``there goes a fighter

[eric]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 380px; border-left: 20px solid #7a9aa9; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding-left: 10px; padding-bottom: 20px;] Until the crowd goes home But I do it for the kids, life threw the towel in on Everytime you fall it's only making your chin strong And I'll be in your corner like mick, baby, til the end Or when you hear a song from that big lady - - - THERE WAS SOMETHING about the sound of tapping metal on the smooth soft wooden floors of a dance studio that drove Eric Nathaniel Faden heart beat. The movement, the rhythm. The fun of it all. Eric was a performer. It was hard to confine him so much as to label him just a tap dancer, just a jazz or contemporary dancer, or even to simple call him a dancer. Eric also worked in choreography. He took part in stage performances, acting, in both dramas and musicals. He had played Fiero in Wicked just two years ago, on broadway for a short period of time. He also made a living with photography. While he earned enough to get by fairly comfortably, he also was aware he was a father who needed a stable source of money. The world of the artist was volatile and subject to change overnight. So that was why he was at the Astaire Studios that Saturday morning. Eric Faden worked as a teacher there. He taught tap and jazz mostly, although he would partner up with some of the contemporary teachers sometimes as well. Now, the thing was that the classes he got paid to teach were fun but they were also for mostly wealthy kids who could pay for lessons. This Saturday morning class was something Eric put together himself. Jazz and Tap class for free. Eric had only been visiting Valkyrie, California when he decided on a whim to move him and his five year here. They will have been here a year come October. Eric had lived in Valkyrie for ten years. He went through the majority of his teenage years in the California city. He was in foster care in the city from seven to seventeen before he left. The thing was, his foster sister had been murdered by his birth father when he was a teenager, and his best friend, Laura Stillings had lost her brother and been going through some crazy things so the two had decided to take off. There was only person he left behind he ever missed and that was Emilia Demtra. But at the time, all he saw in the city was bad memories of a world he could not handle. He saw death, he saw sadness, he saw poverty, he saw abuse, he saw the city as a constant reminder that him being in Lucy's life resulted in her death. At the time, leaving was necessary. He moved to New York City. Got involved in the sort bohemian artistic scene there, both on an off broadway when Laura and him parted ways. He had gotten into the Royal Conservatory of the Arts in Glasgow which was near his home town, Port Glasgow, on full scholarship. He hadn't been there since his mother died and the conservatory was a big deal and Laura got to tour a show. So they parted ways. Now, in Glasgow his accent was renewed and so was his soul. He found himself again. He was him again, doing what he loved. To make a long story short, when he was there he met Jia Li. She was beautiful, fun loving, a bit intense about the work they were doing but he had sort of ignored the signs of crazy in her. They began to date, she got pregnant and out of them came Hope. Jia kept getting crazier, they broke up but shared custody of Hope until one day, two years ago, Eric had walked in on Jia holding an iron, like a an iron for straightening clothes, and she was pressing it into Hope's upper arm. A burn the five year old still had the scar from, although luckily it healed well enough it was hard to tell what it was. It no longer formed the perfect shape of the iron. Jia's father had been a lawyer, and a damn good one, highly respected. Eric was not going to win full custody. Jia told him, outside of court one day, that she would not give up custody because she had gotten pregnant on purpose because a daughter meant they would be together forever. So Eric did the first illegal thing he had ever done in his life, if you don't count stealing food here or there as a kid, he kidnapped his own daughter, fled the country. Hope and him ran to the United States, since he was still technically a citizen. Went back to New York City. He worked in the NYC again, played Fiero as mentioned above. So how did he get back to Valkyrie? He and Hope came to Valkyrie to visit Laura's grave, she had herself buried next to her brother. And it was when he was walking around Valkyrie during that visit, with his daughter on his shoulders, that he saw the city in a completely different way. It flooded his mind with memories but instead of the memories being the ones of nightmares, they were memories