Post by LIAM JAMES MADDOX on Aug 7, 2014 5:22:02 GMT
LIAM JAMES MADDOX
MALE - 28 - 10/12/1986 - HETEROSEXUAL - FORGER, CONMAN, ART THIEF
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”
PEOPLE SAY THEY LOOK A LOT LIKE... FACECLAIM
Liam is 6'0" tall and has a lean but muscular build due to him keeping himself fit and in shape. His skin is mid-Caucasian in complexion and on occasion his usually clean-cut jawline can be seen with light stubble, he has a few light scars across his body from his “childhood” though they are barely noticeable and can only really be seen on closer inspection. The young man’s eyes vary from a cold wintery blue to stormy grey depending on the day and lighting but they seem to always be void true emotion and his hair is dark brown, seemingly black in dim light but you can see lighter shades when the sun catches it.
He often wears branded suits; John Varvatos, Paul Smith, Hugo Boss, Armani, Prada, Band of Outsider shirts, all of which are complete with a vintage tie. Though it's not uncommon to see him in jeans with plain tees, crew necks, polos, and button-ups when he's painting in his apartment or just out and about casually. He has also been known to wear a dark hoodie and/or black leather jacket if playing a certain character or in a rougher area of London. He often wears black framed glasses when reading and occasionally black Ray-ban sunglasses when outdoors.
BUT WHAT LIES UNDERNEATH THEIR SKIN?
If you were to meet him, you can never be entirely sure if the man that’s in front of you is the real Liam or if he is just a character the man is playing. But, to those who know him when he’s not playing a role, as a con artist Liam is an intelligent man that lives his life by thinking logically over impulse, emotion and ‘feeling’ and he uses his intelligence in order to be cunning, manipulative and deceiving. The young man always seems very serious and rarely seems to really smile when out of character or laugh or joke and comes across as a cold and emotionless man who would not hesitate to severely harm you if given proper reason to. Though, despite these characteristics that may seem unappealing to some, Liam behind it all, deep down is a good man. He’s just a good man doing bad things. Liam seems emotionless, but he is human so he does have emotions, they’re just suppressed and he finds it very hard to show true, honest emotion to those around him but he can be compassionate sometimes. Liam also finds it hard to emotionally attach himself to others and even to those who have managed to worm their way past his defenses, he can still be cold towards but when you’ve earned his “friendship”, trust and respect there is arguably no one more loyal than this man. To have his full loyalty would mean he’d kill for you. Literally. If he cared, respected and had a shared trust in you, if you were to ask him to kill someone for you, if he thinks it’s a logical decision he would not hesitate to do it.
Though there is very few people in his life he really cares about, likes and may even be called 'friends' and there's even fewer people that are close to him, once he does care about you the emotionless barrier can sometimes come down for a short amount of time and he can become "normal" but he always returns to his neutral state of impassiveness. With these people he cares about fiercely protective and in a situation where they are threatened his emotionless barrier can once again slip and that violent side of him will emerge .
He can be incredibly irritating and annoying in the way he is sometimes. Not only is he seemingly emotionless and cold but he can also be rather blunt (though he’d never purposely hurt anyone’s feelings- he just never realizes what he says can hurt people), over-confident to the point where it crosses into arrogance, a ‘smart arse’ and isn’t very irritable at all. He’s very patient and he’s not someone you can easily annoy enough to ‘lose his temper’ and some may say he’s got no temper to lose but he does- it's just very hard to provoke him, but the best way to do it is threaten someone he cares about or mess up his current 'job' in some way.
The young man is observant and has a very keen eye for detail, is very precise, strategic, calculative and quick thinking which has developed from his talent in forgery and theft. He is arguably one of the world’s best forgers and because of it, is on the top of many of the world’s countries most wanted lists but surprisingly, no one has ever caught him and lately no one really knows where he is due to him keeping a very low profile.
Liam is a man that always is three steps ahead of you and always thinking of the next move. He often in his mind thinks of each of the different scenarios and situations, weighs up their advantages and disadvantages and comes to the logical decision of how to handle a situation and how to come out on top.
