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8 - Toeing the Line

Once Alura and George had been efficiently ejected and her pair of roving guard entered for their first shift, the raid lead prepared her smaller group of three to head back. In addition to passing on word of their success, they had the added task of retrieving their techie and egghead. Her folks would bitch about being dragged out into the wilds, but once they got a load of what she'd snagged out here...

Her reverie was interrupted by a raucous laugh from the other side of camp. She thought a moment before adding on, "You know what-Grab what you can get of different foods in camp too. Don't eat it on the way back. I wanna ask about some stuff."

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That evening, Alura returned with raiders to the vault door. Nodding one to replace Cinna at the cameras, she walked just inside the metallic shelter while flanked by the other two. The brunette raised a hand to catch the vaultie door guard's attention. "Tell your boss it's sampling time. I'll wait." The raid lead kept her good hand resting comfortably on the pommel of her weapon. The other two raiders looked a queer combination of wary and eager for the vaulties to dare pushing back.

Having been in the middle of managing the shift rotations, it took the overseer ten minutes to make her way up to the entrance. When she approached, the woman looked tired but alert. It had been a long day of questions and seething remarks and the workload was piling up. Now that they had more than twice the mouths to feed, she needed more gardening space. With a dirt-stained hand, the woman brushed a lock of midnight aside. "Evening. What did you need?"

Alura regarded the smudge with mild interest. "So you do get your hands dirty. I'd like a sample of what each plant has to offer and the dimensions for the pipes you need."

"Sure. I've got the dimensions here." Jade stepped closer and held up her pipboy. After a few taps, she made a swiping movement towards Alura and the raider's arm piece dinged. A message popped up with the measurements needed. "As for the plants, what do you mean exactly? What the plants are used for? Or you just want one of each plant to...study?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Hold the front door-How the-How did you do that? Show me," the raider boss demanded. Alura prodded at her device in confusion. The two-way radio was obvious, but this-She frowned at the screen as she jammed it towards Jade. "You didn't use a holotape or anything."

Jade blinked. "The..swipe?" she asked in confusion. "No, I didn't use a holotape, not when it's just a simple transfer. Small amounts of information can be sent over short distances, you would have to be at least ten yards from the pip boy you're trying to communicate with." 

She moved closer, placing a hand on Alura's arm to steady it and peered down at the screen in a way both could see it. This close, and when Alura wasn't fighting for her life, Jade was softer without her tense stance and smelled faintly of citrus from the vault's shampoo. "Here is where you can type out a message with two hundred characters or less. It's small so you don't really see it often unless you go specifically to notes. See here, in the corner?" She tapped the pad of her finger on the icon. "Then you type or vocally input your message and save it. It shows up as a note in your inventory. Then you can go in any time and click on this button here, it gives you the option of pipboys within the area. This serial number is mine. You click it, then swipe." Her eyes raised to Alura's. "Easy."

Alura's arm tensed as Jade put a hand on her. After all, she'd put two holes in it not two days ago. But the touch was gentle and her gestures, guiding. "No way..." the brunette murmured in disbelief. She had never seen this feature before. Her shoulders dropped as scenarios where they really could have used this came to mind. Up close, the raider was...not so fragrant. But rather than straight grime or waste, the woman smelled of dust and baking sun and sweat and an undercurrent of iron. When she wasn't gut-loading Jade with burning metal, the curiosity in her eyes gave the raid boss a fleeting dash of innocent amazement. Perhaps she was not as old in years as the wasteland had tempered her to be.