Josie looks up again at the approaching package flying through the sky, it's bigger than the one holding her ring, but Afton again holds his hand out as if to catch it... Only for the package to land squarely atop his head!
"TODEFLURIGO!!" he squeaks as he falls face-first onto the floor, as the package carrying the heavy granite statue he'd commissioned lands atop him. Somehow, he managed to keep hold of the rings and prevent them from falling onto the ground, at the expense of his face... He gets a mouth full of dirt as Tamia moves in to assist and pulls the small statuette off of him.
"GLADOS!!!!" he mentally shouts over the brainwaves, wondering if she was trying to sabotage his attempts to soothe Josie...
Looking up, he notices that his girlfriend's face was bright red... Though, he couldn't tell if it was her embarrassment, anger, shame, or even just a blush... He readies himself to get hit for Glados' blunder, but is surprised when Josie bursts out in laughter.
The strange tension of the situation breaks as she, Tamia, and a couple people from the crowd of observers started laughing at his expense, which, wasn't a bad thing he supposed. At least she didn't seem angry with him anymore?
He spits out the dirt that'd somehow gotten in his mouth and gives Josie a weak grin, "So? Whaddya say? Wanna get hitched?"
Josie just gives a beaming smile and throws her arms around his neck, hugging him as tight as possible.
Afton reciprocates, "I'm sorry what I said last time, I was just surprised is all. Forgive me?" he whispers to her.
She nods, unable to be mad at him in this kind of situation... Maybe having a kid with him wouldn't be so bad?... Almost all of her negative feelings from the past few days evaporated like water in the desert.
While his proposal was a bit awkward and rushed, he made up for it with his earnestness... Plus, those rings helped...
At the side, Tamia just watches with crossed arms, happy that her friends had seemingly reconciled... All she needed to do now what stop either of them from doing something stupid and hurting the other... She might be able to take over some of Afton's military responsibilities as well to give him time for Josie... Regardless, her work, for now, was almost done.
She walks behind Josie and catches Afton's eyes, gesturing at the heavy package she was carrying while nodding her head at the Think Tank.
Afton nods in response and picks Josie up in a bridal carry before quickly making his way to the Sink, so they could talk without being hounded by the well-wishing crowd... Most of them knew who Afton was, so his getting hitched was kind of a big deal...
At the Sink, Afton tosses Josie onto the couch as she tries to get frisky with him. Fortunately, he manages to stop her as Tamia walks in with the package, plonking it on a nearby table as Josie reluctantly calms herself.
"Your hand." he asks, extending his own to Josie.
She does as she's told and Afton slips the ring onto her finger, taking a great deal of satisfaction as she stares down dumbly at the jewellery. "So, you made these?" she asks, glancing at the similar ring on his own finger.
Afton pauses for a moment before nodding, "Y-yeah, personally cut the gems, engraved the insides, shaped the ring itself... Two days was cutting it tight to be honest." he states, receiving an exasperated sigh from Tamia.
"They're gorgeous." Josie coos, rubbing the ring with a bright smile plastered on her face.
Tamia nods at the side, "Yeah, doubt anyone in the world gets personalized jewellery like that made anymore."
Afton nods, "Probably. I doubt gem cutting and jewellery making are popular occupations... Supply and demand simply wouldn't allow it." he shrugs, "Plus the task of finding gold? The NCR probably ha the most, aside from the Brotherhood who'd stolen a considerable sum from them... Maybe there are chests of it buried in the ocean, but I doubt anyone would be willing to risk themselves looking for them..." he states, getting nods from the two.
The oceans became far most dangerous after the great war... Most of the radiation that was released by the nukes landed or was washed away into the ocean, leading it to be heavily irradiated.
Add the fact the problems preventing creatures from growing larger are made irrelevant in the water, and you get what basically amounts to 'Kaiju'. Afton wouldn't be surprised if there was a version of Godzilla swimming around this universe.
"Anyway, I've got another gift for you as well. Personally made like your ring." he adds, not willing to say that the gifts had been made in under ten minutes... Though, some of the matter converters had been burnt out trying to produce such specific and expensive objects. Gold wasn't easy to make after all.
Afton takes the package from the table and gives it to Josie to open. Inside, she found a stone statue that was around two feet or so tall. With some help lifting it out of the package, she's greeted by an artistic rendition of her and Afton dancing in fancy clothes, her belly noticeably, but not overtly bulging.
Josie's eyes start tearing up as she examines it, unable to stop herself as the tears start falling. "I-I'm sorry." she mutters as she wipes the moisture from her eyes as Afton and Tamia look on with worry. "It-it's beautiful... Thank you." she sobs, resting it on the couch and hugging Afton tightly.
"There, there." he coos, rubbing her backs he soothes her. "I love you, you and our child. It might be hard with everything happening, but I'll make this work." he states with determination, only causing Josie to cry harder.
