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[stand_unshaken]

 

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[stand_unshaken]

You're alright. What do you need it for?

If she listens carefully, she can hear his door opening and closing a few doors down the hall.

Text

[dog_eat_dog]

Making friends with Lawrence. He says he met you.

She does indeed. Good man! She pops out to join him.

[stand_unshaken]

He hears her and turns to wait for her to catch up. "Now he wasn't all there, that one," he points out to her as he tucks his communicator away.

[dog_eat_dog]

"Definitely not, but he's interesting," she replies, falling into step with him. Wanted in three counties, too, that's gotta mean something. "Said you were only a little bit of an asshole. What'd you two get up to?"

[stand_unshaken]

"Well, he got hisself shot before comin' here and then refused to get patched up. Kept going on about how 'they' made us do things."

[dog_eat_dog]

"Yeah, he was going on about that with me, too. He's some sort of robot, built for entertainment. I guess it's some sort of Jurassic Park thing with cowboys instead of dinosaurs."

A beat.

"Do you know what a robot is? Or dinosaurs?"

[stand_unshaken]

"I know what a dinosaur is," he says, looking over at her with some amusement. "In fact, I collected a couple bones in my day. This kooky old lady asked me to help her out, mail her any I found."

[dog_eat_dog]

"Really?" she replies. She'll believe it, but she's not sure which surprises her more –– that they knew anything about dinosaurs back then, or her own assumption that dinosaurs didn't really pre-date Jurassic Park. "You have a crazy number of hobbies."

[stand_unshaken]

"I like to keep busy," he says, a little awkwardly. "I travel just about anywhere. People ask me for things now and again."

[dog_eat_dog]

She snorts.

"And you just help them out, trucking T-rex skulls or whatever across the country? Do they pay you?"

[stand_unshaken]

"Sure. Most the time. Folk crazy enough to ask usually got a lot of money to burn on silly ventures."

He doesn't know what a T-rex is. Sorry.

[dog_eat_dog]

The best dinosaur, Arthur. Top of the food chain.

"Most of the time?" she repeats, giving him a raised eyebrow. No sir, not her. "I'd charge them a premium, asking for rare things like that."

[stand_unshaken]

That place is reserved for the Elizabethan Megasaurus, sorry.

"Sometimes it's goods, not money. Weapons, that sort of thing."

[dog_eat_dog]

"Same back home –– guns, drugs, whatever we have on-hand. I haven't touched actual money in years, closest thing we've got is ration cards."

[stand_unshaken]

"Is that so?" That actually surprises him a little. Even during the wilder days, people still tended to accept money. Or, well, they carried it on them.

"Those get you food? Fuel?"

[dog_eat_dog]

"Both," she replies. "Well, sort of. Fuel is technically contraband, so it's just credits for water usage and electricity. Kind of the way the running water works here –– but every time you turn it on, it costs you."

[stand_unshaken]

"Anything can become contraband if you start restricting it," he surmises- he knows all about that.

[dog_eat_dog]

“Don’t I know it,” she replies. “Never seems to stop anyone from doing it anyway, though.”

[stand_unshaken]

"Governments like to have control over as much of people's lives as they can. Get people in trouble."

[dog_eat_dog]

“Yeah. I used to want to do something about that, but now I know the system works just fine for me. Just don’t get caught and it’s fine.”

[stand_unshaken]

"You and I are more alike than you'd think," he says, with a little grin and a tap to his temple. He actually did think they were quite similar right away, but he enjoys pointing it out.

[dog_eat_dog]

She rolls her eyes a little, just to be contrary, but she smiles too.

"Uh huh," she replies. "Seeing as you figured your shit out first, that makes it easier for me."

[stand_unshaken]

"Oh yeah. Shame I forgot my damn rulebook back home, so I'm gonna hafta play it by ear."

Damn, he's glad they were paired. He tosses her his journal when they walk up to the lounge, so she can open it herself.

[dog_eat_dog]

She catches it and opens up the door, and she tosses it back.

"Good thing I like playing it by ear," she replies. The best plans survive that way, evolving, adapting. "You competitive, Arthur?"

[stand_unshaken]

"I dunno," he says, quite honestly. "What makes a man competitive? I like winnin' a game of cards as much as any man around."