{Antologiya} Mal de Mar: Ian Murphy

Name: Ian Murphy

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Height: 5’8” (173cm)

Weight: 145lbs

Occupation: "Freelancer"

Personality:
The first and foremost thing that one needs to know about this carefree boy is that he’s all about staving off boredom and looking to keep things interesting, in whichever way it should present itself. In any given situation he can and will find opportunity to turn it into a joke, making jest with or about others. Hardly a topic is off limits, even himself. To him, humor is not only the best offense, but also the best defense. Can’t fall victim to the butt of another’s joke and criticisms if you beat them to it first and/or play into it. Likewise, he also deploys this same tactic to ease his own nerves should a situation prove to be too much, effectively hiding behind this mask- aside from the cases where it may just manifest itself into hysterical laughter instead.

That being, this boy’s airy demeanor has the potential to become inappropriate as this same carefree attitude of his can go too far, such in the situations that his jokes become too dark for most others, or his teasing become relentless. And while he fancies himself a rather intuitive individual, choosing to use this ability to pick up on the flow and using it to his advantage, it’s only when he becomes mentally lazy does he slip up and become truly oblivious to the effects and consequences of his actions.

While he’s a self-indulgent person, bound to his whims and needs to entertain and be entertained, generally doing whatever it is he wishes to do with no regard for rules or boundaries-  Ian does have a few redeeming qualities if you look past his apparent, and sometimes, annoying lack of all seriousness. His overall character possesses the potential to manifest itself into a person that will generously share his innate optimism with those that truly appear to need it most- as there’s no real fun to be had in kicking the less deserving when they’re already down.

Background:
Ian was born and raised in Belfast, Ireland to a family who hadn’t been all that well off. As the eldest of three siblings, it had been expected of him to help support his family alongside his father. This took the form of one job after another, being unable to hold a job due to the common complaint of his frustrating lack of seriousness and goofing off. Hard pressed for money, he eventually took to gambling to supplement their income. Initially intending it to only be a temporary thing, Ian soon developed an addiction to this activity after racking up an impressive winning streak within his town that'd gone to his head. Unfortunately for this, as word spread around of this streak, his luck was soon to run out. Approached by a couple of Spaniards that’d been visiting Belfast, they challenged the boy to a rigged game of cards. Having cleaned Ian out and putting him in debt to them, the Spaniards came up with one more mischievous wager. Nabbing Ian, they forcefully ripped him from his home country and dumped him off in their own country at a dock in Gibraltar. They left Ian with a slip of paper of the terms of their new wager scrawled in English along with a bit of loan money. The bet was to see if Ian can find his way back to Ireland using this money as boat fare. Should he find his way back to Belfast where they’d be waiting, then his debt to them will be wiped clean with even the promise of a possible monetary gain; but if not, then that was his problem.

However, having no knowledge of the country’s language, he had mistakenly booked a trip on the ‘Isabel I de Castilla’ that’d been headed for America instead- which he only found out after finding and asking a couple English speaking passengers on board. But by then it’d been too late to leave the ship and his luck only plummeted from there as the vessel they were on had been marked for misfortune, eventually meeting it’s fate far off from the coast of Portugal. How Ian even survived what had otherwise claimed the lives of many was nothing short of a spike of sheer, willful, dumb luck.

Despite being one of the few survivors, Ian never did make it back to Ireland and had instead been displaced in Spain. He spent that year struggling to get by learning what he could, seeking assistance from it’s government, and bouncing around from job to job(as always). While his situation seemed drear, he never let it sully his optimism, as that was the only thing he had going. As the anniversary date of the wreck approached, he received a letter at his residence- an invitation to a gathering to honor the victims. With no other real motivation aside from curiosity and a chance to mingle in some rich place, he chose to attend.

Additional Information:

• His father ran a general goods store, which happens to be one of the jobs Ian has gotten fired from

• Ran into his series of unfortunate events just mere days after his birthday 

• Had misread/misunderstood Isabel as Ireland thinking that’s what they had called his country, and not just it being name of the cruise liner...

• Kept a journal over the year, documenting his life prior to and after being stranded in Spain

• Smells of ink… and dirt

• Currently resides in Madrid, Spain.

• Through aid from the people he’s interacted with, he picked up enough Spanish to get by, but his accent is horrendous.

• Last current job was that of a dishwasher for a restaurant

• Prefers to be called a freelancer rather than a person that just can’t hold a job

• Is a drinker, but not a smoker (doesn’t stop him from trying to look cool though)

• Briefly met Nora on the ship- though he pretty much forgotten about her by now.

• Suffers from nightmares of the wreck and events leading up to it from time to time

• Still has the gambling habit, though he’s a little more cautious about it now

• Had swindled Gabe in the past and 'owes' him money though Ian claims it was a fair game.

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