now nobody in lafleur is saying FRANCIS O'DRISCOLL is trouble, but nobody's exactly rushin' to defend them either. folks have been talkin' about the 33 / 136 year old clerk at super save a bunch since the day they rolled into town. seems there's always some new story about how they're allegedly a ghost and have been here for permanently since his death. i don't put much stock in every rumor that floats through this shithole, but with a versatile, loquacious & restless reputation like theirs, something tells me we only scratched the surface of the DÓNAL FINN wannabe's story.
BASICS.
full name: francis john o'driscoll
nickname: frankie or frank
hometown: county meath, ireland
nationality: irish-american
ethnicity: white (irish)
sexuality: some of my fave characters are gay ghosts so i thought i had to do my bit
gender: cis man
pronouns: he/him
age: roughly 33 / 136
birthday: he's not certain and the records were lost or destroyed. he says it's june 1st because he was definitely born in the summer
PERSONALITY.
positive traits: versatile , charming & astute
neutral traits: thrill-seeking, impish & loquacious
negative traits: restless, deceitful & self-indulgent
aesthetics: the lingering smell of gunsmoke , a crooked grin that occasionally doesn't meet the eyes if people look closely , a carefully concealed unsolved murder cork notice board littered with red string that leads to dead ends & reflectively crossing yourself in tense situations without reflecting on if you mean it
BIO.
cw: death and brief mentions of old timey crime and poverty but i swear this very brief summary isn't going to be that dark
the rare times frank mentions his childhood he talks about being the ring leader in make believe games with the other village children and the lush wide open space. the hunger, cramped living conditions and minimal resources linger in the back of his mind but he rarely dwells on the hardships. that was a long time ago so it doesn't impact his (after)life anymore or so he claims
his parents did what most people at the turn of the century desperate for a better life did ; they bundled up their seven children and boarded a ship heading to america in the spring of 1901. luckily, the entire o'driscoll family survived the voyage but that's where their luck ended. when they got to chicago the streets weren't paved with gold. all that happened was that thomas o'driscoll swapped his job as a farm labourer for a job operating equipment in a meatpacking factory and the family's damp crowded house was an apartment in the city
as the oldest child it was frankie's responsibility to get a job to help support the family. he became a newsboy and 11 year old frankie excelled at selling papers. he was daring, charming and still had an artful dodger lovable scamp quality that made middle class passers-by eager to giver the poor boy money. but his newsboy wage wasn't enough to sustain the family on. he also committed petty theft and pickpocketing
frankie was an amazing pickpoccket. he adored causing a distraction before slipping a victim's purse or wallet into his pockets. but one day he tried to commit a theft he sometimes regrets and sometimes looks back on with fondness. he tried to pull his usual tricks on a man who saw through him straight away because he was no stranger to cons. the man saw potential in the audacious scrawny kid and offered him a job running messages for him. frankie was suspicious but he wasn't going to turn down good money
it turned out the man frankie tried to pickpocket was involved in one of chicago's organised crime syndicates. running messages escalated into helping with burglaries for blackmail material and that was only in the first couple of years of working for him
the syndicate frankie stumbled into nurtured him in a strange unethical way. they paid him decently (not well but surprisingly decently) and they taught him the tricks of the trade. it just so happened to be a violent and seedy trade
as he aged the jobs he was tasked to carry out had more stakes. he became more involved in the extortion, racketeering and smuggling. he was never the muscle. he was called when a situation required a calm driver or someone with the ability to charm information out of people
with the turn of a new decade came a new business opportunity. frankie's boss saw prohibition as a chance to expand his stronghold into other states by transporting imported alcohol across borders. frankie was sent down to louisiana to assist with and carry out the rum-running
he's long forgotten what he did on most of may 23rd 1923, he didn't know the day would end up being signifiant. it was supposed to be another routine run. the hand-off was going well. his was in the middle of sliding money from the contact into his pocket when he heard a gun shot. he didn't have time to react before he felt two bullets pierce into his chest. his biggest regret is not turning to look at the perpetrator after his spirt separated from his body. he theorises that his soul might be trapped on earth because he watched himself bleed out instead of finding out how killed him
frankie was shot just outside of lafleur and soon discovered that he had free range to walk into town. for the first couple of months of his afterlife all he could do was observe and it was agony. being disconnected from the people around him was monotonous. eventually, he discovered that his ghost abilities were connected to his emotions and when his grief lessened he gained full control of his abilities and was able to become corporeal
frankie used his ability to be seen to become integrated with lafleur. he got a job at a now long shut bar and started a new life. for over a century he's been cycling through various friends and jobs. he's connected to lafleur now to the point that whenever he teleports out of town a force inevitably pulls him back.
CONNECTIONS.
friends-he's affable, loves talking to people and has a surface level charm. there are bound to be a long list of people he has pleasant but not very deep relationships with
enemies-he's an ex-con with his smarmy moments. he can rub people up the wrong way
late night companions-he doesn't sleep and late nights can be lonely. this would be someone he's formed a bond with because he's nocturnal
former co-workers-he's worked at a wide range of lafleur's finest or seediest establishments over the years to stop himself from getting bored. if your muse has been around lafleur for decades maybe they've worked with him
poker buddies-this is a silly one but he's a former career criminal who has eternity to kill. his hobbies do include card games and gambling
maybe a muse who doesn't know that ghosts exists but does think his resemblance to a waiter in a photo hung up at the family run restaurant that's been open for 70 years is eerie ?!?
