I had some kind words from some kind people today after those reviews, and you're right, I'm not going to let them get to me, they don't deserve the tie of day, so here, an update.

"Blue?" Nora dropped her spoon into the bowl of noodles in front of her, splashing the warm liquid over the counter of the noodle stand. Piper was with her in less than a second, grabbing a cloth and wiping at the counter, a small laugh escaping her lips as she wiped. Nora hadn't seen Piper in just over a week, maybe two, it was hard for her to keep count without a phone or a watch, the days just seemed to spiral by. Nora had left not long after The View from the Vault came out, opting to shy away from Fenway- Diamond City for a while, to instead try and focus on finding others out there, others than can help.

She'd found help, a place called The Slog. Ghouls who had their own farm running, farming tarberry in an old swimming pool. She'd been able to talk to some of them, Holly and Deirdre especially, about times before the war, and after. Nora had so many question, and the ghouls had no problems answering them. They could imagine what it was like for Nora, being awake in one century, then being awake in other. Except, they lived those 200 years that she passed away in less than a breath. They knew life before the war, after the war, and into the present, but Nora only knew before the war and the present. Noting made sense any more.

She'd tried to pay a traveling salesman, Trashcan Carla, in notes, but the woman laughed at her and told her she better give her some caps or she wouldn't give her the coat. Nora couldn't believe they used Nuka Cola caps as currency, suddenly all of the money in her pockets was worth nothing. All the money she'd grabbed on her way across the wasteland. Worthless.

So she'd stayed at The Slog for a few days, traded some of the items she'd scavenged from her walk for clothing, leaving her now with a heavy brown trench coat thrown over her vault suit. The ghouls had been so nice to her, it was hard to come across a few feral ghouls on her journey back, killing them before they attacked her. Now she had a hefty bag full of basic food supplies and caps, generously given to her after she snuck into a toy factory, retrieving one of her childhood toys for one of the ghouls, as well as the caps given to her after she helped erect a radio tower to call for other ghouls to go to The Slog, where they could help out and work. When a steady stream of ghouls were coming in to help out, constructing walls and lights and turrets, Nora took her leave, heading back to Diamond City.

She'd wanted to explore the wasteland, see what had changed, but even the small amount of horror's she'd seen in that one journey were enough to drive her back to Diamond City. So that's where she found herself, spoon submerged in noodles, Piper cleaning up her mess, and a few residents looking her way. Whispering.

"Thought you'd done a runner. My article wasn't that bad, was it?" Piper slid onto the stool next to her, leaning her head on her hand, resting by her elbow on the counter. Nora blinked a few times, clearing her mind and trying to ignore the whispers and pointing.

"What? No, god no. It was amazing. I just, I had to leave. This isn't my world." Nora pushed her bowl away from her food forgotten as she watched Piper's features warp and change into a frown. She didn't want pity, she wanted understanding. She was not meant to be alive. She was meant to be just another skeleton in a car on its way out of Sanctuary. Dead in 2077. Not alive and still wondering the wasteland 200 years later, living someone else's life. She'd felt most terrible when she traded Nate's rings for caps at a Red Rocket. They weren't hers to give away, then again, was anything anyone's any more.

"Blue, this is as much your world as it is mine." Piper laid a hand on Nora's shaking one, small, warm fingers wrapping around Nora's own, cold in Piper's hand, reminiscent of the 200 years she'd spent cryogenically frozen underground.

"You've lived this world your whole life, Piper. I've been here a few weeks." Nora left her hand in Piper's grasp, relishing the heat given off by the shorter woman. The coat did little for her hands, leaving them to the elements, often wrapped around a cold metal gun, her fingers freezing through the night as she found an old mattress to collapse onto to spend the night.

"And now you get to live your life here too. Look Blue, I meant what I said. If you want to go off travelling, it's your world, but, I will come with you if you want company. Or a tour guide. Or a proof reader. I'm good at all those three things." Piper reached into her pocket with her spare hand and pulled out a few caps, dropping them onto the table, quickly pulling Nora away with her as she stood up, leading her by the hand back to the Publik Occurrences building. "But first, you're going to have a good night's sleep. C'mon Blue."