to paradise falls

ellie had been shopping for presents, her favourite kind of shopping. an engagement present for mary and adam. baby gifts for the new arrivals at the bodaway home. birthday presents for friends. ellie loved present shopping. 

taking a break from her mission, she stopped and grabbed a coffee and a muffin. she helped herself to a free seat in the main square and happily tucked into her treat and coffee. 

@happieststarters​

-

on his lunch break he had arranged to go meet up with his wife to see if she needed a hand with anything. approaching the main square, he stared in awe at the love of his life illuminated by the sun. ellie quite literally lit up like an angel. 

“hey, sorry i’m late. got caught up with some paperwork.” he apologies, kidding her head and taking a seat next to her “how has your day been?”

Opening his eyes to the light had him wincing in pain. His eyesight blurry and eyeballs stinging at the intrusion. His head felt like he was whacked with a sledgehammer. The pain pulsing through his skull so much that it was blinding. He couldn’t focus. 

After his eyesight adjusted, Woody looked around the room. This wasn’t home. He was at home on his sofa the last time he remembered. He’d been having some weird dreams when he was sleeping. A cowboy, an astronaut…a T-Rex? Bizarre. 

Where was he? How did he get here? 

He tried to get up from where he was laying, unknown wires and cables had other ideas. Frantically looking around, he tried to find someone to help him.

@happieststarters​

-

most of the other patients had woken up and gone home since the carnival but woody remained. his condition was exponentially worse than any of the other patients he’d seen in relation to the poisoning. he was admitted two weeks later than everyone else and by the time he’d reached carl, the police chief looked like he was on deaths door. 

the longer time went by with woody not waking up, the more and more carl checked in on him in concern. 

thankfully, the day eventually came that had woody waking up. carl had shot into the room as fast as he could when one of the nurses had hit the buzzer to find woody trying to sit up “woah, woah there big guy” he called out, moving to help get the wires out of the way and help woody “can you tell me how many fingers i’m holding up?” he asked as he held up three fingers to check his vision and brain functions. 

-

becky groaned at the ache in her bones “hey there doc” he spoke, her voice sounding like gravel after not being in use for the time she was unconscious. “i feel like i’ve been hit by a bus. how are you feeling?”

“carl, is tj okay? tell me that the little doofus is okay”

-

“you trying to take over from your brother by giving us all the fright of our lives? i had the police chief ready to cause a riot in this hospital because of you ” he said, smiling down at her. “me? i’m alright. more concerned about you and the others in here.”

he gave a nod of his head and poured her a glass of water to get her to hydrate “oh the little doofus is more than okay. he’s been camped out here for the past two weeks by your bedside. he refused to leave you on your own in here, he’s a good kid” tj wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be. yeah he was wild, but there was clearly never anything malicious about him “a little mental at times, but he’s a good kid”

-

Her body had felt numb due to her not moving for some time. Her bones and muscles begging to be exercised even if it was for a walk down the corridor. Using the all the energy she could muster, she managed to prop herself up in her bed enough to be able to take a sip of the water Carl had offered her. 

“Where’s Adam? Is he okay?” she asked, her voice hoarse from being so dry. It was no surprise that the first question would be able him. “Carl, what happened? I don’t remember much”

-

“he’s good, mary. well, not good. he’s been worried sick about you but he’s been safe and by your side” he explained to calm her down. he could understand the panic, he would’ve been the same with ellie. “someone tampered with the drinks at the carnival. there was a mass poisoning. don’t worry, there’s no internal damage or anything, it just knocked you out for a while but we worked quick to get an antidote” 

There was no recollection to what happened at the carnival in her mind. She didn’t know what caused it, who caused it, or what time she had fallen into a two week slumber. It all felt grey and fuzzy in her head. She had tried to make sense of the events that happened, but she couldn’t quite get there to connect the dots.

It had taken two weeks for her to stir from her sleep. Sleep was how she was choosing to call it in her head, it was less harsh to her mentality. However, in reality, deep down, she knew what the correct medical term would be for it. Someone had done this to her and only a few months after Adam had fallen ill. It felt cruel to them. To him. 

