#feat. greer

[mari-zuko]

IC TASK 006 - INTERROGATION when: december 13th

Previously, Mari had been summoned to sit with the agnets with her father. A formality, if that - as the dean's daughter, she needn't sit through all this. This time, however, she entered the room alone, only one chair sitting opposite the three now familiar agents.

She didn't know how to feel about it.

A hint of anxiety thrummed through her, the worry pulsing in her veins even as she offered a smile, three firm shakes of the hand, her posture straight as she smoothed her skirt underneath her to take a prim perch in the seat they indicated to. Ever unruffled; ever poised.

"Thanks so much for coming in today, Ms. Zuko."

"Of course," Mari said in response, her voice delicate, though she didn't allow it to shake - unlike the hands that were currently in her lap, hidden from view from the agents all staring at her. "Anything to help."

"We appreciate it." The agent spoke with a solemn tone, lips pressed together in a poor attempt at a comforting smile, though Mari nodded her head, her own lips responding as if it had worked. "Let's get right into it then - did you have any reason to suspect Greer Morrison was dead before this news came to light?”

The bubble of tension in the room popped, any impeccably put together poise of the dean's daughter fading from Mari, her arms instead crossing in front of her chest. She leaned back in her seat, the defiant position not looking entirely comfortable in comparison to her normally pristine posture as she looked at the agent with disbelief on her face, her lips parting slightly. "No?" she said incredulously. "I don’t tend to go around just assuming my friends are dead and not mention it to anyone.”

“Well, Ms. Zuko…unfortunately we have to reason to believe not everyone has been entirely honest with us.” The statement was offered on a platter, dangling in front of her for her to react to - to condemn herself with. Or perhaps for her to return to the version of her they had gotten previously.

She took it.

Her eyes just shifted up to meet the agent’s, the corners of her lips turning downward. “That’s unfortunate,” Mari murmured. “Horrible to think someone may have known something regarding an actual death and not mentioned it while your team was left in the dark.” 

Well, half took it.

After a brief pause, another one of the agents shifted forward, glancing over at their colleague before looking at Mari, pen poised over their notes. “What was your relationship with Greer again? And what about Penelope Klein?"

“Greer was a friend. One of my closest friends." Mari paused, her chin tucking towards her chest as she swallowed, shrugging her shoulders again. "And Penny and I worked closely together - student government and all. She met with my father frequently, from what I understand of her duties. We were…friendly, at least. Friends, maybe, even. But not…I don’t know. Not super close. We didn’t hang out all that often. I guess, yeah, I’d say friendly.” 

“Are you aware of any information about Greer that has come to light in the past year that you haven’t shared?“ 

Was she aware of anything about Greer that she hadn’t shared? Of course. An inordinate amount. But it hadn’t come to light in the past year. If anything, the past year had just revealed that the things Mari had known…might not have been true. That the person she thought she had known, that had been revealed to her in their secret moments in crowed rooms and whispers between their flesh hadn’t been the true Greer Morrison, reserved just for her. 

No, it hadn’t been real at all. 

It was just another performance. 

"No." The word was soft, though Mari's answer was firm. "I'm not."

"And what do you know about the nature of Greer’s relationship with Penelope Klein?”

Mari’s eyes flickered down to the table in front of her, her lips twisting to one side. “Not much. We all hung out a few times but I’m not sure how close they were independently.” There were secrets, of course. Things Mari couldn’t say. But they all had secrets. It didn’t mean it was related to this. 

"Well, thank you for sharing the information you do have." The agents paused, shuffling their papers, Mari angling her chin upwards, a practiced movement exposing her slender neck as she watched them, suspecting a shift in the direction of the questions were coming.

“Have you witnessed anything suspicious on campus over the past year and a half?”

"I'm not sure what you mean by that," she said, beginning with confusion, biting her lower lip as she thought for a moment. All practiced, calculated movements to look as she was actually considering, the furrow on her brow indicating just how hard. "I suppose, yeah..." The word trailed off, lingering in the space between them. "I mean, the fire, to start. Students dying. Power outages. It hasn't exactly been a normal few semesters, has it?" Her eyes met the agents, blinking between all three of them. "But if you mean anything besides any of that, anything personal or not publicly known....no."

And that was an outright lie. She had danced around the truth so often in her life, becoming a master at it. She could avoid it without outright ignoring it with the best - but that. That had been an outright lie.

“Of course. Besides all that, over the past year, have you gotten any anonymous messages? Any threatening ones? Or any with…leading information?”

