Post by Ivan Braginski on Jan 27, 2011 16:22:14 GMT -5
Name: Ivan Braginski/Иван Брагинский
Age: 24
Country: Russian Federation/Pусская федерация
Appearance: Ivan Braginski is a very pale young man standing at 200 centimeters or in height. He weighs 90 kilos or and is actually quite large, through not bulky in build. He has ashen-blond hair and violet eyes and rather prominent nose. He has a few scars around his neck, a childhood trauma. Unfortunately he didn’t go to the best middle school and the children there teased him with the moniker “schramik” (scarred) so he not only began covering it up with a scarf knit by his older sister. He feels very vulnerable when this scarf is taken from him. He tends to wear bulky clothes, a side-effect from having once lived in Saint-Petersburg, where it is very cold and having done some of his military duties in Siberia. Because he wears these clothes, he gives an impression that he may be bulky or over-weight, although this is definitely not the case as he likes being athletic. He wears a great tan coat over a black wool sweater and a tan cotton shirt. He likes wear a pair of jeans, not too baggy or skinny so he can work. He can wear his ushanka (a Russian fur hat similar to a trapper hat often) when it is cold. He has a pair of leather boots for everyday use.
Likes:
- Tea, or occasionally Vodka. Like most families in the most Russian of the former Soviet Union the Braginski family had a samovar and drank tea as often as they could. The latter, however, is a guilty pleasure: Ivan knows fully well he shouldn’t be drinking.
- Snow. The snow didn’t melt quickly in his homeland and left the whole street he lived on looking beautiful. He enjoyed waking up to that.
- Anything that requires thinking: Chess, or science. This was one of the few things he and his father shared, when his father was sober. He did very well with school in general since it was required, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
- His mother, grandmother and older sister, and maybe his little one too. On a good day. He is fond of his female family and often contacts the first three. Not so much the fourth.
- Ballet. His mother taught two things, ballet and figure-skating. He can do both very well, since it isn’t considered weird to dance or figure-skate and be male. He also particularly enjoys the music. As a child he’d follow his mother around the city to see ballets behind the scenes.
- Sports. Please don’t talk about how Russia didn’t even get into FIFA’ 10. Or the Canadian Olympics. Especially not hockey or Evan Lysachek. He will get pissed.
- Books. Poetry and plays, novels. Ivan enjoyed reading in school. He’s a fan of Dostoyevsky and Pushkin and Bulgakov. Also enjoys reading other European literature. Secretly loves romantic novels.
- Flowers. Especially sunflowers.
- 'Good' cinema. Ivan likes a good drama or a comedy. His favorite director would either be Fellini or Tarkovsky.
Dislikes:
- His father. He doesn’t talk to him and has told his father many times that he is a failure and a disappointment. His father was either too drunk to care or he had been told this many times.
- Ignorance, especially about cultures. He finds himself lost in America, since there isn't an established way of behaving. And then pissed off by someone who just calls him a 'commie'.
- Weapons.
- The extreme cold. He maybe Russian but he liked the sun shining.
- When someone doesn't do their fare share of work. Ivan may have been born in the Soviet-Disillusioned era of Perestroika, but he still came out with an idea of equality is right.
- 'bad' Cinema. Flashy action movies with no plot, or stupid horrors.
- His younger sister's affections. He's quite agnostic, but he respects the Eastern Orthodox religion he was born with and finds her affection's wrong either way.
Fears:
- Again being put in a position similar to his military experience in.
- Getting addicted to Alcohol like his father.
- Talking to someone about his PTSD. Ivan doesn't like admitting weakness, this, in his mind, is one of those.
Quirks:
- He likes pipes.
- His laugh..scares people....(He developed it as a joke with some classmates as a joke on another's Dimunitive name. He would repeat it so often it stuck.)
Personality:
Ivan is intelligent and hard-working. In that he's everything his mother wanted from a true Russian boy. He would relentlessly tire himself as a child to make his mother proud of him. Mainly because the only men in her life had been disappointments and Ivan didn’t want to be one of these. It was very odd for a child of four years to outright say he feel ashamed of his father, but that was Ivan. Perhaps his leaning towards his mother is why he has some very feminine habits towards flowers. Truthfully, Ivan can feel much more comfortable with woman, only because with other man he has a very competitive streak.
