#as.

DIGGING DEEPER.

TW: parental death, complications in childbirth

alex was raised on the compound, the daughter of a successful surgeon – whom was a role-model to his daughter from the very moment she was born. there was nothing she wouldn’t do to make him happy, and looked at him like he hung the moon. and yet, for most of her childhood – alex often felt alone. following her mother’s passing due to complications with alex’s birth, doctor michael gatlin threw himself heavily into his work. thus, alex spent most of her childhood in the care of nannies and the afterglow education system. and yet, her father expressed many times that he wanted nothing more than for his daughter to follow in his footsteps. pursue a career in medicine. originally she did so to make her father happy – but alex would come to find that she had a natural gift for helping others.

one thing she often struggled with in her younger years, however, was following authority. she often found herself getting into trouble in school due to possessing a mouth that had the tendency to get away from her – often speaking before thinking. some called it rebellion, when in reality alex possesses a strong sense of what she considers to be right and wrong. biting her tongue was never one of her strong suites. in contrast, however, her grades and an iq test seemed to tell the story of a young woman with an incredibly bright future, one which young alex took far more seriously than most of the adults in her early life gave her credit for. it’s something that she never quite forgot, how easy it was for the adults around her to underestimate her.

she graduates from high school, in fact, on track for a career in medicine. most people thing that alex skates through life without even trying. when in reality she nearly works herself to the bone in nursing school – she was just taught some things from a very early age called appearances. the collection of tattoos start to appear by age twenty, joining the nose piercing she got when she was sixteen. her father says that she looks like a delinquent. and yet for the first time? she doesn’t care. this time, alex is finding her own way.

over the years she’s quickly adapted into her own person and built quite the solid foundation for herself. her father retired from practice last year, leaving her the only gatlin in medicine – which is when she truly began to thrive. she’s begun streaking her hair in different colors that change every couple of weeks ( the amount of hair dye under her bathroom counter would be concerning to any normal person ) – grown a collection of tattoos that she believes “tell a story.” she’s still mouthy, but she knows when to listen and do her damn job when the occasion calls for it. patients love her, it’s 50/50 when it comes to her coworkers, considering she still has a lot to learn.

she currently works mostly in the trauma unit – told that she seems to thrive in a fast paced environment. initially she had her eyes on working in neurology, as this was where her father shined. and yet, this was the best gift that she could have possibly been given. a chance to make her own legacy.

EXTRAS.

yannick shteynhoyz: one of his many practically adopted gremlin children, follows him around like a golden retriever.

DIGGING DEEPER.

Some of Ari's earliest memories were from within the chaos of the emergency room walls. She often found herself situated in the break room of the ED with a coloring book or an assortment of 'playschool' doctor toys to keep her busy while her father worked. But more often than not, it was the chaos of the department that drew her interest the most. As she grew older, she'd venture out to the nurses' station, spinning on one of the chairs with the charge nurse. She helped organize files and keep track of patients and their care, walking along side the nurse like her little shadow. But, mostly, she watched as the doctors saved lives over and over again. One of those doctors was her very own superhero, her father - Yanni.

It was only natural that she'd follow in her father's footsteps and start learning the ins and outs of medicine from an age younger than typically expected. She absorbed everything like a sponge, just watching from the corner and learning how all sorts of different procedures and techniques were performed. Soon enough she moved from a shadow of the charge nurse to her father's in her teenage years, and growing into herself and her skills as a doctor in her own right.

But even more so than being in the middle of all the chaos of the emergency department and helping to save lives, Ari found she loved finding new solutions and innovations in the medical field. She wanted to not only assist in the road to recovery of her patients, but make the road of recovery even easier and quicker. It was how she had gotten started in the research sector of Afterglow, hoping to find new ways to help and heal.

EXTRAS.

headcanons :