LUCY MACLEAN !

[vcultgirl]

You are a VAULT DWELLER, but if you're going to survive, you need to start acting like a surface dweller. Question is, will you still want the same things when you have become a different ANIMAL altogether?

vcultgirl— independent and selective LUCY MACLEAN from FALLOUT — established JAN. 2026 — adored by STARRY ( 25+, she/her ) — may contain triggering content — mutuals only & fandom friendly — beta editor. RULES / ABOUT / MEMES AFFILIATES: @redemptioninterlude

[anhedonicist]

There she was, being her authentic Lucy self despite the dire situation she was going through. He was glad that the wasteland hadn't taken that away from her. Always brave, always optimistic, and kind. Norm had to make sure he could reward that authenticity by helping her recover... Aside from feeling his heart ache for her in general.

"You could never slow me down, Lucy." Norm assures. She had always been the proactive one, the one pushing things to move instead of the one being swayed by the current. Even as he seemed resistant to the ways of the Vault, he had always been more inclined to listening to Lucy, at least humoring her, the most. So, now, he nodded to her words. A shelter.

"I guess we could go to that one abandoned store I saw some time ago. I don't think anyone would be there,... and it's my best bet to find a fashionable crutch." He admits, feeling the weight of being out of his element a little more present now.

"I won't leave you alone for too long." Even here, she was the older sister. The raid was the latest example, yes, but she had defended and protected him from many a thing before. Ever since he can remember, he has known to lean and trust in Lucy. He wishes to return the countless favors here, now. And he could start by scavenging, but also by being considerate enough not to be reckless.

"You know I'm too chicken to go anywhere too far." Norm jokes, though he believes in those words. Lucy is courage, he is cowardice, it has always been like that. Even now, as he is helping her walk down to the store, he feels his body shiver through the uncertainty of this wild place. If he could, he would run and hide, wait for Lucy to tell him it's fine to come out...

But she needs him. He can stand up for her this time, can't he?

"Look, there's... some kind of couch in the back. Maybe this was a furniture store, before." He comments, encouraging her to walk over with him, a hand to her side so she could lean on him. "Easy, sit here while I look for something that can work as a crutch, okay? And... maybe some food? Are you hungry?"

[vcultgirl]

It was easy to tell what Norm was thinking even when he didn't say it aloud. He made comments that were disguised as jokes, but Lucy knew otherwise. Self-deprecating humor was what he relied on to try and deal with the insecurities that had bothered him all his life. It was something she knew he would have to work on and overcome on his terms, even if she so wished she could pluck all those bad thoughts out of his brain and scatter them to the wind.

"Yeah, you're right. It's like a showroom." Even from her spot on the couch, she could see that other pieces of furniture were arranged in a way to make it look like someone's home. Decorative pieces were styled together to give the customer ideas on how best to style a living space.

"That would have looked cute in the living room..." She said, nodding to a pretty dark blue vase that had speckles of silver through it, as if it were stardust. The flowers in it were fake, still in good condition despite how long it'd been. Her gaze returned to her brother, eyebrows drawn together at the thought of him going off to explore the building alone.

"Okay, but be careful of dark corners. Radroaches and mole rats really love places like this. Feral ghouls, too." She'd once been in one of those Super Duper Marts, and the place had been crawling with ghouls.

"If we don't find anything here food-wise, we can always just take a breather here, then head out later. There's usually some kind of food place near stores like this, right?" They obviously didn't have any experience or firsthand knowledge of what the world was like before, but it made sense to group stores together, didn't it?

[shibemuses]

"Hey now, Sherlock, cool it with the questions a minute." Tony glanced over at Lucy, head cocked back slightly. It all screamed practiced haughtiness, still ingrained in his bones centuries later.

"Need to think. Silence from the peanut gallery."

He busied himself with hacking into the car's mainframe, getting further along as he zeroed in. His mind came alive with numbers and figures, heart rate kicking up from the joy that came from figuring out puzzles.

Finally, the car's mainframe gives way, and Tony starts messing with the settings to try and find some backup power source. Emergency back up... Yep.

"There we are. Should be good enough to get us to the next outpost. Your map is tellin' me due West." The car roared to life, the man smirking as he clapped and rubbed his chapped hands together. "Now we're in business!"

[vcultgirl]

A pout formed at basically being told to shut up, but Lucy bounced back easily when the power surged and the engine sprung to life. "Hey, good job! And here I thought you were just pretending to be smart." Okay, so that was a little dig at him for the way he'd told her to stop talking, but it was all in good fun!

Readjusting her position in the driver's seat, Lucy checked over the Pip-Boy that had been set on the dashboard and immediately saw where Tony was referring to. "All right, roger that. Let's get ourselves west before it gets dark. I do not want to be out here when the sun goes down."

