Avery was born in 2040, long before the Great War. As they grew up, they loved space and reading, yearning to be an astronaut like nearly every other child. As they grew up, though, their affection for being an astronaut died and they instead were drawn by the thought of being a librarian, which they later pursued and fulfilled as a career. They were at work in the Boston Library the day the bombs fell in October of 2077.They were one of the few debatably "lucky" ones who survived the blast but were mutated because of the radiation. Avery also avoided feral degradation for nearly two and a half centuries.For a long time, Avery stayed in Diamond City. Some of the citizens of Diamond City tolerated Avery at worst - mostly, they were appreciated for their accrued knowledge and helped teach the kids of the city. They lived in Diamond City until 2282, when McDonough became mayor and drove them out with other ghoul residents.Instead of moving to Goodneighbor with Hancock, Avery elected to move out of the city. They moved north-west to Oberland Station, where they were skeptically accepted. They still occasionally visited Diamond City, once or twice a month, to do presentations for the Science! Center. (albeit, with an armed guard present due to paranoia...)It was during these Science! Center visits that she met Mokushi, eventually befriending the little girl. Mokushi eventually opened up to her that she wanted to get away from Kellogg, so Avery helped her.

Mokushi is the first successful iteration of the Institute’s aging synth experiments. When she showed the signs of proper aging, after all of the Institute’s attempts, they sent her out into the Wasteland under Kellogg’s care, in the hopes that their latest invention was passable in Commonwealth society.Mokushi lived with Kellogg in Diamond City. She went mostly ignored and unquestioned by the citizens, who were accustomed to the variety of children that lived in and wandered the city. She most enjoyed going to the Science! Center and listening to the scientists and other academic adults there.She especially liked Avery's presentations about space and pre-War technology, like telescopes and satellites. Avery also spoke with her instead of just to her like so many other adults did, which make Mokushi happy. She quickly came to trust Avery, and eventually disclosed to them what Kellogg was doing to her. Avery, upset by his treatment, told Mokushi that they would help her get away from him, and that they would protect her.The next month that Avery visited, they told Mokushi that she would be able to get away from Kellogg now. Mokushi snuck out of Diamond City, following Avery, and they made their way back to Oberland Station. Within a couple of weeks after their departure from Diamond City, Kellogg managed to track them down and came to confront Avery and try to take back Mokushi by the Institute’s command. Avery refused to give her up, and got into a gunfight with Kellogg, who they ultimately killed to protect Mokushi. After dealing with Kellogg’s neglect for eight years, it meant a lot to Mokushi to witness someone go so far as to kill just to keep her safe. It felt weird to her, but she understood, and she appreciated it.Avery raised Mokushi for a long time, and they had decent stability. They stayed at Oberland Station for a while, but eventually moved to Tenpines Bluff. This was closer to Concord, where Avery eventually saved a man named Preston and his group that he called the Minutemen. Mokushi thought Preston was nice, and liked that he did his best to help people. Avery, likewise, seemed to do more to help people instead of just survive and protect Mokushi. Mokushi had more time alone as Avery went on missions to help the Minutemen, who at the time made up just a few people who survived together.Mokushi spent most of her time trying to learn from Ronnie about medicine and treating the wounds from various ammunition - she constantly saw Avery and others get hurt, both in raider attacks and from mishaps in their work. She didn’t like seeing the people she cared about in pain, and she wanted to do her best to help fix when it did happen.As Avery and Preston worked together to build the Minutemen, Mokushi became more central in the faction, being the only one with extensive medical knowledge.. The Wasteland and its occupants were harsh most of the time, so there was no lack of injuries and ailments that needed to be tended to. As Mokushi grew a little older, she was allowed to go out further and further with Minuteman caravans, though Avery remained protective and asked her to not go on patrols. Mokushi understood - she preferred to spend her time helping people after exposure to all of the Wasteland’s threats than getting into fights. Going out to help people as a medic, with caravans, was just as helpful as going out to check on and defend settlements.The Minutemen had a lot of grand achievements very quickly under Avery’s guidance, and most of Mokushi’s early life was filled with constant change and evolution. The Minutemen first started in Sanctuary, after Avery saved Preston and his friends in Concord, and two years later they had built up their ranks well enough to retake the old Minuteman headquarters, the Castle. Mokushi became familiar with the Concord region in her years living in Sanctuary, then had to learn the area of South Boston when they moved to the Castle. Another two years went by before two new central people would appear in her life - Danse and Emil, invited into the Minutemen by Avery. Avery told her that they were ex-Brotherhood soldiers who needed somewhere new to stay. Mokushi was puzzled because she heard that the Brotherhood were very condescending and even rude at