Back in Black - Gun Romani

[Gunari "Gun" Romani]

VALKYRIE,
CALIFORNIA

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the ocean breathes salty, won't you carry it in?




I'm sinking whiskey and you're sipping fine wine
I don't know what it is you're trying to prove
Well it should be you but it's me who can hardly move[/font][/center]


WHEN THE OCEAN MET THE SKY ,[/color]
CHARACTER BASICS ,
you missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye[/color]

FULL NAME: Gunari Besnik Romani
NICKNAMES: Gunnar, Gun
GENDER: Male
AGE: freshly turned 17
GRADE: Junior
ART INTEREST: Photography, FILM
PLAYBY: Gaspard Ulliel

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YOUR BODY MAY BE GONE ,[/color]
CHARACTER APPEARANCE ,
i'm gonna carry you in my head, in my heart, in my soul[/color]

ETHNICITY: Latvian, Romanian and Greek
HAIR COLOR: Dark dark dark brown
EYE COLOR: Blue
HEIGHT: 5'11"
WEIGHT: 165lbs
BODY TYPE: Thin, has some muscle definition
DISTINGUISHED FEATURES: He's got some scars on his body from wear and tear.
PERSONAL STYLE: Gun doesn't really think of style unless he's going for a photoshoot. But whether he thinks he has it or not, he does. It's hard to describe. He wears jeans, never too baggy and he never sags them. He has a lot of plain long sleeved shirts and sweaters that are thin. He never wears thinks like sweatshirts or sweat pants. No funky graphic t-shirts. Mostly all solid coloring. He likes button down shirts it seems. For a shoot he goes very classic, fedora hats, vests, very jazz inspired and few components of that has leaked into his clothing on the day to day.
OTHER: (anything else you might want to add)

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IN YOUR MOUTH, IN YOUR SOUL ,[/color]
CHARACTER PERSONALITY ,
the more we move ahead the more we're stuck in rewind[/color]

STRENGTHS:
- Intelligent
- Painstakingly loyal
- Artistic
- Warm Heart
- Open minded
- has a unique eye and perspective
WEAKNESSES:
- not exactly strong in a fight
- the girl he falls for
- fear, being open
- being hit on by gay men, because trauma in the past has clouded his head a bit
- an open bar
LIKES: photography, filmography, art, black and white, 80mm, his leika camera, Paris architecture, architecture in general, buildings, unique shapes, unique faces, things that stand out in a crowd, that one moment you didn't see when it happened but when you look at a photo it just glares at you, making the dingy look beautiful, the good surprises life can have, His older sister, music. girls who can sing, lullabies, cigarettes, alcohol.
DISLIKES: men who hit on him or touch him, the fact that trauma has made him a bit unfair towards gay men, he knows its wrong but its a hard thing to be rational about, the bad surprises, people who are judgmental about art, people who hate on others for no reason, instant popularity, the fact that he drinks so much when upset, when people get too close, cheaters, abusers, all the basic bastards, the useless destruction of nature, key word: useless, people who smoke around children.
FLAWS:
- secretive
- defensive
- quick temper
- drinking
- distrustful
HABITS:
- filming everything
SECRETS:
- He was raped by another man a little more than a year ago
BEST MEMORY: Well, it will be being reunited with his sister. But since that hasn't happened quite yet, it's when he was given his leika camera. Its a camera that revolutionized the way photography done, so many of the world's most famous and iconic pictures had been taken by the leika. Its a beautiful camera and he can take his time developing his own film bit by bit. He carries it with him everywhere.
WORST MEMORY: Gun has a lot of bad memories. Most of them stemming from his need to get away from his family in the same way Fair did. He was on the streets and alone at a young age and the thing they warn you about when desperate on the street happened to him. He was raped by a much bigger, much stronger, and older man. By far his worst memory.
OVERALL PERSONALITY:

Right away, Gun has always been that type of person who doesn't want it, but gets it anyways. He's always been the quieter type with just a few friends and yet people want him. He's the accidentally popular. He has never been popular in the classic sense since he has never been in a classic school. But you can tell it follows him. And he will be that type in VA. He's cute and foreign, he's mysterious and sexy in the broody artistic way. And he's so cool in his aloof nature, people are drawn to him. He doesn't want them to be. He doesn't like the spotlight, he's behind the scenes kind of guy. But yeah, he's the guy who's invited to the parties and doesn't show up. Oh I should probably mention, it's the girls that make him popular, the popular guys probably wouldn't like him too much and if they do it's more because being around him get more girls around. He's sort of the anti-jock. He is threatening to to man's man popular asshole jock persona because he proves it's not needed. So many of them don't actually like him. Whatever. He could hardly care less, he doesn't like most of them.

