[hider=Father Luca Petulengro]
[color=BC8F8F][h2] Luca Petulengro [/h2][/color]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/iqpIvmW.jpg?1[/img]

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[i]Nicknames:[/i][/b] Father Luca. Because it's his title. He still inwardly cringes a little at being called "Father", because most of his clergy are at least twice his age. But given that he's now a full fledged priest, it kind of comes with the territory.

[b][i]Gender:[/i][/b] Male

[b][i]Age:[/i][/b] 27
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[i]Sexuality:[/i][/b] Heterosexual, though he leans more towards asexuality in all honesty. 

[b][i]Likes:[/i] [/b]
The sound of rain
Hiking
Homecooked meals
Curling up to read a good book
Meeting new people and helping others
Sweater weather
Animals

[b][i]Dislikes:[/i] [/b]
Crowds
Yelling; having to yell or being yelled at, or just hearing other people yell
Sexual advances towards him; it makes him very uncomfortable 
Hot, muggy weather (he probably shouldn't have moved to Florida)
Seeing dogs chained up in yards, or people mistreating their pets in general
People being discriminated against based on race, sex, sexuality, ect. He is very anti-hate.

[b][i]Appearance[/i][/b] 
Luca is a very average man. He stands at 5'9" with dark brown hair, light brown skin, and brown eyes. He is of Romani and European decent, being a mix between the two. His clothes are very humble and modest, consisting of dress pants or jeans on days of the week and collared or button up shirts. On Sunday and Wednesday, he dons the iconic priests' robes to preach. He wears the same pair of brown leather shoes just about every day, except on Sunday when he swaps them for his black ones.

His hair is often a bit messy, refusing to be tamed by a comb. He has a little facial hair, which is usually kept neatly trimmed. Luca doesn't have any piercings or tattoos, but his back and arms are marred with scars from beatings he took in his childhood. Because of this, he often wears long sleeves, even in the hot, muggy Florida weather.

[b][i]Personality:[/i][/b] Luca is a gentle man. He loves people. His passion for helping others and his need to share the light of God often combine. He can be found working at homeless shelters on Saturdays, passing out soup and kind words. He lives at his church, along with anyone else who needs a place to stay.

His personality is humble and kind. He can be taken at face value, hiding no secret agendas or lies. Luca is very much the man he appears to be. He couldn't tell a lie if he [i]wanted[/i] to.

+Luca is endlessly generous
+Humble
+Gentle

-Meek 
-He has trouble forgiving others at times, which is a pretty big deal given his occupation
-He has a tendency to get a little preachy sometimes, which wouldn't seem like a bad thing, but when other people don't want to hear it, it can get aggravating pretty quick.
-He's a bit of a bleeding heart.

[b][i]Other:[/i][/b] Due to traumatic experiences in his past, he doesn't like to be touched without his permission. If someone surprises him with a hug, he stiffens up and is clearly uncomfortable. It's something he's been working on, but it's more or less become a natural reflex.

Luca is a pacifist. It's not so much something he vowed to do, but something that just comes naturally to him. He doesn't like to fight or hurt others, even in self defense. He would much rather try to talk things out, or just run if things get too hairy.

Luca is multilingual. His travels across Europe as a boy taught him to speak bits and pieces of several languages. He speaks fluent German and Romanian. He knew a little English before he was brought to America, but as a whole, he didn't begin speaking it until he was 18. Because of this, he has an accent. However, most people can't really place it. It leans towards a more German-esque sound. 

[b][i]Biography:[/i][/b]

Luca came from a hard beginning. His family was a group of oldschool Romani that traveled the European countrysides. When they came into town to sell and buy, they were often met with discrimination and hate. Most places put up with them until they left, but it was when they reached a small town in Germany that their band was met with brutal forces. The mayor of the town called the police on them, having them arrested and shipped from the country.

Some of Luca's family fled, and some were captured and removed. But in the chaos, Luca was separated from them. At the tender age of 9, the boy was left to fend for himself. He quickly left the town that had attacked his family, afraid that they may hurt or even kill him. Luca wandered until he found a new, larger city to settle in. There, he lived on the streets until he was 13. A farmer approached him, offering him work in return for food and shelter. He had no intent of paying Luca, making the transaction completely illegal and slavery by definition. But Luca was desperate, so he agreed.

Luca worked long days on the farm, doing anything asked of him until his body and muscles hurt. He lived in the barn and ate whatever leftovers were brought to him. Although he was no longer freezing to death or starving, he was still miserable. The farmhands took to mocking and tormenting him, calling him a dirty gypsy while he did their work. If Luca ever tried to defend himself, he was typically beaten until he learned to keep his mouth shut.

It was during this harsh time in his life that Luca reflected on his mother's teachings of God. Before, he had never given it much thought. But laying in the straw that was his bed, hurting from both work and wounds, faith made it possible to pull through. He snuck off of the farm one day to visit a bookstore in town. He had scraped together just enough money laying around to buy a Bible. He would hide it under the hay in the barn loft and only read it by moonlight at night. It was difficult, as he practically illiterate, but over the years, it got easier. 

Reading the Bible helped him endure years of physical, emotional, and even sexual abuse at the hands of the farm workers. He was 18 when a couple of Christian missionaries happened to come to the farm to buy fresh produce. They saw the boy in such poor living conditions. After pulling him aside to speak with him, hearing his story, they couldn't leave him there. By this point, Luca had become so accustom to his loss of freedom that when the farmer refused to relinquish him to the missionaries, he didn't even fight it. It didn't occur to him that he didn't [i]actually [/i]belong to the man and his awful farmhands.

The missionaries went to the law. Police came to the farm and demanded that Luca be set free, eventually arresting the farmer for unlawful imprisonment and several workers for their treatment of the boy. The missionaries convinced Luca to come back to America with them, where he wouldn't face such cruelty and discrimination. They brought him to the church, where he learned to speak English and live like a civilized person. It took him a while to come out of his shell, but with gentle coaxing, Luca came to regard the clergy as his family.

With the oldest priest's help, Luca studied to become a priest himself. It took several years of hard work, as Luca was so behind on his schooling. But he was very passionate about it. He put a lot of hard work into helping those who lived on the streets, like he once had. He was the driving factor in getting the church's new homeless ministry off the ground. His kindness and drive made him very well accepted among the clergy.

Once he finally became a full fledged priest, he worked alongside his elder. Father Walter was a little strange sometimes; he would often disappear for a few days before coming back with strange bruises and cuts. He never told Luca where he went or what he was up to, and Luca never pressed. Then, one day, Father Walter never returned. Luca and the church still aren't really sure what happened to him, but his duties have now fallen on Luca's shoulders. Being the only other priest in the church, despite his young age, Luca now leads Mass and attends to all other priestly work.
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