Poe said
"Hey there little pebble. Are you ready to shake, rattle and roll? Because let me tell you, your bones don't look like they've been dusted on the ground appropriately. I'm almost afraid you'll break like fine china once I push you over this balcony."
Dallas quickly turned around, cigarette in hand. 'Now...' He said, taking a breath in. 'Is that even how you introduce yourself?' He frowned 'should at least gimme a name...'
The man laughed. "I like your sense of priorities. I am Poe, and I suppose it's only courteous if I ask for your name in return."
Dallas hesitated for a split second. 'James or Dallas?' He thought... He spoke up 'Dallas...'
"Well Dallas, you seem to have some flow with you. I like that, so forget the whole thing with the balcony. Clearly we got off on the wrong foot. Tell you what, I have a little something a fellow like you might appreciate..." He began to reach into one of his coat pockets.
James was suspicious. He looked at Poe as he reached into his pocket. Was it a gun? grenade? or a knife maybe? He was unsure whether or not Poe was trying to befriend him or kill him. Either way, he stood there, his hands in his pocket. His suspicious turned out to have been prudent, for Poe abruptly yanked his hand from the pocket, revealing a grenade - and a pulled grenade pin looped around his thumb.
"SURPRISE! WE'RE BOTH GONNA DIE!" Poe shouted enthusiastically, surging forward and invading Dallas' personal space, waving the grenade in the air dramatically.
'Shit...' Dallas cursed. He knew that Poe was gagging it, due to the way that he was holding the grenade, he was hiding the other pin, which was still secure. Dallas politely put a hand on Poe's stomach, pushing the man away from him. 'Nice try...' Dallas said, looking at him.
Poe scowled. "I really want to see you fall off this balcony..." He grumbled as he stashed the grenade, though he kept the second pin and spun it lazily around his thumb. "How about you do it to impress the House? I mean, because let's face it, you're so well kept he'll probably mistake you for a man-whore otherwise. How did you even get in here?"
Dallas frowned upon Poe. 'Not an NCR fan i'm guessing?' he asked 'Or is it the fact that i'm prettier than you?' Dallas' frown rose into a smirk. "Yes?" Poe cackled in response. "Certainly can't fault you for not being a cool rider. But thing is, as far as I or anyone else knows you're just some Brahmin Baron yuppie. You didn't answer my question." 'The little robot let me in...' Dallas answered. 'Nice guy... didn't even gimme his name...'
"Those robots don't just let anybody in here." Poe scoffed. "I'm new to the area, but even I know that we're probably the first people other than Tenpenny to set foot in here since that snafu with that Courier. I was asking you what you were hired for - I just assumed you were smart enough to read between the lines of what I was saying, but apparently not. So you're not here because of your brains at least." Poe gave Dallas a rictus grin.
Dallas stood there, with a... disappointed look on his face. 'You're right... I ain't the smartest NCR...' He admitted. 'I was given this pip-boy... Told to come here... Poor soul died giving me this... Didn't catch his name either...' Dallas looked over at Poe. 'I came here also, because I think this might help me find someone...' He added, holding the picture of Caroline in his duster pocket.
"What, they're just letting anybody with a Pipboy walk right on in, no questions asked?" Poe's smile vanished entirely, subsumed by an annoyed look of dismay. "I had to jump through all sorts of hoops on the way in."
Dallas continued to keep his original frown. 'Remember what I said. A boy died, and he gave this to me... He said I was 'the type...', And like I said, this might help me look for someone...' Dallas turned around. 'Now where is this Tenpenny fellow?' He muttered, looking around.
"So you're an understudy to the person who was originally hired. Feh. I guess you'll do until you don't and get splattered all over the nearest wall." Poe said, looking faintly disappointed. "And knowing Tenpenny's type, he's probably down in the high-roller suite waiting for all of us to assemble. He'll make a dramatic entrance along with House or something to that effect once everybody is here."
Dallas chuckled to himself. 'That's what rich folk do right? Make themselves known. I'd get why he would make such a big entrance...' He admitted, taking another whiff of his cigar. 'Why don't I be polite...' Dallas said, pulling out his pack of smokes. 'Want one?' he asked.
"Don't smoke." Poe said. "We should probably get off this balcony before I change my mind and shove you off anyway. The temptation grows with every moment. Also, considering the number of explosives I'm trotting around, you'd better keep that dirty little mouth fuse away." Poe warned as he began to head down the stairs towards the lounge.
Dallas smirked, and followed after Poe down the stairs. He put his pack back into his pocket and took his current one out of his mouth, which was close to becoming a bud. 'Hope this place has an ash tray...' Dallas thought, holding his now cigarette butt in his hand.
