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Username: Femme Grimmjow
Full name of Character: Ivan Braginski [EE-VAHN, not EYE-VAN]
Nickname: Vanya, Russki. Vanya = Russian diminutive of his name. Russki means "Russian." In...Russian, obviously. He is the only one to call himself Vanya, and "Russki" is something of a title
Race: Shinigami
Social class: Low social standing, really. He lived in one of the lower districts for a while.
Age: 140
How old they appear: Late teens to early twenties. At most, 23, at best, probably around 21.
Eye Color: Violet
Height and Weight: 6'2" and 190.
Type of body (build): For lack of a better word, broad. He's not fat, but he's not thin either. Instead he's somewhere in between, and he has a decent musculature, noticable enough even if he has a slight pudginess about him. It's mostly just his face that's misleading though.
Distinguishing mark or features: Nothing visible. He has scars on his neck, but very few if any at all know about those, nor the cause of them.
Appearance: Ivan is tall and sturdy, moreso than the typical person. He's often likened to a bear or a tiger in the way he's built. Large and apparently lumbering, but strong and rather quick on his feet for the size he is. His hair is a light ash-blonde, almost brown. When on-duty and sometimes off, he dons his shihakushou. It is a typical uniform, but instead of tabi and sandals, he wears military-esque boots, mostly hidden by his hakama. He wears his fukutaichou badge on the left arm, and as a modification to the outfit, he wears a light, whitish scarf. It doesn't matter the weather, he wears it all the time. The only exception is when he's showering/bathing.
As far as other appearances, Ivan has a pale complexion--no doubt due to living in a snowy environment most of his life. His eyes are an unusual shade of violet, and although he's pretty sturdily built, Ivan's face is boyish, in the way that it's chubby and has a childlike quality to it. He has a noticably large nose, and tends to dislike when attention is drawn to it negatively, but for the most part, he'll agree that yes, he does have a big nose, and smile at you for mentioning it.
[Note: When he's alone and off-duty, he does sometimes like to wear pretty much the outfit he's wearing in my avatar.]
Other Pics: He has a young face, yes. // Lol, Kolokol is not bent like that. // Casting Kidou? // ...This one's just pretty. =w=
Favorite color: He has two. It depends on his mood, but...yellow and various shades of red.
Food: Fruit piroshki
Hobbies: Peoplewatching, cooking, gardening, and drinking vodka or whatever alcohol he can get. Still. He likes vodka.
Hates: Lack of smooth audial rhythm. He loves his own native language (Russian) in that way, but HATES the sound of German and its consonant sounds. He also LOATHES being alone. He's very lonely.
Habits: Playing with his pipe (he carries around a lead pipe, which is actually his zanpaktou), giggling at things that ought not to be giggled at, and saying odd things. He also has a speech habit, speaking in a broken dialect simply because he doesn't care to pronounce words properly. He does, however, have an excellent grasp of the Japanese language. He just chooses to blend it with his Russian, and of course, being of a different nationality, speaks with a Russian inflection.
Greatest Strength: His ability to fight, and his tactical prowess when encouraged.
Greatest Weakness: His kidou is rather poor at best. As far as kidou goes, he's quite average actually. He also has anger issues, and bouts of sadism for which there is no explanation.
Soft spot: Children. He likes watching children, because they intrigue him and match his personality, it being quite childlike itself.
Is their soft spot obvious, why/why not: It is when he's around kids, he has a softer disposition.
If not, how do they hide it: He doesn't, Ivan's very straightforward.
Biggest Vulnerability: Ivan is an emotional retard. He doesn't know what he should feel and when he should feel it, aside from anger, and even then it is sometimes misplaced. His triggers for sadness are likewise odd.
Background: During his human life, Ivan was born not in Japan, but in Russia. He didn't live anywhere of particular consequence, and in fact the town was pretty small as far as towns go. He had two siblings, though of course his youngest came after him by a few years. His oldest sister had a different father, and in fact his youngest sister Natalia was the child of another mother, adopted by his own father, so to speak.
