(Samara Weaving, cis woman, she/her) Someone said they saw [RILEY O'CONNOR] around Rift Valley the night of Miles Logan’s murder. People are wondering if they had something to do with it. The [TWENTY-EIGHT] year old claims to be [LIVING IN CHICAGO] at the time of the murder. They are said to be [QUICK-WITTED], which can play to their innocence until you consider they are also [SELFISH]. But who knows if they are telling the truth? Rumor has it, they [ARE NOT] a witness in the investigation. Regardless, the [CIVILIAN] who happens to be the [RECEPTIONIST AT THE BEACH BUM LIFTS/ UNLICENSED HEALER/CON ARTIST ] is a suspect, but so is everyone else.
basics
Full name: Riley Brooklyn O’Connor Nickname(s): n/a Birthday: October 16th Age: Twenty-eight Zodiac sign: Libra Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee Gender: Cis woman Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Pansexual Occupation: Con artist, unlicensed healer, currently a receptionist at the Beach Bum Lifts Affiliation: Civilian Family: Charlotte O’Connor (mother, no contact), unknown father (no contact), Presley O’Connor (younger sister, currently no contact) Faceclaim: Samara Weaving Height: 5’6” Hair Colour: Blonde Eye Colour: Blue Tattoos: Multiple small tattoos on both of her hands, the ironically silly dreamcatcher on the left side of her ribcage, half-moon on her left ring finger Piercings: two piercings in each ear, three cartilage piercings in her left ear
bio
Growing up in a family where a bottle of the cheapest alcohol was more important than a bottle of milk was never easy. Ever since she was little, Riley saw nothing more than her mother‘s disdain for her daughters and the need to drown her demons in whatever choice of liquor she had that day. So it became normal for Riley to try and earn whatever she could in whatever way she could. When babysitting gigs were shut down briskly because who would ever allow an alcoholic‘s daughter to look after their precious angel, Riley knew she had to become more creative. Whilst she hoped that she did not take after her mother in terms of liquor and men taste, she knew she had inherited her looks, and she knew that she had to use it to her advantage. It was almost too easy to rope in schoolboys into her tactics, getting money out of them without really doing much. Then, it was too easy to go into the streets and manipulate people into feeling bad for her.
Whilst most of the money was still being taken back by her mother, Riley was doing okay ish. That is, at least, until one time when she was caught by certain unsavory people, who had clocked in her tactics and had threatened her for their share of her money. It was all about protection, all about using their streets, and in one single day, Riley was down everything that she had saved up. Scared to the ends of her hair, she knew she could no longer do what she did and had to go the legal way to obtain whatever money she could to support herself and her little sister.
That came in the shape of a diner, where she was hired to be a waitress shortly before she turned sixteen. The hours were gruelling, but her smile and ability to talk her way out-or into- of everything definitely helped her get as much in tips as she could. When her sister turned sixteen, Riley talked the owner into hiring her as well, allowing the two of them to work together and be as independent as they could.
Despite all that, Riley knew that this life really wasn’t what she wanted. It was a shock to many that she was actually good at school, excelling in biology, and when she expressed her dream to heal and become a doctor, her teachers weren’t all that surprised. Her exams went surprisingly well, and when a letter of acceptance came in, Riley was beyond herself with joy. Finally, she could be her own person and achieve the dreams she had!
Or so she thought.
When her mother stumbled across the acceptance letter, all hell broke loose. As far as she was concerned, Riley had no right to leave them behind because she was her property, she was not supposed to do better than her mother did. When things turned extremely sour and things broke, Riley left, leaving everything behind. Leaving her sister behind without so much as a goodbye.
If life was difficult before, it really turned sour. Having nothing to her name led to struggles, and having no parent come visit her to the dorms each time other students‘ families turned up hurt. But Riley knew that she had no time to wallow, instead focusing on her studies and doing everything she could to survive even when the debts piled up or when things got worse.
Finally, a ray of sunshine appeared in her life during her last year of studies. It was another student, one she hadn‘t noticed before, but who had certainly noticed her. He was sweet and kind, and whilst that pulled Riley to him, his wealth pulled her in even closer. She had no plans to be a gold digger, not when she actually liked the guy, and then slowly fell in love with him, but the cushiony life was an even further push. And when he proposed to her merely four months into dating, she knew the only answer to that was yes. Yes, much to his parents‘ dislike.
It was as if they could tell from the moment they laid their eyes on her what her intentions were. Granted, she knew it wasn‘t just love, but there was love, and when they began to threaten her the closer the wedding date approached, the more she knew that she had to do something about it. But every time she got frustrated, he was there to calm her down, assure her that his love for her was all she needed, and Riley melted at the mention of that. For once, it was great to be loved, even if that love came with certain conditions.
Still, all of it crashed down on her wedding day. Dressed in a stunning wedding dress, yet with none of her family present, Riley was met with a surprise when her soon-to-be husband and his parents barged into the room she was getting ready in. All of her history, painfully exaggerated yet painfully hidden and real was laid out right in front of her, down to the little scams she pulled when she was struggling for money. There was a pivotal mistake that Riley had made in hiding all of it from her soon-to-be husband, and as accusations came pouring down, she could see her failure in his eyes. Hurt and now realizing that his parents’ warning were real, he broke up with her then and there, refusing to even take another look at her. Left in her wedding dress and whatever stuff she had brought in, Riley was kicked out of the wedding venue, alone once more.
It would’ve been easy to break down. In a way she did, in the form of dropping out from college, unable to look anyone in the eye after everything that had gone down. With her dream gone, Riley had nothing to hold her back, and, purchasing a cheap car with the last of her money, she took off, hoping to find a better life somewhere, hoping to finally escape the nightmares that followed her so relentlessly, ironically eventually landing in a town with secrets far darker than she could imagine.
