maia had been so excited for her winter break, taking rafa ( @gldensvns ) to australia to meet her mother and her grandparents. it was all that she could talk about; that was, it was all she could talk about until her best friend died. now, the winter break that she had been so excited for turned into that of an escape, but with rafa with her, she spent the two weeks away trying to figure out how she lives a life without cyrus. both she and rafael are broken over the loss, but together they’re able to take the time to work through all of the emotions that come with it and start to heal, at least a little. // @gallaghertasks
rafael and maia spent their break in melbourne at her mother’s home, where her grandparents also live
maia spends a lot of the plane ride to australia either crying or asleep, and when she’s not awake, rafael takes moments for himself to cry too
they sleep away christmas eve day (jet lag, man), but they spend the following day with her mom and grandparents, celebrating the holiday the best they can
maia got rafa a canvas print of their first photo together from italy, cuff links, and a few sets of clothes to work out in
maia spends the first few days sneaking into rafael’s room (her mother insisted they sleep in separate spaces), and cries herself to sleep. rafa holds her through the night each time
her mother takes her out on their own to talk through what happened to cyrus, and it was that conversation that allowed her to start to come to terms with the loss
up until this point, maia and rafa had never slept together, but after another emotional day during the beginning of their second week in australia, they both gave in and they had sex. it seemed to be something they both needed, to make them feel better but also to bring them closer
it’s the day after that maia realizes she’s REALLY falling in love with rafa, but she won’t tell him until she’s sure he’s ready, because she can’t lose anyone else
they spend the second half of their trip touring through melbourne. they went to the beach, visited her favorite places in the city, even visited the farmer’s market that maia had raved about to rafa back in berlin
they left to be back for the NYE event, as maia felt obligated to do so because she’s part of the PPC
when she gets back to gallagher, it will be three days since she’s cried last, but getting back to her dorm and knowing that she can’t go and see her best friend makes her cry once more, and rafa is there to hold her through that as well
rowan’s journal is used to put positive thoughts down. she started writing a lot more during the summer before berlin, and she has found that writing down the positives works a lot better for her than the negatives. of course, you will find plenty of sketches and doodles in between journal entries. she doesn’t write every day but when she has a GOOD day, you’ll find her in the student commons jotting down good moments.
NAME: Dr. Montgomery Rose Lacroix
BIRTHDAY: August 30th, 1985
AGE: 34
GENDER & PRONOUNS: cisgender male he/him
ORIENTATION: (closeted) homosexual
HOUSE & TIER: Head Significant in Endine House
OCCUPATION: Pathologist/coroner at Sacred Heart
⋆✦ AESTHETIC
HISTORY:
Most of his early life, Montgomery could never say for sure what he felt, wanted, or believed, and that was all thanks to Cecilia Rose. The woman was a con artist, an independent empath who had discovered early on exactly how to best use her gift for manipulation. It might’ve been a lesson passed on from her own mother, but Montgomery was never allowed close enough to that side of the family to say for sure. Those gifts were the reason why a man like Nathan Lacroix, someone possessing old money and substantial power of his own, fell in love with her in the first place. His feelings for her blinded him to the fact that the woman he brought into the family was of a crueler bent than the wandering free spirit she tried to appear.
The rest of his family wasn’t so easily deceived, but if there’d ever been hope of Nathan listening to them, it was destroyed once Montgomery was born. Tying their families irreversibly together, giving her a taste of that power and prestige that she craved for herself. It was the reason she pushed her only child harder than the seemingly indifferent statue that was his father, the man never really having space in his heart for anyone other than the woman he married. Regardless, neither of them tolerated imperfections or failures, and the night his powers manifested was perhaps the only time he ever saw anything like pride reflecting back at him. Waking from a nightmare to find his bed levitating off the ground.
He tried to do as he was told, even if it was rarely good enough for either of them. Outbursts of any sort weren’t tolerated, his temper kept firmly in check by a mother who didn’t hesitate to use her powers and manipulate her own child into something more docile. Slips in control of his abilities meant hours spent practicing, forced to repeat the same exercise over and over again until it was second nature.
It wasn’t until he left home for college that he became aware that for all his striving to please his parents, she had turned him into something broken, something flawed. He didn’t understand his peers, he didn’t understand the fluctuation of human emotion or behavior, when his own had always been kept firmly under control. Simply having that awareness was cause for greater frustration than he’d felt before. He didn’t need either of his parents to push him towards a medical field, it was the part of human nature he understood best. The simple, physical aspect of breaking a body down into its parts.
For everything else, he learned halfway through his bachelor’s that there was a pill for it. When his workload got too heavy, there was one to keep focus, another to help him relax, one to substitute the sensation of happiness. It became his new crutch, his favorite form of self-medication.
He was twenty-three when his father died, killed in a home invasion that he didn’t know enough of the specifics of. His mother didn’t want to talk about it, no one else had been there that night. Even at the funeral he didn’t need his mother’s influence to keep his emotions suppressed. He didn’t feel anything, not even his grief, but all of his life was an exercise in faking the proper reaction. It was only after he was gone that he thought both of them had served their purpose to Cecilia, and when he came to that conclusion he resolved never to go home again.
It was an easy thing to achieve, and eight years ago he took the opportunity to do his residency in Sacred Heart. He left behind his family and friends without a second thought, transferring from New York to the Asphodel chapter of the Endine House. He made it his new home, a degree in pathology the best way he knew to make himself useful to his community. Striving just as hard to make himself useful for his house, half hoping that it could serve as enough of a stand in for familial affections.
HEADCANONS:
Appearances are extremely important to him, not solely in a physical sense but how he portrays himself and how people regard him.
Following this, Montgomery isn’t prone to any great displays of emotion; he almost never loses his temper, even when he’s in pain it’s handled with a clinical efficiency. He doesn’t like anyone in Asphodel seeing him drunk or out of control, if he feels the need to try and cut loose he’ll drive to New Orleans for the weekend and go bar hopping there.
For a brief time he was dating a man in New Orleans, but his lack of attentiveness and his unwillingness to allow him anywhere near his life in Asphodel made him convinced that Montgomery was cheating on him and broke it off.
He is not out yet about his sexuality, preferring to keep it hidden like most things regarding his personal life.
He chose pathology for two reasons; the first that it felt like something more technical, the second that he doesn’t have to maintain appearances for the dead. He functions as a medical examiner and coroner when necessary, offering reports to the police and the Magistrate if the death looks to be caused by one of the gifted.
CONNECTIONS:
He often works in the coroner’s office so anyone associated with the hospital, law enforcement, and possibly the magistrate he has likely worked with.
He has been in Asphodel for eight years, and makes it a point to know anyone who might be considered a major player, or present for a similarly long time.
After a easy semester in the fall, Callum felt that he needed to challenge himself a little harder than he had before. He started Mandarin for something to do outside of his medical studies and research and development, and he’s genuinely enjoying it. His favorite class thus far is Antibiotic Stewardship, which completely solidifies his nerd status.
Fall 2019 (+ Grades):
GEN 103: Know Your Treaties - A+
GEN 104: Choose Your Agency - A+
MAN 101: Intro to Mandarin - A-
LCA 308: Life in Berlin - B
MED 302: Physical Trauma Care - A
Callum gave himself an easy semester with more general education and easy electives, more to get them out of the way than anything else. The Physical Trauma Care class was interesting to him, but it made him realize he would have not chosen Emergency Care if he had continued his studies at NYU.
