Work Text:
Jude found the puppy in the back of a train. She had been walking along, looking for supplies to transform Sanctuary Hills into the safest place in the Commonwealth when she heard a crash coming from the back of the train. With her pistol at the ready and Dogmeat by her side, Jude ran in, gun pointed, to find a ball of fluff pressed against the wall, shaking from the shadows. She knelt down, finding a piece of mudfruit in her pack and offering it to the tiny creature. It crept forward, cautiously as Jude pushed the food away from her. Once it was out of her hands, it darted out of the shadows and seized the mudfruit, revealing itself to be an abnormally large mouse, it had grown to around the same size of a puppy. It scuttled back to the shadows to devour it’s prize with more gusto than Jude had ever seen before. Smiling, she turned and left, Dogmeat on her heels as the two ventured out into the wild wasteland known as home. As the distance between them and the train carriage grew, Jude reflected on Nate’s dog, back when everything was normal and there wasn’t any giant mice running around. Nate had brought home the dog he had worked with during his days in the army, named Ace. It had had a robotic leg and had adored Shaun, before it had disappeared one fateful night. Jude knew that Shaun, to some extent, understood that his friend Ace was gone, and he had screamed himself to sleep that night. The next day had been spent searching for Ace, up every street and in every park, to no avail. The day after that, the ‘nice’ man from Vault-tac had arrived, right before they were about to start the search and well, everything had gone to Hell. Dogmeat licked her hand, giving her an idea, crouching down, she held out her hand.
“Dogmeat, shake!” She ordered, and, much to her surprise, he did.
“Where’d you learn that boy?” She wondered aloud, giving him a piece of meat as a reward and a pat on the head as they continued down the beaten track.