Nate and Nora didn't often stay in Boston proper. Only at times they were invited to grand events like weddings, parties, or a special night with their friends was when did they stayed downtown.

The Harbormaster was a location that they used to dine at, enjoying their excellent seafood selection. The Shamrock Taphouse that was partnered with the hotel next door contained a large selection of beers in every variety to pair with the extensive New England cuisine. During evening times, both businesses would refer customers to each other. Hungry guests staying at the Harbormaster would be directed to the closest source of rich local food, while the Taphouse would refer drunk or inebbriated customers to the Harbormaster where they could sleep, or quickly hail a taxi home.

The old hotel was once painted blue, but over time mellowed out to white-ish blue. There was a fountain in front of the main entrance, and the most iconic photogenic area was just behind the fountain, where people could walk to the waterfront. There was a boardwalk and dock that was built out over the water, with stairs leading down to a thin strip of beach for people to explore and walk on at low tide. A second viewpoint was on the sixth floor where an outdoor pool and balcony created a picturesque backdrop with the city of Boston in one direction, and the Charles Bay in the other.

Nate and Nora never stayed there at the Harbormaster personally, being so close to the city, it was only a twenty minute drive for the couple. They saw the rooms of the hotel when a friend of a friend was staying there, and invited them up to get ready and enjoy some pre-wedding libations.

Cigars, Brandy, and Cognac for the men, while as Nora came back to tell them the ladies sipped Champagne, or made Mimosas. The guys agreed not to tell the women about a indulgence with marijuana, and a tiny snort of cocaine, while the women agreed not to talk about the Xanex pills, and a cocaine that was acquired before hand.

The before-and-after parties seemed like such a blur now, but once they were both back at their home in Concord, collapsing onto the couch for a few minutes to let the past day sink in, they whispered and admitted to what they did in the privacy of those hotel rooms, then went to the master bedroom to have sex before going to bed.

The second most prominent feature of the Harbormaster Hotel was the pool and ball room on the sixth floor, which the second part was a bit of a misnomer.

The ball room was a small dining area that could fit around 100 people that would get flipped for weddings, ceremonies, buffets, and other events, right next to the pool and bar area.

When Nate and Nora went to their friend's wedding, the wedding vows were exchanged in the ballroom, over looking the Charles Bay, they kissed, then they congregated to the pool area and bar for drinks and conversation for an hour while chairs were rearranged, tables brought out, decorations and flowers placed, and silverware set.

After a break in the music, they all moved back into the dining area for dinner.

\111/

Meathead woke before daylight, only sleeping an hour and a half after finishing talking with Thunderstruck, when the Pip-Boy Alarm started going off.

Cracking both eyes, he switched the Pip-Boy off and clasped it onto his forearm, rousing Donny, while letting the Pegasus sleep.

Donny was still rubbing his eyes, half-awake aware that the man who looked like Nate, but was actually Meathead in disguise was guiding him home. Standing quietly in understanding that the adult was guiding him home before the rest of the city woke up as they descended, he didn't notice the small armory Meathead was carrying with him.

"<Donny. We're going to jog there, we're going to move quickly and quietly. I don't want you getting hurt. Understand?>"

"Yes."

"<Do you know how to operate a gun?>"

"Yes."

"<I've got a good idea of the route we're going to take, but before we get there, is there anything I need to know about your community? Do you call out a password? Do you have any watchmen at night that would recognize you?>"

"No. We just walk up. But there's always someone keeping an eye out." The boy held the gun with a sharpshooter's grip, quickly checking to see if it was unloaded.

"<I don't plan on sticking around long, I'm just escorting you back.>"

"Okay."

The doors parted and they were both struck by the cold early morning air coming in off the water. Being this close to the ocean made everything freezing cold in the morning, and made both of them tense for a moment.

"<Let's go.>"

\111/

The streets were still dark, but all of Meathead's senses were telling him the majority of Boston was still sleeping, which was perfect for the Changeling. It meant less chances of being attacked, which any engagement would put the kid at risk.

Meathead lead them down the blocks, at every intersection they crossed, they could smell the salt air and feel the temperature drop, and see the ocean just beyond the tide-wall. Avoiding any life source that seemed even remotely hostile. Their steps were quiet, but the rubble packing the streets, made walking through the city stealthily difficult. The roads were packed from times higher tides and storms from the ocean spat up debris and left them there as the waters receded.

A good thing to know for future endeavors of living along the coastline, there was to be an expected amount of flooding that washed out most of the bottom floor windows and basements. This allowed Mirelurks to get further into parts of Boston than expected, but it made sense as to their appearance farther in the city.

Passing Postal Square, Meathead could make out the sign for the Shamrock Taphouse and frowned. Signalling for Donny to stop. "<Does your group know there's Super Mutants in the building next to yours?>" Meathead asked, sensing the dormant aggression from afar. So long as they were quiet and didn't draw any attention outside, they should be fine.

"Yep, but they don't bother us. Usually."

Weighing the kid's words, Meathead nodded and kept walking quickly rounding the corner past the building opposite to the Taphouse, they both saw the Harbormaster Hotel. While it was a reassuring sight for Donny, the bodies hung over the fountain were gouged with meathooks and suspended by chain, were not a tell-tale sign of a good time. On the walls and barricades built around the entrance of the hotel were paintings of skulls with 'X's over the forehead, with stitched mouths.

Meathead inwardly cringed, whispering under his breath, "<Shit.>" He was walking towards a Gunner's base.

"<Donny. I...>"

Meathead suddenly realized the most logical question the Gunner's would ask is where the kid had been for the last 24 hours, and then Donny would come up with is that he stayed in the tower with the ship in it. Even if they didn't ask that, they might ask him how Donny got back, and the response would be that a man wearing a Vault 111 jumpsuit helped him get back.

