An Excuse (Austria)

[Erik Olsen]

The streets were brimmed with people walking. They seemed to walk on and on, just living life until they died. Once they did succumb to this dreadful thing they called death, life meant nothing more than to lay in a grave or a hole or to be sent to the bottom of the ocean.

Well, that was, unless your death had something important to it. Lukas knew this all too well. As a criminalist, the people who he worked with had some importance to their death, and they could say nothing about it. Why? Well, they were dead. Dead people can’t talk. (Though the man often teased people about how the bodies did speak to them, and he could hear them talk about revenge and often talked to these “dwelling spirits.”)

Lukas breathed in the fresh, cool air of the day. It was like the sweet aroma of nectar to a bee or a butterfly; once that couldn’t be replaced or missed and had to be attracted to. The birds chirped their little tunes of the day, and the leaves rustled lightly in the gently breeze that was running through the atmosphere right now. Altogether, the noises of that hour made a soft and natural melody that only nature could produce and that could soothe any hardened soul or any kind of unpleasant mood. He hadn’t been outside of his little work in awhile, so it was nice to get out. He walked on, thinking about what it would be like to be dead instead of being alive. He paused at a small bench, sitting on it and staring up at a small sign.

… Wait a minute, what was he doing here again?

‘Oh yeah, I’m here to pick up a deceased’s files,’ he thought to himself, getting up and walking to one of the train stations. Yes, Lukas had decided to bring himself up to the place to pick up the files. Well, it was better than staying in his workplace for the whole day. He also took it up because when he went out, he could stay out for as long as he wanted as long as it was “important.” The man would not try to return to that place as long as he had a good enough excuse for being out such a long time. He had to admit, staying in that room got boring and soon enough minutes started to feel like hours. Any excuse to get outside of there was a good enough excuse for him. He reached into his coat pocket, taking out a small paper and opening it. He neatly folded the paper back up, placing back in his pocket and leaving it there. He would need to catch the earliest ride their, which would be… about in two minutes. Well, that was enough time to get inside the train. He hoped very dearly that this wouldn’t be as quick as he was expecting it to be, as almost all outside business he does only takes a matter of minutes to an hour depending on the situation.

He boarded the train, taking a seat and looking towards the view. A smile tugged at his lips as he rested back in his comfy seat and sighed contently. What a view. He had to admit, it was definitely one to enjoy. Yeah, he sure did hope that it would last a long time. He took out a sheet of musical notes and started writing some down, humming the different keys as he wrote them down. He grinned slightly at the result, nodding as if to say to himself that it sounded good. He put away his sheet of music to work on it later, and he toyed with the small stuffed bunny in his bag, smiling and chuckling softly while making sure that no one was looking at him.

Awhile later, the train stopped, and Lukas waited for all of the people to exit before he himself exited the train. He looked around, huffing and pushing up his glasses on the bridge of his nose. These glasses were only used for style, not exactly for reading and seeing. He chose to wear them today, but he quickly took them off as he walked to and arrived at the estate.

He paused for a moment to take in the sight. It was definitely huge, he had to admit. It was also very nice and well decorated. The place was well kept, it seemed. He took in a breath of fresh air and the different smells coming from the different buildings and the garden. He smiled slightly. He would enjoy this stay, and oh, how he wished he lived in the wonderful and beauteous place that seemed like a haven to the other man. He carefully placed his glasses in a case and placed it in his bag.

He sighed softly, going towards the door of the clinic and opening it with a simple motion. He let it carefully swing open, it creaking slightly at the hinges of the door. He carefully closed it, and with a “click” sound, he walked away from the door, walking up to the front desk and looking at the person with his icy blue eyes.

“I’m here to pick up a patient’s files. Where would I find Mr. Edelstein?” Lukas asked, placing his arms on the counter and watching the other. This person pressed a few buttons on a buzzer and called for the man, but it seemed as if he was busy… then he heard it.

