Steel Waste

Josie impatiently stands nearby the coffee stand she'd been left at. It'd been around ten minutes with Afton and Tamia not coming back yet. She was honestly starting to suspect that they'd eloped together or something equally dour.

She releases a sigh and thinks back to when she realized she was late. She honestly didn't think she was ready for a child, nor did she think Afton was ready either... She had really no idea how to raise a kid, and the idea of being responsible for her child's life was incredibly scary.

Plus her boyfriend's 'work', which took up a large portion of his time, may prevent him from being invested in their kid at all... As someone who didn't see their father a lot, Josie didn't want that for any child she might have.

She was already dreading the other things that apparently come along with pregnancy, the big stomach, the vomiting, the weird cravings... She didn't know whether it was related, but she felt a lot more volatile than she used to, even despite it being so early.

Her uncertainty came to a head when she finally confronted Afton about it... He'd been 'ignoring' her for some reason that she couldn't put a finger on, which only put her more on edge, thus, when she heard that Tamia was back and Afton was with her, she came to meet them with a mountain weighing on her shoulders.

And then he acted like nothing was wrong, like he was completely innocent, as if he hadn't intentionally been ignoring her! This shit started when Usanagi got here, so she immediately pointed out the person responsible... She regretted arguing like that, but couldn't really help herself.

Then she announced her pregnancy, and his reaction was the opposite of what she hoped it would be.

"Fuck." was his response. One that made Josie feel as though she'd been punched in the chest by a professional boxer, or someone wearing Power armour.

That was all she could bear to hear, immediately extracting herself from that place to avoid breaking down or having a tantrum. Were she not so upset, she'd be wary of leaving Afton with Tamia, as she knew there was some chemistry between them even before she hooked up with him, but she was barely up to avoid dropping to her knees and crying like a toddler as it is.

Tamia caught up soon enough and took her to New Vegas, immediately employing a 'plan' to show that Afton didn't mean what he said... Saying that he'd come find them and express his regret soon enough...

After a day of not hearing a word from him, Josie was honestly at her lowest point... She didn't know why she'd felt so depressed, but for a moment, she'd actually considered aborting the baby... Such a thing wasn't all that uncommon in the wasteland, mostly due to how resource-intensive children are... Most of the time, they simply wouldn't survive in most families due to the scarcity of food and water, along with the various dangerous things that could and would harm them.

Thinking about it now, she felt slightly sick to her stomach, having actually considered killing her child. Their, child... Despite everything, she still loved Afton, and wanted to make things work... The only problem was whether or not he'd accept it... She wasn't even sure if he'd push her to have an abortion... He was pragmatic and rather cruel in some aspects, so it wouldn't surprise her if he chose that route...

Shaking her head of those thoughts, she was just about to leave and try to find them, when she noticed something peculiar happening around her... Various things had started losing power and or malfunctioning. Shop lights flickered, cleaning robots stuttered in their movement, the nearby water fountain sputtered as if it was running out of water...

It wasn't just her who'd noticed this either, the many soldiers, civilians, and workers all stopped and looked around with mild confusion and worry mixed on their faces... Fortunately, the malfunctions stopped as quickly as they started.

Josie looks back up and spots Tamia and Afton walking over, the latter of which had a happy, yes somewhat strained smile on his face. Again, she pulls her expression into a neutral one and crosses her arms to present the most confident look she could manage. "What took you so long?"

Afton smirks and shrugs, "Just needed to get some things ready, I didn't expect you to get back so quickly... So I had to rush a couple things I was working on..." he trails off as they all hear a small whistling sound, "Ah, that must be it now... Ahem! Josie Trantow, I know this is kinda out of nowhere, but, would you marry me." he states as he gets onto one knee, holding his hand out in front of him.

Before she'd even able to react to his sudden proposal, the whistling sound gets louder, causing everyone to look up... A small trail of smoke was left by some sort of box, as it flew through the skies and suddenly headed right for the trio.

*ShhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH-Thud!*

It lands crisply in Afton extended hand, and he immediately opens it to reveal two rings... They were gold, but had a weird silver tint to them, as if glazed with an impossibly small layer of bluish glass. Inlayed prominently atop them were large hazel coloured gems. They were cut in an incredibly beautiful fashion, and their colour reminded her of glittering bronze... Though, the connection to her eye colour came a few seconds later, causing her to heavily blush.

Afton, inwardly cheers at her expression, and continues to orchestrated things with Glados via his brainwave connection that was granted by the tesla machinery that was left in his head. "Now the next one, Glados!" he silently orders, causing another package to start flying through the air...