𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 ,

‘ what do you think happens after death ’ was a loaded question. one that maeve certainly wasn’t going to get into seriously. a topic she didn’t like to spend too long thinking about in general. the idea of confronting your mortality unappealing as a whole. ❝            hottest chick those nerds are ever gonna see, and it’s a fuckin cadaver. ❞ even before hope, maeve had never pictured death as something that came after a long, full life. the 27 club and white lighters always sounding more realistic. ❝ i dunno. i think cremation sounds like the best way to get rid of me. zombie apocalypse would be a hell of a lot more manageable if more people went that route. ❞

she snorted and turned her nose into her forearm, hiding her baffled grin in the crook of her elbow. "hope was one of those nerds, y'know, and she saw her fair share of hot people." but hope made being a nerd hot, like it wasn't even strange for her practice stitching on oranges to prep for cadaver day. ren was sure there were several people who switched their majors just to be like her. "well," she glanced at the cigarette in maeve's hand, "your organs certainly aren't viable for transplant. i don't know if a zombie would even want a cancerous brain."

" oh really ? and why, pray tell, is that ? " the blonde questioned, an amused smile practically plastered permanently onto her lips. given everything going on lately, it was nice to be able to experience some tranquility and fun, even if short-lived. " oh of course, i know all about conflicts of interest, trust me. "

chasen smirked a little before schooling his expression back into a flat line; this was serious business, after all. "well, i think you'd be a little biased if you knew who i was avoiding. it's probably best for all parties involved if you remain in the dark so that you can plead innocent."

"and you're just going to offer it up to the cops or are you going to wait for them to ask, at least?" theo felt a muscle twitch in his jaw. ren had this... threatening presence. hope made people feel intimidated, sure, but he didn't know why he didn't expect it for ren. he had hoped ren would be softer, less cruel. more sympathetic to him. "look, i don't know what you think of me. but i had a real relationship with hope, and i wanted to keep it. we had plans. her getting murdered fucks up all our plans. and i liked those. so even if we weren't starry-eyed like you want, i don't have a motive to hurt her. you famously hate her. why do you even care what our relationship was like?"

ren huffed with enough force to make her bangs rise and fall in front of her eyes. as usual, theo was missing the point, and, as usual, ren couldn't find a way to explain herself in a comprehensible way. there must be a planet where people only spoke in half-sentences and hidden meanings and only wore plaid and argyle sweaters. "because i want them to figure out who actually killed her instead of wasting their time on you. you didn't care about her enough to kill her; we both know that."

he understood that hope's case demanded integrity and impartiality, and in javi's mind, keeping his personal connection with veronica hidden was essential to ensure a fair investigation. however, ren's threat to expose their affair left javier in a difficult position. it turns out blackmail isn't fun if you're on the receiving end. “ fuck, okay, we'll do it your way. ” he huffed, arm extending out to motion for the other to sit in the chair across from him. “ i might not even have the answers to whatever questions you have, but what do you want to know ? you want to know if what's being aired on the podcast has any merit ? honestly, i couldn't tell you. people don't want to talk, and we can't force anyone to come in for questioning just because a podcast claims that something is true — we need evidence. ”

ren's combative posture deflated a little as javier gave into her demands. she wasn't exactly sure what she wanted him to say; maybe, they had a secret suspect all along, and this whole thing was going to be over soon. mostly, she just wanted to do something for hope. all this unexpected rage, and nowhere to direct it at was slowly dissolving the pristine, isolated life she'd built for herself. "is it true that they caught julien buying all that shit on cctv the night before hope was killed? that sounds like evidence to me."

abril quirked a brow, a bemused expression etched onto her facial features. the femme had no idea what to make of what he'd been asking of her. she supposed he had to have been desperate if he'd been coming to her, out of everyone in town. at the top of her head, she could think of more than ten people that he could've gone to with this. what was the catch? why her? or was she just overthinking again? for all she knew, it could've been something innocent. then again, she didn't have grounds to know what to expect. pursing her lips in scrutiny at his words, she watched him carefully, analyzing the situation before finally speaking, "you're asking me to be your alibi? for what, exactly?"

chasen supposed that was a fair question—not a question he was going to answer, but fair nonetheless. "for the sake of your own culpability, i'm going to have to plead the fifth on that one," he drawled with what he hoped passed as a smile. his facial muscles were far more used to settling in an impassive line or a scowl. "i didn't kill anyone, alright. that's all you need to know."

he did put his phone down, though, looking up at chasen from his spot sitting in a chair. "i can't cover for you doing like, illegal shit right now."

