Minor Important Character Interview

An interview with the character Rosario, who is Calliope's constant ex.

1. Who are you?
"Rosario Crivaro. Male Rosario, not female Rosario."

2. Where are you going?
"I'm going nowhere, unless my band's going on tour. They wouldn't dare without consulting me."

3. Who do you serve?
"I serve myself. And, uh, whoever happens to stop by my section at La Orleans from 7:22 AM to 6:44 PM on weekdays. What kind of question is that?"

4. Who do you trust?
"If I don't count, then occasionally Calliope and Derrick."

5. What is your favorite food? What food do you hate?
"I like steamed pork buns all right. I can't stand calves' hearts, which Calliope finds endlessly amusing."

6. What was your first or most memorable love affair? [This can be anything from a pre-teen crush to a long-term romance.] Be sure to describe the object of your affection, along with the changes that you went through in terms of feelings and thoughts about that person. Did it start out in terms of maddening hatred? Instant love? Who fell for who first? Were the feelings a surprise? How did it end? How does everyone involved feel about it now?
"Calliope is the only notable "love affair" relationship I can think of. Once you've seen her, everything and everyone else just dims in comparison. Derrick says it was wrong, since I was eighteen and she was sixteen, but Derrick is dating his second cousin. It lasted only a year, but when the lights dim, Calliope's the girl I'm thinking of every night. I see her in the apartment halls sometimes, usually making a nuisance of herself or on the arm of some boy. Always a different boy. But she's eighteen now. Legal. I'm sure I can have her again."

7. You get into a discussion about death and dying. How would you describe the perfect death?
"The perfect death? Erotic asphyxiation."

8. What were you like at the age of ten [fifth grade]? Were you a wimp, a bully, a nerd, a snitch or a klutz? Or none of those? Were you popular or not? Write up a description, and, if you like, a little day-in-the-life-of story of you at that age?
"I was a brat. Not popular, not outcast. My...popularity...was based solely on my sister Chiara's."

9. Did you ever have a pet? What kind of pet? Where is it now or what happened to it?
"I had a pet dog named Killer. It was an alpaca that belonged to my mother. I named it, and it liked me best of all. It was put to sleep when it outlived its vitality."

10. Describe your perfect evening? Would it involve others or be alone? If it involves others, who would it involve?
"A perfect night is a night alone with a worthy adversary, it doesn't matter who, and a series of sword matches, ending with hours upon hours of sleep."

11. To you, does revenge mean (1) "an eye for an eye", (2) "repayment with interest", (3) "the only good enemy is a dead enemy", or (4) something else? In exacting your revenge, would you serve it hot, as soon as possible after the offense, or cold, awaiting a perfect place and time?
"Revenge is repayment with interest. Cold revenge is the sweetest."

12. If you were doing something else with your life now, what do you think you would be doing? What do you want to do?
"I don't care what I could be doing, idiot. I'm not doing it now, so it's worthless."

14. Where are you from?
"Tropea, Italy. My family immigrated when I was three."

15. Give a brief description of your childhood, including emotional and economic status, and any unique or odd events.
"My family was poor while I was growing up. We lived in Queens, and the fool I call a mother still does. My father was a paracop, one of the best. When I was fourteen, he died protecting me from some common thugs. I was trying to protect Chiara from them - they were eying her like she was a sweet drink and they were parched wanderers. They would have drained her quickly and without relish. She was just thirteen, and I was a naive idiot to not tell her to run. If I could, I would kill them now, but I haven't seen them since the trial. One was a cryokinetic. My right arm became completely useless from frostbite, so I replaced it with the most ominous, dangerous-looking synthetic the shop had. Lately, I wear the most normal-looking arm I can find."

16. How do you deal with your past? (any scars, emotional or not?)
"I keep it and the people who know about it hidden from my everyday life. Now it never comes up."

17. Towards which races or groups, if any, do you feel animosity? Why?
"I detest cryokinetics. I think you know why."

18. What fears do you have (they can be actual phobias, or just worries) and where did they come from?
"I won't eat garlic. It's the one "myth" I don't believe is fake. My father was a vampire, and I might have an allergy to garlic in my genes."

19. If an opponent surrendered and asked for mercy, would you grant it, and under what circumstances, if any?
"No mercy. There's no room for mercy in fights. In normal life, I give mercy where I can spare it."

20. If someone approached you and asked for protection, would you grant it, and under what circumstances?
"I would grant protection to anyone who didn't piss me off. As long as they repaid me later - any time that counts as reasonably later."

21. Would you obey a law even if you thought it was wrong?
"If I thought it was wrong, I wouldn't do it. It's simple."

22. Would you risk the lives of your companions without their knowledge and consent?
"No."

23. Do you consider the use of force or the use of cleverness and guile to accomplish things to be "more" moral?
"If they serve the right purpose, then they're equally moral. If they're for wrong, then they're equally immoral."

24. Do you feel that the ends justify the means, no matter what those "means" may be?
"For the right ends, yes."

25. Do you feel that the strong are entitled to exploit or manipulate the weak? Do you indulge in it, too?
"If they don't, then something in the world is different from yesterday. The strong will do as they please. It's true of me, as well. Of exploitation and manipulation, only exploitation is wrong."