FO4 | Book 0: The Diaries of Anarchy ✔️

October 31, 2261

I had just got back to Diamond City after wanderin' the Common' for a while. I stayed clean for the most part, aside from the usual cigarette and occasional drink. My latest addiction was actually prewar books. 

Any prewar book I could find still intact, I made off with it. Had a whole stack of 'em under the squatter shed by my bedroll. I couldn't read very well, and this proved to be a challenge as I got into the more historical books like prewar presidents or overseas nations — it's like they made these words ridiculously long on purpose. But as I got better at it, I began to retain information from them longer.

Useless information, mind you, but it was better than being stuck with my own thoughts. When the loneliness got to me, I'd travel to a bar. When that wasn't enough, I'd travel to a small settlement and ask for work, do some trading, meet new people, and chat for a few minutes, then head back home.

It wasn't much of a home — I was still just a drifter. I hadn't talked to my brother in over two years. I saw him in passing in the city, but we never talked. I looked at him a few times. Hell, my gaze even lingered sometimes, but he never once looked at me. He treated me like a stranger.

By this time, I had seen Guy gettin' chummy with a woman now and then. Figured he had himself a new girlfriend, but I didn't wanna interfere. He was gettin' on with his life the best way he knew how, and I was okay with that.

When I got back to the city, it was obviously Halloween. The kiddos had masks on and carried buckets and pails from house to house. Some ran through the square like a bunch o' little hoodlums.

"Hey, John," Nick called from the side of the square between two vendors' shops.

I walked up to him. "Hey, Nicky."

"You wanna help me hand out these sweet rolls to the kiddos?"

I shrugged. "Sure. I ain't got anything goin' on."

I took a seat next to him in the empty chair. Between our chairs was a rickety table with a plate of sweet rolls on top. A little girl in a pink mask walked up to us and said, "Trick or Treat!" She held out her bucket.

"Here you go, sweetheart," said Nick with a smile. "Happy Halloween."

I smirked. "You're cute, Nick. Bet you woulda made a great dad. You even bake."

"Oh, these? No, no, my new secretary made these. She insisted I make an appearance in town other than to solve people's problems."

"New secretary, eh? ... She cute?"

He shot me a look. "It's inappropriate for me to say, considering she's seventeen years old, and I'm as ancient as they come. So do me a favor, and leave my underage secretary alone, huh?"

"Heh heh. Alright, alright."

I recognized the Garvey family as they walked past us and into the square. Rita was carrying a little bundle in her arms.

"Hey, did James and Rita have a baby?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, they did. He just turned a year old this month I think. Named the little tyke Preston."

"Well, I'll be. Good for them."

"You should think about settling down and having kids of your own sometime."

"Do I seem like the type that would be a father?"

"A father? Yes. A present father? Not so much."

I shot him a deadpan look. "I didn't exactly have the best examples growing up. Besides, I don't wanna get tied down."

"Your brother is just the opposite. He wants to get tied down so badly, he can't stand it. Yet he seems to be having trouble."