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88.71% Steel Waste / Chapter 629: Drinkscape

Chapter 629: Drinkscape

Afton continues walking around and eventually spots his next 'targets'... Karl was sat next to his daughter Caroline listening to Mr. New Vegas on the radio. Carlos didn't seem to be around anywhere, but that's probably more due to the current time than anything else.

"So, you guys hear the news then?" he asks while sitting next to the father-daughter duo.

Karl glances his way and nods while rubbing his Cybernetic leg. "Yeah, a new nation huh? Gotta say, I definitely didn't expect this when I found you runnin' from that Deathclaw. I am glad though, never woulda got my girl back from the Legion either."

Caroline looks to Afton, "You sure House can be trusted? I heard a bunch of things while serving the NCR and during my time with the Legion..." she looks left and right before leaning in, "Some say he's a zombie... Like, not a Ghoul, but a real zombie from the movies!" she quietly says.

Afton and Karl laugh at her accusation, knowing that House was either like the Think Tank scientists or some sort of AI designed to mimic the real House's personality. "I think a zombie would be far less eloquent than House currently is... Now, I'd believe you if there were more grunts and talk of eating brains... But..." he gives an exaggerated shrug.

"Most things people tell you directly are molerat-shit, you want the truth then you gotta investigate it yourself." Karl mutters.

"So, Caroline... You got any plans now that the war is basically over? I imagine that once Carlos is grown-up you'll need to find something to occupy your time." Afton asks, wondering what she wanted to do.

Caroline looks unsure at being asked this, "I don't know... The only career I've had was serving the NCR... Plus the labour I did as a slave, but... I'd rather not do that again..."

Afton nods, "And you won't have to ever again, but if you have something you want to learn or do, I could help you out with it... We aren't exactly lacking resources here." he jokes, gesturing at the rather out-of-hand party occurring behind him... Only now noticing that some chuckle-fucks thought it was a good idea to see who could drink two-hundred-year-old aged whisky the fastest. "OI! You ain't wasting my drink playing games you fucks! You want whisky then get it from the matter converters!" he shouts, causing the group to quickly vacate their position, fearing punishment.

"Well... I used to do woodwork as a hobby... But that was only in California... Good wood was hard to come by since most of it was mangled, knotted, and varied wildly in hardness and texture..." she trails off.

Afton is actually surprised by this... Carpentry wasn't exactly a sought after profession nowadays, and anyone who claimed to be a carpenter in the Mojave was regarded as a crazy person... After all, trees don't grow in the desert.

As for 'good wood' being expensive? That didn't actually surprise him... The amount of radiation released after the great war had irreversibly altered most plant life. Even the trees up in Jacobstown were absolutely covered in knots and burls, which were essentially just tree cancer. He remembered doing carpentry back in his past life and trying to work with knots, needless to say, he'd rather punch steel than try to make something from heavily knotted wood.

Back to Caroline's interest in the subject though, perhaps when the scientists had free time they could genetically create a few radiation-resistant trees that could thrive in the desert... The lack of water would be the main issue with that, but if he irrigated some areas then bringing colour to the Mojave might not be so difficult.

Plus, perhaps helping independent businesses like the one Caroline might make would be the key to raising the Mojave above everywhere else. He imagined that exporting proper newly made furniture would draw some attention, especially since most furniture used nowadays was two-hundred-years old...

Afton slowly nods at Caroline, "I'll have someone get to work on that, for now, we might be able to import some wood from Jacobstown if you'd like." he says, hoping for her to get some practice before potentially monetising it.

Her eyes light up at his offer as she eagerly accepts, Karl sending a grateful look his way.

With that, Afton gets up and moves to the next group of partygoers... But stops once he spots a large gathering of Cyberdogs... It looked as if they were having their own party, with many water bowls and bowls of meat laid out as if they'd planned beforehand... Though, he suspects Borous having a hand in this.

Shaking his head, he moves on and finally spots the people he was looking for. Boone is sitting with Shani, with Josie on the opposite side of the table, each with a beer in front of them. Afton falls into one of the free seats and interrupts their conversation.

"Yo, you guys having fun? I didn't even know there was a party until half an hour ago..." he admits while taking one of their half-finished drinks.

Josie shrugs, "It only started an hour and a half ago, so, you didn't really miss much."

"'I didn't miss much', which basically means you aren't enjoying yourself. Something wrong? Cuz, if you're bored I swear someone had installed some sort of karaoke machine over there..."

Josie shakes her head, "No, just saying it takes a while for the drinks to kick in. That, and I was waiting for someone." she adds, not making it hard to tell who she's referring to.

"Uh huh... So, talking bout anything interesting?" he says, changing the topic to avoid that subject.. At least, avoid it until his own drinks kick in, which, considering his mutations, might take a while.

Shani nods, "I. We, were discussing a dream I had... I wanted to hear their thoughts before I told you about it..." she sheepishly admits.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know Thanks!

