Robert Arancio

Robert Arancio is a new student at Beacon who stands at an impressive six foot four and is the son of the world rebound Treasure Hunter and Grimm tracker Henry Arancio. Called Robin by close friends or Rob for short, Arancio is a capable tracker and hunter himself in the traditional sense, having been raised in the woods most of his life. Roberts colour is Orange, which he wears on his bandana/scarf around his neck, a very private person he is however not a lone wolf rather he is just a very private person who asks for people to respect his personal space and that of others. This is exemplified with his very spiritual side where he spends a lot of time on his own to just be in touch with the natural world, which is kind of ironic considering how offensive his weapons and fighting style is.

Appearance
Robert is an extremely tall yet skinny individual, best described as lanky, none the less he is well toned and is physically deceptive having above average strength for someone of his build having a very wiry but strong physique with healthy if uneven tanned skin from years of walking in the forests. He has an extremely soft jaw line with high cheekbones and what could be seen as a perfectly straight nose. Moreover he has a very high and prominent forehead which is largely covered by his thick and matted black hair that falls well past his ears to the upper part of his neck. He also has very large dark chocolate coloured eyes with very thin eyebrows which he often hides behind a set of large orange tinted mono-goggles which he often puts on when moving at high speeds or is hiking in the woods.

He additionally wears a set of dark grey cargo trousers lined with more pockets and zips that can be counted, which he uses to store personal items from medicinal herbs to his Swiss army knife, all of which held up by a simple brown wring belt. His dark camo green jacket also has a similar appearance having more places to hold items then a shelf could, and having extremely deep pockets as well. Only his T-shirt appears not to be designed for outdoors activity being a plain dark orange with no real discerning marks of symbols. To complete this outdoors appearance he has a pair of deep coloured combat boots and a drop leg holster on his right hand side for quick drawing his weapon.

It should also be noted that because of his woodland upbringing Robert doesn’t bathe very often, not to say that he is unhealthy, in fact he is probably one of the most hygienic people at beacon, but his clothes are rather mucky and dusty covered in soil and grass. As a result he smells strongly of damp soil and freshly cut grass. However on the other side his school uniform is perfectly spick and span with him taking great care to keep it that way, overall his personal effect are dirty because they are more designed for practicality and he has confidence they can weather it.

Background
Robert doesn’t know much about where he was born or even who his mother was, as he farther was always curiously mute on the subject. What he was told or pieced together for himself by what his farther said is that he was born on the road somewhere far away from Vale and that his farther loved his mother very much but they just had differing opinions. None the less despite this secrecy Robert was brought up in what could be considered an atypical childhood, even in Vale, raised largely in the wilderness he rarely saw cities and even when his farther rarely took him inside. Even so his farther raised him as best he could educating Robert himself to an advanced High school level by the time he was thirteen, also he thought Robert how to hunt, track and fend for himself. In fact Robert killed his first Grimm (with help from his farther) when he was nine, a baby Ursa which had been raiding farming villages on the borders of Vale. His farther however would always leave Robert at an Inn or with an old friend when he was called away on ‘business’, tracking down ancient relics or killing practically powerful or dangerous Grimm.

This life changed for Robert when he turned fourteen and his farther left him with an old friend as he usually did on long journeys on the border of Vale as he travelled south as a guard for an archaeological dig to the city of Mendax.

He never came back!

Months passed and his farther didn’t appear, every day Robert would wait on the step of the farmstead where he was staying and looked to the east, hoping to see his farther return home over the hill. He waited so long that by the time he was taken to an orphanage in Vale he had already accepted the truth.

Even so he spent the next three years of his life in the city of Vale and quickly found his dislike for enclosed spaces and how much he had loved the woods. During Holidays he would often run away to the forests just to spend time amongst the tree, grass and flowers, sleeping under the night sky staring up into the sky, like as he did with his Dad. Despite counselling he has never stopped doing this wanting and hoping that somehow this would make him closer to his farther, even though he knew it was pointless.

When he arrived in Vale he immediately took part in one of the minor combat academies, distinguishing himself due to his first hand knowledge of Grimm and tried and practiced combat style. He quickly became his classes top student and one of their most prestigious fighters earning some of the top places in local inter-academy tournaments, although he never came first. He excelled so much he was offered a place at Beacon upon his graduation a positioned he accepted only on the assurance that he could visit the woods beyond Vale during his free time.