times; she wasn’t sure if they would fit in with the more communal friendliness of the Minutemen.Mokushi was surprised by Emil’s friendliness, given his scarring and generally grumpy-looking expression. Danse, however, seemed a little more distant, preoccupied with his thoughts. Either way, she greeted them happily to the Minutemen and explained that she would be treating their wounds.She bonded rather easily with Emil - he was very open and amicable, and seemed to enjoy talking to anyone. It took her longer to get through to Danse - he still struggled to detach from the Brotherhood formality.Mokushi spent a lot of time traveling the Wasteland as a caravan doctor, tending to strangers they passed by and settlers alike. Mokushi became very familiar with the lay of the Wasteland while travelling through it over the next ten years, as well as becoming well-known by the allies of the Minutemen and the residents of the major settlements such as Goodneighbor and Diamond City.When the day came that Avery finally died, Mokushi was heartbroken. They had raised her for most of her life - nearly two decades. When Emil first arrived with Avery’s body, Mokushi was one of the many people who immediately recoiled with anger from the loss. However, as the now-primary medic of the faction, she tended to Emil’s wounds the same as every other. It was during his treatment that Emil disclosed to her how he truly felt about Avery and the event, and it gave Mokushi a new understanding and a new compassion towards him.Because Mokushi had spent so long traveling the Wasteland and becoming familiar with the people of the Minutemen, as well as her years learning from Avery, she was appointed to be the new General of the Minutemen following Avery’s death. It was incredibly difficult for her, at first - for the past fifteen or so years, her main focus had been medicine and medical treatment. Despite Avery’s status as a ghoul, Mokushi had never entertained the concept that they could actually go feral or even die one day, and never thought that she could be appointed as the new General. She had spent no time prior to this appointment preparing for the duties of the role, and struggled to feel her way out.Thankfully, she found solace and support in Emil, who had likewise spent plenty of time with Avery, except he had done more by Avery’s side than Mokushi really did. Mokushi bonded with him strongly over the next few years, as they shared stories and memories of Avery, as well as Emil helping mentor Mokushi for her new role as the General.Over the next ten years, she became adept at her job as the General - she already had the Commonwealth notoriety from her years as a caravan doctor, and was welcomed just as warmly when the news spread from the Castle. She, like Avery before her, join in as many assignments as she could. She truly believed in “of the people, for the people,” and that meant being on the ground doing the exact same work as everyone else, even if she delegated. Even so, she did have a preference for accompanying trading caravans to continue her work as a doctor. She started teaching more people some of the trade, with her years of accrued knowledge, hoping that less people would die of very treatable causes.Eventually, the day came for another great loss in her life: Emil died while out on patrol. Mokushi managed to get the story from the others in the patrol, though Danse peculiarly refused to speak to her. She was confused, but figured he was deeply shaken from the loss - he had joined with Emil, and she knew they had essentially grown up together. At first she thought it was only grief, but over the next few weeks Danse still refused to even acknowledge her, and she received word from the other soldiers that Danse was acting increasingly violent when he went out for assignments.Even though she was struck with grief by Emil’s death, Mokushi went along with Danse for the next two patrols he was on. She had no idea if he was angry, or annoyed, or anything - he was completely cold towards her, and she didn’t know how to take it. On their first patrol, she witnessed him go out of his way just to kill a pack of mutant hounds that were minding their own business. Mokushi was aggravated by his behavior, and reprimanded him for it in front of the other patrol members, but ultimately let it pass and finished the patrol without further conflict. The second time it happened, Mokushi was leading a defense for one of their settlements. On the way, Danse once again split from the group to unnecessarily gun down a group of ghouls. This time, Mokushi immediately turned the crew around and went back to the Castle. On arrival, she ordered a new crew to head out, and confronted Danse in the middle of the Castle courtyard, telling him that his behavior was unacceptable and that he needed to get his things and leave. She made it clear to him - and any other Minuteman who turned their attention - that he was an open enemy of the Minutemen, and an open target.When Danse left, Mokushi was equally upset and relieved that he left Emil’s belongings. She couldn’t believe that he would just leave behind everything of the person he loved so much. She was still grateful, though, so that she could keep Emil’s memory more positively. Since Avery’s death, she kept together the most important of Avery’s belongings, and now did the same for Emil’s. It was a painful experience for her - in the past, Emil had been with her and helped her through Avery’s death. She had expected Danse to have any similar kind of compassion, and was instead left hurting alone. It took her much longer to recover from Emil’s death with her lacking support system. Even though she was known in the Wasteland, she realized that