Charles Lazarus

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This article is about Charles Lazarus. For other characters, return to the full character list.

This article takes inspiration from numerous crime dramas and aims to feature popular tropes, therefore some elements may not be accurate to reality.

Charles (Charlie) James Lazarus (born 4th March) was once one of Scotland Yard's most promising young detectives. He had it all: charm, talent, an unparalleled conviction rate. Sure, his wife had divorced him a few years ago, having grown fed up with his constant long nights at work, but he maintained a good relationship with her and, more importantly, his daughter. He even had a new relationship (a secret one with his superior officer, DCI Julia Lawson). Charlie was going places - or, at least, he was until the incident.

While attempting to apprehend a suspect, he and DCI Lawson were ambushed. Somewhere along the line, some intelligence had been left out and nobody had been informed that the suspect was potentially armed. Charlie doesn't remember much of the events that occurred, but the doctors later inform him that he had been shot in the head. He had survived. Julia, however, hadn't been so lucky - the bullet travelling through her before it reached him.

The road to recovery was not quick, nor was it easy. A bullet to the brain is a serious matter and, unsurprisingly, Charlie hadn't managed to escape without lingering effects. Eventually, though, he got to the point where he could work again. Scotland Yard was hesitant about letting him back in - they could see the effects of the incident on him, everybody could - but they did relent in the end. Charlie returned to the office but, in order to keep him out of the way (and, more importantly, out of trouble), he was only to be given cold cases to investigate.

Charlie is 35 years old and has neat blond hair, light blue eyes, and a charming smile. He speaks with a Yorkshire accent. At work, he dresses professionally in a plain black suit or something similar. Outside of work, he wears more casual clothing, though it is uncommon for him to dress in a way that could be considered scruffy. Usually, he is clean shaven - if he has stubble, it is a sign that he has been putting in a lot of overtime at the office.

The feature that stands out the most about Charlie is the scar on his forehead. This is on the left side of his head and is clearly visible.

Charlie has a small, close family. Both of his parents are still alive, and he maintains a close relationship with his sister. However, he doesn't see any of them as much as he would like to anymore. This is because they all live in Yorkshire, while he lives in London. Charlie makes an effort to at the very least visit for holidays (notably Christmas and Easter) and for birthdays, though his work has been known to get in the way of this in the past.

While he is divorced, Charlie maintains a good relationship with his ex-wife. She has moved on and remarried, but they remain friendly. They have a daughter together and Charlie adores her. She's the best thing in his life and he wants to do the best he can for her.

All of Charlie's family have been concerned about him since his injury. They can see the changes it has caused, and they worry for him.

Richard and Lucy Lazarus
Charlie's parents. His father, Richard, is a vet and his mother, Lucy, runs the local Post Office. Though they are both starting to get on a little in age, neither have retired as they both like to keep busy - a trait that Charlie has inherited from them. They are very loving parents that have always tried to give their children everything they could ever need in life.

Daisy Lazarus
Charlie's sister. She is older than him by three years. Daisy is a teacher, teaching primary school children. She and Charlie have a typical sibling relationship - which is to say, they love each other, but they still tease each other mercilessly.

Amy Hawking
Charlie's ex-wife. She is a criminal defence lawyer, and they met in court when he was a young PC. He was giving evidence for a case and he saw her from across the room. She seemed formidable. It was love at first sight. He was 21 years old at the time, she was 24.

They married a few years later, when Charlie was 24 years old. When he was 28, he wanted to move into a DI role with the Metropolitan Police and Amy knew that she could get a better job in the city, so they moved to London. Ultimately, it was Charlie's dedication to his work that led to his divorce. Too many early mornings and too many late nights was already causing tension in their relationship and, especially after his daughter was born, Amy simply found that she had had enough. She asked for a divorce a few months after Tilly's first birthday, after Charlie missed her birthday party.

Charlie still loved Amy - he always would - but, despite his best efforts, the marriage couldn't be saved. Though he was upset about it, the divorce was amicable. A few years later, Amy remarried Elliot Hawking, a lawyer from her work. He and Charlie do not particularly get on, but they make an effort to be nice for Tilly's sake.

