#danse has absolutely zero regard for himself

[theggning]

Your post reminded me of something that always perplexed me about Danse's backstory. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. What do you think of his relationship with Cutler? It really weirds me out, because on the one hand Danse speaks about it as if they were practically married (did everything together, super strong bond so much so that he is scared of loving again), but on the other hand he says that nobody ever cared about how he felt so I'm like ??? which one is it Danse.

Short Doylist Answer:

“Nobody has ever cared how I felt” is a generalization, because it sounds better in dialogue than “nobody except my dead best friend Cutler has ever cared how I felt.”

Also, because it’s an RPG, there’s going to be a lot of bias towards the importance/relevance of the player. It’s the third affinity dialogue with Danse and the player wants to feel like they’ve become very close with him, so saying “You are the first person who has ever cared how I felt” and horning in “and also my aforementioned dead best friend Cutler” isn’t really what the player wants to hear at this point.

Long Watsonian Answer:

Danse is the least reliable person in the world re: other people’s feelings about him and probably genuinely believes that.

This is the guy who believes his worth as a person is proportional to his worth to the Brotherhood. He actually cannot fathom the idea that somebody could like him or care about him outside of his capacity as a soldier. I don’t believe him at all when he says “nobody” has ever cared about his feelings, especially not when we know about Cutler.

I think some of this comes from our boy’s wonderfully healthy and extensive immersion in the BoS. He sorts his relationships with other people onto two levels: the Brotherhood level, and the *other* one.

The Brotherhood is Danse’s family, but it isn’t the same as a family-family. Camaraderie is encouraged, but there’s a strict chain of command, you follow orders, you can’t get too attached to other soldiers because you’re all at war and could die at any time. You respect others for their skill and talents and honor first, and everything else a distant second. Danse is well-respected within the BoS and seems like a pretty popular guy, but perhaps apart from a few people here or there, these are his coworkers. His BoS comrades care about him the same way he cares about them-- as fellow soldiers, brothers and sisters in arms. It’s not a personal sort of care. It isn’t friendship.

(At least, Danse doesn’t believe it is, but he’s also plainly incapable of noticing when other people DO consider him a friend. This is the guy who’s completely baffled when Haylen seeks personal comfort from him and later stands up for him against orders. There’s probably more people like this, but Danse is completely oblivious to the notion that anybody could possibly like him beyond his role as Paladin.)

The *other* level has only ever included one person: Cutler. The only person who knew Danse before the BoS, and appreciated Danse as himself and not as a soldier. Their bond is irreplaceable to him, and he specifically says that of all the comrades he’s lost over the years, none of them were “a good friend, a friend like Cutler.”

But Cutler was also in the Brotherhood. In the five years (at least) since Cutler’s death, it’s feasible that Danse has begun to remember Cutler more as Cutler the Soldier than Cutler My Best Friend (either to make his loss less painful, or because for Danse, everything eventually ends up going back to the Brotherhood.) Maybe as a coping mechanism it’s easier for him to file Cutler along the same lines as all his other fallen comrades, fellow soldiers who care more about Danse the Soldier than Danse My Friend.

I like to think Cutler wouldn’t agree with him at all. 

And now, some cute headcanons:

Cutler was Danse’s best friend and also the first human person he ever had close contact with after escaping the Institute (and getting his memory wiped.)

They started off as neighbors in the Rivet City market and eventually went into business together, or at least collaborated so closely they were basically in business.

Cutler was the wild party animal to Danse’s levelheaded thinker, and they balanced each other out really nicely. The bad ideas were almost always Cutler’s, but Danse would go along with it to keep an eye out for him.

Danse got promoted faster because of his diligence, but Cutler never held this against him or even let it change the way he interacted with him. They still spent their free time together and went on leave together and outside of supervised command structures, were as close as they ever were.

Cutler joked about getting special treatment once Danse was a Paladin (but never asked for any, because obviously Danse wouldn’t abuse his rank like that.)

Whichever one of you came up with Cutler asking Danse to buy the next round when he came back being his last words to him, thanks a lot, it’s horribly sad and I love it.

I personally don’t ship them or think there was anything beyond deep friendship between them. It didn’t need to be more than that for his death to hurt. Also two men don’t need to be in love or attracted to each other to care about each other to that level.

I picture Cutler as looking like Idris Elba. (Yum.)

[maxrev]

16 and 17 for boone 😊

Anger headcanon

Boone doesn’t get angry often. Well, he never used to. His temper is a little more uncontrolled since the Institute disaster. 

That being said - Boone has zero tolerance for absolute bullshit. To break it down further, people being stupid by not paying attention or deliberately so by being lazy. Not having all the facts or the training is an entirely different story. That can be changed. 

Super mutants and raiders make him see red. Regarding super mutants, a lot of that has to do with how he saw what Danse went through after Cutler. It kind of rubbed off on him. But seeing the mutants in the lab at the Instititute also went a long way towards his view of them. He used to feel bad for them…until he finally realized they just weren’t human anymore. All of their humanity has been stripped away. There are, of course, two exceptions - Strong and Erickson.

Raiders are just assholes because they simply shoot on sight and ask questions later. He has no tolerance for that. 

Soft spot headcanon

Boone loves animals, loves helping people, loves older kids. He may seem kind of closed off with others but when they get to know him, they know with certainty they can count on him to come through in just about anything they ask. Helping Garvey in the beginning with all the settlements was truly one of things Boone loved most about finding himself in the Commonwealth after the bombs. Not everyone was open to his help *cough*Marcy*cough* but even she came around after awhile. 

Animals…Dogmeat is his best buddy. They’ve been through everything together and Boone hands down will protect that dog with his life. The feeling is entirely mutual. His pension for cleanliness aside, there were many a night he slept with Dogmeat snuggled up to his back. Okay…after a bath first. Even dogs have to bathe in Boone’s world. 

Kids. Well, teenagers, to be honest. It’s a rough time and one Boone remembers well. The life out here is rough to say the least and take that times the hormone induced frenzy of a teenager and it spells disaster. He’s seen many teens, what few there are, in Raider gangs. He’d save them all if he could, give them a real purpose and show them how to have fun in a world where there is too little of that around.