#I hate being a loud boone defender not because I hate defending him but because the slander of Boone is always comes at ignoring important

[dykedvonte]

Part of the reason I think Boone refuses to return home to the NCR in like all but one ending (where he also intends to kill himself) is the very fact he would likely be congratulated over what happened at Bittersprings and “teaching the Khans a lesson”.

And like that alone is already bad enough on his guilt ridden psyche, but it’s the fact he becomes very honest on how bad he and the NCR fucked up and how he personally should have known better. So having the entire nation act like it didn’t happen the way it did or that it was a good thing would likely push him over the edge.

[k-renne]

CRACK-UP

Your mother always told you to stay away from wolves, wolves like the Logan family who always seemed to be up to no good. It was only natural as a local farmer, you had to protect your livestock. Farmers just weren’t in the company of befriending werewolves. 

TAGLIST: @thecurlycaptain, @oh-adam, @givemelifeorgiveme

At school you did your best to avoid the Logan boys, Jimmy loud and boisterous was easy to stay away from. But Clyde on the other hand, he always seemed to surprise you. Too busy worrying about one Logan you ran right into the other, dropping all of your books. Being the polite boy that he was Clyde kneeles to help you pick up your stuff, giving you an awkward smile of reassurance as you tried to recover yourself. 

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” You looked down. 

Clyde frowned, and you still wouldn’t look at him even now. Just once, what he would do to have you look at him. “Here,” He sighed, handing you the rest of your stuff. You quickly shuffled off, he could just hear your heart racing. If only you’d give him a chance, but no doubt your parents told you to stay away after their last incident with the Logan family. He wasn’t even involved in that scheme, your family still resented his ever since Grammy got into a few of your cattle on a full moon. Sometimes, Clyde really hated the curse. Farmgirl, don’t you know I won’t hurt you?

The day that you got handed down the family farm was the day that you made a promise to your mother to never trust a “no good Logan”. It was your only condition really, other than that you were free to run the farm how you wanted to-a gift passed down to you after your college graduation. You had dreams for your humble little family farm, so you accepted.

There was a certain routine to farming that you liked, day in and day out work with what little help you hired seasonally. It was getting to that time again when you were looking to hire a few hands, lighten the load of labor. But good help was harder to come by these days, and the prospects for this season were looking pretty grim.

“Hello ma’am I’m here about the job ad ya posted,” A voice interrupted your thoughts. You looked up to see a sheep-no a wolf, Clyde Logan. 

Your eyes widened as you looked him over, last you heard he had shipped off to Iraq. He was a lot bigger than you remembered at high school graduation, shoulders squared and strong, hair starting to grow past his ears and a bit of scruff on his face. You tried not to stare as you noticed the plastic of his left arm, a pang of sympathy hitting your heart. 

“Clyde, you know I can’t. You can’t work here.” You sighed, shaking your head. 

Your heard paper crumble as he tightened his hold around the copy of his resume. “I know your family-they don’t like us. But I wouldn’t do that to ya, and I know ya need the help. Jimmy said-” 

“Shit, don’t bring Jimmy into this now.” You interrupted Clyde. You wanted no part of his little schemes. But, Clyde was right. You did need the help, you didn’t know what you’d do if you couldn’t hire anyone this season. And the last thing you wanted was to go crawling back to your parents. You needed to figure this one out on your own. 

“We don’t do that anymore, nothin’ will happen to your animals farmgirl,” Clyde frowned. 

“Farmgirl? Is that what you Logans call me behind my back?” You accused him, narrowing your eyes. 

Clyde felt his face get hot, he didn’t mean to call you that. Not out loud at least, it was just his nickname for you and now you probably thought he was trying to tease you. “I didn’t mean that,” He said quietly. 

You huffed, why did he have to do that? Turn things around and make you feel guilty, with those big brown eyes of his. You were the little lamb and he was the wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing, luring you into a false sense of security. 

“Okay Logan, show me what you can do then. Because if my animals all want to run away from you, this definitely won’t work out.” You stood up. This way, it’d make it much easier to say no.

You put on your work boots and led Clyde through the farm, you had never really spent this much time alone with a Logan. Your guard was up, you could sense him looming behind you. A part of you wondered what he would look like transformed, you’d seen pictures of other werewolves - some more monstrous than others. It was hard for you to imagine Clyde being a werewolf, the way that he made himself so unassuming, you weren’t sure if you could tell if it wasn’t a well known secret of Boone County. 

You opened the pen to the field where you let your animals roam free, Clyde standing nervously for a moment before following behind you. “Right now I’m working on making different types of cheeses from my cows and goats, but soon I’ll need to start planting for summer crops. Oh and I also have an orchard going, but that’s a side project.” 

Clyde was impressed, you were doing a pretty good job managing things on your own. But he knew as well as you did that come the warmer months you wouldn’t be able to do everything on your own. You’d burn out fast that way. 

A wandering sheep came up to him and he crouched to its level, putting his hand out to let the sheep sniff him. The sheep let out a baa, and licked Clyde’s hand in approval. 

“Of course,” You sighed. The animals loved him. 

Before long it became clear to you that Clyde would be a natural on your farm, but if your parents found out you hired him you didn’t know what you’d do. Yet with the season right around the corner, it didn’t seem like you had any choice. 

“Alright Clyde, you’re hired.” 

