he’s been here before. he’ll be here again, he’s sure, at some point in his lifetime. you can take the boy out of the mob, but you can’t take the mob out of the boy, or something like that. either way, his shoes tread the same path they have plenty of times before, skipping stairs on the way up to the police department door. he’s ten minutes late, iced coffee in hand, and he nods to the secretary at the front desk like they’re old friends. “ let ‘em know i’m here ? ” he requests, flashing her a smile, and she picks up the phone. elaine grant and michael forrester emerge not long after, greeted by the sight of a murder suspect draped haphazardly over three chairs in the waiting room.
“ alright, ” he sighs dramatically, sitting up and snagging his coffee off the table next to him. he glances between the two officers, as if they need his approval to carry this charade out. “ let’s get this show on the road. ”
A MESS, FEATURING: @the-great-and-wonderful-oz, @bclthczcros, @ofcelesticls, @figurchead, @rosaliamorais.
part one ( you )
do you have any criminal history ? anything big or small that you want to make us aware of ?
“ y’all have a file. can’t you read ? ” he’s off to a great start, petulant look on his face as he waits for an answer. the only thing he gets in response is a prompt to answer the question, cooperate, blah blah blah. boring. he’d liked it better when he’d been able to drunkenly joke around with the beat cops back in the holding cell.
“ public drunkenness, drunk & disorderly, and assault. ” he offers them a grin, then, all sharp white teeth, the wolf greeting little red riding hood. “ but all charges have been dropped. so do with that what you will. elaine, go ahead and jot it down, i know you want to. ” he leans forward, tipping his chin as if trying to spy on her notepad. “ say, would you mind using a sharpie or something ? that pen’s too light for me to see. i kinda felt like this could be a group project, you know ? collaboration. ” he purses his lips at the silence he gets in response, then sits back once more. “ damn, never mind. solo it is. ”
how have you spent the few weeks back at college ? what have they been like ?
“ does this question ever go over well ? this feels like the kind of question that doesn’t go over well. ” he rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “ it’s been shitty. i was minding my own business, trying to start my senior year off, actually attempting to go to class for once. but daisey rutherford just had to go and get herself killed. now we’re all huddled up in our rooms from dusk ‘til dawn, trying our very best not to put targets on our foreheads. ” he raised one brow. “ ain’t college a dream ? ”
part two ( daisey )
how did you know miss. rutherford ? what was the nature of your relationship ?
“ not good, which i’m sure is why you dragged my ass in here. ” he sighs, tipping his chair back on its two back legs. “ she stole from me freshman year. some... really important documents, things that weren’t the type of thing i’d appreciate anyone touching, much less someone i barely knew. i was pissed, obviously, since she stole from me. classic rich girl move, you know ? she’s got all the fucking money in the world— stop looking at me like that, we’re all adults here, i can fucking curse. anyway. sorry, she had all the money in the world, and she still decided to poke around and pilfer my shit. i was rightfully angry, and we’ve never gotten along since. i generally tried to avoid her, but this campus is small, so i’d still see her sometimes. i mostly just talked shit if i ever ran into her. ” honey watches elaine’s pen move across her notepad, and he can practically see MOTIVE flashing across the paper like a neon sign. which, he feels, is catastrophically unfair. even in death, daisey’s making his life harder.
do you remember where you were the night daisey went missing ? if so, where were you ? what were you doing ? who were you with ?
honey sucks his teeth for a moment, knowing the answer but not quite wanting to admit to it. his eyes dart between the two officers, their eyebrows raised expectantly, and he lets out a sigh. “ well, i sure hope this is a no-judgement zone, ” he says dryly, folding his hands in front of him on the table. “ i was at oz lamar’s party, same as i’m sure most people were. i spent the beginning of the night chatting with some classmates, playing some drinking games, that sort of thing. i then went to the upstairs bathroom and hooked up with my boyfriend — well, he wasn’t my boyfriend at the time, but anyway — zar ros. balthazar. we came back downstairs separately, and a little while later i headed back upstairs with my best friend, kiki kibler. kiera. ”
their gazes continue to bore into him, as if to say and what did you do up there ?