Naturally, Amy was very concerned about Charlie after his injury. She did her best to help him while he was in the hospital, bringing him items from home and, once he was not in a state that would scare his daughter, bringing Tilly to visit him regularly. She has noticed the changes to Charlie's personality that have occurred since the injury and, though she knows that they are a common side effect for the type of brain damage he suffered, it has caused her concern - especially because he seems more impulsive now. Because of this, for a while she refused to allow him to spend time alone with Tilly without supervision, worried that he may accidentally endanger her with an impulsive decision. Since he has returned to work, she now allows him to have his daughter for weekends again - reasoning that if the police trust him, then so should she - but she always makes sure to check in with Tilly about what they did when she gets home.

Matilda "Tilly" Lazarus
Charlie's daughter. Tilly is six years old. She likes typical little girl things - princesses, ponies, and so on. She loves her dad very much, and she was very worried when he was injured. However, since his injury, he's been spending a lot more time with her, so she is not worried about him anymore. After all, how could anything be wrong when he seems so happy whenever she's with him?

Tilly is a bright, curious child. She asks lots of questions and is very eager to talk about new things that she has recently learnt. Sometimes Charlie takes her to crime scenes with him when he is due to have her for the weekend but an important case comes up (she has to remain in the car or with another police officer) and she loves this, though she knows that she must under no circumstances tell her mum about the trips. When she grows up, she wants to be just like her dad.

Julia Lawson
DCI Julia Lawson, now deceased, was Charlie's superior officer and secret lover. Julia was ten years older than him and had a no-nonsense personality. She was immensely competent and Charlie had always been very impressed by her work. They had been working together for four years when she suggested that the two of them have dinner outside of work. What began as a casual relationship quickly grew into something more serious, making it Charlie's first proper relationship since his divorce. However, they did not want to be open about it at work as they were aware that what they were doing was not particularly professional. Both of them were worried about how it would reflect upon their reputations.

On the day of Charlie's injury, he and Julia were going to arrest a suspect together. They were ambushed, the suspect firing at them with an illegally obtained handgun. A bullet travelled through Julia's head, killing her instantly, before embedding itself into Charlie's brain. He only survived because it went through her first, decreasing its velocity before it reached him. Her death devastated him when he found out what had happened to her, and Charlie feels guilty about the fact that his survival depended on her death.

Charlie decided in his teens that he wanted to be a detective, having been inspired by mystery novels that he used to read. After university, he immediately joined the police force. Charlie then spent two years as a PC on a fast track program, after which he passed his exams to become a DC.

He was a DC in Yorkshire for two years before becoming a DS. A couple of years later, he passed his DI exams. However, there were only a limited number of DI roles in his local area and all of them were occupied, meaning that he needed to wait a while longer for his promotion. Luckily, by this point he had developed a reputation as an up-and-coming talent. Charlie was progressing quickly through the ranks and, when a job came up in London, it was offered to him.

Though he was young for his role, Charlie was good at what he did and showed himself to be extremely dedicated. He had always worked a lot of overtime, but with the new responsibilities of being a DI he found himself doing so even more. However, this was not good for his personal life. His lack of time at home sparked the breakdown of his marriage - the issues only growing worse after the birth of his daughter. While Charlie made an effort to be at home at first, he eventually fell back into his habit of working too hard. Missing his daughter's first birthday party was the breaking point of the marriage, and his wife soon asked him for a divorce.

Without a wife to go home to, Charlie worked even harder. This had the benefit of pushing him further up the ladder, though it came at the cost of him missing many weekends that he was supposed to spend with his daughter. Four years after his divorce, Charlie was tipped off that he was going to be offered a promotion to DCI. A role had come up in another team within CID and his bosses wanted him to take it. First, though, he had to wait for the current occupant to move into their own new role.

While working on a case, Charlie and his superior officer, DCI Lawson (who he was secretly dating) got a lead that needed to be acted on urgently. The situation was potentially volatile - the suspect involved had been arrested due to violence before - but the intelligence available to their team suggested that they had no need for concern. Back up was to be sent with them just in case, but nobody thought that it would be necessary.

Unfortunately, the information was incorrect. The suspect was armed and hostile. Though he was clearly in the house, he refused to answer the door. Charlie had a warrant, though, and the door was broken down so that he and Julia could gain entry.