very few people actually knew her as a person.Much to Mokushi’s chagrin, the Minutemen caught word of an attack that was being staged on their ghoul-occupied allied settlement, the Slog. She had no idea what would happen, but went out to personally lead the defense team. After the fight was over, and the Slog protected, the Minutemen went through the deceased Raiders, as any Wastelander did after a fight - and she was crushed to see that Danse was among the dead.In just the span of a few months, she had lost the last two people who she trusted - even if one of them had turned against her. She didn’t know what to do following the finality of Danse’s death. Mokushi continued fulfilling her roles as the General of the Minutemen, but she was much more aloof and distant from her comrades after the fact.Another year passed by like this - with Mokushi grieving and unable to seek support from those around her. Everyone looked up to her, and relied on her, but she never felt like she could request the same of anyone else. Eventually, another settlement contacted for help, dealing with Raiders who would regularly harass their settlement for whatever they could - food, caps, materials. She and a couple others were tasked with crashing their Raider encampment, during which she met Huong.Huong was a Raider, though a peculiar one at that. When the gunfight broke out in their encampment, Huong took shelter until the fighting died down, after which she came back out and surrendered to the Minutemen in front of her. Mokushi was surprised - every Raider she had dealt with before was vicious until their last breath. It was new for one to surrender, and even ask to join.She gave Huong the grace of a second chance - given that she sheltered during the fight, she figured the other girl was better than her surroundings, and her dead mates. Huong quickly became a staple in the Castle, constantly helping out wherever she could.Mokushi was interested in Huong, exactly because of her difference from the Raiders she had stayed with. Mokushi spent a lot of time with her, wanting to know more about who she was and how she had reached such a point in her life. It took a little while to break through Huong’s anxious shell - no fault of her own, having been around Raiders for God knows how long - but eventually, Huong started opening up to her.As Huong explained the circumstances of her life, over the initial months of their friendship, Mokushi grew compassionate towards her. Her family had been killed by Raiders, which was what had led her into the group - she would’ve also been killed if she didn’t sell out and join them. It was to much detriment of her mental and physical well-being, though, and Mokushi regularly had to help Huong with withdrawls from the drugs Raiders so dearly loved to abuse.Huong, in turn, became very fond and grateful of Mokushi, both for taking her in and for taking care of her. As Mokushi asked about her life, though, Huong took equal interest in Mokushi’s. It was much harder for Huong to get through Mokushi’s shell, and for good reason. When Mokushi finally opened up to her about what had happened to Avery, and then Emil and Danse, Huong only became more attached to her. Mokushi was somewhat scared of trying to open up to another person - everyone she had been close to had died, and she desperately didn’t want to go through that pain again.Despite her fears, though, Mokushi became attached to Huong, much to her chagrin. It took a long time before Mokushi properly opened up to Huong about her fundamental fear of loss - but the other girl wasn’t surprised at all. She understood completely. After losing her family, and being roped into a group that cared not at all for emotional attachments, she also had a strange complex about forming attachments to people - the Wasteland was vicious, even more so when you chose to lead a violent life.The two of them stayed together for many more years. Huong climbed up the ranks in the Minutemen, constantly proving herself worthy and above her Raider past, and Mokushi was always there for her, in any way that she needed. Both of them were still relatively young when they met, only in their <???>s. They spent the last decades of their lives together, until, just as Mokushi feared, Huong died out on a Minuteman assignment.It hurt so much worse because Mokushi was there for it. With Avery, they had died out in the Wasteland with Emil - and he had returned their body. With Emil, he died in front of Danse. With Danse, she had the bad fate of being the one to kill him - unknown to her until she went through the bodies after the battle at the Slog. This time, though, their crew had been ambushed by a group of Super Mutants, with their ever-present spite of humans. By the time the fight was over, Mokushi and only two others were standing, with the others either fallen dead or on the verge of dying.For the first time in her life, Mokushi at least had the grace of closure - she did all that she could to alleviate Huong’s pain, still the reputable and reliable medic of the Minutemen, but she was too far gone to be saved. Huong spent her last moments with Mokushi, reassuring her that she should regret nothing, and that Huong was eternally grateful to her for giving her that second chance, and making her life so much better after being in with Raiders for so long.Mokushi and the last two of the patrol crew carried their comrades back to the Castle for burial. Mokushi had set aside an area specifically for those dearest to her - Avery and Emil were there, and she kept a headstone for Danse even though they had left his body with the Wasteland. It was here that she buried Huong, and mourned heavily. She was always the last one left.