Depending on the day you ask him, if you were to ask him why he is a con artist you might just be able to crack a smile out of him and if you were to ask him if he would ever leave this world? At this moment in time he’d tell you no because truth be told, he has nothing to leave it for.
Being a ‘crook’ that he is Liam finds it hard to settle into normal living. It’s the one and only thing in his life he struggles in self-discipline with. His brain is hard-wired to be always looking for the next con, searching for the next mark and thinking up his next moves and like most con artists; Liam really can’t resist an opportunity when it presents itself. So, it’d take something significant and life changing for Liam to change his ways because now, lying, thieving and forging is in his nature and even if something or someone were to change him, a leopard cannot change his spots no matter how hard he or anyone else tries.
Likes: challenges ; chess ; art ; painting and sculpting ; reading ; music ; playing the piano ; the thrill of a heist.
Dislikes: being wrong ; losing ; laziness ; talking about his personal life and past ; dependency on technology, people foolishly over-estimating themselves, the use of harmful weapons in his cons and heists.
Strengths: intelligent ; forward thinker ; self-disciplined ; patient ; forgery ; thieving ; lying ; acting ; streetwise
Weaknesses: finds it hard to emotionally connect with others and expressing his emotions in general and because of it fails to understand other's feelings ; competitive ; arrogant ; over-thinker ; perfectionist ; high self-expectations ; techonologically ignorant ;
Fears: becoming like his father ; losing his mind ; failing ; flying
Secrets: his real identity, background and past
Habits & Quirks: He often verbally corrects what people say and write if he picks up on them using the wrong word or contradicting themselves. He has been known to literally explain the definition of words to people in order to prove his point on their 'incorrect use' ; rubs the back of his neck when feeling uncomfortable and/or out of his comfort zone ; refuses to have pots and pans cleaned by the dish-washing machine. He thinks they should be cleaned by hand (he thinks it's more thorough) ; goes for a run at least once a day.
THIS WORLD HAS SHAPED THEM
This conman was born Liam James Redferne in Hammersmith, London on the 10th of December 1985 to James and Amelia Redferne two years after his older brother, Daniel’s birth and three years before his younger sister, Elodie’s birth.
His father, James Redferne also known as ‘Jimmy’ Redferne was a man born into a rich ‘old money’ family and with no brothers or sisters he had inherited his father’s vast wealth when the old man died in 1989 but it was soon all spent on an alcohol addiction. James was never a normal man, he never seemed to show care or love towards anyone in his life and had very little empathy and kindness inside of him. As a child, he would do sick and cruel things to animals whether it be holding a litter of kittens under water and drowning them or ‘operating’ on hamster. Jimmy Redferne’s mind was a twisted, messed up place and many that knew him would swear he was a sociopath. Some say this was due to him witnessing his father beating his mother and then her eventual suicide at a young age.
As he grew older it seemed he tried to conceal his darker side, he tried to be an ordinary citizen of London, got a well-respected job, met a woman by the name of Amelia Sandston of whom he eventually married. Everything seemed well at first. Until he started to beat his wife and harming her in ways that were just…sick and threatening her that if she told anyone, he’d kill her.
Two years of this torturous marriage Amelia’s worst nightmare came true. She fell pregnant. During her pregnancy she was anxious, terrified but Jimmy seemed to change back to the man she first met. He only laid a hand on her once whilst she was carrying Daniel but it was in the early stages but after Daniel was born, the abuse started again. The abuse of Amelia sometimes led to the neglect of Daniel. When he would cry, needing his diaper changed or to be fed, Amelia often couldn’t care for him due to her husband.
When she found out she was pregnant with Liam, she almost went to have an abortion before Jimmy could find out but, he ended up catching her and smacked her around when was told. Not too severe so she would lose the baby, but enough to ‘teach her a lesson’. Jimmy stayed away from her during this second pregnancy and she tried her best to care for Daniel during the period. Though, at this stage she was becoming more and more a wreck and was struggling to keep away from dark thoughts.
