#The flag is the minutemen flag from Fallout 4

[fanficfactory333]

Stanley and the Narrator in the Backrooms. Chapter 2: Level 1.

The plywood groaned in protest as Stanley wedged the crowbar beneath it, the rusted nails shrieking as they were forced loose. With one final heave, the barrier splintered away, pieces clattering to the floor. The path ahead stood open.

Beyond the threshold lay something vast, industrial, and wrong.

They stepped through.

The air hit them first. Cold. Humid. Stagnant. It smelled like brutalism and apathy, like a place meant to function, not to feel—concrete dust, damp metal, and the faintest trace of ozone.

Their footsteps echoed, unnervingly sharp against the exposed concrete. There was no soft furniture, no carpet, nothing to absorb sound. Every step was a reminder of how empty this place was.

Level 1.

It stretched before them—endless hallways, infinite storage rooms lined with rusted shelves and looming concrete pillars. The dim, flickering lights struggled to hold back the void, pouring uneven pools of yellowed light onto the damp floor, leaving much of the space swallowed in darkness.

Somewhere in the distance, water dripped. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Small, frigid puddles dotted the uneven floor, splashing underfoot as they walked. The cold bit deeper than in Level 0—the kind that seeped into the bones rather than just the skin.

Stanley felt it the most.

His clothes were woefully inadequate—a thin white button-up with a grey grid pattern, dark grey pants—nothing compared to the Narrator’s layered warmth. He clutched the crowbar in one hand, but his other arm had wrapped around his own torso, fingers gripping his sides for some semblance of warmth. Goosebumps prickled along his forearms, and his breath ghosted faintly in the chilled air.

The Narrator noticed.

It was hard not to.

For a brief moment, something unfamiliar tugged at the edges of his thoughts—a twinge of pity.

He ignored it.

It didn’t matter.

Stanley hadn’t said anything about it, so why should he? If the man was cold, he’d say so. That was his problem, not the Narrator’s. He forced his gaze forward, pushing the thought away like a stray ember before it could burn any deeper.

A tense, complicated silence stretched between them as they walked, minutes stretching into something that felt like hours.

The cold. The silence. The endless, cavernous emptiness.

It was wearing at them.

Then—at last—a break in the monotony.

A warehouse-style storage room, filled with stacks of cardboard boxes and rusted industrial shelves. Larger wooden crates rested on pallets along the far wall.

The ceiling—unnervingly high, too high—vanished into the darkness above, the details of its structure obscured. Only a single, weak incandescent light illuminated the space, barely enough to carve out a rectangle of clarity in the vast expanse of shadow.

The Narrator’s gaze followed the ceiling up, his expression tightening slightly at the sheer height of it. It was wrong.

Deeply, instinctually wrong.

He exhaled through his nose, shaking off the strange vertigo that clawed at him. With a dry scoff, he muttered, “This ceiling is so high in here that I wouldn’t be surprised if it started raining.”

His voice felt too loud in the stillness, but at least it finally shattered the silence between them.

Stanley huffed, shaking his head before shifting the crowbar beneath his armpit to free up his hands. He signed, (I Will Look-For Jacket), his fingers moving with quick precision despite the cold.

The Narrator’s expression tightened.

Not at the signing—he understood it well enough—but at the fact that it was the first real thing Stanley had asked for.

The older man’s gaze flickered away, suddenly uninterested in the space between them. He told himself that the slight twinge of guilt in his chest was irrational. He had no reason to feel guilty.

Why the hell would he give up his own coat?

It was a ridiculous thought. Completely impractical. A sacrifice that would benefit only one of them, and if Stanley really needed it, he should have asked sooner. Simple as that.

And yet—

His hands curled subtly at his sides before he forced them to relax.

Stanley turned away, already scanning the room, oblivious to the Narrator’s internal war.

Then—a sharp crack split the air.

Stanley had slammed the crowbar into the lid of a crate, forcing it open.

The Narrator blinked, pulled from his thoughts.

He exhaled slowly, letting go of something he wasn’t ready to name.

For now, there were more immediate things to focus on.

—

Stanley rolled his shoulders before gripping the crowbar again, wedging it under the lid of the crate he’d just cracked open. With a sharp twist, the wood splintered, and the lid lurched free with a dull thud as it hit the ground.

He barely hesitated before digging in.

The first thing he pulled out was a box of crayons—a cheap, waxy set of 24 colors boxed in cardboard. The packaging was faded, but the crayons inside looked untouched. Useless. He exhaled through his nose, tossing them aside.

Next, he pulled out a tangled bundle of shoelaces, knotted together in an infuriating mess. Some were frayed, others were pristine, as if they'd been freshly laced through a new pair of sneakers. Weird, but not exactly helpful.

He moved on.

A sealed plastic bag of almonds.

Stanley paused. The packaging had no brand, no label, just a plain, vacuum-sealed bag. There was no telling if it was safe, but it looked like real, actual food. He tossed it into his backpack.

His fingers brushed against something else—something soft.

He pulled out a clump of long, blonde human hair, bound together by a rubber band.

Stanley flinched, disgust flaring up his spine before he dropped it back into the crate like it had burned him. He wiped his hand against his pants, trying not to think about the coarse, heavy texture still lingering on his fingertips.

What the hell was the point of that?

He forced himself to keep going.

A pair of old car keys. Rusted. Useless.

A single, cracked porcelain teacup, delicate but chipped at the rim. The handle was missing.

A medical syringe, still in its sterile plastic packaging. He frowned at that one, turning it over in his hand before setting it aside. Could be useful. Could also be laced with something that would kill him instantly. He tosses it aside.

At the very bottom of the crate, he found a heavy, military-style jacket.

Stanley’s eyes widened.

Dark green, thick fabric, reinforced stitching, and heavy pockets. On the shoulder there was a patch of a flag he had never seen before; A light blue rectangle with the white shapes of a musket, a lightning bolt, and three stars. Strange. He pulled it out, dust scattering from the folds. It smelled like stale fabric and damp cardboard, but it was warm.

He didn’t even hesitate—he shrugged it on, the sleeves slightly too long, but he didn’t care. 

He felt an instant sense of comfort at the weight of the thick and durable fabric resting on his shoulders. It felt protective, like armor against the frigid air around him.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Narrator watching him.

Not saying anything. Just watching.

Stanley adjusted the fit of the jacket, fastening one of the buttons. He didn’t ask why the older man was staring—he already had a pretty good guess.

The Narrator had known he was cold. And instead of offering his own coat, he’d just… ignored it. He wasn’t obligated to, obviously—Stanley wasn’t an idiot, he didn’t expect that kind of kindness here. But still.

The older man’s expression was unreadable, but something about it—something about the way his jaw was set, the way his fingers briefly flexed at his sides—gave Stanley the distinct impression that he was… annoyed.

Maybe not at him. Maybe at himself.

Stanley huffed under his breath. Not my problem.

The Narrator could pretend all he wanted that he didn’t care, but Stanley had seen the way his eyes lingered earlier, the way his expression had tightened when he signed about looking for a jacket.

The guy was fighting something in his own head.

Stanley just wasn’t sure if it was about him or about whatever personal baggage the Narrator was dragging around.

Either way, he wasn’t going to be the one to ask.

He turned his attention to the next crate, gripping the crowbar again. Better to keep moving.

—

Stanley kept searching, but it was starting to feel pointless.

For every useful find—military jacket, crowbar, flashlight—there were a dozen things that made no damn sense. A single ballet slipper. A jar of what looked like pickles but had no discernible label. A plastic container full of mismatched screws. More human hair.

At this point, he wasn’t even reacting to the weirder things. He just moved on.

After about an hour, his patience was wearing thin. But then—finally—something decent.

A pair of dark brown leather motorcycle gloves.

Stanley immediately pulled them on, flexing his fingers inside the snug material. They were slightly worn but warm, the leather stiff in places from age, but otherwise intact. Between this and the jacket, the cold wasn’t cutting quite as deep.

His gaze swept over the shelves again, and something caught his eye—a box filled with bottles, all labeled ‘Almond Water.’

Well. That sounded… almost reasonable.

It wasn’t like he had a better option.

He grabbed the whole box and made his way back toward the Narrator, who had perched himself atop a wooden pallet, long legs stretched out in front of him.

Stanley paused for a moment, taking in the sight.

The older man was… untangling shoelaces.

Stanley frowned. Out of all the things he could be doing.

The Narrator was fully invested, his gloved fingers methodically working at the knots, his expression unreadable. Like this was a puzzle that demanded solving.

Stanley’s first instinct was to assume boredom, but… no. He knew better.

Cordage was useful.

He knew it. The Narrator knew it.

A good length of string or rope could mean the difference between improvising a tool and having nothing. Could be used for binding, securing, setting traps, anything.

…But at the same time, it was definitely at least half boredom.

Shaking his head, Stanley walked over and set the box of Almond Water on the ground next to them. Then, without a word, he took a seat beside the Narrator and pulled out two bottles—offering one along with a Royal Rations energy bar.

The Narrator barely glanced up. “Mm.” He took the bottle with his free hand but made no move to open it, still focused on the laces.

Stanley huffed. “You gonna actually drink that or just appreciate it aesthetically?”

The Narrator finally looked at him, raising an unimpressed brow before setting the tangled mess aside with a quiet sigh.

Only then did he unscrew the cap.

Stanley had already taken a few sips of his own when he noticed something.

The Narrator paused mid-drink, his jaw subtly tightening before he quickly took another sip, longer this time.

Then another.

Stanley narrowed his eyes. “…You didn’t realize how thirsty you were, did you?”

The older man stopped, the bottle still in his hand. His expression remained neutral, but something about it shifted.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he took the energy bar from Stanley’s outstretched hand, almost like an afterthought. He examined the packaging briefly—plain, military-style, efficient. Then, without a word, he peeled it open and took a bite.

Stanley let out a breath through his nose, shaking his head. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

The Narrator shot him a dry look, chewing with an air of pointed indifference. After swallowing, he finally responded. “I was… occupied.”

Stanley smirked. “With shoelaces?”

A pause.

“…With practicality.” The Narrator corrected, nudging the tangled pile on the pallet beside him. “These could be useful.”

Stanley glanced at them. “Uh-huh. And totally not just an excuse to do something with your hands?”

The Narrator’s silence was answer enough.

A faint smirk tugged at Stanley’s lips, but he didn’t push it. Instead, he leaned back slightly, rolling one shoulder to work out the tension.

For a few minutes, they just sat there. Drinking. Eating. Existing.

It wasn’t comfortable, not really, but it was a moment. A moment where neither of them were running, or hiding, or waiting for something to go wrong.

A moment where survival wasn’t the only thing in the air.

The Narrator finished his bar and wiped his fingers off on his gloves before returning his attention to the shoelaces. His fingers worked with practiced efficiency, his focus seemingly elsewhere.