The suspect was waiting with a gun in one of the bedrooms. Julia entered first, Charlie right behind her. In a way, what happened was just really bad luck, as the suspect later admitted that he had never shot a gun before and didn't really know how to aim. The bullet went straight through Julia and into Charlie's forehead. She died instantly, and he only survived due to a combination of the bullet's reduced velocity and their backup's quick response.

While Charlie did ultimately live, he also technically died for a few minutes. The paramedics successfully brought him back but, for a moment, it looked as though he was gone too.

Recovery was a long process. First, Charlie was in a hospital for a month and a half. His stay included surgery and a week in a coma. When he initially woke up, he also struggled with his memory, though that cleared up after a few days.

While Charlie was immediately told what had happened to him upon waking up (multiple times, due to the temporary memory issues), he wasn't informed of Julia's death until the doctors were certain that he could both understand and cope with the news. By this point, Charlie had worked out that something was wrong. The secrecy made it obvious, but he had thought that she was severely injured, potentially in critical condition. He took the news of her death really badly, blaming himself. It took months for him to come to terms with it, and even now he still feels guilty.

Once the hospital released Charlie, he still needed help to look after himself. Amy, his ex-wife, offered, but he did not want to take her up on that offer - partly because he didn't want his daughter to see him on that bad days that he was certain would come, and partly because it would feel wrong to be mourning another woman while Amy took care of him. Instead, Charlie moved back into his parents' house in Yorkshire. They, along with his sister, took care of him for the next eight months as he slowly recovered.

Eventually, nearly ten months after the injury, Charlie could live alone again and he moved back to London. He then proceeded to spend the next few months begging for his job back - Scotland Yard understandably being very hesitant to allow him to return. Just over a year after the shooting happened, they agreed to allow him back if Charlie could pass the relevant medical exams and get a doctor's approval - something that he miraculously managed to do. Whether or not it was sheer luck that allowed him to pass the medical exams is up for debate, but he's always been a lucky kind of guy - the sheer fact that he is still alive proves that!

When he returned to work, Charlie found himself moved from his prior CID team and onto an independent assignment, those above him having decided that it would be best to keep him away from the main action for a while longer. Instead of working on active homicide cases and other serious crimes, Charlie now works exclusively on cold cases. Though he resents this, he is also grateful that he still has his job at all.

With any severe traumatic brain injury, there is a risk of all kinds of lasting effects. In the grand scheme of things, Charlie has been incredibly lucky with the effects that he experiences. However, that is not to say that he does not experience anything debilitating. The injury has permanently changed Charlie's life in many ways.

Even though he is back at work, Charlie is still recovering. A full recovery is expected to take years, if it ever happens at all. Charlie does not experience any physical symptoms, which means he can hide the damage better. However, anybody that knew him before the injury would be aware of it, as it changed his personality and the way he acts in a multitude of ways.

Of course, Charlie has been offered various kinds of therapy to help cope with the issues that the injury has caused but, as is typical of so many in his field, he refuses to engage with it properly. Instead, he insists that he can manage on his own - and, to some extent, he can. While he certainly isn't getting any better, he's slowly finding ways to work around his problems. For example, he writes down everything that he may need to remember later - not just at work, but in his personal life too.

Due to the damage to his brain, Charlie experiences the following effects:

• Change of personality
• Difficulty controlling emotions/mood swings
• Apathy regarding self-preservation
• Anosognosia
• Lack of inhibition
• Impulsive or risky behaviour
• Impaired judgment
• Low attention span/easily distracted
• Short-term memory issues
• Poor planning/organisation
• Inflexibility
• Headaches
• Lowered Alcohol Tolerance

Change of Personality:
Before the injury, Charlie was a serious, no-nonsense kind of guy. He was extremely professional, punctual, and perfectly polite. While elements of this person still remain, he has undoubtedly changed. Now, Charlie is more likely to cut corners and take risks. He speaks his mind more, is prone to irritation and mood swings, and is no longer as organised as he was before.

However, not all of the changes were completely bad. He also smiles and laughs more, and he's less likely to skip time with his family (though this as as a result of realising what he almost lost, not due to damage to his brain).

Difficulty Controlling Emotions/Mood Swings:
Charlie has become easily irritated. Common causes of this are too many distractions nearby, noisy or busy environments, feeling under pressure to behave and make decisions like he used to, and the frustration caused by an inability to complete tasks in the way he could before.

