Benji Marecos Castelobruxo

FC: jason caceres

Full Name: Like many Paraguayans, Benji has quite the name. For one, he has two middle names, one after his grandfather and the other meaning "truth." Additionally, he has two surnames, the first surname being his father's first surname, and his second surname. his mother's first surname. Benjamín Elías Veraz Marecos Cardozo, however, is quite the mouthful, so he generally goes by Benji.
Age: 11
Birthday: 10 April, 2013
School Year: 1st
School: Castelbruxo
Patronus: (Not applicable until 6th years)
Species: human
Status: Halfblood

Appearance: Benji is of slightly below average height, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He generally has a soft, distant smile on his face. He is always clean and neat, and when not at school, he wears a t-shirt and cargo shorts.

History/Background Story: Benji lives in the outskirts of Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay. He lives a chaotic life, filled with a flurry of city life mixed with the deep roots of family ties and cultural Catholicism. He lives right on the outer edges of the city, in a two-story family home that has been in the family longer than even his abuela can remember. He takes the bus into the city every day for school -usually. There have been a couple of instances of him running the three miles to his school.

Benji is, to his own annoyance, terribly average. He is average in school, never bad enough grades to have a note home, never good enough to be written on the board of kids over 90%. He's perfectly average at sports, never picked last in sports, never picked first. He isn't popular, but he isn't an outcast either. This would all be perfectly fine if it weren't for his brother Simón, who skipped three grades, or Tomás, who recieved a scholarship to a club team in Asunción. Benji's parents feel bad that he doesn't have the talents of his brother, and they spoil him a bit to make up for it, but all that does is distance Benji. Not fully, really, it's difficult to be distant from one's family when the entire neighborhood is basically related to you. Grandparents, across the street. Uncle is next to them. Four cousins are right next door. Two down the street. And three, the other way. Block parties are basically family gatherings, and trips to school are a party. Every Saturday, the whole family gathers for an open story night that lasts well into the night.

Benji thrives in the crowded environment of his family, but he also thrives when slipping off into the small forests near his house. He can recognize most edible plants and has a small knife that he uses to whittle small animals out of wood. He isn't great at it, but finds it fun, and leaves the animals around the neighborhood for his younger cousins to find. He knows many different ways to tie knots, and every stretch of path there is another makeshift shelter or lean-to he has created. Most of his days at school are spent daydreaming about what he can do after school.

Benji owns a quite nice light bow and arrows that he takes into the forest with him, although his mother mandates that if he is bringing the bow, he also must bring an older cousin. He enjoys trying to catch animals. He's brought home a few birds and rabbits, but it's really more about the thought of the matter than the actual doing of it. He enjoys shooting at trees and such. His aim is getting better, though he is still only eleven.

Benjiś mother is a witch who went to Castelbruxo when she was younger, she also grew up in Paraguay before moving back and marrying his father. She prefers to use magic as little as possible, though her family knows she is a witch. Neither of Benji's brother had magic, so he is excited he may have a chance to be better than them at something.

Personality: Benji is a quiet, resourceful kid. He tries in school but never seems to get the grades he feels he ought to. He feels like he has to live up to his brothers, an impossible task, as he is not very good at sports either. Benji is genuinely kind, hardly a mean word to say to anyone, unless you insult his family. He is not a very stubborn child, and he is generally pretty gentle. He is generally patient, though he tends to get distracted. Some might call him cowardly, but he calls himself not risk-taker. He is incredibly polite, though he tends to get nervous around adults, sometimes choosing to miss out on something rather than ask if he can do it, purely out of nerves. He doesn't tend to laugh very much, but he is usually softly smiling.

Benji speaks both Spanish and Guaraní, and is taking English in school, though his English
still has quite a way to go before he is fluent.

Family:
Benji is the baby of his family.
Father: Santiago Mateo Marecos Aquino - quiet, devoted, hard working, construction manager
Mother: Ana Lucía Cardozo Benítez - witch, nurse in a local school
Brother: Simón Veraz Marecos Cardozo 5 years older.
Brother: Tomás Ezequiel Veraz Marecos Cardozo 2 years older.

FIOM: When Benji was almost 10, he was building one of his first small shelters in the woods and decided to crawl into the finished work. On his way in, he hit his foot against a branch holding up most of the tree. As he hadn't learned knots yet, the shelter was very unsteady, and came crashing done on top of it, and he shrieked. Somehow, not a single branch landed on him, and when he stood up, there was a Benji-shaped patch of ground not covered in branches.