Ukraine // Sofia Chernenko

These streets so fixed and solid
Were shimming with hate

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"Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."[/center][/size]

And everything that I relied on
Disappeared

Country: Ukraine
Name: Sofia "Katyusha" Chernenko
Gender: Female
Age: Twenty
Profession: Gardener
Highlander or Lowlander?: Lowlander

All the strangers look like family
All the family look so strange

Appearance:

Standing at about 5’5”, Sofia is a curvy young woman, very well-endowed. Of course, since she has rather large breasts, Sofia often has issues with her back, thus causing her to slouch a bit.

The girl has ash blonde hair that reaches her just above her chin. Often, her hair gets in her face, especially when working, so she wears a headband and three barrettes to keep it out of her face. Her eyes are a soft blue color.

Sofia has pink, plump lips and has a very fair complexion. In the warmer months when she’s outside more, she burns very badly and cannot hold a tanned color for more of a day or so; she’s mostly the color of a lobster.

The way she dresses isn’t all too important to Sofia. In fact, she hardly ever pays attention to it. However, one can find her in some sort of nice button down shirt and a pair of jeans. On rather formal occasions, the young woman will wear one of the only two dresses she owns, which is either a short, black cocktail dress or a light blue dress that reaches just above her knees.

Personality:

Sofia can be described as a warmhearted, motherly individual, which true to its entirety. She is not one to hold a grudge and forgives those who do not even ask for her forgiveness. The Ukrainian wishes for others to be happy, rather than obtaining her own happiness and satisfaction first. She has a cheerful disposition, which can be rather contagious to others at times.

Emotional maturity is very prominent in Sofia’s nature, even though it may not seem the case all the time. She tries her best to stay strong during the most difficult of times; however, tears will most likely be running down her cheeks as well. Through all the tears though, Sofia maintains determination and optimism when need be.

Concerning emotions in general, Sofia’s emotions seem to be a bit more exaggerated than others. Tears come quite frequently, whether it is tears of happiness, sadness, or a result of laughter. Sometimes though, if the water works aren’t intended, Sofia will get very embarrassed and flustered, resulting in many more tears.

Sofia is a very hard worker, which means she’s very strong-minded and unwavering when it comes to primarily anything work related. Her fortitude stems from her past, where she had to work extra hard if she wanted a plate of food.

However, in social situations, she’s not at resolute and is more prone to being persuaded. Even if Sofia doesn’t agree with the person she’s conversing with, she feels that just agreeing with them provides a much greater and less upsetting result than that of arguing.

The young woman is a bit insecure because of her body. She knows that her breast size as well as her large waist is normal because “normal” for anyone is the way they look, but she is still fairly discontent with the way she looks. Girls have often made fun of her for it out of jealousy, while men think she’s perfect for a one night stand due to what they’d describe as a “porn star body”. Still, she feels rather uncomfortable when someone makes a comment about her body, even if it’s a positive one.

Sofia feels the need to radiate her happiness onto others. Truly, she wants her friends to be somewhat content with their lives because anyone’s life could be worse than it is, even her own. If one of her friends or even a stranger is quite down in the dumps, she’ll try her best to cheer them up.

In general, Sofia is a very caring person with a heart full of love. Ultimately, she wants what’s best for others and thinks of herself last always.

History:
Sofia “Katyusha” Chernenko was born into a very, very poor family, which only consisted of her mother and father. Her parents owned a quaint, little farm that Sofia has worked on for as long as she could remember. Really, she was quite content with her life, knowing only her farm as well as the school.

As far as her relationship with her parents went, she maintained a fairy good relationship with both during her childhood. Sofia would help her father plant and harvest crops as well as help her mother with the cooking and cleaning. The young girl just wanted her parents to be happy, even though they had poor living conditions and barely any food to eat.

Education wasn’t that much of a concern for Sofia, for she was far more interested in helping her mother with the farm. In fact, it became much less of a concern when Sofia’s mother fell mentally ill due to her instability to stay strong; so in other words, she cracked. At that point, Sofia was twelve and took full responsibility for her mother’s duties.

Unable to cope with his wife’s sickness, Sofia’s father began to drink to attempt to escape the reality of the poverty and his dying wife. A young Sofia tried her best to avoid her drunken father. While he slept in most mornings due to terrible hangovers, Sofia would try her best to fulfill his morning duties on the farm as well.

On a semi lighter side, despite the young girl’s hardships, her mother gave her a new nickname. One day, while her mother was in her delusional state, the woman referred to her as “Katyusha”. Now, Sofia had absolutely no idea at the time why her mother called her Katyusha, but since it seemed to bring a smile to her mother’s face, allowing her mother to call her something different wasn’t that much of a deal. Before she knew it, however, her father started to refer to as Katya or Katyusha as well. Later, while reading her mother’s old diaries, Sofia learned that Katyusha was actually the name of her mother’s best friend during childhood.

