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There are some ancient threads containing the original version of mine.

It started from a conversation about who we saw our Sole Survivors as.

I sat down and this fell out of my head:

Civil Affairs
by Wetrats

Chapter One: Cold Case

Do you really want to know my story Miss Wright?
It ain’t pretty.
I hope you’ve got a lot of paper.
And a lot of booze.


---

I suppose I should start with a proper introduction.
Major Jonas H. Coolwater, US Army, Retired.
Civil Affairs Division.

Civil Affairs.
There didn't turn out to be much civility in Alaska, did there?
Not that the Canadian Pacification Program was particularly civil, either, but at least I got to do the job I was trained for.
Alaska went tits-up fast.
I was there when the ye---... when the Chinese invaded. R&R at a little hunting camp/brothel about 100 miles inland from Anchorage.
80-odd officers from 40-odd units, none of us below Major, and 100 or so support staff and another 100 or so ... hostesses.
General Fontaine was convinced that after 33 years riding a succession of ever-larger desks his moment had finally come and did his best to organize us into a behind-the-lines resistance and sabotage cell.


His best wasn't very good.


There were only twenty-seven of us left by the time we hooked up with the survivors of the commando team.
Their mission was spectacularly FUBARed, and they were every bit as cut off from support as we were, but Genius Jonas here decided that we could salvage their mission.

And we did.

In a fashion.

Because by then I had discovered I had a gift for violence.
And ruthlessness.
I could make sacrifices and still face myself in the mirror when I shaved.
So I made some sacrifices.
The goo-- the Chinese lost their supply dump, and I slunk back to the camp with three remaining commandos and two Trixies.

The High Brass was really pleased with me at first.
There were medals, press conferences, even a photo with the President.
Then someone dug up Col. Tillerman's journals, and they learned what happened to Fontaine.
Having made me a hero, they could hardly turn around and prosecute me, so they had me diagnosed with severe battle fatigue and sent me to Parsons for "treatment."


Parsons was not fun. I'll just leave it at that.
But Alaska didn't break me, so neither did that place.
I'm not sure how she found out about me, but some hotshot young lawyer took up my case and got me released with a clean record.
Then I found out what her fee was.
Turned out she was knocked up and needed to get married in a hurry if her hopes for a political career were gonna survive.

So we settled down in Sanctuary Hills, and pretended to be a happy little family.

I was almost able to fool myself that I was actually happy.
Sometimes for weeks at a time.
Then the anger would build up to the point I needed to hurt someone.
I didn't love Nora, but I was grateful to her, so I kept things away from the neighborhood, despite how much I would have loved to kick the crap out of that kid across the street.
I'd usually go somewhere in Southie to cut loose. Play drunk at some dive, wait 'til somebody tried to roll me, then take them out.
I'm not sure how long I'd have gotten away with it, but somebody pushed the big red button and I became the coldest cold case ever.


And that was supposed to be it.
I had explained how the character had the knowledge and skills to pull of the amazing things they do.
And I had come up with a reason why chasing down Shaun was not a priority.

But Jonas wouldn't shut up.

He wanted to finish his interview with "Miss Wright."

So I wrote some more.
And that was supposed to be it.
Interview concluded. Story over.

Turns out Jonas really enjoyed talking with ... OK, to Piper.
So I wrote Pryvate Occurrences, which ended with Jonas heading into the Institute.

I didn't want to write Jonas telling that story to Piper.
So that was it.

Then I realized Jonas could talk to anybody, not just Piper.
So I wrote Father Knows Best.
Which concluded the story.

Except for a little epilogue which almost immediately insisted I write it.

Then I was really done.

Really.

I meant it.

But a little throwaway comment stuck in my head.
So I wrote what I called a "sidebar."

Hah.

Several more sidebars appeared.
I experimented with different voices, different styles.
I even flipped the original script and wrote Piper talking to Jonas.

But Jonas really loved the sound of his own voice.
So I wrote more.