Yes. Someone out there knew her secrets. Knew Greer's secrets. And Mari couldn't bring herself to say anything - couldn't help but think, if Greer really had died...maybe she'd rather be dead than have those secrets come out. "Some anonymous messages, yeah. Or ones from unknown senders, rather. But nothing with threats or information in them, no. Just...creeps, I'd gather."

"Would you mind sending those over to us?"

Mari shook her head, lips pressed together in a smile. "Of course not. I have my messages set to auto delete pretty quickly, but I'll send you what I still have."

"Great - we really appreciate that. Thank you so much, Mari. If we have any other questions, we'll reach out to you or your father to schedule another meeting."

[cara-mrrsn]

IC TASK 006 - INTERROGATION when: december 13th-ish

"Ms. Morrison - it's good to see you. We're incredibly sorry for your loss." 

Cara sauntered into the office the agents had commandeered with her sunglasses on, giving them a sideways glance as she dropped into the seat they were indicating for her. She didn't bother with any sort of greeting nor acknowledgement of Agent Brown's condolences. Please. If any of them were truly were sorry for her loss, she had quite a few suggestions for better ways to handle this to show that, but alas. All three of the agents all stared at her for a moment, as if waiting for her to say something - but hello, she wasn't the one hosting this interview. She just stared at them, her glasses still on, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 

"Right," Agent Murray muttered, flipping open the folder in front of her. Cara glanced towards it with the slightest bit of interest, aware that it must've been notes - notes on Greer, notes on her - though her expression stayed the same, even with the burning need to know what they had written about her. "Why don't we begin with going through your relationship with Greer again," the agent said.

Cara just looked at her, unimpressed as she quirked a single eyebrow up. “She was my sister. Surely you’re aware of that,” she said, not bothering to hide the snark that the question had earned. Perhaps they shouldn’t be asking such stupid questions if they wanted an actual answer. 

"Yes, Ms. Morrison, we are aware," Agent Brown jumped back in from the seat he was settled in, a coffee in one hand as he watched Cara with a scrutinizing eye. "We were hoping to have you elaborate more on the nature of your relationship with your sister. Such as if you are aware of any information about Greer that has come to light in the past year that you haven’t shared. Or perhaps you could tell us about the nature of her relationship with Penelope Klein," he said.

"Listen, all I've learned in the past year is that I knew even less about Greer than I thought I did," Cara said, rolling her eyes behind her dark glasses. Even in the few ways she had thought that she and Greer were on the same level - she was wrong. Even the things she thought she had known turned out to be fake. She didn't know if the rift between them said more about her or Greer, but since she was the one still around, she supposed she'd be let wondering what it meant about Greer, never getting the missing piece of the puzzle to decode it all. "I didn’t even know she had a relationship with Penelope. But Greer kept her personal life far away from me, so that really doesn’t mean anything. We weren't that close, but that doesn't mean I'm hiding something from you." She let out a huff of air, the exhale following the rant of words that had spilled out without her entirely meaning to let them, the slightest flush rising on her cheeks.

The agents both just watched her for a moment, glancing at each other before Agent Murray looked back at the folder, reading something over before sliding it over towards Agent Choi. Cara figured the silence between them was purposeful - lingering and stretched to try and coax her to say something, admit to something. There was nothing to admit, but even if there was, if that's how they wanted to play it, she wouldn't out of stubbornness. "Alright. Over the past year, have you gotten any anonymous messages? Any threatening ones? Or any with…leading information?” Agent Choi asked, closing the folder in front of him. Like he had gotten what he needed from it.

It was burning Cara's insides, whatever was in there, whatever they had written down and said about her, now passed back and forth between them. Had they noted the things she had reported to her parents? Had they noted what other people had said about her and Greer? Had they noted rumors, gossip, falsities? Cara highly doubted whatever was written down was any aspect of the truth.

“Probably,” she said, leaning back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest, looking entirely nonplussed by the entire situation, despite the rising urges to simultaneously scream and rip that folder out of their grasps. “I mean, this shit has been all over every true crime aficionados tik tok. My number has leaked multiple times. Some people are real creeps, you know?” She paused, glancing down and adjusting the neckline of her shirt, the movement indication enough of what type of creeps Cara may have drawn over the past year plus. And as she lifted her eyes up to meet the Agent Choi's before glancing over towards Agent Brown, a smirk briefly flickering across her lips, it was clear she knew it - and knew she wouldn’t have to elaborate. She had them right where she wanted them. “So yeah, I’ve gotten a whole bunch of weird, anonymous, threatening messages. I delete 90% of what comes through my phone nowadays without even looking at it because I was previously told there was nothing to be done unless someone actually tried to harm me." Her voice lowered, Cara's eyes flashing with the anger that had accompanied the initial explanation that nothing could be done about stalking. Not unless the stalker made an actual threat. Until then.... "You know that you all are quite useless when it comes to stalkers - but by all means, let me know if you want me to start forwarding them all to you now.” 

