βͺ introduction to erol tilki.
BASICS.
full name: erol iskender tilki. nickname(s): küçük ayı ( little bear, largely used by his family ). age: thirty-six. date of birth: 26 july 1987. zodiac sign: leo. place of birth: providence peak, colorado, united states. ethnicity: turkish. nationality: turkish, american. gender: demiboy ; he/they. sexual orientation: pansexual. romantic orientation: panromantic. religion: muslim; truthfully, erol isn't the most devoted to his religious practices but he does make some effort to teach them to his son and share those experiences with him. education: bachelor's in business administration from providence peak university. occupation: owner & foreman of tilki construction. additionally, erol has trained as a carpenter and tends to handle those projects for his company. language(s) spoken: english ( primarily ), turkish ( with his son and his maternal grandparents ). accent: erol doesn't have much of an accent to speak of considering where he's lived in the US for the majority of his life. if anything he has a western US accent, as it's generally classified.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.
face claim:Β berk cankat. hair color:Β dark brown. eye color:Β brown. height: 6'1". weight:Β 181 lbs. build:Β athletic. tattoos:Β a flower themed band tattoo around his left forearm ( here ). he also has his son's initials tattooed on his pulse point on the inside of his right wrist. piercings:Β erol doesn't have any piercings to speak of. distinguishing characteristics:Β the fact that he always seems to be smiling, the general warmth that he brings to pretty much any interaction he has, his passion for the important things in his life, his sense of humor.
PERSONALITY.
label:Β the caretaker. positive traits:Β adaptable, adventurous, charming, clever, compassionate, dogged, empathetic, family-oriented, hard working, independent, methodical, passionate, persuasive, resourceful. negative traits:Β anxious, avoidant, impulsive, non-confrontational, sarcastic, self-deprecating, self-sabotaging, stubborn. goals/desires:Β to be someone his son can be proud to call his father, to live a life he's proud of and happy with, to leave a legacy he can be happy with. fears:Β rejection, failure; that he'll do something to disappoint his son. anything that would disappoint his family. that he isn't a good father for whatever reason. hobbies:Β learning anything new in any capacity, baking, cooking, working with his hands, carpentry, sketching ideas for things he can build himself, finding the best patches of sun to nap in, gardening with emre, reading in general, meeting new people, doing just about anything that'll allow him to bond with his son, going out with his friends, spending all the time he can with his family, working out, playing with his dog. quirks:Β he seems like he's always in motion to some extentβ talking with his hands, bouncing his legs, etc., he talks to himself in turkish when he needs to sort out a problem he's having or anything in that vein, he's constantly working on some new project and seems to always have wood shavings and things like that on his clothes as a result. likes:Β woodworking, cooking with his son, playing video games with his son, trying to recreate desserts his grandmother used to make for him, reading about spaceβ for a long time as a kid he was convinced he wanted to be an astronaut and that fascination hasn't gone anywhere, finding fixer upper projects he can do in his free time, just about anything and everything sweet, giving his loved ones gifts, helping people, hiking with his dog, trying new things. dislikes:Β people who are unnecessarily rude, anyone who hurts the people he loves, peas, most clear liquor, just about anything that upsets his son, judgmental people, being away from his son for long periods of time ( that happens rarely but when it does, erol's always a tad uncomfortable ).
FAMILY.
father:Β ruslan devrim tilki; deceased. mother:Β zehra aysun tilki ( nΓ©e kartal ); deceased. sibling(s):Β roshan alara tilki ( younger sister ). children: emre stephen tilki. pet(s):Β a two and a half year old australian cattle dog named zara. financial status:Β upper middle class.
BIOGRAPHY.
( TW: mentions of pregnancy, death, drunk driving )
When Ruslan Tilki moved to the United States at the tender age of five alongside the rest of his family he was nervous, for starters, unsure of how the city of Providence Peak would compare to his native Ankara and, as any child would be, concerned about his ability to make new friends above all. His fears were, rather unexpectedly, allayed altogether on his first day of school in Providence Peak when he met a girl in his class by the name of Zehra Kartalβ who, similarly, was part of an immigrant family and adjusting to life in the US in much the same way he was. Their similarities soothed his remaining anxiety and, much to his delight, he found a best friend in Zehraβ aside from his family she was his most steadfast supporter and he extended that same wholehearted support in return.Β
His own parents seemed perpetually amused by his devotion to his best friend but to Ruslan it was simply a fact of his lifeβ the grass was green, the sky was blue, and Zehra was his favorite person in the world. It came as little surprise then, when they were teenagers, Ruslan realized his feelings for his longtime friend had strayed rather far afield from the platonic. Of course, that realization wasnβt necessarily one that required immediate action and it took him months of fretting and running the information around in his head for him to actually admit to anything. In the end, much to Ruslanβs embarrassment, his feelings were rather enthusiastically reciprocated and all of his fretting had led him to properly pursuing a relationship with Zehra during their senior year of high school.