Maybe from age, maybe from radiation, maybe from a broken heart, Mokushi finally passed away only a couple of years after Huong. She had spent all of her remembered life in the Commonwealth, doing her best to change the world - and she did. Even after her passing, she had made the Minutemen so much stronger after Avery’s death, and they stayed as an important faction in the region. The way that Mokushi led the Minutemen, the way that she gave indiscriminate help and support, influenced and inspired the people around and under her to continue the arduous work.She always remembered Avery, and kept their memory alive as long as she lived - but in turn, with her leadership of the Minutemen - she was remembered for decades among the people of the Commonwealth, and the Minutemen kept a commemoration of her and the influence she had on the world. The Commonwealth, the Wasteland, was as vicious and brutal as ever - but people more often than not stepped up to help others in need.

Emil was born into Lyons' East Coast Brotherhood of Steel chapter in 2258. He was raised on Lyons' ideals of protecting the people of the Wasteland from Super Mutants and similar inhuman threats. He grew up staunchly believing in Lyons' ideals and following his directions, as well as looking up to his daughter, Sarah Lyons. He trained rigorously, always striving to be on the Lyons' Guard, until he finally made the cut and was promoted in 2276.Soon after, in 2277, Danse joined Lyons' Brotherhood chapter. Because of Emil's training and seniority, Danse looked up to him, and whenever he wasn't actively training under his assigned Paladin he was seeking out or spending time with Emil, for fun and training. Emil quickly grew attached to Danse, appreciating his drive to always be learning and perfecting his skills, as well as bonding over their dedication to the Brotherhood's beliefs.Over the years, he and Danse were nearly inseparable in Lyons' chapter, but could not spend as much time together as Danse climbed the ranks. Emil, likewise, had his own duties to tend to as part of Lyons Guard. Regardless, the two still regularly found time to spend together, and eventually a relationship budded between the two of them.He survived the events of Fallout 3 and, in 2286, was sent to the Commonwealth with Danse and the rest of Recon Squad Gladius. They were met with hostility and immediate struggle, eventually finding their way to the Cambridge Police Station and hunkering down. They stayed there for a long while before a horde of ghouls meandered across their barriers, and they opened fire. This caused a fight to break out between the team and the ghouls, who they underestimated the quantity of. They got locked in an hours-long firefight before another ghoul, apparently not feral, dashed through, shouting and throwing things at the feral ghouls that were attacking Danse and Emil and the rest of their team. The ferals took notice and pursued them, losing interest in the scouting team.From then on they experienced mostly peace until the Prydwyn finally arrived in the Commonwealth. It was impossible for Danse and Emil to miss the entry - they loudly announced their arrival as the huge blimp drifted into the city. Relieved to finally be reunited with their chapter, the entire team packed up and headed out to the Boston Airport.The next few years rolled by, largely uneventful. The Brotherhood continued probing, searching for the Institute, before having a breakthrough in late 2289. The Brotherhood discovered that the Institute used teleportation technology, and sent a small team to make contact and gather intel. They obtained a database of synth information, which revealed that Danse is a synth.Upon learning this, Elder Maxson immediately called Emil to a meeting, where he ordered the Paladin to find and execute Danse. Gritting his teeth, Emil spoke agreement, but knew inside that he would not oblige. Scribe Haylen intersected him in the Prydwyn to talk, whom he quickly shushed and dragged to an isolated place to reassure her that nothing would happen to Danse. Relieved, she told him that she and Danse mutually enjoyed relaxing at Listening Post Bravo.Emil made his way to Listening Post Bravo, preoccupied with the notion that he was going to directly disobey his Elder, but more anxious that Danse might not be there, or worse yet, already be dead. He had a late start, and reached Bravo early the next morning. Danse was incredibly upset about the information he found, and was insistent on dying for who he was. Emil refused to kill him, having spent so many years together, and eventually got it through to Danse that his life was still worth living. Over the years, Emil saw Danse try his best to help people at every turn, and the newly exposed knowledge that Danse was a synth didn’t change that he did good.After their hours talking it over, Danse concluded that he should stay away from the Brotherhood and that Emil would return to the Prydwen and Elder Maxson. He brought back Danse’s dog-tags, but when he faced Maxson, he did not lie and say that Danse was dead. Emil told Maxson that Danse was alive and that he valued his actions more than the fact that he was a synth, and that he was leaving the Brotherhood. Maxson bitterly accepted these facts, but made it clear to Emil that he would be an open enemy of the Brotherhood by the day’s end. Emil was given a short time to gather his and Danse’s belongs before he was escorted off of the Prydwen and out of Boston Airport.Now free of the Brotherhood, Emil made his way back to Listening Post Bravo. He and Danse stayed there for a while, but Emil actively sought out a new faction to assist: the Railroad. In the first few months away from the Brotherhood, and living in the