#( arc iv. ) how can you save the world from itself? / fallout 4.

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@o-rusted-heart​

“Oh Hot Rod,” Six called over her shoulder, taking a good look at the synth tarrying behind, “You alright back there? Need I should slow down, or is it just your joints actin’ up?”

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The people of Sanctuary steered clear of Vault 111 for good reason. It was Nate’s one condition when he gave over the tiny community of Sanctuary. As far as people knew it was merely to preserve it as a place to bury old memories for him, but that was only because he was good about sneaking in and out of it. People thought power armor was nothing but loud, but those people didn’t know how to live in it like he did.

Oopsie. Ha ha ha. No, no, no. Little fingers away. There we go. Just say it. Right there. Right there. Go ahead. Shaun giggles. I am father. 

Ha ha! Yay! Hi honey! Listen...

Hunched over, seated in the bed he had dragged from the Overseer’s chamber, Nate cradled his head in his hands. Here there was reprieve. There were no judgmental eyes or hollow words. Here there was Nora, and she stood over him as pretty as the day she stepped into that chamber.

All she did nowadays was glare at him. It didn’t matter the flowers he brought or the way he had buried all the other casualties of Vault 111. It didn’t matter how he had cleared the room of everything but her pod to make the den as comfy a home as possible. The small bed he had brought down here for Shaun was covered in a layer of dust.

Nate didn’t look at her. He knew she’d be glaring.

But everything we do, no matter how hard... we do it for our family. Now say goodbye, Shaun... Bye bye? Say bye bye? Shaun giggled. I HATE YOU! Bye honey! We love you!

The static of the tape crackled, and Nate turned the dial on his pip-boy. The static began again. He��didn’t move, but he did look up towards the sound of foot steps. and the door sliding open. He wasn’t ready for this.

Oopsie. Ha ha ha. No, no, no. Little fingers away. There we go --

“Valentine,” Nate spoke with a tinge of surprise, “Would’ve done a little more cleaning if I knew you were coming.”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @o-rusted-heart

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i had thought that six coming from new vegas to the commonwealth she’d vibe with the minutemen but. i don’t think that anymore. i think she would start extremely wary of them, ask pointed questions and challenge their intentions until it was abundantly clear that the general and their methods did not mirror that of the legion’s.

she has seen first hand what it is to have a group of cosplaying soldiers absorbing tribes and settlements under one common banner. sure, perhaps things would be peaceful in their territory, but colonialism is garbage y’all. obviously they are not r*pists or slavers. just farmer and a rag tag militia but... she would be wary until she saw that was the honest truth.

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@o-rusted-heart​ sent: 32 with nick ;o;

It’s a place that Six tries to commit to memory -- sure the water is irradiated like all the bodies of water are here. ( She wants to try and help before she leaves. Leave it better than she found it. It’s the least she can do for them saving Nick’s life. ) But the trees are pretty, the nature is pretty. Prettiest of all is seeing Nick moving easier, not whirring so loud like his life depends on it. Being outside of the Commonwealth is doing wonders for them both.

They have to go back, they do. Just right now they don’t have to because they ain’t ready to yet, and between bowling and drive-ins and learning about each other without lying or schemes or anything like that, it’s just not time to yet.

He treats her like a gentleman, the cold air in Maine something she’s not so used to. It’s a little bit worse up here than it was in Massachusetts. He lets her wear his coat and she teases him about walking her home like she has a curfew. In all reality they walk back to Acadia hand in hand and he holds her as she finds sleep. That’s her favorite part of the day -- falling asleep safer than she’s ever been.

Still, she bids him a fond goodnight, and like they aren’t about to enter together he cups her face and kisses her farewell, and end to their date. It sweeps her up into it all at once, stealing the air from her lungs as she returns it, a simple kiss goodnight warming up into something that makes Six sigh, makes her head spin and her body shiver. Neither of them can get enough of it, and luckily in this moment there is nothing but time to get their fill.

Finally, even when they separate she can’t bear to open her eyes, not yet. Right now it’s just her and Nick, and with his forehead pressed against hers and her hands gently tracing the line of his jaw. She can feel him smiling, mirroring hers. When her eyes flutter open finally to catch the pretty glow of his own, Six is so happy she can’t help but offer a breathy laugh.

a kiss so passionate, so perfect - that after they part, neither person can open their eyes for a few moments afterwards.

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@brokenshoreman          /          sc.

“Nate -- I got a quick question for you. If you don’t wanna answer it, I understand. Reckon it might be a touch personal.”

She appreciated the Minutemen, and having spent time improving things around the Castle had been satisfying work, but a break was earned now and again. This was certainly one of those times.

