Generally Neighborly Day

Weeks had passed, Moon had spent her free time studying the kimonos that still survived. Moon had returned to her normal duties; had even started to talk intimately with the group, which she still kept some of the more outlandish things close to her chest. Preston and Sturges had been tinkering about, trying to get a generator working; to which they planned to power a radio dish to broadcast a recruitment notice. Sturges did the bulk of the electronics as Preston fumbled about trying to be helpful. Moon had even helped set up the generator after days of the two bumbling about; Sturges had fixed generators before, though making them from scratch was a different story. Though the recruitment radio was a beast of its own, no one in the camp had the expertise to build it. “Ah scrap! No can do Garavey, This darn lady here is beyond me.” “No problem Sturges, just glad that you had time to make what you did.” “Miss Hawthorn, thank you dearly for aiding us.” “No need to say anything, this was going to help all of us; I think?.” “Yes, if we can get this thing up; we can get more settlers, who can farm and protect this place.” Garvey spoke up. “Captain Garvey, we need to talk.” “Reginald, I don’t think she’s ready.” “You two are talking about me?.” “Yes, General.” Reginald performs a quick salute. “Reginald. Not now.” “Okay, I’ll bite… sign me up.” “What?!” Both men exclaimed.

“Preston, I am tired of being afraid: afraid of being alone, afraid of not knowing the answers, afraid that I will have to live while my only connection to this world are killed by violators of any size; I tired of waiting for someone to take everything away from me, so I won’t give them the chance.” “But you have your own problems; I mean helping us out of Concord is one thing, but helping out the entire Commonwealth is another thing entirely. I mean you’ve made yourself clear that you had very little interest in going out on a limb to help.” “You are not wrong Preston, however in my past I had helped people recover from wounds; my husband gave his life for the people and this country. I’ve had time to process things and I think my husband would want me to help this country; even if it wasn’t what he expected.” “Wait, your husband wanted you to fight raiders and super mutants?” Reginald spoke up. “He was a soldier, I think he expected me to do the cooking and cleaning, and I don’t have to be on the front lines so long as I am helping.” “Are you okay Moon, I know he’s gone but…” “I am fine Preston; I ask you not to pry on that subject.” “Sorry, it just feels like you are trying to replace the loss you sustain with a greater duty.” “You are overanalyzing things; I am fine.”

“So what have I agreed to, Preston?” “Well, you know how the Minutemen came to be, our goals, and our downfall.” “The Minutemen had a bunch of drama that culminated in Quincy and the **** of the Minutemen.” “Well me and Reginald have been talking and we think we want you to be our leader.” “Leader? I can hardly fathom why you want me as a leader. I mean can’t you do it Preston?” “I am going to stop you there: You helped us at Concord, you had nothing to gain risking life and limb for strangers…” “Not true, your comradery was payment.” Moon interrupted. “Moon, I ask that you let us finish.” Moon grunted a bit, the two men shared a quick glance at each other; there was something wrong, they could tell. “Well Moon you helped us along, building up this settlement.” Reginald added. “You also helped me with Tenpines Bluff; I don’t think I would have made it out without you.” “I have done nothing heroic-” “General, I’m calling bullshit on that one.” “Again you did so much for us; all I can do is get my men through a fire fight. I never could foresee the political backstabbery within the Minutemen until it was far too late. I am better at being a captain or lieutenant, not a leader.” “I’m neither of those, I just fire at the raiders.”

“Is it wrong for me to have second thoughts after I have agreed.” “No, it isn’t miss Moon, that's why we had no plans of bringing it up so soon.” “Well Preston, you have your… your…” “General, every leader of the Minutemen is our General, Mamn.” Reginald spoke up. “Yeah and the good thing about being the last Minutemen, ain’t no one to argue who we say is the new general.” “Preston, are you two really the last Minutemen?” “I mean there’s probably a lot of former Minutemen who gave it up in disgust. All the politics really soured many of the good ones. Still, I think we can really make a difference for the better.” “Know Preston, I am no savior, no prophet, no messiah; all I am is human, and I will most likely fail you as the leader of the Minutemen. Before you speak up; know I will give my all to trying to be the best leader I can be.” “That's the spirit, General Moon. However, sorry to be a party pooper but recently, I was doing some recon and spotted a small settlement nearby.” “Mecorbnicks Family Farm, the one just across the stream?” “Well, they aren’t really called that anymore; that or the unfortunate has happened.” “What do you want me to do about it?” “Well General Moon, if we can recruit this settlement to our banner; our food security will be even more secure than what we have been.” “We hardly have the numbers to expand.” “A reality we are aware of; however the more prosperity we can project can equate to an increase of settling.” “And an increase in raids.” Moon coldly retorted. “General, Mamn, it's your call.”

