[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

[ersatzeverything]

I trust you, so if you trust him we're good.

[He remembers how Zetta started out, doing things for Deacon before developing a righteous passion for synth rights on her own.

Yeah, he can see why Zetta and Lone are friends.]

[capcious]

[Zetta reaches to take Deacon's hand and thread her fingers with his. Something in her chest still always stirs when he says that. She doesn't know how to address it, though, so she doesn't, and just kind of keeps talking.] Zellweger is more of an unknown, but it's pretty clear he's wrapped around Nathan's little finger.

[ersatzeverything]

Yeah, he even came up to the big bad surface for him. Sort of. An underground kind of surface. But someplace that was totally not the Institute.

[He holds Zetta's hand and rubs his thumb along her knuckles.]

You good about having a personal special ops team under your sole command?

[capcious]

[She exhales slowly.] I... I don't know. I mean, fuck, I dodged Preston because I didn't want to be in charge of anything.

[ersatzeverything]

Better you than somebody else. I mean, could you imagine what would happen if, like, Covenant got a hold of them? And Lone's gonna take care of the details. All you've gotta do is point them in a direction and give them a set of morals to borrow.

[capcious]

That... christ. [Zetta shudders at the thought.] Yeah -- That's the only reason why I'm not totally freaking out about it. As far as my end goes, it's literally going to be strategizing with Nathan and letting him tell his people what to do. But... Doesn't mean my skin isn't crawling.

[ersatzeverything]

Hey, at least they aren't calling you "Colonel Reynolds" or something.

[capcious]

I'm pretty sure I'd have to punch them the moment one of them did.

[ersatzeverything]

Go for Carrington. He's had practice.

I mean, you didn't specifically say that you'd punch the exact one who called you that.

[capcious]

[She snickers.] No, I didn't. And he wouldn't see it coming, so it'd be so freakin' worth it.

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon squeezes Zetta's hand.]

That's how you know that you're gonna do great. Carrington and I agreed that you should do this. And when me and Carrington agree about something you know it's 100% a thing.

[capcious]

Is that how it works? I figured it'd be the kind of thing where, like, I check to make sure nobody got replaced by an infiltrator or something.

[ersatzeverything]

Okay, yeah, when we agree you should probably do that first. But then. If we're still really both us, then you know it's the real deal.

[Although for all his mocking of Carrington, they agree on strategy more often than they disagree. It's just everything else where they clash.]

[capcious]

Weirdly enough, I'd suspect Carrington of being replaced sooner than I would you. You, I keep an eye on regularly. Not to mention Shaun knows I'd go nuclear if SRB touches you ever again. [She squeezes his hand, seemingly playfully, but it's a little tight for it to be only that.]

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon grins.]

And that right there is the only reason I'm okay coming down here.

[capcious]

[... christ. Fuck. It feels like her entire chest is being squeezed by the force of the emotion that seizes her. The fact that he puts that much trust in her -- Zetta cups his jaw with her free hand and rushes in to kiss him. It's the only response she can consider right now.]