“Really?” He couldn’t hide his smile, eyes lighting up. He needed a job real bad, and it had not been easy getting back into civilian life at all. Besides, he had always wanted to work on a farm. 

“Yes-just don’t look so pleased yet. I can’t have you telling people you work here, and you can’t work Tuesdays or Sundays because my parents visit and if they know I hired you I’m screwed.” 

Clyde was still smiling at you, it felt like the first time in a long time something good was happening to him. “I won’t tell on ya farmgirl.” 

Even with on arm made of plastic, Clyde could do the work of two men around the farm. He motivated you really, with how hard he worked on the farm. Sometimes it felt like he was showing off the way he rolled around barrels of hay with his sleeves rolled up, and you had a hard time trying not to watch. He was strong, really strong, his sweat soaked shirt clinging to his muscles and his hair sticking to his forehead. The way you fed him didn’t help, but what were you supposed to do when the man could eat a whole roast chicken after all the work you gave him? You couldn’t deny his appetite. 

You stared in awe as Clyde devoured your food, your cheeks going hot as he smacked his lips and licked his fingers clean. “Your food is sure good as always farmgirl,” Clyde smiled sweetly at you, before gulping down a glass of water. Droplets of water ran down the sides of his mouth, beading onto the hairs on his chin. He could hear your heart racing as you looked at him, it made him just barely smirk, if only to see you fluster more. 

“I should get back to work,” You looked away from him, avoiding his hungry gaze. 

Clyde really thought that he could do this for the rest of his life, work with you on your farm. But, he hoped that things would be a little different if he stayed here that long. He had his little fantasies back in highschool, of you noticing him and talking with him, getting to dance with you at prom. Silly ideas like that, things he knew could never happening. 

But now, you were so close to him almost every day. Right within his grasp, his sweet crush had matured into the ache of longing, the kind that kept him eager every day to see you. He knew you could do a great job together, he’d help you make the farm your own and a little bit of his too. Sharing it all, helping you realize your dreams all the while showing you a little bit of Logan fun. 

He had never felt this way about any girl before, so intensely that he’d do anything for you if you just asked. He never put a name to this feeling until one day with Mellie. 

“Clyde, who’s the girl?” Mellie asked him. 

“Girl? I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about?” 

“The girl who you’re in love with, I wasn’t sure at first, you were having a hard time after coming back but all of the sudden lately you’ve been much more yourself and something else.” Mellie explained. 

“I’m not in love,” Clyde defended, his cheeks getting pink. He wasn’t seeing any girl right now, but you came to mind. He liked being around you but it wasn’t anything that serious, was it? 

“Clyde, I’m your sister. I know. And you haven’t been very discreet about it, I see that look on your face when your “boss” call you. So spill! Who is she? I need to know the girl who stole your heart.” 

Clyde mumbled, “Farmgirl.” No use in hiding it from Mellie, she’d see right through him. 

“Hmm? I didn’t hear that, say it louder for me now.” She teased him. 

“I’m in love with farmgirl,” He growled, wood cracking as he gripped the table hard. 

Mellie’s eyes widened, now that she was not expecting. “Ya mean the girl whose parents hate us? That farmgirl?” She knew right away just who he meant. 

Clyde dropped his head, shame filling him as his hair fell over his eyes. “Yeah...that one.” He murmured. He was well and truly fucked now, it was easy for humans to fall in and out of love but for werewolves that feeling never really went away. He had to walk away and be on his own for a while, mull it all over. 

His chest hurt thinking about it, falling in love with a human was one thing - but falling in love with a human who didn’t accept what he was? It was agony. 

Something was different when Clyde came to work Monday, it made you worried about him. You knew he had gone through a lot, and though you didn’t like to be nosy with him about it you wondered if that was the thing bothering him. He was much quieter than usual too, normally he’d ask you how Sunday went, about his favorite animals that he had befriended. 

Or maybe it was a werewolf thing, you always wondered about that. You knew that he was different in some ways, but you didn’t know just how much it affected him. It might be inappropriate, but your curious mind had to ask. “Clyde, what’s it like to be a werewolf?” 

Clyde paused what he was doing, “I hope it’s okay if I ask that,” You say softly. 

He turned to look at you, his eyes uncertain as he pressed his lips together in a familiar pout. “I’m just surprised ya would ask something like that, s’all.” 

He seemed hesitant to answer your question, not sure if it would reveal too much. “Sorry if it’s too much, I just feel like you know a lot about me but if we’re working together I figured maybe I should know about you too.” You tried to justify it, rambling as you felt nervous, trying to focus back on the task at hand. 

Clyde’s gaze softened and he sighed, you sure didn’t make it any easier on him. Even with your family, he wanted to believe that you were better than them. But your future hinged on one condition that meant he couldn’t be in your life the way he wanted to, working for you was already crossing a line. 

He pushed his shovel into the dirt, “They say it’s not all that different in a lotta ways. S’hard cause this is all I know.” 

He continued to work as you nodded for him to keep sharing, “I know everything is more intense, like senses for example-I know when ya make bacon and eggs for breakfast or just a bowl of cereal. Can tell a lot about other animals too.” 

“I guess that is pretty helpful around here,” You smiled, even if you were a little flustered knowing he could tell so much about you with scent alone. 

“Yeah-and we do hunt, but mostly stick to animals that would ruin the environment if they didn’t get hunted and that only happens every full moon.” He further explains. 