"What model is that pipboy of yours anyway?" Poe asked as he threw himself back onto one of the couches in the corner of the room, besides a desk with a view overlooking the city below.
Dallas looked down at his right wrist. 'I dunno...' He said 'Never had one before actually...' He hesitated '3000 I'm guessing... Why, new mew model out or some shit?'
"No, it's...oh fuck it, it'll just be easier to show you. Arm out." Poe waved impatiently for Dallas' left arm. It was hard to tell due to the goggles, but he had an expectant look.
'How do I know you're not gonna chop my arm off or something of the sorts...' Dallas said.
"Little mote, if I wanted your arm, I would have fucking taken it the second I walked in." Poe said flatly.
'Fair point...' Dallas said. He sat down on the same couch as Poe, but sat up, and was more to the edge of the sofa than Poe was. He lifted his left arm up. 'All yours...' Dallas said
Poe grabbed the glove device and began fiddling with the control knob and dial, switching the screen to the radio receiver. He then set the third dial on the device - which never seemed to do anything when Dallas used it - to a particular setting, pressed it down for three seconds, and then turned it all the way to the right. The pipboy's screen flickered for a moment before the refined textures of the control interface vanished entirely, leaving only a black screen filled with termlink code. Poe studied the screen for a few moments.
"Where did you say you got this again?" Poe asked bemusedly as he used the dials to scroll through the code, line by line.
'A kid gave it to me before he died.' Dallas said, holding his left arm in front of Poe
"I said where, not who, idiot." Poe said, the insult only half-emphasized as the man continued examining the screen.
'Off the kid's corpse. He died. and i took it from him...' Dallas said '...Technically.'
"You are entirely worthless." Poe said, irritation creeping into his voice.
'Horrorwitz Farmstead.' Dallas said 'Little place near Horrorwitz Farmstead.'
"Well, this Pipboy has some mileage on it then. The termlink coding for it resembles the regional standard for the Northeastern province, yeah? More than a thousand miles away from here." Poe said conversationally. "I wasn't positive before, so I wasn't certain I could do...this!" He used the Pipboy's dial and knob to highlight a particular fragment of code, and then pressed the third switch. The lines of code promptly scrolled up the screen, leaving just a flat, blank screen. A moment later, a number of lines appeared across the length of the screen, each at a different orientation and each undulating at a different frequency. They were clearly representative of radio frequencies.
"There. Each line is pointing to an individual radio frequency transmission or receiver in range. You can use that to identify and localize robots, other terminals and Pipboys and the like. Should come in handy. This place is crawling with them, which is only to be expected with all these 'Securitrons' rolling around."
Dallas pulled back his arm from Poe. 'Uhm... Thank you...' He said. It took a moment to comprehend what Poe said. 'Alright...' Dallas said, looking at his pip-boy.
"Oh, and by the way the other functions are locked out now." Poe added as an afterthought.
'Wait what...' Dallas said 'So you mean that I can't use anything else?'
"That's right. I mean, you could switch between this mode and regular functionality, but that's tedious. And what use would a person like you have for a Pipboy anyway? Do you even know what they're used for?"
'I actually do know what they're used for.' Dallas said 'They provided wearers with maps, served as a Biometric... Radio, a lot of things.' Dallas slumped back into the couch, his hands in his lap.
"Well, we're going to need somebody with a Pipboy to use this particular feature for the duration of the job. So get used to it, unless someone else comes along with another one." Poe said, a faint smirk on his face. "Congratulations, you finally have a reason to be here."
Dallas looked back at Poe. 'And guess what...' He said 'If there is someone else with a pip-boy. I still won't leave... Have another reason to be here other than the pip-boy...'
"No. Look, you've dropped enough hints already that you're here for yours own reasons. Do you think anybody cares? Because nobody else gives a damn about who you are looking for. Whoever you're looking for doesn't mean anything to us, to House, Tenpenny, end of story. That's not a reason for you to be here. That's a reason for you to tag along and catch bullets for us." Poe said, a nasty tone creeping into his voice. "I'd watch what you say about your reasons for being here more carefully. I just don't care. Someone else might actually think about taking that little accessory of yours and throwing you out the window. Got that, little Mote?
Dallas shot a glare at Poe, then looked back. 'I'm still not gonna leave if you don't need me...' He said 'Yeah, other than the pip-boy I'm practially useless. But what if you need NCR authority? Huh, can't go into strict NCR territory without special permission... And a plain ole trooper won't be able to provide that permission.' Dallas pointed out. 'That's kind of where I come in...'
Poe gave Dallas a level look. "Whatever you say, little Mote."