i , too , am a romantic

— and i mean i never expected to survive this long.

[funkymysteries]

at long last … it’s MORGAN HOWARD !

→ 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪.

morgan roberta was the golden child of the howard family. the oldest of four , and from the moment her dad laid eyes on her , the apple of robert howard’s eye.

maria , morgan’s mother , was the ceo of a major investment bank. her father ( robert ) was a very well respected ( and sometimes feared ) prosecutor for the queens district attorney’s office. he would often bend ( and break ) the rules to get convictions , always motivated by a sincere desire to see justice done. he was difficult to work with , but he got the job done.

her parents were workaholics , and morgan looked up to them both , but she spent most of her childhood following her dad around , watching him work in his office , wanting nothing more than to be just like him.

school was always kind of boring — she was a brilliant kid , and could excel with the least amount of effort. she’d get in trouble for being a smartass and talking back to her teachers — she had absolutely no regard for authority , and walked around with an air of entitlement and superiority that she carried into adulthood. she was oppositional. defiant. confrontational. argumentative.

believing she was smarter than everyone else ( which , more often than not , was true ) , meant that morgan didn’t have a lot of friends in high school. her best friend was someone she met through her father , someone who didn’t even go to the same school as her — ava burns.

when ava called her saying she wanted to get out of the house for a few hours , morgan found a party in manhattan where they could just have a good time for a few hours. neither of them expected the night to end so horribly.

several things changed after that. robert requested a transfer to manhattan , which was a great opportunity for him , but it also meant he could work closer to home , closer to his daughter. morgan , 16 at the time , found herself smuggling some scotch out of her father’s liquor cabinet more and more often , just looking for something that could help her forget. it became a habit.

she repressed everything that happened and just worked on graduating , making it through college , getting into law school. she mastered the art drinking on the job. she was always functional , and always just a little bit intoxicated. just enough to take the edge off.

she majored in political science at nyu , and went to columbia law school , refusing to leave the city that was so much a part of her.

robert’s campaign for district attorney flashed a spotlight on the howard family — morgan’s drinking problem only got worse , but she was good at hiding it from her parents , and her siblings , and the media. 

she was haunted by one fear — disappointing her parents , mainly her father. she always had to prove she was not only good enough to follow in his footsteps , but better than everyone around her. everything came crashing down when she flunked the bar exam by failing to even show up , caught up in a stress-induced drinking binge.

so robert made a deal with her — his relationship with alcohol wasn’t the healthiest either ; he saw his own self-destructive tendencies reflected in his daughter , and decided to put a stop to it. they both quit drinking.

six months later , her six-month chip tucked into her pocket like a good luck charm , morgan took ( and passed ) the bar exam.

and then , she got what she always wanted — a job in the manhattan da’s office. it became clear to everyone , just a short time after she became a prosecutor , that she was just like her father. ruthless. fearless. she knew where and how to apply pressure to get the outcome she wanted. she was still young , but she was already expected to become district attorney one day.

a few years later , morgan kissed that dream goodbye.

lawyers often talked about the case that made their careers — morgan was facing down the one that would end it. it seemed like an open-and-shut case , at least that’s how it looked for everyone else , but morgan wasn’t convinced. her boss ( her father ) , pushed her to get a conviction , but morgan couldn’t do it.

and then robert got sick. liver cancer. he kept the secret from everyone until he couldn’t. he was forced to retire.

her father on his death bed , morgan agonized over the task at hand. unable to convince herself that the man she was forced to try was guilty , she flubbed it. practically handed the case over to the defense. to this day , she doesn’t know if the defendant was guilty or not. she denies losing on purpose.

the defense attorney , however , caught on. they shook hands after the verdict. “ we could use more people like you on our side. ”

after that , she knew she couldn’t stay. the weight of her failure , her father’s disappointment , as well as a newly-instilled mistrust in the criminal justice system were too much. so she resigned. it didn’t take long for bayard ellis , the man she lost her last case to , gave her a call.

she knew most people in her life wouldn’t approve — starting with her father. but she had nothing to lose anymore. she never saw herself becoming a defense attorney , and yet , here she is.

→ 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪.

you guys know morgan.

[funkymysteries]

i want to see my little boy ... it’s DOMINICK “ SONNY ” CARISI JR !

