Dante Luciano Valiero*

[Fenris]

Name: Dante Luciano Valiero
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: Cochise High School
Hobbies and Interests: Fencing, track, animals, partying

Appearance: Dante stands at 6'1", cutting a noticeable figure, and weighs 170 pounds. He has a wiry build with noticeable muscle, especially in his legs, thanks to years of running. His legs are a bit long when compared to his torso. His skin is clear and unblemished, and is dark olive in color; he tans to a deep bronze during the summer.

Dante has a chiseled face and high cheekbones, with an aquiline nose, deep brown almond-shaped eyes, and full lips. His ears stick out a bit, but they're generally covered by his hair, which falls to just above chin-length. His hair is thick, curly, and generally untamed. He has thick eyelashes and thick, expressive eyebrows. His facial hair grows in quite quickly; though he shaves often, he has permanent stubble across his jawline.

Though Dante takes pride in his appearance, he isn't particularly picky with regards to his wardrobe. He wears almost exclusively solid colors, with loose-knit v-neck t-shirts and long sleeve shirts, mostly in greens and blues, along with jeans, chinos and knee-length twill shorts making up the bulk of his wardrobe. His preferred brand is Hollister, but he buys new clothes quite rarely because of the price. He usually wears three different necklaces: a brown leather cord with three shark's teeth, a silver ball chain with a silver skull and crossbones, and a thin gold chain with a small gold rosary ring hanging from it, sized for a child. He also wears a small cross earring in his left earlobe.  

Biography: Dante is full-blooded Italian, the child of a Sicilian mother and an Italian-American father. The two met when his father, Lucian Valiero, went to visit family in Italy. He met Rosa Battaglia, the daughter of one of his father's friends, at a party, and the two soon fell in love. Lucian convinced Rosa to marry him a month after their meeting, and since he had a job waiting for him at home in Phoenix, Arizona, he moved back home along with his new wife. The pair lived in Phoenix until Rosa got pregnant, at which point she insisted it would be healthier for the baby if they moved somewhere quieter. Lucian insisted they stay near enough to Phoenix that he could keep his job, and so they moved to nearby Kingman, where they have remained ever since.

Dante was the first of the couple's children, and the only boy. He was always a happy and gregarious child, constantly moving around and babbling. His parents raised him bilingual, speaking to him in both English and Italian. He seemed to have trouble with switching between the two languages, and would often mix the two in sentences and speak in Italian at inappropriate times. Over time he became more comfortable speaking English and learned to use it exclusively when out of the house, but he maintains a solid grasp on Italian and is prone to use it when flirting or when speaking to his family.

Lucian worked as a religious studies professor, while Rosa stayed at home to take care of the children. She was a very loving but strict mother, dedicating all of her time to making sure her children were happy and healthy. Lucian and Rosa were both quite religious, having both been raised traditionally Catholic, and since Lucian was generally busy it was Rosa who read biblical stories and tales about the saints to Dante as he was growing up. He was especially attached to the story of St. Francis, who was known for preaching to animals. Lucian and Rosa always kept pets, and Dante's attachment to them only grew as his mom told him about St. Francis. He loves all animals and gets his dad to drive him out to a nearby animal sanctuary as often as he can. Though he isn't officially a volunteer, he is well-known by the employees at the sanctuary and occasionally helps out with small tasks. Dante's family currently owns two cats and a dog, whom Dante dotes upon.

Catholicism has always been an important part of Dante's life. He attends church every Sunday and on holidays with his whole family, and he tries to be a good Catholic. He's quite tolerant of others, as he prioritizes keeping the peace above all else, but he can get quite distressed if he hears his religion is being disparaged. At his First Communion, one of his aunts gave him a small gold rosary ring, and though it's far too small for him to wear on a finger now he still wears it every day on a gold chain. He fiddles with it when he's nervous or having trouble concentrating, and occasionally he actually tries pray the Rosary, though he can never remember much of it.

