Ilari Vasiliev

WARNING: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE ATTEMPTS & DEATH

"The morning is wiser than the evening."

- Ilari Stepanov

Illarion Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia (or known simply as Ilari Stepanov) [he/him] is a 2019-introduced and fanon-only character created and developed by  amatoresx . He is the oldest son and second eldest child of the current generation's Vasilisa and the tsar from the Russian fairy tale Vasilisa the Beautiful, collected by Alexander Afanasyev. He is currently attending his Yearbook Year (otherwise known as his third year) at Ever After High in the kingdom of Ever After and rooms with Cosmo Galante.

When concerning the issue of the destiny conflict, Ilari, albeit halfheartedly, aligns himself with the royal side of the conflict. He has no major resignations about the destiny he's bound to, although on a deeper level, he knows that his destiny wasn't originally his in the first place. He's not actively engaged in the conflict and finds the whole debacle rather amusing to spectate, but still finds his place amongst the other royals. He has sympathetic sentiments towards the rebels, though his sympathy runs short for a certain individual.

Ilari is a curious individual who's found himself in an interesting predicament. Firstly, he's under extreme pressure from his mother (and the rest of his family) to become the next Vasilisa and carry on the family legacy, so he's an individual who is riddled with plentiful anxiety. To make matters worse, Ilari is plagued by the memories of his older sister and his final moments with her. Despite those obstacles, nothing seems to deter Ilari from his unwavering and fierce loyalty to his circle of intimates, as well being a well-regarded and fairly popular student by his classmates and his teachers. No one would assume the extreme amount of stress Ilari is constantly under unless he'd explicitly mention it.

Childhood & Preadolescence
On January 21st, 1998, Ilari was the second child and oldest son born to Tsarina Svetlana Romanova (the current generation's Vasilisa) and her husband Tsar Nikolai Stepanov. He was born in the Winter Palace located in St. Peterpansburgh, Russia, where he was raised alongside his sister Tatiana (and later his younger siblings) by his mother, the palace staff, and her trusted companions from the nobility also residing in The Winter Palace. He's lived with his family and a plethora of Russian nobles in the Winter Palace all throughout his childhood and early adolescence before he began studying at Ever After High.

Being the eldest-born son in the family, Ilari was given the responsibility of being the tsarevich of Russia, meaning he'd eventually take up his father's throne after his reign would come to an end. His upbringing reflected such responsibilites.

Freedom Year
TBA

Legacy Year
TBA

Yearbook Year
TBA

Personality & Traits

 * See Tropes ( because i haven't been able to write a proper personality for him oops) 

Physical Appearance
Despite his own opinions of himself concerning his visage, Ilari is a rather attractive and young man of Russian descent with pale yet rosy skin and glossy, platinum-blond hair (which appears snow white) that is coiffured and arranged so that some strands of hair are held neatly in place with black pins embroidered with red jewels. His eyes are an icy, blue-violet color, though unfortunately the would-be allure of his eyes are stained by the extremely heavy bags underneath them. His eyes also retain a certain sadness to them, one that seemingly can't be described. Build-wise, Ilari is a rather thin individual, though he's still somewhat fit due to the physical activities he's actively participating in. Towering at 6'4, Ilari is an extremely tall individual, and would also be easy to pick out from a crowd of students.

Ilari's platinum-blond hair isn't natural, though he's never dyed his hair. His hair used to actually be light ash brown in color, but over the years his hair has gone pale and eventually become a mane of near-white locks. This occurred due to the amount of stress Ilari has been put under from his childhood to his adolescence at Ever After High.

Doll-Repainting
A skill which he picked up from his older sister Tatiana, Ilari has become especially skilled in the art of repainting dolls and recreating them into completely different dolls.This also stems from his childhood hobby of painting and drawing, which instead of improving in his adolescence, he decided to hone his decent painting skill and repaint dolls. He prefers repainting already beautiful dolls and making them even more beautiful. It's a hobby he enjoys quite a bit as well, as it helps with calming down his anxiety.