“Have you ever seen a mermaid?”

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@cryochronism​     /     continued.

The honest opinion Six plans to save for later. There is a lot to think about there. All about war, about the Brotherhood. It’s all just a mess and she’d rather not have to deal with it. She has a bit more thinking to do about all of it, though where Quinn frowns Six keeps the corners of her lips turned up so slightly it’s hard to tell if she’s even doing it at all. A smile is disarming, they say. Six likes to think she’s taken that and run with it.

“Somethin’ like that,” She’s still thinking, though. About their concept of protection and how it seems more like subjugation. “Seems very like them, though I wouldn’t ever've pegged ‘em for wantin’ to help others. If I may be so candid with you Q, ain’t like them at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all a farce. Helpin’ themselves to whatever old world tech might be around here before vamoosin’... or worse, takin’ over here to set up their own little chapter of xenophobic technophiles. Ain’t like them to take care of anyone other than their own.”

Sure, she smiles and says it casual as day, but there’s something that can never fully be hidden behind sunny dispositions or playful nicknames. There’s still something pointed about her words. Something personal. Something heartbroken. Courier Six shrugs and lights up a cigarette.

“Ain’t where I’m livin’ now. Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood don’t exist no more, but they still hang 'round in California. Here too, seems like. Back there they fight for what they want, and nobody gives ‘em an ounce.” A beat, “You been in their big air ship, then? Or was the Elder at least a little discernin’?”

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She studied the little mirelurk thoughtfully, her hands folded in front of her and fingers fidgeting, almost like they wanted to reach out and touch the creature even if she knew better than that. Six looked lost in thought.

“I remember when I was a little girl -- found a clutch of mirelurk eggs and I took one back home with me. Daddy was furious, and we had a frittata for dinner that night...” a long pause followed.

“Anyways, hi.”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @brokenshoreman​

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This started feeling normal again -- the nice kind, the good kind. The kind that made Six want to stay here in Acadia with Nick until the Commonwealth blew whatever was left up and it wouldn’t be their problem anymore. It was the normal she craved but knew wasn’t hers, not when New Vegas waited for her and she feared that every time Nick saw her part of him would think about Benny tearing his outsides in and screwing her in that pretty pink dress.

She remembered how her daddy said to never leave a job unfinished, and knew it in her heart that doing so now would be especially wrong. So she waited until Nick was feeling a little bit better, could think with a clearer head, and then maybe with him all buttered up with her sitting on his lap back at the bench they liked to spent time at he would listen to reason.

It would be different this time -- it wouldn’t be like Ronnie. She loved Nick, and Nick loved her, which meant more than simple little crushes. He’d listen to her. Six took a minute to try her hand a blowing a smoke ring the way she had begged Nick to teach her -- it wasn’t as tight as the ones he could blow. The next lull in the conversation was as good a time as any.

“Nick, I’ve been thinkin’ about the Brotherhood... Do you think Benny’s figured out what he needed on the Prydwen yet?”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @o-rusted-heart​

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With every passing day it was getting harder to contain her excitement. Six knew she’d be going home eventually, but now that things were finally starting to head in that direction she was finding it harder and harder not to smile to herself at random moments. More than that she was barraging Nick with more and more promises of  things they’d do and places they would go.

Generally she was just excited -- excited to show Nick a good time, to keep traveling with him and seeing where ever life was going to take them. It was a nice feeling, one she was getting used to, and happily so. Sometimes it still felt too good to be true.

“We could even swing by Chicago if you wanted,” Six noted, her legs draped over Nick’s lap as she worked on her Pip-Boy. She wanted to make sure it was in tip top shape and there was plenty of memory on it still to spare. Extraneous things were being loaded onto holotape just in case.

“Though the city’s more or less gone. Mostly it’s a bunch of tribes on the outskirts. I stopped there for a little bit since I sort of knew about it thanks to E-DE. It’s a shame about trains -- so many of the tracks have been blown to hell. There used to be one that connected California to Chicago -- I had hoped maybe most of the track from Nebraska to Illinois would’ve been salvageable, but there were too many craters and irradiated spots for it to be viable yet.”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @o-rusted-heart

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@bleedingflames​  sent  2.   locals  will  tell  you  never  to  venture  into  the  swamps.  no  one  comes  out.  our  muses  do  it  anyway.  

So much of Jamaica Plain had been swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean. The walk ways and scaffolding from one rooftop to another helped for most of the trek, but the Minutemen had warned of going any father down the coastline. Rightly so it seemed; last time a flare had gone off that far down the men who had gone to deal with the problem disappeared.

