nephalem

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Gino's personality can sort of be likened to those fruit-n-yogurt parfaits at McDonald's. The top is this sweet, sugary fruit stuff, and the bottom layer is this wibbly yogurt with a suspicious coloration and taste. But you can't get to the yogurt part unless you eat the fruit first (or stir the entire thing really hard, but come on, I'm going a long way with this metaphor so work with me, okay).

Gino's fruity top layer is... well, yeah, pretty fruity. He's upbeat, cheerful, extremely friendly, playful. At times he can be a little touchy-feely with his tendency to drape on, poke, pop up right in front of, and generally harass his friends, but this seems more directed toward men as he has a distinct respect for women needing their space. People tell him he's strange and that he should act "more normal" and serious, being a noble and a Knight of the Round, but any waving him off seems to go completely ignored. It seems at times as if he doesn't notice them all and is completely impossible to deter, although that isn't necessarily true. He will stop at nothing when he wants to befriend someone, is very persistent, and an incredible people-person; his personality is very disarming, and so he makes friends easily thanks to this.

Accepting and unassuming, Gino's come to believe that one shouldn't be judged on what they are, but rather who—by the weight and value of their actions. He tries to be honest with people, and he will be, as long as his own thoughts and feelings aren't being called into question. Unfortunately he's very guarded about these thoughts and feelings, and will often laugh off any insinuation that he may feel strongly about one thing or another. If he feels the need to be forthright, however, he will be—underneath that fruity exterior is an awful lot of feeling.

He enjoys competition, challenges, showing off, bragging about his big dick Knightmare Frame, romance, eating, exploring and trying new things, and generally having a good time. One word you'll think of a lot when observing Gino's interests and activities is "shenanigans." Due to his upbringing, Gino can be a little on the naive side and unaware of how the real world actually works, but is always more than willing to learn. His observations on "commoners" and "commoner things" are not meant disrespectfully, and he doesn't seem to realize how narrow it sounds when he says it around others. Of course, he's prone to doing things that are... unusual at best, but at least he manages to accomplish what he's set out to, most of the time.

Boundless energy combined with his alarmingly noteworthy work ethic makes for a Knight who is competent, dutiful, and not inclined to question his orders very much out loud. For someone as easygoing and fun-loving as he is, it often surprises people when they find that he is quite real underneath all that derp and that he is capable of balancing knightly responsibilities, social networking, schoolwork, and free time with ease. He is a very well-educated and intelligent person, if not a little inept at culture and society.

That underlying yogurt layer of Gino's personality, however, is far, far more serious and suppressed. He has a distinct dislike of himself—or rather, a dislike of how he lives. He's not at all proud of his upbringing, believing that nobles make themselves far too entitled to everything than he would like and doesn't want to be lumped in that category with them. His endeavors to live "like a commoner" are more than likely his way of not only exploring life outside his birdcage of a childhood, but deviating away from it entirely to spare himself the embarrassment of being a selfish person. Many of his actions are his attempt at proving his worth and showing that he is better than that, that he can be better.

Furthermore, Gino believes that only the weak are qualified to be knights such as himself. "Fighting the strong to save the weak and protecting one's liege for justice" is something he believes to be only colored glass to look at oneself through, and that a knight's only business, really, is to kill. As "strong" people are unfit to kill, because they will not fail to realize the evil of their actions and fight against it, a "weak" person, he believes, realizes their wrongdoing. But instead of fighting it, a "weak" person will only make excuses, however unconsciously, to justify themselves in their own mind and to the people around them. Let me make that a little clearer: people that kill people are "weak." People that don't kill people are "strong." Doesn't do much to narrow things down, now does it?

As convoluted a belief system as this is, it's what Gino goes by and thus he only seems to take an interest in other weak people such as himself. Strong people, he believes, live on a whole 'nother dimension from the weak and that the final stage of connection with those people is lost somewhere between "weak" and "strong." And yet he holds no love for these fellow weak folk, either (or at least, not morally), which sort of makes him backwards and a hypocrite, but okay. Someday, Gino, therapy.

Underneath his happy, fruity exterior he's a bit of a cynic, but prefers not to let these negative things rise to the surface. Therefore he wears the mask of contentment very, very well; sometimes it's hard to tell when he's actually happy and when he's just covering for what he really thinks and feels. Whether he's hurt, or upset, or anything, his response will almost always be "I'm fine," and then a quick diversion to a happier subject. Part of the problem is that he doesn't want to worry the people around him, and the other part is that he wants to be able to take care of it all himself. He does have quite a bit of pride in his own strength of will, which sometimes blows up in his face because it's not possible for anyone to be able to handle everything by oneself.

Furthermore, Gino is quite stubborn and very steadfast. He has been shown to have enough maturity to bear up under the strain of war and battle. Though he does make a challenge out of most things he is unerring in his determination to accomplish, even if that means doing something that he knows is morally incorrect or harsh. At times he follows rules to the letter, and is clearly uncomfortable with outright, unnecessary rebellion. Gino unflinchingly carries out his orders and at least pretends to not think about the consequences as long as what needs to be done is done. That isn't to say that the ends justify his means—not at all. But it's more that he has already grown up enough to understand that he has to shoulder the weight of the choices he makes, and does so without faltering. Usually.

You'd think with all that yogurty underlayer, he wouldn't be able to take a hit (not to mention the fact that he is a big wobbly noodle), but Gino is quite the brick wall with a high tolerance for torment. Emotional pain hits him the hardest, but he has had lots of time to practice perfecting his facade. And he's quite tough, although very much against picking fights outside of battle unless he absolutely has to. Guess maybe at the bottom of that yogurt cup is a steel plate. Or something. I don't know, I've taken this metaphor way too far already, give me a break.

Now I bet you'll never be able to eat one of those parfaits again without thinking of Gino.