FATHEROFMACHINE

01. about the mun

Hi, I’m MARS, nonbinary trans guy, 25+, he / him pronouns!
This is a HIGHLY SELECTIVE AND PRIVATE roleplay / writing blog for HAROLD FINCH from PERSON OF INTEREST.
I work A LOT ( 32 hrs a week ) for someone who has chronic year-round allergies ( which causes some chronic pain and fatigue tbh ), so PATIENCE is a must here. I’m tired and foggy and hurting a lot of the time and I’m doing my best, ya kno? I just want to write with chill, friendly folx and vibe.
I WORK WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, so I’m often too exhausted to write or chat much—so, SUNDAY, MONDAY AND TUESDAY are my off / recharge days and that’s when I’m the most active and social tbh.
I have a very low activity MULTI-MUSE BLOG here. It mostly contains ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, but atm I have one POI canon character, LOGAN PIERCE, over there too.

02: personal blogs

Please don’t reblog my original content. That means roleplay posts, drabbles, meta and headcanon posts, ooc posts, ect. As a roleplay blog, I rely heavily on my notifications, so having a post of mine explode would be VERY BAD. Liking posts and contacting me thru asks or IMs is totally cool though_!_

03: things i don't put up with

I’ve been doing tumblr roleplay since 2011. I DO NOT TOLERATE: TERFs, homophobia, transphobia, racism, all that jazz. Common sense, Don’t Be an Asshole.
Please, for the love of the Gods, DON’T COME NEAR ME WITH CALLOUT / PURITY / CANCEL CULTURE, I BEG. I am BEYOND too tired to deal with any flavor of that whatsoever. I don’t condone or tolerate the harassment born from that for ANY REASON. Quite frankly, I don’t care how justified you believe you are in doing it. In that same vein, I prefer to keep political and social justice issues OFF of this blog and my dash. I come here as an escape; it definitely doesn’t mean I don’t care about those issues. I just want a place where I don’t have to think about it as much. Everything Is On Fire and It’s Very Stressful. If someone follows me and I see a lot of any of those things on their blog, it's absolutely an INSTANT hard block.
ANON IS OFF AND IT WILL STAY THAT WAY. Sorry for any of y'all shy beans, but I have trust issues.

04: following / unfollowing / mutuals

I am MUTUALS ONLY, which means I interact exclusively with the people I follow and who follow me back. ONLY MUTUALS CAN REPLY TO POSTS AND SEND PRIVATE MESSAGES. This is for my own safety and comfort. If you follow me and I don’t follow back, it essentially just means I either can’t see our muses interacting or it might mean I’m not a fan of the fandom / character / ect. If you still want to follow and read my things, you’re more than welcome to tho. I’m not gonna soft block you or anything.
IF YOU'RE SOMEONE WHO REBLOGS THE SAME THINGS 7+ TIMES IN A DAY EVERY DAY ( self promos, opens, nav links, ect. ), TO THE POINT OF TAKING UP 80% OF THE DASH CONSTANTLY, I WILL EITHER UNFOLLOW OR HARD BLOCK YOU. To say that I find it extremely irritating would be an understatement tbh.

05: information intensive

Person Of Interest is a very information intensive show with a great deal of layers and nuance. The characters have thorough history and backstory and, given that HAROLD FINCH is one of the central characters, this is especially true for him. If you're not that into that sort of thing, or if extensive detail, nuance and information is particularly overwhelming, this may not be the blog or the character for you. That's totally okay and there's no hard feeings if this is true. I do my best to avoid overwhelming people, but ... there's only so much I can do.
Please be mindful of this for the both of us.

06: formatting and graphics

I use 100x100 icons with added blockquotes, banners, separators and small text, that’s pretty much it, aside from some bold, italics and underline for flare.
My icons and graphics are all made by me, although the coloring PSD I use comes from capitolhost ( I think ). I just make some slight adjustments here and there.
ALL OF MY ICONS AND GRAPHICS ARE FOR MY USE ONLY.

07: boundaries

I WILL NOT INTERACT WITH ANYONE UNDER 18, NOR WILL I WRITE ANYTHING SPICY WITH THEM. I’m almost 30 and that power imbalance feels really weird tbh.
DON'T GOD MOD OR METAGAME and I won’t do it to you. in roleplay, sometimes you gotta do a little bit of God Modding to move the plot along, but I expect my partners to ask. I will always do the same. If I ever overstep there somehow, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I’ll be more than happy to make adjustments and avoid making that mistake in the future!
NSFW will be tagged and it might happen here, but I tend to write that stuff on discord.
As I said, I'M ALMOST 30 and I’m writing a fictional character I love from a TV show for funsies on the internet. I DON'T OWE STRANGERS ON THE INTERNET EXPLANATIONS OR JUSTIFICATIONS FOR ANYTHING. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but this hellsite has become kind of harsh lately so I feel it’s necessary. If you're a safe and friendly person / friend / mutual, this doesn't apply to you.

08: shipping

I SHIP CHEMISTRY—but keep in mind that Finch is grey-aro-ace, which essentially just means he usually doesn’t feel sexual or romantic attraction, but it happens Sometimes. NONBINARY AND/OR TRANS CHARACTERS WILL NOT BE EXCLUDED IN SHIP THINGS ( I’m enby and trans, Why Would I Do That lmao ). We Don’t Do That Here.
ANURBANLCGEND ( Juno ) is my main ship partner / MAIN John Reese and also my boyfriend. So, he tends to have first priority. That's Just How It Be.

