บท 14: Juicy Progress

It had been ten years since Afton had been reincarnated, he was growing light a sprout now that he'd apparently entered puberty... How did he know this? By the physical reaction, he got whenever Veronica or Christine wished to hug him.

He was steadily growing, reaching a height of 4.8ft a few months after his birthday. He was sure he'd be taller in the future as he was already a head taller than his peers, he also considered himself relatively attractive... He wasn't a narcissist or anything, but as he'd already lived once, he could look at his appearance objectively, for the most part. His messy black hair, hazel eyes and relatively handsome face was almost constantly praised whenever he saw his mother.

His relationship with his parents had become stronger as well, during his initial years in this world he considered them nothing more than pests, or a means to an end. But as he got older and was able to interact with them, he rather reluctantly found that he'd started to care about them.

His previous parents were always somewhat distant, their constant working caused them to almost never interact in a meaningful way. And even when they did, it was always... Awkward, like none of them knew how to approach the other, if Afton had to give it a word, he'd say it felt... "Sanitised"?

Whether or not that was the right word for it, he didn't know. But it ended up resulting in his strained and distant relationship with them. This was the main reason he didn't feel all that regretful that he'd left them, he was sure they'd be more than fine without him there... In fact, he was pretty sure they'd welcome him finally leaving their house, even if it was in a body-bag.

Logically, his interactions with his previous parents would be the cause for his stunted ability to socialise, but he knew that was just an excuse... In reality, he just hated talking to people.

His new life provided an opportunity to try and remove that negative habit of his, he knew he'd need to try and improve everything about himself if he was going to properly survive in the wasteland, and learning how to properly talk and negotiate with people without seeming bored, condescending, or outright hostile is essential.

As of now, he would say he was at an average level, being able to practise speaking to people as a child where people held no real expectation for you was a boon. Being able to ask questions about basic and common interactions that he'd previously neglected was incredibly helpful.

He also had Veronic and Christine to practise on, their honest reactions made it fairly easy to judge his progress, though, he was nowhere near proficient at it yet.

He was also very strong for his age, he'd been almost constantly doing exercise since he'd been born. The wiggling he'd done as a baby had progressed into bodyweight exercises like press-ups and situps. He'd read that attempting to lift weights while you were still growing would actually have a negative impact on his body, and so he'd not bothered with those yet.

He didn't forget to train his endurance either, due to them being confined within the tunnel most of the time, he wasn't able to run, so instead he devised a makeshift training scheme that included jogging on the spot and other callisthenics. It was fortunate that the Brotherhood had many old files detailing exercises and which muscle groups they trained.

Due to his efforts, he was probably stronger than most thirteen-year-olds, and could potentially beat fourteen-year-olds... Though, now that he'd hit puberty and his testosterone was increasing his muscle mass would likely see a substantial increase. As of right now his body looked very toned, it weirded out Christine when she first saw him topless as having a six-pack at his age was pretty shocking.

Veronica on the other hand took this as an invitation to introduce him to hand to hand combat... And boy, was he shit at it. He didn't know if it was his own ineptitude or Veronica's own talent, but he was easily beaten down by her... She threw a damn mean punch, while she was older than him, he thought he'd have an advantage since she was female. Apparently not.

He hadn't forgotten to keep his finger on the pulse of what was happening outside the base, now that he was able to actually ask people about what he needed to know, he began learning about their situation.

Elder Elijah continued to pursue technology, ignoring almost everything else. If a threat didn't pose an immediate danger to them, he'd ignore it... The group had relocated the base a couple more times and had finally reached their destination.

The orders they'd originally received from the main chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel was to investigate Hoover Dam for any technology it may hold, but Elder Elijah seemed to get sidetracked by every and any sight that he took interest in.

Afton was very worried about the future, as he'd seen the reports detailing the various NCR scouts making their way into the area. There was also suspicious movement from the ruins of Las Vegas, the Brotherhood scouts couldn't make heads or tails of it, but something big was obviously going to happen soon.

Another thing Afton had taken notice of was Veronic and Christine's relationship... He thought they were just really close friends, or maybe even considered themselves sisters, but when they turned nineteen and twenty respectively something else was definitely amiss.

He'd just left to visit the room Veronica usually trained him in hand-to-hand combat in, he was early today as Adah underestimated how quickly he'd complete the assignments she'd given him...

Quietly opening the door he snuck inside in an attempt to scare Veronica, this was revenge for all the times she'd done the same to him. However, upon entering he could hear a strange sound that immediately drew his attention.

The room was large and had the middle of it cleared to allow them to train without obstructions, the various desks and other things had been shoved to the side haphazardly... The noise he heard was coming from one of the office booths that'd been moved.

He snuck a glance into it and his eyes widened, Veronica and Christine were locking lips and passionately swapping saliva...