Prof

Arthur, Arji

Male

28

Broad shouldered but slim.

178 lbs

6'0"

Warm brown with golden undertones

Black-ish brown

Fade with a short ponytail in the back

Well maintained beard and mustache

Dark brown

Beauty mark near right under

Human

Bit of a fidgeter with his hands; they tend to fluctuate from being in his pockets, behind his back, crossed in the front, giving his face an idle itch, tapping his fingers on some surface or another, or gesturing to accentuate a point. Often gives the impression of nervousness, but really, he just has a hard time keeping still.

Tends to also like testing the boundaries of what he can and cannot do, although doesn’t try to actively cause discomfort or cross someone’s personal limitations. It’s more like when you tell someone there’s a curfew, they come home a little bit later each time, seeing how far they can go. It’s not hurting anyone, after all. That said, if you tell him to stop, he will stop if you’re serious enough.

With that in mind, he’s also a bit improvisational, learns by doing rather than seeing, and just kind of makes it all up as he goes along. He’s great at adapting to changes on the fly, almost effortlessly, and tries to get along with most everyone.

To find a purpose, but not something that makes him happy, but ultimately does some good in the world.

Living unfulfilled and perhaps unloved, disappointing his parents

Never has a plan, and if there is one, tends to go “off script” very easily, which can be frustrating to anyone that desires some structure. May talk a lot, but isn’t really open about himself, so his relationships have been rather shallow and fairweathered. So he has some trouble with connecting with people on a deeper level.

Additionally, he has really bad asthma, so he can’t push himself too hard physically, takes him forever to get over colds and the flu, and smoke and high pollen counts are the worst.

Also he really hates flying. Well, hate is a strong word. More fear. In planes, specifically, but it’s a magical school, so there’s bound to be new ways of experiencing how terrifying that concept is.

Aside from the aforementioned talent in improvisation, he’s a pretty great liar when he wants to be (his biggest tell is actually keeping his hands in his pockets the whole time), impressions and memorization, playing the piano moderately well, and cooking

Reading, collecting postcards, cooking, acting (kind of a minor thing leftover from college, doesn’t really do it much anymore)

ESFP-T

July 21, 1990

Born the oldest son of Madan (father) and Riya (mother) Kapoor. Eldest of four, who are as follows: Sanjay (male, 25), Puja (female, 22), and Manoj (male, 16).

Kind of a mischievous kid growing up, getting into trouble, pulling pranks, and occasionally getting into scraps with the neighboring kids. Wondering, does magic in the apprentices, both past and present, manifest in some ways before Dagda? If so, probably the case here. Anyway, with his father being a physician (unsure what specific field) so that he wasn’t at home a lot, and his mother being more… forgiving? Doting? I think she let him get away with a lot when he was a kid because he was her first child.

Has asthma, which he didn’t really let stop him most of the time. Might be a factor in his mother spoiling him some.

Critical turning point in childhood (around 11 or 12) was him almost dying from pneumonia (likely the result of something dumb, lmfao), deadlier even more so with the aforementioned asthma. His father saved him, did everything he could, consulted friends and colleagues, but the young boy pulled through eventually. It gave him a new purpose in life: to give back, be it to his parents, or just the world.

Applied himself in school much harder than before, in anticipation of the final examinations of high school, one of the sole criteria for most top colleges in India. Originally going to practice medicine like his father, but after about two months at the specialized coaching after school, it didn’t pan out. Settled for engineering, instead. There’s ever a cross-cultural elevation for certain parts of academia over others; engineering, medicine, economics, etc.

Regardless, years passed, and when the big day came and went, Arjan scored well, but not enough for the incredibly high marks the top schools like DU called for. Missed it by one point.
In the meantime, he took a year off to work and apply to other schools, including the “safety schools” of America, who weren’t quite as stringent. One accepted him (not sure which; research laterrrr) and despite the bigger cost compared to Indian schooling, his parents decided he deserved the best, so terrified, he went to America.

Scared of flying after this, btw. 15+ hour plane ride with some mad turbulence from a storm does wonders for the nerves.

Haven’t worked out how Priya factors into this; like, I think I’ve decided his family is pretty traditional (sidenote: they are Hindu, kind of a minority in Punjab at 38% or so, but not unreasonably so), but I feel like they’ve known each other longer than that. Childhood friends, maybe? Maybe attended secondary school together, since it looks like some boarding schools are coed. Well, either way, they’ve definitely known each other for a while and I think it was a kind of natural, but slow realization towards love. Parents probably gently encouraged marriage, especially if both families knew each other, I imagine.

They were definitely going to get married after he finished his Bachelor’s, at least. They kept contact, however. Bet time zones were a bitch, tho.

I’ll figure out the details later but basically kind of jumped majors a couple of times; somehow or another, ended up getting a Bachelor’s in history (minored in theater), which again, there’s nothing more devalued in the world than the arts and such in academia.

Of course, major hopping costs time and it costs money; his family was pretty well off, but it still cost them a pretty penny, so that’s some anxiety, to be sure. I think he felt a lot of guilt from that?

In the meantime, I really haven’t decided how he lost contact with her. Needed a break? Tired of waiting for him? Idk, I know she actually went to college somewhere in the midst of this, although I think it was towards the end of their falling out. He doesn’t really know that. Presently, he thinks she’s moved on and got married to someone else, thus the mangalsutra/nuptial chain in the vision thing?

Mmm, somehow in all this, again I’ll just figure out these details later, he went overseas on some internship for the summer, and they formed a kind of game on their off days. They’d attend some local antique auction or another and would pretend to be some expert in whatever, pointing out how such and such item on sale was obviously faked or forged. You know, it was a joke, but when they almost actually convinced someone, that was the spark.

Apprentice

Blue

Smoked and mashed eggplant

Bear

2

5

5

4

4

8

12

7

3

Ruin

Yet to be discovered