#not even like super mutants are that bad to fight i just hate that area and that quest i guess idk

[eyepatchdate]

left mick and ralphs to enter a black screen...done with fnv today

[blackmoonowl]

Ok ok so like, idk if I can combine prompts but I feel like the match so 7 “the way you flirt is shameful” and 1 “omg you’re in love with her” with Macaroni and Sole, where maybe another companion is teasing Mac and it leads to revelation of feelings :):)

"The way you flirt is shameful."

"Oh my god you're in love with her!"

Pairing: Robert Joseph MacCready x reader

Summary: Pathetic drunk MacCready, just for you as a little treat. He interprets your kindness the wrong way and it's picked up on. Also his grief has him in deniable.

Word count: 1873 words

Authors note: Made it a little longer as an apology for the lack of posts, and since it's two prompts. This is written so bad I'm screeching.

The last Super Mutant hit the ground, and MacCready sighed in relief.

The mercenary immediately looked over his shoulder at you, to make sure you were alright. It was a habit he had gotten into over the last few days, weeks even. He hated having you out of his sight, not close by his side. A distantly familiar warmth enveloped his heart as he spotted you. You leaned against the wall, catching your breath as you looked at the carnage around you.

"Hey.. is everything alright?" MacCready carefully questioned, holstering his sniper rifle as he made his way over to you.

"Yeah... miracle no one got hurt," you mumbled, nudging one of the dead mutants with your foot. The Diamond city guards were recovering as well, dragging the most injured of their group back to the settlement.

"I think that's enough fighting for me today," MacCready mumbled, placing his hand on your shoulder. "Besides, it's getting late, don't fancy getting caught off guard." He paused for a moment, flashing you a crooked grin. "Hey, why don't we head to the Dugout inn? All the fightin' we did here should get us a free drink."

You rolled your eyes at him, giving him a light shove as you walked past him. The mercenary swallowed audibly as your hand remained on his shoulder longer than he had expected. It wasn't the first time you had done that, but it sent a jolt through his body every time.

"You coming or what?" Your voice snapped him out of it. You stood a few feet ahead, looking back at him with a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm comin'." The words came out a mutter, and he doubted if you had even heard him. It didn't matter if you did, anyway. He caught up with you with ease. Having the guards around put him a bit more at ease, but his eyes still darting around the quickly darkening area.

A familiar face met you as the gate opened to let everyone back in. The black haired young woman flashed you a smile, peering at you from under her news cap. MacCready should have expected no less of the news reporter. No doubt the entire settlement heard the artillery and the screams of the mutants.

"Well well, if it isn't our hero. Saving Diamond city yet again," Piped greeted you, nudging your shoulder. "Heard the commotion outside, thought I'd come check."

"Because you're worried or because you need something to report on?" You playfully retorted. Piper shook her head with a small smile.

"People are dying for some more intel on you," she responded as you made your way to the stairs. "You've become quite the celebrity around here."

MacCready largely tuned out the conversation. He wasn't too surprised Piper didn't acknowledge him, after all his reputation made him less that popular. Instead his eyes remained firmly on your back as he trailed behind. As the city came into view, he let out a breath. Man, could he use a drink. Anything to put him more at ease, to get you off his mind.

"So," Piper began, snapping MacCready out of his deep thoughts a second time. "I assume given your companion here.." she shot MacCready a look. "You're headed to the Inn."

"You know me too well, I'm flattered!" MacCready piped up, giving the woman a wink. He wasn't too serious about any of it, his mind still lingering on the vault dweller beside him. Piper didn't seem too impressed.

"Well that's... charming," Piper muttered with a sigh before looking back at you. "I could use a drink myself, been a long day. How about I join?"

"Of course, I don't mind." MacCready near groaned at your reply. Part of him had hoped he could spend more time with you alone, but he supposed he couldn't complain. You were safe, that was all that mattered.

MacCready felt right at home as he stepped into the bar. He cursed the way his heart threatened to jump out his throat as you brushed past him in the narrow hall, your hand planted on his back. A scowl crept across his face. He wasn't upset at the comforting feeling of your touch, but at the weak sensation in his knees. He had lost someone before, he couldn't bring himself to reach out to you. He couldn't lose this, not again.

"You're awfully quiet," you commented, halting beside him. His light eyes met yours before following Piper who had already sat down somewhere. Your thumb gently rubbed over his duster. "Usually you're complaining the ears off my head."

"After what I've been through, I think I earned the right to," he grumbled, feeling as if he was nailed to the floor at your mere touch.

"What's with the sudden mood change?" You frowned. MacCready shook his head. He wasn't going to share too much, he always had a problem keeping his mouth shut.

"Just tired I guess.. that whole Super mutant ambush took a lot out of me," he excused himself as you sat down next to Piper.

Vadim Bobrov showed MacCready a large grin, and MacCready forced a small smile back.

"Hey Vadim," he greeted. "Give me the strong stuff." The mercenary tossed a few caps on the table, and was given a bottle in return.

"Rough day?" The Russian asked, and MacCready just nodded as he took a swig. Alcohol had been his greatest comfort in the wasteland, the soothing burn of the liquid feeling more than welcome. he set the bottle back down on the counter.

"Yeah, you could say that," he replied in a lower tone. He heard you and Piper chat beside him, but he couldn't bring himself to get involved.

Robert went through the bottle faster than expected, only a small quarter of the drink left. His thoughts were getting messier as the moonshine began taking effect. It didn't taste good, but that was hardly the point as he found himself glancing at you. The old clock on the wall ticked by as he made his way through the first drink before ordering another. Noises were fading to the background as he felt the comforting numbness on the alcohol. He barely even noticed the conversation between you and Piper had come to a complete halt.

Every muscle in his body tensed as he felt your hand placed on his wrist. Both you and Piper had stopped talking and were now looking at him.

"What?" He simply replied, his voice more strained than he would have liked. The booze combined with his proximity with you made his head spin. He knew he had likely missed his inclusion into the conversation, but he could hardly bring himself to care.

"Really, is everything alright?" you pressed once more. Your fingers stroked the exposed skin of his wrist with your thumb. The half drunk mercenary peered at you from under his hat. Complicated feeling swirled in his mind. Memories and guilt of the past, mixed with a need for you that he despised, but craved so much at the same time.

"You've been zoning out the whole time. If there's something you need, I'm here for you." The hand of the wrist you gently held onto, began to clench as MacCready took another swig of the bottle. Grief, adoration and pure sadness and frustration welled up in him before he spoke up.

"The way you flirt is shameful."

The sober part of his mind instantly regretted his words as soon as they rang through his head. The tone was desperate yet accusing simultaneously. Piper had stopped drinking as well, shooting him a confused look. You on the other hand, looked concerned more than anything. MacCready looked down, his hat hiding his eyes. He couldn't look you in the eye right now. The silence tore at the widowers mind as he held the bottle in a strong grip as your hand stilled on his.

"What do you mean by that?" He heard you ask. MacCready inwardly cursed as your soft hand left his skin.

"Forget it," the merc snapped, pulling his arm back. No, he couldn't allow this, not again. He couldn't open himself to that potential grief again. He didn't need to look at you to know you were hurt. it twisted something inside him he didn't expect.

"Right..." you mumbled, giving Piper a nod. "I'm going to take a look at the Surplus, be right back."

It took the drunken man everything in his power not to beg or to yell at you. You didn't deserve this from him, not after all you had done for his and his sons sake.

"Nice going," Piper's more irritated tone rang through as she sat two seats away from her. "I thought you liked Blue more than that. Something happen that I'm not aware of?"

"What do you care?" He said, letting go off his second bottle of the moonshine.

"'Cause Blue's my friend, I thought that was pretty obvious." That sentence didn't sit well with MacCready's clouded minded.

"You don't know 'em as well as I do," he grumbled, causing Piper to raise a brow.

"Never said I did... no need to be so jumpy. You act like I'm gonna take Blue away from you," Piper sighed as she lit a cigarette. "You're looming over that dweller like you're her shadow or something."

"Got a problem with that?" He snapped, clutching the bottle again, defensiveness creeping up. "If I don't keep her safe, no one will."

Piper looked at him in a contemplative manner, before her eyes began to widen.

"Oh my god, you're in love with her!"

It took everything in MacCready's power not to audible react to Piper. To have something he tried everything in his power to deny in himself laid out that way did things to him.

"You don't know sh...." he trailed off with a grunt. "You don't know jack about me." He raised his finger to order another bottle. tears pricked behind his eyes at the thought about you and the wife he lost.

"Drowning your sorrows isn't gonna help," Piper said as she exhaled some smoke. "Snapping at your only friend won't help you either. She's gonna find out either way, might as well be honest.

MacCready lowered his head in defeat, He had half a mind to scream at her to mind her own business, but he couldn't argue with her.

"You're so damn nosey, you know that?" He replied with an irritated chuckle as he kept his head down, leaning it into his hand. His eyes stared down at the bottle. He was too wasted to consider his options carefully, but sober enough to take in the truth of Piper's words.

"Took you long enough to figure that one out," she replied as she put the cigarette out in the ash tray.

MacCready steeled his nerves, pushing away from the bar and standing up. "I'll go talk to them," he sighed.

"You're not gonna pay for your drinks?" The news reporter questioned with a raised brow. MacCready looked back at her.

"Vadim's a good guy, he'll understand." With those words he stepped outside into the cold wasteland night.

He'd go talk to you.

[nightingaelic]

could you do Fallout New Vegas companion’s reactions to a Courier Six who is also the Lone Wanderer telling their stories from their time in DC? (bonus points for Arcade’s reaction to them hating the enclave, and if that would make him decide to keep his past hidden even longer, or if he would still tell them?)

The logistics and implications of this make my head spin. This is also super long, honestly I should just quit writing reacts and start writing fics OH WAIT

Getting the courier talking was a tough thing to do, but on nights where the moon was full and the coyotes' howls were miles away or at least behind some stout walls, on nights where they were a few beers in and they hadn't seen another living soul in a few days, that Mojave Express deliverer started to reminisce. That wasn't really the surprising part, though. No, the surprising part was what they would remember, fondly or not-so-fondly: A world apart from the desert, a continent away on another coast, and stories of life in a vault, a missing father, pure water and a Brotherhood divided.

Arcade Gannon: Arcade didn't mind these moods, at least when they first cropped up. He nodded along as the courier talked about living in their father's shadow, about feeling cornered by their own family's legacy. He hung on their words about living in the cradle of America's history, about Project Purity, all of the gritty details of modifying a GECK to bring water to a devastated wasteland.

Eventually though, the courier's memories soured, with the arrival of Enclave remnants in their life. Arcade folded into himself with every harsh word, every jolt of plasma that had disrupted his friend's world relived in horrific detail. They gestured angrily as they described their newfound purpose, their battle for power with the fractured Brotherhood of Steel at their back, and their smug satisfaction at the moments they were able to crack open Raven Rock and the Enclave's mobile base crawler and lay waste to their tormentors.

It took a few rounds of these stories before the courier noticed he shrank and grew quiet whenever they neared the end of their story about breaking into another vault to find the GECK. They stopped abruptly one night. "What's up with you?"

"Um..." Arcade scratched the back of his neck and looked away. "Nothing. Nothing, I just... have some personal experience with the Enclave, myself."

The courier sighed. "Yeah, there's a few people walking around the West Coast that have similar stories to mine. Arroyo's full of them, for one. Is it something like that?"

Arcade took a deep breath. "I feel... well, it's a lot closer to home, for me. Close enough to raise questions, so I don't talk about it much."

"Close enough to..." The courier twisted their face up in confusion for a moment, before realization set in and their eyes grew large. "You were... your... oh."

"Mmm-hm."

"Well, fuck me." The courier smiled and popped a cap off of another beer. "I've been doing all the talking, haven't I? Let's hear your story about working with the guys in power armor who ruined my life, right after dad did."

Craig Boone: Whenever the courier started up like this, Boone couldn't help but notice a familiar twinge of regret and self-doubt in their voice. It shone through most clearly when they spoke about their time with the Brotherhood of Steel, the men and women they'd fought alongside and lost during their struggle against the remnants of the Enclave. It was there, too, in their story about returning to the vault they grew up in, setting the chaos that had arisen in their wake to rest, but not being able to go back to the way things were.

Boone didn't pry. He knew that feeling well. Instead, he cracked open bottles of beer, liquor, soda, whatever they had on hand during their nights in the desert, and just listened. He'd done the same for Carla, when they were younger and new to each other and he couldn't get enough of her voice and how it flowed endlessly, easily, the way his never could. He absorbed it all now as he did then: The joy, the pain, the loss, the fear, the triumphs and falls and abandoned dreams that filled the courier up and drove them to travel west, beyond anything they had ever known.

That last part stumped Boone a bit, though. "Why didn't you stay?" he finally asked one night.

They looked surprised. "Stay? Stay where? I didn't have a home anymore."

Boone shook his head. "With the Brotherhood. Or some other settlement."

"Like Megaton?" The courier sighed. "I thought about it. Close to the vault, friendly people, easy work... I guess I just didn't want to wind up... stuck."

They flushed red and looked away from him. Boone knew why they were embarrassed, but he also knew the truth in their words.

Sometimes the courier cried after they had finished, though they did their best to hide it. Boone pretended not to notice. He was pretty sure they knew he was pretending, but he was also pretty sure that pointing it out would be worse than just letting it be an open secret between them. The silence between them endured, but something grew inside it and flourished. Some kind of deeper understanding.

Lily Bowen: The more the courier spoke, the more Lily made connections in her muddled mind. Of course they knew the basic layout of most vaults, they had grown up in one. Of course they were extra-sensitive to the Mojave heat, they had come to the desert from the cooler of the two coasts. Of course they'd been extra-wary around the super mutants or nightkin of Jacobstown, they had only known angry super mutants looking to grow their own numbers through any means necessary.

Their shared experience of growing up inside a vault reminded Lily of happier days, and she often asked questions about Vault 101 during the courier's stories. "Were you sweet on anyone inside your old home?" she asked, with a big smile befitting a proud grandma.

The courier blushed. "That's not very polite, Lily."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dearie."

"No, no it's okay." The courier smiled. "There was a boy who picked on me a lot, but I never figured out whether he did it because he hated me or liked me. His name was Butch. And there was Amata, my childhood friend. She was the daughter of the Overseer."

"Daughter of the Overseer?" Lily grinned. "I'm sure she was a lovely young woman."

The courier looked a little misty. "Yeah. She was. Probably still is."

Lily pulled a handkerchief that used to be a small tablecloth from inside her overalls and handed it over. "Maybe we can go back there together, pumpkin," she offered. "I always wanted to travel to the capital. We can visit your friends, see the sights."

"Yeah, maybe someday." The courier accepted the gift and blew their nose. "I've got some things I need to finish up here before I even think about wandering back east, though."

"Then let's make a list and do our chores," Lily said happily. "Number one?"

"Ohhhh, man." The courier smiled up at her. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

Raul Alfonso Tejada: Raul got a faint smile on his face whenever the courier started up like this, as if their memories reminded him of another place he had come from, another time. While they couldn't have more different backgrounds, pasts- hell, he had several hundred years on the courier, even if they shared the same road today- there was something in the description of the other roads they had walked that made him feel warm on a cold night.

"What's on your mind?" The courier asked him one night, when Raul's smile grew larger than usual.

"Nada, boss," he reassured them. "You're just a good reminder that I can change my mind about the future anytime I'd like. Tell me the one about that radio DJ again."

"Again?" The courier rolled their eyes. "Why? I could tell you a million stories about Underworld and all the ghouls that lived there, but all you want to hear about is Three Dog. You'd probably have more in common with the Underworld folks, honestly."

Raul nodded noncommittally. "Sí, but my favorite stories are about people who had to rise above bad situations and become someone uncommon. Anyone who's able to do that is either fighting for something great or running from something terrible. Sometimes both."

The courier shot him a skeptical look. "Three Dog's holed up in his radio station 24/7, he's not running from anything or out fighting for anything. All that stuff about 'the good fight' is a load of bull."

"Now, now, Six," Raul chastised. "Just because he looks like your average pendejo doesn't mean he isn't doing his part. You even told me his radio show is inspirational for the Capital Wasteland folks."

The courier held their hands up in the air and bobbled them, as if balancing an invisible scale. "The duality of man. Being an average pendejo, or convincing everyone around you that you aren't actually an average pendejo and can pull off miracles."

Raul laughed. "And which one are you, boss?"

"Eh, I'm still figuring it out."

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Cass was never one for fixating on her own past, but she couldn't help but sympathize with the courier whenever they deigned to add onto their unbelievable story. It was hard enough for her to navigate her own damn life: She couldn't imagine being called upon to steer an entire area's destiny.

After another night of recalling their life inside a vault with their dad, then their unexpected loss of him right after being reunited on the surface, the courier stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry," they said.

Cass paused her swig of precious whiskey. "What?"

"I keep going on and on about my dad, and here you are not knowing what happened to yours."

"Eh." Cass took her drink and waved her hand around until the burning swallow made its way down. "S'loads of people in the wasteland without a clue what happened to their pops. I'm not special. In fact, I'd say it probably hurts a bit more, what happened with yours."

"Well, all the same." The courier sank deeper into their seat and examined their own bottle of spirits. "I feel like an open book, tonight. Anything you want to know about where I came from that I haven't already spilled?"

Cass thought for a moment. "Tribals."

"What about them?"

"Does the East Coast have them? You're not the first traveler I've met from there, but none of you have so much as mentioned any tribals out east."

"Mmm." The courier looked thoughtful. "I guess we do have them, though maybe not in the traditional sense. There's a mess of them in Point Lookout for sure, and at least one tribal group in the Capital Wasteland outright, but beyond that things are more... loose. Fewer intact families, fewer intact homes."

"Huh." Cass took another drink. "Maybe that's where my dad went."

She let the courier stew in the awkward silence for a bit before she grinned and reached out to smack them. "Just kidding. Keep going. I want to hear about that giant robot again."

Veronica Santangelo: Veronica usually sat and listened, spellbound, picturing a chapter of her order that had realized the very thing she kept trying to tell the Elders and made the ultimate sacrifice to follow their hearts anyway.

Well, maybe Elder Owyn Lyons hadn't come to the same realization as her, but he had had a change of heart that split his company and cut them off from almost everyone they had ever known. It had been five years since the High Elders had instituted radio silence toward their East Coast chapter, and so far there had been no attempts to re-establish contact.

Veronica prodded the courier for any info she could get about the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel. The courier let slip pretty early in their friendship that Elder Owyn Lyons had passed away, which wasn't unexpected. The man was 76 years old, after all. She learned on one particularly emotional night that his daughter, Elder Sarah Lyons, was also dead, something she wasn't sure even the Western Elders were aware of. That memory was clearly painful for the courier though, so Veronica didn't press for details.

"And the Enclave?" the Scribe asked one night, arms wrapped around her knees. "Are they completely gone?"

The courier grew cold. "Yes. I made sure of it."

"Right." Veronica nodded. "So the Brotherhood took over the air force base they were at. It must have been chock-full of tech and resources, if it was the Enclave's last stand."

"It was." The courier sighed and shifted in their seat. "And it woke up some of our brothers and sisters to their original mission in the Capital Wasteland. I thought maybe that selfishness had died with Liberty Prime, but... well, I didn't like it, so I left."

"Mmm, yeah." Veronica nodded again, sympathetically this time. "I know how you feel. Felt."

"Feel," the courier agreed. "I just wish there was more I could've done. Maybe there wasn't anything else, short of seizing power."

"You'd definitely get pushback for that in the Brotherhood," Veronica agreed. "But you might get that chance out here in the broader Mojave."

ED-E: At first, ED-E enjoyed the stories, trumpeting and cooing various beeps at the appropriate moments for emphasis. The one time the courier began badmouthing the Enclave, however, the eyebot waited until they had finished before playing back the first tape that Dr. Whitley had recorded before its trip.

The courier listened to the scientist's words from years ago, deflating slightly as it played out. When the tape had finished, they stood up and checked the eyebot over. "He sent you toward Navarro, huh?"

ED-E beeped affirmation, and the courier sighed. "But Navarro was already gone. I'm sorry. I guess I'm... well, me and the Brotherhood of Steel back east are responsible for your previous master's decision to send you away. Might be responsible for more, too."

ED-E beeped sadly. The courier pressed their forehead against the eyebot's metal dome in apology.

Rex: Well, surprising for most. Rex was not most. As soon as the courier got really into their recollections, Rex usually yawned and went to sleep. He stirred when he felt their hand reach down to scratch the ruff of his neck, or pat the glass dome that held his brain.

"Good dog," the courier said, through the veil of sleep. "You remind me of another pup that used to follow me around."

[elkian]

An incomplete list of thoughts I have playing Fallout 4 so far:

Whoever decided VATS should default and solely slow time instead of stop time is my enemy and I WILL take them down.

Yes I’m mourning my spouse, child, and entire world BUT this thing has Donkey Kong!

