Chapter 233 - Guests

The man glares at Afton for a couple of seconds before glancing at Anja, their eyes widening when they see her. Eventually Afton coughs into his hand to break the man from his stupor.

"Ah-oh? S-s-sorry, I l-l-lost myself for a moment..." they say, quickly recomposing themself and putting on a neutral expression. Or, as neutral as you can go with your face being locked into a sneer.​​

Afton glances to Anja who seems to want to leave and never return to this place, personally he kind of wants to solve the mystery of this place... This man didn't look all that strong, so raiders should've murdered him and looted this place clean already. "It's no problem. I'm Afton Parker, and this is Anja, we're travellers and needed a place to stay for the night... Of course, if that's not possible-"

"N-no! I have m-more than enough room for g-guests." the man quickly says, holding out his frail hands and showing his palms pacifyingly. "I would be h-h-happy to have you both s-stay here." he says, his eyes scanning Anja yet again. Afton wasn't sure whether it was just genuine interest in her as a ghoul, or maybe some sick fetish?

"Actually I think I saw an empty house we could us-" Anja says but Afton cuts her off with a shake of his head, he'd already explained his reasoning for wanting to come here, she needed more confidence so they needed to proactively seek it.

"I-If you two could f-follow me..." the man says as he slowly turns and walks into his house. The duo follow but are stopped as they enter, "P-Please take off your shoes, the fight against dust is difficult enough without giving it reinforcements." they say somewhat jovially.

Afton just shrugs and does so, struggling with his boots for a moment due to him being one-handed. "That's right, we haven't caught your name yet... Mr?"

"K-Klaus, K-Klaus S-seidel." they stutter out, causing Afton to grimace, he's a weird hermit hunchback that's got a German name? Afton would bet all of his weaponry than this guy is some kind of mad scientist... It's just too cliche for him not to be!

The duo take their shoes off and are led to what looks like the front room, an old pre-war television sits at the side with static showing, obviously there'd be no signal, but Afton spotted a couple holo-disk-like things that might be pre-recorded shows. Klaus notices their interest but decides not to comment on it, instead pointing to another room at one side. "I-If you two c-could change into something more s-suitable, I would appreciate i-it."

Afton raises a brow, "Sorry Klaus but neither of us has any other clothes..." he states, though he was lying, he'd rather keep his Recon armour on around this guy.

Klaus smiles/sneers at them, "D-do not worry, I have m-many guest clothes w-waiting for you inside."

Afton shrugs and opens the door, using VATS to scan the inside for traps, finding nothing inside apart from a veritable treasure trove of pre-war clothes, he enters as Anja follows him. If he didn't know any better he'd think she was blushing at him...

"I'll wait outside for you to change..." she says, attempting to leave but Afton just shakes his head, "Stop being embarrassed and take some of these clothes, they're far better than whatever scavenged Fiend armour you are currently wearing. He point to a nearby suit instead of the many dresses that seemed to be around, "This seems around your size." he says, before tossing it to her.

He'd rather she put on male clothing instead of a dress of some sort, he was hoping Klaus would try to attack them so he had an excuse to rob him blind, preferably after shooting him in the face. Afton takes off everything, his Recon armour and underwear underneath it before taking some of the more comfortable looking ones and putting them on...

Of course, he could feel Anja's gaze roaming over him but he wasn't all that embarrassed... He could hardly even think of her a woman due to her status as a ghoul... It might be callous, but he put her in a category separate from humans, it was actually kind of similar to animals, as in, you could make friends with ghouls and have life-long companions. But, engaging in anything sexual with them was taboo, something disgusting and that should be derided.

He grabs a dark-blue silk shirt and the similarly coloured dress pants that went along with it. It even came with shiny-black dress shoes... He checks himself in the large mirror with a nod before stuffing his gear in his backpack.

Though, something was bothering him... All of these pre-war clothing must've been incredibly expensive to acquire, not something someone living in a simple two-storey house could afford. This either meant that the previous owners of the place were humble with a strong sense for fashion, crazy with their finances, or... Devoted their resources to something else.

Of course, Klaus couldn't be the original owner of the place as he didn't seem hundreds of years old. But perhaps his ancestors once owned it? Afton shakes his head, regardless he'd get to the bottom of it hopefully today.

He turns to Anja who was done putting on the clothes, she seems to have struggled putting some of it on due to not having seen anything like it before, but she managed after some trial and error. She currently wore a white long-sleeved shirt with dress pants and slacks. To be honest, she looked quite masculine with it on, especially since she lacked any hair from her ghoulification.

He sends her a thumbs up, "Looks good." which causes her to glance away, not wishing to take the compliment head-on.

Afton tucks his two pistols into the dress pants and advises Anja to do the same... Even if her submachine gun looked rather out of place in the ensemble.