Liam’s birth brought about less attention for Daniel and less emotional comfort it seemed. Jimmy never gave any of his children emotional comfort and Amelia saw her motherhood more as a job or chore than anything personal. She couldn’t help but feel less attached to her children due to their father and the hatred she grew towards the man.
It was actually shortly after Liam’s birth did Amelia turn to drugs in order to cope and keep herself together and Jimmy never cared. In fact, he almost encouraged her growing addiction because eventually it became yet another way to control her.
At the awfully young age of three years old, Daniel experienced his father’s violence first hand when he awoke from a nightmare scared and crying, sought out comfort from his parents. He woke his father up and in anger, Jimmy beat the boy much to Amelia’s horror because even though she didn’t feel that attached to her children, she still had that motherly instinct towards them but she was helpless. Daniel wasn’t taken to the hospital but it wasn’t too severe. Amelia treated her sons wounds and instead of giving him soothing words, verbally scolded him for angering Jimmy.
That night was not the last of the child cruelty, nor was it the worst but during the next few years it wasn’t as severe as it would be in the future.
Three years after Liam’s birth, Amelia fell pregnant again with Elodie. However, due to complications in labour, Amelia died shortly after bringing her daughter into the world and the worst person possible to care for the three children now had full custody of them.
For some reason Jimmy did care for his children though he never loved them and as they grew older they were subject to his abuse which grew much worse when the man had developed an alcohol addiction.
It was clear that the three children growing older had very different personalities. Daniel was a lot 'tougher' more harsh and brutal in demeanor and was as a child a bully in school. Taking out his anger and rage on the much 'weaker' kids. He didn't care about school and because of it didn't turn out too educated and from as early as his young teens, he became one of those stupid youths that was often in trouble with the authorities. Of course, Daniel hated his father but he did seem to love his younger siblings but there was a dislike sometimes towards Liam that was mainly due to a deep-rooted anger of his mother when he was younger putting baby Liam before poor neglected Danny and also due to Liam being clearly much more intelligent than he. But, he still did have some love for his younger brother and his love for his little sister was very strong.
Liam was quieter. Often seen with his nose buried in a book. He even soon began to take his father's beatings in a strange silence. From a very young age, he was extremely intelligent and as he grew older he developed a knack for out-smarting, finding loop-holes and the very thing he would one day became renown for; forgery. At the young age of twelve he even created the first fake ID he ever made for his older brother. An ID that was used often and frequently by Daniel and never discovered to be a forgery. At the age of fifteen, Liam forged a painting that was a perfect replica of Van Gogh's Sunflowers apart from the lack of aging of the painting due to not having the right materials. It was also during his young childhood did he get involved with the hustling scene. When he was ten, on his way home from school, he'd often stop by a pool bar which was full of hustlers and the place he first learned learned to play the 'art' of pool, mastering the different techniques and learning how hustle and it was his time in this place was what led to him self teaching himself how to pick pockets, pick locks, scam and con others by using his intelligence and knowledge from experience as well as books. He would never say he and Daniel were close because they weren't and often clashed though he adored Elodie and if the two brothers ever had anything in common it was this love they shared for Elodie. They were both very protective of her, often trying to take their father's beatings for her and sheltering her from their dad.
Elodie was a very sweet girl and due to her older brother's protection and sheltering she never really knew the extent of their father's abuse. She was just a kind spirit. Caring, compassionate, loving, positive. She was the one person that could bring a proper smile to her brother's faces and get them to show love towards her. Though, as they all grew older and Daniel and Liam were out more often, she soon became subject to their father's abuse also but she kept it a secret from her brothers not wanting to upset them. But soon, the mere smacks turned into something much more twisted and disturbing when Jimmy began to sexually abuse his daughter. Elodie's sweet, innocent nature became corrupted and her mind distorted. She still tried to keep it a secret from her brother's though because she knew they'd beat themselves up over not protecting her from it but also because it wasn't something someone could easily talk about.