Yes I was by all accounts a soft civilian suburbanite but sure I can just... murder a dude and steal his clothes.

And that doesn’t even go into taking Radroach meat in the Vault, like that’s something a pseudo-50s-housewife-type is gonna do without impetus or comment.

I found a dog GOTY

The dog is my friend GOAT

The laser gun has to be pumped whose idea was this.

After I find the VATS fucker I’m coming for whoever decided Grenades should be Like That.

Sometimes hot keys just straight up don’t work even if I’m standing still. I have to punch them like 3 times to get a result. At least New Vegas is known to be buggy and janky, what excuse is there for this?

Very convenient in fights.

Yeah, this isn’t actually an RPG.

I do like the settlement system but MAN I wish there was some kind of eagle’s-eye view to work with instead of just walking around.

Yes it makes sense for houses in a suburb to be similar or even literally identical but, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, I wish the game had avoided this bit of realism.

It’s all fun and games until you lose your own damn house 5 times.

W...what do you mean fabricated doors can’t fit into the existing house doorways what???

The very first real conversation I had in the game (post-bombing anyways) involved the subtitles failing, and then failing AGAIN when I had to reload bc I messed up.

The way conversations work in this game is like the suburbs thing all over again: yes, it’s more realistic, but that doesn’t mean it actually improves the game.

Sometimes I talk to someone and just straight up get nothing from them.

This is fun when trying to barter.

You know that post about Jurassic World with the T-Rex posing in front of the erupting volcano with music going as a more thematic, dramatic experience that felt superfake? Anyways my level 2 character killed a deathclaw with a minigun after a car exploded.

I don’t hate the Perks-Skills-Leveling system but it’s very strange.

I legitimately tried to keep to the main story bc that was my plan going in but honestly -fucks off into the wasteland-

The difficulty curve is completely incomprehensible so far, sometimes it’ll be bloatflies and roaches and then it’ll be raiders with turrets and absurdly strong grenades with no apparent pattern to the matter.

The mole rats exploding from the ground is kinda cool but it’s also really annoying waiting for them all to pop.

Too much of the settlement system is me going “Why can I THIS but not THAT??”

i wandered into a random shack, killed a bloatfly, and turned around to find a Super Mutant attacking Dogmeat. It’s the only SM I’ve met so far and immediately after we were attacked by... 3 more bloatflies.

No more Super Mutants yet.

I respect the new Feral Ghoul design decisions. I’m not sure I agree, and they’re more unsettling that NV’s in some ways, but I respect it.

You know that post about the skeletons being left around in places frequent even though that would be ridiculous? Yeah one of the only trading posts in the area just has a skeleton chilling 3 feet from the door.

None of these weapons feel good. I like the concept of the modding system and I liked modding but it feels kinda inconsequential when i can get 13 of the same base gun and 4 of the same modded version by killing a pack of Raiders.

The jumping also falls under “more realistic, but worse”

The radstorm and variable weather in general is pretty cool!

This has been p negative so far so here’s a compliment: this is visually improved A LOT. I especially like the level of detail in character creation.

Now back to complaining lol

The game, past the first two or three areas, feels really bad at leading the player anywhere. I basically got tired of the main quest and fucked off to explore pretty quick.

Also: there’s a lot of landmarks close together that... feel like they should interact more?

Hello little farm do you want to talk about the raider corpses over that away? no? hey is this trunk full of *checks pipboy* chems and body parts belong to you? no? even though it’s in clear view of your farm and an area you should theoretically control?

I actually love the little icons for areas on the Pip-boy, it’s a nice touch and generally more helpful than just the flags while not feeling intrusive.

Some of the little animations are pretty great.

Okay but fr who said “you know what this game needs? It needs you to worry about a companion running off and attacking things while you try to use a workbench”

JUST LET ME FREEZE TIME AGAIN, BETHESDA

Ironically, they gave the player-character a voice in a game where I have nothing meaningful to say.

I bartered with someone and left the convo and she cussed me out for ‘wasting her time’ A+ dialogue branching.

A lot of the vistas and locations are pretty damn cool looking.

The sound design hates me personally - by which I mean the sound is directional but not in a way that actually correlates with the game world. I’ve heard raiders talking in my left ear and turned... only to realizing I’m facing an outside wall and there is literally no way anyone is over there.

This is especially noticeable and heinous bc there is some really good music and decent voice lines.

It’s not all bad, but I gotta say... aside from the settlement thing (I WISH NV had the ability to break items down into components, that’s really cool), pretty much no part of this game feels good. Combat feels bad - frantic, I have weight and yet my shooting is super floaty, and the lack of GUI affecting targets makes it much harder for me to spot what I want to shot. I don’t even get a target name without VATS in some situations. The sprint is good, but jumping feels ridiculous. Every conversation makes me want to chew on my arm. I know this isn’t an RPG but that makes the RPG veneer so much worse. It makes me think I can do things that I can’t. And I spend a lot of time asking “why CAN’T I do this?” and “why is this like this?” (that is my most-asked question by far).

Ultimately, it just doesn’t actually feel like an improvement enough anywhere to justify existing. But I’m only 8 hours in so I guess we’ll see.

[concussed-to-pieces]

The Mettle Of A Man; Part Five

Fandom: Fallout (4)

Pairing: Eventual Paladin Danse/Female Sole Survivor

Rating: Holy shit M.

AN: Enjoy!

Part One: ArcJet

Part Two: The Prydwen

Part Three: Orders

Part Four: Finding Brandis

It was supposed to be simple. Clear out Weston Water Treatment. Start a new settlement at Oberland Station. Backhand wrinkled her nose. Partially in irritation, and partially to ward off the foul smell of super mutant.

  “If I'd known the place was infested I wouldn't have agreed to this shit.” She grumbled to the paladin in power armor beside her. “Rob could have been a little more generous with his count, I feel.”

  Danse chuckled, “Don't try to act tough, Knight Vega. You're still here, right? It's only a couple of super mutants.”

  “A couple, he says.”

  A bullet whizzed over her head, interrupting the easy back and forth between the two of them. Danse gritted his teeth and readied his laser rifle. “For the Brotherhood!”

  They easily picked off five mutants and two hounds, and Backhand pumped her fist in victory when a sixth mutant fell to Righteous Authority . However, then she heard something that sent her into a panic. Her whole upper body jutted heedlessly out from behind cover, stealth mods deactivated from her motion while she searched frantically for the source of the beeping. “Wait, Paladin wait! ” She yelled, grabbing hold of his arm as he thundered by and barely missing getting her fingers crushed in his elbow joint. His momentum dragged her along with him and she hurriedly dug her boots into the dirt. “There's a fucking-!”

  Danse’s huge gauntlet clamped onto one of the many straps on her combat armor and without so much as a look out , he hurled her up over the road and into the deep pond beside the treatment plant. The super mutant suicider screamed in triumph, “ Die, metal man! ”

  Backhand landed in the pond with an undignified splash, brown water pouring into her nose and mouth as she sank like a rock to the bottom. The following explosion sent shockwaves through the water and Backhand struggled to hold her breath.

  Danse, oh God Danse, please be alright!

  She finally broke the surface, eyes stinging from the acrid water. “Paladin Danse!” She coughed, hauling herself back up the banking. Smoking chunks of super mutant were scattered everywhere , green flesh burned brown and black. The suit of power armor was toppled over on its front. “ Danse! ” Backhand almost fell in her haste to get to the paladin, skidding to her knees beside the power armor.

  Her Geiger counter started to click loudly.

  “Shit, Paladin, c'mon! You've dealt with worse than this, you got cooked by a fucking rocket! Don't do this to me!” She pleaded, fighting with the manual release on the back of the suit. The fusion core was shattered, otherwise she could have just half-twisted the handle and popped him out easy. Backhand was stuck doing this the hard way. “Fucking answer me Paladin, please! ”

  “That's not...soldier-appropriate language, Knight.” A choked cough came from the half-crushed helmet. “Can you get the back open? I can't really...it's very heavy in this thing.” He rose onto his knees with one hand propping him up, leaving Backhand more than a little impressed. “A Brotherhood soldier's conditioning requirements are somewhat rigorous, Knight. Now please. The back.” Despite his reassurances he sounded strained.

  Backhand tore the plate metal over her knuckles on the rivets around the manual release wheel in her haste to get it undone, breathing a sigh of relief when she finally swung the back plate up out of the way. Danse pulled his head out of his helmet, got to his feet, and promptly collapsed.

  Backhand swore again, rolling him over. It seemed like his armor had taken the brunt of the impact but he got rattled around inside it like an old world pinball. She'd griped about the lack of padding in their undersuits the very first time she’d seen them, ‘ stupid military branches, always cutting corners. ’

  “Paladin, you still with me?” Backhand Vega, shittiest knight the Brotherhood has to offer. “Why the fuck are all your jumpsuits dark orange and brown , I can't tell whether you're bleeding or not!” She yelled in frustration, mostly to herself. At least that suicider had been the last of the mutants to deal with. “Alright, okay. You're out. Oberland it is.” She sighed when he didn't reply, slinging Righteous Authority across her chest and heaving Danse onto her back. Thank God for all that conditioning work so she'd been able to move her own armor frame back in the day. She may be in shape but Danse was by no means a small man.

  Getting over the damn hill to Oberland left Backhand almost spent. Half-carrying, half-dragging him up the station stairs at the end was torment, her calves screaming bloody murder. She dropped him on the bed and left her supply satchel on the ground, rummaging through it for her Stims. Some Rad-X probably wouldn't hurt either, it had been a mini-nuke that exploded next to him.

  “Knight Vega...” Danse mumbled blearily a few minutes after she inserted the Stim needle into one of the ports in his jumpsuit, the paladin obviously coming back around.

  Backhand couldn’t stop the way she snapped at him. Now that the terror for her companion had faded somewhat, she was left feeling exhausted and irritated. “What the hell were you thinking? You could have been obliterated by that asshole!”

  “Where are we?” Danse muttered instead, trying to sit up.

  “Oberland. Lay the hell back down, stupid idiots don’t get to sit up.” She pushed his shoulder and Danse’s back hit the mattress with a wheeze of rusty springs. “Don’t move.” She growled, using one of her shoelaces to hang the bag of Rad-X from the rafters and then hitching the end of the tubing to the needle still in his arm. Danse grunted, the dazed look on his face making Backhand extremely nervous. “Paladin, stay conscious.” She waved her fingers in front of his eyes and Danse jerked to attention. “Stay with me.”

  “I am, Knight Vega.” He retorted while his eyes drifted shut. “Right here.”

  “Ah ah, no napping.” She tapped his cheek and his eyes rolled open again. “Stay with me, Danse.” Backhand repeated, a little softer this time.

  “I am , Knight Vega.” Danse murmured. “Endured worse than this, remember?”

  “Doesn't mean I'm not going to worry.”

  Danse closed his eyes just enough to squint at her. “About me? You’re the one with no power armor. I’m supposed to be managing you , Vega.”

  …

  “Yeah, frickin’ bang-up job there ked.” Backhand retorted. “Coulda’ lost a hand in your elbow joint when you whipped past me like a bat outta’ hell.”

  Danse noted with a faint flash of amusement that apparently her accent thickened when she was wound up. “My hearing is not in peak condition. Specifically, telling where the sound is coming from can be an issue in my helmet. Proctor Ingram can only tweak it so much.”

  “That would have been good to know beforehand, Paladin.” Backhand said icily, her motions sharp and angry as she shed her combat armor breastplate. Her gauntlets followed suit, discarded in a pile on the floor. She was soaked to the skin, Danse noticed hazily.

  His head was pounding again, vision slowly becoming more and more unfocused. “Tell me about what it was like, Knight. Before the…before the war.” Danse slurred, trying his hardest to change the subject and stay awake.

  Backhand bit her lip, pulling the bedroll up a little higher until it was underneath Danse’s chin. He wasn’t sure whether she intended to simply ignore his question.

  “It was green.” She said softly, putting his wondering to rest. “There was always someone in your business. People were on top of each other most of the time. I mean, I was in the military so cramped quarters were normal for me, but for civilians…it was pretty hellish. In the mornings once we’d had breakfast, I would take Shaun outside to the front lawn and he would roll around on his little blanket. The neighbors were walking their dogs or mowing the lawn or something, we would all make small talk about the weather.” Backhand stopped talking and sighed heavily, tapping at the bag of Rad-X to keep it flowing.

  “What is it, Knight?” Danse hated the cold sweat that always broke out when he took Rad-X, but right now it was a necessary evil.

  “I think a lot of folks were a little intimidated by me.” She theorized. “I mean I was a young veteran, and pretty quickly became a single mother. Unheard of. For a while after I moved in I still had the eyepatch from my discharge incident, then a pair of super dark sunglasses, which definitely didn’t defang my appearance.” Her smile was melancholy and she brought her fingers up to her eye, tapping the area beneath it.

  The silence stretched on. Danse knew he needed to be patient. It’s not as if he could go anywhere, and it was fascinating to hear about pre-war from someone who had actually been there.

  “I told the neighborhood kids that I was a pirate and showed them all how to make newspaper boats and hats so they could be pirates too.” Backhand smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I modified one of my old MLCE packs so I could carry Shaun around the cul-de-sac with me when I jogged. Didn’t have the money for one of those baby carriers or even for a stroller after the divorce, so the pack had to do. He would put his little head down on my chest and sleep. Wasn’t bothered by all the motion or anything, just like his mommy.”

  Her pain was still clearly raw, even after however much time had passed. Danse didn’t know what to do, so he wiggled a heavy arm free of the sleeping bag and rested his hand on her own. She squeezed it back wordlessly, her jaw working.

  When she spoke again, she sounded more steady. “I can’t say that it was bad . The environment was safe and quiet. Everyone in Sanctuary Hills looked out for one another. Even if it was more motivated by curiosity and nosiness than an actual desire to help.” Backhand mused dryly. “The milkman couldn’t leave an extra bottle on your doorstep without six other people knowing. So exactly like the military.”

  “Sounds similar to the Prydwen.” Danse remarked, sick to his stomach a second after he said it. How many people must know about Maxson and I? He realized, swallowing hard to fight the sudden rush of nausea. He hadn’t thought about it at all, more than content with the illusion of privacy one usually maintained in the Brotherhood. The most obvious evidence of their dalliances was the busted mouth Danse always seemed to end up with, and those instances happened far too often for everyone to write it off as Danse just being clumsy or careless when he shaved.

  I bumped it. He grimaced as he recalled his weak explanation back on the Prydwen, the way Backhand had narrowed her eyes at him.

  Besides, he knew that he’d worn his excuses thin at this point. Trying to explain away the teeth marks Arthur left on his upper arm that one time was more than enough of a chore. He had looked like he’d been savaged by a feral, so at least he could understand the concern to an extent.

  “Hey, you alright? All the color just dropped out of your face.” Backhand noticed, her brows drawn in worry.

  Danse nodded, fixing his attention on the guttering lantern beside the bed instead of the wrinkles on her forehead. “Tell me more?” He asked eventually.

  “I miss the convenience of food. Even with the shortages, there used to be a grocery store on practically every corner.” She sounded wistful. “Shaun hadn’t really started solid foods yet, he was only just beginning to leave the twenty-four-seven nursing program. Not a minute too soon, the little bugger would suck me dry.”

  “You breastfed your child? Isn’t that-” Danse stopped himself, feeling uncomfortable. Normally breastfeeding was considered incredibly dangerous, for the baby and the parent. But before, when the radiation wasn’t so prevalent…things must have been different. “It’s none of my business, I suppose.”

  “No no, I get it. I know that nowadays trying to raise a child is tough enough without the added dangers of the irradiated environment. It was simpler back then. Could just unbutton your shirt and go to town, instead of having to unbelt all your armor and find a safe spot so that Junior can get lunch in.” Backhand grinned.

  Danse flushed a little at her frank speech, sternly telling himself not to dwell on the idea of her with an infant on her knee like some housewife from the pre-war mags. He had no recollection of his own parents, or siblings if he had them. Familial musing was not familiar territory, but it never failed to leave him with a sad ache in his throat. The same ache that assaulted him when he thought of Cutler-

  Backhand hissed in pain and Danse snapped out of his slide into melancholy, watching with horror while she peeled off her other glove. “Shit, I didn’t even feel that.” She grimaced, spreading her fingers. The sheet metal on her gloves was ripped through in some areas, and it had apparently taken a few healthy chunks out of her knuckles and the backs of her hands. Blood dribbled over her palm and Danse felt… odd .

  “Knight Vega, what happened?” Danse asked in confusion.

  “I was in such a hellfire hurry to get you out of your gear and the fusion core in your suit was busted. I uh...I don’t really know.” Backhand admitted. “I went panic mode and muscled the manual release as fast as I could, basically.”

  “The manual…” Danse trailed off as she wiped some dried blood away with the hem of her undershirt. “You need to bind that. Your knuckles-”

  “Nah, I’ll be fine.” She flapped a bloodied hand at him. “I’ve had worse.”

  “It’s irrelevant whether you’ve had worse, the fact of the matter is that right now, you’re the one who needs to protect us.” Danse shot back, a little annoyed with her carelessness. “Who knows what could be lurking out there? Everything in the neighborhood must have heard the suicider explosion.”

  “Ah, okay. Sorry, I’ll…you think a Stim would put this back together? Or should I save those for later?” She asked hesitantly.

  “Did you take any Stims from the Prydwen?”

  “No, I didn't want to take any resources from you guys.” Backhand shuffled through her pack, carefully counting out everything that she had. “I only have three Stims left. Wasn't expecting this detour.”

  Danse cursed under his breath, pushing to sit up by propping his back against the wall. The Stim that she had given him was doing its job, of course, but it would be several hours before he was fit for duty again. Anything could happen in that time. “Come here.” He ordered, disliking the sideways look she gave him. “Let me see your hands.”

  “H-Hey, I'll probably be fine. It's no biggie.” She protested, putting her left hand into his own all the same and then wincing. Danse, his brain jerkily reminding him that he was probably being a little too rough, nearly dropped her hand when he tried to casually loosen his grip. Alright, maybe he did spend more time than necessary in his armor. The truth of the matter is that Danse felt like a raw nerve without the comforting weight of plate metal on his body, exposed and too… soft .

  “I'll wrap this.” He decided aloud after several moments of careful manipulation to make sure her fingers weren't broken. Danse flipped open the small pouch by his hip, tugging out a tiny roll of bandaging and a nonstick gauze to dress her knuckles. “What? A Brotherhood soldier is always prepared.” He huffed when he noticed Backhand staring at him.

  “I gotta' get one of those.” She said, gesturing at the pouch. “Is that included in the suit? Or do they come separate from the requisitions officer?”

  “I can put in a supply order for you, if you'd really like one. It has...look, there's loops here. You could hitch it to your combat armor.” Danse loosened the bag and showed her the plethora of MOLLE straps on the back, chuckling a little when she made a clumsy attempt to snatch it out of his hands. “Mm, nice try. I've been around Haylen and Rhys. You've got nothing on either of them when it comes to pilfering my supplies, Vega.”

  “Can’t blame a girl for trying.” She grinned ruefully. “I really ought to be nice to you. After all, you saved me from pretty certain death.”

  “I did?” Danse thought back momentarily and then remembered gauntlet slamming shut on the strap, whichever strap, doesn’t matter, shoulder-ribs, just be enough to hold her weight --He felt his face go hot recalling the unwarranted contact between them. “It was a…reaction. Sometimes I think I move too quickly for my mind to keep up.”

  “Lucky for me, I guess! Maybe the Sarge's bandanna is rubbing off on you.” Backhand got to her feet, stretching her arms over her head. She had peeled her Vault suit down and tied the sleeves around her hips again, the fabric pulled tight from her motions.

  Danse forced his eyes elsewhere, the sweat on his forehead having nothing to do with the Rad-X. What the hell is the matter with you? He scolded himself. Since when do you ogle women like this?

  “Do you think we should stay here tonight, and try to get to your armor tomorrow?” Backhand asked.

  “We have to. I’m not leaving it there indefinitely.” Danse cringed as he thought of the state his armor would be in. “I would like to go after it tonight, but I am…not in peak condition.” God , that stung to say. Whether he liked it or not, it was the truth.

  “ Hell no, not tonight. I’d rather let you sleep off the Stim and Rad-X, have you in fighting shape bright and early tomorrow morning.” Backhand gave him a look that was actually fond and the ache mounted up in his throat once more. “I’ll take first watch.”

  “Put your armor on!” Danse barked as she moved to the door, his voice harsher than he had intended. “You--I-I mean, you need to be prepared, Knight.” He tried to play it off, tried to relax his posture a little. He had nearly stood, shaky fingers crushing the rotted windowsill to try and support his weight.

  She waved her bandaged hand at him, as if to say hush , but still buckled her chest plating back on. Danse knew her moments of insubordination should have been worrisome. Had he gotten too complacent, too used to the less stringent requirements of fieldwork?

