Ira Diamond [Modern Drama, Fandomless + AUs]


CONTENT WARNING: This blog post contains mentions of a past suicide attempt and complications of the attempt!

      BASICS

NAME ira alexander diamond

NICKNAME(S) none

ALIAS(ES) black diamond (pre-accident), the tin painter (post-accident), the fortune teller (v. dependent)

AGE twenty-nine

D.O.B march 3rd

P.O.B provo, utah, usa

CURRENT RESIDENCY hartford, connecticut, usa | stratton's transitory exhibition (secretly, v. dependent)

LANGUAGE(S) english

GENDER | SPECIES male | human

ORIENTATIONS pan-demisexual, pan-demiromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS single

OCCUPATION bank teller (pre-accident), freelance artist (post-accident), freakshow performer (secretly, v. dependent)

AFFILIATION bastion financial (bank, formerly), diamond banking family (estranged), ian diamond (bastion bank owner, estranged father), ari diamond (wealth management advisor, estranger older brother), emerson harmon (primary physician, formerly), mia garner (speech-language pathologist/speech therapist, formerly), simon allen marsh (occupational therapist), kendyll long (interpreter), soloman stratton (v. dependent)

ORIGIN fandomless original character 

      PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM jack huston

EYES brown

HAIR black

SKIN fair

HEIGHT 6' 4''

ETHNICITY danish, german, italian, mizrahi jewish, scotch-irish, welsh

TATTOOS none

OTHER DISTINGUISHING FEATURES disfigured left half of face (missing left eye, most of cheekbone, & left half of upper jaw); tin mask to cover disfiguration

      PERSONALITY

MORAL ALIGNMENT lawful neutral (pre-accident); chaotic neutral (post-accident)

TRAITS creative, melancholic, empathetic, self-critical, anxious, insecure, curious, perceptive, self-denying, serious, intuitive, meticulous, allocentric, compliant, troubled, sensitive, self-effacing, pessimistic, messy, bashful, sedulous

GOALS make his father proud (pre-accident, failed); feel in control of his own life (ditto); live for himself (ditto); communicate with others (post-accident); discovering new & unorthodox methods of communication (ditto)

FEARS spiraling out of control (pre-accident); failing to live up to others' expectations (pre-accident, less so post-accident); firearms (especially rifles & shotguns, post-accident); total vision & hearing loss (ditto)

HOBBIES reading plays; listening to old radio dramas, podcasts, & audiobooks; sketching; painting; whistling (to key)

      MORE

NATIONALITY american

CRIMINAL RECORD attempted suicide (committed to a mental hospital for eleven months) 

CRIMES COMMITTED attempted suicide

PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS near-sightedness, clinical depression, tinnitus (post-accident), broca's aphasia (ditto), vision loss (missing left eye, ditto), difficulty chewing (due to partial loss of jawbone, ditto), minor nerve damage (to left cheek, ditto)

FAMILY ava diamond (née ware, estranged mother), morgan roy-diamond (estranged step-mother), ian diamond (estranged father), ari diamond (estranged older brother), renee diamond (née gorman, estranged sister-in-law), carly diamond (estranged niece), key (pet harz roller canary)

RELIGION agnostic

DRINK | SMOKE | DRUGS sometimes | no | [prescription only]

SONG(S) Bury Tomorrow's "Choke" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkINM0KEoA4) & Gojira's "L'Enfant Sauvage" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGHlZwMYO9g)

      STORY

   Just a few weeks prior, when Ira Diamond would look at himself in the mirror, he did not know the man who stared back.  He saw only a hollow figure, trapped in a soulless, miserable existence.  But after the accident, for the first time in a long time, he felt like he recognized himself.  His remaining eye brightened with an unfamiliar liveliness, his hair felt thicker and healthier, his skin was soft and glowed.  Ira had finally killed the power his family had over him, and he wished he had done it so much sooner.  Although it wasn't the intended outcome, his disfigurement, it was the very thing he needed to escape their clutches.  Once they learned of his attempt, they stuck him in a mental hospital and abandoned him.  The doctors recommended he pursue reconstructive surgery, but Ira outright refused.  He feared the procedure would return to his old ways.  He couldn't live like that again, always pleasing others and dying that little bit more inside with every self-denying action.  He couldn't let them undo everything.  He wouldn't go back to that little room with a gun in his shaking hand.  A second chance had been given to him and he wouldn't throw it away so easily.

