Post by aaronnowell on Jul 15, 2016 6:08:19 GMT
A War for the Heart of Our System has Begun
Character: Russia
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Occupation:
Home Planet: Earth (currently living on Venus)
Sexuality: Bisexual
Relationship Status: Single and looking for an ideally American boyfriend
Appearance
A large, big-boned man. His neck, arms, stomach, and upper torso--an expanse of milky white skin that used to be completely unblemished in his youth--are now marked with dark burns and scars. Most of the burns have faded away, and once-open wounds are only light scarring now, but there's still some very visible marks (the most obvious being a dark burn across of the left side and back of his neck). Physically, he actually has quite a bit of muscle and little fat. His abdominal muscles are well developed from his intense physical training which he still keeps up; he's certainly not a hulk, but he's far from skinny and delicate. He's tall, 6 feet and an inch to boot. In his younger years, he was shorter than most of his classmates, but a growth spurt at the beginning of his secondary schooling left him towering above his peers.
Ivan considers himself good-looking and keeps up his appearance to the best of his abilities. He has platinum blonde hair and bright, violet-blue eyes that stand out against his pale skin. The first thing that you'll see if you meet him are those startling eyes.
Ivan prefers long sleeves and, in the event that he isn't wearing a scarf, tunnelnecks do just fine. It may be hot as hell on Venus most days, even with the higher-end technology keeping the worst of the inferno at bay, but Ivan prefers it that way. He's learnt to hate the cold, and even scalding heat of Venus is better than the freezing cold. But more than a matter of the weather, he can't show his arms or neck because of his scars. He's tried, before, to leave the house without covering them up, but in the end he just lingers by the doorway, unable to move past. So he uses love sleeves, scarfs, coats, and never short sleeves or open-necked shirts. He tends towards either darker shades or pastels.
Personality
Ivan is a pleasant man, if a bit shy upon first encounters. Initially he'll hold back, speaking carefully, but when you've gotten into a decently-paced conversation and have gotten to know him, he'll start to open up. He talks freely and simply enough for even a child to understand, making it easy to slide into a conversation with him. While sometimes his social cues may be off, and every once in a while he'll say something... uncomfortable, talking with this large yet slightly childish man can lull you into security. He's easy to talk to, honest, and it feels as if you can divulge personal information to him without risking judgement.
But don't be fooled. While not all of this display is false, it's not quite Ivan, either. The man has a knack for knowing what people want and delivering, one of the traits that makes him such a desirable partner or co-worker. He isn't a straight-up brown noser--he's got enough conscience for that, and looks down upon those who kiss up to others, using obvious flattery to get what they want. Ivan's what he considers politically correct... a diplomat when it's necessary, and just sophisticated when it's not. The rest of it is politeness. Not manipulation, no matter what others say. Lulling others into security and establishing bonds with them? It may benefit Ivan directly, but it's just a by-product of being civilised.
That's what he says as he impresses his way into promotions and top jobs in the Galilean Mining Company, intimidating and pushing potential competition out of the way when needed and getting himself on good terms with all the higher-ups.
Ivan is confident, maybe overly so. But with his ambition, intelligence and his good looks, Ivan knows that he can easily get what he wants with a little bit of hard work... or, in some cases, intimidation techniques. He'll use everything he has, from his height and large build to cold, quiet coercion hidden behind smiles and a thick accent, to wrest what he wants from you. Ivan hasn't exactly grown up with an easy life. He's overcome countless obstacles, enough to know that he has strength of character enough to make it past anything. He knows he has what it takes to make it, and failure was--is--never an option. There's no fear or hesitation when it comes to using force or even threats to make what he wants happen. But to back his threats, there's something else Ivan needs: authority and power. That's his single ambition right now... to rise through the ranks and achieve enough ranking so that he can move effectively towards his final goal.
He's one to stand for what he believes in (although sometimes, his beliefs seem to change to what best suits his mood or situation) regardless of the opposition. He has no problem defending his views in politics or morality. But Ivan's smart when it comes to dealing with higher ups or authorities. He plays coy, agreeing yet subtly sliding his opinions in. He fights silently, in a manner that you'll never know whether he truly agrees with you or is simply playing you for what he needs.
Ivan isn't simply a manipulator, of course. He's innately a good person, with morals and conscience. He's a lover of literature, of nature, and a man who secretly desires company and friendship. But with his history and recent disillusionments, this side of him is often overridden by his desire to make it somewhere in life.
Likes
~He’s actually very good with technology. His specialty is engineering, but he can can tinker with all sorts of gadgets or machines, to a certain degree, to modify them. He fixed and modified his own rather outdated computer, which he uses for the occasional communication and mostly for music--and the occasional old outdated games.
