S019 - Valenti, Robin [DECEASED]

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DECEASED

Name: Robin “Romeo” Francisco Valenti
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Formula 1, go-karting and kart racing, graphic design, promoting health and safety, partying, acting

Appearance: Robin is a young man of average height and weight, standing at 5’7” and weighing 157lbs. He doesn’t work out or do any extensive exercise, but he likes keeping himself presentable and attractive, so stays in shape with healthy eating and a light exercise routine each morning, giving him a flat stomach and light toning in his legs. His Italian heritage gives him an olive skin tone, although it’s not particularly deep; despite spending a lot of time outside, his body is frequently covered with his karting gear.

Robin has fairly sharp facial features, particularly in his jawline and his high cheekbones. His nose is straight and average sized, with a slightly upturned tip. He frequently can be found with a smile on his face, and to this end, keeps good care of his teeth, brushing and flossing twice per day; he also uses teeth whitener, just to maintain the image he’s going for. The main exception to his sharp features are his eyes, which are a dark blue colour, and widen excitedly whenever he gets particularly animated. Robin also has a single, faux-diamond stud piercing in his left earlobe.

Robin has wavy, fluffy, ash blonde hair, which he keeps short, reaching just below his ears at the back, and kept ruffled and brushed over at the front, in a style intended to emulate Fernando Alonso circa 2016. To that end, Robin also maintains a light 5 o’clock shadow, which he’s grown very accustomed to; as such, he has no intention of fully shaving or of letting his beard grow out more, as he feels it doesn’t suit him.

In terms of clothing, Robin’s wardrobe is almost entirely made up of racing merchandise; mostly official Formula 1 gear and clothes sold by the teams, as well as a few unofficial shirts and hats referencing the sport. He has at least one item of clothing for each team currently participating in Formula 1, but the bulk of it is of the teams he follows most closely; Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. His go-to combination is a baseball cap, a jacket over a t-shirt, a pair of chinos or jeans, and a pair of trainers.

When Robin’s class was abducted, he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt underneath a replica 2019 Ferrari softshell jacket. The t-shirt featured a photograph of Charles Leclerc, edited so his torso was removed and his legs stretched up to his neck, with the text ‘Charles Leg’ above the image. He wore a pair of light tan chinos, a pair of red Puma trainers, and a replica Charles Leclerc Ferrari baseball cap. He also wore a papaya-orange McLaren Racing face mask, both due to his precautionary measures over the COVID-19 pandemic, and due to the fact it would help him keep warm.

Biography: Robin is the eldest son of Francisco Valenti Jr. and Angela Valenti. Francisco Jr. works as an IT Manager for a company located in Salem, while Angela is a pharmacist. His younger brother, Stirling, is three years his junior. Despite his parents' busy schedules, Angela in particular often working during the weekends, Robin remains close to all of his family, with them doing their best to eat meals and watch television or films together in the evenings; the males of the house also all share an interest in Formula 1 and other motorsport, so spend most race weekends watching the grand prix together. Robin is a third-generation Italian-American, and has a large, tight knit extended family; his immediate family and grandparents live in Salem while the rest of the Valentis live in Boston, but he still sees most of them frequently at family gatherings such as the 4th of July and Christmas. Aside from his parents and brother, Robin also has a pet Peterbald cat, Daniil.

From birth, Robin seemed destined to either love or despise Formula 1 and other motorsports. Francisco Valenti Sr. had always been fascinated by motorsports and automobiles, owning a couple of classic cars that he spends every weekend keeping in top condition. He was also dedicated to watching every Formula 1 Grand Prix he could, which helped develop Robin’s father’s own lifelong interest in the sport. Some of Robin’s earliest memories are of sitting on his father’s knee in the Valenti house’s den, walls festooned in Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo merchandise, watching Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen during their heydays.

To Francisco Jr.’s delight, Robin was enthralled with the sport. Although his interest was admittedly originally based on the exciting noises and sounds on the television screen, along with the innate boyhood love of fast cars, as he grew older, so too did his understanding and love of open wheel racing. His developing comprehension of the rules of Formula 1 was a major factor in transforming him into a true fan of the sport. Even the understanding of basic tactics, such as pitting under safety car conditions and prioritising slipstreaming on tracks with long straights, allowed Robin to form his own opinions while watching each race, and he was able to express and discuss his approval or disapproval of each team’s decision making and tactical choices during any given race with his father while they watched them together.

