Rex
rex’s character profile!
The abandoned heir of a lost legacy with dreams only of freedom.
Character Name / Nicknames / Aliases:
- Real name: Valyn (might change, not sure if i like it)
- Assumed name: Rex (changed upon his adoption)
- Family name TBD
Age: 20
Birth Date: March 1
Place of Birth: Verscate
Residence: Seloritia
Height: 5’11
Weight: 150~
Build: Don’t really have specific measurements, but he’s got a more muscular build than Leo. He’s only 150 lbs, so we’re not talking Hulk or anything, but strong nonetheless.
Clothing Sizes / Styles: same caveats as leo! that is, i am not really attached to these designs at all. they’re pretty much just the first things that came into my head.
Work: Usually works the front end of the shop, since he’s not as mechanically proficient. His work clothes are just a simple shirt and pants, with some kind of simple apron (pocket-free!) that is cleaner than the rest of his clothes.
Casual / Combat: He put together an outfit that’s easy to move around in. He wears some light brown, almost leather-looking knee-length shorts, which are pretty uncommon. I’m thinking maybe an offwhite shirt? But that’s kind of boring. And I really don’t know what other accessories to give him, beyond the sword sheathes he wears. They look like.. http://blackoutballad.tumblr.com/post/22444739014/dirk-strider-and-dave-strider-weapon-s-of these. Worn more like Dave’s, but there are two of them, like Dirk’s. I feel like he should also have some kind of throwing weapons, since he’s also a decent marksman from all the time he spent training with a bow.
Formal: A very unimaginative Victorian outfit. Imagine something a Victorian age mother would pick out for her son, because that’s exactly what happened. Totally unable to protest his way out of wearing it, he just succumbed to whatever his adoptive mother decided on for him. He drew the line at the top hat, absolutely refusing to wear it. She allowed him at least that much.
He also owns a less traditional, more modern suit and tie outfit that was starting to emerge in Verscate. He doesn’t wear it because of the attention and suspicion it would draw, but he thinks fondly of the outfit, unlike many of his other keepsakes, which simply serve as reminders of his abandonment.
The gloves that Leo made for Rex are skin-tight black. They extend a little onto the wrist, which is where the the rune compartment is. His compartment also looks something like a watch.
Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: Short, but maybe a little longer than Leo’s. His adoptive elder sister likes to ruffle it - so it needs to be long enough for that to actually happen.
Eye Color: idk. maybe something weird like purple. but i like blue. but in the end, i don’t really care that much.
Handedness: Right
Accessories: Maybe some aviator goggles (something minimal, and often resting on his head rather than actually wearing them)? And maybe he likes to pin a flower on his shirt? Other than that, he doesn’t wear any, but owns some of his mother’s.
Tattoos: None
General Appearance: Generally appears a little aloof and uninterested, unless something he likes is involved. These things include, but are not limited to: Leon, exploring old ruins, swordplay, and archery. For this reason, he doesn’t usually interact with the customers and instead tends to the maintenance of the shop.
He doesn’t care much to keep himself looking prim and proper, so his casual and even his work clothes are more wrinkly than most.
Relationship with Family: Barely interested in anyone other than Leo. The ‘lay down the law’ attitude his adoptive mother had clashed quickly with Rex’s boyish rebelliousness. Coupled with the idea that this woman was a replacement for his real mother, who he loved dearly, caused Rex to never like her that much. When they interact, yelling is almost inevitable.
His adoptive father actually somewhat reminded him of his real mother, leading to a more ‘i don’t hate you’ relationship. Rex had a hard time getting away from the idea of abandonment by his parents, though, so his relationship with his adoptive father never managed to flourish into quite the father/son relationship they had hoped for. (But it does just about get there when they leave home!)
Beyond his relationship with Leo, his best friend within the family is his elder adoptive sister. She has been the one who tends the front end of the shop for quite some time, which is where Rex ultimately ended up working. Since he didn’t previously have any siblings, and they ended up spending so much time together, she took on more of a motherly role in a way her mother could not.
Relationship with Friends: Has at least one friend from around town who takes an interest in him. For a long time, they (her, rex, leo, and at least one other boy) are just good friends. She eventually starts to have feelings for him (??). She often consults his sister on the matter, causing the two women to bond. For this reason, it is easier for him to ask her to replace him in the shop when the boys leave home. The relationship may not happen, or it will remain unresolved until later in the story.
Educational History: Had the best education available in the known world from the ages of 5 to 10, until the razing of Verscate. He was then placed in the same tutelage as his adoptive siblings until around 14 or 15, when formal schooling had essentially concluded. From there, he spent a few years under the eye of some of the combat instructors from the church, when he wasn’t busy working the shop.
