Bruno Pegul's Questionnaire

New York, New York! Greatest City in the World!!!! My apartment is nothin' too special. My capo set me up in a rent controlled, cause he knew a guy that was datin some girl who's grandpa died but the girl had the contract moved to her name a few years earlier to handle the finances. Anyway it's fine, and I've got a couple loose floorboards I can move to stash some extra nades I brough home after a job. It's just a one bedroom, but I got a few boys to help me load up a massive flat screen into the main room. It almost takes up the whole wall, it's sick!! Great for watching the fights!

I work for the family, so they pay me. [Intimidation, murder, and protection for a mafia crime family] It feels like all my money goes to booze and chicks. Every sunday I'm strapped for cash again, even when Capo gives me a stack on friday. For big things, I just tell Capo what I want. And a while later he calls me to send me to pick it up sometimes with the help of some associates. [Boss withholds some salary from the weekly cash to save up for the big expense.] The best was this awesome TV, it takes up the entire wall.

I failed to protect my charges. The whole family was killed just because they were vampires. I saw them greet the sun as I drove up for my guard shift. I can't save them, or all the other people that will be killed just because they're different or "scary". But I can sure as shit avenge them, by killing those bastards hunting them. How could I not kill while doing this? And I don't see any other way this ends than in my death, unless I just live forever.

[Bruno doesn't care about killing monsters in his way either. If the contract is kill this monster, then that's just another job. The ambition is specifically around avenging monsters killed just because they were monsters. It's the xenophobic killings that he wants to avenge.]

Going out partying with Marcus. It was my first weekend guarding the vamps, and I was on edge all week. Everyone's heard all the stories about vampires, so I was worried they'd go berserk if there was any blood around or the just got hungry or didn't like me or whatever. Marcus was going out though, and the other new guy asked me to go with them as backup. I went and after a bit started partyin too since I wasn't working. Spending that night goin wild with Marcus, I realized he's just a normal guy, it doesn't matter that he's a vampire or anything. He's just a person. That changed my entire view on the vamp family, and I quickly grew to know the people they actually were instead of the monsters I assumed they would be. Now I know all society's "monsters" are actually just people.

Capo Demetri Como is my capo in the family. He pays me, gives me jobs, and generally coordinates most of the stuff going on in my life. He's real busy, so I don't see him or chat too much, but he's real helpful.

Umberto "Bert" Adamo is my best friend. He's another soldier in the family working for Demetri. He got added to guard duty for the vamps a few months after I did, so I introduced him and showed him the ropes. Since then we hit it off, and have asked Demetri to assign us to work together when possible. He's a solid guy, about as big as I am, and incredibly loyal.

Mama Irma Galli is my gramma. She seems to still think I'm 12 and has no clue what I actually do for work. It can be a nice change of pace to visit her and chat and pretend I'm just a stupid kid.

My early life was pretty normal. I grew up in a large Italian family. My mom and dad had some boring office jobs. They'd occasionally point out the building they worked in, but it never seemed that important to me. My extended family was large, but it always felt like they never quite understood me.

I went to a standard public school. If we'd lived somewhere else I woulda played football, but as it was the mafia family immediately pulled me into their orbit as a large intimidating Italian kid. I always fit in there because they wanted me to feel like I was part of the family. After my sophomore year that was basically no question of what I would do with my life. I was clearly going to be an associate with the mafia until I was made, then just work on rising up the ranks. I never really noticed or paid attention to the other kids outside of this circle.

Pfft no, who would actually be in love? What's the point? I dated some in highschool, but I eventually realized you don't actually need to do all that relationship stuff. You can just hook up with random chicks. Now I just go out with Bert and the boys whenever we have a day off. Going to bars and clubs, playin pong, dancing, and trying to hook up.

The longest talk I had with Capo was about this too. He said not to worry about relationships and just live right now. When I pointed out that he was married, he said to wait until I was at least 35 before trying to settle down.

My biggest fears are failing the family and being exiled. I've seen death and been threatened and attacked. I don't fear death. But being cast out of the family and alone with no one is terrifying. I'd still have Mama Irma, but she barely knows how old I am. I don't know where I'd go, or what I'd do without the family to have my back.

Another related fear is that I'm also not sure what would happen to me if I ever got caught by the law and jailed. If the family couldn't get me out of trouble, I'd probably be stuck and cast out, so I couldn't drag anyone else down with me, not that I ever would. I definitely can't be captured by the cops, I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory to live on forever in the stories than quietly rot away in a cell.

[The mafia has purposefully limited Bruno's social circle and experience to only include other members of the mafia. Making their social circles and approval the only worthwhile social experiences for him. He's been fully pyschologically manipulated into counting the family as the sole source of meaning and validation in his life.]

My massive flat screen TV. Because it's awesome and fucking huge! It was also a blast trying to get it up the stairs and into the apartment. I don't know how we actually managed any of it, but Bert, me, and a few other random associates carried this thing up 8 flights of stairs then wedged it through all the building doorways. I don't even know how that's possible since I think it's taller than the door. Maybe Capo got me a magic TV, but it fit somehow and still fills up the entire wall of my apartment. Bert and I yelled at those fuckin associates all afternoon to not damage the TV, then when we finally got it up and mounted we pretended we were kicking them out before we could watch anything on it, just to mess with them.

It's also wild that I just have grenades and C4, but I haven't ever actually had to use them.