“I’ll send Roderich down to give him the files, tell the man to wait.” Soon enough, the buzzer was clicked off. The being at the desk looked at him, and Lukas gave a small nod as if he understood.

“Thank you for waiting,” was the small response he got from the nod. Lukas sat down in one of the chairs, looking outside of the clinic and still admiring the view from the outside world. It wasn’t that often that he got to see such a view like this. He sighed somewhat lowly and contently, a small, gentle, and warm smile appearing on his usually stoic face.

[Roderich Edelstein]

[[Sorry for making you wait. I'm kind of slow replying :( Hope it's okay, I decided to move us out of the clinic. You wanted to see the place, right? :D ]]

Roderich heard his father's voice over the speaker as he walked back from the records room. "Rob, would you page Roderich? He's not upstairs. Here flip to handset and I'll give you the information I need him to get."

Roderich walked over behind the young intern and quietly waited listening to the one-sided conversation. He rolled his eyes. Of course I'm not upstairs, Dad. Did you already forget that you asked me to help out with the filing while Rose was out of the office? Rob had an excellent medical knowledge base plus he had helped run the counter of his parents business, but the kid couldn't alphabetize to save his life.

The young man nodded involuntarily as he replied, "Mm, hm. Yes sir." As soon as he had clicked the speaker line off Roderich quickly asked, "I'm right here Rob, what does he need me to do?"

The young man nearly jumped out of his chair. He turned around and hissed, "Darn it Roderich, I hate when you do that! You scared a year off my life!"

"I apologize, now what does he need?"

"Oh, um yeah. He needs you to get this patient's file." He handed Roderich a slip of paper with a hand-written name. "And then give it to the young man sitting over there." He looked down stumbling over the pronounciation as he tried to read the name there. "Um, a Luke-is Bond-e-veek, Criminologist."

Roderich looked over in the direction Rob had gestured in the lobby where a pale petite man with platinum blond hair wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and a pair of slacks in a slightly darker shade of blue was sitting and waiting.

Roderich finally looked at the file name written on the slip of paper in his hand, but it didn't look familiar, so he asked, "Is it a current or past patient?"

Rob scrunched up his nose thinking. "Past maybe? He said the young man needs it to investigate the patient's death."

Roderich sighed, "OK, I'll check both places for it." He hurried off to search for the file.


After checking both places he grabbed the phone in the back room and called up to Rob.

"Hello?"

"Rob, can you patch me through to where Dr. Edelstein's at? I can't find that file."

"Yeah, just a moment."

There was a buzzing pause and his father's voice came on. "Roderich, did Rob give you the message?"

"Yeah, but I can't find the file in the current or past."

"Hm, Oh wait, I think I took it up with a bunch of others to the study to work on yesterday evening."

"Ah, OK. I'll get it from up there."

"Thanks, if Mr. Bondevik wants to review it here, take him over to the consultation room. Make him any copies that he may need."

Roderich heard someone in the background interrupt. He waited a moment as his father came back on. "Hm, guess Amy's got it tied up right now with a conference call to a patient's specialist. Maybe you can...no, wait..."

Roderich interrupted and said, "Eh, don't worry about it, I'll take him up to the study with me. He can review it in the Library."

"Good idea, thanks son." And with that they hung up.

Roderich walked out to the waiting room and over to the young man that the intern had pointed out earlier. He was a little nervous that the man would be irritated from waiting so long. But on the contrary he seemed quite content and relaxed staring out the big picture window across from his chair.

"Mr. Bondevik," he hoped he pronounced that right. "Hi, I'm Roderich, Roderich Edelstein." He shook the other man's hand as he stood up.

"I apologize, but Dr. Markus Edelstein is busy at the moment. He said he'd be happy to answer any questions you have on the patient as soon as he gets a moment between appointments. Let me take you where you can review the file away from the noise."

He gestured to the bustling energy of the clinic. "If you'll follow me now."

