never see me coming; she was a synth all along

Goes by the name 'DC' Fallout 4 OC, Mod is 21+ May be NSFW blog art by daisyloveletters mobile theme art by nevergetsbetter icon by bluehairedprotag

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion​:

“I’d like that a lot.” A giggle. “I haven’t been shopping in forever. And it’ll give me a really cute outfit for our next date.” Thank god she’d thought of something. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling having nothing at all to ask for would have been rude, even offensive. After all, this was a big part of how DC expressed affection, it seemed. She couldn’t quite do the same, but she’d give in her own way, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Thank you.” 

“Mmhmm.” DC accepted the affection and gave Darla’s shoulder a soft squeeze. “Did you want to go now? Or set a time for it? I can open up my schedule for you, sweetest.”

[chameleondc]

Do you think Darla is scared of you?

Oh, probably a little. She’s not stupid enough to not fear me at all.

[chameleondc]

What part of your job is your favourite?

The part where I’m better at it than anyone else could hope to be.

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion​:

Darla blanked for a moment. It had been a while since she’d thought of other sources of pleasure, of comfort, though her doctor had advised her to try. What the hell did she like? Her plants, but that wasn’t happening. Nice food, sometimes. Sex. And…

A little flush came to her cheeks, along with a sheepish grin. “… Um. Well, you know that sunflower sundress I have? I saw the cutest straw hat at Fallon’s the other day to match it, with a big black ribbon. That would be a nice treat.” It had been a while since she’d properly flirted, too, but she gave it her best shot with a wink.

A hat. That was all? DC could be insulted, if she chose. All these caps at Darla’s disposal via her girlfriend, and all she wanted was a hat. Well, she supposed if Darla had any ambition or avarice, she’d be more of a problem than she was now.

“We can get you your hat, sweetheart.” DC promised immediately, all smiles. “And anything else you happen to like when we go.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion​:

“I should be okay otherwise. I’m talking to a nice doctor, and just - y’know, waiting it out.” Her smile is a bit wane, but not totally false. “Just wait - I’ll be back to my old self in no time. Maybe we can get dinner or something. Thanks for understanding.” Relief is saturating her joints, making them go weak, but she tries not to show it. 

“No furniture? Treats? A security system or some cute twinkling lights? A vacation?” DC mused, smiling benignly. “You know, the things for living, not just survival, dear heart.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

She smiles a little wider, dragging a hand through her hair to push it back out of the way. “Thanks. I, um - “ No, no. No stammering, no hedging, no fucking tears. Does she hide it well, that she’s scared to ask? She sure needs a deep breath before she can work up the nerve to ask. “I wanted to ask if it’d be okay for me to take a break. From chem work, for maybe a few weeks? Just while I’m trying to - t’get better.” Her gaze flickered away at that. “I think most of your other chemists know my stuff, like the slasher and smooch. Could they take over for a while?”

Oh, poor Darla. Look at this mess of a synth. DC gives the gentlest smile her scarred-up face can muster. “Of course you can. We’ll see what we can do to pick up the slack. You take the time to get better you need.”

It would also be a good test to see how the operation ran without Darla. Certainly they’d take a hit, but new chemists could be trained. Better to know what she’s in for if she has to remove her girlfriend from the equation entirely, and suddenly. “Is there anything you need?”

[chameleondc]

"Hi, girlfriend." Darla's looking simultaneously better and run-down, giving a lopsided smile. "Can I ask you for a favour?"

“Of course, dear heart. I’d assumed from the start you’d ask for more than you have.” DC smiles, genially as possible for one with a scarred face.

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

Her eyes drifted shut at the kiss, a little flutter of pleasure echoing, reminding her why she’d been eager to be DC’s girlfriend in the first place. That, and her smarts. “Thank you, baby. It’s so amazing you can even do that. I thought the Railroad were the only ones who could mess around with chips like that, and even they didn’t think they could fix me without risking a total wipe. They didn’t really experiment, though.” She shrugged her bag back on. “I should probably get outta your hair. Um - do you want me to meet you somewhere, if I’m gonna stay nearby for a bit? If that’s cool?”

“Mmhmm. I can meet you wherever you like. I’m always a little busy, but let me know where and I’ll rearrange my schedule.” DC’s own boss could get cranky if she liked, but she had West, anyway, and keeping one of their suppliers happy was a good excuse. “Are you off to fetch some of your things, then?”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

“That would be great.” A weak smile. As much as it scared her, that was also where all this shit started, right? Besides, maybe they could find a way to preserve part of her ‘glitch’, let her be able to defend herself without the risk of fainting, without the need for psycho…

Without the ever-present threat of total meltdown. A deep breath, then she perked up, digging into her bag.

