Augury

☽ Ghoulcy ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ss/hg | reylo | sansan | spuffy ⋆⁺₊⋆ Art Historian | Swamp Witch | Lore Fiend Enemies-to-Lovers Safe Space

[scarringstars]

"I'm you, sweetie. You just give it a little time." — FALLOUT (2024-)

[auguryintheether]

Insights from the 2.01 script that stood out to me:

Cooper tempting Lucy by appealing to her curiosity, just as Moldaver did in 1.08. I love the characterization of Lucy as being insatiably curious and what that will mean for her relationship with Cooper going forward as well as how she navigates the wasteland. I just know Lucy has A MILLION questions for Cooper and she won't be able to leave well enough alone. She has to go after him and won't be satisfied until she gets what she wants.

"...but this is still Lucy, so she has to try to find a peaceful path forward."

Lucy's moral resilience and steadfastness in who she is, despite the cruelty around her.

Cooper's flashbacks are set three years before the bombs drop. That's very interesting for the timeline. A lot can happen in three years... (also a little continuity issue with Janey being shown as a similar age in both the flashbacks and in the cold open of 1.01 when the bombs drop—she should have been older.)

[The Ghoul] "RECOGNIZING THE OBJECT"

Apparently Cooper recognizes the black boxes?! And is "putting it together." Therefore, it would seem he knows about the experiments, likely because of House. Or maybe from Barb? I'm interested to see this play out in the next season.

[auguryintheether]

🗣️ GHOULCY HUG 🗣️

[auguryintheether]

"If I died suddenly, I'd let you guys plan my funeral." @agir1ukn0w

The funeral in question:

[auguryintheether]

Regarding the use of indirect foreshadowing re: ghoulcy

We know the writers love to tease us with not-so-covert instances of indirect foreshadowing, such as:

When Ma June says to Lucy: "[...] I can tell by looking at you, clean hair, nice teeth, and all ten fingers. Must be nice. " → And then Lucy proceeds to loose a finger.

While on set for The Man from Deadhorse, Emil says to Cooper: "The audience Coop, they already know you're a good man. They wanna see that even a good man as yourself can be driven too far. [...] It's a new kind of western, the power of the individual when the chips are down, [...] 'cause out here, it's just you, your gun, and your personal code bringing order to the wild wild west." → Literally foreshadowing Cooper's own trauma, descent into chaos, and moral journey.

Cooper discussing the power armor design flaws with Bud Askins → later using those design flaws to take out an entire company of BoS knights.

Max selling his own teeth for money → later getting shot with teeth.

While Lucy and Wilzig flee Filly, the chicken fucker calls out "[...] serums for pain, foot-healing serums! Serums that will make you grow an entire new foot... maybe." → Thaddeus literally heals/regenerates his foot with his serums.

So, with this writing and production style in mind

When characters say very pointed things and the art direction is done very consciously to include certain elements, which otherwise do not affect the plot and could have been omitted entirely, it is clear that these things were included for a reason and serve a larger function in the narrative. They were a choice. Otherwise, why include them at all? For example:

Norm speculating that Lucy's future husband will be a cannibal full of tumors → narrative proceeds to introduce Cooper and make a plot point showcasing that he is an irradiated cannibal. HELLLOOOOO!!

Cooper reminiscing with Roger about missing ice cream and apple pie → Lucy's track in Ramin Djawadi's score is titled "Ice Cream and Apple Pie"

In scenes of Barb, such as in Barb's office, during a shot of Barb in the Howard home, and during the diode exchange scene, the posters for Cooper's movies Under the Covers and The Revenge of Brutus are featured prominently in the background. Under the Covers is a detective noir, which notoriously feature femme fatale characters and double-cross betrayals by the female love interest. Revenge of Brutus implies Marcus Brutus, who betrayed Julius Caesar and orchestrated his assassination → Barb is repeatedly situated in relation to the these symbols, foreshadowing her double-cross, deception, and betrayal.

