[color=ed1c24][b]Ace Makovich - Diner[/b][/color]

“Some of us would like to eat before we starve to death,” Barney said as he puffed on his pipe waiting for his food. 

“I’m pretty sure Father time will get to you before you starve,” Ace quipped as he stirred a large pot of radstag meat and various vegetables. 

As they talked, there was a loud bang as the door to diner slammed open. Ace turned around to see what was happening but before he knew it, he was pushed out of the way as an armed man barged into the open kitchen. He opened the window and pointed his gun to what looked like to be a mutant. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Barney asked as he stood up and prepped his rifle. 

“I tell you what’s going on,” Tom said as he shut off the loud jukebox. As he turned it off, the sound of chopping wood and clattering could be heard coming from behind the diner. “You got a greenskin behind here readying for an attack!”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. That there mutant is friendly and means no harm,” Barney replied. As he was talking, a customer walked in as he talked to one of the caravan guards. 

Ace turned to the man in his kitchen area and glared at him, “Do you mind? I’d like to finish cooking and you’re in my way.”

The new man walked up to the counter “speaking of which Ace isn’t it? God only knows when it last ate or what it eats so what do you have for sale? Start with the Vegetables.... Any Melons or carrots? Bound to have something it likes...”

Ace leaned over and looked out the window, seeing the creature outside, “That’s a horse. They are extremely rare… What is one doing out east? I only ever saw one out west and it was dying.” He squatted and grabbed a box of vegetables; he grabbed the carrots and handed them to the man, “Carrots ought to work, 5 caps each.”

As he talked a woman walked into the diner, “Calm yourselves. The mutant is not hostile. His name is ‘Rook’ and he’s harvesting materials to help build a barrier. I watched him work this afternoon, myself.” She glared at Tom, and pushed past the rest of the group. She sat down on one of the barstools and locked eyes with Ace. 

Lorelei turned her head slightly sideways and furrowed her brow at Ace. “What does a girl have to do around here to get her hands on a strawberry milkshake?” She peered over at Steve and Barney and lazily bowed her head in greeting. "Nice place you've got, by the way."

“I don’t have strawberries, hard to get out here. But I do have plenty of Mutfruits, I can make a shake out of that for 20 caps.” Ace said as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed milk and the fruit. He heard her say 15, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

“So Barney, I take it I’m going to have to add this particular mutant to the targeting computer as a friendly? Won’t be easy considering almost all those freaks look similar.” Ace said as he started to prepare the ingredients. He walked over to the blender and put some milk chopped murtfruit, a little ice into a blender. He opened a cupboard and pulled out a blackened container. Inside of it was a finely granulated substance that once went by the name of sugar. It was a rare substance, and he didn’t want others seeing it so he kept it hidden.

He made sure to block it from everyone’s view and added a small scoop of it to the shake. he turned on the old blender and mixed up the ingredients. The old blender had been a pain to fix, especially sharpening the small blades. 

He grabbed a clean cup and poured the contents of the blender into it, with plenty left for another 2 shakes. He handed her the drink, and went back to stirring the stew. As he stirred he heard Tom approach the woman, he leaned on the counter and tipped his hat at her, “Well hello young lady. Name is Thomas Beauregard Sykes the III, entrepreneur extraordinary, purveyor of wares far and wide. What might your lovely name be?”