When people do actually get to know him, they learn that he is a sweet heart. He has his issues but he's a really good guy. He is quieter and more cut off from the world because he doesn't like questions being asked about him. But he is always the first to lend a willing ear to those who need one. He's one of those few people that when you're having a conversation, you can tell that they are really listening to you and not just waiting for their turn to speak. He always one to try to help WHERE HELP IS WANTED. he's not pushy because he hates when people are pushy with him. But if someone needs him, he's always there and rather self sacrificing and generous. Not to make a bad pun but he's generous in general. Even if he can't give much, he always drops his spare change in the salvation army pots with the santa's ringing the bells. He might give an apple or if he has some spare food to a beggar on the street. He doesn't give the homeless money directly though, too scared they're there for addiction and that he would only be helping them get more drugs or drink or something. But food's a safe bet to give them. Hard to Misuse that plus, whether they're on the streets from their own volition or not, everyone needs some help sometimes. Maybe it was because he had spent so much time one the streets that he was a bit more caring about the homeless in general. Technically he is homeless at the moment.
artistic

Despite everything, Gun does in fact still know how to have a good time. It takes a bit of warming up to but he can be joketive and flat out goofy at moments. With friends, screwing about, camera ready and capturing every happy or happy-ish moment. It is a rare but nice moment to see him so comfortable with himself. When Gun makes friends, he makes good ones. He doesn't call that person you say hi to in passing a friend. A friend is someone who's in it for the long hall. Someone you would die for. He's loyal to his core. But being a good friend does not require them to know everything about you, or for you to know everything about them. It should be enough just to care and be there without asking questions. He didn't understand why people always tried to push him to tell them something. It was infuriating. His life was his life, his actions were his own and his past was his haunting to deal with. Gun in private with his life and he doesn't want that to change. He is private with his feelings too. I guess the way he gets it all out is his art. His film whether it be video or still. He loved filming. He loved photography. He enjoyed being able to capture the world in a way that everyone can recognize and understand while seeing it through his eyes. That was what was so amazing about photography especially, showing people what they've seen before but in ways they've never known it to exist.

Now, Gun isn't the type of guy to judge others. He'll forgive your pasts and he'll be your friend based on who you are at that moment. He doesn't care about race, gender, social class, whatever. And while he never used to care about a man's sexuality, ever since he was sexually attacked by an older male, Gun has been uncomfortable around gay men ((it'll be hard for me to play, lol since I have millions of gay friends)). He hasn't had a chance to really cope with what happened to him so he lashes out. He turns a cold shoulder to anyone who admits to being gay and tries to avoid them. In his head he tells himself that logically, not all gay males was like the man he was attacked by but if there is one thing fear isn't, it's rational.

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AND WE'LL BOTH GROW OLD ,[/color]
CHARACTER HISTORY ,
well i don't know, i don't know, i don't know, i hope so[/color]

HOMETOWN: Riga, Latvia
PARENTS: Tsura and Fabian Romani
SIBLINGS: three older brothers and his older sister Fairuza
OTHER: lots of cousins. few randoms
LIVING SITUATION: Probably move into the Hitten with Fair.
HISTORY:

She was pregnant for the fifth time since she was seventeen years old. Tsura had done well as a wife to Fabian. Three boys, one girl and she was pregnant again. It was not uncommon for the people in her family to get pregnant young. They were Roma. Also known as Gypsies. They lived in Riga, Latvia. As Tsura went into labor and was taken away from the home (childbirth is seen as impure, so women need to leave the home for child birth and the women remain impure for forty days), the family waited. After a grueling 15 hours in labor the dark haired, blue eyed little infant boy was born. He was named Gunari after his great great grandfather on his father's side and Besnik for his great uncle on his mother's side. For the next year or so, the family of Gunari Besnik Romani stayed in Riga, the older men in the family doing odd jobs, mostly fixing cars. And it was a large family. When Gunari was around one year old, the family moved to Bucharest, Romania. The family moved often, but the family was close like roma families should be. His family were quite traditional with extended families and marrying young. It was tradition, and you abide by tradition especially if your grandfather was the tribe’s head.

