Post by luigi on Apr 16, 2010 7:15:34 GMT 11
Name: Haroildo Kingston
Gender: Male
Age: 45 (Out of character note: Yes, really. XD I want to play an older character, as a change from all the probable younger ones.)
Appearance: Haroildo’s tall stature frequently makes him look like an over-sized stick figure, for he really didn’t eat enough nutritious food as a child, his family buying only pretty things that looked good-but were no good to anyone in the long run-and this is the reason for him being as under-weight as he is, although he did try to sneak some vegetables and fruit form the pantry on occasions back then, and so he’s not so skinny that you can see his ribs poking out from his sides, or his skin being all stretchy or anything. His face is lined with age, these wrinkles tending to be mostly around his mouth-due to the number of times he has had to force a smile to ‘please’ his wealthy cousins whom often came to visit, and his parents made him do this-and these smiles cause bad wrinkles, because they were not meant-only used to try and ‘become popular’ with these cousins. However-when Hershlin smiles and means it-his smile appears slowly, like it almost doesn’t belong on his serious face, and light up his face-a sight to see indeed. He has brown hair, usually kept neat and tidy - though due to his favorite short black bowler hat which he always takes with him, you can’t really see his hair that well, except from the back of his head. His dark brown eyes seem to have an air of questioning eternally about them, hinting towards his love for mysterious things somewhat. The rest of his face is rather plain-no good or bad thing to be further said about it in general.
His clothes are perhaps the only hint of his earlier life-for although he hated his old life a lot in parts, he did not mind learning to become a gentleman and wearing some of the fancy clothes. This is indicated by his favorite short top hat, which is a shiny black and something he is never seen without. He also wears a white lab coat-like jacket, the collar of which always sticks out, and it always has a white rose bud in the top buttonhole - but under the said coat, he simply wears a common-place long-sleeved red-shaded T-Shirt that you could probably find just about anywhere, and said T-shirt is frayed at the sleeves, and very dirty there, due to the fact Haroildo has had it a very long time, and worn it during the majority of his pok’emon-related work in the past, which is generally very rough and tumble work. He also wears long blue jeans, which are also frayed and dirtied at the ends for the same reason the T-shirt is, and they have definitely seen better days, being quite faded as well. His black work shoes are frequently polished, but even though Haroildo takes good care of them, it still does not escape the fact that the shoes have many scratches on them, due to his previous work with pokemon.
Personality: Haroildo is a person who may seem like the type to look down one’s nose at another, mainly because of his fancy clothes. However, to judge based on merely his appearance alone would be folly, for he is a gentleman, through and through-always willing to spare a considerate thought for others, kind and he always tries to help those in trouble, even if it were to land himself in dire straights. Yes, even if a person was a right royal pain in the behind to him, he cannot ignore anyone in trouble, even if they are bad. This is both a good and bad thing-good because he could be a rock of support when nobody else seems to care; a bad thing because if the person is horrible and cruel, he will still aid them, for ‘everyone deserves a second chance’ in Hershlin’s eyes. His sympathy knows no bounds, it is easy to see. Hershlin, however, for all his kindness to those in trouble, is a rather quiet person-not tending to say anything after aiding a person and walking off before they get the chance to thank him, for he believes that he has already gotten a ‘reward’ at seeing how happy the person is at being aided.
Haroildo, to people he knows, is loyal, and is quite happy to share his years of experience and wisdom with those he trusts-and he is quite smart. Perhaps this is where his love of riddles came from-for he adores such logical brain-teasers, and things that are a challenge to the brain, and will often offer to give a few of the riddles he loves so much to those he really knows. Haroildo may seem serious – and he is - due to the fact that following rules and protecting the rights of others are very important to him, but he has a hidden playfulness that only shows itself when around young children. He will often happily tell them all sorts of interesting stories, and generally make a fool of himself if it means making a child happy-and this might cause others to think low of him, but he doesn’t care. He adores them that much-and the way he acts around children is such a change from the calm, poised Haroildo that he normally is that it could cause a few unwelcome surprises for him…especially concerning women.
Haroildo doesn’t mind women, being the gentleman he tries to be-but he doesn’t like the idea of ‘romantic implications’ or ‘honeymoons’ and the like. Truly, if a woman suggests this to him, he will state politely that he has to be going-he’s always polite-before running like the wind, as if the Houndooms of Hades themselves were after him. Dear oh dear… there are so many troubles that could arise from this fear of being tied down and unable to explore for him it isn’t funny. Or maybe it is, depending on who looks at it. He is honest-though he ALWAYS tells the truth, even when he shouldn’t be, which is bad-for example, he will NOT say to a lady that she looks good in a dress that resembles a tacky moth-eaten curtain, and will probably get smacked right upside the face for telling the truth in such a matter.
And also- his smarts can also be bad as well as good, for they also give him the tendency to have a sarcastic sense of humor, which he tends to use at the worst possible times-thus tending to land him into trouble. However, usually he is calm and collected, thinking things through before doing-which can be a bad thing also, for when you ask him a question, more likely than not he will think at great length about the question before giving a very detailed answer that will seem to stretch on and on and on.
