Lieutenant Ari Gravano

Character Information

Gender		Female
Species		Human
Age		26

Physical Appearance

Height		5'3"
Weight		115 lbs
Hair Color		Brown
Eye Color		Blue
Physical Description		Ari has a slight hourglass but athletic build. Her skin is slightly tan from spending hours in the sun with a slight olive tint to it from her Italian genes. Ari has thick, dark, long hair and piercing blue eyes that change colors in certain lighting. Her hair is usually unkempt, along with her appearance. When not in her Starfleet uniform, Ari is usually seen in a plain white form-fitting t-shirt, blue jeans, and sandals. Ari has a large shark tattoo on her left thigh, a rose wrapped around her upper right arm, and a black band on her upper left forearm. Her nose has been broken twice which was fixed in surgery. She has a scar on her eyebrow from a street fight against an opponent she had beaten earlier that night in the boxing ring.

Family

Father		Nicolaus “Nic” Gravano (67 years old)
Mother		Lily Gravano (52 years old)
Brother(s)		Charles “Charlie” Gravano (twin, deceased at 17)
Other Family		Patrick “Pat” Gravano (cousin, 24)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Ari is energetic and excitable, making sure she's having fun no matter what she's doing. She is a goofball, loves to joke around, and can be very awkward at times. Her sense of humor comes out at the most inopportune times, often when she's feeling very sad or nervous. She uses it as a way to keep up her strong appearance and personality. She has a child-like spirit to her, finding joy from the little things in life. Ari is a strong, outgoing, and energetic. She loves being around people and takes the time to get to know everyone on a personal level. However, her romantic relationships are usually short-lived because of her perceived tough exterior. Ari uses humor to calm herself and others around her during times of stress and danger. She is adventurous and always up for a good time. She has a sense of fun and energy about her that she uses to her advantage. She is always willing to try something new, whether it's a new activity or a new food. Ari is also a very flirtatious person. She is very charming and charismatic and knows how to talk to people. She uses her looks to her advantage but also likes the attention she gets from it.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Strengths + Independent + Strong + Funny + Outgoing + Warm + Curious + Athletic + Friendly + Loving + Adventurous Weaknesses + Says the wrong things at the wrong time + Jokes at the wrong times + Klutzy + Opinionated + Doesn’t like to show weakness + Impulsive + Flirty
Ambitions		Ari's dream has always been to escape her life at home. She enlisted in Starfleet and found it to be a great fit for her. She was able to escape her life and start over, finding high interest in science, medicine, and helping others.
Hobbies & Interests		+ Boxing + Surfing + Singing and playing the guitar + Laughing + Playing practical jokes
Languages		English, Italian

