"I am doing well." Adam answered as he walked into the building, looking around as he did. The space was small, like all the other buildings but it was set up none too dissimilar to how Chuck's shop is set up. However the shop was lacking a lot of goods, it had stock but it was probably the most empty shop he had encountered until now. Man, these people were living rough.
"Glad to hear it." She said with a half smile before she paused, sized Adam up, and then continued. "Are you the smoothskin that killed our first line of defense?" She asked, slightly accusatory but mostly relaxed.
"I suppose I am, no defense from the accusations." Adam said with a soft shrug. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"Oh no." She said with a slightly menacing smile. "But it certainly hasn't made you many friends here, or any discounts in my shop." Adam chuckled.
"Yeah I've already gotten the vibe that no one here is really happy that we took down Famine." He paused and then added while laughing softly: "Am I in danger?" He grinned.
She chuckled herself and dropped her defensive stance, relaxing a bit.
"No, no one hates you that much. The worst you'll get is grumpy remarks. We are ghouls not idiots. We all know why you did it, just don't have to be happy about it is all."
"Fair enough." He smiled at her.
"The name is Cheryl by the way." She chuckled dryly.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance Cheryl." Adam said back.
"How much is this?" Deccanus said out of nowhere as he looked at some sort of kit on a shelf.
"That?" She asked and then paused. "200 caps oughta do." She smiled. Even to Adam that price seemed to be extraordinarily high but Deccanus reached into his side pouch and pulled out enough caps to buy it. She looked momentarily surprised but took the money gratefully.
"Pleasure doing business with you, handsome." She chuckled as she put her caps into a bag nearby.
Adam, curious, walked over to see what the kit was while Deccanus opened it to organize what was inside. It was very clearly a knife maintenance kit. Complete with a whetstone, an automatic sharpener, metal polish, varnish, and a few other things that were unlabeled and hard to know. It was perfect for Deccanus who was always fighting with his blades. Be it spear or machete.
"That is right up your alley." Adam chuckled as he peaked.
"Indeed, it was a good find, my own supplies were running low, it is never a bad thing to have extras on hand." He then threw the kit into his backpack and then browsed the rest of the shop, not that either man expected there would be something else for Deccanus.
Adam turned around to then see Rae trying on a light blue sun hat on their brain jar. He was unsure if they were doing it for fun, curiosity, or interest, but he was willing to engage about it.
"You like the hat Rae?" Adam asked as he walked over.
"I have no need for hats Sergeant." Rae said as they put the hat back down. "I merely wanted to see if it fit my head and picture how I may look with it on." Rae then turned to face Adam as they spoke.
"It's no crime if you like it, Rae. It's okay for you to like things." Adam gently insisted. Rae went silent for a moment before speaking up again.
"I find the hat… pleasing. But do not burden yourself over it." Rae said back confidently. Adam then turned to the store clerk again.
"How much for the hat?"
"50 caps." She said back without hesitation. She was watching the scene unfold. After all, the building was small. Adam nodded at her.
"I'll take it." He said before taking the hat back off the shelf and putting it on Rae's head. "You are a member of my team and a friend too, Rae. It's fine if you want to indulge from time to time." He said warmly to them. Rae, once more seemed at a loss for words but just gently reached up and touched the hat. Perhaps feeling emotional, if that was possible.
"Thank you… Adam." Rae said softly before they began to roll away perhaps to sit in their own thoughts for a while. The opposite reaction he was expecting from Rae, after all he assumed Rae, who was always so happy-go-lucky, would jump for joy at the gift. The somber and confusing acceptance was strange, but he was pretty sure they were happy. Regardless he decided to give them the space they wanted and shopped for himself for a moment. After only a moment, thanks to the severely lacking stock he saw something that piqued his interest. A bobblehead. God he loved these things.
This vault boy bobblehead was standing behind a podium with a microphone seemingly giving a speech to an unseen crowd. It was cute like all the others and would be great in his collection. Who would have guessed he would find a useless collecting hobby even in the apocalypse but he was not complaining.
He picked up the bobble head and showed it to the store owner. She responded without him needing to say a word.
"100 caps."
"Sold." He said with a smile as he then stuffed it into his bag and then walked over to the counter and put down 150 caps for the store owner. She looked down at the money impressed and slid the caps on the counter into her bag.
"Pleasure doing business with you." She chuckled. "Got more business from you folk than I have had since I set up shop here."
"Not much trade going on in a landlocked settlement hidden in a sea of ferals." Adam offered with a smile.
"True, besides, none of these schlubs have two caps to rub together. So me sitting here was really nothing more than for my own sanity."
"So then why did you stay?" Adam asked.
"Hell if I know." She scoffed. "The road is rough, I'm scared of heights, the water pipe barely works, there's hardly any food to speak of, and the schmucks here are not much in the looks department." She sighed and leaned on the counter a bit. "But it was safe, at least for a while." She then stared at Adam for a moment and then waved him off.
"Go on now, you bought your things, no reason to stick around and chat with the old lady." Adam chuckled and then nodded to her.
"Thank you ma'am, have a pleasant day." He said as he then started to leave.
"Yeah yeah, you too." She said waving him off again as Deccanus and Rae began to follow too.
As he left the shop Arden approached Adam again with a serious expression.
"Lad, I've spoken with a few of the others, I think…" He hesitated as he looked around at the makeshift town they had built for themselves. "That we may take you up on your offer." Adam smiled at him warmly.
"Then let's talk business."