Griffin Callerana

Created by Rilani (user) in the First Chapter, Griffin Callerana was a cop thrown into a world of conspiracies and murdrous plots when he finds out the truth of his parents' murders. Upon being shot and left for dead by his own team, he is taken in by renegade Oz Kitmen and later becomes the First Mate to the Free Runner. Goofy, a man-child, and an idolizer of a cheesy action-hero show called Rift Ferguson, Griffin stops at nothing to be a hero himself, even going as far as sacrificing himself and turning himself in during the Peace Day Massacre in order to help others escape alive.

Development
..........

Original Backstory
As originally written by Rilani (user) {C}All his life, Griffin had dreamed of becoming a hero; one that would burst into action right in the nick of time and save countless innocence with a bout of excellent fighting skills and witty one-liners, just like in his favorite action hero shows he had watched as a kid. That being said, it was hardly a mystery that Griffin would attempt follow in his father's footsteps in joining the military and eventually becoming a police officer. However, at the age of 17, his dreams and life were shaken when a horde of pirates led by a woman by the name of Scarlett Raid had come and killed his parents. Being the only living family member left, Griffin trashed his hopes of military life to take care of his five year-old sister, Rilani and later became a cop. Things seemed to go from rocky to mostly smooth after that, and he was able to keep up a good job and respectable life for him and his sister.

... And then he met Tatari.

It started with just harmless friendly fun. They had met in a bar and played cards frequently together, becoming fast and genuine friends. Closer than brothers, even. It was later, when Griffin had a crack on a smuggling ring that was going on in his home colony, that he tracked down one of the leaders of the criminal acts and cornered him. Only to find it was none other than Tatari himself.

And.... He let him go.

Months transpired since the event when his friend had unexpectedly showed up once more - only for a brief moment - and dropped a folder of documents on his desk, only having the time to say "Because we're friends." before disappearing once again. The contents of the documents involved some startling truths about Griffin and Rilani's parents' deaths, detailing a conspiracy and a Government order to have them executed. Shocked and horrified, Griffin went to find more... only to be found out by the Government himself. They set up a trap under the veil of a pirate attack conducted by Elias Truncate and the Gemstone, bringing in some dirty cops, sabotaging Griffin's gear, and a special operative Oz Kitmen to ensure of Callerana's death. The result left Griffin paralyzed from the waist down and bleeding to death in an old abandoned building that was on fire. He watched as the flames engulfed his legs, too weak to do anything about it...

But then the least expected thing happened as he lay there in the midst of betrayal. Oz Kitmen, a man sent to affirm his death, saved him. In haste, he took Griffin to a personal friend, who used bio-technology to save his life. He repaired his spine and outfitted him with bio-tech legs. In gratitude and despair, he swore utmost loyalty to Oz. He watched his own funeral - a 'hero's funeral' play on the television as he healed, and thus took on an alias from his favorite action hero show ever. From then on, he only referred to himself as Rift Ferguson.

Thus he became one of the very first members of the Free Runner crew, and later first mate. He performed various missions for his captain without question, but always persisted in asking him one request. To get his sister, whom he feared was in much danger since his 'assassination'.

First Chapter
Griffin appears in the First Chapter under the guise as 'Rift Ferguson' (an archaic, nearly-forgotten classic hero of a past generation) as he heads over to rendezvous with Oz Kitmen upon completing a mission. This naturally happens sometime after Rilani had unceremoniously parted ways with the Free Runner, which leaves Griffin in a bout of worry when he hears the news. This plagues him as the Free Runner lands on Paonia. There, he reunites with his old friend, Tatari. Friendship is rekindled, among other things, between them... although incidents occur with Tatari that forces Oz to suspect his old friend's intentions. However, upon a terrible run-in with an escaped drug lord that Griffin had once put behind bars, he's forced to bring the injured Tatari onboard the Free Runner amidst their escape.

In recovery, Tatari's intentions toward Griffin begin to show light as he makes intimate advances towards Griffin. Refusing to accept that particular prospect of his sexuality, Griffin blatantly resists and tries to push himself away, only to be more confused in the heat of chaos as his captain is rendered comatose after a mishap on Shangri La and he is made acting captain of the ship. Within the first twelve hours of his captaincy, the Free Runner is ambushed and taken over by the military of the Bristol ship. He finds out later, after finally breaking down and sharing intimacy with Tatari in their shared cell, that it was Tatari that had purposely come on board to spy and set them up for capture in the first place. As Tatari is unapologetically freed from his cell, the betrayed and enraged Griffin vows to kill him next time they meet.

Days later, the Gun Smoke comes to rescue the Free Runner captives from the Bristol. There, he escapes with Zyla, Trace, the still unconscious Oz, his newly reunited sister, and the rest of the crew to the Free Runner. Still in position as captain, he immediately seeks the help of his friends in the Pan Colonial upon escape. It is within the Ruhanga's protection that he intends to hide and bide his time until he can come up with a plan for action...

