It'd gotten to the point where Afton had begun seeing double, he and Karl had made a bet earlier to see who could drink the most, and he'd begun counting each drink as two... Was it cheating? Yep... Did Afton have any idea what was happening anymore? Nope.
He gave a bright smile and clinked yet another shot of Tequila with an NCR soldier, he caught sight of the woman drinking whisky again... Unfortunately, this time she'd had enough liquid courage to march over to him... She stumbled slightly due to how inebriated she was, but she made it over to him eventually.
"Fuckin' raider piece of shit." she growled at him.
"Lady I've done nothing to you, just sit back where you came from." Afton said, taking another shot.
"Done nothin' to me? You're the reason I'm stuck in this shit-hole!" she exclaims, pushing him in an attempt to knock him off of the stool.
[Stonewall is in effect]
The stool collapses and the leg breaks but Afton somehow threw his feet underneath him, regaining his footing. He looks down at his feet for a moment in confusion before glancing back at the woman, spotting that she too was confused about what'd just happened.
"Why don't you back off? I'm not one to hit a woman." he slurs.
Karl just watches the two and laughs at them, "Is this your way of picking up women kid? Hahe! Go on son, go get 'er!" he says, the surrounding NCR soldiers joining him in encouraging Afton.
"Ain't one to hit a woman? That's great, cuz I'm fine with hittin' you!" the woman shouts, punching Afton in the face.
[Stonewall is in effect]
Afton would've fallen to the floor after being hit by the surprisingly strong woman, but somehow was still standing. He touched his face and realised his nose was bleeding. "Bitch, you do that again I'm gonna beat your ass-"
*Bap, Bap, Puchi!*
She follows up by punching him twice in the stomach and giving a roundhouse punch to his cheek. Spittle flies out of his mouth as his head in wrenched to the side by the hit, he'd had about enough of this cunt punching him though.
Gritting his teeth he turned towards her and grabbed her shoulders, giving the hardest headbutt he could manage. He was targeting her nose but misses and ends up slamming their forehead together, the woman stumbling backwards, clearly disorientated.
By now the duo had been encircled by the drunken crowd, each already betting on the winner. Most bet on the woman as they'd seen her beat down bigger men than Afton before, though, everyone shouted for both to beat the other.
Afton follows the headbutt by giving a straight punch straight to the woman's face. The blow was relatively weak due to his drunken footwork, but had more force than expected. Her head cranks upwards and she almost falls to the floor from it.
"Think I'll lose to you Powder Ganger? Fuck no!" she regains her footing and launches a flurry of punches at him. Each hits vulnerable areas such as his ribs, stomach, liver, neck, and face. But his [Stonewall] and [Toughness] Perks prevent him from being knocked out completely. Not to mention his previous experience with getting hit by Veronica.
One last punch sent to his stomach makes him feel like he's going to vomit up all the Tequila he'd just drank, bu he swallows the bile down and picks the woman up. She struggles to escape his grip as he lifts her over his head and brings her down on a table, breaking it in half.
"OOOOOHHHH MY GOD!" someone in the crowd shouts excitedly.
"WHAT, IN THE HE-ELLL IS GOIN' ON HERE?!?" A voice suddenly causes the crowd to go completely silent. Afton steps away from the broken table as the woman slowly gets up, gripping her side in pain. They both turn towards the new arrival and spot a Ranger with a handlebar moustache, sunglasses, and cowboy hat glaring at them with crossed-arms.
"Er... Wanted to see how strong the table was..." Afton replies, his slurring words failing to convince the man.
"Yeah... It's nothin' Jackson, just getting a little too rowdy..." The woman says.
...
Ranger Jackson looks towards Lacey inquiringly.
Lacey just shrugs, "Nothing to see here, they're just winding down for the night... Offered to pay for the table too."
Jackson sighs, it felt like no one even cared that he was the Senior officer of this outpost. Regardless it was good that he wouldn't need to discipline anyone, or remove them from the outpost. "You all cut the shit and quieten down then. The whole fuckin' outpost can hear yah!... And no more brawlin'! Cass, if I see you throw another punch in this here Barracks I will through you in the pens with the Brahmin!" he shouts.
The woman nods and the Ranger eventually leaves. She grabs the stool she was sitting on earlier and pulls it next to Afton's. He himself having to find another seat due to his previous one missing a leg.
He glances at her while rubbing his bruised face, "You want another round or something?"
She shakes her head, "You're a good fighter, most can't take me when the drink gets me going. I'm impressed."
Karl chuckles, downing the N'th shot of Tequila... How many had he drunk already? "I'll bet the kid can take you any place he wants girl."
Afton raises a brow and swipes the bottle of Tequila from the man, "Karl, since when did drinking turn you into a perverted old man?" he asks in exasperation, he was drunk, but not drunk enough to ignore the weird way he was acting.
"Since always, that's the Ranger way son, get drunk, fuck, sleep, and get back to work again." he says, attempting to take another shot but forgetting that Afton had swiped the Tequila. "Gimme that back."
