Snippet #2306612

Razu was only half-awake, but that didn't stop Lakesha's interrogation.

"What do mentats do?" Lakesha asked the doctor. He had been woken up to the hispanic girl's eager questions, which would have been fine, but he had pulled a particularly long shift, and he was going to be heading out soon. Which, Lakesha well knew about, because she was going with him. With Razu's non-violent nature, it was best that he had someone along that got the threats long before they got to him. Especially because there were so few doctors for the Freedom Fighters.

"...you've never had mentats?" Razu asked, not even opening his eyes. He hugged his cot a little tighter.

"They make you smarter, right?" Lakesha asked.

"You don't need mentats," Razu said. "I don't mean to be rude Lakesha, but don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Nope!" Lakesha said. "Why don't I need mentats?"

"You could run circles around me," Razu said.

"Yeah... but I don't get what that has to do with mentats," Lakesha said.

"Mental circles," Razu offered.

"How?" Lakesha asked. "Mental circles? I don't get it."

"You're a lot smarter than me," Razu said.

"Are you the baseline for people?" Lakesha asked.

"No Lakesha, but I can't see any reason why you'd need to be more perceptive and intelligent. Y'know, you should get some rest too," Razu said. "We have a long day tomorrow."

"I'm feeling alright actually," Lakesha said.

"Let me rephrase that Shi. I need to get some sleep," Razu said.

"Oh, am I keeping you up?" Lakesha asked.

Razu chuckled. He patted Lakesha's arm.

Lakesha stepped out of the young doctor's office, rather puzzled. Why did he find that funny? It was an honest question. Deciding she'd ask Razu when he seemed more receptive to questions, she went back to her room in the hotel. She was careful to step around the weak spot in the floor. One more super-mutant, and that thing would be sure to fall right through.

Her room was full of rubble, and hardly looked like a liveable room at all. Razu had offered her a nicer one--it even had a bed--but Lakesha couldn't sleep in it. She couldn't help but feel the steel around her neck when she closed her eyes. Lakesha ducked under a cabinet, and crawled into her hidey-hole, a bookshelf, and part of the upstairs floor, with a mat and a small footlocker. The footlocker held one day's change of clothes, and Sol. Sol was her sniper rifle, unimaginatively named "The Solution." Sol, for short.

The sniper climbed back out of her hole, taking the time to look over the rifle carefully.

She was still there when Razu came to see her, a few hours later. It hadn't been dismantled, or anything. She was just looking at it, like she could see every fibre of its being, feel every spring and screw psychically. It was this intense, unhealthy focus, that tended to make her good at repair, if they could spare her for the next few days per weapon.

There was no point in trying to get her attention. Razu had found that out, when, he finally managed to break Lakesha out of her 'trance,' and had gotten shot in the ear for his trouble. She would come out of it on her own, or she would come out shooting.

"Y'know Shi, I think you have some kind of disorder. I just wish I had the literature so I could help you with it," Razu said.

Lakesha gave no response.

"Were you always this way?" Razu continued. "Or was it only after the Slavers got to you that you became like this? I wonder sometimes. I know it's not right to. It isn't any of my business. You've made it clear. I worry about you sometimes. You know, I think I know why you want Mentats. You don't want anyone to sneak up on you ever again. Trust me, I don't think that will ever happen. I mean well, I snuck up on you, but you trust me. I think. I just mean... you're great at what you do. You don't need drugs to be better than awesome."

"I don't understand why you gave me the compliment, but I'll accept," Lakesha said.

Razu jumped nearly sky-high.

Lakesha broke into a rare smile at the look on his face.

"How's Sol?" Razu asked.

"Perfect," Lakesha said.

Lakesha and Razu had been fairly close, since Razu had found her holed up in a ruin in DC, with a severe infection, probably from the bullets in her leg. She still limped a bit from that, Razu noted. Razu had taken her to the hotel, after seeing the bruise under her scarf, which was quite indicative that she had been a slave. Not that Lakesha had ever admitted it, nor had Razu. He took her back to the Freedom Fighters.

Her first time waking up had been quite a struggle. She was almost feral, and had wrecked that room. When she calmed down, and heard what the Fighters were all about, and realized how close to death she had been, Shi was happy to join up.