Poetry
TBA

Royal Politics
Being honored with the responsibility of ascending to the throne once his father's reign comes to an end, Ilari finds himself being intrigued in the matters of royal affairs. To be truthful, this "interest" is more of a burden on Ilari as there's simply too much to keep up with and Ilari isn't inherently a very political person by any means. He just feels obligated to study the ins-and-outs of the Russian royal court as well as its government. He's also well-versed in the affairs of the governments and royal affairs of other areas, especially in the Kingdom of Ever After. Ask Ilari to name every current monarchs (as well as their predecessors) of all the major kingdoms in the realm and he'll be able to answer off the top of his head.

Sports
Ilari considers himself a passionate connoisseur of sports. He both enjoys participating in physical activities and spectating athletic games. As a skilled athlete himself, Ilari is regarded as a very skilled and valuable member of both the bookball team and the track and shield team. Besides his participation in hextracurricular athletics, he also enjoys spectating basket-ball games, and while he's not as well-versed in basket-ball rules as he is with bookball and track, he sometimes entertains the idea of joining the team itself.

Back at home, Ilari takes pleasure in other miscellaneous sports such as horseback riding and tennis. He's of the belief that chess—which he greatly enjoys playing—should be considered a sport. Alongside his political ally Bernard, Ilari also enjoys playing games of cricket.

Other(s)

 * Ilari is skilled in playing both the piano and the violin, though he personally considers his musical talent more of a "skill" rather than a hobby he does for fun.
 * He's content with letting this fact about him be lesser-known to his friends, and only close intimates of his are aware of his musical talent.
 * As mentioned previously, Ilari is quite skilled at painting (though he tends to just paint dolls nowadays).

How the Story Goes

 * Main Article: Vasilisa the Beautiful 

How Does Ilari Come Into It?
After the current generation's Vasilisa married the tsar of Russia, they had four children. Among those children was Ilari, who was the eldest son born to the royal couple. One year before Ilari was born, however, his older sister Tatiana was born. Because the family had a female child—who in this case was Tatiana—who was also the eldest among her siblings, it meant that the role of the next generation's Vasilisa would be assigned to her. With this is mind, it meant that Ilari was actually born free of destiny, and in fact it was his sister who was meant to fulfill the role of the next Vasilisa.

Eventually, due to deeply unfortunate and tragic occurrences in Ilari's childhood, the weight of destiny would find its way to Ilari instead. However, the destiny was reserved for the next female child in the family, which would've been his youngest sibling and sister Aleksandra, but Ilari volunteered to take up the role of the next Vasilisa. Because of his intervention, Ilari ended up becoming the next generation's next Vasilisa and consequently began attending Ever After High the next year after his sister's death.

Opinions on Destiny
Ilari isn't able to shake off the fact that this destiny was never meant for him. The destiny becoming his was a rather rushed affair as well, so in the first couple years he was made aware of his responsibilities, he didn't think he was prepared at all.

Now that he's three years into his education at Ever After High, Ilari feels honored to be able to carry on his family's legacy. He wants to make his mother proud in following in her footsteps, as well as fulfilling the promise he made to his sister before she passed. As previously stated, Ilari is royal-aligned and is intent on following his destiny, though he still feels undeserving of the destiny he is bound to. However, whatever he can do to make his mother proud and honor his family's legacy, he's intent on doing it right.

Parallels

 * Vasilisa, in Vasilisa the Beautiful, is given a doll by her mother before her mother dies; in the duration of the story, Vasilisa keeps the doll with her and goes to it for comfort and in times of need. For Ilari, before she died, his sister gave him a doll she repainted to match the appearance of the original doll from the story; like his mother, Ilari keeps the doll with him and refers to it for comfort.
 * Ilari's interest in dolls and repainting them is a nod to the major role the doll plays in Vasilisa the Beautiful.

Name
Pronunciation: ee-LAR-ee-own nee-koh-LIE-vich stee-PAH-nove (Illarion Nikolaevich Stepanov)

The name "Ilari" is a diminutive of the name "Illarion", which is the Russian form of the masculine name of Ancient Greek origins "Hilarion". It is derived from a Greek word that means "cheerful". Ilari himself isn't a particularly cheerful person, so it's rather ironic that he has a name that means something he typically isn't.

Ilari's patronymic is "Nikolaevich" and also serves as his middle name. The name "Nikolaevich" is derived from his father's name, Nikolai. The name "Nikolai" is an East Slavic variant of the name "Nicholas", which is a derivative of the masculine name of Greek origins "Nikolaos" (meaning "victory of the people").

