Danny Notoriano is pretty sure he’s awesome. He’s smart (true), hardworking (true), and charming (extremely debatable). He’s the whole package (patently false). Despite what the haters might say – that he’s a nerd, a know-it-all, a total fucko – Dan glides through life sure that the only opinion that really matters is his own. And in Danny’s opinion? Daniel Notoriano is one of the brightest minds of his generation. So, at first blush, it’s easy to get drawn in by someone who’s so easily confident and comfortable in his own skin. Just...don’t get to know him more than that.

After you’ve gotten past the initial appealing aspects, there’s a lot to dislike. It’s, honestly, hard to pick where to start. But after some consideration, I’d say that the most unappealing aspect of Daniel is his ego. He’s arrogant, and he’s never going to demure in conflict or waste an opportunity to make himself look like the smartest or most competent person in the room. Which means he winds up in a lot of arguments. Even fights. And he refuses to back down from those, either. Danny has a knack for turning things into situations and then causing those situations to escalate perpetually. If there’s not someone there to remind him to not be an asshole, he’s liable to get punched. He … gets punched a lot.

But he rolls with it. He responds to both criticism and, because he’s a Coppertale, physical aggression flippantly. Yeah, getting hit sucks, but it’s important to stick to your guns. (Daniel’s gun, singular: he is awesome.) He’s remarkably resilient in that regard. And his ability to rely solely on his own interpretation of how well he is doing is simultaneously endearing and repulsive. Please don’t waste your time giving him advice. He will not listen.

The sad thing is, that bravado is not entirely misplaced. Danny’s smart. He’s brilliant, academically speaking. (Socially? Questionable.) He’s a dedicated straight A student and, despite a predisposition to being a shitlord, actually means well. Danny wants to help people – in a broad sense. He’s maybe not so great at being patient with individuals, and sometimes the need to be number one clouds that desire to do good, but he doesn’t want to see humanity suffer. He has some pretty big ideas about how to Fix The World and earnestly believes that he’s the one who has to do it.

Someone should stop him, though. Danny really needs a mitigating force in his life. Someone to keep those feet planted on the ground. Because, left to his own devices, Dan tends to get some pretty wild ideas. He’s something of a mad scientist, experimenting with spells in ways that can get pretty ethically questionable. Thankfully, there’s not much opportunity for Dr. Frankenstein-styled meat and bone mad science at haunted camping school, but he maybe looks a little too excited by some of the things they get up to in Pre-Healer Studies.

You could call Danny extroverted and it wouldn’t be incorrect. He likes to talk, or, at least, to hear himself talk. When not correcting someone or waxing scientific about some dumb topic no one cares about, he communicates almost exclusively in sarcasm. He has no trouble starting up conversations with friends and strangers, and doesn’t tire out at parties or crowded places. But he’s irritable and initially judgmental of pretty much everyone. He’d call himself a misanthrope, unironically, thinking that this is a very pithy and cool thing to say. The truth is, he isn’t a misanthrope, he’s just got his head up his ass. And it’s obvious he has a soft spot for certain types of people – ones you wouldn’t expect. He likes meat-heads and jocks; he likes people with a bit of fire to them.

➥ Maryanne Notoriano mother, muggleborn, 46. CEO Black Cauldron Microbrewery.
Maryanne Notoriano is a dreamer with enough drive to make every single one of her ideas a reality. She's not afraid to grab life by the horns - she dropped out of Healer training at 20 to start her own business. It should come as no surprise to know, then, that she's intense. A perfectionist who expects perfection from everyone else in her orbit. She loves her kids and has tried to instill in them both the desire to dream and the confidence to achieve those goals, but she often expects too much. Mare is a busy woman, Founder and CEO of Black Cauldron Brewery, which provides microbrews to both magic and muggle folks. Black Cauldron's pretty popular among no-majs in Colorado for unique spice and herb blends, it enjoys much wider popularity among wizard beer snobs. Mare likes to gift craft brew samplers to the Gooseberry faculty every year, for their own personal enjoyment.

➥ Anthony Notoriano. father, half-blood, 46. Healer.
Tony's a healer in private practice. Serious-minded, headstrong and, secretly, a big softie, Tony's the more hugs and support parent. Tony adores his wife, also, and it's very obvious. Danny idolizes his father, but takes after his mother in temperament.

