Roderich Edelstein [Complete]

T H E C H A R A C T E R

Full Name: Roderich Johann Edelstein
Age: 28
Birthday: October 26th
Gender: Male
Is this an application for a first or second character: Second

Family: German
Position: Intelligence and translator

Strengths:
Reliability—If Roderich says he will do something or be somewhere by a certain time, you can bet he’ll do his best to do so. If for some reason he can’t there is always a legitimate reason.

Attention to detail—Though his perfectionism doesn’t always lend itself to winning friends and influencing people, he has an eye for the details, and is more than willing to see to them when others aren’t.

Loyalty—though it can take some time to earn it, once you have gained Roderich’s loyalty he will stick with you to the end even when it may be to his own detriment.

Compassion—Roderich wishes to better life for others, no matter the cost—this tends to be difficult when the others are members of another houses’ territory, but he would rather try than not.

Music—Roderich is what some might call a virtuoso when it comes to his violin and the piano. He not only plays, he composes as well—music being one thing that is sure to calm him and relax him.

Weaknesses:
Physical strength—Roderich has never put much merit in the physical side of things, much preferring the more cerebral pursuits. As such (although he’s thin—in part due to the fact that he gets distracted and frequently forgets to eat) he has very little strength and in any sort of physical fight the odds are stacked well against him.

Compassion—Roderich’s desire to help others is one that he has done his best in recent years to keep under wraps, but when it does show up it shows up in an assortment of ways, ranging from monetary to physical aid.

Grudges—Just as Roderich holds loyalty to others beyond all logical bounds, so also he holds grudges. He remembers wrongs done to him and to those he cares about for a very long time and is unwilling to forgive the offender, especially if they hurt his friend.

Sarcasm—For someone who is willing to help heal the physical hurt in others, Roderich is quick with a sharp word or cutting remark. He’s not afraid to state his opinions and they can on occasion be rather unkind.

Complete lack of direction—his internal compass has been broken for as long as he can remember, directions are a sure way to get him lost, and having him give you directions is a sure way to get yourself lost. He knows how to get from point (a) to point (b) and knows his way around his own neighborhood well enough, but anything outside of his immediate ken and he’s hopeless. Never give this man a map, it will do neither him nor you any good.

People pleasing—Above and beyond all his others desires and dreams, Roderich wants to be accepted. He will do everything he can to become such. Nothing’s off-limits in this arena for him.

Personality: Roderich is a perfectionist, possibly tending towards a bit OCD. It helps him a great deal when it comes to intelligence gathering and reporting. He’s quick and efficient, though if anyone else tried to figure out his method of organization they might well mix it up—as such he tends to work on that part of his job alone. He does try to keep his perfectionism to a minimum around other, although he expects his high standards in those around him he’s rarely surprised when they aren’t evidenced.

He is very formal around those in authority, but tries to avoid being too stiff around family members. When he smiles it’s rarely more than a quirk of his lips—almost as though he expects someone to reprimand him for smiling. He keeps a tight rein on his own emotions, knowing how volatile they can be in others. He prefers to spend his time with his data and music, rather than dealing with people, but is more than capable of working with others when required to—some days, even if he’s loathe to admit it, he looks forward to the interaction. He’s introverted and can be rather quiet. On the other hand if you irritate him you’re likely to receive a scathing look and a sarcastic remark, though as he’s gotten older he’s grown better about this and certainly wouldn’t dream of it toward a superior.

When he does let himself relax enough to be around friends (or even to make friends) he’s still quiet, but he’s very gentle as well. The coldness that settles around him like a cloak most of the time vanishes: his tone softens and his posture relaxes. There is a downside to this relaxing, namely that it means that he’s more willing to speak his mind. He can be brutally honest, though that predominantly only shows up with his friends or people he really can’t stand.

History: Roderich was born in Vienna, Austria to a banker and his young trophy wife. His father was always at work, and had no time for the boy except to critique him. He was too loud, he was too quiet, he smiled too much, he didn’t smile enough, he was ungrateful, he was kissing-up. Nothing he did seemed to please the man, but that didn’t stop the boy from trying his damndest. His mother never spoke up in his defense, and Roderich grew up resenting her for it (though looking back he’s beginning to think that maybe she knew that was best for her. It doesn’t mean he’s forgiven her, just that he’s starting to perhaps understand her logic). His fondest memory of his mother is the Christmas Eve after he turned eight. His father was working late, like he did most years, but this year his mother let him stay up. He was asleep before his father came home, but he remembers curling up with his head in his mother’s lap and going to sleep as she told him Christmas story after Christmas story.

His father never physically hit him, he didn’t need to. His words were enough. To this day a man in a position of authority says “Jump” and Roderich asks “How high?” He seeks acceptance and approval, but always feels that he can’t even come close.