In multiple shots of Lucy and Cooper in the wasteland, the background features love themed graffiti such as hearts and "I love you"

In the scene of Cooper sewing Lucy's finger onto his hand, the stitches form a heart as the thread is pulled taught. I'm fairly confident the threads are comped in, so this was a choice that someone intentionally animated. (also a ghoulcy fan favorite lmao)

Roger looking at Lucy and saying to Cooper, "You got a smoothie of your own." GET YOUR GIRL COOP

The overseer of Vault 4 calling Lucy, "Goosey" MacLean → is, as we all know, a portmanteau for Lucy and the Ghoul (and is also just a cute play on the loosey-goosey idiom, of course).

These are just a few examples of ghoulcy foreshadowing 💙💀💛☢️🪿

[coopyhoward]

"Well, the past is the past. Ain't that right?" Fallout (2024—) 2.04

[avadcniels]

WALTON GOGGINS as COOPER HOWARD in FALLOUT "THE INNOVATOR"

[writebythecside]

WAIT A SECOND

LUCY'S YELLOW DRESS OF FAMILY BETRAYAL/DECEPTION HAS SIMILAR LEAVES ON IT

[coopyhoward]

"The Other Player" Fallout (2024—) 2.06

[coopyhoward]

Eh, it'll buff out. Fallout (2024—) 2.06

[no-bucket-required]

New here as of this week, came across “You better keep it on your mind” - obsessed Glad to have found it later so I wouldn’t be tortured between every chapter, as I will be for the next week. Well written, amazing chemistry but I can’t help but wonder the ghouls side - whats on his mind through it all.

Wow thank you so much! I’m so excited to finally get some mail about my story.

Without spoiling too much, as a lot will be revealed in the final chapter, I think he’s doing what he always does, pushing the reality of his feelings away and acting on impulse. Cooper doesn’t understand what he feels for Lucy or why he feels that way, all he knows is that he has this overwhelming desire to be near her.

He’s spent 200 years chasing closure and drowning his feelings in drugs and spite. I think Lucy makes him feel something new that uncomfortable but fascinating. Much like how he’s characterized in the show he’s curious about how she will react to him, to the wasteland and just like he needs to know what happened to his family, he needs to see what will become of her.

I think he also gets off on this corruption, like he doesn’t have to confront the reality of how he’s changed if he can make Lucy like him, but there’s a cognitive dissonance there, because he also has this desire to protect her. That’s why this new game where he realizes she may be sexually attracted to him is so addictive, it’s a way for him to explore the complex feeling she has for her without having to understand them, he can just get release. He justifies it to himself that it’s a game, and he can deny the real underlying feelings— until he can’t, until he realizes the consequences of being so involved with her

When Lucy grinds on his knee after the fight in chapter 3 (lol I felt so psychotic writing that) the shock she sees in him is the realization that she actually is attracted to him, that it’s not in his head. It makes it real, it makes it not a game anymore. He’s in a bit of a horny shock, cuz this girl he’s been sexually and emotionally obsessed with on a deep subconscious level now undeniably is returning this feeling, so he’s being overwhelmed by all these desires surfacing to his conscious mind.

Then there’s Max. I don’t think my Cooper genuinely has any ill will towards him, he’s just an obstacle to what he wants. He forced Cooper to acknowledge that he’s deeply possessive of Lucy, that he got used to having her all to himself and now he’s not the center of her world he can’t stand it. In putting Max down and coming between him and Lucy, Cooper is doing 3 things— he’s projecting his own self hatred onto Max the part of him that feels weak for loving Lucy, and he gets to feel like he wins, that he’s right about love, and he gets Lucy to himself, but he can justify these things by thinking he knows what’s best. In this case he is right, Lucy and Max aren’t good for each other, but that fact isn’t as important to him as he thinks it is.

