ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ 𝑔𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑠𝑠 , a private blog for gabriel castillo-fiori, an original character set in city of ruin. written by rora, 24, she/her pronouns.
˗ˏˋ sideblog to enchaentingly, prompt tag, about muse tag, pinterest. ˎˊ˗
name. gabriel castillo-fiori. occupation. student at tideview university. age. 24. sexuality. bisexual, demi-romantic. species. human/hunter. clan/pack/coven? the brotherhood. hometown. port leiry, born and raised. relationship status. single. personality traits. serious, empathetic, moral, people-pleasing, protective, dutiful, warm, stoic. family members of note. adrian castillo (father), gael fiori (father, deceased), and gemma castillo-fiori (twin-sister).
gabriel is a twin to his sister, gemma. no, they don’t have a real, magical twin bond, but they are incredibly close and believe they have twin-tuition. it doesn’t quite matter to either of them their birth order, only that, all their lives, each other is all they’ve known. even in those years that come up blank, gabriel knows gemma is there. she always has been. and he knows his sister, built from pieces that refused to match his, so unlike him in a way that puts her in danger. his one true purpose is to protect her. it’s why he hunts, why he does anything. he will always protect her and defend her, she could never do anything truly wrong in his eyes. gael’s murder is the one secret he keeps from her, and that alone shoves a gap of guilt between them. but at the same time, gemma keeps him warm. without gemma, he would have nothing stopping him from turning into his father. he believes that gemma couldn’t survive in only cold, and grief.
gabriel is a brotherhood hunter, like his fathers before him. and like them, he shares their prejudice view against the supernatural- even witches -and knows nothing either than how to give them no mercy, on sight, because it’s the right thing to do. to keep humans safe. to keep his family safe. it’s what they do, they hunt and track, and then kill. gabriel keeps a silver and wooden bullet tied around his neck, to remind him, even if it may not exactly suited for an execution, he carries other things for that. so, he tries. he really does. and he is a hunter, it’s the kind of thing that wasn’t always there, but has been branded onto his bone since, much like the ink to his skin. he’s been doing it longer than he has been a man. it’s the right thing to do, he has to. he bares it, so gemma doesn’t have to. the higher gabriel reaches, the less adrian and gael look to gemma. he has to balance her out, so she doesn’t burn herself out trying to get away from it all. he’ll take it, he hunts, and he’s damn good at it. after gael’s murder, gabriel pushes further into hunting, involving himself more in a way that’s almost like throwing, as gemma pulls away completely.
the only problem is this tiny, persisting, gut feeling about the supernatural. curiosity, empathy, wonder … he’s had that for as long as he can remember, too. it seems impossible to stick such a label on creatures he’s forbidden from meeting, from talking to. even more so considering gabriel knows where they’ve come from, who had them before adrian and gael. it doesn’t feel right to judge like that, but he does it anyway, and he hates himself for feeling any doubt towards the men that saved them. to question the world trembling around him, is wrong, he knows.
being adopted by hunters has a huge effect on gabriel. adrian, specifically, almost enters godhood in his son’s eyes. he is in awe, and completely terrified, and loves both of his fathers infinitely. but the fear is what keeps him hunting, and stoic, and every bit of the boy they ask him to be. part of him desires nothing more than to please adrian, but mostly, he wants to keep gemma safe from them. as mentioned before, gabriel defaults to adrian, and is every bit his son, and a hunter trained by him. gemma does the same to gael, and even in the best of times, there can be distance between the pairs.
as gabriel fixates on hunting, he forgoes hobbies and other interests. for practicality, he’s currently in school for his masters, though he imagines he’ll end up doing something related to … private investigating of a certain kind. he can’t see himself anywhere else, truly.
What is their worst childhood memory?
when gabriel was thirteen, for his first successful hunt, him and his (adopted) father tracked down a powerful dark witch. gabriel didn’t know much about her other than her extreme crimes, and dire reputation. the witch turned out to be his birth mother from the dark coven adrian and gael rescued the twins from. it’s his first kill, and the moment that gabriel realizes that he doesn’t want to hunt, or hurt these creatures that can’t be as bad as everyone says, and at the same time that he must, there is no escape from it.
What characters or tropes inspired this OC, if any?
golden boy. he’s a young, hunting prodigy with a shielded, soft heart with a few well(er) known kills under his belt. he believes in doing the “right thing” and uses this to fuel all of his actions, as well as protecting his twin sister gemma.
Does your character believe in the existence of a higher authority / deity?
gabriel vc sometimes a father is a kind of god.
for his first two years, gabriel is in the dark. an empty space of memory, darkness that never was replaced instead by light when he opens his eyes. then, one day, he wakes up. gabriel knows the story of him and his twin sister’s rescue because he’s been told, a thousand times, and gemma always begs for it before she goes to bed at night. gabriel listens, quietly. evil witches, keeping the princess and her twin brother locked in the tallest, cruelest, scariest tower. the witches were going to curse them, and hurt them, and drink their blood like wine but then- their papa saved them. with his scruffy beard and rough edges and weapons that are stuffed in every corner of the house. sometimes, the doors slam too loud and one will come peeking out of their hiding place, but mostly, gabriel knows better than to touch them. gemma does not.
one night, they’re six and gemma wakes him up in tears. his gemma, his sister, his twin, shaking out of fear. he felt the very same thing crawl into his bones, and then he shook, too. gabriel held onto her so tight that he left bruises as he listened to her story. burning and a monster and loud and scary and screams and fire and- she never stopped spilling. he felt it, too.