of the good times with Laura and Lucy. Memories of ice cream at the beach, the rhythm of the energy of the Shaks. He saw kids dancing on cardboard on the streets, he saw the taggers art, he saw the painting of him, laura and lucy's dancing outlines on the back of CiCi's brewery. When he was working in Glasgow and New York, he had become very focused on the energy of the streets. The way he puts it is that "despite his abhorrent white-ness, he was still a child of the streets" which you know, he was. He might not be the average kid to come from inner city poverty but those were is friends, that was his home, those kids were his family. Valkyrie captured him, and he moved here with his daughter, last October, on a whim. And that was why he wanted to do this class, even if it was for free. He knew what performing can do for a kid, and he knew the talent that went unnoticed. Eric smiled as he clapped in beat with the music and watched a group of about 20 kids ages 6-15 try to follow the steps he had just demonstrated. The kids in his class were great, spunky, energetic, made playful fun of him for his accent. Hell they had definitely taught him a few dance moves although, believe me, hip hop was not his forte. he could do the moves and keep on beat but he didn't have the flare for it as he did for jazz or tap. "Good, good!" He called out to group as they came to their rounds. Eric waved his hands up in the air signaling them to finish. He grinned, "A'right! very good, now we're basically finished 'til next week, but I need you all to practice. We're going to be working more on our single and double taps." He told the group before pointing down at his own feet and pulling back to the double tap(here). He waved bye to the group as they made their way out of the studio, one boy about 15 came up to him, his name was Derrell and he had probably the best raw talent Eric had ever seen. He was a bit ahead of the rest of the class. "so I've been practisin' that scissor move" Eric grinned and nodded, "oi 'ave ya now? you want to try to give it a go?" Derrell nodded with a shrug, "lets see what you got." Eric laughed and walked with him into the center of the floor, "ooohhh 'let's see what I got'? so that's how it is, well a'right, i'll start, you join, I'll increase me pace, you just see if your little twinkle toes can keep up." He replied jokatively to the boy before holding up a finger to Hope who was coloring in the corner as he and Derrell faced the mirrors. Eric began to do the scissor step (here) on a loop slowly, derrell followed suit. Eric picked up speed, Derrell followed, nearly perfect unison, Eric laughed as they continued and looked at derrell, "I'm going to take it up another notch you ready?" Derrell nodded as Eric took up the speed just and minute more. Derrell was a little slower but keeping up really well, they both sort of exhaled a laugh, "okay lets round it out! 1. 2. 3" Eric called out as they did a quick turn and stomp to finish the exorcise. They both laughed and high-fived, "Not bad Highlander." Derrell replied, Eric nodded, "Not bad yerself, just need to tighten it up a bit an' ya got it. I'll see ya next week." He said with a wave as Derrell exited the room. Eric took a deep breath and shook his head before turning on his heel and walking over to Hope, "A'right darling, I'm sorry we ran late." Hope hopped up onto her feet as her father sat down on the stool next to the wall and pulled off his tap shoes, slipping on his street shoes. "What now?" She asked as she put her coloring book in her back pack. Eric pulled his leg to cross the other so he could reach and tie his shoes. He scrunched his brow as though he were thinking very hard, "Well, I do believe I made a promise if you were good..." Hope's eyes grew big as she grinned, "ICE CREAM!!" She exclaimed bouncing up and down. Eric smiled and stood up, having placed his tap shoes in his bag. He nodded, "You know it." He added offering her his hand which she took. Eric Faden quickly locked the dance studio and soon was parking in front of his daughter's favorite frozen yogurt place. It also had smoothies and tea, coffee. Once inside Eric and Hope ordered, he was just getting an iced green tea but Hope ordered a frozen yogurt based shake before she tugged on his pant leg, "I gotta pee." Eric grinned and pointed over to the bathrooms, "lavy's over there." he said, Hope walked towards the bathroom taking large steps, Eric looked over his shoulder, "Do ya need me to go with ya?" He asked joking. Hope rolled her eyes, "Daaa-aad... No." She said in that overly dramatic kid way before disappearing behind the door. Leaving Eric chuckling slightly before receiving his tea, thanking the man, while he waited for his daughter's shake. TAGGED: leslie , OUTFIT: eric & hope , LYRICS: gym class heros

