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The Vercetti farm, while best known in the past for its lemon orchards and their limoncello, has lately found more fame in the oil their sunflower fields can provide. Their orchards and land, left mostly in tact several miles from the Tuscany shore line still provide the family with enough to get by, tended to primarily by their proprietor and his second son, hiring help as they can manage it, often paid in a portion of the crops.

Marius prefers the lemons to the flowers, and was somewhat saddened when all but the oldest grove was cleared to make room for the fields.

[what follows are disconnected thoughts I will hopefully organize into something literary tomorrow when my brain returns]

Gianni, Marius's older brother was killed during the invasion, and Umberto has never quite let him forget it. His father constantly pushes and picks at his remaining son to be more like the one he lost, reminding him constantly of Gianni's strength of character and stamina and berating his unfocused son for his drifting attention and draw to frivolous endeavors like the Arts.

This attention, of course, has somewhat opposite of the desired effect, doing nothing but encouraging Marius to be as much of a scatterbrained punk as he can stand and renewing his will to slack and investigate more interesting piercings. Looking for new and inventive ways to give his father grey hair also lead to the invention of his blond-spattered hair, resulting from a creative application of lemon juice, sunlight and petulance.

Despite any grievance he might have with his Poppa, Marius has very few complaints about his family and is a fiercely protective boy over his mother and little sister Pela.

The sun climbed at its own slow pace, lazy as the endless fields of green and gold it warmed. Bedded down among the swaying rows he lay, eyes on the sedate drift of the world above. Warm breezes blew in from the ocean tides, rustling overhead. Catching stray feathers and petals in their errant hands and dancing them across the sky.

The boy closed his eyes happily. It was a good time of day for a nap.

"Marius!" The clear, bright voice broke the rushing quiet, pulling a groan from its subject with one opened eye. "Marius Vercetti! Poppa says he knows you're out here! Mari! Poppa says he needs you inside!"

"Pela." He grumbled, rolling onto his stomach to the metallic song of chains and jewelry. "Pela, don't shout."

But she didn't hear him. It would have been a miracle if she could, the way he mumbled it to the ground.

"MARIUS?" She cried with a note of alarm, the swish of her skirts growing closer as she hit the rows of bright-faced flowers. "Marius!"

Marius, for his own part, crouched low, waiting for the flash of white among the stalks to leap.

Pelaphina shrieked.

"Ah, no!" Cried her brother, waving a hand in surrender. "I'm here, Pela. Shh-shh! You don't want to get caught now, do you?"

"Marius!" She yelped, kicking him squarely in the knee.

"Ai!" He released her then, grabbing for the newly forming bruise. "Mother Mary, Pela. It's me, don't hit, don't hit."

"Oh." The brunette frowned, peering at the teenager curled up among the sunflowers. "You scared me, Marius."

"So I did." He admitted, rubbing at the ache. "Sorry. What are you shouting about now?"

"Poppa-"

"I know." The boy muttered, waving her off. "But why are you shouting?"

"He said he knew where you were. I thought if I found you first he wouldn't scold you for being in the flowers."

Marius watched his sister with a lopsided smile, shaking his splotchy two-tone hair until the bangs fell into his face. "He doesn't know where I am, Pela." He chuckled. "Come on, learn to keep a secret, okay?"

"But-"

"He says that so you'll come get me. I only tell you where I go, you know that."

"Momma?"

"Momma doesn't know, either, but you can bet I'd come if she called me."

"Oh." The girl sat, claiming her brother's lap in a huff. "You don't want me telling then."

"Not particularly, no," Her brother agreed, resting his chin atop her head.

"Then I want a story."

"That's probably extortion."

Pela shook her head, jarring Marius into sitting a bit straighter. "Uh-uh. It's a story or I'll tell Poppa."

The teen caught a pierced bottom lip in his grin, leaning back to watch her small, stubborn form. "Oh," he murmured. "Is that what it is."

"Yes, and I want to hear one you haven't told me before."

"I think I can do that." Marius looked up at the passing clouds, sifting through the fables he had to share, trying to remember what he'd already told and what seemed most appropriate. At last he laughed, flopping backwards into the dirt again. "Okay, Pela." He smiled, "I've got one."

The slim girl shifted, straddling her elder to peer down into his face as he started to speak.

Spreading his hands to take in the whole sky Marius peered up through one dark eye. "There are people in America," he said quietly, "Dark haired people called the Iroquois. Have you ever heard of them?"

Pelaphina shook her head, but Marius wasn't really watching her. He flexed his fingers into the light, lost in thought.

"They were there first, really. They tell stories about animals, that each has a lesson to teach. They call it 'medicine'." He smiled, "The story of Rabbit Medicine goes that once, long ago, when the grass was growing high and the sweet clover was in season, Rabbit ventured from his thicket. Making his way to the edge of the forest, Rabbit looked out into the long, flat field filled with delicious flowers and said, 'I hope that Eagle doesn't see me here, and come to eat me.'

"Carefully he crept around the last swaying shadows of the trees, picking his way into the gorgeous falls of veronica and clovers and as he began to eat he said, 'I hope that Eagle doesn't see me here and come to eat me!'

