#nat wright

the fate of a journalist

I wish they did more with her in the game because we know next to nothing about this kid and yet she's supposed to be part of this big dilemma Piper has.

Why couldn't we at least ask what she wanted when Piper was wondering whether or not she should be in her sister's life? Maybe a quest where Nat wants to see what the wasteland is like and we protect her while she explores? It's not like the game is a stranger to having us escort child characters through dangerous situations.

Also I have a personal redesign of Piper's home in my mind, where Nat sleeps upstairs and Piper sleeps downstairs.

-Piper and Nat have a house in Sanctuary. Piper still runs Publick Occurrences, but now without the added stress of possibly getting stuck outside of Diamond City.

-Nick Valentine eventually goes back to his office in Diamond City. He intends to return to detective work, but he ends up getting stuck in a position of authority after Mayor McDonough is killed. He agrees under the condition that it's a temporary placement, and that they'll look for someone to take the role permanently, but most people are content with him in charge. He's stuck there for the foreseeable future.

-Preston travels back and forth between Sanctuary and the Castle. He shares a house in Sanctuary with Mama Murphy since he cares for her like a grandma.

-Hancock goes back to Goodneighbor but has a dedicated room in the Sanctuary Inn for whenever he visits which is fairly regularly. It's always a party when he does.

-Deacon comes and goes from Sanctuary as he pleases. He insists he doesn't need a dedicated place to crash even though Claire offered. Sanctuary becomes a safe haven for synths who are being moved, so he and other Railroad agents come through occasionally often while escorting folks.

-Cait lives at Nordhagen Beach. She works as a caravan guard sometimes, but also loves living by the sea. When home, she trains the settlers in self defense on her off time.

-Curie has a house in Sanctuary next to the hospital. She works as the resident doctor and scientist. When Danse becomes an enemy of the BoS, he moves in with her. She's there to counsel and help him as needed and make sure he's safe. He helps her with some medical stuff in return. Otherwise, he works as a mechanic, doing maintenance on weapons and power armor, and learning electronics. Eventually, Curie gets antsy to go explore the world more and hires Danse as protection, and the two of them go on many a research expedition together.

-Codsworth stays in Sanctuary and does general maintenance around town as well as assisting in the general store. He's dedicated to keeping the town neat and tidy and making sure guests feel welcome.

-MacCready moves in with Claire in her original prewar house. Duncan and Shaun share a room.

Piper is such a big one for me and I couldn't figure out why until @tinytorchlight pointed out... she has this big intro when you enter diamond city. The big cut scene, the introduction to the evil mayor and the biggest city in the commonwealth, the interview (she publishes a whole newspaper article about you) and pointing you in the direction of Nick Valentine. She's huge. Argueably a big fucking deal... and then nothing. No quest.

apparently there was even meant to be a quest for her and you can even find newspaper junk in game related to a cut quest for Piper... (thank you @theoccasionalhyperfixation) so there was a whole quest. and they cut it. don't piss me off.

I'm picturing there being some big story you have to uncover, probably something institute related. like having to interview people and compile quotes and proof and through dialogue (like the first time you meet her) decide the wording of the article. It could be about...

The impact on ghouls that McDonough's anti ghoul campaign had, including info on the Slog and Goodneighbor and maybe you even have to find a doctor or two to get quotes on ghoul biology. And depending on your dialogue options you can make the Slog and Goodneighbor sound great and enlighten people about ghouls and the difference between ferals and non-ferals, or you could use it as a scare campaign to keep up the anti-ghoul mindset.

A more in depth on McDonough being a synth + proof this time. Maybe Sole has to sneak into his office or snoop on his letters or get Geneva/Guards to confess that they saw something and then either convince them to allow the quote in the paper non-anonymously, use an anonymous quote (some unique dialgoue from Piper or Nick or residents about credibility maybe?), or use it non-anonymously without their permission (upsetting them).

Something about the class disparity between the upper stands and lower, and how the lower stands have no real sway in their city, leading to a noticeable upheaval complete with new dialogue from both named and unnamed NPCs with their opinions and statements on how they were affected by the disparity or why they think it's not that big of a deal or what they think needs to be changed.

Maybe they could have given the Earl Sterling mission to Piper, or even had her lowkey take it from Nick before he could get to it after eavesdropping/snopping and finding out about it, or make you have to work with both of them and then again, the idea of helping her write the piece after.

It could even be faction related, like she's writing an article about one or all of the factions and she asks for your statement as the person right in the middle of all of it and you can take the opportunity to talk up whatever faction you're a part of, expose the truth about factions you don't like, or even spread lies as a part of a smear campaign against factions you don't want to see winning. Like say you're secretely railroad so you feed her a bunch of stuff about the railroad being awesome but you lie and say 'the BOS are executing people they believe to be synths with no evidence so you if you see a BOS soldier know it's you or them'. that sort of thing

Or it could even not be an investigation + article. Maybe she's sick of writing these all by hand with the help of Nat and she needs your help to find the blueprints, tools, and materials to help her build a printing press, and then help her put it together! Sure she doesn't have a livingroom anymore but printing newspaper articles just got a hell of a lot easier.

Or maybe we could tie it into her main internal conflict: Nat turning into her. Maybe the mission is finding Nat a better influence like helping Nat make friends with the quiet, thoughtful Nina Rodriguez or getting her a more peaceful/distracting hobby like... knitting idk.

Maybe you have to have a conversation with her where, depending on Charisma checks, you either convince her to focus on being a kid more, or you fail and she doubels down. It could also impact Piper and Nat's relationships with unique dialogue where she could end up resenting Nat for raising her as she did or for trying to change her or make her feel closer or she could promise Piper to focus on being more of a kid, or ask Piper to be around more, or mention she's making new friends/picked up a hobby.