c’mon, give us a . ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯. smile!

content warning.


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dead dove : do not eat!

this page / portrayal contains GRAPHIC and heavy themes, including but not limited to: cannibalism, death, murder, corpse / body mutilation, gore, body horror, animal death, dissection, suicide, sororicide, child death / violence, mental illness, emotional abuse, psychological horror, and various depictions of physical violence.grant is, by definition, a serial killer. if any of these themes may be upsetting to you, i strongly recommend not reading further. Please prioritize your comfort and well-being! ♡


victims.

NOTE that these are not all of grant’s victims. when he’s traveling on the road for work, he racks up his kill count, but these cases do not follow the same MO as the victims listed below. he doesn't use the grin reaper MO when he’s on the road so as to avoid leaving a trail. might even copy the MO of serial killers in the area so as to put the blame on them, instead.


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❦ juliet godfrey: june, 2013. [ grant was thirteen at the time of her death. ] the second child of adora and nolan godfrey. grant’s junior by three years. entered the world as a whiny thing——and left the same. a fussy baby grown into a fussy toddler grown into a spoiled adolescent. mama’s darling girl in bows and frills.a ballet dancer, and a talented one, at that. adora enrolled her as soon as she could. had an affinity for scribbling in her diary, detailing any gossip she overheard. no mind for other people’s boundaries. constantly in her brother’s room, stealing his things and testing his patience. or lackthereof.when grant was 13 and juliet 10, that thin thread finally snapped. during a family camping trip, he strangled her to death and masterfully hid the body in an undisclosed location.for weeks, they organized search party after search party, scouring oregon’s dense woods, always coming up empty. they even checked the lake at the heart of the campsite.

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the only score: a cadaver dog sniffing out her favorite stuffed bunny, mr. squibbles, propped against a tree.the heartbreak of losing juliet was too much for her parents to bear. their once pure marriage rotted. roughly three years after their daughter’s disappearance, adora and nolan godfrey divorced. nolan never stopped looking for answers; until the truth destroyed him, leading to his eventual suicide.twice a year, on the anniversary of juliet’s disappearance and again on her birthday, nolan allowed himself to open his boxes of keepsakes from the godfrey’s time as a happy, whole family. on the fifth anniversary, he dug to the bottom of a box, discovering one of grant’s journals. the truth was etched in ink. how much his eldest child enjoyed the thrill of killing his youngest child. not admitted outright, but, a detective like nolan understood the truth in his son’s vagueness. before ending his life, nolan wrote a final letter addressed to juliet and his ex-wife.


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❦ carli mcbride: fall, 2021. [ Grant met Carli during their sophomore years of college at brown university. ] She was the daughter of a preacher——a man so renowned in her small hometown that Carli herself still seemed to bask in the borrowed glow of his influence, even hundreds of miles away. The first thing Grant noticed about her was her smile: all pearly-white teeth and plump lips, shining with coconut-scented gloss. her eyes, a rich brown, were wide and innocent, like a fawn’s, drawing him in with their vulnerability. Carli liked the attention. She liked being seen. She liked him seeing her.Their relationship existed only in shadows, by carli’s demand. she played the part of the innocent, claiming her father would disown her if he found out she was dating. something about his rigid religious beliefs and fearing she’d lose her academic focus——these were the tools she used to manipulate Grant into silence. he offered to charm her father, or ‘knock him around a bit,’ she told him no. insisted it would only make things worse. they remained hidden, their secret buried.Still, Grant went to a tennis match or two. Just to watch. to see what kind of girl he was dealing with.The truth came out slow, like rot under floorboards. Grant found out she’d fed the same sob story to three other boys——maybe more. Always the same lines. Always the same smile.She lied. Effortlessly. Like breathing.That was the moment it broke for him. she'd stolen the strings out of the puppeteer's hands.He waited for her at their usual spot, a secluded bench by the pond.She arrived late, always a little theatrical, hair pinned up like a Southern belle. She started talking immediately——nervous babble, pathetic denials: “They’re just friends. You’re different. I swear, my dad——


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he refused to believe, refused to surrender. then, unexpectedly, carli seethed. those perfect teeth barred like a wolf’s. for a church girl, she didn't seem very open to confession. her manicured hands flew to his shoulders, and she pushed him with what must’ve been nearly——if not all——of her might, because grant stumbled back a good few feet.he didn’t mean to kill her. but the moment felt too perfect to ignore. before he could stop it, his hands were on her. the soft, fragile curve of her neck beneath his fingers. the satisfaction came in waves as her breath stuttered and then stilled, her wide eyes locking onto his, begging him for mercy.He hadn’t even realized he’d unsheathed the pocketknife——his hand moved on its own, guided by something deeper than instinct. It wasn’t until warm blood spilled down his wrist that he became aware of the blade. By then, it was already drawing its arc, carving through the corners of her mouth with mechanical precision. He was still riding the high——breathless, euphoric——as the grotesque smile took shape. Her perfect, doe-eyed innocence, remade in torn flesh and blood, would last forever.it reminded him of those days in the woods——the tales of his boyhood. the ones where he was elbow-deep in the chest cavity of a doe.He left her body there, positioned on the bench like a marionette, her life snuffed out by his hands. It wasn’t long before Francesca, Carli’s roommate and tennis teammate, found the corpse. Not long after Carli’s death, Grant wormed his way into Frannie’s life, manipulating her grief to his advantage. He became her confidant, her shoulder to lean on, all the while keeping her close as a companion. But in reality, she was a trophy——a memento in his collection. Her sorrow, her mourning for Carli——his first masterpiece——was a constant source of fuel for his insatiable hunger.