Winds of Revelation
The once martyred cop had come to life once again in the eyes of the world when Winds of Revelation opens up, but this time as a conspirator and killer. The news and media makes Griffin the scapegoat for the Bristol attack, along with many other pirates incidents, while Griffin and the rest of the crew remain in hiding within the Pan Colonial's flagship. There on board, he meets and dives headfirst into a relationship with Mina Karlynn Matthews. More or less, he and the crew remain on board the ship for nearly 3 months before getting contact by the Gun Smoke once again. Upon hearing that there was an entire colony wiped out by some form of the Virus, he mobilizes his crew and ship once more to take flight.

Not long after rendezvousing with the Gun Smoke does Oz Kitmen reawaken and resume his role as captain, much to Griffin's relief. Henceforth, Griffin more or less a pebble being tossed in a maelstrom of waves and events brought on by others, all the while being more and more villainized by the media as the root of all the evils of the modern world. He did his best in defending and comforting his sister in matters pertaining to her lover, Rox Denam, and tried to make amends and repair the damaged relationship with Davis upon reuniting with him. However, he loses his cool when Rilani delivers a bombshell during his date in telling him that she was three months pregnant with Rox's child.

More to come later. ;D

Storms of War
.....

Love Life
As originally written by Rilani (user)

Ariel Martinez
HER. I've never gotten to expound on her, really... I was hoping to do so a little in the private rp with Xelhes, but it never came around, save for a little innuendo when Griffin rushes frantically to grab a necklace with a ring on it that he had accidentally left behind. This girl was part of the police force. A couple years older than Griffin, bright, funny, easy smiler... but also very shy. It had taken him some time to get her to come out of her shell, and she was always the most open with Griffin. They got into a relationship, and, maybe right when Ri was getting ready to go to middle school... he had planned to propose to her. He bought the ring... but he never gets the chance to pop the question.

I don't know the reasons behind it exactly - perhaps she found out too much about some other incident involving the corrupt officers, or maybe she found out something personally corrupt about Ricardo. Either way, she's about to come out with the truth when they're called into an emergency situation. One that involves police positioning themselves behind obstructions and aiming their guns at multiple assailants. Ricardo takes the chance to take a shot 'at the suspect', although he really aimed mostly to Ariel. She dies under the classification of 'friendly fire'. Ricardo even comforts Griffin at the funeral. The sodding jerk.

It takes Griffin a long time to move on from this. The day he meets Venn is around the year-mark from her death, hence his willingness to get drunk. Not sure if Venn helps with him getting over her or if it's by something else.... but yeah. He's eventually able to move forward. He later leaves the ring on her nameplate in the 'cemetery'. (Which really isn't a cemetery since colonies can't afford what little land they have to grave sites... but there's a little something-something for people. Like I said, nameplates across a wall or something, with maybe a small holder for flowers or candles or, say a ring. Yeah.

Venn Groban
Venn is next on ze list of lovahs, or would-be lovers, for Griffin. =p Now, at this point, Griffin fully believes he is totally straight. There have been previous incidents 'n all, but... I dunno... I think Griffin strives to be a man like his father, and subconsciously, maybe he feels being bisexual or even gay (don't think he's gay, though) would make him less of a man or less like his father. ANYWAY, yeah, while Venn is visiting Argo on business, Griffin and he meet (via Griff's terrible bathroom habits xDD ) and hang out. Venn has that quiet reservation similar to Ariel, so I think that's what draws Griffin to him initially. That, and he's just... funny to Griffin. Nonetheless, when they go out drinking, Griffin gets a little too friendly and actually ends up drunk-kissing Venn. He forgets about it the next day, though.

Though it's never rped out, they supposedly become good friends, and eventually become a 'couple that's not a couple'. The pair always spend time together and 'crash' at each others' places. Griffin even becomes jealous when Venn is openly hit on by someone else. However, they never officially become a couple, and the only times they kiss is when Griffin can make the excuse that he was 'drunk' at the time... even if he had only had a couple sips of alcohol beforehand.

When Venn's job in Argo was complete, they had parted ways, Griffin never coming to terms enough with his altered sexuality to admit his true feelings, and Venn too confused to really know what had happened between them. They eventually fall out of contact... through means which Griffin never had come to discover.

Tatari
Oyyyyyy.... Tatari visits Argo on 'business' as well, and they meet at the cops' usual hangout spot - ze bar. They play cards a lot, and Tat tends to be very enigmatic and up for a joke, etc..... Though interacting them out, I know they could roll with guy love jokes pretty well, but I struggle to find what Griffin ever really saw in him. =/ The more they played out, the more it seemed... I dunno. I was just going by the momentum that he already had feelings for him in the first place, but yeah. Though mostly what he saw in Tatari, I suppose is what Tatari wanted him to see. And, in retrospect, maybe Griffin only saw what he wanted to see too. Sometimes I wonder, with all the wool that's been pulled over Griffin's eyes throughout his life, if he wonders whether he purposely sees or doesn't see certain things that's happening, because he doesn't want to believe in the evils that could exist around him...