And with that he turned and walked down the hallway to the back of the clinic, passing by the exam rooms. Upon reaching the back wall, he turned to the right. A couple steps in, he pulled out a set of keys and opened one side of a double doors in the alcove-like space. He gestured for the criminologist to enter first and followed behind as they entered the wide sunlit hall adjoining clinic and house.

Roderich had to admit this was one of his favorite places in the house despite it's utilitarian nature. The hall had a large bank of windows all along the right hand-side to provide natural light. There was another set of double-doors on the right-hand wall to the outside right before the bank of windows started. In each window a plant or mobile of sea glass or bit of stained glass either hung or set on the deep windowsills. The walls were wood-paneled but instead of a dark stain they were white-washed with a light steel-blue tint dry brushed in to highlight the natural grain and imperfections. The floor was made up of flat pieces of slate of various colors and sizes fitted together. Several rugs were laid out on the floor. A half table made of polished drift-wood was set near the entry. The whole hall gave the impression of the sea. Even the paneling on the wall had been refurbished from old boats or homes and sanded down and re-cut to fit the walls.

It was a nice transition from the white and blue sterility of the clinic and the the dark colors of the interior home. And his mother was the one who had re-done the hall that had simply been utilitarian before. When asked why, she had responded, 'because it's used all the time by all of us. Shouldn't it be something nice to walk through?'

That statement was typical of his mother. She had believed in a practical sort of beauty. So she had spent a lot of time by the harbor getting to know the craftsmen that picked up the sea's refuse and changed it into something beautiful. What she found there among the harbor citizenry's hobbyist craftsmen and along the seashore herself had ended up here. So he loved it because it reminded him of her, just like Nana's beloved garden reminded him of his grandmother every time he walked among the beds or in the solarium.

When he noticed the other man pausing to look around, he couldn't help but let a prideful and happy expression slip over his face.

[Erik Olsen]

Lukas shifted slightly in his seat, making himself comfortable and closing his eyes while listening to the sounds of the room. He silently waited to be called upon, and when he heard his name, he opened his blue eyes, looking up at the man’s face and looking into his eyes. That always got people to at least fear him somewhat, but it was not like he wanted people to be afraid of him. He just thought it was fun to scare people. What surprised him most about the other was how young he looked compared to what he always saw with clients who were close to forty to fifty years of age.

Oh well, he decided to keep that for himself. “Hello, Roderich, and please, you may call me Lukas,” he murmured, shaking the other’s hand. “Calling me Mister makes me feel like an old man, and I’m not.” He chuckled slightly at that, sighing softly and shaking his head lightly.

“Ah, that explains a few things,” he said, then added. “I knew you were too young to be Dr. Markus.” He paused for a moment, following the other and looking around at all of the rooms. “So, you two must be related, of course. Do you plan on going into the medical field or do you have any… other interests?” he asked lightly. Yes, it wasn’t like him to talk like this, but sometimes, it helped to see if the doctor or anyone related to him or her was included in a particular case. He wasn’t too suspicious of the other.

When he entered the hall, Lukas was struck with the small joy like that of how a kid would be happy when they got rewarded with seeing something they wanted to see. He paused for a few moments to look around the room, taking in the sights inside of the room and just relaxing in his own little spot. His lips curled upwards very unnoticeably, trying to put his words of how much he liked the room and thought how beautiful it was so he wouldn’t have to speak to the other too much. “I like it,” he murmured, almost in a hushed yet content tone.

If only it would last forever. He huffed, looking to the side and placing his hands in his pockets. “So, where exactly are we headed for?” he asked softly, grabbing the small clip that held some of his hair back and toying with it quietly. He looked up at the other and gently rubbed the wooden cross. The small clip had some history behind it. The clip was said to be passed down from his family all the way from before the world turned into Solus, but he highly doubted it was true.

[Roderich Edelstein]

Roderich talked as they walked to the back of the clinic

"No, you definitely aren't old. And I could say the same about you. I hope you don't mind me saying, but you seem awfully young to be as advanced as you are in your field. You must be quite an intelligent individual to be so accomplished. In which case I'm glad to have had a chance to meet you Lukas."

