Gabriel Castinera

[Serpico*]

Name: Gabriel Castinera
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: Aurora High
Hobbies and Interests: Comics, video games, history, mythology, art.

Appearance: Gabriel Castinera has a naturally sturdy body. He isn't toned at all and can be described as a little pudgy and soft. He is 5'8" and weighs 173.8 lbs. He has olive skin and appears much paler than he should; this is due to a lack of exposure to sunlight. The shape of his face is very round; he has an average sized forehead and arched eyebrows. His eyes are deep set and often have bags underneath from lack of sleep. His nose can be described as broad. His teeth are straight with the exception of the lower incisors, they are slightly crooked, but not visible when he smiles. He has long dark brown hair that is often tied back into a ponytail and has dark brown eyes. He has a birthmark on his lower back and on the back of his head; the latter is not visible because of his hair and neither are in a shape that is particularly notable. He has a beard and mustache which he keeps trimmed short. He is rather hairy and you can see hair on his forearms when he rolls up his sleeves. He will often have acne breakouts; this is most common when he forgets to apply the anti-acne products that he owns.

He normally wears a red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He wears jeans that are tattered at the bottom and a size too large, they are supported by a studded black belt with a buckle. His shoes are black and red sneakers and he occasionally wears a metal cross.

Biography: Gabriel Castinera, also known as Gabe, hails from Sydney, Australia. His mother, Maria, moved with her parents and sister when she was around the age of seven. They chose to leave Uruguay after seeing Australia as a place of financial opportunity. Gabe's grandfather, Paulo, would often work on renovating his house as he was a builder and supported the family through his work. Gabe's grandmother Elisa was a housewife and would care for both Maria and her sister Carmen. Gabe's father, Erik, would move to Australia with his family for similar reasons. They met during their high school years. Eventually Erik's parents would choose to try their luck in Seattle as Erik's father was unable to settle into a proper job during the years they spent there. At the time Erik was of legal age and chose to stay in Australia with Maria. Maria would have Gabe when she was 19 years old and they would move into an apartment in order to start a life that was independent of Maria's family.

Eventually it was necessary for them to move into his grandparents' house, this was due to financial reasons. Gabe was four years old when this happened and hardly remembers anything about his time in the apartment. At the time his mother worked as a pharmacy assistant while his father handled jobs that required a lot of hours; as such his father was not around the house often. Gabe was never certain about what he did for work. A year after they moved into Maria's parents' house his sister Michele was born; previously Gabe had asked his parents for a brother and was a bit shocked when his sibling turned out to be a girl. Gabe was frustrated when his mother would not let him hold his sister, she told him that he was too young and might drop her. He had to get used to receiving less attention than he did before and to the crying of the baby. Having a sibling did not turn out how he expected.

Erik slowly phased himself out of his family's lives after realising that he and Maria were not getting along. The relationship was not able to last due to the pressure that Erik felt while living under another person's roof. Maria tried to keep this from affecting Gabe and Michelle, but when Erik stopped coming home Gabe was at first confused and distraught. Gabe's father was a presence in the household, even if he was distant. Having someone that he had grown accustomed to leave had an impact on young Gabe, it seemed strange to him at first but Gabe would eventually become accustomed to it.

As Gabe and his sister grew they began to fight, his sister was demanding and as a child Gabe did not want to accommodate with her demands. As soon as she was old enough they would fight over things such as toys and television shows. She even cut Gabe's hair while he was sleeping; he woke up when he felt her playing with his hair. She meant nothing malicious by cutting it but Gabe was deeply offended and pulled the scissors out of her hand. She only mentioned in tears that she wanted to practice hairdressing. His mother came into the room when she heard Michelle's crying and saw Gabe's new haircut and the scissors in his hands. The scissors were taken from Gabe and they were separated. Gabe refused to stay in the same room as Michelle for days. Whenever Gabe interacted with Michelle after that it was tense and he only properly forgave her once his hair grew back to its regular length.

As a youth he was overweight and the butt of many jokes, he was withdrawn as a result and would not interact with the other kids. He was withdrawn and generally settled into the library during lunch and chose to read, his favourite genre was fantasy. Gabe enjoyed the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Eoin Colfer and J.K Rowling, his favourite book being Artemis Fowl. He read often and some could say that he used it as a method of escapism, choosing to focus on fictional worlds instead of real ones. They just seemed much more interesting to him.

By the time he reached high school his mother had noticed how badly he fared with the other children, she chose to send him to a Roman Catholic all boy's school. Paying for it with money she earned and with money from child support. Gabe fared a little better there because it was somewhere where he could build himself a new reputation. He grew during puberty so that his weight fit him more proportionally, and cut his food intake so that he could lose the excess weight. He gained more confidence as his body began to look better. His new friends helped him to develop a sense of humour, he liked it when people laughed and believed that it made him more desirable as a friend.

He had a friend named Kevin who would draw anime and manga characters. Gabriel himself sometimes scribbled in his school books and soon was trying to become better than his friend was. It was a little competitive and it pushed Gabriel to develop his drawing style in order to have more and more impressive sketches. At times Gabriel and his friend got into arguments over whose art was better, sometimes they would not talk for days.

His social skills improved during his early high school years. He began to see himself as adequate and on even grounds with the rest of the boys. He began to gradually leave his fantasy books alone, instead branching out into subjects like mythology and history. He had enough of fantasy and the improbable feats that the heroes would accomplish. He liked reading about what people had done in the past; he loved looking at black and white photos and army uniforms. He thoroughly enjoyed reading about deities and myths from all over the world; they were interesting and sometimes odd.

