JI: Henry

Personality

CHARMING; NEIGHBOURLY ★ SOCIALLY AWKWARD
Henry's demeanour is that of an outgoing friend who's known you your whole life, and although he would prefer to stay home and practice on his keyboard all day, it's because of whom he was raised by that he's a generally sociable person (or at least he tries to be). While some social cues may go over his head, he nevertheless enjoys the moments where he can hear you speaking through a smile. On the contrary, he doesn't exactly have much experience dealing with melancholic atmospheres. These will cause him to draw a blank.

CHARISMATIC; WITTY ★ SARCASTIC
Anything you say to Henry can and will be turned into a joke. Being the playful individual he is, these are mostly in jest and nothing antagonistic! Some stupid questions might be met with stupid answers, but more often than not he'll just laugh it off. While some may see his chronic "charm" as annoying, others may find him easy to converse with. When times turn grim, however, he does have enough tactfulness in him to know when to stop.

TRANSPARENT; FEARLESS ★ ASSERTIVE; BLUNT
There is often a comical or threatening air about Henry's forwardness. If you try to shut the door on him, he's the type to jam his foot in the doorway. He's not opposed to speaking his mind despite the consequences, nor does he get embarrassed easily. If there's something you want to know about him, just ask! Likewise, he may think others are as open as he is.

OBJECTIVE; PHILOSOPHICAL ★ DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Henry's ultra receptive to the bad or confusing behaviour of others. If you constantly act out of hand, while he may not take kindly to it, he'll at least try and understand why it is you act the way you do. It's very difficult for him to develop an absolute hatred for someone because of this. This part of his personality is especially apparent in trials where he will play devil's advocate so as to level the playing field and keep any bias out.

CREEPY . . . |
Sometimes Henry says and does things that are rather off.
Whether he's joking or not, you'll never know, but there's nothing that can really explain how it is he's able to look directly into your eyes if you were to say something controversial.

WELL-SPOKEN; PLAYFUL; CURIOUS

History

"I miss him so much. You don't know how hard it is to see him there on the TV and think to myself: look at how successful, look how happy he is."
Я так скучаю по нему. Вы не знаете, как трудно это. Я вижу его по телевизору и думаю: Посмотрите на то, насколько счастливый— Посмотрите на то, насколько успешный он.

"I miss him, Ben."
Я скучаю по нему, Бен.

"Don't think for a second I don't understand, Anastasia. I miss him... I miss him too, but he wouldn't be where he's at now if it weren't for us. We did this; we gave him this opportunity."
Не думай, что я не понимаю, Анастасия. Я скучаю по нему... Я тоже по нему скучаю. Но он не был бы там, если бы не мы. Мы сделали это. Мы дали ему эту возможность.

⚜

Born in Toronto to members of the Russian mafia, Henry Oswald Gorelov was the only member of his family to become a first-generation citizen outside the motherland.

Canada offered a clean slate and many an opportunity for young fugitives Benjamin and Anastasia. Their branch of the brotherhood had been entrusted with establishing the Gorelov name out west—that is, securing ties with the locals, gathering seedy information on government officials, and snuffing any competition that lie in their path. Ana was the decoy and Ben her kingpin.

Not long after they'd stationed in an apartment in Toronto, the couple would move onto the next step in the long-term plan: carry on the family name. Their English was poor, but the child's would be better. He or she would be an important asset in not only furthering their lineage in the west but playing an easy con's game as a child and making better negotiations in English when they were older. It was the birth of their son that marked the beginning of a new chapter; it was Henry whom they would raise to help them build the western faction from the ground up. Funny enough, it was the child's birth that would be their first major setback in a series of many.

"He's a mistake," his paternal grandparents insisted over the phone, "just like your choice in women." Already, Henry was not what the Gorelov elders were looking for in a child. He was born prematurely, blind, and would eventually be diagnosed on the spectrum. "If you insist that she bear your children, you ought to try again." Naturally, Benjamin was reluctant to surrender his firstborn son. Although his family hadn't approved of Anastasia, and even she grated on his nerves sometimes, he loved the woman. He was a cold enough man that he hadn't loved the baby in a way that she did, but he loved what Henry symbolized—his commitment to she whom he considered his partner in crime. He saw the way Anastasia coddled the baby, the solemn look in her eyes that told him she knew; she knew that marrying a Gorelov meant the baby wasn't hers to keep, that the decision wasn't theirs to make.

