Ricardo de Quixote

**Ricardo de Quixote** (リカルド・デ・キホーテ *Rikarudo de Kihōte*) is a Jackpot Hunter.

## Appearance

Ricardo is a large muscular man with a significant build, towering over most with his stature and intimidating aura. Keeping his hair swept back, it mostly black in color with several white strands mixed in along the center and sides of his head. Mostly dressed in casual clothes, Ricardo's main apparel consists of a simple dress or Hawaiian shirt that he leaves curled up around his forearms, paired with khaki pants and black sandals. In addition, he wears a regular brown belt that has a small bag he holsters around his waist. Ricardo uses traditional reading glasses with silver-metal plates along the temples, illustrating his brown eyes and stern facial features.

## Personality

Greedy, self-centered, and a compulsive liar, Ricardo is a Hunter entirely dedicated on the pursuit of money, using whatever methods are available to him to obtain it and increase how much of it he has, often conducting all manner of get-rich-quick schemes and scams to dupe the average person into giving up their jenny whenever he can. It was his sense of greed that often compels him to choose the quick and easy solution whenever he's presented with a problem, going so far as using his accumulated wealth to pay his way through any hardship he may encounter, having been the very thing that inspired him to be a writer, and inevitably a Jackpot Hunter: easy money.

In a warped sense, Ricardo associates the pursuit of money as being no different than the pursuit of happiness for him, often finding the hunt for it more enjoyable than actually having it. In this sense, Ricardo isn’t afraid of using others to expand his own horizons or knock anyone standing in his way, even if it means involving other people into his fights, being ruthless enough to fervently struggle using whatever means necessary, no matter how dirty or underhanded they may be.

Although his profession is completely dedicated to it, Ricardo is wise enough to not allow himself to be blinded by it into making brash decisions, very carefully weighing the risk-reward his job has. Rather crass and belligerent, Ricardo makes no effort to hide his open hostility toward those of lesser intellect or reason, classhing very heavily with Enhancers, debasing his ability to work with fighters and brutes as a “conflict of interest”, preferring diplomacy rather than outright conflict in a bid to save both time and energy that would be better spent toward greater profits. Stemming from a sense of superiority deep rooted in his education and intelligence, it functions as the basis of what he considers his pride, being one of the few things he couldn’t buy and had to put genuine effort and time to hone and expand, being one of the few sore spots he has whenever he is insulted or questioned.

As a boon to his questionable character, he is very knowledgeable in various fields of literature and art, being very fluent in numerous ancient languages both orally and in writing, to such a degree that before he became a Jackpot Hunter, Ricardo had considered a career as a Paleograph Hunter instead. Even with a background as a university professor, Ricardo is equal parts narcissistic as he is paranoid, mostly due in part of once being a member of the mafia, he had to change his entire identity and watch his back for the greater part of a decade after faking his death, making him very suspicious of others to an unreasonable degree, going so far as using his Nen on fellow Hunters that rouse his distrust.

Somewhat questionable due to his personality, it in no way serves as a detriment toward performing his responsibilities as a Hunter, if anything else, they are used to get the most out of any job he takes. While on duty, Ricardo is very professional and white-collard in the way he conducts himself, using his Hunter status and criminal background to serve as a consultant to his employers, consisting of rich people whom he makes deals/contracts with to maximize their financial gain, preferring to take a more intermediary role rather than someone standing at the forefront.

## Background

Growing up under the birth name of Joe Molto Latte, Joe grew up with the aspirations of becoming a famous novelist, seeing it as the fastest and easiest venture for him to become rich, spending a great deal of his youth writting short stories and submitting them to local publishing companies, having developed his Nen as a result before enrolling into school. During his late adolescents, Joe joined the Mafia, utilizing his penchant for writting and lying to falsify documents and files, whilst simultaneously running errands for their local businesses, using his newfound position to steal Jenny from the syndicate over the course of 3 years.

At the age of 22, Ricardo finished his studies and became a university professor originating from of the Republic of Rokario, having published several books with mild success and a reasearch paper using the Mafia's stolen capital, ultimately getting caught in the act by one of the families and issued a hit on his life for his betrayal. Using his Nen to fake his death and change his appearance, Joe changed his name to Ricardo, opting to use his newfound freedom to become a hunter, having taken part in the 337th Hunter Exam and become a Jackpot Hunter.

## Equipment

**Writing Equipment:** Ricardo carries all manner of writting equipment in his in the form of paper, pens, markers, and pencils to use for his abilities, as well as hiding extras in other places around his body should he lose them.

**Ben's Knife:** With his main method of combat being mostly in the use of knives and blades, Ricardo possesses a Ben's Knife concealed in a sheath around his waist. Forged by Delon near the end of his career, this variation's appearance more closely resembles a combat knife, albeit with a much longer blade, consisting of 9 inches in length. Mostly black in color, the blade has a sizable blood groove near the blade's spine, with a small heel near the end of the guard. With a dark brown four-finger grip handle, the but of the knife has the same black metal that comprises the blade. Its most identifying feature are the unique inscriptions inscribed along the knife's body that Ricardo himself has written along the surface in the form of a Divine Script. Combining his knowledge of literature and natural ability, Ricardo spent hours writting the script and charging the symbols with his aura in order to better strengthen the use of his Nen Abilities, elevating them even further by using the knife to etch or engrave letters and words onto the surface of people's skin or objects, taking advantage of the Ben's knives ability for being exceptionally sharp.

## Abilities & Powers

As a Jackpot Hunter

### Nen

Ricardo

1. The target must have made contact with his script.
2. The target must have at least read a small portion or seen the writing.
3. Ricardo must verbally address the target as the author using his name.

The state of control remains until the target has followed through on Ricardo's commands and finished the story he's devised, working without regard to their own safety or physical condition, his aura remaining embedded on their person until then even after death, functioning as walking cadavers.

## Trivia

* His name **Ricardo** *is* derived from the Spanish and Portuguese origin for *"brave ruler".* While **Quixote** translates from Spanish to *"someone who is chivalrous but unrealistic"*. With his whole name translating to *"brave ruler from unrealistic chivalry"*, describing an idealism without regard to practicality, a reference to the nature of his Nen.
	+ In the same fashion, Ricardo's former name comes from a combination of words, with **Joe** being an alternative word for*"coffee"* or *"jamoke"*, a "*java and mocha blend"*. And **Molto Latte** being Italian for *"with lots of"* and *"milk"*. With his whole name translating to *"a cup of coffee or mocha java with lots of milk"*, a subtle reference to the dark and white hair he has.
* Ricardo is partially inspired by James Moriarty, as both are professors in their respective fields, James in math and Ricardo in literature, that they use to conceal their criminal activities.