but his papa teaches him how to be tough, too. it’s not just gemma that they show the scary stuff too. gabriel likes it this way, better, when it’s just him doing it. he’s learned how not to cry, how to be strong, and brave, and to keep secrets. he learns how to keep gemma safe, papa says, because he’ll need to. because they’re not the same. gabriel understands, he can feel it. gemma has to learn, too, but gabriel cares more. it’s fine, he likes it better. soon, they’ll stop asking her, gabriel just has to keep trying. he just has to be good. he just has to ignore all the parts of him that are so wrong, that want to know why, and how, and question. gabriel is torn in half, and always chooses the same direction. when he wants to know about the monsters, he doesn’t ask papa. he asks dad, whose eyes change in a weird way when he asks. it’s never the answer that gabriel’s looking for, but he knows what it’s telling him.
this thing they’re doing, the people they’re saving and keeping safe, it’s called hunting. people like aunt morgan and uncle bradley. people like gemma. not people like him, and his dads, who are born to do this. papa knows how to banish the monsters of the night back to where they came from, and gabriel wants to know, too. this time, he even helps papa find the witch they’re after, evil and horrible and cruel like the bedtime story. he’s old enough, thirteen, now, that papa even read to him some of her file. once they’re out of the car, gabriel’s getting good at this. he doesn’t get to track the monsters that look like people very often, though it makes his stomach twist up all weird seeing human footprints, with little spots of blood soaked in the centers. she’s here. they’re going to find her. and gabriel helped. the two of them, him and his papa, get so close that that gabriel can smell the magic on her when they stop. papa holds his shoulder, and papa tells him the truth. he looks into his eyes. she’s the one that was going to hurt you. she used to be your mama. you have to stop her before she does it again. papa doesn’t say it, but all gabriel can hear is gemma’s name. i don’t want to do this. he takes the gun, and he doesn’t shake or cry at all. i don’t want to hurt anyone. he sets his shoulders back, mirrors papa. she’s my mom, can’t i just talk to her? gabriel makes the same face as his papa, or maybe even his dad, when he shoots her. he holds it steady, despite the kickback on the gun that makes his hands shake from holding it too tight. the gunshot is the loudest thing he’s ever heard, even though it ends up muffled under the witch’s skin. papa wants him to, it’s okay. he’s going to keep them all safe. gabriel’s going to keep gemma safe. he still feels the gun in his hand, hours later, and it’s something he can’t make go away. he realizes he can’t ever make this go away, he can’t ever think about the monsters who might’ve held him for the first two years. he can’t ever dream, or wonder, or ask about them again. he’s a hunter now. but he just-
now that he’s proven himself, papa takes him out hunting all the time. gabriel grows stronger, and faster, and even more clever as everything else fades to the background. this is what he does, now, and what he’s good at. gabriel drifts through the day of being a teenager to get to the part where he gets to be a man, instead. his twin sister grows into her own power. high school gives her a glow that he’s never before seen, gemma flares so brightly that she burns into his eyes. she talks so fast now, his head spins. cheerleading practices, competitions, parties, sleepovers, friends, dates with people that he doesn’t know. she lives her life, unbothered, without him. gabriel’s fine to stay in her shadow, there when she needs him. after all, him and papa have their own thing. gabriel’s still terrified to get too close.
he notices his twin is changing, though he feels the same as he always did. maybe it’s just the way her voice turns crueler when he’s not looking, or the way she draws closer to dad, but something has changed. the eruption of tension happens while all four of them are on a hunt together. they wake up to a forest fire, the bursts of energy feel so close to him, gabriel feels like he could’ve done it himself. but he didn’t do it, none of them could’ve because they’re- the fire dies down. and gabriel sees his fathers there, tearing into each other with their eyes. him and gemma go back to bed, safe and sound. gabriel doesn’t sleep, he stays wide awake, waiting for anyone to say anything. nobody ever does.
time passes, but it doesn’t matter how long. papa plans a hunt- he shoves the two of them in the car and leaves -with just gabriel and dad. gabriel doesn’t know what it’s for until it happens, even as his stomach dips with unease and fear. the ride is long, and quiet. gabriel sits in the back, exiled from the space his fathers share in the front seat. by the time they arrive, gabriel knows what must be done. the two of them, him and his papa, get so close to his dad that gabriel can smell the magic on him. papa holds his shoulder, and papa tells him the truth. he looks into his eyes. this time, he does tell him. gabriel takes the gun, and he doesn’t shake or cry at all. he sets his shoulders back, mirrors papa. gabriel makes the same face as his papa, or maybe even his dad, who he’s pointing the gun at now. he says something, but his son doesn’t hear it. gabriel shoots his dad, and watches him fall. he holds the gun steady, the kickback still makes his palms tremor. the noise echoes in his ear all the time they take care of the body, all the way back to the car. papa wanted him to, it’s okay. he’s going to keep them all safe. gabriel’s going to keep gemma safe. he’d killed the witch.
time passes, again, two years this time since gabriel had been the one to kill gael fiori, his dad. gabriel is a hunter, so he hunts, even without papa there. it’s what he has to do, he doesn’t have a choice, he has to keep them safe. the parts of him that think otherwise are better dead, gabriel just doesn’t know how to kill them. he feels gemma’s recoil, deep in his ribs, and can’t do anything about it but give her vague details and excuses to the hunt that her daddy never came back from.
other hunters - these can be anywhere from acquaintances, to those who have worked with him or him and his father(s), even people who maybe have some beef or annoyance with gabriel despite his peak chill guy nature.