The question is, why does he keep coming back for Lucy? he’s tried to walk away twice now— and that I cannot yet reveal :3

I hope that isn’t too rambly! Please feel free to ask any other questions or follow ups and I’ll see yall Friday for the final episode ❤️

[auguryintheether]

If I had a nickel for every time a Type A history teacher saved a gunslinging ex-soldier from being hanged with her questionable negotiating skills during an enemies-to-lovers roadtrip in search of a mysterious city... I'd have two nickels.

[whereareyourightnow]

FALLOUT - The Strip

[auguryintheether]

I feel like Lucy's first kill of a li ing person would've been more satisfying if it was with the Legion instead of with some random thief.

I totally agree. But I can understand why the writers did what they did—the thief at the store (even though he was threatening her) felt almost needless, like it was a stupid, avoidable situation. So, I can see that the emotional impact of killing that man hits Lucy differently because it felt more like a pointless killing, and in her mind it likens her to Cooper, seemingly killing without discretion. Killing someone in a totally avoidable situation would morally disrupt Lucy so much more than killing in the heat of a battle when her life is on line—that, she could reason away a lot more easily than killing the man in the store.

So, while I do still wish we got to see a fierce Lucy defending herself and facing the harsh reality of survival during a fight, I think the moral implications of killing the thief are a heavier weight for Lucy to bear and cause more internal distress. It is more of an existential crisis for Lucy that leaves her asking, "who am I?" and is an action she can't so easily justify.

[breckstonevailskier]

It'd have been nice if we got to see Lucy work through that existential crisis once she got back to the Wrangler. Like, instead of going straight into Cooper betraying her to her dad, she gets to bring up what happened at Sonny's, and he helps her through this. It can be juxtaposed against a pre-War flashback of Cooper having to kill a Chinese soldier pretending to surrender only to try pulling a gun on him. The betrayal can then happen in a later scene.

Or maybe have the whole thing at Sonny's happen before Lucy gets caught by the Legion. They encounter a Legion patrol somewhere in the Mojave. These Legionaries see Lucy and think she looks like potential breeding stock. Lucy tries to talk their way out, but it fails, and one of the Legion goons shoots Cooper, seriously wounding him. Lucy goes for her gun and kills the patrol. (This admittedly would cause the hospital to play out differently if Lucy already knew of the Legion by that point.)

Or retool Novac a bit, and have Lucy outright shoot the Khan leader in the head before she shoots Cooper's noose, and only after the dust settles does she realize she killed the guy because he told his guys to kill Dogmeat. Then as Cooper is tipping his hat to her, there can be one last Khan she has to headshot because he's distracted. This gives her an internal conflict, which is worsened by her and Cooper discovering the man that Hank kidnapped to Vault 24 to brainwash.

[auguryintheether]

@breckstonevailskier I am honestly SUPER disappointed that A.) we didn't get to see more of a Wrangler hotel room scene, and B.) that we didn't really get any slow, campfire type scenes of Lucy and Coop just talking, opening up a bit, just to contextualize their changing and developing relationship. Then, to your point, a scene of them having a deep conversation at the Wrangler would have been very satisfying.

[vaultbunnie]

big big hug 🫂

[auguryintheether]

2x02: What do you think would differ if Cooper took the time to explain to Lucy what the Legion were in a...

The Ghoul: “Tunics. [to the woman] You awful far west, ain’t you?” Lucy: “Ignore him. I got one stimpak left, okay?” The Ghoul: “That would be a profound misallocation of resources. Folks in them outfits don’t deserve savin’.” Lucy: “What are you talking about? These people are hurt. Everyone deserves savin'.” The Ghoul: “Not these people, vaultie. These are members of Caesar's Legion. Helping them would be the stupidest thing you can do." Lucy: "And why's that?" The Ghoul: "They’re the brainchild of a man with delusions of grandeur trying to bring Ancient Rome to the Wasteland. If you’re not with them, and especially if you wear the colors of the New California Republic, you’re someone they want to conquer and enslave. And don't get me started on what they do to women, especially ones of your age.”

