Post by Inkwell on Jul 16, 2011 17:55:47 GMT -5
Isaak
Name: Isaak
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Prisoner: No
Crime: Being entirely too crotchety; Outstanding social ineptitude.
Craft/Rank: Mindhealer; journeyman Healer
Appearance: Isaak is, for lack of a better way of putting it, Astor with gray hair and glasses. The two are the same height -- 5'9'' -- and have the same sharp jaw, blocky nose, and wide, electric blue eyes. Unlike Astor's face, however, which is generally dusted with stubble and has a healthy smattering of scars, Isaak's is clean-shaven and only marred by deepset wrinkles and worry lines. Despite not even being over fifty, Isaak looks more as though he's on the far side of sixty. Stress, grief and dogged determination to work until he drops have aged him far faster than time ever could. His lined face, silver hair and large glasses (like Astor, he is farsighted) come together to make a picture that definitely could not be termed handsome, but implies a certain level of tired dignity. 'He's seen things. You can trust his judgment.'
Isaak's body-type is also similar to Astor's; that is, his torso and arms are long, and his shoulders broad. However, years studying and very little true physical labor have made Isaak much thinner and far less muscled. Unlike his son, whose body is rounded and sloping, Isaak is made of sharp angles. Years of self-imposed seclusion have rendered him a pale ghost of a man; it is clear that this is a man whose strength lies in his mind rather than his body.
Also unlike his son, Isaak's expressions are almost virtually nonexistent. He maintains a certain level of emotional detachment at all times, and while he always has the air of giving the current situation his full attention, it is often difficult to tell what his opinion on said situation is. It is very hard to push him into a true display of emotion, and usually when one manages to do so it's because they've pushed him past the end of his tether and he needs to make it clear that he will put up with no more of this nonsensical dickery. Otherwise his eyes remain half-lidded but sharply scrutinizing, his mouth remains in a thin line, and his thoughts remain to himself.
Personality: 'Let's get one thing straight: I don't care about your feelings. I care about helping you. That means a whole lot of work and not a whole lot of asking how that work makes you feel, because frankly, I've done this enough to already know how it'll make you feel. If the thought of being asked to take responsibility for yourself and your health frightens you, then you had better get over that fear soon, because I won't hold your hand. And if you think you're up to it -- let's get started.'
- A typical introductory session with Isaak.
For a man whose job is all about helping people be mentally happy and healthy, Isaak himself is perhaps not the best model of this ideal. He tends to bury his own problems under a heavy layer of 'it doesn't exist', and when called out on this, will justify until the heardbeasts come home.
He insists he has a good reason for this and why he is very reticent to divulge details about his past to others. He feels that it is his job to provide a truly neutral soundingboard for his patients, and that requires not being emotionally invested in them or letting them be emotionally invested in him. He is protective of his privacy to a fault, and maintains a detached and 'professional' attitude at all times. The moment that close relationship forms, interaction changes tone drastically, to a much 'softer' type of relationship in which he feels it is encouraged to 'hold back' for the sake of sparing feelings.
Isaak does not believe in sparing feelings. His chosen method of therapy for his charges is neutral and honest advice and, should they refuse to follow that advice, gentle but firm insistence that they reconsider their decision. He does not subscribe to the 'and how does that make you feel, darling?' school of mindhealing, preferring to tell his patients exactly what he believes their problems are, even if those problems may not be easy to fix. Patients are not to be coddled just because they are in a 'fragile place'; coddling only serves to make them feel as though they can get away with acting out, as though they deserve special treatment. In Isaak's opinion, they do not, and he will remind any patient who gets cocky of his view on the matter in no uncertain terms. He is not there to be someone's emotional punching bag, nor is he there to provide an instant fix: he is there to get them off their ass and instill within them to drive and focus to tackle their problems on their own, albeit with his guiding hand to keep them on track.
And this is where Isaak's 'better half' shows. He is a quiet, forceful, closed-off man, to be sure, but he is deeply committed to helping others -- whether they like it or not -- and will not stop pursuing that cause until his dying breath. Fueled by his past, he has a drive second to none and is unshakable in his belief that anyone can be helped with the proper amount of work.
Perhaps because of this, Isaak is a workaholic and must always be moving and occupied to be content. His dislike of close personal relationships, whether with his patients or not, means he has little to do with other people when not with one of his charges. He reads extensively when not working, and has an interest in a wide variety of subjects, though his own craft is obviously chief among them. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword: while learned and eloquent, Isaak is terrible at smalltalk and is often quiet around new people. He could discuss the finer points of mindhealing for hours without tiring of the subject, but when talk turns to family or personal hobbies, he is at a loss. He has nothing to offer in such discussions and feels awkward when he realizes he is merely analyzing the person speaking rather than hearing the words coming out of their mouth.
