Maksim "Max" Emeleev*

[Cactus]

Name: Maksim "Max" Emeleev
Gender: Male
Age: Eighteen
Grade: Twelve
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and Interests: Reading, writing, playing sports (hockey and baseball), film production, working out, is a member of the Film Club

Appearance: Max checks in at 5'9", 165 lbs, and while he isn't a slight individual, he's definitely pretty average in terms of his stature. What he lacks in height, he makes up for with his body mass, as he carries around about 4-5% more body fat than he probably should - the result of being a heavy kid growing up and only shucking most of his weight recently. He has fairly pronounced cheekbones and a prominent chin - most of his features are fairly sharp.

His hair is a light brownish colour, and it tends to stick out beneath his cap in an unruly manner. Max usually gets it cut short, but will often go a month or two between haircuts so that it tends to stick up all over the place whenever he takes off his hat. He'll occasionally gel it when going out on special occasions, but doesn't usually put a whole lot of effort in.

That description would probably apply to the rest of Max's outlook on fashion and dress. While he's always clean and takes care to ensure that he smells good and has good-looking teeth (brushing twice a day is key!), he's absolutely a comfort-first type of guy, and is almost always found in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoody. He has what seem to be a thousand different t-shirts, and six different colours of hoodies, so he can just grab one and alternate through. Again, he'll rarely be found in a collared shirt or sometimes in a sports jersey, but this doesn't happen very often.

The ensemble that is Max Emeleev is rounded out by his blue eyes. They aren't piercing, they aren't electric, but instead are a pretty standard shade of dark blue. What you do notice about his eyes is that they betray a mind that's always working. Simply by looking at him and meeting his gaze, one can tell that Max is, like his facial features, sharp.

Overall, Max considers himself to be a pretty good-looking guy - definitely not ugly, but also not the kind of guy that girls throw themselves at for his looks. He seems himself falling into the middle of the pack, and his self-assessment is pretty well spot-on.

Biography: On the first day of school, Max has always faced a very common issue - the teachers reading the attendance sheet look at his name, and invariably assume that he's going to be VERY Russian. The truth is, that while yes, Max is Russian, he was born to third-generation Russian parents, one of whom was born in Seattle, the other in Toronto, Canada.

Of course, due to his identity as a third-generation American, Max has absolutely no trace of a Russian accent, and is in fact quite a gifted English speaker. He started reading when he was two and never looked back, his parents quickly realizing that he had a gift for language and comprehension. This was most apparent when they received a phone call after a week of pre-school, demanding to know why their son insisted upon wandering the halls of the school, reading all of the signs on the walls aloud. They took this in stride, realizing that their child was undoubtedly curious, intelligent, and thought on a totally different level than most of the other children.

Indeed, as he grew up, Max exhibited many signs of intellectual giftedness, and even after being positively tested and determined to have an IQ of 167, continued to be a very "against the grain" type of thinker. Max has always looked at problems from a very different angle than most, and that makes him an effective, if not occasionally unusual problem solver.

Max's love for reading segued itself into an even bigger love for writing as he grew older. Once he realized that he could create his own fiction just as easily as he could read it, Max cultivated this interest and tried to write his own stories in place of assignments for school. It helped that Max's imagination had turned out to be very vivid, so the concepts that he would come up with for stories were varied. All of his talents made his parents very proud.

Unfortunately, all silver linings usually have a cloud attached to them at some level, and Max's cloud was an unusually low sense of self-confidence. Around the time that he was in the fourth grade, Max had a very hard time believing in himself, and his school work suffered because of it. Adding to this was the fact that he was very hard on himself, and his parents grew concerned as the years went by and their son continued to struggle to excel in school. It was here that Max began to turn to junk food as a coping mechanism, and started to battle his weight, which amplified his internal struggles.

What seemed like a recipe for disaster turned on its head once Max entered high school. The fact that the courses were more varied and structured differently than elementary school, and the sheer amount of people to socialize with helped Max start to increase his confidence. Socially, Max has never had any issues, and is well-liked and trusted by his peers. He tends to joke that "people tell me their secrets without me even having to ask", and indeed knows a great deal about the populace of Aurora High - almost all of which he keeps sealed up inside of his own mind.

While things improved for Max as he entered high school, it wasn't until he entered grade eleven that he finally hit a turning point. On a whim (and needing something to fill out his courses), Max took a film course, and finally discovered exactly what he wanted to do with his life. The film production process had always fascinated him, but upon taking the course, he felt as though he were energized. His parents had never seen him be so focused and intent in a school course before, and they were blown away when he came home with a report card that read "99%". Doing so well in the course helped with his confidence, and from then on, Max was a changed man.

In feeling better about himself and doing well, he felt as though he could do anything - so to put it to the test, he did a self-evaluation. He decided that there were certain elements of his personality that he no longer needed to show; his temper, propensity for holding back socially at times, and general malaise got shoved to the back burner. Max began to force himself to go to the gym as well, and the change began to show. Slowly but surely, the boy's confidence grew; seemingly at the same time as his large frame was shrinking.

The Maksim Emeleev that walks the halls of Aurora High School today is a very different one than the unsure boy who entered. He is much slimmer now, and athletic. Max plays on both the school hockey team and the baseball team (though he thinks he's probably better at hockey). He goes to the gym on any day that he's not practicing or playing with his teams, and has applied to several film schools and colleges in both the United States and Canada. His aim is to go to school in one of Los Angeles, Vancouver or Toronto (the major television and film production centres of North America), and he's already received acceptance to Seneca College in Toronto. His first choice (UCLA) hasn't gotten back to him as of yet, but he's leaning towards accepting the Toronto offer.

Socially, Max does very well for himself. He's very well-liked amongst the student body, and is always open to talking to pretty much anybody. He doesn't believe himself to have any enemies - though he knows that usually when someone doesn't like him, they end up HATING him, so that's more or less the way he likes it. He's even dated here and there, his last relationship ending somewhat poorly - enough that he's taking a break from dating for a little while.

The kid is definitely a joker, and is witty, sarcastic, and will often throw on silly voices and weird accents for a laugh. Sometimes he's hit or miss but he's gained the ability to laugh at himself, which helps.

Max lives at home with both of his parents, and his younger sister Katrina, who is 11. He is very protective of his sister but would never let her know that, as she'd probably shove it back in his face and make fun of him for it. His whole family are very close, and all of them have the same sort of off-kilter sense of humour.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

Advantages: Max is a certified genius who is an excellent problem-solver. His unique approach to most situations could really help get him out of a bind. He's well-liked and will have a very easy time finding allies. Is physically fit, if not necessarily that strong. Will be very good at keeping morale up for his allies. Can fall asleep pretty much anywhere.
Disadvantages: The second that his confidence goes down, Max's abilities will falter. If his belief within himself is tested and he loses that internal battle, his self-doubt could destroy him. As stated, he's not that strong. He has absolutely no experience with weapons outside of video games, and while mentally aware of things like the kick and safety, has never actually handled a firearm. He can be a little clumsy at times, stemming from the transition that his body's gone through. His sense of direction is absolutely abysmal. Max can be lazy at times, and he has a hard time taking pretty well anything seriously. His constant joking around and remarks could become grating in such a stressful situation and put himself at risk. Has a propensity for debilitating stress migraines.