Sometimes, this can cause him to lash out in anger. Other times, it can cause a bad mood. The severity of the reaction varies depending on many factors, including how tired and/or hungry he is, how nervous he is, if he is dealing with a new situation, and so on.

Charlie does try not to lash out at anybody, but sometimes he feels as though he cannot control it. Once he cools down again, he always usually guilty about his own behaviour - that is, assume he's aware of it.

Apathy Regarding Self-Preservation:
While he has always put the safety of others above himself (after all, Charlie became a policeman for a reason), this has been turned up to dangerous levels since the incident. It is partly due to the issues of depression and feelings of guilt that can arise from a situation such as the one Charlie was in, but it is also a result of the brain injury itself. He no longer thinks of his own safety, leaping into dangerous situations without a second thought if it's to protect anybody else (whether he knows the individual or not).

Anosognosia:
Charlie's apathy regarding his own safety is not helped by his anosognosia - lack of awareness or, in Charlie's case, denial of his injury and the effects of it. While Charlie is aware of them, he downplays his limitations. Anosognosia isn't simple stubborness; the damage to his brain means that he is incapable of percieving the problem properly. This can result in Charlie dismissing concerns about his injury, getting frustrated when people treat him as though he's impaired, and rejecting help that he believes he doesn't need.

Mind you, this isn't all anosognosia. Sometimes Charlie really is just being stubborn, and it can be hard to tell the difference between the two.

Lack of Inhibition:
The result of a cognitive-communication problem, Charlie has a diminished ability to realise appropriate social behaviour. Ways in which this can manifest are outspoken behaviour, tactless responses, and being overly friendly with strangers.

Impulsive or Risky Behaviour:
Before the injury, Charlie was a very careful man that thought his actions through before carrying them out. Now, he often acts without thought. This can lead to an unfortunate "act now, gain permission later" attitude at work. It can also lead to him agreeing to things that he cannot reasonably do, buying items that he does not need, and, getting into fights, and so on.

Impaired Judgment:
The injury has made it so Charlie sometimes struggles to assess whether or not certain actions are a good idea. This is not just an effect of his lack of inhibition and impulsivity. It also comes into play when making decisions such as what to wear, whether a relationship is a good idea, whether he should eat a meal, and so on.

Low Attention Span/Easily Distracted:
Charlie struggles to pay attention to more than one task at the same time. This is another reason why he writes everything down in his notebook at work - so he can pay attention to what is being said and ask questions, and then assess the information given later. It means he is not splitting his focus, preventing him from getting distracted.

He also struggles to maintain concentration for a long period of time unless he is incredibly interested in a topic or otherwise motivated to pay attention. Because he loves his work so much, this is less of an issue when it comes to working on a case. However, paying attention while in conversation with his superiors has become a bit of an issue.

Charlie's attention span becomes even worse when he is tired, stressed, and/or worried.

Short-Term Memory Issues:
While his issues with memory are only minor, he occasionally struggles with short-term memory loss. This is most obvious when it comes to forgetting a change in routine and forgetting where he has placed things. He can also forget things that have just been said to him, repeat questions, and get details mixed up. Obviously this is not ideal for a detective, so Charlie has developed techniques to help reduce these effects - notably, he has got into the habit of writing down everything that may be important into his notebook at work.

Poor Planning/Organisation:
In the past, Charlie was very organised and on top of everything. Now, he leaves everything to the last minute, acting on impulse instead of planning everything out - assuming he remembers to do things at all. This is less of an issue at work, where structure and habit mean that he gets by reasonably well, but at home this can result in a disorganised house, an empty kitchen, last minute plans, and so on.

Inflexibility:
Charlie can become fixated on a specific thought or action. He finds it difficult to snap out of this fixation or develop new habits, resulting in irritation and/or anger in response if pushed. In his personal life, this can result in him needing to watch a certain TV show or eat a certain meal for dinner. At work, it can mean he fixates on a theory about a case, stopping at nothing to prove it correct.

This is caused by a cognitive problem known as perseveration. It means that his brain finds it hard to stop one activity and switch to another. Unlike a behaviour problem, it means that he cannot just stop it - something that makes Charlie immensely frustrated when he notices what he is doing. It is not a problem that is constant - he may be perfectly fine with an action one day, and have issues with it the next.

