章 5: Epiphany

The dark brown-haired girl hops excitedly on her heels as Afton grips her finger, "Look Christine, he likes me!" she quickly says, trying to restrain her voice.

"Maybe we shouldn't be bothering him Veronica, young babies like Afton need a lot of sleep don't they?" she asks hesitantly.

"He's the son of Zachary and Verna, he's gotta be strong enough to handle this! Plus, look, I read that babies usually don't react to you until they're two-months-old," she says, massaging the baby's chubby hand.

While the massage felt pretty good, Afton still couldn't bear being the object of attention for these children, if they began to stick around him like flies to shit he'd never get anything done. "Fua oof" he babbles, causing both the girls to stop.

...

"Er, Veronica, did the baby just tell us to-"

"No... Must just be a coincidence..." she interjects, refusing to believe a baby would first of all be smart enough to tell them to "fuck of", and secondary even if it was, would tell them to do so.

"Ara? Veronica, Christine? I don't remember inviting you to see Afton." his mother saves the day as she walks in.

"Uh, we just... Got lost!" Veronica chirps after a moment of hesitation.

"Y-yeah! When we say how cute Afton was we couldn't resist... What a coincidence, right? haha, ha..." Christine continues, trying to follow Veronica's story.

Verna smiles at them both, "Is that so? So you wouldn't mind if I too your parents about this then? It was an accident after all."

"Please don't!" both exclaim, getting a small chuckle from Verna.

"Oh, I'm just joking... I'll forget about this just once, but if you want to see Afton you have to ask me first, I trust you both but things can go wrong even if you have the best of intentions, okay?"

They two children quickly nod at her, "Yes ma'am." they reply in unison.

"Now, you two should be off, I heard Elder Elijah was looking for you Veronica, and you Christine, shouldn't you be studying for your initiate tests?"

Both their eyes widen and they quickly rush out of the room, brushing past something metallic going off of the sound it made when hit... Come to think of it, whatever it was it was moving towards him.

"Honey? I've received orders to lead a patrol." his father's voice comes from outside the room as he enters.

Verna glares at him, "Zachary Parker. What have I told you about wearing that around Afton?" she asks in a cold voice.

Afton himself had his mind blown when he spotted his father... The man walked in wearing some kind of heavy metal armour, his 6ft height had been increased to 6.5 and he had a distinctive looking helmet under his arm.

"P-P-P-POWER ARMOUR!?! WHAAAAAT!" He screamed in his mind, forgetting how to breathe as he sees it. In his other hand rested what could only be a Gauss rifle, one of the best long-range energy weapons in Fallout 3.

The fact that he was apparently now inside the Fallout universe shook his mind, he simply hadn't even considered that this was possible. The small bits of information he'd gathered thus far started to make sense, the desolate building he was in, the strange robes people wore, the Codex he was constantly read...

"Bonds of Steel" now made a whole lot more sense now that he knew the context, though, the rule itself didn't seem to match his previous knowledge on the Brotherhood in Fallout 3... The Axiom sounded more selfish than what he'd come to expect, perhaps it was just a loosely followed rule though.

"Calm down Verna, he'd have to see it eventually, best he becomes familiar with it before his training begins." he father says, attempting to calm his wife.

"Yeah, but... I think he should be allowed to grow up a bit before he knows about his responsibilities."

Zachary walks up, places his helmet on a nearby helmet and wraps an arm around Verna's waist, "He'll be fine honey, our son is new weakling, he'll be one of the best, and we'll be right behind him, watching and encouraging his growth." he says before giving her a peck on the lips.

Afton slowly managed to regain his composure, momentarily giving his father a "100/100 speech check success" within his mind, if nothing else, the man knew how to handle his wife.

"Like what you see son? When you're older you'll get a set of your own, cool right?" he chuckles with a boisterous grin.

"What's Nolan sending you out for anyway?" she asks.

"Apparently the Elder's gotten a whiff of some buried old world technology, we're to patrol the area, clear out any hostiles and remove any locals that are currently in the area." he recites his orders.

"Remove any locals? Hm.." she mutters worriedly, "Try to talk to them first, we were at fault for what happened last time... We can't go around constantly making enemies."

Zachary nods, "I know, I know, I'll try my best but in the end it isn't my call to make. If the Elder wants it then we have to give it to him, Nolan's trying his best to achieve peaceful solutions but you know the Elder..." he says with a sigh.

Verna nods in understanding, giving him another kiss before handing him his helmet, "Be careful out there, if I hear that you've done something stupid then Deathclaws aren't the biggest problem you'll have." she says with a glare that quickly softens.

Afton watches his fathers back as the man leaves, his attention entirely on the armour that clanks heavily as it moves. A small smile makes its way onto his face, it seems his goals would have to be altered... School, college, and work were no longer factors, all that mattered now was knowledge and strength. Most would see that as a negative, but Afton saw it as an opportunity, he could only imagine what adventures awaited him in this new strange world.