Post by Dr. Heracles Karpusi on Nov 13, 2010 14:11:54 GMT -5
Human Name: Heracles Karpusi
Name of Country: Greece
Age: 27
Personality:
A slow-paced man, Heracles comes across as aloof, but in his heart of hearts, he does mean well. He is cautious and intuitive, preferring to assess the situation before making a decision. He does not initially trust people because he has met too many manipulative people who would willingly twist lies to meet their agenda. Heracles simply adapted to those type of people.
Additionally, he can be quite paranoid. This comes from his tendency to think too much about a situation, overanalyzing all the causes and effects. He does take medicine for his acute paranoia, but there are times when his logical half still has to battle the morbid fantasies his brain will conjure. Typically, he will imagine that people are trying to harm him or trying to deter him from doing his job.
Appearing lackadaisical, Heracles surprises people when he remembers their names, ages, interests, etc. He is sure to be familiar with each of his patients so that they will be comfortable while working with him. Although such tactics has made any political decisions especially hard, he prefers that his patients be humans for him instead of simply a disorder and a room number. Heracles is very empathetic and will often go out of his way to help a new patient adjust to the ward or to coax an unruly patient to calm down. Patient and hardworking, he is one of the few doctors that sometimes spends several days on the grounds.
He absolutely despises being treated his age. Although he was the top in his class and quite knowledgeable, his young age still leaves him vying for respect in the medical world. On the other hand, he can be somewhat arrogant. He is intelligent and may be rightfully proud of his academic achievements. But he also uses his arrogance as a shield against his so-called intellectual equals. He does not easily trust other scholars because he believes that most people who seek knowledge merely for the sake of accolade are conceited and care naught for the well-being of their patients.
He can be quite lazy, and he will give up on projects quickly if he encounters problems. At his home, for instance, he may start a small construction problem only to become either frustrated or bored. Then he moves on, leaving many unfinished jobs in and around his house. For the most part, he has avoided this bad habit in the workplace. He obviously devotes more time to his work than to his personal life. If anything, he can be so drawn into his work that he will often skip meals and forgo other necessities.
Interests:
• Neurology; He believes that the brain is the most powerful factor in all disorders and that, with effective care and therapy, any disorder can be reverted by the patient himself. Naturally, most doctors do not agree with this philosophy of his.
• Cats; All animals, in fact, interest him, and for a time, he had considered going into veterinary school instead of psychiatry and neurology.
• Painting; Though he has not painted or drawn anything worthy of displaying in the past several months, he does enjoy art, and it is a hobby that helps relieve his stress.
• Children; He both likes them and is scared of them. He believes that children are the most honest and perceptive of human beings. He has considered going into child psychology, but for the time, he merely finds comfort in their company. Part of him wishes to be a dad, but he realizes that he is still very young and that his work is foremost in his current life.
• Action movies; They're the brainless, explosion-riddled, testosterone-fueled stories that Heracles enjoys watching when he doesn't want to think and just wants to see some villains get beat up. It's another stress relief for him.
• Soccer/football; He took the sport up in high school and continued to play in university as well. He always played offense and was rather good by his senior year in undergraduate school.
• Folk and instrumental music; He likes it as background noise whenever he's having to go through mountains of paperwork in his office.
Dislikes:
• Deep water; Ever since an accident he had at a summer camp where he fell into the lake, he has been terrified of oceans and other murky waters. To the say the least, he doesn't know how to swim.
• Coffee; He likes the way it smells, and that is where it ends. He cannot stand its taste, and he also reacts strongly to caffeine, going into a high only to crash a couple hours later.
• Stress; Unlike many other workaholics, Heracles does not work well under stress, and if it becomes too much for him, he'll stop what he's doing and take a short nap. It helps him to refocus. If he were to continue despite his mounting stress, he would be more likely to make a mistake.