As never-ending as his patience seems at times, it does not last forever. He will patiently endure the annoyance for quite a while, as if trying to give the person a chance to back off before they strike a nerve - before making the calm suggestion to the offender to ‘please stop’ - but if they keep pressing his patience, then he will unleash his sarcastic side at the soonest opportunity, and although he is hard to get angry-when he is mad, his temper is like an erupting volcano, he stating hard facts to the offender and speaking very indigently indeed-and he will lose all respect for that person who pushes him to that level, once he has calmed down-which can obviously end in catastrophic results.
And another bad point about him is that, despite him being kind, he will not speak to anybody he doesn’t know, being terribly unused to the company of others and thus this makes him slightly shy - but people can often mis-interpret this as snobbery, or him being too stuck-up to talk to anybody. It is just that, with the enclosed life he has led for the majority of his years - it has made him uneasy in the presence of those he doesn’t know. Thus, he is used to his own company, but dislikes it terribly-it makes him ever so lonely, and one can catch him out of the corner of his eyes watching groups of children at play wistfully, with a longing expression on his aged face, or watching after a person with lots of pok’emon silently-however, he never does this when he thinks someone is watching, quickly turning his face to an expressionless, blank one if he does sense someone is watching-for people have always made fun of him for wanting companionship, and he does not really wish to go through that kind of taunting again-but that is one thing he wants, above all else. Companionship…to have people like him for who he is and not his background name.
History: This narrator is sorry to say that Haroildo’s mother and father were not very nice people at all. They both thought themselves ‘higher up’ than everyone else, being brought up in a rich society and getting everything they wanted: and they married because they both saw they had this desire to become even better and not have to bother with those ‘commoners’ anymore. However, they were told by the rich society which they were a part of that in order to progress higher up in rank - they had to have a son that could carry on the family bloodline. Though Ceceila fell pregnant, they had a daughter which they called Isabella, not a son. Nonetheless, they saw her as a key part of progressing in rank, anyway. Of course, they didn’t emotionally care for her at all and left the caring and education stuff to their personal butler, Joan Liston. The butler wished he could have said something to the hateful Ceceila and horrid Farguad, but kept his mouth shut: right now, he was more concerned about the little girl than her horrid parents. He wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of by SOMEONE, at least: and so took care of her like she was his own daughter.
As Cecelia and Farguad kept at their selfish attempts, they decided to visit an area near Hearthrome City – where they lived – which was well known for effective herbal remedies. Despite the commoners being beneath them, they were willing to try anything at that point. On their investigations of the stalls, they saw an old lady – who, unknown to them, was a powerful psychic and the town’s fortune teller. Her physical appearance made it very clear she was a psychic, and the two horrible ‘parents’ (if they could even be called that) were very rude to her, calling her a ‘freak’ and several other things which this narrator cannot say due to them being too rude to type and children could be reading this. If that wasn’t bad enough, they waited till nobody else was around but them, and completely WRECKED the stall she was working at. The old lady was furious. She spoke out that the two would have a son: but because of their selfishness and cruelty, he would be against everything they stood for eventually, and eventually disown them – leaving them with nothing in their selfish endeavours. She was going to curse the son to make sure that happened, she said. The two laughed and scoffed at such words, and went along their business. Now, the herbal medicine that Cecelia took was indeed helpful – or maybe it was the old lady’s curse that did it – but they did have a son.
Haroildo was born on a cold October morning, into the Kingston name: and fro, the moment he was born, his mother and father both started planning to organize a marriage to an eligible bachelorette-in order to keep their family name ‘important’ and ‘secure’ in the upper-class world of politics and back-stabbing~and that was all he was to them. A toll to get higher up in the world, and so they dismissed his birth as nothing more than a fortunate event to make them eventually get even higher in the world than they already were. They hated him because of the ‘curse’. As if ignoring poor Isabella wasn’t bad enough – Haroildo probably had it worse because they despised him, thinking it was all HIS fault he’d been born that way. They didn’t bother to take care of him that much, either, and the care and education of the young boy fell to the ever-suffering butler of the estate, Joan Liston. Oh, how that butler hated them both, and all the other members of the ‘Kingston’ name besides Isabelle and a man called George, who was wise enough to get away from all that while he still could - Joan wished he, too, could get away from all this, but this was the only venue which he could go to receive enough pay to survive, as times were hard at the period of Haroildo’s birth. And if he didn’t do a proper job of it, the master and mistress would have his head-and so, he rather reluctantly took up the care of the boy as well as the girl. However-taking care of two children at once would affect anyone, and Joan found himself feeling happy for once in the Kingston house, for Haroildo -unlike the master and mistress-did not treat him like trash.
