Laurent App for Maison de Portes

[arcthunder]

Player's Name: Dana
Contact info: dana#2926 on Discord
DW: n/a

Character: Laurent
Canon: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Version: Game; red-haired with a nonspecific father
Canon Point: Postgame, unpaired
Age: Unstated, but likely 19-21
Gender: Male



History: http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Laurent

Personality:
Cautious, detail-oriented and logical, Laurent can often come off as cold to others. His preoccupation with minutiae comes across as nagging or nitpicking to many, and can make him seem like a busybody to someone with only surface-level insight.

However, the reason that he concerns himself so deeply with small things is out of genuine concern and care for his friends and colleagues. The way he expresses this care can come off as distant and formal sometimes, and he does worry that his doing so is vanity on his part - if not ultimately unnecessary. The feelings are genuine, though, and often (when properly understood) appreciated.

Unfortunately, Laurent is also susceptible to depression and despair. It’s unclear how much of this is just his nature and how much is because of his experiences, and they likely reinforce each other. It impacts how much he values, or doesn’t value, his own wellbeing - he does know his magical abilities are needed, so he keeps himself in good enough condition to do his part for the Shepherds, but beyond that he is far more concerned about others than he is about himself.

When it comes to people he doesn’t like, everything that makes him helpful to be around gets flipped. He uses his observation skills to needle instead of assist - ‘Well, you’re trying your best’ as opposed to ‘You are improving.’ He can sabotage a person’s efforts without exerting too much of it himself, and if he can manage it he will go out of his way to avoid someone entirely.

All in all, Laurent is a steadfast ally and friend, even as he needs to be convinced to value himself as much as he values others. Smart, creative, and reliable, he takes after his mother in raw intellect while being far more grounded and dedicated to the real-world applications of his research.

Fears:
Laurent’s fears tend to be fairly abstract, although given his experiences he has a very reasonable (if extremely specific) fear of an evil dragon raising hordes of zombies and destroying humanity. Failure and isolation are two significant fears, with the latter being due to spending five years wandering an unfamiliar world with no sign of his friends or anyone he knew. (He worried that the sadness and desperation and loneliness would kill him many times.) The idea of slipping up in his diligence - and others getting hurt or killed as a result - haunts him, and that drives him to take the most meticulous care with everything and everyone that he possibly can.

Weaknesses:
Physically, Laurent is frail. While he gains the ability to use a sword when reclassed to dark knight, or axes when reclassed to warrior lines, his strength stat never amounts to much. Despite this, he will often push himself beyond his healthy threshold to take care of his friends and colleagues. He has been known to disregard his own physical wellbeing (with Cynthia) and mental health (implied with Lucina and mentioned in a few supports in the form of ‘don’t worry so much or you’ll drive yourself to an early grave.’). While he is very quick to give others advice, he often doesn’t consider himself important enough to deserve the same attention in return - and in his conversations with Lucina, he expresses doubt that his help is needed at all. His self-esteem leaves quite a bit to be desired, especially in the face of his objective strengths.

While he tries his hardest to be genuine and understood, his distant and practical nature can turn many people off towards him. This is especially true in his attempts to provide help and give advice; it’s very common in his conversations for others to be somewhat hostile towards him before realizing his intentions. It’s a toss-up whether or not he changes his approach when this is pointed out to him, and he has been known to anger people intentionally to spur them into action. He is also stubborn enough to stick to his guns, insisting that the other person is being unreasonable for not acting the way he’d like.

Lastly, while this is never directly stated, Laurent seems like the kind of person to get in far, far over his head. He does not typically account for others behaving in unpredictable and irrational ways and can forget that reality isn’t perfectly ordered the way facts and figures are. This can lead to a situation going south very quickly and him faltering when he can’t predict what will happen next. He does not improvise well and while he has a good head on his shoulders, that is unfortunately not enough to make it through life.

Mundane Strengths/Abilities:
Laurent is extremely observant and detail-oriented. He is quick to catch on to new concepts and prides himself on being able to notice problems others are having before even they do, and solving them when he can. He takes it upon himself to balance budgets and monitor the health of his comrades, as well as the quality of the army’s supplies. This can occasionally come across as pushy and obnoxious to others, though this typically doesn’t stop him when he feels he’s caught on to something very important.

Laurent is also marginally proficient with swords, axes, and bows. He doesn’t necessarily have the strength to put them to good use, but he knows proper stance and form, and if he puts in the effort he can use them with relative skill.

Sensitivity/Magical Ability:
Laurent is, inherently, a mage. Fire Emblem doesn’t say much about the ability of ordinary mages to sense ‘ambient magic’; instead, they use tomes to attack and, upon promotion to an advanced class, staves to heal. Because I’m not specifying a father for him(‘children’ characters in FE:A are tied to their mothers with a pool of potential fathers; which father they have dictates their inherited class range) I am restricting him to skills inherent to his standard class sets. In terms of magic, this means he is extremely proficient with both attack tomes and support staves.

On a sillier note, Laurent does have access to a very limited form of telepathy. It’s a spell that requires no incantation, but only lasts as long as he can hold his breath and only extends about an arm’s length away; it also doesn’t seem to give others the ability to speak with him telepathically, but it’s not bad for passing on secrets in close proximity.

Supply List:
Physic staff(close- and long-range healing), Arcthunder tome(lightning magic), Levin sword(sword used to cast offensive lightning spells[and stabbing]), two vulneraries(cloth sacks of healing poultices), mage robes, a wide-brimmed wizard hat, a plain ring

Game Transfers:
n/a

Sample RP post: https://bakerstreet.dreamwidth.org/2605557.html?thread=1320434421#cmt1320434421