It became all too much for Elodie though in the end and after falling into a deep depression and needing an escape she ended up taking a knife and slicing two deep wounds in her wrists. Liam, was the one who found her at the age of seventeen. He came home and that was actually the first time he cried since he was a little boy as he held her in his arms. When his father came, Liam shouted at him, raged at him, letting out seventeen years of anger out at his dad and demanding to know what he had done to make Liam's little sister do this. When his father told him and showed no remorse Liam couldn't hold back any longer and finally gave the beating his father gave to his children back to him but it was when Daniel came home did hell break loose.
Daniel saw Elodie's body and was shocked to the core before the shouting began again. Liam explained to his brother what happened and in a blind rage, Daniel kicked his father's head in and actually turned against Liam too. Taking a bat a swinging it across Liam's head for not being there for Elodie, causing Liam to fight back briefly before being knocked out by his brother.
Luckily, the police arrived in time before Daniel could've killed his brother also. Everything was a blur from there on but in the end Daniel was convicted for murder among many other crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. Daniel after being apprehended and when his mind had cleared had stated his brother's innocence so Liam wouldn't have to serve time. During the time of this tragic incident it was printed in the press and televised up until a couple of months after Daniel was sentenced due to the tragedy and drama surrounding what had happened. It was one of the reasons that led Liam to making his second fake identity- Liam Maddox- a name that he would soon adopt as his main identity and leave Liam Redferne behind him.
Ever since, Liam has bottled himself up and completely cut himself off from his emotions, choosing not to feel because the emotions inside of him after everything that had happened were negative and affected his mind too much. He instead, devoted all his time towards the skills he had developed as a young con artist and avoided thinking about the past by doing con after con after con and keeping himself busy. He even traveled a few places over the years, Europe and America mostly and became relatively well-known for his skills but has been incredibly good at evading being caught/charged by the authorities.-----Ten years. It had been ten years since Liam had seen his older brother, Daniel. The last time he had seen him was at his hearing where he was given his life sentence for killing their father among other criminal activities he was found guilty of committing and being a part of. But now Liam wanted some information on an inmate in this prison. Another conman, only, this one was caught in the act unlike Liam but not before he stole an item that he and the group he worked with were interested in getting their hands on. Unfortunately, the conman in question wasn’t accepting any visitors and the group had no other way of getting into this high security prison to inquire the whereabouts of this item.
Liam was a bit apprehensive to visit because the man he was visiting was part of his past and he didn’t enjoy anything about any of his past before he was twenty but, if all went well this would go smoothly. Liam had thought it through. He knew that at they would probably talk briefly about what had happened, maybe talk about the present and then Liam could ask him for his help and he knew there was also the chance of Daniel getting aggressive and being un-cooperative and in that case, Liam would leave it and him be.
After signing in the vistors book his name, time of arrival and the date a prison guard led him through a series of monitored, heavy, locked doors and bars before he finally entered the visiting room. Upon entering the room, Liam scanned the tables, before his eyes fell on his brother. Daniel was a lot rougher looking than Liam had remember, the man’s head was shaved, tattoos ran from the left side of his neck down to his arm from what he could see under the orange uniform. His brother's jaw was covered in stubble and it was evident that his nose had been broken more than a couple of times.
When Daniel looked over and saw him, a grin formed on his face, he stood up and threw his hands in the air “Look who finally decided to pay me a visit!” he exclaimed over-enthusiastically as Liam walked towards him.
“Redferne.” A prison guard took a step towards him, as if ready to detain him whilst two other seemed on edge and ready also, prepared for if the man made any movements that can be considered aggressive or too manic. Daniel turned his head to the guard, raising his handcuffed hands up in the air in front of him in a sign of innocence “Sorry mate, just really happy to finally see me little brother.” Daniel replied, then calmly took a seat, his grin still fixed on his face as he gestured for Liam to take a seat opposite him. Liam slid into his seat and rested his hands on the table in front of him much like the way his older brother had “Sorry ‘bout that, Lee. Over the years I a’nt been the most cooperative guy in this joint, I can get a bit too excitable and aggressive sometimes so them blokes are jus’ doin’ their job and shit.” Daniel apologized.