Personality
Robert is an extremely calm person and is best described as being something or a bolder, large silent and very hard to push if he doesn’t want to. He is a very open and easily approachable person who will listen to people end on end, but won’t shift from a strongly held position or idea if he doesn’t agree with it. Still he is most at homes in the woods among the birds and the bees running jumping and climbing in and around the trees, as such he dislikes crowds or built up areas as they are too noisy and clustered, getting easily claustrophobic. He finds cities to chaotic and crazy, not that he doesn’t like parts of them as he can feel the life just coming off them, it’s just not what he enjoys.

Strictly speaking though Robert is also very private person, telling people very little about himself and his personal life, preferring to solve problems himself and handle situations on his own. However he isn’t cold or a lone wolf, being very cheerful and open, he just doesn’t like talking to people about his personal views feeling that you should only express these with family or really close friends, and since the team structure is new he wants to feel out the situation before he commits. However he can be quite selective with how this rule applies as while he won’t let others become involved in his business he doesn’t seem to mind getting involved in other peoples, trying often to be helpful or useful, which has led him to offer advice even when it’s not wanted. Even so his private and secretive nature leaves everything he says and does on the surface, which while allows him to remain calm it can be interpreted for arrogance, with his short frank and blunt reply’s being seen as a lack of interest.

Moreover his personal goal in life is to acquire enough skill to go to Mendax to find his farther or at least clues to his whereabouts, a fact he does not share with anyone not even his new team mates, despite them asking for his fascination with their barbaric culture. On top of that the nature of his furthers disappearance did spur an interest in history and mythology which he has become quite adept in, if not quite perfect at remembering everything, but it is probably the one topic he is prepared to talk lengths on. But it is safe to say his commitment to the subject out paces that of nearly every other student at Beacon. But perhaps the only topic he never ever talks about is Faunas, due to his lack of experience with them living in the wilderness he will often stay out of discussions about talking on them. This is not to say he is prejudice he just feels with his lack of first-hand knowledge he needs to get to know some personally before he decides to have an opinion on the situation, which is quite typical of him.

However do not take his calm and warm demeanor as weakness, in battle Robert will use any means necessary to win; he’s not above using improvised tactics and weapons to take his opponents down. His cool but calculating commitment to winning borders on complete ruthless with him taking both the safest but most expedient method at removing an opponent. If he can’t beat something physically he will fight from the shadows, if he can’t beat something at close range he will fall back to a safer position, if he is clearly out matched he will run away and hide waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike to finish the enemy off in one fine-tuned strike!

Abilities and Powers
Robert unlike many students at Beacon has an extremely weak Aura, despite his connection with the natural world his Aura is barely noticeable and as such his abilities suffer as a result. Physically he is not much stronger, faster or more agile than any normal human, with him possessing incredible low endurance due to his thin frame. None the less he is stronger than most ordinary humans with him also possessing enough agility to be a proficient free runner although he can’t jump up and over a building like some Hunters come.

Due to this weakness Robert shifted his focus more onto efficiency of movement and attacks with his weapon requiring only a minuscule effort to use and wiled being largely automated. Moreover he also prefers to rely on his skills as a woodsman to win a fight, with him reading the terrain and using it against his opponent making him excellent of using his surroundings to his advantage as it is a necessity for him to keep up. Also in spite of his apparent weakness he has a multitude of skills outside of combat, like non-dust related medical practices (like slings, splints and herbal remedies), knowledge of hiking/rock climbing, tracking prey, setting up emergency shelters, making fires etc.

Roberts Semblance is one of the more unique variants with him being able to sense any living thing around him within a limited range of around 6 meters. What this means is that he can innately know if something or someone is behind him or on the other side of a wall so long as it is alive in the traditional sense, he doesn’t sense another’s aura but rather the energy that makes the alive allowing him to sense any Grimm near him. This ability plays well to his incredible short ranged combat style as anything that gets inside his ‘bubble’ he can immediately gun down, however due to his non-enhanced agility it means he cannot respond quick enough if he is attacked from multiple angles. Moreover it is hard for him in the heart of combat for him to tell one person’s energy from another’s meaning he needs to pause to correct his shots and make sure he isn’t firing at a friend, also another flaw is that the fact the Semblance can’t detect inanimate objects like bullets meaning he can be taken down at range quite easily.

Also it is a passive ability meaning that it is active even if he is not being attacked and he frequently uses it when alone to commune with the natural world in his own form of meditation, a process he finds quite calming. With him feeling all the living things rush around him as he realises just how complex the world is.

