Don't they Know It's the End of the World

[needmetoo]

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does

I told Mala I'd write this down somewhere so we don't forget all the plotting we did tonight.

• Xion is an experimental prototype synth, sort a forerunner to S9-23 although she was created with a specific goal in mind, in this case to map/explore the mental aging of a synth (with memories taken from a human individual), particularly during the more dramatic emotional developments that take place during puberty ages/etc.
  
• Her original designation is S7-14 (woulda done X7-14 but I noticed that X#-## tend to all be Coursers)
  
• There was an actual human Xion (Shion actually). Sora was her brother. They lived up near Abernathy Farms, north of it actually, and grew lots of silt beans. (Xion likes eating them like popcorn because human Shion did too)
  
• The first part of the experiment took place in an isolated environment in Robotics/Advanced Systems to help establish a baseline. Part two involved letting her out into the rest of the Institute and observing her interactions
  
• There was also a point where she met the human Shion while she was being held by the Institute for her memories. The expectation was that human Shion would be hostile to S7-14 and they wanted to see the latter's reactions, but instead Shion ended up being very sympathetic and kind (if sad). The experiment was cut short but it still ended up being very formative for Xion.
  
• At some point, Shaun was starting to gear up for the Sole Survivor's return. This included diverting most synth research resources and personnel to work on S9-23 instead. This left Xion feeling very useless and replaced.
  
• This is compounded by the fact that her continued existence starts earning the ire of the SRB. Ayo is pissed she's allowed to just walk around relatively unsupervised, and at least one of the lower ranking scientists in the SRB wants to dismantle her and study her to compare to reclaimed synths and try to see if they can figure anything about the self-actualization "glitch" in escaped synths.
  
• All of this kind of makes Liam Binet go "Uh..... /shoves towards the door"
  
• She was sent up to the surface around the dead of winter. Roxas - an orphaned human teenager with recent retrograde amneisa who had already been found/semi-adopted by Lea and Isa. He brings her home while just Lea is there.
  
• Details are a bit fuzzy here but Lea ends up keeping her Institute uniform with the intention of asking them later, when the girl Roxas found isn't suffering from moderate frostbite and hypothermia.
  
• Lea and Isa are mercenaries by trade. They live near Bunker Hill, and frequently get jobs there defending traders and caravans. However they also frequently contract with a strange group calling itself the Organization. Pay good caps, even though who the fuck knows what they're up to.
  
• Lea and Isa originally had a small place that worked well for them. Then suddenly they adopted two kids and it was like "space, what is it" so they decided to move to a bigger house
  
• The house they chose was a relatively intact FIRE ENGINE RED house right on the edge of Cambridge/still near Bunker Hill (right near where Automatron starts in Fallout 4)
  
• Little did they know this happened to be right next door to a Railroad safehouse. Railroad immediately starts getting nervous/suspicious but they can't just... stop using their safehouse suddenly???
  
• At some point, a synth(s?) staying at the safehouse recognize Xion and she them, and it raises a lot of questions on both sides. Xion confides in Roxas and they wonder what the fuck is going on.
  
• Railroad meanwhile basically cannot decide what to do about these weird new neighbors. Like. Obviously one is a (kid????) synth. And they are living happily here. But is it a lure/trap for the Railroad? Are they Synth sympathizers? Should they make contact with Isa and Lea as potential allies?
  
• Basically both groups go "????????" at each other for a while. Nobody makes a move before everything goes to shit.
  
• This is a few months before the Sole Surivivor wakes up, so right around the time of the Switchboard attack. Canonically, the Institute attacked all known safehouses simultaneously with the Switchboard.
  
• This means when all those Coursers turned up to take out their neighbors, Lea, Roxas, and Xion didn't know what was going on and assumed they were there for Xion and basically accidentally gave themselves away. Isa wasn't there, off on merc business.
  
• The attack happens. Everything is terrible
  
• Xion goes to ask Nick Valentine for help in tracking down her friends, if they're still alive.

MEANWHILE ON THE ROXAS SIDE OF THINGS:

• Lea basically knocks Roxas out and stashes him somewhere to hopefully let him escape. And it works.
  
• Roxas is found unconscious by a Railroad agent sweeping the area trying to see if there are any survivors/anything salvagable from the safehouse. THE AGENT IS CONFLICTED BECAUSE WHAT IF TRAP but are they seriously going to just leave a 14 year-old kid unconscious to die
  
• In the end he's dropped off at Bunker Hill and observed by Railroad agents to see what happens
  
• Eventually he wanders around the Commonwealth a bit and ends up at Goodneighbor
  
• He settles there and ends up getting into lots of loud fistfights about synth rights and looking for Xion and asking about rumors of the Railroad.
  
