The Noble Lie
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“I was wonderin’ when you were gonna show up.” Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a cigarette in the old woman’s hand. Whatever she was smoking was rolled up in scraps of old newspaper. From the smell, it was something that Hancock would be jealous of.
“Oh, mighty fortune teller, please tell me I finally win the lottery.” He leaned against the wall next to her chair, shifting Churchbell to the side as he did so. A steady breeze wove its way through the town, causing the wind chimes of shells and bone, pre-war tech and broken glass hanging from the warped metal awning to sing with their movement.
Mama Murphy flicked the ashes of her joint with a smirk, “What’d ya’ mean finally? Kid, you already got the whole world.”
Deacon smiled off towards Charlie’s home, behind the tree. “How’s she doing?”
“Misses you somethin’ awful though she ain’t ever going to say it out loud.” She hummed, “Be better if you were in her light rather than shadow.”
“You know that ain’t my stick Murphy.”
(something that been in my head for a while now about what happens after the main questline is completed... & what that means for Deacon & Wanderer's relationship)Series
- Part 1 of The Noble Lie
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Dez chuckled with a wave of her hand, warm and full of life. “It wasn’t you who caused a scene Wanderer. However, Tom’s in a tizzy.”
Wanderer moved to stand but once again Dez stopped her, “Drummer and Deacon are calming him down, it’s alright. He was worried he upset you.”
She bit her lip before answering, “No, not at all I just- I needed some air.”
Dez nodded, seeming to understand. “Do you need someone to listen? It’s not good to keep everything inside, you’ll rot.”
As an agent of the Railroad, Desdemona was her superior. As the General of the Minutemen, she was her equal. But as people? Desdemona was her friend. A friend who she knew hardly anything about. If she were sobber would she accept the offer? “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
Dez faced the window she’d thrown the bottle out of. “You can just speak. Anything that comes to mind.”
What a dangerous thing doing that could be. “I’m angry Dez.” She settled for keeping it simple.
The older – or younger depending on how one looked at it – woman nodded, “I had to sat with my anger for a long time until it told me its real name was grief. You haven’t been gifted a moment to do so.”Series
- Part 2 of The Noble Lie
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Deacon crouched again, brushing hair back from her face, tucking strands carefully behind her ear. His hand lingered on her cheek, grounding her as she looked bleary eyed past his shoulder. “Okay, listen.” He sighed, “I’m gonna pull it out. You’re gonna curse at me. Then I’ll clean it, maybe stitch it. Easy.”
“Nope.” Her protest was weak but stubborn. “No needles. No thread.”
“Wanderer-”
“Nuh-uh,” she interrupted, attempting to sit. He gently held her down, hand on her shoulder. The familiar motion, done countless times, began to irritate her. “S’not that bad. You’re not puttin’ a needle or thread anywhere near me.”
“You need them.” His tone shifted, firmer. His hand slid down to steady her leg, his thumb circling the glass. “Promise it won’t be so bad.”
“Easy for you to say,” she muttered, eyes squeezing shut. “If I dragged you up a building, made you cross a cutty bridge, you’d be stressed out to the point youd be–”Series
- Part 3 of The Noble Lie
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She rounded the final corner into the courtyard, and there he was: a blue jacket folded over the edge of the statue, a familiar newsboy cap atop it, its seam busted at the bill. Below, propped against the marble pedestal, lay Drummer Boy. One hand pressed to Dogmeat’s back, the other clamped against his shoulder where the collarbone met the joint. Red seeped, vivid against pale skin, between his fingers.
“Shit,” Norah breathed, closing the distance. Her knees hit the flagstones with a crack as she knelt, pressing her hands over his own as if she could force the blood back inside him. “Drummer… it’s alright.”
“Ha-ah that’s… not the term I’d use,” he rasped, attempting a quivering smile, eyes darting toward the rooftops and broken windows behind her. His skin was three shades paler than normal, the shadows under his eyes deepened into hollows.
“I handled it,” she said, brushing the fringe from his forehead. “He’s gone, Drummer. I handled it.” She repeated it when his gaze finally met hers, a tether to reality.