Life went on as her mother seemed to become more mentally unstable with each day passing and her father continuing to go out drinking every night. During one of her mother’s nonsensical rants, she kept telling Sofia to go read a book, even though the girl was trying to feed her mother dinner at the time. Unhappy that her daughter didn’t quite understand, she pointed towards the door and kept telling her to go to school, which continued for several nights. After a few days of listening to her mother tell “Katyusha” that she should go to school, to read a book, and occasionally holler at her for doing farm work, the girl realized that her mother was trying to tell her to pursue an education rather than upkeep the farm.

So, Sofia, at the age of thirteen, started to have more of an interest in her education, only because her mother wished for it. Her father, however, did not particularly care for his daughter studying rather than doing the farm work. Every time he caught Sofia studying rather than tending the fields, he’d scream at her and beat her till she was outside with the watering can and shovel.

Through the years, the girl studied outside while tending the crops. She wasn’t the best student, but she wasn’t average either.

At the age of twenty, Sofia’s mother gave the young woman some money and told her to start her own life, in the old woman’s own sort of mixed up way. After several days of going back and forth deciding what she should do, Sofia ended up leaving with an aching heart. She rented a small room in an apartment and began to look for a job as a gardener. Surely, some highlanders wouldn’t want to get their hands dirty, but still wanted that fancy looking garden with well-kept flowers. And so, her life would begin there.


Recurring nightmare:
The Ukrainian famine.
Her dream consists of her lying down in a small shack, with only a blanket covering her. Men with heavy boots walk by her and walk back and forth, in and out of the shack. She can only see their boots and she only feels the floor shaking with each step one of them takes. The woman knows that the men are taking her grain and whatever other food she has. She doesn’t remember why nor does she know what’s to come for her. However, the woman does know that she’s deliberately being left to starve.

The only constant I am sure of
Is this accelerating rate of change

Likes:
Flowers; With proper care, flowers can be the most exquisite and most beautiful thing one has ever seen. Sofia adores to see such results.

Animals; Although she didn’t care for animals as much as she tended the fields, the woman certainly gets along with animals very well.

Children; Sofia has a motherly instinct, so she cares for children very deeply and would love to have her own one day.

Warm weather; Good for growing crops, warm weather is certainly a must.

Making Friends; Not having many friends during her childhood, Sofia wishes to branch out a bit more and make some friends.

Dislikes:
Not having anything to do; Most of her life, Sofia has always been doing something, whether it be cooking, gardening, or cleaning. She can’t stand just sitting around letting time go to waste when there’s so much to do.

Poverty; Though she’d never openly admit it, Sofia can’t stand not having any money. She dislikes seeing others not having any money either, because she knows that can’t help them for she could possibly be in the same boat as them a few months down the road.

Cold weather; Cold weather usually means no harvest, thus not having enough money to pay for food. The Ukrainian remembers the colder months being the most difficult time of the year.

Her flaws being pointed out; Sofia is very insecure, so she doesn’t like having someone point out her defaults whether it be physically or personality-wise.

Loneliness; Due to her cheerful disposition and friendly nature, Sofia doesn’t like to feel alone in the world.

Bugs; Although Sofia has worked in the dirt for many years, she still can’t stand the sight of bugs. Often times, she’ll start screaming and crying.

Downside up, upside down
Take my weight from the ground

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Roleplay Sample:
A young Sofia dug her hands into the dirt, feeling the softness between her fingers. She smiled and giggled, “How strange… It’s so cool, but the sun is so hot!” The girl dug her hand further into the Earth. Realizing that she shouldn’t just play with the dirt, Sofia quickly lifted a few handfuls of dirt and placed them close to the small hole.

She picked up a small seed and kissed it. “Now, all you need to do is get big and strong now!” Sofia placed the seed in the dirt and began to cover it, “But don’t worry little seed, I’ll help you so you don’t have to do it all by yourself”.

After covering the hole, she patted it down. “I’ll come outside every day and I’ll water you”. She stood up and lifted the large watering can that she previously placed next to the planned planting spot. The young girl wobbled a bit, but steadily started to water the small mound of dirt, “See? I’m watering you right now! I promise I’ll water you every day, just like this”.

Sofia knelt down, “And when you pop out of the ground so I can see you, I’ll sing you lullabies”. She smiled softly, “But you have to come out first, okay? Then I can sing you all the songs I want”.

The girl heard her mother calling her for dinner. She quickly got up and waved goodbye to the mound of dirt, “I have to go now. I’ll be back tomorrow, so don’t miss me too much!” she giggled, “Goodbye!”

She ran towards her home, “Coming, mama!”[/blockquote]

Falling deep in the sky
Slipping into the unknown

Out of Character
Name/Nickname: Leena
Timezone: EST
Any other information:
This is my first time roleplaying as Ukraine, so if you feel that anything's a bit off, feel free to let me know. Also, I didn't exactly include Russia or Belarus in the history, but it is loose enough to where they could fit in, if the roleplayer wants.

You pull me in…
P u l l

m e i n.[/size][/i][/right][/b]