Sergei Yesenin

"Happiness is agility of mind and hands. All awkward souls are known for their misery. In times of great loss and when you’re sad, smiling and maintaining a simple appearance is the highest art in the world."

Sergei is a handsome man with a very melancholic air about him. He isn’t very tall but can still appear imposing when he needs to, using his acting skills to improve his posture and voice. The way he carries himself can be really strong and full of energy and resolve, but he looks depressed more often than that. He has two completely different sides: he is both a gentle sensitive soul and a hooligan who loves to fight, attract trouble and drink too much. He fights well and is strong enough to kill, even though he would rather not actually kill anyone. Despite his nervous nature and violent tendencies, he can be genuinely nice and understanding. Very thoughtful and attentive to details and people. A romantic and a dreamer who loves nature, poetry and beautiful ladies.

He used to be a famous actor, was married several times with children in every marriage, but he could never settle somewhere. There was always something missing in his life, something was always wrong. Though he valued family, was always honest about love and faithful despite his flirty attitude, it seems like he wasn’t made to be a husband. Acting was always his greatest passion. Now that he has lost everything he loved in his life, he remains with The Rats and tries to help them with finding The Book so that he can get rid of his ability, The Black Man. It’s difficult for Sergei to cooperate with his ability, however. He blames it for ruining his life instead of his own dangerous side.

Sergei's big challenge of controlling his ability comes from the fact that he strongly divides the two of them. He believes that The Black Man is some kind of evil spirit who haunts him doing whatever he wants. He appears to be so independent, Sergei isn't sure if he has any control here. And he certainly wouldn't think that they are parts of the same being. The Black Man can feel what he feels, know what he knows, he even looks like a mirror image of Sergei. He represents a part of him that Sergei doesn't want to acknowledge either. And if he did, he could become very powerful.

His ability, The Black Man, is a familiar who looks like a well dressed mirror image of Yesenin that is black like a shadow, his eyes shining a bright blue light. He wears a frock coat with a top hat and walks with a cane. He styles his long hair in a neat low ponytail. It’s possible for him to change his appearance at will, but he will still resemble Sergei. The Black Man seems to always be amused about something rather than ever being nervous, unhappy or shocked. He can hide in shadows and mirrors and is around even if no one sees him, always observing and listening. He prefers to stay close to Sergei whether seen or unseen, but is capable of walking away on his own and staying at a certain distance from him. Even at this distance, The Black Man knows what is happening to Sergei, can see what he sees and feel what he feels. However, it doesn’t work vice versa for Sergei. Sergei and The Black Man are close to being two parts of a whole. They share memories, and The Black Man is generally kinder to those Sergei considers friends. Sergei isn’t capable of summoning and dismissing his ability at will yet. For now, he can come and go on his own. If injured seriously enough to kill, The Black Man will disappear with a puff of smoke and reappear sometime later.

The Black Man doesn't fight, his real ability lies in "knowing the truth". Like an answer to a question or the real turn of events, he can find out anything that happened in the life of another person, in the history of an object or an event. It works sort of like a search engine: by being presented with an object, The Black Man can request and see the information about its past, which he can then share with Sergei verbally or via telepathy. The thing is that Sergei is really bad at controlling his ability and The Black Man doesn't share all this knowledge with him immediately, if at all. The Black Man is too capricious and independent, and he loves fun more than being helpful. He only shares the truth with Sergei in very small parts and hints if he feels like it, if he is asked about this correctly and/or if it could push an interesting reaction out of him or someone else. Preferably not as an answer to Sergei’s question, but at The Black Man’s own curiosity in something before him. This is his most common way of sharing information: unprompted gossip. Refusing to answer questions and instead telling something he finds interesting, even if Sergei isn’t allowed to and wouldn’t want to know this. It’s difficult for Sergei to divide what he knows from his own memory and what is given by his ability, which is why talking to him can be unsettling sometimes if you have a special history.