Dante has been a bit of a flirt for his entire life, long before he understood what flirting was. It started with him imitating the behavior of his father, who paid compliments to every woman he met and kissed their cheeks whenever he could get away with it. Dante's behavior was generally considered harmless, though he did get hit by a couple of girls who didn't appreciate his attentions, leading to his dad giving him a few lessons on consent and respecting boundaries. This continued as he got older, and eventually his precocious and essentially meaningless behavior turned into legitimate romantic affectations. His parents find his behavior charming and tacitly encourage it, as long as it doesn't get him into trouble and as long as his flirtations don't go beyond chaste kisses at the door. They don't, as Dante's ideal night out involves dinner, a movie, flowers, compliments in Italian, and a soft kiss at the door. He's been known to buy bouquets of roses on the weekend and giving them out one stem at a time to girls at school. After living with him for years, pretty much every girl at Cochise has been the subject of his attentions at some point or another. He knows well enough to back off when those attentions are unwanted, and since everyone knows that he's not interested in anything physical or in any real commitment, he's seen as pretty much harmless.

As Dante grew up, his parents had four more children: Venetia, Allegra, Adriana and Beatrice. All four girls are very attached to their older brother, and he's very protective of them in return. The youngest, Beatrice, is ten years younger than Dante and is particularly clingy with him. Dante gets roped into babysitting by his parents quite often and is never resentful of the responsibility; if he turns down an opportunity to hang out with friends or go on a date, it's almost always because he's spending time with his family.

Though Dante enjoyed school and made friends easily, he had a lot of difficulty with academics from the beginning of his school career onward. He worked hard, wanting to please his parents, but the best grades he could ever manage were low Bs. He currently averages Cs in most of his classes, with Bs in his art and gym classes and Ds in mathematics. He does all of his work, but he has a hard time concentrating and following complicated topics. Logical subjects like math and science tend to be very difficult for him, as he has a hard time following formulas and the like; the difficulty makes Dante dread the subjects. Though he isn't particularly good at English either, he prefers it, along with art, as they allow for more lateral thinking. He's generally seen to be pretty unintelligent, even by his friends, though he makes up for his lack of brainpower with his charisma.  

Starting in junior high, Rosa decided that Dante needed to start doing some sort of physical activity during his free time. Dante, who was obsessed with pirates at the time, decided he wanted to try fencing. Though his love of pirates quickly passed, his love of fencing stuck with him. He enjoys the fast action and moving practically on instinct, and he loves the dashing image he cuts when he duels. Starting in high school, at a friend's encouragement, he joined the track team as well. Owing to his long legs and decent musculature Dante is quite fast, though lacking in stamina; he does well in short sprints, but he quickly tires after that. He runs as part of Cochise's track team, focusing on short-distance running, and while his natural aptitude is great he has a bad habit of forgetting or turning up late to practice.

Dante is a very social person, and he spends as much of his free time as possible with his friends. He enjoys going to parties, and his widest circle of friends is from the party crowd. He drinks occasionally, but he's more than willing to stay sober to help out his friends when they drink too much. He prefers quieter parties to loud, raucous ones, as he likes being able to talk to people, but he'll go to any gathering he's invited to.  

Dante is not a very good planner, nor is he particularly ambitious; his future plans after graduation are rather vague, though he has expressed a hope to spend more time at the animal sanctuary and possibly get a full-time job there. His parents are supportive, but while his father has encouraged him to take a year off of school, he's insistent that Dante apply for college. Dante hopes that if he has a job by the time college application season comes around he can convince his father that he doesn't need more schooling.

Dante is generally well-liked, though some girls can't stand his flirtatious behavior and some guys dislike him for his seemingly easy way with girls. He does tend to flirt quite a bit with his female friends, and occasionally with some of his male friends as well; while he considers himself heterosexual, he's had questioning thoughts about his sexuality, though he's been trying to push those aside due to his religious beliefs. He's a very loyal and trusting friend, often to a fault, who hates conflict and acts as a peace-keeper, and his goofy, laid-back attitude makes him difficult to hate. He's quite charming and very good-looking, but he isn't particularly good at taking advantage of those characteristics, except when it comes to hitting on people. He has a terrible memory and can be very oblivious as to other people's feelings, but he tries his best in all things and is always very apologetic if he completely misses something seemingly obvious.

Advantages: Dante is physically fit and quite fast over short distances. He has a lot of friends and is generally well-liked. He is very good at resolving conflicts and de-escalating situations.
Disadvantages: Dante isn't very smart; he is a terrible planner, has a poor memory and generally isn't good at thinking his way around complicated problems without help. He is very loyal and trusting to his friends and could easily be used and betrayed by them. He hates conflict and, if diplomacy failed, it's unlikely he'd be willing to fight.