Post by Cedar on Jan 28, 2010 20:29:24 GMT -5
Name: Leopold Richard Gharro
Goes by: Leo
Age: 18 or so years old {he doesn't keep count anymore.}
DNA: Domesticated Cat
Roleplayed By: Knight
Personality: Silent, lonely, fearful. Those words describe Leo to a "T". They are what make him him, and he wouldn't change it for all the money in the world. Because of the simple fact that he has survived his past, he is strong. He wouldn't change the way his past shaped him even if he could.
Leo is a loner, finding one or two friends in his lifetime, and latching onto them vigorously. He finds that he needs people, but hates to trust them, hates to let his guard down. Leo finds that trusting people is dangerous, you have to trust them implicitely before you trust them, if that makes sense to anyone other than him. He dislikes being attached to people, finding that attachment weakens people in general, and he refuses to do anything that will weaken him. He will take his revenge if it's the last thing he does, and nothing will stand in his way.
Leo often affects a shy exterior, taking the apperance of a lonely boy who hates talking with others, and taking the spotlight. This exterior is not so much a lie, merely Leo's way of making it appear that he is more harmless than he appears.
At first glimpse, he might not appear capable of hurting anyone, but buried beneath his outer personality is a deep, burning anger. People have betrayed him, he longs for a chance to take revenge, however, only a very small number of people have noticed this anger. Sam, Mercury, and his mother. Only they noticed, and only Sam cared.
With people he knows, Leo is more outgoing, starting converstations, and talking easily with them. He seems to have forgotten being shy when he gets to know people, though he will never relax too much around them, which may be less obvious at times.
When Leo is extremely nervous, you might notice that he has a small stutter. It's rarely very pronounced, only a slight stumble over the words, and Leo is very good at controlling his emotions so that he does not stutter.
History: Childhood was easy enough for Leo. He had six long yearrs of nothing but fun and laughter. He didn't realize that anything was wrong with his family, so he didn't have a daddy. Who cared? His mother was all he needed, she was kind, gentle, and sweet, everything Leo looked for in a mother. But there were times when he'd wake up in the morning and find his mother crying. "What's wrong, mommy?" he'd ask, running forward to give her a hug. She would always keep him away somehow, sometimes more drastic than others. Sometimes he was slapped so hard he saw stars, others, she'd merely push him away and smile tightly, and once, she pressed his palms into the fireplace with the fire crackling. He couldn't touch her after that, and could hardly move his fingers for weeks afterward, but "Don't touch me." she'd always say, pointing back towards the room with a clear implication that he should go there. Then she'd turn away and cry once more. Those would be the nights that Leo spent sleepless, whimpering to himself in bed.
But he learned quickly that being touched was a bad thing. Throughout kindergarten, pre-school, and first grade, he wouldn't let anyone touch him, mimicking his mother's voice and inflections nearly perfectly; "Don't touch me." he'd say, narrowing his eyes slightly. Eventually the teachers gave it up, they no longer tried to pat his back during naptime, and the children just shrugged it off and played amonst themselves, tackling each other and giggling. Leo knew when he watched them that he was missing out, but he didn't know how to change it. Being touched was bad. He couldn't let them touch him if his mother didn't want him to.
Quickly, however, middle school approached. Life back then was bad enough, but middle school, Leo discovered, was torture. Anyone who didn't fit in, and flirt with the girls, telling them how 'hot' they were was ostracized, called gay, and shoved away. Leo quickly moved off to the side, forgotten by most except for when he'd cringe away from their touch in the hallways. Then they'd remember him enough to laugh.
Leo went through the motions of learning, pretending he cared about school, while his life at home steadily deteriorated. There was rarely a night when his mother wasn't screaming in his face, spittle flying, calling him a disgrace to his father's name. He'd come to school with bruises on his face, and swear that it was nothing but an accident.
Always an accident...