In fact, since he was raised by the butler and saw more of him than his parents, he began to look up to him as someone really awesome. The boy took to studies well; Joan noticed-he had such a curiosity about him that made him a delight to teach. However, this curiosity was a bad thing, also-Joan noticed over the years teaching him about things. One day, when Haroildo was learning about Pok’emon from Joan, his father came in to check up on the lesson. Delighted to see his father, Haroildo said to him, “Papa! Papa, won’t you please sit down and listen to Mister Joan’s lesson?” The father looked down on his son with a cold, calculating glare - but the boy didn’t give up, saying in a happy tone – childishly, naively hoping that this tone would rouse his dad’s interest- “It’s all about Pokeh-mons and how people all over the world are friends with them.” His father laughed at this, saying, “Friends? FRIENDS? Haroildo …pok’emon are not our FRIENDS. They are underlings-mere TOOLS, if anything.” Haroildo tilted his head to the side in bewilderment at this statement-what his father was saying was in vast difference to what the books he loved having read to him said, and he couldn’t help not ending the conversation to ask, “But…why? They’re alive like us…so, shouldn’t they be respected the same?” His father said, fixing Haroildo with a stern look, “They don’t have the same intelligence as us-not one of them are even close! Why should we, as the smarter species, treat low-down, common creatures such as those with respect? Now, I need to go to a meeting with lord Englismith next door. Good day.” And with that, he left the room, leaving Haroildo confused and rather hurt-why would his own father say such things? It didn’t make sense.
This wasn’t the only time that Haroildo’s curiosity landed him in trouble-a few weeks before the prior incident, Joan was conversing with the boy about how to act around his cousins when they visited in a month’s time ~ when just outside the window, they saw a group of kids at the mansion’s gates, looking in through the gates grumpily-for a ball of theirs had been kicked too high, and into one of the Kingston’s trees. Haroildo looked at the kids curiously, asking his tutor, “Look! Other kids! How come I never met other kids like that?” Joan sighed sadly, before saying, “You’ve been privately tutored most of your life-with no other class-mates. In a normal school-most children learn with not only a teacher, but with classmates too. Your parents…don’t think it’s proper for you to merge with the common kids about here…but…” He paused, looking around to see if anyone was watching, before saying with a small hint of a smile on his face, “I won’t tell anyone if you sneak off and go say hi to them. Go on, Harold.” The butler called Haroildo ‘Harold’ by name all the time, at least when the master and mistress weren’t within ear-shot because he felt more comfortable calling him that than the fancy name his parents had given him. Haroildo’s eyes lit up, he saying, “R-really? Th-thank you so much…I’ll go get the library ladder to help them get their ball down, and then maybe we can play!” However, Haroildo’s joy was soon to be doused-for even though he was able to get the ladder and retrieve the ball for the kids, their response upon being asked if they’d like to play was, “What? A fancy-pants like you wants to play wit’ COMMONERS like us? You’re probably just doin’ this to get at our lunch money!” The leader of the group, a boy with bright orange hair stated, wrinkling his nose at Haroildo. Haroildo shook his head honestly-he wanted to say that this wasn’t the case-that he just wanted to make friends-but he found the words being stuck in his mouth-unable to come out, so used he was to his solitary life that he felt shy around these strangers, though he would like to be friends.
Unable to respond, Haroildo sadly passed the ball back to the orange-haired boy through the gates, watching the group dart off with a wistful expression. He so wished that he could have some nice friends like that - Joan was great and all, but…he saw Joan as more of a parental figure. He suddenly found himself wishing his family didn’t have such a big and important background - so then he could play with those kids no problem. Companionship ~ it was something he was sorely lacking, and wanted - for only Joan and his big sister paid proper attention to him, for their mother and father gave Isabella more attention than she wanted, and would often escape from her ‘how to be a proper lady’ training to be with her little brother - one of the sole sources of comfort to her in these times. She could be herself around him and not be frowned at, and he didn’t mind exploring the parts of the mansion that were mysterious and dusty with her. They shared a very close bond, and Joan often found himself wishing the two could have had better, more responsible parents…one day, when the two were exploring, they found a stairway that had never been used-and Isabella was intrigued, saying, “Hey, look lil’ brother! I’ve never seen that staircase before…let’s go investigate!” Haroildo nodded; following his big sister up the staircase-and what a sight met their eyes. Old photo books that had never been read - mysterious bits of parchment that had obviously been ripped - what did it all mean? Haroildo looked around curiously, and saw something in the shadows- his curiosity would not let him walk away, and so he walked up to it-it was a half-destroyed document, and the writing was barley legible. Finding an urge to solve this mystery welling up inside him, Haroildo reached out to grab this document-but he’d only gotten his arm outstretched halfway when it met a sticky, string-like substance.
