Anastasiya Monika Schreiber

Player Information
Name: Chibi
Pronoun: He/Him
E-mail: kojoro at gmail dot com
Other Contact: Chat

Character Information
Name: Anastasiya Monika Schreiber
House: Vorinsky
Birthplace: Moscow, USSR
Birthdate: January 7, 1980
Age: 17
Gender: Female

Physical Details
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5'6
Body Type: Slender but curvy.
Appearance Notes:
Anatasiya likes baggy or flowy clothing. She wears a variety of long, flowy skirts, and loves how they feel when she swirls. She also prefers oversized shirts and sweaters, and especially anything that does not constrain her neck. She will not wear scarves, no matter how cold she gets. She wears a lot of jewellery-- jingly bracelets and anklets, things with large, bulky beads, hoop or dangling earrings-- but necklaces need to be long and loose. She has no scars to speak of-- but she does have a small heart tattoo on her left ankle.

She's rarely seen without at least one musical instrument, even if it's in its case. Her guitar or her flute case are often by her side, sometimes both, and she won't hesitate to pull out an instrument and start playing, whether asked or simply because the mood strikes her.
PB: Hibiki Ganaha from Idolm@ster

Life Details
Background:
During the Cold War, Reiner, a young Schellenberg soldier from East Germany, met Mariya, a Russian politician's daughter from House Vorinsky. He fell hard for her, and began to court her. Over the years, he grew scholarly and political. Mariya studied her father's political career, hoping to one day become a politician herself. With their shared interest in politics, the two grew closer, debating hot topics over shared meals any chance they got, until, finally, their families allowed them to wed.

In time, Reiner became a diplomat for East Germany. The two shared homes in both Germany and Russia, where Mariya began dipping her toes into an actual political career or her own. It took time, hard work, and a lot of perseverance, but she managed to land a low-level position with her father's political team.

Throughout their courtship, the topic of children never came up. Neither was willing to broach the subject, and neither was eager to start having children, both suspecting who the stronger mage was. They kept putting it off, telling family and friends that their careers were too demanding. Until early in 1979, Mariya found herself unexpectedly pregnant. It was a mixed blessing. They both wanted children, but they both knew what it would mean if their child were Vorinsky. That isn't to say that her mother was disloyal-- she believed in her House and their traditions-- but she feared the loss of a child.

As they had Reiner's last name, he agreed to allow Mariya to give their daughter a Russian first name, and she chose Anastasiya. Her second name, Monika, came from Reiner's mother. They doted on their new daughter, encouraging her interest in music and dance, but forever fearing the revealing of her powers. When it did come, it was at her eighth birthday celebration: She danced and sang and started producing sparkles and hearts in the air around her, imitating one of her aunts on her father's side. Her parents were startled, and afterwards, tested her, only to confirm their fears: She needed no stones to cast spells.

Immediately, they strove to educate her in the art of combat. Her persistent struggle to learn adequate self defence sparked arguments between her parents as to how to properly encourage her to improve. Her mother began using scare tactics, hoping that fear for her life would push her to train harder. Reiner objected profusely, insisting a gentle hand would be far more effective, especially on a young child. The more they argued, the more Anastasiya struggled to properly defend herself. She became withdrawn from her parents, started avoiding her combat training and her tutors. She'd escape to her room-- or, when she knew she had a lesson to attend, one of the hidden places on the property that she'd found-- and sing or play music.

But, when even into her sixteenth year, her combative skills were barely existent, her parents began to resign themselves to the loss that would come. There was no way she could improve enough in two years to survive against a well-trained opponent.

This didn't stop the arguments. Her mother blamed her father for their daughter's inability to fight, claiming he was too soft on her, he should have pushed harder. Her father grew resentful, and though he remained loyal to his wife, he began spending more time away from her than with-- often taking his daughter with him, to his Schellenberg relatives or to musical conferences or shows. He began to spoil her, signing her up for all the music lessons she could ever hope for, buying her any instrument she showed an interest in. Which further infuriated her mother-- why couldn't he have put this much effort into encouraging her to fight?

This strife continued until, a mere month before her seventeenth birthday, her Sealing partner was killed. A freak training accident lead to a severed artery-- and the mender couldn't get there in time. He passed in mere moments. And she was too far away to be brought in to drain him of his magic.

Though it was a tragic loss, her parents were secretly thrilled. They knew that the chances of finding an alternate were not high. They knew, also, that it would mean Anastasiya losing her powers... But it meant she would live. And that was the important thing.