Commonwealth and interacting with the people without the Brotherhood superiority, he heard more about the Railroad and came across the holotapes that they spread. When he and Danse finally tracked down the group, and were confronted with a meeting, Deacon backed up their story that Danse was a synth. They were not trusted enough to enter the HQ for a long time, but Deacon did have permission to give them missions to help prove that they meant well.It was on one of these Railroad missions to Bunker Hill that Emil crossed paths with Avery and recognized them from when they distracted the ghouls assailing the remains of Recon Squad Gladius in 2287. When Emil approached them and brought up the event, Avery did remember it, and happily began talking to him. They suggested to meet them at The Third Rail to share a drink and ask what had happened, since the two of them were in clearly new situations since then.Emil returned to Danse and Deacon after the fact and told them about the meeting. Deacon was curious, but declined to join since he wasn’t involved. Danse agreed, interested for the same reasons as Avery, and the ex-Brotherhood duo went to meet with Avery that evening.The orange-haired ghoul was waiting for them, and greeted them happily. The three spent a lot of time talking together and learning about what had happened in the five years between then and now. Emil and Danse explained to Avery that they defected from the Brotherhood, and that their view of the world and other people was changing. Hearing this, Avery decided it was worth giving them a chance, and gave them an open invitation to join the Minutemen and move in to the Castle. The two of them gratefully accepted the offer, and soon after established their place in the Minuteman headquarters.Danse dedicated more time to the Minutemen while Emil still ran missions for the Railroad. Because Emil cared so much about Danse, and saw that the Brotherhood’s hatred towards synths was so unwarranted, he wanted to do more to rectify the harm he had caused in the past. He eventually broke through Desdemona’s shell when he had the opportunity to really talk to her and share what all had happened and what he wanted to achieve. After the fact, Desdemona was much kinder to him, and more grateful for his involvement in the Railroad.Things were stable for a long time, for the next ten years. Emil continued his work with the Railroad on the side, helping synths escape and create a new life, some of whom ended up with him in his main focus - the Minutemen. Emil spent a lot of time working with Avery directly to plan out connections between settlements as well as where best to direct their allies’ energy and resources. They became very close during this time, especially with how Avery tried to be involved with as many Minuteman assignments as possible. Danse, likewise, became a much more tolerant and sympathetic person with his constant interaction with ghouls and synths and even the occasional friendly super mutant, such as Strong and Virgil.It was on one of these missions, in late 2301, that Emil was forced to kill Avery. They went out to defend a Minuteman settlement far west near the Glowing Sea, and the increased exposure to radiation rotted away the remaining parts of the brain that kept Avery coherent and sane. On the return trip to the Castle, Avery finally turned feral when they and Emil were making camp for the night. Avery attacked Emil, and wounded him during the couple of minutes it took Emil to process what was happening, before he was forced to shoot and kill them.He cleaned his wounds as best he could out in the Wasteland, and made his way back to the Castle the next day - sure to bring Avery back with him. Most Minutemen were shocked, appalled, and even angry - assuming that Emil had deliberately killed Avery out of hatred and a reversion to his Brotherhood beliefs. However, Mokushi still tended to his wounds, and realized his innocence. As the new General of the Minutemen, Mokushi convinced the Minutemen that Emil did not do wrong. His fellow soldiers eventually took the time to hear him out, even though there was collective lasting grief for the loss of Avery.After Avery’s death, Emil and Mokushi started becoming especially close. Emil likewise spent more time with Danse - with Avery’s death, a lot of his time with Mokushi was spent planning for the Minutemen. With another major loss in his life, he was afraid of not having enough time with the people he loved, and put more effort into the ones that he still had. His time with the Railroad decreased more, but Deacon still invested regular time to the Minutemen and kept a trickle of escaped synths going from the Castle out to other settlements in the Commonwealth.There was another long period of peace from Avery’s death in 2301. Emil was essentially second-in-command of the Minutemen from his experience and ongoing assistance. Still feeling guilt for his actions in the Brotherhood, he went out regularly to help the people who were part of the Minutemen as well as anyone else they came across who might need help. Over the years, his constant ongoing kindness found him welcome in most communities - some others rejected him for his lack of bigotry.It was on one of his Minuteman patrols into Boston, with Danse and a couple other Minutemen, that they were ambushed by an overlooked pack of ghouls. Emil was on flank and overlooked them in the rubble - the few of them got a bit too rowdy and the ghoul awoke and attacked them. With apparently bad luck, Emil was the first one they attacked, and was quickly swarmed by multiple as his squad tried to gun down the rest. By the time Danse and the others were able to clear the feral ghouls, Emil had already died from his wounds.

