• •Can't Blame a Girl for Trying

[Elliot Taylor Mercer]

Elliot wore a coat of many colours. She was a makeup artist, a fabricator, an artist. She was a fighter, a survivor and a lover. She knew better than most that life was a hell of a lot shorter than anyone really thought it was. She'd nearly lost her life when she'd been a teenager. It was pure luck that she'd managed to come away from that train crash with fairly minor injuries. Well, minor for a train crash. Her brother hadn't come away quite so lucky but he'd had an angel watching out for him as well. So she added volunteer to her list of adjectives when she'd gotten out of her hospital bed. She'd spent the rest of her summer recovering in Miami and then returning to Virginia to return to some sort of normal life. Not that it would ever be normal again. The looks and the whispers drove her crazy but she dealt with it, she was the girl who survived a train crash after all. She and her brother were practically famous in Virginia Beach; which wasn't fun at all. And then add in her parents who didn't want her out of their sight any more. Still, she'd made it through and forced herself to keep up with her art because it kept her sane.

The quirky brunette had needed her art more than anything after that accident and it was all of that that landed her an internship and then acceptance at NYU to study her love further. And now, thirteen years later, she was well on her way to where she wanted to be. She worked her ass off creating works of art that people wanted to put in their movies and television shows. And when she wasn't doing that she was on sets here and there around the city just doing actor's makeup; something she felt a novice could do. But then, her name was pretty well known on the circuit and a lot of people wanted the best. That was Elliot. She worked hard to achieve that status and was damn proud of it, too. But it meant a busy schedule. And that meant a little less time doing things she enjoyed doing; like volunteering.

She loved teaching kid’s art and showing them how to do their makeup to look like creatures from their favourite movies and shows. She tried it out with inner city kids but though they were receptive about it, an art class wasn't what most of them wanted. Still, she offered those who were interested the option to go to her studio and she would teach them there. Take them on as an intern of sorts. A couple days a week, she had a few teenagers filling spaces in her studio with their sketchbooks and their supplies and she would give them guidance and something to recreate. Currently those kids were working on recreating one of her older pieces she'd done for a movie when she'd first started out at this particular studio. She quickly turned to an alternative group and after speaking to a few people about how she could go about it, got all the permissions she needed.

It took a lot of doing, carting around bins of supplies a couple times a month but it was completely worth it to see the kid’s faces up on the children's ward of the hospital. She and her crew loved taking the afternoon off from their usual work to indulge in a little fun and games with the kids. E.T took a moment to talk to Denver, the doctor who had helped her set it all up before heading to the room they set up in. It was a fun afternoon of dressing up like Marilyn Monroe, characters from kid’s shows, along with the usual suspects of werewolves, vampires and fairies. These days made E.T. happy. She felt like she was doing some good on these days and didn't want them to end, even when it was time to pack up and said their farewells. She was just digging through the bin she kept a camera in, to take a picture of all the ghouls and goblins they'd all created when the door opened. E.T. had assumed it was just Denver saying they needed to wrap up because he had mentioned there was another group penciled in after their crazy lot. But then she looked up and couldn't help but grin at the all business man standing in front of her. Like the rest of the group, she, too had makeup on thanks to one of the little girls who wanted her to be a fairy as well and try her hand at the job. Elliot had to admit, she was pretty handy with a face painting kit. "Fancy meeting you here." She said, not knowing if Kai would recognise her or not or if he would even remember her in the first place.

Tag || Kai Edvard Falkenberg
Words || 827
Clothes || Funky Fairy
Music || Can't Blame A Girl For Trying --Sabrina Carpenter
Notes || <3!