...type way?

That's such an interesting question! If Cooper had bothered to explain to Lucy about the nature of the Legion, I truly believe:

1.) She would of course trust his word and accept it as the truth. The Lucy we know in 2.02 has a grudging trust in the Ghoul—he's never lied to her and is brutally honest, even to the point of being cruel. She has no reason to doubt what he tells her, even if she disagrees with his cynicism and methods.

2.) Lucy is an example of lawful good. While she has begun questioning her beliefs, what is right and wrong, and her conception of the world (understanding that she had been manipulated all her life), she still retains her core morality and righteous altruism. I believe that, despite learning that the Legion are slavers and abusers, Lucy couldn't let someone suffer and die if she had the means to help them. She believes in seeking justice and holding people accountable. She would help them and then attempt to bring them to fair justice afterward.

So, assuming events play out the same with the radscorpion attack and Coop still gets injured, I think Lucy would still give the woman the stimpack, regardless of her knowing the truth of the Legion. And then I can imagine Lucy stubbornly attempting to infiltrate the Legion camp without Coop to free the enslaved people, because she can't NOT help, but of course she'd be at a quandary as to how to do that without killing anyone, since at the time of 2.02 she is still struggling with the concept of killing, even for survival. I see her making it to the Legion camp and sneaking around, managing to maybe free a few people before getting captured... And then we end up in the exact same place as we do in 2.03—Lucy captured and Coop showing up to save her. 😅

[breckstonevailskier]

@auguryintheether Yeah I do think based on the Super Duper Mart that Lucy would still want to free the slaves.

I think it's possible that she would still get captured by the Legion, but she'd maybe be a bit smarter in her dialogue with the Lacerta Legate. Instead of trying to pass a Speech check with them after seeing them behead the slave she returned, she says different things that lead the Legion to put her somewhere where she's still "free" enough in order to get her hands on some weapons. She tries to sneak out, using her gymnastics to move around, but she gets caught and is forced to fight her way out.

[auguryintheether]

@breckstonevailskier Yes I would have LOVED to have seen a resourceful Lucy able to free herself and start fighting her way out, but maybe be overcome by the sheer number of Legionaries, and Coop still came for her and finds her mid fight, and is just blown away. Like, "goddamn darlin'."

[breckstonevailskier]

@auguryintheether With Lucy mentioning fencing skills in her intro, I think that she could pick up a Legion machete, as that's close enough. 🤔

It could even be a role-reversal of Novac to a degree, with Cooper providing Lucy with cover and picking off some Legionaries to assist her in her escape.

[auguryintheether]

@breckstonevailskier Exactlyyyyyyy yes that would be so good. And I NEED a sparring scene with her and Coop pls pls pls 🙏

[auguryintheether]

I feel like Lucy's first kill of a li ing person would've been more satisfying if it was with the Legion instead of with some random thief.

I totally agree. But I can understand why the writers did what they did—the thief at the store (even though he was threatening her) felt almost needless, like it was a stupid, avoidable situation. So, I can see that the emotional impact of killing that man hits Lucy differently because it felt more like a pointless killing, and in her mind it likens her to Cooper, seemingly killing without discretion. Killing someone in a totally avoidable situation would morally disrupt Lucy so much more than killing in the heat of a battle when her life is on line—that, she could reason away a lot more easily than killing the man in the store.

So, while I do still wish we got to see a fierce Lucy defending herself and facing the harsh reality of survival during a fight, I think the moral implications of killing the thief are a heavier weight for Lucy to bear and cause more internal distress. It is more of an existential crisis for Lucy that leaves her asking, "who am I?" and is an action she can't so easily justify.

[victoryrifle]

FALLOUT : Season 2 Episode 1 “The Innovator”