His family was highly dysfunctional, with his father being a particularly violent and uncaring man. Of course his mother needed to be in a relationship, so she could not leave the man, although he was less than...fatherly to her children. To Yekaterina, her older daughter, he behaved lasciviously, while to Ivan he was abusive and sadistic. When Natalia was born out of wedlock due to an infidelity on his part, he adopted her into the family, regarding her in the same manner as Yekaterina. (Note that this is a generalization. Yekaterina is six years older than Ivan. And Natalia is two years younger than he is.)
Since Ivan was male, his father found he could not regard him in exactly the same way as he did the otherwise female family he held. Until Ivan was five, the man mainly secreted Yekaterina away to touch her, despite her undeveloped body, while still having marital relations with Anya, his wife. As for Ivan, the man made it clear he had not wanted a son, and whenever Yekaterina or Anya would do something to piss him off, he would punish the son, daring him to divert the punishment elsewhere. Being the placatingly good boy he was, Ivan did not wish to see his family come to harm and took all abuses.
Until he was 5. Then his mother passed on...and the abuses grew more severe. His father's mentality took a turn. Although he wasn't aware, this was because the man had acquired an "Affliction," which now possessed and worsened his mentality. Now, rather than simply diverting punishment, Ivan's father started taking more actively sadistic measures. for the most part, he kept to hitting and starving his son, simple things like that. But now he was rubbing it in Ivan's face that he was not the proper sex, and that there was to be only one man in the house. He'd begin forcing Ivan to dress as a girl and refer to him as Ivanna, teasing him that if he wanted to be a good part of this family, he'd have to do better than that. (I will not detail other psychological aspects of this, since it's inappropriate in a public forum). Ivan even allowed his father to violate him, speaking empty, pretty lying words as he did to Yekaterina when he took her.
Then when Ivan was nine...his father attempted to take Natalia's virginity. It was more than the ash-blonde could take, and so in order to prevent it, he took up a metal pipe which had been discarded during some home renovation and beat the man's skull in. Pitilessly.
After that, he was taken away from his sisters and moved to a Moscow orphanage. He was a charismatic boy, always having known what to say to placate his father for the most part. So he implimented that in front of his evaluators, and ignored the irritating voice in his head that gave him awful ideas, ideas worthy of the man he'd murdered. For a while, he was put on medication which "eased" his mood and mellowed the voice in his head, then he was taken off of them after a year or two and passed from foster home to foster home. Around this time, the voice went quiet, for a great many years. Despite growing up in foster homes, Ivan did particularly well for himself, having a thirst for knowledge that got him along in school with high marks. Once he was able to, he discarded his life in Russia, and moved to Japan to live and and attend university.
As it turned out, this awoke the latent darkness within him; the Affliction his father had been affected by. It possessed him with some difficulty, finding his hardened heart and mentality somewhat difficult to penetrate, but doing so all the same, breaking down his mentality to the point where he would, to keep from causing violence upon his peers, destroy his apartment. Evicted and unable to return to school, he found himself living on the streets, reduced to nothing but a crying mess with all the pain of a rabid dog clawing at him from the inside out, making his limbs ache and his mind scream for blood.
Before the Affliction could devour his soul completely, however...he was given a respite. Found by a rogue hollow, he had his soul ripped from the body at last, and would have welcomed the bliss of nothingness...if only a Shinigami hadn't saved him at that time, and repatriated his immortal soul to the Soul Society.
There, he was able to recover from what the Affliction had done to him, and the fosterlike life of the Districts matched him well. He lived a happy life of gardening and selling the flowers he grew, particularly sunflowers which he came to enjoy so much more than his other flowers, until he started making his roommates uncomfortable with the inability to harness what was apparently a rather gifted level of reiatsu. Sought out by the Shinigami, he was brought to live in the Seireitei and attend the Shinigami Academy, where his powers were utilized properly and his zanpakuto was realized.
Here he was able to learn combat techniques and how to fight rogue hollows and eventually about the Afflictions. He was never sure whether he'd been possessed, but he has his reasons to believe that indeed, he had been.
Going up the ranks, he was able to succeed in becoming a seated officer, and eventually, the Lieutenant of the Seventh Squad.
