G L O R Y (&&) GORE — meet KAI CARTER; the PHOENIX.
“we are choking on halos that angels buried six feet under realisation. the saddest one? we were never made to be holy.”
{ ♚ AT A GLANCE }
name: Kai Carter.
age: 37.
gender & pronouns: UTP.
occupation: Contract killer for the Romano family.
loyalty: Romano.
availability: Open.
faceclaim: Jason Momoa. ( non-negotiable. )
{ ♚ A DEEPER LOOK }
The weight of the gun was heavy in his hand, the cool metal of the trigger pressed against his fingertip, poised and ready to shoot. He was barely nineteen, the man kneeling in front of him being his first assigned hit. Kai hadn’t particularly listened to the story behind why this man deserved to die - he didn’t care. He was contracted to do a job, and he’d do it. Kai cocked his head, raising an eyebrow as the man before him began to plead for his life. Within seconds, his finger had pushed down on the trigger, the gunshot echoing in the room around them. Was it supposed to have been that easy? Was he supposed to be able to take a life like that, without any hesitation, without any guilt after? Kai was sure the answer to that would depend on who you asked – but was he really going to ask? If this was to be his life, he’d better get used to it.
{ ♚ A HISTORY LESSON }
The only son of a single father, Kai and his dad were a team from the moment the boy’s mother walked out on them. Cynthia left the family just after Kai’s third birthday, leaving a fractured family in her wake without any sign of looking back. Kai had been adopted at birth by the Carter family, with a mother so desperate to have a child that it didn’t make sense that she would walk out on him. The reasoning behind this was something that Kai wouldn’t learn for years to come, but his father tried his best to make sure things remained stable for his son. The two were closer than anyone could believe, rarely seen without one another, the only exception being when Kai’s father was working late at night. Despite the ever increasing frequency of these nights, Kai and his father were as close knit as a family group could be and nothing would ever change that.
Although he was an only child, Kai spent much of his childhood with the Romano family. His father was one of Michael Romano’s closest friends and associates and as such, Kai grew up with the eldest Romano son, Christian. Kai didn’t know what his father’s job was, nor did he know what the Romanos did for a living, but he liked the idea of having an extended family and eventually came to see Christian as his brother, although they were unrelated. Whenever his father wasn’t working and they weren’t spending time with the Romanos, he spent most of his time teaching his son. Kai had always loved learning and did well in school, but outside of that his father taught him how to cook, taught him self defence, taught him all of the valuable life skills that he wasn’t going to learn in a classroom. Kai had always appreciated everything that his father taught him and committed every detail to memory, vowing to never forget any of it and to always find a way to put it to good use.
Kai was twelve when he learned the truth. About everything. His father, Gareth, sat him down and explained why his mother had left the family - a result of his job. Kai, more curiously than anything else, had asked his father what he did for a living and was shocked at the response. His dad was a hit man - his father, the man he idolised, his hero, killed people for money. A contract killer, working for the Romano family - and to add to the information overload on his son, the man went into detail on explaining what the Romanos did for work. It was at this point that things began to fall into place, that Kai realised why his father had always been so big on teaching him how to fight and how to defend himself. It was at this point that he learned that even being associated with the Romano’s meant danger, but for some reason, it didn’t scare him.
The newly discovered criminal involvement took Kai a while to get used to, but he got over it eventually. Christian, too, was only learning about his family’s work at this time and both boys leaned on each other to get through it. They both came through the adjustment with the same opinion; their fathers were wonderfully strong, brave men and they would do anything to follow in their footsteps. Whilst Christian began sitting in on his father’s meetings, Kai demanded that his father teach him more. That he taught him how to shoot a gun, how to use a knife - perhaps most importantly, how to take a life. Gareth, thinking his son was still a little bit too young to start killing others, taught him this in the form of hunting and thus, the family found something new to bond over.
It was shortly after his initiation into the Romano mob that he became romantically involved with Maria Romano. The two had been friends for years, high school crushes, if they’d call it that. In the beginning, it was a little fun - something casual to pass the time. Until Kai fell in love with her. For a short while, Maria Romano was the only thing that occupied his thoughts - earning him a few slaps on the back of his head from his father whilst in training. Before long, though, he was well equipped to follow in his father’s footsteps.