His surname "Stepanov" is derived from the masculine name of Russian origins "Stepan", which means "crown". This is a reference to Ilari's status as heir to the Russian throne.

Because Ilari is quite  obsessed  prideful of his status as a prince, he often introduces himself to others as "Illarion Nikolaevich, Tsarevich (prince) of Russia". Usually this is followed up by him hastily stating that most people tend to call him "Ilari" and that he'd prefer to be referred by that name. When signing his name, he writes out his full first name and abbreviates the other parts of his name as "Illarion N. S."

Bookball Team
TBA

Royal Student Council
TBA

Track and Shield
TBA

Tropes
(shout-out to spades for inspiring me to include this in the pages of my ocs !  🐸💕)
 * Academic Athlete - He's able to maintain a perfect 4.0 FPA (fairy-point-average) while being an active participant in the sports team he's involved with, which are the bookball team and track and shield team.
 * The Ace - Prior to studying at Ever After High, Ilari was a very precocious child as a result of the private education he was given. He's capable of speaking English, French, and Russian, an Academic Ace with a perfect 4.0 FPA, and also excels in various sports.
 * Affectionate Nickname - Cosmo always refers to Ilari as "Ari".
 * Appeal to Tradition - Ilari is dedicated to fulfilling the role as the next generation's "Vasilisa" so he's able to make his family proud and honor his dead sister's memory.
 * Arch Enemy - Serves as this to Glaucio. He pursued a friendship with Glaucio purely because he was royalty like him, which Glaucio did not take too kindly when he found that out.
 * Better as Friends - His relationship with his former girlfriend Sanne Lukøje.
 * Big Brother Instinct - Ilari is the oldest brother to his two younger siblings—Sasha and Andrei—who he cares for the both of them deeply and is very protective of them both.
 * This is fueled by the fact that their oldest sibling died years ago and he's since taken up the role as their oldest sibling.
 * Big Little Brother
 * Break the Haughty - Upon his entry into Ever After High, Ilari was rather arrogant and high-and-mighty due to his status as a prince. He valued royal status quite intensely and acted condescending towards anyone who wasn't a royal like he was. Eventually he learned the errors of acting in such a way and became more humble and kinder.
 * The Chessmaster -
 * Child Prodigy - He was an incredibly smart kid and his intelligence hasn't left him, even as a teenager.
 * Cool Crown - He always dons a crown placed perfectly on his head to show others his status as a royal
 * Deadpan Snarker - He's normally not very sharp-tongued in actuality, but he can be especially snarky towards people he doesn't like (such as a certain someone...)
 * Defrosting Ice King
 * Disease Bleach - His hair, which was naturally light ash brown, has turned pale over the years (his hair is now platinum blond). This is due to the overwhelming amount of stress he's been experiencing due to his family's high expectations for him.
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette - Downplayed. Well, he did have light ash brown-colored hair, but it has since faded into platinum blond (though it appears white as snow). He's also extremely pale, but there isn't anything inherently "eerie" about him.
 * The Foil - To Cosmo (more on this later)
 * Freudian Trio - With Cosmo and Kaden. Ilari is the Superego to Cosmo's Id, meanwhile Kaden is the Ego who balances them both.
 * Gentleman and a Scholar
 * Goal in Life - He wants to make his mother proud and follow in her footsteps in fulfilling his destiny, so he's very dedicated to his studies at Ever After High.
 * He also wants to honor his dead sister's memory and fulfill the destiny that was meant for her.
 * Good Is Not Soft
 * Good with Numbers
 * Gratuitous Russian - He's Russian, and will occasionally insert Russian phrases into his everyday speech.
 * He also insults Glaucio in Russian.
 * Green-Eyed Monster - Much of his vitriol against Glaucio also stems from his jealousy of him, which intensifies once he realizes that Kaden—the person he's attracted to—is becoming close with the person he detests the most.
 * Hair Decorations
 * Happily Failed Suicide
 * Humble Pie - His confrontation with Glaucio causes him to reflect on himself and eventually realize that he's actually a major asshole. Later, he eases up on his condescending and elitist attitude and becomes a more modest and likeable person.
 * I Am Not Pretty


