[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

[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.]

[gallifreynpcs]

We didn't get any flight technology until we defeated the Enclave in D.C. in 2277. It was all overland. And it was hell.

[inhonorof]

Wow. I would've thought it'd take longer to cross the country the way it is now.

[ersatzeverything]

We were well armed.

Man, it's like reverse Oregon Trail. Only California, and not Oregon. And also probably less dysentery.

[inhonorof]

[That catches Riley's attention, and he can't help but ask.] Have you played it?

[ersatzeverything]

Sure. [No.]

When I was seven, I was, like, constantly chilling in the RobCo service center playing holovid games on the old terminals.

[inhonorof]

[Riley still hasn't caught on to that age as a cue that he's lying.] I never did ever actually beat it.

[ersatzeverything]

Me neither. I did way better on my actual trip to Oregon.

[inhonorof]

[At least he catches on to this one. He starts to grin.] Well, I'd certainly hope so.

[ersatzeverything]

So, O'Hallan's been with the Brotherhood since, like, the first Maxson. What's the story of the rest of you guys?

[The opening is there to find out what motivates them all, to assess why they're loyal to the Brotherhood and how deep that loyalty runs.]

[inhonorof]

[Riley settles back a bit, resting his chin on Deacon's shoulder.]

[gallifreynpcs]

[Hal jumps to answer first.]

I was born in the Capitol. Just a couple of months after Elder Maxson. It's weird sometimes. We were in classes together as kids but now he's the leader of the Brotherhood.

[inhonorof]

[It'd be like going to high school with the guy who ends up president of the United States.] I don't blame you.

[gallifreynpcs]

We were friends a long time ago. Before...everything. [Before the Brotherhood vanquished the Enclave. Before his father was killed by Outcasts. Before Elder Lyons died. Before Arthur became Elder Maxson. Everything was different then.]

[inhonorof]

[At that, Riley's expression softens.] I'm sorry.

[gallifreynpcs]

Don't be. The Brotherhood's never been stronger. [And his father sacrificed his life for the Brotherhood so the sacrifice of one childhood friendship is just a little thing in comparison.]