#lfl.intro

statistics.

full name:  joaquin vidal nickname(s)/alias(es):  keen, the crooked hand name meaning:  established by god age:  fifty-seven date of birth:  april 16th star sign:  aries place of birth:  poplar, london (now tower hamlets) current location:  lambeth, london gender:  cis-male pronouns:  he/him sexual orientation:  bisexual religion:  raised catholic (not a very good catholic) occupation:  mob boss family:  david flores (father, estranged), alejandra franklin (née vidal, mother), bernard “bernie” franklin (step-father, estranged), ricardo “ricky” franklin and antonio “tony” franklin (half-brothers, estranged), emilia franklin (half-sister, estranged) “sweeney todd” (ex-wife) education level:  didn’t even get his o levels (old man equivalent to gcses) living arrangements:  a modern warehouse conversion in stockwell financial status:  wealthy spoken languages:  english, spanish

inspirations.

reggie kray (legend) harry (in bruges) tyler durden (fight club) euron greyjoy (game of thrones) maxwell roth (assassin’s creed: syndicate) reyes vidal (mass effect: andromeda) bill sykes (oliver twist)

biography. (tws for poverty, xenophobia, violence, unhealthy relationship dynamics)

A third generation Peruvian immigrant, Joaquin Vidal has never known any home but London. Born and raised in Poplar (a notoriously impoverished area of the city) life was always going to be a struggle for his family - for stability, for money, for respect - but struggle they did. Joaquin’s grandparents went about things the old fashioned way, sacrificing every last shred of their dignity to scrape together enough money to take over the lease on the local newsagent after the previous owner passed away. They managed it, just barely, but even at the tail-end of the sixties, Poplar wasn’t the most tolerant of places, and the shopfront was regularly graffitied or worse.

By the time Joaquin was born, the Vidals had come to realise that London’s streets weren’t paved with gold, as they had hoped they would be when they arrived in England. They had their shop, true, but it wasn’t enough - the family was still living on top of each other, three generations packed into two rooms, living hand-to-mouth. His mother, Alejandra, was only sixteen when she discovered she was expecting, and a wedding was quickly organised in a desperate attempt to hang on to the precious little respectability the Vidals had garnered within their community. It was only two years before Joaquin's father vanished into the night, never to be seen again.

Joaquin was still young when he started looking for trouble (or when trouble started looking for him, as he’d always insist). He was a handsome, charismatic teenager, with a swagger in his step and an appetite for violence that only comes from feeling like you’ve got something to prove. It seemed as if he was destined for gang life from the get go, smoothly transitioning from playground bust-ups and brawling in the streets to the well-paid world of underground fighting. Joaquin was a workhorse in the ring, a surprisingly lithe figure that categorically refused to stay down, and it made him a hugely valuable commodity as a prize fighter. He would do whatever it took to win, and then some.

It was around this time that he set his sights on a woman known to the Jolly Rogers as Sweeney Todd. The former Crooked Hand, a man by the name of Alistair Winchester, had heard of Joaquin’s success on the underground fighting circuit, and was actively trying to recruit him to his cause. Sweeney was Alistair’s niece, and had been embroiled in the workings of the gang since she was very young, meaning she was already well established as a career assassin. Joaquin was drawn to her immediately - he knew they were made for each other.

As his relationship with Sweeney developed, Joaquin became as assimilated into the Jolly Roger lifestyle as she was, working his way up from pit fighter to contract killer in a matter of years. He would always prefer working with his hands (or, rather, his fists), but he learnt to wield a gun with precision and deadly force. As a rule, Joaquin and Sweeney were not supposed to work contracts together - they were both experts in their craft, but their dynamic was volatile and unpredictable, entirely inexplicable to anyone but themselves. People used to say that one day they’d either kill each other, or end up married - they chose the latter.

Realistically, it was never going to last between them - in fact, it’s some kind of miracle (or maybe a curse) that their marriage survived the eleven years it did. After one, final, explosive argument, the Vidals separated for good, but angry as they were, they couldn’t stay away from each other for long. Joaquin started taking contracts abroad, furthering his reputation with the Rogers while doing his best to forget about Sweeney. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t move on from her. He’s never been good at letting go.

When Alistair Winchester shit the bed and got himself nicked, it was only a matter of time before someone was called in to clean up his mess. Following the customary vote between senior members of the gang, Joaquin was compelled to return from his work overseas, not so much stepping into Alistair's shoes as kicking them out of his way. He never sought the title of the Crooked Hand, and his election came as a surprise, but who is he to spit in the face of democracy? If the Jolly Rogers wanted a show of force, Joaquin Vidal would be the one to give it to them.