Work History: Similar to Leo, Rex spent his boyhood working hours helping their sister tend to the front end of the shop. While Leo eventually moved to behind the scenes to work on various repair projects, Rex remained in the front with his sister. She taught him to better interact with others - taking special care to show him how to be a proper gentleman (something he struggles with anyway) - and turned the occasional blind eye when he wanted to spend the day training at the church instead of working.
Skills: Mostly in weapons and combat. Proficient with a sword from years of training, and competent with a bow from the occasional foray into that. He’s also quick of mind as well as body. He didn’t become an engineer mostly out of spite, rather than lack of proficiency. He is able to understand how things work pretty quickly, he just often doesn’t care.
Phobias / Fears:
- Further abandonment. Unlike his brother, he’s more conscious of this tendency. He doesn’t want people getting close, because he doesn’t want them to leave him behind again. He has absolutely no problem bringing people in to keep them at arm’s length, though.
I want to make a note here that this makes them sound kind of too similar in this regard. It’s true that they both fear abandonment and try not to let people get too close, but their motivations are a little different. Leo is more clingy and desires affection and doesn’t want to let it go once he has it. Rex has issues stemming from his abandonment, and doesn’t want people to get close because he’s afraid they’re just going to hurt him again. But he makes an exception for Leo, because being totally alone is the pits, and Leo’s able to understand his pain better than Rex expected anyone to because he has similar fears.
Bad Habits / Vices:
- Not giving a shit. No, seriously. If you don’t have anything that is personally interesting to Rex, he has a bad habit of not even giving you the time of day. You don’t approach Rex. Rex approaches you. Catching his attention and impressing him from a distance with some sort of feat is the way to win his heart.
Quirks: TBD
Best Qualities: WIP
Worst Qualities: WIP
Key Childhood Experiences: Childhood trauma surrounding his backstory! Which is covered below. As a result, he doesn’t care for anything that his father stood for, since he somehow finds out it was his father’s decision. Plus, he could never hate his mother.
Key Teenage Experiences: Sort of lost in the ‘growing up’ montage. Highlights include bonding with his new sister, and learning to fight with a sword and shoot a bow. He even gets to shoot a rifle a couple times.
Key Adult Experiences: Again, the main story!
Sexual Background: I’m inclined to say that he has at least had some sex. Using a combination of what his sister taught him of being a gentleman and his own go-get-‘em attitude, he could probably bed quite a few women without much protest. I don’t think he finds much enjoyment in meaningless sex, though, so he probably tried it out a few times for fun when he was a teenager and then stopped.
Favorites (food, clothing, art, music, TV show, movie, book, etc.): TBD
Personal / Professional Goals: To get out. He wants to see the world. Though he’s loathe to admit it, he inherited his father’s curiosity. He wants to know why the edge of the world is covered in mist, and why nobody seems to be able to get through it. But he knows it’s dangerous to dig up secrets, so he wants to be stronger. He sort of blockheadedly assumes Leo can cover the smarts for him, and so he just needs to be physically strong enough to cover the both of them.
He spends some of his free time reading some pretty escapist stuff, and it inspires him to uncover the mysteries of his own world.
Morality / Ethics: TBD
Style of Speech: Since the first 10 or so years of his life he was raised as a noble, he has a lot of ‘high speech’ quirks. This means he’s likely to clearly enunciate words, and doesn’t use contractions very often. This makes him very adept at acting ‘holier than thou’ and dismissive, but he doesn’t go that far into abrasive and rude very often.
Commonly Used Words / Slang / Jargon: TBD
Other Important Details:
1. His backstory is sort of important! The son of a renowned researcher of the most technologically advanced city, Verscate, his family escaped on the night of its razing. While his father was known by name and face outside of the city, his son was not, and so Rex was left with an old family friend at around age 7.
His adoptive father then claimed that he was the son of his sister, a woman who made some poor descisions in her life. She had no husband, Rex was said to be born as the result of an affair. She succumbed to some nondescript malaise and had no one to take care of her son except her brother.
The sister, in truth, really did exist and really did die of malaise, but she had no children. It may or may not come up in the story that she really did have an affair. The man could be some sort of plot device.
2. He’s got some kind of complex going on because of his ‘abandonment,’ as he sees it. He was left behind by his parents, and so he feels betrayed by them. What’s more, they left behind one hell of a legacy, which makes him feel like he should be able to accomplish great things just to get out of his father’s shadow.
He doesn’t deal well with the pressure - which, i should add, is something he just sort of imposes on himself (maybe??? maybe his father left him some sort of note that says he expects great things or something??). So he focuses a lot of his attention outward as a method of escape, and ends up dreaming about discovering the secrets of the mist, or being strong enough to explore the more dangerous ruins.