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❦ adam fairchild: summer, 2022. [ grant just graduated brown. moved an hour to boston, now preparing to start his master’s at boston university. ] Adam worked the late shift at a library in boston, not far from grant’s residence. he was a library technician; one that pretended he didn’t want attention while doing everything he could to get it. He lingered. He hovered. Always in the corner of your eye, always insisting upon casual conversation.Grant wasn’t sure when Adam started paying attention to him. It felt retroactive, like one day he just realized he was being watched. Adam was always behind him. Near him. Too near. He made long, dramatic comments about whatever book Grant was reading. He’d smile in that off-kilter way and say things in a tone that convinced grant he truly believed himself insightful.At first, Grant tolerated it. Even flirted back. He knew how to handle admirers. He was charming when he needed to be. And Adam was attractive in a temporary, hollow sort of way. But his attention didn’t ebb. It clung. He kept talking. He kept looking. And the more he lingered, the more Grant felt it——a buzzing irritation, irrational and electric, crawling under his skin like static.that feeling. that fucking feeling.he couldn’t stomach it. not again.The night it happened, the library was nearly empty. the semester had yet to officially start, so it lacked its usual number of students. fluorescent lights hummed overhead like flies. Grant was flipping through a textbook he didn’t need when Adam approached——slow, steady, like grant might detonate.you always stay this late?” Grant didn’t answer. “Bet you’re the type who works better in the dark.There was a pause. A long one.Then, without prompting, Adam kissed him.It wasn’t shy. It wasn’t unsure. It was needy. Greedy.


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Like he thought this was some slow-burn romance finally coming to a head. And for a moment——Grant let him.He kissed him back. Hard. Pushed him against the stacks. Bit down on his bottom lip and tasted the coppery snap of blood. He felt Adam gasp against him, felt his hands tighten like he was grateful to be hurt.Grant pulled back, lips stained, eyes flat. rage blooming.Adam barely had time to look confused before Grant grabbed the brass letter opener from the desk——ornate, spiral-handled, heavy. He drove it up beneath Adam’s jaw in one perfect, practiced motion, burrowed in flesh. Adam buckled, choking.he didn’t let him fall. shoved him back into the chair, climbed onto him, straddled him like a lover, and whispered through clenched teeth, “You should’ve stopped looking at me.Then he reached into his bag and pulled out a page from Carli’s diary——on it: her name scrawled in pink ink, all loopy, girlish letters with little flowers doodled around them. the kind of thing a girl might scribble in class, bored. it was much more than a mindless doodle, however——carli’s diary had gone missing from her bookbag the night she was murdered. and now, here it was. evidence. a signature. a message. Proof that this kill belonged to the same hands that took her. There’d be no mistaking it. He folded it once. Then again. Then shoved it down Adam’s throat until it disappeared behind blood and teeth and twitching muscle.He didn’t stop there.with thick, black thread and a sewing needle, he began sewing Adam’s mouth shut.Thread through lip. Thread through gum. Back again. Until the mouth was grotesquely puckered. A silenced smile.Grant stood over him, hands slick, breath even. He looked down at what he’d made. A quiet man, finally. A man with nothing more to say.

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❦ milo st. james: summer, 2023. [ at this time, grant is basically finished earning his master’s degree at boston university. ] milo was in his cohort. Same program. Same lectures. Same professors. both rising stars in the forensic psychology department. Milo was the kind of person who jumped at any chance to assert his intellect, his superiority complex evident through passive aggressiveness.A well-respected peer. so sure of his own brilliance, always quick to assume that he knew more. he spoke in measured tones, the kind that tricked people into thinking he was being thoughtful, but Grant knew better. Milo wielded his intelligence like a weapon, polished and sharpened, and he loved wielding it against grant. Whether it was a mid-presentation interruption or a sly remark into the middle of a class discussion, he made it clear that he believed Grant wasn’t on his level.Their first encounter was nothing. A throwaway comment about Grant’s research——“ambitious but naïve”——that no one in the room even flinched at. But it embedded itself in Grant’s brain like a tick. He laughed it off, of course. That’s what you did when someone humiliated you and everyone pretended it was nothing.But it wasn’t nothing.Over time, Milo’s remarks continued. A scoff when Grant raised his hand. A smirk when he hesitated before answering. Comments tossed to their peers like breadcrumbs: “Grant’s always trying so hard, bless him.” Bless him. Grant started to notice the way Milo looked through him, not at him——like he was noise, static. Background.That’s what made him decide Milo had to die.It was in a seminar. he gave a presentation so self-satisfied it made Grant want to vomit. His voice, syrupy with smugness, drew laughs. Approval. Applause. Then it was Grant’s turn. He stepped up, papers in hand, ready. He’d stayed up nights for this, rewriting, refining, obsessing.Milo didn’t even lift his head. He stared at his laptop screen like Grant wasn’t there. Like Grant didn’t exist.That night, Grant followed him home.He had studied the routine like scripture. Milo always walked the long way, past the park and through the alley near Seventh. It was quiet. No traffic. No witnesses. The perfect place for a reckoning.When the moment came, he didn’t hesitate. He moved out of the shadows and grabbed Milo by the collar, slamming him against the brick wall hard enough to knock the air out