Lately however, there has been talk of possibly transferring him elsewhere, somewhere more suited to manage him. He doesn't know why, and he can't really be blamed. Ivan does know he has mental quirks, but for the most part...
...he doesn't realize that for the past half-century, he's been having odd turns at night, nor that he makes public threats with a serious tone.
Aside from such, and his playful, teasing nature, he's a good soldier, and an affable person. He also tends to help his captain with whatever paperwork he might be too...occupied to do.
Type of childhood: Ivan was orphaned at the age of nine. He spent time hopping from foster to foster. When he passed into the Soul Society, he wasn't a child.
Most important childhood event that still effects him/her: The death of his parents. He will never explain why, but a select few important people are aware of why.
Most at ease when: He's cooking, tending his garden, or he's by himself. On the other side of the spectrum, he DOES very much find himself at ease in groups, but only when he's in the shadows.
Most ill at ease when: He has attention brought to himself. He is awkward as the center of attention. It doesn't mean he can't perform, but he's awkward all the same, and tends to withdraw.
Priorities: Training, getting his work done, and satisfying his own wants and needs.
Philosophies: "Anything that Can Go Wrong, Usually Will."; "If All Else Fails, Kolokol Will Fix It!"
How they feel about themselves: Ivan has a sense of arrogance in that he believes he is strong, and that he has all the power to back it up. He respects his superiors for the most part though. Despite his outer glamour, he really thinks little of himself and believes no one can ever come to care for him or accept him.
Past failure they would be embarrassed to admit: Basically, anything from his childhood. As well, he would never admit to anyone that most Kidou explodes in his face. Though he was a bit obvious at one point when he Shakkaho'd his eyebrows off.
Drives and motives: Ivan dreams of living peacefully in a warm place with friends, his flowers, and a nice plate of his favorite foods to snack on. Deep down, he also really wants to break his drinking habit, but he doesn't believe he ever will, and has long since given up.
Extremely skilled at: Physical combat, using his pipe as a bludgeoning weapon, and also as a sword. Also good at making piroshki, holding his own while drinking, and of course confusing people with his vague words and motivations.
Extremely unskilled at: Socializing appropriately, kidou, not overreacting or being generally psycho.
Good characteristics: On the whole, Ivan's a nice guy. He likes to try and get along since he's big on making friends, and he's relatively dependable.
Character flaws: Deep inside, Ivan's very sadistic, though it doesn't match with his normal personality. He's been known to play nasty tricks on people he doesn't like, and is very vindictive when provoked. He also doesn't know when to quit in fights, which could be good or bad...but seeing as he hasn't really encountered an enemy of large consequence...
Peculiarities: He speaks in broken dialect with peppered Russian. Example: If he were to say "Hello, my name is Ivan. It's nice to meet you!" then he would usually say "Privet~ My name is Ivan. Is nice to be meeting you, da!" Which leads into another vocal habit. He adds da to the ends of his sentences. Even in Japanese, his speech habits indicate that the da is not of the country's tongue, but of his own. Confirming his statement. On the other hand, he often says "nyet" in negative, which means no.
As well as his bits of Russian slipping into conversation, Ivan has a very odd habit of making a "KolKolKol" sound when he's upset or angry. It usually indicates that he's about to swing on you with his pipe if you don't leave him alone, or if he hasn't been angered by any particular person, it pervades his speech in a sort of mantra. It's speculated that he obtained the habit from the fact that his zanpakuto, Kolokol, has a basis on the toll of a bell, and that his "Kol"-ing is a warning.
Something less...obvious is Ivan's penchant to threaten and intimidate. He usually switches from teasing to serious threatening without taking note of it, then reverting back to his childish demeanor. He also has the habit of giving reasons for inactivity in teamwork battles which are perceived as sadistic, or drawing his own battles out far more than necessary, to the point of inhumane torture. Since he doesn't seem conscious of it most of the time, he isn't faulted, just avoided, which is a reason why he thinks so little of himself.
Biggest regret: That he was never able to see his sisters again after freeing himself from his tyrannical household by committing murder
Biggest accomplishment: Having escaped his household, at least in life. His biggest accomplishment in the Soul Society was becoming part of the Gotei 13.
