"Did I ever tell you about the time I was a shoe repair man?" I asked Jericho, in Moriarty's the other night.
"What!? You? No!"
"It was just after Operation Broken Steel. The Enclave was already dead at that point. They just didn't know it."
"I remember. There was a real sense of desperation about them that day. They weren't on the offense at that point. They were defending fixed positions with what few troops they had left."
"War may never change but I can. I did. I needed something new after that. There's only so much death and destruction you can witness as one individual and still feel human."
"A bloody day and too bloody if you ask me. When both sides ran out of ammunition and charges it got up close and personal. I'm glad Fawkes was with us. I hate close quarters."
"Do you remember that kid in power armour that Fawkes killed with his warhammer? What was he? 18?"
"If even but you said it yourself. The Enclave was finished. They had lost most of their forces, thanks to Charon. At that point, I suppose they were putting raw recruits in the field."
"I think about that kid sometimes. He reminded me off myself when I left the vault. He was too bright-eyed and too inexperienced."
"I've never seen a Super Mutant cry before. I don't blame him for leaving afterwards. Funny how the most inhuman of us turned out to be the most compassionate."
"It was different at Project Purity. Atomic explosions don't leave bodies. We never got to experience the waste of human life because there was nothing left to feel for. At Adams Air Force Base there was that unique sense of disgust. Even the most hardened commander would balk at the butcher's bill. Brotherhood of Steel casualties or Enclave casualties it didn't matter."
"Was it worth it in the end?"
"Who knows if the cost outweighed the good? They just really wanted to hold on to that mobile base crawler."
"Who knows? Time will tell."
'A pyric victory!'
"Eh?"
"That's what Star Paladin Cross called it afterwards."
"So you decided to become a shoe repair man…"
"Yeah but I had to give it up."
"Why?"
"I found it sole destroying."
"I fucking hate you, 101."
"I know Jericho. I know."