#asteriaevent fire plot

[aleksanderbrookes]

WHERE: Valentine Family Home (Before Fire) WHO: Open

With Alex having stayed in town for a couple of months, he was getting more and more comfortable with life in Asteria. He still had no idea when he would be leaving, but it seemed that he wasn’t in a rush. Even if he had been in and out of town for over a year and a half it was still more of a fresh start then he would get if he stayed in Terrell or Pilot Point.

While he was closest to Niko he did still know the rest of the brothers at least in passing. A good portion of the town was attending anyway, so he didn’t stand out much either way. Considering now that Cass and Niko were together and serious, it was probably good for Alex to get used to spending more time with the Valentines anyway. There were a lot of people to remember and keep up with.

As Alex got another appetizer at the table, he couldn’t help but feel like there was someone watching. He looked over his shoulder to find someone being obvious while they checked out the person next to him at the table. “Dang. You’d think some people would be a little more subtle when checking someone else out,” he muttered.

[miarhodes]

who: @vasilisaxvolkova​ where: asteria general hospital when: 4th july, after the fire

Mia had had a pit in her stomach ever since she couldn’t get hold of Vasilisa. She’d left countless messages, calls and voicemails on her phone, but the last Mia had heard was that Vasi was on her way. But the girl had been a no show. But then the fire has started and her mind had gone into overdrive, getting children out of the way and to safety and anything else she could do to help. 

Adrenaline was still surging through her veins, despite the fact that the fire was out. Her mind immediately went to Dylan, wanting to see how he was doing, but she couldn’t find him and assumed he had already gone to the hospital. Her next thought was to find Kat. They should probably head home, much like many of the other party-goers were doing. She had searched the place twice and even called her sister, but the older Rhodes was nowhere to be found. And that’s when her phone rang. The screen flashed with an unknown number and she answered it immediately.

It was the hospital calling. Vasilisa Volkova had been in an accident. Mia paled. They had been trying to contact a next of kin, but there had been no answer. Cam. Mia felt sick. Her mind went into overdrive. She told them she was on her way to the hospital and headed straight for Kat’s car. Mia had been looking after the keys in her bag and because she couldn’t find her sister, she climbed into the drivers seat and started the engine, heading straight for Asteria General Hospital. It didn’t even cross her mind that she had been drinking and was definitely over the limit to drive. The panic and adrenaline running through her veins sobered her.

The second she arrived, she obtained Vasi’s room number from the front desk and headed straight to see her, terrified of how she would find her friend. With Cam deployed, she new the girl had almost no one and Mia needed to know if her friend was okay. 

[jack--valentine]

Sleeping Beauty

The party had been supposed to be fun. A night where the entire family and friends from town came together to drink, eat and blow shit up. But now, as he stared at the smoke exiting his childhood home, he was regretting all of that. What if they had just had a nice, chill, video games and take out with some small sparklers? Jack felt his heart rate and breathing quicken, what was going on, what could he do. He stepped forward, was there anything he could do in the house? He wasn’t a fire fighter, and he definitely didn’t have the equipment that was needed. But he needed to do something, this type of scenario was what he had trained for, even if he hadn’t expected for it to ever occur at his home. Then again, he had never expected to deal with what Emmi was going through now too, and that was very much a thing.

Jack eyes darted around, trying to piece together what was going on. Mom was on the phone, probably 911. Good, meant that someone had been notified and was probably on their way. Hopefully this wouldn’t be as bad as his mind was saying it would be. Then, he saw Hollis. On the ground. Not moving. He changed direction and ran over to her. He looked her over briefly for any injuries and didn’t see any. “Hollis, Hollis I need you to wake up.” Jack said, tapping her cheek softly, as he started to put her into a recovery position. He glanced around, trying to figure out if it was safe to even leave her here.

@yvessainttyler​

[donovanblackwood]

Self para

Who: @niko-valentine​ Where: Asteria General

Everyone has already got inside Niko’s room, he was at the edge of the room door looking at the man lying on the bed, he had been avoiding getting in most of the night, but with a deep breath he walked in and sat next to him. “Hey Chief” What was supposed to say to the, even when he was hearing saying his house had structure damages, was not really the thing you want to hear about it. “You know man, you got everyone worried, you might not be the kind of guy that seeks for attention, but right now you are on everyone priority list. Gotta say I’m a bit jealous of the big family and that amazing fiancee, you got. Which is the reason why you should…” Don voice broke and he stopped talking and leaned down to rest his shoulders on his knees. He felt tears streaming down his cheeks, it took him a few seconds to look up again “I have a very bad habit not to tell people things that I want to tell them, until they are laying on a hospital bed. I really hate this, I did to my brother, to men team mates and now here I am. I can’t lose another brother, I hate to ask you this, but you have to fight, you have to get better, come back to the firehouse, get you ass into the kitchen, because the truth is nobody can cook like you do, you are the leader of that station, and I think everybody would be lost without you, including me. I can’t lose another brother without thanking him for giving me another family, for giving me an opportunity to be useful, to giving me a place where I can feel at home. I know it hurts, I know you have other people more important asking you to do this, but I know you are tired, I have been there, I know it stinks, but you have way more than I did to come back to so just come back, because I need you to tell you this to your safe when you are wide awake, and not like this, so wake up, Chief. Just wake up.”

