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A quick stop by his bedroom saw Noah swap out his wrinkled dress shirt and jacket for a simple pair of blue jeans and a dark gray shirt with 'STAGFORT POLICE DEPARTMENT' emblazoned on the front. The casual attire was the norm after work, at least on the seemingly rare occasions he was home early enough to bother with anything other than sleepwear. Part of him never truly grew comfortable with the suits and ties detectives commonly wore.
"Hey Lux." Noah called from the stairs as he descended and immediately headed for the kitchen. Shedding the physical remnants of his work day had already begun setting his mind at ease allowing him to focus on the task at hand. "I'm going to get dinner started, can you let Lily out of her room?" He called again before giving a frown and muttering to himself. "Poor girl's probably going stir crazy."
It may have been subtle enough to go unnoticed to an ignorant onlooker but given the circumstances it wouldn't be surprising to discover Noah was intensely scrutinizing every minute detail of the way Carter spoke and reacted. So far he was mildly impressed, nodding a bit at the brief, yet seemingly honest reply. "Well, welcome back." He said before Lux immediately went to change the subject. Noah glanced at his daughter, offering a half smirk and short nod. There was something almost... amusing about the way she was acting. Her connection with the young man standing in the middle of his living room may have been ambiguous, even to her, but a blind rabbit stuffed in a potato sack could see something.
After all. She never acted like this when Jack was around.
"Right." Noah answered before taking a couple backward steps in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll go get that started and if you'll excuse me, I'm going to run upstairs get out of my work clothes." And with that he turned toward the kitchen and headed out of the room, leaving the two along for the moment.
Noah stifled a yawn as he made his way through the house toward the sound of his daughter's voice. He strode into the living room, a warm smile touching his features as he caught sight of Lux. He regarded her first, moving in to give what would seem to casual onlookers as a simple, one armed hug of a greeting but the innate weight the gesture held was one Lux was all to familiar with; as if her father was simply relieved to be seeing her again. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
With the small, yet impactful gesture out of the way Noah turned his attention to the young man standing nearby. He stepped toward him offering a courteous nod and extending a hand. "You must be Carter." He said, his tone light and relaxed. There was still something oddly amusing, yet charming about this whole situation despite not knowing much of what, if anything, was between the two. "I've heard..." Noah paused briefly, his eyes shifting toward Lux for just a moment as an amused smirk touched his lips. "Very little about you."
The sort of day Detective Noah Cross had attempted to shield his family from since he first donned a uniform and badge. What had started as a quick peek into the office to go over a few files that, he hoped, would ultimately result in a lead to follow in the coming days had turned into an impromptu raid that quickly became violent. To most the incident would be nothing more than another segment on the evening news. A two minute, passive reassurance that the local police department was at least doing something. To the men and women who lived it, however, it would remain a harrowing example of how volatile their profession truly was.
As he'd done so many times, Noah used the short walk from the driveway to his front door to cast aside the still fresh memories etched into his mind of the incident that sent two of his companions to the hospital, one immediately into emergency surgery. He paused just outside the door and took a deep breath, clearing the stoic mask and replacing it with softer, more relaxed features. With a silent nod to himself he opened the door and stepped inside.
"Lux." He called, shrugging his jacket off, "Sorry I'm late. Got caught up at work."
Noah watched as the myriad of emotions continued to flash across his daughter's face doing little to make him believe there was simply nothing to this whole development. Perhaps she was just nervous about what he'd think or do should she actually express much romantic interest in someone. It wasn't as if she had a revolving door of guys (or gals, Noah was nothing if not open minded) growing up. He always suspected this trend had continued in recent years due to the loss of her mother. As much as Noah wanted to think he had been the unwavering rock for his daughter he was startlingly aware of how much she had taken care of him as well.
The veteran detectives' brows furrowed at the soft spoken demand. "Weird?" He said attempting to fight back the faint traces of a smirk that threatened to touch his features. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He managed to get that part out without cracking, affording him time to take a deep breath and nod. "Alright. I won't make anything of it. I just want to meet one of your friends." Which was very much the truth regardless of what he suspected was really going on.
Noah stayed quiet while watching the wide array of emotions shift across his daughter's features. She never could lie very well or keep anything from her parents. Her father, of course, considered that a good thing even if he chose to stay quiet about a few of the things he may have picked up while she was growing up. A thin smirk touched his lips as Lux stammered, blinked furrowed brows then finally gave in to the proposition. He exhaled slowly, content to have gotten what he wanted.
