── basics.
Full Name: Finnley Thomas Brooks
Nicknames: Finn, Finnster
Pronouns and Gender: He/Him, Cis Male
Age and Birthday: 33 years old, February 13th
Zodiac: Aquarius Sun, Leo Rising, Gemini Moon
Birth place: Arkansas, grew up in Salem, Massachusetts
Sexuality: Demiromantic Heterosexual
Status: Taken by @madiiscn
Occupation: Tidal Wave Music Shop/Newly a Freelance Photographer (worked at All Nighter from December 2022 to September 2023)
Education: BFA in Photography complete as of winter 2024
Residence: Ocean Crest Apartments
Time in Aurora Bay: 2 years (since December 2022)
Family: Thomas Brooks, Lilian Rose, Chloe Brooks (deceased)
Face claim: Devon Bostick
tw substance abuse, mental health issues, chronic illness, child abandonment, suggested infidelity
── history.
Finnley cannot say the childhood he had was a difficult one. It could have been easier, but for the most part it wasn’t terribly difficult. It is what he tells himself when he thinks about the golden grasses of Kansas, his father’s protective love, and the teen sister he lost when he was just six years old. He hardly remembers it, anyway. Just that his suit was too itchy and hot, and how his mother scolded him for getting his snot and tears all over it.
And the arguments all sounded like television static in his memories - he even barely recalls sitting at the top of the staircase to listen to the very last time his mother dropped him at his dad’s house for the weekend. What remained a vivid memory was the one of his mother who abandoned them in the endless pursuit of a high to numb the pain of loss with a man that little Finnley never would have called even ‘step-dad’.
By his eighth birthday his father scooped him up and relocated to Salem, Massachusetts, moving in with family residing in the outskirts of the New England tourist trap. The custody battle was an easy one to win, so all connections with his mother ceased to exist instantly. With the agreement to not have visitations came the loss of child support, but his father’s side of the family helped with financial struggles. Though his father never kept any letters she sent from him, Finn buried the unopened envelopes in an old chest under his bed. His youth did not mean he was blind to the error in her ways, and he held onto a grudge throughout his life for the woman who destroyed his father’s heart.
Once Finn hit his teen years, the downtown life of Salem provided plenty of opportunities for him to develop a love for history, especially the darker parts of it left out in general education. It also spiked a love for the occult, not that he practiced anything or fully immersed himself in the world of witchcraft and tumbled stones, but Halloween easily became his favorite time of year while he lived there. He worked in shops downtown, performed in skits of historical events, and inevitably became a tour guide for the area.
Finn’s love for history expanded, and he began to dive into books depicting information about the United States first, until he moved onto important events and everything that happened throughout the world.
When high school graduation started to approach, he looked into colleges, hopeful to pursue a degree in history. It came with great disappointment when his father had to give him the bad news that it could not be financially covered. With grades that weren’t exactly stellar, and a truancy streak, his options for scholarships were nearly nonexistent.
This resulted in Finn pursuing an associate’s degree in community college. Financial aid covered the costs, and it was a place for him to start. It also gave him time to try and save money for a four-year school and improve his grades to reapply for scholarships. This is also where he picked up a minor in photography after an elective course taught him the basics on the ‘golden rule’ and composition.
Online courses here and there sped up the process, offering him credits to transfer when he settled on Rutgers University for his bachelor’s degree with a major in photography. Due to tight finances, he did have to stop pursuing history as an area of study, but he kept with it as a hobby. He worked hard despite feeling run down from his studies and the physical and mental strain from his jobs.
Finnley graduated community college at twenty years old, hopeful for his future, and one and a half years following he walked onto that New Jersey campus with his head held high. It was in November of his first semester that the fatigue worsened. He struggled to keep going, sometimes suffered dizzy spells that kept him planted in his seat, and on occasion was too weak to even stand himself up. A day came when he could not even push himself from the mattress in his dorm room.
When Finn bounced back it was gradual, and it was assumed to be just stress and exhaustion from being overworked. Come spring, it happened again, and it was a worse episode of chronic fatigue accompanied with tingling in his extremities.
Several doctors’ visits, a couple of MRI scans, and a diagnosis later, Finnley learned he had multiple sclerosis. Dropping out of school temporarily at twenty-two to get a handle on it had been his first step, before he would go into the next year. He could not complete the spring semester which put him behind but adjusting to this curve ball life had thrown him was his priority. The second one was the medical costs maintaining it, and how it took a hit against his future.
Medication was expensive, and his father did not have the greatest of insurance plans to cover more of the costs, so Finn was back to trying to earn money back in Salem. Except he had to fall back on less physically demanding jobs. It knocked the wind out of his sails, and he almost immediately lost any hope in returning to Rutgers to finish his degree.
It was three years down the road he received a letter from an unknown address. It was from his mother who was in a rehab in Hartford, recovering from her addictions and reaching out to establish contact. At first it was tossed away until several more followed suit in the mail, and he’d come to learn his mother remarried to someone wealthy. It definitely wasn’t the man she ran off with, but someone older than her by at least fifteen years, and with a promise of keeping clean and practically begging him for an answer it clicked that maybe… he could play his cards right.