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of his lungs. in one swift, fluid motion, he stabbed a fountain pen straight into Milo’s neck——just below the jawline, where the skin was soft and pulsing. Not a jab. A drive. surgical precision. The sharp metal tip disappeared halfway into his throat with a sickening crunch, bone or cartilage, it didn’t matter. Blood didn’t gush——it spilled, thick and dark, soaking into his shirt, his coat. Milo gurgled, reaching up instinctively, eyes wild and darting.Grant pressed in harder, watching the pen tremble under the pressure, the ink bleeding with the blood. Still alive. Still struggling. Good.He leaned in close. “Now you’re listening.” Milo tried to speak. All that came out was a thick, choking sound.Grant yanked the pen back——not all the way, just enough to keep him bleeding——and let him drop to his knees. Then came the knife. He knelt beside him, one arm around Milo’s shoulders like they were old friends, and whispered, “Let’s give you a smile.”The blade kissed the corner of Milo’s mouth, dragged upward in a jagged arc. Flesh split. The twitch of pain flickered across his eyes, the fight flickering behind them. But he wasn’t dead yet.Not even close.Grant worked slowly, methodically. The knife moved across his skin like it was writing a story only Grant understood. Cuts to the ribs, under the arms, the soft spots where nerve endings screamed the loudest. He made sure Milo felt everything.And when he begged him to stop——when the garbled gasps turned into wet little sobs——Grant leaned in again and said, “No.He watched the life drain from Milo’s eyes with clinical fascination. Then, for the grand finale, he took the pen——still coated in blood and ink——and drove it in again, this time deep enough to sever something vital. A tremor, a final twitch, and Milo went limp.Grant stood over him, chest heaving. Hands steady.He admired the body, the blood. The ragged smile. The pen jutting from his neck like a fucked-up quill in a grotesque inkwell.It was beautiful.He left him there, crumpled like garbage in the shadows, a monument to Grant’s rage. And in the following days, when the city buzzed with news of the “brutal slaying,” Grant read every article, watched every news report.

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v.

❦ john forbes: december 31st, 2024. [ at this time, Grant is 24 years old, and has been working as a profiler for the massachusetts state bureau for over a year. ] Grant thought about killing John Forbes the first time he met him.it was early 2023——Grant’s first major case with the Massachusetts State Bureau. Forbes was consulting, retired but still revered. a legend in the metaphorical hall of fame of homicide captains, whose opinions still carried weight. He walked in late to the briefing and made a point of clapping Grant on the shoulder as he passed.“You’re the profiler? hell, you’re even younger than they say. Just don’t let the textbooks and ego get in the way of your instincts.”Grant smiled. Said something charming. Took the compliment like a professional. But in his head, he imagined his blade slipping into the corner of forbes’s mouth, dragging that smug smirk further up his punchable face.Over the next two years, they crossed paths constantly. Task forces. Panels. Award ceremonies. Forbes always found him——called him “kid,” asked if he was still “reading minds,” made little comments like “Not bad for someone who hasn’t seen a real homicide until last year.”He never remembered the names of Grant’s cases. But he always remembered to critique them. And that’s what made it unbearable.Because Grant had seen real homicide (aside from his own work). Had walked through blood-wet carpet and catalogued the way ligature marks bloomed across skin. He’d caught killers Forbes had missed. Written profiles that closed cases Forbes couldn’t crack. But it never mattered——not to him.Forbes had decided who Grant was from day one, and every time they met, he reminded him.The night of the kill, it was cold. Late December. Forbes had just given a speech at a justice reform fundraiser——a tribute to his legacy, his “decades of service as a homicide captain,” and how it was time to “pass the torch to the next generation.”Grant had been in the back of the ballroom. Watched the whole thing. Applauded when everyone else did.When it ended, Forbes went alone to the sound-proofed greenroom to change. The building was quiet——security winding down, most guests already gone. Grant slipped in through a side corridor, gliding through the dark like breath.Forbes was shrugging off his blazer when Grant stepped out of the shadows. He turned, startled. squinting, he tried to make out the shape of his newfound company.Jesus,” he laughed. “You scared the hell outta me. Grant, right? From the Bureau. Thought you were one of the AV techs.A beat.What’re you doing in here, anyhow? Come to praise my speech?” he laughed again, that arrogant laugh, fiddling with his cuff links.grant himself couldn’t help but chuckle. forbes liked that, judging by the smile that washed across the face. “no, sir. i didn’t. i had a few problems with it, actually.” forbes’ arrogant grin dwindled. “problems? what, are you a——Grant cut him off with the garrote. Handmade. Braided wire, piano string core. Meant to slip beneath the jaw and catch just under the ear.Forbes didn’t understand what was happening at first. His sentence choked halfway through, and his hands went up too late, clumsy and flailing as the ligature cinched around his throat.He crumpled to his knees, coughing wet into his own chest, fingers scrabbling at the wire,

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eyes bulging with a medley of terror and disbelief. Grant crouched beside him. Pulled a glove tighter over his right hand.I just think,” he murmured, voice soft over Forbes’s gasping, “that a man who missed so many patterns shouldn’t be giving speeches.Forbes shook his head——well, tried to, at least. The muscles weren’t cooperating anymore. He made a sound that might’ve been ‘please, or ‘help’——or maybe just a sob.Grant studied his bluish, wrinkled face as it contorted in agony. the arrogance was still in there. Trapped under the pain. He wanted it gone.He reached inside his coat and pulled a blade. Not the kind he used for stabbing. This one was cleaner. Thinner. A scalpel’s cousin.And then, slow as ritual, he carved into John Forbes’s face while the man’s heart thumped like a rabbit’s. grant wanted him alive, breathing, with no choice but to feel everything.The first cut tore through cheek muscle, dragging up toward the molars. The second matched it——symmetrical. Artful. he held Forbes still as he worked, one hand pressed firm against the crown of his skull. Blood slicked his gloves. Pooled beneath Forbes’s chin. The former captain’s legs twitched weakly.a real professional,” Grant said quietly, tilting his head as he inspected the finished expression, “would’ve seen it coming.So, he took his useless eyes. slashed cartoonish x’s over them, slicing through the white, blubber-like tissue, as well as skin. so much ear-piercing screaming. And then he pulled the garrote tighter. All the way. Forbes jerked once. Then stilled.grant bound his hands behind his back, tied a length of rope around his neck, and suspended him from the ceiling. forbes’s expensive suit hung crooked, soaked in sweat and blood, the butchered grin glistening.Beneath him, scrawled on the vanity mirror in thick, wet crimson: “BLIND.And when the body was found, the world reacted exactly the way he hoped it would. A retired homicide captain. A decorated veteran of law enforcement. Killed in a secure building, during a public event, with guards just down the hall. The same smile carved into his face as the others.It was a message. Not just to the Bureau. Not just to the state. To everyone.Suddenly, it wasn’t just a string of grisly murders——it was a crusade. A vendetta. A challenge. The killer was organized. Evolving. Getting bolder.The press ate it alive. captain Forbes’s death led every news cycle for weeks. Candlelight vigils. Tearful statements from former colleagues. citizens demanding that the Bureau wisen up after four hellish years and “catch this damn devil.” john forbes’s wife and childrens’ damp faces circulating on the news, all swollen eyes and voices splintered by grief, begging the killer to stop this reign of terror that so cruelly “robbed a great man——a great father——from this world.Behind closed doors, it set off alarms. Political pressure mounted. Internal reviews launched. Former officers pulled out of retirement. Profilers consulted. Task forces restructured.They wanted answers. so, they brought in a fresh perspective: criminal profiler grant godfrey, from the massachusetts state bureau.And Grant smiled——because they were asking all the right questions. They just hadn’t realized they were asking the same man they were hunting.