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN OF CAUTION 2.0,[/center]

[emilia]

emilia demtra

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just too unreal all this.
watching the words fall from my lips.
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It was really a beautiful Saturday morning, not that she noticed. All Emilia Demtra could concentrate on was one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, one breath in, and one breath out. Then, thankfully, she turned down her street and up her apartment stairs. Fumbling breathlessly for the keys, Emilia all but stumbled into the door of her third floor apartment, muscles burning from the ten-mile run that she’d tasked herself with that morning. She tried to run as many miles every other day, adding another half mile every two weeks. She spent the other days doing strength workouts – sit ups, pushups, pull ups, and weight training. It was a workout that she’d developed herself, which she gleaned a little pride from. So far, it was her first day running those ten miles; a harder step than she’d thought it would be, but overall the plan was working well to build up her stamina and strength. This morning, she had left before dawn had crested over the horizon, more from insomnia than any actual desire to be up so early on a Saturday. It was funny how the more tired you were, the less you could sleep.

She could never in her whole life say that she enjoyed working out as much as she had been – Emilia had always been a very comfortable couch potato, aided by the gift of her mother’s speedy metabolism. She had spent a lot of her days reading, writing or doing homework, eating mostly whatever she wanted and never really having to worry about her weight. A trait to be jealous of, for sure, and she never wasted the ability. But now, it wasn’t even about that anymore. It wasn’t about the actual want to get up early and make her legs numb with exertion; her muscles burn with the ache of another day’s exercise. No, now, it was about her career. It was the only downside she’d seen to becoming a police officer, although she was still fairly new to this particular life choice. Between work, workouts, and getting herself settled, Emilia really hadn’t had time for reestablishing her social life here in Valkyrie.

Emilia flopped onto her back on her worn couch, staring up at the ceiling and letting her muscles cool down. She lifted her head only long enough to take the band out of her hair and shake it out around her shoulders and toyed with the loose strands while she pondered what her life had become. She had been back for almost a year now, and hadn’t really had any interest in looking up her old friends from high school. Although Emilia had gone to school in L.A. for a few years, it hadn’t lasted more than that before a certain…incident had caused her to come back home. Back to Valkyrie. It was then that the idea of becoming a police officer had occurred to her; a choice she had thrown her whole self into with eager enthusiasm. Sure, a lot of Emilia’s family thought that it wasn’t a good choice for her – it was too dangerous for her, they said. Emilia begged to differ.

Of course, there were some dangers to it. There were dangers to a lot of jobs that didn’t involve sitting behind a desk all day. So maybe the running would come in handy some day, she thought idly with a small smile. If this whole undercover thing went south, she might not regret so much the burning in her muscles. Of course, she was just getting used to that particular aspect of her new position. She was about to start going under cover in the Russian Bratva in Valkyrie, both to gain information for the VPD and aid in F.B.I. knowledge about the group. Personally, Emilia was very proud of the work she’d done to get this far. It had involved years of study and hard work, and was sort of a token to all that she’d gone through.

Now that she was back, though, her thoughts had been wandering more and more to the past. Especially to Faden. It had started a few weeks ago, when her run had taken her past the motel where his foster sister had been killed. She had actually paused outside the doors and looked up to the window of the room in question as though watching the scene play over in her head. The whole thing had been just awful, and had seemed to break Eric Faden in a way that couldn’t be repaired at the time. Not there. Not in California. The thought had faded eventually into happier memories. Cotillion, the ice rink where they met, and even just hanging out with Ben and Laura; to a time when things could be simple. She had heard about Laura’s suicide after it happened, of course, and had thought of her old boyfriend then, but couldn’t find a way to get ahold of him. She and Ben both agreed that it was hard to believe that Laura would resort to that, but both hoped that it might be for the better, if life had really become so hard for her.