It wasn't easy giving him up for adoption, but neither were the daily arguments, the unspoken grief the couple shared. Neither of them wanted to do it. Ben didn't want to be the one to separate a mother from her child—their child. Oftentimes, Ana found herself taking all the pent up frustration out on her son. She would find herself committing the same abuse she had endured from her husband now and again. Henry was constantly hurting himself, constantly running into things and crying for help. It was a testament of her own tears.

Why this? Why me. I bear this last name, and it's because of that that a woman must abandon her only child like it's nothing. It isn't fair...

"Forgive me."
Прости меня.

At that point, Ana understood that the longer she kept her son, the slower the burn would be. It wasn't fair to Henry, it certainly wasn't doing her psyche any favours, it wasn't within Ben's jurisdiction, and in the minds of the Gorelovs back home, it wasn't "fair" to them. As time passed, Anastasia knew this could only mean bad news for their family of three. If the brotherhood knew of their continued custody of the child, they'd surely send for direct intervention. She didn't want that. Ben didn't want that. In fact, by that time, Ben's desire to gain his father's approval, keep their own asses safe, and shirk any humiliation for the Gorelovs outweighed any love he had for Henry.

Two months after his fifth birthday, Henry's mother had thankfully found a family she deemed good enough to take care of him. She and Ben were loyal members of one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the former Soviet Union, but still; neither could find it within themselves to leave him on some agency's doorstep. The older couple, about ten to twenty years their senior, were perceived as uppity goody two-shoes by the young Gorelovs, but they were well-to-do and living not far from the city. The wife was infertile and they were both clearly ready to take on the responsibility as parents.

"Now forget me."
А теперь забудь меня

Soon after, the fate-mandated prodigy had adopted the name Henry Augustine, given to him by Swedish-Jewish socialites Harrison and Emily Rutabaga. In this new walk of life, Henry was always clad in high-end clothing, enrolled in all-boys private institutions, receiving in-home tutoring, and attending social events every weekend with his parents. However, it wouldn't be until age seven that he would finally adapt to life with the Rutabagas. Up until then, he had spent countless nights crying in the closet of his room (the small confines of which reminded him of his closet back home), refusing to respond both physically and verbally, and crying for his biological parents in his native tongue. With no prior education, it would take Henry those two years before he finally got a grasp on the English language too. In fact, up until his adoption, he had been raised entirely within the precincts of the Gorelov's apartment.

"He still addresses me as Emily, you know?"

"Is that not your name?"

"Don't be obtuse, Harry!"

Navigating through the family's mansion on his own was no easy feat for a child either, let alone a blind child, but with the help of his ever-patient mother and the hired help on the estate, he'd eventually come to remember every surface there was to touch in their spacious home, including the 52 ivory keys in the parlor room on the first floor. His eventual mastering of the piano would all be thanks to his mother's encouragement.

Still highly impatient by age nine, it didn't take much for Henry to grow frustrated with the lessons. He was curious about the peculiar instrument but not enough to sit there and follow step-by-step instructions. Sheet music was also out of the question; he'd been fluent in English at that point, but braille was a whole other subject.

Only when he tried to mimic his mother's compositions by ear did Henry begin to show significant progress. The letters assigned to each of the keys were irrelevant to him at that age. What mattered to him wasn't whether he was hitting the right keys; what mattered was that he was hitting similar keys and playing the same song but with different notes. This is what would first spark his knack for improvisation.

From then on, when Henry would hear a song out in public, his fingers would dance along the invisible keys of an air piano in an effort to polish his poor understanding of note placement even away from home. Like mathematical equations were being done in his head, converting the sounds he'd heard into one of the 52 notes on the bed of keys—even if not the right key—came easier to him with practice. This way of learning both shocked and elated his parents! Pretty soon, Henry was playing his own takes on the classics, albeit faster and with far more notes than the original piece.

