Detectives have case files on SEYMOUR MORROW. It reads that they are a 45 year old CIS MAN. They had met Maddison Halles and they were AN ACQUAINTANCE. HE lives in THE LANE’S and works as THE OWNER OF MORROW’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, A FAMILY-RUN CURIOS, ANTIQUE AND COLLECTABLES SHOP LOCATED ON THE LANE’S. They can be considered PERCEPTIVE but also SECRETIVE. They couldn’t have possibly had anything to do with the disappearances…. could they?
GENERAL DETAILS.
FULL NAME: seymour edward morrow. NAME MEANING: of english origin, meaning "marshy land near the sea.” NICKNAME(S): monty, sy. AGE: forty-five years old. DATE OF BIRTH: october 5th, 1976. PLACE OF BIRTH: claybourne, pennsylvania. GENDER: cis man, he/him pronouns. ORIENTATION: bisexual and biromantic. OCCUPATION: owner of morrow’s cabinet of curiosities, a family-run shop full of eclectic curios, antiques, collectables, and no shortage of purportedly haunted items. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: lives alone in a cluttered little flat above his shop. too many books and shrivelled houseplants. never enough food or adequate lighting. FINANCIAL STATUS: middling, at best. he’s his own boss, but almost everything he earns goes back into keeping his shop -- and the family name, by extension -- afloat. SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english, french, latin.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, ETC.
FACECLAIM: hamish linklater. HAIR COLOR AND STYLE: short dark brown curls that haven’t seen a hairbrush in years (seymour has a perpetually bedraggled look about him; his hair is no exception.) SKIN TONE: pale, the complexion of a man who seldom sees the sun and spends 99% of his time working indoors. EYE COLOR: brown. HEIGHT: 6'3 WEIGHT: 77kg TATTOOS/PIERCINGS: n/a. CLOTHING STYLE: crumpled shirts. grandad sweaters. well-worn boots. a ring from his late father that never gets taken off. seymour prioritises comfort over style, always, and requires plenty of pockets to put useless little trinkets into -- just cosy, practical vibes tbh! DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: tall stature, dishevelled appearance.
PERSONALITY.
TRAITS: perceptive, indecisive, reclusive, bookish, secretive, weak-willed. INTERESTS: antiques, parapsychology, artefact conservation, gothic literature and ghost stories, history, unexplained phenomena, puzzle-solving. HABITS: talking to himself, rambling, nail biting, chewing the ends of pencils, disorganisation, irregular sleeping and eating patterns.
FAMILY.
MOTHER: nora mary morrow, née cooper, spiritualist medium, alive. FATHER: edward james morrow, television parapsychologist, deceased. SIGNIFICANT OTHER: n/a, to be plotted potentially! BEST FRIEND: n/a, to be plotted potentially! EXES: n/a, to be plotted potentially! SIBLING(S): one younger sister (with a wc to be created at a later date <3 ) CHILDREN: n/a,
SYNOPSIS.
- the morrow family are, by their own admission, a strange bunch. they wear their weirdness as a badge of honour, swift to call themselves out on their eccentricities before others get the chance to do so. taking away the satisfaction of an insult by insulting themselves first is their game plan -- but it hasn’t always come naturally, particularly to seymour. growing up, being a morrow was a cross to bear rather than something to be celebrated. his father was a renowned television host and parapsychologist, hosting a spate of his own shows where he investigated supposedly haunted buildings around the world, and his mother was a successful spiritualist medium in her own right. as a result of his parents professions, the morrow home was a pretty morbid place, full of supposedly haunted items and bizarre curios from their paranormal travels; regular seances were held; ghosts were treated as a casual part of life; weekends were often spent at cemeteries, trudging between moss and tombstones. it was an unconventional childhood, ghoulish in many ways, but it was also, for the most part, a happy one.
- the majority of seymour’s childhood was spent in his parents shop, the cabinet of curiosities, which, in forty-five years, has never once changed. it was his refuge, a place to go where he could be alone and surrounded by strange things that had the ability to make him feel less strange by comparison. school could be tough -- how couldn’t it be, with parents like his? -- and playground bullies had a field day with seymour. (even now, there’s a tendency to expect mockery, to flinch if a hand is raised. you never unlearn those things.)
- he inherited morrow’s cabinet of curiosities at twenty-five years old, after his father passed and his mother couldn’t bear to step inside the shop her late husband had cared so much for. he’s been its caretaker ever since -- and the caretaker of a freewheeling younger sister (wc to be written up at a later date!) who treats the shop as a playground and her brother as an amusement. how stressed can i make seymour today? is a beloved game of hers. the answer is always too stressed.
- seymour’s world is, and has always been, very small. he’s never left claybourne, and rarely ventures beyond the door of his workplace. he leads a quiet existence, and it’s one that’s earned him a reputation in claybourne of eeriness and an air of mystery. he isn’t half as morbid as his shop and surname would make him seem; it takes time for him to trust people but, his heart, once snared, has no limits. when he cares for someone, it’s for life.
- his connection with maddison was a loose one, consisting of times where he’d wearily have to deal with her and gaggles of her friends in the cabinet of curiosities if they came in to mess around with the stock. he’d never admit it, but he was more intrigued than saddened by her disappearance. her death came as a dull shock, but, given that he barely knew her, the grief was short-lived.
IN SUMMARY, seymour is the owner of a curiosity shop in the lane’s, which he inherited from his parents after his father passed and his mother couldn’t face going back there. the shop specialises in antiques and collectables, as well as celebrating all things paranormal. he’s lived in claybourne for his entire life, and has a reputation of being mysterious and strange but is actually just a misunderstood soft child <3
CONNECTION IDEAS.
friendships - seymour has lived in claybourne for his entire life, so childhood/school friends, family friends, best friends, are all possibilities! he’s a reclusive person, but when he opens his heart up to someone, it’s for life.
exes - again, seymour has lived in claybourne his entire life so relationships could’ve definitely been a thing. he’d most likely have only dated one, maybe two, people in his entire life but his heart would’ve been fully in it. reasons for their break-up could be open to discussion.
crushes. seymour is very much a silently-pine-for-someone-and-pray-they-never-notice kind of person, so this one is definitely plausible. maybe it’s a regular patron at the cabinet of curiosities, or just someone he crosses paths with a lot! it could be a new crush, or one that’s gone on for ages, and could either be one-sided or reciprocated.
employees/volunteers. the cabinet of curiosities is a cluttered, understaffed disaster. it’s just seymour, really, who runs the whole place, plus his sister who occasionally breezes through when she can be bothered. he needs all the help he can get, so anyone willing to work there would be an absolute godsend. bonus points if they’re actually interested in the shop and its stock because if seymour finds anyone with a shared interest he WILL ramble for hours about antiques and all his fave ghost stories <3 <3
honorary children. seymour has so much unbridled Dad™ energy. if ur muse lacks positive parental figures and is a bit of a lost soul, he can wearily them take them under his wing and try to set them on a better path <3
some other ideas: enemies-to-friends trope, friends-to-enemies, acquaintances, family friends, drinking buddies, antique auction buddies, first kiss, first relationship, role model, good influences, bad influences, blind dates, rivals, former school bullies.