  He did let Rhys and Haylen slide. He just couldn’t stand the two of them dancing around each other anymore, it was maddening. Rhys talked a great game, he always had, but Danse would have to be blind not to notice the knight’s care for their scribe. It wasn't technically against regs, of course, but Danse knew if anything he ought to put his foot down. As their senior ranking officer, if the relationship went south between them he would be dragged into it. It was hard to justify it though, when he saw the two of them all curled up with one another.

  Better that they enjoy themselves now. Life could be so incredibly short.

  …

  “Hey, what’s your deal with the muties?” Backhand asked curiously. He had gotten a boatload of pre-war nonsense out of her, she figured she had earned at least one question. “You lose one of your own to them or something?”

  Danse made eye contact and Backhand’s breath caught in her throat. He looked positively worn, fragile , like all the life had gone out of his body. With an expression like that , she expected a great (if sad) story. All she got was a soft “ Yes ,” spoken in a voice thick with emotion.

  When it became apparent that that was the end of it, Backhand cleared her throat and readjusted the dingy pipe pistol in her hands. She proceeded to methodically count her bullets, trying not to make him feel like she was waiting for the rest. The experience left her shaken. She had thought Danse to be the typical soldier, but it was obvious now that there was much more to him than that. He clearly cared deeply for the wellbeing and safety of each member of his team, possibly too much for him to escape unscathed. He was one of those , she realized, practically a kindred spirit to her dearly departed senior officer Sergeant Cathan. Courageous, firm, the shelter in the storm. A true embodiment of everything a soldier should strive to be.

  “ I could not feasibly promise anything…it was not within my power to promise. ”

  She noticed Danse pull the bedroll up around his shoulders as if he was cold. There was a sharp wind that blew through the old station on top of the hill, but Backhand, New Englander to the end, barely felt it. She leaned on the worn bannister of the stairs, her eyes squinted against the darkness as the stars brightened overhead.

  There was more rustling from behind her and she assumed that Danse was doing his best to make himself comfortable on the old mattress, his frame a bit… large for the task. Backhand snuck a peek and was relieved to see him curled up in her bedroll, his back to the wall and eyes closed.

  She hoped that Paladin Brandis made it to the Prydwen safe and sound (and that her armor was still in one piece). She may have hoped a little harder that Brandis was already giving Maxson a run for his money. The idea of Maxson being thrown off his game made her snicker quietly to herself.

  Her good humor faded all too quickly when she recalled that there was nothing keeping them out here and away from the Prydwen once they finished cleaning up Weston. If something shifty was going on between Danse and Maxson, it wouldn’t be long before they were back in the thick of it. She cast another glance at the large man after she heard him mumble something, watching him shift around in the sleeping bag. There was an odd vulnerability to him when he slept, which she remembered all too well from their time in the police station.

  The wan sunlight hadn’t woken him as she scribbled her note, but he stirred when she placed the paper down on the floor beside his head. His bedroll was bunched uncomfortably at his elbows and she took a selfish moment to kiss his forehead and then tug the fabric up around his shoulders. It couldn’t hurt, she reasoned with herself. He had hummed in his sleep and snuggled down into the warm embrace of the bedroll. It made it incredibly difficult to leave, even with the two Mister Handy units cheerily patrolling the courtyard. If something happened…

  Well, it didn’t really bear thinking about. Backhand had the feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she and Danse would meet.

  …

  Backhand woke him for his watch shift at almost exactly two hundred hours. She looked fatigued and Danse ignored the protest of bruises on his body in favor of more quickly freeing up the mattress. “Got it warmed up for you.” He yawned, chuckling when she poked him in the ribs.

  “I bet you did, you big furnace.” She teased, her eyelids already drooping. “Nothing to report, sir. All’s been quiet.”

  “Carry on, Knight.” Danse saluted out of habit, scooping her combat armor up off the floor and beginning to adjust it to fit his own body. Once he was in some semblance of protective equipment, he snuffed the lantern on the bedside table and took his place at the window. He borrowed Righteous Authority from her, seeing as his rifle was back with his power armor. Probably lying on the ground, covered in super mutant gore. Danse frowned unhappily.

  His night vision had always been impeccable, with or without his helmet. Danse scanned the landscape for threats, glad that they at least had the high ground. If anything tried to attack, he would know well before they arrived.

  The Commonwealth was almost peaceful at night. Once all the raiders had bedded down with one another and the ferals had retreated to their holes, a tenuous calm reigned that was usually only broken by clans of ambitious super mutants or radscorpions.

  Danse rested his weight gingerly on the wall, afraid that it may not be able to support him in its decrepit state. Thankfully it held fast and he relaxed after a moment. His pulse was still quick enough for him to be slightly anxious. It was a normal leftover from using a Stim, but he disliked the feeling; epinephrine and adrenal-sour in his mouth while his heart slammed a tattoo on his ribs.

  Danse fought the desire to shake himself, certain that Backhand wouldn’t appreciate being woken up by the percussion of poor-fitting combat armor. Though she had mentioned that her son could sleep through anything, “ just like his mommy .” He imagined being on the front lines, getting your meager rest wherever you could and going for weeks without seeing a real bed would probably do that to a person. Lord knew he had a hard time readjusting to the quiet safety of the Prydwen after clocking lengthy stints of fieldwork or skirmishes with the Enclave.

  He had dreamed of Cutler again. Danse exhaled slowly through his nose, fighting the tremble of his hands. Mercifully the dream had faded well before Backhand woke him. He wasn’t sure how he would have reacted to being shaken awake while still in the grasp of his memories. He shook his head, propping the barrel of Righteous Authority up on the windowsill. He couldn’t go on like this, haunted by the echoes of a man who had ceased to be. True, they had a bond. A bond which Danse had naively believed was unbreakable. But when Cutler had gone missing…

  Danse was no stranger to horrifying experiences. Centaurs, super mutants and ferals plagued his nightmares, nightmares which inevitably led to an enormous super mutant hive in the Capital Wasteland...

Part Six

[mocha-sim]

i feel like writing out more headcanons so here goes

(long post warning)

Megami

She’s struggling to find something she’s not naturally good at just to feel the sense of learning and improving

She enjoys the respect and admiration of other students but wishes they wouldn’t fear her so much

Aoi has been her best friend since they were little and is very protective of her

Initially she isn’t attracted to Taro and just wants to protect him from Ayano, but starts to fall for him both over shared interests and over the fact that he’s one of the only people to see her as a person instead of some higher being

That one friend who’s always ready for the camera, even when she’s not

She has an interest in engineering and likes to study it in what little free time she gets

After she becomes CEO she makes an attempt to repair her relationship with her brother by offering him a position in the company. He refuses, runs off with his share of the inheritance money and then sends multiple assassins after her

Taro

He reads all kinds of books but his favourite genre is psychological horror

He also likes cheesy romance novels. Hanako and Taeko like to tease him about it

Taeko is his twin sister who didn’t make it into Akademi and attends a different school. He and Hanako are much closer and though she’s never spoken up about it, she always feels left out

He has suspicions that someone is stalking him but doesn’t have any evidence and doesn’t want to sound crazy/paranoid

By the time week 10 rolls around he’s 100% sure that he’s being stalked and sits awake in his bed at night, watching the window, chugging caffeine to stay awake with a baseball bat by his side

If the weather is bad he’ll go and read in the library. He’s good friends with Kuu

Budo is like a brother to him and is usually the first person he talks to about his problems. (Hanako is very important to him but she always overreacts)

Shiromi

Her family is the most important thing to her and insulting them is one of the few things that can genuinely piss her off

She had an occult phase and got super into doing tarot cards/palm readings. She’s still interested in it but not enough to consider joining the occult club

Being Kaga’s half-sister means that she spends a lot of time around the science club members. She hangs out with Homu and Meka on weekends

The three of them grow the closest in their third year after the other science club and student council members have graduated

Her whole mentality is “life’s too short”, which is why she acts the way she does and is always looking for something new or interesting. She got it from her parents

She loves candy and is always on the hunt for a type she hasn’t tried before

She’s good with kids, partially because she babysits for families in her area a lot

Very very social and extroverted, but she has a hard time reading social cues sometimes and her lack of expression is off-putting to a lot of people

One of the shortest students in school, but she doesn’t let it get to her

Aoi

She places a lot of her self-worth on her physical ability, which is why someone beating her in a fight would leave scars not only physically but emotionally as well

She sees people who are aggressive or willing to do amoral things as a necessity to stopping troublemakers and criminals

She’s into heavy metal

Last year she spent pretty much all her time around Megami or by herself. She almost joined the sports club but couldn’t stand any of the other club members

She has trouble making friends and feels sort of lost and alone after Megami goes away for nine weeks

Shiromi is the only council member who made an effort to talk to her and one of the few students who was never afraid of her

One day Budo just came up and started talking to her. Now they’re friends. When anyone asks how they became friends Aoi replies with “he just kinda never went away”

Secretly afraid of heights but would never admit it

She can’t flirt at all but Megami is always trying to act as her wingman when she shows interest in a girl

Akane

She squints because she can’t stand the cheap fluorescent lights and who can blame her

Still has stuffed animals and isn’t ashamed of it

i’m just going to say it: i hate the idea of her secretly being an “eeevil” edgelord character but i do want her to have more depth than just “the cute nice one”

She’s a genuinely good person who struggles with bad/violent thoughts but pushes back against them. She sometimes worries that these thoughts make her irredeemably evil and feels guilty for them

Kuroko and Shiromi are both protective of her and she thinks it’s the sweetest. Kuroko has noodle arms and Shiromi weighs maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, but it’s the thought that counts

She’s afraid of Aoi and tries to avoid her

She likes to make jewelry and made friendship bracelets for the other council members. Shiromi wears hers openly and proudly, and Kuroko wears hers under her sleeve

She won’t outright say that she has a favourite among her admirers, but it’s Daku simply because he doesn’t get into fights over her like the others

Kuroko

She’s extremely focused on living up to her rich and successful parents

Her family puts a lot of pressure on her to be constantly working or studying, which left her with little to no social life before Akane and Shiromi came into the picture

She thinks that the only reason Aoi made it onto the council is because of her close relationship with Megami

Akane got her into a band she likes and now Kuroko listens to their music when studying

She likes reptiles and has a pet snake

Her sleep schedule is fucked beyond repair

She has trouble outwardly expressing emotions because of her upbringing and sees it as a sign of weakness

After finding out that Shiromi’s parents give her so much independence, she took it upon herself to watch over Shiromi and keep her out of trouble. She sees Shiromi’s parents as failures who can’t care for their child properly

Akane is the only other member of the council she really respects as a fellow adult. She’s also the only one Kuroko will confide in

Info

Her real name is Ayame Yoshida

Outwardly she thinks of her father (the journalist) as a loser who can’t support his daughter or himself, and doesn’t deserve a thing from her

Inwardly she still loves him and leaves him a share of her money for food and to pay the bills, but since she feels she can’t rely on him she’s built up walls and doesn’t really communicate with him

She used to be friends/partners in crime with Shiromi in middle school, until Info “disappeared” sometime during her last year

When she found out Shiromi was attending Akademi she offered money if she would lend her skills to Info’s work, but Shiromi refused

She has some anger issues

Also sort of a god complex

She secretly likes to play video games on the computers when she’s not doing her work

Outside of mission mode she still operates an assassination business which extends far outside of Akademi and even outside of Buraza. Ayano just isn’t one of her assassins

Kaga

He does want to take over Saikou Corp, but he also has genuine feelings for Megami and wants to impress her

He just doesn’t understand exactly how to go about pursuing her and messes it up a lot

Yaku and Horo are good friends of his, Homu is ok with him, and Meka straight-up hates him

His mother re-married after divorcing his father and had a daughter with her new husband. He sometimes feels like he’s not really part of the family and that his parents love his half-sister more

He used to have pet rats. Now he has pet mutant rats that his parents made him promise to never ever show to the public

Sometimes he takes apart others’ stuff without asking them first. He once dismantled Akane’s bike while she was over for a sleepover with Shiromi. Akane cried and Kuroko yelled at him

He hates cats because of a past experiment involving a cat gone wrong. It looked something like the Cats movie

Yaku and Horo respect his dedication to science but really want to get him outside more

The Aishi Twins

Ayano joined the student council and Yanagi (Yan-kun) joined the art club

The two of them haven’t exactly gotten along since they were kids, but they tolerate each other

Ayano can’t stand Megami or Aoi and treats both of them with a sort of cold faux-politeness. Megami does the same to her. Aoi will snap at her any chance she gets

Yanagi, being the second child born, doesn’t suffer from the Aishi curse but being brought up in a house with Ayano and Ryoba still fucks him up. He doesn’t really see any value in the lives or well-being of others

Ayano kills, kidnaps, and tortures to meet her goals. Yanagi does it for the thrill

While Ayano is interested in Taro, Yanagi doesn’t have a specific person as his goal and does whatever he feels like at the time

Neither one of them ever meets Taeko face-to-face, but if they did Ayano would take an interest in her as well since she’s Taro’s twin

Outside of using the art club as a front for his “hobbies”, Yanagi is genuinely a pretty good painter. He has a similar vision to Borupen and is the only one he really gets along with

[adarlingwrites]

Absolution

Summary:

noun: formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment

The Capital Wasteland lauded the Lone Wanderer as a hero, a Messiah, a savior who’s willing to give her life for the Good Fight. Beyond the legends, the propaganda, and the mythification that surrounded her legacy, there is only one person who knew her bare soul. She gave him his absolution, and now he will fight for hers.

Author’s notes: Finally, after months, I finally got to updating the fic! Schedule will be still irregular, but if things go according to plan the next chapter might come at around April 7. Thank you for staying tuned, please enjoy the chapter!

XXIX

January 14, 2278.

The green glow of Percy’s Pip-Boy illuminates the dark corridors of the Vault. I squinted, vaguely reading the time as two in the afternoon. She stands closer next to me. My partner does that whenever we explore vaults, and I can’t blame her.

Even I get creeped out by these damn things.

I didn’t know which was worse; the ones filled with insane clones who screamed “Gary”, or the one that filled my lungs with some kind of drug that made me and Percy trip out of our minds and almost hurt each other.

I don’t even wanna remember either. I must shift my focus on helping Percy find the GECK.

The ventilation is dead, and so is the thermostat, with the vault being in a state of decay for fuck knows how long. Some of these underground bunkers were built when I still had skin. Percy was extra cautious, and she was right to be. We faced several super mutants; Percy took care of them from a distance, while I offered additional firepower, ensuring none of those big green muties came within ten feet of her.

Reloading my shotgun, I hid behind a fallen desk as Percy fired another round from her Gauss rifle, nicking one mutant coming from my blind spot. The corner of my mouth tugs upward when I remember the first time we faced super mutants together, in the DC ruins.

I look at her now, and how she’d grown as a fighter.

Once all the muties in the area are dead, Percy sneaks over to a terminal, the glow of the monitor washing her helmet with a sickly green hue. My partner retracts her helmet, and begins typing away.

Shotgun still warm on my peeling hands, I’m alert to my surroundings as usual, though I can’t help but glance at her baffled expression, her frown frown deepening the more she reads the text on the screen.

“Shit. This isn’t science, this is sick! Charon, oh my god,” she whispers, eyes fixed on the terminal. “Some twisted scientist experimented on the vault residents to make the mutants. Vault 87 is where all the muties are coming from. They kidnap wastelanders and take them here and infect them with the FEV strain that doctor concocted.”

Expression grim, I turn to Percy. “Are you hinting that we blow this place up too, like Paradise?”

Sighing, Percy shuts the terminal off. “It’s too dangerous due to all the radiation in the area, and we don’t have the means to do it now. Maybe we can inform the Brotherhood.”

Knowing those tin cans, I roll my eyes at her. “If they decide to do something about it. They can’t even send their own men to fetch the damn GECK and they sent you.”

“My opinion of them is slowly getting worse as the days pass, that’s for sure,” Percy quips, powering down the terminal. “Fuckers have the most advanced weaponry in all of the Capital Wasteland next to the Enclave and they’re hiring a teenager and her ghoul partner as errand runners.”

At Percy’s remark, I chuckle.

“You mean the Wasteland Avenger and the Ghoul Reaper.”

“I thought you hated those nicknames,” she chuckles, the helmet of her suit protracting to cover her face once again.

“I still do, and Three Dog has no fucking problem using them, and us, to promote the Brotherhood. But those assholes don’t even respect you.”

Percy pauses, then her helmeted face turns to me. “Do you think he’s a little bit biased towards the Brotherhood?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters, he preaches about how ghouls are people too, and he’s absolutely right about that, but he says nothing about the Brotherhood's bigotry against ghouls. Worse, a ghoul had been directly and indirectly helping them, and he’s still quiet.”

I rubbed my chin at her observation. “Huh. I’ve never thought of it- Percy, your six!”

She turns around, and sees the centaur approaching us, those god-awful tentacles writhing as it advanced. A few things unsettle me, seeing how I have to deal with my ugly mug whenever I look in the mirror, but those things? It makes the hairs on what little skin I have left stand.

It took two rounds to take it down, its head splitting like a rotten fruit the second time Percy shoots it. Disgusting.

Percy seems to be thinking of the same thing, recoiling and shivering. “Thanks.”

I grunt in response. “Let’s get a move on. I don’t wanna spend another minute in this damn place,” I muttered, and my partner nods.

We advance, taking care of any mutants we bump into along the way. Percy sweeps every area we go into for supplies, and terminals she can tinker with. I have a feeling that her accessing the files in this vault isn’t born out of her natural curiosity now. She’s seeking something.

A truth of some sorts.

On one particular terminal she accessed, she recoiled in horror, stumbling into me. I steady her, my large hands cupping her shoulders as she takes a sharp inhale.

“That bad?”

“Yeah,” she gasps. “Look.”

Barely making out the words, I lean over to read the text with difficulty. Thankfully, Percy spells it out for me. “These are death codes. They represent what the vault residents succumbed to. See that?”

She points at a string of text on the screen. “UD000.”

“Unexplained deaths. If I had to guess, they came up with this to cover up the fact that these people actually died due to the experiments their bastard scientists did to them. Now look at this,” Percy continues, typing away and accessing a list of the deceased. Eighty goddamn seven of those were unexplained.

A twisted feeling crawls up my spine, reminding me of the government program I was forced into.

??? ??, 2074.

Lined up, waiting for what’s about to come next, I stood beside Mag. My lanky limbs were tense, and the skin of my neck felt sickeningly tender, the collar around it making it bulge. From the corner of my eye, I look at my fellow trainees, all six of them.

Out of the hundreds of people they brought in, only the seven of us survived.

Sergeant Williams steps in the room, and all of us move in unison to salute, starched black uniforms barely creasing as we raised our arm for the gesture.

“Listen up, maggots! Out of the four hundred seventy three recruits we had for rehabilitation, only the seven of you didn’t wash out, drop dead, or ate a gun. Consider this the greatest honor, for you are now considered rehabilitated from commie propaganda,” he barks, barely concealing his Texan drawl, spittle flying everywhere.

“Consider this the greatest honor, for you are now ready to dedicate your worthless goddamn lives to the USA! You are to follow every damn command issued to you by whoever holds your contracts! You were trained for this singular purpose, are we clear?”

Our voices filled the room as we shouted “Yes sir!” in unison.

That was the day I was given my name.

The sergeant christened me as Charon, burning away whatever was left of Artyom Volkov, or so he thought.

Out of the hundreds of souls that got wasted from the Enclave’s bullshit, I somehow managed to survive, and I still intend to continue surviving. I have my partner Percy, that jackass DeLoria, and the dog now.

I pull myself back to the present as my partner shuts down the terminal, turning to the medical safe and taking whatever supplies we can get.

“C’mon. I don’t wanna linger here any more,” she whispers, a small tremble in her voice.

Following her to a corridor, the red lights glower over us almost ominously as we pass by several holding cells. The goosebumps on whatever’s left of my skin intensify. It was cold, desolate.

Until some crazy fuck lunged at us from behind a reinforced glass window and scared the living daylights out of Percy, who screams in surprise and bumps into me. Out of instinct, I catch her, and use my body to shield her.

The man continued to bang on the window as we both recovered from the damn surprise, a frown on my face as I took a closer look. The poor guy’s been driven mad from being held there. I doubt we can save him.

Of course, what happened made us look inside the rest of the holding cells.

I regret doing so immediately.

Centaurs, blobs of vaguely fucking human abominations and other unsightly shit occupied the holding cells. Percy is visibly disturbed, gagging, her helmet retracting just in case she vomits from the sights.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” she curses, sweat dripping from her brow despite the cold. “We should put them out of their misery.”

“Do you really want to deal with them right now?” I ask her as her eyes watered from the scene. “Let’s just come back for them once we retrieve the GECK,” I continue, gently placing my hand on her upper back.

Percy nods, and wordlessly forges on.

As we rounded a corner, we heard a brash voice ringing through an intercom.

“It can’t be!”

Both of us turn towards the sound. Slowly, cautiously, we creeped at the source, and we saw the unthinkable.