Looking out of the windscreen to compare the terrain with what she was seeing on the map, Lucy reversed just so she could swing the vehicle west, and then they were off.

"Put on the radio and we'll see if we can pick up any signals along the way." If they were headed towards a settlement, then they should hopefully pick up something of interest. Sometimes even distress calls came through on it.

[unbindingpages]

Cooper couldn’t roll his eyes any harder if he tried but the girl is shining her brightest smile up to him that can blind any man in a sunny day, eyes dancing with excitement and something like pride- for God’s sake, like the Ghoul is her dog and just did something cute when being told- and he holds back the urge to jab a snarky comment at her.

To be fair, he’s only sitting through this because he’s low on bullets and they’re in need of chems. A ghoul can’t survive without them in badlands and note that the street is currently buzzing with people walking up and down on it as if it’s some kind of festival, so many people, too.

He works his jaw, glaring at a passerby whose eyes linger a little too much on Lucy’s back when she’s pressed close, leaning up to whisper to the Ghoul. The guy’s wandering eyes finds his and Cooper mouths a ‘fuck off!’ politely, showing teeth.

“huh? Come again, sweetie?” not his fault he was a little busy there than missed half of what she said but he heard bits of ‘trading those books’ “nah, no need for that. I got enough caps to buy supplies for both of us but I make no promises, as soon as that guy start upping the price I’ll shoot him in the head!” he grumbles, feeling like he should have the last say in the argument. Of course he won’t trade those books, not when Vaultie is fond of reading those relics.

“yeah yeah..” completely ignoring Lucy’s held up hand, he brushes past her to stride over to the vendor, tugging her along with a hand wrapped around her wrist.

“oh hey there, strangers!” the man looks them up and down, fake smile that looks disgusting on that face, showing yellowed teeth and offering empty kindness.

“wanna buy something?” his eyes jump to Lucy “for your lady here??” rubbing his hands together.

Well, it’s halfway done and so far it’s not bad “sure..” cooper turns to the girl, hands hooked in his belt “why don’t you have a look, darling? You were nagging me to get you something nice, so.. go ahead!”

Ghoul slides some of golden vials from the counter to his pocket immediately after the man turns his attention on Lucy, his smile stretches into a grin; “ooh! Maybe some nice dress? A brand new metal hand maybe? or just some perfume??”

[vcultgirl]

She caught that sneaky sleight of hand out of the corner of her eye. Well, no, actually, it wasn't really sleight of hand if she saw it, was it? So, she wasn't sure how the stall owner hadn't caught it. Lucy knew this wasn't really the time to be all up on her high horse about stealing, especially when they only had so much on them to barter with. Biting the inside of her cheek to stop from saying anything, she aimed a cheerful smile the man's way, a silent apology in her eyes. He'd discover he'd been stolen from later, and she wanted him to look back on this and realize that it hadn't been her that had done it.

...Even if she hadn't stopped the Ghoul either.

Lucy softened her expression—no need to make themselves look suspicious and escalate this friendly interaction into a fight—and she thought for a moment, her gaze sweeping over the selection.

"You have so many good things here! I'm really not sure what we can afford..." Afford being the key word here because they really should be paying this man. A look was shot towards her companion, who she knew couldn't care less about morals.

"What do you think?" The question was directed at the Ghoul. "You said you'd get me something nice, so... how about that?" She nodded towards a pretty ornamental barrette hairclip. Its fake (but pretty) gems sparkled in the afternoon sun.

"Do you think it would suit me?"

[redemptioninterlude]

what an innocent little lamb. someone who's never known life outside of this vault, she could only imagine what secrets lay sealed up within. the ones she's picked through, oh, there's odd horrors to be found. it's almost amusing, what kind of sickening experiments they decided to conduct themselves to, unknowingly. the past, coming to crash into a present in which all such things felt themselves a NORM in terms of cruelty. it'd be a strange world for lucy, darling, the poor thing plucked and presented to her now like the village's prized hen. and what a pretty picture she cut indeed... had ada been more willing to play around, she would have let herself play to the happy marriage for a little longer. but alas. the killing would begin soon. she just had to wait for the signal.

poor thing, the little dove seemed to love her family, her friends, but such a thing wasn't built to LAST in a cold, cruel world such as this one. the raiders wanted food, supplies, the things only a vault could yield in absence of stumbling upon an institute facility... and even if they had, they were often met with murderous synths, of which, few could ever find themselves as having survived. out here, everything exists as a rumour of a whisper. who knew what was real? ada couldn't help but think she only worked for them now for the access it gave her. the world was so large a place. she refused to let herself be contained within a town built of rust and cardboard.