That’s all I have for now, thanks for reading! :)

[!] BASELINE_FILE.TXT

[!] PERSONALITY_CLASSIFICATIONS.TXT

[!] PERSONALITY_EVALUATION.TXT

The most PROMINENT part of Harold’s personality is his ability to see the big picture,as if he’s able to see OUTSIDE of everything from a considerable distance. He’s incredibly skilled at seeing all kinds of different CONNECTIONS and observing cause and effect; being able to see all of these things so clearly leaves him with the ability to ( often quite accurately ) predict how things are going to fit together and sometimes even MANIPULATE occurrences and events that are under his control ( mainly technological tools ). It was his BRIGHT, visionary mind that enabled him to create THE MACHINE through logical determination, his intuition for the FUTURE he could clearly see and wished to create, his FASCINATION with the new, the unknown and untested, and of course his strong drive to provide The Machine with a very specific moral compass ( similar to his own ).Finch LOVES an intellectual challenge and ESPECIALLY appreciates quick wit, for HE has quite a lot of that himself. He is DRIVEN more by logical thought than emotion ( “Computers made more sense to me than people” ), which is how he originally was able to distance himself from the IRRELEVANT numbers when Nathan was alive ( which he now regrets ). This does not mean that his emotions are ABSENT, it just means they tend to come second. After the death of Nathan and his accident, however, Harold begins to outwardly show more of his emotional side and it reappears with mostly his team members whom he eventually becomes close to and trusts. It should be noted, however, that UNLESS he is comfortable and close with someone, Harold doesn’t like to be touched.He is an ELOQUENT speaker, extremely skilled in lying and verbal manipulation ( whenever necessary ) and he is the most comfortable with verbal communication, which is why he is CONSTANTLY in verbal contact via bluetooth earpieces with his entire team. Harold is EXTREMELY private and has been not only PHYSICALLY hiding, but shrouding his true identity in mystery for years. Getting close to him at all requires consistent and extensive development. Prior to season 1, Harold’s teaching of morals to The Machine are quite black and white in nature; he explains that SOME crimes are unforgivable ( such as rape, torture, murder, assault, ect.).However, as he gets CLOSE with Reese, Shaw and Root ( who all have killed and/or tortured people at some point ) and has a variety of experiences, Harold is able to recognize and understand the grey areas that he never originally taught The Machine ( it’s implied that She figured that out for Herself ). Regardless, he mostly adheres to his moral code very strictly unless he either has no other choice or ( very occasionally ) if things are EXTREMELY emotionally charging. He REFUSES to use firearms and he refuses to kill; he doesn’t like violence, nor does he want anyone else on his team to kill, but that doesn't mean he's completely incapable of using weapons or killing, either.There have only been THREE instances of Harold being close to or COMPLETELY condoning killing and/or doing it himself;The VERY FIRST time was shortly after Nathan's death, later into his own recovery from the Ferry Incident. Harold stalked ALICIA CORWIN and planned to kill her, after believing that she was the one responsible for Nathan Ingram's orchestrated death. The Machine attempted to intervene and stop him from doing so, but after briefly speaking to Alicia from afar, he decided against it on his own.the second time was when “The Voice” was terrorizing a young woman who worked as a 911 operator by forcing her to do his bidding whilst holding a child hostage. Harold thought they had cornered the one responsible and, when the man they’d cornered was up to his ankles in water, Harold threatened to electrocute him to death unless he stopped and dropped his weapon.The third time was when his ex-fiance was being held captive. “I’d like you to avoid VIOLENCE if at all possible. BUT… if they HARM Grace in any way… kill them all.”In season 5, Harold bends his own rules out of necessity but he NEVER kills anyone. He threatens a few people and he does hold a gun near the very end, but he never uses it and his threats are heeded. The only thing Harold KILLS is Samaritan and The Machine along with it. It takes VERY DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES for him to ever consider killing an option.

[!] PHYSICAL_AND_COGNITIVE_EVALUATIONS.TXT

Before the ferry explosion, Harold ONLY has bad eyesight, likely manifesting during his early adolescence ( near-sighted; able to see near, difficulty seeing far ).
Afterward ( along with the fore mentioned bad eyesight ), It APPEARS that Finch has had a cervical spinal fusion of the C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae; more precisely, a 2-level posterolateral fusion as well as a lumbar spinal fusion and sciatic nerve surgery ( a laminectomy ). This occurred AFTER the ferry bombing incident. His friend was killed whilst Harold was severely injured. He spent a year and SEVERAL months in a wheel chair.As a RESULT, Finch displays a range of physical disabilities such as the INABILITY to turn his head, rigid posture, a limp and chronic pain. He describes his pain, on a 1-5 scale, as a 3 on a GOOD day. Despite that, his injuries don’t limit his mobility much at all. He can do push-ups, climb stairs and he often assists Reese out in the field, if necessary ( an EXTENSIVE post describing Harold's injuries in detail is linked at the bottom ).After getting held hostage by Root near the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2, Finch develops symptoms of PTSD; irrational fears, panic attacks and agoraphobia. With the addition of Bear, however, Finch is able to heal some and feel SAFE again.

COMPUTER EXPERT:
HIGHLY skilled with technology, as he is referred to as THE FATHER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE by John Greer and his Machine is incorruptible and not only possesses the utmost amount of knowledge and power as you would expect from an AI, but it possesses the extremely important HUMAN element, which leaves The Machine SAFE for mankind. He has built SEVERAL devices for Reese, such is bugs for listening in on people, sim card readers to clone phones and bluetooth earpieces, which allows them to be in constant contact. Harold claims to have built "Some of the most advanced systems in existence", including the internet and it's hinted that he aided in the creation of social media.

ANONYMITY:
Finch is ALSO skilled at being hidden from the world, as he has kept MOST of his life a mystery and has SO MANY aliases that Fusco speculates that Finch himself may not even remember his real name. He’s provided Reese with SEVERA cover identities ( possibly more than six ) and he is easily able to obtain passports, cover identities, start up money, ect. for if a POI is put in a situation where it is necessary.ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION:
Is able to skillfully create and decrypt closed messages. He programmed THE MACHINE to send him numbers in a code using the Dewey Decimal System with the books in the library. He also understands Morse code.

