Xani Family

no one can save you now, it's do or die

NAME: irina avilov
LITTER/FAMILY: Avilov!
GENDER: female
AGE: 2 years - summer
APPEARANCE: design 4 minus the white paw (bc i'm digging the black and silver) ~
Standing at an impressive 35 inches in height, there's no denying that Irina is large. Her build is muscular, especially her legs and shoulders, which are packed with strength due to her travels. Nothing about Irina was little - she was the only one in her litter, so she had the lion's share of nourishment, which stood her well in life. Nothing about Irina is small, at any rate, and she is far from dainty or petite.

Irina's pelt is the more interesting part of her appearance, however. A base coat of black cloaks her frame, making it easy for her to overheat in the summer. Her thick, luxurious fur hints at some arctic wolf heritage - though her large size and dark coloration seem to imply that this heritage is far back in her past. Gray splotching adorns a few patches of her body, with one splotch marking the tip of her tail and two on her stomach. Splotches can be found on her chest as well and her left front paw. Her left ear is all that silver-y gray, and her paws are a slightly darker gray than her markings, fading across a gradient into the black that her body is covered with. Beneath her eyes is a line of white, which allows her bronze colored gaze to stand out sharply.

Her eyes are a muted brown with hints of silver, nothing particularly unique.
SIZE: large - 35 inches
PERSONALITY: Irina has always believed in self-sufficiency first. She has learned from birth that the only one she can rely on is herself. And so, the first one that she looks out for is herself as well. Perhaps this is selfish, but in the aftermath of the rebellion, her mother taught her to rely solely on herself, and that often, wolves in power could not be trusted. This has stuck with Irina throughout her life, and she has taken it to heart more than her mother anticipated. The extremes that Irina took her family's beliefs to have shaped her life, leaving her entirely self reliant and entirely self centered. Irina will never be the girl to put her life on the line for some one else.

Prickly and often rather aggressive (verbally at least - Irina values her skin to much to get into fights), she's not exactly the easiest to get along with. Insults get under her skin easily, and she tends to be rather vicious with her tongue. She also tends to have a fairly low opinion of other wolves, which is in part due to her position within Old Ebony. Her high ranked family enabled Irina to look down on the vast majority of the pack without really ever thinking about it, and this has transferred into the outside world as well. If another has not proved themselves to Irina, she is often very condescending and blunt.

Though it's not always easy to tell, Irina is a very passionate girl. She's not one to do things halfway. She goes all in all or she doesn't do anything at all. There is no middle ground for Irina. This is true in all aspects of her life; in Old Ebony she was an extremely active member, interacting with many members, until the day that she left. And after that day, she kept almost entirely to herself, embracing the existence of a loner completely. She tends to put a lot into relationships when she forms them (which is an overall rare occurrence and often they take a lot of time). This can seem rather contradictory with the first impressions that Irina makes, but she's more complex than she appears at first, for sure.

HISTORY: Irina was the first and only child of Xander Zonov (who became Xander Avilov after marrying his wife) and Alina Avilov. Xander had been a member of the middle nobility, but as a firstborn son he had some status - and there was love between the two. It was perhaps not the ideal marriage for Alina, but then, as a youngest daughter she had little prestige to offer and her parents were understanding enough of the love that the two shared. They weren't exactly star crossed lovers; their romance was brief but sweet, and then they were wed.

Alina's pregnancy was not the easiest, and she was still pregnant when the revolution occurred. She had been inclined to throw her support behind the Xanilovs, but Xander had always been the more pragmatic of the two and convinced her that it would be safer, better to support the new royals. They did, and within the court they stayed, avoiding the battle and managing to both survive. They were wholehearted in their support of the new regime at first, though their cruel ways swiftly ensured that Alina was teaching her newly born daughter to keep her head down and to not trust those around them. She wasn't sure how many of these wolves were true supporters of their new regime and if her daughter was caught spouting support of the Xanilovs, well, it would not end well for any involved.

And so Irina was taught from birth to keep her head down and avoid catching the attention of their new rulers. Not all of those teachings stuck with her; she tended to pick and choose what of her mother's advice she followed. Much of what Irina followed religiously was in terms of her mother's advice was that the only one she could rely on was herself. No King or Queen would come to her rescue, nobility or not, and though she earned herself a few nips and boxes to the ears with her rebelliousness, Irina was smart enough to avoid the attention of most of the royalty.

She was only two years old when she left - her parents, however, chose to stay within Old Ebony, for they had come to feel safer in this oppressive, cruel regime than they would in the outside world. The familiar evil was better than the unknown evil, in their eyes. Irina did not share this view, and her independence had been growing clearer as the seasons passed and she approached adulthood. By the time Irina reached two years, she was entirely bored of Ebony and abandoned it without a word of goodbye. Her parents anticipated this, of course, for they had been with her since birth and knew her better than any. They did not choose to stop her, and if they were punished for Irina's abandonment she knows nothing of it.
HOW DO THEY FEEL ABOUT THE XANILOVS?: She's largely indifferent about them; to her, one ruling family is just the same as another and all that Irina has known throughout her life is the new rulers of Ebony. Her mother supported the Xanilovs in private, but Irina's father convinced her to support the new royals when the rebellion occurred to keep her unborn pups safe. This has left Irina solidly neutral about them - sure, she'd love to respect them, but there's no point in crying over spilled milk. In public, she tends to be less than supportive of them, mostly due to the circumstances of her old home, but in truth, Irina has no opinions on them one way or another.
PLANS FOR THEM: I would love for her to meet some of the Xanilovs and form her own opinion on them. Whether she'll like or dislike them is up in the air, but I want her to meet them herself. I want her to find a place around Alacritia to stay and for her to make friends and grow up more (and come to see that relying on others isn't a total weakness).