[jack--valentine]

Self Para-Stained Hands

Where: Asteria General Hospital

Jack stood in a dimly lit bathroom, scrubbing his hands harshly, trying to wash off the blood that covered them. When they had gotten to the hospital, Niko had be very quickly removed from the ambulance and taken off somewhere. He was pretty sure Cass had followed him, and he knew where the rest of the family was just from the noise around. But some nice nurse had kindly suggested cleaning off his hands before he went to join them, and Jack had needed a minute anyway.  Red swirled the drain, and all Jack could do was stare at it. Finally, after it appeared that he had gotten the most that he was going to get off, he shut off the water. He leaned against the sink, hands gripping the sides. He glanced at himself in the mirror and frowned. He looked rough, the nice shirt that he had worn was definitely ruined and would need to be thrown out. It had specks of blood on it, from doing CPR and soot from being in close contact of Niko. He could still smell the smoke on his clothes, and it made him cringe. He heard the door to the bathroom open, and he quickly let go off the sink, before turning and leaving, not looking at the person who had come in.

Jack thought about going to where he knew his family was, there had been a string of texts since they had arrived, but he didn’t want to be around them right now. He had failed at the one thing he was supposed to be good at, and now Niko could very well pay the price. He had just been here with Emmi, and it constantly felt like Jack wasn’t paying the right amount of attention to things that he should be. He was sure that he could have done something else in the back of the ambulance, or even before hand when he had Niko on the ground outside the house. Jack went through a series of turns, before ending up in the basement of the hospital, being glad that he knew how to get to certain places. This was a place that was barely used during the day, and at night was a ghost town other than the occasional intern looking to crash somewhere. 

Jack climbed onto a forgotten gurney, and brought his feet up, resting his chin on his knees. He brought his arms to the front, before burying his face into his knees. He was so emotionally all over the place that he would be no help to anyone, and he wouldn’t be able to look at his parents, or Niko. If Niko even made it through surgery. “Don’t even think about that” Jack said quietly to himself, but didn’t move to stop the tears that had started flowing down his cheeks at some point. 

[mikael-valentine]

WHERE:  General Asteria Hospital

FT: @niko-valentine

Eight days, it had been Eight days since Niko had been admitted into the hospital and with no signs of recovery.  People swarmed the waiting room in the beginning; Mikael received texts, calls and everything under the umbrella of communication of peoples’ condolences.  Not that it was not a nice gesture, but it sure as fuck did not wake his brother up from a coma.  For those eight days, Mikael stayed in the waiting room in the back corner refusing to eat or even talk to anyone.  He much preferred to internalize everything than discuss it with anyone else, including his family.  After all, Niko was the one he was closest to, hard not to be close when they were the only family each other had up in New York.

Day nine, Mikael finally mustered up the courage to enter the room.  All this time, he was terrified seeing his brother hooked up to machines and not moving. But he knew it was time to check in on him.  An eerie feeling overcame Mikael upon entering the room.  Glancing over at his brother, his heart started to race.  For a moment he thought about turning around, but if the roles were reversed he knew Niko would be right by his bedside. Slowly inhaling, he walked up to the chair next to the bed and pulled it close to Niko before taking a seat. Reaching for Niko’s good hand, he shook his head.  “Tsk tsk, how are you even my brother?  Niko you need to take better care of your cuticles.”  He sighed heavily.  “And by the way if you needed a break or some kind of vacation, I am sure we could have chosen something better than here.  Eh the bed doesn’t even look that comfy and the interior design atrocious.”