All three agents avoided her eyes now - sipping from coffee, jotting down a note, fiddling with the files in front of them. Silence fell again, though this time it was at her bequest. And she, again, had no intention of breaking it. Instead, it was Agent Murray who cleared her throat, glancing over at Agent Choi before moving onto the next question - “Have you witnessed anything suspicious on campus over the past year and a half?”

Cara pursed her lips out, a deep furrow appearing in her brow as she deeply pondered the question. “You know…” she said slowly, shaking her head as she refocused in the agent before her. "Assuming you mean other than the murders, the fire, the blackout?" she said with a bitter laugh, utterly unaware that in a rare moment of twin telepathy, Edward had previously made nearly the same retort. "I have actually." 

Agent Murray leaned forward slightly, her eyebrows raised in mirrored expressions of interest as Cara hesitated, looking for all the world like she thought she could create some circle of trust between them. "I saw the craziest thing on one of my roommate's laptop. You'll never believe this video," she said, letting out a low laugh as she went to pull out her phone, sliding it towards Agent Murray with what could only be described as a wicked glint in her eye. "I know you have to recognize where that was filmed."

The silence that occurred during the first few seconds of the video was nearly enough for her to actually laugh, the small amount of amusement she was milking out of the situation enough for her, even as Agent Murray rapidly reached out to stop the video, nearly tossing Cara's phone back at her. The expressions of all three agents went through a nearly identical transition from intrigue to irritation, three pairs of eyes glaring at Cara for wasting their time. “I'm not sure how that is relevant." Cara just raised her eyebrows up, shrugging her shoulders, only furthering the tangible irritation in the room. "Ms. Morrison, if we didn’t know any better, we’d think you were purposefully being difficult. You are aware even if you don’t know anything regarding your sisters murder, you can be charged for hindering an investigation, yes?” 

Cara was on her feet before she even registered she was moving, hands slamming into the table. “I’m hindering an investigation?” she hissed through her teeth, leaning forward to stare down the FBI agents one by one, despite the alleged power imbalance in the room - Cara flipped it on its head in a blink of an eye. “Try again, officers,” she sneered. “You have been bumbling through this for a year and a half. You have made no progress. You are reduced to asking the same people the same questions because you just can’t admit you have no fucking idea what happened to Greer.” 

A deep breath heaved her chest up and down, Cara straightening up as she shook her head, voice rising in pitch and volume as she threw her hands out. “She was running circles around all of us, and you all are clueless," she said, waving a hand over the agents, stepping back and colliding with her chair with a loud clatter. "The flights to Portugal, the texts, the fucking letters."

She pushed the chair away from her with enough force that it tipped over, scraping against the floor with a clang - out of her way, at least, as was her intention. "If you have any other questions for me, contact my parents. I'm sure they've already assured you that I'm not the person to go to for any insights on my sister."

"Ms. Morrison, this interview is not over!" Agent Brown hollered, not attempting to keep his voice low in the slightest at this point. Cara, for her part, didn't give a fuck. She unceremoniously lifted a hand, flipping him off as she stormed from the office, lettng the door slam shut behind her.

[mari-zuko]

IC TASK 003 : TIME CAPSULE

when: over thanksgiving break, late one evening where: mari’s room at her family home

“Have you done your time capsule recording yet?” 

The question came after silence had been sitting around Mari and her father for more than a few minutes, a comfortable quiet on his end, she was sure, though Mari felt quite differently - as she always did around him. It was best for her to just keep her mouth shut, let him lead the conversation and topics. She glanced over to see Dean peering over the top of his glasses at her, Mari pasting a small smile across her cheeks as she gave a delicate shake of her head. 

“Ah, no. Not yet,” she replied, a hint of a flush coming to her cheeks, a sense of guilt, of shame, of his disappointment already rising in her stomach. 

Her father frowned from the chair he was sitting in, eyes staying on Mari for a few long moments, his youngest daughter shifting underneath the weight of his gaze. “Let’s do it now,” he suggested, in that tone that showed it wasn’t much of a suggestion at all. 

Mari gaped, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she stared up at her father, before giving a rapid shake of her head. “I’m not recording it in front of you,” she said abruptly, chin pulling in to her chest. 