Emilia sat up suddenly and let out a huff of air. It was too nice a day to be locked away inside thinking about these depressing thoughts. She needed to get out, to do something besides work for once. As much as she wanted to take a nap, Emilia’s thoughts were propelling her out of the house. It was the only time she ever actually felt like exercising – when her thoughts just became too heavy to remain stationary. So, old faded sweatpants, tank-top, and all, Emilia threw on a zip-up hoodie and left her apartment in a flurry of motion. Walking instead of running now, Emilia breathed in the fresh air deeply and moved towards one of her favorite ice cream place down the road. It had been entirely too long since Emilia had tasted a milkshake and was beginning to realize what a travesty this was. After all, life was apparently too short not to partake in some indulgences when you had the chance.

She pushed open the door, breathing in the smell of waffle cones that always gathered near the door, and moved to get in line. A couple of people ahead of her, Emilia saw a young Asian girl flounce off towards the bathroom and smiled to herself when her father joked with her. It was always nice to see someone getting along with their kid. Especially when he seemed pretty young to have a girl that age. Young and… Familiar. Emilia’s smile slipped a little and her brow furrowed in concentration, trying to mentally take a few years of the man in front of her. The accent was different and Emilia wanted to believe it was too ironic, but… “I’ll be damned…” She mumbled to herself and stepped out of line, laughing softly under her breath. “Well if it isn’t Galahad himself, returned to Camelot.” She teased, using their old reference with each other and striding over to the boy she once loved, now a man.

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tagged:; FAMILIA. <33
status:; finished! finally.
word count:; 1,196.
credits:; lyrics to spring awakening. format to a conglomeration of vintage vside.
clothes:; take the top picture, add a hooded zip-up, black sweatpants, and running shoes.
notes:; couldn't find a good picture for her clothes. >.< and sorry it took so long. D:

