I...

Please, tell no one.

[She turns and runs back inside, where the faces are familiar and ignore her, and the only creature demanding her attention is her cat.]

It's fine.

[Her voice is hardly more than a whisper. She's backing towards the inn.]

You just... had me confused with another woman. A different life. Think nothing of it.

[God. First comes one, then comes more. It took longer than expected, at least, yet she's so unprepared...]

[She is recognized. And she stiffens, breath all but stopping. Better than hyperventilating.

It was only a matter of time.]

I'm sure I don't know what you mean by that.

[Tone so desperately even it comes out flat.]

Yes. That's the point.

[She sighs.]

And, yes, some are certainly... adjusted. And others are every bit the result you'd expect of Vault-Tec's meddling.

The what-

Oh, the nutjob? Probably because she's insane. Some of us have the decency to stay in the house.

[In a manner of speaking. She stays in a room at the inn.]

lays her offer before him seems to stretch on endlessly.

He was, after all, indicating that when another favorable contract arose with the Caravan, he might well take it.

"...But if you know someone who's not shy about leadership, we'd be willing to pay competitively for their services. [I'd] be willing to pay."

Beer forgotten - the moment after she

Someone who can organize them, offer the knowledge that could do more than just keep them [alive.]

It's difficult to find, and a lot to ask." She knows the look of a runaway, just as well as she once knew her own reflection. Her voice softens, suddenly less sure of herself.

He even gives her that last piece of information freely, confirming her suspicions: just a single soldier.

But where he sees a shortfall, a single bag of sand against an overwhelming flood, her experienced eye sees a valuable opportunity.

"What we need [most] is someone who can teach the able.

"You're right about our defenses. Worse yet, the attacks we've yet to recover from have left a number of our people still wounded. We have plenty of bodies, certainly, but few trained for any form of combat, much less long-term defense."

Her words weave around the offer she's soon to make.