Mikael started focusing on his brother’s hand, carefully cleaning the fingernails and filing them and rounding them off.  A light laugh left his lips as he shook his head thinking back to when they had their games nights in New York where they be drinking and joking around.  “You know Hector; he always claimed I was the dramatic Valentine brother.  Me dramatic?  Can you believe it?  Absurd if you ask me.   In my defense, I still swear to this day you cheated that one night.  No way had I lost at trivia.”  His eyes glanced up towards his brother for a moment before returning to the fingers. “If only he could see you now, I tell you a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about moving back to the Big Apple and you decide to throw these kinds of theatrics?”  He draped one leg over the other to cross them as he continued to talk to his brother as if nothing was wrong, because it was easier than admitting the scary truth Niko might not come out of this.  “There are better ways to go honey to get me to stay, plus you should have known I was talking out of my ass.  I can’t bear being away from all of y’all, at least not again.”

Once he finished, he reached down in his bag to pick out a nail polish.  “What do you think?  Do you want the cobalt blue with the glitter or the fiery red?”  His eyes lowered towards the bottles, “usually I would say fiery red to stand out, but given the circumstances maybe the blue will be better. Plus blue will make your eyes pop when you finally decide to open them.  It is getting a bit tiresome waiting, leaving us all in suspense.”

When he finished with the hand, he sat back in his chair and his eyes started to fill with tears.  “Fuck I told myself I wouldn't cry.”  Mikael said as he wiped his eyes.  “Niko, please just wake up.  I need you. We all need you.  This can’t be the end to your story, not after everything, not now when you have Cass.  Just wake up, please.  I promise I won’t ask for another thing from you.  Okay you know that one is a lie, but still.  I know I am being selfish, but you’re my big brother.  I’ve always looked up to you...don’t let it get to your head.  Just don’t leave us man.”  With no signs of anything from Niko, Mikael smacked his lips.  “Fuck,” he murmured under his breath.  “I don’t know why I am evening talking; it isn’t as if you can hear me.”  Mikael stood from the chair and hovered over the bed looking down at his bruised brother, his fingers softly going through his brother’s hair.  “I love you Niko, just do me a favor and don’t sleep your life away.  I’ll see you around.”

[aleksanderbrookes]

Alex couldn’t believe he had forgotten how boring hospitals were. Admittedly it had been different when he was there for Cass, his own sister, not that this situation was much better. His time had been spent going between the hospital and the stables, trying to make sure Cass took care of herself as she stayed at Niko’s bedside. While Alex understood how much she was going through, it didn’t make things any easier. The fact was he had no idea whether Niko would live or die. They could potentially keep him on life support for a long time. He didn’t want Cass to waste away with him. After telling Cass he needed some fresh air, Alex stepped outside of Niko’s room and into the hospital hallway. He looked down the hallway, seeing Brayden’s room a little ways down. Everything had been so busy, so Alex had resolved to wait until things had settled a little more before visiting Brayden. Now was as good a time as any to visit him. Worst case scenario he would just have to come back later. It wasn’t like he was going to stop coming to the hospital any time soon. Knocking on the door, Alex quietly opened it to see the other man lying down in bed. “Hey, man,” Alex greeted with a friendly smile. “How are you doing? I assumed people have been coming in and outta here pretty often, so I hope now isn’t too bad a time.

@braydenwalker​

[donovanblackwood]

Self Para

Where: Firehouse 14 When: Next shift after the fire mentions: @niko-valentine​ , @braydenwalker​, @itssaintben​, @rogerthatsoph​

He saw the clock on his wrist, he had 30 minutes on the car and he had only 15 minutes left to be late on the shift, he was to lost in his thoughts that he didn’t heard Free Bird was playing in the back, and was already pas in the middle, ready to get lost on the guitar solo, he started to move his head and just realizing every frustration and sorrow he had against the ceiling of the car. By the town he got out he was a little out of breath but ready to be what he had been for the past 4 years.

As it was expected things were quiet, the common room was missing of Brayden’s jokes, the kitchen didn’t have the peculiar smell of the chief breakfast. Don look at his team and family broken as he served himself a coffee as he saw the boot full with money for both Niko and Brayden. “It’s in days like this that when people ask us why we do this, the answer becomes hard. But there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for another, we work a dangerous job, is what we do, and even when our hearts are broken, we do it, because our family is not the one we leave at home, or the ones that carry the same uniform we do, when we get a call, every person we attempts becomes a brother, a daughter and we do everything to keep them safe, because that job we’ve taken, is the job we are proud of, and it’s exactly what Brayden and the Chief stand for, so let’s be the strong women and men, they know, let’s be exactly what we are, when we get our next call, let’s make the difference, let’s be firefighters. It’s what this family is and what this family believes in, not for our self but for all.”

By the time they received their first call, Don looked at a photo of their team together, smiled at the image of Niko embracing Brayden with smiles, he put his hand on it and got into the truck as quick as usual, “After the call, we’ll go by the hospital, people. So no surprises.”