monograph | chapter 1.

criminal legacy - chapter 1.

Hello Hello and welcome to "Unknown City." Here is a neighborhood map. Classy place, huh? You'll find the best and brightest of humanity lurking on street corners, in nightclubs, casinos, and crackhouses. "Unknown City" is currently dominated by warring crime families, the largest and most dangerous ones being the Thackerys and Wilders who are competing for turf. Later these families will be joined by the Brooks and Benoits. All four families get into wars with each other and there will be lots of death and sex.

The Brooks Mansion. The Brooks Mansion is on the outskirts of the 'Unknown City,' and is the family home to (duhhhh) the Brooks family. The Benoits, Thackerys, and Wilders have similar mansions, but I'm proud of this one since I actually built it. Who lives there? Welllllll...

Loren Brooks.

Loren Brooks. He is the son of a prominent city cardiologist and a spoiled casino heiress. Even when he was in diapers, Loren was obsessed with money, and he even owned a dinosaur-shaped bank where he would stash his lunch money away from prying eyes. When he was five years old, his parents sent him to a fancy boarding school outside the city and were glad they didn't have to deal with a child all the time. However, Loren wasn't very popular among his peers. Actually, a lot of them hated Loren's guts for being a loud and obnoxious bully, and he spent more time in detention than he did in class. He was expelled in the middle of seventh grade for shoving his roommate down a flight of stairs. Why did he do this? Because said-roommate didn't ask to use Loren's comb. Yes, Loren is very fussy and rude about details.

Despite this disaster of epic and publicly embarrassing proportions, Loren's parents sent him to another boarding school and he managed to keep himself out of trouble... mostly. Let's just say he developed a nasty skill: he was great at blackmailing his peers and striking fear in them so they never ratted on him to the teachers. After graduation, Loren attended Harvard University but he had no idea what he wanted to major in and he went to classes with little luck. He dropped out after one semester.

Besides money, Loren loves jazz music and the piano. He isn't a talented musician, but he thinks playing piano is soothing for his nerves. He's very uptight about his piano, and forbids anyone else from using it. Rude.

Mariana (Thackery) Brooks.

Mariana is the distant cousin of Catherine Thackery - leader of the Thackery Crime Family. She met Loren at his second boarding school, and the two students became best friends after spending an evening in detention. Although friendly and outgoing, Mariana had a secret cruel streak that rivaled her BFF Loren. She enjoyed sabotaging school plays and dances, and loved to sneak out to bars in the middle of the night even though curfew was heavily enforced at school. Mariana's polyamorous behavior earned her a poor reputation at school, but Mariana either didn't know about the rumors or (more likely) didn't care about them. Her parents were devastated when she was rejected from every Ivy League on the eastern seaboard.

When they turned twenty, Mariana and Loren decided to marry each other for practical reasons. Mariana's crazy sexual appetites annoyed her parents, but she knew that Loren understood her needs and wouldn't care if she chose to have affairs or not. Loren married Mariana because she didn't mind his cynical attitude and lust for money. As a matter a fact, she supported it and recommended Loren talk to her older cousin, Catherine about finding a "job." Thus, began the early days of the Brooks crime family.

Mariana: Guess what? Guess what? A dashing young man winked at me in the townsquare. Oh ho ho ho.

Loren: You're heavy.

Catherine: Mariana says you're interested in a family position. How about a soldier?

Loren: Kay.

Catherine: Kill someone for me.

Loren: Kay.

Loren: Yes, I want the job even though I work until 4 am. and the pay is absolute shit and my parents don't support it.

Loren: ... How much do I get paid again?

Catherine: We'll discuss details later, darling.

Mariana: Does this mean we can buy our own bar soon? I've always wanted to own a bar! It's a lifelong dream of mine!

Catherine: ... I'm not related to this silly, stupid bint.

The cousins are spending quality time together. The look on Mariana's face indicates that she's thrilled.

Mariana: Are you going to poison people?

Loren: *shrugs*

Mariana: ...do you care?

Loren: No.

Mariana and Loren have a very healthy marriage even though they are only "friends" and have never once said they love each other. It's a "marriage with benefits."