Stanley tilted his head slightly, watching him for a moment.

Then, with a quiet sigh, he grabbed one of the laces and started helping.

The Narrator’s hands briefly stilled.

“…You know I had it handled,” he murmured.

Stanley smirked. “Sure. But at this rate, we’d be here another hour.”

The Narrator exhaled through his nose, but he didn’t argue.

They worked in silence.

For once, it wasn’t tense.

Just strange.

Strange, but not bad.

—

The first thing Stanley noticed after taking a seat beside the Narrator was how unnervingly still the air was.

No ambient noise beyond their own breathing. No flickering lights at the moment. Just the occasional drip of water somewhere in the distance, always just far enough away to feel imagined.

It had been hours since either of them had properly rested. This—sitting down, drinking, eating something real—should have felt normal. But it didn’t.

It felt temporary. Like something was waiting to be taken away.

Stanley tore open the Royal Rations energy bar with his gloved fingers, taking a bite. It was dense, chalky, but packed with enough calories to keep him going. Not great, not terrible.

The Narrator, still sitting beside him, was going through the same motions—eating, drinking, working at the tangle of shoelaces in his lap.

For the first few minutes, neither of them said anything.

Then, finally, the Narrator broke the silence.

“The coat suits you.”

Stanley blinked, caught off guard. He glanced down at himself—the thick, military-style jacket he’d found fit well enough, though a bit big on him. The gloves, too, had molded to his hands nicely after wearing them for a while.

It took him a second to respond, “Didn’t really have a choice,” he muttered, “Unless you were planning on giving me yours.”

The Narrator let out a quiet, amused huff, “Not in this lifetime.”

Stanley rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t actually annoyed. He could still feel the way the Narrator had hesitated earlier, when he first noticed how cold he was. The older man had considered it.

That was what made his stubborn refusal almost funny.

Stanley took another bite, chewing slowly before saying, “You didn’t say anything about the gloves.”

The Narrator raised an eyebrow. “Should I?”

Stanley shrugged. “If you’re going to make small talk about my fashion choices, might as well go all the way.”

A beat of silence. Then, finally, the Narrator glanced down at the gloves. Dark brown leather, fitted well, sturdy.

“Good find.” His tone was matter-of-fact. “More useful than the jacket, actually. Hands lose heat faster than most people realize. You’d be useless in a fight if you couldn’t feel your fingers.”

Stanley smirked slightly. “Oh, so you were thinking about me fighting?”

The Narrator sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That’s not what I—”

Stanley chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. “Relax, I’m messing with you.”

The Narrator muttered something under his breath—probably unkind—but he let it go.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the shoelaces, fingers deftly untangling another stubborn knot.

Stanley watched him work for a moment, chewing thoughtfully before speaking again.

“You ever think about how weird this all is?”

The Narrator didn’t look up. “You’ll have to be more specific. There’s a lot of ‘weird’ to choose from.”

Stanley gestured vaguely. “This whole thing. The Backrooms. Being here. Existing in a place that shouldn’t exist.”

The older man was quiet for a moment. Then, finally, he said, “No.”

Stanley frowned. “No?”

“I don’t think about it,” the Narrator clarified, voice even, “Because it doesn’t help. We’re here. That’s all that matters.”

Stanley studied him for a second. “That’s a practical way to look at it.”

The Narrator smirked faintly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Practicality is the only thing keeping you alive.”

Stanley exhaled sharply through his nose. “Right. Because survival is all that matters.”

The Narrator didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he finished untangling the last knot, then slowly tied the laces together, forming a single, continuous length of cordage.

Only when he was satisfied with the result did he speak.

“Yes.”

Stanley narrowed his eyes. “You don’t actually believe that.”

The Narrator shot him a look. “And what makes you so sure?”

Stanley shrugged, finishing off the last of his energy bar, “You act like you don’t care about anything, but you do.”

The older man scoffed, “Enlighten me.”

“You hesitate.”

That caught the Narrator off guard. Just for a second.

Stanley leaned back slightly, crossing his arms, “You’re quick to act when you need to, but sometimes—just sometimes—you pause. Like earlier, when I signed about needing a jacket. You thought about giving me yours.”

The Narrator’s expression didn’t change.

Stanley continued, “You didn’t, obviously. And that’s fine. But you thought about it.”

The silence that followed was thick.

Then, after a moment, the Narrator sighed quietly.

“…Doesn’t mean anything,” he muttered.

Stanley didn’t argue. He just smirked faintly, “Whatever you say…”

The Narrator exhaled through his nose, shaking his head as he reached for one of the Almond Water bottles. He twisted off the cap and took a sip—longer than necessary.

And that’s when it hit him.

Hunger. Thirst.

He hadn’t even realized how empty his stomach was until now. Until he actually had something in his hands, something tangible, something that could be consumed.

He had been running on instinct, on pragmatism, on the necessity of movement for so long that he had forgotten about the most basic human needs.

Stanley noticed.

“…You didn’t realize how hungry you were, did you?”

The Narrator scowled slightly, but he didn’t deny it.

Instead, he took another deliberate bite of the ration bar, chewing slowly, methodically.

Stanley shook his head. “Damn. You’re really out here gaslighting yourself into not having basic needs, huh?”

The Narrator glared. “I’m not—”

“You are,” Stanley cut in, pointing at him, “I bet if I didn’t hand you food just now, you’d have kept going until you collapsed.”

The Narrator scoffed, but there was no real argument left in him.

Another pause. Then, more quietly, he said, “I’m used to ignoring it.”

Stanley wasn’t sure what to say to that.

So, instead, he just said, “Well, that’s stupid.”

The Narrator let out a breath—almost a laugh, but not quite.

They sat there for a little while longer, eating, drinking, tying knots. Slowly, without either of them acknowledging it, the silence between them became something different.

Not tense. Not forced. Just… there.

Eventually, when the shoelace cord was a solid 20 feet, Stanley packed it away along with two extra bottles of Almond Water, securing them in his backpack.

The Narrator stood, stretching his legs, “We should move.”

Stanley nodded, slinging the pack over his shoulder, “Yeah.”

And so they walked—side by side, through an unreasonably long hallway, talking about nothing and everything.

[lynettethemadscientist]

Controversial: people hate Preston Garvey not because of a bad game mechanic but because they hate being reminded that they, as a human being, are responsible for helping other people to the best of their ability.

[fallout-fallen-knight]

Fallout 4: Redesigned

In the year 2077, the world was bathed in atomic hellfire, and nearly all of humanity was wiped out in an instant. In the intervening years, the survivors slowly began to put their lives back together. As their ancestors of old had, they formed encampments, which became villages, which became towns. In the Commonwealth, the region encompassing much of old world Massachusetts, survivors began to discover that there was more than just their meager towns, and forged alliances with one another for food and clean water, mutual defense, and other goods. These alliances eventually united under one flag: that of the Minutemen, headquartered in the town of Quincy.

Eventually peoples’ attention turned to the skeletal remains of old Boston, and some forged a path inwards to find if there was anything left in the city. There they found the great green jewel of the Commonwealth: a baseball stadium that would become the mighty walls of Diamond City. Diamond City flourished, but disputes in its ruling family led a group to leave and establish Goodneighbor, a town “of the people, for the people”. For years, these twin towns were major hubs in the Commonwealth, with people, goods, information, and most importantly, money flowing through them. In an attempt to further unite the region, the Minutemen approached both cities to form the Commonwealth Provisional Government, creating an era of cooperation and mutual prosperity.

Fifteen years ago, the Institute emerged from underneath the ruins of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, and everything changed. The Institute offered great advances in agriculture, medicine, and cybernetics, with one simple cost: complete and total fealty. With them they also brought synths: biological robots who’s body and mind can be molded to the Institute’s purposes, which made up the bulk of the Institute’s military and labor forces. Within a month of their appearance, the Commonwealth Provisional Government collapsed as Diamond City suddenly welcomed the Institute with open arms. As the Minutemen were beaten back, other towns within the ruins of Boston were faced with the choice of acquiescing to the Institute or being cut off from all trade and communication, and found they would gladly lend their flagpoles to the Institute.

For years, the Minutemen and the Railroad operated on the fringes of the Commonwealth: the Minutemen protecting those who have fled the city of Boston in the wake of the Institute, and the Railroad ferrying escaped synths out of Boston and, if possible, the Commonwealth. However, each organization has recently suffered a devastating loss as the Institute seeks to solidify the power they hold over the Commonwealth outside Boston. Moreover, armored scouts from the Brotherhood of Steel, a technocratic cult from the Capital Wasteland, have been seen around the southern reaches of the Commonwealth.

You are from Quincy, a town which until recently was the center of Minuteman activity in the Commonwealth. Late last night, you heard gunfire and screams, smelled blood and fire. This morning you are the Sole Survivor of the massacre that destroyed the town and the Minutemen alike.

Fallout 4: Redesigned is a personal project of mine, as I have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the lore and worldbuilding surrounding Fallout 4. It seeks to rebuild the setting and story from the ground up, reworking most aspects of the game itself from the Sole Survivor to the factions, the companions, the main quest, and more. This series can be found at #fallout 4 redesigned, as I write it.

[slocumjoe]

do you think you'll ever do fnv or fo3 requests too?

TDLR; No for both, because I like New Vegas enough that I don't feel like it needs dissecting, and because I don't like Fallout 3 at all.

warning for cringe nv circlejerking and fo3 negativity...which shouldn't surprise anyone, given other things I've said on this blog

If one could take a good, long look at all the fandoms I've ever been in, the one consistency is potential. This could have been incredible, this almost was a fascinating story, this had everything to be a masterpiece.

For example, Fallout 4. It has so many different aspects that could have made a good game and story...they just didn't flesh any of them out.

The Commonwealth is under the totalitarian, but shadowed hand of the Institute, a hidden organization that treats the land and its people like playthings, for unknown goals. Their latest venture; the synth. A man made of flesh and bone, made as if he were mere machine...and made in the image of anyone. Someone you love, your settlement leader, you. Whatever the Institute had planned, it is at the cost of what remains of humanity, and you must stop—wait, sorry, hold on...yeah, no, Todd says we're going back to the baby thing.

You are a pre-war Vault Dweller, frozen for centuries, when a mysterious man cracks open your spouse's cryo pod and steals your infant son from their hands. Now, you must journey into a land so familiar, but completely alien, to find him, and figure out what forces took him, and for what purp—wait, wait, nevermind, actually we're gonna...those aforementioned forces made androids and have been replacing people with them, go figure that out, decide what color flag you want on their blown up hideout.

The Minutemen are an interesting concept, too, as we haven't really seen a purely altruistic faction, really. If we have, they've escaped my memory at the moment. Say NCR/Lyons and I'm deleting Tumblr, the website. But the Minutemen are treated as nothing more than barebones context for why you would engage with the settlement building.