“I’ll do it tonight. I promise,” she said a moment later, tone firm, eyes on her father’s. She knew there would be consequences if he didn’t hear she had turned it in from the team managing it the next day - she had no choice but to get her shit together, figure out what she could possibly even say, what was worth recording for the students of Ogden College fifty years in the future.

- 

Standing in front of her phone several hours later, Mari took a deep breath, eyes on her own face in the screen, a frown settling onto her lips as she took in the image. Wrinkling her nose up, Mari fiddled with it, adjusting the ring light, the set up of the phone, until she was sitting in front of it, the phone recording, silent as she still had no idea what to say. 

Another slow inhale. 

Audible exhale.  

And action - Mari Zuko, daughter of the dean, shining example of the perfect Ogden student, sorority president was ready to go.

“Hi, Ogden students of 2072,” she said, her smile bright. “I’m probably supposed to give you advice. Tell you what you should do. How to make your four years the best they can possibly be...” she spoke with a lilting charm to her words, the same way she did when her father required her to speak to donors, the same way she did during sorority recruitment. The person she pretended to be when she needed to impress. 

“In 2022....we’re all lucky to be students at Ogden. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. And considering everything, I have to assume it’s the same, even fifty years in the future.” 

Mari fell silent, blinking into the camera, her smile slowly fading off her face. “Honestly, though? I don’t think I should be the one telling you what to do, or giving any advice. I....I’m pretty lost, myself.” 

 A nod, Mari’s gaze shifting down towards her lap, her fingers interlacing, tugging on each other. “They’ll probably edit out any mentions of Greer,” she said, the words under her breath, as if...trying to psych her self up. Give herself courage.

“One of...my friends is missing. She ran away. Allegedly. From here. From Ogden. She was....what all of us revolved around,” she said, still looking into her lap, though she eventually glanced back up towards the camera. “And I thought I knew her. I thought I loved her, even. And that she loved me. But now I’ve just realized I didn’t know her at all. That she purposefully made sure I didn’t. And I thought she was one of the few people who actually knew me. 

“But she wasn’t. And I can’t even hold that against her, because the longer it goes on without us knowing where she is, I just...am realizing how little I know myself. And I’m 20 years old. I’m a junior in college. I’m not supposed to, am I? But there’s a lot of pressure. A lot of...external forces. And I was relying on Greer to keep me moored. Which isn’t very fair, is it?” 

Her voice returned slowly to its sweet, clear tone, her chin angling upwards, her neck lengthened as she stretched it just right, not even needing to see herself in the recording to know what her good angles were. “Anyways. All that is to say...if nobody else has told you, it’s okay if you don’t know who you are yet. Or what you want. If you’re scared of it.” 

She couldn’t say anymore. She couldn’t admit that the reason she was scared was because of her family, her father - the dean of the school. The reason she didn’t know who she was was because she had been told who she had to be her entire life, and she had long since been aware of how poorly she fit into the space that had been carved out for her. But she could maybe make someone fifty years in the future feel a little less lonely. Extend a hand out that she so desperately needed - a hand she thought Greer had provided, only to realized as she went to use it that it had been ripped away, leaving her rapidly over-correcting as she tried to regain the flimsy balance she had previously relied upon. 

“College is great for so many things. They’re, like...supposedly the most formative four years of our lives for a reason, right? And Ogden...it’s the most amazing opportunity. Cherish it,” she said, her expression tightening, doing her best to become more earnest as she spewed out the propaganda that had long since been drilled into her. “And good luck.” 

[mari-zuko]

INITIAL SIT DOWNS

Mari knew it was only a matter of time before she was called in by the officers. She was publicly friends with Greer, the two close enough that you could be guaranteed to see them out together at least once a week, and not to mention her father being the dean. Surely that would make them want to talk to her sooner rather than later. And she wasn’t wrong, Mari being called in on one of the first few days, showing up to the office in the faculty building that had commandeered, only to be greeted by her father waiting outside. 

“What are you doing here?” Mari asked, the words quiet as her eyes darted between her father - Dean Zuko - and the door through which the officers were waiting. 

“I’m not going to let them question you without me present, are you kidding?” he said quietly, reaching to grasp Mari’s shoulder as he guided her into the room, sitting down in the seat next to her. Even as he released her, Mari could feel his grip on her shoulder, the grasp of his fingers weighty, a tangible reminder of the expectations that sat upon her shoulders. Mari’s breath came quickly, her eyes unfocused as she did her best to remain calm, even as her mind was shouting - Greer is missing, Greer is missing, Greer is missing. She swallowed, taking one more deep breath and holding it in - staving off her body’s desire to start hyperventilating - before she exhaled, her perfect mask back on as she met the officers eyes, a smile befitting of a sorority president crossing her face. 

