FNV companion notes: swearing and House

[vegetablearian]

I took some notes on things I wanted to know for fic writing. These aren't perfectly formatted, but I hope they can be useful to other fic writers & maybe just interesting to other fans :)

How sweary are the companions, canonically?

Spoiler: not very!

Arcade

Arcade just doesn’t swear. He’s just too sweet. (I let him swear in his internal monologue. Poor bastard deserves to let loose somewhere.)

Hell x5 or x9

• X4 for disapproval of violence (what the hell are you doing/thinking/ is wrong with you/ to hell with this!)
• X1 hell, (interjection, shock)
• X1 one hell of a (admiringly)
• X3 actual hell (actual figurative hell)

Dammit x2

• Literally when witnessing a death or waking up from what he thought was his death. Half the time. And it’s sad/frustrated more than angry…

Shit x2

• What a load of Brahmin shit! (this is about Caesar lmao)
• Holy-! (he doesn’t say it even in danger lmao)

Son of a bitch x1

• Stubborn son of a bitch (Moreno)

It’s not exactly swearing but he refers to ED-E as “this little "Duraframe" sucker” which you know would be fucker, bastard for normal people so worth mentioning

Also: he says “screwed up” twice and “screwed over” once.

He also refers to the Fiend leaders as scumbags and can refer to you the same… :(

Boone

Boone likes to say goddamn and hell. He conspicuously never says fuck. Boone has surprisingly good manners in general, despite an otherwise lack of social skills. (My headcanon is he won’t use language like that in front of A Lady - never mind that he’s the same with a male courier, and my courier has a filthier mouth than Cass)

• Hell/what-why the hell/the hell I-you/to hell x 7
• Goddamn x7 (it x4) (Goddamn/ed x 3)
• Son of a bitch (& plural) x3
• Bastard x2
• Damn x2 (right x1) (I’ll be /ed x1)
• Shit
• Bullshit
• Christ
• Prick

He does say worse stuff which is why him calling Benny a “piece of work” with a strained smile is so funny

Cass

Mostly fucking as intensifier and shit as stuff. Says hell a fair amount too. Generally a sweary fairy.

Fuck

• Fucked up (serious) xxxx
• Fucker(s) (serious) xxxxx (2 are about Benny, 1 is the Kings)
• Fucking (amplifier) xxxxxxxxxxxxx (sex but metaphorical) x
• Fucked (sex 1 and then metaphorical sex 3, quite serious) xxxx
• Fuck with xx
• Fucking around xx
• Oh my fucking god (very drunk)
• Fuck it/that (v annoyed at you) xx
• Fuck it/that (happy lmao) xx
• Go fuck yourself (v annoyed at you)
• (you) Fuckup (not super serious) x (mistake, with a hyphen) xx

Hell

• Interjection by itself
• Go to (serious)
• Why/what/who the xxxxxx
• In hell (genuine) xx Road to hell
• Sure as hell xx
• (A) hell of a xxxx
• Got the hell out
• Hell knows

Shit

• Interjection xx (1 Oh shi-)
• Actual literal shit xx
• Stuff xxxxxxxxxx (2 some such shit) (3 are like, shitty shit/fucked)
• Piece of shit (a weapon)
• Give a shit
• Shithead(s) xx (1 is benny)
• Shitty
• Load of Brahmin shit
• No shit xxxx
• Shithole
• Crazy ass shit
• I see jack and shit - 'cept no jack. (lmao)

Piss

• Actual literal piss xx
• Piss and run
• Angry xxx

Damn

• Just nude damn by itself or intensifier xxxxx
• Goddamn
• Like they are going to hell

Bitch

• Women she hates xxxx (inc payback’s a bitch) Generic attacker she hates xx
• Son of a bitch (literally murderous)

Bastard

• Her dad in a positive way lmao
• Sympathetically poor bastards

Cock

• Cocksucker (Benny)
• Cocktube (I think this is about killing House?!)

Dick
It’s all pretty literal and not (inherently) insulting:

• whiskey dicks
• NCR is showing its dick to the mojave with the ranger monument, which might as well be shaking each others dicks; the whole Long Dick Johnson thing…
• tells a King who catcalls her to jam his dick in a locker
• Reflects that you need a dick to be a legionary

Ass

• Actual ass
• Asshole
• Asskicking, ass whipping
• Ass end of nowhere
• Dumbass
• Crazy ass xx
• Jackass

God

• By itself xxx
• Oh god
• Oh my fucking god
• Thank god

Veronica

• God (exclamation, v bad) xxxxx
• Oh my god (happy)
• Oh my god (that you have news of Elijah)
• Goddamn it (cross at elder)
• Bullshit (cross at elder)
• Fuck (don’t fuck with me - dress)

Ronnie doesn’t swear very much… but she uses any words really. But mainly god-based. Because she’s one of the few to say fuck and she says it quite casually it stood out in my mind as her being a lot swearier than she is.

Though unlike Arcade she says fuck, she also says “screw it” and “screw them”. Cass never bothers with that lmao

Christine

• goddamn & damn once each when murdering you
• Asshole for male and bitch for female courier again when murdering you

But ofc she doesn’t talk a lot. And most of what she says with her voice is just immediately before killing Elijah and/or you.

I know in my heart Christine is nearly as sweary as Cass.

Raul

Raul hardly swears at all. Maybe it loses its appeal after 200 years.

• Crap (witnessing a death)
• Damn (witnessing a death)
• Shit (shot the shit out of him)
• Hell xxxxx (what the, hell on my knees, beat to all hell, just for the hell)
• Piss (technically three times: pissing off the various factions)
• Ass (haunt your ass)

He says “being a meaner old cuss than the rest of them”, there are so many other things he could have said, but he just doesn’t!

