#* ciro.

on top of being a wiseguy, ciro’s father umberto owned a butcher & deli shop which, far from being disconnected from his illicit line of work, was intrinsically connected to it. he laundered money for the mob out of the place and occasionally the back room would be used for enhanced interrogations umberto veneziano personally conducted at his bosses’ behest. he had a special kind of reputation in his circles for being able to charm harmonies out of broken instruments – for being a loving family man and a loyal soldier and as cool as a man could get even while he was hacking off your limbs with a saw. truly, umberto was respected, even liked, but most people – including his superiors – preferred to keep him in a good mood than not.

when ciro was younger umberto was convinced – enthusiastically so – that ciro would follow his footsteps and take care of the butcher shop. so he would teach him all about the tools of the trade and how to properly cut chickens and remove their innards and the different types of beef cuts and what not that they could sell, ever since ciro was in his early teens. but also once he was a little older umberto would teach him how to go about opening up a man and where to slice if you wanted him to bleed out in seconds or where to stab him if you wanted to paralyze him from the waist down. ciro was an avid learner, and though he didn’t end up manning the shop, he developed an interest for knives out of it, even more so than guns. it also motivated him later in his life to become a vegetarian.

when he entered his mid twenties, ciro, what with the glasses and lanky build, was usually pegged for a quiet bookish type (which was true) and someone who was virtually harmless (which was not), and it invited all kinds of trouble for him from larger, stronger characters. mostly they would tease him on his appearance and leave him alone due to his father’s reputation but one time a local teenager by the name of tony bartolo wanted to impress his friends and tried to grab him by the neck of his shirt to beat him up. he smacked ciro in the face, once, twice, and ciro responded by slashing through tony’s forearm, possibly through his cephalic vein, so hard and so quickly he tore off a chunk of the boy’s flesh. ciro, knowing that if he didn’t make enough a statement would have to watch over his shoulders from now on, punched tony bluntly in the stomach and once again in the face to drop him to the ground, then told tony’s friends (that were frozen by all the blood gushing from tony’s arm) to never come close to him - or he’d kill them.

not many guys were in the mood to pick on him after that. he went on to become a remarkable student in high school, while still keeping an ear on the streets. the first man he killed for the family he did with a knife by slitting their throat, he was just 19. it was the first but not the last. he swore his loyalty to the family but opted to offer a different type of service to them by going to college and studying law, much to his father’s disappointment.

—    BASICS :      CIRO VERNACINI.

▸     IS    YOUR    MUSE    TALL    /    SHORT    /    AVERAGE ? :      standing at a slender six foot two, ciro is quite tall by sicilian standards.  as a matter of fact, he does not get his height from his father, umberto -- it is all his mother’s genetics, whose family is noted to be composed all of reasonably tall men. 

▸   ARE    THEY    OKAY    WITH    THEIR    HEIGHT ? : for the most part, yes. he cuts an imposing figure when he wants to. however, when he does not want to, it adds a layer of difficulty. 

▸  WHAT’S    THEIR    HAIR    LIKE ? :  when he was younger, he used to have a full head of wavy hair. as he’s been aging, his hair’s been thinning gradually and his hairline’s been receding, so he wears his hair cropped short. it’s also salt and peppered.

▸ DO    THEY    SPEND    A    LOT    OF    TIME    ON    THEIR    HAIR     /    GROOMING ? :  he does take daily care of his hair and makes sure it’s clean and free of dandruff+properly hydrated and what not. and regarding his facial hair, he trims and manicures it every single day so it’s in perfect shape. 

▸  DOES   YOUR   MUSE   CARE   ABOUT   THEIR   APPEARANCE   /   WHAT    OTHERS    THINK ? :     ciro is fastidious regarding personal appearance and has always been, and you’d think with age he’s gotten sloppier but it’s actually quite the opposite. it must be kept in mind that ciro is a lawyer and a businessman, so he’s always made sure to dress appropiately. very rarely will you ever catch him dressing casually. 

it’s not that ciro cares necessarily about others' opinion of him, but he cares about providing the correct image. similarly, he is critical about how others dress -- not publicly, not outwardly, but he is very perceptive about people’s presentation and how it might reveal things about their personalities. if you applied the same principle to ciro, you would come to the conclusion that he is orderly, detail-oriented, and conscientious.

—    PREFERENCES.

