- “I will survive, though. I always have. From the halls of that place to the ashes of our home, I have always survived. And this program, this project is my new future. The past be damned. I refuse to be fettered by it.”— Rose Quartz Hawthorne
Hawthorne MMBC (by tosimornottosim) is one of the examples of the Murder Mystery Bacheloret Challenges and - according to most fanon - is the first chronologically to happen in the timeline. Set in Gatsby's The Roaring '20s, Rose Quartz Hawthorne (noted gangster and rum runner) decides to find a partner that can match her in both business and love. But Rose Quartz has plenty of secrets, secrets that come a'creeping out when her twisted older brother convinces one of her contestants to start the very first killing game in motion.
Hawthorne MMBC was notable in that all of the contestants in the MMBC were either criminals or morally compromised, which brought a new sense of Gray-and-Grey Morality to the MMBC. Things would eventually slip into Black-and-Grey Morality when Cupid Hawthorne became more active in the plot, but the sense that anyone could be the murderer as everyone is already morally complex hadn't really been seen before.
It can be read here
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Deaths and Survivors (spoilers)
- Scarlet Caramel Creme - stabbed
- Donovan Hyatt - framed rant about Death
- Chloe Amaranth - burnt alive on a firewalking pit
- Aquarius Maderia - drowning
- Rowan Lust - transmutation
- Cyprus Dales - stabbed
- Virginia Levard - thrown off of a rock-climbing rig
- Celtic Byzantium and Ginger Bisque - buried alive in two boxes
- Feta Silk - electrocution
- Chester Gordon - blow to the head by a hammer
- Grey Tundora, murderer - gunshot
- Cupid Hawthorne, Big Bad - gunshot
- Dr Mc Quoddy, winner
This MMBC provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: In Episode 10, alongside instructions for sabtoaging the alchemy machine, Cupid Hawthorne sent a revolver to the murderer. When Episode 15 came, the gun still hadn't seen use, and he requested it back and sent two less physical devices to replace it.
- Art Deco: Seen everywhere in Roaring Heights.
- Anti-Hero: Rose Quartz is one of these. She is an unrepentant gangster, but is also the hero of the story. She is also compared to far more vile criminals which gives her the moral upper-hand.
- Bedlam House: Rose Quartz was sent to one of these in the past.
- Broken Bird: Rose Quartz is revealed to be either this or Broken Ace.
- Characterization Marches On: Cupid's run into a lot of development and expansion of backstory since the events of the Hawthorne MMBC, particularly since getting his Character Blog. Therefore, contrasting his recent musings with his unambiguously evil portrayal in the project can induce whiplash if not careful. His quote late into the final episode is the best bridge between, as it were, the two Cupids:"She doesn’t love you! She can’t! How could somebody fall in love with people like us!? (...) People like us ruin, we don’t create. We take."
- Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!!: Rose Quartz and Cupid seem to think so. As does everyone who wants to marry into Rose Quartz's organization.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Many of the characters have this. The past winds up being an essential key to who is behind the MMBC.
- Deadpan Snarker: Everyone is this to an extent, but Rose Quartz is almost permanently deadpan. When she isn't, something is very wrong.
- Dysfunction Junction
- Expy: Dr. Mc Quoddy is one of Dr. Terminus from Petes Dragon.
- Gangsterland: Roaring Heights is firmly one of these.
- Gayngster: Averted. Rose Quartz is pansexual, but never suffers from self-hatred towards that. Much of the cast is queer as well as criminals and this trope never comes into play.
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Growing the Beard: Compared to its predecessor, Hawthorne can be considered a great deal more nuanced and deftly written. It's also the project with the greatest staying power by design and by character: members of the Hawthorne family have since shown up in multiple other projects. - Hardboiled Detective: One shows up. She doesn't last beyond the first round
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Rose Quartz's seem to be nailed on. Love with her winner never cures her of it, but she becomes much less harsh in The Hawthorne Legacy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rose Quartz isn't the easiest person to get along with, but she cares very deeply for her contestants.
- Mafia Princess: Rose Quartz is formerly one of these. She has since become a Mafia leader in her own right.
- The Scrappy: Dr Mc Quoddy saw a not-insignificant portion of suspicion throughout the MMBC's run, partly confirming him as and partly turning him into this. The fact he ended up winning fair and square went some way towards rescuing him from the scrappy heap.
- Self-Made Orphan: One of the many sins Cupid Hawthorne is guilty of.
- Sibling Murder: Cupid attempts this on Rose Quartz. And was more successful with his other siblings. Rose Quartz becomes guilty of this by proxy for killing Cupid.
- Spell My Name With An S: Cyprus Dale, or Cyprus Dales?
- Stepford Snarker: Oh Rose Quartz...
- Survival Mantra: "I am in control of this situation."
- Sympathetic Murderer: Grey Tundora is the Ur-Example of this.
- A case of Graying Morality, eh?
- The Irish Mob: This isn't made explicitly clear in the text but
Word of God has confirmed that the Hawthornes are Irish. The fighting between two wannabe leaders of The Irish Mob is what kicks off the plot. - We Hardly Knew Ye: Poor Scarlet...
- Woobie Family: If somebody had given the Hawthorne Family a hug instead of a gun, things could have been very different.
