[hider=Valeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell][b]Name:[/b] Valeriano "Val" Lumungsod O'Connell
[b]Age:[/b] 21
[b]Appearance:[/b]

Valeriano is a refreshingly different face than what most are used to. Beige-brown skin, flat nose, wide cheekbones, square jaw, deep-set brown eyes, and fuller lips - this amalgam of seemingly conflicting features appears harmoniously in him. His dark brown, verging on black hair is a messy mop which is often tied back in a loose bun. Val's figure isn't particularly buff or slender; thick, well-defined legs, broader than average shoulders, and a somewhat protruding chest give his five feet and seven inch posture a little more presence. Overall, his physical features make him average but unique looking.

Typically, you'll see Val wearing his work apron, a nametag with his nickname in lopsidedly arranged block letters, over hugging high-waisted blue jeans or khakis and tucked-in, colorfully patterned button-ups. Outside of work Val also loves to accessorize whenever possible. He never leaves the house without adorning both hands with a few rings, he rotates between an assortment of earrings - hoops big or small, huggies, studs, dangles, et cetera - and he ties his looks together with a pendant or an amulet. This jewelry sometimes holds cultural or personal significance to him, or they might have magical properties.

[b]Personality:[/b]

Valeriano is a fairly chill, fun-loving dude despite that, from the outside, he might appear intense or intimidating or even unapproachable, especially from how bluntly he speaks. He doesn't particularly care for superficial manners, and he prefers authenticity in his dealings with other people - after all, why be overly nice to someone who you don't like? Nonetheless, he always strikes up conversation with strangers and regulars alike when he's working in the coffeehouse, and he mostly keeps it kind and gentle, reserving a coarser attitude for close friends who won't take it personally or for whiny customers who need sorting out. Around friends especially, Val flaunts a more fun-loving side, dancing at clubs, singing karaoke, barhopping, or shooting the shit around a fire in someone's backyard.

Despite his lax attitude and carefree lifestyle, he's very driven about personal projects and he's getting more and more eager to get his career going, hence why he completed his schooling at Sanctuary Hills so quickly. One will rarely see Valeriano without a cassette-corder and some earphones, which he uses to record and play cassette tapes, and he's particularly fond of using them as audio collages. His collection consists of voice diaries, music demos, or mix-tapes. Sometimes he'll even take over the coffeehouse's music and play his own mix-tapes. When he's not on the job, Val is usually with his guitar recording songs and booking gigs, or he's devoting time to magical experiments with automata.

[b]Background:[/b]

Valeriano Lumungsod O'Connell was born in 1973 in Austin, Texas, but his small family moved to the Richmond, Virginia area when he was six. He had a relatively uneventful childhood aside from the expected friction which came from being the child of an immigrant living in the suburbs. He did, however, have a rough patch in high school where he almost dropped out; he was often disciplined for skipping class to smoke in the parking lot, keying his classmates' cars for being bigoted, or talking back to his teachers. In those times, music became a personal refuge, where he could express himself freely. His bandmates and friends had always said that Val looked most carefree and weightless when he had his hands on his guitar. More than anything though, Val just wanted to see more of the world and get away from home. With the band broken up and without the grades or activities to land a better (or further away) school, Val ended up in Sanctuary Hills.

For now, Val lives as a local musician, playing solo gigs in town and taking trips to visit family every now and then. Until he decides whether to relocate back home with family and find work there, go to grad school and deepen his knowledge, or start a local practice in Sanctuary Hills, he's working as a barista at Phil's Coffeehouse, which is actually owned by a woman named Phil[i]omena[/i], in Sanctuary Hills' town square. On breaks, one might find Val either on the curb or behind the store, eating fast food, perhaps smoking a cigarette on a particularly stressful day, hashing out song lyrics, or messing with magic. When business is slow, Val likes to chitchat with his regulars or play GameBoy games at the till.