It doesn't matter if someone has to suffer for this, The Black Man still does what he wants, digging into people’s wounds and ridiculing them. He can talk to someone and see their entire life before his eyes, so naturally he'll point at something he'll find interesting, even if it would be rude and intruding to do so. He can be kind at times if someone deserves sympathy in his eyes. Though he’s not a stranger to dark humor, there is no reason for him to ridicule someone who went through something terrible, even though he still will dig into it and find out what happened. It’s much more fun to bully someone over their mistakes. He will still find a way to joke about it. His jokes are terrible and often contain puns or references to the past he dug out. There is another aspect to The Black Man’s kindness: he will not share information that could potentially seriously harm Sergei. Hurting his relationships is alright, but if knowing something could kill both of them, The Black Man will keep it a secret from him. He believes that he knows what is best for Sergei and that he couldn't handle the amount of information that The Black Man exists in constantly.

Due to his extensive knowledge, The Black Man might not be an ability in the usual sense, but it's up for debate. He has little desire to interact with someone other than Sergei and will usually only answer his questions (even if rarely), but it's entirely possible for others to see and interact with him. He can hold a perfectly normal conversation about anything or use his knowledge for someone else, it only depends on his desire to do so. The Black Man is usually polite and well-spoken. He likes to interact with objects in the room he’s in and observe everything. Apparently he doesn’t get overwhelmed with information about the past of every little thing, he only receives access to it if he’s curious to check it. And even then, he is perfectly capable of keeping all these details in his head without any trouble.

• TBA

Sergei became a famous actor in a very short time after finishing his studies. It was a combination of being cast in a popular TV series, his handsome looks and great acting skills. He received one contract after another, his face was well known by many, and he always had a scandal to pick at in the news. He married several times and had several children but rarely did anything required of a father or a husband, though he spent enough time with his families and loved them. The most useful thing he did was sending them money, and money he had more than enough. He was only moved by the art of acting and could barely handle any other responsibilities. But also he never felt satisfied and always thought that something new is exactly what he needs to finally be content. He loved emotions and passion and hated anything that restrains them. He was great at building his network and did a great deal of promoting himself so that he could get into bigger projects and get to know more interesting friends and beautiful ladies. He was rich, popular and cared for, but it was never enough and something was always missing.

Sergei was always a troublemaker and this soiled his reputation heavily. At some point he just wasn't afraid anymore. He never stopped acting, but the more dissatisfied with life he was, the more he fell into general mischievousness, fights with fellow actors and other crew members and drinking himself to oblivion. This was also when people began to speak up about his past involvement with neo-communist activism, just another arrow to others already piercing his career. But it really broke down once he started talking about a black man who speaks to him from mirrors and shadows and follows him everywhere. His family decided to send Sergei to a psychiatric ward, because this was going on for too long and as insufferable as he was, he needed professional help. The Black Man followed him there too of course, unnoticed by all. He didn't like to step into the open when someone else was around, most of all he preferred to speak with Sergei alone. And it was the perfect time to do so.

Sergei was terrified of acting being taken from him while he was in there, and he wanted out as fast as possible. He had far too many problems that needed addressing though, so it wouldn't happen anytime soon. He was devastated, he felt weak and broken. But he was happy to find that some residents of his ward recognized him, and he tried to hold a better image of himself for them. He tried to keep it together and behave because otherwise he would be alone, and this terrified him. There were days when medication was helping and he felt better, even a bit hopeful about the future, though he was never fully convinced. At the same time, he was slowly becoming more nervous and anxious, never knowing where he would be safe. The Black Man really loved to tease him and this showed no signs of improvement from the medical standpoint, he never went away despite any measures. Something could be done to Sergei's anger outbursts and depression, he also received treatment for alcoholism. But there was no way to confirm that The Black Man was something beyond Sergei's hallucinations, it was Sergei alone who believed and insisted that the man was real. The Black Man didn’t feel like revealing himself to other people at the time. Sometimes he gave him awareness of things he shouldn't know. Sergei could speak about something and mention a detail as if he really knew what happened then. It was outside of Sergei's control and he would rather not know these things. It rarely ever felt like something useful and Sergei wanted to run away from this knowledge and The Man but didn't know how. He broke several mirrors trying to bash his face in.

