[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]

[Listen, Carrington, this is Zetta coping right now. Let her cope.] Yeah, but then we'd have to deal with the lawsuits. Is it really worth it?

[ersatzeverything]

You're right. Better tell the Captain preemptively to keep the crazy kids out of the street.

[capcious]

It'd definitely save a lot of time. Not to mention, someone's poor car. It didn't do anything to anyone.

[bostoncrossing]

Might I remind you that there aren't any functioning cars in the Commonwealth so the entire issue is moot?

How are things progressing with the Institute?

[Please let's get back on topic, agents.]

[capcious]

[Make her. Except mentioning the situation with the Institute is unfortunately always a really good way to put a damper on Zetta's mood. So... it works. Dammit.] Slowly. But they're going. Shaun's gotten kind of over-protective of me, but it hasn't exactly made him listen to me any better. He's really taken a shine to Ferran and Riley, but he's been pretty preoccupied with the Brotherhood situation lately. [... Zetta is realizing she doesn't know exactly how much Deacon has relayed back to them. Carrington knows that Deacon's been returning to the Institute, has been allowed to, and that's an obvious secret, but what about the rest of it? The fact that Shaun came to the surface is also a secret -- she knows that. But does that mean she shouldn't mention her injury and the way it grounded her, too? Shit. She should've asked Deacon about this before they came here.]

[falloutpslnpcs]

What are you three up to?

[The Institue being focused on the Brotherhood and not on them is good news. And Deacon had told her that the Institute would no longer be targeting safehouses, although he didn't get into specifics.

Now was the time to get those specifics.]

[capcious]

[Shit. Zetta resists the urge to shift.] Shaun has Riley running undercover with the Brotherhood and Ferran running surface missions on the Institute's behalf with a courser. So far, though, that's pretty much amounted to delivering experimental seeds to a farm and keeping their synth from getting lynched, so nothing noteworthy there yet. Lately, I've been too busy dealing with this Enclave shit to make headway with Shaun. [Not the full truth, but even if she was sure she could safely talk about her injury, she wouldn't want to admit that Shaun wrapped her in bubblewrap and wouldn't let her out of it.] Riley's the one who got him to agree to let up off of safehouses.

[falloutpslnpcs]

I don't like being kept out of the loop like this. I trust Deacon so I've given you a lot of leeway, but I'm still trying to plan operations for our agents here and don't like feeling like I'm half blind.

[capcious]

[... Zetta caves a little. Dez mentions other agents like that and it fucking gets to her. It kind of pisses her off.] There isn't much for you to work into your everyday plans. Be fucking careful around Warwick, and I'm sure you already know the Brotherhood's set up camp at Fiddler's Green and Fort Hagen. But other than that, there hasn't been much that'll affect other ops. We'd report anything immediately critical. And for the record, we only found out about Warwick yesterday, so don't give me shit about that. Listen, a lot of what we're doing is pretty well contained in the Institute. Trying to change the way people think about synths, playing the political games, whatever. So us not telling you shit doesn't mean you're "half blind." A lot of it's fucking baby steps and other incremental bullshit that won't make any difference until we actually get end results. [She hopes she hasn't slipped. She hopes that last bit will help explain the lack of intel -- and it's even mostly true, which will help with the things they're actively choosing not to tell them.]

[falloutpslnpcs]

[Dez isn't happy with that answer. She isn't happy with a lot of this. There are ops being considered that she hasn't told them about, not even Deacon. Especially not Deacon, since he's been in and out of the Institute so much. Ever since he was first captured, he's been different. She tried to shrug it off as trauma, but it's getting harder to overlook. He's always been secretive, but this is the first time that Dez has had the feeling that he's hiding something important from her and won't even tell her that he's doing it.

And if she can't trust Deacon, that means she can't trust his pre-War assets either.]

That's really not good enough. There's no point in having spies in our enemy's base of operations if they aren't going to report what's going on down there. Whatever political games are happening at the Institute could affect decisions made up here.

[capcious]

[Zetta's hackles start to go up.] Yeah, because "Filmore won't stop going on about the fucking handbook and Zellweger is about to shove it up his ass to make him shut up" is super relevant to surface ops. Or how about "Loken is being a bitch about not being picked to be the next Director again"?

[falloutpslnpcs]

Yes, knowing the personalities and schisms happening in the Institute could be useful.

[Deacon replied.]

Ehhh, it's not really schisms. Just petty workplace bickering. You know, like me and Carrington.

[Dez's suspicion grows. Why doesn't he want her to know the details on what they're doing in the Institute?]

[capcious]

There's division slapfights about funding and project assignments and other bullshit like that. If we're not reporting on it, it's because it doesn't fucking affect you guys. We told you when we got the head of SRB kicked out. We told you about that shit at Libertalia. We just told you about Warwick.

[falloutpslnpcs]

When it comes to the Institute everything is important.

[Carrington taps on Dez's shoulder and jerks his head to the side, indicating a desire to pull her away for something he doesn't want to say in front of the agents.]

[capcious]

[Well, this oughta be good. Zetta glances at Deacon, expression dour.]

[ersatzeverything]

[Carrington and Dez whisper in the corner.

After a few seconds, Deacon starts humming the Jeopardy theme song.]

[capcious]

[Zetta lets herself shift closer to him, since Dez and Carrington are occupied. She murmurs to him,] This is fucking stupid. What is this, the princple's office?

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon stops humming.]

Mom and Dad are deciding how long to revoke our TV privileges.

[capcious]

Like that'd stop us. This one's easy. We sneak out at night and watch it at a friend's house.

[falloutpslnpcs]

[Dez and Carrington's conference ends and Dez returns to them.]

Deacon, I'm sorry to have to do this, but effective immediately, you're banned from HQ and all safehouses. When I'm sure I can trust you, you'll be let back in.

[capcious]

[Zetta doesn't even miss a beat; there's no stunned silence, only an instant flare-up.] Are you fucking serious?

[falloutpslnpcs]

Serious as a deathclaw. Operations are too delicate right now and there are too many irregularities. You can continue your work and provide information at dead drop, but must have no contact with other Railroad personnel.

[capcious]

[Zetta flings her hands in the air. Jesus fucking christ. After everything he does for them, the way he puts himself on the line -- She has the fucking balls to say she doesn't trust he has the Railroad's best interest at heart? What the fuck did Carrington say to her? Zetta's eyes dart to him, narrowed in a hot, focused glare, like a laser rifle.]

[ersatzeverything]

[Carrington raised his eyebrows slightly, completely unperturbed by her fury.

Deacon shifts so he's standing between Zetta and the others. He doesn't really think she'll lunge at them, but you never know.]

Hey, it's okay. I'm the one always advocating for paranoia, yeah? After I'm gone, change HQ, and I'll stay out of your hair as long as you need.

I told you he was clear. [Carrington said to Dez.]

[capcious]

[... hang the fuck on.] Wait, what? [She still has the urge to grab on to Deacon protectively, and now that she's confused, the urge is stronger.]