#preston garvey

close-ups!!

LORE;

Lydia worked as a nurse pre-war and was married to Nate Shostak. Their marriage was more like an agreement, as they both wanted a child but they didn't have romantic feelings for eachother. They had Shaun and were happy about their family arrangement.

(Everything then goes on like it canonly does in Fo4's opening)

In 2287, after leaving the vault, Lydia is absolutely terrified. While many would see it as an opportunity to do whatever they want, in a world new and free from old-world rules, Lydia is the exact opposite. She's scared of everything that moves, she feels sick from the radiation in the air and she has no idea what to do. Her first instinct is to head to Sanctuary, to home, to see if anyone would be around.

Once she reunites with Codsworth she starts to feel less disorientated. Still scared and unsure of everything, but at least she has someone familiar around at last. She's determined to go find Shaun, and it's the only goal she has. Eventually as she feels more stable, she heads off to Red Rocket, finding Dogmeat, and then she's off to Concord.

Lydia constantly feels like a fish out of water (because she is). Pre-War she was used to following the everyday rules of everyday life (although had issues w them due to her autism) but it gave her structure and existing amongst others was do-able. But now, she knows nothing. And thanks to that lack of knowledge on anything in this new world, she's afraid to step out of line in any capacity (so yeah, never any sarcastic jerk, violent or plain mean dialogue).

As a trained nurse, her main instinct is to help people in need, which is why she storms in to help Preston and his crew in Concord despite having almost no experience with guns (had some thanks to Nate taking her to shooting ranges). Her deep desire to help others often causes her to be blindsided and she acknowledges her own issues far too late (or not at all). Despite knowing nothing about the Minutemen, she still agrees to help. She views Preston as a reliable person, and as he is a Wastelander, he knows how the society works and whats best for it, thus making her follow his orders with no questions.

Overtime as Lydia adjusts to this new world and her new role as the Minutemen general, she grows to be less scared and more detatched. She puts on a typical "customer service" voice and act when helping settlers, companions and anyone in need, but it's truly just masking and nothing more. Otherwise she keeps great distance from everyone, not allowing anyone to see her true issues and feelings...well...anyone except Preston. He's the only person she grew to truly trust.

Due to her inability to step out of line, she becomes quite the people pleaser, helping in even the most questionable cases people throw at her. However, mercenary jobs and chem deals are something she does deny, as they go against her own values. (....despite relying on chems in combat from time to time. Again showing she cares for others way more than herself.)

A huge part of her self-destructive nature, that leads her to be downright reckless in close combat, is the fact that for a long while she felt like her "adventures" in the Wasteland were nothing but a dream, a joke, just something she'd wake up from eventually. But as she grows closer with Preston, she learns to face reality and share her burdens with him, which in return helps Preston to open up as well. They're both people who were way too young, lost everyone they held dear too fast, and were under enormous pressure. At least with eachother, they can just be..themselves. :-)

(all the other art is by me !!)

More about Lydia & Preston's relationship ^_^ :

Lydia is a lot less distant, and is actually very clingy with Preston, often holding his hand, clinging to his arm or just staying near him. Despite Preston not really being a fan of physical contact, he becomes comfortable with it, only with her though. Preston feels very comfortable on rambling about his interests, which Lydia loves to listen to. She tells him a lot about pre-war America, and they share knowledge all the time. While Lydia is into horror and scary things, Preston isn't a huge fan of such. Despite that, he sticks to her when they go to scarier locations, and she gets to tease him and act as a "knight in shining armor" for him (she literally uses a sword). In general they get to act more their age (22 and 23), just two silly young adults having fun whenever they can, making their nightmareish situations easier to handle. :-) Lydia also struggles with expressing how she truly feels, which results in her showing affection in ways that many would deem off-putting and eerie (such as staring for long periods of time, using morbid things as affection "id live in your skin if i could" type shit, hunting animals/creatures and bringing "trophies" back as gifts) With both Lydia and Preston being passively suicidal, them being together truly helped heal those aspects, with Preston finding that strenght to live again and Lydia truly trying to be less reckless.