Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2013 16:33:02 GMT -6
 | NAME: Carlo GENDER: Male AGE: 5 years BREED: Norwegian Forest Mix APPEARANCE: Carlo's fur is long and thick -- and if you were to touch it, you'd notice it's not as smooth or soft as other cats' fur. Besides having a coarse texture, his fur collects quite a lot of dirt and grime off the city streets. Grooming himself leaves a bad taste in his mouth, so Carlo often has a disheveled appearance. Not that he cares much anyway. The color of his fur is just as unspectacular. He's a medium grey tomcat with a lighter shade of grey highlighting his muzzle and chest. His fur color serves him well, however, both in camouflage and anonymity -- after all, how far would the description 'a grey cat' get you in tracking him down? But there's just one thing that makes Carlo identifiable from all the rest: his size. Because Carlo, well, he's just big. And his heavy coat of fur only exaggerates it more. This fur once hid a body that was underweight from living on the streets, but he's since grown into his fur. Cats aren't typically expressive with their facial features. They talk and express themselves through their tails, their ears, even their whiskers. But even humans pick up on the eerie expressiveness Carlo seems to have. If they didn't know any better, they'd have sworn this cat was scowling with purpose. Which is a fair observation, as those light yellow-green eyes and angled whiskers drip with a lack of amusement. PERSONALITY: Character's personality here. 300 words HISTORY: Cats are relatively proud creatures, tending to express this in every aspect of their lives. The queen who cared for Carlo and his siblings was no exception. She gave them grand names in her original tongue, a throaty, bestial language of times long gone. The queen herself, of course, was an artifact of some foreign place. The streets of Bensonhurst were strange to her, just as she might have been to them. Her offspring were better off than she, for they took to the streets easily. However, her instruction proved useful. In this strange city, animals depended primarily on scavenging as a means to find food. But the queen, only able to teach what she knew, taught her kits to hunt. This skill gave her kits the means to feed themselves in a place where the competition came much larger and far fiercer. But trial and error doesn't work so well in this city -- it cost the life of one of Carlo's sister to find out that rats were something to be avoided. Cats, at least a mother and her kittens, may stick together even when her kittens are able to live on their own. The queen and her kits remained in the same general area, and socialized with each other regularly. Carlo, however, was bolder than his siblings. He strayed further outside of their "territory" than the rest, often disappearing for days at a time. Carlo had a natural tendency to wander -- some sort of unsatisfied feeling had always nagged at him. Carlo was a year old when he met Leonardo. He had never really socialized with canines before this point, and the encounter was always kept in the back of his mind. The Rottweiler was new to the streets, only beginning to get his bearings. They had sat and talked for awhile, but it wasn't anything beyond the scope of two young fellows just bound on other journeys. Or so he'd originally thought. It wasn't long before Leonardo was making a name for himself with his very own gang. And Carlo... well, Carlo was a sneaky devil. He'd become something of a con artist, swindling anyone he could. But it wasn't so much the deception that made him so effective -- it was his ability for a swift getaway. He always had an exit plan and knew how to improvise, often "mysteriously disappearing" by climbing to safety or hiding in a spot inaccessible to larger animals. Understandably, his preferred victims were dogs. But as much as he prided himself on his cleverness, cats are just no match for dogs. He had returned to his old alleyway to find his mother had been killed and his siblings were no where to be found. He was left with no closure on what had happened. Had it been one dog or a group? A conflict over territory and food? Had it been his fault? Had someone tracked down his family as revenge for his trickery? Could it have even been done by someone affiliated with Leonardo's gang? And the fact was, he didn't know. And he would never find out. Whether his siblings were still alive or not was a mystery to Carlo, but he eventually stopped searching. There were bigger problems to deal with now, though. Leonardo was building an empire on the streets of Bensonhurst. Carlo had always believed that for every market, a new sub-market grows. Leonardo's ever expanding control of the food in the city would cause problems for those who weren't affiliated with him or didn't want to be. And these, Carlo decided, would be his customers. He'd cater to that need. After all, he could sympathize with that. He disliked his options--join the Mancinis or starve--and so resolved to create his own. And so he began to hang out by one of the most well-respected, expensive delis in the city. And everybody knew this deli was virtually untouchable: there wasn't much meat leftover to be thrown away. It was more luck than anything for the rascal, as the family who owned the business had just lost their beloved pet cat. They were cat people through and through, and couldn't help but pity the "poor, starving baby" on their front steps. And so, Carlo was taken in. It was here where he actually took the name Carlo. All this time he had stuck with his birth name, but it was unpronounceable and hard to remember. Not that many asked for his name, nor did Carlo share much personal information freely. But he decided he might as well accept the Italian name given to him by his new owners, starting over a fresh leaf. Despite being a con artist, he had made sure to never hang around one place or get too cocky with how many times he decided to test his luck. He hadn't built up much of a reputation, but he didn't want any connections being made between the Carlo of today and his past self. Carlo went forward with his plan, focusing on those who were struggling to find food elsewhere. Unlike Leonardo's policy, he didn't require complete loyalty for the best bits. Anyone who did business with Carlo was still a free dog or cat, allowed to go their own way -- he didn't claim any territory to run them out of. Instead, he worked off a "favors" system, where his clients were indeed indebted to him, but were left to their own devices until he had need of them. But Carlo was smart, and knew better than to make himself out to be cruel. These first contracts were to set himself up as an alternative to Mancini and gain respect and gratitude towards himself. Therefore, he redeemed the favors that were owned to him early on -- and made sure that they were simple, safe tasks. Go find this dog for me, check out the next street over for signs of trouble, help me deliver this meat. And it worked well, as Carlo's clients kept coming back for more. He had developed a small loyal following, until just a week after he had started someone paid him a visit. OOC ALIAS: Rook RP EXPERIENCE: Roleplayed on and off for about four years. WHERE'D YOU FIND US: Proboards Support OTHER: anything else you'd like us to know? |