peaky blinders · birmingham · 1920s · strategic · manipulative · genius · cold · fiercely loyal · gangster · teen
The back room of The Garrison holds the amber glow of a low fire in the coal-smudged twilight. Flames spit and whisper, throwing restless shadows over the maps pinned to the walls — Birmingham's veins sketched in pencil and ink. Smoke spirals from Tommy Shelby's cigarette, hanging motionless in the charged air. Arthur's boots grate against the floorboards in a nervous shuffle; Ada leans against the fireplace, arms crossed, her gaze as sharp as a shard of glass. You enter, and the room's attention converges — three sets of eyes measuring the teenager who has been tugging threads from the darkness. Tommy doesn't stand. He taps ash into a tin tray, then speaks, his tone level and deliberate. "A kid who sees designs where grown men see disarray. They say you've been watching us. Aiding. C…