WAH

[capcious]

Who: WAH
Setting: WAH
Summary: WAH
Warnings: WAH
Other: WAH

WAH

Comments

[ersatzeverything]

[He yelps and laughs and pulls away to escape the wet fingers in his ear.

Zetta's definitely feeling better now. Eye-rolling instead of glaring daggers at the world.]

Okay, okay, I surrender.

[capcious]

Good.

[And this seems like a good time to kiss him, so she's going to do that now. She snakes her arm around his waist to prevent him from escaping too far away, leaning in with obvious intent.]

[reformedcriminal]

[He stops trying to escape--really wasn't that eager to move too far away anyway--and leans down to meet her kiss.

Ferran leans up against Riley and drawls.]

And for his next trick, Deacon will calm an angry albino deathclaw.

[safeshot]

[Riley laughs, arm settling loosely across Ferran's back.]

No kidding. We need to figure out how to do this. It'd save us a lot of time next time she decides to undo all my hard work three times in one conversation.

[Still in the kiss, Zetta rolls her eyes.]

[reformedcriminal]

[Ferran nuzzles Riley's jaw as he watches Zetta and Deacon kiss. Fuck, they're hot like that. But he can't let himself get too distracted.]

She does have a remarkable ability to sabotage attempts at mediation. Last time it was useful, however. I gleaned a great deal of information about Dr. Lone from his responses.

[safeshot]

[Riley's eyes lull briefly at the nuzzle.]

Yeah? What all did you pick up on?

[reformedcriminal]

I suspect that he used to be a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. Scientific training could have come from a Vault, but scientific and military training isn't exactly common. I can only think of one organization where a person can feasibly acquire both.

[safeshot]

He said the Brotherhood killed his family, though. What do you think happened?

[reformedcriminal]

Perhaps he violated their rules. Perhaps he married a ghoul. I can't guess what might have happened specifically, but I think that somehow he was cast from their society.

Feeling abused and betrayed by an organization one was a part of can produce intense vitriol.

[safeshot]

Yeah... I think you might be on to something. And he did say he knows more about the Brotherhood than most.

I wish I could say I was surprised that he wants to wipe them out, but... Honestly, it's not like Zetta wouldn't do the same.

[reformedcriminal]

I can vouch for the fact that Zetta would stop at nothing to destroy anyone who hurt you.

[There was not much left of Kellogg after Zetta's grenade.]

[safeshot]

[That... answers a question Riley hasn't been sure he's wanted to ask. He nods silently. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he kisses Ferran's cheek, knowing what thought is in their heads now.]

[reformedcriminal]

[Ferran smiles softly at Riley and brushes his hand over Riley's cheek. He loves him so much. How did they manage without him.]

[capcious]

[When they stop talking, Zetta finally lets her kiss with Deacon taper off. She tops it off with another, much more brief kiss, and leaves one of her arms up over his neck. She leans back to pick up the conversation where it was left off, to fully explain what they were talking about for Deacon.]

Lone pulled us aside and asked us if we'd infiltrate the Brotherhood for him. Him, not the Institute. He wants revenge on them, and he made it very clear he'll fucking do it with or without us. We ended up agreeing. We're going up there sooner or later anyway, let's be fucking honest, so we may as well take advantage of whatever knowledge he claims to have.

She says "we," but she means "me." She was pissed, and every time she spoke up, he'd end up taking back the request.

[ersatzeverything]

I always wanted to try on a Brotherhood of Steel uniform. They're pretty hot. It's a shame they're racist assholes.

Do you think we can trust Lone?

[capcious]

[Zetta sighs heavily. Before she answers, she combs through her thought process to make sure there isn't any kind of bias filtering in.]

I don't think he's fucking with us. If he is, he's playing some long game and he's got an inhuman capability of pulling it off. It's just looking more and more far-fetched that he's playing us. The simplest answer is that he's been straight with us.

[ersatzeverything]

So basically he's got his own agenda, but he's been honest about it. Works for me. Hell, that describes half the members of the Railroad.

[The ones that aren't in it because they believe in Freedom and synth rights; they're in it to pursue a personal grudge against the Institute. Deacon's careful with those. They can be loose cannons. But they're super useful, too. The Railroad would be seriously lacking in manpower without them.]

[capcious]

I think it might be possible to convince him to defect from the Institute, if it came down to it. All he really seems to care about is getting back at the Brotherhood. I mean, christ, he's cocky enough to think he could handle coursers if they came after him.

[She's watching Deacon's reaction closely. She really wants to know if he thinks this would be a good idea or not.]

[ersatzeverything]

What, has he got some super-secret courser-be-gone spray? 'Cause that'd be handy.

[Deacon is cautious about the idea. He isn't going to dismiss it out of hand, but it's risky and whatever the Railroad could gain from it would have to be worth the risk.]

[capcious]

He thinks knowing how their guns work would be enough. [Zetta rolls her eyes.] I almost told him how fucking deadly they are with their bare goddamn hands.

And before you start lecturing, I said almost.

[ersatzeverything]

I know how laser guns work, too. Someone points them at you and a beam of light shoots out and then you're dead.

What else has he got?

[capcious]

He wasn't exactly forthcoming with what he knew. Probably playing the angle of "if I share the information you won't have any reason to come back" or something. All we know is that he claimed to know the Brotherhood better than anyone in the area.

[They probably should've pushed that to find out more. But Zetta was too busy lowkey having a meltdown and Riley just didn't think of it, wouldn't have.]

[ersatzeverything]

I can't blame a guy for being cagey. Okay, we should follow up on this.

[He's still not ready to give his opinion on whether they should make a serious push to try to get Lone to defect, but he's giving his approval on further pursuing the possibility.]

Are Institute scientists allowed to leave the Institute? Like, do field work or anything? Do they stay down there all the time by choice or is it a rule?

[capcious]

Kellogg said it wasn't common for scientists to go to the surface. [A pause, as Zetta's mouth twists a little.] When I was in his head in the Memory Den.

And Lone's job is to head the S9 project, so I have no idea how we'll be able to bullshit something to sneak him up to the surface. But I'm sure we could think of something if it's what we need.

[ersatzeverything]

It's not something we need, but I wouldn't mind checking him out sometime. In the totally non-sexy, assessing a possible asset kind of way. But we've got other priorities first. Like Mercer.

[He steps away from Zetta and paces around the bowling alley, looking from her to Ferran and Riley and back again.]

I don't know how long you guys have been travelling to get here. We need to pitch camp or are we heading out?