Nonetheless, Griffin grew a close friendship with Tat until there was a call to stop a long-running smuggling ring in Argo. Griffin corners the ringleader, only to find out it's Tat. Justice fights against his loyalty toward his friend and, in the heat of the moment, he allows Tat to escape. His 'one chance' so to speak. Months later, Tat returns only for a moment in order to give Griffin an envelope with information. This information contains the nature of Griffin's parents' death, which eventually leads to him poking his nose in places he shouldn't, getting caught, and getting into that incident that left him paralyzed and on fire. Later, they reunite. Griffin asks why Tat ever gave him those papers, why he risked so much returning to Argo, etc. Tatari merely states truthfully that he just wanted to see Griffin's reaction, for the heck of it. This shocks the ex-cop greatly.

But yeah. Griffin had feelings for Tatari. Tatari had feelings for him. He was resistant at first, but eventually, Griffin caves and accepts his sexuality along with his longing for the guy. They get as far as making out in a prison cell before Tatari betrays him and his crew to the Govvies. It was like a line of dominoes toppling over for Griffin. In letting the guy go in Argo, Griffin sacrificed a lot of potential in his career along with getting promoted. In getting those papers from Tatari, he lost his job, friends, technically his sister, his legs, and his entire way of life just because the guy did it 'for kicks'. And then his emotions were toyed with up 'til Tatari's selling them out and throwing them to the dogs. Griffin, enraged, declared that if he ever saw Tatari again, he'd kill him.

Unbeknown to Griffin, Tatari later travels to Argo to exact revenge on the cops that 'killed' Griffin, via skinning them alive and/or burning them alive. It was a testament/message of his love for Griffin 'n such. Now, the confrontation never will happen, but if there had ever come an occasion in which he figured out what Tat did, it would completely obliterate any remaining chance for Griffin and Tatari to ever be together. Being an advocate for justice and goodness, Griffin will become disgusted with Tat for what he did, and disgusted with himself for ever opening himself up to having feelings with a man so capable of such monstrosity. It would cause a lot of mental and emotional strife for Griffin for years to come.

Mina Karlynn Matthews
Ahhhhhh, Mina. xDD The fresh breath of a dewy field of flower in the morning. Seriously. She's a breath of fresh air after Griffin's previous experiences with love. Although, as rare as it is for him, he really only entered into the relationship with casual intentions more so than for actual love. Still, they click so well. She's an easy-smiler, is already fighting for the greater good, and is just as wacky, energetic, and hyper as Griffin is. She's like sunshine, and picturing the two of them together is just either too awesomely funny or too adorable. He laughs with her, is gentle with her... It really really works. =) As far as how serious they are now... Can't fully say. He really does like Mina and thinks about her often, but I think he's just hesitant to go in too deep after Tatari. Mina seems to have deeper feelings for him at this point in time, though. I'm so excited for their date!!! It's gonna be soooOOoooo much fun playing that out!! >W<

As for the future of their relationship.... Yeah, I have a definite idea of where it'll go. Can't say, of course. ^^

Oz Kitmen
Just throwing him out there because..... Well, I can see Griffin having at least a vague something-something for Oz. He saved his life, he's been with him through the darkest moments of his life, and he has proven himself as Griffin's utmost best friend time and again. Though Griffin could never admit how much Oz has come to mean to him as a captain, comrade, mentor, and friend, he still feels it... and out of anyone else in the word - with the exception of Rilani of course - he is the most loyal to Oz. As for romantic feelings for the white-haired taciturn man who loves cats and pie.... whatever there may be, Griffin would suppress it with all his might. He might even somewhat consciously realize it by now, but he knows what would come of something like that... and the current relation he has with his captain is too precious and too irreplaceable to ever try to mess up. In short, he would've given up before he even acknowledged it or tried. That and, again, Tatari kinda messed him up from involving himself in stuff like that too much anyway.

Random Facts

 * Griffin loves kid cartoons, and still watches them on Saturday mornings when he gets the chance
 * He sucks at video games
 * He's afraid of small mammals. They creep him out.
 * His middle name, "Chauncey", was derived from the name of the ship Rilani (user)'s granfather had sailed following the Korean War
 * His favorite breakfast food are peach danishes
 * He's determined to one day have a kid to name after a character of the Rift Ferguson show
 * His favorite soda is SunCheer - a combination of Sun Drop and Cheerwine, since they were mostly only sold in NC at the time.
 * He can't hold his liquor. At all.
 * He once had to dance ballet at Rilani's recital. This is a secret he will tell no one.