A Plague Doctor... during the Plague

Antonio Castillo was born in Florence, in March 1597, in the 16th century. His father, Giuseppe, was the rich owner of a vineyard, and his mother, Maria, was the youngest daughter of a family coming from lesser nobility.

As a young boy, he has always shown great curiosity for the world around him. His parents made him take drawing and violin courses, hobbies that he kept even when he reached adulthood. Growing up alongside multiple epidemies and seeing the death of countless people, including his own younger siblings, lit a desire to help people in him.

That's why, when he was still a teen, Antonio joined the medical school of Florence, where he was noticed for his quick thinking. He spent some years at school before graduating in 1518, in his early twenties. Immediately after, Doctor Ruzzi, an eminent physician, took him under his wing, in a mentorship. Antonio improves his capacities to almost perfection until 1526, when he finished his mentorship and started practicing alone.

It was during his mentorship that he learned about a new uniform, supposed to protect against the plague. Large hat, long coat, boots, gloves and most importantly, a beak mask, long enough to carry herbs to protect from the disease.

From this time, he has been wearing those clothes outside, hiding his features, besides his high and lean figure. Without them, he had a sharp jaw, with warm brown eyes. His hair was black, short and wavy.

Antonio's work made him warry of everyone. Since anyone could potentially carry diseases, he started to keep to himself, refusing to entertain friendships and even less romantic relationships. This warriness, paired with the reputation of his attire and his tendency to isolation, made him grow cold to everyone. Not that other people wanted to approach him, mind you.

Like every doctor, he disliked being disobeyed, especially in medical settings. In his opinion, the doctors were the specialists, others should only listen and obey. In the same way, he hated being touched. In his mind, touching people meant being potentially infected, and being unable to treat his patients. Too much risk for nothing. Unfortunately, the job of a doctor often needed to probe and test people, it was why he started to use a wooden stick to touch the sicks.