Accusations began to fly. Baseless though they were, some believed them. Notably, the boy's older brother, Mikhael. Her family had been nowhere near the accident. Yet they could have orchestrated it, couldn't they? Her parents are both well connected. It would've been easy.

At a family function, shortly after her birthday, Mikhael lured her somewhere quiet 'to talk'. She believed that was all he wanted, that she would have a chance to apologize for what had happened to his brother, that they could even become friends. But when she tried to speak, tried to be sympathetic, he grew angry. He insisted it was her family's doing, and demanded to know how they pulled it off. She tried to flee, to make it back to her family-- but he wouldn't let her. He cornered her, pinned her, and began to strangle her. Terror prevented her from using what little magic she could to protect herself. She froze, only staring at him with pleading eyes and he shouted at her, demanding to know why she should live when she hadn't earned the right.

If he'd kept quiet, he probably would have succeeded. But the shouting attracted attention, and he was pried off of her. She was too distraught and panicked and light-headed to know who it was, or what happened to Mikhael after he was dragged away-- though she recalls he was shouting. All she cared about was breathing, and clinging to her father when he arrived.

This lead to one final argument between her parents, about what to do with her until her magic faded. Her father wished to move away from further potential threats and encourage Anatasiya's musical talents. Her mother believed she had an obligation towards her House to find a way for Anatsasiya to be useful. They came to a compromise: They would relocate to America, under diplomatic status granted to her father, where he would find suitable tutelage for her music career as her magic waned-- but in the meantime, Anastasiya would enrol at Paracelsus, in the hopes that she could learn something of what was going on there.

While Anastasiya's placement is meant to aid House Vorinsky, the growing rift between her parents lead Reiner to go behind Mariya's back to ask for assistance from Interpol. His position with his House has given him some basic knowledge of the situation-- that there are investigations underway, though with no knowledge of who the investigators are-- and so he asked a Schellenberg representative at Interpol to pass word to any Schellenberg or associated investigators to inform them of her reason for attending Paracelsus, and request that they look out for her.

House Politics:
While born in Moscow, she was raised both there and in her family's German home in Berlin. Both Russian and German were spoken in her household. She was educated largely in Schellenberg traditions, and it wasn't until her magic started to show that they tried to teach her what it meant to be Vorinsky.

This means that Anastasiya's loyalties are mixed. She's loyal to family. To her parents. To both her Schellenberg and Vorinsky relatives. But to her House? She's largely unsure of what House loyalty means. She's aware of who Vorinsky likes and dislikes, that she needs to respect and obey her elders, and that Vorinus' word is law, but apart from that, has no real knowledge of the workings within the House. What's more, having never wanted anything to do with her Sealing, and now certain she won't even have a partner when the time comes, she has no interest in learning more about them.

She has not, however, ever spoken out against House Vorinsky. She finds the Sealing to be harsh, but that's just the way of things, isn't it? Given that she hopes to avoid it, she counts herself lucky. But until a time that she's free from their grasp-- which won't be until her magic has faded completely-- she will try to remain loyal, as much as she knows how. However, thanks to her upbringing, she's loyal enough to House Schellenberg that she's as likely to listen to her Schellenberg elders as she is those of Vorinsky.

Personality:
Anastasiya is a gentle person. She cares about people-- not just her friends and family, but anyone. She doesn't believe anyone should be made to suffer, whatever the reason. While this lead to a situation that nearly resulted in her death, she continues to believe it, and will go out of her way to assist someone who appears to need kindness. But, she's distrustful after what happened with Mikhael-- she won't go anywhere with someone she doesn't know and trust, unless it's public.

Despite her situation, she's still a cheerful girl. She puts all her effort into every endeavour, be it socializing, school work, music, or magic. She loves magic. She mourns the day she'll lose it-- if it comes. She wants to use it as much as possible before that happens, and so she does-- especially her Envisioning. She'll shower people with illusion stars, or make her hand sparkle as she waves, or her eyes glint when she smiles.

She's quite social. The more withdrawn she became from her parents, the more outgoing she was outside of her immediate family. She loved having others to speak to-- a way to escape the concerns of home life. She loves to meet new people, and will go to every effort to do so. Problem: She's supposed to be spying on them. She doesn't like that, and though she'll still easily try to befriend people, it makes her loathe to ask personal questions or try to pry about anything that seems none of her business.