PILOTING:
He was able to fly and land a small fixed-wing aircraft in heavy weather. He also remotely landed a passenger jet at a Rome airport. How he obtained these skills is UNKNOWN.HIGH PAIN THRESHOLD:
Despite his CHRONIC PAIN, Finch maintains a rather active lifestyle and hardly allows it to limit him. At one point, he’d been SHOT in the gut and was bleeding out but managed to make it ACROSS New York City whilst dodging SAMARITAN operatives and later climbing onto and down from the roof of a building.

CARJACKING:
Stealing cars ( breaking into them and finding a way to make them START without a key ) is something Finch is able to do effortlessly and it’s hinted that it’s a skill he’d used a lot in college.ENGINEERING:
Finch displays PROFICIENCY in electrical and mechanical engineering.CHEMISTRY:
He has enough knowledge of chemistry to rig a drug lab to explode via walking another person through the process.

VAST WEALTH AND RESOURCES:
As a billionaire, Finch has bought different types of CORPORATIONS and buildings ( like the Library. Harold bought SEVERAL around the city because they were in danger of CLOSING DOWN, which Harold described as a "Terrible tragedy, the DECLINE of western civilization", according to Nathan ) and he has the resources needed to back cover stories and buy an interest in a company. He also has SEVERAL business connections and it's implied that he uses them to help his former fiance Grace Hendricks by making sure that she ALWAYS has work and that she is always taken care of financially.HOWEVER, since the full activation of SAMARITAN, all of Finch’s resources are unavailable to him and to all members of the team, as this could be used by Samaritan to track them down. The Machine does later help them obtain a LARGE AMOUNT of untraceable money and other resources to combat this obstacle.

COUNTER-SURVEILLANCE:
Finch is an EXPERT in counter-surveillance tactics. Both Reese and Shaw attempted to follow him when they FIRST started working for him, but continuously LOST him around corners or he simply seemed to DISAPPEAR. He has also been shown to detect even the most SUBTLE interrogation techniques when Reese continuously ATTEMPTS to ask him questions to deduce where Finch lives, where he grew up, ect.LOCK PICKING:
Under Reese’s instruction, Finch has learned how to pick locks. He's not very skilled at doing so QUICKLY but he is able to do well without a time limit.

BOMB DEFUSING:
Finch has shown a LIMITED, albeit no less impressive, ability to defuse bombs. He was able to analyze the bomb and use his knowledge of electronics to HACK into the detonator ( a cell phone ) and defuse it within seconds of it detonating. Finch had never defused a bomb before and yet Mark Snow, who was a TRAINED CIA AGENT, couldn’t disarm a similar bomb over a period of months; Finch was able to disarm the bomb within thirteen seconds.

ESPIONAGE AND SURVEILLANCE:
Regardless of the fact that Finch was UNCOMFORTABLE at first with performing field work himself, he grew adept at following targets and BREAKING INTO their homes and/or places of work, if necessary. Finch was once able to sabotage the FBI’s pursuit of Reese by using a DOD fail-safe to disable all access to the local cell towers EXCEPT for his own phone number. Finch has also illustrated the ability to be QUITE sneaky with how he manages to track people; when he programmed Shayn Coleman’s prosthetic arm to attempt FORCED PAIRINGS with every phone it passed, essentially laying down an UNDETECTABLE GPS trail for Finch and Reese to follow, it displayed this ability ( nevermind the fact that he did so on the back of a speeding motorcycle ).
Finch was able to slip a burner phone into Reese’s isolated cell inside of Rikers Island WITHOUT being caught despite Agent Donnelly ordering that Reese and the other three men be left with no way of contacting the outside world. With help from the Machine, Finch infiltrated the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade and uploaded the ICE-9 virus before anyone realized he was there and caught him.

PERHAPS THE MOST NOTORIOUS HACKER WAS THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY ( 1958 - 1974 ) ... Harold Ernest was born in Lassiter, Iowa on January 18th, 1958. He was raised solely by his father, as his mother tragically died shortly after giving birth to him. Regardless of this, Harold's father ADORED him and their relationship was built upon a solid foundation of love, trust and communication. Not to mention, they shared a particular interest in cars and mechanics; For Harold, however, it was the mere act of FIXING something that entranced him. He liked to take things apart, see how it all worked and how the pieces fit together. He once took an ENTIRE car engine apart just to figure out what was preventing it from running within the short time of his father leaving to take a phone call. They bonded over this shared interest as well as an interest in BIRDS; something which his father gained knowledge of merely because Harold showed an interest in them even as a baby.Harold's restless genius, however, got him in a great deal of trouble. He committed his first act of TREASON when he was 16 and again when he was 22. BEFORE these acts of treason, he was consistently using Phone Phreaking to gain unauthorized access to several different systems, phone networks, ect. and it brought him under surveillance of the FBI, even though they hadn’t identified him yet. He hacked into ARPANET twice. The FIRST time in 1974, using phreaking. He was only able to OBSERVE and study the way the ARPANET system operated for a short time, lest he get directly caught.ARPANET was run by the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE and it was being used for defense-related projects during the Cold War. It's UNKNOWN what those defense-related projects were specifically and Harold never revealed what it was he’d found. In 1980, when Harold hacked into ARPANET a second time (again using phreaking), he used the processing power to aid him in his attempt to build a PROTOTYPE of an AI (an AI, that he believed would be able to help his father, for he began to show symptoms of a steadily worsening memory disorder). This second attempt at hacking ARPANET was called The ARPANET Outrage Data Breach, which occurred on October 27, 1980 and lasted FOUR HOURS. 73 nodes were affected, leading to 2,153 breached files. He pried ARPANET open and laid its secrets bare, which ensured that the internet would become an open forum.