[Kai Edvard Falkenberg]

It was Astrid's doing. She had been the one who had nagged Kai into arranging something for this open day of sorts. Normally, Kai kept out of these arrangements and just did the job he was assigned to. He wasn't one of the detectives known for his charity work or who had his face out there in the community. There were some of his colleagues who loved being part of local events and getting to know the people of New York City, but Kai was purely about the job. He would keep the citizens safe, even if it cost him his life, but he wasn't about to put on a fake smile and dress up to pose for photos when the city closed the streets for parades. His specific department didn't really cater for that sort of thing and with his job he felt like he would be making a mockery of his hard work. He knew some people thought that he needed to lighten up and laugh more, but Kai dealt with some of the darkest of crimes, arrested the sickest of human beings. Before that he had spent several years in and out of war zones with the US Naval and his EOD squadmates.

His little sister had nagged enough though about this afternoon and the children on the ward. Kai had always found it amusing how he served to protect people and Astrid had grown up to help heal the sick. For the last several months she had been working on the children's ward though, and it was making her more insufferable than ever for Kai. Endlessly she seemed to go on about how those sick children deserved better – which they did, and he agreed so – but that always turned into how she also wished Kai would take a break from his job to get out there and live his life more. Astrid never seemed to believe that her brother could be happy with what little he had, even though Kai honestly was content to be alone and to be working seemingly non-stop these days. In the end, to get her off his back for a temporary break, Kai had agreed to pull some strings at work and arrange a team to attend and afternoon at the hospital for the children.

He didn't really know what the NYPD could offer a group of ill kids, but he spoke to some of his colleagues about it, and then his Captain and together they managed to come up with a little detective pack with some science thrown in. A few of the CSI team had offered to come down on their afternoon off and do a bit about fingerprints and let the children take their own prints and make some casts of their shoe prints and little things like that; the sort of stuff that would usually be classed as crucial crime scene evidence, but that children might find great fun. Kai thought he would just send them on their merry way and spend the afternoon catching up on his paperwork, but Astrid was having none of it when he called her that morning to confirm everything with her. She demanded her brother's attendance there, shouting at him that she had told several of the kids that her own big brother was coming in that afternoon and that he couldn't let her down. So, with great reluctance he followed his colleagues into the hospital, hanging back just a bit and not knowing at all what he had to offer. His line of work was not child friendly and he wasn't at all sure what he could do here. Not even his own niece got to hear the vaguest of details about his job and that was something everyone in the Falkenberg family had agreed upon once TK was old enough to ask questions about her uncle.

Kai kept to the back, awkwardly rubbing his neck and shoulder, feeling where his skin turned rough, scarred from his Naval days. The children seemed excited, even those who were confined to their beds. Usually the only time Kai found himself in a hospital was when he had to ask a victim some questions and they were in a pretty bad shape. He wasn't at all feeling in the light hearted mood he was expected to be in for this afternoon, and he seriously wished Astrid hadn't demanded this of him. For once, he wished she could think about what his job entailed, what he did and think about the memories it might dredge up, bringing him to a place like this. He was strong enough to conceal it all flawlessly, but it wasn't fun. Seeing Elliot appear before him snapped him out of those dark thoughts and the ghost of a smile passed across his lips for a second. “Small world.” He said quietly, dropping his hand from his shoulder and back to his side.

• • •

TAGGED! Elliot Taylor Mercer
WORDS! 825!
OUTFIT! Demure Detective!
LYRICS! Just One Yesterday - - Fall Out Boy
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Elliot Taylor Mercer]

Elliot loved these afternoon trips. She should probably hate them, having to return to the hospital time and time again but she really didn't. She knew she brought a smile to those kid's faces and that made every bad memory of the building, or rather one just like it in Miami seem worth it. She didn't want to have a repeat of what she'd gone through, not even through a trip down memory lane but the bad feelings she got being inside the sterile walls were bearable. Elliot couldn't remember what happened on that fateful day of the accident but she did know without a doubt that after all that therapy she'd had to go through, she didn't want to know what happened to her; not completely.