"as you can imagine, things have gotten rather dire for us... we were having a hard time coming up with someone who hadn't been involved in a previous trade that was what some might call..." her gaze, flickering over towards the other woman, as if trying to gauge her reaction to it all. "the PREFERRED GENDER." she's meant to be a nervous bride, wasn't she? the both of them, somehow fated, but the truth a far more cruel thing. while the raiders caused their chaos... ada would be working her way through the overseer's office. until then - "why make changes? it feels like a wonderful home. and i can't wait for us to be a family." well. it'd work, if only they had the same kind of technology that there was at any of the facilities kept up north, but that was neither here, nor there. she's sitting on the bed, that grin, easy, oh she could play anybody, couldn't she? "did you do it all yourself? i'm so curious about what life is like in your vault."

★— ATTN: @vcultgirl

[vcultgirl]

"Oh! Oh, I don't mind. The, uh, preferred gender thing. I mean, there aren't really any opportunities to experiment with that in a vault, but I think I like all people as long as we have a connection, you know?" Did that make sense? Man, woman, or robot, Lucy didn't mind! The most important thing was that the other being was kind and loving and made Lucy feel valued.

Sitting herself down on the bed next to Ada, fingers threading together over her wedding dress, she shook her head. "My mother decorated a lot of it. When she died, I just wanted to look after it properly. Keep it feeling like a home." While she was open to changes being made so that Ada could feel more comfortable in the space, there were certain parts that Lucy wouldn't want to change. She thought about the doilies on the side table by the far wall that her mother had made herself. Those had to stay. Then there was the woven throw blanket that they kept over the back of the couch... that had to stay, too.

Lucy turned to her new partner. "I don't think life here would be much different from what you guys know next door. I imagine we face a lot of the same hardships, but the community spirit is the same, right? All coming together to look out for each other? We have our own council here, but they're okay. They listen to people who have concerns and are open to figuring out solutions that will benefit each resident."

Lucy wondered if she was sounding too like a spokesperson trying to talk up the vault. Could anyone blame her, though? She liked her vault, and she wanted to help put Ada's mind at ease in case she was feeling a bit homesick.

"What was your vault like?"

She leaned down to undo her heels—she'd realized she might be coming across as too rigid—and then brought her legs up so she could settle more comfortably on the bed. Show Ada that she was accepting of this wonderful partnership and that they could be more affectionate if she were waiting for Lucy to make that first move.

[vcultgirl]

@merry-andrews i'm only doing this because you asked me to.  ❜ ( from my Ghoul @unbindingpages <3 )

"Well, consider me surprised but extremely grateful that you're actually listening to me for once."

Some days (most...) they butted heads like two stubborn rams who didn't want to concede. Then there were days like these where something shifted in the air and they got along and, at least in Lucy's case, actually kinda enjoyed talking to him. She knew he probably didn't feel those moments as strongly as her, given how irritating he clearly found her, but she could get on with it and keep things civil between them.

She even felt comfortable enough at this precise moment to put a hand on his shoulder, to lean up slightly to speak close while drawing the Ghoul's attention to the vendor they were hoping to snag some supplies from. The fact that the Ghoul was open to actually bartering rather than jumping to violence and intimidation meant a lot to Lucy.

"All right, so everyone's got a price, right? That's what you always say? If we go off that, then I think we could trade him those pre-war books we found." They were interesting, and Lucy hadn't finished reading them all yet, but getting stimpaks and chems was more important, especially with the Ghoul running low on the latter.

"If he acts a bit difficult, don't lose your cool, okay? We can figure it out." She held up a hand for him to high-five, her mouth curving into a grin.

"We're a team! Let's remember that."

[lovecreature]

Terra watched the woman look around in search of something-"Lost your soap?" she asked with a wisdom that came from weeks of wasteland life.

Ah, it was her entire backpack, then. "Is it important? Enough to kill for it?" At this point she just knew that, since she had made the choice of helping the lady, it was now her responsibility to make sure she'd do it properly, and that might include having to retrieve her backup. "Because... it kinda looked like it might be the only way to get anything from them... unless you have something that can knock people out. I could... I could try not to hurt them too much, but I can't make any promises. Not because I want to kill them, the opposite of that, but usually, if they are not dead, they'll try to kill you with everything they have."

If they were only a little sick from radiation and left, just like now, there was a chance, but if she had to make them sicker, chances were they'd die soon.

"A vault? I think I have heard of something like that before..." but she wasn't sure when or what it was about, "I have lost my memories. Most of them, at least," Terra added, because it sounded like 'I'm from a Vault' was meant to be significant. It was a word that made her feel something, though. Something strange, suffocating, that she didn't know how to examine.

"Of course I have to come with you, you could be in danger," she pointed out; it made her feel almost like a real Wastelander, to be able to make such a choice.

Lucy introduced herself, and Terra brightened up: "I'm Terra! Terra Branford!" She looked at the offered hand and took it with a questioning look, no idea of what to do with it, "... and I don't think I'm from anywhere around here."