Yes, Ivan hates being directly challenged on anything. He is very stubborn; he doesn’t like admitting he is wrong. This usually results in him continuing an action despite knowing it is wrong, just to not show weakness. Hand in hand with this aspect is a very, very dangerous rage. Ivan’s anger is not exactly always unleashed, you usually just make him very snarky, but his rage is something to behold. Or better yet, watch from the sidelines. Ivan is very loose with his fists or anything big that he can swing. This temper has gotten him in a lot of trouble over the years. This is why you usually find him doing things that calm him, since he doesn’t really like delving into one of his rages.
Another aspect is his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he got from his military service in the Russian Ground Forces, specifically the 58th Army. While the South Ossetia conflict had not been full blown out war, Ivan came out scarred both mentally and physically. The symptoms manifest in the fact he has nightmares constantly, finds himself completely spaced out most days, and has an aversion to loud noises, especially those that sound like artillery.
History:
Ivan was born in 1987 in Moscow, to a family of three, his father a low government official who lost his job due to some of the reforms Gorbachov made in Perestroika, causing him to spiral into alcoholism, very common in Russia. The man would come home raging drunk, yelling at the people who fired him. Ivan of course had to deal with this in his childhood. His mother, a rather conservative ballet teacher, would ignore her husband while focusing on Ivan in their apartment. Things got worse between his parents after Natalia was born. Ivan, however, focused on making the female part of his family proud.
He was a very good student, something called an atlechnik, and (most) of his family was very proud of their Vanya, the good athlete with excellent grades who also respected his mother. There was one problem; his temper. Ivan was quick to anger as a child and would either quickly let loose his fists or plan a very painful revenge. This made the teachers worried, for as bright as the child was, he was troubling in his behavior. However as cruel he was to those who angered him, Ivan managed keep himself in his school’s graces.
Unfortunately, as soon as he left school he was drafted into the Russian Ground Forces, something he didn’t mind and it was mandatory. He found that he enjoyed it and as he was closing his duties, the South Ossetian conflict came and Ivan was sent to warzone. He himself knew ten dead people and was wounded in the leg by some shrapnel. He doesn’t even want to try to think about if he killed people. The whole experience bothers him too much.
Ivan left the army as soon as he was discharged from the army and returned home. His mother begged him to go University like he always wanted but Ivan was still shocked by experience. It got so bad that Ivan fell on drinking as much as his father. After a while, his mother had enough and forced her son to go to America, where a relative had opportunities in NYC. Ivan disliked New York, it was as loud as Moscow and very frightening. A man offered him job in an Appalachian town and Ivan took it. The setting and the job and being a florist’s assistant, were very relaxing and Ivan began to get better, despite still experiencing nightmares. He works at the flower sho, arranging, doing paper work, and regular labor.
RP Sample: (from Magictalia)
As Ivan realized that he over-slept, he shot out of his bed faster than a pistol firing. In a flash of blue and white and green and silver trim, Ivan was dressed and quickly out of his dormitory and into the dungeons. The tall blond sped through the staircases as he headed to his Care of Magical Creatures class in the Hogwarts Grounds.
Ivan himself slightly admired the teacher. Strong and silent, the man was an embodiment of stoic virtue, everything that Ivan hoped he would become in a few years. Except that man need to smile a few times. Smiling was good for you!
His green and silver blazer bounced as he sped towards the grounds where a small congregation of students had already arrived. Looking amongst the group, Ivan searched for another student from Slytherin, finding none until he spotted his sister, who seemed to be on a rampage.
Ivan's relationship with his younger sister was a difficult one. Natasha was still fairly new in his life, and Ivan didn't like adjusting. She also seemed to dislike him, so Ivan usually cleared out of the way. However, with her on the war path, Ivan quickly slid up to her and whispered "Good Morning".
OOC Info[/u]
Name:Rina
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