Finn responded one day, establishing a line of communication, and then he gave details on his situation. His medical diagnosis, his incomplete schooling, and financial struggles. That made it easy when he asked for funding to return to school. She obliged almost immediately as a means to get her son back. Of course, Finn never told his father, and to keep Lillian from coming around Salem Finn decided to transfer his credits and hop on over to the west coast. Far away from Hartford, and away from his mother.
This does not mean he doesn’t reach out to her and let her know how he’s doing, and there is no guilt in the matter. Her financial support begins and ends at tuition and supply costs, and as for his rent and day to day expenses such as food and medication. Finn works for that on his own. It’s how he ended up in Aurora Bay, a returning photography student halfway through his junior year with a new sense of hope and promise.
── personality.
Finn likes to think he has the ability to light up a room with his commentary, but his charm is an acquired taste, and the things he finds are interesting to speak about aren’t always everyone’s cup of tea. That being said, he will go on tangents about a relevant historical fact, or he can be guilty of singing you a little tune (off-key) if something in the moment prompts a lyric to jump to the forefront of his mind. The occasional serenading is reserved for those he likes most.
He doesn’t run entirely unpredictable in any other manner, though, just in the things he can say. He knows he’s smart, too, and that can give him somewhat of a pretentious air, but if you’re on the right side of him, he won’t talk down but rather find the patience to explain something thoroughly. Finn doesn’t chase ambitions nor does he have dreams bigger than life, but he does function best with a goal in mind.
Finn can put his whole attention into you, and in the blink of an eye, move on to the next thing, his loyalty something that is inspired to appear in flashes. However, if you have him, there is no question about it as he makes it very apparent that his flighty tendencies don’t apply to you.
── headcanons.
1. finn is sober, by choice. he fears to have the same addictive tendencies as his mother so he just avoids alcohol consumption and drug use altogether. never has he tried anything, and he doesn’t intend to. 2. finn is allergic to cats and guinea pigs. 3. although it’s never been proven as finn would rather live in ignorant bliss, there is suspicion the man who raised and loved him is not his biological father. aside from the fact they look nothing alike and finn overheard him talking to his grandparents, the assurance of ‘he is my boy no matter what’ gave finn enough to never need to know the answer. 4. finn has one little 1692 tattoo in the bend of his left elbow. 5. other than photography and puzzle books, finn does bird watch because it is calm and peaceful. it’s also an opportunity to snap some pictures. 6. tied in with his love of history is all things of the occult. he loves hard facts, but touching on astrology, alchemy and natural magic in the historical concept it fun for him. 7. his favorite movie growing up was Stand By Me, and he loved listening to Aerosmith & AC/DC with his dad. 8. finn never learned how to swim.
── current connections.
♡ @luckylewis- close friend, neighbor, fellow concert-goer, and late night partner in crime that menace the local Walmart. ♡ @darcyxanthonyx - little sister figure, close friend and confidante. ♡ @madiiscn - classmate, peer, and hook up, now his girlfriend of over a year. ♡ @jordanmitchell - fellow ocean crest resident, friend, and fun flirtationship. ♡ @jamesonxcassidy - neighbor and close friend. ♡ @emersonxcassidy - little sister figure, fellow book lover and mother hen to their gang of friends. ♡ @cricketcampbell - fellow member of the ‘mommy issues club’ and tejas cantina terrorizer. i.e. they make bets and loser drinks salsa. ♡ @wesxevans - old friends from salem, ma. turned guidance figure. ♡ @thewrenxharlow - ocean crest neighbor and ex-friend with benefits, now coworker.
── connection ideas.
These are silly, just to get some off brand connection ideas brewing.
♡ photography critic - finn has a focus in darker subjects and surrealism, someone who might be a commenter on his photo insta
♡ student - finn may have graduated, but he's got smarts. and maddie still attends college, so easy line there. he can tutor for extra cash.
♡ bird watching buddy - finn enjoys bird watching. finn would like someone he can birdwatch with. this can also veer off into the town goose incident survivors. i.e. they got to close to a canada goose and learned their lesson fast.
♡ is that your cat? - maybe ocean crest has a stray that wanders, and everyone feeds it, but it doesn't belong to anyone. finn thinks that cat is your muse's, and he is allergic and often picks a fight with you over your cat roaming freely in and around the building. taken by @carinaferren
♡ trivia rivals - finn doesn't go to the bar to drink, but you bet he will show up for trivia. he also takes trivia very seriously. that's your warning.
♡ general ideas - customers at tidal wave, neighbors at ocean crest, old classmates, old regulars at the all nighter diner, photography class rivals, those who commission him for photos.
── locations finn frequents.
⋆ ★ oceania book shop ⋆ ★ tidal wave music ⋆ ★ aurora bay library ⋆ ★ aurora bay art museum ⋆ ★ sharky's ⋆ ★ all nighter diner ⋆ ★ driftwood coffee ⋆ ★ haven pharmacy ⋆ ★ luxe crystal shop ⋆ ★ melodies ⋆ ★ tejas cantina ⋆ ★ sea shanty shack
── links.
pinterest: [ here ] top 25 songs: [ here ] playlist about finn: [ here ] inspo/about finn tag: [ here ] connections page [ here ]
@aurorabayaesthetic