→ 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪.

dominick carisi jr was born into a big italian family in staten island , new york.

he’s the youngest of four , meaning he’s still his ma’s baby. even if he’s in his 30s.

from a young age , all he wanted was to be good. plain and simple. he wanted to do as he was told , to be nice , to be liked.

coming from a traditional , roman catholic household , to him , the epitome of goodness was the church. like all the boys in his extended family , he was an altar boy. for a while , he wanted to become a priest.

as a kid, he just wanted to have a lot of friends. he tried so hard. so hard that he ended up just kind of pushing people away , because he was a little over - eager. so his best friend was really his mom , who’d do anything to protect her son from any sort of heartbreak.

he was always a bit of a pushover. he was lanky , awkward , and eager to please. which meant that those kids who were bigger and stronger than him could take advantage of him easily.

on one occasion , he was bullied and pushed out of a window by another kid , and he didn’t do anything about it. he never told anyone ( and he regrets it to this day ).

high school came and went , he made a few friends , but none particularly close. he was generally liked , but over all just kind of average.

the dream of becoming a priest had died long ago , he wanted to be good , but priesthood came at much to high a cost. so what was another way he could help people around him ? be a friendly presence , protect his community ?

he decided to become a cop. he got his criminal justice degree , and joined the nypd.

he started as a patrol officer in staten island. he fumbled his way up to detective. homicide. he was dealing with some of the most gruesome crimes possible ( or so he thought at the time ). and yeah , they were horrible. but some cases just hit him harder. some cases just stuck with him , haunted him , shook him to his very core.

he realized he could do more to help. to do good.

so he transferred to staten island svu , but that still wasn’t enough. he’d always get frustrated when they investigated a case , handed it over to the a.d.a. , but then for some reason or another , justice wasn’t served. whenever a a perp he knew was guilty was acquitted , he felt helpless.

the solution ? become a lawyer. he started going to law school at night , using all that knowledge to become a better cop.

he didn’t last long in staten island svu , just about two months. he was never the most tactful , he was still a little too rough. he was a good detective , extremely observant , often picking up on details his colleagues missed. but working homicide meant he rarely got to work with live victims. victims who were often traumatized , who could be easily triggered , who needed a gentle hand guiding them through the process of an investigation.

sonny wasn’t really that person , and no one had the patience to work with him until he became that person. so they passed him along to brooklyn svu , where he worked for almost a month. that wasn’t a great fit either , so they chucked him over to queens svu , where he only lasted a week.

then , he made it to manhattan svu , where he started out a little rough , but that was the place where he finally reined in his impulses , learned how to be gentler.

he passed the bar exam in 2016 , and for a moment , he considered leaving svu to pursue a law career , become a prosecutor. but he felt like he could do more as a detective. so for the time being , he’s just a cop with more knowledge of the law than the average detective.

i’m pretty sure i’ve mentioned most of what’s on his wiki page , but just in case here !!

→ 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪.

that’s it , that’s all you need to know about him.

in all seriousness , all sonny really wants is to do good. to be good. he wants to help people , he wants to be liked and loved.

that desire to be liked makes him a little pushy sometimes. he wants to help , but doesn’t realize when his help isn’t really wanted.

he tends to offer a lot of unsolicited advice , and is too oblivious sometimes to realize when it’s not really appreciated.

believes people are good at heart. and still struggles to wrap his head around some of the horrible crimes he’s witnessed.

he’s the kid whose been around most of nypd’s special victims units , voted mostly likely to end a business call with “ i love you ” , the one who runs like a baby giraffe.

he’s still a good catholic boy. he prays regularly , goes to mass , confesses his sins. he knows the catholic church is far from perfect , but what he believes in is greater than the church as an institution.

very much a momma’s boy. even though he lives in manhattan now , he still travels to visit his mom several times a week , and they talk on the phone every day.

he’s a great cook. he loves to cook big meals for all his friends , and shows up to work with baked goods on a regular basis.

he’s an avid reader. loves classic literature , and will reread his favorite books often.

big bisexual disaster !

loves memes !

sagittarius !

his pinterest board is over here !!

[funkymysteries]

watch out ... it’s ALEXANDRA CABOT !

