Name: Gavin Caine
Nickname/s: None
Species: Shapeshifter – Lion
Clan Position: Dominant
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Hometown: Glastonbury
Current Residence: An apartment in Talis Flats
Studying: First year student working on his B.A. in History
Employment: Part-time groundskeeper/ custodian
Family: Father: Dr John Caine, MD; Mother: Yvette Lyonne Caine; Uncle: Archibald Caine (AKA “Uncle Archie”)
Friends: Chazz Blake (Fellow student; Human; Drinking buddy)
Relationship: Currently footlose and fancy-free
Player: Suleiman
Contact Email:
Suleiman_the_Spiffy@yahoo.com
Model: Travis Fimmel
Credit: Most Beautiful Man.com
Background
Gavin Caine was born in San Francisco, California. His father, John, emigrated a few years before when he was offered a surgical residency at SF General. As a child, Gavin could never understand why things were so tense with the neighbors. John always explained to his son that it was because they were foreigners – which was true, but only up to a point. The truth was, the local Puma clan never fully accepted the Lions in their midst. The Caine family returned home to Somerset when Gavin was twelve- the same year he underwent his first change.
Gavin’s first change was traumatic. Most shifters have trouble the first few times, but Gavin had an exceptionally hard time controlling his form. He went blind for nearly a week after his eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness of the basement by transforming into cat’s eyes. Gavin was also strong-willed as a child, and his father never had an easy time controlling his early attempts at shifting. Then again, he never had much control over the child, period. Once Gavin learned that he could heal from any beating his father delivered, what little control John had over his child vanished.
At the same time, Gavin was having trouble coping with the change in culture and the differences in education. His teachers suggested that he had a learning disability. Some even suggested sending him to a reform school, to help curb his discipline problems. Despite this, he was a good student, getting solid grades in spite of poor attendence and constant reprimands for bad behavior. The one saving grace in his life was his Uncle Archie. Uncle Archie took Gavin under his wing and taught him how to act, how to behave. Once Gavin had learned to master his shape-shifting, Uncle Archie arranged to have him finish out his secondary school education away from the family, to reduce conflicts with his father.
While away at school, Gavin met Chazz, who convinced him to come to Reading (far from his first choice as a history major). Gavin also learned that he got along better with other shifters when he was away from his father. He still had a problem with authority, but it was much easier to be relaxed about it. After College, Gavin and Chazz toured Europe and America together, visiting New York, Boston, Florida, Rome, Milan, Paris, Baden-Baden, and Amsterdam before returning to the UK. He’s very new to the Reading area, and has only just received permission to stay.
Physical Appearance
Gavin is tall and well-muscled, with shoulder-length blonde hair that seems suggestive of a mane. His eyes are an intense shade of blue. His skin is normally pale, but when it tans, it takes on the tawny golden hue of the natural blonde. In summer, Gavin’s chest and shoulders often sport a spray of freckles. His features are chiseled, with high, fine cheekbones and a tapering jaw. His hands are strong, with long fingers that belie a powerful grip. His legs are long, with slender feet. He often seems to be walking or standing on the balls of his feet, giving him an extra few inches of height. When he walks, Gavin almost seems to be stalking – he travels in fits and starts, fluidly moving forward like quicksilver one moment, then pausing and seemingly utterly relaxed the next. Gavin rarely smiles, but when he does, it seems as though the sun has come out from behind a cloud.
Personality
Moody is probably the best word for him. Rash is another. Gavin is often impulsive, frequently headstrong, and quick to react. He is often introspective, sulking in some corner or perching in some high place like a tree branch or a balcony, watching everything happen around him. Strongly opinionated, he tries to keep his opinions to himself, but when asked a direct question, he will answer truthfully – to a fault. Gavin grew up in the United States, and still has many of the mannerisms of an American. When the mood takes him, he can be friendly and outgoing, but he never quite seems to fit in. Underneath his brusque exterior, however, is an honestly warm and caring person. Gavin radiates an air of hostility because he’s found very little acceptance in his life, but once he’s given his friendship to someone, he can be a devoted and loyal friend.
Gavin is highly dominant – instinctively so. He has trouble accepting anyone else’s authority over him, but at the same time he demands a high level of performance from himself. When he sets a goal for himself, whether it’s improving his diet or bringing up his flagging grades, he sees to it that it happens, no matter the cost to his personal life. Much of the difficulty he has had with his father stems from the fact that Gavin is simply a more powerful shifter than John, and has a stronger will.
Talents & Weaknesses
Gavin learned to shift his eyes at an early age, and his ears soon after. He prefers the heightened senses of his animal form, without giving up the advantage offered by having thumbs. When his eyes have shifted, his vision becomes phenominal, even by the standards of a shifter. The same is true for his hearing. His depth perception and sense of balance are incredible. He can pinpoint the location of a mouse moving a dozen yards away by sound alone, and he can read news print in a pitch-black room from five years away. Otherwise, he finds the process of shifting to be very uncomfortable, although he has perfect control of it now. He often fights the transformation, and feels a little out of control when he does change. He’s most comfortable wearing his human skin.
Gavin is a talented gardener, with the veritable “green thumb”. His room is dominated by shelf upon shelf of bonsai plants which he cares for, each of whom has its own name and character (or so he claims). He is a remarkably skilled botanist (although he claims it’s just a hobby) and has a fair working knowledge of herbalism. In general, Gavin is an autodidact, and can quickly learn any subject he applies himself to. The fact that he so rarely applies himself to what is actually being taught in class has caused more than one teacher to throw their hands up in dispair. Gavin has got a strong interest in history, and is considering Museum Studies for his postgraduate degree.
Gavin is possessed of strong charisma and what can only be called “animal magnetism”. He seems to ooze confidence and authority. He is highly attractive to members of both sexes. Unfortunately, he is also a blockhead, and usually fails to notice that anyone is interested in him unless they slap him upside the head with a stout piece of lumber. Chazz has scored on more than one occasion with an attractive young lady who was shot down by Gavin’s ineffable cluelessness. His unconscious mannerisms also bring him into conflict with authority figures, who pick up on his personal magnetism as a threat to their standing.
Gavin has a nocturnal rhythm which makes it hard for him to function in the real world. His body naturally wants for him to fall asleep at three and then wake up at eleven. Often, no matter how tired he is, he can’t fall asleep before three, and waking up on time for classes is close to impossible. He tries to compensate for this by taking little naps throughout the day, but more than one teacher has suggested that he might have a problem with drugs or alcohol because of his bedraggled appearance in the morning and chronic tardyness.