He's been the head honcho for coming up on four years now, driving the Jolly Rogers into an era of prosperity that puts old man Winchester's legacy to shame. The treaty is starting to chafe at him, though, his patience for niceties running dangerously thin. No, he thinks its high time his people start making some more aggressive plays - show the Jabberwocks and everyone else who really runs the streets of London.

other things.

Before he was the Crooked Hand, Joaquin was known as Sykes, after the character from Oliver Twist. Not the most flattering of code names, but he’s never been much of a reader, and didn’t understand the connotations until much later on. 

Joaquin calls in on his mother approximately once every six months. They didn’t have the best of relationships after she remarried and started a new better family, but she’s old now, and the only surviving relative he’s still in touch with.

He's not usually much of a gambler, but he goes out of his way to attend the Royal Ascot every year, delighting both in betting on the horse races and terrorising the unfortunate toffs forced to share space with him for the duration of the event.

He’s a passionate West Ham supporter, and will thank you not to remind him how poorly they’ve been performing in the premiere league.

To date, Joaquin has never seen a cow in real life.

statistics.

full name: maksim julius liddell nickname(s)/alias(es): max, the crimson prince age: thirty-six date of birth: august 14th star sign: leo place of birth: devon, england current location: london, england gender: cis-male pronouns: he/him sexual orientation: bisexual religion: atheist occupation: unemployed family: constantine liddell (father), ekaterina liddell (mother), viktor liddell (older brother), three younger siblings education level: barely scraped a 2:2 in accounting and finance at the university of exeter living arrangements: currently living out of a suite at the biltmore in mayfair financial status: wealthy languages spoken: english, french, russian (but he won’t and you can’t make him)

biography.

tba

fun facts. (drunk driving mention)

Over the course of his life, Max has dated no less than seven women named Georgina. That works out as approximately one Georgina per every five years.

Max is currently six months into a twenty month suspension of his driving license, following his well-publicised arrest for driving under the influence.

He grew out his hair expressly because he knew his father would hate it - the fact that Viktor also hates it is just a bonus.

The Liddells aren't exactly a hugging family, but Max craves physical affection, and will seek it wherever he can get it. He has a way of drawing people into his orbit until he has them tucked up against his side, his arm wrapped around their shoulders or his fingers tangled with theirs, the contact as natural as breathing.

In Kilkenny, Valentine was born into a family of dreamers. Their younger sister Ruth wanted to be an astronaut, their older sister Benna wanted to be a fashion designer, and Val always loved writing and imagining. With a mother in journalism and a father in film, Val always seemed to be learning- taking in new information like a sponge and finding where best to put it. 

Most of all, Val loved to chat and get people talking. Their effervescent and easygoing personality often drew others out of their shells. They felt comfortable with them. Even could confide in them. 

Becoming a psychologist seemed to be the best route. Val loved writing but they knew they couldn’t go making a living off of some self published book about fairy tales. Instead they went off to university. Amidst partying, flings, and ragers, Val somehow didn’t flunk out - but their parents certainly thought they would. 

After graduating, Val didn’t want to take the needed courses to get their license - they were burnt out, overwhelmed… taking a few years off, Val lived with their parents again. They slipped into more drinking, drugs, partying. The whole nine yards, until at 26, they had a drug scare. Took something from someone who said it was something - but it definitely wasn’t. Too much, and not knowing what on earth was in their system.

A long talk with mum & dad, and they finally began their courses to begin their actual career. And the professors liked them - praised their ability to empathize, to de-escalate and to bring someone out of their shell. With professor referrals they were soon off to becoming a psychologist. 

Then it turned boring. Val’s need for excitement would occasionally dip into drugs again- and buying from a Jabberwock member on the down low seemed to curb that. But working as a psychologist for local police was thankless and boring. As the hit their 30s, they wondered if this was all there was.

Around 33, Val started noticing problems with their vision. A blur in and out that wouldn’t fully go away. Suddenly they needed glasses, and even those seemed to go up in prescription too quickly. The eye doctor gave the unfortunate news that they were losing their vision, and in the next few years, it would be completely gone. 

This seemed to spark something in Val. Urgency. They couldn’t be stuck in this job forever when they could be going for what they wanted, needed. Higher profile clients, interesting stories. They applied and became the Met’s new psychologist, and worked every day off writing the old stories they’d thought of back in college.