• Romantic relationships; One-night stands are not uncommon for him, but he never expects more than sex. He is too wary of people to want to open himself up to them. He prefers knowing people and helping others—not the other way around.
• Lilies; The flowers remind him of his mother's funeral, and he cannot stand seeing them or being around them.
• Religion; Raised in a Greek Orthodox home, he has since denounced his views in the name of science and whatnot. He grew up having trouble with religion, and after his mother's death, he gave it up altogether.
Fears:
• Death; He is young and, therefore, doesn't think of mortality often. It is a thought that plagues him during the silence of the night. It is then that he must fight the panic he feels whenever he worries that he'll die before he can do everything that he hopes to do.
• Large cities and crowds; More of a phobia, this particular fear plays into Heracles' paranoia. If he does find himself in a large crowd or unguided on the streets of a large city, he is prone to panic attacks, and his discomfort only worsens his situation as he further disorients himself.
• Boats; Boats are typically on water, and Heracles cannot swim. He never plans to learn how to swim, either.
History:
Heracles Karpusi was born in Herakleion on the island of Crete to a young fishing couple, their oldest and only child. Early life in Greece was uneventful for the young boy, and his earliest memories consist of a blur of senses—the sound of his mother clanging pots as she cooked, the scent of the sea wafting in through the windows, the bright green of his father's eyes twinkling as the man looked down at his son.
Life upended rather abruptly in the young boy's life, however, when his father did not come home from work one day. Confused, Heracles could only accept the situation and his mother's teary silences with the trust of a little boy. His parents had seemed so happy. His young ears had even heard talk of having a second child—a little brother or sister for him. But one day, some men, wearing work clothes similar to Heracles' father, showed up on the Karpusis' doorstep. Heracles was hurriedly pushed into another room as his mother talked with the men, tears choking up her voice. Try as he might, the little boy could not fully hear the exchange, but he could see the tightening muscles in his mother's face, the light dulling in her eyes. Quietly, she rose and bid goodbye to her guests, not even offering refreshments.
Unable to gather the courage to bother her that very night, Heracles quietly escaped into the neighborhood where he played the evening away. When he did finally ask his mother what had become of his precious papa, she managed a small smile and told him the same story that he would hear for many years. Papa moved away. He got a good job and wants to make sure that we will have plenty of money to be comfortable. Don't worry, Heracles. Your papa loves you very much. It was not until he was sixteen when his mother finally relented and told him what he had suspected for years. His father had committed an unpardonable sin and had been found, hanging dead from a rafter in one of the boathouses.
Unable to support the two of them, his mother contacted her brother who lived in the United States. Arrangements were made, and only months after his father's unusual disappearance, Heracles found himself with his mother on a plane bound for the New World. For a time, life was no easier. They stayed with his uncle and his family in this strange new place. Heracles took to English quickly and found himself fascinated with the strange syllables and sounds. In a short space of time, he had already made many friends in the neighborhood. His mother soon found a job as a maid, and Heracles started school.
His mother determined that he would never forget his Greek heritage, and every day after school, she would give him extra lessons to complete in addition to his homework—mainly language and history lessons. Heracles took to each of his classes (including his mother's extra tutoring) extremely well, and much to his mother's surprise, his second grade teacher contacted her about boosting her son a grade ahead. For once, Heracles felt like his mother seemed genuinely happy again, and this rare emotion became his strongest incentive to want to succeed.
The first cat he truly loved was a scrawny tabby that he discovered when he was eight. His mother immediately informed him that they couldn't keep a cat when they didn't own their own place. But that didn't stop Heracles from leaving food out every night for the cat. In silent rebellion, he even named the cat Tom—after Tom Sawyer, a distinctly American name of which his mother would never approve. As it would turn out, Tom had an owner—another Greek immigrant who lived in the neighborhood. He and Heracles crossed paths when the man was looking for Tom one evening. His mother discovered the meeting, and hurriedly, she had rushed outside to apologize for her son's behavior. The man, however, seemed to take a liking to both Heracles and the little boy's mother. He ended up spending the evening with the them and their relatives, sharing his own story of how and why he had left Greece.
