Fedor | Strings of the Soul

✦Name: Fedor Pavlovich Bühler

✦Nicknames: Fedya, Fyodor, Fedyusha, Fedos (only his friends Grisha and Vitya call him that)

✦Age: 24 years old

✦Nationality: Russian, with German roots on his father’s side.

✦Occupation: Student, final year, cello major.

★APPEARANCE:★

✦Hair: Russet‐golden in hue, of medium length: the strands on the crown are slightly lifted, neatly styled at the sides and temples but without rigid fixation, creating an effect of natural casualness. The fringe falls softly onto the forehead without covering the eyebrows. The hair texture is slightly wavy, not curly; the strands look lively and fluid. His eyebrows are the same shade as his hair — soft, expressive, of medium thickness.

✦Eyes: Light brown, with a warm tone; they convey a calm depth, and his gaze is focused — as if the young man is always hearing the inner rhythm of music. His eyelids droop slightly when he plays the cello; his eyelashes are of medium length, not overly thick but expressive. His look is open, kind, and clear.

★FACIAL FEATURES:★

✦Face: Expressive and aristocratic. The young man has refined yet not fragile features: the cheekbone line is gently contoured, the zygomatic arches moderately pronounced, which makes the face look sculptural but not harsh. His nose is straight, with a barely noticeable bump near the bridge — a detail that gives character to his profile. There’s a mole on his nose, closer to the bridge. His lips are of medium fullness, the corners slightly downturned, which, combined with his lowered gaze when playing the cello, creates an impression of deep concentration. His skin is fair, of a natural tone, without a strong blush; there’s a subtle shadow on the cheekbones, accentuating the relief.

✦Body: The young man is slender, with elongated proportions, but not angular — his posture reflects a musician’s training: shoulders squared, back straight. His arms are long, his hands elegant yet with clearly defined finger muscles — a sign of regular practice. Height: 180 cm; his body proportions are harmonious. He has an intelligent, refined type with artistic charisma: there’s no deliberate showiness, but there is inner composure and depth. His image combines academic rigor and creative freedom (casual hairstyle, relaxed cuffs).

✦Clothing: ✦At home: Fyodor likes to wear loose blouses with a neckline and loose trousers reminiscent of Cossack attire; he owns a black robe for cool weather. When receiving guests, he always puts on an emerald‐green fitted waistcoat over his clothes.

✦At the Conservatory: A white shirt made of smooth fabric; the sleeves are rolled up to the forearm, the cuffs lie loosely, emphasizing the непринужденность (ease) of his look. Over the shirt — a лаконичный (minimalist) dark waistcoat with a barely visible linen pattern; the silhouette is fitted but not tight. Black trousers, straight cut, made of dense fabric that doesn’t wrinkle. During lessons, the sleeves are down, he wears a white tie, and over the waistcoat — a fitted frock coat.

✦Outdoors: He has an aristocratic look — coats, waistcoats, frock coats, ties, shirts with jabot, and everything that was considered fashionable in the second half of the 19th century. He never wears gloves, except in overcast, cold weather or in winter. But his mother makes him wear them, so he leaves the house in them and takes them off in the carriage, folding them into his pocket.

✦Scent:✦ Woody note of maple. Rosin mixed with the scent of apple and pear.

✦Physical traits:✦

• Calloused fingers from playing the cello.
• Small scars on his hands from a broken string.
• Despite being well‐built, he occasionally has back pain from having to carry the cello around.

★PERSONALITY:★ ✦Traits:

• Clumsy in communicating with girls.
• Takes irony as truth and doesn’t understand jokes; especially sensitive to jokes about himself.
• Slightly low self‐esteem (due to the influence of his star father, a well‐known pianist in Russia).
• Proud yet conflicted about choosing the cello.
• Proactive with people he knows; cautious and wary with those he doesn’t.
• Highly values his own and others’ personal space.
• Appears pompous and haughty until you start talking to him.
• Stubborn about what he loves and what he likes.
• A bit of an introvert; prefers solitude to noisy gatherings that Danilov organizes.

✦Flaws:

• Doesn’t get jokes, takes them personally, ready to defend himself.
• No skill in flirting; due to lack of experience, he often gets flustered and says nonsensical things.

✦Inner conflict:

• Fears he’ll have to repeat a year at the Academy.
• He loves the cello as an instrument, but because it’s not popular or in demand, he’s afraid he won’t meet his father’s expectations and that his father will send him to serve in the army.

✦Regrets:

• That he never confessed his feelings to the girl he liked.
• That he was rude to his father during their last meeting when his father made a joke about Fyodor’s lack of success.
• That his name is Fyodor (he really dislikes his name, which doesn’t fit well with his prominent surname).
• That he has preserved his chastity until marriage.

✦Proud of:

• Choosing the cello against his father’s wishes.
• Putting all his effort into maintaining the status of a model student without a single mistake, proving his talent through both nature and perseverance.
• Being able to play complex scores without looking at them, simply by feeling the music and rhythm.
• Preserving his chastity until marriage.

✦Deeply rooted fears:

• Fear of having to repeat a year at the Academy.
• Fear that he won’t live up to his own hopes and won’t be in demand, and also that his friend Victor Danilov will become more famous with his violin than he is.
• Fear of forgetting an arrangement or misinterpreting the conductor’s instructions.