Confusion clouded the gray of his eyes for a heartbeat before he nodded shakily. “I thought I heard two shots.”Series
- Part 4 of The Noble Lie
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“The truth always strikes a nerve with you… Look, I don’t know what it is your plan is for her, but she’s not some paintbrush you can toss aside when the bristles get too short.” Hancock shifted his weight. “I’ll be honest with you D Man.” The emphasis on ‘honest’ wasn’t lost on him. “O’Malley is dangerous. Way dangerous. Not just for my people or yours, but everyone. Word around is that he’s taken an interest in Charlie. You don’t need me to explain why that’s a bad thing.”
(its another undercover story with Deacon & Wanderer... but is it the one where he finally tells her he loves her?)Series
- Part 5 of The Noble Lie
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He leaned back, looking at the braid a moment, “Alrighty Boss, twirl around and let me fix up the front.”
Keeping her eyes on the cracks in the warped floorboards, Norah did what was asked of her. Shuffling around in her spot to face him.
He leaned forwards then, teasing a few strands of her hair free so they framed her face. Almost as a second thought, Deacon twirled a lock of it around his finger – training it into a soft curl.
“There.” He said quietly, the crickets outside almost drowning him out, right as she moved her eyes up to meet his own for the first time that she could remember.
“Hey Wands?” Deacon spoke after a beat passed.
“Mhm?”
“I got something important to say.”
(Its a retelling of the 'big talk' that is Deacon's finale affinity convo, he also braids her hair at the start and talks about his mama, its cute i promise)
>>> this has also been rewritten since it was first posted!! <<<Series
- Part 6 of The Noble Lie
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Deacon shoved his hands in his pockets – waiting expectantly. He was well aware he wasn't in any danger physically; he was getting the feeling Codsworth new things and he didn't know what those things entailed. That little fact made him nervous.
“Who are you.” Codsworth spoke curtly. If he had arms, they would be on his hips.
(A conversation between a certain mister handy & a certain spy about intentions, sandwiched between some much needed world building)Series
- Part 7 of The Noble Lie
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Magnolia had a soft rasp to her voice that enraptured Charlie every time she heard the woman speak. And now, with the growing amount of liquor, she didn’t clock how rude it must have been that she practically swiveled around to gawk at the performer as she approached the stage.
“I knew you weren’t listening but do you gotta make it so obvious?” Deacon nudged her again and she let her body rock to the side with the movement.
She looked back toward her friends, the tips of her ears burning. “M’sorry. Just think Mags has a pretty voice is all.”(The HQ gang goes for drinks, dancing & a tender moment ensues)
Series
- Part 8 of The Noble Lie
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Normally I would put a snippet of the story here...but not this time since anything I put will be a spoiler for the story. So you're gonna have to take my word for it when I say this ones really good & it wont hurt you at all :) Promise...
(inspiration was taken from the quest, end of the line)Series
- Part 9 of The Noble Lie
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“That's the point. See, you gotta remember that a disguise is more than a wig and some lice-ridden clothes.” With a role of his shoulder, he continued. “You'd be surprised how far I've gotten with the right attitude and a clipboard. And,” He paused for dramatic effect, “A face change thrown in once in a while doesn’t hurt either.”
“A face change?” She echoed, clicking the implication he gave her into place. It felt so silly that it took until now for events of the last month or so to click into place. That caravan hand outside Bunker Hill when her and Preston first arrived… How Dogmeat had looked at him with a curious tilt of the head. The scaver in the stained red flannel outside Goodneighbor that was smoking a cigarette as he leaned outside the door frame leading into the Daisy’s shop while she reminisced about the world before. The same scaver who cheered on Hancock’s ‘fuck the Institute’ speech a few hours after. The guard outside Diamond City when she and Piper got inside who Dogmeat also stopped walking in front of and began wagging his tail.(Its a retelling of the quest Tradecraft with a little more heartache and connection to the dead agents in the Switchboard)
Series
- Part 10 of The Noble Lie
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“Molerats are cute in a ‘I’m going to bite your legs off kind of way.’ But – oh okay look at this Dee,” She motioned for him to come closer before realizing he was already at her side. “Thirty-six percent of all diseases can be treated with whatever was happening down here.”
