[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]

So get your head out of your damn ass. [She's helping. Really.]

[bostoncrossing]

Charming, as usual. [Carrington sneers.]

But you've got nothing to worry about. Under the circumstances, I have little choice but to let Deacon's lies go unchallenged. You've all but blackmailed me.

[capcious]

[Zetta's hackles start to go up.] No, we fucking haven't. We just said we weren't gonna tell them. And it's not like we've gone out of our way to ferret out your past to hold it over you.

[bostoncrossing]

[Carrington deflates, his shoulders sagging.]

Then...you aren't disturbed by it? By me?

[capcious]

[Zetta is surprised by how fast the fight went out of him. But then, she finds herself thinking of Deacon and Nathan simultaneously, and maybe she's not so surprised after all.] I meant what I said. You've put yourself on the line for a better cause, and you've stayed there. That says enough. [She folds her arms over her chest and doesn't say the other thing she's thinking: Besides, it's not like I haven't lost the fight against Nathan on the whole "being friends" thing.]

[bostoncrossing]

[There are other things Carrington wants to ask if she thinks are acceptable, but he already knows her answer to them simply by knowing the company that she keeps. He doesn't need (or want) to tangle his own personal issues into this. She's an agent, not his damned confessor.]

Then I'll trust in the bond of our devotion to common goals, regardless of what we may think of each other personally.

[capcious]

The way you said that is making my skin crawl. Christ. You realize just because someone pisses me the fuck off sometimes, it doesn't mean I hate them, right? [Why are you so surprised, Zetta?]

[bostoncrossing]

...

I thought that was exactly what it meant.

[capcious]

[Zetta sighs, aggravated, and looks to Deacon incredulously.]

[ersatzeverything]

Nah, Zetta yells at lots of people.

Uh...doesn't usually punch people, so you reached a special level of pissed off there.

But, hey, you don't murder innocent people or anything so, yeah, we're good. Even if you're kind of an asshole.

[capcious]

I yell at everyone. I think the only person I haven't yelled at is Riley. [Although that only applies to pissed off yelling. It's not like she's never raised her voice at Riley, but usually he has to work to earn it, unlike everyone else.] And I punched you because I fucking warned you to back off multiple times and you kept pushing it. [Warned in Zetta-ese, anyway.] You piss me off because you treat Deacon like shit and then turn around and claim to fucking respect him. And I'm not talking about the, [she changes her tone to mimic Carrington's for the 'quote,'] "oh he lies all the time" bullshit, I remember one of the first things you did when I met you was assume he didn't do his fucking job. You always assume the fucking worst of him, and then, on top of that, you decided to drag out the shit he'd been through in front of everyone to try and win an argument and wouldn't back off. Yeah, I was gonna fucking hit you. You deserved it. [Whoops, she's still mad about that, apparently. Focus.] But being an asshole isn't enough to make me hate you. [But Deacon sticking up for him whenever she's raving about him has helped, and more than she's considered. Usually, people can't get away with stepping on the people closest to her without her hating them.]

[bostoncrossing]

Well then, I suppose just as you yell at everyone, I snipe at everyone. I'd tell you that I'm under a great deal of stress recently, but I dare say we all are.

[And his attitude is only one-quarter stress related. The other three-quarters is just a well honed thorniness to keep people at a distance. Like spines on a cactus.]

[capcious]

Uh, yeah. That's not an excuse for ignoring the fucking lines drawn. I don't yell at Riley because I know his fucking history with it, and unless he invites it, any yelling at him is across the line. Doesn't matter how pissed I am with what's going on with Shaun or the Brotherhood or whatever else, that's where the fucking line is and I know better. And when someone starts drawing those lines, I pay fucking attention. I get it. Obviously, I fucking get it. But jesus christ, dude, you don't get to be surprised when someone comes to slam you back across the line, or play the victim when you think someone's taken exception to your attitude.

[bostoncrossing]

...

Are you quite sure you don't hate me? Because I'm receiving distinctly mixed signals.

[capcious]

[Zetta pinches the bridge of her nose.] I'm allowed to be pissed at someone all the time without hating them. Jesus christ. [That's not how normal people work, Zetta.]

[bostoncrossing]

Interesting. I'm curious now who you do hate.

[capcious]

The son of a bitch who I watched take my son out of the vault. [She can't say "the son of a bitch who killed Riley" any more, because their story maintains that it was a double who died, not actually Riley.] The son of a bitch who -- [Tried to assassinate her son and cost her her arm? Yeah, she can't say that either. Instead, she has to cut herself off and just say,] Ayo. The shithead who kidnapped Kent during the whole Shroud bit. [All people they've killed. And:] My mother and Riley's grandfather.

[bostoncrossing]

Dare I ask whether your mother and Riley's grandfather survived to see the Great War? Or did they meet an untimely end much earlier than that.

[Considering what happened to the other people on that list, Carrington thinks this is a valid question.]

[capcious]

I sure as fuck hope his grandfather didn't. If he did, I'll find a time machine and go back and strangle him myself. [She's not answering the question about her mother. Too close. He has no way of knowing that, though, and she has no way of drawing that line, so she's going to avoid it altogether.]

[reformedcriminal]

We didn't personally murder him, however.

[Ferran clarifies.

Not that he hadn't considered it sometimes.]

[capcious]

He's lucky I couldn't get to him once I was old enough to do real damage.

[bostoncrossing]

So as long as you aren't trying to kill me, I can assume I'm not hated. By you, at least.

[capcious]

People I hate stop being a problem real fast. [She sounds so proud.]

[bostoncrossing]

Well.

I suppose that's why Deacon recruited you.

[It's a good quality for a Railroad heavy to have.]

[capcious]

[... god, but she has no idea why he really did. Part of her doesn't care -- It doesn't matter what he thought when he did it, it's led them here, and here and now is what matters. But part of her... Right now, part of her wonders. What did he expect to happen? Why did he take such a massive risk? But what she replies with is,] It sure as fuck makes us effective. [And now she's going to swerve for a topic change.] What are we going to tell Dez about this new, [she makes a loose gesture with her wrist,] development? Not you, but the rest of them.