INDOORS    OR    OUTDOORS ? ▸ indoors. there’s little he gets out of the outdoors. RAIN    OR    SUNSHINE ? ▸  sunshine. rain makes everything messy.  FOREST    OR    BEACH ? ▸ beaches. he has good memories of vacationing in the south of spain with his family.  PRECIOUS    METALS     OR    GEMS ? ▸ metals. he’s a collector of coins, especially silver and gold coins.  FLOWERS   OR   PERFUMES ? ▸ as elements of interior decoration? flowers. for himself? some cologne. PERSONALITY    OR    APPEARANCE ? ▸  personality, but like mentioned above, appearance is an external indicator of one’s personality, at least in his opinion.  BEING    ALONE    OR    BEING    IN    A    CROWD ? ▸  he’s an introvert. he prefers to be alone, or in company of closest friends and his family.  ORDER   OR    ANARCHY ? ▸  though his occupation is characterized by its messiness, and ever-changing landscape, it is order he continously strives towards. PAINFUL    TRUTHS    OR     WHITE    LIES ? ▸  painful truths.  SCIENCE   OR    MAGIC ? ▸  science. bar a few exceptions, ciro is not superstitious.  PEACE    OR    CONFLICT ? ▸ peace. NIGHT    OR    DAY ? ▸  day. DUSK    OR    DAWN ? ▸  dawn. WARMTH    OR    COLD ? ▸  cold. MANY   ACQUAINTANCES    OR    A    FEW   CLOSE   FRIENDS ? ▸  a few close friends. READING    OR    PLAYING    A    GAME ?    reading.

—    QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    OF    YOUR    MUSE’S    BAD    HABITS ? :    he fails at expressing affection toward his loved ones -- would be his kids’ main complaint. he is hypercritical and considers this a net positive, though he has enough sensibility to keep his opinions to himself unless expressly asked and in that case, he does not mince words. he always acts as though he knows far more than everyone, even if he does not, and it may make even his closest associates (those that aren’t aware of this quirk) mistrust him on occasion, or at least irritate them. he is also extremely secretive, even about the most banal and innocuous things. 

▸   HAS    YOUR    MUSE    LOST    ANYONE    CLOSE    TO    THEM ?      HOW    HAS    IT    AFFECTED THEM ? :   being the age he is, his life has been characterized by his loss. he lost his wife to old age, his father to a hitman, his mother to health complications. he lost many friends to violence and some to age, including in some verses his closest friend/partner in crime/boss. it’s all had affected to different degrees, though he’s not one to show it. he keeps his grief private and quiet, and only expresses a reasonable amount of pain -- the minimum expected -- when around others. by this point he is used to it. 

▸   WHAT    ARE    SOME    FOND    MEMORIES    YOUR    MUSE    HAS ? : getting into various misadventures with salvatore scozzari, his closest friend, when they were kids. family vacations in sicily and spain. the births of his two kids. 

▸   IS    IT    EASY    FOR    YOUR    MUSE    TO    KILL ? :    extremely. he derives no pleasure from it, but no regret either. 

▸   WHAT’S    IT    LIKE    WHEN    YOUR    MUSE    BREAKS    DOWN ? :   it makes everyone nervous, makes them shut up and pain attention, because it’s such an uncommon happening. very subtle, too, it does not involve outbursts, but the atmosphere in the room changes drastically. his voice gets very soft. he wears a mildly gloom expression. he looks to the floor a lot, tries to compose himself by muttering quiet prayers.  ▸  IS    YOUR    MUSE    CAPABLE    OF  TRUSTING  SOMEONE WITH  THEIR LIFE ? : yes. it doesn’t come frequent, but once he trusts someone like that. there’s little he won’t do for them.

▸ WHAT’S  YOUR  MUSE  LIKE  WHEN  THEY’RE  IN LOVE ? :   ciro is wholly inadequate when it comes to love and romance, even in regards to his wife, who he loved not necessarily in a lover’s passionate sense but indeed in a companionship sense. i’ve yet to figure out how love affects his behavior. 

@themercifulmother​​​ sent: ciro: 8. + 26. // emile: 19. + 23.  

character development questions / accepting.

CIRO.

8. where and when do they seem most and least at ease? why? how can you tell?

ciro, especially older ciro, has a tight grip on his body language, so it's actually hard to tell when he's displeased or pleased by something, or when he's comfortable/uncomfortable. at least, when he's playing the role of advisor, and when he's around other made men. he's got reputation for being truly unreadable, for seeming perfectly okay with a meeting's resolutions only to turn around and tell salvatore that he thinks lowly of the terms of the prospective deal or the dealmakers themselves. he will seem unruffled by someone's aggressive behavior and, once that person is out of earshot, or simply has calmed down, he will pointedly criticize it. such a skill is invaluable for a consigliere, for a lawyer, and as salvatore's business partner.

he does not like surprises, though. he can work with them, will do well with them, but he does not like them. he does not like things being hidden from him, either, since they make his work much more difficult than he considers it should be. there's a breathable tension in the room whenever ciro realizes there's a crucial piece of information that he does not possess. he has argued (privately) with sal whenever he feels like sal has hidden something from him, and it's likely one of the few rare times sal could have seen ciro aggravated. it's not easy to tell unless you know ciro when this happens, but: he turns very still. hardly blinks, his gaze downturned when he is making direct eye contact. talks very coolly and keeps things brief and to the point.

