[closed] the only constant is change

[capcious]

Who: the Fallout AU crew
Setting: the Commonwealth
Summary: BoS things, institute things
Warnings: Fallout warnings, smut
Other: [original notes] [first post] [second post] [third post] [fourth post] [fifth post] [sixth post] [seventh post] [eighth post]

- minor timeskip to when the BoS has its feet under it again, shaun asks riley to go up and keep an eye on them and deacon goes with
- they get assigned to a BoS squad composed of AU versions of chancellery guards (paladin archimedes o'hallan, knight-captain anthony norris, lancer-sargeant alex reyes, knight riley reynolds, knight everett wynter, knight henry "hal" saller, aspirant 'jack' "deacon" 'priest')
- maybe some minor quests involving getting to know them, gotta get some solid Bonding going
- sarrith (sarah, secret enclave remnant) and sal's romeo and juliet romance
- that one quest where you get the nukes from the glowing sea for the BoS
- wynter's mistake and gradual ghoulification and the position it puts the squad in
- blind betrayal

- shaun announces ferran officially as his successor
- ferran dealing with the short institute quests that result from that
- shaun discovering ferran's a slut and trying to talk to him about it
- zetta freaking out bc they're spending all this time waiting for her to recover and dealing with the BoS, and not having the time to try to figure out a way to save shaun
- zetta, in general, driving shaun slowly up the wall because she's cooped up and needs to be kept occupied or else Bad Things Start Happening, why is this shaun's life, this was not what he was expecting at all
- ferran going on missions with x6-88 / house divided, warwick
- nathan and zay's one night stand with ferran becoming not a one night stand any more
- at some point we need to have nathan call deacon a mongrel to his face so zetta can go positively nuclear
- zay finding out nathan is taking buffout

- build towards the railroad and institute being on better terms (not *stable*, but they need to be in a position where they're willing to make an alliance at the battle for bunker hill and afterwards to take the BoS down)
- probably need to do a meeting with dez and carrington, bc jfc (and ferran being the next director makes it easier to make negotiations on the institute's behalf though shaun probably doesnt fully trust him with that wrt the railroad yet, shaun needs to see ferran make decisions that benefit the institute OVER the railroad for that)

- mass fusion happens before battle for bunker hill, lighting a fire under the brotherhood's ass (still use it as the faction cut-off point?)
- at the battle, brotherhood wins -- keeping them a legitimate threat and serving as the push for the institute and railroad to work together against them

[image] [lyrics]

well, oh, it seems you're a lot like me
you dug yourself into places you never thought you would be
but don't you fret, and don't you mind
the only constant is change,
and you never know what you'll find

yeah, tomorrow i might wake up nice and clean
and i might believe the things i said i didn't mean
and this might turn and wind up just the way we'd dreamed
and i might become the things i swore i'd always be

Comments

[inhonorof]

Punning around her is taking a serious risk to your health.

[ersatzeverything]

Pretty sure she programs her machine gun turrets to fire on anyone who puns.

[inhonorof]

And if she hasn't, you'd better not say that anywhere near her. She doesn't need the idea.

[gallifreynpcs]

She's clearly a smart woman of good taste. [O'Hallan declares.]

[inhonorof]

[Riley can't help it, he laughs.] I'd drink to that.

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon grins. If only O'Hallan knew.... But all he says is:]

I dunno. I think her view on puns is super unreasonable.

[inhonorof]

That's because you're short enough to be in her reach, [Riley teases.]

[ersatzeverything]

Goddamn tall people and your...tallness.

[Alex reaches over and offers a fistbump to Deacon. Deacon solemnly accepts. Alex is still taller than Deacon, but hanging around the soldier giants, being under six foot makes you the runt of the litter.]

[inhonorof]

[Riley smooths his hand over Deacon's hand and kisses his temple, still smiling.]

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon playfully knocks Riley's leg with his knee.]

It's okay, I'm still planning on keeping you around. How else would I reach stuff on high shelves?

[inhonorof]

[His expression softens at the edges and he rubs his hand up and down Deacon's side.] I dunno. Sit on Zetta's shoulders?

[ersatzeverything]

[A surprised laugh bursts out of him.]

Okay, yeah, I could do that. So what do I keep you around for?

[inhonorof]

[Shyness creeps into Riley's face, even though he keeps his tone teasing.] Why would I know? Isn't that something you're supposed to know?

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon puts on a show of thinking it through, tapping his finger on his lips, stroking his chin. And then, index finger raised--eureka!]

I keep you around because you look super hot with a laser musket. Like, seriously fine.

Plus, you appreciate my puns and knock-knock jokes. So hot and bad taste. How did I get this lucky? Oh right, must be the bad taste.

[inhonorof]

[The shyness doesn't entirely retreat, but it does fade somewhat.] I dunno, I fail to see how it's bad taste, [he teases.]

[gallifreynpcs]

[Alex kicks a small rock in their general direction.]

Fucking hell you two, get a trailer already.

[Hal's forehead wrinkles.]

They're not that bad.

They're rubbing it in that the rest of us are single.

O'Hallan's not single

[inhonorof]

[Alex should never know just how many people are in their relationship. But Hal's response catches Riley off-guard.] Really? Uh, I mean... Not to be nosy, or anything...

[gallifreynpcs]

Married. Twenty-three years.

[inhonorof]

[Two years longer than Riley and Zetta.] Congratulations, [he smiles.]

[gallifreynpcs]

Hmph.

[That's O'Hallan's entire response.]

[inhonorof]

[If Riley isn't careful, he's going to slide into reminescing. They'd celebrated their 21st anniversary not long before the bombs fell. And Ferran really went all out for their 20th... ... god, Riley loves them. ... and... he's really -- He's really glad people still manage to have marriages this long in the wasteland, with all the dangers... Of all the things to tie a buoy onto Riley's mood.]

[ersatzeverything]

Wow. That's...

[That's close to the number of years he and Barbara would have been married if things had been different. Weird, how the idea of Brotherhood soldiers having long and stable marriages just didn't enter his mind. Even though the little squires obviously come from somewhere. It's just easier for him to think of them as a security problem that needs solving if he doesn't think about them as people. It's a shitty thing to do, and he's a shitty person for doing it, but it's the only way the Railroad stays alive.]

Jesus, was the Brotherhood even in the Capitol then?

[O'Hallan snorts.]

We'd been in the Capitol for ten years by then. We arrived in '55.

[inhonorof]

Arrived? Where is the Brotherhood originally from? [He'd thought it was the Capitol.]

[gallifreynpcs]

California. We left in 2254. It took us a year to cross the continent and arrive in D.C.

[inhonorof]

Did you fly then, too? [He can't imagine it would've been easy to cross that much land in a year otherwise, not with the state of the midwest being what it supposedly is -- and even if it isn't, being the state of the wasteland in general.]