Roderich withdrew into his music at a very young age, learning early on that his words didn’t matter, but he couldn’t believe that his emotions didn’t. He found that the piano was his favorite instrument because they had one already and it meant he didn’t have to ever ask for one. He would ask for music for his birthday and Christmas, nothing else, just music. And sometimes, sometimes his father would actually get him some. His mother always made sure there was some there, somehow—even if she had to use it as wrapping paper. His father saw the music as a frivolous waste of time, but it was the one rebellion that Roderich permitted himself at that time.

His music is an escape, as it always has been. By the time he was ten he could pick up almost any piece of music and sight read it nearly perfectly. It was at this point that he finally managed to ask, quietly but repeatedly, for a violin. It took a year before he finally wore away at his father enough that he got the instrument. He was expecting a cheaply made, child’s instrument that one could find at any music store. Instead what he received was the best violin they could afford—as they were far from poor it was quite the instrument—along with three books of music for it, to be worked through and up to. Roderich is extremely protective of that violin, as it is the only acknowledgement he has of affection from his father. Even Bernard was unable to deny his son’s talent with music and it was the only admittance of that fact that he would permit.

Roderich spent the next three years practicing his violin and piano, before his father decided that it was time for him to go and sent him to boarding school in Berlin. It was there that the young Austrian first encountered the German family. He fell in with them partially in a rebellion against his father and partially because it was somewhere to belong. He worked his way up, accumulating contacts around the world and finally moved to Medezka, the heart of the gang world. He acts as a translator as well as intelligence gatherer—one thing he has to begrudgingly thank his father for is the number of languages he was forced to learn as a child—and has found his niche within a world of thieves and mobsters.

Other Important Info:
* He has one stubborn lock of hair that curls up no matter what he does to try and tame it. It doesn’t seem to matter how he cuts his hair (though he refuses to cut it all off) or how much gel or styling product he uses, that one stubborn curl that absolutely refuses to lie flat. He tried cutting his hair shorter than he wears it now, but instead of curling that one lock stuck straight up from his scalp and he had to wait for it to grow out before he could stand to look anyone in the eye again—since then he’s made a conclusive decision to keep it longer, after all a curl is better than having any number of comments about roosters made around him for the next year and a half.

* He wears glasses rather than contacts most days, due to disliking how plain he looks without the wire frames.

* He has a habit of running his hands through his hair when thinking or frustrated which tends to cause his hair to come out of its forcibly straightened state and the natural wave that is present to appear. When thinking he has a habit of chewing on the corner of the nail of his left pinkie finger. He also has a tendency to hum under his breath while working, thinking, and even (though rarely) while waiting during a pause in conversation.

* He wears nice suits, though none of them are remarkably new. He’s thrifty and so avoids spending money on new clothes as much as he can.

* Roderich is extremely protective of his violin. It is still the same one that his father gave him and is the only acknowledgement he received growing up that he was even passably good at something.

* He has a love of the color blue, though he can’t really say why. It traces back to his mother’s favorite dress being a deep blue and his memories of curling up next to her as she stroked his hair and told him she was proud of him.

* Although he gathers and relays data, he is more than willing to let other people handle any mathematical figures. He suffers from minor dysgraphia (dyslexia with numbers) and so scramble numbers if he works with them for too long.

* Roderich fears failure above most else. The only thing that is a greater fear for him is damage to his hands: sprains, breaks, cuts, or scrapes though the breaks are the one he fears most.

*He is fluent in German, French, Spanish, English, and Turkish. He has a working knowledge of Italian and Serbian. He’s working on learning Mandarin (though it’s a struggle), Danish, and Russian.

Roleplay Sample:
Roderich leaned back in the diner booth, a notepad in front of him and his cell phone cradled against his ear, “Ja, that is what I said. No, the transaction went over just as I told you it would. If you doubt me, check the records.” He paused, rolling his eyes as he flagged down a waitress, and tore the top sheet off of his notepad, handing it to her for his order. Once she’d scurried off to deal with that he turned his attention back to the shorthand he used. It was a code he’d devised himself, and written in the cramped handwriting he used when taking notes it would have been nearly unintelligible even if he had been writing in a known language. The notes were a mixture of several of the languages he knew and within each of those languages letters were dropped and symbols used instead of certain letter combinations.

The Austrian continued murmuring yeses and nos for a good fifteen minutes, long enough for the waitress to return with a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of green tea. He finally hung up, offering the girl a smile and a quiet “thank you” before she hurried away. Flipping the notebook back to the first page, Roderich began mentally deciphering what he’d written and what of it was actually important. His mind began wandering after a moment, finding a certain musicality to the words—as rough as they might be. Shaking his head, the translator turned his attention to the food before him. He would deal with deciphering his code in a more private location later.

O O C I N F O R M A T I O N

Name:Meadowlark
Timezone:GMT -8 (PST)
MSN/AIM;etc:At my discretion
You read the rules, right?:
And a bonus one cause it feels like Roderich somewhat:
You read the ChatBox rules, right?:Yes
Anything else?:Apologies for the long “other information” section, I couldn’t figure out where else to stick those things.

You are accepted! I apologize for the long wait but Congratulations and I look forward to the RPs