Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2015 21:17:38 GMT -8
ERIKMIN-JUNCHOI
<<Played by Phy>>
Shine a light through an open door
Full Name>>Erik Min-jun Choi
Nicknames>>Technically, Choi Min-jun is his Korean name, but he almost always goes by Erik and keeps Min-jun as his middle name.
Age>> June 15th 2000; 14
Staff or Student>> Student, Freshman
House>> Green Ribbon House
Gender>> Male
Sexuality>> Pansexual (though he hasn't really thought about it yet, and may well even fall in love a few times before he goes to find out terminology - he's just going to fall for people, no matter who they are)
Face Claim>>Yeo Jin-goo
Turn away 'cause I need you more
Personality>>
Erik is cheerful and enthusiastic about almost everything in life, usually bouncing into new people and new situations with bright eyes and a wide smile. Very friendly, he loves making friends, and in fact really can’t understand the concepts of being cruel or deceitful. Always eager to help, he is an absolutely sucker for, well, pretty much anything, and is very easily manipulated.
Though he offers kindness to anyone and anything he meets, he hasn’t yet developed a brain-mouth filter, and so will say the first thing that comes into his head in pretty much any situation. He also rambles, a lot, and will very happily burble his way through long, chirpy run-on sentences without actually thinking about what he’s saying. He is pretty much incapable of lying, mainly because that would require far too much thinking about what he's actually saying, and his attempts to lie usually involve random blurting of words that just makes him look really suspicious. Secrets he can handle as long as they're not his own; unfortunately if he's trying to keep his own secret he defaults into babbling mode, but at least he can keep mum on other people's.
Coupled with this, he jumps into situations without thinking, and will be the very first to volunteer for pretty much anything, even before he’s actually found out what he’s agreeing to. He backs up all of this enthusiasm with a desperate desire to please, which means he can swing from being wildly eager and go-getter-ish to being really, really concerned that he’s doing the wrong thing and that everyone is going to hate him and - in short, he manages to be both very confident and completely insecure at the same time, by being the first when he’s not thinking and the second when he actually starts considering what he’s doing.
Perhaps surprisingly, he is actually quite good in school - whether that is natural inclination, his desire to please others or learned from his parents' strict standards is anyone's guess. While he's particularly good at maths, languages and music (to him, they all just seem to fit together) he works hard at other things. He's pretty athletically ungifted, however (coordination is a serious problem, and he has a tendency to flail wildly), and until he discovered horses and riding was a complete failure at any sport.
Likes>>
- Maths - rarely do people expect bright, bubbly Erik to be good at maths of all things, but he’s actually very talented and loves the subject. He really enjoys working his way through complex problems and works above the standard level for his age in maths - give him
- Languages - whether or not its related to his skill in maths is a good question, or to the fact that he grew up in a trilingual household, but whatever the reason, Erik takes to languages like a duck to water. He grew up speaking English, Cantonese and Korean, and while he sometimes has to think twice about differing tenses and sentence constructions between the languages, especially if he is speaking or writing formally, he can chatter away in all three fluently. He can write well in English and Korean, and middlingly in Chinese, and when at school he started learning French (it was Canada, after all).
- School: overall, he actually enjoys school. Oh, sure, some things are really hard, but you get to meet nice people and make friends, and teachers are always (well, usually) cool, and what’s wrong with that?
- Horses: everything from looking after them to actually riding (yes, even cleaning tack - he actually finds that really soothing). Put Erik near a horse and he’ll probably be happy.
- His siblings: though they are a lot older than him, Erik adores his brother and sister, and emails them frequently.
- Music: Despite him learning the piano being a parent-ordained activity, he actually enjoyed it, and took up violin and guitar lessons of his own accord.
- Reading: Books are awesome, and Eric will defend that to the death, probably.
- People: People are also awesome, and he pretty much wants to be friends with everyone! Well, the nice ones, anyway. He isn't really very sure what to do with the not nice ones.
Dislikes>>
- Competition: it’s never been something Erik has thrived on, and pushy parents have meant that he has developed something of a Thing about anything remotely competitive. He has learned to not inform his parents of this and just do what he’s told, however.
- Cooking: It’s not that Erik doesn’t like food or anything, he’s just really bad at anything in the kitchen.
- Gymnastics: There was a period when Erik’s mother was convinced her son was going to be a gymnast. Erik is very much not a gymnast. For starters, he is far too uncoordinated. However, she was rather disappointed for a couple of years and so Erik has somewhat sad associations of not being good enough associated with gymnastics.
- Swimming: he has never been a very strong swimmer, and while he’s okay splashing around in the shallow end, actually swimming seriously is beyond him. Also, the ocean is terrifying: giant, full of weird animals, and people die in it.
- Sports: Actually, if we're being entirely honest, Erik is really not keen on any sport except riding. This is partly because his natural instinct is to duck when someone throws a ball at him, and this really isn't helpful in the slightest.
- Biology: Definitely his least favourite subject in school. Alright, so he likes animals, but he's really not into their insides, and his dislike of blood makes dissections intensely terrible.
- Blood: On the same note as above, Erik is one of those people who gets twitchy at the sight of blood, though he's significantly better if it's not his own blood, mainly because then his desire to help partly helps him overcome it.
Fears>>
- Being a disappointment and upsetting others. This is his absolute worst nightmare ever, and while he is kind of sure he's already a disappointment to his parents, he desperately tries to proof himself to them however he can. As for anyone else, he really, really doesn't want to let them down.
- The ocean: he knows this is completely irrational, but he really dislikes giant, salty bodies of water. The potential for being swept out and drowned is far too high, as far as he's concerned. And if he's entirely honest, he's not so keen on getting sand stuck absolutely everywhere either, which always seems to happen when he's on a beach.