“Does it hurt? When you change that is…” You ask. 

“No-well, my left arm hurts...but that’s just me. Mostly it just gets very itchy, and then it’s sweet relief.” Clyde clicks his tongue. The way you looked back at him made his heart ache, you were so captured in what he was saying, holding on to every word. 

“I’ve never seen one before, I mean a werewolf that is. Well not transformed, I mean. Just pictures.” You keep changing your words, shaking your head. Clyde grins. 

“Would it be dangerous?” You asked. 

His eyes were full of mirth, “Maybe a little, farmgirl,” He stepped closer to you, towering over you in the barn. “Might smell ya and think you’re ripe for the takin’,” His voice deepened, making you whimper. 

Clyde chuckled, “Ah I’m just teasin’, we’d never hurt ya. At least the Logans wouldn’t, but I won’t let any of the dangerous type get even near this area. Werewolves are...territorial, too.” We protect what’s ours, he wanted to say, but kept that to himself. 

“Oh well, I know you wouldn’t hurt me Clyde.” Of course he wouldn’t. You felt that in your bones. 

He felt pride at that, knowing he had come a long way with you. “Maybe one day you’ll see a werewolf.” He hummed. 

“Is there anything else I’m missing?” 

Clyde blushed, he’d probably keep the part about ruts and claiming to himself, you did not need to know about that side of him. “Nope, s’pretty much everything.” Though he couldn’t get the idea of pinning you with his hips and filling you with his cum out of his head, he had to look away before he did something obscene. 

Good, talking to him did work. Whatever was bothering him this morning seemed to be forgotten in this moment, at least you could do that much for him. 

After another day of work you and Clyde enjoyed a couple of beers on the porch, “You know, you Logan’s really aren’t so bad.” 

“That’s because there’s only one of us.”

“Oh yeah Clyde?” 

“Yup,” He smirked, taking a sip of his beer. 

“C’mon, I know you didn’t get into juvie over nothing,” You playfully hit his arm. 

It was really hard to say no to you when you looked like that, smile making your eyes sparkly, the frizz of your hair glowing in the setting sun and you smelled good too, you always did to him. Even after the days were you were drenched in sweat, the sweetness always stayed. “I swore not to say a word.” He pressed his lips into a pout, licking beer off his moustache. 

“Pleaaase,” You bumped shoulders with him, leaning close. “Like I’m gonna be talkin’ to Jimmy anytime soon.” 

Clyde sighed, you were right on that one. “We were always gettin’ into schemes like that, but that time was the first time we ever got caught-well...I got caught.” 

Clyde told you the story of his last Cauliflower plan, the biggest one yet. “But, my life of crime is over.” He said seriously.

“Hmm, s’pose it is hard to imagine you as an ex con. I’d rather have you work for me instead,” You sipped your drink. “But I do wish I could pay you more,” You added with a sigh. 

Clyde put his hand on your shoulder, “You pay me just fine farmgirl,” 

“Say uh, would you like to stay for dinner?” You offered. 

He sucked in a breath, Mellie’s words repeating in his mind you’re in love with her. “I don’t know, should probably go home and take a shower, don’t wanna be a bother.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Clyde! You are not a bother, besides I have two showers-we probably both need one. It won’t be anything fancy but, it’d be nice if you stayed.” 

He wanted to terribly. He’d do anything if you just asked him, “Alright, I’ll stay,” He nodded. 

Your mother always said, a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. And you never really intended to win Clyde’s heart, but maybe you wanted to him to know just how much you appreciate him. Food was one way you could do that. 

Fresh out of the shower in a comfortable sundress, you began preparing the ingredients for dinner. You heard Clyde coming by the sound of his feet on the creaky floorboards, stopping for a moment as he stilled in his tracks. 

Come to think of it, he’d never seen you in a dress before. You looked so beautiful out of your muddied work clothes it shocked him, and that damned dress was showing off your pretty legs too-much more skin than you ever showed with your well worn jeans. 

“You alright Clyde? You can take a seat you know,” You teased him.

“Oh no, that’s not how my momma taught me.” He stood by your side at the kitchen counter. “Now you just tell me how I can help.” 

“Well I thought I said I was making you dinner,” You put your hands on your hips. 

“No you didn’t sweetheart,” Clyde smiled, teasing you. 

The way he said sweetheart almost made you gasp, “You just go and relax Clyde, I’ll be just fine on my own.” 

He shook his head, you were always so stubborn. Determined to do things on your own, but with help it would get done so much faster and you deserve to relax just as much if not more than he did. “Farmgirl when are you gonna learn that it’s better not to do it all alone?” 

That seemed to hit a nerve, you put down the knife. “I don’t know Clyde, sometimes it just seems easier to be alone.” 

Oh how he ached for you in this moment, it was no wonder you liked talking to him. He didn’t see you around town much, probably too exhausted to do much more. He understood now, you were lonely. Maybe with how well you hide it he didn’t notice, loneliness wasn’t something that was obvious until you really know a person. But he understood loneliness, he often felt it too. 

He had his family, his pack. Yet there was something missing, something that instinctually drives a werewolf. He didn’t have anyone he could call a mate, and that made him feel pangs of loneliness more often than not. But, he had to accept it just wasn’t in the cards for him. Still, he couldn’t resist comforting you. 