he also does not like snakes. when he was younger (late teens), he was bitten by an asp viper during a trip to italy. a half hour of unbearable pain and some antivenom later, he's all good and healthy, but developed a fear of snakes. not a phobia: he can be near one, provided it's in its enclosure, but he'd rather not. he will avoid looking at it.

talks about sexuality also make him uncomfortable. it does not matter how accepting of it you might be. when he was young, even talking about girls was the one masculine ritual he never quite mastered (he was good at violence, at sports, at money -- but not vulgar conversations about women and sex), and his involvement was minimal, only the right amount necessary to keep suspicions of his own personal inclinations at bay. he claimed to be old fashioned, that he was raised to be respectful, a good catholic, a good sicilian. truth is, he was uneasy as fuck. and he's very tight-lipped about being gay even nowadays. you can chalk that up to both his stifled environment growing up and the fact that he's private by nature.  

he's most at ease when things are business as usual. when he's on his own or with the company of someone he is close to (sal, delores, his wife), but not talking about business. you can tell because of the ribbing, and the rambling manner of his speech. he's more expressive, more colorful with his language, but still keeping his impassive disposition.

26. how do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?

he views relationships (friendships, family, spouse) as some of the most important things on earth. money and power is really all in service of what you can provide for your loved ones. someone who is powerful, but alone, without strong connections to anyone or anyone -- does not remain powerful for long. as a result, ciro is loyal and unwavering when it comes to his relationships. once he has chosen you as part of his small circle of friends and loved ones, he will pretty much kill for you. he will lie for you in court. he will bury a body for you and make sure it is never found. he will do anything in his power to keep you safe. moreover, he will ensure your loved ones are safe as well. for example, when sal goes to prison, ciro visits him on a consistent basis, but mostly he makes sure delores and the kids are doing well.

all this being said, he simultaneously believes that emotions and sentimentality should not cloud one's judgement, and how one feels shouldn't have a say above the logically better decisions. his loyalty is airtight, but so is his sense of pragmatism, and his tendency to look for the long term solutions rather than instant gratification. when someone he cares about is hurt (like, for example, his children) or threatened by someone, he goes about solving the problem in tranquil, meticulous manner. make no mistake, though: it is not any less cutthroat than simply walking and beating the assailant up over it.

ÉMILE.

19. how do they behave within a group? what role(s) do they take? does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? why?

émile is an introvert who can pass very well for an extrovert, albeit at the cost of his energy. it also vastly depends on whether he trusts the group and the nature/purpose of the group itself.

he can effortlessly take the role of a leader, deciding what is best for the group and calling the shots, bringing people together and making sure everyone is doing well. this tends to happen with people he does not know much; he is the one that takes initiative primarily out of a lack of trust for others' leadership skills -- and because he is very independent and very intolerant to others bossing him around. it's also the sagittarius in him speaking -- sagittarians make good leaders because of their excellent organizational and people skills. at his best, émile is generous, broad-minded, optimistic, and charismatic enough to make people side with him and agree with him. he's also a great listener and protector.

but he can also easily take the role of the lancer/right-hand man. in order for this to happen, he needs to trust the leader greatly, and he will challenge them constantly. he is not someone that blindly follows others: he will act as a great complementary force. he will also appreciate not having to be in the spotlight all the time.

23. how do they respond to difficult social moments? what makes them consider a social situation difficult?

because of the add, émile suffers from emotional dysregulation. ed is a term used in the mental health community that refers to emotional responses that are poorly modulated and do not lie within the accepted range of emotive response. he also suffers from rsd, or rejection sensitive dysphoria, "an extreme emotional sensitivity and pain triggered by the perception that a person has been rejected or criticized by important people in their life".

as a result, émile does not deal with criticism well, or perceived slights (at himself, at his family/relationships), or rejection. he can easily become irritated and that irritation can quickly evolve into intense anger. when he was a child, this presented itself in the form of aggression: while mostly well behaved, he would waste no time snapping back at other boys/bullies when they threw mean comments at him, or lashing out at teachers for criticizing him. he would get into fights just to prove himself as not one to be tested. he did not deal with being scolded by his parents well, either -- he would pretend not to care, but that shit would sting. on more than one occassion, he would cry. he would continue to act out.

he got better with age. more mature, less likely to respond to provocation. he had to set an example for his siblings -- he had to help his parents with raising them, and be a good older brother. still, he worried about being overly sensitive. he would get stressed out very easily, angry very easily, and sad very easily, prompting him into impulsive behaviors. then just like that, these emotions would disappear and be replaced with apathy. he sought out hobbies to help him with that, took up exercise, running, boxing.