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It had only been a few months since Danse had found out that his entire life had been a lie, yet, all things considered, he seemed to be coping. There were some ever-present reminders of the Brotherhood and their way of life – and there probably always would be. Yet, in Nora’s opinion, he was doing remarkably well.
He still had some problems with Nick and Hancock, but at this point, she was more convinced that it was to do with their varying views on the world. That wasn’t to say that Danse didn’t have his issues. His past interactions with both synths and ghouls was not something she was proud of, and she suspected he wasn’t either.
If there were only one bonus to her motley crew of friends, it was that they had all grown as people. And perhaps Danse more than anyone. He’d even begun to smooth things over with Deacon. There was still some mistrust there, not that Nora blamed either of them for that. Old habits die hard, after all.
Yet it was Danse’s actions the previous week in Goodneighbor that Nora was proud of most of all. He’d stood up for a small ghoul child the last time they were there, even though she looked like she was unbothered by the words flung at her. The little girl – Alexis, her mother said her name was – couldn’t have been more than eight, although it was hard to tell. There was no doubting that this little girl was strong; the amount of radiation she’d suffered would have been enough to kill most children, but she didn’t seem that bothered by it. It had even killed her father. And it had made her a target for the other children, and sadly, even some of the adults.
It wasn’t common to see a ghoul child, but it was most definitely heart-wrenching. Alexis had spirit, though, and seemed no different from the other children in anything but appearance. Yet it was her appearance that set her apart, and was the basis for which they tormented her.
The other children weren’t out rightly violent, but their attitude towards her was disheartening. One called her “leather face” and another, slightly older, told her that she should disappear into the Glowing Sea with her mother, “where they belonged.”
That had been when Danse, much to Nora’s surprise, had stepped in.
“What makes you think you have the right to talk to another person like that?”
His voice hadn’t been loud or all that truly scary, yet in retrospect, the sight of a tall man in power armour intervening probably wasn’t the best idea. Her partner wasn’t small by any means, and his almost-permanently attached power armour made him nearly a foot taller. And he most certainly made an impression. Nora would never forget the look on any of their faces; the anger bubbling underneath Danse’s calm façade; the look of surprise, and then awe, of the little girl; and the shock of the tormenting children.
Nora was proud of Danse, even though he struggled and sometimes failed. He’d grown a lot as a person since she’d met him outside that dilapidated police station in Cambridge. While she didn’t doubt that he’d stick up for a child normally, before everything that had happened with him and the Brotherhood, a ghoul would have been unlikely.
“I want to be just like you when I grow up!”
Out of everything that had happened that day, the little girl’s expression of awe and the sincerity in her voice would be what Nora remembered most. Even though she didn’t seem to care about the other children, Danse, who would have seemed enormous and scary and imposing, shooed them off. To her, and to Nora, he was a knight in slightly rusted armour.