Chapter 9 - 9

Words : 1439 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

"Mandy!" Chuck said as he entered the Inn with a wide smile. "Pour me some of your special, the trades were good this time and I'm looking to splurge a little." He grinned as he walked over, taking a seat in between Adam and Salvatore. Chuck looked to have changed after they parted ways, he was in a less raggedy looking set of clothing, more dressed down with less padding, but clearly clothes more suited for casual wearing, like when he was safe within the walls. "Bless your heart Chuck." Mandy smiled before she turned around to begin pouring from a tab attached to the wall, it was labeled with a beer brand he recognized but doubted it was the same thing. "The wife know you are here? You made sure to tell Mariah you were home before coming right here for a drink, yes?" She said, pouring him a glass without stopping but speaking in the same motherly tone she had used with Frank in the back earlier. Clearly she knew her clients well and it was just her thing. "Course!" Chuck smiled as he waited for the drink to be handed over. "Told the missus I was home after I got Bessy back in her shed. Said she was cooking up dinner and to come say hello to you while I waited!" He grinned as he spoke as Mandy walked over with his tall glass of some kind of brown smooth drink to which he happily took from her. "Mhm, I'm sure." Mandy said as she rolled her eyes and responded sarcastically. "Well…" Chuck began before taking a large sip of the drink and then continuing after he set it back down. "She did tell me to wait till dinner was done, but saying hi to you was just my way of being neighborly." He grinned, and then looked over at Adam. "I see you met my friend here from the Vaults." He chuckled as he slapped Adam on the back lightly. "Hope she's been keeping you good company." "Yes we met." Mandy said, stepping into the conversation as she leaned in a bit over the counter to Chuck. "Which reminds me, Salvatore said that you were buying for him when he got in. Is that true or do I gotta kick his ass?" She asked Chuck despite Salvatore being no more than 2 feet away from her at the moment and the fact that she did not seem capable of winning a fight against Salvatore if it came down to it. Though clearly it was not a real fight she was threatening him with. "Nah, he's right." He looks over at Salvatore, minding his business, still just slowly pouring shots of scotch for himself. "Though I did only promise the first round, I ain't paying for the whole bottle." He laughed. "Stingy ass smoothskin." Salvatore grumbles to himself. "You might be made of caps Sal, but I sure ain't." He smiled and then looked over at Adam. "Well what do you think of our little town? I know you more or less came straight here but the place ain't big, you took in the most of it on your way over. Figured you might have some interesting insights seeing as you knew the world 'fore the bombs and all." "Well…" Adam began, as he sorted his thoughts only to be interrupted by Mandy leaning in. "You are pre-war!?" She said with shock as she seemed to study Adam's face. "Seems well put together for a ghoul." She mused. "That's 'cause he's not." Salvatore said from his spot before downing another shot and then finally pushing the bottle of scotch away, seeming to be done with it. Adam spoke up again. "It's a long story, and quite frankly I don't know much about how it happened, but yes, I remember the world before the bombs." Adam finished. Mandy looked amused. "Huh, well color me surprised. Well now I am interested in what you have to say about our little town, can't compare to this place before the world went to shit I bet." She grinned. "Well…" Adam started a second time, once more collecting his thoughts on the place he saw. "To be frank no, it doesn't." Adam said, which got a single laugh out of Salvatore. "But honestly, I'm impressed." Adam continued, a lighthearted and hopeful tone in his voice. "We were all told that if the bombs fell life would be over, world would end. Seems like it sort of did, but you all got along fine, you built homes, community, had kids…" He laughed. "I saw kids playing on the way over. It was nice to see people still 'living'." He smiled. "It may be a dangerous world out there but in spite of it all it's good to see people managed to make lives for themselves, ones that don't just exist for the exclusive purpose of survival." "Well…" Chuck said softly, placing a hand on Adam's shoulder and gently shaking it. "Thems about the brightest words I've heard all day. Nice to hear you are feeling so optimistic about it all, not everyone would have remained so positive, that's a good trait to have." He smiled warmly at him. "Quite the referral, if nothing else." Mandy laughed. "Now I can tell people that a pre-war softy came along and said this place was full of hope." "Well, I wouldn't go that far. But maybe if you were to let me drink for free..." Adam smirked as he playfully egged Mandy. All three of them laughed. "Ah, you got a bag for your caps yet?" Chuck asked after the laughter died down and he looked at the caps spilled out on the table in front of Adam. "Uh, no… I was just gonna throw them in my bag, I hadn't put much thought into it." "Might I recommend a caps bag?" He said holding up an empty leather pouch in his hand. "Much easier to manage all your funds without rooting around in your bag every time." Adam shrugged, the logic was sound so he didn't see a reason to disagree. He began to reach for the bag in Chuck's hand before he pulled his hand back a bit. "Three caps." Chuck said with a smile. "I'm still a merchant." Adam stared at him incredulously for a moment before he sighed audibly for a third time since he sat down and then split off 3 caps from his pile and slid them over to Chuck, who took them gleefully. "Pleasure doin' business with ya." He grinned as he took the caps and slipped them into his own personal caps bag. "Got a place to stay the night?" Mandy asked Adam now. "No, I hadn't thought about that yet either. You got rooms here?" "Sure I do…" Mandy began before she looked down at the caps in front of Adam, and smirked, knowingly. "Just 12 caps." Adam frowned. "You are doing this on purpose." Mandy laughed. "Well, credit where credit is due." She smiled. "But honestly I'm doing you a favor." She started as she grabbed the mostly empty scotch bottle off the counter that Salvatore stopped drinking and turned to put it away. "You won't find a deal like that anywhere else in town." She smiled at him as she turned back around, the scotch now stored back away. "Normally I charge 50, a bit less for regulars, but i'm not about to throw you onto the street heartlessly. Call it a proprietor's privilege." She winked. "Just for tonight." Adam sat there, in silence for a moment thinking over his options and if he was being scammed before he sighed a fourth time and slid the rest of his caps, all 12, over to the otherside of the counter. "Fine." He said with a resigned tone. "Wonderful~!." Mandy said with a cheshire grin as she slid the caps the rest of the way off the counter, into her hand, and then reopened the cash register and put them back inside. It probably was true she was doing him a huge favor but Adam felt the smallest bit dejected. He had gone from having 20 caps to having zero caps again all in the span of less than 20 minutes. But at least he had the promise of a bed, it was a net positive, even if it didn't feel that way.

Chapter 9 - 9

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