By the time Robin was twelve, his bedroom was similarly decorated to the house’s den, the walls becoming covered in circuit maps and posters of Michael Schumacher, and the floor becoming littered with Lego and die-cast models of Formula 1 cars. He attempted to introduce his friends to the sport, but most of them only showed a passing interest in it, or feigned enthusiasm when he talked about it; most kids his age were interested in sports like football, basketball and baseball, or had no interest in sports at all. While this was disappointing to Robin, it wasn’t as much of a crushing blow as it could have been; he was perfectly happy to watch the races with his father and grandfather, and he quite liked being known as ‘The F1 Guy’ around school.

Additionally, while his attempts to talk to his friends about Formula 1 were met with a lukewarm reception, suggestions to visit a local indoors go-karting track for his thirteenth birthday were received much more positively. It was a birthday that Robin remembers incredibly fondly to this day; pretending to be one of his idols as he got suited up, the adrenaline rush of getting a small taste of what racing was like, and managing to stand on a miniature podium with a small plastic trophy, as he also had some natural talent for karting.

It was inevitable that, around this time, Robin started looking into potential routes to becoming a professional open-wheel racing driver. It did not take him long to discover that a number of Formula 1 drivers had gotten their careers started in kart racing, and that this was also something he could apply to start doing at his current age of thirteen. Excited at this prospect, he began doing odd jobs around the house and neighbourhood, saving up money so that he could go to a different, outdoors go-karting track every other weekend in order to develop his skill at karting, accompanied by either his father or grandfather. After a few months, Robin broached the subject of applying for an IKF international licence, something that would allow him to participate in competitions such as the Karting World Championship.

Both Francisco Sr. and Jr. were reluctant, however. Money was not an issue; the Valentis were very well off, and would have easily been able to cover travel and accommodation expenses for competitions held abroad. Their concern lay in the fact that it would be near impossible for Robin to balance his school life and workload with practicing for, and participating in, international competitions. They didn’t want Robin to drop out of school, as they knew how difficult it would truly be to reach the necessary skill level to advance from karting to open wheel racing, and if he remained at school full-time, it would render an international licence essentially pointless.

Robin was understandably disappointed at this, so his parents suggested another option; if Robin was committed to heading down to the karting track every weekend to train, then they would be happy to let him apply for a national licence instead, and would help him get to any competitions held by the IKF or the WKA, so long as they were held during school holidays or were close enough to Salem that he would miss as minimal school time as possible. Robin agreed to this compromise, although deep down he was still disappointed, as he felt it would severely hinder his growth and limit his potential as a driver.

Nonetheless, his love for racing and his desire to some day join his idols on the circuit were not diminished in the slightest. He has continued, to this day, to spend several hours each Saturday and Sunday completing laps at the karting track, and will religiously watch every single practice session, qualifying, and race of every single Grand Prix, every single year. He has also participated in a number of national kart races in Massachusetts and the surrounding states, and has managed to pick up a few wins as well, which he hopes will help raise his profile when he works towards an international licence. True to their word, Robin’s parents have supported him every step of the way; Francisco Jr. is absolutely delighted that Robin shares his love of motor racing. The two have been to several Grand Prix weekends together; mostly to the United States Grand Prix held in Austin, Texas, but on special occasions they have traveled to Europe for them, with the furthest Robin has traveled to a race being to Singapore for the 2017 Grand Prix. He follows and supports Ferrari, as he greatly admires their heritage and experience in the sport, along with having a huge amount of respect for the majority of drivers who have raced for them. Their recent struggles have caused him no undue amount of distress and dismay.