→ 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪.

alexandra cabot was born into a very privileged household. her parents doted on her , and were there to support her in whatever she wanted to do.

the cabots were an old money family , comfortably settled in upstate new york. money was never an issue for young alex.

her parents instilled in her an unwavering self-respect ( that grew to the point of arrogance ) , that was intimidating to her peers. growing up , alex didn’t have a lot of friends , but that didn’t bother her too much.

she focused all her energy into excelling at school. she strived to be the best. not the best she could be , simply the best.

having a lot of time on her hands , she joined as many extracurriculars as she could ( those always looked great on college applications , too ). national honor society , model united nations , debate team , chinese club , environmental club , gay-straight alliance ( she always knew she wasn’t straight ) , mock trial team , student government ( despite not being the most popular , she was persuasive enough to convince her classmates to vote her class president her final three years of high school ). she was an editor for her school newspaper , played the clarinet in the school band , she even joined the chess club.

when the time came to apply for college , there wasn’t a doubt in alex’s mind that she would get into harvard. and she did. she graduated at the top of her class ( and had all the right connections , not that she had to use them in this case ) , so she knew getting in would be a breeze.

she was a history major before acing the lsat and getting into harvard law ( that was always the end goal ).

being accepted into law school was the easy part. getting through it , not so much.

the pressure of always being on top and exceeding everyone’s expectations ( mainly her own ) was too much to handle , and alex was prone to bouts of anxiety and nights without sleep. once she was officially diagnosed with anxiety and insomnia , she was prescribed with the medication to handle it.

after she graduated , she moved back to new york , where she worked as a law clerk while preparing to take the bar. once she passed it , she worked for a private firm , building up her resume. it was fine , but the stakes weren’t high enough. she needed a bigger challenge. so she pursued a job in the district’s attorney’s office.

she had all the right connections , sure. her uncle was a judge and her godmother an assistant district attorney , but once she got to work , she made it her mission to prove to everyone that she wasn’t there because she knew the right people , but because she deserved it. shortly after becoming and a.d.a. , she was assigned to the special victim’s unit.

she was still relatively green , but what she lacked in experience , she made up for in spunk. she was bold to the point of insolence , which earned her a few enemies.

you can read about alex’s years since becoming an a.d.a. here ( but ignore anything related to conviction. i haven’t seen conviction , and therefore will not acknowledge it ).

however, if you want a brief summary : she was shot , faked her death , spent some time in witsec , came back , put her “ murderer ” in jail , went back to work , took a leave of absence to prosecute sex crimes in war-torn areas , and then returned to the da’s office.

afer a particularly devastating loss in the courtroom , alex retired from the da’s office and joined a secret organization that helped battered women get away from their husbands. she was frustrated with the inefficiency of the criminal justice system , and wanted to do more.

still , it wasn’t enough. alex realized that she could do more if she went back into the courtroom. keeping her less-than-legal work a secret , she went back to the da’s office , back to her old job. this time even more dauntless than before.

she knows the system is flawed , which is why she’s not above bending the law in cases where she considers it necessary to protect victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. all for the greater good.

→ 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪.

first thing’s first : alexandra cabot is a lesbian and i will fight anyone who says otherwise.

she’s a gemini.

contrary to popular belief , she’s not an emotionless , ice queen bitch. she feels very intensely , she’s just very skilled at keeping those feelings contained , hidden behind a stoic mask. when she explodes , however , watch out.

she has a strong moral compass , but her views have strayed from the black-and-white vision of the world she had in her younger years. same thing goes for her strict code of legal ethics. she’s realized that some things are more important than upholding the law to the letter.

she’s always had a taste for the finer things. classical music , expensive clothes , fine wine.

intensely competitive. if that wasn’t obvious from the everything about her. her competitive streak got her to where she is , but it’s also cost her friends in the past.

staunch feminist , obviously.

her pinterest board is here !

[funkymysteries]

here she comes ... it’s BEATRIZ GARCÍA !

→ 𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪.

( tw : very brief & vague mention of attempted sexual assault )

beatriz was born in san juan , puerto rico , the youngest of two siblings. her older brother is riker’s c.o. eddie garcía , but they weren’t raised together.

the reason for that being that bea was not planned , about 15 years younger than eddie , and their mother , carmen garcía , didn’t have the money to raise two kids.

bea’s father , guillermo sandoval ( not eddie’s father ) , was an old flame of carmen’s she reunited with during a holiday visit to puerto rico. when he learned of her pregnancy , he jumped at the opportunity to raise their child. he loved the idea of having a baby girl ( despite not being exactly ready for one , but more on that later ). so carmen went back to puerto rico , gave birth , and once she recovered enough to travel , went back to new york.

