God, I hate paperwork. Who the hell decided that I, who is at most a civilian contractor working on a per-assignment basis with the NCR despite being absolutely critical to their success in dealing with Caesar's Legion, should spend the time after winning the most critical battle these muppets have ever fought filling out forms like I'm writing some sort of accident report or something, followed by sitting through several meetings that I did not even have to be involved in at all. I was never called to speak, and I saw no reason to speak up over minutiae of military logistics changing after the Legion was sent packing. What an absolute drag. Here I was, coming off of the greatest thing I've ever achieved; I should be celebrating my ass off and getting either wasted or laid or both, and instead I'm dealing with red tape. At least that shit is over now.
Leaving the Ambassador's office, I am once again back on the Strip, the crown jewel of New Vegas. While I've heard stories of pre-war Vegas being even more of a spectacle to see, and some limitations of our new world do make it clear that the glitz and glamour could be improved, given enough resources, there's really nothing in this world like New Vegas these days. Casinos line the main street, an ostentatious display of the old world meshing with the new world in a synergy of luxury. Yes, I suppose I am in a somewhat descriptive mood today, or maybe it's just that the drabness of all that paper has me seeking any sort of interesting thing to think about. Out on the Strip, people are celebrating wildly—news of the NCR victory at Hoover Dam has already spread to here, as has my involvement in it.
Cheers ring out in my honor, though really, I'm just tired right now, so while I do smile and wave off the masses, accepting the odd toast or two to my continued health, I soon make polite excuses and head off to The Tops, the casino where I have my defacto residence in the high roller suite. On the inside of the casino, things are far more quiet. It seems all the party is out on the streets right now, and on the inside is merely a skeleton crew of guards, not even dealers or anything like that, which is fine by me; I'm definitely more in the mood for a sedate celebration right now, at most with a couple people. Actually, speaking of people I'd want to celebrate with, my thoughts turn to Cass. When I was ushered over to the Ambassador's office for that fun time of bureaucracy, I told her to wait for me at the hotel suite, but hell, I know Cass, she's not the type to sit around and wait, so who knows where she could be.
However, when I do enter the hotel room, I do, indeed, find Cass. Naked in bed, sipping a bottle of whiskey, which isn't too surprising. No, what is surprising is that there's an also naked guy next to her in bed. "Hey there. Took you long enough," Cass greets me nonchalantly while the guy looks at me, recognizes me, and clearly starts to panic. Cass points at him. "He's Archie," she helpfully adds. Looking around a bit, I spot a discarded NCR uniform laying on the floor next to Cass's usual attire, so I'm just going to take a guess at this guy being an NCR soldier.
"Ah, um, ah... y-you're, uh... the Courier, right? That, uh, really important guy that killed a bunch of Legion soldiers and helped us win? Um, I... I can explain!" he stammers out, clearly nervous because I think he thinks I just caught him fucking my girlfriend. "Like, I got back from the Dam, and the barracks I was staying at got hit by a Legion raid while we were gone and burned down! So, uh, they didn't have a place for me to stay and just told me to go to Vegas, so I did! And nobody here was really paying attention to me, so I just let myself in here, and the guards didn't really seem to care, and the door was unlocked..." he trails off, a sheepish expression on his face. "And then... she came in, and then... uh..."
Seems like he's done with his story. Cass, for her part, only gives me a smirk and a shrug, because while she knows I'm not fucking her and thus shouldn't really be mad, he doesn't. And I don't know what it is, whether it's the exhaustion building up from all the stress, or that I'm really not happy with the NCR right now, but I kinda wanna mess with this guy a bit. "So, you sneak into my hotel room, fuck my girl, and then you want to blame it on her, too?" I ask, putting on a bit of feigned anger.
Now he's really getting worried, I can tell. "Ah! I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear!" he mutters while Cass mostly seems curious as to where I'm going with this.
And honestly... I think I have an idea where I'm going with this. So I strip off my jacket and shirt as Archie here looks on in confusion. "Alright, I'm gonna make it real simple. You fucked my girl, so now I'm gonna fuck you, and then we'll be even," I declare, fully expecting him to disagree, protest, or whatever.
Instead, he gets this look on his face that's really weird, but also kinda cute? Like, is he getting into this? "Um... I s-suppose that's fair. You did a b-bunch of good for the NCR after all, and I was, um, r-really disrespectful..." he says, blushing quite heavily. Well, that's certainly a surprise, but I'm not against it. If he's just gonna acquiesce, then I'm definitely gonna take advantage.