Unfortunately, due to his dedication to following Formula 1, Robin has had to experience multiple tragedies within the sport. The death of Jules Bianchi in 2014 shocked and upset him greatly, to the point he he refused to go to school the following day - he was aware that there had been fatalities in the sport before, but he had presumed that safety standards had improved to the point that they were nigh-impossible in the 21st century. It was Anthoine Hubert’s death in 2018 that spurred him into action, angered that the sport he loved could still claim the lives of those who participated in it; as far as he was concerned, there would be no acceptable standard of safety in Formula 1 until fatalities were completely impossible. He is very vocal online about this, tearing into commentators and analysts who criticise safety features that they don't consider to be aesthetically pleasing, and has repeatedly attempted to convince others that certain tracks he deems unsafe should be removed from the Formula 1 calendar. His huge safety concerns have also started to affect his performances on track when karting; he will refuse to go for any move or manoeuvre he considers an unnecessary risk, often relinquishing positions on track rather than fighting for them because of it. He has developed a reputation among other racers for being a ‘soft’ driver; his natural talent is acknowledged, but it’s widely agreed he would get a lot more podiums if he actually dared to make any big moves.

One of Robin’s most recent interests, albeit one that once again ties back to his love of Formula 1, is graphic design. He is fully aware that the aesthetics and designs used by each team are almost as important as the actual racing; an eye catching vehicle livery, suit, or helmet design can help draw potential fans of the sport in, and encourage them to support the team bearing those colours. He uses graphic and image editing software to create designs for these aspects, using a base template for vehicles, helmets, and the like, which he will then fill in with his own artwork and graphics. Robin has created liveries both for existing Formula 1 teams and for hypothetical teams of his own creation. His most prized possession is one of his karting helmets, which features a playing card motif - he designed the helmet himself, and his father had it commissioned into an actual helmet for his 17th birthday.

As mentioned, Robin understands that there is a lot more to Formula 1 than just racing; the personalities of each driver, fully on display during the race, is as much of a draw as seeing which team will win. For a few years now, Robin has been curating his own personality and how he displays it in public. While he’s always been generally good natured and easygoing, with a habit of getting particularly energetic and animated when it comes to talking about his interests, he also has something of an ego, not helped by being naturally talented at the majority of his hobbies, and his priority has always been to look out for number one. Unfortunately, it is these latter traits that Robin has decided to emphasise, playing up his self-confidence to a higher degree and encountering every situation with a self-assured swagger. He describes himself as having a playboy persona, akin to that of James Hunt and his ilk during the 70s, and will often flirt with his female classmates at John Endecott, to the point that he has given himself the nickname ‘Romeo’. Robin has even started taking acting classes to further assist in how he presents his persona, something he feels has given him the confidence to be more flirtatious and say things that he might normally avoid saying. He feels it’s very important for him to separate his ‘Romeo’ persona from what he considers his actual personality, making them as distinct as possible so that his classmates and peers know that, for the most part, he’s just putting on an act.

Unfortunately, Robin is decidedly unpopular with a good portion of his classmates, for a number of reasons. Many of them are not close enough with him to get an opportunity to talk with him in private and realise that his antics as ‘Romeo’ are just an act, and due to his obnoxious nature when he’s portraying this persona, they have little reason to try and get closer to him. He’s particularly disliked by many of his female classmates due to his flirting, which can be seen as creepy rather than charming. Most of his relationships have ended swiftly, as he will continue to flirt with other girls even while dating someone, and his longest lasting relationship with Kitty Graves ended with a very messy breakup that left her in a very bad place, something that has only further damaged his reputation. He has worked his way into the popular crowd at school, mostly due to being very well-off, and is a frequent sight at parties, helped by the fact he owns a car and so can drive others to and from them. Again, however, he is not well regarded among the popular crowd at John Endecott Memorial for the reasons outlined above. In addition, his strict adherence to health and safety makes him appear quite dull and a stickler for the rules; at parties especially, he'll chastise people for doing anything he considers dangerous, only drinks in moderation, and refuses to smoke or do drugs, which many people make fun of him for, as it appears counterintuitive towards the playboy persona he is aiming for. Others still dislike him because he has never actually been in a Formula 1 car before, yet acts like a global superstar driver despite this.