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❦ roman mcintosh: january 2nd, 2025. [ after john forbes, grant was called in to work with the boston police department to help build a profile on the grin reaper. ] the kind of reporter who thrived on the grimy underbelly of society. sharp, ambitious, and had an insatiable hunger for a story that would make his name. the adam fairchild case had been his first taste of real notoriety——an eloquent piece that earned his boss’s favor.when “the cheshire killer” (the alias roman coined for grant) reemerged, roman knew he’d hit the jackpot. his editor, sensing an opportunity of grand headlines, handed him the story. this was his big break——he could feel it. thought he could handle it, thought his wit and determination would see him through. dove into the killings, into the patterns, into the fear with a vigor that left him blinded by ambition. roman’s biggest mistake came in an article about john Forbes, grant’s latest victim. he made the fatal error of misjudging the perpetrator. It wasn’t just a lack of understanding——it was a mockery. He got too clever, too smug, too dismissive in his writing: the so-called Grin Reaper may fashion himself an artist, but his work is nothing new. A patchwork of borrowed cruelty, textbook narcissism, and a compulsion for control masked as performance. His latest tableau——the mutilated body of retired homicide captain John Forbes, strung up like a grotesque exhibit——reveals not genius, but insecurity. this killer possesses a juvenile need for recognition. he is no more a mastermind than a child fingerpainting in blood. Roman didn’t realize the price of his arrogance until it was too late. Grant, having already been scorned by the world’s ignorance and misinterpretation of his violence, took offense in a way that could only be described as cold, calculated rage.What followed was a departure from the methodical precision Grant was known for. There was an intimate cruelty in how he made Roman suffer, as if each slice, each severed digit, was a repudiation of everything the reporter had written about him.

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he removed Roman’s fingers one by one, making sure he could see each tool of his profession reduced to a useless, lifeless thing. insulting roman’s work as he had so snidely done to grant’s.and then, the smile——oh, that smile——was much more than a symbol of grant’s fleeting joy. it was a grotesque rendering, a mocking twist of the human face. he sharpened one of Roman’s own finger bones and used it to carve into the man’s mouth, forcing his lips into an eternal grin.however, he wasn’t yet finished. Roman’s eyes——his most precious sensory organs, the things that had allowed him to see the world, to dissect it, to understand it——were swelling with fear, beckoning for devastation. grant’s hand trembled——unsteadied by anticipation so great his veins could barely house it——as he carved X’s into those eyes, same as he did with john, as if to shut Roman out of the world he’d once felt so entitled to observe. Finally, to drive the point home, Grant drove Roman’s own fingers into his eyes, pushing until the grotesque punctuation of the act was complete. Roman died slowly, painfully, bleeding out in a pool of his own self-importance.And in the end, the message was simple, spelled out with leftover finger bones on the carpet beside roman’s corpse: “Watch your mouth.” Grant, an artist who painted in blood and bone, created a masterpiece. you reap what you sow.roman mcintosh was found dead less than 24 hours after he published the article.In the aftermath, Grant’s notoriety reached new heights. The way he’d dismantled Roman, with a precision that spoke to an intimacy only a true predator could achieve, shocked the media. The kill was an exhibition, a grossly extreme response, a way for the grin reaper to ensure that his story——his narrative——would never be misrepresented again. His act of violence became a spectacle for the press, who devoured it like vultures picking over the carcass of an already decaying reputation.

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❦ brandi nicole lewis: coming soon…. still breathing. for now.

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character.


general

full name. ... grant godfrey

aka. ... DR. GODFREY, the grin reaper, the cheshire killer, the boston butcher, young buck (by the senior agents), the joker (by the least clever journalists ever)

date of birth. ... 12 / 13 / 2000

age. ... roughly 25 (storyline-dependent)

gender identity. ... cis male

pronouns. ... he/him

height. ... 6’2”

sexuality. ... unlabeled

occupation. criminal profiler for the fbi, working at the boston office

zodiac. ... sagittarius sun / cancer moon / scorpio rising

species. ... human

background

birthplace. ... dove’s nest, oregon, usa

current home. ... boston, massachusetts, usa

nationality. ... american

ethnicity. ... irish / german descent

languages. ... english, latin, spanish, french, german

parents. ... nolan godfrey (deceased) and adora godfrey cline

siblings. . . juliet godfrey (deceased)

education. ... bachelor’s in forensic psychology & criminology [2019-2022: brown university]. master’s in forensic psychology [2022-2023: boston university]. ph.d in forensic psychology [2025].


personality

positive traits. ... intelligent, insightful, organized, strategic, charismatic

negative traits. ... narcissistic, detached, arrogant, obsessive, violent, etc.

likes. ... attention, praise, control, articles about him, reliving his crimes through discussing their details, psychology / criminology, reading / books, solving puzzles, precision, power dynamics

dislikes. ... incompetence, misrepresentation, losing control, being ignored, failure, permanent relationships, smoking / cigarettes, his deceased sister’s birthday

moral alignment. ... chaotic evil

.
........