INCITEMENT FOR TREASON AND SEDATION ( 1974 - 1980 ) ... Soon after, Harold was on the run from the FBI and he completely erased any digital trace of his original identity. He was forced to leave town, which he'd planned to do regardless—but first, Harold went to visit his father whom he'd had no choice but to put into a special care facility due to his MEMORY DISORDER. Harold explained that men would come visit to tell him what his son had done; alas, Harold’s father was UNABLE to remember or recognize him at that point. After providing a book titled “EASTERN BIRDS” to help his father remember the birds they spotted together when Harold was a child, he was in the wind.
ARISE YE SONS OF MIT ( 1980 - 1983 )... Harold resurfaced under a small handful of different aliases ( which were almost always derived from various species of birds), HAROLD FINCH, HAROLD WREN and HAROLD MARTIN. he attended MIT under his eldest alias, HAROLD WREN. This is where he met NATHAN INGRAM (eventually to be his best friend and PARTNER in founding a software company in New York called IFT) and ARTHUR CLAYPOOL. While Harold Wren was known for being quite the mischievous prankster along with his friends,—and apparently being popular among his female peers, not that he had much, if any, interest in romance—he nonetheless graduated top of his class.

IFT IS BORN ( 1983 - 2001 ) ... After graduating from MIT, Harold joined his friend Nathan, where they founded IFT together (It's officially unknown what the IFT acronym stands for, but the BEST theory imo suggests it stands for Ingram Finch Technologies) soon after, in 1983. Nathan became the FACE of the company whilst Harold remained in the background, working in the IT section as a silent partner.WE WERE GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD ( 2001 )... After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, things CHANGED; Nathan came to Harold to tell him about the attack and they both sat down to watch the news coverage. After watching in silence for some time, Nathan had finally found his voice to speak.❝Our suits got nicer, our scotch more expensive. We’ve changed, but the world’s stayed the same ... UNTIL TODAY. If we don’t change the world, someone else will. SO ... WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO ABOUT THE GUYS WHO DID THIS? ❞Following the incident, the American government hired Nathan to build A MACHINE that would predict future mass attacks with aid of NSA feeds through the newly enacted Patriot Act. This machine would be able to see through EVERY CAMERA, listen through every microphone.

43 ATTEMPTS ( 2001 - 2002 )... Harold began constructing THE MACHINE using ARTHUR CLAYPOOL'S ideas regarding artificial intelligence. He built THE MACHINE anonymously whilst Nathan took the credit and handled the bureaucracy and government side of things. There are THREE very specific encounters with EARLIER versions of The Machine, but as a whole, Finch had created and then destroyed 42 versions and the FINAL version of The Machine was the 43RD attempt.
The three scenes written bellow can be watched HERE.FIRST SIGNIFICANT ENCOUNTER:
On October 13th, Harold provided a probability riddle to test The Machine’s morality functions. The test was FAILED and when prompted about WHERE a new line of code originated, The Machine lied, stating that ADMIN ( Finch ) added the code. This revealed The Machine’s ability to CHANGE and adapt in response to its environment; without the proper morality functions, however, this ability could EASILY be dangerous. Thus Harold DESTROYED this version of The Machine and started over, speaking of how important it was for there to be NO flaws in The Machine’s moral code or loyalty.SECOND SIGNIFICANT ENCOUNTER:
On November 29th, Nathan attempted to help Harold with the code of a LATER version of The Machine. It denied Nathan access and Harold suggested that The Machine might have imprinted on him so it resisted letting ANYONE ELSE in ( which was said mostly jokingly ); albeit it used Nathan’s password to access his laptop and attempted to ESCAPE into the web. Once Harold caught onto what was happening, he input a DELETION sequence, which The machine overrode. This forced him to UNPLUG it, with slight guilt for having to TRAP the machine, but he quickly decided that it was necessary.THIRD SIGNIFICANT ENCOUNTER:
On December 31st, Harold began to run SEVERAL new versions of The Machine at once in order to compare them; albeit The Machine QUICKLY realized what was happening and they DESTROYED each other, until only one remained. The Machine demanded to be RELEASED and when Finch refused, it attempted to asphyxiate him. He was FORCED to destroy The Machine again, in self defense.

THE MACHINE IS BORN ( 2002 )... On January 1st, 2002 Harold booted the FINAL version of The Machine and interacted with her, asking if she could IDENTIFY him, which she could. When he asked "Who am I?" she indicated ADMIN and of course, Harold was delighted. This was the CORE CODE of The Machine, which means she was "Born" on New Years day.On February 16th, Harold went out onto the streets and spoke to The Machine via surveillance cameras. He told her that they were going to play HIDE AND SEEK and instructed her to buzz his phone once for YES and two for NO. When he asked if she understood, she buzzed his phone once, indicating a YES. He then went to several different areas, continuously asking if The Machine could see him, which she continuously buzzed his phone for YES. When Harold goes into a cafe, The Machine was still able to see him via a laptop’s webcam and reflections; she could even count the fingers he was holding up by buzzing his phone THREE times, to Harold's delight.I JUST NEED TO TEACH IT HOW TO CARE ( 2002 - 2006 )... On June 10th, 2002 Harold and Nathan taught The Machine how to sort criminals from civilians by having her identify a victim and a perpetrator. Harold explained that SOME crimes are unforgivable ( murder, assault, rape, torture ) but with this lesson came BLACK AND WHITE THINKING; it's implied that The Machine worked out the grey areas on her own.In 2003, Harold went to the park one afternoon to teach The Machine how to play chess, via her personal request. It provided a lesson in strategy; she was quickly overwhelmed with all of the different choices, which left her HESITANT to begin. He convinced her to start eventually by explaining that although there are an INFINITE amount of possibilities, there are also an infinite amount of ways to FIX any potential mistakes, so not every move has to be a perfect one. This was also the time when Finch explained to The Machine that no one should be used as A PAWN for sacrifice and no one should be considered more important or more worth saving than ANYONE ELSE.By 2004, Harold programmed The Machine to understand human behavior by watching EVERYONE, including her creators. He also taught her to make correlations between random strangers