That is, if they even cared about the kid, but in Meathead's limited experience in dealing with children, was that they were like little drunkards. You couldn't keep them from talking.

Trying to come up with a way that wouldn't lead a team of Gunners straight back to the USS Constitution, there was no time to critical think. He discarded the first and second ideas, both of them involved violence, and seeing as how it involved Donny's seudo-caretakers, Meathead didn't think to dig deeper into the group dynamics of who took care of him when there was time on the ship, but now he was walking towards options that should've been avoided.

With early morning light quickly ascending, the day was beginning, and from a darkened window inside the Harbormaster, they were both spotted. The '111' plainly visible on his coat, Meathead's choice was made for him.

"<Donny?> He asked as they crossed the street. "<Are you with the Gunners?>" Drawing out his pistol, he pulled back on the hammer, and switched the safety off.

\111/

Since the clearing out and destruction of their outpost inside Mass Fusion, Winlock and Barnes were both forced to crawl a long ways after Nate broke their knees. Humiliated them in Goodneighbor, the only way they got back was after leaning into each other for support, One step from Winlock, one step from Barnes, their rifles tied to their broken legs for braces.

Even after given Stimpaks, their bones weren't set right and took much longer to heal. After reaching Gunner Company, they told everyone they could of the piece-of-shit vault dweller from Vault 111. God-damn drunk was how they described Nate, possessed by the liquor to fight without recompense. Then, once they were mobile enough to move on, they left, but the description of the man who beat them remained.

\111/

Meathead went into the lobby, one of the more better preserved rooms he's been in. The lounge area was kept decent, but most of the ceiling tiles had fallen off, exposing the wiring and insulation above. The walls were cracked and peeling, a few deep splits in the painted drywall where the elements had worked their way in. There were a few dozen bullet holes grouped together, but the lack of blood indicated whoever was fighting held off their intruder. The skeletons were all pre-war, but shoved off to the sides instead of dealt with in a more proper manner.

Above their heads, Meathead and Donny could hear people moving around. The floorboards creaking and dust raining down from the ceiling. The elevator off to the side of the check-in desk was called to the third floor, where he could hear people being loaded in.

"<Hello?! I helped the kid get back!>"

The movements stopped, but there was loud thumping, someone was chipping away at the floor from above, trying to bore a hole down through the ceiling.

A fist-sized hole appeared, and a grenade was shoved through.

"<Stupid motherfuckers.>"

It fell halfway down, before getting caught in a green glow and sent back up. The ceiling exploded, and two people fell through. One person was already dead from the explosion, while the other fractured his leg during the blast, and then got the wind knocked out of him as he slammed down onto the check-in desk.

Donny was screaming, having a fit because Meathead, or rather, the person for all appearances looked like Nate, killed two people he knew. "You Bastard!" The kid yelled, running behind the desk, Donny dove for cover.

The elevator cables banged and groaned at lack of maintenance as the rusted coils lowered the car down to the ground floor. Before the doors parted, and the door chime dinged, Meathead aimed at the elevator and let loose a whole clip of ammo straight through the doors, eviscerating the three people inside.

The doors parted and one body fell over, torn apart by bullets, and filled with holes, the interior of the elevator was covered in blood. Meathead sighed, tired from not getting enough sleep, and then forced into action.

With the stairs not immediately visible, and possibly only one way up, Meathead stepped over the body blocking the door frame, shoved him out onto the main floor, but as he did so, he felt Donny's rage, and looked up to see the kid holding a gun at him.

Donny was making a odd assortment of facial expressions that went from anger, to sadness, and then confusion, but the overarching look on his face was rage.

"<Donny.>" Raising one hand out towards the child, he spoke calmly.

Meathead was cut off by the kid shooting at him. The gun's recoil bucked the kid's hands wildly. The bullet struck the back of the elevator car, so Meathead used his magic grip to tilt the gun up, to avoid being shot, but Donny was fighting the telekinesis, and he was oblivious to the forces working against him. Firing again, the gun was already tipped up, the bullet struck the ceiling.

"<Don->" Realizing what was about to happen, Meathead let go of his telekinetic grip on the pistol Donny was aiming at him, but Donny fired three more times, all within the span of a second. Each pull of the trigger making the recoil tip the barrel up. Donny wasn't realigning the sights of the barrel towards his target and wasn't strong enough to properly compensate for the recoil. As he fired that third time, the gun was pointed directly up under his chin when Donny pulled the trigger on himself.

\111/

The elevator doors closed on the gruesome lobby, leaving Meathead squatting over three dead bodies there in silence, while the elevator waited for any sort of input to move.

Meathead stood up in the darkness, rubbing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment before blindly reaching out to find the button.

Sighing, he closed his eyes, but the darkness behind his eyelids was still as dark as when his eyes were open. The bright image was still burned into his corneas.

\111/

Travis Lonely Miles cracked the door to his recording studio open, and sat on the stair stoop leading down to the walking path. Letting a fresh breeze of cool air come swirling into his home and station. The clouds were grey, while the air felt moist and the ground smelled of wet dirt, it maybe meant rain, or worse, acid rain. Mounted to the outside of his trailer door was a thermometer, currently reading 50 degrees, but Diamond City was a heat-pocket. It tended to be two to three degrees cooler outside the baseball stadium.

Clouds were blowing west, taking everything inland.

Sitting, he turned his torso around and extended his arm up to grab the microphone. Leaning far back, he curled the plastic cord around one finger and pulled the rest of it towards him.

"When the Four Tops wrote this next song...I doubt they had any idea what kind of world people would be living in. Ghouls? Mirelurks? Deathclaws? What a world."

"It's the way Nature planned it. Live on Diamond City Radio."