Chapter 463 - Mourn

After Afton's long chat with Caesar, it wasn't difficult to locate Tamia, after all, he and Glados did basically know about everything that happened in and around Big Mt. She's currently at the firing range with a bottle of beer in one hand and a gun in the other... Yeah, not a good combination.

Fortunately, she's the only one present, or he'd be worried about someone getting shot. The firing range itself was way more technologically advanced than even America before the Great war would've had.​​

Holographic targets would appear, and people could watch whoever was inside through a forcefield. Afton walks in and spots Tamia randomly shooting at a far off target and missing it entirely.

"Huh, we can rule out alcohol from improving your aim then!" he jokes with crossed arms.

Tamia, surprised, whips around and fires at Afton, the bullet-deflecting off of the forcefield as it makes a fizzling sound from the impact.

"Yeah, we'll take away points for awareness and reasoning too." he adds, miming writing notes on his hand. He shakes his head with a smirk, "So why're you not chilling with the others? I'm quite proud of that pool youknow." he asks, deactivating the forcefield and walking towards her.

"I wanted to be alone, clear my mind and whatever else you're supposed to do in a crisis... So, you know, get lost." she says sarcastically.

Afton just sighs at her tone, "Glados, can I get a beer?" he asks no one in particular, and a couple seconds later a panel opens up on the floor, revealing a rather lukewarm beer... "You couldn't pull one from the back of the fridge?" he asks in amusement before shaking his head, "Whatever, thanks." he says before sitting down on a desk that had some weapons Tamia was presumably trying out on lying on it.

He flicks off the beer cap with his thumb and takes a sip before looking at Tamia, "You can bullshit to the others, but I can tell when you're lying. You don't have to tell me anything, but I'm here to listen if you need me." Afton says while patting the space next to him.

Tamia scoffs at him, "You sure you're not just using this chance to hit on me?"

Afton smirks, "Well, I'm tempted, but flirting can come later, for now why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

She shrugs her shoulders before walking over and sitting next to Afton, taking a sip of her beer as she does. "To be honest, I'm still trying to process everything... It's not everyday you have your life turned upside down, I reckon I'm the only person who has to mourn for people I didn't even know existed. People who might've been family..."

Afton raises a brow, had he said anything about her family being killed yet?

She gives a long sigh at his expression, "You act like I'm stupid. Of course Caesar wouldn't let them go after I vanished. They were his guarantee that I wouldn't leave or betray him, I vanished, so they vanished too."

Tamia takes another sip, shaking her head before continuing, "Anyway... How's the war looking?" she asks, abruptly changing the subject.

"No, you aren't pulling that on me. You can't change the subject and hope we talk about something else. You have reasoned the fate of your family, but that doesn't mean it'll hurt any less." he says, dragging the matter at hand back kicking and screaming.

Tamia scowls, "What else do you want me to say? I'm saddened by their loss? You want me to start crying on your shoulder or something?" she drinks the last of her beer and tosses it at one of the metal walls, shattering it. "Look, if this is your way of getting in my pants then just say it, I'm too tired to care at this point." she accuses with a glare.

"I want to help you for god sake. Look, I know where this shit leads, an emotionally distraught person at a shooting range combined with alcohol?! There's only one way I can see this going Tamia! You can accuse me of whatever you like, but doing nothing while one of my friends are like this would be despicable."

"There's nothing you can do, there's nothing anyone can do! My entire family is dead! So if I wanna shoot myself then it's my choice, you should just piss off and let your robots clean up the results!"

"You're being stubborn and lashing out." Afton states, "Look, come with me and we'll go see the others. You shouldn't be alone right now-"

"Well I want to be alone! Unless you have some magical fucking doo-hickey that can give me my family back, I don't need your help!" she exclaims.

Afton sighs, and paces slightly. He was supposed to come over here and report what he'd learned from Caesar, but Tamia is clearly too distraught right now to just tell her. He didn't think she'd off herself, but, that didn't mean she wouldn't be driving herself crazy with the thought.

That said, what would he do in this situation? He knew what it felt like to lose family, but losing a family he didn't know he had? Feeling emotions that seemed to spring up from nowhere? That was another ball game entirely.

When his parents had died at the hands of the NCR, all he'd wanted to do was stew in his anger. If it weren't for Veronica, Miles, Melissa, and Adah, he might've been acting out like how Tamia was now.

Regardless, he'd let her try to figure this out for now. Give her some time alone to dwell on the subject. He releases a long sigh, "Fine. Be alone, just know that if you need any help, come talk to one of us. None of us are psychologists, but most know a thing or two about loss." he says before beginning to leave.

Once outside, he orders Glados to keep an eye on Tamia to make sure she doesn't do something stupid. It was actually quite fortunate Tamia was spending her time in the shooting range, as it's probably one of the safest places in Big Mt... Forcefield projectors were everywhere, and all could be activated almost instantly. Glados would easily be able to stop Tamia if she tried anything nonsensically stupid.