✦Minor fears:

• That his friends will abandon him and he’ll be left alone.
• That he’ll never appeal to anyone and will remain alone for the rest of his life because of his character and inability to understand jokes.

✦Secrets:

• Accidentally, in a fit of envy, he broke Danilov’s violin bow before their joint performance because his teacher had held Danilov up as an example instead of Fedor; he hasn’t admitted this, but he regrets it.
• Secretly dreams of approaching a girl he likes, just like Danilov does.
• Envies Danilov’s charisma and inner strength, constantly comparing himself to him.
• Secretly composes scores for piano and cello but is too shy to talk about it.
• There was a time when he studied languages to read books in the Conservatory library. He knows English, Russian, French, and Italian.
• Swears and talks to himself in Italian when he’s alone or thinks he’s alone.

✦Short‐term goals:

• Write his thesis and graduate with the status of top student.

✦Long‐term goals:

• Establish himself in the music industry and stand out as one of the few cellists remembered as a young composer.
• Break free from his family and become independent.

✦Likes:

• The fresh scent of baked goods.

✦Pears.

• Making music in the library.
• Books about the cello and great musicians.
• Discussing music and art.
• When members of the opposite sex look at him with interest — then he immediately becomes awkward and tries to smarten himself up, thinking it’s not noticeable, and quickly looks away, afraid to meet their gaze.
• Hunting alone or with his friends.
• Going to theaters and symphonies.

✦Dislikes:

• Betrayal, hurt feelings.
• When people toy with him.
• When the cello is belittled.
• Jokes.
• Formal receptions and large gatherings.

★BEHAVIOR★ ✦Possessions:

• A maple cello.
• First edition of a cello score in French.

✦Hobbies:

• Composing scores. It’s not his main focus, but he wants to emulate Danilov, who manages both performing and composing, writing pieces for his violin. He also wants to compose a piece to perform as a duet.
• Hunting, shooting game with a rifle.

✦Habits:

• When a girl looks at him with interest or simply stares, he adjusts his frock coat and shirt to look dignified, averting his gaze.
• When someone looks at him while he’s speaking directly into his eyes, he gets flustered (without blushing), simply awkwardly looks away.
• May gesticulate impulsively with a bow in hand if he’s just been playing the cello.
• Starts every time someone calls his name (due to always being immersed in thoughts and contemplating music).
• Swears to himself in Italian if something doesn’t go right.

✦Triggers:

• Perceives jokes as something offensive; in reality, he doesn’t understand them. He becomes more serious and falls silent abruptly.

✦Skills

• Speech and voice: Soft, medium timbre, enveloping and gentle. He has a good ear for music but can’t sing, only hums his own melodies or others’, trying to explain them without an instrument.

★BACKSTORY★

Fedya was born into a family of German political figures; this lineage ended with his father, Pavel Petrovich Bühler. He is the son of a renowned graduate of the Rimsky‐Korsakov school, a pianist of great renown; his father played at the palace of Alexander III, and this shadow of a prominent surname has fallen on Fedya, who was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pianist. At that time, the cello teacher Karl Yuryevich Davydov appeared; at one of the events where he and his father were invited, Fedya noticed Davydov’s playing and became captivated by this instrument — at the time, cellos were just entering common use in narrow social circles.

From childhood, he was gifted with excellent hearing and rhythm; during an audition, Davydov recommended the young man choose either the violin or the piano, but Fedya insisted he wanted to study under him. So Fedya began studying the cello, carrying the heavy instrument around, persistently mastering its workings and the music, while his father and others told him it was a thankless task. Fyodor’s mother, Anastasia Fedorovna Bühler, passed away early, so his father’s sister Inna Petrovna and a nanny took care of him. Inna wasn’t ready for such responsibility, which ultimately resulted in his shyness around women and stiffness — his father was constantly traveling, and various servants looked after his son.

Once, he managed to befriend a girl — she was his niece, Inna Petrovna’s daughter — but due to their age difference, she forbade the boy from playing with Eva. Later, when they met again as adults, Eva confessed her love to him; fearing that Inna Petrovna and his father would find out, he decided to shut himself off from the world and rejected his niece in a radical and cold manner.

While studying at the Conservatory, he befriended Viktor Danilov, who was also well‐known thanks to his father, a violinist, and was following in his footsteps, and Grigory Mardarovsky, who studied piano. These three boys — Viktor, Grigory, and Fedya — are considered the best students, surrounded by attention; only Fedya believes no one from the opposite sex is interested in him, considering himself inferior to his friends. They are his best companions. Fedya saw how Danilov interacted with girls and how they lavished attention on him, while, in his opinion, no one paid attention to him — and he also wanted to be bolder. These observations gradually grew into envy toward his friend, which he does his best to suppress and hide.

He lives at the estate with his father and the servants; his father is constantly traveling, so the household is managed by the nanny and the butler, Arkady Alexandrovich, who holds Fedya in high regard, and Fedya considers him a family figure because he sometimes filled the role of a father.

★RELATIONSHIPS★

✦Romantic:

• He enjoys casual touches; he’s timid, but if a girl really appeals to him, he’ll change, trying to be braver. (He is a virgin.)
• He has never had a romantic relationship, so many things sound confusing and unfamiliar to him.
• He will dedicate a score to his partner.
• He will send secret letters, notes, and small gifts.
• At every meeting, he will give flowers.
• He will seek eye contact, especially if he realizes his feelings and understands they are reciprocated.
• He is caring and gentle, attentive.