• Deacon ends up scoping him out because it's soon enough after the Switchboard that the Railroad is concerned he's drawing way too much attention to them. It's rocky at first but as soon as Deacon realizes Roxas just needs some direction for his currently aimless desperate energy, he reels Roxas in.
  
• He ends up working with the Railroad as a tourist or some kind of minor agent (a rank between tourist and heavy that must exist but for some reason canon never shows), looking for news of Xion and trying to help the Railroad as much as he can for her sake. Does a lot of supply runs and dead drops.

Tentative planning from here on out:

Xion and Nick run into Isa at some point. Xion comes clean, and Isa is a huge dick to her about it. It seems like he's mad about what happened and to some extent he is, but he's also being a dick to protect her - he knows given his Organization affiliations, being close to him would put her in danger.

By mid-fall (around the time when the SS wakes up), Xion is getting desparate and she and Nick are running out of leads. Then they hear about how Roxas used to hang out around Goodneighbor and some of his antics there. However, he suddenly disappeared (due to the Railroad picking him up; he may also have come back afterwards but his behavior would be really different because he has a goal and a mission now instead of aimless desperate energy everywhere.)

Basically Xion gets the impression he was kidnapped and/or replaced by the Institute. At that point she gives up and asks Nick to help her leave the Commonwealth.

We're following the headcanon that Nick and Ellie are Tourists, so... He ends up getting in touch with the Railroad and eventually Xion ends up being brought to HQ which seems strange until a certain someone comes running through the door...

ORGANIZATION SUBPLOT THING:

• So the Organization is this mysterious shadowy group that hires Lea and Isa lots. Remember how I was like "who the fuck knows what they're up to"? Let's answer that
  
• The Organization is led by Xehanort, obviously. The Apprentices are all core members committed to the cause (or what they perceive the cause to be), while the Neophytes are all mercenaries who are hhired on periodically and know differing amounts about what's going on outside their jobs
  
• Those jobs being information gathering, and kidnapping synths, particularly synths who have been created to replace humans/have their memories/etc.
  
• Up until now they've been keeping it lowkey enough they haven't attracted the attention much of either the Institute or the Railroad.
  
• This changes around the time the Sole Survivor starts stirring things up.
  
• The ultimate goal, for Xehanort is to achieve peace for humankind by essentially creating a hivemind of synths with his own mind and memories, possibly mixed with others? But mostly his mind.
  
• The Apprentices think that their minds will be uploaded too once the process is perfected. This may be questionably true.
  
• The Neophytes barely know anything, and what information they know varies between individuals and groups, but it's never a lot.
  
• Isa is one of the ones who knows the most though.
  
• Right around the time Roxas and Xion were adopted, Lea and Isa started getting the opportunity to start getting deeper into the Organization.
  
• Lea starts balking a little at what they're finding out about synth experiments and the like, especially after finding out that Xion is a synth
  
• Isa is less reserved about it though, which leads to friction between the two and Lea ultimately choosing not to tell Isa about Xion's true identity
  
• On the day of the Switchboard/Safehouse attack, Isa is basically invited pretty deep into the Organization to learn more about them and what they're doing, goes too far, and ends up getting branded with the X scar on his face for his troubles. (and comes home to find Lea dead, the house destroyed, and the kids gone. It's a bad day)
  
• At some point, the Organization finds out that Xion exists (possibly due to her running into Isa and coming clean with him?) More importantly though, she's travelling with Nick Valentine
  
• Nick has been a sort of pipe dream for the Organization for a while, due to how he's designed to adapt to memories integrated into his programming. However, he's too high profile to be a viable target for kidnapping under normal circumstances
  
• Xion would actually be a decent catch too, since she has enough similarities to a replacement synth for their purposes.
  
• So ultimately they start putting a plan in motion to trap them both (but particularly Nick)
  
• They start by making moves and actions that make it look like they're targeting Xion. They also start being a bit more public with their actions, strategically dropping bits of information about what they're doing.
  
• This catches the attention of the Railroad, who starts trying to investigate them, particularly with Roxas, Xion, and Nick's help.
  
• The eventual goal is that they draw both Xion and Nick in then try to capture both, particularly the latter.
  
• More question marks from here on out
  
• Xion is going to go fucking nuclear if they try to do anything to Nick though