[vcultgirl]

She looked between their hands, then realized that the other woman didn't seem to know how to respond. Lucy gently took Terra's hand and gave it a little shake.

"It's really nice to meet you, Terra. You've lost your memories?" That must be why she doesn't know what a handshake is. Letting their handshake go, Lucy tucked some hair behind her ear. "That's a way bigger problem than my lost backpack, honestly. Do you remember anything at all?" Maybe she was from a vault, too? Maybe one that wasn't as nice as hers, which might be the reason for the amnesia?

"Okay, how about this: we have a look to see if those guys left a trail, and if we come across them and they still seem too dangerous, then we'll leave it be and head in the opposite direction. How's that sound?" Because Lucy didn't want them to get into a big fight that could result in them needing to kill other humans, even if they were raiders.

"I think we've had enough excitement for one day, and I don't want us to be on the road when it gets dark." If they found a friendly settlement nearby, then great! But if not, then they'd have to head off-road and find a secluded area to set up camp. "So! Just a quick looksie and then we'll bail if it it's too risky, okay?" Look at her! She was learning from her mistakes! That showed character growth.

[dramatiique]

Mini hiatus notice from now until the 10th! Going to London for a few days on Monday and I work until then, so I won't be around much until I'm back!

[shibemuses]

Tony smirked. "Even if I did run, you'd probably catch up. These old knees aren't what they used to be." He dryly remarked, eyes perfectly zeroed in on the Pip-Boy's screen as he began to fidget with the dial.

The screen came alive with code that flashed rapidly, that cheeky little Vault Boy winking back. Another middle finger from their friends at VAULT-TEC. Joy.

"Huh. D'you have a password or something on this? Or is the car somehow equipped with an antivirus?" He messed with the dials some more, almost completely missing what Lucy had asked. His own dark eyes lifted, staring through his aviator glasses at her.

"Born with it," Tony mumbled nonchalantly. "Of course, Pops made sure I went to all the best private schools in the country. I graduated high school at 14 and went to MIT not long after. Got my degrees. The end goal was always to take up the House empire."

Which he never did. But he was close to doing so, aiming to claim New Vegas as his own and try to right the wrongs of his father. Somehow.

[vcultgirl]

She shook her head when Tony asked if there was a password on her Pip-Boy. She'd never seen the point of using one down in the vault because it just wasn't necessary, but maybe she should think about making one just in case.

"Your dad pulled some strings, huh?" Not that it was a bad thing for someone to use their connections, and Tony had the brain to back it up. Her dad was Vault 33's Overseer, so she wasn't exactly unfamiliar with receiving certain opportunities herself. A gust of wind caught some hair that had escaped her ponytail, and she brushed it back into place while her thoughts drifted to her dad. Tony mentioned New Vegas and the House empire... what if that all had something to do with her dad?

"Do you know much about New Vegas? And House? I just feel a lot of that might be connected to my dad..." Lucy's words trailed off, feeling that usual stab in her chest whenever she mentioned him aloud to anyone. However, she managed to brush it off and shove those feelings back down. They could be dealt with another day, once her search was over and she had finally uncovered the entire truth. "I need any help I can get in tracking him down.

[lovecreature]

"Everybody keeps saying that... I guess animals just... like me...?" It was a little more than that, no doubt something that could be explained by what the scientists had done to her, but it gave her hope: maybe some day she'd get to pet a dog.

The other woman was wearing a curious outfit too, now that she noticed. "I think people here, I mean, around here, bathe a lot less than that." And while she obviously didn't miss a life of prison and torture, the hygiene standards back at the Enclave had clearly been higher - she didn't remember them, but her instinct to wash herself daily and the way her body looked spoke of that.

"Am I?" Was she pretty? Certainly not like this woman with the big eyes? "Oh, my hair naturally doesn't need a lot of washing, but if you aren't scared of beasts there are still some of those... what do they call them? Pre-war soaps? In old superduper..." she trailed off, and looked in the direction where the raiders had disappeared: "Wait. They are going to come back, let's walk away first. I don't... really like fighting, I'd prefer to skip it, if possible..." Mostly because it would inevitably lead to the men's deaths.

But Terra looked in her pockets for one of the rusted knives she had found, which she didn't really needed for self-defense as much as eating purposes, "Do you need this? For protection?" she asked, starting to walk so that the pretty lady would follow, "are you... Is that... some kind of special outfit? Are you in a gang?"

[vcultgirl]

"I used to have some soap in my pack, but then I..." Wait, her pack! Lucy's eyes widened as she whipped around to see if the raiders had left it nearby. Nope, nowhere to be seen! Fudge! Just her luck! As the other woman offered a rusty knife, Lucy accepted it despite her mind now trying to remember which of her captors had grabbed her belongings...

