<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br/><strong>Title:</strong>Co-Leader / The Muscle<br/><strong>Location:</strong>In the open Dining Room<br/><strong>Tags:</strong>Adriano Guillermo, Allison Saurer, Claire Tang<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;">     Taras watched the girls interacting, although it would be a lie to say that the big man wasn't partially looking past the three of them to the grill every now and again. Big man likes to eat. He tipped back his bottle of vodka and took another long pull, clearly in the mood to drink - but then what slovak man wasn't? His biological father was a hardcore alcoholic, something he'd noticed and remembered even at the age of 6, before his mother was able to find an adoptive family for him in the U.S. In fact, the man's drinking problem was probably most of the reason they struggled to support the family to begin with. Taras had some siblings from his parents, they were all slightly older then him. He was the only one that had gotten the 'opportunity' to come to America, but the well-intentioned move had singled him out badly. <br/><br/>     He knew why his mother had sent him off, she had good intentions... but as he grew older he just wondered if she didn't think he was tough enough to handle the rough life. That is when his wild-side came out. He was constantly getting into fights over the most inconsequential affairs. He lost some, but we won twice as much - and he learned a lot about his limits and how far he could push himself. He started working out regularly even back in high school and had never stopped, even now ten years down the road. He'd never finished school and graduated with the rest of the members of the Crew that had attended Rancho Bernardo High. He had regretted not being able to compete in football for what would have been his senior year... but then the faculty had long gotten tired of his misbehaving, his poor attendance, and his need to constantly pick fights. It wasn't hard to expel him.<br/><br/>     It didn't affect him too badly though, he had learned to take care of himself. Over the last few years he had also gotten close with the majority of the crew members and now he kind of looked after them too. Chris was the main leader though, and he was the only one that really chose to lead and take responsibility for the others. Taras would step in and support, and would occasionally lead unintentionally. He was born with the talent and ability to be a leader, and probably developed the outward confidence for it too; but he didn't really trust himself to be counted on regularly. Tars had talked to Chris on the phone earlier this morning, and he'd said they might be back late into the evening... but the big Ukrainian couldn't help feeling like something was wrong. Chris new how to take care of himself though, and he had Rosha with him - that kid could talk himself out of any situation. What little anxiety had begun to well up quickly faded and he took yet another deep drink from his nearly half-gone bottle. He'd probably consumed eight or so drinks' worth of alcohol, so he was already feeling buzzed. <br/><br/>     He replied casually to Adriano, <strong>"When I talked to Chris earlier, he said they might run really late tonight. He'll be here."</strong> He said to reassure the man, and himself. Without Chris to lead the gang, that role would most likely fall upon Taras. He tried not to think about what it might be like without his best friend around. Chris and Claire were probably the only reasons that Taras wasn't already back in prison. The two did a good job of keeping him out of bad situations, or rescuing him from the ones he did get into. Now that Allison was back he had also tried to be more level-headed. He didn't want to be a bad influence on the girl. She had so much potential.</div>