She dislikes conflict. She couldn't stand listening to her parents argue. It never grew violent, and rarely lead to raised voices, but the discontent it caused in her family life was upsetting, and she grew distraught not only knowing her parents would continue to fight, but knowing the reason for the fights. It was her fault. And it only stopped because she'd nearly died.

Because of this, conflict is something she avoids at all costs. If she's confronted by it, she'll attempt to flee. If she can't, she'll wait passively until she can. And if she's the focus of it, she'll apologize profusely to try to diffuse the situation, so that she can flee without it following her.

What she really loves is music. Music is her outlet. As a small child, her parents encouraged her interest in music, providing her with professional singing lessons, and lessons in a variety of instruments. Her training was mostly in German and Russian vocals, though there were some lessons in Swedish, Finnish, and French. While she can sing in English, she maintains an accent that is primarily German. Her favourite instruments are the flute and acoustic guitar.

Whenever she grows upset or distraught, she'll retreat to her room or some secluded location to play. Singing is something she does when she's in a good mood, and she'll often sing-song in conversation just because she enjoys the sound. And, knowing-- or, rather, hoping-- that her magic will one day fade, she plans to become a musician in the mundane world.

Having been raised on both German and Russian, she can speak both fluently, with proper inflections and no discernible accent. When she speaks English, however, she has a distinct accent that's more German than Russian, thanks to having spent more time with her father and his side of the family after her parents began to fight.

Flaws:
Knowing full well that her combative skills are lacking, Anatasiya is terrified of having to put them into practice. The one time she should have, she failed. She froze. She was too afraid to even think of protecting herself. She also knows how dangerous Paracelsus has been this year-- through rumours and stories, mostly, but she knows people have died. And this makes her even more afraid.

In combat situations, she will do what she can to distract and evade, to get away. If another is involved, she'll try to assist in their own retreat-- or try to keep the enemy disoriented so others can handle them. But if she finds herself in immediate danger, she doesn't think she'll be able to fend it off.

Because of this, she hopes to improve her swordsmanship, to make it ingrained, instinctive-- but with no beginner class, she'll have to settle for sword club, and hope it's enough.

Ever since the incident with Mikhael, she's had trust issues. While in a social setting, this doesn't tend to come up, anywhere more secluded and it may show in nervousness and anxiety. It's more prevalent with guys around her own age, especially those who are bigger than her, but can happen with just about anyone. While she will be looking for secluded locations to play her music, she'll be hoping to find ones others don't use-- and should anyone surprise her, it may lead to a hasty retreat.

The incident with Mikhael also left her with a fear of choking and asphyxiation. Mostly this shows itself in her unwillingness to wear anything that constrains her neck or throat, but it can also affect her should she ever have trouble breathing, such as with heavy smoke or chemical fumes. She'll grow anxious, and should the problem persist, or she be unable to escape it for fresh air, it can cause a panic attack, leading to hyperventilation, light-headedness and dizziness, and even nausea. If it goes on long enough, she may even faint.

Magic and Skill Details
Magic and Skills:
Anastasiya's primary school of magic is envisioning. She loves it. She picked it up as a young child so that she could make neat special effects happen, and to this day she makes liberal use of it, both in performance and in everyday interactions. It's like a favourite toy she can't put down. While most of her envisioning is relatively harmless, she does have a few spells she can use to try to disorient or distract, or even blind a target, though all this really achieves is a chance to try to escape.

Her second school of magic is channelling, where she's learned how to channel earth and wind. Wind is great for causing her skirts to flare, or hair to toss, when she wants to make a dramatic entrance-- otherwise, the best she can manage with it is to blow out candles or flip papers off a desk. Earth, however, she's a little better at. She's learned to ensnare by calling up vines from the ground, and if really pressed, can form earthen spikes that will stab upward into a target-- but she's hesitant to use it in training, and it's not ingrained enough to do instinctually when there's a real threat.

Her mundane skill is music. She has a wonderful singing voice, thanks to professional training, and can sing in a handful of languages, but her true passion lies in playing. While she can play a variety of string and wind instruments, and even dabbles in piano and keyboarding, she is especially talented with the acoustic guitar and the flute-- both of which she owns. She knows this is useless when it comes to protection, but it's always been her passion. And, given that she has high hopes that she'll be losing her magic, rather than being forced together with a new Sealing partner, she hopes to fall back on music one day in the mundane world.