---

Do the companions like House? Or even believe in him?

Arcade: knows a lot about him, believes? hates him!

The Followers in general seem to believe House is the centuries old Robert House, so Arcade probably does, too. It’s not clear if he has any more knowledge than them about his life-extending technology

to Emily Ortal, v. sarcastically because she didn’t:

Would I like to help infiltrate the Lucky 38{casino} ? I'm so glad you asked...

REPCONN stuff that he totally doesn’t know for Enclave reasons:

I've read about REPCONN. I think they did some work with the... {catching himself, was about to say "Enclave"} the government before the war. Rockets and some energy weapon prototypes, I think.

There was some corporate espionage going on between Poseidon Energy's Project SEMELE and whatever was going on here.

REPCONN went through some rough times. When their rocket business was shaky, Mr. House purchased the company. It didn't take long for him to repurpose their plasma technology for a government weapon contract.

Another one of Poseidon Energy's many secret weapons projects. Before the Great War. It didn't go anywhere. That's how REPCONN got their shot. So to speak.

actual House opinions:

So Mr. House doesn't care that one of Caesar's most notorious Legion spies is walking around on the Strip. Either that or his Securitrons' AI is too primitive to recognize the threat. Neither answer is particularly comforting.

That's funny. Mr. House doesn't want to keep New Vegas independent. He just wants to keep the NCR and Caesar's Legion from pushing him around.

He must be pretty convincing if he's roped you into helping him, but you can count me out.

I have to say I don't understand where you're going with Mr. House. The man's been manipulating the locals for as long as anyone can remember.

Ugh. I guess that means I have to go back to that creepy mausoleum Mr. House calls the Lucky 38. I've been around a few unsettling places in my life, but that place takes the cake. {sighing} Back to the tomb, I suppose.

Maybe if you're Mr. House you do [need more electric]. I bet the people in Freeside need it a lot more than he does.

Boone: unclear what he thinks outside NCR

Yeah. I don't know much. Just rumors. All I know is he's supposed to be in charge of the Strip. And he's been able to stop the NCR from taking it over. Wish he'd give it up, so the NCR could focus on securing the border.

A face-to-face meeting with House, huh? The NCR would kill to be in your shoes.

I have made Boone not really care that House is hundreds of years old. Like ":/ tell me if I should shoot him…"

Raul: knows lots but doesn’t fully believe it’s him, disapproves of ‘both’

Just how old do you think I am, boss? Because I can pretty much guarantee I'm older than that. Let me tell you a story from before the Great War: Everybody knew Robert House. He was a genius. A superstar. Founded RobCo at 22, dated Hollywood starlets, the works. They say he saved Las Vegas. I was in Mexico City when the bombs dropped. Even from there, we could see House's defensive rockets shooting down the incoming missiles. Everybody assumed he died in the War. Maybe he did. But his robots are still out there, roaming the Wastes. And now, a Mr. House rules New Vegas.

[vegas] It's big, it's bright, and it's one of the biggest cities still left from before the War. Well, mostly, anyway. Used to be just a curiosity. The buildings were pre-War, but it was just as full of raiders and barbarian tribes as anyplace else. Then Mr. House took over, got the power turned back on, and got the tribes reformed into something civilized. Now they run his casinos for him.

[You can't seriously think they're the same Mr. House.] Maybe not. Maybe the new guy is just a clever raider chief with a knowledge of history. {Slightly ominous} Maybe he just left instructions for his robots to carry out in his name. {growing more ominous} Or maybe Robert House uploaded his brain pattern into a computer and rules to this day, a godless, soulless machine-god! {Back to normal} Or maybe the whole thing's a crazy coincidence. Who knows?

[Maybe there's a connection. Can you remember anything else about Robert House?] I remember there were some weird stories about him, especially near the end. There was a tell-all in El Periodico de las Aburridas by a starlet House dated. She said they never, um... don't make me spell it out, boss. Anyway, she said all he wanted to do was scan her brain and make her dress up in different outfits. [sickening] It was quite the scandal, at least in the Latin-American tabloid journalism market.

Veronica: doesn’t believe, doesn’t like him

Wow, Mr. House is looking for you, huh? What do you think he wants? Bowling partner?

[Ever heard of Mr. House before?] Yeah. They say he built the Strip. Of course, they say a lot of things. No one's actually met him. Me? I think it's a hoax. Probably a group of people who want to avoid attention, or some made-up persona of a self-aware computer. Why else would he shut himself in like that?

[after meeting] What'd you think of Mr. House? I was surprised he only had the two robot sex slaves.

[vegas] Yep. It's your typical city layout. Rich people in a gated community surrounded by extreme poverty. House gave the area around the Strip to the locals, but he has no interest in it, so he ignores it entirely. It just needs new management. I'd love to see the Brotherhood do it, but since the Codex doesn't say "clean up Freeside" no one listens to me. Bunch of sticklers.

Cass: kinda believes? knows rumours, doesn’t like him

Not much, and I haven't had occasion to look for anything more than that. I've heard what most people know... he's said to run New Vegas, he runs the robots, but... well, no one's really seen him. So if he wants to see you... well, that's a rare thing I wouldn't turn down. I'd ask him some hard questions if I were you.

After: So... you talked to a big movie screen? Feeling like I'm walking down a yellow-bricked road, and there's bad news at the end.

If someone promised me all the lights of Vegas, I'd consider it, too... but I wouldn't say yes until I saw what was behind the curtain.

Of course, no one really will now that he's dead. Good thing, too, no idea what that contraption was on his pecker.