“I know it does, but you’re not...you’re not alone,” He reassured you. “And it’s okay to ask for help too,” He took the knife. 

Clyde left your farm that day more certain than ever, he was hopelessly in love. If only you felt the same. 

[saibugs]

I finally gave the backstories for my OCs!

It’s big, so I’ll post it below the cut!

Cristina Elaine MacCready, formerly Howard, nee Montgomery

Cristina  Elaine Montgomery was born in 2052 and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was the second child and only daughter of Adam Charles Montgomery and Fiona Dawn Montgomery. She is three years younger than her brother, Archer James Montgomery.

All throughout her life, she was verbally, emotionally, physically and even sexually abused by her father, although Archer protected her from as much of it as possible. Her mother was too weak and sickly to ever fight against her husband, a fact that made her take her own life when Cristina turned 15 (2067). A few days later, Archer—then 18—decided to leave for West Virginia. The two siblings argued for hours, causing a rift between them. Cristina declared she hated him and never spoke to him again. A year later (2068, age 16) she ran away from home and moved in with a couple of older friends.

After graduating from high school, Cristina fell into a slump, and became depressed. She was hospitalised at the age of 19 (2071) for attempting to take her own life, and in hospital is when she met her first husband, Nathan ‘Nate’ Howard. She dated him for about six months (which was difficult when he was fighting in the battle for Anchorage) before they were engaged. At the age of 20 (2072) Cristina decided to go ahead and get her degree in Law, supported by her fiancé, and she excelled. At 23 (in 2075), she married Nate and moved to the sleepy little town of Sanctuary Hills.

In 2077 (25), she gave birth to her and Nate’s son, Shaun Howard after he returned home from the Anchorage War. In October of that same year the events of Fallout 4 occur.

General Nuke Garvey, formerly T7-86

Nuke Garvey was created in the Institute 2 years before Cristina left the vault. His first year of life was filled with escape attempts, one of which nearly killed him when he was shot in the head by a laser rifle. He earned a burn from it forever. His final one was successful, but he was thrown into the middle of the Glowing Sea, landing right in the middle of the crater.

Since he was immune to radiation, and he came from nowhere, he was considered a gift from Atom and ended up joining the Children of Atom. For a year, he was devout, but two months before Cristina left the Vault he left the Children, stopped practicing, and wandered the wasteland. A week after Preston is saved by Cristina, he meets Preston and decides to help the Minutemen, eventually becoming the General and falling in love with Preston as well.

Laurie Melissa Anders

Laurie was born in 2258 to Hayley and Johnathan Anders, their only daughter. As a little girl she grew up in a small settlement that is no longer on the map, north of Diamond City. When she was 10 years old, in 2268, Raiders burned her home settlement to the ground and killed everyone. She only survived by hiding under the bodies of her parents after gunshots killed them through the walls of their shacks. She left the settlement after three days of hiding, when she could be sure she would not encounter the Raiders again.

This event would cause her to grow up distrustful, angry, and hateful. At the age of 12 (2270) she became addicted to Med-X, as it was the only thing that helped with the emotional pain of losing her family. In 2274, at 16, she built her characteristic Flamer, painted it blue, and called it Frostbite. While she was terrified of fire she decided to weaponise her fear and burn the Raiders as they’d burned her home. That same year she began to actively hunt Raiders down and kill them.

In 2287, Laurie—having earned a reputation of being a stone cold, aggressive, bloodthirsty ‘pyrobitch’—meets Cait, and she’s the first person Laurie can trust. They have a few sparring matches when they first meet, initially not trusting the other, but after Laurie helps Cait with her addiction (knowing what it’s like to be hooked on something) they grow closer.

Arden Boone, nee Grace

Arden Grace is the biological child of Eden of the Wastes and ex-Paladin Morgan O’Hara, and was born in 2260. Days after her birth she was left on the doorstep of Carey Grace, her adoptive parent, when her adoptive brother Daniel was six. Her mother died of severe radiation poisoning only a few miles outside the tiny settlement. Carey found the body and knew it to be Arden’s mother, but didn’t recognise the face as it had been mutated by the radiation. As a result, he made sure Arden had a ritual; she would leave a particular flower floating in water, as it was a flower she’d been left with.

Growing up, Arden was not the most intelligent person in the world, and several of the other kids in the settlement bullied her relentlessly for it. She never lost her happy-go-lucky attitude, but she does withdraw if anyone calls her dumb (or some variation thereof) because of the bullying.

When she turned 18, in 2278, she left the settlement alongside her brother and parent, and they all went their separate ways. She got work as Courier Six for the Mojave Express, and saved up enough caps to live comfortably if she wanted to. Unfortunately, in 2281, she was shot in the head by Benny for refusing to give up the Platinum Chip.

Daniel Grace

Daniel Grace is a travelling doctor, born in 2254 and adopted by Carey when they found him alone in a settlement as a newborn baby, in 2260. He was unharmed and cheerful in mood despite being alone, healthy too, so Carey took him in and raised him as best they could.

As a boy, Daniel was incredibly intelligent, and often defended his younger sister from her bullies. He began to read as many pre-war texts as he could and learned how to perform complex medical tasks when he was 17 (in 2271) and was acting as the doctor for the small settlement by 2272 (at 18).

At some point after his family left their home in 2278, he went to the Mojave and aided them, becoming a trusted ally to the Followers of the Apocalypse. Around 2281, he was working with them to find ways to mass-create medications (such as non-addictive painkillers and pre-war antiseptics).