Haroildo tried to escape-but the more he pulled, the more the substance stuck to him and got entangled. Frantically, Haroildo called for his sister-but to his horror, he saw that he’d been separated from her in his curiosity of the document. As he struggled, he felt spindly legs grab at his arm, and turned to see an Ariados eyeing him hungrily, venom dripping from it’s long fangs. The boy shouted in fear as the spider grabbed his arm tightly, preparing to sink it’s fangs in for the kill-and the boy would have no doubt became the spider’s lunch if someone had not intervened then. A sudden cold gust of wind blew through the attic-although there were no windows open whatsoever, the spider hissing at the direction the wind came from angrily, taking it’s beady eyes off Haroildo for a moment. Haroildo managed to slip his arm out of the spider’s grasp while it was distracted-though it’s web still held him tight. The spider, however, noticed his movements and turned to him, fangs glowing purple as it hissed at him-but suddenly, the spider screeched, and fell backwards, the sheer force of it’s weight cutting it’s web-as if it had been struck from behind by an invisible force. Haroildo took his chance and ran a good distance away from the bug-but he couldn’t take his eyes of it. His sister, having heard the struggle, rushed over-and her eyes went wide at seeing the large spider on it’s back on the floor. The spider got up, hissing angrily and spitting web at seemingly thin air-but it was revealed not to be thin air, and the web struck an object, bringing it into a view-it was an odd round purple face that had fog surrounding it. The revealed creature let out a creepy cry, before it’s eyes began to glow a bright red, fixing the spider in a trance-and making it fall asleep. The figure then began to glow purple, seeming to drain energy from the spider, the arachnid twitching violently several times before it lay still, defeated.
Haroildo and Isabella were safe from the spider-and Haroildo said suddenly, “I…I recognize that creature! I learnt about in from Joan’s books on Pok’emon…it’s a Ghost-type pok’emon called Gastly, I think.” “D-d you think it wants to hurt us..?” Isabella questioned, shivering. The ghost turned towards them with a cheeky grin, before cackling in a playful tone and sticking it’s tongue out at them in a most amusing manner, which made both the kids laugh - but then the ghost vanished altogether. The kids stared at the empty space where the ghost had been, before Haroildo finally said, “I think…I think that ghost was just happy to see someone up here, and wanted to help…at least, that’s the feeling I get. But…what was a Ghost-type doing in our attic, of all places..?” This question remained unanswered as the two mad either way back down, not wishing to stick around for when the spider woke up, Haroildo shivering violently and only being too happy to get out of there-this is where his Arachnophobia first originated from. When they both went down and told Joan of the events, he sighed-saying, “Those parents of yours…they should have locked that place up properly, knowing your curiosity and all. But I am glad to see you both unharmed.”
Haroildo said, still shaking with fear at remembering the event, “Jo-Joan…do you know what that place is for?” Joan said, “Ah ~ you see, a long time ago-your father was a pok’emon trainer. However-on his journeys, he was attacked by a wild pok’emon-making him lose all trust in pok’emon altogether, and making him see them only as tools…therefore, he ripped up his trainer’s license, and threw it away-and he also threw his pok’eballs away. That bit of document you saw Haroildo, which was half destroyed…was most likely his old license. The Ariados…I’m sad to say that most likely, it is one of your father’s old pok’emon that escaped from it’s damaged pok’eball somehow…I do not know how it found it’s way back here, but it was most likely angry at being disowned, and thus wished to get revenge…that being the most logical reason it would attack you, Harold...the Gastly, too, is one of your father’s pok’emon-but it, unlike it’s companion, shows no anger at being disowned, and likes floating about the place-therefore, when it saw it’s old team-mate posed for revenge, it naturally wanted to stop the spider from doing such cruelty-after all, your father did the act, not your yourself, Harold. That is what I can make of all these events.” Haroildo was shocked, as was Isabella at this, and Joan said, “Now….you two must not tell anyone what I just said to you. Your father would most likely fire me if he knew that I told you such things...he has no feelings now, I’m sure of it. That attack…ruined his old personality, and made him twisted…and I do not think it would be right to tell anyone else.” Isabella and Haroildo both said, “We promise we won’t tell anyone…”
Haroildo, when he went to bed that night, couldn’t believe that his father could be as twisted as Joan made him out to be-but he soon did believe this, for a week after the Ariados incident, his cousins came over to visit. His mother took a lot of attention of him on the day before they arrived, saying, “Now Haroildo…you must ALWAYS smile when your cousins are around. Yes-and you can’t wear these old clothes, no dearie me! You must get a suit for the occasion-it is a very important affair.” Haroildo stared at her in bewilderment, but he had no time to say anything as his father grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off to have the suit fitted. Haroildo hated the suit-it made him itch, and it was far too tight. Those clothes made him so uncomfortable…but when he politely suggested this to his father-the man did a horrible thing. He lashed out-and hit his own boy. Right across the face, and sent him sprawling. The man hissed, “Ungrateful little brat-you’ll wear what WE tell you to!” Haroildo staggered, attempting to get up-tears stinging his face. But-upon seeing these tears, the male went further, and said, “Pathetic…just a pathetic waste of time you are. Joan! DEAL with this…I’m going to get changed.” Haroildo held in a sob. His father…his own father…had called him pathetic and a waste of time. But Joan-Joan lifted the boy up, and said, “Shhh-it’ll be alright. Harold…I have an idea. The master said you had to wear A suit-he didn’t say which one, now did he?” Haroildo shook his head meekly, upon which Joan smiled, heading to the nearby drawer and taking out a white jacket which the collar stuck up on, making it resemble a lab coat suit, as well as a black bowler hat. Joan smiled as he handed these to the boy, saying, “Here…take this.” Haroildo put the hat on-but it was so big that it slid down to his small nose rather quickly, the boy laughing at this as he went to get changed-when he came back-wearing his favourite red T-Shirt with the jacket, and his favourite black pants and work-boots-he said, “This is way better than the uncomfortable suit! I like this hat, too, though it’s a bit big for me, hahaha. I’ll always keep clothes like this…thank you, Joan!”
