#ac.

DIGGING DEEPER.

TW: death, violence, physical injury

from the moment banks can remember anything, he knew that family was the most important thing in his life. he was born in lewisham, london, england in what is now the european commonwealth. he was the only son of his parents but he never once felt alone or lonely in that over-crowded home. two brothers, their wives, his cousins, and then his gran, who raised them all until her mind started to slip. he was a smart kid but he had his fair share of trouble to be had, mostly by the side of his older cousin and neighborhood kids they were working with. in order to survive this dystopian world, he knew three things to be true: you need to work harder than everyone else aka hustle, family is everything, and your brain will always be your greatest weapon as long as your eyes are open.

while family was the most important thing to banks from the moment he was born, there was one person he idolized more than anyone else. it was the one his gran told loving stories of and would never believe that he was killed in action. for the longest time, dante winters was banks' personal hero. he wanted to be just like him, in his head he was alive somewhere, traveling the world with his squadron and he would finally come home before gran passed. it was a child clinging onto what hope he was offered in a world that rarely had any to give. by the time he was in his teens and ready to serve his country like his cousins and those who came before him, that childlike hope was long gone.

no matter what his family did to try and get ahead, things never changed. no one moved up, no one got out, and their community was one of the first to feel the losses any time another major incident occurred. the continued wars meant stealing from the masses to fund the power grab for resources. things banks learned the incredibly hard way after joining the military. he'd trained from the jump to be a medic, always wanting to go into healthcare of sorts after seeing the way his gran deteriorated over the years. he figured if he started young, he'd easily get pushed through to a medical program later. ha! fat chance in hell. as banks became painfully aware of how bad it was everywhere, and how much the people were ready to take it out in any person looking close to authority.

it was that civil unrest that ended his time in the military, along with his continued collaboration with his cousin to work trade routes and supply chains throughout the world. in fact, on the day rafe was labeled a traitor was the same time he was approached to help someone that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time amidst combat. banks was not one to deny an innocent civilian help, but when he arrived with his medical kit at the ready it became clear the whole thing was a set-up. he was cornered by fellow soldiers and civilians, beat and held down to be marked for being a 'traitor' even though he never quite understood who he was betraying. the commonwealth treated them all the same, him and rafe just figured out a loophole. in the end, he fought his way out and paid off who he needed to but not without getting a nasty scar across his face, from his lip to the corner of his eye. a reminder of who he could trust and to always have a good amount of skepticism in every situation.

both discharged, banks and rafe said their goodbyes to their family before the commonwealth could retaliate and headed to the americas to find a new path together. banks knows there isn't anyone he'd rather walk the earth with and together they will always find a way to not only survive, but thrive. he's not sure what his endgame is but he knows when he gets there it will end with his cousin by his side and his family's name will have a place in history where it belongs. ultimately they ended up in the east atlantic, where banks took to doing what he normally did when they got to any place with a military or emergency services team in place, he signed up to be a medic. with it being close to impossible to do a background check, he was able to pass any entrance testing and get the job or rank in the case of the east atlantic army. in his mind it allows him to help rafe finding routes and populations, along with entrances and exits, by having access to the most recent updated maps ( a medic can't help who he can't find, after all ). whatever they don't give him he gets through… other means. that's where his brain comes in. together rafe and him always have a way of getting all the information they want, need, and in the end find a way to meet their goals.

EXTRAS.

connections :

rafe cawela : cousin, like brother

odette winters : cousin

dante winters : cousin

max merrin : dormmate

personality :

mbti : enfj

zodiac : aquarius sun, scorpio moon, virgo rising