บท 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.
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บท 631: Taxing prospect
It doesn't take long for Afton to teleport to New Vegas and enter the Lucky 38. The robot named Victor led him inside and brought him up to the penthouse where a large screen with Mr House's face awaited him... Before it, was a small table with a robot called Jane standing silently by it.
"Quite the set-up you've got here... But if I was going to be speaking to a machine anyway, why bother coming here in the first place?" Afton asks with a crooked brow, wondering if House just wanted the home-ground advantage in these negotiations.
The monitor flickers as House begins to speak, "Unfortunately a face-to-face meeting is quite impossible in my current state... But, this is as close to it as you can get, I hope this doesn't sour things." the man says with a 'not-apology'.
Afton just shrugs and sits at the table opposite the large screen. The robot leans forwards with a woman's face flickering on its screen, "Would you like a beverage dear? We've got almost everything in stock." it offers.
"I'll have a... Tea, if you have it." he says, wanting to see how extensive House's stocks truly are... Tea is almost impossible to come by outside of Big Mt, plus, he was still an Englishman, a night of alcohol requires a morning with tea.
The robot agrees and quickly rolls away, presumably towards the kitchen, leaving Afton and House facing one another.
"So, I heard your interview over the radio... Funny how you'd announce something not yet agreed upon." Afton casually states.
"Yes, well, unity leads stability. It was best for everyone to know of our potential partnership in these chaotic times. The NCR have almost completely fled from the Mojave, Camp McCarren is almost empty, and only a few NCR military police have decided to stay in the strip to act as security... Without a warning, a threat, innocents would soon be overrun by rioters, bandits, even wasteland creatures... As you know, I am known only for remaking Las Vegas, and only that... But you? Bulwark and yourself have formed quite the reputation..." House explains, and Afton silently nods in agreement.
Afton wasn't so heartless to disagree with his attempts at protecting the populace... But, he still couldn't let House's actions slide. "I agree, but, you still used our name without permission. Your lucky pre-war laws don't count, otherwise you'd have a number of them slapped on you in a courthouse." he chuckles.
"Yes, well, as fortunate as that is, I believe that's exactly what we should be discussing. Laws." House states, just as Jane wheels back into the room with two drinks.
The robot deposits Afton's tea in front of him while leaving a dirty martini in front of House... Even though he's literally not here right now.
...
Afton squints between it and House, getting a chuckle out of the man. "While I'm not physically present, it is still polite to share a drink with your guest... Do you disagree?"
Afton shakes his head, "No, but isn't the point of that to show that you haven't poisoned the drinks?" he questions.
"Well. Supposedly, but that doesn't matter when one, or both of us are immune to such a thing."
Well, Afton wasn't even going to ask how he knew about that... Either he guessed due to the abilities he'd shown thus far, or he'd picked up some rumours involving his 'mutant' status.
"How about we start with what it would take to form an official alliance between Solphelicity?"
"Urgh, how about we start with why you called it that? It makes me cringe every time I hear someone say it..." Afton mutters.
"Well, that's the reaction I wished for when I chose the name. I believe it will become natural to say once it becomes a household name." Hosue retorts.
"You chose it because it sounds bad?" Afton asks with a dumbfounded expression.
"Indeed. Rule one of advertisement is all publicity is good publicity. People may mock the name, degrade it... But it will be on their tongues nonetheless, continuing to cement Solphelicity's position in the Mojave." the man explains.
...
That made sense? Kinda?... Afton wasn't sure if that rule was real... Otherwise, why not just call your product 'Hitler-Orgasmo-Chocolate-Stalin' or something. That'd definitely get a reaction.
Afton shakes his head, regardless of his reasons, the name wasn't why either of them were here today. "So, what will Bulwark get in return for working with you? To be honest, you don't have all that much to offer, we hold almost space-age technology, a large military, self-reliance..." it was true, House didn't really have much to barter with considering Bulwark's overwhelming superiority.
"Well, New Vegas and the Mojave as a whole has one thing you cannot replace with robots... A pool of talent to pick from the citizenry. That is the first term I'm willing to offer in return for your cooperation in various endeavours I have in mind, the ability to pick talented individuals from the Mojave... With their agreement of course."
That's a good start Afton supposes... Though, if he was really desperate he could just recruit from somewhere else... That would have a problem with loyalty however, if he got people from the Mojave which knew who and what Bulwark was, they'd likely be far better than the alternatives.
"That's fair, but still not enough for what Bulwark is giving in return." Afton states, leaning back in his chair and waiting for House to offer more.
"Indeed... Which is why I'm willing to offer something no one else could possibly claim... Solphelicity will not tax any products you attempt to sell in the Mojave, as opposed to other businesses which will pay a minimum of 15% depending on the type of product."
...
"You know, I hadn't thought about taxes before, but wasn't the NCR hated by the population for ridiculous taxation fees? Are you just gonna try and convince them it's for their own good or something?" Afton questions.
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Niggross
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