Darkest secret: The fact that he murdered his father. A few of the higher-ups know it. Such as the Soutaichou. Otherwise, he keeps it to himself. The memory triggers more, and he tends to become haunted by his past.
What four things would they most like to change about themselves:
* He would change how people perceive him. He doesn't know why people find him intimidating, but all he wants is friends, people who will be his new family
* His face. It's rather babyish, which actually bothers him more than his enormous nose does. No one takes him seriously that way.
* He would want to find it easier to understand how people think normally. He's good at reading atmosphere, but not good at knowing why people feel the way they do.
* He wishes he was better at Kidou. Not being proficient, he feels he's being impeded from "holy duty" or something of the sort, in defeating Afflictions and rogue hollows.
How do they relate to others: He tries to, but really he's just a bit of a weirdo, and people shy from his unorthodox personality
How are they perceived by strangers: Weird. Unnatural. Creepy. Anything like that. But also...very imposing.
Friends: None, as far as he knows, though he does try to be friendly, failing a bit because of his personality.
How do they react in a crisis: Ivan's usually whimsical and doesn't think too seriously, but that doesn't really pass on to his serious face. He knows how to react in a crisis, and usually calms himself and gives the soundest advice he can. He does insert his own brand of whimsy to keep up morale, but other than that, he's pretty even-keeled.
How do they face problems: Try and beat it with his zanpakuto. Kolokol fixes lots of things that way
How they react to new problems: Usually by "Kol"-ing. Then trying to beat it with his zanpakuto.
How they react to change: He doesn't like change most of the time, but he deals with it as needed.
What do they do too much of, why: Way too much drinking. Ivan is a heavy drinker, and he routinely goes on his off-duty hours to the World of the Living in order to procure 100 proof Russian Vodka. He can drink almost anything, but Russian Vodka has the kick he so enjoys.
He also teases way too much, bordering on insubordination if only he didn't really mean it...most of the time. He usually apologizes in earnest if his intentions are misread, but that doesn't mean he won't take a punishment if needed. Approach with caution though, Ivan has a tendency to hit back.
Most prized possession, why: His Scarf. It is the only tie he has to his former life, as it was so valued to him that it apparently became a part of his "immortal soul." It was a gift from his older sister Yekaterina.
People they secretly admire, why: No one really, but if it was generalized, he admires all those around him for simple things like being able to make friends and do NORMAL things, since he's...impaired psychologically in some ways.
Person they are most influenced by, why: More than likely, his father. If he wasn't, it'd be downright odd.
Zanpakuto name: Kolokol (Russian for "Bell,")
Zanpakuto sealed Appearance: Kolokol is a relatively long length of pipe, shining silver, with a curved tap complete with a spigot. He carries it around like its an ordinary object, or else he hooks it in his obi. In truth, Kolokol has a nearly invisible seam near the top of it where he can pull it out, revealing a long, shining silvery-white blade. It's reminiscent of a cane sword.
Shikai Appearance: When released, Kolokol is shown to be the sword it really is, though the hilt still has the tap-side of its pipe appearance.
Shikai Release Command: Impale
Shikai Abilities: Kol: When Ivan draws his blade, it lets out a deep resonance, and each time it hits against something, that very resonance repeats, like the toll of a bell. In essence, it's like a really loud tuning fork. The harder he hits, the louder the sound, and the louder the sound, the harder the vibration used to cause it. This gives his Kol the ability to stun physically, or impair hearing temporarily.
Kровь (krov) [Blood]: With this ability, Ivan gains the ability of hemomancy. Problem being its his own blood which he can control. When he twists the spigot of his zanpakuto open, his own blood will flow outward, and he can control its state (Solid or liquid) in order to attack. He can also put it into a gaslike state to invade weak opponents, but the stronger they are, the more blood he needs to give up. Because of the basis of the attack, Ivan is unable to utilize it to its full extent. (Also due to the basis of the attack, he needs to maintain his blood by a self-made diet.)
We are Reaching the End, Da~ Now You Are Die?
KoLkOlKoLkOlKoL