Moon paced in a slight circle; the two men waiting anxiously for her orders. Moon halted, cocking her head towards Preston. “Preston, with me; Reginald, hold the fort down.” The men performed a quick salute; Moon hardly adknowledge their formalities, all her concentration was set on how to make such an expansion work. A new settlement needed walls, manpower, guns, bullets, and other stuff a group of three were less equipped to deal with. Her nerves weren’t any better as they neared their destination. A middle aged man in fairly common clothes for the area, previously doing his menial work, spotted the two coming near his farm and motioned to his family to retreat inside. Pulling out a crude weapon, pointing at the two who were intruding on his land. “No hold on a minute you two, we aren’t looking for trouble now; we are a peaceful little farming settlement.” “No need to fear, we're with the Minutemen.” Preston spoke as he lowered his weapon. “Minutemen? You still a thing?” Moon made a slight sigh, “We may be small, but we are still standing.” “What dose the Minutemen want with us?” “Preston?” “Ahh, yes General, sir we come here to get to know our neighbors and hopefully help out. I am Preston Garvey and the woman beside me is our General, Moon.” “Well Minutemen, ain’t much you can do now; unless you're god and can raise the dead.” Bitterness slithered through his lips. “Supermutants, Ghouls, Raid-...” “Don’t you dare say those fucking words! Scum of the Earth!” Moon glared at the man, not enjoying the fact he had interjected her; though feeling some sympathy as raiders weren’t exactly the good guys here.

“So I assume you want us to exterminate some Raiders then.” “Goddamn we want to exterminate them! But we also want you to retrieve something.” “If I may interject, what do you want us to retrieve and where are we heading?” Preston had moved himself between the man and Moon sensing the rising tension. “A locket, those creeps took it after their last raid as a trophy. They gunned an innocent girl and stole it from us as they stole her life. They headed East to that big dish place… um Olivia or something similar. Do that and we can talk business.” Moon and Preston shared a glance, both instantly connecting the dots. Moon rummaged through her pockets, producing a small locket from her pockets. “It can’t be.” “Take a look, maybe that will help you understand what has happened.” The man swiftly grabbed the locket from Moon like a greedy gremlin. Tears betrayed his stern posture, the man slinked down to his knees. “Blake! Blake! Blake Abernathy! I am so sorry for not saying my name earlier! Connie! Lucy! Come here!” Reluctantly two female figures appeared from the house. One older and the other was youthful. Shock and suspicion could be seen from their faces; hardly a rare occurrence. “Oh my, my Mary.” The older woman’s eyes started to gush out tears. “Yes Connie, Mary’s been avenged

“Oh, stranger, how can we ever repay you?” Connie switched her attention to Moon and Preston. “Yes, how can we ever repay you?” Blake got up and rushed to Moon side like a fan wanting to shake their hero’s hand. “Preston.” “Um, we know you probably don’t want to do this, but we were hoping you would join the Minutemen.” “Yes, Yes, we will join!” Moon had composed herself, “Alright well we will keep in touch and send someone to help build defenses.” Moon and Preston had made their way back to Sanctuary before Moon spoke up. “Well that was easier than what I had thought.” “It will be much harder to incorporate them into our Organization; something that will take a lot of effort, General.” “Well, we can start tomorrow; I need the time to come up with an innovative solution to our ever growing pile of problems and hopefully you can help.”

Moon and the Minutemen spent what daylight discussing the future of their organization. Of which many headaches formed around their small **** and expanding territory. Moon sighed a heavy sigh; maybe she was in too deep, was it too late for her to back out. Probably is but now was not the time. A solution will be found; a solution will always present itself.