[@BrutalBx][@Venus]
[img]https://c.tenor.com/OYGLMEdMSOsAAAAC/happy-hoping.gif[/img]
[hider=Creed Briteson]
[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220418/f6b848dfbf9c057175d66cb5004b7217.png[/img]
[img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/d44a98c6510a2d45dfde5c1b55680f49/tumblr_pc33xhzDh11rlj6tvo4_400.gif[/img][/center]
[color=104E09]Name[/color]
[indent]Maliq Briteson[/indent]
[color=104E09]Nicknames[/color]
[indent]Creed, Liq, Mal[/indent]
[color=104E09]Age[/color]
[indent]21 (Feb.14)[/indent]
[color=104E09]Gender[/color]
[indent]Male[/indent]
[color=104E09]Sexuality[/color]
[indent]Bisexual, Polyamorous[/indent]
[color=104E09]Relationship Status[/color]
[indent]As single as he gets[/indent]
[color=104E09]Appearance Details[/color]

[list][*][b]Hair:[/b] Black | Short, curly | Typically worn short with a slight fade, more often than not under a beanie.
[*][b]Eyes:[/b] Dark Brown
[*][b]Height:[/b] 6'2
[*][b]Body Type:[/b] Athletic Fighter's build with plenty of flexibility hidden by the solid muscle.
[*][b]Clothing Style:[/b] Casual, Relaxed | Typically seen with a plain V-neck T, his Serpent Jacket, and a beanie. Pants tend to shift between stretchy jeans or cargo, typically all in neutral colors.
[*][b]Scars, Tattoos and/or Piercings:[/b] Plenty of scars all over his body from his fights, most notable are a couple from when he was doing collections and targets got a little handsy with whatever blade was around them at the time. He has full arm sleeves filled with whatever he felt like getting at the time, but there is quite obviously the Serpent's snake winding up his left forearm, and a laughing smiley face directly over his heart for Jokes. His neck up is really the only places he doesn't have tattoos. His ears are pierced and he has black studs in them at all times.[/list]
[color=104E09]Personality Traits[/color]
[indent]Observant, Honest, Loyal, Sarcastic, Nurturing, Caring ■□ Violent, Deadly, Predatory, Uninhibited, Aloof.[/indent]
[center][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/e732ae0e34e72cd6ac19d159d4035fc6/tumblr_pc33xhzDh11rlj6tvo1_400.gif[/img][/center]
[color=104E09]Biography[/color]
[indent][hider=Pre-Serpents]Maliq Briteson was born on a chilly Valentine’s day morning a week late according to the doctors but just on time according to his parents, who were more than happy that their child was born on the same day as the child of their best friends and life partners. Jonie Kraeter and Maliq came into the world mere hours apart, and they have been inseparable ever since. There’s something innately grounding about having someone that knows every aspect of your life just as well as you know theirs, it helps you feel as though you can handle anything coming at you. He grew up living between two households, spending just as much time next door with the Kraeters as they all spent in his home.

Growing up with parents in a polycule meant there was always enough love and support to go around, and communication of intent was important. Being more emotionally and socially aware didn’t mean that he didn’t like violence and fighting every now and then, and just like many Southies that were legacies or became Serpents young, Maliq spent a good amount of time under the school bleachers or in the principal’s office while Jonie cracked joke after joke in a poor attempt to get them out of trouble.

Maliq and Jonie’s parents had taught the two all they needed to know growing up: How to fight, how to tell if a drug has been laced or mixed, how to hide what you needed to in case the cops came by. Anything that could keep a Serpent alive and kickin’, they learned it young. The expectation was always that they would be training to take positions similar to their parents, at a lower rank of course, but still continuing the legacies. At the time it was fine that they were just training because the desperate and broken needed spots amongst the snakes, much more than two kids that already lived in a den of them, so they were content to stay back and learn. They found out the same night that it happened that Boaz and Cernis from a grade below them had joined up, already bloody before the jump-in, and they knew that the boys would do well, even a little too well, in the Life. Hell, Jonie had been the first to recommend it to the boys in the schoolyard once over a year before, but Maliq had made sure to back up the thought by mentioning it as well whenever he saw the battered boys.[/hider]

