Full Name:ย Ravi Russell.
Nicknames:ย Rav, Chef.
Pronouns and Gender:ย He/Him, cis man.
Birthday:ย September 25th, 1996.
Birth place:ย Aurora Bay.
How long have they been in town?:ย His whole life / gone for the duration of culinary school / back full time since june 2019.
Sexuality: Bisexual.
Housing: Fisher's Cove.
Occupation:ย Former co-owner of Jolyani food truck, current sous chef at Neptune.
Family:ย Advika Russell (nรฉe Mohiuddin), Arthur Russell, Jaswinder Russell.
tw teen pregnancy, disownment // @aurorabayaesthetic
QUICK OVERVIEW:
The firstborn of two, Ravi entered the world years after his maternal grandparents had made the move from Maharashtra, India to Aurora Bay, California.
It was intended to be a new life Mohiuddins, but that life took a different shape than anyone envisioned when their oldest daughter Advika confessed that she was expecting her first child with a local man called Arthur who her parents had never approved of.
Raised devout Muslim alongside her sisters and brothers, a child out of wedlock was never going to be something easily accepted. Many arguments ensued and with neither side able to have their point of view accepted, she was eventually disowned.
Advika and Arthur eventually married when Ravi was three years old, and his younger sister Jas soon came along and rounded out the family.
Ravi's earliest memories are those spent shadowing his mother, in the kitchen, on errands, anywhere and everywhere he could.
She was more than happy for him to be her little helper, and it wasn't until he was midway through elementary school did he realise the landscape of his family looked vastly different to his classmates.
It wasn't until he asked about it did he learn that he did in fact have a grandmother and a grandfather and aunts and uncles on his mother's side.
He had been too young before then to register that absence as anything more than just how it was.
When he was fourteen, that truth shifted again when his mother accidentally let slip that her family resided in the same town theirs did.
The idea that there was people who were supposed to love him so close by who chose to miss out on his and Jas' life because of shame that they had decided mattered more than either of them unsettled him and still does to this day.
Both of his parents had high aspirations for him, that when he grew up he might go into medicine or law or engineering like his father.
None of those paths appealed to him, too much of a commitment and far too much studying for him to be able to do it in the long-term.
By the time high school graduation had been and passed, there was only one career he envisioned for himself, and he knew it wouldn't be received well.
As expected, neither Advika or Arthur were particularly enthused when he announced he intended to attend culinary school, citing long hours and low salary as their biggest concerns.
He understood where they were coming from and they managed to meet in the middle of it all -- he could pursue culinary school with their blessing if he spent a year getting actual working experience in kitchens that weren't his own so he knew the realities of what he was pursuing.
He did exactly that and emerged from his side quest undeterred, starting school that next academic year in LA.
It was there that he met Sola Adisa, the pair becoming fast friends turned best friends.
He relied on her heavily throughout culinary school, and by the time the end was in sight, he knew that aims for employment in Michelin star kitchens weren't for him.
A tradition of theirs -- Fuse It Fridays! -- soon become a future, as they dreamed up owning a food truck that served the two types of cuisine that felt the most like home to them.
After joining forces and finances, they purchased a truck with enough potential to carry out their idea and fixed it up together, and Jolyani was born.
A regular sight within Aurora Bay, the sudden uptick in attention and popularity of the truck (including it's own small scale cult following after being a TikTok trend in California for a few weeks)
PERSONALITY.
+ pragmatic, hard-working, creative.
- dishonest, avoidant, absent-minded.
FUN ADJACENT FACTS.
during his time being LA based, he met and fell for robin santos hard. it did not end well.
while his mother still holds her islamic faith, her marriage prevents her from practicing it traditionally. ravi grew up observing aspects of both islam and christianity and while he doesn't wholly identify with either, there's aspects he does observe.
takes part in ramadan every year along with his mother.
started playing harmonica as a bit in his teens but found he's oddly good at it, will whip that out at a party if he's not stopped.
finds protein bars abhorrent. thinks its a mortal sin to call consuming one a meal.
fundamentally opposed to airpods, rocks with wired earpods exclusively.
spearheading a one man campaign to stop his mother from using the voice-to-text feature.
CURRENT CONNECTIONS.
food truck co-owner / best friend / something undefinable of @solaadisa
ex-fiancรฉ of @robinsantos
first kiss of/with @noah-atwood
best bud of @warnerstjames
previously employed by / looks up to @greengideon
hit @fatefulfortune in the face with a tennis ball by accident (rip)
ex-boyfriend of @phoebekeller (bad terms)
SPECIFIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.
people he worked for/with during his year between finishing high school and starting culinary school! open to restaurant owners / employees.
GENERIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.
connections wise heโs pretty much an open book right now, but some baseline ideas that can be springboarded off are:
friendly.
a best friend / ride or dies / close friends / childhood friends / pseudo-siblings / friends / drunk friends / new friends / former roommate / people he knew from LA / people he met in culinary school.
romantic
flirtationship / friends with benefits / one time hook ups / tinder matches / unrequited crush (can be either way) / exes from high school / exes on good terms.
antagonistic.
enemies / former (best) friends / exes on bad terms / frenemies / rivals / negative influence / culinary school rivals.
