AARONOVITCH, Ilia Carlotta

[ilia carlotta aaronovitch]

ILIA CARLOTTA AARONOVITCH

FULL NAME: Ilia Carlotta Aaronovitch.
NICKNAMES: None.
AGE: 22
GENDER: Female
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Student.
GRADE: Sophomore.
MAJOR: Computer Science.
JOB OCCUPATION: Forbidden Planet General Assistant.

HAIR: Blonde, long with some slight kinking to it in the length. She doesn’t do much with it normally, and in fact is contemplating cutting it all off – something she was never allowed to do before New York City.
EYES: Brown.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: She’s got many scars. Some on her back from her father’s belt when she was younger that never had the chance to heal properly between the abuse. One on her jaw that is faint now and she hopes it will heal as it’s the freshest one that came from a “warning” to Skylar for being late back from a delivery. The rest she’s lost count of, but they are mainly on her legs from falling, or being pushed to the ground. Finally, there’s faint markings around her wrist from where cable ties cut in repeatedly when she was held so her brother was sure to do the jobs asked of him.
TATTOOS: None yet, but she wants one at least.
PIERCINGS: She has her ears pierced once, but she often forgets to put earrings in.
PLAY-BY: Mia Wasikowska!

LIKES: Breakfast smoothies, coding, computers, boots, graphic novels, being around Skylar, having the time to cook a nice meal, spinach, The Wind In The Willows, happy endings, rabbits, cherry lozenges, honey in tea, chunky bracelets, Rapunzel, anime, sunshine, Krav Maga, fabric softener, collectibles, butterflies, doing the laundry, healthy eating, lemons.
DISLIKES: guns, violence, bullies, action movies, Skylar being in trouble, the pressure of deadlines, hospitals, the nightmares, the thought of being found, courtrooms, greasy cheeseburgers, mustard, sleazy men, memories being triggered unexpectedly, strobe lighting, having so many trust issues, trying to remember the rules of WITSEC and their cover lives.
FEARS: Being found, anything happening to Skylar, guns.
SECRETS: Her and her brother are both in WITSEC after they testified against a group who were part of a human trafficking ring in California. New York, and the names they go by now are a part of their cover, and if they aren’t supposed to tell anyone about their true past, which suits Ilia well since her past is nothing but a tale of horrors.
PERSONALITY: At first Ilia can be rather shy, but this is mostly due to finding her comfort zone around strangers and because of her trust issues after everything she’s been through with her brother, Skylar. She’s extremely protective of him and would be of anyone else who gets close to her. She’s a bit of a homebody because she considers it to be safe there, and most of her hobbies are things that can be enjoyed at home. Ever since she was a little girl, Ilia was a dreamer and it was daydreams and a fantasy world in her head that got her through some of the most horrific times in her past. She doesn’t always feel it, but her life has made her strong and she’s capable of more than she probably realises consciously. Her past has left her cautious and sometimes unnecessarily nervous, but Ilia would rather be safe than sorry. She’s kind, but still rather troubled by the things that have happened and things that she has done. Reliant on Skylar, she knows she can be a bit too clingy at times with her brother, but he’s all she’s ever had who she can truly trust in the world. She’s never been able to stand up for herself in the past, but she is slowly developing more confidence and getting a bit of a backbone now that she’s got her new life in NYC. It doesn’t always shine through, and there are plenty of times when she doesn’t speak up but she wishes later that she had, but it’s a start for her. Ilia has never experienced an honest man who wasn’t her brother, so love is a very delicate subject. She doesn’t know if it’s a real concept at this point because every man she’s met has always wanted something more, or used her to get what they wanted. She doesn’t want to be someone’s prize or plaything, so while she’s untrusting at the notice of true love, she is a little curious as to whether anyone is out there who might prove her wrong. There was a time when she would dream of the Prince who would rescue her from her tower, but now she thinks it’s a foolish dream.