Grant William Godfrey was born December 13th in Dove’s Nest, Oregon——the firstborn of Nolan and Adora Godfrey. neither of them ever let their son forget just how agonizingly arctic that night was——nor how inconvenient it had been that he decided to claw his way from his mother’s womb at the ripe hour of 3 am——with frigid winds dropping the temperature to negative fifteen degrees.inconvenient. that’s what he was. no matter what he did, it was always something worthy of frowns and chiding. always wrong, always reprimandable.Grant, get down from there! / Grant, honey, lower your voice. / Grant, you’re tracking mud in the house! / Grant, you stepped on my tulips! / Grant, you have to get along with your little sister.His father, a decorated homicide detective, spent three decades serving the Dove’s Nest precinct, his name regarded with utmost reverence in law enforcement circles. His mother, Adora, owned a flourishing local greenhouse, spending her days coaxing life from the soil, her hands always dusted with earth (though, per her wishes, all dirt-stained individuals were restricted to outdoors ‘till they clean up). they avidly attended church——never missed a sunday. crosses hung on almost every wall, and god seemed to live in every room of that house.While other boys his age worried themselves with understanding girls, Grant retreated to the wood——prodded at dead animals, peeling back flesh with morbid fascination. He was drawn to the mechanics of pain, to the way something once flowing with life could so easily be reduced to silence——to slabs of meat. flesh gives so easily to blade, just begging to be etched. When he inflicted pain——a neighborhood boy smashed into unforgivable pavement (nose broken, front teeth shattered; a scandal put to rest by the charismatic family-man, nolan godfrey), a fox yelping under his grasp——he studied the aftermath with clinical detachment, intrigued by the way fear bloomed in their eyes.Nolan tried to take Grant hunting once. Thought maybe it would make a man out of him. Thought maybe, in the silence of the woods, in the weight of a rifle, Grant would learn something about life and death——the way his father had, the way his father’s father had before him.Grant went along without argument. He listened, nodded at all the right moments as his father spoke about patience, about precision, about the cleanest way to end a life. But when the time came——when the deer finally stepped into view, its breath curling into the cold air——Grant hesitated.he wanted to kill the damned thing, no doubt. but he wanted to do it wrong.He wanted to shoot it in the stomach, watch it try to run, watch its hooves flail frantically as it bled out slowly, painfully. He wanted to walk up to it, kneel in the dirt, press his fingers into the wound just to feel the heat of it. He wanted to see how long it would take before the last ounce of life left its body and it stopped wriggling. how its pulse would feel beneath his fingers, rising to a crescendo, then, fading into its final note.But Grant was careful, accustomed to slipping into the skin his parents expected him to wear. as such, he played the role of the hesitant, sickened boy——the one who couldn’t pull the trigger. The one who shook his head, let the rifle slip slightly in his grip, mumbled, you can get it this time, Dad.Nolan had sighed, disappointed but understanding. He took the rifle from Grant’s hands, raised it, fired a single shot that dropped the deer in an instant. Quick. Efficient. The right way to do it.Grant just watched. And when his father told him to turn away as he gutted the animal, he did as he was told. But not before stealing a glance. Not before watching Nolan’s hands disappear into the cavity, pulling out warmth, steam rising into the crisp morning air. Not before making a mental note of every single detail.That night, Grant dreamt of the deer again. But this time, in the dream, he was the one holding the knife.the next time they went hunting, he offered to skin the carcass.He understood that his impulses needed to be controlled, that his indulgences must belong to him, and him only. he excelled in school, charming his way out of trouble whenever he suffered a crack in his mask. a masterpiece of deception, wearing his humanity like a well-tailored suit. When people looked at him, they saw what he wanted them to see: a bright, well-mannered young man. a prodigy in the making.he learned to perform early——knew exactly how long to hold a gaze, exactly when to nod, when to frown, when to let his voice crack just enough to make someone believe he cared. knew people wanted a good boy, a bright boy, a boy with a future. teachers praised his intellect, neighbors admired his poise, and his mother’s friends cooed over how mature he was for his age. But beneath the surface, there’s always been something rotting inside of him——a rot destined to eat its way to the outside and spread into everything he touches.praise in the godfrey home was rare and fleeting, doled out only when he exceeded expectations (but when you're so bright at such a young age, those expectations sit at a steady high, and, lest you win a nobel peace prize, it becomes almost impossible to impress). somewhere along the way, nolan and adora became too consumed with their respective schedules to remember their grace. nolan could hardly make it through the days without his pager summoning him to morbid crimes scenes. adora was always fussing over something: her plants, juliet, tidying the house, placing orders for the greenhouse. Good grades, good manners, good behavior——those things earned grant a nod of approval, a pat on the back. anything less, and his parents were unlikely to have much of a reaction to him at all. he was the brightest of his year, with the highest reading level and standardized testing scores. at first, they were overly delighted by their son's intelligence, bragging about him at sunday service and social mixers. but it seemed that, over time, they'd grown accustomed to his genius. bored by it, even.And then there was Juliet.His shadow, his nuisance, his burden. Three years younger, too nosy for her own good. always prying, always taking, always ridiculing. she wanted his things, his attention, his space. No matter how many times he shoved her away, she always came back, wide-eyed and grinning, like a persistent little ghost. she never came in peace. juliet existed solely to irritate him. Be nice to your sister, Grant. As if she were the victim. As if she weren’t the one ruining everything. She never did anything of value——just whined, scribbled in her diary, and invaded his space. She was spoiled rotten by their mother, whom did little to mask the fulfillment of her lifelong desire to raise a daughter.it was too bad, though, that juliet only spent one decade alive.june, 2013. during a family camping trip, grant’s fuse finally burnt out——the ever-burning flame caught up to the dynamite when juliet followed him into the woods after supper time. they’d devoured her favorite——pot roast——to celebrate the “most promising dancer” award she’d earned from her ballet solo a few days prior. it was in a tree clearing where she found her older brother twisting a knife into a fox carcass. its insides were exposed, puffy and pink, and its beady eyes were frozen in eternal horror, much like juliet’s. grant’s hands were stained cherry-red to the wrists, fingers trembling not from fear but fascination. The fox’s heart was still faintly twitching from residual nerves. He’d been whispering under his breath, naming each organ like a student reciting flashcards. oh my god! what—what are you doing? her voice cracked, caught between a scream and a