I don’t think Raul is in as bad a condition as he says he is, honestly. I think he’s old and a little creaky, but also loves to complain about ailments to get people around him to make one very critical mistake: they start to underestimate him. Raul Tejada is a very sharp guy, he knows what he’s about. If he plays dumb and weak, people by and large will leave him alone. I think if he was actually falling apart/ailing, he’d have told the Courier to fuck off when asked to travel with them. That’s not to say he doesn’t have his share of issues, be they physical or otherwise, but I think many people have tried to pull a fast one on Raul Tejada since the bombs fell, and the vast majority of them didn’t survive the encounter.
Sometimes I just like to disregard Bethesda’s fallout canon just so the story beats in the original games and new vegas have more weight.
Like. I cannot emphasise enough the poetic justice of the Enclave, a fascist military group that believed they were the only ones in the wastelands to be considered human, ending with Arcade, an anarchist and human rights activist. A man who’s so against everything the Enclave ever stood for that he’s literally out in the poorest communities helping people that the Enclave would have executed without hesitation. The rest of the Enclave has withered away, he is the final generation and has absolutely no intention of reviving them, even when using them to fight for Hoover Dam.
Just. The writing bro. The vibes of it all. Bethesda could never and I wish they’d just left the Enclave alone instead of inexplicably giving them a full base on the east coast. It would have been so much more satisfying to know that the curropt old world government dies with Arcade.
i encourage you to go to your favourite writer's ao3 page and comment on an older fic, because i can assure you that it will make their day. It can mean so much to see your work doesn't disappear into the void to be never seen again after a day of people interacting with it. Just, if you have the time, go comment on an older work
(pls reblog this to try and get as much writers a bit of appreciation)