Heracles Karpusi

personality

[attr="class","profileboxscroll"]This strange creature known as Heracles is the perfect example of the adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover." The outward qualities he plays himself as having make for a very boring and uninteresting individual. He appears to be quiet and lazy, obsessed with uninteresting hobbies. He is a slob who leaves his items strewn about in such a way one can scarcely find their way around his office. He seems to care little for the plights of others, bothering only with low grades when confronted personally about them. When not teaching, writing, or sketching Heracles can commonly be found sleeping between classes, nestled between the pillows and blankets he keeps thrown in a corner of his office. Were it right for first impressions to determine the full extent of one's character, Heracles might be defined as unpleasant.

This is far from the truth, however.

His words he reserves for moments that require them. True, Heracles can find passion in his interests and is known to speak at length about history, legends, and the tales of his homeland, but his voice is kept ready only for when they are demanded. In this he can be defined as quiet, but it is a word that does not do him justice. In the presence of the right people, Heracles will not shut up. It is simply a matter of both getting on his good side and finding out precisely what buttons trigger the flow of words. When the happens, the volume to which he devotes his passions is incongruous to the whisper he often speaks. It is in these moments that one might hear Heracles as he truly is.

Heracles can find reason to be enthusiastic where others might find naught but boredom.

He appears to be unkempt, if the reader will recall, and though this is not completely untrue Heracles would deny that he is unhygienic or that he is messy for the sake of being messy. In truth, Heracles has a system. It is a strange system, but it seems to work for him as despite the unruly manner in which his office supplies tend to be kept, he somehow knows where everything is. This is why he rarely cleans up his things, because he knows if he does that he will need to relearn everything's positions again. He figures that, so long as he keeps the majority of his mess away from his desk, no one will bother him about it. In stark contrast to the room surrounding it the desk is fairly neat, proving that Heracles is capable of degree of cleanliness.

Another perceived quality is his laziness, but it is also one unfairly earned. An insomniac by nature, Heracles is plagued at night by rampant thoughts. His brain, for some reason or another, cannot seem to shut down appropriately come nighttime, leaving Heracles tossing and turning trying to get comfortable. Even when Heracles does manage sleep he does so fitfully, awaking from his half-hearted slumber with a body that's been without an actually good night's sleep for a very long time. Thus, Heracles must supplement his day with naps, catching sleep whenever he can get it. For some reason he can manage sleep easier during the day than he can at night, and he's wondered often if he should attempt night classes instead.

He spares what energy he does have for the things he likes the most, be they interests or people. 

history

[attr="class","profileboxscroll"]In truth, Heracles is not nearly as enigmatic as he seems. His origins are rather humble when compared to the prestige that comes with Durmstrang. Before beginning his story, however, it is appropriate to begin with his parents. Angeliki was the first daughter and second child of her parents, the current 'heads' of the prominent Loukas family, named for its founding patriarch. Their names are unimportant, as Angeliki would never share them with her husband nor with her son. In her youth, she was invited and subsequently sent to Durmstrang, as tradition mandated. Their pureblood family expected the best from her and she would come to deliver.

Eventually sorted into Vatten, Angeliki would spend the following seven years of her life embroiled in the complexities of Durmstrang's educational system, fluttering between the physical rigors and the academic challenges before eventually graduating in the top 10% of her class, gathering further honor and prestige as the Waves of Vatten managed the honor of winning that year's ceremony. Needless to say, her return home for the final time was triumphant and it seemed that she would make the family the proudest it had been in many decades.

Before embarking upon the next trials of her life, Angeliki decided to spend a few years traveling, much to the dismay of her parents. She was barely nineteen at the time and though she could clearly take care of herself, seeing their child be so intimate with muggle society was distressing. They had good reason to be worried for while traveling through the island of Korkyra Angeliki found herself drawn into the life of the young Ioannis Karpusi, a fisherman's son just over a year her junior.