“It’s fine.” Liam replied in his usual cold tone, expression completely void of any emotion. His brother’s smile faltered ever so slightly for a moment and he seemed to be watching his face then, as if searching for something.
“It’s been a while, Daniel.” He added.
Daniel’s lighter blue eyes flickered with an emotion that Liam was entirely sure of before the older man’s mouth broke into a long laugh “Ten fuckin’ years, Liam. I knew we could hold some pretty bad grudges against each other but ten years?” He spoke light-heartedly, in a jokey tone, ending it with a rhetorical question. Liam very slightly frowned at his older brother’s words, not really registering the jokey tone “I haven’t been holding grudge.” He replied but the moment those words left his lips one thought came straight to the front of his mind; he had. Liam had never really thought about it and had even convinced himself that he hadn’t cared about what had happened but now those words of denial left his lips, he knew that he had.
“Bullshit.” Daniel’s eyes hardened and his smile dropped for a moment when he called him out on his denial.
“But hey, can’t blame y’. I did beat the shit outta y’ and knocked you out with a baseball bat. Never got to say sorry ‘bout that by the way…you know what I get like when I’m pissed.” He added shortly afterwards, his smile returning. Only this time, it seemed more false than when he first grinned. The two brothers sat in silence for a brief moment, just looking at each other. There was a funny irony to how alike they looked behind Daniel's roughness and Liam's clean cut look but how they were such complete opposites. It had always been that way and was the reason why they found it so hard to click with each other in the past. If it weren’t for the fact they were so closely related in blood and grew up together, these two men would’ve probably hated each other in another life.
Daniel’s words made Liam think back to that night. The night everything changed. Liam had actually been out at his usual pool room, doing some very light hustling that night and he was there little longer than usual because some of the guys had bought him a drink. It was only half an hour later than usual but he always thought ever since it could’ve been a half an hour that could’ve mattered…when he did come home, the house was eerily dark and quiet. Usually there were some lights on and he could hear the faint sound of his little sister, Elodie’s, music from her room but this time…there was nothing. It rang alarm bells instantly, so he went upstairs in search of Elodie because if she wasn’t home, she always texted him to tell him so. Liam had considered, perhaps she was sleeping so he knocked lightly on her door first before, after receiving no response he cracked the door open, peeked in and saw her laying on her bed. He then lightly called out her name and asked if she was alright but he received no response which caused him to walk into the room, carefully moving over towards her, a niggling thought in the back of his mind over the lack of movement from her was something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. And then he saw the crimson and he remembered that internal heart dropping moment of absolute fear and panic. He sat on her bed and scooped her up into his arms, repeating her name over and over again, in an attempt to wake her even though he knew from his knowledge gained from reading medical books that it was all in vain. Then he tried to find her pulse but couldn’t find anything.
Liam internally shook that part of his memories from his mind though he did recall all the events that followed. His dad returning home. Him shouting and raging at the man, demanding to know why she would do this, knowing that he had to have done something. Then his dad telling him what sick, twisted things he had done with no fucking remorse what so ever which had caused the usually calm and collected Liam to lash out at the man. Then Daniel came home. Saw their sister. Saw everything. Liam explained. Then Daniel proceeded to beat their father to death.
You think it’d have stopped then. The violence. The man that had done this had been killed but, like Daniel said. Daniel took the fight to Liam also, to which Liam defended himself in. They fought each other, causing each other to bleed and bruise before Daniel took up a baseball bat and smacked him across the head. Knocking him out.
Luckily, that was when the police turned up before any further damage could be done but in the following few mess of days, Liam was angry at his brother. Daniel was upset and heart-broken over their sister’s death and yes, he had every right to be but to lash out at Liam also? It made young Liam angry because she was his little sister too. He loved her too. In that moment of time he didn’t think Daniel knew or appreciated that as he turned against Liam. But now, now he realized that maybe he did know it and that it was just simply in Daniel’s nature to turn against Liam also after what happened. His anger blinded him to the point where he just wanted to destroy everything and there Liam was, the brother that like himself, wasn’t there to protect their little sister. Liam understood to some extent now why Daniel did what he did- it didn’t make what he did right but, he kind of understood, though for many years he had held a grudge.
