Hi there! Do you have any headcanons about pre-family Carlisle at work (hospital) or as an university professor (the guide mention he does that from time to time, right?) And any headcanons about his home, how it was and stuff like that (again pre-family, for some reason I'm on a fixation right now about what he was like before being a coven leader/father figure). Actually matter of fact, do you also have any headcanons about him post-family but that does not involve his family, like things that are "just him" (not motivated/influenced by his family)?
This is what I mean when I say I'm not shippy: I would happily read books about Carlisle's life when he was on his own and I don't need him to have a partner or a family or anything. I think it's really interesting! And I think people forget about all that time he spent alone and often just make him like Mr. Brady in fics. As it stands, he's still spent more time alone than with a family. You could argue this is all still kind of "new."
Anyway I think he usually chose a home on the outskirts of town; he has a lot of books and paintings. I think he would decorate the entryway and a sitting room/parlor in case he had to receive guests but most of the time he didn't bother furnishing the whole house or unpacking everything because like, what does it matter? But he did like having a nice space to read and study.
At one point his loneliness got so bad that he tried adopting a kitten. He knew animals were afraid of vampires but he thought maybe if he got a very young one that the instinct could be overcome. But after a week of the kitten hiding in terror and only coming out to eat when Carlisle was at work, he decided it was too cruel to try and found someone else to take the cat. I like to think he named it something really nerdy like Hippocrates or whatever.
When the pet thing failed I think he might have gotten really into gardening for awhile. Handy to have some herbs for treatments and the like but also just to have life around him, something growing.
He has great success as a surgeon even before germ theory because he DID clean his tools and clothing, not because he figured it out before everyone else, but because he had to get the scent of blood out of it so as not to torture himself. He wasn't immune to the scent back then so he was always meticulously clean so his throat wouldn't burn as much.
I think he got really into photography when it was first developed, less as an artist and more as a scientist. But there are a few albums of his early photos that are uncannily clear because vampires are by nature rather still so those long exposure times at the beginning weren't a problem for him.
He tried to take on the most dangerous tasks during pandemics and the like knowing he was immune to any human illness, but his superiors pushed pack all like, "you're a young man with your whole life ahead of you, let us old folks risk it" and it was incredibly frustrating because, in fact, he's the old man. He just doesn't look it. I think people also don't factor in HOW young he looks and what a pain in the ass that would be when starting over at a new hospital. They're all looking at him like he's this kid fresh out of med school and he has to prove himself over and over again. It's easy when reading the books as a teenager or watching the movies where he's a decade older physically to be like "that is an Adult" but in the books he's 23. That's barely out of college let alone med school, residency, etc. He looks like a baby.
Oh! Forgot one! Coffee. He's known in the hospital(s) as always having a coffee mug and it has to ALWAYS be piping hot, he dumps it out and gets new coffee if it gets cold. The staff just think he's very particular about it. And of course he drinks a lot of coffee look at the poor man, he's so pale with those dark circles, he's not getting enough sleep, needs the caffeine!
Meanwhile he's obviously not drinking it at all; he uses the mug to warm up his hands which is why he ditches it once it gets cold. He feels a little bad for being wasteful though and restocks the coffee supplies himself; Alice helps him pick stuff out because she can foresee what everyone will like. "Oh this Hazelnut creamer is going to be a big hit!"