"i know that you're grossly overpaid," chasen hummed with a little grin that was specially reserved for making theo irritated. the most 'brotherly' they'd ever been was when they were bickering. had bruce not scooped him up from the group home like some sort of turtle-necked daddy warbucks, the only interaction chasen ever would've had with theo would be him picking his pocket or jacking his tires—so, in chasen's mind, this was them getting along. "relax, i'm not the one with a torrid romantic past. i just need a solid excuse for ditching a job interview bruce set up for me." without asking, because that was, of course, bruce's way.

Topher studied Chasen for a moment, weighing the comment and the supposed scenario they were playing. An alibi? Probably not a great thing to be trying to get in the midst of a town wide, well publicized murder investigation, but to each their own. Knowing Chasen, he was probably just attempting to hide out from someone and needed an excuse. Nothing sinister... Right? "Sure, we could go with that. Or just like, at my place playing D&D or video games. But if you want to do the 'in the office discussing business all day' route, I'll back it."

"we have to go with 'in the office' all day," chasen sighed with a little shake of his head, "i've got a rep to uphold, and fantasy roleplay doesn't exactly align with intimidating delinquent." of course, his backpack full of well-loved novels, falling apart at the spines, written by elizabeth gaskell, mary ann evans ( aka george eliot ), and thomas hardy would end his supposedly infamous reputation, but it was mostly for show these days, a habit left over after years of forcing himself into a mold that could endure anything. at least, it was easy to look tough when you were next to the likes of theo reyes. "if theo asks, i was nowhere within the vicinity of bruce's garage today."

"Probably like, handful of free passes for traffic violations. A personal get out of jail free card for the foreseeable future?" It was easier, he was sure, to make light of the whole situation. To pretend it was something good when there was nothing at all good about it. Maybe Ren hadn't been close to Hope, but they had still been family, and that loss would still leave a mark. He knew she was feeling it, he knew her well enough by now to tell that her smile didn't quite turn the corners of her mouth. But he wasn't about to be the one to force her to confront her feelings - but certainly lend an ear should she confront the elephant in the room. "You think maybe it'd get you a set of free tickets alongside that bucket of popcorn? Oh - or, maybe a couple cones at the ice cream shop? It's a good day for ice cream...Small potatoes, but worth it?"

"including arson, or strictly misdemeanors?" ren hummed into her forearm to block out any sunlight. she wasn't hungover; she rarely drank, and almost never in excess, but everything felt worse in the daylight. she couldn't explain it. maybe, she was just supposed to be a creature of the night like all the other soul-sucking creatures. "i don't want stuff," ren focused her attention intently on a lose string fraying off of her jean shorts, tugging on it sharply until it snapped, "i want to burn something." strictly speaking, she wanted to burn it all down, but that thought was suppressed as soon as it was born because the loudness of it scared her a little. she wasn't used to feeling so much; she wasn't entirely sure she had enough room in her little body for all of it. "or at least throw a rock at something." maybe, someone, if the right person came along.

micah raised his eyebrows at the other, snorting, "well, considerin' i don't work at an office, good luck with that one. though, i can pretend i do. ya know, for a price or somethin' in return. i can act." he glanced around as if trying to figure out what this potential threat was, "why you acting so fucking cagey anyway? the cops want you for the murder or some shit?" he asked.

"i can offer anything that theo owns," chasen said, halfway seriously, with his lips pressed into a flat line. that was about as close to a smile he got around most people—at least the corners of weren't curved downwards. "wouldn't be surprised; i fit their usual suspect demographic, but no. i'm not avoiding the police."

at the mention of javier, she furrowed her brow, "he seems to be the only officer actually concerned with finding out who did this." he had also been the only one veronica had been willing to talk to, but that was beside the point. she sighed, "i think he's just watching out for us."

ren tried to keep her face neutral as her mother waxed poetic about lieutenant rojas's dedication to the case, but she'd never been great at masking her displeasure. fear? definitely. affection? always, but never resentment. "really?" ren propped her chin on top of her knuckles and hummed, "is that what you think? the good detective is looking out for us because he's such a great guy." her disgust was hard to swallow, but she managed with another bite of a leftover crab cake. she wasn't entirely sure why she'd been shocked to find out the real reason the lieutenant was so interested in her family; lies and secrets were synonymous with mercer at this point, but, in some ways, she was still a little girl who just wanted her parents to be fucking normal. "it definitely has nothing to do with the fact that you're sleeping together, right?"