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[eric]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 380px; border-left: 20px solid #7a9aa9; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding-left: 10px; padding-bottom: 20px;] Until the crowd goes home But I do it for the kids, life threw the towel in on Everytime you fall it's only making your chin strong And I'll be in your corner like mick, baby, til the end Or when you hear a song from that big lady - - - YOU HAD TO HAND it to Eric Faden, he had never not looked like an artist type. When he was a teenager, sure he was considered a loser, he was pretty sure a lot of those people would still see him as one despite his moderate success but he had style back in the day. He always had a flare for the classics, hence that old fashioned cap that still adorned his head. He preferred the classic style of vests and caps and white button ups with their sleeves rolled up, much more 1920's or 1930's. He preferred that look over the look of polo shirts and kakis any day. He was okay with the hip hop culture's style, he was okay with a lot of different styles, in fact he loved how people could use clothes to identify themselves with a culture or subculture, marking who they are but the whole polo shirt generation just seemed all about snobbish conformity as opposed to individual cultural expression. Although perhaps that was him being bitter towards the people who always had looked down on him from their yachts and private airplanes. He simply couldn't take a polo shirt seriously. He let his daughter pretty much dress the way she wanted as long as they could afford it and it wasn't revealing and too old. Now a days you walk down the street and see eight year old girls in hot pants and crop tops and six pounds of make up and it just felt wrong to him. He wanted his daughter to enjoy being a kid as long as she possibly could. He wanted his daughter to have a childhood he could never have, with a loving parent. It was one of the main reasons he took her away from her mother who to his knowledge was still in Scotland. Her mother had attacked her with a iron, from like ironing clothes, that kind. She had pressed it against the back of Hope's arm and Eric Faden had walked in. That was almost two years ago and Hope still had a scar from the iron shaped burn mark on the top back of her left arm. Eric really hoped it would fade more. The good thing was that, since she was only three, Eric knew there was a good chance she would not remember what happened. Eric was never going to lie to her but he still felt it would be best for to not remember the moment her own mother hurt her like that. My ex, Jia, Hope's mother, she had an amazing lawyer as a father, Eric? He couldn't afford one and had to represent himself. Let's just say he lost the fight for sole custody, which would be why he disappeared with Hope, against the law or not. He once asked Jia outside of court why she wanted shared custody and Jia told him that it wasn't about Hope at all, she didn't really like the girl, she just wanted to make sure Eric and her were always connected. Yeah, Jia was a bit crazy. She had once fooled Eric into thinking she was just the fun, light hearted crazy but she was dangerous. And the law was not letting him get his daughter away from her. What would you have done if it was your daughter? The law's already decided that your child should be in the hands of someone you had personally seen almost drown her, and then burning them. You would do what you had to. So he disappeared with his daughter. Luckily for him, it didn't seem like Jia was pursuing it too hard. Maybe she finally realized Eric would never love her again and since she admitted to not caring much about Hope, maybe she was letting them go. It needed to be figured out. But he figured he could take life as is. He would keep Hope away from her, no matter what the law said. Coming here after Laura's death just made sense. Laura had been buried in Valkyrie to be next to her brother. Her dad's body had been cremated by the state since no one wanted to claim him. Not after everything he had put his kids through and then took himself out after taking Laura. It was hard for Eric, when he was a kid, to comprehend how anyone would want to hurt their child. And now, as Eric was a father, it was impossible for him to understand how anyone was even capable of hurting their child. Granted he could easily understand where shake a baby syndrome came from. It came from frustration of a language barrier, and pure exhaustion and desperation. As a parent he still upheld it was your responsibility to check yourself, but he at least understood how parents would accidentally hurt their kids from that, it was the parents that burn, hit, kick, rape, their children. He nearly went blind with rage when he saw Jia hurt Hope. He would die for the girl and it just never made sense. Even in terms of natural evolution, success is defined by one's ability to successfully pass on genetics. If you have a child, you are partially successful, if your kid has a kid, you are more so, and so on and so forth. So beating you child to death, or hurting them so much they take their own life, everything of the sort, was just unnatural. Eric pushed thoughts of Jia and his last trip to Scotland out of his mind as he was handed his daughter's shake and thanked the man behind the counter. He set Hope's shake down on the counter and looked around looking for a table, for when she came out of the bathroom when he heard a familiar voice. “Well if it isn’t Galahad himself, returned to Camelot.” Eric smiled to himself a bit, nervous though. He knew who that voice belonged to. He turned around to see Emilia Demtra. She was exactly the same. Like she hadn't aged, just grew taller. He smiled and shrugged, "Well, ya know, found the grail, figured it was time." He replied in a friendly tone. Emilia had been his first girlfriend and the first girl he loved. The only girl he had been in love with. He once thought himself in love with Jia but at the end of the day, what Jia and him had was never what he had with Emilia. They really only stayed together for a year because of Hope being born. "Although, I've actually been back since October." He always wondered if he would see her again. A lot had changed, he had a daughter, he had branched further in his artistic interests and attained some success and low level, theatrical fame, which basically meant that musical theatre people and fans of the stage and jazz dance knew who he was and that was really it. His accent had even changed, sort of. He had the same Scottish accent as always, it was simply stronger since he had gone back to Scotland for a few years. It like rejuvenated his accent. He went more by Eric now, when he was Emilia, he was known as Faden more. Eric stood a bit straighter about to ask how she had been when he heard Hope walking up behind him, "Pitaa!" She exclaimed at his feet reaching up. Eric smiled at Emilia before reaching down and lifting her up and handing her her shake. Eric gave a slightly nervous chuckle and looked at Emilia, "Pitaa means daddy in Hindi, she's got a bit of an obsession with India right now." an obsession he thought was really cool, but seriously you should see the girl's room. He looked at Hope, "Hope, this an old friend of mine, Emilia. Emilia, this is my Daughter, Hope." Hope stopped drinking her shake and looked at Eric, "My name's Emilia," She said with a bit of a giggle. Eric nodded with a small gasp, "that's right! your middle name." Hope grinned and wiggled her legs, Eric leaned down to put her on the floor but she kept her hand wrapped around two of his fingers, she looked at Emilia and shook her head, "Pitaa's silly." Eric looked at his daughter and scoffed a small laugh before looking at Emilia, kids make no sense sometimes, probably why he liked them. Eric gestured over to a table by the window, "You want to join us?" He asked, "if you don't mind bumble?" He added looking down at Hope who shook her head while sipping her shake through her straw. TAGGED: leslie , OUTFIT: eric & hope , LYRICS: gym class heros

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN OF CAUTION 2.0,[/center]