Slowly coming round, her eyes squinted at the sudden intrusion of bright lights and she blindly reached out to hold onto someones wrist to alert them she was awake.

@happieststarters​

-

it was hard not to take this case personally. mary and ellie had struck up a friendship years ago and even more so over their dogs and carl had got to know her and adam over the years of them all living in redwood hollow. 

carl had reassured adam that he’d do everything he possibly could for her and he intended to follow through on that promise. in her room checking her vitals, he had finished taking her blood pressure when he felt a hand grip his wrist. 

“hey, hey, it’s okay. don’t worry, it’s carl. adam’s just stepped away for a moment, he’ll be back soon” he spoke calmly while pouring a glass of water and holding it out to her with a straw placed in the glass for ease “have some water to rehydrate” 

unbeknownst to becky, she had been in a coma for two weeks. even more unbeknownst to her was the fact that a number of other people had fallen victim to the same fate, as well as woody being significantly worse for wear in the room adjacent to hers. 

while being unconscious, nothing had happened for becky. there was no hearing people talking to her from her bedside, there was no feeling her parents holding her hands, and there was no dreaming. everything had suddenly rushed, fading to black and felt final. that was until she heard a voice that she had almost forgotten the sound of, it had felt so long since she’d last heard it saying goodbye to her. 

‘it’s time to wake up, becky’

jimmy’s voice repeating it to her until her subconscious agreed. 

‘it’s time to wake up, becky’

and with that, fifteen days after her admission to the hospital, rebecca detweilers eyes opened to the world. 

-

carl was doing the rounds of the ward. he had been working non-stop since all the admissions came in from the carnival. he was sure ellie wasn’t thrilled at how much he was overworking himself, but he knew she also would understand. 

a few patients had started waking up over the last few days and it was a waiting game for the rest to follow suit. after stopping in on a few rooms to see how other patients are doing, his next check was becky. 

to his surprise, when he had entered the room to retrieve her chart, the woman was awake in her bed “welcome back, you gave us one hell of a fright there” her brother was the equivalent of a stray cat around the hospital, refusing to leave his sister “how are you feeling?” he asked while making some notes on her chart for the nurses.

@themanagerisavampirex​

Starter for @cxrlfredricksen​

Work waited for no one. While Mirage was still in the process of settling into her new apartment, Mr. Borovsky was not terribly sympathetic to the stresses it might add to the already intense work that she did for him. No rest for the wicked, as they say. There were a few new ‘cases of interest’ at the hospital that she had been asked to check in on (after that strange illness had found another victim). Of course, Mr. Borovsky and Mirage knew why they were there in the first place, but he couldn’t very well check in on them himself without arousing suspicion, could he?

Mirage’s heels clicked down the corridors. Someone had sent her this way, then someone else had sent her that way, and it wasn’t until she was a mere door away from the person she was supposed to be checking in on that she was stopped. “Doctor Fredricksen,” Mirage greeted. She had been hoping for one of the more gullible nurses or reception staff. “I’ve been asked to collect an updated file on your patient in room A113. I trust it’s ready?”

-

As per usual, Carl was run off his feet at the hospital. No matter how many bodies worked at the place, it never felt like there was enough. That’s healthcare for you. Not even taking time for lunch, he spent his lunch hour standing at the reception desk completing report and after report, as well as adjusting the weekly rotas and making sure he signed Doris’ birthday card for the surprise in the staff room later on in the day when she finished her rounds. There was going to be cake and that’s was what kept him powering through. 

His thoughts of cake had been deterred when a new arrival had called for him. Closing over paperwork he was looking at on the clipboard, he handed it off to a passing nurse who was heading to the patients room it belonged to. “Yes? Can I help you?” he nodded. It wasn’t until she explained her reasoning did he realise who she was “Ms, as I explained to your boss, I will explain the same to you. You won’t be handed that file. There are laws protecting the information not to mention the code of conduct of patient and doctor confidentiality.”

