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Kate Beckett ([info]katebex) wrote in [info]toboldlyrpg,
@ 2017-10-06 17:48:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:! enterprise, - crew quarters, kate beckett | castle, richard castle | castle

WHO: Kate Beckett and Richard Castle
WHEN: 2246.1007
WHERE: D-1
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Ongoing
SUMMARY: Castle and Beckett try to work on a Halloween murder mystery for the whole ship.



There were certain things in life that were almost sacred. Reading a good book and sipping a glass of wine in a warm bath, burgers and shakes with the boys and Lanie and Remy's, the first few steps in a pair of high-end heels, or curling up on the couch in the loft and watching a movie with Castle. All of it was rather inconsequential in the grander scheme of life, but it had all given Kate a sense of balance.

Sitting at the kitchen counter while Castle cooked their family dinner had become another one pretty soon after she had moved back to New York from D.C., but there were also the nights that they didn't have the energy to cook, worn down from long hours pounding the pavement to find evidence and interview suspects and other people of interest in murder cases. Even on those nights where they ordered Chinese or pizza, there was something comforting in the ritual of just sitting together and sharing food.

And that was why she had made the extra effort tonight, bringing food from the Mess Hall that resembled what they usually ordered for those quiet nights in - chicken fried rice and pot stickers - and a bottle of wine that she'd gotten from Lucifer. So much of their life was upended here, simple things they took for granted either impossible or only possible with considerable effort. Because of that, it meant all the more.

"Alright, so it's not Ming's Kitchen, but it is Chinese food," she explained to Castle as she walked back into the living area, having changed out of her uniform and into her standard loungewear of leggings and one of his t-shirts. "Seemed appropriate if you are going to pick my brain about cases for the Halloween party."


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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-07 01:02 am UTC (link)
Castle was excited to get to work on a story again, and he hoped that this would get his creative juices flowing again. Since arriving on the ship, he hadn't done much writing. Perhaps it was because there were so many distracting things and people on the Enterprise. Being here was such an abrupt life change that it had taken him some months to simply settle in.

Hopefully this Halloween murder mystery would jump start him back into writing. He sat down next to Kate with a replicator-created pencil and paper - archaic tools in this time, but they helped him to jot down ideas. "Alright," he said, "so, any initial ideas? Do we want to do a theme? We could make it really Halloween-y if we wanted to with vampires and werewolves and things like that."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-07 01:12 am UTC (link)
Placing the container carrying his food onto the coffee table in front of them, Kate leaned back against the cushions to consider the question. "For my taste? No," she said, with a sigh. "We have actual werewolves and vampires on the ship, so whatever you and I could come up with wouldn't really have the same effect on them as it might the rest of us."

Leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek, she gave Castle a quick smile. "Want some wine?"

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-07 11:04 pm UTC (link)
"That's true," he said with a nod. Castle paused so that he could open his Chinese food and dig in. Definitely not as good as the New York stuff they got back home, but it would suffice for the time behind. "Sure," he said of the wine offer. "Just a small glass though." Usually he preferred coffee when working, though this was mostly going to be a casual idea sharing session.

"We could set it in another time period," he said between chews of fried rice. "By the way, we're going to need actors for this. I think you'd play a good femme fatale."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-08 12:03 am UTC (link)
At his agreement, she pushed herself up off the couch and walked into the small kitchen area. Snagging two glasses, the wine, and the opener she had tossed in a drawer after last using it, Kate strolled back to the couch. "Like the 1930s or 40s?" she asked with a grin, fairly sure that Castle's love of detective fiction and film noir, not to mention private investigators, would likely lead him there.

Placing the glasses on the table, Kate turned her attention to working on popping the cork of the bottle, carefully pressing down until the corkscrew had a good hold and then tugging upward until it slid out with a pop. "That's sweet," Kate told him, dropping the cork and the opener onto the table before she picked up a glass, "But I'm a terrible actor, babe."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-08 11:09 pm UTC (link)
"You know I love noir fiction," he replied with a smile. Of course she knew that. It was basically a no-brainer. "I think Peggy and the 40s contingent might be amused by it. Plus, costumes. We could have everybody wear costumes, even the guests." It was pretty much decided in his mind that they should do a 40s mystery.

Castle raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? All detectives have at least some acting skills or they'd never get a suspect to say what they need them to." Interrogations could be a lot like acting a part. One had to get the suspect to believe that the cop was on their side so that they would spill their guts.

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[info]katebex
2017-10-08 11:23 pm UTC (link)
"How much of that is because you look great in a fedora?" she asked with half a laugh, passing him the half-filled glass - her version of a "little" - of win.

