darcywarren

Latest Posts by darcywarren

she hadn't meant to hang on scott's every word, but darcy really didn't know how to deal with the mess of emotions she was feeling simply sitting there - overwhelming curiosity duking it out with a fear of being disappointed, the valid concern that her expectations might not meet reality.

so she did what she always did and listened. intently. nodding along at the appropriate times, making mental notes for the future. he spoke of charlotte's connection to his brother in the past tense, when darcy had been so careful to speak of her in the present. why? otherwise, his works were fairly unremarkable. he cared for his brother, that much was clear. and as an only child she found it admirable. but that was all.

hm.

she was ready to move on to her next question, a focus on tenses, when she was caught off guard by the volley of her own question right back at her. for a moment, she said nothing. and then she spoke entirely too much.

"oh, i don't," she admitted.

darcy had never spoken to charlotte blackwood, wouldn't have even been able to remember what she looked like had it not been for the missing posters lining the streets - and she had an eidetic memory. but that didn't mean she didn't have a personal investment in the case at hand.

"i know him," she acknowledged then, gesturing to where nate had been standing just moments before. "oh." since she was gesturing to an empty part of the room, she made sure to clarify so she would not be misunderstood. "nate. we went to school together." obviously. "college. sort of. and i know his parents. i work for his parents. there is a stunning lack of opportunities for someone with a doctorate in environmental engineering, so energy it was."

As Darcy slipped into the chair, he glanced over and shot her a smile before surveilling the rest of the group. At least she was responsive, that was something. He wouldn't expect anything else, despite how little he truly knew of her. It was starting to occur to him that although the group agreed to come together to work towards a common goal, they weren't a team. Far from it, actually. That would have to change, if they all managed to get through their first meeting.

At the question, he turned towards Darcy, smiling quizzically at her pointedness. It was definitely a tactic, no bullshitting around, no fluff. Getting straight to the point. He liked it, but it was definitely going to take some getting used to. "She would babysit my brother sometimes. When I was away at school and my mom worked late, Charlotte would come over and look after him." It was partially one of the reasons Scott decided to move back into his childhood home when he came back. His mom worked too hard and what kind of son would he be if he didn't help take a load off her, especially as a free baby sitter. He wasn't going to mention that though, it wasn't very macho to admit you still lived with your mother as a grown man. Nevermind the circumstances. "He loved hanging out with her, mainly because I think she'd let him watch the scary movies he wasn't allowed to watch." Scott paused for a second, thinking of how sad his brother had been recently. "It's really hit him hard."

There were unvoiced thoughts he had of Charlotte, not things he would say out loud to a group of basically strangers.

Okay, maybe strangers was a bit of a stretch. He knew a few of the faces sitting around him, was even close with a couple. Darcy fell into the first camp. If he truly thought about it, she was like him in some ways. Both were expected to set out and do big things with their lives. Only she had actually achieved it. He may have been a little jealous but he didn't know her well enough to really let that thought fester. All he really knew of her was what Bea had relayed and that was enough for him. She was a friend, even though he was sure they'd never had a deeper conversation than how are you.

No time like the present to learn something new about her, though. "What about you? How'd you know her?"

a closed starter for @beabracknell

darcy had been back in coolsville for months, and yet she'd done an excellent job of avoiding those she did not wish to see.

a certain amount of that was because she was an introvert, much preferring to stay in on a friday night, reading, than to be out and about. but her complete and total avoidance of a one bea bracknell had been purposeful, a result of ducking out of sight when she spotted a once familiar face in passing. not going anywhere that held memories that darcy was not yet ready to confront.

it had been years, and she still was not over the fight that had changed the course of their lives forever. the day that she'd said something unforgivable, her insecurity causing her to lash out at the one person she thought she'd have in her life forever.

so it was a surprise, clearly, to see the girl in the room at the community center that morning. to (from a distance) study her face, changed by the years, but still that of the girl who'd known all of her secrets in elementary school, who had stood by her side even through relentless bullying. for a moment, darcy had been happy to see her. and then she remembered. retreated. back into the girl she'd become over the last eight years away.

