OOC: Twenty-Five Facts About Sark
Yeah, I saw this meme going around weeks ago and then forgot about it... And then I got bored. And I'm overly fond of things like this. *shifty* Because... I clearly can't do anything I should be doing with my character journals. *shifty*
1. Socially, he'll drink just about anything even if he doesn't particularly enjoy it (but he usually won't drink very much of it if he doesn't). He prefers red wine and champagne over pretty much anything else.
2. He was part of the choir at boarding school (against his will, he might add) and actually has a rather lovely singing voice, but he only sings when he's alone and stressed out because it calms him down.
3. If he's mad or frustrated enough to swear, he will only use invectives in languages other than English (it's more polite that way somehow) and because of this, he can swear in more languages than he actually speaks fluently.
4. Related to the above, he understands a great deal of languages and can speak most of them well enough, but he doesn't have a spectacular gift for them. He's not atrocious, but he could never pass for a native speaker, and prefers to speak English or Russian over most anything else.
5. He lost his virginity at the age of fifteen to Katya Derevko when he spent the summer with her while Irina was out working on her own, although no one knows this except the two of them. If Sark ever had to own up to it, he'd say that he did it out of childish annoyance at Irina leaving him behind.
6. He considers Irina his primary maternal figure while still being deeply attracted to her (which is ridiculously oedipal, really) and tends to seek out women who remind him of her- strong, domineering, often controlling, etc. Probably one of the more obvious reasons he has such an intense attraction to Sydney is because she's Irina's daughter (on top of the fact that she's his polar opposite and that appeals to him in some weird way)..... Yeah, he has issues.
7. Extremely well-read and has a rather eclectic taste in literature, although if you asked, he'd only make it a point to mention the more pretentious classic titles he enjoys and never, you know, own up to the fact that he read Watership Down seventy-five times when he was in school. He's also fond of poetry, although not to an extreme extent. His favorite line is, unsurprisingly, something by Alexander Pope: "I am his Highness's dog at Kew. Pray tell me, Sir, whose dog are you?"
8. Had to pick up ballroom dancing for the sake of a mission and hated every second of it... Until he got to the tango. He's fucking good at the tango.
9. He's never been fully clear on who his real mother was and by the time he was old enough to look into it, he really didn't care anymore. He assumes she's dead and he may or may not be wrong.
10. He isn't afraid of the dying aspect of death. He's afraid of the world moving on without him and proving he was nothing more than insignificant, and he's fully aware that's an arrogant viewpoint, thank you.
11. The truth is, he's scared of abandonment in any form or fashion, which has a lot to do with why he shifts loyalties (not the whole reason though)- he'd rather abandon other people, then let himself get abandoned. This makes relationships with him a pain in the ass, as he'll get clingy and possessive in a ridiculously restrained way.
12. He's surprisingly affectionate behind closed doors, but he has a reputation to uphold when out in public, so it's very rare that anyone other than the people he finds worthy of his affections actually see that side of him.
13. He's never really had a stable place to call home and mostly lives out of hotel rooms and apartments borrowed from his contacts. He finds the abject lack of stability to be comforting somehow and it keeps life interesting... And really, he's usually too busy working to really have much in the way of a home life anyway.
14. His competence is greatly dependent on who has control over him, because he was hardwired to follow orders to the point that it takes a great force of effort to actively disobey a direct order. He's gotten to a point where most of the plans he concocts on his own without the aide of someone telling him what to do tend to fail epicly. Despite being calculated, he's not a strategist at all and it usually shows.
15. He's technically an assassin, if you had to assign a specific job title to him, but really he just does whatever Irina tells him to do. This is why he's pretty much known in most circles as her lieutenant, because it's nicer than saying 'bitch.' (Well, okay, he's a bit more than just her bitch as far as rank is concerned, but.... Really now.)
16. He has a passion for Cryptology and is damn good at cracking ciphers. It's one of his primary talents.
17. It annoys the hell out of him when people don't take him seriously because of his age, hence why he tries his hardest to appear older than he is... It doesn't work, because even with the suits and the clipped, articulate, well-educated vernacular... He still looks like a little boy. Making fun of his age and ability is probably one of the most surefire ways to piss him off.
