prompt]

Jane let out a short laugh and shook her head at the comment. 

“Well, I suppose that’s better than outright hating someone.”

[takingindependence]

(Matthew) ❝ Can you swim? ❞

[Prompt]

“Well yeah, if the need calls for it... but not for very long,” Jane admitted. “My parents made sure my brother and I knew how since we didn’t live far from water, but neither of us ever really went out swimming for fun. Too many Mirelurks on the shores and who knows what in the water itself.”

[takingindependence]

(Slim) ❝ I’m sorry, it was an accident. ❞

[Prompt]

“No harm done, I should’ve been paying better attention myself,” she countered from her position, squatting while she gathered the cans she had dropped when they had run into one another back into their crate. Jane hadn’t been harmed, and a few dents didn’t make the rations worthless.

“I wasn’t looking in front of me either, so I can’t let you take all the blame.”