Chapter 228 - Around The Campfire McCarren

After checking his status, Afton turns to the others, opening the caps and quickly counting them out before distributing them to everyone. Anja got 1000 caps for her help with Cook-Cook while everyone else got 1500 for the bounty and the Fiend ears.

Anja upon receiving the hefty sack of caps was stunned, she'd never seen so much wealth in one place before... And all of it belonged to her, she didn't know how to react to it at all. Her eyes began shifting around to look for anyone who might try to steal what was now hers. Years spent in the waste had forced her to conceal and conserve anything of value she possessed, and now that she was standing in the open with more caps than she'd ever seen before, her instincts were going nuts!​​

A hand drops onto her shoulder, causing her to shudder before looking at who it is. It's one of her saviours, the one called Afton. "Calm down, as long as you're with us no one will dare try to steal from you." he says simply.

Anja still wasn't sure whether or not to listen to him, but in the end, he was the one who'd given her the wealth she desperately wanted to defend. She nods at him and follows the group as they begin walking towards the many military tents in the distance.

Afton had heard from Josie that there was someone around here you could buy alcohol from... Of course, this is still technically a military facility, so alcohol was 'frowned' upon. Even still, apparently most wouldn't bother you if you were drinking, only saying something if it affected your work or those around you.

He walked around a bit until he found a rather put-out-looking Josie sitting in a lawn-chair do nothing. He raises his hand in a friendly gesture and waves at her, "Yo."

She glances over at his voice and gives reciprocates with a restrained smile, "Hey Afton, what's up?"

"Just claimed the bounty on Cook-Cook and was looking to buy some drinks. You wouldn't mind telling me where to get some right?"

Josie shakes her head, "I wouldn't, it's not like I can get into any more trouble."

Afton raises a brow, "Why's that?"

She sighs, "I got reprimanded for, and I quote, 'Destroying a pre-war artifact'... You'd think they'd be happy about vital flaws in military equipment being repaired."

"What'd you do?" Afton inquires, wanting to know if he could help her in some way.

She just smirks at him, "It wasn't anything I did, but instead something you did... Your repairs on the trucks were 'too good', the other mechanics thought that I'd replaced the parts, making command go ape-shit."

Afton's almost struck stupid by this revelation... Yeah, he probably should have seen that coming. The worst part was he couldn't deny replaces the parts as his [Mechanicus] Perk literally reversed time on them, he'd need to reveal his supernatural abilities in order to get her out of the mess he'd pushed her in. He scratches the side of his face with a sheepish look, "Ah, I'm sorry?"

Josie just shakes her head, "Don't worry about it. I'd have done it sooner or later so no point in dwelling on it... As for drinks? I myself could use a pick-me-up." she says, gesturing for the group to follow her as she hops out of her lawn-chair.

She leads them to a quiet area of Camp McCarren where a shady-looking guy sitting atop some crates was silently waiting. Afton let Karl do the talking as he purchased a few bottles of scotch, whisky, vodka, and tequila.

Once done the group grabbed a couple unused lawn-chairs and created a small campfire with bits and pieces of rotten wood that were lying around. Josie was still being punished, though why her punishment was to restrict her from working was a mystery to Afton. Perhaps they knew how much she loved those trucks and forced her away from them? He shakes his head, whatever the case, Josie, Afton, Karl, Boone, and Anja were sat around the campfire drinking.

Occasionally someone came by to thank or congratulate them on killing Cook-Cook, but all in all it was relatively peaceful. Though, one woman called Betsy had tossed some caps at them and joined them to drink.

Soon after that more and more people ha decided to join in, even Major Dhatri could be seen milling about. Afton was sure what they were doing breached NCR military law, but no one seemed to care.

The next day after things had settled down Afton headed over to the guest bed the NCR had provided to Anja to see if she wanted to join them or not.

He found Anja sitting upright in her bed, she looked incredibly uncomfortable and kept glances towards the door as if she wanted to leave but didn't know if it was appropriate or not. Of course, Afton had no doubts she could sneak out if she wanted, he'd seen how easily she'd avoided the Fiend that chased her. The only reason she'd almost been caught was the... Unique smell she exuded...

He walks towards her while making his presence known, "Yo." he says, causing her to jolt in surprise. "Have you thought over my offer?"

She gave him a confused look for a moment before remembering what he'd said the day before. "I-... I don't know. Why would you want me with you anyway? I'm not a fighter at all, people immediately hate me, and-"

"You may not be a good fighter now, but I see potential in you." he says really meaning his words. She had 9 Perception and 8 Agility for god sake! She was built to be a gunslinger! All she needed was someone to teach her and she'd be one of the best... Though, Afton was more leaning towards making her some kind of assassin as opposed to a gunslinger. He'd need to find some way of preventing her 'unique scent' from revealing her though.