Afton shakes his head, "You've had enough."
...
...
"Fine. But you're paying for drinks next time, burnt a damn hole in my pocket." he says, getting up and paying for a bed in the Barracks to sleep in.
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After Karl leaves Afton turns towards his new 'drinking buddy', his mind was still fuzzy but it was relatively easy to understand that fist-fights didn't usually make you friends... Or maybe it was different in the Mojave?
"Sorry... Youknow, about hitting you. I just really, really hate raiders." she says sincerely while tapping her whisky glass to get Lacey to fill it back up.
He shrugs, "Not the first woman to beat the shit out of me, my best friend's the one who trained me... She'd give any guy a run for their money." he says, thinking about Veronica with a small smile.
The woman nods, "I'm Cass by the way."
"Afton... What's the deal with you and raiders anyway?" he questions, most people wouldn't start a fist fight with 'former-raiders' for no reason after all. Especially since the people in question had undoubtedly helped out enough to make up for their past crimes.
Cass sips her drink and sighs, "I used to own a caravan, Cassidy Caravans. Life was pretty good until I got word that someone had raided it, killed all my people and burned everything it held... Must've been Legion since they didn't even bother to take anything."
"So I reminded you of that, huh?" he asks.
She shrugs, "Yeah, I guess. You used to be a Powder Ganger so you kinda deserve it. Raiding Caravans is in the job description after all... Doesn't really matter now though, did you really help the NCR take back that prison?"
He nods, "Yeah, wasn't too hard. Once the NCR got behind the walls it was like shooting fish in a barrel... What're you doing here anyway, I can't imagine your happy just sitting around?"
Cass snorts, "Yeah, that's because I'm not. My Caravan may have been destroyed, but my licence is still active... Means that I can't leave until Jackson gets his head outta his ass and lets me go. Says 'the roads are too dangerous', bullshit."
"Wait, so even if your caravan is destroyed they still force you to stay here?" He asks in confusion.
"Exactly. I know how to handle myself, and don't need these stiffed dicks to worry their pretty heads for me." she says loud enough for some of the soldiers to hear. The exasperated sighs give a clear picture that this wasn't the first time she'd expressed her irritation to them.
"Can't you, I don't know, just walk out?" Afton asks, "They can't legally stop you can they?"
Cass shakes her head, "They can and will, I'd technically be smuggling if I tried to do that, even if it sounds bullshit... Hey, you're a merc right? Don't suppose you could clear the roads?"
Afton shrugs, he and Karl were going to take some jobs so he might as well hear her out. "It depends, who's paying, how much needs to be cleared, and what creatures will we be dealing with."
"The only problem I can see is those damn giant ants in the dry-lake, they wait next to the road and ambush anyone who comes near. I'm sure they consider the road their territory, not like the NCR has enough balls to take it back."
"Why is that anyway?" he asks, wondering why they couldn't bring a couple machine guns and start bringing their numbers down.
"There are too many ants, that and they have tunnels underground that let them popup behind you at any moment... As to who's paying, I'd be willing to chip in some, but Jackson would probably give an arm and a leg just to have those pests gone."
Afton shrugs, "Me and Karl'll look into it tomorrow. Right now I think I could do with a couple more drinks."
She snorts, "Yeah, you and me both."
The next day Afton groggily woke up, he was on the bottom bunk in the Barracks and could see many other soldiers, as well as caravaners, sleeping nearby. Rubbing his eyes he groaned as he felt the hangover kick in. "Fuck, does coffee even exist anymore?" he mutters to himself as he falls outta bed and slowly makes his way to the bar, the smell of alcohol almost causing him to vomit on the spot.
He looks to Lacey who's somehow still there and asks, "You got any water?"
She nods, and passes him one, "9 caps."
He tosses her the cash and sits down, only now noticing that Karl was sitting on the stool next to him... When did he get up? The man grinned at him and waggled his eyebrows, "Fun night?"
Afton just shakes his head, "Don't start Karl, I'm having a rough enough morning as it is." he says swirling the water in his mouth to get the dryness and taste of Tequila out.
"Whatever kid, you had a chance and you blew it, doubt you'll be losing your virginity til we get to New Vegas."
...
Afton's about to reply when a hand grasps Karl's shoulder, the old man turns around and comes face to face with a rather angry looking Cass. "You got something say old-timer?"
Karl snorts, "Yeah," he gestures to Afton, "My boy here ain't good enough for ya?"
...
After a moment Cass just breaks into laughter, she wipes a stray tear from her eye and continues "Youknow, there's a fine line between funny and annoying."
Karl nods sagely, "I get that, same thing with life really." this gets another chuckle from her and they both nod in agreement.
"I suppose it is... I spoke to Afton yesterday about a job for you two, you weren't too drunk to remember right?" she asks.
Afton nods, "Clearing the roads right?"
She nods, "I've already gone to ask Jackson what he'd be willing to pay, said 600 caps. I'll chip in a hundred so, you willing to do it for 700 caps?"
The duo looks at each other and shrug, "Sure."
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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