"I'll take it for now, if that's okay but I just realized those guys ran off with my things. One of them put my backpack on before they tied me up." And Lucy didn't want to leave without attempting to get it back.

"I need to go after them, which I know is, like, the last thing I should do, but I don't have any other supplies." And people out here weren't quite as generous as this young lady, so she had to hold onto everything she was lucky enough to come across.

"You might think that's crazy talk and that I shouldn't go after them, but maybe they dropped it when they were running? I just want to take a look." It wasn't like she'd had anything that a raider would probably want apart from a bottle of water she'd been hoping to boil and two cans of food.

"I'm from a vault, so I've been trying to keep up with how new everything is out here." And that might help the other understand why Lucy was a bit more naïve than the regular surface dweller. It also answered the other's question about her outfit, so a win-win all around!

"You don't have to come with me, but I swear we'll just have a quick look, and if we don't find it along the way, then I'll cut my losses and we'll leave." Plus Lucy didn't want to part ways with her savior just yet.

"I'm Lucy, by the way, since I just realized we haven't had a proper introduction." She stuck her hand out for a handshake, her mouth curving into that winning smile that made her pretty popular in Vault 33.

[newsidequest]

A NEW SIDE QUEST IS AVAILABLE!

fandomless & iconless original character multimuse, working within the framework of side quest NPCS! Written by Lanna follows back from @vierandancer

[Blog is still WIP & more muses will be added over time]

[lovecreature]

"I made it up! I was freaking out!" she justified herself quickly, beyond relieved to hear appreciation - even a thank you! - from the other woman instead of some accusation or suspicion. Actually, suspicion would have been fine, it was understandable. It was the 'getting mad at her for getting involved' part that had made Terra more hesitant to help. But this woman? Not mad at all.

"Coping mechanism?" she repeated, wondering what that was, and let out a triumphant "Ha!" right after that, because the rope fell on the ground. "Do you need help escaping too? Because I know a safe path---people don't take it because of the molerats, but they are nice. They have been friendly to me." It was, of course, possible that they were only friends because they smelled the non-human body parts Kefka had attached to her body, but even if it was just that, the result was still that the radioactive pets were now her radioactive pets. In her head, at least.

There was something about the other woman's face that didn't exactly look right, though, and it took Terra a moment to realize that her teeth were white, and her hair looked as healthy as hers. How curious. "You are... so... beautiful. It's no wonder raiders didn't kill you... I heard there are enslavers nearby, or something like that, you should be extra careful, ma'am."

[vcultgirl]

Lucy blinked at that. "The mole rats are friendly to you? How'd you manage that? They charge at me even when I try to sneak by them." Annoying little ankle biters. Well, more like leg chompers. She once met a guy just outside of Filly who lost both legs to them. Lucy hadn't wanted to ask how long it had taken them to chew through and why he hadn't been able to stop it; he'd seemed understandably sensitive to the subject.

Now that she was freed, Lucy rolled her shoulders and neck to get the muscles moving again. Her mouth widened into a beaming smile now that she had full use of all her limbs again. She was about to ask the other woman her name but paused when she was suddenly paid a compliment. Those were rare to come by these days!

"Nah, you're just saying that to make me feel better." She waved a hand and tried not to grin like a goof. "I haven't had a bath in, like, three days. I really need to find a settlement. Or a spring." Either one would do because, really, who could afford to pick and choose out here? She'd even settle for a bucket of clean water, a rag, and a tiny scrap of soap if that was all she could get.

"But you're super pretty yourself! How do you keep your hair so clean-looking? It must be way harder for blondes, right?" At least Lucy's hair was dark enough where she could hide the grease a bit more.

[lovecreature]

@vcultgirl !

Terra had been out on the surface for weeks now, and all she had found were enemies and people who would only give her information because afraid or because of caps. Still, she had tried to give a hand here and there while still attempting to maintain a low profile, and it had not been welcomed.

So when she saw how the raiders had captured a woman and were tying her to a pole, Terra actually hesitated. But then, so what if the woman got mad at her or attacked her next? It wasn't as if she couldn't take another hit or two, it wasn't a big risk. So she focused on raising the radiation levels inside the men, just enough that they all started feeling sick in a noticeable way, and yelled: "Watch out! Poisonous grounds!" in her best man-voice, which worked two times out of three. This seemed to be one of those times, as the men dropped everything and started running away. They might realize soon that it made no sense, but she had the time to reach the pole and take her knife out. "I'm going to free you now, ok? Please, don't eat me?" She wondered if there was a bounty on the woman, or if they had spared her because she was so pretty. One never knew with men in raider clothes. "There is no poison, so we have to be quick."