MOTHER: Nadya Larysa Levchenko, deceased.
FATHER: Alexei Yosyp Levchenko, 57.
SIBLINGS: Skylar Aaronovitch, 31.
OTHERS: Sullivan Truman, 56 – trafficker.
PETS: A Lionhead rabbit called Otter!
HOMETOWN: Kherson, Ukraine.
HISTORY: Ilia was born Olena Alexandra Levchenko, the second child who came nine years after her older brother. She was unplanned, an accident as her father Alexei reminded her from her earliest memories. Ilia could recall a neighbour once telling someone about how Alexei was never the same after an accident at work left him with a bad back and unable to return to the job he had held down since school. Instead he reached for bottle after bottle and took his anger out on his family instead. Ilia spent days on end locked in the cupboard when she was deemed to be misbehaving, and Alexei never hesitated to use his belt on her if she didn’t move quick enough. She would see the back of his hand for no reason whatsoever sometimes. The only person she ever had in the world was her brother. He would hold her close and tell her stories of how they would one day get away from there and live a new life. His stories got her through some of the horrible times. She would take the abuse and try to think of who she could be in this new life, where they could go and the people they would meet. Her brother, would clean her cuts, and she in turn would take care of him when he needed it. They had each other, but no one else.

Her mother, Nadya, had died when Ilia was still a baby. The story – or rumours – seemed to be that she wanted to leave, to get help when Alexei had passed out one night after drinking too much, but the car had ended up wrapped around a telephone pole and Nadya was pronounced DOA when the ambulance got the hospital. The truth never came out about what happened, but all the children could ever know was that the death of their mother fuelled their father’s anger even more.

People noticed the state of Ilia, but Alexei didn’t care about it enough to cover up his actions. They had no extended family to reach out to, and when questions were asked, Ilia never spoke up for the fear of what her father might do to her next. Plus, she didn’t want to lose her brother which was what she was scared of most of all. He kept promising that when he was old enough he’d take her away from everything and make things right again. She lost count of how many times she’d fall asleep with Skylar telling her that, or making up stories of how when they had their new lives he’d buy her the pet bunny she always wanted ever since she was three. Until that time came though, they had to suffer through their father’s rage, and do their best to keep out of his ay when he was in one of his more violent moods.

Ilia was fifteen when Skylar told her late at night that they would soon be leaving. He had a plan and after working a long time the first job he had been able to find, he had enough money and a connection to get them out of Ukraine and to America. It was more than she could ever hope for and being so far from Alexei sounded amazing. She didn’t know what he would do if they left, but the incredible distance made her feel safer than if they were just a city or town away. Their exit cost a lot of money, but it was worth it. It was also illegal as they were going to be smuggled out on a boat at port, but it was the only safe passage. They didn’t have passports and with Ilia being a minor at sixteen when they did travel they needed to get out without triggering anything officially. The guy had told Skylar it was fine, and he mentioned that he had done it before for other people…it all sounded promising and they were pretty desperate for that new start before Alexei’s temper led to something worse than scars.

However, when they arrived in California, they were in for a shock. The man Skylar had spoken with in Ukraine had been part of a trafficking ring. Initially they were going to take Ilia and sell her off, but Skylar pleaded for his sister and that was when Sullivan Truman came into play with a better idea. They could make Skylar their lackey, and keep Ilia as collateral. If Skylar fucked up or thought about going to the cops, they’d punish or do worse to his precious little sister. The siblings were giving a hellhole of an apartment and the dreams they had of a better life were dashed. Skylar had to do the dirty work for the ring and while he was out someone would come to take Ilia to a different location, or sit in the apartment with her. The men worked for Sullivan and they all scared the hell out of her. They were slimy guys, or aggressive. She got to go to school, but that was about the only place she could go before one of them would pop up and ask her what she was doing and why she was doing it. If Skylar was sent on more lucrative jobs, they made sure to do something to Ilia before he left so that he could see they were serious about hurting her. Once again she was back to being knocked around and roughed up, but this time she never knew when it was coming. It could be a week or two before Skylar would be called in for a job, and other times it would be every day a small delivery to make or errand to run. It lasted for three years, right up until Ilia was nineteen and a half.