“I understand why you reacted the way you did…to some extent.” Liam replied with a slight nod. There was a small pause again before his brother’s smile shifted from something false to something more genuine because he knew that that was as close to a ‘I forgive you’ he would receive from Liam and it was good enough for him.
“Look at you though! From what I’ve heard you’re doin' pretty well. Got some money in your pocket.” Daniel nodded at his younger brother then taking his fist (of which first caused the prison guards to stir) and lightly nudged Liam backwards with it in a mock punch. As ever, Liam’s facial expression remained impassive despite his brother’s attempt to engage and be friendly with him, though, he was curious about how he had ‘heard he was doing pretty well'.
“You’ve been keeping tabs on me?” Liam asked.
Daniel waved his hand “Nah, not anymore at least. At first I did but then you turned into a sneaky bastard. You became a ghost in a way- a very hard man to find. Got a load of those aliases now an’t y’? Keepin’ pretty off the radar and shit but every now and then I hear from some mates on outside about a job one of those aliases has done.” He replied.
“Oh. Right.” Liam nodded slowly, not really confirming having 'a load of those aliases'.
“You’ve pulled off a lot of big cons, Lee.”
“Allegedly.” He responded, because Liam never confessed nor confirmed any of the crimes he had done unless it was to someone he trusted in a place he trusted. So of all the places, he definitely wasn’t going to confess to anything he had done in a prison to his brother.
Daniel slowly leaned forward then "Hey, is it true you were the one that stole that fifty mil' painting Egypt?” He asked in a hushed whisper with a small, curious smile.
Poppy Flowers by Vincent Van Gogh- that was the painting his brother was talking about. Stolen in August 2010 and allegedly, Liam Maddox was the culprit behind the job. But this man sitting in the chair in front of his brother wasn't Liam Maddox today, he was Liam Redferne and Liam Redferne had most certainly not stolen such a beautiful piece. Though, he had no doubt the man that did steal the magnificent painting had it hidden somewhere secure, unable to bring himself to fence such a gorgeous piece unless he absolutely needed to.
“The Van Gogh? No. I was in Italy during that heist.” The younger brother denied, just as he did and proved when the authorities came to him two years ago.
“Though, it's a shame it was stolen. It was a beautiful piece."
A wide smile broke across Daniel's face.
“Riiiight.”
“Right."
There was silence again between the two brothers. The two just looking at each other dead in the eye, Daniel trying to find some sign of something in Liam and Liam silently telling him that he wasn't going to get any information from him. The silence stretched out for some time again, before it was broken with a change in subject. "Soooo...what about uni, did y' ever end up goin'?" Daniel asked curiously.
"I have a few degrees." Liam answered. He might not have stepped foot on any University campuses and if you asked the professors that taught the courses he had degrees in, they wouldn't recall his name but he did have degrees and he had done...research.
"You're a smart man, Lee” Daniel commented, then paused for a moment as if trying to think of what to say. "I'm actually quite proud of y'. You’re a better crook then I was ever but you always had the brains and patience I never had. I was more of a thug, better at the grittier small money shit.” Daniel commented, seemingly swaying back toward their original conversation in his own way of complimenting his younger brother. It seemed that neither of them could talk like a normal family together...then again, their family had never been normal, why would that change after ten years of no contact?
The eldest brother's tone seemed to turn sentimental which was furthered by his next words “If El could only see us now. Her older brothers. One a convict serving a life sentence an' one a con man” He was no longer keeping eye contact with Liam, instead his eyes went to the wall behind him, a look in them which suggested he was looking back to the past. Replaying memories.