A super mutant is locked behind a holding cell. He’s standing next to the window, looking at my partner and I in surprise. Then, he continued talking. Not the broken speech you’d expect from a mutie, but full, actual sentences.

“Either you are quite real, or I’m going quite mad. Could you actually be a pure human?” the super mutant asks, gawking at Percy. Just to be safe, I remain at her side, still gauging if he can be trusted. “And this… is he another of the experiments, like me?” he continues, addressing my presence.

“Yes, I’m human. He is a ghoul. He’s like that because of the radiation and not an experiment, I’m afraid,” Percy replies, stepping closer to the glass to stare at him back, craning her neck to get a better view of him. What’s left of his jumpsuit are in tatters, and he loomed over the window, as big as the uglies who were dumber than him, if not even bigger. Even I had to crane my own neck upwards. This guy dwarfed me.

Damn, is this what Percy feels like when she’s with me?

“But what are you?” Percy asks.

“Me? You care who I am?” he asks, and I can almost hear Percy’s heart break at the question. He seemed like an outcast, locked away like this. I get the feeling he’s exactly on good terms with the mutants that roam the vault.

“I’m not used to pleasantries, forgive me. I’m more used to being struck around by the others,” he responds, pressing a meaty hand against the glass. Just as I thought. Guy’s an outcast.

“My name is Fawkes. I’ve lived in this cage… all my life.”

I looked at Percy and expected the sympathetic expression on her face. One look at that face and I already damn know she’s thinking of how to help him out.

“I’m Percy Zhou,” my partner introduces herself. “This is Charon.”

“A friendly mutie. Now I’ve seen everything,” I comment, and I hear Fawkes groan.

“Must you use that vulgar term?” he laments, face twisting in disdain, or disappointment, or an approximation of either seeing how the movements of his face muscles are limited. “Indeed I was born in the F.E.V. Chambers, but super mutant I am not. I prefer the term Meta Human. Suits me better, don’t you think?”

I was taken aback. I mean, damn, this guy sounds smarter than DeLoria. Hell, he sounds smarter than me. And that’s what makes him dangerous; if the dumb ones are a menace, imagine the damage a smart one can do.

“Percy, I think we should go. He might be dangerous,” I mumble, and Fawkes moves even closer to us, a shift in his tone.

“No, please! I haven’t had a single civil conversation all my life! Don’t go,” he begs, and though his voice is grating and booming like the rest of the super mutants, you can almost hear pain behind it.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Percy reassures him, pressing a small hand against the dirty window as a gesture of camaraderie. Then, she whips her head towards me, and whispers. “Charon, he’s lonely. Don’t you think he deserves even just a polite conversation?”

Grumbling, I fold my arms and nod. Percy smiles softly, and turns to Fawkes again. “Is your name really Fawkes? Like Guy Fawkes, the man who was involved in a plot to end his people’s persecution by assassinating a king?”

Fawkes seems delighted that Percy knew that tidbit of information. “Ah! You know your history as well! Yes, the name comes from a man who was willing to fight and die for what he believed in. I found it fitting, given my current circumstances. I’ve taken it from a historical entry in the computer,” he replies, gesturing to the terminal in his cell.

As they continued their conversation, I scanned for any threats that might befall us. What’s left of my ears picked up something from their chat, and my head whips towards Percy.

“I’ll get you out,” she said.

I frowned and folded my arms. “Percy, what the hell are you doing?”

“Charon, Fawkes said that the chamber holding the GECK is highly irradiated, and he can get it for us. Don’t you think it’s a good trade? He can have his freedom, and we can get what we came here for.”

“And I’m immune to radiation too. I’ll take the GECK,” I tell her, straightening my back subconsciously out of bravado.  “We don’t know if he can be trusted. For all we know, the moment he gets out of his cell, he’ll attack us!”

“You’re not an errand boy, you’re my partner. That’s perfectly reasonable, but we’ve handled mutants before, Charon. If he gives any indication that he’s going to betray us, you’re free to empty your clip on him.”

This is starting to turn into an argument. I massaged my temples, frowning. “I’m not going to take that risk. I need to protect you.”

“What if he’s actually decent, and we just leave him here to rot and be tormented by the other mutants? You have your freedom now, Charon. Don’t you think he deserves his too?” Percy almost shouts, voice raised, and on her tiptoes.

Her words made me pause. Percy just had to go there, didn’t she? And it was effective too. I look at the big, green super mutant, or Meta Human, whatever he wanted to call himself, and a pang of guilt tugs at my gut.

Grumbling, I relent and nod.

This woman’s heart might be the death of her one day. Setting Fawkes free better be worth it.

[antiquechampagne]

Antique Champagne - CH47 - Heading Home

Payne zipped up the Vault suit before throwing her hastily packed backpack over her shoulder. Time was short and changing would have taken too long. She’d square it with Nate later if it became an issue. She hated to admit it, but it was easier to strap armor over a Vault suit than a pair of jeans.

“Ready?” she asked, her sidearm already in her hand.

“Just gotta grab my shotgun.” Hancock picked it up off the nightstand, resting it casually on his shoulder. “Not exactly the way I thought the night would end, though.”

“Guess we’re going to have to have a rain check, then.” Payne replied.

They met the rest by the elevator, except for Strong. He took the lift and waited for them on the ground floor, his bulk a bit too much to fit with everyone sandwiched inside.

“We’re going to play this as quietly as we can,” Nate explained. “There are probably a couple dozen psychopaths right around the corner, ready to carve up anyone they catch into pieces. Once we get you past them, it’ll be easier to reach the Transit Center with the protection of the Operators and Pack close by.”

The park was eerily quiet as they stepped out of the Fizztop lobby, punctuated by distant bursts of gunfire. The group skulked slowly over the cracked concrete, watching each other’s backs. They made it halfway past the small courtyard when Nate’s head snapped up.

“INCOMING!” he shouted.

Everyone scrambled for cover as a frag grenade arched towards them, exploding as it hit the ground. The blast still ringing in her skull, Payne frantically scanned the area around the small smoking crater, somewhat safe behind a couple of garbage cans. She could not see anyone.

“Shit,” she cursed to herself, ignoring the several small cuts on her face.

“Strong mad!” The agitated super mutant was a few steps away from her, his huge frame barely covered by an upturned deli cart. He clutched his super sledge, ready to spring on anything that moved.

“John?!” Payne cried, her ears ringing.

A shotgun blast answered her question. Hancock was a few yards away across the courtyard, aiming at something roughly behind where her and Strong were huddled. Nate and Gage ducking behind some concrete barriers close by. Unfortunately for Payne, her end of the courtyard had less debris… and it was much closer to the huge metal doors marking the entrance to the Disciples den. Even though several more raiders fell to Nate and Gage’s careful aim, she still felt vulnerable and exposed.

A metal clad head suddenly appeared above the cart Strong crouched behind. The raider, blade ready in one hand, grenade in the other, had his attention zeroed in on the Overboss and nothing else. Before getting a chance to use either weapon, Strong stood up, swiftly planting his sledge squarely between the raider’s eyes. His head splattered like a grape wrapped in aluminum foil. Unfortunately, that also meant he lost his grip on his explosive.

The only place to retreat to was closer to the lion’s den, but with no time to consider anything else, Payne ran towards the doors. She wasn’t even sure if Strong had tried to run, the force of the blast ended up throwing him like a ragdoll, straight into her. He slammed into her, sandwiching her body between his and cold metal of the tower. Standing up and stepping away from the wall, he released Payne from her temporary green fleshy prison. It appeared that, though battered and bleeding, he was still up to fight.

“Payne!” John shouted.

Payne motioned that she was okay, but it did little to change the look of dread on his face. At least she was able to hear him this time. She was much closer to the doors than she would have liked, nearly on top of them. All a raider had to do was to poke their head out to and look to the side to see a couple of extremely easy targets. Running across the open courtyard back to their friends wasn’t a promising tactic either, leaving them wide open to a hail of bullets that would quickly cut them down. The only thing to do was to go on the offensive… and Payne only knew one way that had any prayer of being successful. She slipped her backpack off, thumped Strong’s tree trunk of an arm and told him her plan.

Hancock could only watch in horror as his stomach dropped. He was sure the second explosion must have reduced Payne to a fine red mist. His delight in seeing her emerge from behind Strong quickly turned to confusion when, after pulling the super mutant aside, Hancock watched his green shoulders shrug…

Hancock gulped. “What is she doing?” Payne caught his glance before quickly turning away, her face a mix of tension and apology. Hancock’s uncertainty turned to panic.

“PAYNE!” Standing up, he tried to set off, to reach her before she did something stupid, but he was violently pulled back down.

“Where the fuck do you think you are going?” Nate hissed glancing frantically around to see if any Disciples were ready to take an easy head shot.

Before Hancock could answer, the large door started to open, several gun barrels poking out. Hancock watched helplessly as Payne bit into Strong’s outstretched arm. The raiders might have been ready for a siege, but they were not ready for a super mutant stepping up to pull the door open… wide enough for a wild-eyed Payne to slip inside.

“NO!” Hancock screamed. This time he was faster than Nate’s grip to hold him back. He ran so fast that by the time he reached Strong, he had white sparks twirling at the edge of his vision. Quickly catching his breath, the cries from inside reached his ears. He barely noticed Nate and Gage pounding the pavement behind him.

Strong stood quietly, steadfastly holding the doors shut but even with his impressive strength, he was starting to struggle. Hancock quickly joined him.

“Strong promised.” He looked down at the ghoul. “Strong hold door shut.”

Hancock nodded, his stomach souring. “Got it, big guy.”

Nate and Gage stood too shocked to argue. They could hear rounds of gunfire and horrific screams coming from inside. Blood began seeping underneath the door. It was only when the pounding on the metal doors started to leave noticeable dents did they realize a sizable mob was trying desperately to escape their metal prison. The four of them managed to keep the door shut, only relaxing when they could hear nothing but silence from the other side. One by one, they stepped away.

Strong seemed unconcerned, but Nate and Gage glared at Hancock. They waited for some kind of an explanation.

“You gunna let us in on what just happened here?” Gage demanded.

“Uh,” Hancock cleared this throat, trying to formulate a plan. “I think I should go in first. Check around and make sure it’s safe. I’ll let you know when it’s okay to come in.”

“Safe?” Gage bawled. “Safe from what?”

The question was met by silence. Hancock just turned and opened the door, steeling himself. Stepping through put every nerve he had on edge. He made sure to close the door behind him.

The concrete floor was slick with blood and peppered with chunks of torn flesh, pieces bodies were strewn about everywhere. He strained his ears as he picked his way carefully though the gore, trying to figure out where Payne might be. Was she hunting him? His confidence in his ability to calm her down waned with each step. He had never seen her with that much mutant blood in her system. How many people had been waiting in here to ambush them?

He readied his shotgun.

As he neared the base of some giant concrete structure, a head landed with a meaty thud next to him. Looking up, he had a good idea where to head next. The industrial sized ramp that lead to the top felt like a water side, his boots slipping in the mess.

“Payne?” He called. He wasn’t really sure he wanted her to answer. “It’s me. I’m coming up.” As he reached the top, shadows danced erratically from the handful of burning barrels the raiders had used for both light and cooking. He could just see a moving form over the back of a couch opposite him. As he inched closer, he could barely make out the golden 111 under the thick coating of red.

“Hey… Payne?” he asked again, this time barely a whisper, afraid of startling her. She instantly faced him, her whole being focused, zeroed in on him. His eyes didn’t even register her movement, but… at least she wasn’t moving towards him. Good, he thought. He lowered his weapon, slightly.

“You, uh, done with that late-night snack?” She did not move a muscle, her eyes as crimson as the blood that dripped from her face. Small talk might not be the way to go, but Hancock had very little else to work with. “Nate is waiting for us outside. We have to get going, remember?” He wasn’t sure he was getting through to her.

He was sure he didn’t want to hear what he heard next; his name being shouted out from below. Nate hadn’t listen to him. Payne cocked her head.

“Payne, come on now, look at me…” He stepped into her line of sight and she refocused on him. “Not a good time, boy scout!” he called over his shoulder. He had to think fast. He had to keep Payne distracted, to bring her back to herself without hurting anyone else. If anyone else poked their head up here now, they were as sure as dead.

He took a step forward, closing the distance. He had a better view of the mutilated corpse she crouched over, its fluids seeping into the sodden couch. Payne glanced past him, detecting something he could not.

“Hey, Payne, we don’t have much time here.” He wasn’t keeping her attention anymore. That was bad.

Instinctively, Hancock reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. He hoped his touch would help ground her in some way. In the very least, she should focus on him, give Nate and the others some more time. Payne turned, looked at him and uttered a guttural hiss.

Well, at least that’s something, Hancock thought to himself. She hasn’t ripped my hand off yet.

“Listen to me, I know you’re having fun, but I need to get you to come down a bit.” He flinched. It sounded like someone kicked something large and metal below. He wasn’t sure if what he was trying was working. Slowly, he slipped a Med-X syringe out of his coat pocket, insurance in case things went south fast. “Please, Payne, show me some sign you can hear me. I can’t have you hurting our friends.”

That seemed to get the cogs turning. The corners of her eyes wrinkled. Slowly, her glare turned into more of a lost stare.

“That’s it… come back to me, Payne. I know you can do it.”

The clouds muddying her eyes started to clear, though it was painfully slow. Her shoulders slumped slightly. She still could not manage words, but she began to look around, attempting to gain her bearing, confused.

“It’s going to be okay. Just come with me. Let’s get you outside. Away from all this.”

Hancock wasn’t sure if she recognized him or not, but she trusted him enough to let him guide her off the couch. Together, they sluggishly made their wait down the sticky ramp, Hancock coaching her every few steps. He was confident her bloodlust was fading, but with each inch they gained, her strength faded. Halfway down Payne began to lean heavily on Hancock’s and the handrail to keep upright. She staggered like a lost drunk after an all night bender.

He let out a sigh of relief when she finally looked up at him, barely managing to utter his name. She was confused and weak, but she was back on solid ground.

“Welcome back,” he whispered, his arms wrapped around her shoulders, steading her.

Catching sigh of the pair, Nate and Gage ran up to meet them.

“What the hell happened in here? Is Payne alright?” Nate demanded.

Payne’s legs began to give. Hancock did the best he could to keep her on her feet, but he nearly fell over with her.

“She’s fine, she just needs some air.” Hancock brushed Nate off and ignored Gage’s unconvinced grunt. He was thankful that they let him wrangle Payne outside before she collapsed, letting him set her down on a bench by the reflecting pool before they began asking more questions. Neither moved to help him carry her the rest of the way, though.

Gage spoke first. “Once again, the Boss asked you a question. What when down in here?”

“It looks to me that Payne went in and saved you guys a lot of fuss, to be honest.” Hancock answered, wiping his hands on his edge of his coat.

“How?” Nate stated. It was more of a challenge than question. “There is no way a single person by themselves is taking out dozens of heavily armed raiders like that.”

Hancock didn’t answer.

“How.” He demanded again.

Hancock slowly tugged on the brim of his hat. “It’s not my place to tell.” Before either of the other men could get a word in, Hancock cut them off. “I’m not saying any more. Payne killed everything breathing in there, saving you a pile of ammo and manpower. When she wakes up, you should thank her.”

“I don’t care how many chems you shoot up, ain’t no chem in existence that can make a single man do that!” Gage fumed. “What the fuck?”

Nate rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Strong said she took a bite out of him before flying off. Why?”

Hancock quipped back. “Did she ask nicely first?”

That threw Nate off a bit. He paused and looked at Strong. He nodded. “I guess yes, then...”

“Then whatever went on between the two of them was consensual. Didn’t your momma ever tell you you shouldn’t pry.”

Nate bristled. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, John. That’s not what this is about, and you know it!”

“Sorry, brother, but that’s all I’m saying. I’m not spilling anyone else’s secrets.”

Hancock dug a frayed handkerchief out from a pocket. “If you don’t mind, Payne could use someone to look after her. She’s had a rough night.” He left them grumbling and shaking their heads. Returning to her side, he gently started to clean the grime off Payne’s face before picking various chunks out of her hair. He could hear the men feverishly discussing them behind his back.

After a few minutes, Nate walked over.

“As soon as she can move, I want you both out of the park. It’s not safe here.” Hancock didn’t look up. “I’ll send a few guys over to make sure no wandering Disciples bother you. We,” he motioned to himself, Gage and Strong. “Can’t stay here. I need to make sure the rest of the park is secure.” He paused. The tone of his voice tempered just a tad. “It’s for everyone’s safety. I hope you understand.”

“Okey-doke, Boss.” Hancock tried not to sound flippant. He was pretty sure he failed.

It took Payne a few hours before she could hold a coherent conversation. After filling her in about the blanks in her recollection, Hancock convinced her to wash off in the pool before changing into her own dry clothes. After that, they limped to the monorail, a trio of pinstripe clad raiders nervously following them.

The trek back to Goodneighbor was arduously slow. Payne needed multiple breaks along the way to rest, her body drained of nearly all its energy. They ended up making camp downtown the next night in the lobby of an abandoned hotel, Hancock barricading the doors against any unwanted surprises.

As they silently ate what few things they had scavenged, Payne gloomily staring into the small fire.

“I didn’t even get a chance to apologize to Nate,” she eventually sighed, obviously disappointed in herself.

Hancock did his best to console her. “He’ll realize you did him a favor and get over it. Trust me. Plus, you’ll feel better once we get home.”

She looked up at him with her sad brown eyes. “I hope you’re right.”

“’Course I’m right. Now let’s get some rest.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She melted into his side, hugging him tightly back.

“Sorry. I put you in an impossible position, but it was the only thing I could think of… we were sitting ducks. There were so many of them…”

“Hey, stop that. The bad guys died, and the good ones didn’t. That’s the best anyone could have hoped for.”

She swallowed hard. She seemed on the edge of tears. “Thanks, John. I owe you one.”

“I’ll hold you too that.” He kissed her forehead before they both settled down for the night.

[danseinthefallout]

the art of danse - one

a paladin danse fanfiction

story warning; this story contains strong language, adult themes (such as violence, smut/NSFW themes, drug use, and other harsh themes) and canon and un canon language and story plots of Fallout 4 and Fallout 3.

summary; yea, the bombs may have fallen, but art and love have not. and of course, people still tell white lies

~~

word count; 3,6k

chapter one - idiots

Stella wondered how she stumbled in a police station, fighting feral ghouls with a man who battle cried. One minute she was looking for her friends, Lucas and Joanna and the next was involved in military business. She knew that they needed help, even one man in power armor couldn’t take all those ferals at once. She saw one of his men down, lazily shooting at them as a woman was tending to him. She was hoping to ask if they have seen her idiot friends and she would be on her way back to Endcliff in hopes they would be there. 

Stella was caught off guard by looking at the women tending to the man as he gave up as a feral flung at her, knocking her to the ground. This has happened more times then she’d like to admit. She reached for her gun as she used the back of it to bash in the skull of the feral ghoul. “Filthy fucker!” She yelled as she jumped back up and shot the feral in the head, just to make sure. The man in the power armor was fighting three more ferals, the number of them decreases. He seemed to have a hard time as one of them attacked his arm. Stella was a master at headshots and with three bullets and a steady eye killed each and every one of them. Stella looked down the street to see if any more were coming, but it was clear, thankfully. 

Stella was unsure if she should stay around, after all, she could tell this was the Brotherhood of Steel territory. She only knew that from the orange outfits and the symbols that were around the police station. A while ago she bumped into a wounding scribe by the name of Danny. The man in the power armor came up to Stella as she held her gun close to her chest. Stella looked at the man’s face and couldn’t help notice how handsome he was. Her face grew red but hoped he didn’t notice due to the blood that was splattered on her skin. “We appreciate the assistance, civilian. But what’s your business here?” The man asked, his voice deep and more calming then his battle cry. Stella raised an eyebrow, remembering the idiots she called family. She let out a smirk, hoping that they didn’t get kidnapped by raiders… again.

“Looking for two idiots. Who are you?” Stella asked nodding her head at the man. Stella put her gun back in her hoser as she crossed her arms. 

“I’m Paladin Danse, Brotherhood of Steel. If I appear suspicious, it’s because our mission here has been difficult. Since the moment we arrived in the Commonwealth, we’ve been constantly under fire. If you want to continue pitching in, we could use an extra gun on our side,” The paladin spoke. Stella could use this to her advantage.

“Will do, but I need your help in return,” Stella spoke. “You know those idiots I referred too? Their the closest thing to family I got. It’s like them to trail off and get kidnapped by raiders or hideout for 2 days surrounded by feral ghouls. This time they promised me they would stay close and well, no one other than me is here. We’re from Endcliff, so making our way to the middle of the Commonwealth is a mission. Luckily, I got a signal from one of my teammates and it led me to Cambridge. Any help would mean a lot before I make way back home to see them there or not,” Stella sighed, frustrated at Lucas and Joanna. She hated traveling back home alone.