[vcultgirl]

She had just about had it! Yes, Lucy was well aware that she was at fault for getting herself into yet another unfortunate situation by being so gullible, but she was still allowed to be annoyed about it.

"Really, guys? Tying me to a pole? That's a bit cliché, don't you think?" Then again, she supposed they didn't have a lot of options out here and had to make do with the little materials they could scrape together. Her gaze followed the raiders as they worked, knowing that every time she opened her mouth their irritability with her would only increase. Not that it ever stopped her, so she kept talking away, ever the chatterbox even in the most extreme situations.

"I'd really appreciate it if we could talk this out and come to some sort of agreement. How about we strike a deal?" A deal with raiders was hardly an ideal outcome, but it was better to put the offer out there rather than go through whatever they had planned.

Fortunately for her, someone called out and distracted them. Lucy craned her neck to try and search for the source but had limited motion. It was only when it dawned on her what the new voice had said that she realized the sudden interruption might not actually work in her favor...

Poison?!

The raiders wasted no time in showing their true colors and bolted, kicking up sand as they tripped over themselves. "Hey! You can't just leave me like this!" Lucy called after them, knowing it wouldn't make any difference. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention away from the fleeing figures. Oh! A woman! Lucy didn't have time to speak before the knife was in the other's hand and she was talking about freeing her.

"Oh." The relief that flooded her almost made her head spin (or maybe that was just the heat from the sun...), and she thumped her head back against the pole. "Thank you... gosh, I really thought I'd be stuck here for a while. Wait, there's no poison?" The request not to be eaten didn't faze Lucy, but she still smiled to show the other that she wasn't going to suddenly jump forward and feast on her jugular.

"I promise I'm not a cannibal. Too messy." She paused then added, "Sorry, I sometimes say inappropriate things when I'm stressed. I think it's a coping mechanism."

[redemptioninterlude]

playing pretend is the strangest part of the job. but hey. if synths could do it, so could ada. the family who dance around them talk about acceptance, and how this is better than kissing cousins. having been through this before, she doesn't even question that part, just smiling, waving, oh, yes, she'd be happy to take care of the BLUSHING BRIDE. it's meant to be backwards, and while the raiders she'd with try to question if it's the right approach to put ada into the game, she demonstrates the good work that she's capable of when she seduces the leader, stealing his gun -

sometimes, a woman needed to be HANDS ON to get her point across.

and what about having kids? well. ada was droll. why not say they'd worked on that within their vault? the newest experiment. who needed a man? sometimes, everything needed could just be explained as VAULT TEC, and people would wave it all away. which seemed good enough for the overseer here. though he seemed to slip off to radio the overseer who hadn't shown up ; it doesn't escape their notice, after all, that not a single one of them seemed to have visited before on a similar excursion. those from down below seemed to live better, but more cluelessly, and at a certain point when she's taking lucy back to the apartment space that seemed to be designated for the both of them, and apparently, from the looks of life within it, her family too.

she offers to give the grand tour. she's brimming and beaming and today was her wedding day, meant to be perfect, and here she's come to make a mess of it all. what a dream. poor thing. the music that had played out, still in these halls, almost haunting in its nostalgia, and odd in the way it all seemed so artificially clean, and cared for. even the parts of this place built for harvest came as a dulled awe ; each vault was designed about the same, but... the experiments she'd come across, time and time again betrayed how DIFFERENTLY the world's citizens had been viewed at the time. she'd dug through whole places where the people had been killed off over generations thanks to mutation and poisoning. others, where they'd gone insane testing against cures and virulent disease.

and here, well, THE INSTITUTE had felt this a particularly good target to address. lips, pursed, her gaze, darting about the place - she'd let lucy lead the way until now so that she could take note along the way of every door, exit, and potential place to visit later. "yes, actually~" the curling warmth of her tone a lie, but a necessary one. arms circle around lucy from behind, that tug a little closer, the sway, that matched the temper of her earlier moves, met with a grin pressed into her skin. oh. ada could play the lie of lover when called upon. "here, outside... i can't believe we're going to start a new home. and i feel so lucky that of every bride i could have been paired with, it was you, dear lucy~"

★— ATTN: @vcultgirl

[vcultgirl]

It wasn't in her nature to suspect anything. How could she possibly know that all of this was nothing but a ploy by outsiders to uncover Vault-Tec secrets? When someone was as sheltered as a vault dweller, it was almost too easy to trick them when they had no real understanding or experience of the world that lay beyond that heavy metal door.

When Ada's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against her, Lucy felt a warmth spread through her chest. It was hard to make connections here when she'd grown up with these people (and a lot were paired off now), so she had craved affection for a long time. And whatever she had with Chet was just for convenience's sake and experimentation, nothing serious despite what he wished.