[b]Magic Specialty:[/b]

[hider=Arcane semiotics]Like the typical magician, Val knows some everyday magic. He has notes on various potions, home remedies, recipes, as well as simple charms... all things useful for regular life, more than what a witch might know and more informed than one who didn't go to school for it. His main discipline, however, is arcane semiotics - how sigils, geometries, speech, incantations, songs, etc. communicate a magical intent and 'become' magic, and while attending Sanctuary Hills University, he minored in linguistics, mathematics, and computer science. As such, his greater knowledge resides in the finer details of spell construction, such as how etymology, rhythm, geometry, or the evolution of language affect magic or what syntax magic uses. He could help you find the angles you need to achieve certain effects, tell you how word choice factors into incantations, pacts, or contracts, or demonstrate how the language for magic differs from culture to culture. [/hider]
[hider=Living constructs/Magical automata]As personal experiments related to his studies, Val can create living constructs and familiars from available materials - the more malleable, the better. These can manifest as plantoids, robot-like automata, origami fairies, or other beings depending on the materials and sigils used; however, as soulless constructs of magic, he cannot change their form or their purpose after they've formed. For this reason, Val keeps a notebook or two for writing out useful sigils and recipes. He can continue to give them fuel (which could be AA batteries, outlet power, actual food, fertilizer, etc.) to keep them 'alive,' some fuels being more efficient than others. As they run out of fuel, they gradually return to their original, natural state until they effectively 'die,' leaving behind a 'corpse' with the burnt remnants of the sigils which made them.[/hider]
[hider=Spirit communion/Folk magic]Val follows some Filipino folk magic traditions from his maternal family, which are based on communion with local spirits or supernatural beings and forming relationships with them. In terms of magical potency, these can often be unreliable or completely fruitless altogether, and it takes time to cultivate those relationships. Spirits may be ghosts or nature spirits (i.e., nymphs or kami), some tied to the land, others mobile or nomadic. There are also supernatural beings like feyfolk or elves. Working with them comes with its own quirks, so it's usually better to stick with traditional magic, but Val still leaves outdoor offerings every other week to be kind or make friends with them. If some stir up trouble or cause problems around him, he'll call the appropriate professional or deal with it himself.[/hider]
[b]Relationships:[/b]

[hider=Relationships]
[b]Samantha "Sam" Igorina Semenova:[/b] Val knows Sam as the daughter of Professor Semenov and he's definitely bought furniture from J. W. Stewards' when he moved out of the dorms, so Val has run into her more than a few times. They're not well acquainted beyond that and the occasional chitchat, but he thinks her aesthetic is cool, despite her intense aura.

[b]Tobias Malkinson:[/b] Tobias and Val are coworkers at Phil's Coffeehouse, with Val coming to work there about a year after Tobias had started. Val appreciates Tobias' friendliness and work ethic, but he does feel Tobias leans uncomfortably too much into the people-pleasing. He tries not to smoke when Tobias is around and occasionally probes Tobias about his writing. Val doesn't know that much about Tobias' family apart from the fact that Tobias has a sister, and he doesn't ask out of respect.

[b]Aoife Fitzgerald:[/b] Aoife was the TA for an elective course at Sanctuary Hills University in which Valeriano was a student. He doubts he stood out much as there were certainly more brilliant students in the class, although he always made sure to ask good questions occasionally and visit during office hours.

[b]Rose Blossomdew:[/b] Val doesn't know Rose on a personal level, although he knows of her - she does come from one of the most widely known fairy bloodlines, after all. He is expectedly apprehensive about her family's business dealings, but he wouldn't hold that apprehension against her.

[b]Georgia Patricia Keen V:[/b] Georgia is Val's preferred mechanic. Since he drives a beat-up, navy-blue 1979 Dodge D/W (and some things are better left for a professional), they naturally see each other regularly via an under-the-table repair deal. He might lend a hand if Georgia asks for one, but otherwise Val will play Georgia a few songs, originals or covers, while she works her magic. He'll sometimes bring her a free coffee, or he'll use his employee discount when she stops by the coffeeshop. As such, they're well-acquainted friends, who occasionally hang out.
[/hider]
[b]Themes:[/b]

[hider=Themes][hider=When I Think Of You - Janet Jackson][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIgeh8PEQXI[/youtube][/hider]
[hider=Like a Tattoo - Sade][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP4sBeV7llE[/youtube][/hider]
[hider=Dance (Disco Heat) - Sylvester][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9fcdV-reYE[/youtube][/hider]
[hider=I Try To Think About Elvis - Patty Loveless][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx0kPNEIY1M[/youtube][/hider]
[hider=Lost In Music (1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rogers remix) - Sister Sledge][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxRzE3qy2KM[/youtube][/hider][/hider][/hider]