Those who are close to Robin will state that he is a much quieter, mellower person in private, and much easier to get along with, although they will also state that he still does have a significant ego, and is in danger of falling for his own hype and becoming more like his ‘Romeo’ persona, which he has been called out for on more than one occasion. Those who dislike him, particularly the girls he has hit on or mistreated while dating, have also directly confronted him about his unpleasant attitude. He dismisses the concerns from his friends that he and 'Romeo' are becoming more and more alike, as he simply doesn't believe them to be true, despite there being more than a grain of truth within them. He initially also attempted to brush off and dismiss the negative reactions to his public persona, but as more and more people started reacting negatively towards his antics, he began to realise just how poor a reputation he had garnered around school, with his breakup with Kitty being one of the major catalysts for this realisation. Although Robin doesn't wish to completely eliminate his 'Romeo' act, as he still believes it's an important part of his journey to becoming an F1 star and he feels as though he's sunk too much time into it to throw it all away now, he has attempted to tone it down somewhat, and to explain to people who confront him that he's just putting on a show. This has had practically zero success, unfortunately; the majority of his classmates are firmly under the impression that he's an unpleasant, egotistical blowhard, and see his attempts at explaining his actions to be a poorly thought out lie, something that frustrates Robin to no end. He desperately wishes to reconnect with Kitty, but he has absolutely no idea about how to go about doing so, fearing that any attempts to talk with her will simply reopen old wounds.

Robin does, however, get along very well with Stirling, who is much less aware of Robin's notoriety among his classmates, and is only exposed to the calmer and more pleasant version of his older brother. Stirling looks up to Robin a great deal, and thinks that the fact he participates in go-karting competitions across the country is the coolest thing possible. On Robin's side, he has cited his younger brother as one of his major motivations to succeed in the sport and to graduate to open wheel racing in the future, wanting to make Stirling proud of him and to avoid letting him down. Stirling watches each Grand Prix with the rest of the family, and Robin has taken him go-karting on several occasions; he is glad to spend time with his brother, and excited that he has someone else he can share his love of the sport with and impart information about to. Stirling has made it no small secret that his dream is to follow in Robin's footsteps and make it as, at the very least, a go-kart racer himself.

Robin is average across the board when it comes to his school subjects with a few exceptions, and even then, he does not particularly stand out in any of them. He gets above average marks in gym class, and occasionally gets good results in history, while he is woeful at anything related to the sciences, and mostly scrapes by with passing grades due to last-minute cramming or borrowing homework off of his classmates. The most common comment from his teachers is that he could potentially excel at a number of subjects if he applied himself more to them, but Robin has no interest in doing so; his dream lies outside of academia and he has no intention of giving it up. Robin only participates in one extra-curricular club at school; he participates in theater when his schedule allows for it. He claims to others that the main reason he's joined it is to better show off and to appeal to girls, but secretly he really enjoys acting. He is particularly fond of putting on big, dramatic performances and being able to drastically change peoples perception of him depending on the character he's playing. He has mostly only played supporting or bit parts thus far, however, mostly because his racing schedule doesn't permit him to participate in every rehearsal.

After graduating, Robin only has one goal in mind; to earn an international karting licence and compete in events around the globe, in the hopes of getting noticed by sponsors so he can work towards a career in open-wheel racing. He hopes his parents will support him financially as well as emotionally so he can achieve this goal, but he is prepared to take on odd jobs to cover travel and hotel costs if necessary. He has no backup plan, or college to fall back on; Robin desires nothing other than becoming a Formula 1 driver, and he does not plan on failing to achieve his dream.

Advantages: Robin unfortunately has few advantages over most of his classmates. Due to his love of go-karting and driving, Robin is used to making snap decisions at high speed, so is unlikely to freeze under pressure or in dangerous situations. Additionally, he is very risk-averse, and will take as many steps to avoid danger as is possible in any given situation; he is unlikely to go through with any plan that is not fully thought through, and will avoid or leave any situation or location that he believes could be dangerous to himself.
Disadvantages: As stated above, there’s a large portion of Robin’s class that dislikes him due to his antics as ‘Romeo’, finding him annoying, loud, and obnoxious; many girls in the class dislike his flirting as well. As has been proven during his time at John Endecott, dropping this act is unlikely to solve these problems, as many of his classmates have already got their negative impression of him set in stone, and those that are persuaded that it's an act may find him untrustworthy for changing the way that he acts on a dime anyway. There are also significant downsides to his prioritising safety over anything else; he is likely to dismiss any ideas or plans with an element of risk involved, even if following them would result in much greater benefits than the alternative.

Designated Number: Student No. 019

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Designated Weapon: Bowie knife

Conclusion: Well, now I've got the Speed Racer theme song stuck in my head, and I'll be seeing that shirt in my nightmares. Just for that, I wish this asshole a particularly painful death. - Veronica Rai