If it was so traumatic that her own brain shut it out, she really didn't want to relive it. And if those memories never returned, it would be too soon for E.T. Neither she nor her brother could remember what happened that day; which the doctor's had said was normal. And that either the memories would return or they wouldn't, simple as that. So far, they hadn't and E.T. hoped it stayed that way. Her brother could be the one to save the lives of others in their position and Elliot brought them a little joy to their otherwise sterile lives. That was the worst part in E.T.'s eyes, the sterility. She'd only been confined to the building for a couple weeks but they had been the worst possible. Getting out was what she assumed getting out of prison was like; pure freedom, even if she'd been rocking a cast. That was all in the past now and E.T. was determined to leave it there.

"Keeping tabs on me, detective?" E.T. asked with a smirk as she pushed the strap of her camera up on her shoulder. She was joking of course and assumed Kai took his job seriously enough not to use his position of power to keep tabs on a little ol' make up artist like Elliot Mercer. She hadn't gotten into trouble since she was in that accident, nothing that would come up in a search anyway. And the things that would, easily filled the first page of Google. "Care to get your face painted, detective? It's for the kids!" She said in a sing song tone of voice, just a little louder than she needed to because she knew quite a few of these kids from her last visit. They loved when the doctors and nurses and visitors all joined in and had a bit of fun. And if anyone other than those kids needed some fun, it was this man right here. And if he said no, they would cheer him on until he agreed to play model for the artist. It helped that Kai would make an excellent model. Elliot could create a work of art with his help. But she could see from the second she met him he was too stiff to let loose that much. And it drove her a little crazy; she wanted to see him loose that tight grip he had on his control. She wanted to see him laugh, relax, enjoy life! She had no idea what happened to have him so serious about everything but she knew it had to have been something bad. Not everyone could wake away from severe traumas like she had.

Tag || Kai Edvard Falkenberg
Words || 581
Clothes || Funky Fairy
Music || Can't Blame A Girl For Trying --Sabrina Carpenter
Notes || <3!

[Kai Edvard Falkenberg]

Kai wasn't a people person, and it didn't take a whole lot to figure that out about him. He was stoic, quiet and very much reserved. He spoke only when necessary and there was only one person on the planet who he would act silly for, and that was his little niece; Theodora-Kaia. He would never be anyone's first choice for an event such as this one and the one reason he excelled at his job was because he had such a strong moral compass and an unwavering desire to serve and protect. His people skills were there when he needed them to be, but he was still the more awkward of the detectives and the least likely to be excited about an afternoon like this one for every single reason imaginable. Kai would take an afternoon of paperwork over an afternoon of this, and he would take it any day of the week.

His personality with TK was different, but that didn't extend to other children. He could tolerate them in the tiniest of doses, but he was not a man who was born to be a father. None of it came naturally to him, but due to the circumstances around TK's birth and her existence, there was a bond there with Kai that was unbreakable. He was her uncle, but he was probably currently the only thing in her life that resembled a father figure. Kai had made a vow the moment she was born that he would protect her, do whatever it took to keep her out of harm's way, and he meant it. He didn't take those words lightly. However, with other children Kai wasn't so good. They were difficult for him to understand and once they started crying or screaming he wanted to be on the opposite side of the city to them. His parents might wish he would settle down and give them more grandchildren, but Kai honestly didn't know if he was ever going to be suitable father material. Standing awkwardly at the edge of the hospital ward reminded him more of that now and even left him wishing that his Captain might call and demand his presence back at the precinct immediately.

“Keeping tabs on my sister would be more accurate.” Kai said on a sigh, running his fingers through his neat blonde hair. Astrid did enough to raise his blood pressure, and dragging him here was just the tip of the iceberg. At least it was enough to have the detective feeling uncomfortable and begging for any excuse to leave the building at once. Not only did he dislike hospitals, but he disliked being the focus of attention, and he wasn't the greatest fan of children either. He was far too serious for their light hearted, jovial nature and the years had proven that he had nothing in common with them; not even back when he had been one himself! “Oh, no thanks. I don't think so.” Kai shook his head and took a step back, edging closer towards the door. He would make up some excuse to get out of there even if Astrid wouldn't let him hear the end of it for a week. Kai was too far out of his comfort zone being here and he knew there was plenty of other things he could be doing back at work that would benefit the people of New York City a hell of a lot more than his presence here ever would.