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Justin David

Shameful69

JayJonnaJamison

Chapter 630: SSP

Afton immediately perks up upon hearing this. Whatever dream Shani might've had may reveal events in the future, events he may want to stop... Though, if it just reveals a Mojave utopia with Bulwark and Mr House flags flying above every building he wouldn't be surprised... "Tell me about it then." he requests.

Shani chews her lip for a moment before speaking, looking incredibly anxious, "I... I dreamt that many pillars of blue fire would come down from the sky... The dream ended before they hit the ground though..." she mutters.

...

Blue pillars of fire from the sky huh? That sounded an awful lot like his orbital laser... Or, it could just be aliens, especially considering that they actually exist in this universe... This could be pretty bad to be honest, either he goes crazy and unleashes massive orbital bombardment onto the planet for some reason, someone hacks into his orbital lasers, or... Aliens suddenly attack the world?

...

The trio just watch the many emotions occur on Afton's face, wondering if he knew what might be the cause of the dream. "You know anything?" Boone inquires.

Afton slowly shakes his head, "Nothing for certain, but I'll make sure we are prepared for such a situation." he diplomatically states before making a show of looking around, "Any of you seen Veronica or Christine anywhere?"

The trio chuckle, "You won't be seeing them until tomorrow." Josie adds while taking a swig.

"Ooooh... Good for them I guess." he mutters while kicking his feet up, "Any word on Tamia?" he asks, wondering where she was... She was supposedly the Protagonist, which meant she should have been present at Hoover Dam if everything went similarly to Fallout 3...

The trio shakes their heads, "No... Haven't seen her since she left through the tunnel system." Boone adds.

Afton idly nods as they begin discussing other subjects, their thoughts on House, the future, Psykers, even what they'd each be doing now that the war was essentially over. All the while, Afton was doing his best to break through his mutations resistances against alcohol... He knew it could be done, but, it'd take a while.

So, glasses of straight Vodka and Whisky were deployed, and an hour after he started drinking, he was finally starting to feel a little tipsy... Though, everyone else at the party had either gone back to their rooms already, or were completely shitfaced.

He did, however, take a moment to tell Glados to start making estimations on the various causes of Shani's dream... He'd need to start preparing for that now if he wanted to be ready for it... He could think of a couple ways to deal with Aliens, like multiple orbital lasers, or simply a shit ton of anti-air cannons...?

He's drawn from his thoughts when a red-faced Josie taps him on the shoulder and gestures at the not vacant seat where Boone and Shani had been... "Er, did they leave together?" he questions, wondering if Boone had finally gotten out of his funk.

Josie shrugs, "Probably not... Just walking her back to her room I'd bet... Say..." she trails off with a mischievous grin, "You wanna walk me back too? It's getting pretty late..."

Afton crooks a brow but doesn't reject her, instead, standing and offering a hand. "I guess I could, if you really want to." he says, knowing exactly where this is going.

And as you'd expect, it went exactly where you'd think.

The next day Afton awoke in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, with surprising familiar arms wrapped around his waist. He hadn't drunk all that much so he remembered exactly what he'd done last night, plus the bonus of his regenerative abilities stopping any hangovers...

He sits up suddenly when he remembers he's got a meeting with House at 11 am... His eyes dart around the room but he doesn't spot any clocks around, all the while completely forgetting the Pipboy attached to his arm. He pulls himself out of bed and rapidly starts getting dressed, accidentally waking up Josie in the process.

She grumbles and rubs her eyes once she feels the source of warmth leave the bed, looking over at Afton's frantic movements, "Mmm... What is this? A dine and dash?" she mutters half sarcastically.

Afton shakes his head while he pulls his shirt on, "You know I'm not like that, once the meeting is over we'll talk about... This."

She chuckles, "What's there to talk about? Unless!" she gives an exaggerated gasp, though, her acting was terrible as she was still half asleep. "Did you realise you weren't into women last night?"

...

"I can't tell if you're teasing me or not... Wouldn't me turning gay after a night with you be your fault, not mine?" he asks while pulling his trousers on.

She waves her hand in his direction with a yawn, "Semantics... Besides, I could just change you back after another session."

...

"You mean like a sexuality swapping pussy or something? As funny as that superpower would be, I doubt it's possible... Even with Psykers." Afton states before giving a light kiss and leaving.

"Bring some breakfast when you get back!" Josie calls after him before going back to sleep.

Once outside he calls for Glados, breathing a sigh of relief at the fact he still had ten minutes to get to New Vegas. It was enough to get there, but not really enough to organize his thoughts for the meeting... Regardless, hopefully everything would turn out fine... House was a businessman through and through, but you could only negotiate so much when your opponent has a bigger and better army, as well as an orbital laser at his disposal. Plus the fact he'd claimed that Bulwark had already allied with New Vegas, meaning that House had to seal the deal no matter what.

The only reason Afton wasn't going to make ridiculous demands though was because having a good relationship with House would most likely trump whatever he could extract from the man.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Justin David

Shameful69

JayJonnaJamison

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