Name
Alena Rurik
Appearance
Ever since she was a girl Alena was always the tallest amongst her peers, and while puberty should’ve averaged this instead she hit the king of growth spurts that placed her taller than nearly every student – and some teachers. Alena presently stands at a towering six foot three inches, and despite her athleticism Alena’s tall frame gives her a certain awkward, lean look that would probably appear unhealthy were it not for the toned muscle packed onto her body. Further she appears rather pale for such an active girl, though not in a ghostly white fashion, due solely to the fact Alena has the tendency to burn rather than tan. Marked on this light skin are freckles speckled across the bridge of her nose and cheeks, a hint of them on her arms.
As with most people the most expressive parts of Alena are her dark green eyes, though perhaps a little to the extreme as each shift in mood is shown unguarded to the world. It’s not hard to see naivety in the almost puppyish wide eyed look often present on her face, brows moving to reflect every thought. This open gaze is framed by light red, nearly orange hair that goes to just beneath her shoulder blades. Often the strands are pulled back into a practical ponytail with a few loose bangs, though on rare occasions the athlete allows it to drape down her shoulders when there’s no impending activities to attend. The latter look is soon more often in Alena’s school uniform, which along with Alena being convinced looks odd on her frame is also impractical for most of her more physical activities. If she didn’t respect uniforms so much she might even be prompted to challenge it.
Age
18
Grade
Senior
Social Class
Elite
Social Class ExplanationAlena Rurik could very well be the poster child for model athlete. With a specialization in strength at age fifteen she broke the women’s deadlift world record in her weight class at in the IWF Junior World Championships. While this is what brought her renown Alena is no stranger to participating in many other sports as well, which is no surprise considering her lineage. Her own father was once an up and coming Olympian weight lifter before following in his family’s long history of enlisting. Yet although athletics might’ve got Alena into Caelbury based on her gifts alone, her family isn’t exactly lower class either. The true elite status of the Rurik family stems from the love of her father’s life – an unlikely couple as Alena’s mother is a sought after classical musician and composer from a wealthy and well-respected line of the same.
PersonalityMost people who meet Alena would describe her as a giant puppy; all big paws and sparkling eyes with a toothy grin that seems to radiate all her excitement and cheer in life. She’s the type of person to roll out of the bed in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to the face the day, and chat to every bleary eyed passerby along the way merely in an effort to be friendly. In truth it’s not hard for Alena to get on other’s nerves despite her intentions, something she learned long ago. As such she tries to bite her tongue and refrain from being overbearing when she notices irritation in others. The easiest people to reign herself in around are those in positions of authority. Teachers, officials and superior officers all receive a great amount of respect from Alena and due in part to her father’s military influence she becomes stiff and polite for the most part; at times she still tends to slip into excited rambling when touching on a topic of interest.
In spite of this somewhat air headed personality however Alena is reliable. On top of always wanting to help she’s never drank, never done drugs, and every instance she’s been late there’s been an unavoidable reason. She’s been to every practice for her sports and every lesson from her mother without fail, and the amount of times she’s skipped out on doing her exercises can be counted on one hand. Sun, rain, snow or hail she’ll be there as expected, and more than once before Caelbury her parents would have to forbid her from going out for her morning runs when sick.
In the face of all this the calm of Alena’s personality can be almost jarring to those who see it for the first time. There are occasions in Alena’s life where she finds herself having to do important tasks for her superiors, and more often than that in competitive atmospheres. In these moments Alena seems to relax from her springing, excitable personality to become focused, sharp, and in case of certain sports almost aggressive. Every loss is taken personally, every failure a black mark in her mind. She was taught to never be a sore loser but it’s obvious to tell the results of a match the following day purely based on if Alena is her usual boisterous self, since anyone who’s known Alena more than a week could easily tell you every emotion is worn on her sleeve.
Despite her open personality however there’s one thing she’s guarded about: academics. You’ll never hear it from her but Alena has never, and will never, be the brightest crayon in the box. She struggles with studies often, but refuses to ask for help in most cases. After all Alena
hates being seen as a stereotypical dumb jock, but much to her chagrin falls into that category more than she’d like to admit.
HistoryThe Rurik family consists of a long line of Russian military men and an even longer history of first born sons, but with the birth of Alena years before most assumed that these two long told histories was finally coming to an end with the latest generation. As it turns out while she may not have been able to change the circumstances of her birth Alena had every intention of following at least one tradition.
