Chapter 683 - Growth

Three years later :

A child giggles as she skips along the road between her parents who held both of her hands, occasionally swinging her back and forth, much to the girl's enjoyment. Afton smiles down at his daughter as she curiously looks around the streets of Freeside, indeed, he was in the same state, not having seen the newly renovated buildings and such that House had built.

"House has done a good job with this place." Josie remarks from the side, remembering the common sight of children chasing giant rats for food, and chem addicts on every corner.

Afton nods, "Well, if he hadn't made at least this much progress by now, I'd be worried fo the Mojave's future." he mutters, "Rosie, what do you think of this place? It's not as cool as our home, but it's probably better than most places." he asks his slightly too enthusiastic child.

Honestly, if Afton didn't already know why his daughter acting like she was constantly on a sugar high, he'd have assumed she had ADHD or something... The real cause was simply due to the mutations she'd inherited from him... The fungus essentially makes her body perfect at absorbing nutrients from food, and subsequently, what to do with it afterwards.

He and Josie may have been spoiling her, which is why he was surprised to find that she simply couldn't get fat... Her fat percentage remained around 13%, though, this would decrease as she gets older as children generally have more fat stored.

She also never got sick, and due to the fact she was so strong and durable, it made it difficult for her to properly interact with other children her age... After all, you can't play tag, or other playground games if you were 20x stronger than the other players.

Thus, he'd always made time to spend with her, playing video games that Glados had devised for Rose, playing catch, and teaching her life skills... This resulted in her becoming a big daddy's girl, much to Josie's chagrin...

It wasn't that Josie didn't spend time with her, but Rose's physiological similarities with Afton had made it preferable to spend time with him instead. Rose was actually slightly stronger than Josie as it was, which put a slight damper on some activities she wanted to do.

Rose glances up at him as she hears his question, "It's clean... But I can feel people watching us daddy."

Afton shrugs, "Just ignore them, I'm quite well known around here so of course they'd be interested in you... Just make sure to not get a big head from it." he says, giving a light poke at her forehead, causing her to giggle and whip her hair at him... Her brown hair turning slightly root-like in texture as it hits his arm like a bullwhip.

"Oi! No powers in public, or I'll spank you in front of everyone." he retorts while grabbing the offending hair out of the air.

"... Yes daddy." she whispers in response.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"Yes daddy! I'm sorry." she loudly says with a frown before turning to Josie, "Mamma, daddy's bullying me!"

Josie laughs, "For good reason, be a good girl and you'll get a good daddy. Ain't that right, 'Daddy?'"

Afton shoots her a playful look, "Of course... But remember that counts for you as well, 'Mama'."

"*Ahem!*" someone announces from behind them.

The trio turns and spots a humanoid robot wearing a black suit... It had many metallic components but had grey synthetic skin, along with black braid-like hair covering its head. Its signature moustache was all Afton needed to sees to recognise who it was though. "House?"

The robot nods, "In the metaphorical flesh, as it would seem... I just happened to overhear your conversation with your daughter..." he smiles down at her, "A pleasure to meet you miss, I am Robert Edwin House, owner of the city you see around you." he says while holding out his hand.

Rose crooks at brow at the strange man, but doesn't think anything of it as she reluctantly lets go of her parent's hands to shake Robert's. She rapidly shakes the robot's hand, almost tearing its elbow off from her unrestrained and unexpected strength. "Nice to meet you Mr Robot!"

"No, it's Mr Robert..." he corrects with some mirth.

"Mr Robert the Robot!" she happily retorts, getting Hosue to just shake his head in amusement in response.

"So, what brings you three to my fine city?" he asks with a small smile playing on his robotic face.

"Actually, we were here to visit Tamia and see how she's doing. I haven't seen her in months, and Rose misses her auntie." Afton states and rests a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"We were going to check in with you as well but, you've found us first." Josie adds.

House shrugs his shoulders, "I am anywhere and everywhere in this city, making sure it runs as smoothly as possible. Of course I'd catch a lightning bolt suddenly appearing in the middle of the street. Other than the Institute, no one else is capable of such means of transportation as of yet." he explains.

"Well, we might as well make use of your services while you're here. How about a tour around the place before we go visit Tamia?" he asks, more speaking to his wife and daughter than House...

Josie nods, "Sure, I wonder if the Atomic Casino is still open?"

"Do they have any games here, Daddy?" Rose asks with shining eyes.

Afton shrugs and glances at House, "Well?"

House chuckles, "Yes we do... Rowdy children kept getting in the way of our rebuilding efforts, so I created an establishment to cater to them... Orphans come in for free, but parents have to pay a subscription fee... Obviously, you are exempt from such things..." he explains.

Afton nods, "Let's check that place out first then."

"Yaay!" Rose cheers, using her hair to sling herself onto Afton's shoulders as she points in a random direction, "Let's go! Let's go!"

...

Afton just exasperatedly shakes his head, deciding not to bother Rose about her powers for now.... All the while ignoring the contemplative look on House's face after witnessing such a thing.