He isn't particularly religious despite attending a Roman Catholic school through grades seven to nine. During those years he would become reacquainted with his father, who now expressed interest in bonding with him after being absent for so many years. He wanted to be a presence in Gabe's life and make up for all the years that he had missed. Gabe was apprehensive as first, he hardly knew the man in front of him anymore. Erik had not changed very much physically since he had left but Gabe still had very few memories of him. They would bond slowly, taking regular outings to places like the cinema and zoo. The process of building a father and son relationship was tedious and Gabe feared that his father would leave suddenly again.

By the time that Gabriel reached tenth grade his father felt that their relationship was strong enough to ask if Gabe would like to move to Seattle to meet his grandparents. Gabriel had never met his father's parents. He was told that his grandfather was rather ill and that he wanted to meet him, he expressed the same for Gabriel's younger sister but Gabriel's mother drew the line there. She didn't want to be without both her children at the same time. Convincing her was difficult, but Gabe expressed a desire to meet his ill grandfather and pushed for an opportunity to spend time with him. Gabe's mother did know Erik's father when he was in Australia, she thought of him as a serious and work oriented man and much less flighty than her ex husband.

Erik also tried to persuade Maria to allow Gabe to complete high school and college in America. She rejected the idea at first and told him that it was too much. Erik then asked for Gabe to at least try high school in Seattle, to have one or two years to become familiar with his grandfather like a member of the family. He then added that if Gabe was unhappy in Seattle that he could go home when he wanted and that he was not obligated to stay. Maria told Erik that Gabe would only be staying until the end of high school, but acknowledged that Gabe had the right to meet with his grandparents and become familiar with them. Gabe insisted that he should at least try, telling his mother that he was almost an adult and that it would be an enriching opportunity. Maria was still reluctant and thought that Gabe was being too optimistic and short sighted about it, but she did not want to crush his enthusiasm. She told him that he would definitely have to return and would need to call her as soon as he arrived on American soil. She knew that he would most likely be on a computer in his spare time and asked him to send her emails or call regularly. Eventually she approved, but only after a lot of discussion and arguing.

When Gabriel arrived his grandfather would only speak to him in Spanish and would not respond to English. This meant that Gabriel had to improve his very basic and broken Spanish to an acceptable level. Seattle was very different to Sydney and in the first few weeks Gabe would fear getting lost in an unfamiliar city. There was little comfort in the unfamiliar surroundings and it was the first time he experienced home sickness. The first few weeks were practically sleepless because he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt. He would contact his mother occasionally, the missed each other and would speak for hours during the first few weeks. He soon wanted to return to Australia, even if it was only for a few days. He told his father and they began to save up money for plane tickets.

His new school was similar to his old one, except there were girls and a lack of bible pushers. He would eventually adapt to the changes, settling in nicely. He really missed his old friends but would settle for new ones. His grades are mostly average at best and he only excels in classes like art and history as they are subjects that his is passionate about.

He spends quite a bit of time on the internet and will stay on there until very late at night. He uploads his drawings for others to see and occasionally takes requests. It helps him to develop his style; as he hopes to become a comic artist or illustrator. Gabe rarely shows off his folder of drawings to people he meets at school unless they ask. Uploading them to the internet meant that it was possible for more people to see his art. He has amassed a collection of art books and comics in his room, these help to keep him inspired and help him to develop further. He first picked up a copy of Marvel's adaptation of Stephen King's Dark tower when he was still back in Australia, it was an impulsive purchase but he liked the cover of the book. He enjoyed reading comics that were in colour and found it to be a nice change from the black and white that appeared so often in manga. He would purchase Frank Miller's Sin city and a few issues of batman. The comics would be displayed alongside his manga collection on a shelf in his room.

His attitude is mostly friendly and when he is feeling particularly brave he might approach strangers and socialise with them. He will sometimes go out of his way to do favours for people because he sees it as the polite thing to do. Sometimes he will start a task and then regret it immediately as it might be too difficult or just not interesting. He abandons many projects and hobbies because he gets bored with them quickly. He once took Taekwondo classes but didn't stay enrolled very long. He left the class with a little more flexibility and stamina but it would fade as he stopped exercising. While Gabe attended the class he did not learn much about actual fighting and would not be able to fare any better in a fight than the average student. He learned how to make a proper fist and take a balanced stance but most of what he learned was soon forgotten.

His sense of humour might be a little odd as the jokes and scenarios in his head are exaggerated and ridiculous. He has a foul mouth and swears in conversation regularly, it makes conversations with him unpleasant for some people. Around his friends he is very relaxed and feels no need to go out of his way to impress them and is constantly joking around them. When he meets someone for the first time he will try his hardest to make a good impression, often using his sense of humour as an icebreaker. He will hold a grudge if someone offends him; he doesn't take insults very well and will talk back aggressively before ignoring the offender for days. Sometimes he will mistake friendly teasing as an insult and get offended, potentially ending friendships over something trivial. In the event that Gabe would realise that they were only kidding he would berate himself for acting rashly.

Gabe's father is attentive towards him, making sure that he has everything he needs. He has a certainty that his father is trying to make up for the times that he missed when Gabe was young. Gabe's father often presents Gabe with presents, the most notable being an IPhone that he uses to keep in contact with Gabe. Erik does not go through through phone but he does call and text regularly when Gabe is away from home. Occasionally Gabe will go on fishing trips with his father and grandparents, conversations with his grandfather tend to be short as Gabe doesn't enjoy being corrected for making mistakes when he speaks. His grandparents think that it is important that he knows the language and can be very persistent about it.

Advantages: His friendly attitude might help him build and maintain good relationships.
Disadvantages: Being on the internet all the time has left him a little less fit than most, he runs out of breath easily and coughs after strenuous exercise His tendency to get worked up over small things might lead him into needless arguments.