"The thing is..." Noah started, his tone calm and even as it often was. "If you're going to have this guy stay overnight I'd kind of like to meet him." He stated a-matter-of-factly. Noah was, rightfully so, a bit protective of his home and those who were welcome in it. He trusted Lux, yes, but wanted to take stock of this stranger himself. "What better way than over dinner?" In a controlled environment. Where his guns were close at hand
Another low chuckle escaped as Noah watched his daughter stumble over her words before finally giving a vague reply. Despite his encouragement for her to resist the urge to draw within herself they'd yet to have a conversation about 'boys'. This didn't surprise Noah, though, as his daughter was a unique personality who made friends easily but always seemed a bit... oblivious to certain social cues. Still, there was no trace of anything other than amusement as Lux spoke. He didn't even seem concerned that she had attempted to hide the young man's presence. After all, it wasn't as if he asked and she'd lied about it.
"Look, Luxanna." Noah leaned forward, pausing a moment to take a drink from the coffee in hand. "You're twenty one years old, okay?" A smile touched his lips then. Try as he might to deny it she was no longer the little girl he used to give piggy-back rides to and thought boys were 'icky'. She'd grown up in a smart, capable and beautiful young woman, a fact that filled him with more pride than he could put into words. "I've come to accept I will not be the only man in your life, and that's fine. You don't have to sneak around and hide anything." He paused, the smile on his face never wavering even though Lux could see in his eyes he was contemplating something. "How about you invite your old school friend over for dinner tomorrow night so I can meet him?"
Noah gave a faint nod at Lux's reply as he pulled the coffee cup to him. He wasn't usually a stickler for coffee, but the stuff Lux got from outside was always far superior to the bitterly flavored water usually found in the precinct. More often than not he would forget what good coffee was really like. "No trouble though?" He asked, his tone relaxed. He took a slow, experimental sip of the still steaming coffee, eyes remaining on his daughter. He assumed if there had been any trouble during the New Years' festivities he would've known but paternal instincts were difficult to quell.
Leaning back in his chair, coffee cup held between both hands, Noah watched Lux for a moment. Try as she might to hide it he could always tell when something was on her mind. The combination of reading people for a living and the small fact that he'd raised her made Lux an open book to her father. Of course, the advanced security system he'd had installed when they moved to their new home in Oregon didn't hurt matters either. "So tell me about your friend." He said suddenly, smirk slowly spreading across his features.
And Noah had yet to shy away from a single one. It wasn't uncommon for the head detective for the Stagfort Police Department to delve headlong into his latest case with selfless abandon. Even after a career that had so far spanned over two decades Noah felt a subtle rush every time he was handed a new project, a feeling that saw him prone to overlooking the more superfluous aspects of his life such as food, sleep and social interaction outside of work. He'd occasionally lost himself so thoroughly in his work the only thing able to break him out of the determined fugue happened to be traipsing through the department floor at this very moment.
Intense blue eyes lifted from the stacks of papers and photographs spread across the desk in front of Noah and instantly softened. The idle scowl that his fellow officers had come to grow accustomed to while he was working faded beneath the bright smile of his daughter. He closed the folder he was looking through, deftly yet hastily tucking a handful of photos beneath it. The images depicted on them weren't the type he cared for his daughter to see, regardless of her age.
"Lux." The name escaped from his lips in a low, almost gentle hum, a stark contrast to the curt, abrupt tone he usually adopted. He looked to her as if her mere presence had broken him from a day's long trance, which wasn't wholly untrue. He gave a light chuckle and shrugged. She was right, as usual, leaving him to wonder briefly just how long it had actually been since he'd last taken a moment to eat. "Oh, What would I do without you?" He asked even though it was a question he hardly wanted answered. "Sorry I didn't make it home until late last night." He said, a bit of a frown touching his features even as he reached out to get into the bag Lux had set in front of him. "You know how it goes." He gestured to one of the office chairs sitting near his desk, signalling his desire for her to stay a moment if she had the time.
AGE: 42 GENDER: Male ORIENTATION: Heterosexual POSITION: Head detective, SPD / Task Force Champion field commander
♦ THE ABILITY ♦
POWER: Enhanced durability and healing Noah's skin and muscle tissue is much denser than a normal human's and, when coupled with a drastically increased rate of cell growth and development, has resulted in Noah being capable of withstanding and recovering from a great deal of physical punishment as well as the capacity to endure the elements on extreme levels.
LIMITATIONS: - Noah is not bullet proof or incapable of being harmed. While a bullet will tear his flesh and embed itself into his body, his tougher than normal frame prevents all but the highest caliber rounds from penetrating deep enough to cause an exit wound, limiting the amount of damage he receives.
- The power does not extend to internal maladies. He is just as susceptible to toxins, illness and disease as anyone and the recovery time from any of the above is the same as a normal human's.