18. He makes it a point to never get drunk because when he drinks too much, he doesn't stop talking. More information could probably be gotten out of him by shoving hard liquor down his throat than torture, more than likely. He also tends to be a moody, existential drunk and no one wants that.
19. There are a lot of weird, ridiculous, and often creepy things that he knows, but he is so weak on modern pop culture that most references of that nature will completely go over his head. It's kind of pathetic, honestly, in an adorable way.
20. He and McKenas Cole were partners for a very brief time when Cole was first brought into Irina's fold. "Brief," of course, meaning they went on one mission together. Sark will never tell anyone what happened on that mission, but it probably has a lot to do with why he's terrified of Cole.
21. His feelings for Sydney Bristow fluctuate between lust, respect, jealousy, and a variety of other emotions and sometimes it's hard for him to say whether he wants her as a partner, a lover, an adversary or some weird combination of all three. One thing's for certain, if he weren't usually under orders to eliminate her if she gets in the way of his employer's plans, he would never actually be able to bring himself to kill her. He likes having her around even if she does get him in a confused snit.
22. He has a capacity for hatred, but he doesn't often think most people are worth getting that annoyed at. He hates Michael Vaughn with a blind fervor, however.
23. He detests senseless violence for the sake of violence, but will do whatever his employers tell him to, because that's just what he does. He shows no remorse for his actions, however, simply because he was trained not to, and whether he likes what he's being asked to do means nothing in the long run. He takes no pleasure in killing people who didn't have it coming to them, but it's just a fact of the job and nothing more.
24. If anyone asks, he'd rather tell people that he willingly joined up with Irina and he was always a amoral little shit, because somehow that's better than admitting that he was absolutely nothing before Irina found him and she had to tear him apart to make him what he is right now. It deeply bothers him that he was broken and twisted into this and never actually made the choice. He likes his job, but after all that conditioning, it really becomes debatable whether he likes it because he likes it or because he was conditioned to like it. It's a fucking crazy thing.
25. He doesn't drink tea. Ever. This apparently deeply bothers people.
1. Socially, he'll drink just about anything even if he doesn't particularly enjoy it (but he usually won't drink very much of it if he doesn't). He prefers red wine and champagne over pretty much anything else.
2. He was part of the choir at boarding school (against his will, he might add) and actually has a rather lovely singing voice, but he only sings when he's alone and stressed out because it calms him down.
3. If he's mad or frustrated enough to swear, he will only use invectives in languages other than English (it's more polite that way somehow) and because of this, he can swear in more languages than he actually speaks fluently.
4. Related to the above, he understands a great deal of languages and can speak most of them well enough, but he doesn't have a spectacular gift for them. He's not atrocious, but he could never pass for a native speaker, and prefers to speak English or Russian over most anything else.
5. He lost his virginity at the age of fifteen to Katya Derevko when he spent the summer with her while Irina was out working on her own, although no one knows this except the two of them. If Sark ever had to own up to it, he'd say that he did it out of childish annoyance at Irina leaving him behind.
6. He considers Irina his primary maternal figure while still being deeply attracted to her (which is ridiculously oedipal, really) and tends to seek out women who remind him of her- strong, domineering, often controlling, etc. Probably one of the more obvious reasons he has such an intense attraction to Sydney is because she's Irina's daughter (on top of the fact that she's his polar opposite and that appeals to him in some weird way)..... Yeah, he has issues.
7. Extremely well-read and has a rather eclectic taste in literature, although if you asked, he'd only make it a point to mention the more pretentious classic titles he enjoys and never, you know, own up to the fact that he read Watership Down seventy-five times when he was in school. He's also fond of poetry, although not to an extreme extent. His favorite line is, unsurprisingly, something by Alexander Pope: "I am his Highness's dog at Kew. Pray tell me, Sir, whose dog are you?"
8. Had to pick up ballroom dancing for the sake of a mission and hated every second of it... Until he got to the tango. He's fucking good at the tango.