Personal History

Ari Gravano was born on January 1 in Pacific Palisades, California, Earth to Italian natives Nic and Lily Gravano. Her twin brother, Charlie, was born two minutes after her. Ari's parents spent many of their days and nights at work (they are both lawyers in Pacific Palisades) so Ari and Charlie were tossed around day cares along with their cousin, Pat. Pat is Ari's paternal cousin. His parents, like Ari's parents, spend most of their time working. Pat was sent to spend time with Ari and Charlie in order to get him off of their hands. This caused Ari to gain another sibling and best friend. To this day, Ari still connects with Pat and spends time with him whenever she can. Ari was a very adventurous child, often getting into trouble whenever her parents were home long enough to notice what exactly she had done wrong. She never meant any harm: it was all in the spirit of fun. To this day she has never lost her childhood spirit. Growing up and spending time with her twin brother, Ari really grasped her inner tomboy and rolled around in the dirt next to Charlie, Pat, and their friends. She gained an edge having to deal with young male egos and their shenanigans. By the time she was 10 she realized she was beating her friends at sports, running faster and hitting harder than the rest of them. As Ari got older, she became more serious about participating in sports, becoming the best in every sport she tried. When she was 12, Ari was beaten up by two boys she went to school with. She had beaten them in a race during gym class earlier that day and they took it way too heart. They attacked her when she was walking to the beach. She was able to throw in a couple of punches but ended up pinned on the ground in less than ten seconds when the fight was broken up by Charlie and Pat who happened to be walking by on their way home. Charlie mentioned she needed to take up boxing in order to defend herself from future attacks (especially since boys treated her like one of the guys). The next weekend Ari found herself in a boxing class and hasn't left since. She quickly reached the top of the sport by the time she was 16. School always came easily to Ari. Her focus on her athleticism easily translated into the classroom. She was able to learn with mediocre effort, gaining high marks in all of her classes. Since she did not have to put too much effort into studying, Ari was able to allot more time to sports. Ari's early accomplishments appeared effortless to her friends but unnoticed by her parents. She never really cared about her parents not paying attention to her because she always had her brother and her cousins to be happy with. When Ari was 17, she won a boxing match against Lucy Bell, another top athlete in California. As Ari and Charlie were leaving the building, Lucy and Lucy's brother attacked them out of anger for her loss. Lucy and her brother each brought out a knife, and as Ari grabbed her wrist to bring down the girl, the girl tried to stab Ari and instead cut her above her eye. Ari pinned the girl down even though she could only see out of one eye until police officers were brought to the scene. The incident happened so fast that she didn't think about Charlie and how he was handling his opponent. It wasn't until a police officer on the scene called for medical transportation that Ari realized Charlie was lying motionless on the ground. She jumped off of Lucy and ran over to Charlie, rested his head on her lap and cried until the medical personnel forced her away from her dead brother. Lucy's brother had stabbed Charlie and ran away from the scene unnoticed. Her parents didn't react well to the death of Charlie. They put the blame on Ari for being put in the situation because of her fighting career. Because of this, Ari's home life became strained and she moved in with Pat in order to escape from it. Throughout her whole life Charlie was inseparable from Ari. Because of her tough personality, Ari was able to survive the heartache. She still felt sadness for the event and blamed herself since she put Charlie into the situation. She tried to withdraw from everyone around her but realized it wasn't going to do her any good to lose everyone else too. However, Ari went to the extremes of this and became more involved in having people constantly around her to make up for the loss. Pat became a solid replacement for Charlie, who helped Ari but life just wasn't the same at home for her. Because of the constant reminder about her twin's death, Ari decided she needed to move. She trained harder, worked harder, setting up a path to get her out of Pacific Palisades and into a brand new life. When looking into Starfleet and what it had to offer, Ari wasn't sure exactly what she wanted to do. In school, Ari excelled in sciences, and loved helping and being there for others. She had realized after spending much numerous hours in the hospital from various boxing injuries, and getting to know the various emergency doctors and nurses, she wanted to repay them by becoming one of the best doctors Starfleet could ever have. When Ari mentioned her move to San Francisco in order to pursue Starfleet to her parents, they seemed fairly passive. They seemed more excited she was getting out of their hair more than a step forward in her success. It didn’t faze Ari; she just wanted people to know where she was at. Pat wasn't as passive as his aunt and uncle were to Ari's decision. He wasn't sure how Ari would fare on her own and so soon after Charlie's death. He decided to go with Ari in order to keep an eye on her and get a new start to his life as well. They both graduated high school with top honors and packed their bags and moved up to San Francisco. Pat was accepted to the University of San Francisco, not too far from the Starfleet Academy campus. Ari was relieved to have Pat by her side but was still saddened by her missing other half. The new environment gave Ari the kick in the bottom she needed to get back into the swing of things. She was able to throw herself into her work in order to not be affected as much by Charlie's death. Ari was still working on her boxing and other athletic skills in order to not drive herself crazy. Pat went along for the ride, spending as much time as he could with Ari. When it came to her social life, Ari was the life of the party among the cadets, getting to know everyone she worked with. This lead to many close bonds with her peers. She would help them study before helping them get out and enjoy their time in San Francisco. After four years at the Academy, Ari graduated in the top 10% of her class. Pat was sitting in the audience (the only member of Ari’s family to have shown up to the graduation ceremony) and was the loudest family member in the flood of other graduates’ families. Ari spotted him in the audience, sending him a thumbs up and small salute as she became an official Starfleet officer. Continuing on to Medical School, Ari kept her same habits from the Academy. She worked hard, but played harder. Patrick, who had become a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, let Ari share his apartment with him in hopes she could reach the top of the class without hindering her too much. While Ari never made it to Valedictorian, she did succeed even more than she did in the Academy, hoping to snag one of the better assignments in Starfleet.