#i knocked sheng kawolski on his ass for trying to kiss me

[metalforhands]

Nat. F*cking. Loves. Them. They are basically the little brothers she always wanted.

oh hell yeah, imagine the kind of mischief they’d get into??

[theggning]

how would you describe’s nat’s point of view of her sister taking care of her? describe nat’s relationship to piper please!

That one I can do. I’ll separate it into canon and headcanon stuff:

CANON: 

- It’s not clear how much older Piper is than Nat, but according to Piper Nat was “still a baby” when their single father died. So Nat has no real memory of her parents and Piper is the only parental figure she has ever known.

- Though they are sisters, they’re not equals. Piper’s the clear authority figure. This also suggests that Piper takes raising Nat very seriously and isn’t inclined to slack off or be lenient just because she’s her sister and not her mother. Piper is a parent through and through.  

- Nat attends the Diamond City School on a regular basis, though we never see her in the building. She has a banter with Piper where she talks about receiving detention for “knock[ing Sheng Kawolski] on his ass” for trying to kiss her.

- Nat is clearly very independent and mature for her age, as Piper is comfortable leaving her on her own for periods of time.

- It seems like Piper tries to shield Nat from worries or problems. She won’t tell Nat about her fight with the mayor beyond “tell me if he’s coming.” It seems she wants to keep Nat from worrying, though this unfortunately just makes Nat worry more.

- Piper is deeply worried about Nat growing up to emulate her reckless lifestyle, and says that she’s tried to distance herself a bit lately in the hopes it will make Nat not want to be like her. Sole can coach Piper on what to do here, and 3/4 options tell her to knock that off immediately because all it’ll do is drive a wedge between the sisters.

HEADCANON:

- I’ve got Piper at 24-25 and Nat at 11-12 in my fic, but these ages aren’t canon. All kids in FO4 look the same age and (SPOILER) is meant to be around 10, so you can speculate most of the other in-game kids are in the 9-12 range.

- Though she trusts Nat to be responsible, Piper has also trained her to defend herself if the need arises. Nat isn’t afraid of being shouted at or approached by strangers. Piper has also taught Nat to use a gun, and has also coached her to find a responsible adult if she needs help while Piper’s out of town. (Nick Valentine is almost certainly one of them, and friendly Diamond City neighbors like Pastor Clements, Arturo, and Mr. Zwicky too... maybe the Bobrovs, in a pinch.)

- Piper is used to being the only one who can handle family problems, so takes on all the responsibility herself. Nat is now old enough to understand when she’s being shielded and gets frustrated when she watches Piper bending over backwards without asking for her help. She wishes Piper would rope her in on more problems so they can solve them together.

- Nat also wishes Piper would take better care of herself and put herself first sometimes. She cannot remember the last time Piper took a day when she wasn’t working or taking care of Nat.

- The sisters are both extremely protective of each other. It just occurs less from Nat’s side because she’s a child, and because Piper is so overprotective of her that she won’t let it ever come up. Given their childhoods and how suddenly Piper was left as Nat’s only protector, this makes perfect sense, even if it does cause them lots of interpersonal problems.

- They don’t fight often, but Nat is coming up on that difficult age where she’s old enough to notice when she’s being shielded and considers it “babying,” but also not old enough for Piper to see her as fully capable. Piper’s going to have to step back and adjust her tendency to see Nat as a baby in need of protection, and Nat’s going to have to be patient and realize it’s okay that she’s still a kid.