Name: Leopold Puerulus Age: 16 Gender: Male Race: Hylian Place of Origin: Hyrule Castle Guard PWC: 3/4/2 Treasures: Hero's Legacy Spin Attack Sense Kuro’s Fang (Goron Iron Sword, -5 rupees) Melee Magic (-90) 5 Rupees Height: 5’9’’ Weight: 146 lbs Equipment: His trusty sword, and some light iron plates over his tunic, his forearms and his forelegs. He also has a bow and arrows, but he prefers not to use them since replacing the arrows gets expensive. Appearance: A bit scruffy and tired looking. His black hair is long and wavy, but a bit shaggy. Leo’s a tad shorter than usual and rather skinny, since he has not lived comfortably for some time. His eyes are a pleasant brown but always look a little bit sad. He could be handsome if he ever had time to clean up, but he’s generally busy with several jobs trying to survive. Under his armor plates he wears a green sleeveless tunic and a blue pair of loose trousers. Personality: Rather gloomy by default, and can switch from socialization to work mode and vice versa in the blink of an eye. He is also a bit impatient and becomes easily irritated when people fool around on the job. Despite this seriousness during missions, he is loose enough off-duty, which is unfortunately almost never, and as such his social skills are somewhat lacking. He does care for other people, though, and is quite gentle in spite of his occupation. He is optimistic in a rather roundabout way, thinking that since he has so little to lose he can go all-out in everything. Residence: He has a run-down shack with a saggy bed and a near-empty bookcase. It’s surprisingly clean considering its conditions. Backstory: Leo’s not a lucky man. Right from the start his parents were struggling to get by, in a turbulent marriage and then his father committed suicide. It should be noted that he was five at the time. His mother, having been dragged into the marriage unwillingly, due to a moment’s spur of passion, disowned him and left him on the streets. The boy had no idea what was happening. Thankfully, the marriage had always been of the shotgun variety and as such his uncle was a blacksmith in Castle Town, ready for such an occasion. The kindly man took him in, even though he had a hard time getting the boy to trust him. However, Leopold’s stomach talked for him and it would not be budged in this matter. It took a long time for him to speak to this stranger. Longer still to stop thinking of him as a stranger. And he was never entirely sure if he trusted him or not. However, the blacksmith clearly had problems of his own. Every once in a while some odd people in suits showed up at his door and they began shouting at the blacksmith, and he at them. It was very disconcerting, and it reminded him vaguely of his parents. At age eight when he asked what the arguments were about, the only answer he got was one word: “money.” He didn’t know why this was so important, but he decided to do his part. He worked odd jobs. Cutting grass, carrying packages(across town if need be, even on a time limit), anything for those little rupee sums. It wasn’t much but he thought he could help just a little. He even began busying himself about the house; cleaning, dishes, cooking, carrying materials, anything. Anything if it could make the shouting stop. At age ten he was getting the swing of things. He could do the jobs quickly and efficiently and his housework was improving. Around this time he picked up an odd fixation with the guards; he knew not what this was, but he suspected it was because their armor was so shiny and clean and new. Unlike most things he ever saw, other than his uncle’s work. For some reason he asked if he could have a sword. The blacksmith just laughed. He told him he’d make a sword with the best materials he had, but Leo might have to wait until he was bigger to wield it. Make it he did. And indeed, the thing was too long for him, too difficult to balance yet. So it waited, sheathed. At age thirteen his fixation had grown to the point that he wanted to join the soldiers rather than just watch and imitate them. His uncle was against it, but had recently fallen on hard times and Leopold managed to talk him into it. They lied about his age and said he was simply small for his age; which was true, but not to the extent they made it sound like. It was a small miracle that he was actually allowed in. During his time he finally unsheathed the blade made for him and learned some of its ways, and learned from the mages some basic magical theory. Age fifteen. The debts were getting worse. The odd jobs and soldier’s pay weren’t cutting it. Leopold was forced to steal away from home in the dead of night and sneak into a gambling ring. It was far from humane and definitely illegal. The subject being gambled on were human battles. Desperate men and boys like him lashed out at one another with half-cocked blows. The first battle he lost, unaccustomed to street fights. In doing so, as the black horse, he racked up a massive debt from those who did bet on him. But he learned quick, very quick. The next bout was completely one-sided, his favor. He climbed the ranks fast. Random street rats were no match for a trained soldier who learned the art of dirty fighting. Ironically, this skyrocketing growth actually hindered him rather than helped him; the first few times he was still a black horse and no one would bet on him. By the time people placed bets on him he was widely known and the odds of his winning were too great to incur great payoff. And the very few fights he did lose only worsened the problem. Age sixteen. Present day. Uncle Kuro the blacksmith recently died of natural causes. Leopold can’t keep this up any longer. He needs more money, and he needs it now, and he knows this, he is painfully, agonizingly aware of it. The debt collectors are howling for blood and he can barely keep them at bay. He now has incurred yet more debt from his late uncle’s lands. Desperate, he crawls to HAREON’s doors to try and get a higher income. He doesn’t have any idea if he can make it in or not but he’s going to try for all he’s worth. Do or die time.
