BRANDON RUSSELL CARONA
THE BASICS:
Nicknames: Brandy, Cooper, Coop
Gender: Male
Age: variable -- adult
Birthday/year: June 25, XXXX
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PHYSICALITIES:
Hair:
As one of his lowest priorities, Brandon's hair varies proportionally to the amount of time he's avoided a haircut. He tries to keep the thick mop at a short or medium-length. Its walnut-colored threads has a mild wave that Brandon does his best to brush to the side. Others have noted his hair color to be everything from acorn-colored to a dirt brown.
Eyes:
His sunken, tired eyes shift from darker to lighter brown depending on his mood. Hooded eyelids blink exhaustion as he endures the rigorous schedule required of doctors. His eyebrows are angled slightly.
In moments of anxiety, his eyebrows furrow tightly and he has difficulty keeping eye contact during conversations.
Blood Type: Type B
Height: 5'11"" - 180.34 cm
Weight/Body Structure/Physical Faults:
Brandon is almost close to underweight, no thanks to his fast metabolism and lack of desire to eat. He weighs in at about 123-130 lbs. His frame size is around the small-medium regions. He suffers from back ache because of his job as a surgeon. Whip scars criss cross the entirety of his back. Scars line the majority of his left arm, as he has a bad habit of scratching himself when he's nervous. As a result, he often wears an arm sleeve to prevent scratching himself excessively.
Style:
Casual - old school, button-down shirt, usually of a solid color, occasionally topped with his favorite black suede jacket.
Professional - classic doctor's coat over shirt, tie, and slacks/khakis. His lab coat has his name and job title -- "Brandon D. Carona, Pediatric Neurosurgeon" -- embroidered on the left breast pocket.
Race/Species: Homo sapiens - Brandon is a human of mixed European descent. He does not know his heritage, nor does he seem to care.
Language: Fluent in English and Spanish.
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RELATIONSHIPS:
Parents/Elders/Guardians:
Brandon never knew his birth parents. He was raised by his foster parents, Samuel and Delilah Cooper. Delilah, unfortunately, discovered her terminal cancer too late and passed away when he was 10 years old. This changed Samuel's psyche almost overnight. He blamed Brandon for her death, tormenting him endlessly. After Brandon dated a friend he made in medical school, he met her family, who became instrumental to his recovery. After a few years (and after their breakup), her father, Andrew, offered to adopt him, which Brandon gratefully accepted.
Foster Parents: Samuel Cooper, Delilah Cooper
Adopted Parent: Andrew Thomson Carona
Siblings:
Michelle Carona - Adopted sister. 5 years younger. Estranged relationship. Previously his girlfriend until her family adopted him in. She was in a nursing program at the university he attended and they had several of the same classes. The two had a falling out after Brandon insulted her brother. Michelle's more dominant personality clashed against his dislike of being told what to do and he hit her. Michelle left immediately after and has no desire to be found by her family.
Daniel Carona -- Adopted brother. 20 years younger. Very close relationship. Brandon disliked Daniel's craving for affection at first but quickly grew to love it. Daniel lives with their father to ""keep an eye on him"". But it's mainly to use his father's recording studio and massive collection of instruments to write and produce songs. He runs a somewhat popular Youtube channel where he displays his music videos, cooking recipes, and general mischief. Brandon constantly threatens to perform brain surgery on Daniel when he does something stupid. But he remains incredibly protective of his little brother, sometimes throwing caution to the wind when Daniel gets in trouble.
Andrew Jorden Carona -- Adopted brother. 5 years younger. Close relationship. Michelle's twin. Had a rocky start at first, but Jorden relaxed after hearing of Brandon's past. They both live in the same town. Jorden teaches math at the local high school and also offers tutoring services in that subject. Brandon may occasionally help out with tutoring services.
Friends/Allies:
Dr. Marcus Brown - neurologist. The two form a team to make diagnoses and research.
Dr. Rachael Brown - pediatrician. Love interest. They met in medical school after literally knocking each other over during a clinical rotation. Hitting each other "accidentally" with a door has become a running joke.
Dr. Ghostine - his mentor during medical school. Suffered cardiac arrest after Brandon's completion of medical school.
Enemies:
Samuel Cooper: His foster father, for reasons already mentioned.
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MENTALITIES:
Dreams/Life Goals: Brandon's biggest desire is to keep families together during times of hardship. He has few goals for himself except to be the best brother he can be to his family, and perhaps eventually form a family of his own.
Hobbies: If he isn't catching up on sleep, he is either visiting his brothers and helping with their work (a high school math teacher and a musician/songwriter), reading medical journals and magazines, attending his youngest brother's concerts, working at his cousin's horse farm, or helping his father with yard work.
Likes:
- He finds comfort in bright places. He likes that the hospital is always lit.
- Candy. He frequents his local candy store to purchase sweets for both himself and Daniel. His favorites are the hard, fruity candies.
- Noodles. Pasta. Anything remotely similar to them. Especially the recipes made by his dad.
- Raccoons. He has a dedicated space in his house simply for raccoons: plushie toys, sculptures, molds, etc.
Loves:
- He loves to sing, although preferably in private when no one's around.
- Spending time with his family. As his adopted father is growing old, Brandon tries to spend as much time as possible with him before the designated day comes. He enjoys walking with his father through his fruit orchard and assisting him with harvesting.
- Hanging out with his brothers is his most favorite, having to deal with Daniel's very spontaneous personality coupled with Jorden's more realistic, grounded pessimism. Their favorite activities include music-making, wrestling each other (while Brandon spectates), fruit harvesting, and picking on each other in general.
Dislikes:
- Not doing anything. He feels like he needs something to focus on or his negative thoughts may return. Likewise, he is always doing any of his hobbies or finding something to clean up after.
- Lasagna. "Pasta is supposed to be slurped, not cut."
- Eerie silence and anger. This sets off alarms in his head, even if it is not directed at him.
Loathes:
- Pretty much everything to do with his old lifestyle.
Fears:
- Dark, cramped rooms. His greatest nightmare, because this meant his father was going to do things to him. He has to be with someone he's extremely comfortable with before he will enter a dark room.
- Death, loss, heartbreak. Losing the one person who loved him most turned his life into a living nightmare. He dreads losing the people close to him and tries to keep them close. This makes him come off as clingy and needy. Although Jorden and Daniel don't mind, it has caused him distress in finding any serious, lasting relationship with women.
- Men bigger and older than him. It takes some time for him to get used to them.
Strengths:
- Professional, functions under stress. Great at hiding his emotions and problems to appear more professional.
- A skilled neurosurgeon. As such, his hands are quite dexterous and he has great willpower and stamina. He also has a much faster reaction to any emergencies, being able to stitch and bandage up wounds in the time frame a bystander would be getting over the initial shock.
- Very caring, especially towards children. He does not like the sight of injured or hurt adolescents. He makes sure people understand what he's doing while he's working.
Weaknesses:
- He often hides his emotions out of habit. He often lets things build up inside of him and releases it all later when he is in privacy. Likewise, this hinders his ability to connect with people.
- He hates the dark, and going out at night (especially alone) is terrifying for him. Missing out on all the nighttime fun, he is often the brunt of his coworker's jokes.
- He feels like he cares too much about other people and may often feel taken advantage of.
- Heavily depends on his medication. He can re-trigger his PTSD relatively easily otherwise. Often, a person approaching him while he is sitting down is enough to spike his anxiety. He also becomes extremely irritable while off medication. After a particularly violent episode where he nearly took Jorden's head off and didn't even recall what happened, Brandon has made sure to keep himself on schedule.