[deer] application;

[gentrify]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Mikhailo "Mickey" Aleksandr Milkovich
Canon: Shameless (US)
Canon Point: Season 4, episode 11

In-Game Tattoo Placement: antler bunny, back of left arm
Current Health/Status: Pretty banged up from a recent hardcore bar fight, but he's well enough.
Age: 19
Species: Human

Content Warnings: CHILD ABUSE, SEXUAL ABUSE, VIOLENT CRIME, DRUG/ALCOHOL ABUSE, DEROGATORY RACIAL/HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTARY. IDK, PLS SEE DETAILED CW POST.

History: Wiki page

Personality:

Shameless focuses largely on painting a gritty kind of truth (and hilarity) to less glamorous areas of life in the lower class US, like struggling through poverty, the broken family and absent parents, addiction, crime and the less privileged life in general. One of the most impacting forces of this series is the environment it exists in, and Mickey Milkovich is very much a product of his environment. Born to a Russian crime family, he was the eldest of several siblings, raised alone by their less than nurturing father, a man who is constantly in and out of prison for violent crime. His character is the epitome of his station's stereotype, and through his arc, rises above it to retain his sense of individual self and the culture of the environment that shaped him, while still completely defying in many ways, largely through the trial of his coming out as gay in a deeply bigoted neighborhood to a deeply homophobic father, and his coming to be committed and loyal to Ian Gallagher.

Even as young as 17, Mickey's already accepted that he'll be a life time delinquent, when Ian suggests he spends his jail time reading (educating himself), and he tells him, "Fuck off. I'm fucked for life anyway, man." It's a foregone conclusion to him, and Mickey has not delusion of that. He's set to a certain lifestyle, and fills that role quite well. As someone as feared as Mickey (and his father) is, he's reckless and impulsive, enjoys violence and intimidation, gets a kick out of both of them. He was a child raised in an abusive home, by a man that controlled and insulted his children constantly, and Mickey now returns that behavior towards others, reveling in the superiority and power that grants him just by being him. It isn't quite to the same extreme, given he still deeply disapproves of violence against women and children (that aren't the same age as him). Mickey displays the typical sort of "unsophisticated" (more unexposed beyond his environment) simplicity assigned to his social class, finding himself at a fancy party, completely out of place with the excess details of things like beer types - "You got beer?" "I've got some craft brews, a stout, IPA, winter wheat." "How about beer?" There's a lack of education and awareness of the rest of the world outside of the South Side of Chicago, and when something like mental illness is brought up to him, Mickey completely misses the seriousness of it, the difference between manic depression and someone just being in a bad mood for a while. He doesn't understand the needs for medication or hospitalization for it, and reacts with disgust at the idea. Mickey holds a certain pride in that stereotype, likes being that fucked up kid from the ghetto, even if he isn't particularly excited about his prospects in life - he's at least good at what he does. He holds an entitlement that comes with being in his position, just walking into convenience stores, picking up the items he wants, and leaving out the front door as if he isn't expected to pay, because no one has the guts to stand up to him or his family ("You know where I live if you have a problem.").

Persona is a huge part of how Mickey runs his life and interacts with the rest of the world. It's largely been drilled into him by his father, as Things A Crime Lord Must Do, aka, things a Milkovich must do. Part of being in charge of the South Side is acting the part, and even at 17, he does. Things required - give no fucks, proclaim 'not my fucking problem' at anything not directly associated with him, be untouchable in terms of emotion or otherwise, don't be a girl, be the baddest badass on the block, take what you want when you want, rise to all challenges, and never accept help or care from anyone. It's toxic masculinity that's embedded in him, that drives the deep homophobia that makes the struggle with his sexuality and living the life he wants to have so much of a difficulty for him. In reality, while Mickey enjoys a lot of this persona he operates under 80% of the time, and much of the more basic concepts are genuinely who he is, he's far more sentimental, clever, and level-headed than he pretends to be. Running at least 3 businesses at different points in time, he has a practical kind of mind, and often comes up with plots and plans for a group, normally looked to for these things. And yet, he feels the needs to always assume the role as alpha male in every situation, even while bottoming in gay sex ("Knowing what I like don't make me a bitch"). As such, he's competitive, he goes out of his way to show disapproval of feminine things that could be associated with him, and sticks out in any group by being direct and demanding, to the point of having difficulty trying to chill out and be sensitive within and actual relationship with someone he cares for (Ian). Finding the balance between who he is (because this need of masculinity is so ingrained in him it's part of his being), what he wants, and what that presents to the public is a regular struggle for him.