Railroad...ugh. That's a whole essay. A reference to a historical organization, made purely in response to the Bladerunner reference, and then put together with tape and soda box cardboard. Ugh.

Brotherhood...reused because Bethesda has little imagination of their own. The Brotherhood doesn't do anything, they just hang around and say stuff about containing technology. They lack substance in a different way than the other three factions.

The Institute has some bones on it. You could get something out of the idea of, even after the bombs, there being a shadow government controlling the Commonwealth and its people. Instead, it exists purely because of a throw-away reference to Bladerunner in Fallout 3, and Bethesda tripped over itself trying to justify it.

So, Fallout New Vegas...

Lots of themes, pulling from real history and philosophy without dickriding it and refusing to look the current in-universe reality in the eye.

Fallout New Vegas wasn't something that left me thinking. Wondering what it could have been. There's a psychological phenomenon that, when you put down a task or puzzle, your brain doesn't let it go. It keeps that tab running, so to speak. Fallout New Vegas, the story and writing was so complete, that when it ended, I didn't have anything else I wanted to know. No questions, no feeling of dissatisfaction. The puzzle was finished, everything was exactly as it should have been.

NV has more potential, yes, but not because it failed or pulled its punches; they didn't get enough time or resources to work on it. Even then, what they were able to do, they made sure it wrapped up nicely and had enough meat to satisfy everyone. Any discussion I take interest in is political or philosophical; I don't feel like any characters were shafted. They all felt realized, crafted rather than slapped together.

But...Fallout 3 was literally nothing.

Fallout 4 has aspects that could work. Fallout 3's plot is just...so uninspired, constantly yawning as it tries to be grandiose and sentimental. It's about this about this one kid of this scientist. This kid's dad leaves the Vault for some reason, the kid fucks around doing busywork so people tell them where he went, they find him, he dies, stuff with Eden and Autumn, the kid dies pushing some buttons. Yay...I'm so invested in this teenager, this old dude who is nothing but 'dad' and 'scientist', and the two brotherhood of steel ladies who take over telling me what busywork to do...

So, yeah. The killing blow is that I didn't like any of the Fallout 3 characters.

First Companion I met was Jericho. I learned he was a rapist and I killed him. The game told me I lost karma for murder...despite giving me karma for killing the Tenpenny guy in the bar five minutes ago. I killed everyone in Paradise Falls and got good karma. No desire to recruit Clover. I only traveled with Dogmeat and Fawkes. Butch's archetype is boring and Charon...fine, I guess. Stoic, maybe? Honor-bound, as he says. Sure, that's something. I had to Google the other companions.

And I think that demonstrates the problem with Fallout 3 companions. People never say they like Clover, or Jericho. It's Butch and Charon. I saw Star Paladin Cross mentioned by another human being once, IRL. Once. Do you really want to know what Jericho would do for Halloween? Do you really care about what RL-3 would think about the Lone Wander finding a baby and keeping it? Does the thought of Star Paladin Cross wearing a tanktop on weekends thrill and excite you? No. Why would it? Do you even remember Cross's gender? What Jericho looks like? What weapon Clover uses?

I don't feel like writing New Vegas because I don't see anything to write. They're good characters, good writing, I was happy with how it all turned out.

I write Fallout 4 because that puzzle never finished for me. I never got to see the likable, interesting characters reach their full potential, and it got me wondering.

I won't write Fallout 3 because there wasn't anything I found redeeming in it. I finished the puzzle and I was happy only because it was over.

[sassenashsworld]

The living dead part 1/3

I finished my evening yesterday by reading angst and I realize I'm … very bad at this type of story…

I try here a short story, post-fallout 4, where Shaun experiences a life that leaves him bitter first, then as we suspect he will make a terrible choice… but I don’t know if I will menage

I wish I could give emotions to my readers but sometimes I doubt it

So here’s…

She watches the sun rise through the window. She watches the sun rise on the workshop that allowed her to make the first conveniences of Sanctuary, the warehouse from which she brought back the walls and windows piece by piece with Sturges and Strong, the streetlamps she herself installed with the help of Nick. She watches the sun rise on the streets of Sanctuary and sits there, at her window, without reacting as the sun continues to rise.

Light footsteps resonate in the hallway. Shaun enters the kitchen rubbing his eyes after an awful night’s sleep and is not surprised to see her there. She’s always there in the morning, before too many people walk down the street, before someone could say hi. Then, when she sees a first silhouette coming out, she leaves her position and goes back to lock herself in her room whose windows are hermetically sealed with steel panels.

Preston insisted on installing Minutemen flags. She silently accepted out of spite.

Shaun sees her turning away from the window; no doubt Preston has left his house and is heading towards theirs.

But he’s not coming in.

He will not enter to avoid another crisis.

The only one, outside of Shaun, who still dares to enter the Sole Survivor’s house since the events is Nick Valentine, the synthetic detective, Nora’s best friend.

No one else can do it anymore.

Because she no longer accepts anyone else around her.

Not since Deacon was killed in her custody.

First, she acted with disbelief. Total denial. When Curie came out of the operating room shaking her head seriously, MacCready burst into tears and Nick put a sympathetic hand on the young woman’s shoulder, but she escaped a nervous laugh.

“It’s not a joke to do. Come on” she went on louder to be heard in the other room “I don’t know how you convinced Curie, but it’s not a joke to be done, you asshole.”

But reality caught her up. Deacon was dead because of her.

He was the first person close to her she’d lost since she woke up from the vault.

But he was the one too many.

Her heart and mind having already carried so much, madly too much, had failed.

She had fallen into insane hysteria.

Shaun remembers when Danse dragged him out of the hospital so the child would not witness his mother’s crisis.

Then she calmed down. Completely.

So completely that for three years, she had not spoken a word.

The good news was she was off drugs and off alcohol. The bad news was she wasn’t doing anything else either.

Curie had trouble understanding her condition. It was almost a catatonia, yet Nora remained aware of her surroundings. She kept reacting, in a way.

Nick would come three times a day to feed her, and she would accept, but she never glanced him in the eye.

And if he didn’t do it, she wasn’t feeding.

Preston would leave bottles of water on the landing Shaun would pick up. Every two hours, he would give one to his mother she drank.

But she wasn’t glaring at him anymore.

But according to Curie, it wasn’t a catatonia. It was worse. It was a choice.

A little knock on the door. Preston’s signal for Shaun to pick up the lot of the day. He opens the door and salutes the Minutemen.

“Hm. Good morning, kid. Did you sleep well?”

“No.”

Preston nodded, understanding. Even after all this time, he continued to inquire about Shaun with the same regularity. The other has not tried to lie to him for a long time.

“Did she have nightmares?”

“Yes.”

He slips his fingers in his hair.

"Uncle Garvey, can we go hunting today?"

He tries to keep a calm tone, but the anguish squeezes his throat. Preston understands, he smiles sadly.

“I will do what I can to free myself. We will catch up to the 4:00 herd if Sturges is willing to take my place.”

“T-t-thanks.”

He sighs deeply, also deeply relieved but wanting to avoid tears at all costs. It happens to him from time to time. The urgency of having an ease, to leave this cursed city at least a few hours and try to forget a little how pathetic his life is.

The colonel salutes him and then goes down the street. He makes his first round with the first rays. This man is a clock.

The second clock of the neighborhood leaves the small yellow house a little lower, he greets the Minutemen with a gesture of his hand to his fedora and the other replies same.

Shaun doesn’t close the door after taking the bottles, he waits for his uncle Nick to come and join him.

“Something new?” he has been asking him for three years without really waiting for a good answer.

“No. Not for her. I’m going hunting this afternoon.”

“Will you be careful?”

“Me?” the young person says with a thin smile, “I am the caution itself.”

In another era, in another life, it always made his favorite uncle laugh when he released that line. The sad look that stares at him has not lit with joy for as long as they have not heard the laughter of his mother.

“Danse should finish installing the new lighting at the Red Rocket bar today, he may participate.”

Shaun grimace. He loves Danse almost all the time, except when Shaun leaves Sanctuary. He then becomes very dense. But in truth, like all his mother’s companions…

Because if anything should happen to Shaun…

The bravest men of the band shuddered at this thought. So, the teenagers had no semblance of life.

Prisoner of Sanctuary.

Prisoner of a beautiful city but as locked as the glass cage in which he was stuck at the institute.

But this afternoon, he will go hunting. He will have the illusion of breathing a little far from the shadow of what became his mother.

Nick goes deeper into the house, going to the bedroom in the back.

“Nora? It’s me.”

As if she was not expecting it, does Shaun think bitterly.

He swallows the anger that rises from his heart. He doesn’t want to resent his mother. But he doesn’t resent her just for himself. He resents her for all the others. He resents her because for one lost friend, all the others have ceased to exist.

Preston was the glorious colonel of a rising organization. Now he’s nothing more than a sentry in a city lost at the bottom of the map.

MacCready was a famous sniper, he’s not much more than a bartender who receive from time to time some news of is son from the Capital Wasteland. He keeps postponing the time to pick him up. Maybe by shame.

Nick Valentine. Nick the super detective who dragged Shaun on incredible adventures on the trail of villains, he had to put the agency on standby to turn into a nurse. Not closed, he told Shaun. For three years—

Danse, the glorious fighter of the Brotherhoods of Steel, became the handyman of the colonies.

Cait, the spirited and impetuous Cait, a nanny at the service of Curie.

Strong so pestered and grumbled against the puny human that turned into a larva and he eventually disappeared into the wild… and God knows super mutants in nature are the prey of men since the advent of the Minutemen.

Piper only comes once a month on the news, sometimes she doesn’t come for three months. She liked the relationship Shaun had with Nat… it was dead now.

And himself, Shaun.

After the destruction of the Institute, Sturges, Tinker Tom, Dr Amari and himself had worked very hard to reverse his terrible destiny. They finally figured out a way to get him into puberty, induced but real. He had almost become a young man even though the aging process could not go any further with what they had so far.

Since Deacon’s death, his case is no longer on the agenda. Nor does he dare bring it back on the table. But being stuck in a teenager’s body is almost as bad as being stuck in a child’s body.

Almost.

At least he can woo young girls and have fun. He is even allowed to drink. But young girls grow old, not him. Young girls become women and want a man… not a kid.

Then he has only one guilty pleasure left, almost secret. Almost, because he needs an accomplice. The most discreet of his mother’s companions. Mayor Hancock.

When Hancock comes to Sanctuary, he gives Shaun some chem samples under the jacket. If anyone were to find out, Hancock is convinced he would be hanged. To be honest, Shaun thinks so too.

But he’s not stupid.