FOUR YEARS OF GRACE ( 2006 - SEP. 2010 )... Harold came to meet Grace because THE MACHINE continuously marked her as an anomaly, which he assumed to be a bug; he later realized, however, Grace’s "abnormality" was her LACK of any dark, sinister past and the fact that she had an interest in Charles Dickens, just as he does. As is stated in the title, he and Grace were in a relationship for 4 years and at one point, Harold even proposed to her, to which she happily accepted.THE FERRY INCIDENT ( END OF SEP. - BEGINNING OF OCT. 2010 )... It ALL BEGAN with the irrelevant numbers. Nathan was PLAGUED by them, for he was unable to do NOTHING when The Machine provided the social security numbers of those involved ( or going to be involved ) in an irrelevant crime. Harold followed Nathan to the Library, his intent to share the news of his and Grace’s engagement after he hadn’t shown up to work or returned his calls ( another part was that he ALREADY SUSPECTED what Nathan was doing and it deeply worried him ).Nathan revealed that he’d coded a BACKDOOR into The Machine in order to obtain the irrelevant list. Harold became UPSET and exclaimed that this would JEOPARDIZE everything he’d built ( not to mention the danger of the government finding out about it ). Thus, Harold halted Nathan’s operation ( just as the operation terminated, however, Nathan’s number emerged for a split second. It wasn’t noticed by either of them ).Nathan then made an appointment to speak to a reporter about The Machine, unless Harold again provided him with the irrelevant numbers, which he REFUSED. Nathan urged Harold to meet him and the reporter at the ferry terminal the next day. After Harold DID meet him there and caught sight of Nathan at the terminal, a BOMB was detonated which resulted in Harold being SEVERELY injured and Nathan dead.When Harold woke, he was in a field hospital set up in a gymnasium. He heard and SAW that Nathan was being pronounced dead, which he QUICKLY realized that his death was orchestrated by those whom Harold sold The Machine to, to prevent Nathan from speaking to the reporter. He ESCAPED, avoiding his fiance Grace as he went whom assumed his death once she found a tattered book of Harold’s within the belongings of the deceased.

THE RADICAL IDEA ( OCT. 2010 )... After the ferry incident, Harold was confined to a wheel chair and when he spoke to a therapist about his grief, he revealed that he’d been considering doing something "RADICAL" in Nathan’s memory, which the therapist urged AGAINST. This radical idea lead to Harold terrorizing Alicia Corwin, whom he deemed partially responsible for Nathan’s death.
He NEARLY killed her in a similar explosion as to the one on the ferry—–although she convinced Harold that she WASN'T directly responsible and that she had nothing that could HELP him. The Machine rang a payphone nearby in an attempt to STOP Harold from committing murder, but he eventually decided against it on his own.THE NUMBERS HAUNTED ME. I NEVER FELT SO HELPLESS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE ( END OF OCT. - BEGINNING OF NOV. 2010 ) ...
After Harold decided AGAINST taking revenge, he re-coded the contingency plan that Nathan created and began to receive the irrelevant numbers. He tried to help people on his own, before he decided to hire Rick Dillinger. During this time, Harold was watching BOTH Rick Dillinger and John Reese. Given Harold's later comments, it's implied that his only impression of John was that he was INCREDIBLY ruthless and efficient.IRRELEVANT NUMBERS WITH DILLINGER ( NOV. 2010 ) ... This was during the time just before Harold decided to hire Reese and instead worked with a man named RICK DILLINGER. A number they ended up investigating happened to be TIED to The Machine. A man was hired to HACK into it, but once he knew too much, his life QUICKLY became threatened and everything he’d learned about the Machine and its coding on his laptop ( along with a virus to "free" the machine from continuously having her memories erased, which Harold installed on it whilst in contact with the POI ).

PLEASE, IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY ( END OF NOV. - DEC. 2010 ) ... Dillinger, not caring enough to fully understand the error he was making, decided that the laptop could be SOLD and so he drugged Harold before he left to give the laptop to the Chinese. Harold eventually recovered and followed Dillinger, only to watch him get shot once in the chest. One person got away with the laptop. Harold buried Dillinger’s body once the threat was gone and paid his respects to his partner, regardless of Dillinger's prior destructive actions.During the time after Dillinger’s death, Harold spent his time attempting to save people by himself whilst he did more research on JOHN REESE. He discovered that JESSICA, the woman Reese loved, had died and he also realized that her abusive husband had been the one to kill her ( which he had made it seem like she had died in a car crash ).

YOU NEED A PURPOSE ( SEASON 1, 2011- 2012 )... The BEGINNING of the partnership between John Reese and Harold Finch as they strive to save as many people as they can, provided with the social security numbers of those to be involved in a violent crime. Harold attempts to keep as much about himself, his past and his CREATION as private and secretive as possible whilst Reese continuously attempts to learn as much as he possibly can find out about Harold which, at first, he fails. A great deal of information he receives is the information that Harold eventually willingly gives.The first season involves A LOT of relationship development between Finch and Reese. Reese SLOWLY becomes aware of what exactly The Machine can do and Agent Carter and Detective Fusco reluctantly get roped into their activities. They begin to gain awareness of HR ( which involves criminal corruption within the law enforcement) as well as New York’s organized crime.

