<div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><em>Taras Ivan Markovski</em></span></span></div><hr/><div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><br/><strong>Age</strong>: 28<br/><strong>Gender</strong>: Male<br/><strong>Orientation</strong>: Straight (Heterosexual)<br/><strong>Position in Club</strong>:  Co-leader/Driver/Mechanic<br/><strong>Specialty</strong>: Brute force, empathy, and a poor sense of humor.<br/><strong>Physical Description</strong>: 6'4" 257lbs. Brown hair. Blue eyes. Lots of tats.<br/><strong>Personality</strong>: <br/>     While he comes across as quiet and mildly passive, when he chooses to finally take action he does so aggressively and usually takes things way further than they ever needed to go in the first place. He is fairly laid back and prefers to spend most of his time under the hood or doing something physical. Despite being quite a workout fiend, Taras has a hidden love for all things mechanical and loves to tinker and perform other intellectual tasks because of their challenging nature. Everything he knows about cars and the mechanics involved has been self-taught and he takes pride in learning new things and accomplishing difficult tasks on his own.<br/><br/><strong>History</strong>: <br/>     Taras was adopted from Ukraine at a very young age. His parents struggled with poverty, already having five children before him - so they sent him away, hoping he would have a chance at a better life in the United States. Sadly, his adoptive parents were just in it for the government incentives and the tax credits... So Taras had to learn to take care of himself. Coming from a rough country fresh out of Soviet control, he was born with a tough outer shell and most things don't really bother him much at all. He grew up running loose in the streets and getting into trouble, stealing to survive and getting even with anyone that crossed his path.<br/>     Taras' abrasive personality and rough upbringing frequently got him into trouble at school - and the language barrier with his accent and poor english vocabulary did little to make school a fun place to be. He kept it interesting by getting into fights with other students over anything and everything... and he usually won. He battered his way through his freshman and sophmore years, getting help with homework from the nerds and geeks in return for beating up bullies and jocks that pestered them. Eventually though his fighting got him suspended and expelled and that was where Cori came in. Growing up on the streets without a school cafeteria to live off of, Taras turned to Cori - who helped him scrape by stealing the things he needed (and maybe a few things he wanted as well). The two developed a good friendship during that time, and only a friendship.<br/>     Nothing really changed until Taras got busted for assault and battery and spent a year in state prison. Now an ex-con, it became incredibly tough to find an honest job - especially with Taras' rough personality. So he eventually turned to Cori again and started helping her boost cars - partly because he had plenty of experience already, but mostly because he enjoyed it. He was bold behind the wheel and made quick decisions. The driving skills that he developed boosting cars with Cori eventually led him to follow the long-time friend into the street racing scene. Now older, his friendship with Cori has crossed into new territory - as the two have had an intimate encounter or two on the job... though neither one of them have the patience for a relationship with the other.<br/>     Shortly before one of Taras' first couple of street races (and the immediately before the first one he actually WON), he chased off a bunch of thugs from taking advantage of a young girl named Allison. After him helping her through the traumatic experience, he kind of took her in as a kid sister and always tried to help her out whenever he was able. She spent a few years pursuing professional racing - which he always encouraged of her, hoping she wouldn't get tied up into the illegal activities he'd had to settle for... It didn't last long though and eventually she came back after a suffering a big emotional loss. She quickly became a regular and had great driving skills, so when she eventually looked to officially join the crew, Taras was the first to vouch for her.<br/>     These days, the tall muscle-head spends the majority of his time in the garage trying avoid volatile encounters that will get him put back in the slammer; however, he is very protective of the other crew members - particularly Allison - and won't hesitate to jump into danger (or the chance at possibly getting arrested) if they might need his help. Although he keeps himself rather penned up most of the time... either Allison or Cori only has to speak a word to talk him into going out and partying with the rest of the group... Other than that, an empty, winding country road and a freshly boosted Chevelle is his only other true kryptonite.<br/>     <br/><br/><strong>Extra Info</strong>:<br/>     While Taras doesn't mind working on imports, he favors classic muscle cars - having always enjoyed seeing them in magazines back when he was a kid in Ukraine. His two favorite vehicles of all time are a 72' Chevelle SS and a 69' Pontiac Firebird. He has an orange hardtop Firebird as his signature car, but loves to jack Chevelle's and take them on midnight joyrides - redlining the hell out of them. Taras' tends to win more races than he loses, but he's not incredibly consistent. When he wins, he wins big - which is partially the reason some of the other members are willing to follow his lead. His wins are usually from pushing a car more to its limits than the next guy would dare. Occasionally this bites him in the ass, but not too often.<br/>     Taras is usually wearing a pair of faded/ripped jeans and a tanktop if any shirt at all. He loves his tats and rarely covers them up. The only item with sleeves that he is ever seen wearing is his leather jacket. It took forever to get anything in Ukraine when he was a very young kid. So he always remembered the old american muscle cars magazines that pictured the classic 50's male icon in jeans, a leather jacket, and aviator shades. It was just something he'd always liked and stuck with him.</span></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">His 69' Hardtop Firebird</div><div class="spoiler_body"><div align="center">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/69Firebird.jpg)(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/69firebird400.jpg)</div></div></div>