"Several hours passed and while Rabbit nibbled and played in the sweet spring grass he looked up and shouted, 'I HOPE THAT EAGLE DOESN'T SEE ME HERE AND EAT ME!'" The boy sat up, howling the last part to his sister's startled jolt.

Pela climbed off her brother, giving his shoulder a push. "So what happened?" She asked his cheshire grin.

"Well, Eagle, sleeping in his nest some ways away, heard Rabbit shouting and swooped down."

"And?"

"And he ate him."

"What kind of a story is that?" The girl demanded, miffed.

"One with a moral, I suppose."

Pela folded her arms, sulking. "I know, I get it. 'Don't call your fears to you.'" She recited dutifully.

"It could be that." Marius nodded thoughtfully. "Or, it could be, 'don't shout when someone bigger than you is trying to take a nap! RAWR!"

The tiny girl shrieked her giggles, dodging out of the way of her brother's clumsy leap. "NO!" She instructed him, even as she dashed from the comforting sway of the seed-rows. "Can't catch me!"

Marius scrabbled to his feet, giving chase at a slightly slower pace than he really ought to had he intended to prove her wrong. "We'll see about that!" He laughed, "You'd better just run all the way home!"

Okay, well I warned you. I have no idea what I'm doing. Please please please please... don't feel like you have to change something just 'cause I'm all 'what the hell is this'. XD; I'd hate that... m'totally not trying to trash anyone's dreams or anything. So this is just a reminder that this isn't a crit, it's a quizzical opinion that you asked for. xD So here goes!

I appreciate that for someone Italian, you actually did (or know?) research on Italy and whatnot. Thank you for being true to the nationality. So, is his heritage Italian too? He's Italian all the way around? So why French as another language? I don't understand where that came from. With his love of languages, did he just pick French as the next one to learn? I can understand English. English is becoming more and more common these days. But... why does he know French?

Uhm... I... like him but I feel like the description of him is vague and isn't prone to making much sense. Jeans, sneakers, chains, belts, piercings. What? Where? What kind? And how did he use lemons to turn his hair blonde in certain places? (Cuz I totally wanna try it if it can be done. >> ) So does his hair look like it's got blonde paint spatters on it?

I'm also glad he's not one of those 'omg my brother died the world is ending life is over' kind of characters. Cuz that's my sons department. He's the emo revenge loving sort (well my son's not really emo, but that's not the point here). We need some more cheerful determination up in this school of Saviors.

If he is cheerful. I get the sense that he's a good guy... but he's rebellious. So uhm... what does his untapped potential have to do with being purebred? And what does purebred entail? So he's determined but he acts like he can't keep his facts straight cuz he's a bit of a daydreamer? I don't understand. That's really confusing for me.

He likes languages, but doesn't like reading. So he just likes the way it sounds? Talking?

What's limoncello? Flowers? So his family owns a farm they don't actually work on?

So... what's he doing at ShinKami? Why should he be allowed in? What's his purpose? I understand that he wants to use his linguistic abilities to help something. But what... and how? You said he collects folk lore? Where does that come in? His father makes him frustrated, so he rebels. So he looks like a punk but he's not. He's nice and stubborn.

Overall, I think he's pretty interesting, but I was confused by a lot of him. Perhaps flesh out what you have a little more first and then I'll look at it again. I kind of just see a lot of fancy words put together to make nice sentences. I see the basics of a character that could be really cool but not the point of having him at the school. And I'm kind of curious as to why he'd go so far as piercings and whatnot to rebel so much against what his father approves of? Is the initiative for that just teenage hormones running crazy? I'm still left very curious about him.

But since I don't know what I'm doing... I could be completely wrong about what I'm actually looking at. So make sure you have someone cool like Des or Chrys crit you before you even think of changing or editing things. I'm just a crazy detail whore honestly. So things without certain details make me curious. Best of luck in continuing with him! I look forward to reading your RP sample. 8D

Hrm~ I like him. Thank you for not stuffing so much into one person.

Since it's very to the point it definately won't confuse us but more details would give it more of a creative flair. Just as long as there aren't too many.

I don't really understand why Marius would wear lots of belts and chains when he seems so laid back with a general-ish 'I-don't-hate-the-world-at-all' personality and since he's a farm hand wouldn't so many accesories get in the way? I don't see the connection so explaining that would be good.

How exactly did Marius get into the idea of folk tales, I may have missed it but if there isn't any reason it's a bit random. But I still like it.

Last thing is, Why did SSoS appeal to Marius or is he being forced to go?

Oh hai Mog. I'm finally making good on my promise. <3

First of all, I really like him. Very cute. x3 I like the farmer aspect, I liiiike the Italian thing, and quite frankly, he's totally believable. I'd like to know how his brother's death affected him personally, actually. I get how he's his dad's only target, so to speak, that's very interesting. I like. I'm just curious, was he close was his brother? Is he heartbroken? Or did it not bother him so much? x3

Lawlz, doesn't like cats. He and Scy would get along swimmingly.

Also, love the talent. Will he be looking to learn more languages? (I think that would be very interesting.) I also like willing heroes, yaaaay~ Wow. I really don't have a lot to nitpick. You've done a very nice job. He's realistic, he has flaws and strengths, he has goals. Everything. It's really a nice quest. Good luck! <33333