“Over there is Scribe Haylen and Knight Rhys, Haylen will help decode the signal for you and track down where your team is, but we need your help,” The paladin spoke as Stella put a hand on her hip, listing.

“What do you need me to help with?” Stella asked

“We’re on recon duty, but I’m down a man and our supplies are running low. I’ve been trying to send a distress call to my superiors, but the signal’s too weak to reach them,” Stella could see the worry in the paladin’s eyes and couldn’t help but feel bad for him and his team. The women that were tending to the man, now known as Scribe Halen turned to Stella and Danse, butting in.

“Sir, if I may?” Haylen began.

“Proceed Haylen,” Danse instructed, Stella, raised her brow.

“I’ve modified the radio tower on the roof of the police station, but I’m afraid it’s not enough. What we need is something that will boost the signal,” Haylen informed Paladin Danse and Stella.

“We need a deep range transmitter, our target is ArcJet Systems. We secure the area, get the transmitter and bring it back here. Will you be willing to help us get it?” Danse asked.

“I said yes, didn’t I? Let’s get you a new transmitter,” Stella smiled.

“Sounds like a plan, stay behind me,” 

***

Fucking synths! Stella had to fight first-gen synths just to get that stupid transmitter. Almost died twice, but with a little will, she got that transmitter. Haylen was decoding the signal she got on her Pip-Boy to see where Lucas and Joanna where. Danse and Stella were making their way back to the police station, Danse was explaining some stuff on their way there and back, but Stella kind of blacked out on the conversation, really focusing on her friends. She did look at him a lot, she hasn’t found a man that good looking in a while. Stella noticed how he spoke and how serious he was. She’d hope that she could travel with him again, but she knew after this, she has to find her friends and go back to Endcliff.

As they walked down the road back to the station, Paladin Danse broke the silence and looked at the women who held her gun tightly. “You mentioned you’re from Endcliff, why are you way out here?” Danse asked, breaking his serious military character. Stella thought for a moment and looked up at the man in armor.

“We’re on a supply run as well as a manhunt. A raider gang came though Endcliff a few weeks ago, stole some important technology from us, killed 3 of our people, and injured 6. That never happened to us before. Luckily, me and my friend Luna killed them, but their leader left with the tech piece we need most. We’re hoping to find that bastard and get that back,” Stella was vague on the subject but specific enough because she felt like she could trust Danse.

“I’m sorry to hear that citizen. I hope you track down and kill that scum,” Danse said with compassion.

“Name is Stella Kennedy by the way. I was a vault dweller for most of my childhood. Vault 101. I was 12 when I escape after a kid left to find their father. I guess I kinda wander off, found some friends at Little Lamplight and spent a year there. Became friends with Mayor… fuck was it MacKenny? Cready? Anyways...” Stella trailed off. “Shit… that must have been 10 years since that bullshit happened,” Stella smirked to herself.

“Vault 101 and Little Lamplight was in the Capital Wasteland, right?” Danse asked with suspicion.

“Yes, sir. I spent most of my days wandering around until I was 15 I made my way to the Commonwealth where I meet Lucas and Joanna,” Stella smiled. 

“I grew up in the Capital Wasteland as well,” Danse smiled but also remembering everything that happened. 

“No shit soldier, where from?” Stella asked

“Rivet City,” Danse simply respond

“I’ve only been there a few times, I bought some junk there to build my first gun and only went there to get supplies when I was leaving for the Commonwealth,” 

 Danse could see the police station getting closer and closer. The two went inside as Stella gave the transmitter to Danse. Haylen walked over at the two.

“The signal is coming from Lexington, from the Super Duper Mart there. Hopefully whoever you’re looking for is there,” Haylen smiled.

“Thank you so much. Since I help you and you helped me, I think I won’t bother you and your team. Perhaps we’ll meet again,” Stella smiled.

“Wait, before you go, I have something for you,” Danse said

“No need to give me anything,” Stella said softly. Danse rolled his eyes and handed her a laser rifle. It was beautiful, to say the least.

“No need, as a soldier we always pay our debts. I modded it myself, it’s called Righoues Authority,” Danse smiled as Stella smiled back, her heart grew.

“Thank you Paladin Danse. I’ll return the favor, I promise. Say, if you’re ever near Endcliff, you should visit sometime. Benji will question you, but tell him I sent you. Where can I find you and your team after this?” Stella asked, taking the gun from Danse.

“Rhys and Haylen will stay put, I’ll be going back to the Prydwen. If you ever need me, come back here and we’ll get a vertibird to fly you there,” Danse said “If you ever want to become a soldier yourself, we’ll talk and I’ll be your sponsor,”

“Thank you for the offer, but I don’t think I’m soldier material. However, you’ll probably see me again,” Stella declined the offer.

“Ad victoriam,” Paladin Danse spoke. Stella knew what all that meet when she spent some time with Danny, smile smiled

“She doesn’t know what that means, why waste your breath,” Rhys scoffed

“To victory. Ad victoriam, to you Paladin. Thank you for everything,” And there Stella made her way to Lexington, with her head filled with Paladin Danse

***

Lexington was always a raider shit hole. It was sad that only raiders, ferals and even super mutants littered the place. Stella knew the ends and outs of the place, but always had to tiptoe just incase a landmine was placed and every raider and their dead mothers could hear it.

She scouted out the Super Duper Mart and saw some roaming ferals liter the place, but from the looks of it, most were dead. Probably from Joanna and Lucas. She could hear yelling from a raider in the back of the store. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m going to kill you both and keep it. Then I’ll find your friend who killed my gang.” Stella’s jaw dropped. It was him. She felt her heart beating out of her chest as she crouched down. 

Although she didn’t know the three people that his gang killed all that well, she knew that justice had to survive for their families. She turned on the dim lights on her Pip-Boy as she made her way across the market, being careful to not make any noise. Last time she was here, ferals littered the store. 

She saw the greasy raider towering Joanna. Only Joanna. She was tied up in a chair. It made Stella sick to her stomach. But she started to wonder where Lucas was and her mind started to race. 

Stella made a plan, point, and shoot. She aimed her rifle at the raiders’ head, making a perfect headshot. When she pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Fuck! She thought she brought enough bullets for this mission, but she used the rest of her bullets on synths and ghouls. Ha, funny…

Stella saw as the raider integrated Joanna, but she couldn’t just walk in there, discuss the weather. She knew these sacks of shits, they’ll just kill Joanna and then her. Stella somehow forgot the gift the Paladin gave her and reached for it. She never actually used a laser rife before, so she was kind of excited to kill that scum bag with it. She put her rifle over her shoulder, took out the rifle and aimed. “Hey fuck face!” She screamed as the raider turned around and struggled to get his gun before Stella pulled the trigger a few times and blowing his leg off. Holy fuck, that Paladin is a killing machine if he made this.

The raider screamed in pain unable to do anything. “You fucking bitch!” He screamed, trying to crawl to Stella who rushed over to Joanna and untied the rope. Joanna went to a steamer trunk to retrieve her gun that Stella gave her on Christmas years ago and the piece that the raider stole from Endcliff

“Should we let him out of his misery?” Joanna asked as they fleed to the front door. Stella laughed, hearing the pain that the raider was in, desperate to escape.

“Never, he needs to feel pain for the people he killed,” Stella said as the left the market. “What happened to Lucas?” Stella asked with worry. Joanna held her gun.

“He went out looking for help, I think we went to that police station to ask for help, some Brotherhood of Steel members are held up there, heard it on my tracker when I made that distress call, hoping someone would help,” Joanna explained.

“Perfect, I was just there. Helped this really cute Paladin and his team was stranded. They said we can come back whenever I hope that’s true,” Stella doubted.

“Okay, you lead the way before ferals attack,” Joanna nodded. “Hey what’s up with you and the Brotherhood of Steel? Didn’t you hook up with a scribe back in the Capital Wasteland?” Joanna laughed making Stella blush.

“I was 15, he was 17, we dated, then we fucked, it just so happened that I was held up with some Brotherhood soldiers and he was one of them. We went over this!” Stella said, clearly embarrassed.

“What about Scribe Danny?” Joanna teased.

“We’re just friends,” Stella stated.

“That’s not what my eyes would tell me,” Joanna laughed as the walked down the broken road to the police station. Stella shoved Joanna, annoyed, but a small smirk formed her lips. “I’m so happy you figured out my signal. I was so scared and I never really felt that fear before. All I could think about when he was yelling at me was you and Lucas. I had hope, of course, but I started to expect my death. I only felt that way once before and that one time was the accident. I learned to accept my new life as a ghoul fast, that was before of you guys… I just couldn’t imagine a life without you two… or your life without me. Shit, sorry if that was deep,” Joanna laughed as Stella gave her a side hug.

“I’d get you if you ended up in the Institute or the Capital Wasteland. You’re my family, just like Lucas is,” Stella stated with full truth to her statement.

“I love you, Stella,” Joanna smiled as she stopped in her tracks, giving Stella the biggest hug.

“I love you more, Joanna. Thank you for everything these past seven years,” Stella let go and looked at Joanna, grabbing her shoulders. “Just remember you’re still Joanna. You’re not just a ghoul or a freak like those assholes in the Brotherhood think or the folks in Diamond City,” Stella preached as Joanna smiled and rolled her eyes. Joanna pushed her arms away and did the same thing to Stella.

“And goes to you, you’re more than a prototype, you’re the best goddamn gun modder in all the Commonwealth and you let me fuck up your hair when I can’t with mine,” Joanna laughed as she pulled on one of Stella’s dyed braids.

“Hey, I really like the split color look,” Stella shook her hair a little. “Also, don’t let the Brotherhood know I’m… whatever the fuck I am and I’ll tell them to suck my dick if they give you a hard time,” Stella smiled.

“If you think it’s a good idea…” Joanna sarcastically commented. “But I’ll probably just wear my gas mask when we get there,”

Approaching the police station, the two girls casually made way towards the door. Joanna put on a gas mask that she looted off a raider, she knew she couldn’t walk in and have the soldier happy to see her. That did hurt Stella to her core. She hated the new Brotherhood to be quite frank. The Brotherhood was never like that years ago. One of the soldiers gave her a weird look, not expecting to see the mysteries girl so soon.

“Is Paladin Danse still here?” She asked one of the Knights.

“Yes, civilian, you may enter,” The Knight stated. Stella entered the police station to see Scribe Haylen working on the transmitter and Knight Rhys planning something out on the table. Stella went up to Haylen and cleared her throat. Haylan looked up and smiled.

“Hey, Stella! You’re back sooner then I expected! And I’m assuming this is…” Haylen paused thinking of Joanna’s name

“Haylen this is Joanna and Joanna this is Haylen… I have a question,” Stella got to the point and leaned in.

“What would that be?” Haylen smiled.

“Has a dude by the name of Lucas, about yay high, blonde hair. Joanna told me that he was coming here for help,” Haylen put down her stuff and stood up straight.

“Yes, Paladin Danse went with him to look. I’ll call him telling them to abort their mission and come back to the police station. The two just left,” Haylen spoke as she went to the radio next to her. “Paladin Danse, come in Paladin Danse, head back to the police station, Joanna and Stella are here for Lucas, come in Paladin Danse,” Haylen spoke, hoping that he’d come in the other side. She waited a few seconds before a signal started to come in.

“This is Paladin Danse, aborting mission now,” 

“Now we just wait,” Haylen smiled.

“Thank you so much Haylen seriously. I wouldn’t know where to look for Joanna if it wasn’t for you,” Stella smiled.

“Why does your friend wear a gas mask?” Rhys burst out, causing everyone’s head to turn to him.

“Rhys, you can’t just ask why someone wears something?” Haylen said, annoyed.

“Yea I can… So, why is that? Is there something you’re hiding?” Rhys smirked. Stella rolled her eyes and although you couldn’t see it, so was Joanna

“Hey asshole, why do you care?” Joanna blurted out. That caused Rhys to stand up, pissed off.

“You’re speaking to a Brotherhood Knight, civilian. I subject you don’t speak to me like that, or there will be a problem; so I’ll as you again, what are you hiding… freak?” Rhys said slowly as he approached Joanna until he was close to her face. Stella felt herself tense up because she knew how Joanna can get when some asshole threatens her. Stella grabbed Joanna’s shoulders.

“How about we just wait for Danse and Lucas to get here, please,” Stella stated.

“Please, Rhys can you just let this go. Danse will have your head if he sees you acting like this. I’m so sorry you two,” Haylen pleed.

“Fine, but I will figure it out, I always do,” Rhys said as he walked away.

“He’s such an ass! I’m so sorry,” Haylen was so embarrassed, her face was red like a tato. 

“It’s fine, I’m use to that. I’m kinda burned up, don’t like showing my face a lot,” Joanna half lied.

“No need to explain. I don’t mind… Danse should be here any minute now,” Haylen stated as she started to finish up fixing the transmitter.

“Hey, thanks again, we’ll be outside and we’ll fight any more ferals that come this way,” Stella stated as she grabbed Joanna’s hand and went out the door. She didn’t want any gunfire especially when Joanna is on edge.

Stella turned to Joanna. “What the fuck was that Anna? I mean what the fuck for both of you… Please try not to get yourself killed AGAIN. We’re almost done, we got the piece and we just need Lucas and then we’re home free. Please… and also don’t say shit to this Paladin, at least don’t call him an asshole, he could be useful,” Stella begged as she hugged her rifle to her chest, looking up and down the road to check for ferals, the Paladin or the idiot she called Lucas.

“You just don’t want me to blow your chances to blow the Paladin. I bet he’s not that hot,” Joanna laughed.

“Ah! Shut up! I don’t have a thing for soldiers in the Brotherhood. It was a two-time thing, stop teasing me,” Stella was clearly annoyed, but Joanna loved it. Stella rolled her eyes as she looked down the street to see the Paladin in his power armor and Lucas. “Lucas!” Stella shouted as Joanna saw him and perked up. The two girls ran to Lucas and gave him the biggest hug as if they haven’t seen each other in ages. 

“What the actual fuck dude! I almost shit myself thinking you died,” Joanna shouted as she let go and looked at the Paladin. Stella was right. He was as sexy as fuck. “And this must be your knight and shining armor ready to take you away and fuck you, aye,” Joanna laughed.

“That is not appropriate, civilian,” Danse said with the most seriousness. Stella slapped her face.

“I’m so sorry Paladin. Thank you for everything. I will repay you… and before Joanna says anything, nothing sexual,” Stella said as she looked at Joanna who was doing that thing with her hands to indicate a penis and a vagina. You know that hand signal. Stella flipped her off. “Anyways, we should head back to Endcliff before people get a search team for us. Make sure to visit if you’re ever in the area. Goodbye,”  Stella smiled.

“Anytime, soldier. You have a character full of friends. I’ll make sure to use that opportunity,” Paladin Danse cracked a smile. “Ad victorim, Stella”

“Ad victorim, Paladin,”

Authors Note; I’ve been really into writing this story and I have already written 2 more chapters that I’ll post sooner than later! Thank you for reading and I will try to quench all of your Danse thrist and needs.

[bigskydreaming]

LOL, quick jaunt over to Marvel land, to engage in a rant about one of my very specific Bobby Drake pet peeves, but good God, this one has been around forever.

I don’t expect comic book writers to have a master’s degree in physics or whatever, but I mean, I’m a college drop out myself, and it doesn’t take a PhD to remember that cold is not an energy.

Its the absence of an energy. It results from thermal energy leaving an area. You don’t produce cold. You take away heat.

Ergo, mutant powers and high tech armor that absorb energy as a defense should not be in any way, shape or form protected against Bobby’s powers - if anything, he should be the ultimate defense and offense against them.

Because he doesn’t ‘shoot ice beams,’ he doesn’t project cold energy that they can then absorb and like, suck up the energy that his powers produce...his powers are moving energy in the opposite direction! He’s the ultimate absorption power/tech! Any time there are Sentinels that are adapted to absorb energy attacks, or there are villains with that powerset, or with energy-draining tech....none of that should in any way be able to stop him from simply using his powers to drain the heat energy from the area, plummeting the temperature until it’s all entombed in ice from whatever ambient moisture’s in the area he freezes. Or if there isn’t enough moisture, simply dropping temperatures until the machinery or armor is brittle enough to crack or shatter.

Like, this is basic stuff. What’s the point in making a big deal about the omega level powers of a guy that’s been around for sixty years, if in all that time barely anyone who writes him can bother to learn the most fundamental things about how hot and cold work? 

No, fire should not be the Iceman’s ultimate weakness, lmao, because the Iceman doesn’t need actual water or ice to put out a fire, he can simply just move the thermokinetic energy around until the fire being fired at him goes bye-bye, because he took all the thermal energy away. 

Also, he’s quite definitively done this before. Mike Carey at least tried doing some new things with his powers, and showed how Bobby could basically turn off the powers of mutants with fire powers or even just powers that relied on chemical reactions igniting...because his command of thermodynamic forces, or at least his outright neutralization of them, meant he could keep Sunfire from generating the plasma he bases his name on. 

Like, Bobby was just like lol no, and kept the dude who projects thermal energy at the same temperatures as the sun from using his powers at all by simply going..."yeah but what if I just don’t let it get any hotter no matter how much plasma you try and generate? Whatcha gonna do then, Shiro?” And it turned out, what Shiro did then was nada, because all the literal firepower in the world doesn’t mean squat when a guy who violates the laws of thermodynamics for goofs sits on all the thermal energy in the vicinity and goes “nah, nobody’s getting up until I say so.”

Similarly, no, being in a desert or some location with very little ambient moisture in the air shouldn’t in any way be a hindrance to Bobby, limit his powers or make him weaker, because he doesn’t just make ice, and never has...its simply the most common and efficient usage and combination of his dual powerset....which is thermokinesis and hydrokinesis. 

I know he’s hardly ever referenced as having the latter, and its not like he’s ever been shown moving water itself around like a waterbender or Hydro-Man, but its a necessary part of his powerset to do the things he does. He forms ice in highly specific shapes, and the only way he can do that is if he’s not only dropping the temperature and freezing things (thermokinesis). He has to be at the same time moving water molecules into the specific arrangements and patterns needed in order for his freezing of those water molecules to result in the specific ice configurations and shapes he makes all the time. 

There’s absolutely no way his power could ever work the way its always shown to if he doesn’t have the ability to mentally manipulate the placement of water molecules, even if he’s not consciously directing them into the shapes he’s picturing in his mind when he makes ice shapes. 

Point being, just because he usually uses his powers in the specific combination that results in him freezing water, specifically, and forming ice, specifically...doesn’t mean he’s ever been limited to that. His thermokinesis works perfectly well without him directing it at water molecules in specific, and this too has been long established. 

Its not like water is the only thing that freezes. Everything freezes if you get things cold enough. Bobby’s the walking equivalent of liquid nitrogen, even though he’s hardly ever used that way (ironically, it was Claremont who first showed him using his powers this way, which is funny to me because Claremont famously hates his character and usually nerfs him every opportunity he gets, like, purely out of annoyance that he exists, lol). 

But I mean, he quite literally can make even the strongest metals shatter without even touching them, by just flash-freezing his environs and letting everything go kabloo-ey under its own weight, once the rapid reduction of thermodynamic reactions makes even metal’s structural integrity go ruh-roh and then like....just collapse.

Even without taking things in that direction, the whole ‘put Bobby in a desert and he’s useless against the bad guys’ trope has always been dumb purely because of the fact that the human body is largely made up of water. As long as there’s anyone around him, it doesn’t matter how much or how little ambient moisture is in the air...he can just as easily focus his powers on just the moisture in peoples’ bodies. And it doesn’t have to be big or flashy or dramatic either, he doesn’t have to rip the moisture out of them and use it to make ice like he did in that one arc with the demons that we pretend didn’t happen because Chuck Austen was a mistake....like....all someone with Bobby’s powerset has to do when faced with living human beings and not a lot of surplus moisture in the air is just...drop the temperature of the bodies around him, nudge them towards hypothermic conditions. 

*Shrugs* Things get cold enough, the blood flow in a human body starts to slow down, eventually they pass out. If you can control how quickly the temperature drops and how much that temperature change is focused most specifically on the parts of the body most dependent on moisture and biochemical reactions that require thermal energy to catalyze or function, you can make that happen very quickly. 

Hell, they write Magneto using his powers to control the iron in peoples’ blood, slow the flow of blood to their brains and knock them out that way. Its really the same basic principle with Bobby’s powers, just asserting a little pressure on the moisture in peoples’ blood to produce the same effect. If anything, it should be easier for Bobby not because of different power levels, now that they’re both confirmed as omega level, but rather simply because there’s more water in the human body than there is iron. Everything Erik can do directly to human attackers, Bobby should be able to do even more easily, purely because he has more to work with directly. 