Other ways in which perseveration displays itself in Charlie is through repeating actions for longer than necessary - such as shaking hands for a moment too long, switching TV channels repeatedly, or not being able to stop putting salt on his food.

Headaches:
Charlie suffers from frequent headaches - most mild, but some more serious. This are usually caused by stress, bright lights, or by him pushing himself too hard.

Lowered Alcohol Tolerance:
As a result of his injury, Charlie is now much more sensitive to the effects of alcohol - especially its impact on cognition and mood. He gets drunk a lot faster than he used to, and it makes all of the other effects of his injury worse too. In turn, this increases the risk of him getting into some kind of accident after drinking.

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At work, Charlie used to have a reputation for being professional, dependable, and destined for the top jobs. Now, his former colleagues avoid him. It isn't that they dislike him, but rather that he's different now and they don't know how to tackle it. In addition to that, they know that he's been unofficially demoted by being forced to work on cold cases. It's awkward, and they'd rather avoid having to face that.

Outside of his work, his name and face are all over the internet thanks to news reports on the shooting, DCI Lawson's death, and his recovery. While most people are unlikely to remember him without prompt, the story is easily accessible via Google. Charlie knows this. The lack of privacy irritates him a little, but he supposes that at least he won't have to explain why he's got a clear scar on his forehead.

Charlie doesn't have much of a personal life outside of his work. He doesn't really have any hobbies. When he gets home in the evenings, he usually just watches a bit of TV while eating his dinner and then goes to bed.

He used to go to church every week, but that has stopped since his injury. Technically dying and coming back to life can either bring you closer to God or push you away from him and, in Charlie's case, the latter was very much what happened.

The one thing he does have is his daughter. Charlie calls her every night he can to ask her about her day, and she stays with him every other weekend (when he isn't so busy with work that he has to rearrange the visit). These are both things that have only happened since his injury. Nearly dying showed him what he had to lose and, as he lay in hospital, he swore to himself that he would make more of an effort to be there for Tilly. Of course, she is thrilled by this - especially when Charlie finds himself having to work at the last minute and takes her along to crime scenes and the office (something that she is not allowed to tell her mum about).

This article describes common pre-established verses. Other verses are available but must be discussed prior to any threads. Individual interactions occur in their own separate universes unless otherwise discussed. Please send an IM if interested in plotting any interactions.

Charlie follows the majority of information described on this page.

Set before Charlie is shot, he is a detective who works too hard and sees his family too little.

When Scotland Yard refuses to allow Charlie to return to work, he finds work in private security instead.

A victor from District 10, the climax of Charlie's Games was spectacular. He and his fellow final tribute both dealt each other killing blows. The audience watched in anticipation as the two of them bled out, waiting on the edge of their seats to see who would die first. Charlie managed to hang on a few seconds longer than the other child. They died but, a few seconds later, so did he. Thanks to the Capitol's medical equipment and the fast response of the Gamemakers, he was swiftly brought back, though the injury to his head still caused him lasting brain damage.

Older now, Charlie has trained as a Peacekeeper. Popular within the Capitol for his good looks and his reputation as a man that has actually experienced death, wealthy citizens pay unreasonably large sums of money to have him provide them with security (and any other services that they may desire).

The son of Zeus, Charlie used to have a reputation as a no-nonsense leader who was very keen on the concept of law and order. However, after sustaining a head injury on a quest, he came back changed. Charlie insists that he's fine and that it's nothing to worry about, but everyone can see that's not the case.

Known for being one of the sterner Slytherin prefects at school, it wasn't a surprise when Charlie went on to become an Auror. For a while, he was on track to become Head Auror, but being hit by a particularly nasty curse stopped that. Though Charlie has recovered enough to return to work, things are not the same and he is being forced to consider the option of moving to a permanently desk-based job.

Charlie had only just passed his Detective Inspector exams when he was approached by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and an unknown, well-dressed man. There was, he was told, a position open for him to apply for outside of the police force. Though he was unsure at first, he decided to accept the offer, ultimately earning himself the role of Pellinore. This came at a price, though - namely, his wife divorcing him, no longer able to tolerate the long hours and classified trips that Charlie returned from with all sorts of injuries. Eventually, Charlie ended up acquiring his worst injury yet - a bullet to the head. Thanks to Kingsman's technology, he survived, but he wasn't quite the same man that he was before.