"I guess you also didn't have a lot of suitable candidates in your vault, too, but I'm glad it worked out this way." They really could have done a whole lot worse than each other, so even though she'd been shocked to be paired up with another woman, Lucy was glad it had turned out this way rather than being handed off to someone who could have been far worse.

With a playful wrinkle of her nose, Lucy placed her hands over Ada's, keeping their fingers interlocked as she began the tour. "Everything here is probably what your vault has, so there's not much to show, but we added our own little personal embellishments. Handmade stuff that has good memories attached, but I can tell you all about that later."

Lucy gestured to two doors that led off the living room. "Dad's and Norm's rooms are there." The click of her heels echoed in the space as she led Ada to the room furthest away. "And this one's mine, so it's way nicer than their rooms." A push of the button revealed a pretty room that clearly belonged to a woman who knew a little something about interior decorating. Lucy stepped through first, tugging Ada along behind, her demeanor playful and flirtatious.

"So, what do you think? We could always make changes once you've settled in. I'd like this to be a home you can feel comfortable in."

[shibemuses]

Once upon a time, cars used to run on only gasoline. He doubted such "vintage" models still existed out in the Wasteland, since it would be a treasure trove of scrap to take. The first pack of Raiders to find the poor things probably left nothing but a few bolts behind.

God, what Tony wouldn't give to have his old car. Super red, shiny, and it zoomed down streets faster than cops could chase.

Making a mental note to himself to go back to his old abode to dig through the garage, the older man scratched his cheek. He didn't look at Lucy while she spoke, but he was intently listening beneath a nonchalant mask.

Yes, the car would protect them. But it was not equipped with missiles, bullets, and a flamethrower; all of which Tony opened his mouth to say.

"A Pip-Boy, huh?" He really couldn't resist picking apart other people's tech. VAULT-TEC had gotten one over his Pops' company centuries ago, and that sting on the heir's ego still remained.

He had dismantled a few in his lab back in the day. See what made them tic. If they had vulnerabilities. But now he was skimming through his atlas of knowledge within his tired brain, rapid fire.

"Huh. Well, I guess we could probably hook the baby up to the car's computer. It'll at least diagnose the issue at hand. Maybe we'll get REAL lucky and the meter is wrong." He rose his eyebrows.

[vcultgirl]

"You're starting to sound like me," she pointed out, lips curving into an almost smug smile. Whenever she tried to have a happy outlook and rely on luck, Tony often scoffed. Maybe she was rubbing off on him? It sure would beat the grouchy vibes he usually brought with him.

"All right, I'll trust you with it." The Pip-Boy was unclipped from her wrist and held out for him. "But if you try to make a run with it, just know I will hunt you across this entire wasteland." Was it a joke? Not really, but she could say it in a light-hearted tone to keep the affable energy they'd managed to settle into.

...But she'd still chase him if he stole her Pip-Boy.

Settling back, Lucy's doe-like eyes watched Tony handle the device. She was genuinely interested to see what he could do with it and how it would respond once connected to the vehicle. Every day brought a new lesson, and she'd be silly to not jump on an opportunity to learn whenever it presented itself.

"How'd you get to be so smart anyway?" If he was willing to share some of his history with her—something she was always open to—then she was all ears.

[redemptioninterlude]

SUBJECT: marriage candidate vault switch up starter ! CONCERNING: lucy maclean

vault 33 holds a secret. and her employers at THE INSTITUTE were willing to go the extra mile to get it. ada helps to nestle herself in a group of raiders that had taken over vault 22, having ravaged the innards of the place, and hollowed out what it understood to be its best resources. during the night, she'd explore the other side of the vault, the part where the strange and the obscene took place, sending her notes back to the institute via the terminals that dotted this place thrice over.

convincing the others to allow her to play the marriage candidate was a little harder. the whole purpose of the entire affair was meant to provide GENETIC MATERIAL, but she's done well by the fact that she carefully dissuaded the competition. her lips curve into the sharpness of a smile, at the confusion presented when she approaches the exchange, how the look on the girl's face seems to falter, unsure, while the others argue. lucy maclean doesn't want to seem ungrateful, and these vault types really are strange. their eagerness to please felt odd, but tilting the girl's chin up, she met her confusion with a smirk, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. "don't worry. we'll be fine. i'll make it so."

and so IT WAS.

oh little darling, did you want to dance? she spins her around the field, as everyone sings beneath the false sky, and she wondered if this was what life was like, before the bombs. how none of this was a life that she'd known, or anyone around her had known within the wastelands, but here was lucy, BEAMING at her within a wedding dress that all those within the vault seemed to wear, spinning round in a circle, having what seemed to be a beautiful day. ada could manage that kind of expectation, her smile, sparkling, her dark eyes warm as she asked if lucy was feeling tired after all of the festivities.