sob. you killed it! Why would you do that? this is—you’re sick! she took a hesitant step back. her hands trembled with a ferocity that should’ve freed her stuffed rabbit from her death-grip. grant figured her desire to keep her white, fuzzy toy clean of mud outweighed her fear. always time to be prissy, he thought, even in the wake of bloodshed. I’m telling Mom and Dad. You’re not supposed—you’re not supposed to—you’re so disgusting! and that’s when he dropped its flimsy corpse and his blood-stained hands curled around his little sister’s neck. he squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed, tighter, tighter, tighter——you’re killing her. keep on going and she’ll never breathe another word again. her lips are turning blue. oh, god——ohgod. are you actually doing this? she’s gasping like a fish out of water. she really can’t breathe. you can stop now and let her come up for air. but, but, but——then she’ll tell. fuck. she’ll tell them everything. she'll tell them all about the fox and the way you cut it up and counted every organ and tendon. all about how you lunged and choked her. fuckfuckfuck. by time she gets back to the campsite, she’ll have fingerprints on her neck to prove it. or——oh. is she dead? she’s not breathing. or is she? no, no. no. there's still a flicker of a pulse beneath your fingers ... going … going … going … gone. chest isn’t moving. you can let go now. jesus … she’s just——limp. juliet’s dead. really, really, finally, dead. your little sister is dead and you killed her. is your heartbeat steady? did you catch your breath the moment she lost hers? you did. you’re breathing now, or maybe panting, but there's air in your lungs, and your heart's on fire. how amazing is that throbbing in your fists? or that … silence? shit. is that silence? finally. oh, my god——finally! you’ve done it now, grant. you’ve really done it now. god must be proud. he must be, or he wouldn't have quieted the ache in you, nor rewarded you with this feeling of liveliness.For weeks, search parties combed Oregon’s dense forests, volunteers calling her name until their voices broke. They scoured the lake at the heart of the campsite. The only trace of Juliet was her stuffed rabbit——Mr. Squibbles——propped eerily against a tree, as if she had simply set him down and wandered into the dark.Her parents never recovered. The grief rotted their marriage from the inside out. grant could only watch as it happened: every brick falling out of place … adora slowly losing the motivation to soothe nolan after his bellowing night terrors … nolan banishing himself to the guest room as his wife slept alone in the bed they shared for nearly two decades. grant knew that, deep down, they blamed him for what happened. juliet had set off into the woods in search of her big brother——and, well, if he hadn’t been out there in the first place, if he’d been back at the camper with the rest of the family, then maybe, just maybe, she’d still be here.what power. one act of his, and he completely unraveled the lives of multiple people. a puppeteer.grant played the role of the grieving son quite masterfully. in the presence of others, his eyes were puffy and bloodshot, his expression weighed down by a lasting frown. every sigh, every distant gaze, every sluggish movement was calculated to maintain the illusion of sorrow. yet, behind closed doors, there was no grief——only satisfaction, humming quietly in his bones.his father, once a formidable force in the lives of many, shrank into a shell of a man, drowning in his obsession with his missing daughter. grant was still there, still breathing, but nolan looked past him. his eyes were always fixed on the past. his mother, adora, kept juliet's room in perfect condition, like a time capsule, or a museum exhibit. or like there was still a chance her daughter might sleep in that room again. it was almost infuriating laughable, grant thought——how easily he'd been replaced by a ghost. a ghost that he created.three years after losing juliet, his parents divorced. nolan spent most of his time at the precinct, otherwise confined to his apartment. adora finally gave up on upkeeping juliet’s room and moved to the suburbs, trading optimism for detachment. grant, being sixteen at the time of the divorce, was made to switch between their residences every week. weeks at his father’s apartment were particularly bleak. His father would either: retreat to the spare room which he had converted into an investigation room, one wall dedicated solely to thumbtacked photographs and notes connected by red thread——or: sit in the dark, bourbon in hand, staring at nothing. nolan’s pitiful demeanor made grant sick. it was disgusting, the way his father wallowed about, passing out in his recliner with liquor dribbled on his chin. she was the purest of us, Nolan said one night, drunk and hollow-eyed. He never said the rest out loud, but Grant heard it anyway: And you, Grant, are what’s left.Nolan Godfrey never stopped searching.Every year, on the anniversary of Juliet’s disappearance and again on her birthday, he allowed himself to open the boxes he’d brought with him when he moved out of the Godfrey family home——the keepsakes of a life that once felt whole. on what would’ve been juliet’s 15th birthday, nolan reached into one of those boxes and found something he had never seen before.A journal.Inside, Grant’s words. detached, and almost giddy in places——highly articulate for a young boy——describing the moment he did something “bad”, how it felt like some sort of release, how he wished he could preserve that feeling, how he knows it’ll be necessary to do it again someday. I thought maybe I’d feel worse afterwards, but I don’t. I feel … lighter. Quieter. like the itch i can’t reach is gone. like when dad procrastinates on changing the garage lightbulb and when he actually gets around to it, you feel a wave of relief, because that annoying buzzing you wished would go away finally does. except, for me, that buzzing is always there … in my head, under my skin. and it’s not as simple as switching out a lightbulb. i’ve always known what it would take. i just wasn’t sure if it would work. but it did. god, it did. so, of course i don’t feel worse. i think this is what it means to be relieved … or happy, maybe? i say that because i smiled today. really smiled. my mouth just moved on its own. it was natural. genuine. i’m coming to realize that i have so many capabilities... and god gave them to me. The last thing Nolan Godfrey did before putting a bullet through his skull was scribe a note that read: "to my family, i'm eternally sorry.". Beside it sat his firstborn's journal, splattered with blood and brain matter. Grant knew, then —— when he walked in on the scene, picked up the bloodstained book, and traced his thumb over its leather spine —— that Nolan must’ve discovered it during his annual tradition.grant was eighteen when his father killed himself. senior year, spring break. it was his father's week of custody, but grant had been off in the woods at that time of night. researching. the scene he returned to was so vivid, so tangible, he could almost feel his own skin unspooling, as if his body were splitting open the same——like a cicada shedding its exoskeleton. growing, molting, transforming. maybe his father shouldn’t have been such a poor excuse for a detective.he kept the journal (it was his, after all). deemed the other piece of paper unthreatening to his innocence, figured it’d serve as something of an official suicide note, and left it.when adora and the police arrived, grant cried beautifully. people told him how sorry they were. how strong he’d always been. oh, how awful to lose so much.