"what are you doing here?" she asked once the inevitable finally happened and they came face to face, mentally cringing at how her words had come out so wrong. force of habit, it seemed. but though they'd been blunt, there had still been genuine curiosity in her tone.

darcy took in the girl's name with a nod, the typical pleasantries of a nice to meet you exchange skipped over unconsciously. instead, a question slipped from her lips before she could stop it, an unexpected fact about her roommate a sudden sticking point for her. "she has a band?" she asked, the fact taken in and filed away for later.

she still didn't know rosie very well, but how had she missed that she was in a band? where did they practice? what type of music did they play?

another sticking point in the conversation soon followed, darcy's questions not helping at all with what they should have been discussing. and yet, she asked them all the same. there would be no progress until she worked out how dusk morgan fit into the background of her life, a new piece of the puzzle she hadn't realized existed beyond her immediate line of sight.

"which room?" she asked for clarification. "i have two - my bedroom and my thinking room." the latter was a phrase that likely needed additional details of her own, yet she provided none. instead, she let herself observe the stranger who had been in her house. who was friends with her roommate. who had been able to put together a life for herself in coolsville in under a year - friends, a band, clearly some reason for being at the community center that day.

"and do you know charlotte?" it was the right question, finally. but the timing had made perfect sense in darcy's mind.

sitting along in the room with only one other person brought on a sense of quiet that dusk didn't enjoy. when it was too quiet was when she was alone with her thoughts, and that was not a place to be. it's why she often had headphones on, listening to loud music to just drown out the thoughts in her head.

considering the reason she had come today, she had decided to leave the headphones at home.

picking the polish on her thumb nail that had started to wear away, dusk was surprised to be approached and greeted by the other girl. giving her a good look, dusk couldn't place her face. but when she gave her name, it clicked.

darcy warren, rosie's quiet and introverted roommate. in the dozen or so times that dusk had gone to rosie's apartment, she had never once seen her roommate. either the girl was out or holed up in her room. she only left for food or the bathroom, but even then it was so quick dusk only ever saw the flash of red hair.

"hey," the blonde greeted, shaking darcy's hand before going back to her mindless task of picking at her nail polish. only this time her attention was on the girl in front of her. "dusk morgan. and yeah, moved here a little under a year ago." with that being the first question darcy threw her way, dusk could assume she had lived here her whole life.

"you're rosie's roommate, right? i'm apart of her band." noting that darcy was still standing in front of her, dusk motioned to the open and available seats nearby. "kinda fucked that i've been in your house but we've never met, huh? i didn't think you ever left that room." was that a shitty thing to say? if it came off that way she didn't intend it to. it was more just an observation.

fact: crushes were stupid.

also a fact: darcy'd had one, once. it was long ago, with multiple degrees secured between when it had ended and the present. it was over, a finite end.

except... she hadn't actually been in a room with scott bishop since she'd graduated from coolsville high at sixteen years old. and even just standing there, vaguely in his presence, there were certain indicators that she wasn't as immune to romantic feelings as she'd believed.

how did that work? barely knowing someone and yet feeling drawn to them anyway? once upon a time, darcy'd developed feelings because he'd been nice to her at a time when others were very much not, a small act of kindness meaning so much that it broke through her defenses. did she know anything about him other than what was reported in the school paper? no! and yet, the feeling of butterflies in her stomach continued during the handful of times they spoke.

but why? and why were the butterflies beginning to flutter their wings yet again (eight years later), when there was zero grounds for the action? it made no sense! darcy was a woman of science, but not of neuroscience or psychology. love (or even just like) was a mystery to her.

which was why seemed so uncertain when, at his clap, she moved to sit in a chair near him. she was at the community center with one goal in mind - finding out what happened to charlotte blackwood - and she would not be derailed from her mission. but deep down, she was fighting to speak up, having traveled back in time to her senior year of high school.