- Sometimes the world can be a very scary place, and even for someone optimistic and wanting to believe the best in everything, the news can be disheartening and alarming with distressing frequency.
Hopes>>
- To go to a good university and to make his parents proud.
- To improve his riding and his horsemanship as much as he can.
- To actually own a horse some day! He's working on his parents.
Secrets>>
- He didn't pick up Aramis (his cat) from a friend as he said, but off the street - he's pretty sure his parents wouldn't approve of this act, but he couldn't just leave the little tabby there, could he? So he hasn't mentioned that to them...
- Though it is almost a secret from himself, on some level, he very much feels like the unfavoured child, and while he knows his parents love him, he's not entirely sure if they actually like him - he doesn't tend to think about it very much though.
It’s the way I’m feeling I just can’t deny
Appearance>>
Usually active and moving, it can sometimes be hard to get a good look at Erik. Quite short and slender, he isn’t at all physically imposing, and given the height of the rest of his family he isn’t really expecting a growth spurt to come along and enable him to not have to look up at most people he meets. His hair is black and usually tousled, and he has a habit of running his hands through it, which doesn't help with neatness whatsoever. His eyes are a dark shade of brown, almost black depending on the light, and he has managed a very even combination of his parents' features, though his face is still very much the soft one of a child. He kind of hopes he'll get dramatic cheekbones, but is pretty sure he's not going to manage it. He does manage a nice smile, though. Rather uncertain of where his limbs actually are, unless he's on a horse he has no coordination whatsoever. He likes to dress in bright colours and bold patterns, so do not expect to see him in black if he can avoid it.
Markings>> A single piercing in his left ear - he usually wears a smooth, plain silver stud in it.
But I’ve gotta let it go
Medical History>> Apart from the normal childhood catalogue of illnesses and bumps and bruises (he's good at those, mainly because he's really good at falling over things), he has managed to break his collarbone twice falling out of bed, once on each side of his neck. And he doesn't even have a bunk bed...
Criminal History>> None (thankfully - the thought terrifies him!)
Full History>>
Family:
Mother: Crystal Lam (Chinese name: Lam MinJuan)
Father: Samuel Choi (Korean name: Choi Sung-Hoon)
Elder brother: Michael Choi (27)
Elder sister: Charlotte Choi (25)
Born to second generation Cantonese and Korean immigrants to Vancouver, Erik was something of a surprise to his parents. Eleven years younger than his elder sister, he wasn’t a very planned child, and as such has always felt like the tag-a-long afterthought. His parents were strict, pushing for success and always measuring Erik up against his brilliant elder siblings and the children of their friends, so to say that he developed something of an inferiority complex would be something of an understatement. However bad they were at showing it, though, they did - and do - love their son, even if he isn't what they were planning, and so were determined to give him a good childhood. Which they did, and he was happy, never wanting for anything except some more parental affection, and perhaps less pressure about grades and things.
Despite the fact that his siblings were a lot older than him - and that both had moved out by the time he was ten - he became close to them, and that bond has stuck. They're always certain in his affection for him, and both Michael and Charlotte are good at talking him down when he gets really wound up about the pressure and expectations his parents are putting on him - on them all, in fact, for they are quite certain their children will be the best at whatever they do. Though they have rarely all lived in the same place, they email and Skype a lot with each other.
Growing up was pretty ordinary for Erik, really. Disastrous attempt at gymnastics, far more successful attempts at musical instruments... and then when Erik was 11, he first sat on a horse. it was at a friend's birthday party, but from that moment Erik was gone. He petitioned for riding lessons as a present for his birthday, and was soon merrily riding once a week - that was shortly upped to far more frequently than that, and he began to spend a lot of his spare time hanging around the stables and helping out where he could.
As such, when he came across mentions to Blue Ridge Riding Academy, he began to make plans. Not only would it include riding, but it had a great academic reputation - and it would allow him to begin making his own way, to do something his siblings hadn't done (for however much he adores them, he also does feel constantly in their shadow), to maybe make his parents proud. Once his parents had carefully examined the school's record and exam grades, they consented, and so Erik (and Aramis) were off to Kentucky!
We found love in a hopeless place
Pet Name>> Aramis
Registered Name>> None
Age>> 4
Gender>> Male
Species>> Feline
Breed>> Who knows? Moggy.
Registry>> None.
Personality>>
Erik has no idea what happened to Aramis before he stumbled across the cat, but he thinks probably not good things, because the tabby is wary around strangers and can be really twitchy, flinching away from noises and unexpected motions. He does like cuddles, however, and in true cat fashion, loves nothing more than sitting on Erik just as he's about to get up or do something. Nervous and not particularly curious, Aramis is definitely an inside cat, and likes his world to be very orderly, with lots of stroking and hugging from his well-trained human. Despite Erik's parents best efforts, nothing will stop him from sleeping on Erik's bed.
History>>
Erik found Aramis on a Vancouver street corner on his way back from the stables one day, hiding under a bush and meowing piteously. Despite the noise, the little grey tabby kitten flinched away from any movement Erik made, and it took him a good 45 minutes to finally capture him, accompanied with a lot of scratches. It then took three months - and a lot of pleading with parents to let him keep the animal - before Aramis would come near Erik or deign to be stroked, and he has never been a confident cat even since. Named for the book he was reading at the time (one of Erik's favourites), Aramis never really took to anyone the way he eventually took to Erik, so there was absolutely no question that the cat was definitely coming with him when he went off to school.
Appearance>> Picture
