Caius Giamatti

Name: Caius Christopher Giamatti
Age: 25
Sex: male

Appearance: He's about 6' even, and a pretty solid 200 lbs. Caius has spent his whole life battling a stubborn lankiness, but he works hard to keep himself in good shape. So even though he doesn't look beefy, he's fairly cut, for good reason. He's got a naturally tan complexion and features that would be somewhat handsome, if they weren't so sharp. His dark hair is usually a bit too long, and he likes wearing what he lovingly refers to as his "devil goatee". He needed dental work as a kid that he never got, and it shows a bit, when he smiles. He has a tattoo on his right shoulderblade of a joker card. He goes for practical clothing -always-, and doesn't even own anything fancier than a pair of black cargo pants. He honestly doesn't see the point.

Special abilities: He's damn good at poker, seeing as how he's sharp and he can sniff out when people are lying. He's gotten pretty good at sleight-of-hand, with a focus mainly on card tricks. He has a near-photographic memory. Other than that and being a speedy flyer, not many special abilities beyond what comes with his species.

Supernatural Affinity: Lycanthrope
Species/Group: Wereraven
Powers: Shifty powers, etc.
Level: N/A

Personality: Caius is the guy who knows more than he lets on. You know the one. The guy who's always watching and listening and absorbing things. Tidbits of information, names, dates, places, turns of phrase, anything and everything. He's a watcher. He likes to Know. He's insatiably curious, but trustworthy at the same time; because if he shares something he knows? It's not his anymore. He's friendly, in a mischievous sort of way, and has a grin that assures you that his mother had a hard time with him. Caius is independent and headstrong, even if he's not loud about it. He always does exactly what he wants to do, regardless of the consequences, though he's too smart to be too reckless. He's quick to laugh, be it with you or at you, and doesn't really take much seriously enough to spare it his twisted sense of humor, despite being competitive. He can be moody, mostly around the new moon, but more withdraws than snaps at people.

History: Caius was born and raised in Marquette. His mother was a human and his father a wereraven, and the couple was thrilled to find that they'd at least produced one shifter, even though they'd had him late in their lives. He had three older brothers, two of which had already married and moved away by the time he was born. The little family never had much money, occupying a small house just on the edge of town. His father died when Caius was eleven, at age 56. Having been a sociable child previously, he withdrew quite a bit for a time, spending long, isolated hours in his room or out walking in the woods. He spent a lot of time at his dad's grave, missing the only real connection he had with the strange part of himself. He knew some other wereravens through association, but none of them really had the time or inclination to take him under their wing (no pun intended). Not long after, his third oldest brother moved to New York to go to school.

Eventually Caius adjusted more, and breezed easily through high school. He was never extremely popular, per se, but had some close friends and a few circles he could run with. Which was an accomplishment in a small-town high school. He was always intelligent and made good grades, but he opted not to go to college. His mother had had to work two jobs to support them through his schooling, insisting she didn't want him to have a job until he'd graduated. Caius wanted to help. He began working full time in a grocery store, stocking shelves, but was fired rather quickly once the manager's keys began disappearing. It didn't take him long to find out that more under-the-table means of making money were more effective.

Caius started to run a card game, out of the basement. Word got around quickly enough, and soon enough he was having to split it up to more than one night a week. First two, then three. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, five dollars at the door, BYOB, any kind of poker you could ask for. He rarely has a behavior problem out of his guests, and gets to play for his own keeps. Which at least allows his mom to only have to work part time. She doesn't mind this arrangement, as Caius's dad was something of a card shark as well.

Weaknesses: Double Collector - It's not that he's greedy. Caius is just attracted very strongly to two things it the world: decks of cards and keys. He hides both collections under a false bottom in his bedroom closet, that has a carefully hidden lock. He has hundreds of decks of cards, of all different sizes and colors and types, including several unique and collector's decks. He tries to get two of whatever he can get, one that he can open and one he can keep plastic-wrapped. If you have one that he's never seen before, whether it's got Catherine the Great on it or it's hand-drawn, no price is too high. With keys, he's more of a thief. He's compelled to steal keys, even if he's got dozens of copies that look just like it. Because no two keys are the same. Oftentimes, a person who sees him often will be unable to find their keys for a day, only to discover that they left them in the freezer or somewhere equally as ludicrous. And Caius walks away with the original, where they are left with a copy he paid for. It's not having the copy, it's having the original. And he just goes wild for unique-looking keys. In any case, those are two of his biggest weak points, when it comes to bribery.

Colorblindness - Caius can only see primary colors. The brighter the better, as the lighter yellows tend to look white to him. But everything that's not blue, yellow, red, black, or white ... just look like differing shades of gray to him. Odd for anyone else to imagine, but he's used to it.

Phobia - As might be logical for his species, Caius is terrified of cats. Ordinary household cats. Even in human and war form, if there's a cat within twelve feet of him? Caius will try to get the hell away from it. He's not ever had any traumatic experience (that he remembers, at least), they just freak him out, make him squidgy, give him the creeps and the heebie jeebies all at once. For some reason this doesn't apply to the animal forms of werecats.

Strengths: Caius is hard to rile. It takes quite a bit to really get to him, and though that could speak of larger issues, it comes in handy pretty often. He's an excellent talker; he's good at diffusing potentially violent situations with his words (i.e. somebody at one of his games has a few too many and thinks another player's cheating). He's smart, and understands other people easily.

Played By: Skeet Ulrich