Isaak is perhaps his most reserved and uncomfortable around children. He has an even harder time interacting with them than with adults, and will avoid it altogether if possible. Their exuberance grates on his nerves and their extroverted friendliness and talkative nature yet again remind him how terrible he is at 'normal' interaction, a problem he does not want to admit he has. Of course, some children are shy -- and a shy child would unnerve Isaak, who would want to check to see if anything was wrong but be unable to muster up the necessary courage to initiate a dialogue with someone he shares so little in common with and would likely frighten.
TL;DR: Mindhealer whose brain is full of fuck, works himself to death providing 'tough love' to patients, can't interact in a social situation to save his life, and prefers keeping his private life just that -- private.
History: Isaak knew from a very young age what he wanted to do with his life: he wanted to be a Healer. An active child, he injured himself fairly often, almost a cause for celebration for him: it meant he would get to see a Healer practicing their craft up close and personal, something that made even the pain of broken bones bearable. Born an only child to parents that fostered his interests, it wasn't long before he found himself at Healer Hall, learning the craft he had eagerly dreamed of all of his then-short life.
Of course, the early years of doing menial and grunt work were frustrating, as was the time spent practicing theory rather than its practical application. He would have quit altogether if it weren't for a young woman learning the craft alongside him. Her name was Lilith, and he fell for her harder than a wher tripping over its own feet. Soon, courting her was top on his list of priorities rather than his studies. Luckily, his devotion and sheer inexhaustible drive paid off, and they were married not long after both achieving Journeyman status.
After that, they decided to focus on building a life for themselves. They relocated to a small town on Ista, where Isaak fell in with the local chapter of his craft and Lilith felt comfortable raising their first child. Isaak was a father at the tender age of twenty-five, but he felt he and his wife could handle it. And indeed they did, until their son Astor was twelve years old and Lilith was again pregnant.
The baby died in the womb and, with the primitive level of medicine available, it was not detected until both mother and child were past saving due to blood poisoning. Devastated and an emotional wreck, Isaak immediately uprooted his broken family to somewhere far away from Ista, far away from people he knew, far away from any reminders of what had happened. Thus began his habit of pretending his problems simply did not exist.
Their new life did not suit Isaak's son. He grew resentful, blaming his father for the death of his mother. Fights became frequent and soon, physical. Isaak made any excuse to be out of the house, even checking on patients that did not exist to put distance between him and his son -- which turned out to be a bad idea, as he returned home to find his belongings and parts of the house on fire on several occasions. Unsure of what to do about his son and unable to talk to him without it ending in blows, Isaak made the decision to send Astor away to learn a craft. Any craft would do -- picking blindly, he wound up with woodcraft. By all accounts, Astor was happy to go.
Isaak was not happy. He had now lost the only regular interaction still present in his life -- he was formal and reserved with patients, a habit he would later turn into a fine art, and he had no real friends. His only solution was to occupy himself, and so he did -- by going back to Healer Hall and studying to be a Mindhealer. Why not try for Masterhealer status, if he was already a journeyman and practically halfway there? Simple: Astor. He felt that it was his fault the boy had deteriorated so badly, due to his inability to communicate with him on a level where he could understand his feelings and help correct them. Fueled by the desire to help his son and those like him, he studied almost to the point of exhaustion.
Hearing that his son had murdered innocent children and burned down a good portion of the crafthall where Isaak had hoped he would find solace and peace of mind in young men his own age did not set Isaak back, but rather pushed him to apply himself even more to his training, and then throw himself into the job of healing once his training was done. Unfortunately, his brand of no-nonsense mindhealing was not well-received. The soft holdfolk he tried it on complained of harsh treatment, of being pushed too hard and given too little sympathy. Rather than argue or change his ways, Isaak quietly transferred. And transferred again when he was met with the same rebuttal.
Warden's Weyr is his third attempt at a steady job performing the service he so desperately wants to perform, if only to atone for his own failure. He believes that working with prisoners will give him more leeway to use his own methods, as prisoners do not get to complain of 'harsh treatment' or 'tough love'. Not only that, but these are the truly broken of Pern, those that most desperately need his help. Knowing that his own son may be among their number does not dissuade him; in fact, it was one of the many deciding factors that pushed him to take the job. Not only is he filling a desperately-needed staff vacancy, but he is performing a desperately-needed service.
Other stuff: No dragon, no wher, no pets. Isaak doesn't like the idea of having such a close relationship even with a non-human, especially the sort one experiences with a 'bonded' animal; far too personal for his tastes. This may change: playing counselor at Warden's, where so many people have problems much worse than his own, may in turn push him to examine his own mental blocks and move on already. Of course, he is too old for a dragon, but obtaining a flit or a dog or even being badgered into standing for a wher may do wonders for his mood and willingness to open up.
Of course, this is all hypothetical and if it happens, it would happen quite some time after his arrival at Warden's, unless someone wants to be blunt with him and give him his own brand of 'tough love'-- not likely, as he isn't the type to endear himself to anyone or let himself become someone's project. I plan to post in the plotting thread to see if anyone wants to do this!
