"Hey Chuck." The man at the wall called out as the three of them approached. "Got a good haul this time?"
"You betcha! Got me a nice selection of goods from Midway, The Pier, well as few other places. Couldn't make it to Renaissance though, too many mutants around this time. Sal here put a kibosh on that plan." Salvatore just scoffed.
"Who's your new friend? You didn't happen to pick up a stray raider on the way over didja?" The man on the wall asked, gesturing to Adam non threateningly with his gun in his hand. His tone was serious but it was clear he was not at all expecting trouble.
"No sir. Well, I suppose he could be, but he picked a terrible story to sell me with if he is, and I aint ever seen a Vaulty be a raider, usually they die first." He chuckles. The man on the wall seemed to agree because he nodded along.
"Alright, I'll get the gate open for ya. Welcome Home."
With a mechanical whir the gate slowly began to open as the gears seemed to struggle to turn under the immense weight of the reinforced gate door. But after a solid 15 seconds it finally opened all the way.
Chuck turned back to Adam as all three of them walked inside. "I'm going to offload ol' Bessy at my store and then head to the bar. Sal, you mind bringing the Vaulty to the bar with ya?"
"Contract ended the moment we walked through that gate. I aint gotta do shit." He said grumpily.
"I'll buy you a round." Chuck said with a smirk. Salvatore grumbled.
"Follow me smoothskin, I'll bring you to the booze." He said as he started walking off without waiting to see if Adam was following. "Not that you have the caps to get a drink." He added quietly as he slowly gained some distance.
"I'll see you at the bar then?" Adam half asked Chuck as he began to follow after Salvatore.
"See ya soon." Chuck waved him off as he then turned to a different direction and led Bessy off.
As he followed Salvatore around he soaked in this settlement. Naper seemed to be a settlement established around an old reenactment village he barely remembered from the area. Naper Settlement? Or something to that effect. Well that explains the name. But it was just a small number of buildings on a small plot of land. It wasn't anything special to look at pre-war, but now it was a full fledged town. Walls stretched way out to an artificial borderline in the south and over Aurora Ave into the greenery across the street where there was a massive farmland growing a large number of crops that looked similar to ones he recognized but not completely so. The crop fields were stopped at a natural border where the river ran and the two ponds seemed to have some docks laid over them so people could swim or fish. On the other side of the avenue where the heritage buildings were, was a moderately sprawling number of buildings made of scrap materials, mostly scrap metals, but clearly anything they could find. It would be a bit much to call it a town, but a village? Sure. There were enough people even just up and about at this time of day that getting an accurate headcount wouldn't be easy, so he gave up on the thought.
But what struck him most was children. They were out and playing like any other kids. Two young boys were kicking, what looked to be, an incredibly worn down basketball, and another boy and girl were chasing each other through the streets laughing, almost bumped into him too. He hadn't gotten so melodramatic to believe kids wouldn't be able to grow up in this world, but he did have a thought or two of such things when he first arrived at the wall. After all in such a world of Deathclaws and feral ghouls, how could a child be safe to play? But that is what the guards and the walls were for. In here they were safe. So there was still a life to be led. That, at least, was comforting. Regardless, Salvatore led him, wordlessly, to a large ramshackle building near the northernmost wall clearly labeled "Inn" with no further name.
Salvatore opened the door to the Inn without missing a beat and walked right over to the bar and sat down. "Mandy." He spoke assertively in his gruff tone to the no one behind the bar. There was a door to the far right of the bar leading into the back, presumably where this Mandy might be. "Hit me up with something, it's been a long trip."
"I'll be right out with you." A woman with a cheery tone piped up from the backroom. After a few moments a woman wearing an apron, her hair in a bun, and looking a bit worn out comes in.
"Sal! How's my favorite ghoul feeling today?!" She says with a chipper tone.
"Thirsty." Salvatore returns, curtly.
"Walked right into that one didn't I?" She laughed softly to herself. "I'll getcha something real quick." She bent down to reach below the bar and noticed Adam just standing there watching the affair.
"Looks like you got an admirer ghouly boy." She teased as she pulled out a bottle of scotch and began to pour a shot for Salvatore.
"Was promised a drink for bringing him here. Chuck's buyin'." He said, not turning around to acknowledge Adam at all as he downed the shot in one go.
"Well ain't you lucky~." She winked at Salvatore and then turned to look at Adam, who was unsure what to do with himself. Largely because he already understood he had no money, which meant he couldn't order a drink. Damn, if only he had grabbed that bottle cap from the armory before he left the vault. But how was he supposed to know?
"Well don't just stand there, why don'tcha grab a seat?" She said as she gestured to one of the barstools near Salvatore.
Adam hesitated for a moment and then took a seat as instructed, one seat away from Salvatore who probably would appreciate a bit of privacy.
"So what will it be?" She asked as she leaned against the bar counter.
"Well to be honest… I don't have any caps." He smiled apologetically. He gently tugged at the collar of his vault suit. "I'm uh, recently liberated from a vault."
"Oh!" She said softly, more interested and amused than offended. "Well That explains the blue pajamas." She chuckled to herself. "I do feel sorry for you babe, but I'm running a business here, I don't do freebies for no one." She shrugged. "Sorry." She turned to walk away and then stopped before she even really left. "That is, unless you got something to trade Mr vault boy." She said, looking at him again, with an inquisitive eyebrow raise.
Unfortunately Adam couldn't really think of anything he had to trade, truthfully all he really had was his vault suit and body armor, his pistol and ammo, the pip-boy, and his backpack. He wouldn't trade his gun or his pip-boy because he didn't know what he would encounter yet and the backpack would probably be more helpful to have than to sell. And of course selling the shirt off his back was out of the question. Then he remembered he did have one other thing he could sell.
"How about a kitchen knife?" He asked, hopefully, as he reached into his backpack and pulled out the kitchen knife he had taken with him from the vault. So much had happened that he completely forgot about it, not least of all because as soon as he had the gun that was much more on his mind than a kitchen knife.
Mandy took the knife from him and examined it. "Well damn, this is some of the prettiest cutlery I've seen in years." She said with a soft whistle.
While Adam didn't really have a comparison, it's true the knife was in good condition. From his perspective it was normal but it was not bent, rusty, used, old, or blemished, it was nearly as good as the day it was made. After all, it had been safely stored away in the knife block in a sterile environment so it didn't even really degrade.
"Tell you what." Mandy hit a button on a register on the bar and opened it up. "I'll give you 20 caps for it."
"20 caps for a damn kitchen knife?" Salvatore complained from his seat in disbelief.
"It's a damn good kitchen knife Sal." Mandy shot back. To which Salvatore waved her off dismissively with a grumble. She then turned back to Adam. "Do we have a deal?"
Adam truly didn't have a sense of what the value of things were yet so he couldn't know whether the deal was good or not, but based on Salvatore's reaction it was a very good deal for a kitchen knife, and it's not like he especially needed it anymore. But now that he was thinking about it, it's almost a shame he didn't take more things from the vault. There were a ton more, at first glance, useless things that were in good condition that might be worth something out here. Though he loathed the thought of going back. He wouldn't admit it but the place scared him. Thoughts for another time though.
"Yes, you have a deal." Adam said with a firm nod.
"Great." Mandy returned as she began to count out 20 caps to hand to him. After she was done she grabbed Adam's hand and placed the caps, overflowing, into his hand. Mostly making a show of it for fun.
"Now that you have caps…" She smirked. "Would you care for a drink?"