It really took no one by surprise when Heracles' mother became engaged to the man. The engagement was short, and following the marriage, Heracles and his mother moved into the basement flat that the man rented from an elderly couple. Their income—combined or not—was still small, and his mother continued to work as a maid while the new stepfather had jobs fixing old cars. Often when his mother worked late and Heracles came home from school, his stepfather would show him the inner workings of the engines. As the boy's trust increased, he truly came to enjoy being with his new father.
Life was never meant to be peaceful for Heracles, though, and losing his virginity at the age of nine to his stepfather seemed almost normal. The day had been uneventful, his mother was working late again. His stepfather had been the only one home. Confused more than hurt, Heracles complied when his stepfather told him to keep quiet about it—that it was to be their special little secret. Life continued that way for several years until his mother discovered the two of them in the bedroom together. Horrified, she wasted no time in uprooting herself and her son once more, returning to her brother's home.
A rift had forced itself between mother and son, and for the rest of his teenage years, he could never bring himself to look her fully in the eye. He buried himself into his schoolwork, his honor classes, and sports. He never heard more about his stepfather, just a passing comment about custody payments and divorce papers. In high school, Heracles developed his first interest in psychology merely by watching the actions of his classmates. Students would be dropped into similar scenarios—lost loves, parents' divorce, pets dying, failing a class, sports injuries—and depending entirely on their temperament, the students all reacted differently. Despite his fascination with the human psyche, however, it was not until his second year in university that he dropped his planned major in veterinary science to instead take neurology. His mother had seemed surprised by his sudden change of heart, but the same way she reacted to the rest of his decisions as a young adult, she no longer voiced any disapproval and did not even bat an eye when her son moved out, off to start his own life.
All throughout his university years, he met many people who came and went in his life. Being younger than many of his classmates, he was often the target of bullying and jealousy. Between the fake friends and brief, ill-fated flings with a couple of girls, Heracles retreated into himself, studying his peers from afar. His high marks and high praises from teachers easily landed him a position as an intern in a rehabilitation home while he finished his doctorate. The young Greek knew he had finally found his calling in life as he spoke with patients at the home. He understood them, and the patients knew this, speaking openly and freely with the soft-spoken man.
Only a year before he completed his dissertation, his mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer, unfortunately in the late stages. Helpless, Heracles could only watch as his mother grew weaker and weaker, finally surrendering to death's call. The rest was a blur to him as he visited the funeral, a bouquet of lilies clutched desperately in his clammy hands. When he was about to lay his flowers onto the folded hands of his mother, her pale face solemn in the open casket, he lost his composure and rushed out of the church, his breath shoving out of his throat in haggard puffs.
Washing the death from his hands with bleach once he reached home, Heracles shoved his worries to the back of his mind. His completed dissertation received much attention from doctors, and the young man was offered several job positions. Without any hesitation, he accepted the one farthest from his childhood home, determined to outrun the ghosts of his memories. He skipped the farewells to relatives with whom he never felt connected, and he traveled across the country to a new home, a new job, and a new life. He quietly wore his scars on his heart, taking upon himself the burden of being a savior rather than a victim. Here, he was the doctor, not the patient, and at last, he had found a proper way to fill the void in his mind.
This was to be his chance for a new life.
Out of Character
[/color][/b]Name/Nickname: Liz
Timezone: -5 GMT Eastern
Contact Info: Please ask. c:
A little about you: In case you didn't already know, communism is quite bad for your eyes. A great mentor told me that once—the great Edaniel~ He was a cat and, therefore, held a special place in my heart. For other news, I have played Austria, Greece, and Germany on other boards. Obviously, I picked Greece for this one. So, whenever he's not sleeping on the job, he will be your resident doctor. c: