As the door to Lucky's swung open, Steersman was greeted by the familiar sound of the old rusty bell above the door and the sight of Fizz pointing an assault rifle at him. "Is that anyway to greet a potential customer?" grinned Steersman.

Fizz lowered the weapon, "Potential being the word..."

"I have no idea what you mean Fizz, I'm just here to trade"

"Yeah", said Fizz, "just like the last time, I should put you down right now."

Taking the pair of Lucky shades from his top pocket, Steersman put on an offended face. "If by that you mean that in 30 minutes of meeting me every item in this shop suddenly dissapeared... well, I have no idea how that happened."

Smiling herself, Fizz sat by her computer screen and said, "You're a bastard, you know that?"

"Only on Fridays, Fizz, so seen any good sights lately?"

The smile on Fizz's face suddenly dropped. "Don't, Steersman."

Steersman dropped the smile too. "How long have you been here Fizz?, you're a merchant but you never leave this pigsty".

"I'm okay here, people come..."

"I do Fizz, nobody else,look, I don't need to know your past but I can help you, I know people, I know places."

Fizz stood up and walked to him, a determination on her face the like of which he had never seen.

"You know you are 'THE' Steersman now don't you?"

Steersman involuntarily took a step back, "What do you mean?"

Fizz took another step forward, "You're a hero, I listen to 3 Dogs radio broadcasts, they don't call you Steersman any more, they call you 'THE' Steersman".

"I'm no hero Fizz, I just live my life, I never asked for that."

Her anger seemed to be tearing her apart, but she stepped back and controled her voice, "I know, I know". But if you or 'him', she tossed her head to the radio, "knew the first thing of what I endured, how I survived..." She turned her back on him.

He let the silence last a pure, uninterupted 30 seconds before breaking it. "So what have you got, Merchant?"

Fizz wiped away the tear that had involuntarily dropped down her cheek. "A bottle of vodka and a carton of cigarettes".

"Sounds good", said Steersman, moving close again. "I'll give you 100 caps for them both if you share them with me."

"Sounds like charity to me." Said Fizz.

"It is", said the steersman. "But, I was always a charity case."

nice

:foodndrink:

:hugs:

It's good, I like, I like! Oh, so you know, you can't have two stories running at once.... I won't report you, but odds are, someone else will.