Ilia had graduated high school but Sullivan would not let her take on a job or go to college. He said he had plans for her, and something about the way he said it made Ilia sick to her stomach. She had seen girls around him and none of them ever looked happy or safe. There was always fear in their eyes. She never left the apartment unless someone came to take her to a differently location to be held hostage while Skylar went to work. It didn’t seem to matter how long he had done the job, they never once put trust in him and always took or watched Ilia, ensuring to remind both of them of what would happen if Sullivan was screwed over. One night, one of the men Ilia hated most was watching her in the apartment while Skylar went on a delivery run. He was a slimy man who always looked at her with a predatory gaze. She tried to keep away from him, but he followed her to each room. No one ever touched her unless Skylar was late and even then they usually waited until he was home to make him watch her take a beating. It was supposed to be his punishment after all. She had heard them say things to her, horrible things, crude things, but none of them touched her unless it was to make Skylar suffer. Until this night. This night he tried to make a move on her, growing aggressive when Ilia fought back. Before the brute of a man could get what he wanted Skylar returned early from his work and fought to protect his sister. This time it was different; he had done nothing wrong, the thug was the one who had attacked Ilia for no warranted reason under their arrangement. Ilia watched as her brother was overpowered and she knew she couldn’t stand by and watch Skylar be killed. She knew the man wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and then turn to her again. His gun had come away from his hip in the scuffle and she dove for it, grabbing it and emptying the mag before she fell back and sat staring at what was now a bleeding corpse riddled with bullet holes.

The gunfire had alerted neighbours who called the cops. Skylar was comforting Ilia when they arrived and it was then that they decided they had to come clean about everything. Ilia was shaken up badly from shooting the man, but even more so by the thought of losing Skylar if they arrested him. She knew he had done some bad things, but he had only done them because Sullivan had threatened to kill her or sell her on. Thankfully, it turned out that law enforcement had been trying to get evidence on Sullivan for a long time. They knew he was part of a human trafficking ring, but they had never been able to find any evidence to prove it. Between Skylar and Ilia they had seen dozens of the locations he used, as well as knowing the names and faces of the men who worked for him. If they agreed to testify against Sullivan and his men, any and all charges against Skylar would be dropped and the siblings would go into WITSEC so that anyone else who was part of the ring would never find them. It didn’t matter that they had snuck into the country either; their illegal papers would be checked through properly now and the life they had wanted could be theirs. Ilia wasn’t in danger of being prosecuted for murder after it was determined her actions were in self-defence. The pair agreed, not just for themselves, but for anyone else who might be held in the same situation as them.

It took time to go to trial, and Ilia turned twenty in a safe house with her brother. They were still in California, but they were guarded twenty-four seven and Skylar was there to chase her nightmares away when they came and to remind her that everything was all over. Their new identities were born in that safe house and Ilia had to get used to writing her new name, inventing a signature and memorising the history they had been given by the marshals. Her scars were now the result of an abusive childhood and nothing more, but they were from Russia, not Ukraine. New records were drawn up and presented to them and they stuck around for the trial, at which they offered enough damning evidence to ensure that Sullivan and the people who worked for him would not see freedom for a very long time – if ever again. After that they were moved to their new home and their lives in WITSEC was cemented, along with the rules that came along with it.

New York City, and a cosy two bedroom apartment greeted them, and Ilia was the happiest she had ever been. After expressing a desire to go to college, a marshal even helped her secure a place at NYU to study Computer Science. Cutting all ties with her old life wasn’t a problem. There was nothing there she wanted to cling to. Her life in the Ukraine had been a nightmare, and there had been nothing but monsters in California. It was just difficult not to jump at shadows, or apologise with an explanation of why she was the way she was. Ilia had grown used to being able to speak openly and honest around Skylar and the marshals that readjusting to a life with strangers was difficult. She still woke in the night from nightmares, and her scars told her that she would never be able to block out the story of Olena Levchenko entirely. Still, she had her brother and they had their freedom and the life they had promised each other when they were still so small and vulnerable.

The dream was a solid reality when Skylar came home one day with a rabbit for her, just like he said he would do one day when they had the life he had told her of. With the help of the programme he had a job, and Ilia got one, too so that she could branch out more for the first time in her life. She had spent too long in hiding, sheltered from the world because other people demanded it to be so. She wanted to live at last and though it was with tiny, cautious steps she was determined to have a life she could one day look back on and smile at. A sophomore now, she’s starting to come out of her shell a little bit, though there are plenty of things out there that make her retreat and run back to Skylar for reassurance and security. He’ll always be the one she depends on, and she fears losing him more than anything else in the world. They’re finally getting their chance though, and despite everything and how it may seem at times when she wakes up screaming, or shakes when she goes to leave the apartment, Ilia has never been happier.

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: Itakethese.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: You were in the laundry basket.
SAMPLE:

No, thanks!

[kim]