Delighted as punch with his new clothes, Haroildo went to the dining room and put on a smile for his cousins-but he had to literately force the smile to stay there, for the cousins made fun of his big sister, who he respected, the whole time they were there. She ignored them-but Haroildo could tell she disliked their comments. But - Haroildo remembered that he must be a gentleman, for Joan’s sake…and so his sister didn’t get in trouble from his mother and father. The cousins, however-kept on visiting day after day, and Haroildo had to force a smile every single time. He found himself wishing again - that he had a more simple life. But Joan’s kindness towards him urged him on-as did his sister’s kindness. They were both so wonderful - and he had to be strong for their sake. However, the last straw for Haroildo, though, came many years later - when he had just become a teenager, in fact. His parents had organized a dance-a dance in their hall. Haroildo, as he stepped into the hall, found his heart beating wildly at seeing all these unknown people-all upper-class rich folk, of course. Now, the dance came - and everyone had to pick a partner of the opposite gender. Haroildo tried to get to his sister - he didn’t want to dance with someone he didn’t know - but, too late ~ a man with brown hair had already taken her for his dancing partner. Haroildo gulped nervously as a lady with long white hair took his hand-and they danced. Now, the lady talked while they were dancing-and Haroildo found himself disliking her, for she acted like a snobbish brat, to put it lightly-but imagine his horror when after the dance, he learned that his mother and father had arranged for him to MARRY that lady-even though he’d only just met her, and with no regard to his own thoughts and feelings whatsoever.
Haroildo tilted his bowler hat over his eyes so that his parents wouldn’t see the angered expression he had on his face - that did it. That was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’, so to speak, and that night, he got up really late - when he was sure his mother and father would be asleep - to tell his sister and Joan that he was catching the ferry to go live with his grand-father. Now, his grandfather had sent him a letter earlier today - Joan had arranged for Haroildo to be able to write to him since he was old enough to, since he thought they would enjoy writing to each other and all. George sympathized with the boy, and had come up with an idea - there was an open position in a school close to where he lived that had come up recently, and he suggested that Haroildo escape his parents and come live with him - apparently, George had given up the rich life long ago, and was all the more happier for it - thus, it was safe to say today’s events were making Haroildo want to go – but - he wanted to discuss it with his sister and Joan first-he didn’t want to leave them, despite the place sounding lovely. But Isabella and Joan smiled, saying that they would love to see Haroildo go off-for they were planning on doing the same thing, anyways. Sure - they weren’t going to the same place as him - but they had been planning it for a while now, they both having had enough too.
Haroildo was delighted to hear they wouldn’t stick around in the place - and this encouraged him to go. Now, when he got to George’s place-which was a house in the far-off Jhoto region, so there was less a chance of his parents finding him again, he didn’t take any money with him, purposely-he had enough of that stuff. As he furthered his education - he didn’t care that he was poor, and didn't have much in the form of possessions - for he was happier than he had ever been before. He wrote to Isabelle and Joan, and they sounded delighted with their new homes and lives as well. Haroildo still retained his curiosity, however, despite not many of the folk at the school paying attention to him, due to the fact he was shy for being secluded from contact with strangers for so long-and he decided to aim for a degree in studying the very thing his father detested- pok’emon, for the mysteries there were too tempting NOT to go and sort out.
Despite never fully understanding pok’emon as much as he studied them, he felt happy. His love for riddles and tendency to spout them off like a literal fountain became well-known there, also... As he worked on-however-he still felt lonely. One day, he decided he’d had enough – he was going to do something he should have done long ago, and become a trainer. Even if those in the place he graduated thought that becoming a trainer at HIS age would be impossible: he did not listen. He’d held it off far too long already. Thus starter Haroildo’s journey into the Jhoto region, he taking the soonest transport available to the lab area…
Other info: Haroildo suffers from Arachnophobia due to a nasty incident with an Ariados as a child, and as such is mortifiedly scared of Spinarak and Ariados in general: when he sees a spider, his fear becomes so bad that he is incapable of any sort of movements or words, and his pokemon shall be – in such a situation – forced to think for themselves. Once the spider is gone, Haroildo will relax again and apologize for what happened – though it will take him a good while to truly ‘calm down’ after such an event.
