[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

[capcious]

[Fuck you and fuck your thinking too much like her. She scowls.] It's -- [It's nothing. Except it's not. Even if he was about to let this go, she wouldn't be able to say that Shaun dying is nothing. She bares her teeth for a second before deciding the fight isn't worth it.] We're fucking standing around down here while Shaun -- [... and yet, it's still too hard to say. It isn't that she chokes on it, she just. Can't say it. (She chokes on it.)]

[timesbureaucrat]

[Damn. This isn't a problem he can solve. He's not a physician and he's god-awful at sympathy.]

We aren't just standing around; you're building a grenade.

[He gestures to it with a roll of his wrist.]

[capcious]

It won't fucking help him. [Zetta resists the urge to rake her fingers through her hair. Instead, she curls them into a tight fist on the table.] When we found out -- We swore we were gonna find some fucking way to -- [To save him. God, she can't even say that.] But then this fucking happened, [she gestures at her arm with a sharp motion, undoing the motion of restraint she just made,] and we're fucking stuck dealing with this -- bullshit. Ferran and I should be up there figuring this shit out while Riley and Deacon are dicking around with the Brotherhood. [Instead, she's forced to stay down here, being absolutely fucking useless to keep her son alive. Riley and Deacon are doing their parts, and doubly so, since they're also trying to persuade the scientists about synths at the same time. And Ferran is doing his own new development of being Shaun's successor. But she? She has -- She has fucking nothing.]

[timesbureaucrat]

You were going to cure cancer with your right arm?

Look, the Institute has access to the most advanced technology in the Commonwealth. If Dr. Volkert couldn't cure him, there's nothing on the surface that will. Not here, at least. Perhaps old Baltimore. There was a medical research facility there.

[capcious]

If Ayo didn't fuck my arm up, I'd be able to fucking leave. I'd be able to fucking do something. [Her teeth are showing again.] There's a -- [God, how does she even refer to Curie?] There's someone we know who spent the better part of two hundred fucking years working in a lab trying to make a cure for literally everything. And she did it. If we got her down here, her and her notes, got her access to the resources here --

[timesbureaucrat]

In that case, tell SRB who and where she is and they'll bring her here. You can delegate, you know.

[capcious]

I don't trust SRB with half a shit. Do you even know what their usual mode of operation is like? If we sent SRB up there to get her, it'd be such a fucking nightmare. [Not to mention that she's a synth now. And a synth in the body of the person who helped Glory escape. There's no way that wouldn't absolutely fucking explode, but she can't explain that to him here and now, in public.]

[timesbureaucrat]

All right, then have Mr. Reynolds and the mongrel fetch her. The missions with the Brotherhood can wait a day or two.

[capcious]

[Tick. Tick. And the... what? Zetta feels her entire world screech to a halt. It's just for a second, but to her, it feels like that second stretches on for ten minutes. And then her expression darkens thunderously. She charges the short distance remaining between her and Nathan and grabs him by the front of his coat, hand fisting roughly in the fabric by his throat, specifically to pull it tight and nearly choke him.] You wanna try that again? [she snarls.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[Nathan instinctively grabs hold of Zetta's wrist, like she's an assailant he has to defend himself against. But he pulls short of fighting back.]

I didn't realize you had such strong feelings about the Brotherhood missions. [His voice is tight and constricted.]

[capcious]

[Is he not aware of what he said? Was that seriously just a slip? Does he really call Deacon that so often -- She bares her teeth and doesn't let him go yet.] You want me to send Riley and who?

[timesbureaucrat]

Riley and the Railroad agent. [He tugs lightly at her wrist. It really would be nice to be able to breath properly.]

[capcious]

That's not what you fucking said, [she growls, voice deep and low.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[He thinks back to the exact words....

...oh.]

...

...uh...

...

No, it wasn't.

[capcious]

[Zetta finally lets him go, giving him a small push as she does. She glares at him, all venom with a touch of betrayal. She thinks about the threats she could say (if you ever call him that again), but as fucking pissed as she is, she's reluctant to put voice to them. She's pretty sure he gets the picture, anyway. Instead, she hisses,] He fucking went up there to save your ass, you piece of -- [Don't finish that, Zetta.] Get your fucking act together.

[timesbureaucrat]

[He staggers back a step as Zetta lets him go.]

I suspect he did that for you rather than for me.

[Nathan can't deny that the mong- ...the Railroad agent is devoted to her.]

[capcious]

Does it fucking matter? He still did it. And he chose to go.

[timesbureaucrat]

All right. Yes. He's undoubtedly a better man than I am.

[Even if his DNA is probably snarled as yarn in a cat pen and he looks like he hasn't washed his clothes in six months.]

[capcious]

He's fucking better than any of us, except probably Riley. And if it weren't for him -- [God knows what she'd be right now. But they've talked about that a couple times now. Loosely, but still. And she's not going to directly refer to it in public. Once again, the main words at the tip of her tongue are threats. Don't ever talk about him like that again. If I ever hear you say that shit again... She closes her mouth hard enough the clack of her teeth is audible.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[And Nathan's urge is to snark. Say something like "Is it really a high bar, considering the present company?" But this isn't a game now. Zetta is furious.

He runs his fingers through his hair, causing his curls to stand on end.]

I'm a pretentious ass with a superiority complex.

But you're right. It was uncalled for. And I doubt my genes are as pure as they used to be either.

[capcious]

[Her hackles start to lower. He's acknowledging he fucked up, instead of digging his heels in. Good. But she's not done with him.] You need to come to terms with the fact that your genes don't mean shit. And neither do anyone else's.

[timesbureaucrat]

[His eyes shift down.]

Our genes make us human. At what point do we become something else? Take super mutants for example.

[capcious]

I don't do philosophical shit like this, but I'm pretty sure what makes us human is whatever souls are. [... thanks, Zetta.]

[timesbureaucrat]

So FEV removes souls while it distorts genes?

[capcious]

[Zetta throws her hands -- ... hand in the air. (Her slinged arm flaps due to her reflex.)] I don't fucking know. [She tried. She doesn't know why she tried. She's going to blame Deacon and Riley.] Whether or not someone's lost their humanity is based on decisions and actions. There are a shitload of people Pre-War I'd say stopped being human way before the bombs dropped. [... and Ferran would be on some Pre-War people's lists, for what he did for his job.]