“ i hooked up with her, too, alright ? jeez. can’t a guy get laid in peace ? ” honey rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair once more. “ we came back down about an hour later, and i spent the rest of the night with kiki. i left at around 2:30. ”
did you notice anything strange about daisey’s behavior the night she went missing ? did you notice anything suspicious about anyone else you ran into that night ?
he’s about to answer, say some bullshit about what am i, her keeper ? when he remembers the interaction they’d had that night. though it’s been a while since the party, he can recall the look on her face as clear as day. “ yeah, actually. she was being all... paranoid and weird, ” honey says, frowning. “ i don’t know why, i mean— like i told you, we sure as hell weren’t friends. but she seemed super freaked out about something. she even asked me to switch jackets with her, which was... so fucking weird. obviously her shit didn’t fit me, so i just tied it around my waist. i looked like a fucking dork, but whatever. i didn’t even think to say no, you know ? i was kind of caught off guard by the fact that she seemed so different than usual. even when i’d talk shit to her face, she was usually pretty composed. kind of a bitch. but that night she seemed... freaked out. like she was looking over her shoulder for something. so... that was definitely strange. ” he thinks for another moment, searching his brain. “ other than that, not really. daisey was the only one i saw acting odd. ”
where were you the night daisey’s body was recovered ?
“ at home, high as a fucking kite. my roommate was probably around somewhere. otto ballantyne ? ” he stares at them for a long moment, as if he’s playing some strange game of chicken. honey’s the one to break first, laughing loudly in the small room. it echoes off the walls. “ i’m joking. jesus, can you imagine ? i don’t do drugs, officers, ” he says sweetly, and it’s clear that he’s lying, but what does he care ? “ i was at home, though. i got pizza delivered. meat lovers. you can double check me on that. ” a jab at zar, for ignoring him the entire day after he’d left that voicemail. it feels stupid, now.
how familiar are you with the ashmont woods ? have you been there often ? have you recently ventured out here ? if so, why ?
“ familiar enough. ” he shrugs, as if the answer is obvious. until nate’s body had been found there, it’d been as innocuous a place as any to him. “ i mean, they’re right there. there’s some nice paths to take a walk or run on, if you’re into that sort of thing. i go there sometimes to clear my head, but i haven’t been there recently — other than to participate in the search party. ”
part three ( the investigation )
do you have feelings towards the investigation ? any comments ?
he shrugs again, indifference clear in the lines of his expression. “ no offense, but i don’t really care, ” he answers, reaching out for his coffee. he takes a long, slow sip, pushing the limits of the officers’ annoyance just for the sake of annoying them. “ like, i’m glad you’ve got something exciting to do for once, but i just want to, like, live my fucking life. not being able to go out past 7 makes me feel like a goddamn mormon or something. and they’re extinct. ” he shakes his head, seemingly indifferent to the matching, confused looks on their faces. “ i hope you catch the dude or whatever, but do it quick. i’m tired of this already. ”
do you have any people you feel the police should look into ? please, let us know who and why.
his first thought is: the boyfriend usually did it, but his own fucking roommate is— was— daisey’s fiancé. he doesn’t think otto’s capable of this, not even for the drama of it all. “ i have no idea, ” he says, and it rings true. “ i’d say maybe an ex of some kind, but... beyond being antagonistic toward each other, i didn’t really know daisey. i don’t want to point fingers at people in her life without really knowing what was going on. ”
part four ( weekly events — search party )
were you part of the search party in the woods on october 15th to 17th ? if yes, what did you find ?
“ i was. ” that answer is simple. the next, not so much. what did you find. honey loses focus for a moment, his mind blurring the lines between every time he’s found something like he did that day in the woods. he snatches at wisps of bodies, some more battered than others, some more... unrecognizable than others. finally, his mind catches on the feeling of his hand on alice’s shoulder, warm and solid, and he startles back to the present. “ nate ballantyne, ” he answers, clearing his throat. “ i found nate ballantyne’s dead fucking body. i already answered questions about that. look at your goddamn file if you want more details. ”
in the week that the four students were missing, did anyone’s behaviour strike you as odd or suspicious?
he settles them with a look, impatient now that his iced coffee is gone. “ i’ve been too busy being locked up in my apartment for half the day to really interact with my classmates all that much. i didn’t notice anything amiss, but i wasn’t really spending a lot of time out and about. i was mostly at home with my boyfriend. ”
what is your connection to the four missing students ?
their faces flash through his mind: libby’s, danny’s, nate’s... one of them dead. his thoughts only stop once they reach rosa, picturing the way she rolls her eyes at him, goodnatured and usually followed by an exasperated smile. he can’t help the selfish flash of gratitude that she came out of this ordeal alive. “ i’m good friends with rosa morais. rosalia. but the other three... ” he trails off, shaking his head. “ i didn’t know them well. acquaintances at best. ”
do you know of anyone ( or anything ) that could lend to the motive of the person who killed nathaniel ballantyne?