“Well, she can’t. She’s dead.” Liam replied. Though he had had his moment of looking back earlier, Liam didn’t understand when people were being so sentimental in a way that they talked about things that would never come to be. He didn’t understand ‘what ifs’ or ‘if onlys’ because to him there was only ‘what is’. Nothing more. You can’t change the past, so why linger on fantasies of doing so? Liam didn’t understand and this quite clearly pissed Daniel off “You think I don’t fuckin’ know that, asshole?” He snapped.
“Then why talk about something that’s not possible?”
Daniel just glared at his brother, clearly trying to rein in the anger he felt inside and it was quiet for a moment as he took a couple of deep, calming breaths before he managed to gather himself enough to move on “You know what? I was readin’ this book-”
“You’ve been reading?” Liam interrupted with a raise of his eyebrow, genuinely surprised because the Daniel he knew never used to read. In fact, he remembered clearly his older brother saying that books were ‘shit’, ‘boring’ and a ‘waste of time’.
“Don’t sound so surprised, prick. Ten years in the slammer, remember?”
“Fair enough. Carry on.”
“Ten years and I figured out our problem. Our biggest weaknesses.” Daniel announced with a nod before stretching his arms as well as he could with his hands cuffed.
“Each of us ‘ave always been missin’ somethin’.” He added after a relaxed sigh. Though, Liam was becoming slightly confused about the transition of the conversation and what his brother was trying to say.
“You’re making no sense.” Liam replied.
Daniel waved him off "Let me continue then, idiot. I'm not finished yet."
“El…El never had any real strength to her, bless her. She wasn’t as strong as us mentally and emotionally. Y’know? Out of all of us, let’s be fair I’ve always had the brawn. But that’s the thing, I’ve always been the brawn, the strongest, the toughest but I never had the brains. No. You got them brains Lee, you were always the smartest. Always.” Daniel explained.
“But you know what you’ve always been lacking in?” He questioned, finally regaining eye contact with his brother.
“What?” Liam replied, growing increasingly confused about where Daniel was going with his theory.
“Heart.”
Liam almost laughed then and the corners of his lips did pull up into a very small smile of amusement “Wizard of Oz. Are you really comparing us to characters from a children’s book?” He asked, though his tone came out slightly mockingly.
“Mind your fuckin’ tone, Lee.” Daniel snapped, that flare of anger behind his eyes returning and his clearly aggravated mood causing the guards to keep a closer eye on him in case he became any more aggressive. Liam didn’t apologize for his response knowing that Daniel would only take an apology as insincere and he didn’t want a fight with the man.
“I have a heart.” Liam replied having decided to instead finally touch on what his brother said. Daniel’s evaluation was wrong. Of course he had a heart.
“Yeah, you have an organ that pumps your fuckin’ blood through your veins. I din’t mean it like that and you know I don’t.” Daniel spoke, clearly still angered but reining in that anger and trying to keep his tone quiet and even.
“El always had more love and kindness in her than us both put together- which isn’t very hard. I’ll be the first to admit that I can be a pretty hard bastard but I always loved you and El. I always cared about others. But you Lee, yeah, you loved El but when 'ave you ever really loved or cared about anyone else? When’s the last time you stopped in the street and helped someone just out of charity? It even took you ten years to come see me. Your own brother and I know you have only come now because you want somethin' from me.
“You’re a fuckin’ cold, selfish bastard Lee. Yeah, maybe you 'aven’t always been selfish but you’ve always been cold and uncarin'. You 'aven’t even asked how I’ve been. You’ve never showed some heart to anyone. Even to El. Not until she had slit her wrists and bled out onto her bed.”
“That’s not fucking true.” Liam growled. Emotion breaking across his face. He was offended by what his brother said but as the words sunk in, sub-consciously he knew his brother was right. He didn’t care about anyone else, not truly. Apart from Elodie of course, and if he really thought about it he hadn’t show Elodie he loved and cared about her enough as he should’ve. Deep down, he knew it was true and it was one of the things that if he let himself think about, he’d beat himself up over.
“Isn’t it?”