LOL sorry, but this is where my critical-ness manifests most with Bobby’s writing. Scott, Dick, Kyle, I have actual Issues with how they’re written and received....Bobby, other than how various writers handle his sexuality or don’t, as the case may be....my ire is really ultimately just Nerd Ire. Because it makes me cranky that you give a guy one of the single most versatile powersets in superhero comics, make a point to establish that this dude’s powers are amped all the way up to the literal highest degree possible in comics, with virtually no limitations on the ways he can use them or the scope he can apply them to......

And then you do practically nothing with them, beyond the same handful of basic tricks that he’s been doing for decades, like that’s the sum total of his abilities or the only possible applications, when that’s really barely even the tip of the iceberg, yes pun intended. I admitted I was a Nerd, get with the program.

I honestly don’t give a shit about him being The Most Powerfulest Ever, especially since it results in him being sidelined more than he’s used, just because writers don’t want to deal with why Bobby can’t just....snap his fingers and start the next Ice Age and be like all done here, let’s go home. But it is Irksome when you tantalize me with the possibilities inherent in a superpower and then continue to use that power in the most dull way imaginable instead of just going nuts with it, because I am at the end of the day, above all other things a Superpower Nerd and like. Superpowers are so fucking cool, why must writers insist on not using them in cool and unique and interesting ways, and instead just being all....and then the one character shot a laser at the other and a third character punched everyone else super hard with their superstrength and that’s it, that’s the end. Until next time, intrepid adventurers!

Sigh. Its just so booooooring. And like, death by a thousand papercuts, lol, every time a writer clearly thinks they’re on to something when they come up with a ‘workaround’ to essentially neutralize Bobby in a fight or sideline him, so that his omega-ness or whatever doesn’t make everyone else’s present irrelevant before he solos the situation. And I get that, but this is not the solution they’re looking for, and hasn’t been the last hundred times they used it either, its just like. Please, please, please, even just wiki source how ice and cold work for a change. Its not rock, paper, scissors, where like, fire and heat automatically beat ice, lmfao. Its like nails on a chalkboard, seeing behind the page to like, how proud you can tell that writer is for their ‘solution’ to Bobby’s uber-poweredness, while meanwhile, I’m just like...dudes, that does not work the way you are trying to claim it works, and its making it really hard to suspend my disbelief. 

Which you would think would not be that hard, given that I’m talking about a comic book with superpowers, but if you’re gonna do superpowers, at least do them in a way that makes some sense, which is not, in fact: “fire is the greatest weapon against the guy whose power is more accurately described as eats thermal energy and shits out ice cubes.”

Its literally the other way around, uggggggggh. Same with energy absorption being trotted out constantly to beat or neutralize the guy whose power is literally the opposite of energy projection. As Bobby is himself, actually, technically, ironically, the ultimate omega level energy absorption mutant, albeit primarily focused on thermal energy specifically. 

(Though of course, at the base levels that Bobby’s powers have repeatedly been shown to operate at, all energy is fundamentally the same anyway, so even that qualifier isn’t quite applicable. Hey, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who decided to make the dude omega level and then define that as meaning the uttermost expression of a particular mutant powerset, with no apex ceiling or limit on their usage or scope. Maybe you guys should’ve put like, ten minutes of actual research into why water is cited as one of the basic primary building blocks of carbon based organic life, and how the kind of control over thermal energy Bobby’s powers require in order to even function at their most basic levels, once unrestricted in scope or degree, like....pretty much results in limitless applications across the board).

I mean shit, in a lot of ways, Bobby’s kinda the mutant embodiment of a physically realized Maxwell’s Demon. And if you put some thought into how that particular thought experiment could effect reality were anyone actually capable of creating a mechanism for violating the laws of thermodynamics in the specific ways postulated by good old JCM back in the 1800s, Bobby’s powers would really be less "hey check it out, I make ice and cool people off on a hot summer’s day" and more like "lol, Proteus who? Legion what? Wanda where? Phoenix, please!"

BUT I DIGRESS.

....oh shit, whoops, now I’m thinking about how Wanda’s powers when amped up to allow her to pull off the House of M reality warp, like, were basically defined as the ultimate expression of chaos magick/chaos energies, the psychic harnessing of entropy itself, using Wanda’s basic probability manipulations to hack quantum possibilities themselves and superimpose the pictured reality of her choice over her current reality at a quantum level.....and whereas if you look at Bobby’s powers in the vein of Maxwell’s Demon, and the theoretical applications for decreasing entropy, like...huh. Whoops, I think I just accidentally made my brain explode, hang on, I gotta think about this now.

[robobrainmurdermysterytheatre]

Fallout OC Interview!

I already tagged people, so I’m not tagging anyone in this. I took FOREVER because I thought every question needed an essay-length answer. Also because I went “Oh, I have SCREENSHOTS that would fit well with these questions 😏” then had to sift through the 9gb of screenshots I have to find them. Enjoy!

Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

What is your name? Jack Daniel O’Kelley

How old are you? 24... no, 25 now. Actually, technically, 235.

What do you look like? I’m white, almost 6ft tall, blonde hair, freckles, blue eyes... well, they used to be blue, now they’re... weird... one robot arm, lots of scars, lots of tattoos... you’ll know me when you see me, believe me.

[Read the rest under the cut 👇 It’s long! I threw in a bunch of pictures for lookin’ at! Also, the story of how Jack lost his arm!]

Where are you from? Where do you live now? Boston, born and raised. Except, before the war. Now I live in Sanctuary. I pack up and winter out in the southwest, though! Hate the cold. 

What was your childhood like? Before the age of 10? Not great. I was an orphan, grew up in an orphanage. I can’t complain, compared to what orphans in this time have to go through? Still... it was... not something I even want to talk about. But once my parents adopted me? It was nice, it was normal, mostly. They were good people. I didn’t want for anything. They made up for everything else I’d been through. 

What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? I’m General of The Minutemen, so I’d say we’re pretty friendly. The Minutemen have a good, solid relationship with The Railroad, and I personally do as well. We also have a good relationship with Goodneighbor, we always get supplies from there rather than Diamond City, if we can. And again, in a personal sense, I’m a big fan of the Mayor over there. Close personal friend! There are also some groups up north, in Far Harbor I’m on pretty good terms with: the harbormen, the synth refuge. Being popular with the Children of Atom from up there has perks that carry over into dealing with them in the Commonwealth as well. Oh! And the Atom Cats are definitely friends, they gave me a neat jacket and everything. They’re not really a militant faction or anything, they’re great to just hang out with and build cool power armor. They have a poetry night, too!

Tell me about your best friend. That’s just a friend? His name is Deacon. I’m pretty sure I’m not at liberty to tell you anything else about him, though. My other best friend is Piper, number one reporter in the wasteland. Very fun, very funny, very kind. We get drunk and sing showtunes together sometimes. She’s surprisingly good at fighting, more than once now I’ve seen her wreck with a minigun she just picked up from whatever enemy we just downed, but she’s still really good with that 10mm. She reminds me a lot of my late wife in a lot of ways. She’s doing amazing things, bringing truth to the people. 

Do you have a family? Tell me about them! I had my family before the war... my parents and then my wife, Ray, and son, Shaun, later. They’re all gone now. I have my son... he’s a synth replica of my human son that he made of himself... it’s complicated... but it’s not. I love him. He’s more my real son than the old man I met nearly a year ago who was the person my human son became. And my husband, Danse. And everyone around us in Sanctuary, really, is family. We all love and support each other, that’s what matters, you know? Even some people outside of Sanctuary - Nicky in Diamond City is like a father to me, Longfellow up north on the island too... The Abernathy’s treated me kindly and helped me supply up when I first came out of the vault and I had no idea what was going on, they were the first people I saw, so they feel a lot like family, too... and the Railroad, like Deacon puts it, are just “one big dysfunctional family, with guns” and, well, working with them like I do, we’re family. I also have a cousin on my dad’s side that survived the war, Celeste! She has the best weed and is a big *ahem* fan of Mayor Hancock. I love her dearly.

What about a partner or partners? I’m married to Danse, he’s an amazing man. Besides being tall, dark and handsome, he’s dedicated, strong, loyal, smart, principled... he’s also the biggest softie I know, he’s compassionate and loving and oh, god, his sense of humor is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it dry but if you catch it, it’s amazing. I have no idea what he’s doing with a guy like me. We balance each other out really well, he helps me keep my shit together, and I help him cut loose. Our marriage is sort of open, we both have people from before we got together that are really important to us, so I have a boyfriend, too. He lives out in Vegas now, where he’s from, but I met him up here during a really dark time when I thought I didn't have anything left in me and had run away from everything. He gave me back the will to keep trying. Haley’s really special - smart as a whip, loyal to a fault, goodhearted, charming, one hell of a shot... Oh, and gorgeous. We’ve had a lot of fun together, just wish I could see him more often. And then there’s Preston. He’s just... everything that’s good and right about humanity. How could I not fall in love with him? He’s beautiful inside and out, he has a heart of pure gold, he’s fought so hard for everything he believes in. I didn’t even realize he had any kind of feelings for me until after I had already gotten together with Danse, but, after we worked out the whole open relationship thing, we got together and that was that. 

Who are your enemies, and why? Number one on my shitlist are The Gunners. We’ve been whittling away their numbers, so they’re less of a threat than when I first encountered them. They’re still a legitimate enough with the firepower, organization and numbers they still do have. Anyone or anything that threatens the settlers or the Minutemen are enemies in my book. Things are pretty tense with the Brotherhood of Steel, as well. There’s no... official conflict with them at the moment, but they’re on thin ice.

But seriously, fuck The Gunners.

Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? Ah, yes. I think if they weren’t trying to spearhead a synth genocide on my turf, we would be able to coexist just fine. I actually used to be in the Brotherhood, though it was mostly me being opportunistic, hoping they could help me find my son and getting to play with power armor and big guns and giant robots. My husband was, too. We were Paladins! Well... I kind of took his position after they kicked him out... he recruited me, he was my commanding officer - one hell of an officer, too, that’s why I field promoted him to Captain of the Minutemen. But I’m getting off topic - The Brotherhood, thankfully seems to have at least slowed down on the synth genocide bullshit after The Minutemen and our allies blew up The Institute. I gently reminded Elder Maxson that’s what happens when people fuck with my family. I haven’t had too many issues with them since. 

[Knight O’Kelley 😏]

What about The Enclave? I’ve heard about them from multiple sources, I’m not sure how much of that information is good information, but from my understanding, they sound like assholes. Dangerous assholes. 

How do you feel about Super Mutants? I feel bad for them. The ones out here in the Commonwealth were made against their will by The Institute. That’s bullshit. I’ll still kill them when they’re shooting at me, though. I’ve ran into a few friendly ones, there’s Strong and Erickson, and Virgil used to be a Super Mutant but now he’s a human again. I know there’s friendly, smarter Super Mutants in other areas. They’re people too, just like ghouls, just like synths, just like humans. If they’re friendly, I’m friendly, if they’re hostile, I’m hostile. Just wish there were more around here that weren’t hostile. They’re also excellent fighters, I definitely admire the no-bullshit approach they take to fighting. 

What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? Oh, boy, this one’s hard, I’ve been in some crazy fights. Probably The Battle for Bunker Hill, where everyone showed up to the party and I almost died. I was still working undercover at The Institute on the Railroad’s behalf, and so Me, Danse, Deacon, Preston, Hancock, and Mac all go out to meet this Courser. We had Danse in full power armor because we were worried about the Courser recognizing him, but he refused to stay behind because he was worried about me but I’m really glad he didn’t. So we meet this guy, the idea was that we were going to go with him to reclaim these four synths hiding out at Bunker Hill, but when we had a chance, instead we’d take him out and relocate the synths. Well, somehow The god damn Brotherhood of Steel got word of the synths hiding out there as well, so we go in and it’s just a clusterfuck, The Railroad agents, gen 1s, Brotherhood, Caravan guards, everyone’s firing at everyone everywhere. That made getting in easy, we just waded through the fire. We got down there, jumped this Courser and secured the synths. Then we had to fight our way out and in the process Danse’s armors broken, so he has to hop out, but we have everything pretty well handled. Then a second wave of Vertibirds roll in, they’re dropping guys, they’re firing on us from the air, everything is chaos again. They recognized Danse and they were out for blood, they start coming for him instead of the synths we’re protecting, which at least gave Preston, Deacon and Mac a chance to take the four kids to relative safety. So Danse and I are distracting them, trying to slowly retreat, but keep their attention on us enough the rest of our folks can get away. I’m on one side of the street and he’s on the other, just ripping into them. Then this grenade sails over my cover and lands right next to me. I’m pissed, I’m exhausted, I’m thinking, I’m going to throw this motherfucker back at them, there’s nowhere to run, we’re pinned down, fuck it. That was... the wrong call. Or I don’t know, I’m still here, so maybe it wasn’t. I reached down and next thing I know my ears are ringing and I’m flat on my back in the middle of the street in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in. Last thing I see before I black out is my gorgeous, heroic husband standing over me, absolutely fucking furious, unleashing complete and utter hell with that gatling laser on what’s left of the Brotherhood troops. And that’s how I lost my arm! 

Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? Many. I hate fighting them, honestly. They’re beautiful creatures. Terrifying, but beautiful. 

Do you like fighting? I’m so tired of fighting. 

What’s your weapon of choice? In a perfect world, where I won’t accidentally blow up my friends? Mayhem, my quad-barrel missile launcher with a built in targeting computer painted Atom Cats colors. Generally, though, I go with my sniper rifle, Liberator, or the laser rifle Danse gave me, Righteous Authority.

How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) As much as I’d like to think it’s my excellent combat prowess, mostly some combination of my skills and my charm have helped me stay alive.

Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them? Fuck Vault-Tec, fuck their mothers, fuck all their friends and fuck the vaults. Except Clarence, the salesman who sold me my family’s place in Vault 111. They fucked him over, too. He didn’t know. I can’t be mad. We’re friends. And Curie, technically, was Vault-Tec, when she was a robot, but that’s different. Oh, and the vault I kind of... own... now is OK, the original Overseer left when I did her freaky experiments wrong. It’s known as the Party Vault, now! But listen, I was frozen for 210 years in Vault 111, and as fucked up as that is, that’s probably one of the most benign things Vault-Tec ever did to anyone. They carried out some of the most horrific things I have ever heard of, they’re awful.

[Vault 88, the Party Vault!]

How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? I don’t have to work too hard to deal with the radiation after the... “religious experience” I had when I “infiltrated” the Children of Atom for Acadia. I still don’t have an explanation for what happened, but, the radiation heals me and eventually dissipates itself after a while, when it even does effect me. Every so often during a bad radstorm I still have to pop some Rad-X. Before that, though, lots of Rad-X and Radaway and cowering in corners of buildings when radstorms blew through. Radstorms used to do a number on me, they’d give me panic attacks, hallucinations - and not the fun kind - make me sick. Not so much anymore, so that’s good.

What’s your favorite wasteland critter? Deathclaws. They’re majestic, they’re fierce and huge. They have interesting mutations that turn them neat colors. I think they’re a lot more intelligent than the average wasteland critter.

What’s your least favorite wasteland critter? Radroaches. Everyone said roaches would survive the apocalypse and not only did they survive, they got more disgusting. Yuck.

How do you feel about robots? Pretty fucking good! I’ve been fascinated with them since before the war. I was going to go into a career in robotics. I guess I kind of ended up doing that, since I build so many now. And Codsworth, who’s a robot, is one of my favorite people. So, yeah, pretty fucking good. 

[These are babeys]

How many caps do you have on you right now? Twenty four thousand give or take. Don’t even think about robbing me of them.

Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? Listen, Haley sent me a crate of Sunset Sarsaparilla once and that shit is way better than any flavor of Nuka Cola I’ve ever had. 

Do you do chems? Yes. But strictly for business, not pleasure anymore. Before the war, I was addicted to Psycho and Med-X, and probably Mentats, back from when I was in Anchorage. Hell, even as a kid I would get high here and there. I would really do whatever I could get my hands on. But I cleaned up when Ray was pregnant. Once I lost her and Shaun, it was open season again, especially since chems seem to flow pretty freely in some places around here. I had it bad, my friends had to drag me more than half dead to a wasteland doctor more than once. But once I got Shaun back... I couldn’t do that to him, I couldn’t do it anymore. Sometimes the occasion calls for it, though, there are a lot of fights I wouldn’t have walked away from without the extra edge. I just have to watch it.

Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? A lot. I think about the life I had before, the people I cared about. I also think about the mistakes were made that got us to the place we are now, if anything to try to avoid making them again. If they’re even avoidable... 

What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently? Not being able to protect my family in the vault. I don’t know what I could have done differently, I was trapped in there, what could I do? I think about it every day like maybe I’ll have an answer to that question, but I never find one.

What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? Destroying the Institute, hands down, biggest achievement. They were the biggest roadblock to a functioning Commonwealth, and now they’re gone we can actually build something. 

What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? 

Peace, for all three. 

[fallout4holmes]

Journal 49

The trip east was fairly quiet, at least concerning my companions. The super mutants, raiders, Gunners, and ferals that make up Boston’s populace were as violent as ever. Ada is formidable, despite her convictions that her defensive capabilities should be improved. Valentine saved Cait from a Gunner’s missile, which she repaid by blasting her way through a pack of ferals that took him by surprise.

“Your contract’s with Holmes, not me!” he scolded her.

“Yer boyfriend and that wicked sword of his are fuckin’ fine!” The last feral fell, “Damn shamblers give me the creeps. There, now we’re even, you and me.”

Valentine was puzzled, “Even?”

“For knockin’ me out o’ the way of that tattooed cretin’s missile. I keep tellin’ Holmes, I don’t like owin’ debt to anyone.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Word of advice though, it’s bad manners to steal cigarettes off the guy you’re supposedly saving.”

Cait laughed, and tossed him the pack.

I decided that rather than attack General Atomics immediately, we should first stop by the Castle, as it was just south of the factory and the sun was already setting. We could rest and prepare, and alert the Minutemen to the Mechanist’s threat. As it turned out, the Minutemen were already aware of the hostile robots roaming the Commonwealth.

“General!” Ronnie Shaw greeted us as we entered, “Sure do have impeccable timing.”

That likely wasn’t a good sign. “Do I?”

“Just missed the Brotherhood vertibird dropping a messenger by our front door. Said their scouts had noticed you coming this way.” She held up a holotape, clearly annoyed if not offended that the Brotherhood would be spying on the area. “This is for you.”

I took the tape, labeled “For General Holmes Only” in block letters. “Before I deal with this, the reason I’m here is--”

“Robots.”

I blinked, “Yes.”

Shaw nodded, “Got word from Sanctuary, we’re scrambling reinforcements to every checkpoint and settlement near where they’ve been spotted. Can’t reinforce everywhere yet, spread us too thin, but we can at least bolster the known threat zones.”

“Ah. How did Sanctuary--”

“One of our provisioners was attacked, we let Sanctuary know. Then word came in from MacCready about robots at the Ironworks, and Colonel Garvey got right to work alerting everyone to keep an eye out for robots built from scrap terrorizing folks. Good commander, that Colonel of yours.”

I smiled, “I hope to justify his faith in me to be the same. We have a plan to find the person responsible for these robots. Ada,” I gestured to her, “believes that we will find some in the General Atomics factory north of here, and they might provide us with the information we need.”

“It’s a start at least.” Shaw glanced at the holotape in my hand, "Your quarters are as you left them."

I thanked her, and took the holotape to the quarters reserved for the General. My companions followed, Valentine because he was concerned, Cait because she was bored, and Ada because she had nowhere else to go. I played the tape on my Pip Boy.

 “This is Elder Maxson speaking to General Holmes. My reason for contacting you is two-fold. First, the situation between our organizations is reaching a breaking point. This truce cannot survive indefinitely. As I have no desire to declare war on the Minutemen, yet, I invite you to discuss the matter with me. Second, I have no doubt the Minutemen are aware of the hostile robots that have appeared in the Commonwealth. My Scribes have been unable to track their origin. You seem to have an uncanny ability to find that which is hidden. Therefore, I request your presence on the Prydwen to discuss the new threat to both Brotherhood and Minutemen forces in the Commonwealth, and to negotiate new terms between us to keep the peace. Bring your second and third in command with you, as a token of goodwill and to ensure that there is no miscommunication in the chain of command. I insist.”

The recording ended.

"If Maxson thinks you're delivering Danse on a silver platter," Valentine said, "he's flipped his lid."

"Having Preston and I there adds a level of security for Danse," I pointed out.

"Unless he wants to wipe out the whole Minutemen command at once."

"He knows the Castle's artillery would destroy the Prydwen at the first sign of foul play. I'll contact Sanctuary first thing in the morning and see if Danse can shed some insight on his former commander's intentions."

Danse and Preston’s reactions were as I expected when I told them about Maxson’s request.

“With all due respect, General,” Preston said over the radio, “what the fuck?”

“He is insistent that both you and the Lt. Colonel are present at the negotiations,” I said.

“No. There's--”

“Garvey,” Danse scolded, but Preston spoke over him.

“--no way this isn’t a trap!”

