#did I combine the Orpheum and HGC? yes I did

[jmrothwell]

Noir AU + Soulmates AU!

Ray (who would act as narrator) works as an investigative journalist who moonlights as photographer specifically for his buddy Trevor Wilson. Ray doesn’t know much about Trevor’s history except that when he younger attempted to join the police force but quickly grew jaded by the bureaucracy and corruption and instead went private detective. 

Most of what Trevor does is help people find their soulmates. Not everyone has the aptitude to piece together the puzzles that are the random hints everyone gets each 6 months. In some cases they’ve already met there soulmate but for some reason they keep receiving the hints as like check ups, Trevor insists this is actually more common especially in those who haven’t acknowledged each other as their soul mates

(An aside to explain the soulmate thing. Every 6 months everyone gets a new hint to help them find their soulmate. Simple phrases or image tattoos. Things like life events or favorites, although as mentioned sometimes they are emotional or vague updates like ‘grieving’ or ‘searching’. Trevor is right, just because you meet your soulmate will not automatically stop the updates, you and your soulmate have to actually ‘solve the riddle/puzzle’ and openly admit it)

 It’s not exactly what he thought he’d be doing but he more than happily helps those. He even more adamantly helps those who discover their soulmates do not fit into a conventional mold to successfully set up a life to live as happily as they can.

Ray worries about some of Trevor’s methods.But can’t deny he gets some of the best contacts for his day job. He does however try to rein in some of Trevor’s more concerning daily life habits. Not always successfully. 

So one day when a pair of sisters Rose and Victoria show up, Trevor and Ray expect this to be another help find the soulmate job. It is not. 

Rose brings them a recent murder that she’s worried is going to be brushed under the rug by the media and police. Trevor is intrigued and immediately invested in the case when Rose explains she suspects someone at the club she works at. Trevor guarantees her inclination is correct but warns this person has connections and they will need an iron clad case and even then they might not succeed in taking him down.  He also insists Rose quit immediately.

Victoria, who came to make sure Rose didn’t get herself into trouble, tries to get her to back off. Rose remains undeterred. 

Ray pushes Trevor to find out why this particular case has him going manic. Trevor tries to brush it off with vague ‘that club’s owner is bad news’ talk. Rose and Ray begin to work more together as Trevor continuously goes rogue. Victoria often tags along, or shows up in Roses place.  

Together Rose and Ray discover a history of employees and musicians disappearing after starting work at the Club. Further digging shows these employees came from debt, poor family lives, just general situations that would be easy to take advantage of. Eventually they learn, through a combination of investigation and confronting Trevor, prior to his attempt to join the police Trevor was one of these employees. 

The owner of the Club, Caleb, opens up his club for young people desperate for work or to escape their life circumstances. However, once they begin working for Caleb it doesn’t take long for him to start taking advantage. Abusing his employees, underpaying them, forcing them to do more and more outside of what they were hired for, setting up a human trafficking and sex ring. Trevor was lucky to leave with his life, his three soulmates(Ray needs a moment for that particular shock to wear off) were not as lucky as him. 

Here’s the thing about this confrontation scene, Rose isn’t there. This was one of those days where Victoria took her place, and Victoria grows more and more agitated the longer Trevor talks and insists they have to go get her sister, Trevor asks why but Ray figures it out first as his soulmark changes to the word ‘danger’ - or something similar. Rose never quit her job. Victoria says that Rose said they still needed the money and that she was going to use her job to see what insider info she could find. 

They all rush to get to the club but find the police already there and the club quickly going up in smoke. Victoria immediately assumes the worst. However, after a quick talk Trevor learns that many of the patrons/employees say they aren’t sure how the fire started. The only one no one can account for is Caleb. 

Rose is safe, if a little shell shocked, refuses to say anything more than ‘there was an accident’. Trevor also goes quiet when the police ask if he has any leads/ideas knowing how he’d been snooping around the club. 

Later in the week Ray talks to Rose about her being his soulmate.