When Hancock offers him cam, he goes up the hill of the vault a few days later, not to let anyone suspect his actions, he enters the vault with his mother’s pip-boy, ensuring that no one can follow him, and he doesn’t come back until he’s off his trip.

So far, no one has said anything. He is suspected of going to his father’s last resting place. He is left alone.

But Hancock comes less and less often. Too painful for him, he says, and again, it’s Shaun who pays the price for his cowardice by not having his only real loophole.

Just at that thought, he kicks frustration into the kitchen counter.

No, really, his life is too unfair.

Nick throws a stern look at him as his back in the kitchen with Nora on his arm. Shaun looks back at him, too angry to show restraint. But they say nothing. As if Nora was imposing her silence on everyone around her.

Before committing something worse than hitting a piece of furniture, Shaun comes out in a gust of wind.

He has to get out before he suffocates or suffocates his mother.

Why not? Wouldn’t she be better off dead than paralyzing her whole life?

Shaun would hate to think so, but he can’t help. He just can’t help anymore.

The first time he thought about it, he rejected the idea, horrified to have even scratched it from the corner of his mind.

But with the months, the idea came up from time to time.

Over the years, she keeps coming back.

Except you don’t kill a living legend when you’re nobody.

Shaun wants to live, not be the head on the line.

And he can’t think of fleeing. They’ll catch him. He already tried.

He sighs by breathing in the dust-laden outside air but also with a more welcoming smell like Mother Mitchel’s kitchen already in the cafeteria.

The best way to pass on a murderous urge is to gobble up Mother Mitchel’s waffles. But it’s a very rare pleasure Shaun knows. A very rare pleasure that tastes more and more bitter.

Shaun feels he can no longer tolerate anything. He feels he resents everything and everyone for this miserable life he did not deserve.

Except he has no idea what he can do to reverse this fate…

[veshialles]

The Flag of the Commonwealth Alliance

Commisioned by General Valerie Chisholm upon the signing of the Taffington Accords in 2288, the flag of The Commonwealth Alliance would come to represent a new beginning for the people of the wasteland. Though it was first flown during a time of war and uncertainty, the Alliance flag aspired to be a symbol for better days.

The original design drew upon inspiration from many sources. While it borrowed its colours from the flag of the pre-war USA, the stripes were rearranged into a diagonal arrow; pointing a new way forward, while standing as a reminder of history’s lessons in the hopes that the failings of The Old World would never be repeated again.

As well, the flag of the Alliance prominently featured the rifle and bolt emblem from the original Minuteman flag, to represent their original goal: protect the people at a minute’s notice. The 4 stars surrounding it represent the factions which composed the Alliance in the first place: The Minutemen, The Railroad, The Brotherhood Of Steel, and the independent settlements (Diamond City, Bunker Hill, Concord Hub, among others). And finally, a single gear surrounding it all, to symbolize the building of a better future, together.

One will also note that the combination of the gear when paired with the stars subtly creates a cross enclosed by 8 points, much like the railsign for “Ally”, emphasizing that this fledgling movement stood for cooperation of the many against the lust for greed and power of the few, while subtly delcaring any settlement flying the flag as a safe haven for synth refugees.

In the years after The Institute was annexed and their hoarded resources were redistributed to the people of the Commonwealth, another flag would eventually be commissioned to usher in a new age of prosperity. The revised flag of the Alliance saw the rifle removed and changed the stripes from red to orange, representing a transition to more peaceful times while indicating a further degree of separation from the Old World’s ways.

so yeah basically this is just me living out my commie-socialst dreams in the form of projecting onto the bare-bones scaffolding that is Fallout 4′s plot, and also me trying to justify why all the Creation Club Minutemen textures keep using the old-world red stripes for no reason (Like idk, I really don’t think that Valerie would try to “reinvent” the USA after she watched how catastrophically that all ended idk)

“but Ruby why would the openly fascist Brotherhood Of Steel even consider joining a Commu-Socialist movement?” Because in this timeline (thanks to the power of mods), Danse challenged Elder Maxson to the death, as was defined to be his right by the Codex(? Litany?) and wins. He becomes the new Elder, so all the violent bigots who were loyal to Maxson got mad and left to reform the Brotherhood Outcasts, leaving behind the people who are open to change, or at least the ones who respect “loyalty” and “the chain of command” enough to support whatever they’re told. Then Danse undergoes a character arc where he realizes how flawed the Brotherhood is and strives to change it for the better. Which is a GREAT thematic parallel to how my Sole Survivor Valerie is trying to do the same on her end. So naturally, they agreed to team up once open war was declared. It’s a whole thing. I’ve probably talked about it in my “Commonwealth Alliance AU” tag at some point

[pyreo]

Thinking about who I’m gonna side with on my fallout 4 playthrough and honestly I dunno

If I’d written it the soundest option would be the Institute, taken over and then changed into something that works for common good instead of being a Secret Lab doing nothing for nobody. But that’s not an option and joining them makes people hate you, so cross that off

The BoS are boring but at least portrayed as consistent fascists who just intend to wipe out everybody they don’t think deserves to be here. Which is also just a flagrantly evil option

The Railroad are clearly morally good and resourceful but have more of a one-track existence which ceases to be useful when you destroy the Institute, and I don’t know right now if they really have any identity beyond that

The Minutemen also seem like a fair option especially as I enjoy rebuilding and connecting settlements to pretend like I’m actually making progress in humanity’s recovery, but it constantly bothers me that they use the colonial aesthetic, dusters and rifles, the discovery-of-america fiddle radio... They are the only faction whose actual goal is developing the Commonwealth into a functioning society, but they do everything in the shadow of replicating and catering to New World bullshit patriotism

Which is exactly what New Vegas spent 4 DLCs explaining to us would create exactly the same problems and represented refusing to learn from mistakes more than anything considered rebuilding a nation. Clinging to the ‘idea’ of America, from its colonial inception to its warmongering conclusion, will taint any restoration that draws on that imagery and spirit. When Fallout is good it is asking you, what do these relics represent, and why are we convinced we still need them?

Or in shorter terms, patriotism is designed to blind you so you can’t see what needs fixing until there’s nothing left to fix. More than just foolish, it’s impossible to recreate America as it once was - and any attempt to uncritically do so ignores the reasons for its ultimate failure. So while the Minutemen seem productive and wholesome it’s the retro flag, occupying a literal fort from the time of the american revolution, and glorifying centuries old artillery that fails to convince me they stand for anything positive.

In a better fallout game, the faction that exudes cheerful promises of safety and restoration while wrapping themselves firmly and with no hesitation in the memorabilia of a failed state would be the clearest cut bad option.

[bmwiid]

So I listen to podcasts and watch a lot of youtube so I downloaded that Honey thing that legit has sponsored 80% of the people I watch, and yesterday I checked it and I've actually earned points (mostly because I've spent over a grand in Currys with my vouchers from work) and I redeemed them for amazon vouchers and bought myself a backpack!

I had stopped using a backpack as everyone was like "you are a grown ass woman get a bag like everyone else" and as I fuckin hate carrying a bag in my hand, I just... used my pockets.

Then my neck started hurting a LOT and although it's not perfect, it's a LOT better than having all the weight on one side, so I got a backpack and fuck everyone else, I really love it.

I got a 40ltr bag because

I like the style of the more 'sturdy' bags

they tend to have thicker, more supportive straps that help distribute weight with padding rather than a strip of leather/cloth

I can fit more in it when leaving the house on errands and it's easier to carry down 3 flights of stairs than a bag in my current state of "about 50% strength in my 'good' hand"

it reminded me of the creation club backpack in fallout 4 and I'm still really deep in that game (turns out this is actually a military style backpack / army surplus kinda thing so the fallout bag looks like this... but whatever)

it has velcro bits to stick patches on and I have patches! and commitment issues with patches/stickers. so now I can put velcro on my patches and not have to deal with the pressure of not being able to move/remove/keep the patches.

The patch thing worried me cause like... 1: Not american and 2: looks a bit maga like to me, but I've been reliably advised by my cousin, it's just a flag and if I get my minutemen and railroad patches on, it'll just look like 'generic shooty game patches' and not 'pro-trump'

So yeah. I got it for like £10 after I got £20 worth of vouchers. I feel like this couple of months I've been like spending like crazy and I'm like.... feeling oddly guilty.

Everything below this is just me rambling about money and shit.

Like.... last couple of months I've been posting about having no money AT ALL and then I'm buying washing machines and fitbits and kindles...it's weird. I feel like I have to keep justifying it.

I'm still broke as fuck. My work doesn't give us cash options for the bonus thing, I have the option of getting Apple (I don't have any Apple products) or Currys (sells tvs, computers, washing machines that kind of thing) vouchers, and if we don't get them.... we lose the yearly bonus.

And I know people who didn't quite understand this as it wasn't really explained, and they legit lost THE WHOLE BONUS because the 'redemption window' lasts 2 weeks. Not gonna happen to me. So while I'm broke as fuck, once a year I'm gonna buy a £1k worth of stuff every year.

(my goals this year before everything broke, was to get really expensive matching kitchen stuff - microwave, mixer, toaster, that kind of thing, because I don't need anything really, and then my aunts washing machine broke... and then mine broke...)

[antimasculist]

deaf signing girl, jeans, cactus, soup, basketball, train, broom, teddy bear, pride flag, virgo, cherries + dynamite for all of them lol

🧏‍♀️ DEAF SIGNING GIRL - do they have any disabilities? (if so) what are they?

MARA: yes <3 girlie has sooo much ptsd and autism. she doesn't have any physical disabilities aside from like the general chronic pain issues that living in a nuclear wasteland brings, although some nerves in her face are damaged and she deals with some minor facial paralysis

RED: also ptsd and autism #slay she also has psychosis although it kind of varies in severity, it's pretty low level and doesnt affect her life a ton for the most part but she will kind of occasionally slip into periods of debilitating paranoid delusions with hallucinations sprinkled in for extra flavor. its initially caused by all the trauma but her little months-long drug bender during fnv definitely uhh made that worse lol. her hearings also impaired later in life (gradually gets worse the longer shes been living in the wasteland)

NIX: another autistic girlie omg <3 as for physical disabilities i am not sure!! i have been thinking about making her chronically ill but i have yet to settle on if she is/if so which specific illness

👖 JEANS - what is their most iconic outfit?

MARA: i think her most instantly recognizable outfit like to other wastelanders is the minutemen general uniform but i like her retiree outfit which is a pink plaid button up and some grey slacks

RED: the merc veteran outfit OH OR the tunnel snakes jacket!!!

NIX: not a full outfit ig but DEFINITELY her gecko skin jacket

🌵 CACTUS - what is a sore subject for them?