[hider=Serpents to Juvie]Maliq knew he and Jonie were going to end up with the Serpents very early on in his life; his grandfather had lived and died as a serpent just as Jonie’s grandparents had. His father and both of Jonie’s parents were serpents and his mother had worked the same pole at the Edge of Sin since before he’d been born. It was in his blood as much as it was in any other Legacy’s. They weren’t expecting to join too young, perfectly fine with their rate of growth. Unfortunately for them, there were two runs back to back that went very wrong when Maliq and Jonie were halfway through their twelfth year of life. A lot of older Serpents were lost, including Maliq’s father and Jonie’s parents. After the funeral, and Maliq’s mother Kamilla completely breaking down at the thought of taking care of Maliq on her own- it had been a four person job less than a week ago, after all- Maliq and Jonie joined the Serpents officially and moved into one of the Serpent Dorms at the Edge. The Dorm across the hall from them, while not officially claimed yet, was constantly in use by Sonny Cernis and the Boaz brothers, who’s bruises had reduced only slightly, but still noticeably. Across the hall to the left was where Prof Booker lived and always had his girlfriend Findley, affectionately dubbed Fin, over. There were plenty of jokes thrown around about the Dorms being a halfway house for troubled youth. It only got worse when Callum Branson and Oliver Tomlinson started hanging around in everyone’s rooms despite having their own homes and families to return to, and Prof’s cousins joined up as well. The younger members of the crew steadily grew.

The nicknames came first, courtesy of the two youngest and most obnoxious snakes in the crew. Decky Boaz was Boa, Sonny went by Sunshine despite being anything but, Callum became Ransom the collector, Oliver’s affinity for fire and liquor got him dubbed Molotov within six hours of meeting. Molotov's adoptive brother Chase became known as TNT for his explosive temper. Ducaleon and Dolce Booker became Duke and Dutchess. Jonie’s horrible sense of humor had him dubbed as Jokes, while Maliq’s propensity for fighting and enforcement had the boys slapping him with Creed. After that it was all they were known as, and the crew quickly became their own dysfunctional family with interwoven dynamics and relationships.

Creed continued to do his duty as diligently as always, and aside from some close calls the next few years were steady. He continued to check in on his mom with Jokes and eventually she was able to find her way out of her depressive rut. Any time he wasn’t spending directly with his crew went into helping his mother rebuild the way he and Jokes had been able to help each other when their support network disappeared. Kamilla got back to work at the Edge, bartending now that she struggled to find passion but happy with her ability to get back to work all the same. She started being the one to cook again and invite them and the rest of the crew over for a meal every now and then. Creed was starting to feel great, his best friend was still always at his side, his mother had a spark back in her soul, and his crew was a well-found family. Everything was good.

Until the Fear Gorta started puffing out their chests and stepping onto Serpent territory. He was fourteen and a half when they hit his corner and his world exploded into chaos. He and Jokes protected each other’s backs but they couldn’t get to the others, and by the time they were being shoved into the back of a paddy wagon Prof was being lifted into an ambulance with his wrist cuffed to the gurney. Prof’s cousins Duke and Dutchess had just disappeared in the distance when Ransom got tossed in, grinning bloody at the officer that did the tossing, his hand in a temporary brace. According to him, one of the Gorta had been aiming a bat at Dutchess’ head and he intercepted it just in time and then worked with Duke to get Dutchess away safe when they heard the sirens. When prodded for more information, the boy went tight-lipped and curled over his injured hand for the rest of the ride while realization dawned on the crew and they made light of the situation by teasing Ransom for being whipped.

Sonny and Boaz becoming sexually active had been one of the worst things in the dorm boy’s lives, what with how close everyones quarters were, and Creed was almost relieved when his and Jonie’s cell was all the way at the other end of the corridor. Poor Prof got crammed into the cell with Decky and Sonny, so it was either a blessing or a curse that the two younger boys usually shared a bed anyways. After the initial retaliation at the beginning of their stint, most of their time was spent keeping their heads down and going to visitation. After Boaz got stabbed, every one of them was spending more time crammed together into one cell, and just like in the dorms there was plenty of good mood upheld between them. Juvie wouldn’t break the likes of them.[/hider]

[hider=Freedom to Present]When they got out, after Boa’s anticlimactic reunion with Hard Times at the party, things went back to normal for Creed as he fell back into fighting at The Pit, running the drugs, being the muscle, and ignoring his P.O.’s warnings about skipping school. That poor lady was too overworked to actually even check on him most times. He made extra money on the side winning fights to pay for Jokes’ ridiculous concert obsession that the other boy dragged him along to every time.

