boris aliev ▪ therian

basic

first name ▪ boris

last name ▪ aliev

gender ▪ male

sexuality ▪ homosexual

age ▪ 19

shift ▪ bold jumping spider

appearance

hair ▪ dark brown and black, short-ish, but somewhat shaggy and unkempt at this point

eyes ▪ hazel

face ▪ no ref

height ▪ 5'9

weight ▪ around 160 lbs

build ▪ slightly on the shorter side- he has a lean dancer's body, the reasons for which are explained later

markings ▪ he has a few scars from accidents with ice skating blades, and a few birthmarks he's embarrassed about, but that's about it

animal attributes ▪ he has a tendency to stick to things which angers him a little, and to climb up walls accidentally- it happens more when he's not in control of his emotions. he's also sensitive to vibrations, and he can see a little better than most in the dark. he's also able to jump very far distance, as jumping spiders can jump up to 80 times their own length, and judge his landing accurately, even mid-air.

animal form ▪ a bold jumping spider, like this (they're a lot smaller than they look)

personality

basic ▪ boris can come off as rather cold, particularly to strangers. he is wary, and has difficulty trusting anyone, after having been let down so many times, but if you seem truthful for long enough, he'll start to warm up. while he may seem like he doesn't hold back anything (like...insults) he is actually rather reserved, and mindful of what he says. sometimes he doesn't care enough not to be rude, but other than that, he is careful of his words. he tries to avoid the truth as long as possible, as there are too many things about him that he isn't willing to share with others. he doesn't like to show that he's sensitive, either, or easily hurt, for fear of someone using it against him, and in that way he can be rather shy. he can be persuaded to open up after a while, if he's around the right people. he seems to dislike people, but that's only because he hasn't met the right kind of people yet, save for one exception.

sometimes he has fights with himself- he wants to do the right thing, usually, but that can interfere with his instinct to preserve his own well-being. in the end, his morals usually win, but the rest of him only agrees begrudgingly. he'll help out, but he might grumble and complain a bit along the way. he's gradually getting better at being nice.

likes ▪ honesty, cold weather, comradery, peace and quiet

dislikes ▪ heat, rain, isolation, insincerity, being forced to do anything

strengths ▪ cautious, truthful, kind (somewhere....very very deep down), helpful (reluctantly), observant

weaknesses ▪ closed off, sensitive, untrusting, nervous

fears ▪ trusting somebody he shouldn't, others finding out his secrets, not being accepted by people he's close to

hobbies ▪ figure skating, dancing, walking

secrets ▪ well, he's gay, and a half-blood, so he has a few.

quirks ▪ he has a tendency to pace....on the ceiling. he'll mutter things in russian when he's angry, embarrassed, or just saying things that nobody should have to hear.

family

father ▪ unknown [birth], james e. white [adopted]

mother ▪ unknown [birth], nancy white [adopted]

relationships

acquaintances

friends

enemies

crushes

partners

history

boris lived in a foster care home in russia for the first several years of his life. he doesn't remember much of his birth parents- all of his memories are fuzzy, but they're warm. he knows they were killed, likely due to one being a half-blood, but he doesn't like to think about it too much.

boris was adopted by james and nancy white when he was seven, and brought him to america. they had gone through several hoops to do so, and while at first all seem to go well enough, as boris grew older he started to realize he was more of a ward (they had insisted he keep his last name) and a token child than somebody that had been adopted simply out of love. because of this, he often kept things from his adopted parents- his halfblood status, and his sexuality (they never seemed very accepting of the queer community, anyway). they pushed him to do well in school, so he did. when they went ice-skating once, and he seemed to like it, they immediately got him professional, and started training him to skate competitively. the whites were part of the upper class, his successes in figure-skating competitions and in school were quite the conversation starters at the parties they liked to frequent. however, this led boris to resent the ice he used to love. he didn't like being forced to compete- it turned something he had used to love into something dull, a tool that his guardians used to impress others. he felt like he was just a tool to them.

he grew close to his skating coach, felix artovsky, a former russian skater of his own. he could be a harsh coach, and he was prickly even on his best days, but he often would let boris stay at his house while claiming to his parents that they were practicing. he seemed to understand boris better than most, and seemed to understand his situation well, even if boris made a point of avoiding the subject. boris opened up to his coach, and told him most of what he wasn't willing to tell his parents, including the truth about being gay, and being a halfblood. felix often told boris stories, too- of his home, family, and of his own secret- that he was a halfblood, as well as boris -and over time, boris started to think of felix as more of a father. felix gave boris to chance to rediscover what had drawn him to skating in the first place, and was like a true father, and boris is eternally grateful.

when he was 18, his parents discovered that he was a halfblood, and called the hbes themselves. boris escaped, and fled to felix's house, but his parents, despite having made the call, were killed. he spent a few weeks secretly living with felix, before they found him there, too. felix forced him to flee before he could get killed, insisting that he would meet boris in haven, but boris hasn't seen him since. after finding an entrance to haven, he remained in the human world for a few months, to see if he could find felix, but he had no luck. he's been trying to make it on his own, between haven and the human world ever since.

random notes

 he's fluent in both english and russian, though he did come close to forgetting russian, once. felix inspired him to remember it once more- they often spoke it to each other, even if boris's parents forbade him from using it in public, or around them.

he often mutters about an 'old man' when he thinks nobody can hear him. he often called felix that, though the first time, it wasn't in such an affectionate way. felix is usually what boris uses to represent his moral compass- he can all too easily imagine his coach scolding him for disobeying that moral compass.

he loves skating- but only on his own terms. he didn't care for all the competitions that his parents made him join, even if he did well in them.

ooc

name ▪ dami

gender ▪ female, she/her or they/them pronouns

roleplaying experience ▪ three years

site rank ▪ administrator assistant