Finally I burned out on Fallout 4, Sim Settlements, and the Northbridge saga.
And I had a problem with my eye that made reading painful.

Until the other week, when I finally figured how to address the Parsons Problem.

And then I popped into the forum after a long absence and saw a comment from @RayBo about me.

And here we are.

Not unlike Major Coolwater, I enjoy talking about myself, and would love to discuss his story, my story, and all y'all's stories.
(Yes, I am from the South and yes, I have been known to call someone Darlin' on occasion. I hope that's OK.)
 
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Joined. Thanks.

My story, though, is pre-SS2, so I'm not sure I pass the Rule #5 test.
 
Alright. Finally took the time to sit down and read your lil spiel @WetRats. Major Coolwater seems like a very interesting character with a lot of nuance! You especially see that with him correcting himself with racial slurs--which totally makes sense given American Military Culture during The War.

If we're doing blurbs about our Sole Survivors, I guess I can go next.

Carmen Sheppard. My darling trash child. My problematic fave.
She's been living rent free in my mind for...gosh, almost 10 years now. Basically since the game came out. She's gone through a couple iterations, but I think she's pretty solidified at this point.

Half the fun of my fic is piecing together her backstory, so I don't want to spoil that here. But she's er...complicated.
Probably my favorite description someone has used for her is

"She's a self-destructive mess lol I was just like "girl, no, why?" While reading some of it."
and
"It feels like if she actually got happiness, she wouldn't even know what to do with it and burn it to the ground by doing something stupid."

Was quite worried putting her out there because I was worried people wouldn't be able to see past the toxicity. Was so glad to be proven wrong.

So, who is she? First impressions of Carmen Sheppard upon meeting her is that's she's exceptionally charming/charismatic, perceptive, and intelligent. She's generally agreeable and pleasant. But spend enough time with her, and the mask will start to slip. You'll notice her moodiness, temper, naivety, passive-aggression, and stubbornness. Practically allergic to conflict and quick to go on the defensive. She's flighty. She's vain. And she's manipulative as fuck.

But!


She's got a big heart and generally wants to do right by people. And she's tenacious, if nothing else.

Picture, because why not! :D
20211216025352_1.jpg
 
Alright. Finally took the time to sit down and read your lil spiel @WetRats. Major Coolwater seems like a very interesting character with a lot of nuance! You especially see that with him correcting himself with racial slurs--which totally makes sense given American Military Culture during The War.
I'm glad to hear that you see the nuance. Jonas is an unreliable narrator.

In the beginning, with the interview, there is an enormous element of performance to his story. He is doing a bunch of things at the same time.

The primary thing he wants out of Piper's story is to sell people on joining his settlement. He is selling himself as an absolute badass. He wants the right people to seek his protection and his vision. He also wants to scare the shit out of the "bad guys."

At the same time, he can't help but call attention to his character flaws, because as manipulative as he can be, he knows who he is. And at this point in the story, he is only starting to become a decent person.

He is completely entranced by his own cleverness, and is really enjoying spinning his yarn.

He is also laying the groundwork for getting in Piper's pants. Partially because she's cute as hell, but mostly because he can see how much fun, how much of a challenge she can be to deal with. She's smart, and he thinks she might be able to stand up to the force of his personality instead of just becoming an extension of his will as most of the folks he's encountered so far have. Yes, he is a LOT more experienced than her, and he can see where her buttons are, but he's only stroking them, not pressing them.

In "Pryvate Occurrences," there is much less performance in his interactions with Piper. You see much more of who he really is, although he never really forgets that she has an audience, and through her, so does he.

And then in "Father Knows Best," we see him in major (heh) manipulation mode as he tailors his performance for each of the different people and groups in the Institute.

It's really not until the epilogue that you seem as the man he wants to be.

The extra stuff I wrote after the epilogue shows a lot more of his journey from the force of nature he's trying to be at the beginning, to the genuinely kind man he eventually manages to become.