........

he left for providence, rhode island in the fall, flying to the opposite side of the country to attend brown University. bagged his share of impressive Scholarships. A clean slate. No past to chase him, no grieving mother clinging to his sleeve (though he visits her quite often). distance and reinvention. Ever the sharp young man, thriving within the ancient ivy-covered walls.By sophomore year, he killed his secret girlfriend, Carli McBride——his first kill since juliet. that’s when the euphoria returned to him. that’s when the carving began. in the seconds after her heart stopped beating, a smile bloomed across his face——then, his switchblade seemed to move on its own, slipping into the corners of carli’s mouth, sawing away at the skin until she wore a gory grin twice as wide as his. christ, it was messy work. he hadn’t even realized what he’d accomplished until it was over with. mind took over his body. that fleeting moment of joy steered his hands towards his blade and in the end, it guided him. in the end, he made art.by spring of 2022, he graduated early with a bachelor of arts in criminology and forensic psychology, thanks to ap credits and summer classes.a few months later, he traveled an hour to Boston, Massachusetts to pursue a master’s in forensic psychology at Boston University. that summer, while waiting for the semester to begin, he killed another: adam fairchild. a persistent, buzzing little library technician, hovering over grant for weeks as he studied. chuckling. flirting. his persistence only led to his demise.a year into the program, nearly finished, yet another soul met their cruel fate at his hand: milo st. james. a classmate that spoke arrogantly too many times. made his own misfortune by challenging Grant’s intelligence. realizing his raging vendetta, Grant left his signature: a smile carved across the man’s face, just as he had with carli and adam——an act that still fueled his hunger for more.a few months after that, he finished his master’s. Joined the massachusetts state bureau——working as a a crime analyst / behavioral specialist. He studied patterns, built profiles, solved cases. all while generating more dead bodies, one bloodied smile at a time.then came the honorable john forbes. a retired homicide captain. they crossed paths time and time again, different cases, different galas——never a pleasant experience. not for grant, at least. Forbes never had faith in him, and it had always grated on Grant’s nerves. Finally, Forbes became a target, a man with piles of respect that he didn’t deserve. the brutal slaying *sent shockwaves through everyone, even those who believed themselves untouchable, like captain john forbes. and that was the gut-twister: no one, not even a seasoned cop, was beyond this killer’s reach. The corpse was left in a horrific display, swinging from the ceiling——meticulously arranged, presented to the world like the eighth wonder.Grant’s reputation as a profiler led to an immediate assignment to the case. They needed someone fresh, someone who understood the twisted mind of a killer, someone who expertly closed numerous others. and Grant, now more than ever, was the perfect fit. they believed he was the one who could finally put a face to this monster——the one who could solve the puzzle——and, in doing so, end the reign of terror.the press were vultures feasting upon john forbes' carcass. it wasn't long before Roman McIntosh’s article surfaced——a sharp, speculative, insulting piece, one that told of the serial killer's mindless insanity. 'twas more than worthy of reproach. So Grant added one more. robbed roman of his blasphemy-spinning fingers and used the sharpened bones as murder weapons. That case made major headlines, same as the last.he’s spent years spreading death across new england, like some kind of plague. They’ve been calling him the Grin Reaper. And he smiles every time he sees it in print.

learn more about the individual murders here!



account.

character

001. ... grant william godfrey is an original character created by myself, ori / maeve.

002. ... designed for the fandomless verse, specifically tailored to horror. crossover friendly.

003. ... he currently resides in boston, massachusetts, working as a criminal profiler for the fbi. in truth, he’s the serial killer that’s been sporadically terrorizing new england since 2021, dubbed “the grin reaper.” (amongst other things——but, well. none quite stuck the same.) his latest kill was in january——a journalist who wrote several articles on the murders. ‘twas his most brutal slaughter yet; a grotesque act committed out of rage and offense. a response to a poorly written article. grant relishes in the outcry. fancies himself a celebrity. an artist.

004. ... Grant is not a character built for traditional romance. He does not form healthy emotional bonds, and his connections——when they happen——tend to be obsessive, manipulative, and rooted in control or ego. should he be drawn to someone, it’s usually because they serve his design / narrative in some way. Shipping with him will likely lean toxic, one-sided, or psychologically fraught by nature. his relationships, both platonic and romantic, would explore dynamics built on fixation, false intimacy, or power imbalance. If that’s not a space you’d be comfortable exploring, that’s completely valid——your comfort always comes first. this is just a friendly forewarning should anyone be interested in shipping or building connections with Grant. these are the kinds of narratives you’d be stepping into, considering the state of his psyche.