Carey Grace – Phoenix

When human, Carey Grace was a strange person. Their birthdate is unknown, but they arrived in the small settlement they ended up living in in 2241. They made themselves known there as a trustworthy, friendly person who helped wherever they could. It was here they befriended Eden of the Wastes, but she left in 2246.

In 2260, while out exploring and searching for medicinal herbs, they stumbled across a small boy called Daniel. He was wriggling in a woven basket, with nothing but a name tacked onto his wrappings, and Carey took him in after working out that there was nobody coming for him, raising him as best they could. Six years later, a tiny infant—Arden—was left on their doorstep, with a name, a letter pleading for Carey to raise the baby, and a special flower. Carey, ever so caring, took the infant in and raised her alongside Daniel.

In 2278, Carey and their two children left the settlement, going their separate ways. In 2279, Carey arrives at the Commonwealth Wasteland, and is captured by Coursers. They take them to the Institute and they are given over to the Institute’s Super Mutant program.

What happens in between is still a mystery, but Phoenix only remembers waking up in the middle of nowhere, confused and scared. They are in incredible pain all the time and the first day they emerged in the wasteland they tried to seek help, but were shot at and nearly killed. As a result Phoenix lives in a cave on a cliff. The settlers nearby know they exist but they leave them be, because Phoenix defended them once and made it know they’re not a threat.

Phoenix now lives out their days trying to work out what happened to them, what they once were, WHO they once were.

Archer James Montgomery

Archer was born in 2049, the first child and the son of Adam and Fiona Montgomery. He was subject to abuse from his father for not being ‘manly’ enough, since he preferred to read and was a quiet young boy, rather than loud and sporty. He tried to protect his sister, Cristina, from as much of it as he could, and the events left him with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.

In 2067, at 18 years old, Archer moved to West Virginia after his mother’s death. The decision caused his sister and him to fight, and she declared her hatred for him, so he never contacted her again. In 2069, at 20, he became a bouncer for a nightclub and ended up being recruited by Vault Tec in 2070 (21) for their Vault program. In 2076 (27) the Vault closed, and Archer spent the next 25 years inside, keeping the peace for the Overseer. In those years he was promoted to security chief.

In 2102, Vault 76 opened. Archer, now 53 years old, was the last resident to leave the Vault. He explored Appalachia a bit, hunting for cryptids—as something he had wanted to do before entering the Vault—and helping his fellow Vault Dwellers out. But after launching the nukes in early 2103, Archer was heavy-hearted and abandoned Appalachia, instead trekking the United States and finding every Vault he could, learning about them, taking information from Vault Tec and destroying all but one copy.

15 years after this, in 2118, Archer had just arrived at the Commonwealth after learning his sister had been sealed in a Vault. But before he’d managed to get there, he was shot by an Institute synth. At the age of 68 Archer recorded a series of holotapes for his sister, managed to hide the information he’d collected in a secure location, and bled to death.

[ianceii]

Prompt: Character A is a pessimist and hates the world, Character B is an optimist and loves to brighten up their own world. Character A + B meet and B is determined to make A see the best in life. Character A starts to see it, just not on their own, but with B alongside them

Pairing: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle (I know you :”))

Rating: Teen

Word Count : 2.6k words

Tags: Tom Riddle’s Era, 

A/N : The prompt got kinda convoluted the longer I wrote, sorry mum. NO BETA because I live on the edge. Sorry for any mistakes I wrote this late at night.

.MACHIAVELLIAN.

Since it is difficult to join them together, it is safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking.

- Niccolo Machiavelli

Tom Marvolo Riddle was an orphan with good looks, good brains and a great sense of everything there is to be, he had everything to survive in the world where everybody fights for the top. The weak die and the strong survive is what rang on every orphan’s mind as they all stare into the abyss that is their future.

Maybe it was because of that very reason why they hated him so much. He had everything they had to strive for without actually working for it. How everything that they find hard to achieve came so easy to the young boy.

They called him the freak, the devil’s child. They told him that he was so unwanted that his mother died when she first laid her eyes upon him (the next morning, Eric Whalley broke his leg upon falling down the staircase).

Despite what they say, Tom Riddle was actually born with emotions.

He, like all the other children who were brought forth into this world, once wore rose-tinted lenses.

But it didn’t take long for those lenses to break under the force of the other orphan’s cruelty.

The shards of his innocence and naivety scarred the way he saw the world and he doesn’t think that it will be the same ever again.

Maybe that was the reason why he was so misanthropic, maybe that was the reason how they still call him freak, maybe that was the reason his mother died, maybe that was the reason his father never came to get him, maybe- 

There was a lot of maybes in Tom’s life but in the end, he doesn’t care because all he wants now is for everyone to feel the pain and suffering he had felt under the hands of the cruel world.

He will was be better than everyone else in this no good orphanage. He had it, after all, the ability to make reality do his bidding, the ability to twist and turn the mortal realm in whatever way he chose.

Tom swears he will repay them for everything they had done to him. He will rise above their filth, and one day, one day, they all will kneel and beg before him to show mercy, but he wouldn’t.  

His heart was filled with so much anguish and hate, it made Hecate frown with pity.

“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Harry James Potter was his new roommate.