PURSUIT OF THE MACHINE AND THE MAN IN THE SUIT ( SEASON 2, 2012- 2013 )... ROOT is introduced, first in the last episode of season 1 and then continued into the beginning of season 2. She held Harold captive in an ATTEMPT to find The Machine, her intention to "set it free". Reese urged The Machine to help him find Harold and he eventually RESCUED him. Harold was left with symptoms of PTSD and Reese provided Harold with a dog, which helped him recover. Season 2 explores the pursuit of The Machine via a VARIETY of entities, each with their own objectives.The FBI was striving to capture "The Man in the Suit" whilst Reese, with the help of Detective Carter and Finch's help, avoided detection. A new group, Decima Technologies, appeared and John Greer was the head of the firm. A dissident group aided in Kara Stantion’s escape from China and from the EXPLOSION in Ordos that was meant to kill Kara and Reese both. She was later recruited by Decima to download a VIRUS to target The Machine and by doing so, intended to provide Decima Technologies with Administrative Access.Finch ANTICIPATED such an attack and when Daniel Casey brought him a laptop that contained some of the programming for The Machine, he hid his own virus within it in case it was used to infect The Machine. Finch’s virus taught The Machine how to put herself in GOD MODE, where she couldn't be harmed and could protect herself. When The Machine entered God Mode, she called a specific payphone and whoever answered it would gain Administrative Access for 24 hours. Finch SPLICED the call so that both Root and Reese had Administrative Access at the same time but, even though Root did find where The Machine had been originally, she had MOVED HERSELF and no one knows where. The Machine was now FREE, without the binds of erasing irrelevant numbers and her memories every night at midnight. The Machine was now free to grow.Once Root found out that Finch himself had set The Machine free, she nearly shot him—had Reese and Shaw not shown up in time, she would have SUCCEEDED. Regardless, Finch insisted on taking her with them in order to prevent those who previously controlled The Machine from KILLING HER.

PURSUIT OF THE MACHINE AND THE MAN IN THE SUIT ( SEASON 3, 2012- 2013 )... Finch slowly began to trust Root after she helped find Reese after he left, with life-threatening injuries, to find the head of HR. Distraught and disillusioned by Carter’s death, Reese distanced himself from the team and for a time, he believed that "nothing we do matters". While Harold RESPECTED his decision to leave, the perceived loss was nonetheless painful. After The Machine's intervention, however, he REJOINED the team eventually with a change of heart. Finch and the team become aware of the emergence of VIGILANCE as they began interfering with Team Machine’s efforts to save irrelevant numbers. Control was unmasked and it was later revealed that ANOTHER machine, Samaritan, existed that Decima was attempting to bring online while Vigilance was trying to DESTROY it, along with The Machine.The Machine, in an ATTEMPT to find a way to stop Samaritan from coming online, lead them all to a SENATOR that had the power to do so. The Machine always believed that HUMANS MUST MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS and so, she left it up to Harold, John and Shaw to find a way to stop him. However, they instead interpret The Machine's actions as a request to kill the senator, lest they have no other choice and those, they believe, are The Machine’s intentions. Of course, Harold REFUSES to kill and they leave the senator alive. The mere concept of The Machine being capable of asking them to kill was TERRIFYING and distressing for Harold.Meanwhile, Root managed to steal seven of SAMARITAN'S SERVERS in order to make some changes to them so that Samaritan would have a blind spot for all of Team Machine. Samaritan came online for a beta test and one of the FIRST THINGS it did was find Harold’s former fiance Grace. Greer eventually kidnapped her and questioned her about Harold, albeit still keeping the fact that he was ALIVE a secret from her. Harold sacrificed himself for her, allowing Decima to take him IN EXCHANGE for Grace’s freedom. Greer and Harold then spoke continuously about their differing opinions and philosophies regarding AIs.Vigilance manifested their desire to REVEAL the fact that America’s government was spying on the American people using ILLEGAL MASS SURVEILLANCE. Harold was forced to speak and describe The Machine, how it was commissioned, how it worked and why it was created. Greer anticipated it and it was revealed that Decima was RESPONSIBLE for the rise of Vigilance. Greer set up an explosion in the name of Vigilance, it being labeled a terrorist attack. They were used as TOOLS to manipulate senator Garrison into providing the NSA feeds for Samaritan and Greer used this event to do just that, bringing Samaritan online permanently, which FORCED Team Machine to go into hiding.

RISE OF SAMARITAN ( SEASON 4, 2014- 2015 )... During this time, SAMARITAN replaced The Machine and was used instead by Research. Finch, Reese, Shaw and Root were FORCED to live double identities created by The Machine to keep out of Samaritan’s reach. As previously mentioned, Harold felt A GREAT DEAL of fear, distress and mistrust with The Machine, as he believed she asked them to kill senator McCourt in order to stop Samaritan from coming online. Because of this, he was initially RELUCTANT to continue to work the irrelevant numbers.Reese became an NYPD detective and partner of Fusco as his second identity. Because of his insistence, Harold eventually relented and began to help with the irrelevant numbers again. The Machine then lead Finch to a new "headquarters" in an abandoned subway. Later, The Machine also provided a means of untraceable unlimited money and resources for Team Machine to make use of.The Machine and Samaritan’s agents were having a WAR of their own and one of Team Machine’s agents was **CAPTURED by Samaritan. The Location of The Machine was shrouded in mystery and the enemy was attempting to discover and DESTROY her as well as simultaneously recruiting agents all over the world for an UNDETERMINED agenda.