• • •

TAGGED! Elliot Taylor Mercer
WORDS! 587!
OUTFIT! Demure Detective!
LYRICS! Just One Yesterday - - Fall Out Boy
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Elliot Taylor Mercer]

Elliot loved working with the kids. She could pass on her knowledge to the next generation without having to be in a classroom. She loved the whole experience but she knew there was no way in hell she'd ever be able to stand in front of a class and demonstrate the proper techniques to achieve specific looks. E.T. applauded those who could but she knew it was just not for her. And that was fine because her boss liked that aspect of it all and she liked these smaller gatherings. She enjoyed sitting down with a happy little child, fighting for their lives and giving them something that could potentially make them forget where they were for a short time.

For an afternoon, they weren't sick kids, they were pirates, werewolves, vampires and fairies. They were mermaids and nymphs and all sorts of clever, magical creatures. She'd had her drawing and art to get her through her time in the children's ward and she felt it was good karma to do this. Not only did she get to help the kids forget for a short time, she also got away from the tedium of the studio. She loved her job and she loved the studio, spending more time there than in her own apartment sometimes but it was always a nice change of pace to get away from it all. She especially enjoyed it when she was hired onto a film for simple makeup. She could do it all but she loved getting her hands dirty, making creative monsters and aliens the best.

Nobody would have thought Elliot Mercer would be any good with children. She hadn't been that girl on the block babysitting everyone's little kids. In fact, she chose to stay as far away from that as she could and when she could get a job, it had ended up being a paid internship with that first studio back in Virginia Beach. But she did adore children, maybe even wanted some of her very own later one. She was only twenty-eight and she figured there would be plenty of time still before she really had to put thought into children and settling down. "Oh? Is she a nurse or doctor here?" She asked, ever the curious one. Her brother was a doctor back in Virginia Beach and he was a damn good one but he put all his time and energy into saving people's lives, much like she assumed Kai did. She didn't know anything at all about the man but even she could see he was quite serious about his job. There didn't seem to be any grey areas for him. Elliot respected that. "Oh, come on! My team and I have the time and the kids would really love it." E.T. said, looking out at the kids in the room. They all looked so happy and bright with life. "Look, even your partner is in on the fun." She said, pointing out a man she automatically assumed was Kai's partner for this gig.

It wasn't uncommon though for the doctors and nurses and even the parents of the children's ward to hop in and get a little face painting done as well. She had stopped a long time ago to keep track of them all. There were just too many people. Understanding that she would not get the answer she was looking for from the detective, E.T. turned to the room at large. "Goblins and Ghouls, can I have your attention please. The next group is here for their session with you so we'll be packing up shortly but we just couldn't possibly leave until there are no humans left! Do you see any?" She called, grinning devilishly because she knew no one, no matter how against children they were, could say no to a group of them pressuring like this. Her grin only grew when the gathered crowd shouted out. "And what are we going to do about this? Do you think if we asked nicely, he'd switch sides?" She asked, this time looking at Kai himself with a very small apology in her brown eyes.

Tag || Kai Edvard Falkenberg
Words || 694
Clothes || Funky Fairy
Music || Can't Blame A Girl For Trying --Sabrina Carpenter
Notes || I couldn't help myself xD <3!

[Kai Edvard Falkenberg]

Kai didn't want to be at the hospital today. It didn't get much simpler than that. He wasn't a people person and he never had been. He was much better alone, by himself, protecting people. He wasn't the guy people turned to when they wanted cheering up, or when they needed a comedian. Kai barely had a sense of humour to start with, forget sharing it with others. He knew these kids needed someone to help them forget for one day, but Kai couldn't be that someone. He was a man who knew only too well that the monsters were real and that the horror stories could be more than just stories. He couldn't be the man to pretend that everything was going to be peachy keen for these little tykes. He just couldn't do that.