~Dancing. He watches it on the television every so often--he used to dance in the past (explain in quirks and history), and although he doesn't have the chance, he'll watch the ballerinas and competitors on TV, or in music videos online, and make basic sketches of the moves and poses with descriptions next to his drawings, so that perhaps when he gets the chance someday, he can use those moves as well.
~Learning and creating. Little more fascinates Ivan than a good challenge. He's learnt and mastered many Slavic languages in his lifetime (Czech--though it's rusty--very basic Polish, elementary French, Estonian, some small bits of vocabulary from other foreigners he's worked with). Ivan hasn't followed through to fluency with most of his languages and can mostly speak at the level of younger children, though his French accent is excellent. He hasn't spoken most of these languages in years and will probably have to study for a while before he's ready to speak any of them again, with the exception of languages closer to Russian. Not that he'll require them anyways--English seems to be the universal language, an effect that's spreading. But Ivan will still read language books, encyclopedias, scientific journals, and other similar materials. He has some small notebooks and scraps of paper around the apartment and at his desk in the library on which he'll occasionally sketch out ideas for "inventions", or simply do maths and write down physics laws on.
Dislikes
~People who expect him to do something for free, without any hard labour of their own. He absolutely hates those who are self-entitled. While Ivan likes to keep the peace and please others, he won’t go out of his way to earn brownie points from those he knows would turn their backs on him the moment they get what they want.
~Bodily contact, at least from those who aren’t close to him. And there are very few that have earnt the right to give him more than a pat on the back or shoulder, or a handshake. For Ivan, bodily contact breeds familiarity, then friendship and attachment. And that’s a lot more than he wants to deal with at this point in life.
~Being left out of the picture or denied importance. Even though Ivan prefers to lurk in the background and stay away from people, when he decides to become a part of something, that means he’s deemed it worth his time. He's going to put his all into it, though his passive and quiet personality may not make it seem like it. For that, Ivan wants respect, acknowledgement, a role to play, and people who actually enjoy his presence. He won’t stand for doing something that wastes his time. Despite his lack of self-esteem, he knows perfectly well what he’s capable of intellectually and physically--he’s worth something, and if you don’t see that, then he won’t care very much for you.
Backstory
How did your character find themselves where they are now? What circumstances took them from a wide-eyed child to the space cowboy/girl they are now? Give us at least 3 paragraphs on how your character came to be.
[my computer deleted all my history so just... i will take like one more evening to finish this jfc I'm so sorry]
RP Sample
The morning was quiet. Ivan woke up to harsh breath of cold on his nose and cheeks, and to the scent of laundry badly in need of drying. Terrible--he had to get it outside and spread out on the porch railings as soon as possible before it started stinking up the place. There was a meeting today, too... mutant issues to deal with, once again, things that ought to have been resolved days ago, but had been delayed because none of them could work together at these meetings. But that was in the afternoon, none for a good eight hours, at least.
The cold had settled deep into his bones, and Ivan felt them straining as he sat up and shifting his legs off the bed. His body, between the window and the rest of his room, cast a large, black shadow across the flooring, grey in the morning fog.
Almost thirty, and already his bones were creaking. He was truly growing old.
Ivan set himself to work, cutting large rolls of kolbasa and bread into thick slices for breakfast. His knuckles ached, and his arms grew quickly sore, but he forced himself to cut a slice of each. Not eating, he reminded himself, was not an option. Even if the thought of chewing and swallowing seemed far too much effort for a little bit of energy. He cut another slice of sausage and bread. Then another, then more, because the rhythm was settling into his muscles and he couldn’t stop. Aslice, the blunt knife chopping roughly through thick sausage, then a sharp thunk against his wooden cutting board. A sliiice for bread, which was harder to budge his knife through, and then thunk again. Slice. Thunk. Sliiice. Thunk.
Sliice. Thunk. Slice. Thunk. Sliiice. Thunk.
Ivan had worked through more than half the kolbasa before he forced himself to set the knife down, fingers heated and finally loosened from the work. He took the bread, swiping the thick butter across the coarse surface, and placed the knife and board into the sink for washing in the afternoon, when it wasn’t so cold that his fingers would freeze in the water. He laid a couple slices of the kolbasa onto his bread and, finished, paused for a moment and stared down his breakfast. He wasn’t hungry at all, but forced himself to bite down on the butterbrod. Energy for cleaning, cooking food that he wouldn't eat anyway, and for walking down to the library where he could perhaps find a decent group of children and their parents who wanted to gather around for a story. Energy to smile. He couldn't show up before them all with ugly shadows under his eyes, hair unkempt, face pulled down into a frown.
He set the messages from his voicemail on speaker and stepped into his shower to the scratchy audio of “Mr. Ivan Braginsky: your credit card and assets have been frozen. You will need to pay your bills before we return your access to your accounts, or you will be further fined. Please press 3 for the billing department…”
Another day to survive. God, could he make it?
… Ivan Mykyta Braginsky, of course you can. You will make it through.
Misc.
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