They were, to absolutely no oneβs surprise, practically deliriously happy with one another and when their senior year drew to a close it was all but a forgone conclusion that they would attend university together, though neither of them felt the need to leave home to do so. Instead, they enrolled at Providence Peak Universityβ Ruslan with a mind to study business in the hope of starting his own construction company and Zehra eager and prepared to study nursing. Both of their studies went smoothly and, during their senior year, they were blessed in an entirely different way when Zehra found out she was pregnant with their first child. Erol Iskender Tilki was born on a rather balmy day at the end of July and from the first moment his parents held him they were absolutely devoted to their boy; he was a cheerful and mellow child from the moment he was born and everyone who interacted with him invariably remarked that he was such a sweet child they almost couldnβt believe it.Β
Erolβs temperament remained unchanged as he grew upβ he was an endlessly curious and eager boy, always the first to ask a question or lend a hand when someone around him required assistance. His warmth was almost a given with everyone he interacted with and he was quick to make friends and, much to his delight, apparently quite easy to get along with. He had a particular fascination for any and all things that would allow him to work with his handsβ and he spent countless hours as a child joining his father at work and begging to be taught the ins and outs of the craft his father had founded his own business to practice. His generally rambunctious enjoyment for life was only soothed the slightest bit when his baby sister was bornβ though they were nine years apart, the Tilki siblings were devoted to one another and Erol enjoyed very few things in his life more than he enjoyed being an older brother to his little sister Roshan. To him, it seemed that his life was utterly perfect and he imagined that feeling would have remained had tragedy not struck when he was elevenβ when, at the conclusion of a night with his grandparentsβ the Tilkis found themselves face to face with police officers who informed them, with no shortage of sadness, that his parents had been involved in a drunk driving accident that had, ultimately, cost them their lives.
Though Erol was devastated, he made a point to be strong for his sister and set an example for her that their parents, if theyβd still been with them, would have been proud of. Some days were more difficult than others and for a brief time, Erolβs behavior became slightly more erraticβ he got into fights with neighborhood boys and tended towards trouble more often than he had before, though a long and tearful series of conversations with his grandparents corrected his course fairly quickly by all accounts. From then on, Erol put his nose to the grindstone, as it wereβ focusing wholly on his schooling with the thought that he would eventually take over his fatherβs companyβ which was, until he could do so, his uncleβs purview. He continued on in this way until he was nineteen and his grandparents passed awayβ leaving him both money and their family home to Erolβs immense gratitude; he quickly made arrangements to take over Roshanβs guardianship to ensure that she wouldnβt be separated from him and set about the juggling act that was attending university and raising his sister. Managing school while also being the primary caregiver for another person was a challenge Erol took to with as much grace and flexibility as he could manage and though he struggled a great deal in some ways he always tried his very best and when he finished his studies at university he was delighted to have done it at all.Β
For Erol, things seemed to have settled once moreβ Roshan was happy and well-adjusted, he was dating a girl he was madly in love with, and he was well on his way to taking ownership of the family business at the tender age of twenty-three. It was, of course, never quite that easy and when his girlfriend informed him that she was pregnant he simply promised to be as devoted a father as he possibly could and set about making arrangements for the arrival of a child into his life. When his son Emre was born Erol expected that his life could only get better and maintained that belief until the moment his girlfriend admitted that she wasnβt ready to be a mother and left him with a baby and a company to run and in spite of his concern that he somehow wasnβt going to be a very good father on the whole, he thrived. Now, at thirty-six, Erol was happier than heβd ever been beforeβ even raising a teenager wasnβt something he felt he couldnβt handle and with every new card life dealt him he seemed to maintain his ever present good cheer and optimism and the certainty that, without fail, he would find a way to make the best of all life had to offer.