His imagination, when allowed to run free, only took him to a realm of nightmares. It was a dark place were explosions claimed lives, the ocean swallowed those he loved whole, and the endless wars raged on with infinite casualties piling up and no one there to help stop the bloodshed. Kai didn't have a faitytale castle, or dreams where Peter Pan fought pirates, and the princesses always found their Prince Charming. He had a nightmare kingdom where Prince Charming was likely to fall on an enemy's sword, leaving Cinderella with nothing but a letter to be delivered by his best friends, and memories that would never be as good as the future they had once planned together. In his imagination, happy endings crashed and burned like a missile on impact. “Nurse.” He answered simply, still wondering why on earth he was here out of everyone they could have asked. Glancing sideways at the brunette, Kai didn't even entertain the thought. “I would not.” He was going straight back to work from here to catch up on what he would miss by being here for this silly event. He didn't want to have to waste an hour in between this and that scrubbing at his face. He looked across at the man E.T was pointing to and shook his head once at his antics. “He has four kids, and he often comes into work with something from them on him.” They either wanted to play before school and work, or they had made him another picture for his desk. The man's desk looked like a shrine to family rather than the work station of a homicide detective. Kai considered himself a family guy, but even he thought it too much and out of place. There was a line between work and home and it shouldn't be blurred.

E.T's next move was not one that Kai predicted. It was also not one that amused him. “I'm already wearing my costume. I'm a cop.” He stated coolly, and flashed the badge that hung around his neck. A low trick wasn't going to convince Kai to cover himself in gloopy paint and act like an idiot like the rest of his colleagues. He didn't care how many people cheered for it. He had never given into peer pressure or followed a crowd and he wasn't about to start now. He was only here, reluctantly, because Astrid had asked it of him, but even she didn't have enough power in her sisterly charms to make him stay. There was only so much Kai would take.

• • •

TAGGED! Elliot Taylor Mercer
WORDS! 575!
OUTFIT! Demure Detective!
LYRICS! Just One Yesterday - - Fall Out Boy
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Elliot Taylor Mercer]

Elliot hadn't always been that girl to go after what she wanted. There was a time when she let things slide away from her because she thought there would always be another time to chase after it. And then the accident happened and she decided that she wouldn't live like that ever again. So she chased after what she wanted with everything she had. And thanks to her new mindset, she was in New York, running a team of her own and doing what she loved most. It was incredible and overwhelming and it all still felt like a dream; like she would wake up at any moment to find herself back in Virginia, in her childhood bed. She pinched herself when jobs came up that seemed to good to be true but were, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. A few friends teased her, telling her if she were in a coma, she would be able to pinch herself and feel it because it wasn't quite a dream. E.T. refused to listen to them and pointedly ignored them and moved to conversation along when they decided to make that point once again.

Because if it wasn't real, she wouldn't be dedicated so much time to helping sick kids get their minds off their troubles for a short time like she did. And she loved being able to do that. She loved how the kid's faces lit up when she dug out all the makeup that her and her team brought along. For a couple hours, they were just regular kids playing dress up with their friends and family. There were no medicines pumping through their veins thanks to an IV drip, there were bandages, coughing fits or any other ailments. There was just them, the noise and the laughter. Elliot actually hated having to tell the kids that it was time for them to pack up and go. When they left, things went back to the way they were, back to reality. And reality for those kids wasn't all that great. "Is she here?" She asked, idly. Admittedly, Elliot was a nosey person but knowing who his sister was could come in handy later on. "You're a stubborn man." She stated on a huff of breath. It was hardly any fun at all when you had to talk someone into having a bit of fun. "Now see, there's a man who knows what it takes to make a kid laugh." Elliot loved it when the adults jumped in to play dress up with the kids. Every one needed a bit of fun every once in a while.