Alena’s parents were a classic case of opposites attract; while her father Nicholas was a true son of the military her mother, Anna, comes from the famed Lorcan's of Ireland, a family known for their members being musicians and composers. It was pure chance that they met, as after being dragged by his then-girlfriend to the touring pianist’s concert Nicholas fell in love with Anna's music, resolving in his stubborn mind to meet the woman who made such beautiful music by getting VIP tickets to her next performance. Needless to say despite the circumstances they hit it off and things grew from there (though Nicholas' now ex-girlfriend still gets sour around classical music).
It didn’t take Alena long to become a Daddy’s girl after her birth, and with the territory came the young girl’s desire to follow completely in his footsteps. Join the military, serve her country, and maybe show off a bit before then; Nicholas was more than happy to encourage his little one into such an active lifestyle. It wasn’t exactly hard for her as Alena was often bigger than even her male classmates – her lifestyle combined with a towering height due to taking after her father in more than just personality made sure of it. Still, both her parents thought it would be a phase. As she grew Alena would no doubt become more interested in Anna’s craft as boys became a primary concern and following after her parents seemed less pressing. While true that she adored her mother’s talents, her concerts, and had lessons with her every day, to their surprise her passion never waned. Some of Alena’s earliest memories, after all, were stubbornly getting up in the morning before her father could leave for his morning jog and insisting with puffed up cheeks and a pout on her lip that she come along. Her favorite mornings were when he’d walk with her, holding her hand and regaling the sleepy, stubborn girl with stories in the rising sun before she inevitably had to be picked up as she began to doze off once more.
Eventually Alena stopped falling asleep, and within a few years her father was the one having to keep up with her.
What had started out as wanting to be like her father soon grew into Alena becoming her own person, though her line may have been parallel to many of the Rurik line before her. What was once simply following her father’s workout became her own daily routine, tweaked and modified to her suiting and often with recordings of her mother’s pieces to keep her company. Of course had everything been sunshine and roses Alena would probably still be in Russia.
When she had entered her teenage years it was likely partially due to the fact that she was so exceedingly open that Alena let it slip to her parents that she had kissed one of her classmates. A female classmate. Her parents initially hoped it was just a phase, that it would pass. Alena told her parents honestly it wasn’t. And they accepted it, despite all their worries of her being persecuted in a country that still saw it as something to be ashamed of. It was this worry, this love for their only child, that caused Alena’s parents to make a very large decision in their life – to move away from Russia to somewhere their precious daughter could be happy as who she was. Ireland was one of the leading candidates due to being her mother’s homeland and but ultimately their chosen destination ended as the USA, land of the free. It was an awkward move, made more so by being foreign in a new land and to top it off a lanky, towering teenager.
The teasing was bad in middle school, the girl easily hurt and it showing with her open personality. What was supposed to be a better life turned into Alena throwing herself into her workout and routines with renewed fervor, and this combined with the fact no one ever told her she couldn’t do it had Alena reaching new heights with her efforts. When she was thirteen she could finally start entering, and winning, dead lift competitions along with joining various sports in an effort to cultivate friendships. It worked to a degree. Yet by the time she hit fifteen Alena officially surpassed her father – by breaking a world record.
Her parents were proud. Amazingly proud. They began looking for schools that could cultivate her gift – her mother’s family, the Lorcan family, though not the fame they were expecting were pleased that she was making a name for herself and made more than a few suggestions. From there life was finally picking up for Alena. She was settling into her new life, was finally beginning to forge tentative bonds with teammates and catching the eye of scouters, and trainers were lining up to try and take her under their wing. After the first trainer Alena swore them off however – they were interested in a record breaker, in pushing limits for glory rather than the enjoyment of a girl who only wanted to join the military when she was of age. It wasn’t their fault – Alena felt rather bad after it became obvious her first trainer was pushing for her to train for the Olympics when she had no intention of doing so.
That’s also what made it so hard to accept Caelbury Academy’s invitation when it first came in. Her parents were thrilled of course, Caelbury being one of the schools they were looking into using the Lorcan name's status to try and apply for. Alena wasn’t so sure. Would it just be leading those educators on as well? And she was certainly no genius.
Yet as fate would have it Alena accepted it. Their sports and MCJROTC programs were too good to pass up, and after all she wanted to be the best, and the best she could be could only be found at Caelbury Academy. With any luck, in exchange she’d be able to break a record in their honor next.
Extracurricular ActivitiesCadet Officer of the MJCROTC, Weightlifter, member of the Football team.
Miscellaneous:-Doesn’t speak perfect English due to Russian being her first language.
-Knows how to play both the piano and violin, and has the latter with her for sentimental reasons. She’s rather rusty much to her mother’s chagrin.
-Knows Sambo martial arts; practices it every second week in place of her usual workout.
-Alena is so far in the closet she’s visiting Narnia.
-Has perfect penmanship, the kind that would make a man weep.
Midna-Phobia