“ no, ” he says, and it’s the truth. daisey had much more obvious answers — she had plenty of enemies, himself included. but nate ? sure, he’d been... kind of pretentious, but honey had never gotten the impression that anyone truly disliked or hated him for it. “ sorry, i didn’t know him too well. that’s probably a better question for oz lamar. they were close. ”
his eyes dart back and forth between them, and he waits for another question that never comes. elaine is still writing on her damn notepad.
“ are we done here ? ” he says, breaking the silence. “ i think we’re done here. ” he pushes back his chair abruptly and turns to leave, abandoning his coffee cup. they can clean up after him, for all he cares. all he wants right now is to go the fuck home.
lovable alpha bitch / the speechless / so beautiful, it’s a curse
NAME.
FULL NAME: francesca eloise waverly.
PREFERRED NAME/NICKNAMES: frenchie.
GENERALLY REFERRED TO AS: francesca by her parents (which she does not like!), frenchie by essentially everyone else.
APPEARANCE.
FACECLAIM: halston sage.
SEX: cisfemale.
HEIGHT: short — she’s about 5′3″.
WEIGHT: about 115 lbs normally, more like 110 during pageant season.
BUILD: slim with some tone from working out.
HAIR: soft natural dirty blonde with some subtle highlights from the salon, often styled in loose waves.
HANDS: small, delicate, perfectly manicured hands. she has a regimen for taking care of herself, hands included (she’s got a mani-pedi appointment every tuesday afternoon).
SCARS: faded scar on her knee from a fall as a child.
CLOTHES: she dresses like a sorority girl, tbh. a lot of lilly pulitzer, some madewell and free people, kate spade bags, pearls, lululemon leggings & vineyard vines or simply southern shirts when she’s feeling lazy.
OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES: wide smile.
SPEECH.
VOICECLAIM: as far as her normal speaking voice, halston works. as for singing, i’m gonna go big and say she’s got a touch of sara bareilles.
ACCENT: soft carolinian accent, kind of like this.
VERBAL TICS: tendency to use pet names (sugar, honey, darlin’, etc).
LANGUAGE: she’s fluent in english & ASL, currently studying spanish.
ARTICULATION: she’s very articulate and sure of herself when explaining things. as with most things in her life, this is a result of excessive pageant practice.
EDUCATION: the thing about the way frenchie talks is that it’s long & tiresome, but more from the fact that she drawls her words like a good southern girl and less from the fact that she uses big words. she’s not dumb, but it’s not her style.
LAUGHTER: she doesn’t laugh loudly because her mother says it’s not ladylike. she tends to giggle instead.
BREATHING: she makes a lot of noise during club meetings, partly because it’s easier to convey her meaning through sighs and humphs than writing something out.
MANNERISMS.
FACE: a lot of times, she doesn’t mind people knowing what she thinks, so it’ll be written all over her face (i.e. when she sees the murder club being weird, it’s not hard to tell that she thinks it’s weird). that being said, she can put on a pretty good poker face when she wants to.
HANDS: being too expressive / talking with her hands / making herself too big or loud in general has been drilled into her as unladylike, so her hands usually stay folded in her lap.
LEGS/FEET: absolutely not. see above.
EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS: if anything, frenchie tends to maintain the hell out of a poker face when she’s upset and then burst into tears the second she’s alone. she doesn’t like losing face in front of others; it feels too vulnerable.
HABITS: most fidgety sort of habits have been discouraged by her mother. the one thing she can’t get frenchie to stop doing is twirling her hair.
POSTURE: her posture is absolutely perfect. that’s a pageant queen for you!
