About the Man
Character Name: Ruben "Tank" Torrez-Medina
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Height: 5'4"
Weight: Approx. 160lbs
Ethnicity: Full-blood Hispanic
Language: Spanish with very minimal English capabilities
Last 'Known" Location: Attempting to cross the border of Mexico and Texas
Occupation: Illegal immigrant Apple orchard worker in Michigan
Family: Evita (Wife), Carlos (eldest son), Estaban (middle son), Tejana (only daughter), Santo (youngest son) plus a huge extended family
Likes: Being outside, having money, his family, dogs, hot weather, alcohol, being in control, freedom, spicy food, teamwork, swimming, working hard, storytelling, eating in general, loud music, fighting, being crass and vulgar, manipulation, women
Dislikes: Stuffy truck containers, snow/ice, being treated like dirt, relying on other's help, customs at the border and their regulations, sympathy, unemployment, rules in general, being harrassed about his height/weight, spending his money
Appearance: Typical latino. His hair is black with slight grey streaks and a little longer than shoulder-length. Its generally worn in a ponytail that's more or less scruffy with pieces falling out of it. He has a thick, bottlebrush moustache that's also vaguely streaked with grey and his brown eyes are perpetually squinted underneath thick eyebrows.
His skin is heavily tanned due to long hours of work out in the blazing heat. His face is etched with wrinkles about the eyes, across the forehead, and at the mouth...skin is leathery in texture.
He's short and squatty, almost like a barrel, with large hands, a thick neck, and a bit of a gut on him. He's not really good-looking guy...average at best due to his stature and his coarse features (and overall grubby nature). He's fairly hairy also (chest, legs, and arms).
Ruben wears a lot of old t-shirts/tanks that are stained from hours out in the apple orchards and dirty, torn up jeans. Most of what he wears is old, worn out, or ragged in some fashion because he can't afford to buy nice things often and because he works long hours outside. He has a fake silver Rolex watch and a simple silver chain necklace that is also cheap. He wears ratty sandals or stained sneakers when he has shoes to wear. Sometimes he can be seen wearing an old baseball hat or a cowboy hat when he's outside. He has one pierced ear (the left) and has a simple gold hoop in it.
Tattoo-wise, he has a simple cross on the back of his neck.
Personality/Information: Ruben is an average guy. He isn't outwardly violent, a drug dealer (though he does smoke pot if the opportunity presents itself), or criminal aside from the fact that he crosses the border without the proper paperwork. He's very family and friend oriented, thus very loyal to people on his good side. Ruben tends to be more of a follower than a leader. He has no qualms about lying or stealing (he's a slight kleptomaniac born of necessity) as long as no one is physically hurt in the process. His friends and family nicknamed him 'Tank' because he's short, thick-bodied, unstoppable if he's got his mind set on doing something, and as tactful and subtle as a military tank.
He can be labeled as vulgar and dirty even, but due to where he was living, it was sort of bred into him. He doesn't like to waste anything unless he absolutely has to and he's pretty smart in the ways of making something last or manipulating it for another task. Ruben considers himself a first-class handyman (he's mechanically inclined from working on farm equipment) and would rather be outside fiddling with an engine of sorts than be stuck inside.
Ruben speaks very little english. When in the states, he depended on his children to translate for him because they attended a school near the orchards during the earlier part of the day and learned English fluently. This is common for many immigrant families. He knows the bare essentials required for work and a few curse words, but his sentence structure is very choppy and hard to understand so he might as well be speaking spanish. He operates at the education level of a seventh grader at best even when he understand what is going on simply because he never pursed further education.
How he got to the island: Ruben and his family are classical illegal immigrants. They cross the border every year between Texas and Mexico via a 'coyote', then join up with other illegals and travel up to Michigan where they can labor as apple pickers during the late summer and fall.
Ruben was approached by a prospective smuggler a month or so before he planned to get his family across the border, unaware that the man actually worked for Dr. Moreau (and that would have meant nothing to him HAD he known). In a ploy to get more ethnic diversity on the island, it was planned by staff for the abduction of an illegal immigrant as their disappearance wouldn't really rouse much trouble from the authorities (certainly not the American authorities, anyway). The man claimed to be one of the best coyotes out there, but said he could only smuggle individuals over one at a time due to the methods used. At first Ruben was unsure of this, but eventually the man even agreed to give them a ride to the exact place where they were supposed to meet with the other families (usually they had to hitchhike or walk). He made arrangements with the man and when the time came, Ruben said bye to his family, claimed to see them again soon, and apparently dropped off the face of the planet. The truth was that Ruben was effectively knocked by via the gas that the staff is so fond of using while hiding in the back of the man's truck and was put enroute to the island.
