Gamble

[    sociable   ||   altruistic   ||   charming   ||   clumsy   ||   loyal    ]

Gamble was born to a pair of makoatl that were not the greatest of parents. His father was never abusive, but controlled the family down to the most minute details. When he wasn't intimidating his mate and offspring, he was nowhere to be found - aloof, sad, distant. He obviously cared about his son's wellbeing, but rarely showed him any love. His mother was so timid that it was like a disability. She was incapable of speaking up, of looking anyone in the eye, of forming her own opinions or living her life outside of her husband's expectations. She doted on her son, but her love was lukewarm at best, and Gamble was left longing for a connection to the family. His mother told Gamble that once, a very long time before he was born, they had another son named Sai who had abandoned his life with them, and so they had turned their back on him. She said his father only managed not to die of a broken heart by forgetting that Sai ever existed. Gamble didn't want to break his father's heart, but he was overwhelmed by the news. He began to question himself. The only option he saw was to run away and find his brother. He only knew that he lived in Japan, but he thought that might be enough to help him find him. He ran away, still just a juvenile makoatl, so little and helpless to the tides. The journey took him around the entirety of Africa, swimming through the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand, then up the coast of China. Over the course of his trip, he relied on the kindness of strangers to stay alive, and he formed many relationships and made many friends. Sai took him in, but Sai lived a busy life and couldn't care for a young makoatl. He asked his friend Enero to help take care of Gamble, and Enero was happy to comply. Thanks to this, Sai, Enero, and Gamble formed a really tight family. Gamble found the love he was always lacking in his life. Gamble is an adult now, but still filled with the curiosity, acceptance, and warmth of a child. He has a good, pure heart. It would be very difficult to find a better makoatl than him. 