It was September of his Senior year and he was dealing at a Northie party when one Natalia Belmonte- Junior, athletic, Northie, [i]flexible[/i]- caught his eye. He didn’t make too much that night, and he definitely paid for it later, but it was the start of an amazing relationship between not just the two of them, but eventually Jokes as well. Boa and Hard Times were jumped out- for very different reasons- around the same time that Creed started seeing Natalia, and Creed is ashamed to admit he let the black sheep slip out of his mind once he was no longer a Serpent. He was always more of Boa’s friend, his vouch, never really finding his place among his Serpent brothers. Natalia and Jokes took up much of his time during the school year, and Creed even had the odd experience of meeting Mr. Belmonte and gaining his approval. Despite having ended the relationship for Nat’s safety nine months in when the streets started to get a little too hot, Creed and Jokes still love the Belmonte girl and will run to her if needed. Those nine months were some of the happiest both of them had been since their family had been whole.

He was working the corner when word about the shooting reached them, and all the Serpents around made their way into the den to watch the news as the victims- both injured and worse- poured across the screen. He watched Sunshine willingly go Northside for the first time ever in order to rush to the hospital to watch over Boa while Creed and the rest of the Haze/Carlisle crew made their way to Phil’s just over the tracks, knowing the man would be the one to make the arrangements for young Danny Boaz. 

Creed spent a lot of time after Boaz left town picking Sunshine up from wherever he had passed out and getting him to bed in his new Lost Souls apartment, once again across the hall from Creed and Jokes but now much emptier. Creed watched with Prof, Fin,  and Jokes as their younger crewmates fell apart, calmly collecting them and putting them back together until they stopped breaking so often. Even once out of the Serpents, the Boaz brothers had been an integral part of their family and lives. When everyone else had been put back together, Creed and Jokes would hold each other in the quiet and dark and finally allow themselves to break too.

He’s spent the last year as the reigning Serpent Champion at The Pit and enforcing for Ransom while he does his collections. The letters and Boa’s return, Natalia coming back into their lives, all the fallout from that…it was unfortunate but true that it was just another day in Edenridge to him. He was there to clean up the messes that come after. His most recent job however has been to keep an extra eye on a certain Serpent royal and her son, and to protect them however he needs to. After having worked to settle his crew’s chaos once more, he was more than willing to put his focus into something new.[/hider]
[/indent]
[color=104E09]Family[/color]
[indent][center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/981a9496-6f21-404f-bd10-ee08af865f6e.jpg[/img]
[color=d3baff]Jonie "Jokes" Kraeter- Soul Brother[/color] - Age 21 - FC: Booboo Stewart
[color=732eeb]Tama "Thunder" Kraeter [i]nee Namasket[/i][/color] - Second Mother - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Q'orianka Kilcher
[color=2d9c21]Kamilla "Caramel" Briteson [i]nee Grayson[/i][/color] - Biological Mother - Age 40 - FC: Lisa Bonet
[color=b7a929]Quintel "Intel" Briteson[/color] - Biological Father - Forever 33 (would've been 42) - FC: Lakieth Stanfield
[color=2e9feb]Zeti "Slick" Kraeter[/color] - Second Father - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Ludi Lin[/center][/indent]
[color=104E09]Misc.[/color]
[indent]Jordan Calloway | [color=104E09]104E09[/color]
Theme Song is [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjnPHjsVncs&ab_channel=ThaRealness]That's Love by Oddisee[/url]
[list][*]Creed is an exceptional fighter, and helped teach most of the current Serpents below him how to fight with actual form.
[*]Creed and Jokes have always been in a relationship without actually being in one. Many times this has become an issue with someone else Creed would see, and he still doesn't quite understand the jealousy.
[*]Despite being the fighter, Creed's a nurturer at heart and will always check up on his Serpent brothers and sisters.
[*]The second most levelheaded of the Crew after Prof.
[*]Always down for a little fun despite being one of the mature ones.[/list]
[/indent][/hider]