Sergei saw that nothing could help him there, and he wanted to get away from The Black Man more than anything. He couldn't keep up the cheerful persona to be likable for people forever and his reputation was steadily getting worse there too. So one day he escaped the ward, took all that was left in his bank account and tried to go somewhere, anywhere, far enough that it could hopefully save him from the man. Places with people, places without mirrors, his beloved countryside, even outside Russia entirely. Preferably somewhere people wouldn't recognize him, and with his popularity it was a difficult task. During his travels, he was discovered by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who proposed him a way of saving him from his ability. But for this they would need him to work on controlling his ability better, because its knowledge of the past could help their cause. Sergei was sort of happy to join because there was nowhere else he could go and this promised him a chance to get rid of the thing that ruined his life. But the knowledge of an ability also deeply saddened him. He knew now that there would be no easy escape, and he might not be free anytime soon if at all. He absolutely wasn't looking forward to cooperating with The Black Man, yet it was required of him. So joining The Rats left him with complicated feelings.

He fell back into his destructive and depressive habits after joining because there was no one helping or controlling him anymore. Being drunk also made him a little more resistant to The Black Man's preaching and teasing, so this is how he kept himself sane. He still has his pretty looks, but sometimes they require makeup to cover the traces of drinking and fighting. Sergei doesn’t know any languages outside of Russian and still is able to get his point across if he needs to. Despite not knowing other languages he traveled the world and has seen other countries, but there was no place like Russia for him, no other place had a soul that rich.

OLGA GROMYKO
[RIVAL?]

Sergei and Olga are two troublemakers who do nothing but fight and bicker. It’s not friendly fighting however, because Olga doesn't like him very much and doesn’t respect him. Olga sees that Sergei can be dangerous and violent in an unpredictable way, he's as dark and rotten as she is, if not more. She has a tiny portion of sympathy for him, but also is deeply offended knowing that family is not as important for him as for her. She can’t forgive him for throwing away something she always wanted. The way his familiar pokes at her past and feeds some of it to Sergei is absolutely disgusting to her. The Black Man knows all of it, her greatest secret, like it’s a joke to him. Sergei wants to be something like friends with Olga because she is fun, shares his interests and has the same air of country life around her. He has a crush on Mariam and tries to get closer to her, and Olga fiercely protects her because she knows that Mari deserves better.

Sergei and Olga mirror each other in their stories. They have many similarities and also make very different choices. While Olga wonders how could Sergei just throw away everything and wallow in depression, Sergei can't understand how Olga can still be cheerful and happy after going through all that suffering in her life. Sergei is a sensitive soul who thinks deeply and can be hurt easily, and you really need to give it your all to hurt Olga who is too dense to care about stupid stuff. Olga can't relate to Sergei and can't understand him, but also is somewhat intrigued and influenced by him, because he knows her soul and her past, her true self. She hates him and yet can afford to spend time around him in some way. He makes her reflect on her life and become more bitter than ever. Sergei wants to be friends with her but also she pisses him off so much. He sees in her parts of himself that he hates, and yet he relates to her because of them. Both believe themselves to be terrible people and bury the pain and voices in their minds. Both Olga and Sergei are equally suicidal and drive each other even deeper into unhealthy habits, thoughts and feelings about life. When they drink together, they wallow in some kind of miserable mutual understanding. They're rivals who are closer than they think. And the more they try to understand each other, the more they destroy each other.

MARIAM PETROSYAN
[CRUSH/FRIEND]

Sergei is a flirt and loves beautiful ladies, and Mariam is absolutely his type. Not only is she a beauty, he can also see how kind and thoughtful she is. He also relates to her fear of the horrors of being here and her generally anxious personality. Very honest and open about his crush, he tries to get closer to her despite Olga’s protectiveness of Mari and protests about it. Mariam isn't interested in a relationship with Sergei, but she is a lot kinder to him than Olga or anyone else and likes him as a friend. She is naive and can easily sympathize with people, which is why she isn’t as scared as she could be around him. It helps that he is nice and polite with her, because he feels safe with Mariam. They share many values, can both connect in some emotional and vulnerable aspects and are curious about each other’s interests. They're both romantics who think and feel deeply. They like to spend time together, and though Sergei still has feelings for her, he can see that she isn’t interested and doesn’t push it too much. He treasures this friend who likes his company despite everything. Mariam likes both of her friends, she wants them to be happy, get along and fight less. She is kind to both of them and tries to bring them opposite of where their darkness calls them.