➥ Robert Notoriano. Brother, former Ebonhide, 26. Healer.
A former Ebonhide prefect, Bobby Notoriano went on to follow in his father's footsteps as a healer - although Bobby's specialty is with traumatic cases. (Essentially an ER physician healer) He married his high school sweetheart, Jocelyne, not long after graduating high school - one of Gooseberry's many romantic success stories. Bobby still regularly pals around with old friends from Gooseberry, including the eldest Pitchford sister, Betsy. Daniel hero worships Bobby, although he'd never admit that to someone outside their family.

➥ Jocelyne Notoriano. Sister-in-Law, former Azurcrest, 28. Administrator, Black Cauldron Brewery
Jocelyne was the archetypal Azurcrest. She and Bobby were an odd couple, but one that was made for each other. After graduating, Jo got a job with the Notoriano's family business. Mare is presently grooming her to take over after she retires. Jo is originally from Quebec, is Acadian, and is constantly trying to teach the Notorianos French.

➥ Cecile Notoriano. Niece, 3.
A bi-lingual terror on two feet.

➥ Monica Notoriano. Sister, Ribbonfin junior.

Family
How hard could it possibly be to brew a good beer? Harder than healer school, apparently. Maryanne Collingwood always had a knack for potions and a passion for experimentation, which is why she went into healing. There, she met Anthony Notoriano, and the two of them bonded not over a love of magical medicine but over repeated failed attempts to brew something approaching drinkable in their free time. It was a year into healer training before Mare realized that it was brewing she wanted to do, not mending bones. And, well, Tony just thought she was the neatest girl in the world, so he supported her decision to drop out and start her own business.

Not long after that, they had Bobby - an oopsie baby. It was tough, at first, but the three of them got by. Tony finished healer training and asked Mare to marry him with a ring he’d gotten out of a gumball machine at a muggle grocery store. And in the eight years that followed, the Notorianos worked hard to establish themselves. Mare started the Black Cauldron Brewery and Anthony went into private practice.

Early Life
Mare refused to consider more kids until her business was mostly stable and her first son was off to school. It took them nine years from Bobby’s birth, but once they were ready, the Notorianos wasted no time in filling out their family. Daniel was born on a hot summer evening, a healthy baby boy, hell-bent on letting everyone know he had arrived.

Danny was precocious. Curious about the world, hands in everything, incautious and always careening toward trouble. He was a handful, a drastic change-up from his brother, who had been a much more mellow baby. And although he was a handful, his sister, Monica, followed so far behind him that he had little time to be the baby of the family. Life was comfortable but busy. His mother’s tendency to apply extreme pressure meant that he was enrolled in a long series of childhood activities that he largely did not enjoy. But he threw himself into them, anyway, because Danny had a pretty hefty case of Middle Child Syndrome. Desperate for attention from his parents and constantly feeling left out of things.

Thankfully, Bobby was more than happy to play the heroic big brother. He and Daniel bonded and became very close. It was great until Bobby went away to Gooseberry.

Adolescence
Danny had just started attending a local day school when Bobby applied for and was accepted into Gooseberry. Losing Bobby to boarding school was rough for Danny, and so the start of his own academic career was a little bumpy. He acted out. Got in trouble a lot, but mostly made up for it with impressive grades. As for Bobby, one year at the private camping school sold the Notorianos on it entirely. They were a Gooseberry Family – all their children would go there. Dan hated that his big brother was going to be gone most of the year for three more years, but he was also excited by the prospect of some day going, himself.

He got used to the strangeness of his brother not being around. In fact, with Bobby away, Dan got a great deal more attention from his parents. Which he loved at first. But then it became clear that attention meant pressure to succeed. He had become used to being overlooked in favor of his siblings, and suddenly having his mother breathing down his neck about doing more and doing it better was kind of a culture shock. He did his best to comply, anyway. And kind of developed a complex as a result.

Gooseberry
But soon it was Danny’s time to go away to GBHS. Right into Coppertale he went, which surprised everyone who’d seen him and no one who knew him. This short, gawky boy with oversized glasses was going to get eaten alive in Coppertale. He didn’t seem to mind. Danny held his own, and found himself relishing the temporary freedom from his intense parents.

Academically successful but socially awkward throughout his school career, it continues to be a marvel that his friends tolerate him at all. But Gooseberry’s challenging enough that one can keep themself busy studying in the library when social success evades them. As things got weird, Danny got interested. But the bell curve peaked and dropped when it looked like the forest was only interested in coddling sad kids – a club which Danny definitely was not a member of, how dare you even suggest such things. So, at the end of his junior year, Danny slept in his bed and the forest ignored him.

Entering his senior year, he jumped at the chance to enroll in Pre-Healer Studies, and maybe took a bit of joy in the knowledge that he was getting a leg up that his older, more perfect brother (whom he loves very much) did not have.