After a few years past, the tribe had settled mostly outside of Bucharest. As Gunari grew up within the tribe, he really only ever grew close to one of his siblings, his sister, Fairuza. She was always nice to him, and she always had a way to show up their older brothers. Gunari was a bit more day dreamy than the other kids. He was smart, learned how to read and write quickly. He followed the traditions and all the rules. He did his best to stay out of trouble as a boy. Honestly he was always closest with his many Aunts than anyone in his immediate family, apart from Fairuza. He felt more comfortable and free to be himself around them. Being with his parents felt like he was constantly just being told what to do, over and over and over again. This is bad... this is good... do this... don't do that... the young boy was just struggling with it. He always sort of craved the more "normal" life. When he would sometimes go along on odd jobs with his father or brothers, to carry things or something, he would see the other kids around the city and just kind of look at them with jealousy.

Gunari just tended to think differently than his family, he didn't fit in and no one really knew why. There wasn't really a reason. Maybe it was because he was the youngest, psychologists say the the youngest of siblings in families have a tendency to think more of themselves and their personal identity as opposed to that of the whole family. God that sounded bad, but was it really? All he knew was that he was not looking forward to the idea of getting married when he was still a kid. He was not happy in the tribe at all and the older he got, the more fights between him and his father specifically. See traditionally, some Roma get married as young as 12. Gunari was hitting fourteen and every time they tried to set him up with a girl of his parents or his grandfathers choosing, Gunari would act out, say things deemed inappropriate and sort of scare the other family away. He wasn't going to get married to some girl. But this caused even more issues between him and his father, Fabian didn't understand why his own flesh and blood seemed so disinterested. He didn't understand why the boy spent his time on his own and only ever really talked to Fairuza who was a bit of a daddy's girl actually. But Fairuza knew her baby brother was unhappy. And as she hit fifteen and was told of her impending marriage to a stranger, perhaps she started to get a feeling as to why.

Gunari was angry for her. Apart from warding off his potential spouses, and just generally not fitting in, he was never out right against his family, he was never outspoken or brave enough to interject but he defended Fairuza saying making her do this was wrong. It did nothing, he wasn't even sure she had any idea he had tried to stop it from happening. But the wedding happened. He felt bad that he couldn't do anything about it. He felt guilt. After the wedding, things with his family got worse now that Fairuza was no longer. It made the fighting with his father get worse. He enjoyed seeing her for a couple days, the month after the wedding but a few days after she left to go back to her husband's family, word got back that she had never returned. At first, people were worried it was an accident but Gunari knew. He knew she just couldn't handle the pressure anymore and she had left. When there were no accidents reported and nothing found on the route from their parents to their in-laws, the family started to get the idea that she had left on her own volition. They were enraged. He had never seen his grandfather so furious. Her husband's family were up in a roar but she was no where to be found. In the mess of it Gunari tried and tried to keep the family moving. He got into another fight with their father by telling him the bright side was the Fairuza was probably a lot happier. Apparently that wasn't as comforting a thought as Gunari thought it was. After a few months though, he realized Fairuza had the right idea and as the family got ready for another wedding of one of their cousins, he slipped out rather unnoticed.

He had done it. He had run away. And he was pretty sure his family would not come looking for him. He left them a small note, basically just saying he was born different from them, they all knew it and despite all their best efforts, Gunari was just not Roma. And that's also when he started to go by Gun or Gunner. Which was strange for him seeing as he was a pacifist. Out on his own, he was surprised by actually enjoying himself. He didn't mind doing the odd jobs he dreaded as a kid nearly so much now because he was no longer being forced to, this was his choice this was his life. He was free for the first time since he came out of the womb. Gun caught buses, hitch hiked, walked a lot, anything to get around. He tried to follow the road Fairuza was last on but it was like trying to find a piece of hay in a pile of needles. After roaming a bit he ended up in Paris, France. He loved the beauty of the architecture. He felt the whole scene was amazing, but what was most amazing was the art and the music. There was this free-spirited-ness about Paris he fell in love with. He decided as soon as he looked up at the eiffel tower that he would stay in Paris for awhile, having no clue that his sister would be joining him in the city and that they would still not see eachother. In his first afternoon in Paris, a female artist, in her 30's, french with red rimmed glasses stopped him on the street. She raved about his features, something he wasn't used to, she touched his face moved his face from side to side before offering him money to paint him.