 * Icy Blue Eyes - Played with. They're rather piercing and intimidating at a first glance, but can be seen as soft and childlike as well.
 * Ironic Name - Ilari's name means "cheerful", however "cheerful" isn't a word that describes Ilari at all. Not to say he's rarely ever happy, but it's definitely not a defining trait for him.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold - He isn't that abrasive, though he has his occasional moments where he's a major jerk (normally towards Glaucio).
 * Last Het Romance - While Ilari was still dating his former girlfriend Sanne, he realized he was actually gay.
 * Parental Neglect - His father was mostly absent from his and his sibling's childhoods, which resulted in his resentment towards him.
 * Peek-a-Bangs
 * Posthumous Sibling - After the death of his older sister Tatiana, Ilari became the eldest child in the Stepanov family and assumed the responsibilities expected of being an eldest child.
 * His responsibilites increased once he volunteered to take up his sister's role as the next generation's Vasilisa.
 * Proud Elite
 * Red is Heroic - His associated colors are shades of crimson; also, he hopes that he's a good person befitting of the descriptor of "heroic".
 * Renaissance Man - He's quite skilled in various forms of the arts, academia, and athletics (mostly due to his royal upbringing).
 * Royal Brat - Basically the reason why Glaucio clashed with him during their first year. Since their confrontation, he's gotten a lot better though.
 * Smart People Play Chess
 * Social Expert
 * Teen Genius - He's able to maintain a perfect 4.0 FPA.
 * Took a Level in Kindness - During his first year, Ilari was an arrogant boy who was extremely sheltered because of his upbringing as a prince, though he tried hard to soften that side of him when it came to interacting with people he genuinely liked (like Kaden). Now that he's in his third year, his arrogance is mostly gone and he's a lot more humble.
 * Tragic Keepsake - Before Ilari's sister Tatiana died, she gifted him a doll she repainted to appear like the replica of the doll from the original  Vasilisa the Beautiful . He keeps this doll with him and refers to it when he's in need of comfort.
 * He also has a locket that contains a couple strands of Tatiana's hair.
 * What the Hell, Hero? - Essentially what his confrontation with Glaucio boils down to.

Quotes
"The morning is wiser than the evening."

- From ''Vasilisa the Beautiful'

"Do not speak ill of the dead."

"My loyalty is forever yours."

"I'd rather join my sister in the ground than be separated from you for such a long time."

Trivia

 * Despite Ilari's full first name and title being "Illarion Nikolaevich Stepanov, Tsarevich of Russia", his student files at Ever After High simply refer to him as "Ilari Nikoalevich Stepanov".
 * His friends, peers, and teachers know him as "Ilari", while other individuals such as members of his family and the Russian court refer to him as "Illarion" or "Hilaire" (which is the French variant of his name).
 * Glaucio, however, opts to refer to Ilari as "Hillary" either directly to his face in conversations or in passing.
 * Ilari's first language is Russian, though he also displays fluency in English, French, and Latin as well.
 * He speaks French as a reference to the period in history where many Russian nobles and aristocrats during the 19th century speaking French to display their high-class status.
 * When speaking English or any other language that isn't Russian, he has a very soft accent that is barely noticeable unless one has exceptionally keen ears.
 * His personality type is ENTJ.
 * His temperament is the Choleric-Sanguine combination.
 * Ilari shares his birthday (January 21) with the infamous Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin.
 * He was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in his youth and depression later in his adolescence—the former often presents itself through his feelings of anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and dreadful nightmares.
 * As treatment for his neuroses, Ilari takes antidepressants (he used to speak to a psychiatrist, but he's been too busy to attend any sessions).
 * He has a tendency to misspell the name of his destined role to "Vasilia" instead of correctly spelling it "Vasilisa".
 * This may not be a reference to my own common misspellings of "Vasilisa".
 * Ilari's school counselor is Baba Yaga, who usually advises the students fated to become their story's next villains, but considering his ties to her in his story, it makes sense why she'd advise Ilari.
 * In his youth, he was able to get his hands on vodka (not legally by any means) and has secretly considered it his favorite drink.
 * Because of the limitations in Ever After, Ilari dearly misses vodka.
 * He's rather content with settling for earl grey tea, however.
 * His favorite season is either winter or summer.