“No.” Liam replied. He wanted to tell Daniel how much he really cared about him and El, how much he loved El. How he cried, how broken hearted he felt. How he wanted to have been the one that killed that sick bastard that drove her to committing suicide. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t gather the words. Liam, as a conman always knew what to say, he never struggled for words but in this moment, on something so personal to him. Being himself…being Liam Redferne…words stuck on his tongue.
“Look at you, you can’t even express or say how you feel about our sister. About how you feel now. You just sit there, lookin’ completely empty. Y'know. I always thought that out the three of us, you were the most like dad.”
That struck him like a fist to the face. Liam’s hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched in the fury he felt over those words.
Like their father?
Their father was an abusive sociopath that didn’t have a single ounce of love or care in his body. Their father damned them all to a shit life the moment he married their mother. “Take. That. Back.” He spoke through clenched teeth. Daniel just looked at him, adopting Liam’s usual impassive expression and in that moment it was almost as if the two brothers had switched in personalities.
“No because it’s how I felt. What I thought. Actually, that’s what I was scared of coming in ‘ere. With all that had happened then El dyin' and me bein’ imprisoned? I was scared that without us- without someone in your life to remind you to keep that heart of yours in use and for you to care about, you’d become him.” Daniel watched him, as in that moment it felt like a thousand different emotions were going through Liam and it was showing on his exterior. It was as if the anger had lifted all the barriers and walls Liam had built to keep all his emotions at bay and now he was feeling all those negative feelings all at once. It was maddening.
“What, are we actually showin' some emotion now, Liam?” Daniel asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Liam broke eye contact…he didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all. Emotion was something that clouded sense and logic. It made him vulnerable. The younger of the two brothers didn’t answer to his older brother’s rhetorical question this time. He didn’t speak at all, he just sat there for a very long moment with his brother watching and tried to compose himself internally. Those words were just words. Nothing more. Weren’t they? No. No. He couldn’t let himself linger on self-doubt and insecurity. It was ridiculous. It took what seemed to be a long stretch of time for Liam to compose himself, rebuild those walls and put those barriers back up that stopped his emotions from wreaking havoc but, he eventually managed to do it. His hands were no longer fists, his jaw relaxed, his eyes were hardened again and his face was once again void of all emotion. “My choice to come here was a mistake. I didn’t take what just happened into the equation.” He spoke, tone cold and impassive again as his steel blue eyes reconnected with his brother’s cerulean ones.
“You’re unbelievable Lee. Absolutely un-fuckin’-believable.” Daniel said, tone laced with annoyance as he shook his head. It was clear then that he wanted a reaction from Liam. He wanted to see emotion but, Liam didn’t give him a reaction. He was just…done here. Screw what he had originally came here to ask, he would find out another way of getting the information he needed- a way not involving his older brother.
The younger brother stood up “I’ll be going now; I apologize for taking up your oh-so-valuable time. I hope you remain to be well and have fun with your new appreciation for books and reading.” He nodded to one of the prison guards, signalling that he was done here as he walked away from the table. As he was walking away, he heard his brother get up also before the man spoke out “Don’t fuckin’ leave you pussy, not without askin' whatever the hell you came here to ask because obviously din’t come here just to be ripped into!” He shouted but his words fell on deaf ears.
Liam had had enough brotherly bonding to last him another ten years.
Family:
James Redferne - 60 - Father - DECEASED
Amelia Redferne - 58 - Mother - DECEASED
Daniel Redferne - 30 - Brother - Convicted criminal serving life in jail
Elodie Redferne - Sister - 25 - DECEASED
Significant Others:
Charles Hunt - 54 - "Friend" - Conman
"Jamison" - 30 - "Friend" - Conman
Aaron Monroe - 27 - "Friend" - Conman
Vivienne Fox - 24 - "Friend" - Thief, smuggler and fence.
Joshua Dawson - 19 - "Friend" - Hacker
BUT WHO HAS MADE THEM?
OOC Name: Tof
How long have you been RP'ing for?: A while...lost track of how long really.
Timezone: GMT
Contact: PM, email, Skype...any of them :3
Secret Answer: Mail
APP CREATED BY SPITZE, STEAL AND DIE