Relationships

➥ Xavier - Xavier is Gamble's son. Gamble met another makoatl named Lestat, whom he fell wildly in love with, and Lestat put up with his romancing long enough for them to have two children. However, Lestat immediately left with one of the twins, leaving Gamble alone and brokenhearted and a single father. He deals with the loss of his love and his child by pretending it never happened, although it is a fact that haunts him. He tries very hard not to let this negatively impact his relationship with Xavier, though. Xavier looks remarkably like Lestat and is a constant reminder of the past, but Gamble grew up with a very cold father of his own, so he knows the importance of a good family. He showers Xavier in love, and while he does sometimes leave Xavier with his brother Sai in order to escape being a parent sometimes, the two are close and Xavier admires him a great deal.
➥ Sai - Gamble grew up never knowing that he had a brother, until the day when his mother realized that the reason his father was so cold was because they had "lost" their first son. In reality, Sai had been disowned because he was different. Gamble realized if he was different, then he would have been disowned just as quickly. Feeling betrayed by his parents, he went to go find Sai and live with him instead. Sai didn't know how to interact with children. He struggled to try and teach Gamble how to be a functional adult. He even tried to teach Gamble some of the geisha art. But Gamble was clumsy, he hated sitting still to study, and nothing Sai said got through to him. It was a real struggle to raise him, but Sai's heart was melted by his sweetness and kindness. Gamble is impossible not to love. Now that Gamble is older, it is much easier for Sai to relate to him. The two are extremely close. Gamble is a big part of Sai's life. And while Gamble travels the world with no real home to call his own, he knows that Sai's home will always be opened to him. 
➥ Enero - Sai, struggling to rear his brother, went to Enero for help. Enero was just as responsible for Gamble's upbringing as Sai was, so now Gamble looks up to Enero as almost an uncle-like figure. They would do anything for one another, Enero is Gamble's closest confidant; Gamble would go to him whenever he needed help with absolutely anything. There is nothing about Gamble that Enero doesn't know.
➥ Penelope - Penelope is probably Gamble's best friend in the world. She owns an inn, where he stayed once with Xavier on their travels. She adored Xavier so much that he ended up staying longer than planned, and he goes back to visit her frequently. He flirts with her, like he flirts with everyone, and she is actually quite in love with him although he fails to realize this. 
➥ Mizuho - When Mizuho was born, Gamble wasn't sure how to treat her, since she was a girl, but he quickly learned she was as tough as all the boys her age, and even tougher than her brother. He was the one who introduced her to Kuda, who would one day be her mate, so Gamble feels partially responsible for the rift between her and the rest of the family. He makes an effort to visit Mizuho in Portugal very often, so that it's not like she has cut all ties off with her family. He tries to remind her to go home for visits, and he forces her to write letters home to her parents to keep the relationship strong. She thinks it's annoying how he meddles in her life, but feels indebted to him since he was the only one in the family who supported their relationship despite the large difference between Kuda and herself. 
➥ Suigetsu - Suigetsu always viewed Gamble as a relative that was too cool for him. As a child, it amazed him how many friends Gamble had, and how fearless he was in social situations. He tried to copy Gamble a lot and learn from him, which resulted in a lot of awkward situations, since he wasn't as natural at it. Now an adult, Suigetsu has given up all hopes of being as "cool" as his uncle. He is respectful towards Gamble, but they don't have a very close relationship. Gamble keeps trying, though, in hopes that one day Suigetsu will open up to him. 
➥ Kazumi - Kaz is a wild child, and Gamble certainly appreciates that! They get into trouble together all the time. Gamble, Kaz, and Enero are kind of like the three musketeers of the family. They have a lot of fun together. Kaz is very opened with Gamble in the same way that Gamble is opened with Enero, and Gamble sort of hopes that Kaz thinks of him the same way that he himself thinks of Enero.
➥ Kuda - Kuda was treasure hunting as usual, when he discovered a waterlogged child makoatl resting, exhausted, on the beach. Kuda isn't the most caring of makoatls, but he couldn't let the kid die, so he brought him home with him until he recuperated. This was how Gamble met Kuda many years ago, when he was trying to swim from Svalbard to Japan. Gamble wasn't the strongest swimmer at the time (although he's one of the best now) so he had to take many stops along the way. He only spent a few days with Kuda, but since then he has returned to Lisbon where Kuda lives many times to pay his respects for Kuda saving his life. Kuda thinks Gamble is a bit naive, but he has his heart in the right place, and Kuda makes an effort to be nice to him, something that he doesn't do for most others. Sometimes he will bring Gamble along on treasure hunting trips, although Gamble doesn't share his hatred of pirates, which causes some animosity between them, but it's hard for Gamble to hate anyone. When Gamble introduced Kuda to his family, Mizuho was immediately drawn to how cool and suave Kuda is. Kuda played with her at first, but when she got older and started playing back, he realized she was his match. He told Gamble that his life-debt has been repaid by introducing him to Mizuho, but Gamble still just won't leave him alone.
➥ Zentrik - Zentrik is the one tie that Gamble still has to his old home. Growing up in the Greenland Sea together, Gamble saw Zentrik as imagiinative, smart, and creative. They played together nonstop. Until one day, when Gamble ran away, and Zentrik never saw him again. Flash forward to their adulthood. Zentrik lives in Sweden, not terribly far from where they grew up, and Gamble tracked him down to apologize for disappearing all those years ago. They have rekindled their friendship, except the traits that Gamble used to admire he now realizes are what makes Zentrik a very strange and unapproachable adult. He tries to involve Zentrik in much of his socializing, trying to build him into a more grounded makoatl, but all that ends up happening is most of his other friends mock Zentrik endlessly. Gamble doesn't allow this and tries to stand up to them, but it's hard, because he himself can't help but feel like Zentrik is bizarre. 
➥ Hark - as a child, when he was making the journey to Japan, Gamble was caught up in some fishing nets in the South China sea. Pulled aboard a pirate fishing vessel, the fishermen planned to use him as a slave to capture fishes for them. They already had another makoatl on board serving the same purpose - this makoatl was Hark. Hark would dive underwater to draw the fish into their nets, making them many thousands of dollars. Gamble pitied Hark and wished to free him, but being a child and now a slave himself, he had no idea how. Hark didn't want to see Gamble meet the same fate, so at night he helped Gamble escape. He refused to escape himself, though. As an adult, Gamble returned many times to track down Hark. He wanted to free Hark, but every time Hark refused. Gamble considers Hark a good person and a loyal friend, but he doesn't understand why Hark wouldn't leave with him. 
➥ Jontae - Jontae is a makoatl whom Gamble met as an adult. Jontae always knows interesting places to go and see, so Gamble likes to travel with him a lot. Jontae can be a huge bully, especially to offbeat makoatls like Zentrik. Gamble is aware of his bully behavior and doesn't like it one bit. It is one thing that he cannot tolerate. No matter how many times he tries to stop Jontae, it's in Jontae's nature, and he really can't stop. But Jontae reminds him a lot of a younger Kuda, if Kuda had never been orphaned as a child then perhaps he and Jontae would be living the same playboy jetsetter lifestyle. Because of the similarities that he sees, Gamble is unable to drop Jontae from his life, even when the bullying gets more than he can stand. 
➥ Loudon - Loudon is generally a flaky, unreliable friend, but Gamble is the one makoatl who isn't bothered by it very much. Gamble tends to see the best in everyone, so he is blind to the fact that Loudon is constantly borrowing and never returning money, or that he frequently doesn't do what he says he will. Instead he sees Loudon as a makoatl with his heart in the right place, who is fun and likeable. In his heart, Gamble knows not to rely on Loudon for anything, but he really enjoys spending time with him and doesn't have high expectations.
➥ Aria - Aria is one of the few makoatls in the world with whom Gamble does not get along with at all. When they first met, at one of Jontae's parties, Gamble tried to flirt with her and was immediately shot down. Aria hates when males flirt with her; it makes her aggressive and irritable. Gamble was taken aback by her reaction, but he perseveres, even though she gets angrier and angrier with him.

Gamble's trip went as follows:

 His home in the Greenland Sea just south of Svalbard -> nameless icy island north of Norway -> Trosmo, Norway -> followed the coastline of Norway to Rost -> Mausund, Norway -> followed the coast of Norway to Alesund -> Shetland Islands -> Kirkwall, Scotland -> followed the coasts of Ireland and UK -> Ushant, France -> followed the coast of Spain and Portugal to Lisboa, Portugal
He spent three weeks in Lisboa with Kuda, and Kuda accompanied him on the next part of the trip.
Casablanca, Morocco -> Canary Islands -> Cape Verde -> followed the coast of Africa to Mozambique. 
He spent three days in Mozambique with Kuda before continuing alone. 
Madagascar -> Seychelles -> Maldives -> Sri Lanka -> Bay of Bengal
Here he was captured by pirate fishers and met Hark. He spent eight days on their boat before Hark helped to free him.
Yangoon -> Phuket -> Kuala Lampur -> Singapore -> Riau Islands -> Spratly Islands -> Paracel Islands - Hong Kong -> followed the coast of China to Shanghai -> Nagasaki -> Itsukushima