#so: gage is the scary guy that turns out to be a pretty cool stepdad

[corvidexoskeleton]

We know a little bit of how Gage feels about Lily, but what about the other way round? How does she feel about Gage and his relationship with Butch? First impressions and how that perception changes over time? (and perhaps Hector too if you want to)

Ah yes, absolutely

The first time she meets Gage, Lily is rightfully put off by him. She doesn't know who he is, he looks mean and kinda scary, and she's just been through a whole bunch of shit. She's not sure what to think of him, but Butch seems to trust him a lot, and that helps her get over some of that initial uneasiness a bit quicker

I think I said that Butch and Gage would already be together to some degree by this point, but Butch wouldn't actually tell Lily that at first, partly because they just kinda forgot to, but also because they wanna give her some time to adjust to the surface and get to know Gage some. The closest thing I can equate this to is like, when you were in school as a teenager and you got a new teacher who seemed like a major hardass but turns out to be super chill and cool as long as you did your work and didn't press his buttons too much. Or like, when your parents have that one friend that shows up sometimes and you have no idea who they are, but your parents seem to be good friends with them

She'd be kinda weirded out a bit to find out that he and Butch are, like, a thing, because she only remembers having the one parent in her life, nor has she ever seen them in any kind of romantic relationship before. And both Gage and Butch would keep things on the down low in front of others, but it's still something the three of them have to get used to. She eventually warms up to him, once he drops the shitlord act and actually makes an effort, though it takes a long time for her to get used to having a second parental figure, and for Gage to get used to being a parental figure

It would be similar with Hector as well, but I can't imagine she'd see him nearly as much as Gage, what with him running nuka world and Butch not wanting her to be around the other nuka raiders. The fact that he's always covered and has a voice modulator would be off putting and creep her out, to say the least, but I'm not sure if he would be easier to warm up to than Gage or not. Depends on how he feels about kids/teens and how he chooses to interact with her. From what I understand of him, he probably wouldn't be that bad, but he is kind of a nervous wreck, so who knows

I hope he has the patience and is prepared to answer some questions (like explaining that he's Swiss, ok, not German, please, Lily, there is a difference, please stop saying I'm german, he says) because once she gets past the initial skepticism, she's gonna have a lot. It would probably be a good idea to take his mask off at least once around her so she knows he's, like, an actual person and not some weird robot man or an alien or some rogue institute creation

She can tell enough that Hector does a lot of the same stuff as Butch, which would help, but she'd have explicit orders to not get too close to MAAK until they can make him a little safer to be around. And Hector might get a few not-so-subtle death glares from Butch whenever Danger MAAK is in the same room as Lily