It wasn't long before dinner parties were being entertained by the spectacle that was "that Rutabaga's prodigy child". Even their place of worship would occasionally request his performance. It was these small time victories and his mother's continued mentoring that pushed Henry to get better and better. Harrison and Emily had never seen him so determined to excel at something during their brief time raising him.

Before his twelfth birthday, he was improvising preexisting compositions to the best of his ability and adapting songs he'd heard on the radio into ragtime arrangements.
The moment Henry woke up, he would run down stairs and make a beeline for the family's grand piano because he'd dreamt of fragmented tunes that just begged to be fleshed out on the keys.
When in class, you can bet he had an iPad out with a piano app open and earbuds in. He'd spend his lunchtime in the school's music room even if a lecture was being held.
When on car rides, he'd sing along to current hits and practice adapting them on the air piano.
Most nights, he'd stay up late practicing on the electric keyboard he'd been gifted one Hanukkah.

If he found himself upset, he would play. If he felt happy, he would play. Bouts of anger inspired some of his most accelerated scores.

By the age of fifteen, the name Henry Rutabaga resonated in musical communities. To date, he is most known through his personal and professional YouTube account. It is this very account and his mother having taken on the role of his manager that has thrust him into the spotlight as a small-time celebrity. His fast and intense performances, sometimes combined with his addition of vocals, has landed Henry invitations to various talk shows, chances to perform at different venues, and even the opportunity to tour his own paid concerts. Considering he was already in the custody of wealthy parents, all proceeds were donated to organizations for the well-being of the blind, those with Asperger's, the musically-inclined, and more.

Soon enough, the young pianist would receive his invitation to that certain school. Despite his parents' concern for letting him study overseas all by his lonesome, he vehemently encouraged them to believe in him just like they had when he was first learning to play. He had already been attending the best of the best there in Ottawa, but his will to become not only an Ultimate Pianist of the academy but thee Ultimate Pianist of the world, to him, started with attending the most prestigious school on the planet: Hope's Peak Academy.

Likes

► Taking long bubble baths while listening to music.
► Pulling harmless pranks on people for a quick laugh. Teehee!
► Anything of the mystery and suspense genre. The 1990s show Twin Peaks is his favourite.
► History! Especially music history and that of famous pianists. He knows a lot of useless facts about them.
► Classical music from any age, compositions done on a music box or violin, ragtime, funk, pop, ambient music.
► Shoes with heels, whether it's him wearing them or a pair he can hear on someone else. He likes the staccato.
► Discussions, pretty much about anything he has an opinion on! He likes theorizing about their kidnapping, mostly.
► Mostly any type of game! Card games, board games, verbal games, puzzles, playground games. Not video games though.
► When it comes to food, he likes things that you would typically order from a cafe such as coffee, tea, baked goods, pastries, soup, salad, sandwiches, etc.
► Playing the mothafuckin' piano!!! Whomever he's roomed with is safe from having to hear him practicing on the daily cause his electric keyboard's got a headphone jack.
► Henry can be pretty childish, so he likes playing with toys, painting and colouring, and handling weird objects. Basically anything that's hands-on for him to appreciate better.

Dislikes

► Candles. He doesn't like their scent, doesn't like the waxy texture of 'em, hates it when he accidentally touches the hot glass (or God forbid the flame itself), and the idea of knocking one over terrifies him.
► Following sheet music. Again, it's something he eventually wants to master, but for now, he'd prefer to just play by ear and improvise. Not that braille sheet music is ever readily available, anyway.
► These are like nails on a chalkboard to him: speech impediments, the sounds people make when they make out, silverware clanking against glass, and too many people talking at once.
► Music that's just a little too hardcore for him which includes, but is not limited to, most dubstep, metal, rock, screamo, and rap. There are, of course, exceptions.
► Seafood and spicy food. The former makes him feel nauseous and the latter is just unnecessary. Spicy seafood? Get out of town.
► When someone undermines a SHSL title. He doesn't appreciate narrow-mindedness in general.
► Being lied to, in general but especially concerning something he can't see.
► When ANY genre of music is put on blast. That is just so very obnoxious.
► Hot sources of light or heat. He's always burning himself. "Ugh."
► Overwhelming aromas.