How did you find us?: Through Pokemon Torrenta, on the ‘affiliates’ bar. I do apologize if this is too long, but I really love putting depth into my characters's backgrounds...like they are part of a story. If it's too lengthy for you, simply say so and I will happily take out what I can.
Gender: Male
Age: 45 (Out of character note: Yes, really. XD I want to play an older character, as a change from all the probable younger ones.)
Appearance: Haroildo’s tall stature frequently makes him look like an over-sized stick figure, for he really didn’t eat enough nutritious food as a child, his family buying only pretty things that looked good-but were no good to anyone in the long run-and this is the reason for him being as under-weight as he is, although he did try to sneak some vegetables and fruit form the pantry on occasions back then, and so he’s not so skinny that you can see his ribs poking out from his sides, or his skin being all stretchy or anything. His face is lined with age, these wrinkles tending to be mostly around his mouth-due to the number of times he has had to force a smile to ‘please’ his wealthy cousins whom often came to visit, and his parents made him do this-and these smiles cause bad wrinkles, because they were not meant-only used to try and ‘become popular’ with these cousins. However-when Hershlin smiles and means it-his smile appears slowly, like it almost doesn’t belong on his serious face, and light up his face-a sight to see indeed. He has brown hair, usually kept neat and tidy - though due to his favorite short black bowler hat which he always takes with him, you can’t really see his hair that well, except from the back of his head. His dark brown eyes seem to have an air of questioning eternally about them, hinting towards his love for mysterious things somewhat. The rest of his face is rather plain-no good or bad thing to be further said about it in general.
His clothes are perhaps the only hint of his earlier life-for although he hated his old life a lot in parts, he did not mind learning to become a gentleman and wearing some of the fancy clothes. This is indicated by his favorite short top hat, which is a shiny black and something he is never seen without. He also wears a white lab coat-like jacket, the collar of which always sticks out, and it always has a white rose bud in the top buttonhole - but under the said coat, he simply wears a common-place long-sleeved red-shaded T-Shirt that you could probably find just about anywhere, and said T-shirt is frayed at the sleeves, and very dirty there, due to the fact Haroildo has had it a very long time, and worn it during the majority of his pok’emon-related work in the past, which is generally very rough and tumble work. He also wears long blue jeans, which are also frayed and dirtied at the ends for the same reason the T-shirt is, and they have definitely seen better days, being quite faded as well. His black work shoes are frequently polished, but even though Haroildo takes good care of them, it still does not escape the fact that the shoes have many scratches on them, due to his previous work with pokemon.
Personality: Haroildo is a person who may seem like the type to look down one’s nose at another, mainly because of his fancy clothes. However, to judge based on merely his appearance alone would be folly, for he is a gentleman, through and through-always willing to spare a considerate thought for others, kind and he always tries to help those in trouble, even if it were to land himself in dire straights. Yes, even if a person was a right royal pain in the behind to him, he cannot ignore anyone in trouble, even if they are bad. This is both a good and bad thing-good because he could be a rock of support when nobody else seems to care; a bad thing because if the person is horrible and cruel, he will still aid them, for ‘everyone deserves a second chance’ in Hershlin’s eyes. His sympathy knows no bounds, it is easy to see. Hershlin, however, for all his kindness to those in trouble, is a rather quiet person-not tending to say anything after aiding a person and walking off before they get the chance to thank him, for he believes that he has already gotten a ‘reward’ at seeing how happy the person is at being aided.
Haroildo, to people he knows, is loyal, and is quite happy to share his years of experience and wisdom with those he trusts-and he is quite smart. Perhaps this is where his love of riddles came from-for he adores such logical brain-teasers, and things that are a challenge to the brain, and will often offer to give a few of the riddles he loves so much to those he really knows. Haroildo may seem serious – and he is - due to the fact that following rules and protecting the rights of others are very important to him, but he has a hidden playfulness that only shows itself when around young children. He will often happily tell them all sorts of interesting stories, and generally make a fool of himself if it means making a child happy-and this might cause others to think low of him, but he doesn’t care. He adores them that much-and the way he acts around children is such a change from the calm, poised Haroildo that he normally is that it could cause a few unwelcome surprises for him…especially concerning women.
Haroildo doesn’t mind women, being the gentleman he tries to be-but he doesn’t like the idea of ‘romantic implications’ or ‘honeymoons’ and the like. Truly, if a woman suggests this to him, he will state politely that he has to be going-he’s always polite-before running like the wind, as if the Houndooms of Hades themselves were after him. Dear oh dear… there are so many troubles that could arise from this fear of being tied down and unable to explore for him it isn’t funny. Or maybe it is, depending on who looks at it. He is honest-though he ALWAYS tells the truth, even when he shouldn’t be, which is bad-for example, he will NOT say to a lady that she looks good in a dress that resembles a tacky moth-eaten curtain, and will probably get smacked right upside the face for telling the truth in such a matter.
And also- his smarts can also be bad as well as good, for they also give him the tendency to have a sarcastic sense of humor, which he tends to use at the worst possible times-thus tending to land him into trouble. However, usually he is calm and collected, thinking things through before doing-which can be a bad thing also, for when you ask him a question, more likely than not he will think at great length about the question before giving a very detailed answer that will seem to stretch on and on and on.