“Oh! I haven’t seen you in a bit, I almost forgot - “ Out came a little cloth bundle, smelling of metal, or blood. Maybe both. “From working. I’ve been checking, when I - do a job, to see if any raiders or anything are synths. I’ve found two, so far. Dunno if they’ll help, but…” She’d be happy to be rid of their chips, anyway. Even knowing they were raiders, that they’d earned their fate, holding that little piece of their selves felt gruesome. Not like the Courser chip. That, she felt no guilt over.

Oh, hmm. So Darla hadn’t forgotten. There was a little twinge of regret, there; hunting down a few synths would have felt good. Ah well. Less muss, less fuss.

“Thank you, sweetheart. Much easier than having to hunt some down myself.” She gave Darla a gentle kiss on the temple and then accepted the chips. Not as good as if they were attached to a living brain, of course, but a start. Maybe DC would have to get one herself, after all. “I’ll poke around in these and see what I can do for you, alright? Perhaps it’ll be easier on you than it was on me.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

She - hadn’t really thought of it that way. Darla nodded, listening intently as DC explained, holding back a little flinch on the word ‘free.’ “That’s - that’s really true. I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way. Before, everything belonged to someone else, and I hated it. But now I’ve been going too far the other direction.”

There was still a distinct twinge of fear, of mistrust in all of this. Yes, it all came with strings, but there were clear winners and losers, right? But even DC needed people. That message sunk in. She nodded, glancing down to her arm.

“… Thanks, DC. I’m gonna - I mean, I’ve got a little bit saved up, but I think if I’m gonna… clean up, I think I need to stop doing the jobs, at least for a while.” An instinctive inner snarl at that, buried best she could. “Maybe - maybe I could stay somewhere near you and do more work on your chems, instead?” Not that her products had ever stopped coming - through farming or merc jobs, she’d kept it up.

“Whatever you want, dear. I’m not going to tell you what you have to do.” DC could do so, if she wished. But it was better to let Darla sort it out at the moment. “But if you would like to do that, yes, that’s of course fine.

“And we can work a little more with that glitch, hmm? Once you’re a bit more evened out.” DC hadn’t sourced a regular synth to poke around in, and Darla hadn’t provided one, but that could always be remedied. She knew the location of a few that no one important would miss.

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

She knew she couldn’t explain it right. A little colour came to her cheeks, lips pursed tight as she glanced at DC, looking her over for a long moment. Her words came slowly, carefully measured.

“… But you don’t need anyone to give you that. You got all that on your own. That’s what I’ve been trying to do - to do it for myself. Not to have to rely on someone else. But…”

Her arms, crossed around her, fell now to her sides. “… Maybe I just can’t. Or shouldn’t. Would that be easier?” She met her gaze again, uncertain, half pleading for guidance, half afraid of it. “Relying on you? I thought that would be selfish, but all the shit I’ve got myself into - maybe that would be better.”

“Honestly, darling, I currently work for someone. I’ve learned how to network, and rise in the ranks. There are cogs in place that keep the business running. If I did everything independently I’d be a miserable hermit who amounted to nothing.” DC was better than everyone around her, certainly, but she wasn’t such a fool to think that she didn’t need them. Tools were useful and necessary, to say nothing of admirers and adversaries.

“Everything comes with strings, Darla, whether they’re a person or a contract or a needle. No one person is helping you now, arguably, but you’re not free.” DC couldn’t believe the Institute generated such a short-sighted synth. To monitor plants. DC should cut her some slack, she decided; Darla couldn’t help that her creators were lazy imbeciles without vision.

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

A sigh misted into the air. How to even explain? How to ask for help when she didn’t know how someone else could help with this? “… Before I got the powerfist, before my chems, I got by on favours for people. I got by on extra fruit and sucking dick because then they wouldn’t - mistreat me later, y’know? They wouldn’t think I was you-know-what, they’d let me sleep somewhere warm overnight or whatever. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. But then some people can’t be bargained with, and some people just came to - expect that from me. All the time.”

Her jaw tightened, gaze lingering on the powdery concrete. “… And then, when the raiders fucked up my farm, and seeing that engineer girl have a safe place, with protection, not owing anything to anyone - I guess I got jealous. I wanted that. I didn’t want to have to - to cower just because of what I am. You don’t. And you don’t because you’re strong, and scary when you wanna be.” A crooked, tired smile.

“I guess… I guess that’s what I was trying to do. Scare off the people who’d hurt me and make caps on my own, without needing to be in anyone’s debt.”