❝            i don't think this is a negotiation, ❞ felicity pointed out. ❝ just, like, a normal conversation. ❞ she pushed the ' employees only ' door open for chasen, inviting him in with just a nod of her head. ❝ i think i'm a wonderful friend. ❞ the term thrown around quite liberally by the girl. ❝ pick your poison. i'll grab some pillows for us to sit on. ❞ brought in by none other than fliss for days as quiet as today. ❝ do you want the flower or the star shaped one ? ❞

"everything's a negotiation, fliss," he drawled as he shouldered his hefty backpack and followed her towards the backroom, "that's lesson number one for surviving on the rough-n-tumble streets of a cruel world." she was a wonderful friend, and that was one of the many reasons she wouldn't last—because wonderful friend was just another way of saying poor sap. he stared at the cutesy pillows for a second before taking the one shaped like a star, "how often do you sleep during work hours?"

julien continued to teeter back and forth between thinking he had nothing to prove, everything boiled down to rumor and coincidence and he could avoid everything, and actually feeling like he needed to prove himself. he supposed his incessant people pleasing was colliding with his instinct to run away from everything. his fight or flight especially felt high around ren, all considering. but admittedly he was happy she didn’t greet him with accusations. “ probably like... 11? yeah, 11.  if it weren’t me, and i didn’t know the truth, i have to admit, it looks really fishy. ” he admitted with a deep exhale. 

ren had never been good at comfort. she tried to study it, the way she did with latin and theoretical physics, but the methodology wasn't clear. she just wished, for once, she knew the right thing to say. what was the point of speaking five different languages if she couldn't communicate in any of them? "well," she started slowly, not entirely sure where her sentence was going, "reporting part-truths is fake news 101. the entire truth is rarely interesting." she wrapped her jacket tighter around herself and chewed on her bottom lip, "so, how seriously are the cops taking it?"

maya braced herself for what was to come when she sees ren heading towards her and she considered walking the other way, pretending like she didn’t see her but it was too late. her capacity to deal with a confrontation of any sort was basically non-existent; she’d rather ren slap her around the face and get it over and done with if it had to come to it but she didn’t expect that. “um, thanks,” she doesn’t quite know what to say to something like that, it wasn’t exactly a situation that maya had faced before. “no, i suppose it isn’t. they have to get the sponsors and viewers in some way i guess, and not having any leads isn’t very exciting. it just feels so wrong that they’re profiting off a tragedy like this. how are you doing? podcast and all?”

ren never could understand how some people knew what to say in awkward situations. ren was just plain awkward, regardless of the situation, unless the topic was organic chemistry or victorian literature. if only maya needed help with her science homework and not empathy. "i can't wait for them to fancast a hollywood heartthrob for the killer in the inevitable netflix docuseries. nothing sexier than a cold-blooded murderer, right." she wasn't surprised by people's depravity anymore, but she was a little surprised at people who'd fallen victim to it. of all the sordid people hope spent her time with, the chronicle narrowed in on the few good people in her orbit. excluding theo, obviously. "i...don't know." she let out a quiet laugh that caught in her throat, "and i usually know everything. that's my thing: insufferable know-it-all."

two fingers from her free hand raised to maeve's forehead to give a sarcastic salute in response to ren's comments about her nobility and dedication. ❝            you know what they say, i live to serve. or some shit like that. ❞ maeve was pretty sure she had heard the phrase used in a movie before. ❝ hey, no one said anything about fertilizing the earth. i would probably poison it and you didn't seem to keen on the water drugs earlier. the only thing creepier than those funeral homes and the hippie bullshit of handing yourself back to the earth are the people that donate their bodies to science after they drop dead. ❞ a brief pause to take another drag of her cigarette before her attention turned back to ren. ❝ oh my god, please tell me you're not gonna be one of those freaks donated to science. ❞

"well, i guess it depends on what you think happens after you drop dead," ren hummed with a small shrug of her shoulder, unperturbed about the whole 'creepier than a funeral home' thing. creepy and weird were thrown in her direction just as often as bitch and asshole were—usually, behind her back, like they'd turn to stone if they looked her in the eyes too long ( or maybe it was her last name, but she'd like to think she'd earned her own gorgon reputation without her mother's legacy ). she didn't take it personally; that's just what happened when you'd rather build an ant colony than go to prom. "because, personally, i don't think i'm really going to be around to see what happens after, so obviously i'm going to want what little value my dead body has put to good use. if my organs aren't viable for transplant, they can at least make good practice for med students."