[Lucerne] app
OOC Information
Alias: Becky
Contact Info: bbclivejournal, nokochaoli (@) gmail.com
Other characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Fuuta de la Stella, Takeshi Yamamoto
IC Information
Character: Dino Cavallone
Canon: Katekyo Hitman Reborn
Point in canon: Manga Chapter 239 (just before the Choice Battles)
Age: 32
Personality: As the tenth boss of the Cavallone family, Dino cares greatly for the wellbeing of his family. Although he is usually quite clumsy on his own, his coordination and athleticism increase dramatically in the presence of his family. This stems from the fact that he depends greatly on the feedback of how others see him and evaluate his decisions. Without this feedback, he’s unsure whether the decisions he makes are indeed within the best interest of those involved.
He also has good money managing skills, turning the Cavallone family away from financial failure and building it into the third most influential mafia family. Far from the boy who used to run away from inheriting the family title, Dino has grown into a boss with great leadership skills, demonstrating great devotion for his family.
Dino’s compassion extends far beyond his family members, as he also cares deeply for the wellbeing of civilians who are not involved in mafia affairs as well. He dislikes when the affairs of the mafia bleed over into the lives of innocent civilians and will actively take measures to both prevent and put an end to such things if it is within his power to do so. He also takes his alliances and loyalties seriously. This is because he is more likely to view these relationships on a more personal level rather than maintaining the level of aloofness usually associated with work relations. For those he cares about, he would gladly extend a helping hand without asking for much in return.
For example, Tsuna, who is the future tenth boss of the Vongola family, is someone he sees more as a younger brother. Since Tsuna is undergoing training with Reborn much like Dino had, he also shares a sort of empathy with the younger boy. He readily offers whatever advice he can give Tsuna, even going out of his way to help with training on several occasions. Dino is also constantly checking and confirming the loyalty of Tsuna’s own family members. On a few occasions, he has tested Yamamoto and Gokudera’s loyalty, and once he directly asked Chrome where her loyalties stood.
Dino has also trained with Hibari in particular since the Cloud Guardian is often difficult to understand, let alone deal with. After ten years, Dino is able to understand how to deal with Hibari a little better by not trying to pin Hibari down into one specific way of categorization. He’s able to explain the role of the boxes in a shorter amount of time than he explained the role of the Vongola Rings ten years previously.
Although Dino usually has the best intentions, not everything always works out as one plans. When something goes wrong, Dino is quite likely to shoulder most of the blame since that is the role of a boss in his eyes. He reflects on what went wrong and what he should have done differently. However, sometimes he may focus too much on what went wrong instead of taking action to fix it concerning aspects in his personal life that does not involve those within the Cavallone family.
In the case of Squalo, this is a relationship that is very important to Dino personally but was quite problematic for his family in the past. Growing up, Dino and Squalo were classmates. Where Squalo went off to later become the Captain of the Varia, Dino became the tenth boss of the Cavallone family, who had a mutual alliance with the current Vongola family. When Xanxus and the Varia contested the right to the line of inheritance for Tsuna and his family, Dino was forced to choose to stand on Tsuna’s family’s side. This resulted in unavoidable tension between him and Squalo. After the battle for the rings was over and the Varia had lost, the rift between him and Squalo only grew. With the passing of time, however, some of the tension subsided as well as some of the distance, but such things do not always disappear completely. With Squalo, Dino still finds himself being torn between his personal relationship and his role as the Cavallone boss.
History: Dino Cavallone was the tenth heir to the Cavallone family; however, he ran from his responsibilities, unable to cope with the pressure of reconciling having to lead the family and compromise his morals. The family was failing financially, and Dino himself loathed the violent ways of the mafia that only crushed and ruined the lives of innocent civilians. Moreover, he saw himself as nothing but a klutz who could not live up to either familial responsibilities or personal morals. Even so, he still attended a private middle school made specially for future mafia members. One of his classmates was Superbi Squalo, an expert swordsman.
One day, Reborn shows up to train Dino to become someone capable of being the Cavallone tenth boss. Dino underwent what he considers to be near unspeakable training methods that were nonetheless effective. Through the process, when Dino was surrounded by several enemies, Leon gave birth to a bull whip which became Dino’s new weapon. With this new weapon, Dino overcame what he previously considered to be impossible obstacles. And it is because of this that he received the nickname Bronco Dino (跳ね馬ディーノ Haneuma Dino, Bucking-Horse Dino in some translations). When Reborn ended his training with Dino, Dino asked if he could have Leon, admiring the shape shifting abilities of the chameleon. Though Reborn refused, he gave Dino Enzio instead, a snapping turtle that grows in size whenever water is poured onto him. Enzio is also one of Leon’s many offspring.
Later, Dino drops in to see Reborn’s new student, Tsuna. By this time, he has become someone who seems to balance the responsibility of leading the Cavallone family and his own personal morals well. He is very loyal to his family members, and they in turn reciprocate such loyalty and trust. Using his incredible financial skills, Dino rebuilds the Cavallone family from financial ruin into the third most influencial family. He appears much more confident and able than he did when he was younger. However, he is still quite friendly, treating Tsuna much like a younger brother, especially considering that they have both been subject to Reborn’s unique tutoring style. He helps Tsuna’s training, and makes sure that Tsuna’s family are indeed loyal to the boy.
When the Varia came to contest Tsuna’s family’s right to the Vongola line of inheritance, Dino was forced to make a very difficult situation. On one hand, his family was allied to the Vongola. On the other hand, he was both personally invested with Tsuna and Squalo. Being put in a situation where neither choice was necessarily a good one, Dino chose to stand by Tsuna, a position that sat slightly better with both his family’s agenda and his personal morals. In fact, he made his position rather clear from the beginning by facing Squalo who was in pursuit of Basil and the decoy Vongola rings. After Squalo had left with the decoy rings, Dino delivered the real half of the Vongola rings.