MARA: her exes tbh ... talking about cait has been unofficially banned by nick for everyones sake. also she hates talking about her husband outside of like. opening up about trauma associated with him/her old life. but he doesnt come up as much because he fawking died before anyone could meet him lol whereas cait was like in the besties companion group before the breakup

RED: her dad oh my god. pretty much anything about the vault tbh she is coping by pretending none of it exists and ignoring it

NIX: theres no sore subjects for her really like. she will get sad talking about bad things that happened to her obviously but she never gets angry at people for bringing something up and she tries her best to stay positive - like if the bighorners come up in conversation shell try and talk about like things they taught her or good times she had with them instead of getting upset thinking about howthey umm Died

🍲 SOUP - do they like to cook? are they good at it?

MARA: she LOVES cooking omg. that post thats like fallout 4 shouldve let the sole survivor make all those weird gross 50's foods she does that 100%. she is good at it too!! she has her little besties group over for dinner every week and she cooks almost every time :)

RED: red doesnt really like cooking for the most part BUT she is so good at grilling meat or veggies over a fire. autism be damned my kid can work a grill

NIX: nix is so fucking good at cooking but ONLY on a campfire. if you tried to teach her how to use an oven or a stove she would start crying. she loves making weird meals out of random parts of animals and plants!! it doesnt always come out great but she gets so excited thinking up new recipes<3 arcade is so scared about it hes like someday you are going to suck the venom out of a radscorpion venom gland and die and shes like ok sunburn boy

🏀 BASKETBALL - do they know any pre-war sports? do they like to play any?

MARA: mara never played sports but she liked to watch baseball and hockey sometimes!!

RED: red is #1 baseball fan of ever she loved playing it in vault 101 she was so good at batting. she sucked at like every other part of it though lol

NIX: nix does not know what a sport is and the concept confuses her. "how is that different from a game?? why does it get a different name thats dumb"

🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem?

MARA: mara would kill the one person to save the 5 but she would get so like fucked up about it. every night when she closes her eyes she sees the face of that one person as the trolley grows closer and closer. she falls back into alcoholism

RED: red would walk away from the lever. "thats none of my business i dont even know these people"

NIX: nix would somehow like reprogram the trolley in those 15 seconds before it runs a bunch of people over and save everyone involved because shes a genius

🧹 BROOM - how clean or messy are they usually? do their cleaning habits (or the opposite) annoy the people around them?

MARA: mara is very messy and clumsy but she does her best to like clean up after herself after shes done doing whatever she was doing

RED: red is kind of a slob tbh. when she was a kid she would have to get like all her comics taken away and banned from hanging out with amata and cyan or playing baseball to be motivated to clean up her room

NIX: nix is neat but only because like. the way she was raised 1) she never really had a ton of stuff in the first place? so it was hard to be messy when there wasnt a ton of stuff to make a mess with. 2) her family was nomadic so there wasnt a lot of time to make a mess wherever she was, and if she did make a mess around camp she always helped clean it up before they packed up and moved again because a lot of emphasis was placed on not messing up the land and leaving it how they found it (this was partially for safety reasons as they were pretty much constantly being tracked by bounty hunters or the ncr, and partially just because respect for the environment was important to the bighorners) and 3) not wasting supplies was important, wastefulness was frowned upon and supplies were never really in great abundance so every time you cooked or sewed or tinkered or anything you took those scraps and turned them into something else useful instead of just tossing them aside

🧸 TEDDY BEAR - what are their thoughts on children? do they have any / would they ever have any and home many?

MARA: mara LOVES kids so much, she used to be a middle + elementary school art teacher before the war and she was so excited about having shaun. she brought synth shaun with her when she left the institute, and she is raising him with her wife (curie). i think one kid is more than enough for her right now when shes still dealing with a bunch of minutemen and railroad responsibilities but once she retired if there were like orphans that needed adopting she would 100% be down to have more kids!! she is not getting pregnant ever again though. she didnt even really want to when she had shaun before the war, and the idea of being pregnant in the wasteland is a million times less appealing

RED: red loves kids she thinks theyre so funny and cute and she is like uncharacteristically kind to them compared to adults. i dont think shed be a good parent though lol and she knows that so while i think when shes older shed love to be like an aunt or something she does not want to have kids of her own. she kind of does anyway though um LOL in my fo4 playthrough i know 100% she would never leave synth shaun behind to die so she brings him to sanctuary and asks jun and marcy to look after him but he still like is programmed to believe shes his mother so she visits and hangs out with him whenever she can. i think she likes him even if being called mom is soooo uncomfortable 2 her

NIX: nix thinks kids are cooler than adults <3 but its definitely hard for her to make friends her age since shes like #weird :( she has not thought much about having kids

🏳️‍🌈 PRIDE FLAG - what is their sexuality?

breaking format for this but mara + red are both lesbians and nix umm idk she hasnt really thought about it

♍️ VIRGO - what is their zodiac?

breaking format again oops but red is the only one with a canon birthday (july 13, so shes a cancer) lol idk enough abt astrology to assign mara and nix zodiacs

🍒 CHERRIES - a random sweet headcanon.

MARA: i think mara and the vault tec rep guy have little lunches when shes in sanctuary!! they are friends :)

RED: she lets bittercup give her a little makeover one time and i think it sparks a love for nail polish <33

NIX: stories from arcade, the medical supplies shes donated & help shes offered, and just her generally likeable personality have all made nix really well-liked around the old mormon fort and at least one of the Followers always has some sort of little present for her when she comes around to visit

🧨 DYNAMITE - a random angsty headcanon.

MARA: most of mara's family is essentially immortal, and its hard for her to deal with. her son, her wife, and two of her closest friends will all stay the same as she ages and eventually dies and it scares her

RED: red finds it really hard to work with robotics after the events of fallout 3. tinkering with machinery and robots was a favorite hobby of hers, one of the first things about the wasteland that she truly enjoyed and that let her start to let go of her vault life and accept living in the wasteland, but her tremor makes the more delicate work almost impossible and some of the tech is just too reminiscent of the enclave for her

NIX: even by the end of fnv nix still doesnt remember her family in its entirety, although by this point she knows she has amnesia and she knows there are several people who were in her life but she cant remember. she feels really guilty about it, thinks if she really had cared about them then she'd remember

[chaosintheavenue]

Fallout OC Survey Results!

333 responses later, the results are in!

For the most part, I'm just going to present the data without giving much commentary for now. The way Google Forms decided to display the response data worked well for some questions, and not so much for others, and a lot of the time there was just too much data to make a coherent graph or chart, so this post will be a bit all over the place in terms of format. It's also going to be long, so I'll continue under a cut.

(It looks like the cut isn’t working, sorry guys -_-)

Name

I didn't recognise most of the names I saw here, which means I have plenty of OCs to discover!

The most common names were Nova, Thomas, Six, Max and Charlie, with three entries each. Other names that appeared twice were Nathan, Poppy, Anthony, Judith, Chase, Ashley, Joshua, Jesse, Anna, Eleanor and Daisy. There were also a few very specific duplicates that I suspect were the same OCs being filled in separately for different games (which is fine!).

Game

Are they the in-game player character?

Faction

We had a lot of factions represented!

Railroad: 61 Minutemen: 60 Brotherhood of Steel: 48 Independent Vegas or Yes Man: 34 Caesar's Legion: 28 NCR: 28 Followers of the Apocalypse: 24 The Institute: 17 Mr House: 12 Raiders (Nuka World or in general): 12 Non-canon factions: 8 Reilly's Rangers: 7 Enclave: 6 Vault 13: 4 Responders: 4 Great Khans: 4 Tunnel Snakes: 4 Arroyo: 3 Powder Gangers: 3 The Kings: 3 Goodneighbor: 2 Slavers or Paradise Falls: 2 Cassidy Caravans: 1 Acadia: 1 The Pitt: 1 Boomers: 1 Vault 76: 1 Talon Company: 1 Crimson Caravan: 1 White Glove Society: 1 Brotherhood Outcasts: 1 Sorrows: 1 Unspecified tribe: 1 Mojave Express: 1 Regulators: 1 Omertas: 1

Age

Ages ranged from 6 to 252, with the majority being close to or in their twenties (excluding the time that Sole Survivors spent on ice). I decided to leave out the decade question, since it seems to have confused a lot of people and didn't add much considering there was already an age question.

Gender

Cis female: 166 Cis male: 101 Nonbinary: 26 Trans male: 15 Trans female: 9 Agender: 8 Male, unknown if cis or trans: 2 Genderfluid: 2 Intersex: 1 Genderqueer: 1

Sexuality

Yes, I absolutely did make this chart from scratch just to include the flags lol. Green is straight and orange is 'other', by the way. The most common responses in the 'other' category were demi and questioning, with five each.

Species

Race or ethnicity

White: 158 Mixed: 51 Hispanic/Latine: 36 Asian: 31 Black: 15 Other: 8 Native American: 7

Place of birth

US states

I wasn't sure if the map was very clear, so I'll include a list anyway.

California: 53 Massachusetts: 45 Washington DC: 44 Nevada: 36 Arizona: 21 Utah: 11 West Virginia: 8 New York: 7 Oregon: 5 Virginia: 5 Washington: 4 Florida: 4 Colorado: 4 Maryland: 3 New Mexico: 3 Oklahoma: 3 Texas: 3 Montana: 3 Pennsylvania: 2 Maine: 2 Kentucky: 2 Wisconsin: 2 Michigan: 2 Georgia: 2 Illinois: 2 New Jersey: 1 South Carolina: 1 Tennessee: 1 Wyoming: 1 Missouri: 1 Idaho: 1 Ohio: 1 Mississippi: 1 North Carolina: 1 Vermont: 1 Alabama: 1 Alaska: 1 Puerto Rico: 1

Other countries

Russia: 4 Mexico: 4 Ireland: 3 UK: 2 Japan: 2 Australia: 1 Sweden: 1 Norway: 1 Italy: 1 Canada: 1 Germany: 1 Maybe also one for Georgia- I couldn't tell if one person meant the state or country!

