Collection of Hearts

Stelios Bio

Name: Stelios

Species: Human

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Description: Stelios is a Greek native and retired fisherman. He loves the seas and makes a small living from taking tourists around the islands, usually finding them to be boring as all they ever seem to do is snap pictures of themselves while mostly ignoring the true beauty of the islands themselves.

He is of average height with wild looking hair streaked thickly with grey that just reaches the base of his neck. His sun-darkened skin tells a tale of a man who still spends his waking hours outside, enjoying the world around him, each of the surprisingly few wrinkles he has proving he spends more time smiling than he does frowning. He can often be found wearing patched cotton pants that hang mostly loose upon his legs and an off-white shirt with short sleeves that show just how much muscle he still has when he is tying up the rigging of his boat.

Those foolish enough to ignore the subtle and not so subtle signs of strength often end up finding themselves either on the wrong end of a fist (depending on if they are drunk enough to try starting something) or simply paying out upon loosing at arm wrestling with what they thought would be an easy target. More often than not it is a tourist who thought retired meant too weak to work anymore, ignoring how many looks of respect Stelios got when walking the docks.

Personality: Stelios is a hard worker, always has been and always will be. He believes in earning his keep wherever he can, be it from helping out at the docks when spare hands are needed for haul in an unexpectedly large catch, knitting torn nets back together alongside others who are either too old or too injured (or simply retired like himself) to fish all day, or simply taking tourists out for a few hours of island hopping.

He thinks highly of you after having gotten to know you, finding your honest love of the islands a nice change after having spent the previous season taking far too many arrogant tourists around who were all too willing to ignore his homeland's beauty. He respects those who show respect to both other people and to nature, having seen far too many willing to toss their trash to the ground rather than take a few extra steps to find a trash bin.

After seeing how you always make sure to bring your trash back to the boat with you, Stelios has found himself feeling closer and closer to you with each passing day, finally coming to think of you much like he does his family members. There are times, however, that you remind him of his sister, something that was much easier for him to see after he got over the shock of all the scars you had. He'd felt a great sadness that such a polite and quiet young woman had been injured so severely, but had kept his words and questions to himself, having seen the small flinches you'd given every time someone commented on them as he'd lead you to his boat.

He might be blunt at times, but he also knows when to keep his mouth closed and his eyes to the horizon.

Favorite things: Stelios absolutely adores the islands that surround his native home, from the largest to the smallest, and has spent much of his life traveling to each of them. There are few islands that he hasn't been to at some point in his life and he even learned some of the ancient legends that go with them.

Stelios enjoys eating stuffed grape leaves whenever he can convince his niece to prepare a few for him, but often she is busy taking care of her husband and children and can rarely find the time to make the dish from scratch. However, she does make time to do so on holidays and for his birthday, knowing how much it means to him when she is able to.

His favorite fish is the red snapper that can be caught in the waters just offshore of his hometown. Because he loves them so much, he can often be heard warning the fishermen if they are in danger of overfishing certain areas and giving tips for new areas to try until the fish population can reach healthy levels to again support fishing the previous spots. He is not afraid to speak up at meetings if anyone refuses to listen to him and has lead more than one stubborn soul to be 'encouraged' to find their fortune in different waters. Preferably those of another country.

Hobbies: Stelios' hobbies include visiting his family members, playing harmless pranks on foolish tourists, sailing the islands of his country, and telling the creepier legends of those islands to anyone who will listen. His sister used to yell at him often for leaving her children screaming at shadows after a visit from him for dinner.

History: Stelios makes himself out to be nothing more than a simple fisherman, but the truth of the matter is that he is well respected by other fishers for good reason, often able to tell the moods of the sea hours, sometimes days, before a storm will hit or if it is a good place to cast a line.

Many a season, it was his boat that brought in the riches hauls, often enough even catching his hook on pieces of lost riches and bringing home hoops of gold, chains of silver studded with gems or some other such treasure.

Even now there will be the occasional trip where he will bring back some lost relic of ancient times, often times donating it to a museum so that it can be shared with the world. Or at least with those who care enough to tear their eyes from the present and catch a glimpse of the past.