“With all three top ranking officers on board the Prydwen, Maxson is assured that the Minutemen will not strike at the Brotherhood,” Danse explained. “It’s a power play, a bit of arrogance perhaps, but it is not a trap. He will expect us to take precautions. If we do not contact the Minutemen after a set amount of time, then the Castle opens fire on the Prydwen. If Liberty Prime takes one step outside the airport, then the Castle opens fire on the Prydwen. Maxson will not risk his flagship being destroyed, especially not while he's still on it.”

I could hear Preston’s frown as he said, “I hate everything about this. This is not a good idea.”

“Good idea or not,” I said, “attending without you two will be taken as an insult, and could be the slim excuse Maxson needs to justify swift action.”

“Understood, General,” Danse said, ignoring Preston’s sigh, “We’ll meet you at the airport seventy-two hours from now.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel.”

It was roughly a two day walk to the airport from the Castle, which gave us the day to investigate the General Atomics factory. We wasted no time; Ada wasn't certain what information we might find on the Mechanist's robots, if they were still in the factory, but it was the only lead we had and I had no intention of letting it slip through our grasp.

The Mechanist's robots were there, in greater strength than I'd expected. I was glad to have extra assistance. Cait barrelled through, recklessly but effectively blasting modified Mr. Handy's and eyebots out of the air while Ada's laser fire was a welcome addition to Valentine and my bullets against the robots on the ground.

Each eyebot was broadcasting a message:

 "Attention, people of the Commonwealth! I, the Mechanist, have come to bring about an age of peace. Do not be alarmed. These robots are your allies, your protectors, and they will not rest until the Commonwealth is saved. Together we will restore justice and bring about the dawn of a new age."

"Can't these things shut up!" Cait shouted.

"I think the Mechanist and I have very different definitions of the word 'saved,'" Valentine added.

"He can't actually mean any of that rot," Cait continued. "If he does, he's loony."

"Considering he built an army of scrapbots," Valentine grunted as his fight with what once may have been a protectron went to fisticuffs, "I'd say he's probably pretty nuts!"

Then the robobrain armored like a tank appeared. "Aim for the brain!" I shouted, dodging a swing of its tesla-coil arm. Ada and I fired as Cait and Valentine did their best to keep the other robots still standing occupied.

With a shudder and a crackle of electricity across its surface, the robobrain fell. Tense silence settled. When it was clear no more robots would be coming around any corners, we relaxed.

"What the hell is that thing?" Cait asked.

"It's called a robobrain," I said, "though I've never seen one so weaponized before." I'd only ever seen them inside the Vault near Far Harbor, and those were much smaller compared to this one.

She stepped closer, "Is that… is that a person's brain in there?"

I nodded, "It is."

"That's disgustin'."

"I agree."

“According to my data banks,” Ada said, “the robobrain was considered one of the most technologically superior robots ever constructed, but the model never reached full production status.”

"Wonder where this one came from," Valentine said.

Cait huffed, already bored by the conversation, "So how're we going to find the Mechanist with these heaps of junk?"

"We look for clues," I said, and got to work.

Ada, Valentine, and I searched the robots while Cait paced the room.

Valentine whispered to me, "Holmes, that woman has more psycho in her than is healthy."

"There's a healthy dosage of psycho?"

"You know what I mean. She took a hit, took a stimpak after snapping her arm back in place, and then took a second psycho for good measure. I'm amazed her heart hasn't exploded."

I sighed, "There's nothing I can do about it now, and I doubt she'll welcome conversation, especially with the state she's in."

"The crash ain't gonna be great either."

"What do you want me to do?"

He was quiet a moment, shaking his head. "I don't know. She's done her job so far, I'll give her that much, but she's gonna fall apart soon.”

"Are you detectives looking or flirting?" Cait shouted from across the room. "Hell of a lot more quiet chat than discovery goin' on."

"Jealous?" Valentine called back.

"Of you?"

“Enough,” I interrupted. “Ada, any luck?”

“I have not yet discovered a significant indicator of origin,” Ada reported.

“I’m going to look over the robobrain again,” Valentine said.

I approached Cait. “Valentine tells me you were injured?”

She was offended, “Stimpak patched me up just fine.”

“Good. And are you supplied for the trip north?”

"What?"

“Hey, Ada,” Valentine said, “My robot anatomy is a little rusty, but does this look like something interesting?”

He held up a device, which Ada examined. “Impressive technology. If my analysis is correct, this is a specialized radar beacon. I suspect it's how the Mechanist was keeping track of the robobrain. Thank you, Mr. Valentine, this may be exactly what we needed.” Ada turned to me, “As the next logical step, I need you to install this beacon within me so we can use it to our advantage.”

“Install it?” I admit, I balked at the prospect. Modifying weapons and armor, even building traps and turrets were one thing. Installing a radar beacon into a sophisticated robot seemed to be something else entirely.

“You'll need to use a robot workbench to ensure proper installation,” Ada explained. “I have the schematics. Do you want to return to the Castle to build it?”

“No,” I said, “not the Castle. There is an engineer out west who would be just the man for the job, and the location far enough away from the Brotherhood’s patrols to avoid attention.”

We decided that Valentine and Ada would leave for Sanctuary and tell Sturges about the robot workbench Ada’s creator invented, while Cait and I would make our way north to meet Danse and Preston at the airport. Valentine wasn’t thrilled with the plan, but he didn’t have a better suggestion, either.

I had already told Ms. Shaw about my meeting with Maxson before we left. As Danse suggested, I gave her explicit instructions for action to take should anything seem amiss. And so Cait and I started the walk north to the Prydwen.

[kvltprince]

I was tagged by the lovely @leporidaefluff (Thank you! it was the push i needed to get started on this instead of just going oh~ neat~!)

Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer them as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same. Sorry if anyone has already been tagged, no obligation. @ heathie on whatever acct cos im a dumbass an i miss your bois(you miss em too), @randomwordsandstormydays, @randomfuzzbunny, @jornaquinn @chrysocolladawn ( @somewhere-withoutyou if you would...) and anyone else who would enjoy doing this. (if i get tagged again ill do anther oc. i would tag a few others but i feel weird tagging ppl i dont like ever talk to lol.)

What is your name?

"Lucy Grandchester, yeah that one.” 

How old are you?

“Fourty-five unless you are getting nitpicky about cryostasis. That doesn’t count unless I am joking with a ghoul, honestly.”

What do you look like?

He lets out a small half chuckle, "Oh, we are doing this okay. I’ll bite. Slightly short middle aged punk, long greying curly hair, undercut, with one leg and too many tattoos?”

Where are you from? Where do you live now?

Lucy uncomfortably takes down his hair and redoes his messy bun while sighing and becoming a bit short. “I’m from just the other side of that irradiated water near that gas station south of here. Name kinda gives it away. You have seen it? I honestly am not sure how it’s standing still between the bombs and everything else. It’s looked after now, and is a surprise asset to still have. I lived in Boston for a while after all that, and back in this area once Nuka World was opened, then back in the Boston area, and would you look at that I am back in Nuka World and it is a lot more comfortable now.”

What was your childhood like?

"...Unstable, for everyone. It got a bit better once my parents were dead... are we done with this line of questions? Or am I excusing you?”

What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions?

“Well, I started out trying to play nicely vaguely with anyone that didn’t try to shoot me first. That.... hasn’t stayed how it is. At least not fully, though i generally play nice until I am given a reason not to. I am friendly with the Disciples, the Operators, several of the Children of Atom groups that haven't irradiated their sense out of their heads yet, the Railroad.”

Tell me about your best friend.

He finally visibly relaxes the rest of the way after that history business, and takes a drink of a quantum. “Oh only one best friend? Are we in high school again? aw Alright. We have some parallel histories.” He swirls the glowing drink, but doesn't let himself get lost in his head too far. “Great humor, puts up with my shit somehow, doesn't blow my sneaking. Laugh that could take on the world even though they probably wouldn't. No I am not spoiling who I decided on. A man has to have some secrets somewhere and mine are in short supply”

Do you have a family? Tell me about them!

“My son Shaun never ceases to surprise me with what he can come up with, and how well adjusted he is. Codsworth is still helping out with the household, and helping keep Shaun from disassembling live turrets while I am away, though now he is living here at Fizztop with us. Surprisingly it seems to be an alright setup, and Shaun has taught a few people some upgrades in their downtime. There is enough room to keep things comfortable, and I have done some park remodeling since I arrived. My closest companions that don’t hate my choices I have made I consider family, but that has become a smaller circle than before.”

What about a partner or partners?

“Gage of course, he is my husband for whatever it is worth in the wasteland. Otherwise I suppose that depends how you are defining that. I am an affectionate person and some people seem to have rather strict definitions of where the edge of friend and partner should be”

Who are your enemies, and why?

“Several people aren’t speaking to me very well at best after I have settled into the Overboss seat here, on a personal level. The Pack were wiped out. The Brotherhood were wiped out. The Institute were wiped out. The minutemen are pretty pissed understandably. The Gunners still show up in vertibirds sometimes and are still pretty fun target practice. My settlements are generally comfortable, and my outposts mostly only have problems with gunners or trappers. Minor annoyances.”

Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them?

“Yeah, of course. I think they got too headstrong for their flightsuits. I mean I understand but you really can’t do that shit and expect no repercussions. It was quite a firework show honestly, I wonder how far away the heat was felt..”

What about The Enclave?

"I don’t know much about them, only one of their ex-soldiers, he didn’t exactly tell me much. Cute, a bit odd. Not sure if it is the radiation that did that or not.”

How do you feel about Super Mutants?

He has a flash of a pensive thought drift across his face “There’s a few that aren’t so bad. Obviously the FEV isn’t mass-curable though, so not exactly much of a choice what to do about them unless you like getting a rocket launcher or a nuke in your face.”

What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in?

“Proobably~ around Bunker Hill, It was just, A Lot. That whole time was not just the specific fight. I don’t remember a lot of it, I’m pretty sure Gage half dragged me home after the main running around and meetings after the fight. I don’t think I had a full thought for a while.”

Have you ever fought a Deathclaw?

He thumb points to a sniper rifle leaning against the wall “Yeah, too often, thankfully usually I see them first, and I’ve gotten the sneaking thing down. They make pretty good steaks.”

Do you like fighting?

“Sometimes, honestly. Something tired and overstated about old habits or something boring. Really though, it is exciting and keeps the boredom away. Playfighting and sparring will do, no need to draw blood. I guess. Good to keep knife and sneaking skills sharp however you can.”

What’s your weapon of choice?

“A modded real sharp Throatslicer she called it, I swear Nisha found this thing in the loading dock or something it is the nicest box-cutter I have ever owned. Opens up anything.”

How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?)

“Outlive everything around me usually by not being seen, notice it first, shoot it faster, stab it more, talk my way out of it, or by luck. I have zero real idea, but I can eat nearly anything and I bet that helps too.”

Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them?

"Of course, there are a bunch, and I was ushered into 111 to turn my life upside down. They seem to only be any good for salvage, horror stories, clean water sometimes, and if you are real lucky a trade post and a shave. I have a settlement vault that is doing well that I have taken over and built up, but that is not Vault-Tec related, obviously.”

How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you?

“I have a few recipes that are good for radiation, though it doesn't affect me very badly overall and I am slow to feel any sickness. I suspect that one day I will turn into a ghoul.” He is rather matter of fact and unbothered by this, and hints that he knows that not getting sick much from radiation means just that.

What’s your favorite wasteland critter?

“Probably the stags and gazelles and other herd animals. They are overall unchanged other than most have two heads now, they are still nice to watch”

What’s your least favorite wasteland critter?

“Honestly? radscorpions? Those fuckers are too quick and you cant shoot them cos they tunnel and they knock you on your ass and poison you and just UGH”

How do you feel about robots?

"Robots are alright if they are not causing trouble. Some of them are nice. Jezebel is not so nice, but she is guarding red rocket and bitching the entire time so shes no longer my problem. The Rust Devil’s robots are a pain in my ass for real.”

How many caps do you have on you right now?

"Plenty.”

Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla?

He cocks his head slightly “I havent heard that one in a while. Depends on the flavor of Nuka Cola, I do like Sunset Sarsaparilla though, if you have any.”

Do you do chems?

"Not recreationally anymore. No, not because of him.” He nods toward Gage “It just, gets out of hand”

Do you ever think about the Pre-War world?

"Not as often as you would expect, I mean obviously there is the ‘oh i remember when that wasn't destroyed’ of things, but things are more comfortable than I thought they could be”

What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently?

His eyes narrow slightly “I don’t really do regret. Things were done the way they were because it was the choice at the time. A choice now for an old situation isn’t helpful to living my current life or my old life. I am not living then, I am living now.” 

What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve?

“Surviving all of this, and myself. Creating this strange semi-stability in this post apocalyptic place.”

What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world?

“Keep me and mine safe, happy as we can be, and I hope that my found-family never fully stops growing. Curious what the future holds for my raiders and friends, there is so much potential, it could be risky but it is there. For once it is a good solid place to be, and it’s mine.” Lucy polishes off his questionable as hell drink with a smile.

[nukagalreacts]

For the Anonymous who requested a follow-up react for the dragons. Fallout 4 Companions reacting to being thrown off/falling from a deadly height and being saved by a grown up pet dragon!

Here it it my lovely readers, I hope you enjoy this follow-up react to the baby dragons now being all grown up! I had fun writing it up! and thank you Anonymous for the request. 

Cait: She knew she was dead soon as the raider she was fighting slammed into her hard enough to have her tumbling backwards, and she felt her feet fall on air. There was no surviving a 50ft drop, and Cait couldn’t even find the will to scream she was just pissed that this was the way it would end for her, fucking stupid she thought. Suddenly a huge roar sounded out of nowhere and she saw a blur of something fly underneath her.The wind got knocked out of her as she landed on the creatures back but recovered quickly as she realized it was Sole’s dragon just…. Bigger than a house now. Cait laughed at her excellent luck and was ready to show those raider bastards what a real firefight was like. After the dragon was done turning all the raiders into pieces of charcoal bones and getting a meal out of few, Cait scratched the dragon's neck for a job well done and was glad Sole had kept them around all those years ago.

Codsworth: He couldn’t fall thanks to how he had been created but he had witnessed Sole almost fall off a skyscraper to their death. Sole had lost their balance during a shootout with some gunners when they slipped and unfortunately fell right out of a broken window, Codsworth sliced a gunner out of the way before going over and looking out the window. He expected to see a dead Sole at the bottom but instead he was greeted by Sole on the back of their loyal dragon pet, hovering in the air. Codsworth felt an overwhelming amount of relief, and Sole just laughed teasing him saying something about aren’t they glad they kept the baby dragons around even if they did destroy everything, and that was something the Mr. Handy couldn’t agree more on.

Curie(synth): Had been out doing research on some plants that mainly grew along cliff sides, and the area she had been in today was particular deadly if you happened to take a tumble. Curie was leaning over trying to pick one of the flowers when some of the rocks began to crumble beneath her, she tried to crawl back but it was too late and she tumbled forward into the air. Curie let out a high pitched scream as she fell but suddenly felt a strong grip squeeze around her and the breeze of the wind against her face. Daring to open her eyes she realized some rather large claws where around her and at first she thought her luck had gotten worse and she was now a large creatures meal, looking up though and seeing huge leathery wings she realized it was Sole’s dragon they had raised so long ago. It made her so happy that even though the dragon now roamed free it still remembered her and had come to save her without hesitation.

Danse: His power armour protected him from a lot in the Commonwealth, but he knew he wasn't going to survive a fall this high up from a vertibird. He braced himself for what he hoped to be a quick death that would snap his spine and neck instantly. But instead felt a huge rush of wind and something grab him in midair, great now he was going to be rip to shreds by some mutated creature he thought. He looked up to inspect who’s dinner he was going to become and was pleasantly surprised to see it was one of Sole’s pet dragons, he literally couldn’t believe how big it had gotten and was rather fascinated by it’s large wings and shiny red scales coating it from head to claw. He felt thankful now that Sole had convinced him to let them keep all the baby dragons around, if they hadn’t he would be a pile of broken power armour and bones left to rot in the wasteland. He was surprised though that Sole had managed to train all the dragons so well, and this one had gone out of it’s way to rescue him, he wasn’t going to complain though.

Deacon: The man had fallen from quite a few high places before resulting in broken bones and what not, this time though he knew he was utterly fucked to put it nicely. He knew it was a dumb idea to do this mission alone without Sole, but he hadn’t had time to go get them and now he was paying the price. Before he could even blink he saw what he thought was Sole’s dragon flying towards him, but wasn’t sure if he was just hallucinating it, as his mind's way of trying to find hope in this situation. He knew it wasn’t though when he felt a pair of strong talons grab hold of him and lift him higher into the air away from death. Even though the dragon couldn’t understand him, he kept shouting up at them how much loved them and what an awesome pet dragon they where and how he was going to give them so many yummy dragon type treats once they got back to the agency.

Dogmeat: The poor pup was terrified as a raider he had been biting kicked him off the roof him and Sole had been fighting on, he yelped at the force of it and howled out as he started to fall. Sole screamed out furious at the raider and quickly shot them in the head before whistling loudly for their secret weapon. The rest of the raiders scattered as the monstrous dragon came flying in, breathing fire as it went, effectively turning a few into ash before they could even scream. He quickly spotted his friend Dogmeat falling, swooping in he caught the poor pooch gently between his large claws carrying them back to safety. Once he was placed back on the roof next to Sole he barked and wagged his tail happily, he loved his giant, scaly friend and was so happy they came to save him!

Hancock: He knew he shouldn’t have taken so many hits of jet before coming out here and dealing with the super mutants lurking around too close to GoodNeighbor. Now he knew he was fucked as the raging mutant picked him up in a death grip and launched him out the nearest window. Being a ghoul allowed him to heal faster and take less damage from things that would kill most people, but this was not one of those moments he was truly fucked this time around. His heart about came out of his chest though when he felt himself being grabbed in midair by what felt like claws. Within his hazy, drug fueled mind he looked up and registered that he was being carried by one of Sole’s pet dragons, and he just laughed thanking his lucky stars that him and Sole raised these little devils to be so well trained and loyal. With the dragons help they took out the rest of the mutants plaguing the area and Hancock let the dragon snack on one of them for a job well done.

MacCready: He was used to sniping from high buildings, what he wasn’t prepared for was someone sneaking up behind him while he was on the roof waiting for his target and kicking him off the side. He tried to stop himself from falling off by catching the ledge, it was to late though as he continued to tumble off, screaming out with fear in his eyes. As he fell, from the corner of his eye he spotted what looked like Sole’s dragon flying towards him at top speed, and he could vaguely hear the person who pushed him off the roof screaming in sheer terror. The dragon quickly scooped Mac up into its claws and flew back up towards the roof where Mac got a front view of the dragon swallowing his assailant whole. Once he was back on the ground he gave the dragon a good head scratch and let it know that he was thankful they always kept an eye on him and Sole.

Nick: Not many things took him by surprise anymore but being purposely thrown off a roof  by a few jerks who hated synths apparently was the icing on the cake. He was a synth though and he just hoped there was enough left of him once he busted apart on the ground for Sole to put back together. As he fell he could hear panicked screams and then silence and then bits and pieces of bloody body parts raining down from above. Sole’s dragon made quick work of Nick’s tormentors before swiftly flying down and collecting Nick in his claws before he became scrap pieces. Nick had found the dragons as babies a bit of a handful, but he was damn happy they were out here keeping tails on him and helping out when he needed it, couldn’t be to mad at Sole for allowing them to grow up into giant beast who worked in their favor.

Preston: Was cursing himself right now because usually he brought one of Sole’s dragons with him when he went on missions because now that they where grown up no one dared to mess with them and it made traveling faster. He felt bad for always relying on them though so he opted to go out and help a settlement without one this time, and figured he could handle a few raiders on his own. He was wrong though it had turned out to be an ambush, he was quickly attacked and tied up and the raiders dragged him over to a cliff edge talking about they didn’t want to waste a bullet on him and they could just push him off to his death. As he fell he recognized Sole’s dragon flying up towards him and he smiled as it caught him in his claws, effectively cutting his binds. Carrying Preston the Dragon began biting into the raiders, their bullets useless as they bounced off it’s scales. Preston was beyond relieved the dragon had followed him this time even when he ordered it to stay put back near Sanctuary.

Piper: She was always getting herself into some knee deep shit wherever she went, so getting pushed off a tall building was something she figured should have happened already by now. And it sure as Hell was happening right now as she flailed trying to grab onto something unsuccessfully, screaming she began to plummet to her death. Luckily for her Sole’s dragon and it’s keen sense of hearing had heard her cry of distress and made a beeline in her direction taking flight with it’s mighty wings. Piper was halfway down to the pavement when a pair of claws wrapped around her, breathing a sigh of relief she scolded the dragon saying it took him long enough to come save her sorry ass. As she was being carried off she was sure to twist around a flip off the person who had pushed her, shouting out that the next time they tried that around here they would be screwed. They just stood there in utter disbelief at what they were seeing as Piper cackled in the distance.    