A - Advocate - How do they show their support for others? Are there any causes that they publicly support? Why?

carl is a strong presence when he is a supporter of others.

anything relating to the hoh and deaf community, medicine, mental health, human rights, lgbtq+, education, climate, equal pay, opportunities etc being a doctor has him supporting a million and one causes as he spends time with people every day. in his line of work you want the best for everyone.

D - Director - How much do they feel the need to have control over their life? Do they spend a lot of time telling others what to do or and they more likely to be more obedient to others?

carl likes to be in control of his life. he likes knowing where he stands.

in his job he runs the hospital so he does give orders and delegate tasks but this is just down to the job, nothing to do with ego.

unless it's ellie, then he does whatever she wants. he loves his wife.

V - Visionary - Do they have a plan for their future? How imaginative or creative are they? Do they have vivid dreams?

he plans to be with ellie until his last breath (he thinks he'll pass before she does. he hopes he does, he doesn't know how he'd bare it) and until then, then it's all about kids and living live and enjoys the good things it has to offer.

carl is creative because his job basically programmed his brain to be and he doesn't dream vividly.

E - Entrepreneur - How do they make money? Are they willing to take financial risks? How do they approach making deals with others?

he's a doctor and the chief physician at redwood hollow.

carl doesn't do risks, that's more ellie that's spontaneous.

he's never been one to make deals unless it's fun little deals with ellie about stupid things.

N - Navigator - What’s their sense of direction like? Do they have a set path in life that they’re planning on following? What do they do if they’re knocked off course?

carl's direction is great. his life plan has went spectacularly well given the fact he's managed to win over ellie. he got the girl and the career, it's all going well.

carl learns to adapt to change. it comes with the job.

T - Teacher - How often do they have to teach others? How do they go about it? How do they learn best? Do they dive in first and reflect later or study the theory of something new before putting it into practice?

he teaches often but not every day. it's not uncommon for residents at the hospital to come to him with problems and questions.

carl studies until the cows comes home. only when he's confident in what he's doing will he then out it to practice. he works with peoples lives, he doesn't get to make mistakes so he sure as hell better know what he's doing.

U - Ugly - What traits to they find unattractive in others? Do they have any of those traits themselves?

greed, power hungry, money orientated, selfishness, arrogance, cruelty etc

he doesn't have any of them

R - Rebel - Do they follow rules, bend or break them? Do they find rebelliousness in others attractive?

he edges on the cusp of following them/bending them.

obviously he does, he married ellie.

6. what is your muse’s favorite kind of weather?

snow. it's a special sight seeing ellie try to teach dug the dog how to do snow angels.

7. what would your muse consider a perfect day?

chilling with ellie.

8. what does your muse love doing with other people?

relaxing and socialising. he works hard, he likes spending his free time with easy activites.

9. what does your muse consider their biggest success?

career wise is being chief physician.

life in general is meeting the love of his life and getting to marry her.

10. who does your muse consider their best/closet friend?

"to spend every goddamn day of my life with her, go travelling and have kids. kids is the main thing for us right now"

𝕊𝕠𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕖 - Adam starter

‘  it’s  like  the  colors  in  autumn,  so  bright  just  before  they  lose  it  all.  ’

Adam was standing out of the café enjoying a cup of coffee, he hadn’t dressed himself yet and was in his casual clothes when all of the sudden an object headed towards him and he didn’t have time to duck, it splashed the coffee all over him - which luckily had been cooled down quite a bit cause otherwise he’d be much angrier than he was now. “Ah Shit!” He cursed as he looked at his clothes that were now soaked with his favorite beverage.

@happieststarters​

-

Carl was walking to the café to pick up his usual morning coffee. There were some kids out playing with a football nearby, and he didn’t think anything of it until he saw the shape hurling through the air towards Adam. Carl called out to him to try and warn him, but it was too late. He jogged down the street towards the man “Hey, are you good? I tried calling out but wasn’t quick enough. Sorry about that”

@magicaladamlegrand​

--- Carl Fredricksen