Danse is a synth that was built many years ago by the Institute. He was sent to the Capital Wasteland with an Institute scientist who had the alias Cutler. Danse was implanted with memories of growing up with Cutler, to better pass off as human. They arrived in 2275 and spent their time scrounging for resources until they crossed paths with Lyons' chapter in 2277, who they gladly joined up with.

sorry i haven't actually played fallout 3 and haven't watched any lets plays or read enough about the game to satisfyingly detail Danse's time in the Capital Wasteland

Danse showed unwavering loyalty to Maxson since he was instated as Elder, and thus was tasked with leading Recon Squad Gladius to scout the Commonwealth. He was given a week to select his team roster before being dispatched, among whom included Emil, Rhys, and Scribe Haylen.During their months alone in the Commonwealth, Danse's relationship and bond with Emil grew much deeper, having much more opportunity to spend time together one on one. Danse also began spending more time separately with Scribe Haylen, growing to trust her deeply. Emil and Danse swore that they would protect each other no matter what, unsure of what the Commonwealth had to offer. Danse and Haylen became more familiar with the landscape and technology while Emil stayed at Cambridge with Rhys and Keane to further fortify their base of operations.When the ghoul horde hit in late 2287, Danse's team was reduced to he, Emil, Rhys, and Haylen. They were pinned down by waves of ghouls before - to Danse's incredulity - another ghoul, assumedly not feral, came dashing through Cambridge hollering and throwing things at the assaulting ferals. Danse ceased fire out of confusion as they passed through, and the feral ghouls likewise halted their attack before pursuing the other person.The rest of Recon Team Gladius' time was largely uneventful until the rest of their chapter arrived in early 2288. When Danse and his team saw the Prydwen and heard Maxson's announcement through the P.A., they quickly followed it to the Boston Airport where they were finally able to reconnect with everyone.For a long time, nothing extravagant happened in the Brotherhood or the Commonwealth. Danse was sent on and assigned to his usual variety of missions - go kill some irradiated beast or another, escort a scribe, or go on patrol. He more often than not requested or simply brought along Emil with him, knowing that they head each other's backs.Things continued like this until the Brotherhood's infiltration of the Institute, which Danse was a major player in. He tagged along with the task of retrieving information from a variety of Institute computers - which he slightly struggled with, but ultimately completed his task. To his dismay, however, he found information about himself listed on a database of Institute synths. He read everything about it - being sent to the Capital Wasteland with a programmed memory decay, as well as an escort to sell their story.It ripped Danse apart inside to learn that he was one of the things he hated most, one of the things he eliminated daily from the Wasteland. He didn't know how to feel - it seemed like his entire world was crumbling down. However, he knew that he could not jeopardize the mission with his feelings towards this revelation, and forced himself to regain composure before rejoining his team and finishing their mission.When they returned to the Prydwen, Danse turned in the information that he retrieved and left the Boston Airport as soon as he was dismissed from the meeting. He fled, as fast as he could, with as little as he could bring, to the only place that he believed he could be somewhat hidden, Listening Post Bravo.To his dismay, Emil turned up at Bravo. Danse expected that he would be killed, because of the Brotherhood’s dedication to exterminating anything non-human, and was surprised to hear that Emil didn’t want to kill him. He was also somewhat upset - Danse himself believed in the Brotherhood’s ideals, that ghouls and synths and super mutants alike were all sub-human and had no right to live. By his own belief, he had no right to live. He went back and forth with Emil for hours in the morning, until Emil finally got through to him just how much he actually mattered, and convinced him that his life was still worth living.Eventually, when the two met an agreement, Emil left Listening Post Bravo to confront Elder Maxson. Danse stayed at the post and put more effort into cleaning up more, since it was the closest thing they had to a home for the time being. He wouldn’t dare try to go with Emil - even if Emil wasn’t an immediate target, Danse certainly wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere near Boston Airport.When Emil returned from the Prydwen, Danse was surprised to see him carrying back a fair amount of their belongings. He was especially surprised to see Emil come lumbering up in a suit of