"Is that so? Alright we'll go have a chat with him then. What do we owe you for the room?" I asked casually.
"How's fifty caps sound since you folk are just moving through?" she asked and I just nodded and retrieved the caps before passing them over.
"We'll just find a boarded up room after we get done talking with Manny." I said and headed for the entrance to the t-rex inside the motel courtyard.
Jess on the other hand split off to go talk to a familiar face from Goodsprings, Victor.
'Looks like House is keeping an eye on her already.' I thought knowingly.
The bot might not realize it but he was acting on the orders of Mr. House. The man had the bot wait in Goodsprings for fifteen years in hopes that when the Platinum chip came through he could guard it. When Benny showed up with friends, hijacked the chip and House learned the courier was still kicking he chose to do what all gamblers do in Vegas, bet it all on the wildcard. From his tower he was sending code to Victor to get the bot to follow Jess's predicted path to Vegas to see if she makes it.-
Once she gets there he'll probably do what he did in the game and invite her into the Lucky thirty eight for a chat to bring her in on the big picture. You might be wondering why he would do something like that? The answer is quite simple, she's an anomaly. He's a smart man and knows that the best place to stand when one of her type of people get going is at their sides. Whether this will actually pay off or not depends on Jess and the choices she makes but he's playing the game the best he knows how.-
While she was talking with Victor about his presence here I walked up the steps to the weathered brown door at the base of the t-rex. I pulled open the door and walked in casually. The inside of the t-rex was actually pretty cozy. The ceiling wasn't too low and there was enough space for a wrap around counter and even a storage room besides the stairs leading to the mouth outside. On the counter sat toy t-rex replicas and rocket replicas with a faintly glowing green liquid within them.-
"You got anything practical besides those toys?" I asked with a chuckle as the dark skinned man behind the counter turned to look at me.
"Well that's not something you see everyday. Where'd you go and find a prewar gem like that?" he said with an impressed whistle as he eyed my armor.
"Got lucky, names Alex by the way." I said casually.
"Cliff, I run the shop. Are you sure I can't interest you in a quality souvenir rex? Maybe a Repcon rocket?" he asked hopefully.
"Fraid not. You got anything interesting otherwise?" I said as I leaned on the counter calmly.
"Damnit, no one ever goes for the toys." he cursed with a sigh "Yeah I've got a few things one might classify as interesting." he said as he started taking out a few things that he put on the counter.
My eyes immediately locked onto a strange looking pistol that I couldn't NOT recognize.
THAT gun!
In the game it was a unique named pistol that actually had some backstory to go with it if you knew your fallout history. See the guns story goes that a dude had a two two three double trigger cylinder rifle and modified it into a pistol. Shortened the barrel, swapped the dual triggers out for a single trigger and rifled the barrel a second time. The design caught on and was replicated but with some extra modifications making it even stronger. The ammo type was swapped to five five six rounds, the cylinder could be swapped for a seven shot one, the barrel could be lengthened and a better grip could be swapped in. The reason I zoomed in on it was because the gun was by far my absolute favorite when playing the game.-
"Interesting looking pistol." I commented trying to keep my actual eagerness from showing.
"Oh THAT thing. Strangest gun I've ever seen. No clue what was going through the mind of whoever made it. Seventeen hundred caps to take it off my hands." he said with a grin.
"Hmm, I don't quite have that much but I've got stuff I can barter for the difference." I said honestly.
He looked confused "Not saying I doubt you friend but I don't even see a bag on you?" he said with a gesture to go with it.
"Obviously, Here's a magic trick." I said and reached down to the front of the counter where he couldn't see and pulled out all my tradable loot from my inventory.
I then started hefting it all onto the counter while his eyes bulged out of his head in shock. I then put the sack with all of my caps in it on the counter as well.
"This all should be more than enough. Please count it up." I said with a chuckle.
He looked at me with a trace of apprehension but counted up everything.
"It's enough, barely but it is." he eventually said.
I nodded and grabbed the pistol off the counter before putting my ten millimeter up along with all the ammo for it.
"Convert this into as much ammo for my new gun as it can afford. A gun's only useful with ammo after all." I said smiling as I ran a finger over the length of my new gun.
The man didn't speak but mentally tallied up my order and passed me a box of twenty rounds. I flicked my wrist and the cylinder for the pistol clicked out. I casually loaded it up with fresh bullets and flicked my wrist the opposite direction causing the cylinder to click back into place behind it's enclosed housing.-
I then slipped the pistol into my belt loop where the ten millimeter was previous.
"Pleasure doing business with you. I'll come back for some more ammo once I scrounge up enough loot to sell." I said with a grin.