Her speech would probably have her yelled at by the cop but she really didn't care. She was here for the children and getting them involved in a little bit of fun so they could forget they were ill. "You wouldn't even do it to make the kids happy. Do you not have any in your life? Or is your heart just made of ice?" She asked, turning her head to the side so the kids wouldn't catch what she was saying. "I have a cleaner that takes it all right off. Your fellow officers and detectives will never know unless you tell them." She pointed out, not even in the slightest wishing she'd taken back what she first said. There were a lot of things that changed after she'd woken up in that Miami hospital, one of them was apologising for her thoughts and opinions. She was quite done with that and now refused to apologise for anything at all.

Tag || Kai Edvard Falkenberg
Words || 600
Clothes || Funky Fairy
Music || Can't Blame A Girl For Trying --Sabrina Carpenter
Notes || I couldn't help myself xD <3!

[Kai Edvard Falkenberg]

Kai had always felt bound by a sense of duty. It wasn't necessarily that he had been raised that way but rather that he had decided to make himself that way from a young age. He liked pushing himself, sticking to a routine and working to be the best that he could be. He wasn't the kind to procrastinate or waste any of the time he had to himself. If there was something he wanted to do then he went ahead and got the job done without dilly dallying around and without taking shortcuts to try and skimp on the work. He might not be moving the earth, but Kai didn’t care for fame or stardom, or even people knowing his name. He just wanted to do a job where he knew he was making a difference. It was why he was the first to put in the extra hours, and the last to go home most nights. Kai gave his word to the victims he dealt with and he wasn’t about to let them down. He felt he would be like that even without the years of strict training in the navy that made him give it his all. There was no slacking off when he hit a dead end, and there was no leaning back when things looked easy. He pushed forward, powering on like a man on a mission as though he still was in the nay, out on missions semi-regularly.

However, he wasn’t all that great on the social front. He often told his sister that she had been gifted with charm, him with brawn. She had always been the one with swarm of friends, parties to go to, and a thriving social life. Whereas Kai only spoke when he felt it necessary, and he only really associated with people who were just like him, who were almost identical in their approach to life. It was why he still kept in touch with so many of his naval buddies, trained with those who were retired from the job like he was, taking up positions in civilian work these days. It went beyond the brotherhood they shared and the things they had seen and been through together. It was just an honest case of Kai preferring their company to many of the cops down at the precinct where he worked. In fact, there was even a small handful of them he had a few choice words for, and who he might even like to show his scars to. Just so they could see what a real fight was like. It was more than just a Friday night bar brawl with the lads, and sorting out of a few of the Westy boys who had been out looking for trouble. “She’s around somewhere.” Kai answered, not bothering to look around for Astrid. It would be his luck that she would catch his eye and come rushing over to see what was happening. He didn’t need her taking sides right now. “So I’ve been told.” He said with a nod of his head, still standing his ground on the matter. It was his stubbornness that usually got things done and found the answers he was looking for. Kai wasn’t ever about to determine it a bad quality. “Not all of us are born with that skill, and not all of us have the ability to learn it.” He shrugged it off casually. Kids were not his strong suit and with T.K being the only exception, he was the worst person to leave around children. There was no connection there, no bond whatsoever.

Feathers feeling ruffled by everything, and his mood already curdled by this afternoon, Kai found himself wanting to get away more and more. He wasn’t a man who snapped, but he was getting uncomfortably close to wanting to leave and find the closest source of water for a swim. “My heart was once almost torn apart by shrapnel in an IED explosion. And maybe it is made of ice because I don’t care about making these kids happy. I care about getting back to work and catching the monsters out there who have hurt other kids and made their lives unbearable.” He told Elliot, making sure he kept his voice quiet enough so that no one else could overhear him. “I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you wanted to hear from me, but I came here as a cop, against my will to fill a quota, and I’m leaving here as a cop.” His blue eyes burned into hers, the only passion there the one he had for his job; the only passion Kai ever had.