   Despite embracing his new physical form, he did not fare as comfortably mentally.  His doctor explained that brain trauma resulted in his having developed Broca's aphasia, a language disorder.  Before he was diagnosed, he had never heard of Broca's aphasia (why should he have?)  It was one of the better aphasias to have, his therapist insisted, but that didn't mean it didn't have its own trials.  All facets of language output were effected; speech, writing, even manual if he had learned sign language.  He retained an overall competent comprehension of others but struggled to speak anywhere near as fluently.  Even with the progress made every single day, Ira grew despondent with his communication difficulties.  His speech therapist suggested art therapy to help him cope and express himself.  Art became his crutch and his saving grace.  Though he still worked on his speech, Ira began to prefer sketching and painting to communicate.  He knew he'd never talk like he used, so he practiced and experimented with his new craft.  After eleven months in the hospital, he was discharged without officials fearing he'd try to off himself.  Ira left Utah for Connecticut where he intended to start over as a painter.

      VERSES

GIFT OF GUILT; Bastion Financial owner, Ian Diamond, is known to his friends, colleagues, and clients as a kindly middle-aged man, unfailing in hospitality and agreeableness.  Behind closed doors, however, he is an overbearing and belligerent man.  None knew that side of Ian better than his youngest son, Ira.  Growing up in the Diamond household, Ira was never good enough.  He was the Diamond black sheep for reasons he could never determine.  Whilst the eldest, Ari, was showered with praise and affection for average achievements, Ira knew only criticism and ridicule in spite of his excellence.  Still, for all his apparent flaws and unworthiness, he was expected to follow his father and brother into the family business.  Ari advanced his career quickly, ever the apple of Ian's eye.  Ira, on the other hand, incurred his father's wrath at every sign of ambition.  Was he truly to stay a lowly bank teller his whole life?  God, help him.
THE ART OF DYING; Ira utilized and honed various art forms for different manners.  He drifted towards surrealism when confronting negative people or unpleasant things.  Rich and dark colors, harsh lines, and oil paints dominated these pieces.  Realism stole the show when he found himself in a positive environment, especially around people he liked.  Whilst in the hospital, he gifted his therapist and doctors with portraits and flattering sketches to show his appreciation.  However, when confused by someone or something, he often answered with expressionism.  Rarely, he also expressed humor in an abstract expressionist manner.  Having developed skills for several different artistic styles, it helped others learn how he communicates despite his disability.  Still, he knew not all of his Hartford clients would be understanding and accomodating, so he hired an interpreter to speak for him.  With Kendyll Long at the helm, Ira felt as if he finally had a leg up in the world.  He was doing something with his life, doing what he wanted.  Perhaps the accident was the best thing to happen to him after all.
MAN IN THE BOX; It wasn't a surprise to Ira that there were folks out there who still gawked at the "freaks" of the world.  It was, however, surprising that they wanted to gawk at him.  Whilst in the hospital, he was approached by a handler, a scout of sorts.  The stranger offered to house, clothe, and feed him in exchange for active participation in their employer's underground freakshow.  They wanted his work, his talent for painting an accurate discernment of any given individual, and his marred face.  No one would miss him if he disappeared, not his family who never understood him.  Not his friends who never cared.  He accepted the proposition, feeling as though he had no other alternative.  Besides, could performing for rich bastards with too much time and money on their hands really be so bad?
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2 | Apr 3rd 2020 16:49