power armor - when questioned, he evaded to answer directly. All he said was that a second suit would be relayed to them soon. He gave the first suit to Danse, who took the time to scratch out the Brotherhood symbology from it.For the next few months, Danse accompanied Emil as he sought out the Railroad. Danse still held his misgivings about synths, and had a lot of self-hatred for being a synth. He couldn’t understand how Emil accepted him or even loved him, but constantly hid his feelings, knowing that the other man would be hurt by this knowledge. Even so, he continued doing the best that he could for Emil, not wanting to disappoint him.When Danse and Emil were out in Bunker Hill one day, for a Railroad mission, Emil came across a ghoul named Avery and told Danse about them. He said that they wanted to meet up with the two of them in The Third Rail - the run-down club in Goodneighbor. Danse internally recoiled at the thought, and the location, but agreed to go with because Emil said that it was the same ghoul who had baffled them by running through Cambridge so many years ago.He was still surprised to see the exact same orange hair when the two of them arrived at the Third Rail later that evening. Avery happily greeted them, and Danse begrudgingly accepted their introductory hug, but more graciously accepted the drinks that they bought for him and Emil. Danse hated talking about his own existence as a synth, so he was grateful when Avery instead offered to start with talking about what all they had been through.The three of them spent a long time together talking and drinking in the Third Rail, and Avery concluded the night by inviting Danse and Emil to join the Minutemen. Danse was more inclined to the idea of the Minutemen than the Railroad - he did want to help people, that much he believed in, and the Minutemen did their best to unite the Commonwealth. That was something he could believe in. He voiced this immediate agreement, and Emil followed suit. Avery was grateful for their recruitment and said that they should try to get any of their belongings to the Castle in South Boston as soon as possible.Even if Avery hadn’t suggested they move as fast as possible, Danse and Emil wanted to anyways. Listening Post Bravo was a fine shelter, but it was very isolated and not well-fortified. They gathered the few belongings they had and made their way to the Castle, like Avery said, and were given bunks and footlockers - just like they knew in the Brotherhood. The difference was stark, though - the Brotherhood assigned you most belongings, but the Minutemen supplied your essentials and uniform for duty. It was much more lax and friendly in the Minutemen - if you weren’t on patrol or on call, you weren’t required to wear your uniform. People traded duties as they wanted and needed. It was friendly, and welcoming, and there simply wasn’t the same high-strung culture as the Brotherhood.Danse was, to his delight, most often delegated to patrols and settlement protection. He much preferred going out into the Wasteland and meeting and helping the people in the world above anything else. Likewise, he was happy to bring back materials to the Castle for Avery and the others to use to help fix the walls and produce new supplies for their allies and soldiers.There was a long period of peace and stability for Danse in the Minutemen. About ten years after he and Emil were recruited, there was a fateful fight between Emil and Avery when they went out together on a mission to the Glowing Sea and Avery went feral from the radiation. When they turned, they attacked Emil, and he was forced to kill them to defend his own life. When he arrived back to the Castle, mauled and bloody and hauling Avery’s corpse with him, most of his fellow Minutemen had outcry against it. They thought that Emil had killed Avery out of xenophobia towards ghouls, despite him trying to explain otherwise. After Emil received medical treatment, the first person he spoke to was Danse, who reassured him that he believed Emil had no ill intent.And he did - he did truly believe Emil only killed Avery to protect his own life. But at the same time, this event stayed planted in Danse’s brain, as some kind of proof that ghouls, and synths, and super mutants, and anyone less than human, could not be trusted. Danse had known about the possibility the entire time - and he knew that Emil did, too. It was why he continued to hold so much suspicion around ghouls, as well as knowledge of the Broken Mask incident, why he distrusted synths, even himself. Over time, he came to realize that part of his hatred and fear was because he was afraid of that happening to the people he loved. Like the synth with the eponymous broken mask, like Avery turning feral, like all the others who had done the same, he was afraid of something in his programming breaking and making him hurt the people around him. But, at he same time, he was afraid