As he grabbed his keys he answered Lukas' question. "Hm, yes, I'm his son."

He looked down focused on the lock as Lukas asked if was studying to be a doctor too. He couldn't help the soft involuntary snorting 'tchah' of a derisive laugh that escaped his mouth as shook his head in response. He didn't feel any need to add more as he had opened the door to the connecting hallway.

When the other man smiled and said he liked it, Roderich finally made up his mind that he liked the strange young man with eyes the color of an arctic sea. He had noticed how the unassuming youth's presence somehow made the people around him nervous. Perhaps it was his odd manner of staring right through a person like he was examining you from the inside out. Odder still was the fact that it never really bothered Roderich. He could say it was because stuff like that just didn't affect him, but truth be told, it simply was because he was taller. Hard to stare a person down when you've got to look up to do it. Plus he had had too many professors that had used that technique to be bothered by someone his own age using the same trick.

Until they had entered the hall, he had still been trying to decide whether or not he was going to end up disliking the young man. That look on Lukas' face finally decided him. Any Highlander that could take joy in the simple beauty of the space and truly appreciate his mother's handiwork was instantly aces with him.

He smiled bigger as he answered Lukas. "I'm glad you like it, my mother designed and decorated it. As to where we're going; I'm taking you up to our library and my father's office/study. Unfortunately, he left the file you need up there and the conference room in the clinic is in use, so I figured I'll take you up with me to retrieve the file and you can review it up there. I realize it's not very professional but it's quiet at least."

He noticed the young man nervously rubbing the worn wood and metal cross that was clipped into his fine white blond hair to hold back the longer strands of hair from his eyes. The young professional looked almost feminine then as the afternoon sun spilling through the windows cast a warm glow all around him picking out the white-gold highlights in his pale hair and ivory skin of his fine-boned hand. A smaller version of Roderich's hands; hands of a pianist, surgeon, or woman. As the light sparkled and bounced off Lukas' crystalline eyes and accented the tips of his long light-toned eyelashes; any person could almost forget the 'him' in that last statement upon viewing the youth standing there at that moment.

Roderich looked away embarrassed before the other man could catch him so rudely staring. Though he did file away the question he had about the engraved antique cross in the man's hair to be asked about later. It was an unusual ornament for anyone to wear. He wondered if there was some sort sentimentality attached to it.

He started walking down the hall, desperately trying to think of something to say to distract from the previous moment. "You, uh, asked earlier about me being a doctor too. I'm not. Though my family strongly desire it be otherwise, since I'm my father's only child. Instead I chose to study music. When I was younger though, I humorously thought I would do both, but that quickly died when I spent more time in the clinic."

"The blood?" Lukas asked.

A reasonable response. It was something that usually turned most people off, but Roderich shook his head. "Nah, that never really bothered me, nor the sick or injured. I can do what needs to be done. I know first aid and can help out with the real basic stuff when they're short-staffed."

He continued, with a disgusted grimace, "It's the dissection. Cutting into people. Doesn't matter if they're living or dead. Though cadavers just creep me out more." He involuntarily cringed as a shiver of chilling disgust ran up his spine as he remembered the stories the medical residents loved to tell him of their gory experiences. They quite effectively had dissuaded him from any thoughts of pursuing medicine.

Realizing his change of subject only effectively detoured him from one path of thought he wished to avoid to another equally unappealing, he tried a third change of conversation as they headed up the grand staircase in the middle of the main room up to the second floor where the library was located.

"So what about you? Is Criminology a family business? Speaking of which, is that the formal title for a type of police detective or something similar? Father said you were looking into into some type of criminal case involving one of our patients."

