The next day Adam woke up to the sound of his pip-boy alarm going off. Something he had never done before. Sure when he was in the old world he would wake up to an alarm but he hasn't done that once since he woke up in the vault. So naturally he needed coffee.
Heading to a coffee stand on the first floor he grabbed a cup to go for 10 caps and then headed to the school, which, as he found out yesterday, was in the residential section of the second floor, near where The Delta is, yet again a part of Midway he had never seen. Though at least this time he had an excuse, not much to see there other than houses and school.
Adam had gone the extra mile, he decided to bring all of his gear, minus the guns, with him to the school, if the concept was to introduce the job to the kids to his job then it made sense to be decked out in his combat armor with his gas mask, his binoculars, and everything else.
He did consider coming armed, at least with his pistol like he normally did when walking around Midway, especially since these kids lived here, in this post-apocalyptic future, they were probably used to seeing firearms. However he decided to keep anything dangerous away. He did bring his knife though because, you know, it's just a knife.
Upon arriving at the school he was greeted by Mary.
"I'm so glad you could make it Adam!" She smiled as Adam approached, finishing his coffee as he did.
"It's a little early for me, but I promised to come so I certainly did." He smiled back.
"Well I appreciate it either way, I'm sure you will do wonderfully. Please follow me. I'll bring you to our gymnasium which we turned into booths for our guests to talk to the kids." She then turned to lead Adam into the school heading through an oddly familiar school setup with classrooms and lockers, albeit smaller than he was used to, and led him into a large open space with basketball hoops on either end. She then walked over to a small folding table with a chair and gestured for Adam to sit down.
Once he did he noticed there was a paper name tag on the desk with his name and a 'Hello! I am a Scavenger!' written on it. He stuck it to his chest and then turned back to Mary.
"Anything I should say when the kids come or…?"
"Just be yourself, and if the kids ask anything inappropriate don't oblige them, they can be cheeky sometimes." She then looked at her watch. "I have to get the children, please wait here for them to arrive." She then quickly left to head to what was likely her classroom to gather the kids. Adam waited patiently in the gym surrounded by a bunch of others representing different jobs in Midway. As he scanned around the room he noticed Jay was here, which was surprising. Unfortunately he was several tables away but a quick wave to him confirmed Jay saw him too. Other than Jay he noted a lot of people with a huge variety of jobs, there were chefs, hotel staff, town guards, maintenance workers, scientists, doctors, caravan workers, couriers, and even a knight from the knights of the round too.
Eventually the kids arrived, several classes worth, apparently, as the kids arrived in one huge group alongside a number of other teachers, Mary included. The kids began to quickly run to whatever table interested them despite warning from several teachers not to run. Adam wasn't sure what to expect but he very quickly had quite a lot of kids show up at his table. Unsurprisingly his was a popular job.
"Hi!" One of the kids, a little girl, beamed at him as she and 6 other kids walked up to his table.
"Hi there." Adam said back with a warm tone and smile.
"What's a Scay-venge-ear?" One boy asked from behind her, pronouncing the word wrong.
"Its Scavenger." Adam said politely. "And it means someone who goes out beyond the walls and looks for things people need."
"What kind of stuff?" A kid in the back, who was picking his nose asked.
"Anything." Adam smiled. "From books and cooking supplies to robots and even dangerous things like guns."
"What kind of guns?!" One little, very excited boy asked. Adam chuckled softly.
"Whatever I can find. Sometimes that means big guns, sometimes that means small ones."
"My mom says there are scary monsters outside the wall." Another of the kids said.
"She's right." Adam said with a soft informative tone. "Outside Midway's walls there are many creatures, most aren't friendly. So my job isn't easy, it can be quite dangerous."
"But you still get to shoot stuff right? Like brap brap brap brap!" The excited boy from before said making the noises of a gun with his hands. Adam chuckled quietly.
"Yes, often my job requires me to defend myself, that does mean shooting guns, often. To survive out there it requires me to put a ton of my skills to use."
"Have you ever seen a deathclaw?!" The young girl from the start asked, her eyes sparkling. Adam nodded.
"I have, it was quite a ferocious creature." Adam said, remembering his encounter with the monster when he had just left the vault. He was so unprepared to face one, he was lucky to get away. Honestly, he wouldn't exactly jump at a chance to fight one even now if he could avoid it.
"What was it like?!" The girl asked again. Adam paused to think.
"It was tall, really really tall." he said emphatically, raising his arm high above his head to exaggerate the effect. "And it had spikes coming out its back and its massive tail!" He said miming the spikes as well. "And it had massive claws and razor sharp teeth!" He said getting into it now with the voice he was using to describe the creature. The little girl giggled at his description and the excited boy spoke up.
"Did you fight it?!"
"No no." Adam stopped him gently. "The first rule of being a Scavenger is knowing how to pick your fights. Or, better yet, trying to avoid fighting whenever you can. After all there's no replacement for your life." He smiled.
"What's that?" One of the other kids asked while they pointed to Adam's pip-boy.
"Ah, this is my pip-boy. It's a special tool that helps me keep organized as well as give me a map whenever I need, plus all the other functions it has too."
"How much did it cost?!" The excited boy asked again. Adam laughed softly.
"I found it, so technically free, one of the benefits of being a Scaver."
What's that?" The same kid from before asked as this time they pointed to his combat armor, which he could only infer since it was just generally his whole body.
"This?" he asked as he pulled at his combat armor a bit. "This is my body armor, it keeps me safe when I go outside from whatever sort of wasteland creature decides to try to fight me."
"Oh so it's like the armor the guards wear!" The kid in the back said with a nod of understanding.
"Exactly!" He smiled.
"Okay, thanks mister!" The girl at the front said energetically as she then led her friends to another table, everyone following along behind her with the excited boy lingering the longest.
Adam sat down and took a look around the room now that he had a moment. There were definitely jobs that were more popular than others. However before he could even process that information more kids waddled up to him to begin their own questions. So Adam once more got busy.