[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

[timesbureaucrat]

Until you know our particular skills and talents, I wouldn't expect you to have a strategy on how to best use them.

[Nathan trusts Zetta not to order him to do anything he wouldn't be willing to do.]

I'm rather certain that all of us would be happy to serve as a thorn in the Brotherhood's side in any capacity, however.

[capcious]

Yeah, but leading them on a wild goose chase sounds exactly like the kind of risk we shouldn't ask you guys to take. Like, shit, it'd be useful, but it'd be a stupid reason for someone to get hurt or killed.

[timesbureaucrat]

We're no strangers to risky missions. Your concern is appreciated, but so long as you give us the authority to refuse missions that we deem unacceptably reckless, I see no issue with you asking.

The whole point of having an elite team is to have them do the difficult and dangerous missions that others can't.

[capcious]

[Zetta smears her hand down her face, then sighs.] Well -- Yeah, no shit, we wouldn't be trying to force you guys to do anything. [That's the only thing she can comfortably answer. This still doesn't sit right with her.]

[bostoncrossing]

That would certainly be a change from the old days. [Carrington says, bitterly. The Enclave didn't allow for conscientious objectors or refusal of orders.]

[capcious]

Yeah, well, obviously, you know my feelings about totalitarian bullshit.

[falloutpslnpcs]

I'm willing to risk my life for something worthwhile, but fighting for your safety isn't very motivating. Why should we join up with you instead of jumping on a caravan out of the Commonwealth and never coming back?

[Louis is interested but not yet convinced.

Regan, however, stiffens at the thought of running away again.]

[capcious]

Did you miss the part where we're trying to secure the Commonwealth's safety in order to secure our own? Which means it'd be your safety too? [... she should probably consider shutting back up soon.]

[falloutpslnpcs]

I understand that. But...well...running is easier. And certainly safer.

[Regan can't stand it.] I'm not going to run from those self-important boyscouts.

[inhonorof]

Not everyone is suited for a life on the road, too. I don't think you can run forever. Even if we kick the Brotherhood out of the Commonwealth, that won't stop them from trying to expand elsewhere instead.

[timesbureaucrat]

I'm not ruling out strategic retreat as a last resort, but I don't believe it should be our first choice.

You're free to disagree of course, but if you leave the Commonwealth now you'll likely leave alone.

[crowspy]

This is gonna sound weird coming from me, of all people, but I gotta agree. [Coming from Bellamy, who always errs on the side of caution, who, despite all appearances, doesn't like to jump until he knows which way the wind's blowing and everything that's passing under him when he does it. Louis would know that better than any of the others here, maybe even John and Sara. Bellamy's spent the most time with them since the move from Adams, but he's worked with Louis.] Running when it's that or die? That's one thing. But if we bail at every first sign of Brotherhood, we'll be back out on a tanker on the west coast before you know it, just waiting to get blown back up.

[timesbureaucrat]

Precisely. It's clear that the Brotherhood is not going to stop until somebody stops them. And the longer that takes, the more difficult it will be and the more powerful the Brotherhood will become.

On both practical and moral grounds, I believe we need to be a part of that fight.

[They can't leave something this important to their future survival in someone else's hands.]

[capcious]

So what're you gonna do? You seem to be the only one who wants to book it. For now, anyway.

[falloutpslnpcs]

I'll stay. I'm not going to leave my...my colleagues.

[He takes Regan's hand, subtly, as if he hopes that no one but Regan will notice. Regan equally subtly pulls him a little closer to her.]

[capcious]

[Yeah, she's not surprised. She doubted he'd take off on his own when his wife wasn't willing to go with him. Who the hell would?] Who's next?

[falloutpslnpcs]

[John speaks up next.]

Would you assist in supplying us if we worked for you? The shotgun and leathers are good enough to protect the fields, but if I'm going up against Brotherhood paladins I'm going to need something with more mass-times-acceleration.

[capcious]

Yeah, I think we can help with that. I've got random stashes of shit in different settlements from when we were staying there to build them. And even without that, we've got enough connections to be able to get you guys shit that'll do better at keeping you alive.

[falloutpslnpcs]

Who else is going to fight the Brotherhood? Because right now it's been looking like the Railroad and the Institute are hiding in their holes and the Minutemen are turning the other way when Brotherhood patrols come requisitioning at the settlements. [Regan asks.]

[capcious]

[Riley shifts guiltily.] The Railroad aren't soldiers, and I don't know why anyone would expect them to be. They're already fighting the Institute, and the Brotherhood would probably try to stamp them out if given the opportunity, but this isn't the war they chose to enter. If they decided to join in, it'd be best to treat them more like an intelligence agency than a branch of a military. The Institute has been working on gathering information to act on. They haven't been picking fights with the Brotherhood because, frankly, it's not worth kicking the giant bear hellbent on sniffing you out in the ass if you aren't doing it with a tactical nuke. ... and, alright, we've been distracted and haven't been taking the time to properly build up the Minutemen. [And listening to Deacon maybe a little too much.] But we've been fucking busy, alright? We can only juggle so much at once, even with four of us. [... wait, maybe she wasn't supposed to be officially counting Deacon in that. But, fuck it, it's the truth.] You try playing politics with the Institute and try to talk them out of trying to wipe out the Railroad while also trying to infiltrate the Brotherhood.

[falloutpslnpcs]

[There's silence following that.]

We're going to die. [Louis drops into the void.

Carrington rolls his eyes at the melodrama.]

No, it just means that we should be focusing on sabotage and guerrilla tactics and not an open battle. We don't have an army and our strategy shouldn't involve pretending we have one. This isn't going to be like the last war against the Brotherhood.

[capcious]

I don't know why any of you walked into this thinking we had an army. I'm pretty sure if we did, the entire Commonwealth would've known about it by now.

[ersatzeverything]

It doesn't take an army to be a serious pain in the ass.

You would know. [Carrington snarks.]

You bet I do.

[capcious]

You wanted to know our plan, and that's fucking it. [Which is part of why she's been terrified of the idea of a group of people choosing to follow them. When it's their necks they're responsible for, that's one thing. But this...?] Like -- fuck. From the start, our only option was to try and pull strings where we can, because mounting a full-on military response has never been an option. We're used to looking at it as just the four of us trying to tackle all this shit, because these are the resources we have. And I don't see any reason why we'd need to change that outlook just because you guys get on board. So we'd go from four to -- seven? Eight? Nine? [She doesn't know how to count Carrington and Nathan, who are already working with them, and Zellweger, who mostly just seems to be along for the ride.] That's doubling our number, but that's still not enough of a boost to require a change to larger scale tactics.

[timesbureaucrat]

Those of us who were Secret Service are used to working under tactics like this. They can be devastating enough when implemented well.

[Nathan looks to the three infantry soldiers to explain.]

Just think of how much trouble one nineteen-year-old vault child caused us in D.C. Just because we can't meet the Brotherhood head on doesn't mean we can't defeat them.