PERSONAL SPACE: depends on who we’re talking about. with friends, she’s much more likely to be comfortable with them – ex. brushing shoulders, casual touches, etc. with strangers or people she doesn’t know, she’ll back off a little, and is more averse to them getting up in her space. she’s pretty tolerant of anything, though.
OTHER: she can usually be found chewing a stick of gum.
HEALTH.
DIET: frenchie’s on a pretty strict diet as far as keeping in shape for pageant stuff. this usually means a lot of salads, lean meat, veggies, that sort of thing — if she even bothers to eat at all, which is less likely to occur during pageant season. she has an undeniable sweet tooth, though, so she’ll always cave for a shake at marie’s.
SLEEP: these days, she doesn’t sleep as much. she usually tries to get a solid eight hours, but her sleep is so restless now that she’s lucky if she can grab a few hours at best.
EXERCISE: it probably borders on a little bit too much of the treadmill / stairclimber. right now she’s more busy with the murder club, which takes away from her usual regimen.
ACTIVITY: she’ll damn near kill herself practicing pageant stuff if she thinks it’ll make her mom happy.
CLEANLINESS: frenchie takes a lot of pride in her appearance, so she’s always been the type to shower regularly and keep herself clean & tidy. she has a whole regimen of soaps, scrubs, lotions, etc. that she follows religiously.
ODOR: her signature perfume is armani’s sí. if she’s not wearing that, she’ll still smell pleasant and vaguely girly, mostly like her shampoo.
MEDICINAL DRUGS: she got a prescription for xanax last year, but she never filled it.
NARCOTICS: she’s not averse to smoking some weed at a party, but nothing more than that (she tends to worry about her singing voice).
PARASITES: does jamie count as a parasite?
PERSONAL.
INTROVERT/EXTROVERT?: definitely an extrovert — she always likes being around people, and usually feels better / more energized when she’s out and about.
OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST: optimist. she has an unwavering belief that things will work out. this is probably a result of the fact that she’s white, pretty, and well off, so things do tend to work out for her.
SEXUALITY: frenchie’s still kind of figuring this out, but she’s bisexual. as far as people she’s dated in the past, they’ve usually been the type of person people expect her to be with — hot, popular, etc. as for what she actually wants for herself, she really just needs someone who’ll make her smile.
ROMANTIC: biromantic. again, has yet to realize that anyone other than cis dudes are really an option for her, but she’s got a big heart underneath all that hairspray, and she’s secretly a hopeless romantic.
MEMORY: she has a better memory than a lot of people give her credit for. she’s especially good with names/faces/dates/times, that sort of thing.
PLANNING: she has a planner. does she use it? no. she just wanted the lilly pulitzer print to tote around. this bitch just wanders into whatever she wants to do next — her whims are wild and often.
INTUITION: she generally trusts herself and her gut. whether or not this is a good thing is still up for debate.
GOALS: as of right now, her only clear goal is to win the miss teen normal 2019 pageant. other than that, she has a vague idea of the kind of life she wants to have, but pageantry has really shaped a lot of who she is.
INSECURITIES: she’s insecure about the fact that she kind of feels like a one trick pony. if she can’t do pageants, what can she do?
ACHIEVEMENTS: little miss normal 2012, young miss normal 2014, junior miss teen normal 2017... you get the gist.
ANXIETY: pageants lol. her mother. the idea of failing her mother. anything along those lines, honestly.
SELF-HELP: frenchie is very much of the ‘ignore the problem until it goes away’ mindset. this is not working for her at all right now, which distresses her greatly.
BAD HABITS: she smacks her gum, which drives her mother absolutely insane. otherwise, she tends to drill out her bad habits before they can form.
PHILOSOPHY: she was raised catholic, but frenchie has struggled with the whole believing part of religion for years. she still goes to services every sunday with her family, but her heart’s not in it. she wants to believe in something, but she has a hard time taking the church’s word for it. she’d probably fall best under agnostic for now.
THE PAST.
PARENTS/GUARDIANS: her relationship with her dad is amiable but distant; he’s always at work, so they never really bonded the way they should’ve. she’s tied up tight with her mom, but that relationship is absolutely riddled with anxiety and angst. she wants so desperately to have her mom’s approval that she has very few positive interactions with her.
