Adam's next and last stop for offloading all his goods was Lune. Deccanus split off from the two of them saying he had other things he needed to do. Adam assumed that he was just feeling guilty about Lune still, since she was a former Legion slave and didn't want to see her. So Adam let him go without argument.
"Oh, well look who is showing his mug around these parts again." She grinned.
"Hey Lune, long time no see." He smiled.
"I'll say, you were off saving Chicago while I could only hear about it on the radio. Thank goodness Ray is so on top of the news."
"He was a week late or something." Adam shrugged.
"Buddy, around here news a week late might as well be news delivered immediately. The only way to hear about stuff happening from other towns is in gossip from traveling merchants or mercenaries." She then waves the conversation off. "Well anyway, good to see you, are you here to sell?"
"Yes actually, I brought some goods for you." He said dropping off some stuff on her counter.
She began to pull the items out of the bag one by one to look at them and as she did she spoke up.
"Oh, by the way, I found a buyer for that protectron of yours. They are interested though I think they are hoping to lowball you if you give them an inch."
"Oh!" Adam said, completely surprised by this. Honestly he had forgotten he had asked Lune to look into this for him.
"Ah well, at least for the moment I actually don't think I'm selling him, I've started to do construction projects near my home so he's been a big help." Lune let off a loud sigh.
"Ah damn, well whatever, it's your robot." She said, clearly disappointed.
"Yeah sorry, it just sort of worked out that way, but if I am ever done with him I may just sell him to you for cheap so you can resell him yourself." Adam offered. Lune raised an eyebrow.
"I'll hold you to that." She grinned and then looked back down at the items Adam was selling.
"I can buy all of this for 843 caps." She said with a nod.
"That sounds reasonable to me, but do you happen to have any movie projectors and film reels or working records?" Adam asked, curious. He figured this would be the best place to grab a movie projector from the Vault.
He knew precisely where a movie theater was. In fact he had been there before, the one that was right outside of Naper. However he had sabotaged himself unknowingly. He had cannibalized the movie projectors because who would have thought he needed them, and taken them apart to get at the sellable internals. Of course repairing one was not out of the question but he was not exactly gentle when he tore into them, and that's assuming that if he replaced everything he took it would work at all. No, if he could just buy one here that worked for sure, even if he had to pay a bit for it, it would be worth it.
"Sure I got some spare movie reels, and I got a single projector, I assume you need one that works right?" She asked, already turning around to head into her backroom.
"Yeah, I want one for my home."
"Alright give me a moment to test it, if it works we can hash out a price." She said disappearing into the backroom
"She is certainly an interesting character." Mira mused, now that she was gone.
"Lune?" Adam asked, turning to her. "She's great, and she scares Deccanus, which is honestly funny." Mira lets off a soft laugh as Lune reemerges.
"I got a working projector and the film reels of 7 films, I can sell them all to you for… 400 caps?" She asked.
"350?" Adam tried to haggle.
"400 and I'll throw in three records like you asked about." Adam paused for a moment and then shrugged.
"Alright, deal." He nodded. "Just subtract it from the goods you are buying."
"443 caps then." She said as she reached under her counter and pulled out the appropriate amount of slips and caps, handing them over.
"I always appreciate your business." She smiled. "Do you want me to have your stuff delivered to your monstrosity outside?" Lune asked, referring to the APC.
"Yes please," He nodded.
"Alright I'll have my Mr. Handy drop it off in a bit."
Adam turned around to leave and then noticed a thick red scarf hanging on one of the racks. All things considered it was in remarkably good shape, probably even made pre-war.
"How much for that?" he asked.
"What? The scarf? Eh, 25 caps oughta do." She shrugged.
"Sold." He said, pulling out 25 caps to pay her.
"Didn't think you were a scarf kinda guy." Lune remarked, teasing.
"Oh no, it's not for me, it's for one of my friends."
"Well far be it from me to tell you how and where to spend your caps."
After the sales were done Adam had one more stop to make before he could have everything fully unloaded from the back of the APC. He still had yet to visit Ghoul Town. However on his way over he stopped at the APC seeing how there were still onlookers, even after having left it untouched for a while, and several people just hanging around it. Rae had done a good job keeping people away, not many want to tangle with a robobrain after all.
"Hey Rae." Adam smiled as he approached.
"Sergeant!" Rae chimed happily as they rolled over.
"Good work keeping the APC safe, I will ask you to keep doing that, it looks like our stay here got extended for a few days, if you don't mind." Adam said with a soft apologetic tone.
"Not at all Sergeant! I enjoy being relied on, so please, rely on me more!" Rae said with a happy tone. Adam chuckled.
"Well if you insist then I will rely on you to keep the APC safe for the next few days, I will need to get a room in Midway so it will be on you to keep it safe day and night. In addition, eventually a Mr. Handy will come here to deliver a movie projector and a few other things so please open the back for the Mr. Handy and let them drop it off."
"Understood sir! Rae will do this gladly!" Rae said with a small salute.
"Well let me reward your bravery." He said as he gently placed the scarf around Rae's 'neck'. Rae remained silent for a moment.
"Is this… another gift, sergeant?" Rae asked, curiously, with a softer tone.
"Yes, it is. It is yours." He smiled back.
"Rae will cherish this gift, sir." They said before once more rolling off, though one claw was placed gently on the scarf as they did.
"You truly are a strange individual." Mira said from behind. Adam turned to look at her.
"What makes you say that?"
"You treat all your followers as equals, even your robotic companions. A robobrain is no more than a tool, no different than a toaster, there should be no need to buy it gifts." She said, with a soft tilt of her head, but Adam shook his.
"True there are robots that are just that, robots. Protectrons, Sentry bots, even assualtrons are just robots." He said before turning to look at Rae, who was near the front of the APC now, standing guard. "But Rae has a human brain. That makes them 'alive' and since they are, I think they can think and feel, even if it is processed like a robot. If nothing else they do seem to appreciate the gifts so I don't mind indulging them."
"Even if that brain used to belong to a death row inmate?" She asked. Adam turned.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. I can not confirm this is true for every single robobrain, but robobrains got their brains from death row inmates that had their brains extracted and then wiped of all memories before being given a body. That is why, at times, a robobrain can act erratically. If the memory wiping was not done completely they might act out." Adam stared at her for a moment and then shot a look at Rae and then back at her.
"Don't you think that the human who once had that brain has paid a large enough price? I mean, they got their memories wiped and planted into a robot for over 200 years. I think they deserve some mercy."
"I'm not questioning you, to be clear, I just wanted to know your perspective. After all, you were from the time when robots were just servants."
"Well you aren't wrong." Adam let off a sigh. "I too fell victim to that too, it was easy to see a robot as nothing but just a tool, but the world has changed, so have I, and there are a lot more nuances now that I have started looking than before. Besides, when you work as closely with robots as I do you begin to learn they all have their own quirks, even the simple ones." Adam let off a soft chuckle. "Come on, let's get the rest of the stuff out of the APC, we got to make a stop in Ghoul Town."