[color=f26522]CELESTE BROWN[/color] - Salem diner -- mid morning to noon

It felt like she had been screaming for hours, but really, it had to only be a few moments.  Rick entered the diner, immediately looked down at Steve's form, and motioned for her to quiet down.  Celeste sniffed and stood back, watching Rick approach the body.

Rick looked around and grabbed a piece of broken glass and placed it by Steve's mouth and nose. He watched it fog up, telling him he was still alive. He looked over at Celeste, “we need a plank or something to move him, don’t want to pick him up in case he broke anything."

Celeste's mouth opened and shut like a hooked fish.  Suddenly, an armour-clad super mutant burst into the diner, perhaps drawn by her screams.  She swallowed hard but her throat was dry.  The mutant grunted, pushed Rick over completely, lifted Steve, and left the diner as quick as he'd come in.

"Oh my god, oh my god!  What is he doing with Steve?  Where is he going?!  W-what --"

She cut herself off as she watched the mutant walk into the clinic with Steve.  Baffled, she rubbed her eyes, but the mutant could no longer be seen.  

"This day sure has become...unreal," she said aloud.  Her entire body began to tremble.  Celeste braced herself against the counter, then sat up onto the stool.  Betty plunked a cup of coffee in front of her, before retrieving a broom and dustpan and puttering around the diner.

"Do ya think those kinds of things are gonna be common, around here?" Celeste posed aloud.

"The deathclaws?" Betty replied.

"Right.  And the raiders."

Betty pushed a pile of debris into her dustpan and gave Celeste an odd smirk.  "Have you been living under a rock this whole time?  Where are ya from there weren't weird creatures and raiders??"

"Under a rock?  No, who could live like that?"

Frieda came into the diner and recoiled at the mess, and the dead deathclaw.  "Everyone all right, in here?  I can escort you to the clinic."

Betty shrugged, while Celeste nodded, wordlessly.  "Uh, okay."  Frieda tapped her hands on her thighs.  "Oh, has anyone seen Brandy?"

"Nope, and that hair-pasting snivelling little bitch better not make herself seen around [i]here[/i], anytime soon!" Betty rattled off, dramatically slamming the contents of her dustpan into a trash bin.

"...what?"

Celeste locked eyes with Frieda and gave her head a short shake.  Betty needed to focus on getting the diner back to useable shape rather than getting upset about Brandy's prank all over again.  Frieda seemed annoyed.

"Well, if any of you find an injury or something you want to get checked out, feel free to come by the clinic."

"Sure thing," Celeste replied, and watched the blonde retreat.  She looked over at Betty and managed to find some caps in her pocket.  She placed them onto the counter.  "I should be getting back.  I had a guest at the inn and I hope she is okay."

"Whatever you gotta do," Betty replied casually, snapping the caps off the counter.

Celeste emerged from the diner into the sunlight of the early afternoon.  A woman she didn't recognize was sauntering down the road towards the center of town, a huge grin on her face and carrying an assortment of tools and other equipment.  She briefly considered asking her where she was going and what she was doing, but decided she should really just get back to the inn.

"Manager Celeste!" Archie called to her when she was at the head of the road.  "Do take care, it appears that one still has some life left in it."

"Who?" she asked, just as the maimed deathclaw scraped itself around to face her.  It let out a string of angry sounds, though they sounded a little tired, as well.  "Jeepers!  Huh-how am I supposed to get over there?!"

"No need to worry, manager, it's missing most of one of its legs, and apparently, quite a bit of blood, too.  How it's still alive is quite mind boggling, wouldn't you say?"

"[i]ARCHIE![/i]"

"I assure you, there is no cause for alarm."

Celeste clasped her hands over her chest, her eyes wide, her heart beating fast.  As she stared, the deathclaw did appear to be running out of gas.  It had resolved itself to simply glowering at her.  Something inside her gave her speed, and she whipped past it, then Archie, then burst into the doors, huffing and puffing.