When the Varia found out about the fake rings, they came to reclaim the other half of the Vongola rings. However, the Cervello family intervened, declaring an even tournament style battle for the rings. During this preparation, Dino often offered Tsuna and his family advice. He also became Hibari’s personal trainer, taking a long time just to get the Cloud Guardian to listen to his story about the importance of the rings. Even though Hibari is an extremely accomplished fighter, often said to be invincible and unbeatable, Dino was able to stand his ground, as long as Romario was nearby.
When Tsuna and the others are brought one by one to the future, Dino meets up with Hibari after everyone returns from the Milliefiore base. This time, it only takes him a short time to explain box weapons, showing that ten years has let him understand the complicated Cloud Guardian much more efficiently.
He also shows himself to Tsuna and the rest of his family after Tsuna tried to open his box without much forethought. He explains to Tsuna that sky box weapons are much more delicate than other box weapons, because they require a balance of harmony of all elements. It was Tsuna opening his box in an unbalanced state that caused his weapon to turn upon himself. Dino then explains that if Tsuna tried to do so once more, he would end up breaking the box weapon. And Tsuna must be the one to figure out how to open the box with that harmony and balance. Dino assigns Ryohei and Lambo to study under Gokudera, and Chrome to study under Bianchi with Ipin’s help. However, he tells Yamamoto that he must wait for his tutor, implying Squalo.
When Squalo does finally infiltrate the Vongola base, Dino accepts the tuna from Squalo, reminding him that punctuality was never Squalo’s strong suit. He stands back calmly as Squalo greets Yamamoto with a violent punch, advising Tsuna that Squalo can probably relate to Yamamoto better than any of them at the moment. After this, he continues their training until the day of the Choice Battle arrives.
Abilities: Dino, being the boss of his family, has Sky Flame attributes. These flames are able to harmonize with the other attribute-flames, encompassing them without compromising or contradicting any of their seemingly opposing attributes.
Dino is very skilled with a bullwhip whenever his family is around. Without them, however, he inadvertently ends up attacking his allies as well as himself.
When Dino infuses his whip with his Sky Flames, he can use the attack called Salto Volante Veloce Come Luce. His whip moves at a very high speed, leaving little opening for enemies to get past. However, like most habits, there is a typical pattern to his movements that can be analyzed if one has the patience and analytical skills to do so.
In the future arc, he also has a box weapon, like many others from that time. This is a box that is activated by the flames through the medium of the rings the bearers wear. Each person’s box has a different animal that can be used as a weapon depending on the personality of that person.
Dino’s box weapon takes the form of a horse named Cavallo Alto (Sky Horse or Winged Horse), suiting his nickname, Haneuma Dino or Bucking-Horse Dino (Bronco Dino in some translations). As the name implies, the horse is also able to sprout a pair of wings. These wings are made of Sky Flames that can cut through most any substance, burning it up and turning it to ash.
Items brought along: his box weapon, ring, bullwhip, cell phone, his clothes
Stigma: Having either failed as a boss, an ally, or even worse… a friend.
Samples
Regular Post: [Dino adjusted the dials on the hand-held radio until he received something that sounded like an actual signal. He couldn’t be sure if the person on the other side would be a friend or foe, but then again, there was only one way to find out for sure.]
Hello? Is this coming in clearly?
[He decides to refrain from saying anything good or bad until he can discern what kind of situation he’s in exactly.]
Log Post: Dino opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling of an unfamiliar room. The quiet hum of the air conditioner filtered through his thoughts, feeding the tension in the back of his neck that threatened to blossom into a headache. Scrubbing his face roughly with the palm of his hand, he sat up and glanced around the room taking in as much information as he could. From what he could tell, he wasn’t technically in any immediate danger.
He noticed the paper bag he had placed on the bedside table next to the lamp. Raising an eyebrow, he reached for the map that hung just outside of the bag, unfolding it quietly. He jerked his hand back instinctively when the edge of the paper cut into his finger. Hissing softly, he shook his head at himself as he surveyed the cut. When it didn’t bleed, he shrugged and finished unfolding the map.
He glanced at the landmarks quickly at first, but as soon as his eyes hit the words “Lake Lucerne” and “Castor Mountains,” he began to wonder if maybe he had misread something somewhere. He reread the contents much more slowly this time around. And the more he read, the more his headache crept up on him. He honestly couldn’t figure out which part of the world this place was. Part of him wanted to believe that this was all a wonderfully crafted practical joke.
Setting the map aside, he sighed loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Honestly, he thought he could do with a bit of breakfast and a cappuccino, but from the way his luck had been running, he had a sinking feeling that this was going to be a breakfast-less sort of day.
He forgot trying to realize the reality of the situation. Grabbing the cell phone, he pressed a few buttons and glanced at the signal - or lack thereof. He frowned, staring at the cell phone as his thoughts wandered. Was anyone else he knew here? If so, were they okay? He hated to think of the implications of them waking up here, and equally hated thinking of the implications of them not.
Realizing there was only one way to find out, he stood up from the bed, running a hand across the back of his neck. His fingertips lingered for a moment longer on the tattoo over his left collarbone. Letting his hand drop, he reached for his shirt and slipped his arms through the sleeves. Pulling the shirt over his head, he did his best to will his headache away. He shrugged into his jacket, shoving his cell, keys, and box weapon into his pockets. He set his resolve on searching for his family and friends first and foremost - breakfast could wait.
He didn’t see the chair as he turned towards the door, and he kicked the leg hard tumbling to the floor. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath through clenched teeth. He rubbed his foot, waiting for the pain to subside a little bit before standing up again. This was going to be a long day.