of hurting the people who cared about him by cutting the line and killing himself to prevent it from ever being a possibility.But he knew he could never truly voice these thoughts and feelings to anyone, and felt that he could never even disclose them to Emil because of his persistent indiscriminate kindness. Danse was a hypocrite for his hatred, and he knew it, and he knew how it would make Emil feel, so he never let it surface. He also had to keep it under wraps even on patrol with others when they said awful things, because Emil had posited the two of them as indiscriminate people.Danse continued living for yet another decade before another major disruption in his life. And it was the one that finally broke him. He had been out on patrol with Emil and a couple other Minutemen, walking through Boston, keeping an eye out for anyone who might need help and generally trying to keep the area secure. Danse was on point when it happened - Emil accidentally missed spotting a group of ghouls that were napping in the rubble nearby, and the group started kicking up too much noise with each other, which disturbed the ghouls. When they awoke, the nearest person talking was Emil, and they quickly piled onto him as Danse and the others opened fire to try to clear the herd.The group was not fast enough, though, and by the time they killed all of the ghouls and stopped the onslaught, Emil had already died from the mauling - and likely the indiscriminate aim of his comrades in the bulk of ghouls. With Emil dead, and no closure just like so many before, Danse felt that he had no more reason to stay anchored to the compassion that Emil enacted so often. He very quickly spiraled back into his Brotherhood-taught hatred, this time amplified by grief and witnessing the love of his life die to the inhuman creatures that Emil had, for some reason, so often tried to help. Part of Danse felt responsible for not voicing his fears and thoughts sooner - for not saying that it was bound to happen when Avery attacked Emil, for not trying to warn him that he needed to be more skeptical.When Danse and the rest of the patrol arrived back at the Castle with Emil’s body, Mokushi was heart-broken. She and Emil had become incredibly close in the years since Avery’s death, and she was certainly reeling from it. She made a few attempts to approach Danse for comfort, for conversation, to remember Emil. Danse couldn’t stand to listen to her - he couldn’t put it into words, but he hated that she was practically raised by a ghoul, hated how much she reflected the compassion that Emil had. Every time she tried to talk to him, he waited for her to give up, or he would just walk away. He was angry and contorted by grief and the memory of Emil being downed by those ghouls and eventually being found dead underneath them.Danse continued fulfilling his obligations in the Minutemen, but was consistently seen by the others to be more violent and actively hostile on patrol instead of collected and focused on the path like he used to be. A couple of them reported his behavior to Mokushi before she was able to accompany him on some of these missions and witnessed it firsthand. The first time, Danse spotted a trio of mutant hounds down an alley that were feasting on a corpse, and opened fire on them. Mokushi was appalled and reprimanded him for the unnecessary violence, to which he scoffed and silently continued the path of his patrol. The second time, they were going to head out to protect an allied settlement, and Danse went off to gun down a small group of ghouls in a courtyard. Mokushi was furious and said that they were returning to the Castle, which Danse annoyingly complied with.When they arrived back at the Castle, Mokushi immediately sent out another team to replace them, and ripped into Danse. As the General of the Minutemen, she dishonorably discharged him in the middle of the Castle field for his unnecessarily violent behavior and told him that he had 24 hours to get out of Minuteman territory or he was free to fire on.Danse angrily gathered his belongings, not even bothering to grab any of Emil’s, and left the Castle. He went off into Boston, to the Combat Zone, where he knew that raiders would never reject new meat.And he did make new connections and “friends” through the Combat Zone. Many agreed that ghouls were awful and should be exterminated. Others simply enjoyed trash-talking Danse’s ex-factions with him. They banded together regularly to either mow down mutants and feral ghouls, or they went out to harass settlements with sentient ghouls. It was during one of these harassment campaigns that Danse eventually died. He and some of the raiders he had landed with decided to organize an assault on the Slog, a well-known ghoul settlement. Danse led the attack, going in head first, and leading quite the assault before dying in battle to the Minutemen who showed up to defend the Slog and its occupants.