Strong: Obviously huge so if he falls he falls hard! Another super mutant he was fighting with body slammed him off a building and he wasn’t mad about it, least he died in a good fight with a brother. Luckily for him though his fighting days aren't over yet as Sole’s dragon came flying in grabbed him by his huge arms. He was practically gleeful as the dragon flew him back up to the fight and Strong roared about how him and the dragon would smash everyone in their way. And that’s what they did, and by the end of it the dragon had accidently brought down the whole building and melted places of it, which just made Strong laugh saying the dragon was always a good fighting partner to have at his side.

X6-88: He felt pretty pathetic right now that a superior fighter like himself had been taken by surprise by a rogue synth. It had been his mission to bring it back in and now here he was falling to his death because he had underestimated the synths strength and abilities. Much to his delight and surprise though one of the dragons him and Sole had trained and raised came flying in to his rescue. It easily scooped him up in it’s large talons and took him back up to where he had fallen, where he was able to successfully subdue the synth by threatening to have them melted down by the dragon if they didn’t come with him back to the Institute. It gave him a sick kind of glee to use the dragons to threaten people to do his wishes, he had always done that before the dragons, but with them it made it 40 times easier.   

[callsignbaphomet]

OC Interview

1. What is your name? “Jelani Haakonson.”

2. How old are you? "20."

3. What do you look like? "Long hair, blue eyes, black, according to somebody way too tall."

4. Where are you from? Where do you live now? "Originally from Capital Wasteland. Now I'm kind of nowhere really. I mean, we took a bunker we found and cleaned it out and now we're holed up there but we move around a lot and honestly, once we get tired of Boston we're shipping out to whoever the fuck knows."

5. What was your childhood like? "Bittersweet I guess. It wasn't exactly charming or easy. Eh, not something I revisit often."

6. What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? "Ok, so I may or may not have gotten on Preston's bad side--not that I give a shit. Probably not on best terms with those railroad quacks after I insulted them. I mean, it wasn't an insult I was just being honest that they took it as an insult is a them problem. I don't think the 'Institute' is real so obviously not allied to them or whatever. I kinda stay away from the BoS in the area and apparently Nisha wants to and I quote stab me in the throat, pull out the knife and make Angelus choke on my blood and it sounds kinky as fuck but I'm still waiting for that stabbing.

Think the only people we actually get along with is The Pack and The Operators. Oh, and those really sweet ghouls up in that farm and Varg from that group of ghouls that live on that ship.”

7. Tell me about your best friend. "He's an idiot, way too loud, way too hyper, wastes far too many bullets and barely hits anything, skinny, little pale twink that I loved enough to marry. He's still an idiot though."

8. Do you have a family? Tell me about them! "Ja, I have an older brother. He taught me everything our parents taught him. I was too little to remember a lot of it so after they died he picked up where they left off. Basically raised me. He's nice, a little too nice for his own good but he means well. He'll help anyone no matter what."

9. What about a partner or partners? "Yeah, husband. Talked about him earlier."

10. Who are your enemies? And why? Aside from Nisha I might sorta, kinda be wanted by the NCR and it's probably a good idea to never go back to New Vegas.

Thing with Nisha is because she found out I was talking trash about her and her little group. At least The Pack surprisingly has a clear view of what they want, Operators obviously know what they want and what to do. Nisha and those rabid little assholes just wanna kill everything and ok in a way I can admire that but there’s no pay off to it, there’s no point. And I just don’t like the bitch and she needs to live with it. Still waiting for that stabbing, Nisha. Need my address?

NCR is a huge mess. I don’t even remember why we were fighting but this asshole named Lucien just started shit with my brother so obviously I wasn’t having any of it so I stepped in. Shit escalated and we shot ‘em and took their coats because...fuck them all. NCR found out and of course now we’re on bad terms with them to the point where it’s kill on sight."

11. Have you ever heard of the Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? "Ok with all due respect to my mother I think they're just glorified raiders who come to places they're not wanted and like locusts take what they want and use people only to then move on and leave the area all the worse. I get why my mother joined but I'm glad she went awol."

12. What about The Enclave? "I don't know that much, I don't even think they're around anymore. All I know is my maternal grandmother was in The Enclave."

13. How do you feel about Super Mutants? "Annoyed. Trigger happy freaks who just never calm the fuck down."

14. What's the craziest fight you ever been in? "This was back in New Vegas and we were in the strip. So a couple of us were at Gomorrah, there was a lot of drinking. So after some fucking around on the courtyard we all head up to one of the suites and we're passing around more drinks, chems of all kinds and prostitutes. So there was this one prostitute I can't even remember what the fuck he looked like but he was crazy for jet and guess what I had plenty of. Later that night someone comes to the fucking door asking for a Jake. None of us really know each other, we were all just a bunch of mercs fucking around. So everybody starts asking for a Jake and who was it? The guy who I was balls deep in. Great. Turns out that bitch was that guy's favorite but I'm an asshole about it, I'm drunk and high off everything you can imagine. I walk up to the guy at the door and tell him that he can have him back once I'm done with him and close the door and we get back to it. Guy doesn't like that but walks away.

So we're all still drinking and fucking and suddenly we hear gunshots down the hall and the same dude from before yelling for Jake to come out. He kicks down the door, fights his way through the group and pulls out a knife while he yells that that's his bitch I was fucking. I don't even know why but I just put my hand up, I guess I was trying to grab his hand but ended up putting my palm in front of me and he just stabs my hand. At that moment I didn't feel a thing. The whole room just stopped and we're all looking at my hand and that psycho. I shake my hand to get it off but all I'm really doing is spraying blood everywhere and we all start laughing but that guy wasn't laughing so he yells and goes to shoot but two other guys this one prostitute push the guy and they wrestle the gun from him somehow. I'm still laughing really loud and I don't know why but I grabbed him and stood him up and I pushed him. Pushed him hard enough that he went through the window and the last thing we heard was this really nasty splat.

We all looking at the dead guy and then at each other and the girl that got the gun off him just yells out this really slurred bye and we lose our shit. We're laughing hard and making a bigger raucous and just then some Omerta assholes walk in with guns drawn and shit. She was the only one who wasn't drunk or high so she tells 'em what the fuck just happened and they just give us a generic warning and we keep going till we blackout. I woke up two days later near Novac and Loke looking at me like a disappointed dad and talks my ear off for an hour. I don't remember what the fuck he said I was hungover and my hand hurt like a bitch. No regrets that was a hell of a fun night."

15. Have you ever fought a deathclaw? "...I have and on several occasions but one sticks out and it's probably the worst moment of my life. When Loke and I realized we were wanted by the NCR he goes up to me and says, 'Lillebror, we need to get the fuck outta here. Now.' So he's panicking and he never panics so I'm panicking. Long story short we go with this caravan who's moving to Boston because you know there's safety in numbers and they have a map and they've used that same route dozens of times.

Turns out there was a really bad storm and the usual route was blocked off by this massive tree and if we didn’t have some brahmin with us and there wasn’t a caravan we could have climbed over it. So we’re looking at the map and I notice this route through what I’m guessing used to be some mines that led back to the main route. That route was the fastest but hadn’t been used for a long time but I keep insisting it’s better than going through the other one which would cost us about 3 days. So we go and we literally walk into a goddamn deathclaw nest. We manage to kill one since it was already wounded but then the other one shows up and Loke tries to lure it away from the group while I get everyone to a safe distance. Once I do I go back for my brother and I try to get that thing’s attention so Lo can hide. Didn’t exactly go as planned and I watched Lo and the deathclaw fall.

I thought he’d died and I don’t know I stayed at the nest just waiting. I don’t know those few days after are a blur and the only reason I snapped out of it was because Dagny was injured and she was hungry and I knew she wouldn’t be able to survive on her own. So I finally got up and walked to Boston because of her.

Luckily Lo made it and we eventually found each other again but that was the worst deathclaw encounter I’ve ever had.”

16. Do you like fighting? “Not particularly, I mean, if I have to I will but I don’t actively try to look for fights.”

17. What's your weapon of choice? “Antimaterial sniper rifle that used to belong to my mom. I can pretty much use anything but that’s my go to.”

18. How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) Combination of skills. I was basically trained since I was a kid to use most any weapon and how to survive out there. Also picked up how to hack into any terminal I come across. I leave the charm and manipulation and lockpicking to Angelus and any and all robot know how to Lo.”

19. Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think of them? “Yeah, we actually went looking for a violin for this old lady, it was inside a vault. I don’t really know what to think of them aside from the fact that they’re really creepy.”

20. How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? “Look I have a lot of specific things I take with me whenever I go out there and a metric fuck ton of Rad Away is one of them. I never eat anything that’s raw and I spend a long time washing food before I cook it. I’ve barely had to deal with that shit and I intend to keep it that way.”

21. What's your favorite wasteland critter? “Fine, I might be a bit biased but night stalkers and dogs. Dagny’s been an amazing pet and Maya’s an absolute sweetheart.”

22. What's your least favorite wasteland critter? “Deathclaws. Hate them to death. I don’t like admitting to it but they scare the fuck out of me and whenever I run into one I’m scared to death that it’ll hurt or kill someone I care about and I get into this weird fight or flight state where I’m either gonna run the fuck away as fast as I can or I fight till I run out of bullets or it kills me.”

23. How do you feel about robots? “To be honest they kind of used to freak me out a little especially robobrains but watching Loki put ‘em together and fix ‘em is actually pretty interesting and Kat’s fun. She’s bitchy in a fun way.”

24. How many caps do you have on you right now? “I never leave without at least 400 caps, you never know what the fuck’s gonna happen out there. There’s also several stashes with at least 200 caps in them that Angelus and I have hidden in areas we frequent.”

25. Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? “Fuck, man, Nuka always, especially Nuka Cherry. When I saw the damn bottling plant over at Nuka world I nearly cried.”

26. Do you do chems? “Uh...not really anymore. Ok, as a teenager I was drinking a lot and basically trying every chem anybody would offer. I didn’t keep any with me because I knew my brother would kick the shit out of me. I didn’t use frequently because I was afraid Loki would find out and I was really cautious about addiction. Now skip forward to Boston and this was after the deathclaw incident and I thought Loki was dead and I blamed myself for what happened and I wasn’t in a good place at all I’ll admit it. Met Angelus and some of his friends and they were getting high and/or drunk all the goddamn time we went to Nuka World and it got to a point where I thought that it would be better if I just died so I took to jet because it was the only thing that would numb me enough to stop feeling anything especially the guilt. On one particularly shitty day I was drunk and that exacerbated that guilty feeling so I hid and took one hit after another until I blacked out and next thing I know Angelus was pumping me full of Addictol while this other Operator helped him. Apparently I was declared dead for two minutes and when I came to I was fucking pissed off at him. That was the point and he fucked it up for me but I’m actually grateful for it and after that I stopped taking any of it and he actually slowed down on using any of them. He occasionally still used but not as much as before and he’s kinda stopped ever since we got married so win-win I guess.”

27. Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? “No, I don’t actually. That time is long gone and it’s never coming back so there’s no point in wasting time and energy into thinking about it. I’ve read up on it several times and while it sounds practical it also sounds utterly boring and I don’t know if society as it is now could possibly go back to it, not when we’ve lived this way for this long.”

28. What's your deepest regret? What would you do differently? “I have plenty of regrets but there are some I regret more than others. I regret suggesting that route that led to that nest, I regret getting addicted to jet and overdosing on it but I especially regret the one time I was brave enough to kill myself. This was obviously before I found out that Loke was still alive, this was after the overdose and way before we got married. I told Angelus to look after Dagny while I went out to do a favor for someone. I just kept walking and walking until I ran into this small abandoned bunker and I broke in and just dropped on the floor and just stayed there for days. I was choking on this guilt and I didn’t know how to make it stop. So I grabbed the knife I always carry with me and I just cut as deep as I could and waited. Few minutes later I could hear barking and in rushes Dagny followed by Maya, Angelus, Ginger, and Abigail. Spent a few weeks at their place. Didn’t eat, didn’t talk, barely moved, three of them watched me like a hawk. I’d made up my mind to eat a bullet as soon as they let their guard down but Angelus got pissed the fuck off at me and he started yelling at me. Told me I was acting like an asshole and being selfish. I finally spoke up and told him that I should’ve died with Lo and he actually pushed me and told me that Lo didn’t sacrifice himself only for me to go and kill myself and that by doing that I was spitting in his face and it made sense. We just stayed in bed for a few days, cried more than I ever did in my entire life and I don’t know it just made a bit of sense.

If I knew that I would eventually run into Loke and find out that he was still alive I would have never done any of that especially after Lo saw the scars and asked and I didn’t lie. I should’ve but I didn’t wanna lie to him and he was crying and I was crying and it was a bit of a mess. He told me that he thought about doing it too when he wasn’t able to find me and thought that maybe I’d died. That’s my biggest regret.”

29. What's your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? “Look in this day and age I’ll consider growing old and dying of natural causes like the ultimate achievement.”

30. What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? “Don’t really have a plan, I mean, I’m just kind of winging it. For now we’re here in Boston but who knows, if there’s some other place we could run off to we’ll go and take it from there.”

Tagged by @wild-w4steland-snip3r (thank you, dear, this was super fun!)

Tagging @spiderkingtony and anyone else who actually read through and wanna do it.

[enamis1]

OC INTERVIEW

it’s that time again where I ramble about stuff only i care about! i got tagged, as always by the lovely @courierspikeee and i'm tagging @worthlesssix if they're still around and wanna do stuff 1. Choose an OC. 2. Answer them as that OC. 3. Tag 5 people to do the same.

[Three months after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam and the declaration of Vegas’s independance a young ‘news courier’ managed to orchestrate an interview with the local courier-turned-leader on the casino floor of the Lucky 38]

1. What is your name? Viva. Or Empress Vivianne if you wanna be fancy.

2. How old are you? [she rubs the back of her head] somewhere in the ‘thirty’ ballpark I’m guessing 

3. What do you look like? You have eyes don’t you? And yes the white hair is natural. No, I don’t really know why it’s like that. Apparently it’s some genetic condition. 

4. Where are you from? Where do you live now? I'm from the West. I've been told. [pause] Maybe. But as far as anyone’s concerned I might as well be a native Mojave-ian. Won't be leaving Vegas or, hell, even the Lucky 38 anytime soon.

5. What was your childhood like? I’m sure it was fine. I mean, I have no memory of it, but I’m sure it was /fine/ 

6. What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? [she groans] As you can imagine politics are a bit uhh… tense at the moment, what with me kicking the NCR out of my city and all. Our current alliance consists of the Families, the Kings, Freesiders, the Boomers, and the Followers. Once we get our issues here sorted I'm extending my hand to all the independent settlements in the area and we’ll go from there

7. Tell me about your best friend. Which one exactly? ‘Cuz I have a few. Oh, I know, I can tell you about this guy [she points over her shoulder to a securitron with a static smiley on its screen] This is Yes Man, he’s my second in command. [the robot raises a clawed hand and gives a cheerful ‘howdy’] It's not that i couldn't manage coordinating a brand new, independent nation by myself, but he does make all the busywork and number running and security that much easier. And he yells at me if I forget to eat or sleep for a few nights [Viva proceeds to glare at the robot, its smile unchanging]

8. Do you have a family? Tell me about them!  [Viva glances away for a moment] My friends are my family. [pause] and even if we don't get along entirely, that's just how it is. I wouldn't trade any of those fuckwits for the world.

9. What about a partner or partners?  [she gives a single loud laugh] Do I look like I have time for shit like that? Especially now of all times?

10. Who are your enemies, and why?  I’d hazard a guess and say at this point everyone who’s not my explicit ally [Viva drums her fingers for a moment] Of course the NCR is going to pretend to be nice for now, but politics is like chess. Complex, and annoying and I hate it. Give me a year and i’ll be begging for the Legion and their blunt insanity

11. Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them?  Oh I’ve heard of them alright. [she grumbles under her breath] Good people. Bad priorities though. 

12. What about The Enclave? [shrug] no comment 

13. How do you feel about Super Mutants?  What you mean the ones up north? They're great and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I mean, yeah sure they're pretty scary to be around, especially if the nightkin get antsy, but they're decent people. Marcus is… Marcus is a good man.

14. What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? I… [she trails off, thinking] There was… /is/ a man. Who knew me from before. Long before. He challenged me to face him in a grave of ash and… I consider the three weeks it took to track him though the pits of hell as one very, very long and very exhausting fight. [she pauses again] That and all the verbal sparring along the way. And… everything after, too. 

15. Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? I mean… I've shot Deathclaws. And they're about as pants-shittingly terrifying as they've always been. But that's what the .50 cal is for

16. Do you like fighting? [she grins] I like shooting, I’ll tell you that much 

17. What’s your weapon of choice? [Viva holds up her finger to pause and proceeds to heft up an Anti-material Rifle. It’s new with a faint silvery sheen, and only a little scuffed from use, the Gun Runners logo still visible on the side. It is custom made, with every possible attachment, some parts are black carbon fiber. There are three bands of color around the stock and several engravings including six letters -CALBVR] [Viva is gleefully beaming as she wordlessly shows off the gun] 

18. How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) You don't get to where I am without a bit of everything. But you could say my speciality is shooting, robotics, and outplaying people in the games they weave. [she tilts her head back and hums] Back when I was still just a mailman i knew how to hide in plain sight. Saved my life more often than not. That and brass knuckles. Very effective. Anything mechanical is child’s play too. Can't figure out how to cook geko without burning it though, so all the money I saved on gear i spent on food. [she rubs the back of her head and mutters through her teeth] and bandages. so. many. bandages. I swear the world really wants me dead and is having better luck at it than I am

19. Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them?  Plenty ‘round these parts. Can't say I'm fond of lurking around /in/ them but… Marvels of tech those things, shame most of them failed. There's actually one or two I want to strip for parts in the future. If I can get the wildlife out beforehand that is. 

20. How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you?  Radiation and I have a… complicated relationship. [she turns to the securitron and mutters something with a slight smirk. Suddenly the lights of the bottom floor wink out. Viva faces forward once more, her already unnaturally green eyes now glowing with a faint, sickly light. The lights flick on just as suddenly with a loud clack and the woman giggles] Honestly if I don't end up as a ghoul by the end of my life I will be /very/ surprised

21. What’s your favorite wasteland critter?  Do… Do the robots count? Because I'm going with the robots anyway.

22. What’s your least favorite wasteland critter?  I’d say it starts with death and ends with claw, but that's not right. At least with those fuckers I know where to aim, no, first place goes to cazadores, the best reason for carrying around a shotgun. 

23. How do you feel about robots? [she gestures to the dozens of securitrons surrounding them with a wide grin] Bliss, home, paradise and then some. 

24. How many caps do you have on you right now? I mean- [she rummages in her pockets] I don't have my bag with me. 23. I can't fit more into these pockets they're too full of specialty ammo.

25. Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla?  Nuka. I fucking hate Sarsaparilla and I know it's blasphemy in these parts, but listen, if you're dehydrated and all you have to drink is that mind-meltingly awful shit i'm looking for the nearest cactus to suck on

26. Do you do chems?  Uh. [she rubs her neck and nervously bounces her leg] I mean. Mentats are uh. Pretty… pretty great. [she bites her lip] Next question?

27. Do you ever think about the Pre-War world?  It fascinates me. What a life they lead to have created tech of this calibre [she gestures to the casino once more] I keep on finding parts of the old world that shine though, all the good, all the awful, all the same, always there. [she thinks for a moment] Like the past isn't as distant as people want to believe. But maybe that's just me… I've had more run-ins with old world ghosts that you’d believe. And I don't mean my previous employer either.

28. What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently?  [her expression darkens] [after a minute of silence she shakes her head] Can't change what was done. No point dwelling. 

29. What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? [she exchanges a look with the smiling securitron] Right now? We’re in step four. There's a lot of steps to go. [exhale] And every single step takes more effort than anyone realizes. Because a lot of people don't think. Don't think about food, don't think about water, don't think about safety, don't think about business, don't think about what's next. I have to. And it's hard yaknow? But I've done more than I could ever imagine. I dethroned House, I defeated the Legion, I defanged the NCR. That’s more than most can say…

30. What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? [she sinks into her seat] I didn't do all of this because I thought it’d be fun. [her expression darkens to a cold seriousness] Vegas is something else. Vegas and the Mojave. Everything that's happened here is that much more important than anyone realizes. This place is a crossing point. A bridge. Between the West and the East. And bridges can't belong to either side. I need to make sure it stays that way. I need to make sure this place, everyone who put their faith in me, /my/ people are safe. Are fed. Are… Vegas has to prosper as it stands and everything else’ll be sorted out in time. That's what I want. The Mojave to thrive. And so help me I haven't walked through storms of fire and death to let all of this fall apart. [she raises her eyes, a haunting look with a smile] So tell everyone who’s gonna be listening - I have the shadow of a nation behind me. I won't waste it this time.