- The scope of his power is limited to himself. It cannot be transmitted to others, nor can it be turn 'on' or 'off'. It's always active and control is negligible.
- Noah is more resistant to heat and corrosive elements (such as fire and acid, respectively) than a normal person, though less so than kinetic or piercing damage.
- The strength of his skin tissue can also hinder medical procedures such as invasive surgeries or intravenous medication necessitating the need for specialty equipment and personnel when dealing with grievous injuries or illness.
SIDE-EFFECTS: - Noah's enhanced cellular growth manifests itself with a greatly increased metabolism. As a result his needed daily caloric intake is nearly doubled from the human norms. Failure to adhere to this strict need could result in headaches, nausea and fatigue.
- Noah's power affects his sleep patterns. He's been known to go for days on no or minimal (1-2 hours) of sleep before crashing for excessive (12+ hours) lengths of time.
- The dense, rigid nature of Noah's skin tissue makes him susceptible to certain maladies such as irritation, flaking and redness. To combat this, Noah makes liberal use of moisturizers and lotions on a regular basis.
♦ THE FREEFORM ♦
- Limited Police Service Record -
Name: Cross, Noah W. Division: Kalispell & Stagfort Police Departments / Task Force Champion Position: Senior Detective Home of Record: Stagfort, OR
* SELECTED SERVICE NOTES
* 2001 - Graduated Police Academy - Commandant's List - Academy Firearms Award
* 2004 - Promoted to junior detective, Gang and Narcotic Division (GND)
* 2005 - Assigned to Task Force Champion (TFC)
* 2007 - Transferred to Robbery Homicide Division (RHD) upon promotion to Detective
* 2014 - Promoted to Senior Detective as part of transferal to Stagfort PD
*2015 - Named field commander for TFC
* NOTABLE AWARDS, COMMENDATIONS AND MEDALS Police Medal for Heroism Police Star Police Live-Saving Medal Police Meritorious Service Medal KPD Physical Fitness Badge KPD Marksman Badge
Boy, don't you worry, you'll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this if you try
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied
The child was born into a proud, loving family. His parents, though, were anything but normal. 'Inhuman' they would be called in later years. 'Unnatural' would be the label they dedicated their lives to keep away from their children. The family had settled in the Midwest where their kind weren't out of place. They expected their children to carry on the family secret and weren't disappointed. One by one the children were sent to the school up on the hill where they would learn of their unique gifts. The eldest son, Noah, was no exception, making the pilgrimage when he was just thirteen.
And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
He knew from the moment their eyes first met she was the one. It didn't matter that they were too young. Didn't matter that they had so much life ahead of them. They would be the exception that proved the rule. They would be the one in a million. They would fight to make it last because together there was no obstacle too great to overcome. They both were passionate and stubborn, determined to prove everyone wrong. This is why Noah married his high school sweetheart as soon as they were both allowed. It was as if that would cement their commitment in the eyes of others. Starting a family would soon follow as shortly after their abrupt wedding their first child was born. The years didn't bring them a perfect life but they were making it in spite of the naysayers. On the surface their family was happy and that's all that mattered.
And it feels like
Heaven's so far away
And it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you've gone away
And in an instant it was gone. The malady that had played Russian Roulette with her life finally took its toll and within a few short weeks her health had declined, sapping her of the strength and will to go on. She was buried surrounded by friends and family, her life celebrated more than her death was mourned. Losing his wife to the very mutation that had blessed her with wondrous abilities took its toll on Noah. He had so little time to grieve with his children leaning so heavily upon him. There were also knew challenges to overcome. His daughter, Luxanna, had been diagnosed with the same malady that had afflicted her mother. As much as Noah wanted to bury himself in grief, life, he found, demanded he stay strong. He vowed to do everything in his power to ensure his daughter wouldn't hide herself from the world. She would follow in her mother's footsteps; a shining star burning brightly, brightening the lives of everyone she touched, before being extinguished before her time.
But now the dreams and waking screams
That ever last the night
So build the wall, behind it crawl
And hide until it’s light
So can you hear your babies crying now?
With his children now old enough to fend for themselves Noah found himself in desperate need of a new goal, a new purpose. His children would always need their father, yes, but those moments had become few and far between these days. Noah discovered this new purpose within his longtime career as a law enforcement officer. He'd wanted to be a police officer as long as he could remember and through the years had never questioned this path. In the wake of his wife's death and his children pressing out to discover life on their own he sunk into his career, becoming almost obsessed with every case he took on.
♦ THE PLAYER ♦
USERNAME: Puppy AGE GROUP: Get off my lawn. EXPERIENCE: Seriously. Lawn. Get off it. WHERE DID YOU FIND US? Divine intervention
