1 2 5 9 14 17 19 AAAND 22 about JOSEPH and BOTH HIS OPTIONS bc there isn't enough of him and you MUST supply to my demand
gotta make me workĀ for it key i see how it is (how gr8 ily this is gon be LONG <33)
1. What drew your character to their LI and vice versa?For Danse, initially, it was just the relief of having a commanding officer again. Joseph isnāt nearly as independent as he likes to believe, and especially with how overwhelming the whole situation tended to be, getting orders and having someone to answer to took a weight off.
At the very start, Mac was just an investment -- someone who knew theĀ āWealth better than Joseph did, and might be able to keep him from stumbling into some raider nest that literally everyone knows about Forsythe, come on. They ended up getting along far better than either expected, though, and Joseph was really appreciative of someone who actually knew what they were doing around a rifle, especially since Mac insisted he was self-taught.
Danse was legitimately impressed by this random wastelander (Joseph didnāt actually tell him about the Vault thing for a little while) holding his own against the ghouls and then the synths in ArcJet (never mind that Joseph kinda set him on fire in ArcJet, he figured the literal panic attack the poor pryrophobe had after the fact was recompense enough). He was a very good soldier from the start, which, of course, made a lot more sense when Joseph came clean about the whole cryo thing.
For Mac...well, Joseph did pay him. And paid him pretty well, all things considered, itās not like he was gonna say no. But like I said, they got along weirdly well, with the same weird sense of humor and preference for staying as far back from combat as possible. After long enough that it wouldnāt feel like an insult, Joseph showed him a couple of pointers for shooting -- just how to hold the shoulder, better follow-through, etc. Joseph was an idiot about a lot, but not about survival.
2. What was the first moment that they knew they were in love with their LI?It was the same moment for Joseph, tbh, and I think I wrote it at some point. Theyād already been living together, because Mac brought Duncan up from DC and decided he liked theĀ āWealth better, and Danse honestly didnāt have anywhere else to go. Coming back from an errand run, Duncan on one hip and MacCready rambling about something trivial, Joseph just kinda realized all of a sudden why everyone assumed they were married.Heād been feeling it for a long time, but that was the dawning realization ofĀ āokay maybe a little bit of homo.ā
5. How do they comfort each other when they are sad?Eventually they all figure out the best way to manage it with both of the others.Danse usually retreats to somewhere quiet by himself, and itās good to just sit there with him, listen once heās ready to talk, assure him that yes, his emotions are real, not just some glitch in programming.Joseph generally needs to be distracted. Take him out for shooting practice, or run an errand for Preston. Talk about things eventually, but at first itās good to just put the problem on the backburner and make it feel less overwhelming for a little while.The best strategy for Mac (and tbh it works with everyone to an extent) is to plop Duncan down on his chest. Have the physical proof that his son is alive and healthy and growing like a weed, and itās tough to be sad when a toddler is insisting you play tag or read his new comic book with all the voices.
9. How open are they with their feelings?Ironically, Mac is probably the best between the three of them. He makes an effort with it for Duncanās sake -- say how you feel, explain why this made you upset, etc, and it just kind of carries over into every other interaction around the Red Rocket. The other two are getting better, Danse especially, because heās finding that voicing feelings makes them seem more real on the days when the whole synth thing hits harder than usual. Joseph......is working on it.
14. Is their anything they associate with each other?Joseph for Danse - the smell of ozone laser weapons leave behind, that breathless feeling of suspension the split second after a huge firefight ends, snorting into coffee over a joke that you did not expect to be said so casually
Danse for Joseph - the kind of high winds you get on top of skyscrapers, large fires (in a kind of ironic sense), the smell of gas and motor oil, the kind of solid reassurance that you exist, youāre real, you matter
Joseph for MacĀ - an unobstructed view of the sky, the smell of gun oil on used rags, laughter without any concern of being too loud, the feeling of going into a warm dark cave and shutting off all the lights for a minute
Mac for JosephĀ - sniping from a vertibird (somehow), the quiet hum of engines running in the background, the inevitable good-natured groan over a bad pun, that very specific feeling of seeing Duncan for the first time in over a year when they picked him up from DC
17. Their ways of expressing their loveMac picks up little gifts -- a book he assumes Danse might like (not that the selection is very broad in theĀ āWealth), supplies for Josephās motorcycle, even Codsworth will find a new windchime left wordlessly on the counter sometimes.
Joseph does favors -- picking up an errand run to the city that someone else was slated for, fixing Macās rifle when the bolt starts sticking, or doing one of Duncanās chores with a hushed promise to not tell his dad
Danse likes to feed people -- neither of the others were ever great at cooking in the first place, and every once in a while Danse will insist that Codsworth take a night off and make something overly impressive for someone who mostly ate out of a communal mess hall. It also ensures that they get everyone eating dinner at once, which is a novelty sometimes.
19. Describe how they communicateIn a word, briefly. With Joseph and Danse both soldiers and Joseph and Mac both snipers, theyāre all pretty used to quick conversations, even wordless ones sometimes -- all of which, of course, is dropped around Duncan.
22. From the outside looking in, what is their dynamic like?It makes sense on a basic level, but watching any of them interacting in town or on the road, the sheer amount of bickering is probably strange. All of Macās jokes about Danse being a synth seem a little in poor taste, but tbh it was Danse that starting making them to begin with. (any time it starts raining, āthatās racistāĀ ā.....HOWāĀ āitās inconveniencing meā)They all get along wonderfully. Itās just not immediately obvious.