005. ... grant’s work as a forensic expert often takes him to various locations for various reasons——meaning, connections with characters outside of his state are both perfectly plausible and encouraged! it’s explained a bit more in my connection requests.

006. ... muse is currently 24, but can be written between 18——24, depending on the storyline. grant uses he / him pronouns. his sexuality remains unlabeled.

007. ... note that grant's story is told from his point of view, which is largely warped——especially when it comes to his opinion of his family.


disclaimers

001. ... dead dove: do not eat. this portrayal contains graphic and heavy themes, including but not limited to: death, murder, corpse / body mutilation, gore, body horror, animal death and mutilation, dissection, suicide, sororicide, child violence, mental illness, manipulation, emotional abuse, gaslighting, psychological horror, and various depictions of physical violence.

002. ... grant is, by definition, a serial killer. these themes are detrimental to his character. If any of these themes may be upsetting to you, I strongly recommend against following or interacting. Please prioritize your comfort and well-being! ♡

003. ... minors should not interact with this account !!!

004. ... do not request that i alter the themes that i warn of. should anything i write or post make you uncomfortable, feel free to do whatever you feel necessary in order to curate a comfortable space for yourself! i take no offense to being blocked or unfollowed. i’m a professional yellowjackets lover so we get a little #morbid over here i’m afraid … i know that’s not everyone’s vibe and that’s okay!! should discourse ever arise concerning themes that are literally labeled on this portrayal, i’ll just block and protect my peace. moral of the story: content warnings exist for a reason and everything i listed will be present!


005. ... the warnings listed above apply to the entirety of the account / portrayal. meaning, individual posts will not be tagged. trigger warnings will only ever be used on solos.

006. ... this account will feature suggestive content, but explicit lewd stays off the timeline. reserved to dms with mutuals, only if previously discussed. not a lewd - focused account.


writer

001. ... mun goes by ori / maeve. twenty-one. uses any pronouns. identifies as pansexual and genderfluid.

002. ... life + adhd are usually kicking my ass so my activity is pretty sporadic! dms are always open to mutuals for plotting. ♡

003. ... can occasionally be found on @sladestrokes.

004. ... to my mutuals: no need to ask for permission before dming!

004. ... my fluctuating activity is extremely typical and not personal whatsoever! sometimes, i just might struggle to finish threads when i feel my muse slipping or my free time is scarce.



mains

@maggothearted. . / . elia jane sinclair, by devyn.

@iamrotted. . / . molly josephine evans, by lumi.

@username. . / . francesca clarke, by kirby.

@dollscarnage. . / . daphne swan, by devyn.

@girlmadegore. vivienne sharp, by lottie.

@ichorsnight. . / . june forbes, by avery.


requests.

victims’ kin. family of those killed by grant. their lives could be derailed by grief, OR the opposite——they could be thankful their family member is gone. questions that never got answered. still waiting for the murderer to be unmasked. maybe they’ve seen him before——charming, helpful, just another profiler on the case——his bloody hands unbeknownst——or maybe they’ve never known him at all. They could be still searching for closure, or perhaps moving on in their own ways. Whatever their story, they know the weight of loss, though they might not know the full truth of who caused it. carli mcbride likely had at least one sibling (they’re from a small town in texas——carli was only in new england for college). adam fairchild and milo st. james likely had a few siblings. maybe significant others. john forbes was survived by a wife and multiple children. haven’t thought much about roman, but i do at least imagine he lived alone. brandi nicole lewis is a triplet——she’s in her twenties and still alive, but not for much longer. all listed options are available, should anyone be interested!

almost victims. close calls and narrow escapes. their faces are plastered on media, their stories twisted for the world to consume (unless they never tell, or deny the press satisfaction——writer’s choice). maybe they saw something they shouldn’t have. maybe they got away. maybe he let them. they could even be writing books or agreeing to documentaries now, profiting off their survival. whomever they are, they know what it really means to have been this close to the grin reaper’s touch.

on the road. the job takes him places. sometimes it’s consulting out-of-state, guest lecturing at universities, or assisting on cases that need a sharp mind. maybe that’s how he crossed paths with them——a detective from a precinct he assisted, a family member grieving far from home, someone who barely made it out alive——or they could be something else entirely. any category could apply beneath this one! if your character isn’t local, don’t worry: neither is he, not all the time.

law enforcement. detectives, agents, analysts. They could be tangled in his case, or any like it, hunting for the truth. Maybe they’re colleagues, possibly dating back to his brown or boston university days. Some might respect him, others might be suspicious. the veterans enjoy giving him a hard time. Either way——they’re getting closer, whether they realize it or not. luckily for grant, he wears his mask well. ‘tis one with his skin.

academic ties. classmates, professors, maybe even students. grant’s academic trail stretches from brown university’s ivy halls (bachelor’s) to boston university’s forensic labs (master’s AND PHD).

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note. pls dm me if interested or if you have any questions <3

note. faceclaims from “the society” would be cool bc i love matching content

note. pretty much all of these categories can combined tbh

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victims.

currently in the process of rewriting this page! :3 until then, just know that his 6 most famous victims are : his little sister, his college gf, his college peer/rival, a guy he met at the local library, a senior detective he worked with/utterly despised, and a journalist who wrote about grant's murders (his descriptions were "insulting" and Not up to par with grant's own pov). these kills all happened on the east coast, and each victim was heavily mutilated + had a glasgow smile carved into their face. also note that grant racks up his kill count when he's on the road for work, but he changes the MO so as to not be traced. being that he's a #cannibal on the side, his on-the-road kills tend to be the people that he harvests organs from.