~Name~
Tino Fava

~Age~
12

~Gender~
Male

~Rose Color~
Red

~Why are you in the Art Gallery?~
An all-expense-paid field trip with his class.

~What is the one item that was brought with you?
Scratch-and-sniff stickers. He wanted scented markers, but his gramps thought he shouldn’t be sniffing them at all.

~Likes~
Large dogs (The bigger, the better!)
Fruit snacks (Grape ones are pretty gross though)
Long walks through the city's park
Video games

~Dislikes~
Desolate places
Staying still
Math
His nickname “Faba bean”

~Hobbies~
Dog sitting
Playing video games
Hanging out with friends
Tree climbing

~Fears~
Eerie silence
Being left alone
The death of his dogs
Incurring his grandpa’s wrath

~Personality~

“Hey, our art teacher keeps saying that ‘Art comes alive.’ Did she sniff scented markers, too?”
Restless yet easy-going, Tino can’t seem to settle down. He strives in companionship and enjoys wide open spaces. With his short attention span and devil-may-care attitude, he explores his environment and challenges those who thinks reverse psychology will work on him. It's a rare sight to see him sit down, but even then he would be doing something like scoring a basket with a paper ball or folding an ungodly amount of failed origami (which just ended up as wads that will be used later for paper basketball). Like many other children his age, Tino is an open-book; although, not with words. While too proud to talk about feelings, his emotions are displayed through his actions. He can easily be moved to tears, or provoked into petty skirmishes when faced with frustration.

While Tino does care about others, he can be oblivious to their feelings and even his own. He automatically assumes that everything is okay unless people blatantly burst into tears or breaths the metaphorical flames of hell.

~Biography~
Tino came from a small family of low-income, and his very first memory was the wrinkles on his grandpa’s face and the dripping sounds of a broken pipe. From a very young age, both his parents left him behind for larger cities with higher pay since their meager income wasn’t enough for a family of three. And while they do occasionally call, it seemed that their financial troubles won't end any time soon.

Rarely angered, his grandfather raised Tino with patience and care; however, having to balance between job and child care often forced him to leave Tino alone in the house. It wasn’t surprising to say that Tino grew tired it and began to wander outside without parental permission. He would stay outside for hours on end until it grew dark, and this continued for several weeks. His restless behavior quickly overtook his behavior at school. The neighbors and teachers took notice and tried to discourage his wanderlust in fear the he might walk into danger some day; however, he was adamant that he stay outside rather than return to an empty apartment.

Worried about his grandson suffering from loneliness, the grandfather came home one day with a small surprise. With two pups in hands, Tino was introduced to Earl, the Mastiff breed, and Miffy, the Scottish Terrier breed. From then on, Earl and Miffy became his friends and companions who would accompany his every outing. It gave the grandfather some reassurance that the boy had protection, and that the dogs would encourage the boy to stay inside since they tend to be homebodies. Unfortunately, it didn’t work since, as he grew up, Tino would either ditch the dogs or force them outside no matter what.

One day, there was a change in strategy. If trying to keep Tino inside didn’t work, perhaps it would be best to take advantage of the boy’s restlessness? His grandfather slipped a piece of paper into Tino’s hands. As it turns out, it was a permission slip for a class field trip to some up-and-coming art exhibit.