character :: Blake Pennington
Blake Pennington has an aura of importance about him, and most people tend to shy from that. All the better, really, for he’s truly a private man. Not many people know how this very wealthy individual made his riches, but most assume the worst: after all, it’s not every day one might meet a man with such a well-maintained home.
Blake is a self-proclaimed informant, and he has been since before he knew what the word really meant. Born to a wealthy family in Buckinghamshire, the boy didn’t want for much. His brother, his senior by 2 years, made for great company despite his quirky and fun-loving behavior. Blake couldn’t have been more different with his serious (to a fault) demeanor: it seemed that nothing pleased the youngest of the Pennington’s. He moped about the stately home, enjoying the company of only his books and computers. When the family would go on safari, Blake tended to stay behind: the allure of his grandfather’s trophies and his older brother’s tall-tales of valor didn’t appeal to the bitter young man.
just so very bored.
Blake was in on a secret. He was a very tender age when he discovered that his mother had exotic tastes in men: tastes that drew her very far from her role as faithful wife to the Pennington head. Quite plainly she was having an affair, and Blake knew of it. At first, the young man used this knowledge to his advantage to the tune of lavish gifts and his mother’s attentions. “Blackmail” is a bit of a strong word for a child of his age, but it seemed to fit; Blake took a great dark joy in knowing he held power over arguably the most powerful person in a child’s life.
Eventually, the gifts grew tiresome and Blake found himself toying with thoughts of the future. If he did keep his mouth shut, his mother would only come to resent him: honestly, she was well on her way there already. No, power is one thing…but the ability to change one’s future, now, that’s almost magical. When Blake ousted his mother, he had to be sneaky; some well-planted objects of jealousy ought to do it. The unfaithful boyfriends found out about one another first, and then Blake’s father got swept into the ring: before the boy knew exactly the extent of his actions, the divorce was finalized and Blake’s first real rush began.
He always hated his mother, and now, she was gone. Just like that.
Blake became the worst kind of troublemaker going into his teen years. He became spoiled and he almost always got exactly what he wanted: as he grew, so did his network in the dark information market. In high school, he took great pleasure in watching his pompous private school classmates become reduced to tears over this infidelity or that – all it took was a very watchful eye and a knack for reading a person.
His first real paid job came to him in college, as he prodded around the depths of the internet for new intelligence. Someone was paying handsomely for information on a foreign stock broker: surely, the man’s life would be ruined but the millions he’d lose would go straight to the man’s uncle. Blake began playing a very dangerous game indeed when he offered to investigate for the uncle…and the nephew in the same breath. Both men paid well, one to destroy and the other to defend himself, and in the end both men fell into ruin. The power was tangible, and it drew Blake in more than the money.
All throughout college, Blake skimmed under the radar with less-than-stellar grades as he worked on the side for the “real money”. His Master of Business seemed so futile in the end, for he already knew exactly what he wanted to do. All seemed to be going so well for Blake Pennington when he had his diploma in his hand, signed and sealed, with his very own small fortune sitting in a foreign bank account. He could see everything six moves ahead, all of the pieces lined up perfectly: he would be England’s most celebrated informant, and nothing could stop him!
That is, until his selfish brigade came to a screeching halt that Christmas. Jasper Pennington, Blake’s older brother, had been struggling when Blake had been excelling. He’d gotten his medical degree, became married and had a child, yes, but his eccentric and light-hearted manner masked a terrible mar: an un-diagnosed and wicked illness of the mind that lead to erratic and often violent behaviors. When Jasper was arrested for the murder of his wife and child, the Pennington name was threatened in a way it never had been before: and Blake had an important decision to make.
The first (and possibly the last) kind thing Blake ever did for another human being occurred on the night of September 6th when the young informant exchanged damaging information regarding a high-leveled judge for the temporary release of his brother…and fled. Blake and Jasper hopped a plane and never looked back: his father and grandparents left alone in the large home they hoped to fill with a new generation of honorable men.
Blake went to work immediately to re-build his empire. With a dirty secret locked away in a basement apartment, for the first time, the young and eccentric Pennington was left to his own devices. Under a network of aliases, Blake did anything he pleased for money – offering intimate information about celebrities around the world to the paparazzi, outing public officials (or threatening to), and even offering his services to the lowly public as a highly paid and quite fictional private investigator. And, in this manner, Blake tore himself through thousands of people: destroying marriages, careers, and lives.
Addictions tend to build themselves in a person’s psyche quite slowly, organically. Blake became addicted to power: and the more he gained, the more he starved for. It was eventual that his lonely existence called for the services of paid company: but when prostitutes and escorts seemed to be too “worldly” for his liking, his attentions turned to more traditional help. It’s not a mystery why live-in butlers seemed to be verge on the tune of “vagrant”….sure to go unmissed by friends or family if they should disappear. Blake began building his estate on the premise that he would fill his home with these young men, eager for a job and a fine home: both of which Blake offered, for a price.
The contracts became more and more constricted as time wore on. Some young men signed on for six months to a year, while others with far more to gain from Blake may find themselves up to five years in his servitude. Blake’s immaculate home became spotless, the grounds outside picturesque. Some servants wanted to know things too precious for money, such as the locations of missing family members or key dirt on enemies: these men would find themselves in the deepest contracts. The most threatening thing about Blake’s demand of power came with the complex trickery used in a select few of these contracts, wherein most servants didn’t realize that the total cost of living may be added to the length of their servitude. In this way, Blake Pennington amassed sins that he can never atone for.
When Blake crossed Westley, a runaway landing in the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, he knew he had himself a catch. Wide-eyed, innocent, cute and naïve…just the kind of prey he desired. He scooped the young man up into his clutches and earned himself another notch on his belt, not knowing that his life would change forever. A broken relationship with a man unnamed leads to unimaginable embarrassment, and a petty Blake is left scrambling to figure himself out.
you more or less know them all.
Blake wallows in the underbelly of the world: he surrounds himself with only the ugly truths and dishonesty of people. There’s nothing too gritty, too disgusting, or too vile for him to believe – no smiling, honest, or visibly beautiful face is just that. All people are dirty. All people are selfish. No parent would save a child if it meant true and irreversible damage to themselves: and no child would love a parent more than themselves. There’s no limit to a human’s cruelty, Blake most of all.