As never-ending as his patience seems at times, it does not last forever. He will patiently endure the annoyance for quite a while, as if trying to give the person a chance to back off before they strike a nerve - before making the calm suggestion to the offender to ‘please stop’ - but if they keep pressing his patience, then he will unleash his sarcastic side at the soonest opportunity, and although he is hard to get angry-when he is mad, his temper is like an erupting volcano, he stating hard facts to the offender and speaking very indigently indeed-and he will lose all respect for that person who pushes him to that level, once he has calmed down-which can obviously end in catastrophic results.
And another bad point about him is that, despite him being kind, he will not speak to anybody he doesn’t know, being terribly unused to the company of others and thus this makes him slightly shy - but people can often mis-interpret this as snobbery, or him being too stuck-up to talk to anybody. It is just that, with the enclosed life he has led for the majority of his years - it has made him uneasy in the presence of those he doesn’t know. Thus, he is used to his own company, but dislikes it terribly-it makes him ever so lonely, and one can catch him out of the corner of his eyes watching groups of children at play wistfully, with a longing expression on his aged face, or watching after a person with lots of pok’emon silently-however, he never does this when he thinks someone is watching, quickly turning his face to an expressionless, blank one if he does sense someone is watching-for people have always made fun of him for wanting companionship, and he does not really wish to go through that kind of taunting again-but that is one thing he wants, above all else. Companionship…to have people like him for who he is and not his background name.
History: This narrator is sorry to say that Haroildo’s mother and father were not very nice people at all. They both thought themselves ‘higher up’ than everyone else, being brought up in a rich society and getting everything they wanted: and they married because they both saw they had this desire to become even better and not have to bother with those ‘commoners’ anymore. However, they were told by the rich society which they were a part of that in order to progress higher up in rank - they had to have a son that could carry on the family bloodline. Though Ceceila fell pregnant, they had a daughter which they called Isabella, not a son. Nonetheless, they saw her as a key part of progressing in rank, anyway. Of course, they didn’t emotionally care for her at all and left the caring and education stuff to their personal butler, Joan Liston. The butler wished he could have said something to the hateful Ceceila and horrid Farguad, but kept his mouth shut: right now, he was more concerned about the little girl than her horrid parents. He wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of by SOMEONE, at least: and so took care of her like she was his own daughter.
As Cecelia and Farguad kept at their selfish attempts, they decided to visit an area near Hearthrome City – where they lived – which was well known for effective herbal remedies. Despite the commoners being beneath them, they were willing to try anything at that point. On their investigations of the stalls, they saw an old lady – who, unknown to them, was a powerful psychic and the town’s fortune teller. Her physical appearance made it very clear she was a psychic, and the two horrible ‘parents’ (if they could even be called that) were very rude to her, calling her a ‘freak’ and several other things which this narrator cannot say due to them being too rude to type and children could be reading this. If that wasn’t bad enough, they waited till nobody else was around but them, and completely WRECKED the stall she was working at. The old lady was furious. She spoke out that the two would have a son: but because of their selfishness and cruelty, he would be against everything they stood for eventually, and eventually disown them – leaving them with nothing in their selfish endeavours. She was going to curse the son to make sure that happened, she said. The two laughed and scoffed at such words, and went along their business. Now, the herbal medicine that Cecelia took was indeed helpful – or maybe it was the old lady’s curse that did it – but they did have a son.
Haroildo was born on a cold October morning, into the Kingston name: and fro, the moment he was born, his mother and father both started planning to organize a marriage to an eligible bachelorette-in order to keep their family name ‘important’ and ‘secure’ in the upper-class world of politics and back-stabbing~and that was all he was to them. A toll to get higher up in the world, and so they dismissed his birth as nothing more than a fortunate event to make them eventually get even higher in the world than they already were. They hated him because of the ‘curse’. As if ignoring poor Isabella wasn’t bad enough – Haroildo probably had it worse because they despised him, thinking it was all HIS fault he’d been born that way. They didn’t bother to take care of him that much, either, and the care and education of the young boy fell to the ever-suffering butler of the estate, Joan Liston. Oh, how that butler hated them both, and all the other members of the ‘Kingston’ name besides Isabelle and a man called George, who was wise enough to get away from all that while he still could - Joan wished he, too, could get away from all this, but this was the only venue which he could go to receive enough pay to survive, as times were hard at the period of Haroildo’s birth. And if he didn’t do a proper job of it, the master and mistress would have his head-and so, he rather reluctantly took up the care of the boy as well as the girl. However-taking care of two children at once would affect anyone, and Joan found himself feeling happy for once in the Kingston house, for Haroildo -unlike the master and mistress-did not treat him like trash.