Picking up the second glass, Kate began pouring her own, shrugging her shoulders at him. "No, that much is true. You've got to be able to spin a story and to do it convincingly. And then there are undercover operations where you really are creating a part." Once she had finished pouring, Kate placed the bottle back on the table and paused to take a sip of her wine, her bottom lip catching between her teeth as she swallowed and the flavors exploded on her taste buds. "But all of that is more improvisation than acting. I'm not following a script or a director's vision, just my own instincts. And then there's the fact that there isn't an audience of people staring at me in interrogation, too."

Stage fright was a very real thing for her. Though Castle had no way of knowing that yet, he hadn't experienced it in his timeline yet.

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the icons you made look lovely and i play on uploading some of them soon!
[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-09 12:17 am UTC (link)
"I'd say about half the reason," he admitted as he took the too-full glass of wine from her. "Actually, I was kind of thinking that a lot of this should be improvisation. People will have set characters with backstories and motives, but maybe not a whole lot of actual lines. I feel like that would make the whole thing more realistic."

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Aw, yay! Glad you like them.
[info]katebex
2017-10-09 12:35 am UTC (link)
"At least your honest," she said with a chuckle, taking her seat on the couch next to him as she sipped at her wine again.

Of course, Castle had thought about the situations surrounding the murder mystery and, of course, he intended for it to be less full-blown play and more of an improvisation skit. Putting her glass on the table, Kate picked up her fork and dug into her food, narrowing her eyes at him over her shoulder. "You aren't making this an improv thing just so I'll do it, are you? Because I'm still not going to act in this thing, Castle. I love you, and I'd do a lot for you, but I draw the line at public humiliation."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-09 11:26 pm UTC (link)
"No," he replied. "I was thinking that anyway, but if you want to be in it, that's a bonus. I think you'd be great, honestly. No public humiliation at all."

Kate had managed to fool him that time for his birthday with the Rear Window type plot. Most homicide detectives could easily pull off a little improvisation. However, Castle wouldn't push her.

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[info]katebex
2017-10-09 11:38 pm UTC (link)
As usual, he was being incredibly sweet and thoughtful. He just wanted to include her in one of his projects and here she was, doing her typical thing of over-analyzing, over thinking, and generally just raining on her husband's parade.

Swallowing her first forkful of food, Kate gave a small sigh. "That's sweet, Castle," she said, turning so that she was facing him and he could see her smile. "But I wouldn't be. I'm terrible at acting or singing or doing much of anything in front of an audience. Stage fright is a very real thing for me, and I wouldn't want to agree to something, for you to expect that I'd be amazing, and just disappoint you."

In her timeline, she had done exactly that once, but she had at least learned from that experience and the pointlessness of trying to hide it from him.

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-11 12:32 am UTC (link)
Something like that, but Castle wasn't upset. "I doubt very highly that you would ever disappoint me," he replied, "but I'm not going to make you, Kate. I wouldn't want you to do something that you weren't comfortable with." Reaching out, he gently tucked a piece of her wavy hair back behind her ear.

"Anyway, what would you rather work on first - the victim or the killer?" Establishing some sort of connection between them was key to figuring out mode and method of the crime.

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[info]katebex
2017-10-11 12:44 am UTC (link)
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," she replied, but there wasn't anything sad or angry in it. Just matter of fact. She had disappointed him, broken his heart, but Castle didn't remember it and, even better, he was kind enough and good enough to forgive her. "But I appreciate the sentiment regardless," Kate added, tilting her head so that it was briefly cupped by his hand.

The answer to his question was instinctive really, born from years of investigations and the routine of police work. "I think a victim," she said, "Start with who died, when, and how. Backtrack to the why and the who."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-12 12:38 am UTC (link)
As he'd said at the time, he couldn't really be mad at her for something that she hadn't actually done to him. Yeah, it had sounded shitty, but they were here now. Their old lives, and all of the demons that chased them, were left back in New York.

He nodded at her answer. "Alright. Who do you think we should kill off? The maid? A party guest? A rich old man?"

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[info]katebex
2017-10-12 12:45 am UTC (link)
Tilting her head back to laugh, Kate nudged an arm against Castle's ribs. "Are you rewriting Clue or something?" she asked, using her free hand to reach out and gently tug at his ear. "Mrs. Peacock in the library with the wrench?"

But even as she was teasing him, Kate was trying to think about the oddest cases she had come across in her career. Serial killers were difficult because of the profiling and the challenge of stopping before they struck again, but it had always been the random attacks that had gotten to her and been the hardest to work. Though, really, a good deal of that was the perception of her mother's murder having been random gang violence for so many years - and it had been Castle's tenacity that had blown that theory apart for good.