For Leo, school was an escape. Sure, he didn't try on his classwork, and failed various classes, repeating 4th grade twice. But at least then, while he was at school, he didn't have to think about his mother. She could be shoved to the back of his mind for a time, while he laughed and joked with the other nerds. Sure, he wasn't as smart as them, but if he was ostracized that badly, he had to be gay or something. And they didn't have problems with gays, some of those nerds were gay themselves, so they welcome Leo with open arms. They hardly noticed how he flinched whenever they moved too quickly - a habit he hasn't managed to shake, even now - or the bruises on his face. He was one of them now.
He endured it for as long as he could. But, by 12, he was done. He'd repeated 4th grade twice, and moved on to 5th grade. But he was tired of being screamed at every night. And when, one night, he didn't come home from school, the cops were called. They searched high and low for him, but Leo was never found. By the time his mother had dialed 911 and pretended to be a caring mother, he was across state lines and in Missouri. And Leo kept running.
But life on the run was boring. Leo was always hungry, always glancing over his shoulder to see if he was being followed. Not that it wasn't better than being back at home, but he wanted to live somewhere permanent. Leo missed that much of his old life.
Two years later, his dissapearance was a cold case, and Leo was still on the run. Somehow, he'd made it into Germany, stumbling across the country's borders, after stowing away for a month on a cargo ship, and scooped up immediatly by border control.
Strangely enough, a man rescued him, swearing left right and center that the boy was his son, and that they'd gone across country lines to see a few family members. The car had crashed, and the boy had gone missing.
Leo left with the man, who introduced himself as "A Mercury" and took him to the lab with a promise that when he woke up, everything would be better. And indeed, when he woke up, he had faster reflexes, stronger endurance, stronger senses. It took him a while to realize why, but when he found a mirror...
It wasn't a pretty sight that greeted him. A human, or was it a creature? With blue eyes glared back at him. His hair, once brown, was now gray with black tips, and soft like fur. He had ears - ears! - that looked similar to a cat's, and could indeed swivel like one. He even had a tail!
It was too much for leo to take in. He blacked out. And when he woke up, a boy who later introduced himself as Samuel was taking care of him. The two became fast friends, even if Sam didn't think they were friends. Leo liked the other boy very much, and protected him with everything he had; his reflexes, his speed, his endurance, his senses. And Sam protected him as well. No one flung insults at him when he moved away from their touch, or when he flinched as the moved their arm too fast.
No one laughed at him.
Leo loved it, still loves it.
But after a while, he wanted to find his mother. He wasn't sure what he'd do to the woman, but he knew he wanted to hurt her. The bruises had long since faded from his skin, but they were still there. He was broken. No one would love him after what his mother had done to him...
Appearance: With fair skin that looks as if it has never touched the light, Leo's skin tone drifts fairly near what an albino's would be, though there is pigment enough to it. His clear blue eyes stand harshly out from that same skin, which is very nearly markless. Only a few scars stretch across his palms, which are black in coloration, old burns, and a single scar stretches from beneath his left eye, across his nose, and on to beneath his right eye, a recently aquired wound (let's just say that sometimes, it's not smart to annoy people). They, other than the ocasional freckle are the only things that mar Leo's skin. His hair is fairly odd in coloring, grey with a black tip on each strand, and it is soft, like a cat's fur. However, his hair rarely lays down neatly like a cat's does, and his ears, which are grey with black tips as well, often make his hair appear even more messy than it actually is. His tail, which often pokes out from a conveniently placed hole in his pants, is grey mostly, with a black tip, and the fur along it is fairly long.
Leo typically finds himself dressed in athletic wear that emphasizes his lean muscles and the power that they disguise. He's not in your face strong, but in the manner of a cat, he is strong. His muscles aren't obvious, but they are there, and are capable of helping him leap several feet from the ground. He's not likely to advertise his strength, however, and it typically missed by people who observe him.
- Height: 5 feet, 9 inches
- Weight: 160 pounds
- Hair Color: Grey with black tips
- Eye color: Blue
- Special Features: Ears and tail, grey with black tips. Better reflexes, speed, endurance, and senses than a typical human. Nails, if left to grow more than a week, will become claws.