9. He's never been fully clear on who his real mother was and by the time he was old enough to look into it, he really didn't care anymore. He assumes she's dead and he may or may not be wrong.
10. He isn't afraid of the dying aspect of death. He's afraid of the world moving on without him and proving he was nothing more than insignificant, and he's fully aware that's an arrogant viewpoint, thank you.
11. The truth is, he's scared of abandonment in any form or fashion, which has a lot to do with why he shifts loyalties (not the whole reason though)- he'd rather abandon other people, then let himself get abandoned. This makes relationships with him a pain in the ass, as he'll get clingy and possessive in a ridiculously restrained way.
12. He's surprisingly affectionate behind closed doors, but he has a reputation to uphold when out in public, so it's very rare that anyone other than the people he finds worthy of his affections actually see that side of him.
13. He's never really had a stable place to call home and mostly lives out of hotel rooms and apartments borrowed from his contacts. He finds the abject lack of stability to be comforting somehow and it keeps life interesting... And really, he's usually too busy working to really have much in the way of a home life anyway.
14. His competence is greatly dependent on who has control over him, because he was hardwired to follow orders to the point that it takes a great force of effort to actively disobey a direct order. He's gotten to a point where most of the plans he concocts on his own without the aide of someone telling him what to do tend to fail epicly. Despite being calculated, he's not a strategist at all and it usually shows.
15. He's technically an assassin, if you had to assign a specific job title to him, but really he just does whatever Irina tells him to do. This is why he's pretty much known in most circles as her lieutenant, because it's nicer than saying 'bitch.' (Well, okay, he's a bit more than just her bitch as far as rank is concerned, but.... Really now.)
16. He has a passion for Cryptology and is damn good at cracking ciphers. It's one of his primary talents.
17. It annoys the hell out of him when people don't take him seriously because of his age, hence why he tries his hardest to appear older than he is... It doesn't work, because even with the suits and the clipped, articulate, well-educated vernacular... He still looks like a little boy. Making fun of his age and ability is probably one of the most surefire ways to piss him off.
18. He makes it a point to never get drunk because when he drinks too much, he doesn't stop talking. More information could probably be gotten out of him by shoving hard liquor down his throat than torture, more than likely. He also tends to be a moody, existential drunk and no one wants that.
19. There are a lot of weird, ridiculous, and often creepy things that he knows, but he is so weak on modern pop culture that most references of that nature will completely go over his head. It's kind of pathetic, honestly, in an adorable way.
20. He and McKenas Cole were partners for a very brief time when Cole was first brought into Irina's fold. "Brief," of course, meaning they went on one mission together. Sark will never tell anyone what happened on that mission, but it probably has a lot to do with why he's terrified of Cole.
21. His feelings for Sydney Bristow fluctuate between lust, respect, jealousy, and a variety of other emotions and sometimes it's hard for him to say whether he wants her as a partner, a lover, an adversary or some weird combination of all three. One thing's for certain, if he weren't usually under orders to eliminate her if she gets in the way of his employer's plans, he would never actually be able to bring himself to kill her. He likes having her around even if she does get him in a confused snit.
22. He has a capacity for hatred, but he doesn't often think most people are worth getting that annoyed at. He hates Michael Vaughn with a blind fervor, however.
23. He detests senseless violence for the sake of violence, but will do whatever his employers tell him to, because that's just what he does. He shows no remorse for his actions, however, simply because he was trained not to, and whether he likes what he's being asked to do means nothing in the long run. He takes no pleasure in killing people who didn't have it coming to them, but it's just a fact of the job and nothing more.
24. If anyone asks, he'd rather tell people that he willingly joined up with Irina and he was always a amoral little shit, because somehow that's better than admitting that he was absolutely nothing before Irina found him and she had to tear him apart to make him what he is right now. It deeply bothers him that he was broken and twisted into this and never actually made the choice. He likes his job, but after all that conditioning, it really becomes debatable whether he likes it because he likes it or because he was conditioned to like it. It's a fucking crazy thing.
25. He doesn't drink tea. Ever. This apparently deeply bothers people.