The young boy had emerald eyes that had laugh lines around the edges, uncommonly tanned skin and hair so wild Tom wondered if it had its own brain. The boy was unnervingly polite and often shrunk to himself when Tom noticed him.

Tom dismissed him, sure that despite the boy’s current facade, he would be as loud and as irritating as the other orphans when the time comes.

‘The boy would be just like all the other roommates he had,’ he thinks, ‘disgustingly childish and immature.’

Tom makes a bet with himself on when the boy would break, and leave for another room (next Monday).

He frowns at himself, he can’t wait to be alone again.

Tom was being followed.

He could see him in his peripheral view every time he looks up from his book. It had been happening over the past few days and frankly, it wouldn’t take much to convince Tom to carve those unnerving eyes out of their sockets.

Tom was never the confrontational type, nor was he the one to choose blunt trauma over subtle manipulations, but there was a pinprick of emotion that Tom couldn’t comprehend whenever those eyes stare at him.

“What do you want?” He said, framing his words as more of an order than a question.

Somewhere inside the cramped room, Tom heard a small ‘Eep!’ and several other objects fall.

Then silence.

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

His stalker, which turned out to be his new roommate, Harry Potter, stopped hiding and started following Tom like a duckling that accidentally imprinted on his person.  

The younger boy gets sniggers from the other orphans and the particularly empathetic ones try to talk him out of it, but the boy just ignores their advice.

He sits whenever Tom sits, and usually picks on a random series of objects or he entertains himself with some sort of story that Tom never gets to comprehend the plot of since it’s always changing.

Tom should be annoyed by this. He knew he should be. But somewhere, deep in the cresses of his mind, he actually doesn’t mind the comfortable silence.

He just justifies his actions by convincing himself that his intuition was telling him that Harry would be useful to him one day. The young boy would bring Tom a boon, he knows it.

There was screaming outside of his window.

His peace and quiet were being disrupted by the yelling match going on outside his window. Tom was ready to fling a book outside or ‘encourage’ someone to sew the lips of who dared disturb his reading when he heard a voice.

“HE ISN’T LIKE THAT!”

Tom knew that voice.

He hurriedly set aside his book before leaning out of the window to see if the voice really belonged to the meek green-eyed duckling he had unknowingly adopted.

There, on the vast backyard of St. Wool’s, stood Potter and Eric Whalley staring the other down, faces red and drenched in sweat. (That piece of scum, hadn’t he learned his lesson? TOUCHING WHAT WAS TOM’S! Filth like him keep polluting the world with his ignorance and stupidity. Tom should crack open his skull next, just to see if the ignoramus actually had a brain. See the crimson flow of blood streaming-)

Tom shakes his head to clear his thoughts.

“Wouldn’t yah see that?! Potter is defending his boyfwiend.” Said Whalley, his gang of obnoxious 15-year-olds laughing like the brainless idiots they were.

Harry went as red as a brick.

Tom couldn’t hear it but Potter smirked, and then he murmured something.

That something made Whalley redder than Potter was and made everyone else quiet down. Aflame with embarrassment, Whalley raised his fist high up in the air to prepare for a nose crunching blow. Nobody made a move to save Harry so the young boy crouched down and used his frail arms to protect himself.

Tom hastily ordered it to transport Harry somewhere else, to protect the boy from the bully’s meaty arms.

But nothing happened.

Adrenaline rushed through Tom’s veins as he could do nothing to save Harry. He readied himself for a cringe as he was about to see a boy shorter than him by a full head get thrown across the lawn.

High pitched screams filled the air

In a strange turn of events, Whalley, with all the glory of his gangly limbs, flew to the other side of the lawn, it was as if a giant hand plucked him out of the sky and threw him.

Eyes were drawn to the Potter as a shining white light encompassed his form.

Whispers echoed throughout the crowd of orphans who witnessed the event.

“Freak”, Tom heard an orphan said (Amy Benson, he later discovered when she was taken by the doctors to the hospital because of intensive injury to her jawline due to falling down the stairs).

But before anyone could take further action, cloaked men suddenly popped into existence.

Tom hid inside his wardrobe because for once, he was actually afraid of what would happen.

He just hopes Potter could keep himself safe.

(He hasn’t made use of him yet, Tom said to reassure himself)

“Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli

The next day, it seems as if nobody remembered the incident.

News traveled faster than an automobile in St. Wool’s, it was simply strange that Potter wasn’t teased to be Satan in human guise by the other orphans.

Speaking of Potter, he was curled up into a ball and refused to leave the room, the same state he was when he came to the orphanage several months ago.

It still shocked Tom that he and Potter were both different.

They were both gems in the pile of worthless stones that is St. Wool’s orphanage. They were both destined for greatness. They were both are going to overthrow the concept of being useless just because they are penniless orphans.

Tom could only notice it now, but he and Potter are similar. Both have dark hair, both are unwanted orphans and both are specially chosen by Fate herself.

He could see it now. He and Harry standing side by side as they conquered what was rightfully theirs.

All he had to do now is convince the younger boy.

If there was one flaw that Tom could admit, it was his ability to empathize.

He was currently standing in the middle of their room, facing Potter’s bed as he watches him curled up like an armadillo. He hesitated. One wrong word and everything could come crashing down.

“I remember what happened yesterday.”

Potter froze.

“I want you to look at me,” Tom said with, uncharacteristic of him, a soft and mellow voice.

Eyes the shade of jewelry the women at church wore peeked through Potter’s long fringe.

“I’m not scared of you, the same way you are not scared of me.”

Potter uncovered his face and stared at Tom with interest and wonder. His eyes were shining with hope and Tom could see the endless shades of green in Potter’s captivating eyes.

But hope suddenly vacated the younger boy’s eyes. Potter looked away and stared at a random spot on their creaky floorboards.

“But I’m a freak.” He quietly whispered.

“Freaks? Yes. But does being a freak have to be a bad thing?’

Potter didn’t reply.

“You and I? We were chosen. We were hand-picked by Fate because we of all people deserve this power that we currently hold in our hands! Yes! We’re “freaks”! But that doesn’t mean we have to abide by the laws of men who are lesser than us!” Tom declared, looking at the boy before him with passionate eyes.

“I swear to you. You and I will never be “freaks” in the eyes of the world again. We will rise above those who have wronged us Potter, and never shall we be tormented again.”

In the course of his tirade, Harry was now staring at him with wet eyes, which only emboldened Tom to ask for what he truly wanted in the first place.

He held out his hand to the younger boy.

“Be my right-hand man Potter”

A second ticked by

”Join me.”

Seconds ticked by between them and Potter finally smiled.

“Call me Harry.”

And thus, a pact was formed between the two of them. Magic streamed out of their cores as they recognized the other’s promise to each other, and to the future.

“I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.”― Niccolò Machiavelli

Tom always wondered why Harry was so kind.

He stands by what he said when he first became friends with the shorter boy.

The both of them are indeed similar, both have dark hair, both are unwanted orphans, and (only recently discovered) both have the talent to speak to snakes.

But at the same time, they were similar, they were also very different.

Where Tom was cruel, Harry was kind.

Tom had the same outlooks on life as Machiavelli, while Harry still wore rose-tinted glasses, broken and damaged, but he still wore them.

Tom asked Harry about this one time and Harry replied with a phrase that plagued Tom with thoughts and dreams on what it meant.

“You, my dear Tom-Tom are a great man. I’ve decided to join you 7 years ago for the very reason that I desire to help you how to become a good one.”

Tom tripped him for calling him Tom-Tom.

Tom saw what Harry meant when they were on the roof of the astronomy tower.

They were in their 5th year of Hogwarts and Tom was made a prefect for that school year. Harry was scolding him for being too cruel to Abraxas Malfoy after the blonde had an unusual bout of incompetence which resulted to Harry being drenched in a potion and rushed to the Madame Chang.

Tired and frustrated, Tom only replied:

“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, and without dropping the beat continues the string of Machiavellian quotes:

“Therefore the best fortress is to be found in the love of the people, for although you may have fortresses they will not save you if you are hated by the people.”

Tom gave a fond smirk at their repartee.

“I didn’t know you read ‘The Prince’.” He said while looking at the Harry who has now decided to rest his torso upon the cold roof tiles. Tom renewed Harr’s heating charm which caused Harry to purr and yawn.

“It’s basically part of the job description of being your friend.”

Tom snorted and rolled his eyes.

“I want you to see the world from a different perspective, Tom.” Harry said as he outstretched his hand to reach the stars. “I know you like Machiavelli, but he isn’t the only philosopher. I quote ‘“And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things’.”

Harry gestured Tom to lay down with him.

“It’s hard for the both of us to overcome the scars etched into our very bones. I will not stop you if you want to continue your reign as ‘the supreme overlord of the skies and the earth’”

Tom sent a wandless stinging hex at him.

“Ouch!”

“You deserve it.”

Harry smiled and rolled his eyes.

“What I basically mean to say is to look at the future, our future with a lighter perspective. We’re both orphans Tom, you have seen the scars on my back. I don’t want you to die with no one else but I. The world will remember you, Tom. Your name would be etched into history, pureblood or no. Don’t forget the small things Tom.”

He held Tom’s hand and Harry placed his fingers to point at a star.

(Polaris, his brain points out as he stares into it Constellation Cartography, page 31, by L. Sinistra, it adds.)

“I don’t have a silver tongue like you, but I want to tell you to be Polaris. The star that will be the one to guide us to greatness. Yes, Machiavelli said: “It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” But I believe that you have what it takes. I take that back. I don’t believe. I know.”

Tom smiles at the night sky fondly, holding Harry’s hand as they point at constellations till the break of dawn.

“He who becomes a Prince through the favour of the people should always keep on good terms with them; which it is easy for him to do, since all they ask is not to be oppressed”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

.Nox.

[pass-the-bechdel]

LOST s06e17 ‘The End’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, four times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Nine (33.33% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eighteen.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

As much flack as it cops, I actually think this might be the best and most fulfilling series finale of any show I have ever watched. Near perfect, in my eyes.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Juliet and Claire pass in a line at the concert. Kate and Claire pass together, three times.

Female characters:

Kate Austen.

Rose Nadler.

Sun Kwon.

Juliet Burke.

Claire Littleton.

Shannon Rutherford.

Charlotte Lewis.

Eloise Hawking.

Jane.

Male characters:

Desmond Hume.

Jack Shephard.

David Shephard.

James ‘Sawyer’ Ford.

Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes.

Sayid Jarrah.

Charlie Pace.

Ben Linus.

John Locke.

Bernard Nadler.

Miles Straume.

Richard Alpert.

Jin Kwon.