Loud, profane, offensive, abrasive - a few endearing terms for Mickey's typical disposition. His default tone tends to be 'shit talking', because simply saying 'good morning' is too basic for him, apparently. Mickey is a nonstop soundtrack of offensive topics, commenting with homophobia (even after completely out of the closet himself), racism, classism, misogyny, vulgarity and general grossness. Most of the more extreme ones (like racism) come out in commentary and joking more because of culture and persona than actual actions. His violence tends to be non-discriminatory (outside of homophobia, due to the issues he has with his own sexuality), but his commentary one a person will always find the most aggravating routes to take. He's a sassy thing, constantly sarcastic, and gets comically hysterical/incredulous/exaggerated when people are acting stupid or offending his sensibilities, or just annoying him. A man delivers a suitcase to Mickey's house, and in probably a single breath, Mickey tells him - "Sorry, are you still waiting around for like a fucking tip or something, 'cause I'm pretty sure you guys lost the baggage, right? That means go, good bye, thank you, holy fuck." It's always 'me against the world' with Mickey, so ready to be defensive, naturally insulting anyone he runs into as a go-to greeting, always ready for a fight, expects everything he strives for himself to be difficult. It often seems like Mickey's personal creed is 'give no ground', another point of his core philosophy having to be made more flexible as his relationship with Ian (and the found family he adopts) grows.

It's likely very clear at this point, but Mickey is a fiercely emotional kid, but much of that is strangled down and suffocated under the rules he's been taught to live by. Mickey doesn't consider himself as having any real choice in getting to be as emotionally honest and himself as he wishes he could. He tells Ian, "Not everybody gets to just blurt out how they fucking feel every minute," which is a stark difference to Ian's life, which is a family of 6 or 7 constantly screaming their feelings at one another. Mickey's caged up, closeted as all fuck (up until about 20 minutes before his canon point will be), and harbors an intense fear of his father, and of what he'll lose in the eyes of the public and those around him if he's as honest as he wishes. He clings to that persona of a criminal and that masculinity like a life line (as if he requires it to survive), essentially having it trained into him that it's a mortal sin to be anything less - boys don't cry. When Ian tells him he's leaving town, despite how panicked Mickey is over it, the fear of losing Ian something huge to him, he's literally too afraid of expressing or verbally recognizing emotion for him to say anything other than "Don't". He's a child of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and his faith in himself for anything outside of crime and playing his given part is null. Given how stunted he is in that manner of expression, Mickey speaks more through actions than he does words, and his fear comes out in threats of violence and large shows of indifference to things he's expected to care about. Frustration, anger, sadness, fear, shame, guilt, all of this builds and builds in him, and usually releases through some kind of violent outburst, or something loud and disruptive, or binge drinking. However, after he's come to trust someone enough to be emotionally honest with them (as much as he's able to, with how unused to it as he is), there's a wealth of affection, care and commitment to be found there.

Conditional morality is the name of the Shameless game, and particularly with the Milkovich family. There's a certain code of honor respected by the people in their neighborhood - while things like murder, assault, theft and drug dealing are accepted things by adults, there's several moments in the show were not only the Milkovich family, but some of the Gallaghers and others, go on hunts for perpetrators of sexual violence or violence against women. There's the idea that you murder A, people who deserve it, and particularly for Mickey himself and his family: B, who are in the way of business and C, who challenge you. He'll casually bring up the option of torturing someone who's wronged someone he loves, and when someone he'd only drugged accidentally ends up dude, Mickey's unfazed, seems to not get why the other person in the room is horrified. At the suggestion of doing something to get his sister's abusive boyfriend away, he says "Hey, you get the gun, I'll get the saw, we'll bury that piece of shit down by the river." Still, there's no sympathy from him for a person being stolen from, or people left behind by victims (family, etc), and the general idea is, get away with what you can, as long as it's not too fucked up, aka, don't be his dad. Mickey himself has a kind of selective empathy, in that he has next to none for strangers, but incredible amounts for people close to him, which is a fairly small group.

But, that small group is rewarded with deep loyalty, Mickey having put great value into being committed absolutely to family and found family (Ian, and by extension, the Gallaghers at times). He'll often end up in a role as caretaker or protector of his circle, though he'll do it in the most dickish way he can manage, usually. For Ian, Mickey's willing to drag himself through hell for him, and gives him half a set of marriage vows (in sickness and in health etc etc) while talking about wanting to stay with him. So, basically, in summary - Mickey is a fucking terrible person, but not the worst to have on your side.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Normal human! He has some general skills, like brawling, handling a gun, navigating a shitty part of town and hella crime. Knows some mechanic stuff and blue collar basic wage making skills.

Inventory:
1. A big bag o weed
2. The AK
3. Hawaiian shirt
4. Cellphone from home with charger (media, music, photos, etc)
5. Clothes he was wearing last (+ jewelry and wallet with licenses and cards and EBT/Food stamp card in it, lighter, cigarettes, etc)
6. A Russian-English dictionary


Writing Samples: TDM tlvl + TDM text thread

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Jay
Player Age: 31
Player Contact: wuzzafuzzle

Other Characters In Game: Jack Kline, Lukasc Olejnicjki
In-Game Tag If Accepted: mickey milkovich: jay
Permissions for Character: bloop
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: ya
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Psychological, thriller mystery stuff, body horror as long as it's not bugs bc ew.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: animal cruelty
Additional Information: ilu