<sub>[[ I kind of backed up to answer a few questions you posed. ]]

[[ The window scene is just a little fun I was having at Roderich's expense. Inspired from the first time I saw Himaruya's character drawing of Norway. My original thought was, "Oh, the Nordic brethren finally have a sister." So Norway must be a rather attractive young man. Guess it must be that viking blood line of his. ;) ]]</sub>

[Erik Olsen]

Lukas tilted his head up, moving bit of hair from his face. "Ah, yes, you could say I was a bit above average from the other kids... or just more willing to study. Most don't like to finish quickly, but I decided that I wanted to soar through school. So... here I am now. Though I must say, it is nice to meet a fine man like yourself, Roderich," he said, the last part being almost teasingly. He chuckled softly and shook his head. "Shall I entitle you by Sir Roderich, son of Markus?" he asked, chuckling again and having fun with himself.

He followed the other, still looking around the place and enjoying how well designed it was. He looked at all the details, seeing it through and through to one another and smiling lightly. He shook his head and kept his eyes on the man in front of him and leading him. It was his job to deal with the business and leave as quickly as possible, but with this scenery and the beauty of the place, he wasn't so sure about leaving so quickly.

"Ah, she has a nice taste in design," he murmured quietly, listening to the other and smiling as he heard the word 'library.' He had to admit, he was always attracted to books, and he loved libraries. They always held the best books, of both old and new. "Hm, that's fine. I don't mind reviewing it there. It'll definitely be quieter there, and there is more space in the library. It never had to be professional," he said, turning his face neutral and huffing softly.

His lips curled up very subtly, and he scraped his nail against the wood, chuckling softly and putting the small wooden cross back in his hair. He took a fresh breath in, breathing it out at feeling the warm of the sun's glow bathing on him. He looked back at Roderich, smirking slightly as he saw the other finish turning his head to look away. He straightened his back and ignoring the action.

"I see... Well, you should be whatever you'd like to be, as long as you love it and do well," Lukas said, huffing softly and twitching slightly at the word 'family.' It had been awhile since he had even talked or seen his family around, and he wondered how they were doing quite often. He snorted, scrunching his nose slightly and closing his eyes while shaking his head. 'No, no, no need to think like that. They don't care about me. They probably don't even notice I'm gone. They have a son and a happy family, so why should I care about them?' he told himself, regaining his neutral expression but still holding the frown on his face. He looked at the floor slightly. 'And what am I? I'm a part of and old and broken family. One that almost never seemed to exist, like faded memories," he thought, curling his hands into fists almost angrily and trying to calm himself down. Just the thought of his half-family being happy made him angry, and he knew that they were probably happy with their son. He must also probably be the best son they've ever had. Lukas ranted on and on about his family and how happy they were in his mind, finally just stopping and shaking his head.

The man looked up slightly, trying to smile but it only coming up slightly. "The blood?" he asked him, receiving the answer and nodding. It was good that the blood didn't discourage him, as it did to most people. He also knew first-aid, and that was good too. When Roderich finally spoke about the dead bodies, Lukas smiled creepily and chuckled. Oh, how he loved to tease those who were afraid of dead bodies and people.

"Hey, Roderich, maybe you could come with me for Halloween. We could dress up in the dead bodies I have at the work place," he teased, smiling. "You'd have to be careful; they like to bite sometimes. Sometimes, if you listen close enough, you can hear their faint voices speaking to you. They make good conversation," he said, chuckling softly. "I see dead people," he murmured to himself, chuckling one of those chuckles you'd hear from the bad guy of a horror movie.

He coughed slightly, huffing and shaking his head. That was enough teasing, unless he wanted to continue with it later. He followed him quietly, watching his step as he walked and humming a soft tune lightly. "No, criminology was never anything related to my family," he told the other. 'I made sure of that,' he thought, almost murmuring it. "Yes, it is a type of police detective. You catch on quickly!" he teased slightly, then added, "Mhm, I am. It's just a quick file check to see if there's anything interesting in the files and history; they can help in some cases," he spoke.

[[ Ah, that's all right. xD I noticed! That part seriously cracked me up, and the last part of your post cracked me up too. Oh wow, I seriously started laughing so hard. Yes, it must be the Viking blood; Norway would make a pretty good woman. *shawt* ]]