His job description didn’t change much after the Latin Alliance. Kai was seventeen at the time, having yet to make his first kill. The only difference his father had ever pointed out was that the work load doubled - but that made sense, taking into account the fact that two families had suddenly become one. By the time he was twenty five, Kai had lost count of how many men he’d executed on AM’s orders - and had long stopped counting the money that he’d made doing it.
Somewhere along the line, Kai dropped to one knee and made a proposal to Maria. Unsurprisingly, she agreed to marry him without so much as a pause, and with Maria’s meticulous planning, they were married within a year. A few years later, a daughter followed. They named her Freya, and Kai decided that there was nothing in the world more important than his girls. He often begged Maria to give up boxing, for her own health - but the woman was stubborn, she dug her heels in and refused to give up on something that she loved.
Ten years after they married, Kai and Maria are as strong as ever, and their five year old daughter is growing up with her mother’s attitude. Although his job is questionable at best and serving jail time at the very worst, Kai has never looked back. Living and working within criminal organisations is all he has ever know - and if he has it his way, will always be what he knows. However, he wasn’t expecting the Angeli Mortis to come to such a destructive end.
{ ♚ NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT }
The death of Michael Romano shook Kai to his very core. For the news about Juliet Venturi to come so quickly after - Kai was certain something was wrong. Whilst the families were busy blaming each other, Kai had his ear to the ground, listening to whispers that were coming from those outwith the Angeli Mortis. There were whispers of another organisation, one he’d never heard of - one he wanted to investigate further. The Church didn’t particularly make them sound like criminals - but Kai is more than aware that appearances could be deceiving. He’s spending as much of his time as he can trying to gather further information, before he attempts to provide a different outlook to the rest of the Romano family - and he wants to ensure he keeps his information as far from the Venturi family as he possibly can. Protecting his associates and his family are of utmost importance to him, even more so in such tumultuous times.
{ ♚ ABOUT THE PERSONALITY }
+: observant, intelligent, analytical, rational -: unempathetic, patronising, sarcastic, distant
Kai is known for being somewhat unapproachable. Whilst this is based partly on the fact that his build and demeanour make him intimidating, it also comes from him simply being quiet. He prefers to observe and analyse everyone that he meets - to the point of psychoanalysing every part of their speech, actions and movement. Ina way, he finds people watching fascinating. Kai doesn’t talk much, unless incredibly familiar with the other person, and he likes it that way. It’s self preservation in a way, that he doesn’t feel the need to spill his entire life story to every person that he meets. Outside of his work, Kai is incredibly studious and spends any free time reading - one of his favourite pastimes, constantly forcing himself to develop and learn has been a factor of his entire life, and one he’s not prepared to give up on.
{ ♚ FRIENDS & FOES }
♠ Maria Romano-Carter ( WIFE ) - “you would have gone to hell for him, i know. oh, but darling, he would have stayed to burn with you.” ; There is nobody more important in his life than Maria. The love of his life, the mother of his child - the one thing in this world that actually keeps him sane. Kai needs her, far more than he will ever be able to explain, and he would do anything to keep her safe, no matter the consequences. When their daughter was born, Kai found someone else added to the list of people that he has to protect. Although he doesn’t always approve of his wife’s job, there’s nothing that Kai won’t do to keep his family safe and happy.
♠ Christian Romano ( BEST FRIEND ) - “you’ve got a friend in me” ; Christian has been a fixture of Kai’s life since they were children, ever since Gareth started bringing him to the Romano home. Wherever Christian went, Kai was always close behind - that hasn’t changed. The two men are the same, cut from the same cloth, and they’ve always been as thick as thieves. Kai is one of the family’s assigned hit men, but outside of that, he has always been one of the only people that Christian trusts enough to confide everything in - other than his wife.
♠ Caleb Bianchi ( INFORMANT ) - “i’ve got friends in low places, where the whisky burns and the beer chases my blues away” ; Caleb has always been a snake. Kai has known the man ever since growing up with the Romano family, and has always struggled to trust him. It’s always helped that Cal has been afraid of Kai at the best of times, too. However, after a few drinks and the occasional pill, Caleb develops a loose tongue - and never remembers the information he’s let slip in the morning. Kai is pushing him, bit by bit, to give him all of the information that he has on The Church and their operations, and is fully planning on using it against him if he ever gets the chance to.
{ ♚ EXTRAS }
character teaser.
inspiration tag.
gif hunts.
KAI IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR AUDITIONS.