From the perspective of her family he was unbearably common. He knew little of upper-class etiquette, had comparatively little money to his name, and spent most of his time on the sea with his father, learning the trade he would eventually use to make his living. Worst of all... he was a muggle, blissfully unaware of the Wizarding World. What daughter of theirs could mingle with such company? Yet, for some reason or another, she did. They spotted each other as she took in the clean sea air, eyes locking as they seemed to coincidentally look in each other's direction. She would hesitate later to explain what she felt at that moment, as what drove her then to speak to him eluded her even into her elder years, but she did.

And rather than continue on her trip through the Balkans she stayed in Korkyra where, three years later, she would eventually marry Ioannis, taking his surname when her family struck theirs from her name in protest. They disowned her for sullying their bloodline with this muggle man. A single member of her family would later initiate contact, but for the most part she found acceptance in Ioannis's family, who welcomed her with open arms. It is here we begin the story proper. Nearly two years after their marriage the two of them would welcome Heracles into their family.

He was a fine lad, inheriting the best of his parents: Ioannis's solid physique and the beautiful hair and eyes of his mother... and her affinity for magic, of course. They caught glimpses of his magic throughout infancy and childhood - an errant swing of a heavy drape, a dish flying from a shelf, a bully sent flying back several meters when all Heracles mustered was a slight push - though Ioannis simply wrote these happenings off as mere coincidence. Angeliki was far more concerned, though rarely did she show it, for she knew that eventually she would need to tell her husband the truth about her parentage and that their son might very well follow in her footsteps. Surprisingly, this was a thought that never crossed her mind until later when she realized that, being a muggle, he had never learned about the Wizarding World.

Heracles discovered early that he had a particular affinity for cats - animals, but cats in particular. For some reason or another they felt drawn to him, perhaps as a side-effect of his budding magic, but the Karpusi family were thus never without several cats throughout his youth. Each pet they brought home Heracles could say he personally picked. The strangest of his magic made itself known months prior to his eleventh birthday, while out on a boat with his father. The two of them had fished before, but this particular trip was less about business and more about simply relaxing out on the water. 

For some reason, and Ioannis could never properly describe was he was experiencing, the fish bit in unusually high numbers that day. Fish had crowded around the boat to the point where the gleam of their scales was visible below the water's surface, each trying to swim over the other to reach the baited hooks. Some had taken to biting their fellows to make it into the boat. No sooner had Ioannis commented upon the strangeness did fish begin to leap into the boat out of desperation. They came home with many fish that night, and soon after this event did Heracles receive his invitation to Durmstrang, prompting Angeliki to finally sit both of them down to explain herself. Up until this point, Heracles was unaware that the strangeness in his life was attributed to magic. 

Ioannis and Heracles received the news far better than Angeliki expected. Ioannis laughed, absolutely tickled that his boy was the cause of all the silliness they'd been experiencing since he was born. Perhaps something inside of him expected and this was merely confirmation of what he already knew. Angeliki was relieved nonetheless, and Heracles, after adapting to the newness in his situation, set off to Durmstrang later that year with the messenger that had delivered his letter.

rp sample

[attr="class","profileboxscroll"]Quill scratched at paper. The ink flowed evenly down the hollow shaft to the shallow divots embedded by the quill's point. With handwriting seemingly ill-fit for a man with such messy surroundings, Heracles drew loops and swirls with near-perfect cursive. Let it be known to all that this man is capable of appearing even somewhat well-bred. He was not writing a letter home - though it must be said that home does depend on one's definition of the word. Is it simply the place you return to, or is it whatever makes you feel the most comfortable? The most welcome? If in the case of the latter, perhaps home is the better choice of words.

This letter was one of many, addressed to the only other person he spared his time for. In his youth he suspected these letters were a waste of time. They'd amount to nothing and eventually would mean nothing, having been written in vain. They were an ultimately futile protest to the injustices of the world. And yet he always got replies, thickly scented with whatever she'd been wearing at the time. It was covert communications, not unlike a secretive protagonist in a spy film sending letters to a forbidden lover, though Heracles was not quite so suave nor exotic. This was, perhaps, the most exciting part of his day knowing that with every word they wrote they went against centuries of tradition and broke every rule in the book. Or perhaps he was being dramatic. Nonetheless the words he wove upon the parchment would enrage the very fiercest of his lover's family.

 

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