"It should just be someone unassuming. Not the person that everyone loves and has no enemies, or the person everyone can't stand because of whatever personality trait. Just a person that's at the party and wants to have a good time. Nothing more than that."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-12 11:36 pm UTC (link)
"Yeah," he said, conceding that point. "That's kind of my go-to for murder mystery dinners. Great movie, by the way." One of his favorites. Maybe he could find it somewhere on the PADD.

"I agree," Castle continued before pausing to eat some rice. "That makes a good victim. Makes it harder to figure out who did it. Of course, it could be a person who is very unassuming, but then things start to come out after his or her death, secrets that they had been hiding."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-13 12:36 am UTC (link)
The grin she gave in response to that was one of her silly ones, the sort where it split her mouth open and flashed two rows of even, white teeth and the tip of a pink tongue poking between them. "It's one of the best," she agreed, pulling her container onto her lap as she abandoned the idea of leaning over the coffee table to eat in favor of curling up against Castle's side. "We should have a marathon if we can find them. Rocky Horror, Clue, Forbidden Planet."

Of course, the last one was less about Halloween and more about knowing it was also one of his favorites and also one of their earliest dates - though they hadn't even been dating. But Kate had been emotionally involved enough to admit it for what it was years later.

"Everyone has secrets," she agreed once she had swallowed her next bite of food. "Just like everyone pretty much has someone they'd do a hell of a lot to protect."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-15 06:30 pm UTC (link)
It was a great smile though, one that Castle loved seeing. Kate was even more exceptionally beautiful when she smiled.

"That'd be awesome. I wonder if those movies are still considered classics or if nobody's even heard of them anymore," he replied. That would be kind of sad, in his opinion, though he knew that very rarely did works of fiction become timeless and cross centuries.

"I like the protection angle too. Maybe our victim was going to spill the beans about something they knew about the killer."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-15 06:50 pm UTC (link)
"I'd bet they're far beyond classics now," Kate replied. All of those movies had been classics in there time, she would guess that nearly 250 years into the future they were beyond that term and well into something close to archaic.

But Clue was as good of a jumping off point as anything. That movie was effective because of the multitude of connections that the cast of characters had to one another and to Mr. Boddy. Even if you figured out one connection, there were eight more to contend with.

"Well, let's back up for a second," she said, shifting so that she was facing Castle. "Two of the most frustrating cases we've ever worked were because they presented themselves as random acts of violence. Cases that are seemingly unrelated, but turn out to have a connection like when Lanie found the water deposits on that therapist and then Perlmutter found an exact match on the man shot in the park. No reason that they intersected other than that forensic evidence, but the killers knew each other from their commute on one of the water taxis in Manhattan and had agreed to kill one another's problem."

"For me, that's the type of case that would keep people off balance quicker. Obviously, you couldn't use forensic evidence as the tie, but there should be something that connects a victim - or even victims - with multiple people that all have valid reasons for being responsible for the murder."

Pausing to sip at her wine, another thought came to her and Kate flashed him a grin, gesturing at him with her glass. "Like that counterfeiting ring. A sculptor, a chemist, and a tattoo artist walk into a burlesque club...."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-16 12:25 am UTC (link)
"You know, you're pretty good at this solving crime thing," he teased before eating some more of his rice. "I do want to make it mostly lighthearted. I mean... as lighthearted as one can make murder."

Thus more in the vein of Clue than some of the darker cases they had worked. "I kind of want to use poison as a murder weapon because I think that could be interesting at a dinner party. Watch everyone push their food uncomfortably around their plate after that, even if it's only part of the play."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-16 12:36 am UTC (link)
"Babe, you want to make Clue," she said with a laugh, biting into her final potsticker and chewing thoughtfully as he explained the idea for the murder weapon.

"It's a good idea," Kate admitted once she had swallowed her food, "But it might be more effective in a drink than food. Some people likely won't eat, everyone will be drinking."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-17 12:27 am UTC (link)
Castle shrugged. "Maybe I do. But it won't be Colonel Mustard in the ball room. Poison isn't even an option for murder weapon in Clue." He'd like to think he was a bit more original than just completely copying Clue.

"Putting it in the drink works. Cyanide maybe. You know, only one in three people can smell cyanide. Someone should sniff the victim's glass and realize that's the murder weapon."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-17 12:38 am UTC (link)
"So you want to stick to just one victim?" she asked, feeling absurdly like she needed to get up and grab a notebook to jot down notes. There really wasn't any use in that, it wasn't her story and it wasn't an actual case.

But, then again, habits were hard to break and she always thought better with a visual in front of her. Short of drawing on the wall to create a murder board like she would use at the precinct, the notebook she grabbed when she got up from the couch would have to do.