Of course, no one was quite sure who had shot the flare off in the first place. Six grunted as she landed on the walkways beneath rooftops, the smell of rotten and wet wood and stagnant water miserable. So far everything was alright. At this rate, they could get to the hospital before sunset. At least Six hoped so. Hopefully the hospital was down here at all. The supplies would have been useful.

“Careful Sugar,” she warned, looking up at the doctor who was ready to join her, “Wood down here’s slippy. I don’t know about you but I ain’t interested in gettin’ wet until I don’t have any more options.” Like it would help, Six reached her hand upwards to spot Aiden as he scaled down.

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She liked the privacy of going outside to smoke sometimes. It was nice not having to keep on a brave face. A cigarette and a small break to let her face wear the tired expression it wanted to more often. Things here were lovely -- the memories even more so, but all of it was just a distraction about things they needed to talk about. The deathclaw in the room that wore a shitty checkered suit. How that said deathclaw had sent Nick into such a panic that Six held him through the night and still felt like it wasn’t enough.

Six stomped out the cigarette butt before returning inside to find him. There had been some kind of hope that in the small break to smoke she would have figured out how to address what had happened with the insistence that he needed those repairs. Nothing. It was hard to know what to say. Even harder to not know how to say it, but there he was, and she had to say something.

“Feelin’ any better?”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @o-rusted-heart​​

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@preventifmedecin​

“C’mere, Cutie,” Six patted the empty spot next to her. It was pretty clear by the spread of various make up palates what’ was going on there. All the same, Six continues as she begins to scrutinize the various colors of blush and eye shadow.

“Have you ever gotten a makeover before?”

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@synthvictoriam​    /    sc.

There are some universal truths out in the world. One of them is that when a catchy song comes on, Courier Six must dance. So she does as she fixes herself something quick to eat before getting started on whatever the settlement of Sanctuary needs. She doesn’t realize she has company until she spins around and catches Paladin Danse in the door frame that she stops.

Well... she doesn’t stop, not really, but now it’s just a little bob of her head and a shimmy of her hips.

“How long have you been standin’ there?" Six laughs -- it must have been some kind of sight to walk in on, “Never mind -- what’s goin’ on, sir? Does Sturges need my help with somethin’?”

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Whenever Nick had a question about the Mojave, Six was happy to answer it. After all, it was a big change; he was full well established here in the Commonwealth.

Now all her answers went beyond her personal stories or current events. She told him about the history best as she could remember it. Told him about California as well in case that sparked his interest more. The Capital Wasteland wouldn’t be a very viable option considering it was Brotherhood territory. There was plenty of patching to do on her vault suit, plenty of things that the Minutemen needed an extra set of hands for.

All in all though, they had downtime again and it was nice. Slowly but surely it felt more like a we. The sight of the giant airship no longer in the sky was another plus, but that didn’t mean that it was gone completely. No, there were still plenty of members of the Brotherhood of Steel around, and the rippling conversation that was passing through from traders to settlers made it obvious that their presence in the Commonwealth was still unfortunately known.

“Nick, they’re sayin’ there’s Brotherhood about to cross the bridge,” she frowned deeply, concern apparent on her features, “Nate went ahead to talk to ‘em but... what d’you ‘spose they want?”

𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 .  @o-rusted-heart

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safchouse said: [ laugh ] for your muse to laugh at something mine did

Six was pretty sure neither of them expected the job to go south so quickly.

Their disguises had been full proof right up until that damn Paladin had shown up. They aren’t in my patrol, he had said. The other members of the Brotherhood looked at each other and back to the pair. There was about three seconds before their guns were out and Six and Deacon had spun on their heels to run for cover.

How that fella had known was beyond the courier. They’d used the proper lingo and everything. The sound of laser weapons blasting in the distance and commands being barked was far too close for far too long. Thankfully their armor was good for something.

She caught her breath, taking a minute to peek out carefully to make sure the coast was clear. Hopefully they weren’t going to be stubborn enough to keep on following. Blue eyes shifted to catch Deacon.

“Are you alri -- pft,” Her question got cut off quick at the sight of the agent’s wig all askew on his scalp, the thing nearly spun entirely around to be backwards. A hand moved up to cover her mouth, painted lips pressing firm together to prevent herself from laughing to hard. Still, she giggled.

“Do you... you want a bobby pin?” She managed to ask with a relative straight face before erupting into the fit of laughter she couldn’t hold back anymore.

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@dyedmaxiian​          /           sc.

“Who’s this Shakespeare fella you seem t’be so keen on quotin’?