Nikolai Avarali knew his life was going to be good from the moment he was able to run out the front door. His parents were lenient with his curious nature, his little brother started to be more cool than he was a pain in the ass (not that he'd admit that to many), and there was something new to do each day, each an adventure in its own right. Nik's youth was spent getting into as much innocent trouble as he possibly could, from climbing trees and falling from one (resulting in a broken arm) to duct taping the front door shut, Jasper along with it (resulting in a week's worth of dishes duty and a grounding). As he moved through adolescence, Nikolai dabbled in his fair share of not-so legal activities, but always deemed himself too smart to get caught. He had a couple girlfriends, a couple successes and a couple failures, breezing by more often than not with a grin on his face. Life was pretty carefree for Nikolai, getting decent grades in school and excelling in language arts and reading in elementary school, a passion that followed him all the way through high school.
Nikolai loved words -- reading, writing, talking (
especially talking, having been known to talk himself out of sticky situations more than a few times) -- but education always seemed like such a drag. Instead of going on to college right away, he opted for exploring other opportunities. At the age of 18, he moved out of his parents' house and started working at a used book store. It was the perfect atmosphere -- laidback but fast-paced, with enough reading material to last him a lifetime. And, of course, getting the chance to unleash his sarcasm and charm on the general book-reading public. It wasn't as though Nik was a literary snob, exactly, more than he couldn't help but get a feel for what books were read by which types of people and thereby allowing him to become somewhat judgmental. More often than not Nikolai loves his job despite the downsides that come with working in retail, and even if he has to suffer through another wannabe think he's got cred because he's buying Vonnegut.
It was only a few years after he'd been working fulltime that his family started talking to him about school. With his little brother heading off to Chapel Hill, Nikolai was made a deal: He could follow in Jasper's footsteps and pursue a degree and in return, his grandparents would foot the bill (but not the rent on a new apartment, leaving his housing options a little limited). After becoming disillusioned with the conversations with customers, Nik agreed -- if only because he was bound to find more stimulating thoughts on modernist literature from his peers than those carelessly reaching for a copy of Mrs. Dalloway. At 21, Nikolai moved to North Carolina and started his higher education, majoring in English with a focus on literature -- for better or worse.
A self-proclaimed jerk, if he doesn't care about you, he also does not care about sparing your feelings. His motto is: All's fair in love and insults -- Nik won't hesitate to use his words as weapons if he feels threatened or wants to get the edge on someone else. That's not to say that he's mean-spirited; quite contrarily, Nikolai hardly harbors ill will for anyone, unless they've done or said something to put themselves on his Shit List. Most of the time he prefers being happy-go-lucky, getting himself into funny situations and exaggerating the story as he retells it later.
• Born February 19th, 1988, 21 years old. Older brother to
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jspr.
• Personality type is EHBA (Extroverted Happy Bookworm Asshole -- fuck you Myers-Briggs, Nik doesn't play by your rules).
• His longest relationship is the on-off one he has with
zotu, his high school sweetheart. Most of the time he hates her (and vice versa) but sometimes they still end up in bed together and remembers why he loved her all over again. They've recently begun to try this so-called "exclusivity" thing that seems to be all the rage in relationships, and it scares the ever-living hell out of it.
• Has little coordination, so he stays away from contact sports, musical instruments that involve both hands, avoids bicycles and skateboards, and sticks to slip on shoes.
• Favorite things include deep dish pizza, rain, strong coffee, Star Trek, good books, sleeping, Cormac McCarthy, drinking, Talking Heads, and sometimes his brother.