WORST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: the day she lost her voice. not only was it incredibly embarrassing to stand on stage and watch everyone whisper about her, but she’s genuinely distressed by the idea that it has yet to come back. there’s no explanation, no reason — she can’t be stuck like this the rest of her life.
BEST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: when she won little miss normal, her mother took the whole family out for a huge dinner and let frenchie get whatever she wanted. it was one of the few times she can remember having everyone together without a single sharp word or argument.
RELATIONSHIPS.
FAMILY: the only family member she truly trusts to have her back is her twin brother, theo. she absolutely idolizes her mother, but frenchie knows that she would leave her kids in the dust if she thought they needed to learn a lesson.
FRIENDSHIPS: truthfully, she has almost no true friends. her best friend is, without a doubt, theo. frenchie’s the kind of person who’s surrounded by people, but feels absolutely alone — none of them really know her, or even care to try. though she might try to resist, the rest of the murder club is on their way to being her friend, too.
NEEDING A FRIEND: she generally deals with problems on her own (read: she does not deal with them and waits until it fizzles out), or she consults theo (read: she has him take care of it).
ANNOYANCES: cold shoulder, 100%. she’s a petty bitch and it’s very easy to do now that she legitimately cannot talk.
ROMANCE: frenchie is actually very unsure when it comes to any sort of romance. she wants it, but has no idea how to invite it in.
ADVERSARIES: people who say ‘lol’ out loud, the entire state of florida, people who chew really loudly, dentists, people who want to be dentists.
ENEMIES: people who are mean to animals, probably.
FUN STUFF: getting shakes at marie’s, going shopping, taking long drives.
BEST FRIEND: theo.
INTERACTIONS.
MINGLING: when she actually tries, she’s got a certain charm about her that makes it fairly easy for her to make people like her.
COMFORT LEVELS: as a rule, she doesn’t really have any issues talking to anyone, from strangers on up to close friends or family, so she’s pretty hard to faze in that sense.
GROUPS: she’s comfortable with both big and small groups. she likes having both in equal measure — big groups for a fun time, small groups for that good 1-on-1 dish.
OPENNESS: since she doesn’t really have any true, close friends, she has a harder time opening up about real stuff. if she’s having issues, theo’s the one who will hear about it, and she’s never seen need to tell anyone else whatever’s closest to her heart.
GENEROSITY: if the murder club was a sorority, frenchie would be everyone’s big. she’s still warming up to them a bit, but she’s very generous with milkshake orders, ghost hunting supplies — whatever. she doesn’t care. she has daddy’s amex on deck at all times.
JEALOUSY: she’s jealous of people who seem breezily confident in themselves. though she seems very content with herself, she wishes she actually had that kind of easy comfort in her own skin.
TEMPER: depends on the situation. certain people can get on her nerves more easily than others, but she’s not usually the type to have an outburst.
EMPATHY: these days, she’s working on being a little more empathetic, especially since the murder club has a few people that she used to be pretty vicious towards. she’ll still lash out sometimes, but she’s trying.
AFFECTION: little stuff — private smiles just for them, attempts to fill their needs before they even know they need it, generally trying to make sure that person is perfectly content.
DISTASTE: just look for that characteristic derisive sneer. she’s not likely to hide it if she doesn’t like you.
ETIQUETTE: etiquette is frenchie’s middle name. emily post who?
RESPONSIBILITY: she does not like to admit that she’s wrong. it leaves a very bitter taste in her mouth.
SELF ESTEEM: she’s not about to let anyone she sees as ‘lesser’ than her push her around. if you’re below her on the popularity food chain, she’s not gonna act like a little delicate flower.
CONFIDENCE: depends on the day, her mood, etc. sometimes she’s all ‘i’m the hottest bitch ever to walk this earth’, and sometimes she feels like shrek. high school is magical.
LEADER OR FOLLOWER: she tends to go with the flow more than anything.
PRAISE: she loves a good compliment! boost that ego.
CRITICISM: she takes genuine criticism VERY poorly. when confronted with her own flaws, she tends to lash out and try to dig twice as deep into her critic. the notable exception to this is her mother — she’ll take that criticism with little more than an apology and promise to do better.
INSULTS: insults are much easier to laugh off, for whatever reason. they feel more surface-level to her.
EMBARRASSMENT: not too easily embarrassed, but if she is, she’ll just turn red and not really know what to say.