"yes, let's," she started carefully, not bothering to take a moment to say hello first. why was scott there? why did he care? it was time for the q&a portion of the morning. "how do you know charlotte?" present tense. she could be optimistic!

where: the coolsville community center who: scott bishop and open

Scott had woken up that morning for the first time in a while with a sense of invigoration. For the first time in a couple of weeks (hell, a couple of years), he felt good about the day. It offered something that wasn't the same monotonous thing. As he made his breakfast, dished up a plate for his younger brother (who knew fourteen year old boys could eat so much), he was buzzing. It would be too much to say he was excited, especially in the climate of the last two weeks with Charlotte missing but Scott couldn't help it. He'd even brought snacks.

Those same snacks were laid out in the middle of a lone table in the community centre, only touched by him. Wasn't hard to do when there was hardly anyone in the room. He had been the second person to arrive, glad to know he'd gotten the right place at least. A few other people had trickled in since but the group seemed to be milling about in silence. The awkwardness just wasn't something Scott could deal with.

Giving a loud clap to get everyone's attention, he leaned back in his chair. "Should we get this show on the road?" he asked before really noticing how many empty chairs there were. Maybe not.

a closed starter for @dusktildcwn

darcy was keeping to herself, having already said the wrong thing multiple times that morning.

in times of crisis, she always reverted to the facts. and the facts were that the chance of finding a missing girl two weeks later were minimal. the first 72 hours were crucial. less than 2% of missing children were found after a week.

the person she'd shared such statistics with had not been appreciative of her reality check, having wandered away from her long ago. and she'd been on her own since, left to regret her actions for over ten minutes as she sipped her now lukewarm cup of coffee.

luckily, it wasn't long before someone else moved to the sidelines.

given the choice between keeping quiet while continuing to ruminate and socializing, nine times out of ten, darcy would pick the former. however, there was a task to be accomplished. a missing girl to help (however unrealistic that may or may not be). it didn't come without a moment of deliberation, but approximately one minute and twenty-seven seconds after the blonde appeared nearby, darcy made her way over.

"hi," she half-waved as she paused in front of the girl. the only stranger in the room. at the very least, darcy knew how to begin the conversation.

"i don't believe we've met. i'm darcy warren." she made sure to purposely drop the doctor before her name, the prefix unnecessary in non-scholarly rooms. she still extended her hand for a shake, though. "are you new to town?"

Goosebumps, 1.09 “Night of the Living Dummy, Part 2” (2023)

introducing: the brains

Welcome to Coolsville - a cool place to live! …except for right now, but that’s not really DARCY WARREN’S (KENNEDY MCMANN) fault, is it? Known as the BRAINS around town, SHE is just your friendly neighborhood RESEARCH SCIENTIST. Sure they can be JUDGMENTAL and ALOOF, but they can also be BRILLIANT and AMBITIOUS just like any other TWENTY-FOUR year old. That doesn’t mean they have anything to do with our string of recent chilling events, though… right?

PLAYLIST | PINTEREST

STATISTICS

full name: darcy anne warren

nickname: d.w.

age: twenty-four

date of birth: september 15

zodiac: virgo

place of birth: coolsville, ohio

gender identity: cis woman

pronouns: she/her

sexual orientation: demisexual

family.

father: william warren

mother: elizabeth warren nee sinclair

siblings: n/a

additional details.

relationship status: single

education: bachelor of science in environmental science & chemistry, doctorate in environmental engineering.

languages: english, asl, latin. she’s working on additional languages, but wouldn’t say she’s proficient yet. she considers proficient to be the level required to be a professional translator.

reference characters: velma dinkley, spencer reid, spencer hastings, lydia martin, hermione granger, temperance brennan, dana scully, amazon's alexa

tropes: omnidisciplinary scientist, the smart girl, go-getter girl, badass bookworm, child prodigy, intelligence equals isolation

physical appearance.

height: 5’8”

hair color: red (natural)

eye color: blue

HEADCANONS

darcy had a very loving childhood. the daughter of a literature professor and a law professor who taught in a nearby town, they were THRILLED when it was clear at a very early age that she was highly intellectual. they instilled in her a love of reading, which quickly translated into the ability for her to speed read.

they are both pretty successful in their respective fields and are also both mildly disappointed that she chose to pursue neither.

as a child they essentially taught her that failure is not an option and that she should strive for perfection always - exactly what a child should be hearing, yes?