Suddenly there was a book. Margot Sees Magic is sent to agents- picked up, sent to publishers. Picked up and published. Suddenly, a bestseller. All the while, as Val settled into their role as Met psychologist, they start to get interesting visitors.

Gang members of various distinctions - and high standing. Offering money for information. An easy choice for someone who loves to gossip, and has struggled to afford their own flat for years. 

Now Val feeds information to both sides - Jabberwock and Jolly Roger alike can find appointments with them, either for actual help or something a bit more nefarious. A swapping of money for intel - and Val has plenty to spare. 

Headcanons: 

-Val has started using a red-tipped walking cane for help. They have not completely lost their vision yet, but things have become so blurry even with glasses that they’ve stopped bothering with them.

-Val still buys drugs occasionally from members of Jabberwock and occasionally dips back into it, though they try very hard to keep it to weed and wine.

PLEASE CHECK TWS BEFORE PROCEEDING TW // Homophobia, medical malpractice, electroshock therapy, religious trauma, medical trauma, head trauma, murder

BIOGRAPHY .

Asa came into the world with a hard-working mother and a father hellbent on success. While he and his sister spent their childhood in a cozy cottage near the cliffs on the outskirts of Dublin, their father was worming his way into the Irish government. Conor Holland wanted to be in the cabinet, and that meant making sure he had the perfect family... and Asa's rebellious teenage nature, coupled with his secret homosexuality found out through secret magazines and love letters under his bed, meant that he was a huge liability. So Asa was sent away to a troubled teen's home at age 15 - a place that could take minors and sculpt them into whatever their parents wanted. Extremely religious, strict. He was made to believe very early on that any anger is not tolerated, and neither is his attraction to men. It only worsened from there. Asa's rebellion ran deep, but his father's stubbornness ran deeper. When he didn't seem to be 'reformed' as his father wanted, Conor Holland forged medical documents and sent him away to a psychiatric facility. When they started to suspect anything, he'd be sent to another. Asa spent nearly 20 years in and out of mental hospitals. White walls, little cups with his daily medications. Sedated, lethargic, and isolated. Some locations were better than others. Some were complete hell. Meanwhile, his father benefited from an absent son who was so tucked away, so hard to find or learn about, that he could even be claimed to be dead. St. Irene's was the worst. After medical malpractice with defunct medical equipment and out-of-date experimental treatments, Asa was left worse than ever. An electro-convulsive therapy machine was used on him in hopes this could cure the issues outlined by the ever-growing list of mental maladies his father had assigned to him by force. But with St. Irene's over-crowding, he was sent back to his father. This time, Asa made sure he couldn't be sent back, and took a hammer to his father's head. An unfortunate housefire 'took the life of' Conor Holland, member of the Irish cabinet. And Asa fled to London with his father's secret stash of cash. It was the court case of St. Irene's v. Holland that got Asa noticed by the Jolly Roger. A carefully crafted take-down of the corrupt institution he'd been subject to for years. Old letters, polaroids, prior patient testimony. Asa had forged the most airtight condemnation of the institution completely on his own - and won a huge settlement for his troubles. The place was shut down, the owners and some of the doctors locked up. Suddenly, Asa Holland was an asset. A smart man whose father seemed to 'disappear'. After he'd been looked into, he was pulled into the Jolly Roger, starting with some general consulting and aiding in organization. It didn't take long for him to get into killing. He'd already done it once and loved the way it felt. So why not a few more, for pay? And soon enough, he was moving up, and up. Now an Underboss, Asa Holland is noted as "the Hook". Named after the captain in Peter Pan, Asa has 'hooks' in many parts of London. He 'hooks' people into the Jolly Roger who intrigue him... and just like a fishing hook, he keeps them there until he decides to rip free. If he ever does...

HEADCANONS .

-Asa can be an incredibly off-putting individual, due to his time away from ‘society’, as well as the head trauma he's experienced. While he tries to make conversation with others, it is clear he is still figuring out how to make friends and to have relationships.

-His flat is an eclectic and beautiful mishmosh of art, plants, and his 5 cats. He collects many items from the antique stores that Jolly Roger works out of, and its on display beautiful in his artsy space. It's here where he has his own private art studio for his books - he works as a childrens book illustrator.

-While he is an enigma wrapped in another enigma, Asa can be a kind person. He often is thoughtful in small ways- having everyones’ coffee orders pegged on his bulletin board in his office, sending small and odd cards for birthdays and events.