Fighting Style
Robert is best described as a Glass Cannon, extremely offensive he will always be the first to strike if a fight starts and will attempt to finish off an opponent off as quickly as possible, or at least keep them of the defensive as to prevent them from striking back. This extremely brutal combat style is offset by his tried and tested stealth skills perfected in his younger years as a woodsmen, meaning that when he is outmatched he will often flee and lead his opponents into a trap striking at them when they least expect it and when they ‘believe’ they have the upper hand.

However the obvious flaws in his combat style stem from the fact while he can dish out a ton of damage sure can’t take it, for him to excel he needs to be in full control of the flow of the combat, making it hard against faster and more agile opponents. And while his Semblance allows for him to sense and pick up where people are attacking from (if they are within range) his low-enhanced agility means that he often can’t respond quickly enough if he is attacked from behind.

Even so his weapon allows him to keep an enemy at a favourable distance and keep them from leaving with the weapons ability to latch onto an opponent making it hard for them to pull away, although once again doing so leaves him open for a swift counter attack. However he is often reluctant to use his weapons close combat mode as it is extremely complex and difficult to wield and is not ideal for use in enclosed spaces. As such he will more often than not use improvised weapons like sharpened sticks or throwing rocks to whittle down an opponent from the shadows before engaging them head on, with him using his environment to the best of his abilities.

Weapon
Roberts’s weapon was the last thing his dad gave him before going away on the expedition and as such is probably his most treasured position apart from a torn picture of his farther. A modified Type-4 Growler SOS-PW (Sawed Off Shotgun – Pistol Whip), ‘Cerberus’ is a tripled barreled weapon with a segmented and extremely detailed design, being able to change from a sawed off Shotgun to a three pronged whip in a matter of seconds, possessing retractable blades for optional lethality. Customised by his farther the weapon is extremely potent and dangerous device fuelled by the users Aura (specially modified for his sons weaker one), it uses micro fragments of dust forced down a series of wrapped and compacted nano tubes in the whip by kinetic amplifiers in each segment of the barrel. This sprays out tiny fragments of dust (usually fire based) at an opponent over an extremely short range but wide arc delivering both a deadly knock back effect and coating the enemy in whatever substance is loaded in its chamber, which is concealed in the had grip.

The side effect of this however is that the kinetic amplifiers may force the tiny particles out at armour piercing speed but it has a huge recoil with each shot and thus forces the wielder to use both hands when firing the gun (although on the fly it can be sparsely used one handed). Moreover its bulk makes it somewhat heavy to wield in combat and is thus not very good at precise of accurate attacks on opponents weak points.

However it does have an alterable power setting on the back of the weapon, exchanging more dust forced down each barrel for greater range and damage, with the side effect being increased recoil and it needing to be reloaded more often.

Moreover its final feature is that the weapon fires in a slow sequence with each tap of the rigger causing a single barrel to go off allowing it to fire up to twenty-four shots before needing to be reloaded (eight shots per barrel). This is done to prevent the weapon overheating combat allowing each barrel to cool while another one fires. However by holding down the trigger for ten seconds causes the device to unload all three barrels into an opponent, on a low setting this can send a single person or Grimm flying, but at full power it can cause a sizable explosion. However for the final attack to be used the opponent must first be at an acceptable range of ten meters or else the user will not only be blown flat on his arse, leaving him wide open, but will most likely be caught in the ensuing fireball or hit by the shrapnel given off. Note this attack should never be used in enclosed spaces, when allies are nearby or against an opponent wanted to be taken alive. Moreover it does considerable damage to the weapon as well.

Cerberus’s alternative mode is that of a three pronged whip based on those used by the Mendaxi priests during time of war. This weapon is extremely adept at keeping an opponent at range with quick flick of the wrist, and the fact the barrel stays together during this allows the weapon to keep firing when it is unfolded although at considerably reduced damage (due to the increased distance between each of the kinetic amplifiers). Added with the optional ability to extend the blade the whips are very good at wrapping and hooking itself around an opponent’s weapon, or the opponent itself. Allowing the user to either rip the weapon from the person grip, leave them unable to attack or even tear off opponents limbs with its tiny segmented blades. However this is a best case scenario with an opening for this kind of attack rarely happening, most of the damage done in this form is by tiny cuts by the small blades, making it more of an inconvenience than an effective counter to another person’s weapon. Also each whip is very unwieldy being able to go everywhere, especially if he decides to pull the trigger as the knockback from the barrels and amplifies forces them over the users head leaving him wide open.

He also keeps a Swiss army knife for practical purposes.

Theme
Regular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbY5h4q-3Ro

Entrance Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kBgJ7LQG9s

Combat Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM4ve_qt92E

Robert Arancio is an OC of The P.B.G (talk) 09:50, April 15, 2014 (UTC)