Gaela Houlton

Gaela Houlton (or Gaela Scarborough), born Gavin Scarborough, is one of the main characters of Cinder Isle. She was the only person in Cinder Isle who was cursed by Sylvana's gender curse. Due to this affliction, when the T1G1 Virus hit Cinder Isle, Gavin became the last man remaining in the city before Alistair managed to cure her. She is in a relationship, and now married, with Zack Houlton, whom she started dated when she was still Gavin, and Zack was still Zoey.
== Appearance ==
As Gavin, he has short brown hair, gray eyes, and a skinny build during the beginning of Cinder Isle. As the days progressed, however, his build got bigger and his height increased. This was due to the effect getting infected by the T1G1 Virus as a person already cursed by the Gender Curse, which made him turn into what he was attracted to the most.
As Gaela, she retains her brown hair, but now longer, and her body turned into what Zoey's body looked like prior to their transformations, which includes the freckles on her face and her 34F cup size breasts. She has red lips, wears red nail polish, and she also usually wears white dangling earrings.
Her appearance in Awakening twenty-one years later remains very similar to her teenage self, except for some slight wrinkles around her eyes due to her age.
== History ==
=== Story Appearances ===
Animation Series
* Awakening
Comic Series
* Cinder Isle (debut)
One-Shots
* True Colors
Beyond Comics
* Cinder Isle: The Cure
== Personality ==
Gavin is very shy and nervous around girls, to the point that he stutters whenever trying to talk to them. Around his best friends Zack and Shane however, he has no problem communicating with them regarding their interests, such as video games and movies. When turned into Zoey, Gavin had a hard time talking to her, even if Zoey has pointed out repeatedly that she is still the same Zack that she's friends with.
Once Zoey offered Gavin to make out with him, he would become more confident around women, and won't stutter anymore. Gavin's newfound confidence would become key to asking Zoey out for a date. This would also be apparent even when Gavin turned into Gaela.
Gavin is very studious, and would spend his free time reading books or studying, if not playing games or watching movies. This was instrumental in piecing together a shattered Alistair statue.
Gavin is also generally nice to everyone, even when he gets nervous around girls. Exceptions include the school bullies Bridget and Frank, and when he got angry at a newly revived Alistair for blaming them for spreading the virus in Cinder Isle.
When she got transformed into Gaela, she is seen to be much more joyful, daring, and outgoing, as evidenced by wanting to join Alistair in destroying the Abomination in the forest, and her skipping school with Zack to go outside the island after being stuck in it for over a year.
== Relationships ==
=== Zack/Zoey Houlton ===
During the beginning of the story, Gavin is best friends with Zack. When Zack transformed into Zoey, Gavin would be very shy around her and would stutter whenever trying to talk to her. His stutter became worse when he and Zoey saw each other naked in athu shower room. Zoey would then try to get rid of Gavin's stutter by offering him to kiss her, which turned out to be successful, and Gavin now feels more confident talking to girls due to this.
When Gavin saw Zoey trying out new clothes at a shop, they expressed their feelings of attraction towards one another and agreed to go on a date. This relationship would then continue in secret for some time, and they would limit their sexual activities so as to prevent Gavin from getting infected. When they found out that Gavin was immune to the virus, Zoey would try to convince him to go all the way, and Gavin reluctantly agrees after some hesitation.
After their first full-on intercourse, Gavin would finally tell the truth to Zoey that he wants to be a woman, which shocked Zoey at first, but became accepting afterwards. When Alistair transformed Gavin into Gaela, she expresses her desire to still be in a relationship with Zoey, even if she transforms back into Zack and Gaela takes the role of being the girlfriend.
=== Jackie Houlton ===
Jackie Houlton is Gaela's daughter. In Awakening, Gaela expresses her love to her children very deeply, which Jackie seems irritated with, and prefers hanging out with her cousins Henry and Sophia instead.
In True Colors, Jackie is showing more angst and frustration towards Gaela, which worries Gaela as she doesn't know how to get along with her. Iris tries to make the two of them understand each other through her magic camera, and Jackie and Gaela start opening up and talking about their interests and feelings. In the end, Gaela and Jackie hug after rekindling their relationship.
=== Ricky Houlton ===
Ricky Houlton is Gaela's son. Compared to Jackie prior to True Colors, Ricky doesn't seem to mind his parents' display of affection. Ricky also likes playing video games, which is likely inherited from his parents as well.
=== Shane Gardiner ===
Shane is also one of Gavin's best friends, along with Zack. Their relationship is more akin to being siblings, which further became a reality once they became step-siblings after their parents' affair got exposed.
=== Natalie Pembroke ===
While Natalie joined their group, there is not much interaction shown between Gavin and Natalie, at least until Gavin transformed into Gaela. After Natalie expressed her desire to stay as a woman, she and Gaela bonded over the things about womanhood that they both enjoy.
=== Alistair Huntington ===
After assembling the sapphire fox statue, Gaela becomes acquainted with the human soul inside of it: Alistair Huntington. At first, Gaela becomes frustrated with Alistair after he blames them for the virus spreading on the island, but Alistair later apologizes after realizing the severity of the situation, and also for himself being the true cause of the virus. After the Cinder Isle quad found out that Alistair tried to kill himself because of the hopelessness he felt due to the curses of his wife Sylvana, the four of them, including Gaela, offered to support him as a friend, which Alistair gladly accepts.
Alistair would then regularly visit Cinder Isle, and even gave a book about sorcery to Gaela, since she loves reading. Over twenty years later, Alistair cures Gaela of her enhanced curse due to Sylvana's return, and welcomes Alistair after Zack explains the situation. The three of them catch up and help Alistair's team after they got injured. Once Shane and Natalie arrive as well, the Cinder Isle quad are relieved that Alistair is human again and doing well, and they all hug each other.
== Abilities ==
Gavin/Gaela possesses above-average intelligence, being able to ace his exams perfectly and getting a 4.0 GPA. When Zoey and the other girls grabbed the pieces of a completely shattered statue of Alistair, Gaela was able to determine what kind of mineral the statue pieces are, based on her knowledge from her science classes.
With help from the Nurse ghost, she was able to piece together two thousand and twenty pieces of the Fox statue from scratch in just under two months, despite Gaela not knowing what the finished figure looks like. This is compared to Isabelle's attempt to fix Alistair during the comic series Fractured in a month, where she already knows what Alistair looks like and has access to magic herself.
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
* Gaela was one of the participants in the SapphireFoxx Waifu Tournament. She was paired against Zoey in the Maine Qualifiers round to represent Cinder Isle in the tournament, in which she lost against Zoey.
== See also ==
* Zack Houlton
* Shane Gardiner
* Natalie Pembroke
== References ==
Category:Females
Category:Cinder Isle characters
Category:Nonbloods
Category:Mother
Category:Protagonists