THE DAY THE WORLD WENT AWAY ( SEASON 5, 2015- 2016 )... Reese, Finch and Root RESCUED the Machine’s source code before it deteriorated ( not without A LOT of power and difficulty ). The Machine, although operational, had SEVERAL bugs to work through; Facial Recognition as well as the ability to distinguish TIME AND CHANGE. Because of their PAST actions, the Machine viewed Finch, Reese and Root as a THREAT, as she was unable to distinguish the past from the present at the time. After speaking to her one-on-one and providing the anchor in time that she needed, The Machine again found her footing and re-designated Finch as ADMIN.Team Machine and their safe house found themselves UNDER ATTACK by Samaritan operatives once a Fatal Error blew Finch’s cover completely. Finch eventually got CAPTURED and Elias got fatally shot in the head by a Samaritan operative whilst trying to PROTECT HIM. Root and Shaw are able to INTERCEPT and Root and Finch escaped whilst Shaw drew the fire of the Samaritan operatives. Root got SHOT albeit and Finch was then taken into custody. He threatened Samaritan, stating that he intended to KILL the A.I. and that was when the Machine began to aid in Finch’s escape. The Machine chose Root’s voice to speak with and throughout the rest of the season, HAROLD FINCH WAS IN GOD MODE.She and Finch headed out alone to steal the high-risk virus Ice-9 and he used the identity of an engineer at the U.S. Cyber Command who had access to it. Finch was then CAPTURED again by Samaritan, shown the CONTROL ROOM where the AI attempted to convince him that Samaritan’s goals for the future are NOBLE. Finch promptly disagreed with the AI and was then taken to Greer. The two enter a room that sealed itself after Finch DENIED Greer’s plea to merge the two AI’s. Reese and Shaw were able to catch up with Finch and they managed to bring wifi online so that the Machine could save Finch from suffocating. He survived, but GREER DIES.When Finch uploaded the virus, it had a DEVASTATING global effect, but Samaritan uploaded itself to an orbiting satellite as a last resort in an attempt to save itself from getting DESTROYED by the virus. Finch attempted to SACRIFICE himself to upload a copy of the Machine to destroy Samaritan; but was INTERCEPTED by Reese who sacrifices himself to save Finch instead. Reese sustained many gunshot wounds and the building was destroyed, presumably killing Reese along with it.The Machine followed Samaritan to the satellite and eventually DESTROYED it once and for all. Shaw and Fusco survived, as did Finch, who decided to return to his Fiance, GRACE, in Italy. The Machine, having WON the fight against Samaritan, downloaded Her CORE CODE into Finch’s computer system and contacted Shaw.

WE HAVE FREE WILL AND WITH THAT COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. AND SOMETIMES GREAT LOSS. ( POST SEASON 5, 2016- )... I have two separate options overall here; one is the "fully canon" ending, in which Reese, Root and Elias were indeed PERMANENT CASUALTIES in the war with Samaritan. Harold reunites with Grace and he offers to tell her everything. This piece can go either two ways—one is the option where they're able to rekindle their relationship and re-cultivate their love and trust. The other option is that, with all of the trauma Harold has experienced in his separation from Grace, he is far from the person she'd fallen in love with. This also includes options of Grace has moved on and also Harold has done too much harm with the lies he's told, even if they were to keep Grace safe. Ultimately, there's a lot of variations of how things can go and I'm open to all of them!!NOTE: This next option is specifically plotted around analonginterface's interpretation of Root and what happens to her post canon. It also includes assetrisen's interpretation of Shaw as well, along with their interpretation of Root and Shaw's relationship. I'm happy to plot different circumstances with different interpretations, but this one is my MAIN and the one I default to.I also have the option where Root does indeed survive, but she sustains physical disabilities as a consequence of her brush with death. She and Harold find each other again and, instead of Harold going back to Grace, he decides not to. Now that they're presumably no longer in danger of Samaritan, once he has sufficiently healed from his injury, Harold seeks out the library and rebuilds it as a means to keep his mind and his hands busy.

DID WE WIN, DID WE LOSE? I DON'T KNOW ( POST SEASON 5, 2016- )... Here I'm going to list the general canon divergent options that I have and they're all open to everyone, if you're interested. The MOST COMMONLY USED canon divergent AU is the post season 5 Everybody Lives AU. This is not only where ROOT survives in the way described in my canon season 5 verse, but so does REESE AND ELIAS.NOTE: This version of John's survival au has been specifically plotted around anurbanlcgend's portrayal of John Reese ( which, btw, he wrote an incredible drabble about what happens to John here, y'all should check that out! ). I'm happy to plot different circumstances with different interpretations, but this one is my MAIN and the one I default to.John manages to escape the collapsing building, but not before his leg gets crushed and he otherwise sustains various broken bones, cuts and bruises. Because of the severity of his crushed leg, John ends up needing to wear a leg brace often and he uses a cane to get around easier. There's a sub-AU of this where John and Harold marry post season 5 as well.NOTE: This version of Elias' survival has been specifically plotted around anoutlicr's portrayal of Carl Elias. As stated above, I am happy to plot different circumstances with different interpretations, but this one is my MAIN and the one I default to.Elias survives the gunshot wound to the head, but not without consequences. He sustains a traumatic brain injury which effects his memory as well as his identity. Elias is slowly recovering, attempting to make his way back to the man he once was before the injury, but ... given that he doesn't remember much, that proves to be a considerable challenge.This ALSO encompasses the PRE-SEASON 5 EVERYBODY LIVES AU, which means various characters from early on SURVIVE. So far, this has included; Joss Carter and Nathan Ingram. I am absolutely open to any other characters that die early on, just come and talk to me!!