(Dammit, I should have been in bed an hour ago.)
 
So, who is she? First impressions of Carmen Sheppard upon meeting her is that's she's exceptionally charming/charismatic, perceptive, and intelligent. She's generally agreeable and pleasant. But spend enough time with her, and the mask will start to slip. You'll notice her moodiness, temper, naivety, passive-aggression, and stubbornness. Practically allergic to conflict and quick to go on the defensive. She's flighty. She's vain. And she's manipulative as fuck.
Oh. Yeah. I definitely went through that journey.

I was initially completely infatuated with and charmed by her.

That never went away, BUT...

I've been through that with so many "real" people. I completely believe in her existence.
 
I was initially completely infatuated with and charmed by her.

That never went away, BUT...
oh loooord you're making me blush :blush she grows on ya, doesn't she? like a friggin leech.
 
@WetRats, I absolutely LOVE the world building there. As someone who’s been coming up with her own in-character excuses not to care about Shaun lately, you’ve got a brilliant one, and the dive into the lore re: Alaska was fascinating.

@veelynnlove , after reading Darlin’ for so long, I finally know what Carmen looks like! I love how complicated she is.

(As far as sharing Soles…I’ll post later today when I’ve got screenshots on my home PC and aren’t doing this on mobile, but I’ve got two to share. Because I completely borked my caravan network, got too impatient to fix it, started a new playthrough and figured hey! Might as well do the Jake romance twice!)
 
@WetRats, I absolutely LOVE the world building there. As someone who’s been coming up with her own in-character excuses not to care about Shaun lately, you’ve got a brilliant one, and the dive into the lore re: Alaska was fascinating.
If you follow the link in my sig, there is SO MUCH more worldbuilding.

Oh, yeah, THANK YOU!
 
@WetRatsAs someone who’s been coming up with her own in-character excuses not to care about Shaun lately, you’ve got a brilliant one
Here’s what I need you to understand: Shaun was less than a year old. Pre-verbal. No object permanence. I’ll explain that term later, don’t distract me right now. He was taken at least a year ago, probably longer. He’s not my child. Hell, he’s not Nora’s child anymore. Whoever the hell took him, if he’s alive, THEY are his parents. He won’t know me. He won’t remember his mother. Nora’s Shaun died when she did. Whoever he is now, presuming they kept him alive, is the person they are raising him to be. I cannot fix that. If I were to swoop in and claim him, I would be the fucking kidnapping monster. Trying to make him my son at this point would be a pointless act of pettiness and vanity.
 
oh loooord you're making me blush :blush she grows on ya, doesn't she? like a friggin leech.
BTW: My heart is already pre-breaking for her anticipating when she meets Shaun.

Maybe, if there's any mercy in your cruel writer's heart*, she will be able to at least forgive herself for all the delays in searching for him.

* That is a compliment, for the record.
 
BTW: My heart is already pre-breaking for her anticipating when she meets Shaun.

Maybe, if there's any mercy in your cruel writer's heart*, she will be able to at least forgive herself for all the delays in searching for him.

* That is a compliment, for the record.
Carmen? Forgive herself? LOOOOOOL nah she carries her guilt to the grave like a Real Man (TM)
 
I think my raider boss story could be written up here.
 
I will admit that I've long had some level of wanting to do a "write my own playthrough as a fanfic" type deal myself. But with where my head's at these days, it'd be... a very experimental, painfully meta "does the fourth wall even exist" thing, and I don't know if my writing skill is up to the task. I should never have 100%'d Undertale.
 
I will admit that I've long had some level of wanting to do a "write my own playthrough as a fanfic" type deal myself. But with where my head's at these days, it'd be... a very experimental, painfully meta "does the fourth wall even exist" thing, and I don't know if my writing skill is up to the task. I should never have 100%'d Undertale.
Dooooooo itttttttttttt.
 
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