Languages spoken

English: 331 Spanish: 90 Latin: 59 A Fallout universe tribal language: 27 Mandarin: 15 French: 15 ASL: 10 Russian: 8 Japanese: 8 Irish Gaelic: 4 Italian: 3 Cantonese: 2 German: 2 For the sake of brevity (which is pretty futile at this point, but anyway), all of the following had one response: Hebrew, Norwegian, Arabic, Cherokee, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Hindi, Korean, Romanian, Shoshoni, Yiddish, Indonesian, Malay, Navajo, Swedish, Vietnamese, binary and sheet music

Medical conditions, disabilities, neurodivergence and the likes

PTSD: 52 Depression: 31 Vision problems, including missing an eye: 28 Anxiety: 27 ADHD: 21 Autism: 17 Memory problems: 16 Amputee: 13 Hearing problems: 9 Migraines or headaches: 7 Asthma: 6 Bipolar: 6 Traumatic brain injury: 6 (only counted when explicitly stated, implied for many more) Chronic pain: 5 Improperly healed injury: 5 Nonverbal, semiverbal, selective mutism, etc: 3 Borderline personality disorder: 3 Narcissistic personality disorder: 2 Seizures: 2 Psyker: 2 Nerve damage: 2 Radiation sickness: 2 Eczema: 2 OCD: 2 Dissociation: 2 Claustrophobia: 2 Eating disorder: 2 Spine problems: 2 Schizophrenia: 2 And again, a list of all with only one response: night terrors, kleptomania, dyslexia, needs a leg brace, rheumatoid arthritis, endometriosis, arachnodactyly, depersonalisation-derealisation disorder, psychosis, hallucinations, New Plague (complete aside: I would be extremely interested in hearing from the creator of this particular OC!), Broca's aphasia, schizoaffective disorder, inability to taste, dependent personality disorder, apraxia, autophobia, agoraphobia, Alzheimer's, albinism, insomnia, post-partum depression, synaesthesia, agraphia, photosensitivity, antisocial personality disorder

Addictions

Karma

Combat style

Aaand favourite cola flavour!

Cherry: 63 None: 62 Regular: 61 Quantum: 38 Dark: 34 Victory: 22 Quartz: 19 Orange: 16 Grape: 13 Other: 4

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who responded. There will be a second part to this featuring the canon character relationship questions, because I have a slightly more in-depth idea for analysing those, and this post is more than long enough already!

Let me know if anything seems off about this post, I put it together really quickly!

[cranetreegang]

Fallout 4: Elder Arthur Maxson x FemSol: Late Night

A little something for our fearless leader Maxson. I think he gets a lot of bad rap, but he’s really not that bad. I think his heart is in the right place. Even when he gets a little... harsh about things #iwillneverkilldanseaslongasilive #cantchangemymind #whycan’twebefriends

This story is a bit dialogue heavy and sorta kinda fluffy. I still like it tho. Some background: Sole is General to Minutemen and has been talking to Maxson some about Pre War life. I like to think that Maxson is curious about that kind of stuff.

Let me know what ya think!

I should’ve been asleep hours ago, but my mind was too restless. It was running around between Shaun, Preston, and whatever else came to mind. 

I gave up and went for a walk. The ship was quiet at this hour. The only people up were a few scribes and a handful of initiates on guard duty. I climbed the ladder down to the command deck and went to the area I found a few days ago. I think it was called the Forward Deck. Whatever it was, it had a great view. I opened the door to see another person already there. I almost turned to leave, when I recognized the person as Maxson. 

I watched him for a moment before approaching him.  

“It’s weird seeing Boston like this.” I spoke softly as to not startle him. I went ahead and stood beside him. If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it. 

“It’s a reminder of what technology run a muck will do.” He said grimly above the wind. It was a biting wind that cut through my thin flight suit. I could see the lights of Diamond City glimmering in the distance. Various campfires dotted the dark landscape and my eyes followed them until I saw a bright green light. It reminded me of an aurora.

“Is that the Glowing Sea?” I asked him, pointing to the green light in the distance. He followed my finger to the only other bright light in the area.  

“Yes. That’s where the bomb fell. The radiation there is unlike anything we’ve seen before.” He stated. My eyes trained on the glowing greens and yellows. That’s where it happened. I could almost see the explosion in the back of my mind. The cries of hundreds of people rang in my ears. A gentle touch on my arm brought me back. I followed the gloved hand to Maxson’s worried expression. 

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” I tried to play it off. 

“Did you see it happen?” He asked. I looked back to the Glowing Sea. 

“It happened right when we were being lowered into the vault.” 

“I figured you were already inside before the bomb.” He said. I shook my head. 

“We barely made it in time. I don’t think anyone knew it was going to happen. It was complete chaos. There were people fighting to get in the vault. Cars trying to drive away. And some just stood there in the street. They didn’t even move.” A chill went up my spine. I could see their blank expressions staring off into the distance. Hopeless. 

“It all happened so fast. One minute I’m enjoying coffee, listening to the morning news. The next… I’m here.” I took a long breath to keep my emotions at bay. I did my grieving for my past life, and everything that happened in between. 

I couldn’t stop staring at the gently swirling green lights. It almost seemed peaceful from here. “I’ve heard rumors about the Glowing Sea. Breeding ground for nightmares apparently.”

“That’s what my scouts have informed me. We’ll send an expedition once we have more of a foothold in the Commonwealth.” He said. I nodded in understanding, and we shifted into a peaceful silence.

 A visible shiver went through me due to a strong gust of wind. Maxson was quick to notice and shrugged off his coat. He wrapped it around me before I could protest. I almost fell down from the weight.

“Holy shit! How much does this thing weigh?” I exclaimed. He barked out a sharp laugh. 

“It’s reinforced with lightweight ballistic plating.” 

My brows raised nearly to my hairline. “Lightweight? I would hate to see it full weight then.”

He had a tight smile playing under his unruly beard. “Seems like you need to focus more on your strength training, Knight.” 

“Well, if I walked around wearing this all day, I’d look like Danse.” 

I could hear him cough back a chuckle. Despite the weight, it was warm. I wrapped the jacket closer around me. It practically swallowed me whole. It smelled like leather and metal mixed with a dark musk that I could only describe as being Maxson. I glanced over at him and he seemed unfazed by the brisk night. His dark flight suit did little to hide his well toned body. I felt my cheeks starting to betray my inner thoughts, and I changed my focus to Diamond City.

“I wonder if Boston will ever look how it did.” 

“Once we’ve liberated the Commonwealth, that might happen.” He said. 

“That'd be amazing. Danse pointed out when we went to Diamond City. That all those buildings are still intact. Maybe it’ll be a Boston 2.0 after you’ve conquered the place.” 

“Is that what you think I’m doing here? Conquering?” He seemed concerned. 

“You aren’t here to plant the Brotherhood flag?” I questioned with a raised brow. 

“The Institute is why I’m here. They’ve created monsters, taken innocents from their homes, and killed too many of our brothers and sisters. They’ve tainted the Commonwealth, and have spread along the East Coast like a plague. I’m here to put an end to it. An end to their reign of terror.” His face was stern and his voice harsh. Much like his speech when I first arrived, I found his fervor intoxicating. 

“That’s what you need to be telling the people then. Right now, people see you as just another Institute. And I want to help you with that.” 

He leaned against the railing giving me full attention. “How?” 

“Well, I am General of the Minutemen.” I made a shy grin as his brows raised. 

“General? How did you become General?” 

“Long story short, I killed a deathclaw when I first left the vault that was attacking the last of the Minutemen. That’s besides the point though.” I tried to continue, but he started to laugh. 

“You killed one of the toughest creatures in the Wasteland? On your first day?” 

“Well… yes. Why is that so hard for everyone to believe? I heard you killed one when you were 13! With nothing but a 10 mil!” I bit my lip as he looked at me impressed and amused.

He ran his gloved finger down his scared cheek. “You’ve heard the story going around. About this scar.” I had been curious about it, but was too polite to ask.

“Is it not from a deathclaw?” 

“Maybe. Maybe not. That’s a story for another day. Please, continue.” He smirked. 

I kept myself from rolling my eyes and began my pitch again. “Anyways, I’ve been helping some of the settlements and farms around the Commonwealth. Most of them just want protection, and a community to be around. A home that they can be proud of. I’m sure Teegan’s told you that I convinced some of them to give a portion of their crops. I think if we made an alliance between the Minutemen and the Brotherhood, people might not see you as the new boogeyman.” I suggested. He stroked his beard in thought. It was cute in a way. 

“Teegan and Danse have informed me of your efforts. I'm glad you’re taking initiative. You’re doing the Brotherhood proud.” He paused in reflection once again. “This is an interesting proposition. I’ll have to give it some thought, and speak to my advisors about this. I will say, it’s promising.” 

“Take your time. The Minutemen still have their work cut out for them, but I’m gonna whip them into shape!” I said proudly. He had a soft smile. 

“I believe that, General.” He bowed his head. “May I ask, what are you doing out here so late? I believe you and Danse are departing tomorrow.” 

“I could ask you the same thing.” 

He hummed at my lack of an answer. His eyes shifted over me with a hint of concern. “If there’s anything you need, I hope that you would feel comfortable in coming to me. Or any of your brothers and sisters.��  I realized we were close to each other. Our shoulders were practically touching. Our heads were leaning towards the other.

A smile of admiration came over me for him. “Thank you, Elder. I would like to offer the same kindness to you as well. If you ever wanted to talk about anything, and I do mean anything, just let me know.” 

“We may not have much in this world. But we do have each other. It’s something that I try to get everyone under my wing to understand. No matter their rank or status.” 

He got off the railing and gave a final scan over the horizon. “Would you like to join me for a drink? You look like you could use one.” 

His candor took me off guard for a moment. I let myself dumbly nod and started to follow him off the deck. I stopped him before he could open the door. I struggled to take off his jacket and hand it back to him.

“Thanks for letting me borrow it.” 

He shrugged the large coat back on like it was nothing. It fit him like a second skin. Much like his tight flight suit, I thought lewdly. 

“Can’t have you freezing again.” He checked my response and seemed relieved that I was laughing. 

He led me back to his quarters. I could feel the gaze of the late night guards on us as we strolled past. We sat down on his tattered couch next to each other. He handed me a glass of bourbon. He practically swallowed his in one gulp. If I didn’t know any better, I would say we were hanging out like friends. That warmed me more than the bourbon.

“I had a question for you.” Maxson stated. “What did you like to do Pre War? You’ve talked about numerous other things Pre War. But never about yourself.” 

“I... I hadn’t noticed. I don’t know. I didn’t really do anything exciting back then.” I shrugged. 

Maxson chuckled. “I find that hard to believe. You’ve been here for four weeks, and you’re all anyone talks about.” 

“That’s because I’m like a novelty. How many Pre War popsicles do you have running around the Commonwealth?” I giggled. 

“Fair point. You’re avoiding the question.” He pressed. 

“My favorite thing to do.” I hummed in thought for a moment. “I guess it was traveling. I liked to explore new places. Still do. I think that’s why I don’t mind running around the Commonwealth.”

“What was your favorite place?” He asked. He leaned fully back and seemed relaxed. I didn’t know if it was the drink or something else entirely. 

“That’s a hard one.” I paused as I thought about it. The bourbon had already taken affect. I recounted the places I’ve been. I figured out which one stood out the most to me. “Well, there is one. It’s out in Utah. Zion National Park. Heard of it?” 

“I have. The West Coast Brotherhood have reports of a tribe living there. It’s fairly intact.” 

I let out a relieved sigh. “That’s good to hear. That place was… it’s hard to describe.” 