Frank Lapidus.

Boone Carlyle.

Daniel Faraday.

Pierre Chang.

Christian Shephard.

OTHER NOTES:

Aww, Hurley is so happy to see Charlie:

“This would be so sweet if we weren’t all about to die.”

Rose and Bernard are the real heroes of this show.

Good news, Richard. The fact that the show is about to end means that your days of being thrown around by a smoke column are coming to a close.

Not gonna lie, I’ve seen this episode (and show) many times already over the years, but when the music kicks in as the characters experience their awakenings I’ve still got fuckin’ chills. 

I know it’s just procedure and whatever, but Locke, completely bald, wearing a hair net as he’s about to go into surgery? I’m laughin’.

“You’re not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face” it is nice to hear Jack speaking out in Locke’s defense, and for a real reason, unlike when Jack was just kinda feeling adrift in life and guilty because of Locke’s suicide. 

“I was shot by a fat man.”

Claire is having her baby, and did NOT just instantly announce it the second she felt a contraction. 

Kate LITERALLY has her awakening triggered by CLAIRE and her baby, rather than by a romantic connection. Chant it with me now: Kate’s character and life is not defined by men! Kate’s character and life is not defined by men!

KAAAATTTEEEE SAVES THE DAYYYY!!! KATE KILLS THE BIG BAD! KATE IS THE HERO! “I saved you a bullet.” She’s my badass. The greatest badass in all the land. Never try to tell me she’s just some flip-flopping floosie.

“What’s your timetable?” “DON’T BOTHER ME!” “...Sounds like they’re making progress.”

Obviously I object to the idea that Jack could be considered Kate’s ‘soulmate’ despite being an abusive fuckwit who treated her like total crap the entire time they knew each other. As intensely hetero as this finale is, it mostly doesn’t bother me because the relationships were pretty great, but Jack/Kate is a major exception to that rule, man. 

Kate loves Claire Kate loves Claire Kate loves Claire

Oh my God. Ben, outside the church, apologising and saying goodbye to John. And then the scene on the island where Hurley appoints Ben as his second-in-command on the island, and then back to the church where Hurley pops out to thank Ben for helping him so well in that job. All three scenes, back-to-back, and FUCK they’re good. I’m not saying that this, and Jack’s complicated history with Locke, and Kate’s bond with Claire, etc...I’m not saying it really makes me realise just how strong the non-romantic relationships on this show have been and how much more I wish they had balanced the awakenings and such with platonic love as well as romance, but...as good as those (SUPER HET!) romances mostly were, the show and its characters had so much more to give, and I wish they had acknowledged that more explicitly. 

Note the multi-faith interior of this afterlife-church:

Look, I get that a LOT of people think that somehow this show ended with ‘and then they were all dead all along!’ but that is...explicitly stated OUT LOUD as not being so? The whole explainer-conversation Jack has with his dad here at the end. It’s very clear. I would almost argue that it’s TOO clear, that they coulda been more subtle with it, but then the huge number of people who apparently did not pay attention and managed to misinterpret it anyway must mean the level of explicitness was the right call. Any more explicit and they might as well have just brought on the showrunners to literally explain the story directly to the camera. Sorry if it seems like I’m being awful rude about other people’s intelligence or comprehension here, but I just. Am baffled that this is such a common misconception. They were not dead the whole time. The island is not purgatory. The ‘flash-sideways’ IS the afterlife, and that’s why it’s a place where they each learn lessons or achieve goals that they were never able to work out when they were alive; they complete the journeys their souls had been on, and then they come together so that their spirits can move to What Comes Next together. The island is real and everything there happened is real and they were alive on the island. The ‘alternate reality’ of them all off-island in SEASON SIX ONLY is the afterlife. Honest to God it’s not complicated.

Whew. Ok. Got a little heated there for a moment but look, I have been defending this ending for seven long years. As with any finale - and especially for something as huge and existential as LOST - there are plenty of people who hate it, and that’s their right, etc. But I love it to death and continue to consider it one of the absolute best finales I’ve ever seen. Probably still THE best, actually. For all those who complain about the ‘unanswered questions’ left behind: honestly, I think there’s only ONE question I’ve encountered that I couldn’t find an answer for (and I can’t even remember what it was because it was a minor detail, not anything important). I pretty much guarantee you, there’s an answer right there in the show, you just gotta look for it. Personally, I am incredibly thankful that they not only tied up all of their loose ends, they did it without hanging a lantern on absolutely every piece of the puzzle as they filled it in. I like going “but what was the deal with [thing]?” and then putting some thought to it and finding the solution myself, and then applauding the writers for doing such a wonderful job of combining all their elements so organically that they function as if they were simply meant to be. It seems to be a pop culture buzz-phrase these days to make some joke about LOST+lack of payoff, but for anyone who just parrots that, it’s lazy, and anyone who actually believes it? Needs to try a re-watch and maybe pay attention this time. It’s not rocket science, and I hate feeling like I’m being intellectually superior when I say so. It’s not confusing if you just...use your critical thinking skills? I swear, this show is not confusing, it IS dealing in metaphysical meaning-of-life stuff that can be kinda heady for some people (I LOVE that shit so obviously it doesn’t bother me), but it’s not some big blustery build-up of weird that never goes anywhere. Everything has a purpose in the narrative, it’s all there for a reason. Everything except maybe Jack’s tattoos.