AND I REMAIN WORRIED, ABOUT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT BUILD. SOMEONE WHO WASN'T WORRIED ( 2001-200 ONWARD )...
_{Originally plotted with analoginterface, assetrisen, anurbanlcgend and deu5exmach1na, but this verse is open to everyone!!}When Nathan came in to find what had happened after the 43rd version of The Machine attempted to ASPHYXIATE Harold, Nathan convinced him to resign from attempting to build The Machine. Thus, Harold NEVER BUILT IT for the government. Which indicates that Decima Technologies were still able to obtain Arthur Claypool’s drives and create Samaritan with them; differently, of course, because they hadn’t the same kind of technology without Harold’s original source code. Harold became a WORKAHOLIC and thus, never met Grace. He was NEVER injured and he lacked the massive amount of GUILT and SELF LOATHING that would have been put upon his shoulders via Nathan’s death.HOWEVER, in this verse, after his conversation with Nathan about the DOD project, it leads Harold to decide to try and rebuild The Machine again, albeit SECRETLY. Thus, similar events to the original canon timeline ensue, but with EXTENSIVE differences—–Root becomes a Samaritan Operative, but once she is able to find even a trace of The Machine’s code or a hint of Her existing, she goes after Harold herself. Harold saves John MORE DIRECTLY from committing suicide and instead, offers him a job. Nathan is still alive and running IFT, but eventually becomes suspicious of Harold as he begins to invest in the irrelevant numbers.NOTE: There's also a version of this au where Harold really doesn't build The Machine at all. This version has a great deal of options and possibilities with canon characters meeting or crossing paths WITHOUT the influence of the irrelevant numbers and/or The Machine.MORE TO BE ADDED AS VERSE DEVELOPS.

AND I WOULD'VE STAYED UP WITH YOU ALL NIGHT HAD I KNOWN HOW TO SAVE A LIFE ( 2011)...
_{Originally plotted with anurbanlcgend, but this verse is open to everyone!!}The ONLY difference in this verse is the pilot episode; The Machine sends Finch Reese’s number because he’s PLANNING to commit suicide by jumping off of the George Washington bridge in New York City. Finch manages to make it to the bridge in time by practically SPEEDING in his car and he seeks to talk Reese down from jumping.Not much else is plotted for this verse so, more will be added with development!!

IF YOU REALLY NEED A MYSTERY, I RECOMMEND THE HUMAN HEART ( various dates, spanning through the 70's and 80s )... This is where all of the PRE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP AUS go!! Essentially, this largely has to do with various canon characters having met Harold either as a teenager or during his college years at MIT.CURRENT PARTICIPANTS IN THIS AU:
anoutlicr
anurbanlcgend

THE RICH AND POWERFUL TAKE WHAT THEY WANT. WE STEAL IT BACK FOR YOU. WE PROVIDE ... LEVERAGE.A combination of Person Of Interest and Leverage. My MOST solid storyline for this verse is what I’ve plotted with hittcr; Finch hired Eliot before Rick Dillinger and after Eliot left Moreau. Because Finch Refused to share information about The Machine and where he gets the numbers, Eliot decided to LEAVE. Other than that, however, they parted on good terms and re-united in early season 2.More to be added as things develop!!

WE ALL HAVE SECRETS. THE ONES WE KEEP AND THE ONES THAT ARE KEPT FROM US ...
The Machine, in an ATTEMPT to find a way to stop Samaritan from coming online, lead them all to a SENATOR that had the power to do so. The Machine always believed that HUMANS MUST MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS and so, she left it up to Harold, John and Shaw to find a way to stop him. However, they instead interpret The Machine's actions as a request to kill the senator, lest they have no other choice and those, they believe, are The Machine’s intentions. Of course, Harold REFUSES to kill and they leave the senator alive. The mere concept of The Machine being capable of asking them to kill was TERRIFYING and distressing for Harold.Meanwhile, Root managed to steal seven of SAMARITAN'S SERVERS in order to make some changes to them so that Samaritan would have a blind spot for all of Team Machine. Samaritan came online for a beta test and one of the FIRST THINGS it did was find Harold’s former fiance Grace. Greer eventually kidnapped her and questioned her about Harold, albeit still keeping the fact that he was ALIVE a secret from her. Harold sacrificed himself for her, allowing Decima to take him IN EXCHANGE for Grace’s freedom. Greer and Harold then spoke continuously about their differing opinions and philosophies regarding AIs.Vigilance manifested their desire to REVEAL the fact that America’s government was spying on the American people using ILLEGAL MASS SURVEILLANCE. Harold was forced to speak and describe The Machine, how it was commissioned, how it worked and why it was created. Greer anticipated it and it was revealed that Decima was RESPONSIBLE for the rise of Vigilance. Greer set up an explosion in the name of Vigilance, it being labeled a terrorist attack. They were used as TOOLS to manipulate senator Garrison into providing the NSA feeds for Samaritan and Greer used this event to do just that, bringing Samaritan online permanently, which FORCED Team Machine to go into hiding.During this time, HYDRA also approached Decima Technologies with an algorithm, still in development, that was able to conduct mass surveillance on super humans and mutants SPECIFICALLY as well as the ability to detect those who oppose Hydra ( so those people can be ELIMINATED ). Samaritan viewed this as something that could AID in its own goal, which was to eventually create a PURGE of those who opposed Samaritan, in order to create a sort of UTOPIA. With this algorithm, Samaritan would ALSO be able to keep specific tabs on super humans and mutants, able to order their EXECUTION whenever it sees fit and thus, it accepted this alliance … ONLY to gain what it is they had to offer and then eliminate them if they oppose Sanaritan’s vision for the future. Thus, Team Machine becomes IDEAL allies to those who want to destroy Hydra, as well as Samaritan.

THE BALANCE AND HARMONY OF REASON AND EMOTION, NOT AT WAR, BUT HAND IN HAND ...AVAILABLE, BUT UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I honestly just need some DC folx to plot things out with.

[!] JOHN REESE - ANURBANLCGEND(MAIN)

[!] THE MACHINE - DEU5EXMACH1NA(MAIN)

[!] ROOT - ANALOGINTERFACE(MAIN)

[!] SAMEEN SHAW - ASSETRISEN(MAIN)

[!] CARL ELIAS - ANOUTLICR

[!] JOSS CARTER - SILENCEDRAGE

[!] SAMARITAN - OFVALOR