“When did you last speak to Greer?”

"Last May, I guess?” Mari said, her voice clear and her posture straight - training as a dancer coming in handy here, as she perched in the chair in front of the officers - her head angling ever so slightly towards one side. She knew the exact angle to tip to, lengthening her slim neck, widening her eyes just enough that she appeared guileless, an expression she had long since perfected. “I mean, with an answer at least. I’m perennially online, you know. All the girls have to be able to reach me - I’m the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma - and even my friends who aren’t one of my sisters know I can go a little insane when I can’t get in touch with someone,” she admitted, tipping her eyes downwards as the slightest blush rose to her cheeks. The downcast expression held for a beat, just long enough that she appeared embarrassed, before looking back up at the cops. “So yeah, I mean I reached out to Greer when I didn’t hear from her. But the last time we spoke was right after graduation last year.” 

“When did you last actually see Greer?”

"Same,” Mari answered after a beat, eyes not moving from the officer’s as she answered, her lips parting ever so slightly. “I had an internship for most of the summer, so I wasn’t planning on seeing her. I think we hung out the night before we left. Or two nights before we left? Some time right at the end of the year,” she elaborated.

“Mari’s internship was at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,” Dean Zuko chimed in, obviously wanting to impress the officers - not that they likely knew much about art history, but they both gave the proper impressions of being impressed by that.

“How well did you know Greer?”

Mari took an inhale, one that could’ve been interpreted as a gasp if anyone was really paying attention - though the clueless blinking of her eyes probably distracted from that. “I don’t know really know, I guess. I mean we were friends, close friends,” at that Mari paused, her tongue darting out to run over her lower lip. Her stomach was in knots - she had been dancing around the truth since she sat down, but this of course, this would be a lie. She knew her intimately, sometimes she felt like she knew her better than she knew herself. Granted, as much of herself as Mari had gotten into the habit of hiding, that wouldn’t be that unbelievable. “I’d like to think I knew her well. But the Greer I knew....wouldn’t do this. So I guess I’m just confused,” she finally said, the expression on her face for all the world passing as a confused friend, rather than a jilted lover.

“What was your relationship with Greer like?”

A few bats of her eyelashes were the first response, again. Their relationship. How to answer that? She had been managed to dodge an outright lie with saying how well she knew her, but this was...a bit more direct. Mari had a brief moment, a whirring panic of thoughts if they had asked everyone this, or wondering if someone had said something. “Like I said. Friends. We went out together a lot. We would have girl’s nights in a lot. Things like that. Very normal, typical friendship,” she added. She cut herself off from saying anything more, knowing that the worst liars were the ones who threw in too many details. It was a normal friendship. Nothing to justify, nothing to explain. 

“Have you heard or seen anything about where she was this summer?”

A quick shake of her head was the only answer Mari gave them at first, swallowing as she tried to hold her composure in. “No. I haven’t heard from her at all, and everyone I talked to - the usual crew, you know - wasn’t with her either. I don’t know where she’d be or who she’d be with, honestly,” she continued, the words small. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, her eyes going distant before she shrugged. “She loved spending the summer at their Hamptons house. It’s...I don’t know. Strange.” 

“You wouldn’t have wanted Greer to disappear, would you?”

Mari looked up at the person asking questions, disbelief etched in every line of her face. “Surely you don’t mean that,” she said, her lips pursed out. She tilted her chin up slightly, angling it in a practiced movement to show off more of her long neck, her eyes staying on the other’s face as she appraised them for a moment, before blinking her gaze downwards. “Of course not. She was one of my friends, like I said,” Mari repeated. “Probably my closest friend, outside of my sorority. Sisters, and all,” she added, a wry smile coming over her face for the briefest moment, the irony of the statement not lost on her, though of course, no one else would understand it. Besides Greer. And Greer wasn’t there. 

“Besides. It’s Greer. I do think I know her better than a lot of people on campus. She’s probably just having some wild adventure and decided not to charge her phone. She’ll turn back up with stories to make everyone jealous,” Mari said, the slightest sigh leaving her lips after the words. She let her eyes blink downwards again, lashes sweeping over her cheeks before she looked back up at the two men doing the questioning, before glancing towards her father again. “Is that it?” Mari asked. “Or did you need anything else from me?” 

At that, her father took the cue, standing up from his chair to hold out his hand, offering both of the officers a handshake. “You know where to find us if you need anything more. Obviously, we - Mari and I myself both - want to help as much as possible.”