bea stayed with guillermo , who quicklly realized he wasn’t really fit to raise his daughter , so she was passed on to her grandmother , carmen’s mother.

guille didn’t exactly ghost , though. he was around , but he wasn’t so much a father as he was someone who would pick her up once every couple of weeks to take her to the park or get ice cream.

when bea was ten , her grandmother passed away. she was left with two options : she could stay in puerto rico and live with her dad , or she could make the move to the bronx , now that her older brother had his own job. and was out of the house

her parents let her choose , so she went with the latter.

she didn’t really know her mother and brother , so it took some time getting used to , but it was clear they all loved each other very much.

she and eddie don’t care about the fact that they don’t share a father ; that’s irrelevant to them. they’re siblings , simple as that , and they both use their mother’s last name.

eddie was very protective of his little sister , so bea grew up a bit on the sheltered side. this definitely made her a little naive , but that’s something that changed with time.

she had a lot of interests growing up , none of which really stuck. she would pick up hobbies , only to get bored shortly after. the only one she really maintained ( enough to consider making a career out of it ) was ballet.

all through middle school and high school , beatriz spent all her free time in the dance studio. the garcías didn’t have a lot of money , so bea helped around the studio in exchange for classes. she tutored kids at her school so she could pay for slippers , leotards , tights.

truth be told , she was never more than an okay dancer. she was good , just not great. not outstanding. kind of average. still , she loved it.

and then one day , she didn’t. just like every other hobby and obsession picked up in the past , eventually she lost interest.

she knew she wasn’t talented enough to “ make it ” as a ballerina , so why bother ? she stopped going to classes , donated her pointe shoes , and focused instead on graduating and going to college.

she was smart , always had been. she’d always been bookish ; whenever she wasn’t at the dance studio ( before giving up ballet , that is ) , she was at the library.

when college acceptance letters started rolling around , bea earned herself a full scholarship to hudson university.

she started out as an english major , but of course. she struggled to find something that truly called to her. she then changed her major to journalism. when she wasn’t so sure about that , she audited a few business courses. then she switched over to psychology.

like many of her classmates , she developed a little crush on one of her professors. he was young , he was hip , he rolled his eyes when he talked about freud. it was a completely harmless crush.

and then he asked her out on a date. he didn’t phrase it like that , but they both knew. and while she knew she should’ve said no , bea accepted. but then things took a turn she didn’t agree with , he got a little handsier than she was comfortable with , and before things got out of hand , she got herself out of there.

refusing to see herself as a victim , she didn’t do anything about it. didn’t report it , didn’t press charges , didn’t even tell anyone about what happened ( ‘ nothing even happened ’ , she would rationalize over and over again ).

needless to say , she dropped that course and changed her major once more. this was the last time.

criminal justice was a last-ditch effort to actually earn a degree. surprisingly , it worked out. she wasn’t sure it was her calling at first , but as she got herself through the police academy and her first few years as a cop , she started to feel like maybe this was what she was always meant to do.

once she made detective , she requested to be placed in the special victims unit right away. there wasn’t much thought put into the decision , it was more of a gut feeling. over time , she’s been learning to trust those more and more.

she’s been at svu for about three years now , learning that sometimes a “ calling ” isn’t so much a call , but more like a letter that gets lost in the mail and finally reaches you a few years later.

→ 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪.

some more facts about bea !!

she’s a libra !

she loves dogs , and would like every single dog in the world to know that she would absolutely die for them.

she has a bulldog named bustelo , he’s a rescue.

she can’t live without coffee , but she’ll avoid instant coffee whenever she can. she prefers to make it herself , so she usually brings a thermos into work.

she can make some fantastic coffee , but can’t cook to save her life. lives on takeout and ramen noodles.

loves big , oversized sweatshirts. as soon as she gets home from a long day at work, the first thing she does is strip down and slip into a nice , comfy , familiar sweatshirt.

she's not very good at following advice. but she’s also a libra , so she’s the kind of person who’ll ask for your opinion on something , kind of consider it , but ultimately go ahead with whatever she was thinking of doing in the first place , and then pretend to be shocked when her actions have consequences.

she can definitely be a little pretentious. definitely romanticizes things a lot.

kind of a hopeless romantic with commitment issues.

despite how dark and grim reality of her work , she’s a generally hopeful person. she still has faith in humanity.

big bisexual disaster.

here’s her pinterest board !!