• • •

TAGGED! Elliot Taylor Mercer
WORDS! 790!
OUTFIT! Demure Detective!
LYRICS! Just One Yesterday - - Fall Out Boy
NOTES! Soooo, this happened…<3 <3 <3

[Elliot Taylor Mercer]

Elliot wasn’t the type to flaunt anything about. She might have worn her personality on her sleeve, but she didn’t scream it from the rooftops as well. People knew what she was about just by looking at her and if all that ink and rocker style intrigued them, she would tell them what she was really about. Because they only saw the surface. They didn’t really get to know the real Elliot just by taking a glance in her direction and seeing what she was on display. She was more than her ink, more than her makeup and more than her rocker girl style. She was a dreamer, a believer and she would fight for every single thing she wanted out of life; and that included people. But she wouldn’t toss all her cards on the table during the first round. People didn’t need to know that she’d been in a fatal accident that killed dozens of people. They didn’t need to know that she’d survived out of sheer dumb luck, because they hadn’t gotten to the train in time and the seats in the front cars were already full. Nor did they need to know that she spent too much time stuck in a hospital bed and then in a chair because she refused to leave her brother’s side until he woke up.

And that was what was so great about New York. She could have hidden away back in Virginia Beach, became someone who didn’t do anything with the rest of their life because they were scared to live again. Or she could have done what she did, put on her big girl panties, took a deep breath and walked out the front door again. She might not take any sort of trains these days but all things considered, she was allowed a quirk or two. And at least her fear of trains wasn’t irrational. “I’m sure I’ve met her before anyway. I’m here enough.” She admitted with a laugh. She routinely dragged her team out to the local hospitals to give the kids something fun to do with their time. “You should have it tattooed on your forehead.” Elliot muttered with an accompanying eye roll. At that, Elliot snorted. “Bull.” She said, aware of their surroundings. She actually liked these visits and didn’t want to ruin that by swearing in front of the kids. “We all have the capacity to learn new skills, some of us just refuse to acknowledge this fact.” She pointed out, daring Kai to fight her on this.

Elliot stayed quiet as Kai told her off a dark experience. It made her realise he wasn’t as different as she’d thought. Then again, she assumed everyone she knew or came across had a pretty safe life thus far. After all, how many people could say they’d experienced what she had or what Kai had. More Kai than her since her experience was actually quite rare, where unfortunately Kai’s dark secret wasn’t as rare as it should have been in E.T’s eyes. “At least you’re haunted by memories and not weeks worth of blank space.” She said flatly, keeping her eyes on his, watching his reaction to her admission. She would give anything to know what she didn't, to be haunted by memories instead of nothingness. She didn’t tell anyone what happened to her. She covered the scars she could with tattoos and the ones she couldn’t were covered with clothing. She didn’t want to tell anyone and see the pity on their faces. As far as she was concerned, she survived so what did they feel pity for? Because she had scars? A marred body was just as beautiful as a pristine one. Did they feel pity because she had to live with the memories? She didn’t remember a damn thing before waking up in a Miami hospital, so there was no need for it there either. There was a big difference between E.T and Kai, though. For E.T, her scars and non-memories were simply a constant reminder that something bad had happened to her, she just didn’t know what it was. And maybe because she didn’t know, she could easily let it fall to the background of her everyday life. Whereas Kai remembered, he knew what had happened to him and maybe that was why he couldn’t get past it so easily.

“Well, kids. He’s out and our time’s up! We’ll be back next week!” She said as cheerfully as she could, despite the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. She wasn’t actually upset about any of it. She was actually pissed off that she couldn’t remember what happened. It was quite the mix of emotions coursing through her veins. Elliot didn’t want to know what she’d lived through but at the same time she absolutely hated the blank spaces in her memory. She didn’t want the lost weeks to be... Lost. She wanted to find them but she didn’t want to know what they were. Quickly, she pulled her phone from her pocket as she turned away and immediately started to dial her brother’s number. He was a doctor and if she asked, he would give her the name of a good doctor in New York but she never asked and he never offered. He knew better. He knew she just needed to talk to him because he knew how she felt, he knew what she was going through every time her head decided it wanted to walk down memory lane as far as it would go before hitting that cliff.