“I would like to hear about it.” He said softly. I smiled and started my tale. 

“I went with my parents during Thanksgiving break when I was younger. At first, I didn’t wanna go. I’m not a big fan of looking at deserts and sand. And I thought Zion was just that. When we got there, we wanted to do one of the hikes, Angel’s Landing. It’s supposed to be so high, only Angels can reach it.” I laughed to myself. 

“I know you might not think it’s a big deal, but it took a few hours to get to the top. We had to go up and up and up. Hiking along switchbacks and hills. We had to traverse along a narrow ridge that barely had enough room for one person to walk. You could look down on either side, and it dropped off 3,000 feet below. I wasn’t scared or anything. I knew I wouldn’t fall. When we got to the top, I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

“What did you see?” His voice was heavy. His head was turned towards me, but his eyes were closed. I nudged him and he barely opened one of his eyes to look at me. 

“How about you lay down? Then I can finish.” 

He nodded and shuffled over to his bed. He ripped off his boots, and threw his jacket over a dresser. He got comfortable and patted the space next to him. I didn’t know what to do for a moment. I debated within myself, before deciding to sit at the foot of the bed. 

He closed his eyes once more. “Finish your story. I’m listening.” 

“Uh huh. Looks like I’m boring you to sleep.” I teased. 

His brows furrowed. “Not at all. Please. I want to know what you saw.” He kept his eyes open until I started speaking again.

“When we reached the top, I understood why it was called Angel’s Landing. I could see all of Zion. The stones and mountains there are white and pink and brown and orange. The sun was starting to set, and the whole valley had this glow. The river was shimmering and the trees surrounding it were green and orange and red. Apparently the trees never turn those colors.” I could almost feel myself back on top of that ridge. The wind was blowing through my hair. 

“The feeling I had up there was... spiritual. If I had to describe it in one word. Nothing I’ve ever felt before. I wanted to go with Nate. But… he got deployed. Then he came back, and I got pregnant. And you know the rest.” I looked over to Maxson to see his chest rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern. A light snore was escaping him. He looked peaceful. I was glad I could help him get some sleep. 

I watched him sleep for a few more moments. I slowly got off his bed. I grabbed his jacket, and placed it over him. He mumbled something I couldn’t quite understand, before settling back to sleep.

I moved his stray hairs back to their place. He was handsome. I felt a ping of pity for him. I doubt he’s ever had a moment to be himself. To do whatever he really wanted in life. Or maybe this was what he wanted. I shook my head out of my thoughts. I placed a soft kiss on his forehead.

“Goodnight, Maxson.” I whispered. He mumbled more things under his breath that I took as his goodbye wishes. 

I snuck back to my bunk. Where I drifted off to a land of pink rocks and long sunsets.

[elsenova]

fallout 4 house tour *throwing confetti in the air* for my sosu adam : ]

btw im using like a LOT of decor mods (ocdecorator is extremely chefs kiss if youre as picky as i am) and a cleaned version of the home plate !

under cut bc its so long < 3

some notes going in first and foremost i did want to retain the feel of this being in the fallout universe while not having everything look dirty and messy 100% of the time . i also wanted it to be nicer than you’d generally see since adam is the sole survivor and probably lives a little bit more comfortably than some other diamond city residents , but still lived-in and a little disorganized bc that’s just what he’s like . another thing about adam is that he is very much the “everyone can crash at my place” friend so there’s a lot of spaces dedicated to other people or other people’s belongings scattered around . there’s also a danse pinup poster hidden somewhere in this house bc i thought it’d be funny and if you can figure out where it is i will give you five dollars (i will not actually do this)

this little loft area that leads to the roof was too small to be a real bedroom , so it’s an area dedicated to adam’s friend wren , an amnesiac ex-courser with a tendency to show up places unannounced . adam is used to everyone doing this to him , so it’s nbd . i did also add a wall here so the whole thing feels less like its about to fall apart

adam and danse’s room (shhh he’s sleeping). this is pre-blind betrayal so they are both in the brotherhood at the moment BUT my personal hc is that danse would join the minutemen after the game’s main plot so once i’m there ingame that flag will be replaced . fuck the brotherhood all my homies hate the brotherhood

their living room ... bookshelves were not all done by hand bc that’d be a headache , they’re filled via the do it yourshelf mod . the boxes in the back corner are storage for nick and jess(the other sosu , who is a synth and my boyfriend’s character) . bi flag is self explanatory adam is bisexual . also a closer shot of that coffee table bc i had to redo it THREE TIMES

cute little dinig room table / desk area . you’ll notice adam has a lot of plants . this was intentional . i have very little to say about this except that adam does in fact smoke in the house sometimes < 3

a medical area ... adam was a combat medic (bc i was not about to make him a Boot Boy) so this space at least is clean and neat . a fun fact about this is that i used one of those power extension wires to make it look like it’s connected to the terminal , which i had to carefully clip into it . the chair was stolen from the institute . he likes it .

yes the mugs are laid over the calendar here . i dont feel like fixing it right now LMAO . dining area bar type thing ... and yes every cap on the checkerboard is placed by hand . i dont fuck around . there’s a dog bowl for dogmeat and as adam and danse are in the brotherhood i imagine they’re probably most comfortable with cafeteria-style dishes , so they have those . adam only busts out the fancy dinner plates for family dinners .

just a little cooking area / pantry ... there are 5 boxes of snack cakes in frame bc a majority of adam’s friends and family are synths . i also really like those string lights if you couldn't tell .

power armor fixing / general modding area .i would have put danse’s armor in the stand but he fucking murdered me for stealing it . this is a no power armor on house you could at least put it in its designated area , DANSE .

some weight sets bc this is a house full of insane jocks and a little “guest room” type area .

i went through like 3 renditions of this house including one where i started a new game (adam ... 2 !). i spent so much time on it and while there are still some things i could improve i consider the bulk of it to be finished . i have a few other player / npc homes i wanna do but this is my only complete one atm ! thanks for reading my long ass post < 3

[rvexillology]

Anarchist Minutemen

from /r/vexillology Top comment: Like my previous flag, I was playing Fallout 4 and noticed similarities between how the Minutemen help settlements but let them govern themselves and anarcho-mutualists philosophy. So, I combined their flags.

[cosplayinamerica]

Fallout : thesaviorofthewasteland/

JONATHAN : I’m a huge fan of the Fallout Franchise, especially New Vegas, and the first time we ever cosplay back in 2014 was characters in New Vegas. The initial direction of our version all started with a certain character that my brother cosplay as Raul Tejada, a mechanic ghoul from Hidalgo, Mexico.

We took notice of how little information of Mexico had in the Fallout Universe, and we felt that they should include more info of whatever happened to Mexico with its people, towns, and culture after The Great War. With this little info given in the game or on Fallout wiki, I thought of why not just create something in our own and form it on our cosplay.

Just like Fallout 4’s Minutemen, we decide to create our own cosplay version of the Minutemen with a Mexico twist. Instead of the American Revolution theme, the theme is mainly focused on the 1910 Mexican Revolution. I took the time to watched documentaries and read about the Mexican Revolution to get a sense of an idea of how we going to collab with the Fallout theme. We drew inspiration from Revolutionary of Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata, the two well-known leaders of the Mexican Revolution, and its rebels soldiers to create this unique style look that gives its ‘Revolucionarios Mexicana’ theme and keep it Fallout related.

We even have given the name of this Fallout’s Mexico Revolution Minutemen group, “The Saviors of the Wasteland.” We have been cosplaying as them for 5 years and we already left a mark on these conventions. I could say this is one of my favorite cosplay or more like my cosplay dream.

IVAN : The cosplay now has been upgraded each time we go to a different convention every year. But its made from a common 50’s suit jacket from thrift stores and we spray paint tan to recreate the dust/sand/debris our characters go through, so we make sure there’s no such thing as clean in our fallout world.

The sombrero is basically the superhero cape of our cosplay, they might all look the same, but they’re all unique in their own way. Mine, for example, is the exact same as Raul Tejada’s sombrero as a tribute to the character who helps me start my cosplay. But we never spend a lot of money on our cosplays, we always make it affordable or recycle old clothes we don’t wear anymore and give them a new purpose in life with our cosplay. Even though our cosplay is like another fallout character we all ways throw little Easter eggs from movies or video games onto our cosplay as little details.

Also we are very careful about what we wear, we try to keep it the clothes Latino or something us Mexicans wear in our everyday lives, for example, the boots I wear are boots the Mexican Bikers wear and the stitching on my shirt that keep my sleeves together is little nod to a Mexican actor on a show who has stitching on his biker vest that represents the Mexican flag colors. All in all the cosplay is 100% Latino driven.

JONATHAN : There's been a lot of stories as far I can remember while cosplaying as Fallout Mexico's Minutemen. One of the cool interactions we get while cosplaying is seeing the excitement look from Latino congoers and having their picture taken with them. Sometimes they tell us of how ‘Chido’ (awesome) we look, refer to us as Pancho Villa or Emiliano Zapata, or have a conversation with us about their hometown in Mexico. One unique interaction we have in this convention was meeting with a photographer from Mexico City who told us that he was a big fan of Fallout and how very amazed when he knew the right away that we were cosplaying Fallout Mexicana Revolucionarios! He begins to tell us how we were completely different from other cosplayers and just loves the whole idea of our version of Fallout.

I remember walking around the River Walk with my brother and friend while wearing my costume and got to see so many reactions to people on the walkaway, restaurants, and even on the riverboats. Of course, as a cosplayer, I get stopped multiple times to get people's pictures and all and continue to walk around before we walked back to our hotel. As we were walking across a bridge, I heard a yell "Viva Emiliano Zapata!" from an old man who was in the riverboat heading toward us, and I look at him and I proudly yelled "Viva Zapata!" with my hand up in the air. Then, I get applause and cheering from all the people in the boat as they were taking pictures of me. That was one of the biggest cool moments I ever got and definitely will cherish that memory forever.

Follow Cosplay in America on FB / IG / TW / TU / YT

[inveesible]

OC FALLOUT COMPANION MEME

Tagged by @scarecrow-forest​ and @mrninjapineapple , thank you for thinking of me^^

a companion May would probably be a "champion of justice", former member of the Brotherhood of Steel, devoted to helping the defenseless that fight under no banners.

NAME: May (non romanceable companion)

FOUND: Cambridge Police Station during Fire Support, not recruitable until the end of Tour of Duty, but since she is not on the Prydwen anymore, you must looking for her in a random settlement, Diamond City or Goodneighbor.

FLAGGED: unessential, you can kill her right away.

PRESENT: one Rad-Away a day + Occhio di Falco (+50% damages if you take a headshot in V.A.T.S., 100% limbs damages in V.A.T.S.) after personal quest.