Tamia leaves as this starts, deciding not to interrupt them... The tightness in her chest at the sight made her uncomfortable, despite it though, she wouldn't admit such a thing, not even to herself.
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It's been four weeks since Afton had reconciled with Josie, he was still busy of course, but the couple's new understanding had made it easier to deal with such issues.
The state of the Mojave wouldn't wait for them however, Afton was forced to assist House in reinforcing the borders of the region to protect against any retaliatory Legion attack... Despite their massive losses at Hoover Dam and the chaos caused by Caesar's abrupt 'suicide', they were still a threat...
The chance of them all gathering for one last 'hurrah' to avenge Caesar and capture the Mojave in his name wasn't zero, so, House elected to gather Afton's help in this effort.
As for what the defences were? Well, ten-foot-high walls surrounded the region, they were made of metal scaffolding and thick concrete to limit costs, and they stretched all the way around the territory, even extending miles east of the colorado.
The walls would be liberally dotted with tesla cannons, a weapon Afton wasn't all that bothered to spread to House. While yes, they were somewhat effective against Power armour due to the way they functioned, Bulwark power armour wouldn't be all that much affected due to the many defensive precautions they'd been fitted with.
It would be quite expensive to power however, and Afton wasn't willing to expend his own resources to charge them, he had provided the weapons and the wall, so it was House's turn to contribute.
Still, to make the weapons more efficient, Afton had the weapons inactive until small sensors detected enemies in the area. They would detect electronic foes, as well as organic ones, so there wouldn't be a massive vulnerability on that front.
Of course, even with the boosts to efficiency, the Hoover Dam simply wasn't able to provide energy to those defences, as well as to New Vegas and other towns that needed it... Thus, Afton started renting out the spare power produced by Helios One.
Yes, he had completely claimed the facility after the NCR had left. Helios One was probably the most well-defended place in the Mojave if he were honest, not even Novac's defences would come close... This is primarily due to Afton's worry of potential infiltration, thus, the rather ridiculous amount of Ultra-Bots, Cyberdogs, and Bulwark soldier patrols.
There was also the Archimedes one to consider as well. This would instantly annihilate any organic matter in or around the facility, Afton had made sure to give himself remote access, so he wouldn't have to personally go there to activate it should shit hit the fan.
Now that Bulwark was basically responsible for creating, maintaining, and powering the defences of the Mojave, its place as a powerful faction was cemented. Even the silliest fool would be able to recognise who was truly in control, much to Mr House's chagrin.
The man was a control freak, but the circumstances wouldn't permit him to act in any way contrary to Afton's wishes, thus, the rather humiliating position he now found himself in... Regardless, he'd have to make due, because there was little to nothing the man could do to change it.
There were also more defences added to Hoover Dam... East of it, Afton and House had begun construction of a fortress, boringly named 'Fort Hoover'. When it was finished, it'd basically look like a high-tech castle, with metal reinforcing the heavy granite stones composing its walls, and a ridiculous list of armaments covering it.
This fort will be managed and maintained by Bulwark, House attempted to negotiate around this, but Afton wasn't having any of it... After all, they were doing almost all the work, and even House was forced to agree that, while Securitrons could do many things, maintaining a fort simply wasn't one of them.
Again, this basically gave Afton complete control of the Dam, even if he left it up to House what to do with it...
He and House had also continued to negotiate over what laws and other things the man would create, but it was easy to agree on most things as they weren't beholden to massive corporations like the old world's politicians were. This allowed them to be as pragmatic and direct in their decisions, quickly leading to a unanimous consensus on what actually needed to be enacted.
Aside from strengthening his hold on the Mojave, there had been some other, more light-hearted events... The most obvious of them being Afton and Josie's wedding ceremony...
Neither of them had wanted anything big, indeed, big weddings were almost entirely restricted to high-up NCR officials. Most religions, traditions, and other facets of society simply hadn't survived the great war... In fact, most of what people retained came from what the Vault Dwellers remembered, and what books, advertisements, and other pieces of media described weddings to be.
Afton didn't consider it a big deal that he was getting married, so the only ones in attendance were close friends and companions... The Remnants were there on behalf of the dearly departed Daisy, his friends from the Brotherhood that'd joined Bulwark were there, and his companions were at the front row...
Funnily enough, he'd stupidly had Glados presiding over the entire thing... Yeah, he wasn't doing that again.
Mid-ceremony the AI would make statements between her script... 'Join these meat-bags here today in this godforsaken desert', 'You may exchange bodily fluids', 'Til death do you part, so once one of you kicks the bucket, do what you want.'
...
Yeah, not his best decision ever... Though, he couldn't help but feel that Glados would be upset if he hadn't let her preside over it... Maybe there was something he was missing though?
Afterwards, there was a small private party for the attendees... In the end, he and Josie left for their room, and he swore if she wasn't pregnant already, she'd definitely be two or three times over after that night...
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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