Tag || Kai Edvard Falkenberg
Words || 1 023
Clothes || Funky Fairy
Music || Can't Blame A Girl For Trying --Sabrina Carpenter
Notes ||...I don't know what happened there xD <3!

[Kai Edvard Falkenberg]

Kai wasn’t some man who needed to be fixed; which was what a handful of people had said over recent years. He was simply who he was. He was a protector, and he did his job in a very forward manner. There was no tiptoeing around the matter or playing nice with him. There never had been. He was always the guy who went and got what he wanted and he went straight to the point. He didn’t waste time or pretend that he could change the world. He saw everything as it was, saw the brutality of humanity and didn’t act like anyone was safe from it. He might come across as cold or void of fun, but he lived his life exactly how he wanted to, doing the job he wanted to, and protecting the people he wanted to. It didn’t matter to him how people saw him, and it didn’t matter to him what they thought of him, so long as he was getting the results that mattered, keeping people safe and putting monsters behind bars.

Kai didn’t want to be here. The fact of the matter was plain and simple. He had a case to be working on, and paperwork to be pushing through. Sick kids were his sister’s domain, not his, and he couldn’t help them. He didn’t want to dress up, or act like a clown to make them laugh because that wasn’t him. He didn’t even do that sort of thing for his niece, and she was the only child in the world who he adored, and took the time out of his routine for. “Some of us might not want to learn it.” He revised, folding his arms, and grinding his back teeth, an old habit that he wasn’t particularly fond of, and neither was his dentist. Kai did it though without realising whenever he was feeling stressed. The truth was, Kai never really felt fond of the idea of children, and with everything he had seen in life he didn’t really know if he wanted to have any of his own, though he often found himself leaning closer towards ‘no’. He knew the idea would devastate his mother, but he wasn’t going to do something so big just to please his parents.

His reaction to her news was minimal. It wasn’t anything shocking to a man who had been through wars. Though he lacked the details of her particular story, Kai had known men who had repressed memories of their experiences because of trauma and loss. They had lost months or years because of what they had seen or been through. His mind was solid though, his memories stuck with him until the end. Still, he narrowed his eyes and thought of Astrid and the different kind of horrors she had been through, and the reason why he now did the job he did. “And others are haunted by much worse.” He said darkly. It wasn’t just his sister, but others he had met since joining the SVS. There were cases in there far too horrific to repeat, and people who were so severely traumatised that living a normal life would never be possible for them again, not even with the best therapists in the city. In Kai’s mind, that sort of mental, and emotional break beat just about everything he had seen in the navy because it was beyond warfare, and beyond simple accidents. It was humankind as its most sadistic, and without cause or reason.

He didn’t feel bad, because Kai never did after he spoke what he interpreted as the truth. He also didn’t feel bad for not participating in what he felt was a ridiculous trip for him. He had nothing to offer these children. He worked in a cruel department that dealt with horrific crimes and brutal criminals, and they should not be here entertaining the sick little tykes. His sister caught him as he walked off the ward and towards the exit of the hospital, but all Astrid did was throw him a knowing look and sigh. Kai was not a man who could be changed, and Astrid knew better than anyone why he was the way that he was. He clung to things that weren’t in his own past, but were in hers. It was ridiculous in some ways, but Kai found the logic in that madness and he made it all sensible when he had explained it to her. It was for that reason she didn’t argue with him, or try to talk him down when he was so driven. Kai was the man he was, and that was all there was to it.

• • •

TAGGED! Elliot Taylor Mercer
WORDS! 785!
OUTFIT! Demure Detective!
LYRICS! Just One Yesterday - - Fall Out Boy
NOTES! <3 <3 <3