"Okay," Kate said, clicking her pen and poising it over the paper. "Creepy old mansion on a stormy night, fancy dinner party, someone dying from poison because they are protecting a secret. Anything else?"

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-20 12:59 am UTC (link)
"Yeah," he said, "I think just one vic is easier since it's a murder mystery party. We don't want to overwhelm people." They could probably figure out complex murders and motives, but he mostly wanted to make this fun and not impossible for people to solve.

"Costumes," Castle continued, knowing that wasn't exactly what Kate meant. "I'm going to be busy with the replicator."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-20 01:31 am UTC (link)
He definitely had a point, Kate usually had to stop a remind herself that other people didn't spend their lives analyzing and thinking about murder investigations. She was trained to do that, Castle had helped her solve enough cases - not to mention all the cases he crafted for his books - that he might as well have been. The rest of the universe wasn't going to be thinking about murder unless it touched them in some other way.

"Okay, Martha Rogers, should I book your spa appointment now or later?" she asked, clearly teasing him as she sat down, dutifully writing 'costumes' on the list she was making.

"But, you know, since I'm not going to be in this thing, I'll throw you a bone," Kate added, glancing up at him. "When you are making those costumes, you can make me one, too. Provided it's not cut down to my navel or slit up to my hip."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-21 11:50 pm UTC (link)
"Actually, if you could book me a spa appointment, that would be amazing," Castle said. "We need to figure out how to make a holodeck program of one. That would be pretty popular I think." He would be all about some massages and pampering. Definitely missed that from New York.

Castle grinned when Kate said he could make her a costume too. That was good, considering that he'd be wearing one. "I promise it will be sexy yet tasteful."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-22 02:51 pm UTC (link)
"Mmm, that makes two of us." A spa appointment wasn't something she did often - Kate never usually had the time for such things - but she wouldn't have ever turned one down. "I wouldn't really care about the wraps and all that stuff, but a sauna and a massage? That'd be amazing."

Snorting in amusement at her husband, Kate pointed her pen in his direction. "Which means it's probably going to be red, backless and figuring hugging." Not that she really cared, ballgowns and big dresses weren't usually her thing.

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-22 10:22 pm UTC (link)
Castle wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close to him. "Maybe. You can pull it off better than most of the women on this ship." And there were some damn gorgeous women on the ship, but Kate eclipsed them all in his eyes. "I do still want to make it appropriate to the time period though," he said. "They only showed but so much skin back then."

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[info]katebex
2017-10-23 01:45 am UTC (link)
"See, you have to say that," she said with a laugh, sliding an arm around his waist and quickly pressing a kiss to his cheek. "It's part of the rules of marriage." But, nonetheless, she appreciated it. With Castle, it wasn't just a line that he said just to sound good, he actually meant it.

"I don't doubt that," Kate agreed, "Details are important to a writer. Plus, if you mess it up, your mother will appear if only to chastise you for your lack of accuracy." Martha Rogers was many things, among them a stickler for accurate portrayals of time periods in televisions and movies.

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-23 11:59 pm UTC (link)
"Oh, this is no obligation of marriage," he said with a slight laugh. "You're definitely the hottest woman on this ship." No exaggeration on his part either. No one even came close to Kate in his eyes.

Castle nodded. "Part of me is surprised that she hasn't shown up here yet." She might actually like being on the ship. It was certainly different than her day-to-day, but it would be a fun adventure for her.

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[info]katebex
2017-10-24 12:09 am UTC (link)
Kate didn't say anything to that, just settling for a smile and slowly leaning in to capture his mouth with her own. There were plenty of ways to thank Castle for the compliment, and why should she use words when gestures worked just as well?

"Your mom would hate this ship," she answered with a chuckle, lightly biting his lower lip as she broke their kiss. "Maybe it'd be fun for a while, but she would get tired of being confined to the ship, not being able to go out and meet new people or perform for an audience." It would be an adventure until she got restless. "But it would be nice to see her again. I miss her. And Alexis and Lanie and the boys."

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[info]writeswrongs
2017-10-25 11:57 pm UTC (link)
Castle returned her kiss with a smile.

She was actually probably right about Martha hating the ship. She'd get bored. He sighed when she mentioned everyone else, especially Alexis. "Yeah. I miss them too. I'd like to have them here, but I don't know if they'd care to be stuck."

He stared down at his blank pad for a moment and tapped his pencil before snapping back to reality. They needed to get to work. "Anyway. Time to come up with character names. I'll try not to make them 'stripper names' as you say." He held up his fingers to simulate the quotations.


[ooc: and wrap? or maybe you take once more and then wrap?]

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