Things about my sole survivor I’ve hammered out now that I’ve had a lot of time and a couple playthroughs to do it hohohoho
it’s really long
Full name is Penelope Lynne Knight née Pratt, but practiced law under her maiden name because the firm she was a part of was founded by a Pratt ancestor of hers and had been in the family for a while- the Pratt name had a lot of weight to it even if being Penelope Knight was badass.
Spent a lot of time at the gun club her grandfather was a part of in her youth and into adulthood, and considers it to be a relaxing and fun pasttime. Her grandfather gave her her own rifle at some point, which she kept, but did not survive the 200 years she was in cryo.
Codsworth (called Cornelius in multi-survivor aus) was purchased more as an aide to her husband, Arthur, than as a nanny/housekeeper, but nevertheless, bonded strongly with her son.
Arthur has pretty severe PTSD from his time as a soldier, thus Codsworth. Penny is a great rock for him, but between her job as a lawyer and her status as a new mother, can’t be everything he needs.
Shaun’s name is Casey (Or Caleb, I haven’t decided), nicknamed to Kay.
On good terms/friends with: Preston, Piper, Codsworth, Maccready, Longfellow, Dogmeat, Curie, Ada
Did not recruit/on bad terms with: X6-88: man I knew I was gonna blow the Institute before I even started her up the first time so tbh, I avoided X6 like the plague on that playthrough. I’m gonna actually talk to him this time so it may change; Strong: she did not even touch this, and may have wound up killing him when she refused to take him with her and he became insistent that she show him the milk of human kindness; Danse: she travelled with him for a while since the BoS has strong similarities with the military she’s familiar with/reminded her of Arthur, but left (and left them on read) when she understood what their intentions were; Gage: technically yeah ok she recruited him but she also killed his ass along with every other raider in Nukaworld.
Most of my stuff on Kay was developed in a dual survivor/dual Shaun au, so thats how this is gonna be
Kay is hugely ambitious and not a little bit cruel, tbh, and it’s only (in large part) because of how the Institute raised him. In a world were the war didn’t happen, he would have had a mean sense of humor and been a little more ruthless in his workplace than his peers would have been comfortable with.
I imagine the Institute raised him and the other child in a very competitive way, which saturates all of their interactions in the future. Given his family’s history as intelligent, quick witted and successful people, Kay assumed he would prove to be the better child in every way and would be given the title of Director as a matter of course. This was not the case. While ruthless, he isn’t calculating enough to maneuver as well as he should within the Institute’s politics. As the ‘less successful’ child, Kay becomes bitter and manipulative, and is the one who releases his mother and the other survivor from Vault 111.
He has a mixed opinion of Penelope. From the records of her he is able to access, he built an image of her in his mind as fearsomely intelligent and harsh in her pursuit of law. This was the woman he wanted to live up to. To say he’s disappointed when she gets out into the Wastes and almost immediately aligns herself with the Minutemen, and moreover seems ready and willing to integrate into this new life and help people, would be an understatement. Any conversations he has with her post-Institute reveal are tense and barbed.
In dual survivor aus, Cornelius isn’t in Sanctuary, but with Kay, and is deeply suspicious of Penelope as faking her... self, somehow. He does not believe she is Penelope, mistress of his household, for quite a while.
Because “Father is dying of whatever and curses you with his last breath” is fucking dumb and I hate it, Kay’s life resolves a different way.
He does not expect Penelope to actually invade the Institute and put an end to it. And when it happens, he still thinks he can salvage the situation while still getting what he wants- the title of Director. He manages to kill the Director while the other man is trying to do damage control, but is shot himself in the process. After that is a period where he’s beginning to realize his world is falling down around his ears and Kay, while he’s furious and betrayed, has a fierce sense of possession and protectiveness for the people of the Institute, and they are dying around him. He makes his way to the transporter room and finds Tinker Tom and a couple other RR people trying to figure out how the transporter works, but there were advances and protections on this terminal that they weren’t prepared to deal with, and he harshly shoves Tom out of the way to begin operating it himself.
The evacuation goes normally. Synth Kay still shows up, believing Penny to be his mother and the real Kay to be an uncle of some kind due to some time Kay takes between getting shot and this scene, I’m hand-waiving it, don’t look at me. Eventually, Penelope gets through the transporter with the understanding that Kay will follow her, but he doesn’t. He dies with the Institute.
This time the tape from him ends with a pause, and then Kay saying that he hopes this time, Penelope will be proud of him.
Post-game but pre-ghoul, Penelope runs for mayor of Diamond City and loses
She works in the same office as Nick for a while as a detective, when Far Harbor takes place
At some point they both agree that they both like eachother a lot but it’s getting crowded, and Penny opens a branch of the Valentine Detective Agency in Goodneighbor, to Hancock’s delight.
7-10 years after the game, Penelope has an accident in the Glowing Sea while investigating something with Nick and gets a massive dose of radiation. During her recovery in the nearest non-Sea town, she begins the process of becoming a Ghoul.
During/after this she and Hancock become even closer, and begin joking about being siblings
Sidenote:
In worlds where Arthur survives and Penny does not, most things stay the same. However, he sinks deep into denial about the state of the world, where Penny mourns, but does her best to work with the case she’s been given and move forward with her life. He joins the BoS and becomes one of their most dedicated Paladins. He executes Danse when Maxson orders him to. The only companions he recruits are Dogmeat and Codsworth. Kay’s death changes slightly, to be by Arthur’s hand, and he dies in his arms. Arthur dies in combat some months after the end of the game, in mourning, suicidal, and careless. He’s honored with in the BoS.
DRAW ALL THE HUGS. But ummm 1B? 3A? Characters of your choice (but if that's a cop out on my part I'm just sayin' Penny and Nick would make me smile extra hard ;3).
ASK AND YE SHALL RECIEVE
extra jafrozzi being pathetic on Muds. he’s not even drunk. he just has a lot of feelings about his friends. it’s embarrassing.
I didnt wanna get too fancy because it’s post war, and the amount of usable clothing a body can find is probably significantly less than it is in game, so I wanted to limit Penny to an actually, pretty small wardrobe that gets mixed and matched a lot. It’s probably obvious, but all her winter gear comes from the Minutemen, so it doesn’t match her personal taste as much as her normal clothes.
at some point post game she does go ghoul, from a misadventure involving a leak in her hazmat suit. I actually decided this in the radiation sea quest, but probably it happens during a normal radstorm. \o/