“Do you think they improved it any since this was written?” He asked, stepping back as she closed the terminal and moved over a fallen over coat rack to the next door.
“Hopefully.” With a flick of the panel the door groaned open. She noted the stack of crates blocking the doorway to her left as they went into the hallway, “Guess Bobby never went past this point.” A whirling sound stopped her, Deacon grabbed her shirt, pulling her back to the crates a blink before the mounted turret started firing. A beat later her gun was pulled, and in another the turret exploded with the impact of Deliver’s bullet.
(It's the Hole in the Wall quest where Curie is first introduced! Now with more Deacon commentary)Series
- Part 11 of The Noble Lie
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Wanderer tossed the rock up in the air lightly before catching it. Then, she brought her arm back an flung the stone as hard as she could into one of the train cars. The collision sounded like a gong, ringing out into the surrounding wasteland.
Like clockwork, ferals began to scurry out from their hiding places. Deacon took the first shot, promptly removing the poor soul’s head. Wanderer took the second and third – Deacon was the fourth. That was the pattern they usually worked with. She was able to reload faster so he’d shoot first when they saw the target before it saw them, then Wanderer would take two or three shots in the time he was ready for his second. She’d count his shots, knowing Deacon only had five before he had to duck for cover and fully reload. When the fifth sounded out she’d normal save five herself to protect him until he could fire again. Thank god they both had suppressors because her hearing would be non-existent otherwise.Series
- Part 12 of The Noble Lie
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Now, Deacon would never out right say this. But he loved watching Wanderer read.
His partner had gotten through the terminal with relative ease – no surprise there. But it had been a good hour since the start of that endeavor. Whatever she found; it gripped her attention with a ferocity she only had when reading prewar terminal entries.
He watched her from the nest of a blanket he had distractedly crafted. Deacon’s intention was for her to lay down with the blanket and get the sleep she needed before her body gave out, but the second he saw her curled up in that busted up chair, shoulders scrunched up? He knew that wasn’t going to happen.
His Wanderer had a way of well, wandering when she was reading. The look sparked the second her fingers found a terminal. But it was always overshadowed with determination, frustration, and the thrill of finally achieving what she wanted when she broke in.
(Have you ever just...watched someone while they read something? You should give it a try, it's one of Deacon's favorite pastimes. Maybe he only enjoys it because its Wanderer that he's watching though.)Series
- Part 13 of The Noble Lie
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They had reached the top and she clutched her heart as she looked over Boston. Sure enough the sun had worked its nightly magic, casting a warm orange glow on the landscape.
Like an old art piece done by an over-skilled and under-payed sculptor, the world around them scream ‘Look at me! I’m here! Aren’t I wonderful!’ Every possible reflective surface was shimmering, the river predominantly but also the shattered windows of buildings and cars. Glass shards and not fully rusted metal lined the maze of streets and displayed the sun like bits of a giant flat disco ball.
If Deacon didn’t have his glasses on the sight very well could have blinded him
(Sure Deacon hated heights, and the monument at Bunker Hill was... tall. But it had quite a view when the sun would set, so why not kill some time before caring on with the job Wanderer & him were running? A shame that he didn't take into account that the world around them was a recently plotted graveyard to her.)Series
- Part 14 of The Noble Lie
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It was a ghost of a touch on her side that made her question everything she though she knew about him. Deacon held her like he was scared she was made of glass and he could break her if he moved to fast. His contact with her had trepidation soaked through it as if he were yelling at himself for even suggesting being this close to her. Surely, she was imagining it.
Their dancing was more of a slow swaying side to side than anything.
(Wanderer and Deacon take shelter from an encroaching radiation storm in an old dinner she used to know. Inside they find a welcomed surprise and a respite from the outside world- if even for a moment.) EDIT! A year later I’ve revised this story & fixed most of the wording errors! This is what I get for posting fics at 3 am...Series
- Part 15 of The Noble Lie