FLIRTING: not usually unless she’s drunk or specifically interested in someone, but she does sometimes think it’s fun to bat her eyes and smile prettily at football players just to watch them trip over themselves.
ATTENTION SPAN: frenchie is a magpie. show her a pair of earrings and she’ll forget what she was saying entirely.
LIFE.
DUTY: no real responsibilities to speak of beyond being on time for practice.
TECH: she’s been through three phones in the past year. that should speak for itself.
COMBAT SKILLS: frenchie might not have bulk on her side, but she’s vicious enough to hold an attacker off for a minute or two. those perfectly manicured nails will go right for your eyes if you try to mess with her.
HOME: she’s very organized. her room is nice and neat and very pleasant to be in.
INDEPENDENCE: frenchie is absolutely dependent on her parents. she likes to pretend that she can do anything she wants on her own, but she’d be lost without them.
COOKING: she’s actually a pretty good cook. growing up, her nana made sure she knew all the good southern recipes passed down through their family so she ‘could take care of her husband properly someday’.
BUILDING: the idea of frenchie building anything is hysterical.
SHOPPING: she shops constantly. i’m sure she’s bought things online literally during murder club meetings, and has come home with bags on bags of stuff before.
DRIVING: she’s got a cute little baby blue VW bug, courtesy of daddy’s big bonus and presented to her on her sixteenth birthday.
FINANCES: virtually all her money comes from her parents, who are very comfortable financially. her dad is a very successful lawyer, so frenchie will usually end up getting some sort of ‘allowance’ from him each month. this is often flexible — if she really wants something, she’s pretty much guaranteed to get it.
PETS: she has a golden retriever named ollie.
LAW: no ma’am, no sir. unless you count underage drinking.
MEDICAL: she currently has doctor’s appointments out the wazoo to try and figure out what’s up with her voice. before that, she was pretty vigilant about going to the doctor/dentist. she takes care of herself!
WORRIES: these days, it’s her voice. day and night, she wonders — will she get it back? is she stuck like this? what will she do if it never comes back? it’s an endless cycle, and the answer is always the same: she doesn’t know.
PARTYING: frenchie actually loves to party. her mother supports it if she has ‘a nice young man to escort her’, AKA she’ll probably call up kaz and ask him to take her so she can go.
HOBBIES: y’all, we all know this bitch does pageants and nothing else.
As a treat for surviving three years in Lunar Cove, Ken swapped out his one bedroom apartment in Downtown LC for a much more spacious, duplex three bedroom house in Celestial Hills. There wasn’t a specific list that Ken wanted ticked, just that it needed more than one bedroom, which the relator accommodated for, but picking up minor details that only he found bothersome, it took a while before finally settling on this. And really, it wasn’t a jump for joy moment or anything of such, Ken simply grew bored of looking and purchased the next place that was offered. After all, it was just a house.
Coming to just about six months, if the place looks sparse it’s not because he hadn’t fully settled in, nor was it because he was still finding pieces to make the place pop. Deviod of any personal things, the place is muted, minimal and simple because that’s what Ken prefers, also in the many times he moved around, stuff never had the chance to accumulate. While style and comfort are important to him, the effort to decorate a place that just functions as a roof over his head felt too much of a hassle, so he resorted to buying sets like he saw in catalogues to fill up the space. The only time thought and personality went into the place was in the remodeling of his master bedroom to include a decent sized walk in closet to fit all his clothes and then some. It also connects to his private ensuite ensuring a smooth ride for getting ready in the mornings.
The first floor is what sees the most traffic, if only from him. Living room, kitchen and his own bedroom take the ground level, while two other bedrooms, a bathroom and a smaller lounge leading to the top balcony take up the second. Mind you, he doesn’t get very many guests, but the bedrooms aren’t for them. Foolishly holding onto hope that his siblings are still alive and that he’d find them one day was the main reason for his want for a three bedroom house. A feeling of home doesn’t resonate within these walls. Maybe one day. Still, he keeps the rooms and all of the upstairs area clean and tidy, a hater of mess his house is never in a state of disarray. Even the yard spaces, where he hardly goes, is kept neat. Though maybe since the recent addition of a day bed to the deck leading out from the main living room, maybe a lounge under the stars might not be a bad idea.