MAX APPROVAL PERK: Rampage - when your health drops below 20%, May enters a state of battle frenzy that instantly headshots all the enemies involved. Only works if May is the active companion.

WEAPON OF CHOICE: unnamed Laser Rifle (she says it's a gift) + Combat Knife (even if it's in her inventory, she doesn’t use it in combat and you can’t take it)

I THINK WE SHOULD TRAVEL TOGETHER: (first meeting) “Fine, but remember: if I don't like the way you go about, we are done; if I REALLY don't like the way you go about, YOU are done.” - “Check your supplies first, especially for Rad-X and Rad-Away… and cigarettes.”- (after reached max affinity) “Sure buddy. After you.” – “I was really looking forward to this, thank you.” – “Who drives? *little pause* yep, sorry…”

YOUR THOUGHTS? “Don't you miss taking a bath in a nice, warm and fragrant bathtub? Or taking a shit in a working and clean toilet? *deep sigh*” – “Am I the one always cold or is it a frozen men thing?” – “aaaand with this I officially read all the books here in Boston… *sigh*” – “Too many Raiders, too few composers… *deep sigh*” – and other nostalgic mumbling…

OPEN INVENTORY: “if there is only one pack of cigarettes left, it's mine.” – “sure, take all the Nuka-Cola you want.” – “deposit or withdrawal?”

USE STIMPAK: “NO DON’T WAST-*sigh*, thank you…” – “I'll return the favor, thank you.”

WAIT HERE: “Don't take too long, please.” – “If you don't come back in two cigarettes, I'll leave.” – “Just whistle when you're ready”

FOLLOW ME: “*sigh* about time…” – “*sarcastically* as you wish, your Lordship.”

DISMISSED: “I'll take care of some personal stuff while you're away, be careful.”

SEND HER HOME: “You know where you find me if you change your mind.”

CHANCES OF UNIQUE DIALOGUES IF YOU…: start a relationship with MacCready, Danse or Cait (you can romance them all, but the dialogue will be triggered only the first time) - end forever your relationship with MacCready, Danse, Preston or Cait – side with the Nuka-World Raiders – destroy Acadia with the Brotherhood of Steel.

LOCATIONS COMMENTS:

(Diamond City) “I hate this... city, but unfortunately there is no safer place to do business.” – “if you want advice, stay away from the reporter… Oh, you already know her…” - (if Unlikely Valentine is complete): “Thanks for saving Valentine. If something happened to him I would never have forgiven myself…”

(Goodneighbor) “You should not mess with these people, but if you behave yourself, they are pretty decent folks…”- “Hancock says we can put everything on his tab at the Third Rail, but if you're up for something else, don't count me in.” - (if Long Road Ahead is completed): “I wonder how RJ and Duncan are getting on? Oh, thanks from me too, by the way.”

(Listening Post Bravo) (if Blind Betrayal is complete): “ca-can we just l-leave, please?”

(The Prydwen): “Did I ever tell you I was an “almost Knight”? Then I left for, well, let's say "differences of opinion."

(Cambridge Police Station) (until Blind Betrayal): “Do you mind? I'd like to greet a friend, if is there.”

(Vault-111): “With your permission, I'll wait outside. I seem to go back in time when I go in there…”

(Abernathy Farm) (if Blind Betrayal is complete): “Excuse me a minute, I go check and see how Lisa's doing.”

(any research laboratory): “It’s so weird, I never felt at home even at my home, but here…” – “This was my life before… certainly the best part.”

MAY LIKES THAT: helping innocents  - healing Dogmeat – weapon or armour customization

MAY LOVES THAT: killing named super mutants – killing named Raiders – killing named Gunner - entering power armor – flipping the bird to Maxson (*snort* just kidding)

MAY DISLIKED THAT: taking chems - picking owned locks and stealing - taking too much alcohol in a row

MAY HATED THAT: murder - killing cats or domesticated dogs - getting addicted to chems or alcohol - destroying all the three factions in Far Harbor, one “hated” per faction - agreeing to become the new Overboss in Nuka-World

PERSONAL QUEST: before gaining enough affinity to unlock May’s personal quest, your partnership could proceed, end well or end badly depending on your actions from Blind Betrayal onwards:

1 – if you bring May with you and you agree to kill Danse, after talking to him, and then you do, she will leave the party and she will never travel with you again - you can still find her wandering the Commonwealth and you can kill her if you want to [bad end].

2 – if you bring May with you and you agree to kill Danse, after talking to Maxson and then you do, she will attack you immediately, forcing you to kill her first [bad end].

3 – if you bring May with you and you can’t persuade Maxson to spare Danse, May will attack him immediately, forcing the Elder to incapacitate her first, then she will leave the party and she will never travel with you again - if you decide to destroy the Brotherhood in With Our Powers Combined, you will find May at The Castle ready to help you deal with those assholes [bad end].

4 – if you spare Danse, regardless of whether you bring May with you or not, you gain a considerable amount of affinity that unlocks her personal quest (The Sleeping Beauty, read below) - from this moment on, the Combat Knife in her inventory will disappear forever [good end]

5 – if you (or Maxson) kill(s) Danse without bringing May with you, the next time you see her she will ask you for explanations about it, you can tell her that you tried everything to save him, even lying if required, and still unlock her personal quest, but not the “considerable amount of affinity”, you still have to work for that. [good end]

6 – if the events of Blind Betrayal never take place, you being vilified from the Brotherhood and you proceed with With Our Powers Combined, Rockets' Red Glare or Airship Down, May will fight alongside the Brotherhood and Danse, forcing you to kill her [bad end]

7 – you can still reach a “good end” without unlocking May’s personal quest if the events of Blind Betrayal never take place and you destroy The Institute alongside the Minutemen - doing so you get the perk but not Occhio di Falco [good end].

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY: once you gain enough affinity, May will ask you to take her to Vault-111; once there you have to follow her to her cryopod, then she will tell you that this is where [May’s real name] died and where May was born, confessing that she is the creator of the technology that brought the Sole Survivor up to here; you can choose to blame her for everything that happened to your family (and eventually kill her), or tell her that if it wasn't for her, you and your family would surely have died with the bombs dropping, so she will tell you that thanks to this second life chance, she was able to find many things to live for and many people that were worth keeping close to, including you, then May will give you her 10mm, Occhio di Falco, and ask you to get the hell out of there.

I’m tagging YOU, that you read up to here.

Wooo this was a hell of a work XD!

[lobselvith8]

My PS4 Fallout mods

I thought I would share the mods I have been using so far on Fallout 4. It’s a bit funny because @chosenofyffre used to tell me about her mods, and I used to think “wow” at how many she had and her testing in navigating the correct load order (it’s like that meme with Nick and the Sole Survivor watching him hack a terminal). I never thought I’d use many mods, but now I’m starting to accrue more mods. 😁

Freefall (by DeeZire) fixes quite a lot despite limitations on the PlayStation; it’s an unofficial patch that utilizes some unique items for settlement locations (like the Slog), restores missing dialogue that didn’t trigger properly, and tries to restore certain things as much as it can (like certain portions of the Combat Zone that can’t be fully realized due to the prohibition on unique scripts). Dialogue at the Boston Airport triggers pretty regularly instead of never - something that I noticed when comparing the Freefall experience with the vanilla game (even with the latest patch). And Teagan’s unofficial op is no longer bugged to keep sending you back to the first settlement.

For my Brotherhood run, I rather like the mod, Improved BoS (by THJT-9), which is focused on improving the Brotherhood experience, specifically, and fleshing things out - the orange suits are Recon Uniforms, the green suits are Combat Uniforms, some corrections are made so that the rank markings on the Power Armor of Brotherhood soldiers corresponds to their correct rank, similar to Lyons’ iteration and the Hidden Valley Chapter the Brotherhood detachment in the Commonwealth now wield energy weapons, and the health of vertibirds was increased so they don’t perish from a pipe pistol anymore.

The mod, T-60 Lore Fix (by JamesMcSeeven), changes the load screen information about T-60 Power Armor (along with the two soldiers in power armor at the beginning of the story), so it’s now post-war Brotherhood Power Armor from scribes reverse-engineering Advanced Power Armor from the Enclave.

Unlocked Settlement Objects (by ANDREWCX) is fun - I’m able to craft faction themed items (like beds and a doghouse), a waving flag, guards (the physical appearance and gender of the Brotherhood, Railroad, and Minutemen guard you can choose seem to be randomized when you initially activate workshop mode, and there is a Power Armor guard variant of each faction who wears the corresponding armor of that faction, as well as guards from other groups like the Atom Cats and the Triggermen), NPCs, and a myriad of other things.

Something I plan to do (down the line) on my Brotherhood of Steel run is add one or two Brotherhood guards and an Initiate Gutsy to protect settlements (with a Brotherhood Eyebot for aesthetic), and there’s an item to “rug glitch” objects (I’ll use that to give the Longs a queen size bed via merging two separate beds together).

Better Boston Airport (by Ash1597) is great - it increases the size a bit so you can add a purifier in the nearby water and use the platform above (I’ve put an adult and child bed there along with some storage via USO, and used containers from Vaults my protagonist had been to so far).

Simple Follower (by ANDREWCX) is really nice. I miss ED-E (including Divide ED-E, R.I.P.), and Orb from @rogue-lavellan made me wistful to check out this mod. It’s nice so far; he’s not too powerful or anything like that (he has the same fire power as a standard eyebot), and you need to order him via Robotics Expert due to the PS4 limitations on unique scripts. Otherwise, he follows you around wherever you go, and attacks enemies who threaten you.

Visually, ED-EJ has a Vault-Tec logo on his face, although ED-EJ has the same body as a Brotherhood Eyebot, including the face guard, which makes me think the Vault-Tec logo he has was simply intended to make him a visually neutral follower.

I was originally thinking about having ED-EJ as a reconstructed remnant of my Courier M.’s Divide ED-E (somewhat similar to a synth who is given new memories but still has the same body), but I didn’t think there was much of a credible explanation for how the remnants of an eyebot in the Divide would reach Boston. @askproctorquinlan’s story about his eyebot inspired me about repurposing an existing eyebot. Yes, Quinlan inspired my Brotherhood Knight (although, in-story, the two probably mostly talk about comics). 😋

Peaceful Ragstads (by Ash1597) takes a New Vegas approach (via bighorners) to radstags.

[PS4] Pip-Boy Paint Jobs - Colors Of The Wasteland Pack (Club Freedom) (by ANDREWCX) has some variants for the Pip-Boy (my Courier had the Pimp-Boy 3000 so I was in the mood for a change).

STS - Scrap That Settlement! (by 3lric) allows me to get rid of the corpses in Sanctuary (and, down the line, other places where they can’t normally be removed due to how the settlements were programmed which always bring them back after some time), and I cleaned up the Boston Airport (the debris you remove becomes junk you can use for crafting).