★— ATTN: @vcultgirl

[vcultgirl]

Of all the emotions Lucy MacLean was expecting to experience on her wedding day, bafflement was not supposed to be high on the list! Glances had been exchanged with Steph, who’d appeared just as perplexed, but they hadn’t had the chance to ponder the mix-up (because that was surely what it was) before Lucy was being whisked away to get married. After that, everything passed by in a whirlwind of color and music and chatter that didn’t quite settle in her brain.

Ada was most definitely not a man, and don’t get Lucy wrong, she was absolutely not against same-sex relationships! That wasn’t the issue at all! It would just throw a wrench in the works when it came down to the, you know, reproducing aspect. However, even with these concerns in mind, Lucy shoved them down for now just so she could enjoy what was still her wedding day. What came after could be addressed and dealt with, but she would only do this once, so she had to make the most of it!

Head spinning and cheeks rosy from the energetic dancing—at one point Reg insisted on them all partaking in what was known as a hoedown—Lucy turned to Ada, who was holding her hand so gently and asking if she was tired. She had to give it to the other woman: she knew how to treat a lady. Eyes still retaining that sparkle that had only faltered a smidge upon initial confusion, the bride nodded.

“I might dance my legs right off if I keep going!”

The festivities were winding down, and she knew her dad would wrap them up soon before the joy turned into sudden heated arguments, which always seemed to happen when they spent too long in the one room. Norm had retired not long ago, her little brother’s social battery having run dry. He’d done super well to have made it so long despite her telling him that he didn’t need to stay the whole time. Lucy hadn’t said much to them about the circumstances other than a quick word with Hank about how unexpected it was that her partner turned out to be a woman. From the look on the Overseer’s face, Lucy knew he'd want to discuss what to do moving forward, but that could wait until tomorrow.

“So, this is where I live.” Lucy said, realizing that her still intact legs had led them down to the home she shared with her family. The mechanical door rose up to reveal a cozy little vault home that was modeled just like all the others here, only Lucy had added a few special touches of her own here and there. She knew Norm and her father were staying elsewhere tonight, having planned on giving her some privacy with her new groom.

“I swear, it’s bigger than it looks once you get used to it.” Lucy’s long brown hair whipped slightly as she turned to face Ada, her veil lost somewhere at the party. “Want me to give you the grand tour?”

[redemptioninterlude]

lucy was almost shockingly practical. for someone who seemed so happy go lucky, so brimming with ODD IDEAS, she too, seemed, rather pragmatic. perhaps because in the vaults there was little other way to think about things. it was get it together, or die on the limited resources. it's a different sort of survival in all too many ways, her tongue left to scrape along her lower tier, letting her hands drop. the graceful dip she managed ( oh, she's seen those in the pictures from before, hasn't she? ) ended with a bemused smile.

and maybe that was enough. a sweet girl trying to do what she could in a rather broken world that had been left to deal with the after effects and ravages of human greed and war. it's all cyclical. look to any of the children of adam, the institute itself. the countless other factions that litter this whole space, from coast to coast, all of them, worming in their best efforts for SURVIVAL. "oh. here's the great equalizer. depending on how they're traveling? it might not be so bad. if you're looking to get ahead of them, they're most likely taking this path."

a hand taps at a communicator she holds, a map materializing that she touched and drew along. "here, to here. the usual path to the city. i'm assuming that's where they'll go... if they're using you father to trade for something, they'll have to do it HERE. there's an entire underground city for those... less suitable for daylight errands. hopefully, i'm right. in which case... you'll get your jump here - " she points to another part of the map, zooming in. "i already know you're a good shot, and have done this-" killing a man. "before. are you sure this is what you want to do next? what if your father is dead already?" the harder questions... perhaps she should have waited to ask.

★— ATTN: @vcultgirl

[vcultgirl]

Each tap on the map was responded to with a nod here and a hum there. Lucy's round brown eyes, all doe-like innocence, took it all in, focusing on the area that Ada said they could get the jump from. Did she really want to go through with this? Killing was never her first option, and if there was a negotiation to be made that could free her father without spilling blood or lopping off raider limbs, then she was all for it. It wasn't like she never gave the other person a chance, and if violence was the result even after playing peacemaker, then that would be that.

Ada's question was one that had been in her mind since she began this search. At first, Lucy hadn't wanted to even consider it despite the horrors she'd witnessed. But... she knew there was a high chance of her dad not surviving this. A big part of her still thought that they'd keep him alive enough to do whatever they needed him for, but if she didn't hustle, then her dad's time might be running out sooner than she thought.

"Then I kill whoever's responsible for his death."

And there would be no negotiations there.

A momentary silence had settled over them, but it wasn't long before Lucy was showing that smile again and jostling her backpack into a more comfortable position, feeling it distribute its weight better against her vault suit.

"Let's go show them what it means to cross us."