Canon except for the familial angle
- Mik doesn’t know why he becomes a career soldier, not really, even though he has logical reasons for it. When he was younger it was partially about proving his toughness and being angry with the state of his life. After a couple of years on active service it was just easier to stay than it was to leave.
- Mik’s trauma reservoir was already pretty filled up by his experiences with his mother before it was compounded by what he’d seen and experienced on tour. His father was always kind to him, but Vadim’s imprisonment and the lack of stability and financial difficulty Avenir experienced while housing and caring for him and Milan didn’t help. When Vadim is released from prison and begins working for the brotherhood he becomes well off with a rapidity Mik mistrusts and finds difficulty adjusting to.
- Mik’s enlistment is mandatory, but he didn’t have to join the special forces or commit to a career. At 18 Vadim isn’t quite as ludicrously wealthy as he will be when Mik is discharged, but there’s enough money for Mik to not have to work, if he wished.
- Vadim didn’t speak to Mik for most of his time in the military, displeased with his choice and claiming there was no use talking to the boy because he couldn’t understand the reasoning behind his actions (Vadim’s usually uncannily good at divining subconscious or emotional motivations no matter how outrageous or nonsensical, but he finds himself unable to do that with his son). (If you’re thinking that’s unlikely, my own father didn’t speak to me for five years over a fairly minor misdemeanor, and we have what’s considered a good rapport. That stuff happens). The Ramazanovs are champion brooders, so Vadim is capable of giving someone the cold shoulder for decades if need be. Milan’s the only Ramazanov who doesn’t brood; he sulks.
- Mik has two injury incidents while in service. The first you’ve probably read about, the land mine that kills Aleksandr. That leaves him with some shrapnel scarring along one side and in his right hand and forearm. He’s sent back to base, technically on active duty despite his injuries. The second is while working special recon with the SOF in Syria. The burn isn’t so bad bc of his armor, but he still sports scarring on his the upper right side of his back. It’s his last operation with the SOF
- Routine medical checkups and talks with physicians. He is sent to a therapist but doesn’t return after the second session. Eventually his family takes over his medical care and he’s welcomed back to the family. Vadim spares no cost to help him, but their relationship remains cordial but formal
- Mik interrupted his university studies to go into the military. He resumes his degree two years after his discharge. Between the pain, his medication, the insomnia, depression, headaches, forgetfulness and sudden bouts of intense anger it’s an uphill slog despite respectably good grades. He graduates and despite working for the legal side of the family business (energy development, oil, construction, industrial technology that sorta stuff) he’s aimless and one bad night away from blowing his brains out
- fam is lowkey concerned but also not. Vadim has his Miklos shaped emotional blinders on, Avenir is inept as fuck when it comes to handling delicate situations and Milan is the only one who tries at reaching out (having been in war more recently than his older brothers, what with actually being in the special forces and the Gulf war himself even tho he spent most of it selling weapons to dubious scummy criminal types on the sly). Miklos, never talkative or visibly upset about anything, claims to be fine and Milan doesn’t want to be pushy. He remains concerned however.
-why go to therapy when you can deal with your shellshock by living a dissipated albeit broody millionaire playboy lifestyle
- Mik is (temporarily) rescued from himself by meeting Rui, who, corny as it sounds, makes him feel something other than numb, who amuses him, makes him feel cared for. She gives him the entirety of her fickle attention and isn’t put off by his silences or the times he goes away behind his eyes.
- while Mik is, objectively, a catch, based on bank account alone, Rui can (still) have her pick of the lot, lots of fish in the sea etc. It’s his vulnerability that attracted her and kept her around, although she won’t tell him that.
- Rui also wants to make sure he’s fed and sleeping properly, that he’s doing work that makes him feel fulfilled and that he’s happy (more or less). In Rui’s own words it’s pretty fucking gross
- Rui figured he was fucked up aside from just being a really quiet guy, what with the getting blown up and the PTSD and all. The mafiya stuff is pretty much whatever to Rui, she’s had sketchy boyfriends before. She doesn’t know how fucked up until after they’re married. Romantic relationships don’t cure depression