Gun's whole reaction involved him putting a hand on his gurgling stomach and nodding with a grin. And that started it. he was fortunate enough to earn money actually posing for artists, yes sometimes nude. He sometimes had a place to sleep, sometimes found shelter but he had enough to eat. He has a unique and handsome look people liked it. It was weird for him to hear people call him beautiful though. He just wasn't used to it. He didn't mind it at all though. It never really inflated his head, people could think what they wish. Despite him working odd jobs, mostly ones where he just sat there as someone paid detailed attention to his appearance, and the fact that he never had enough money for a solid place to live and spent nights at random places, whether it be an artist who was working with him's home, a cheap hotel on the cold night, or in some park, despite all that, it was the happiest time of his life. After a few weeks he was approached by a male photographer named Luke. He wanted to shoot Gun but did not have any money to pay him. He offered Gun a place to sleep and a hot meal though and that was good enough for him. After taking a few black and whites, Gun and Luke were simply chatting, Gun asked out of curiosity about the photography. Luke explained what he loved about it and how none of it would mean anything to Gun unless he had a photographer's soul. Gun asked the older man how he would know if he had one. It gave Luke an idea. He went into the closet and pulled out an old case containing a classic vintage leica camera. He gave it to Gun that night. It was Gun's first camera. Ever. As he held it for the first time, he felt his finger tips get warm. He was in love with the instrument and he hadn't even taken a picture yet. But that changed quickly. Luke taught him a lot over the next week Gun ended up staying with him. He taught him how to develop the film, he taught him how to use the development process to create effects because developing the film was half the art form.

After he stayed with Luke, Gun decided it was time to be moving on. See more of the world. He thanked the man from the bottom of his heart for the camera and everything he had learned and headed out of Paris. He ended up in Nice, still in France, and tried to find shelter there at least for a bit. He brought his camera. He found a job cleaning up after drunkards at a bar, the owner was harsh but fair enough. As for a place to stay, he didn't have much. He ended up on the streets a couple times where he met an older man named Marion. Marion had posted an add for a boy to pose for a painting with a young lady. Having done similar things before for cash, Gun went. Marion was a nice older man. He seemed to like using Gun, gave him more work, paid him more than generously, even gave him a place to develop his film and rest his head. It was probably naive for this 15 almost 16 year old boy to do this but he was alone. It was the night after his 16th birthday when Marion forced himself onto Gun. He had come onto the section of floor in the studio apartment that Gun slept on and began to touch him in his sleep. As he awoke, the man over powered him. After it was over, Gun grabbed his camera and his small backpack of belongings and ran. He wasn't the same after that, who would be? Gun wasn't sure if he was happy he got out of it alive because believe me, pacifist or not he tried to fight the larger man off.

Gun had hit an all time low in Nica. he was hungry, homeless, abused and his best friend was a leika camera. He left Nice and headed back to Paris where at least he had a friend in the artist who gave him his camera but when he arrived, Luke had gone. His apartment still furnished as he learned of the kind artist's death. Gun cried over hearing about the death of Luke. Apparently the man had been dying of cancer slowly for years, his photography was his way to cope. Gun squatted in the place for awhile, it took the slumlords months to even notice it was an apartment so well... shitty. Gun spent his time not posing but cleaning places and then on his own art, as well as experimenting with drugs and woman. Part of him had to prove he was still and man and still attracted to females, not to himself but to the world. And he did, he got a fair amount of play with older woman in their 20s and 30s who didn't seem to care he was only 16. He never lied. But he was bored. But he kept doing it, confused and lost. He felt like he was disappointing Luke and he kept hearing his father's voice in his head about everything he had done and how it was all his fault and how unclean he was. At this point, even if Gun had wanted to return to his birth family, he couldn't. No one in his family would even speak to him after him leaving and how he had been living. No one except maybe Fairuza. That's it, now it was time for him to really put his head to use and try to find her. Something had to change.

for the next three months leading up to his 17th birthday he worked and worked and worked his ass off, putting art on hold and ignoring anyone who tried to befriend or flirt. In his off time, he went through withdrawal, slept, vomited, scrounged for food, most of all tried to use public internet spaces to find any evidence of Fair. On his 17th birthday he used some of the money had saved up and bought a video camera, a fairly nice digital one too, it was one sale. A short month later he found what he was looking for. Fair had used her passport and flown to America, a placed called Valkyrie California? But he knew where she was so... But he had just spent his savings on his camera so how would he get there? Not proud of this but instead of selling his camera, he stole. He did, he stole a woman's wallet, a tourist's wallet and grabbed the three hundred euros she had out for shopping before taking off. He took no credit cards, only cash. He didn't want to steel her identity. He wanted to get to America. And so he did. He was going to find his sister again.

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COLLECTED MY BELONGINGS ,[/color]
ABOUT YOU AND FOR THE ADMINS ,
and i left the jail, well thanks for the time[/color]

YOUR NAME: Anna
GENDER: girl
AGE: 19
RP EXPERIENCE: LOTS
OTHER CHARACTERS: Outsiders
ROLEPLAY EXAMPLE: I refuse

credit: format by lainey, lyrics by modest mouse

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[Haley Summers]

Yayyy finished!! so excited!

Accepted!!