DC patiently sat through another goddamn sob story from Darla. Maybe she was more defective than just her chip, making all these excuses. At some point, DC would have to decide if it was worth investing in her.

“You’ve turned down most of my offers to help. Caps, a place to stay, so on.” DC pointed out, voice still gentle despite her internal annoyance. “If you want a safe place and protection, I can give that to you.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

“I wish it was.” Her brow furrowed. “I guess - I mean, I was made for that, you know? To obey without question. I finally got sick of it, trying to please people, but now…” Her gaze drifted to her right hand, clenched in a fist before consciously letting it loosen. “… It seems like maybe this is worse. I just wanna be able to protect myself, not get pushed around. Not be bullied. But I never wanted…”

I never wanted to become the bully. But she had. She’d loved it. And even now, there was a niggling itch at the back of her brain, stamping its feet, demanding to be scratched.

“… Anyway, I’ll - I’ll figure it out. I always do.” That, or she’d OD in an alley somewhere. One of the two.

Oh, yes, she’d done a fine job of figuring it out on her own, hadn’t she. DC wanted to roll her eye and berate the other synth, dress her down. But it wouldn’t do any good, and likely just push her away or over another edge. Darla was unfortunately delicate.

“Have you thought of asking for help? It sounds like you’re trying to do everything on your own.” DC asked, instead, picking at one thread and tugging. “Your ‘fine’ often falls down to extremes before anyone can catch up. It’s not your fault, being shunted out into this world without even the basics, but you might like to slow down a bit.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

Another trickle of guilt flooded in, but this time with a sort of relief that tempered it, made the bitter sweeter. Why had she doubted her, worried so much about being chastised? She laughed aloud at the crack about Greygarden, snuggling closer gladly.

“I mean - I don’t mean to. I just get real caught up in my own head sometimes.” She nuzzled DC’s neck. “It’s a shitty world and sometimes it gets to me. How do you never get down like that?”

“Because I know my worth.” DC replied, censoring a harsh and do not let others dictate it to me. “It’s not in my nature to spend time on the insignificant thoughts of insignificant people. I don’t mean this as a criticism, Darla, sweetheart, but you care far too much about what other people think and trying to shape yourself to that.”

DC gave a soft, affected sigh. “I suppose it’s not so easy for you to change that, though.”

[chameleondc]

aglitchinemotion

Okay, this… this wasn’t so bad. Darla felt herself soften at DC’s tone, at the offered hand. She’d expected - judgement, reprisal, a scolding. The sort of thing that made her feel like she was back in the Institute, under the eyes of one of the scientists. But she was just asking. A little, wry laugh and Darla accepted her hand, squeezing.

“… Yeah. I guess I’m not super good at it. Friends, I mean. I was made for plants, not people.” A warring craving, one for warm soil and sun and home, the other for a white-hot rush and invincible glee.  

“It sounds like you’re addressing the wrong problem, darling.” DC’s words came placidly, as if there was almost nothing wrong. This was just a conversation. “Honestly, if all you were good for was plants you’d be no better than a Handy, and there’s a whole farm of them out in the countryside if you want to head out that way.”

DC tugged the other synth in closer. Now was the time for honey and sweetness. “You spend a lot of time in dark thoughts, don’t you, sweetheart?”

[aglitchinemotion]

chameleondc replied to your post: Hey, there, sweetheart. Why the long face?

“Hmm.” DC hummed thoughtfully. “I’m a bit concerned, actually. Are you certain you’re alright?”

She bit back a sigh, wrangling the frustration down. Why did she have to ask? And more, why did she feel so annoyed about it? Shouldn’t she want her girlfriend to be concerned about her wellbeing? “Just - y’know, bit of a shit week. I’ve been working on the chems I use with my powerfist to try and make ‘em - less strong, and that’s kinda tiring.” That much was true. How could she have it protect her, without risking hurting someone she cared about again? Why couldn’t she have both?

Dammit. If DC had heard, it would only make her look bad to hide the tuth… “… See, I sort of - a friend grabbed me, and I didn’t expect it, and I - I accidentally hit him.” A very watered down version of the truth. “Don’t want that happening again.” 

[chameleondc]

“I heard. Or, rather, I heard a few different stories.” DC’s tone was even. She wasn’t upset, really; certainly, some had looked at her askance after the details were relayed, but they’d reserved most of their venom for the two involved. To have such an established merc laid flat out by a new, jumpy one--well, that certainly caused some speculation, didn’t it?

“I came to check up on you, as I recall things hadn’t gone so well the time before when you spoke with a ‘friend.’“ DC offered a hand for Darla to take at her leisure.

[chameleondc]

People certainly love to be messy, don’t they?