+Currently the leader of House Grimm. Successfully failing upwards for 51 years!
Age; 51
Affiliation; It’s complicated. On paper and in action, House Grimm / Silver Navy. But in his heart, secretly, Insomnia.
Likes; Being romantic, handwritten letters, old maps, candles, Zuri (and her smile!!!!), his kids, calamari, creative writing, dreaming
Dislikes; Violence or any roughhousing, squid, swimming, high technology, bad wine, dirty windows
Other; An underwater kraken toppled his patrol vessel one night when he was just a new recruit. He nearly drowned, but Zain rescued him. He’s disliked squid or octopuses ever since and will always order calamari when it’s on the menu. Castiel’s written several romance novels under his pen name; they aren’t terribly famous, but have a solid foothold in the market. He’s never told Zuri about his novels, since many of them feature a character based off of her in some way – Livie’s the only one who’s figured it out; she likes his novels and picked up on the trend, though they’re far too wholesome for her to be a big fan.
He also documents his dreams in a dream journal and he’ll often make up stories to tell his children based off of his dreams. He's usually very mild-mannered and very much a dreamer, but he tends to get very animated when talking about the Felicianos or his children. Though it’s almost hypocritical, he doesn’t really like robots or any of the cutting edge technology Zuri develops; he maintains an interest because of Zuri and wholeheartedly supports her, but much rather likes the old-timey stuff.
He doesn't wear a ring although he's married in heart to Zuri, but does wear a bracelet.
Bio; An unplanned son of House Grimm, Castiel was the youngest. No one ever had any high expectations for Castiel and often forgot about him, as his siblings were often embroiled for the battle of the Grimm mantle. His mother, who had a kind streak, worried excessively for the fate of Castiel as he grew up. He would often be found playing pretend by himself or staring out the window, and only excelled in literature. His mother was so worried that the politics of House Grimm and Silver writ large would kill him one day, and she sent him off to the navy. With his name recognition and House Grimm’s dominance in maritime, the navy wanted to make him a high-ranking officer at a young age. However, his mother, who wanted to gently instill some toughness in him so he could have a chance at surviving the oligarchy, insisted he be made a low level seaman.
The sailor’s life was not for Castiel. He could hardly pass basic training, and that was only because the Director of the Naval Academy allowed Castiel to wear a life vest for the tread test. And then when he was on a ship, he didn’t do anything useful, really. Castiel spent more time examining maps than navigating, or more time staring out the window than cleaning it. The navy couldn’t discharge him because he was a Grimm, so they ended up bunking him with whom they deemed the most useless seaman: the kid from Insomnia, Zain.
Even though Castiel was probably one of the most gentle oligarch members one could meet, the distaste for Insomnia runs strong and he was highly prejudiced at first. But Zain’s work ethic inspired him; Zain was completing all of Castiel’s duties, his own, and then spending lights-out trying to learn Hevanese. When the kraken attacked their ship and Zain saved him from drowning, that’s when Castiel’s mind started to change that maybe Insomnians aren’t so bad after all.
The feeling magnified when they made their first trip back to Insomnia, some time after they’d first joined the Navy. Castiel likens the first sighting as a shooting star alighting upon the Earth: that’s when he saw Zuri. As a romantic, it was love at first sight. Zuri was beautiful, and caring – she might have been expressionless, but whenever they docked at Insomnia, she was always there to greet them. If that wasn’t the sign of a woman with a kind heart, he didn’t know what was. And what a sight for sore eyes she was, after spending so many weeks aboard a miserable ship! Since then on, he would write her letters, send her flowers, and ask Zain now and again if she ever asked about him. Interestingly, after meeting Zuri for the first time, Castiel became far more motivated at work. He had a romanticized version of a sailor reuniting with his lover in his head, and he could only make that reality if he worked hard and endured hardships. Over time, he found himself wanting to be the kind of man Zuri would be proud to wait for.
During and after the Second Ascension, he stayed docked in Insomnia for awhile, which gave him a chance to win over Zuri through more than just flowers and letters. Though, since relations between Insomnia and Silver were only getting worse, they talked about whether or not they should get married and ultimately decided it was better for their family if they do not marry on paper. Now that relations are decidedly unstable, Castiel cleaved with Silver and remained in the Navy. Very delicately and covertly, he feeds Ellis information on naval strategies and maritime developments gained from his insight as a Grimm and a navy sailor.
Knowing that if he’ll be killed if he’s ever caught, or worse Zuri and his kids will be targeted, he painfully maintains his distance from them during the war. Especially after his nephew killed Castiel’s brother to become the new leader of House Grimm, Castiel is worried that if it’s ever found out he has kids and isn’t just some forever alone old fogie, his kids might be next on the chopping block for the hereditary claim they can make to lead House Grimm.
Comments