her ability to socialize wasn’t exactly helped by skipping 2 grades in elementary school. add in the fact that she’s an introvert and she has pretty high social anxiety. sometimes it makes her seem like… well, a bitch. but most of the time that isn’t on purpose.

her (not total!) lack of friends started as a young age, when she got a reputation for being both a know-it-all and a snitch.

she has an eidetic memory and is a Huge Nerd who will spout facts at you if given the chance. Not Good with rhetorical questions. she will answer them.

she recently acquired her first doctorate - in environmental engineering. she got a ton of credits via AP and dual-credit courses in high school, so if she hadn’t wanted to test out a little bit of everything when it came to her coursework, she may have been able to finish even sooner. she is already planning ahead for her next academic pursuit - perhaps molecular biology?

she is judgmental. she forgets that not everyone knows what she knows and that sometimes what she considers common knowledge is really incredibly niche stuff. her tolerance for foolishness is low and she is occasionally blunt.

the default assumption with darcy is probably that she doesn’t like you, even when that isn’t necessarily the case. she is simply guarded and anxious and needs a little time to warm up to people.

tldr; she is a super smart girl whose intellect can be isolating. she has some walls up, but once you get to know her she’s nice enough.

AESTHETIC

warm orange, observant eyes, professional attire, classical music, decade+ old hits, soft sweaters, pristine white coats, mountain of books, bright starry nights, subtitles, chalk dust, sunrises, scribbled in the margins, fun facts, there’s a logical explanation for everything, stillness, silence.

CONNECTIONS

the beauty. childhood best friends. two peas in a pod, once upon a time darcy and bea were close as can be. but then darcy skipped two grades while bea was held back. nothing was quite the same after that. they managed to stay friends for a while, confiding in each other up until the bitter end, but when darcy left for college, they had a major fight that seemingly ended things for good.

the enigma. eventual unlikely friends. as a result of childhood bullying, darcy has always struggled with sticking up for herself. always happy to speak her mind in the presence of one or two of her trusted friends, add too many cooks to the kitchen and it's a recipe for disaster. call it stage fright, call it trauma, either way, dusk was able to pinpoint it pretty early on. it's nice to have someone who sees the value in your contributions sticking up for you.

the loner. roommate/on good terms. darcy loves her parents, but there was never any doubt when she moved back that she'd live on her own. she's moderately wealthy thanks to some patents for previous inventions, so she's renting a three bedroom house in coolsville. one bedroom is hers, one bedroom is her thinking room (a quiet space to work when not physically at work), and one bedroom is rosie's. it's maybe a little surprising that they get along as well as they do, but both girls understand the importance of alone time. and it's best for darcy that she doesn't live alone - she needs to socialize with others so she's not entirely hopeless.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

crush. now is NOT the time! maybe she's liked them for a long time or it was something she developed back in high school that she thought had gone away, maybe it's something brand new. either way, it's terribly inconvenient.

darcy warren. the brains. 24. research scientist.

intro. pinterest. playlist. muse inspo.

#About me 

i love information i need more

When Harry Met Sally (1989) | Gossip Girl 4.15 “It-Girl Happened One Night” (2011)

SCOOBY-DOO (2002) dir. Raja Gosnell

You know what I need? I need someone to translate five pages of archaic Latin. Obviously, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.

KENNEDY MCMANN as NANCY DREW

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone dir. Chris Columbus | 2001

…a terrible hunger for knowing things, for knowing everything.

Catherynne M. Valente, from Deathless (via luthienne)

i am extremely analytical and everything needs to be explained… hate living in the unknown bitch i have to know everything or i will fall into a coma

me trying to justify my over worrying to friends

KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF | 1.03 We’re Selling Washing Machines

Euphoria: “Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door”

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) dir. Susan Johnson

Kennedy McMann as Nancy Drew ↳ 3×09 The Voices in the Frost

Nancy Drew vs the Printer from Hell

Hey, do you know what’s so romantic? Solving a homicide together. With me.

They didn’t know how preoccupied I could get when surrounded by books; it was something I preferred to do alone.