In fact, since he was raised by the butler and saw more of him than his parents, he began to look up to him as someone really awesome. The boy took to studies well; Joan noticed-he had such a curiosity about him that made him a delight to teach. However, this curiosity was a bad thing, also-Joan noticed over the years teaching him about things. One day, when Haroildo was learning about Pok’emon from Joan, his father came in to check up on the lesson. Delighted to see his father, Haroildo said to him, “Papa! Papa, won’t you please sit down and listen to Mister Joan’s lesson?” The father looked down on his son with a cold, calculating glare - but the boy didn’t give up, saying in a happy tone – childishly, naively hoping that this tone would rouse his dad’s interest- “It’s all about Pokeh-mons and how people all over the world are friends with them.” His father laughed at this, saying, “Friends? FRIENDS? Haroildo …pok’emon are not our FRIENDS. They are underlings-mere TOOLS, if anything.” Haroildo tilted his head to the side in bewilderment at this statement-what his father was saying was in vast difference to what the books he loved having read to him said, and he couldn’t help not ending the conversation to ask, “But…why? They’re alive like us…so, shouldn’t they be respected the same?” His father said, fixing Haroildo with a stern look, “They don’t have the same intelligence as us-not one of them are even close! Why should we, as the smarter species, treat low-down, common creatures such as those with respect? Now, I need to go to a meeting with lord Englismith next door. Good day.” And with that, he left the room, leaving Haroildo confused and rather hurt-why would his own father say such things? It didn’t make sense.
This wasn’t the only time that Haroildo’s curiosity landed him in trouble-a few weeks before the prior incident, Joan was conversing with the boy about how to act around his cousins when they visited in a month’s time ~ when just outside the window, they saw a group of kids at the mansion’s gates, looking in through the gates grumpily-for a ball of theirs had been kicked too high, and into one of the Kingston’s trees. Haroildo looked at the kids curiously, asking his tutor, “Look! Other kids! How come I never met other kids like that?” Joan sighed sadly, before saying, “You’ve been privately tutored most of your life-with no other class-mates. In a normal school-most children learn with not only a teacher, but with classmates too. Your parents…don’t think it’s proper for you to merge with the common kids about here…but…” He paused, looking around to see if anyone was watching, before saying with a small hint of a smile on his face, “I won’t tell anyone if you sneak off and go say hi to them. Go on, Harold.” The butler called Haroildo ‘Harold’ by name all the time, at least when the master and mistress weren’t within ear-shot because he felt more comfortable calling him that than the fancy name his parents had given him. Haroildo’s eyes lit up, he saying, “R-really? Th-thank you so much…I’ll go get the library ladder to help them get their ball down, and then maybe we can play!” However, Haroildo’s joy was soon to be doused-for even though he was able to get the ladder and retrieve the ball for the kids, their response upon being asked if they’d like to play was, “What? A fancy-pants like you wants to play wit’ COMMONERS like us? You’re probably just doin’ this to get at our lunch money!” The leader of the group, a boy with bright orange hair stated, wrinkling his nose at Haroildo. Haroildo shook his head honestly-he wanted to say that this wasn’t the case-that he just wanted to make friends-but he found the words being stuck in his mouth-unable to come out, so used he was to his solitary life that he felt shy around these strangers, though he would like to be friends.
Unable to respond, Haroildo sadly passed the ball back to the orange-haired boy through the gates, watching the group dart off with a wistful expression. He so wished that he could have some nice friends like that - Joan was great and all, but…he saw Joan as more of a parental figure. He suddenly found himself wishing his family didn’t have such a big and important background - so then he could play with those kids no problem. Companionship ~ it was something he was sorely lacking, and wanted - for only Joan and his big sister paid proper attention to him, for their mother and father gave Isabella more attention than she wanted, and would often escape from her ‘how to be a proper lady’ training to be with her little brother - one of the sole sources of comfort to her in these times. She could be herself around him and not be frowned at, and he didn’t mind exploring the parts of the mansion that were mysterious and dusty with her. They shared a very close bond, and Joan often found himself wishing the two could have had better, more responsible parents…one day, when the two were exploring, they found a stairway that had never been used-and Isabella was intrigued, saying, “Hey, look lil’ brother! I’ve never seen that staircase before…let’s go investigate!” Haroildo nodded; following his big sister up the staircase-and what a sight met their eyes. Old photo books that had never been read - mysterious bits of parchment that had obviously been ripped - what did it all mean? Haroildo looked around curiously, and saw something in the shadows- his curiosity would not let him walk away, and so he walked up to it-it was a half-destroyed document, and the writing was barley legible. Finding an urge to solve this mystery welling up inside him, Haroildo reached out to grab this document-but he’d only gotten his arm outstretched halfway when it met a sticky, string-like substance.
Haroildo tried to escape-but the more he pulled, the more the substance stuck to him and got entangled. Frantically, Haroildo called for his sister-but to his horror, he saw that he’d been separated from her in his curiosity of the document. As he struggled, he felt spindly legs grab at his arm, and turned to see an Ariados eyeing him hungrily, venom dripping from it’s long fangs. The boy shouted in fear as the spider grabbed his arm tightly, preparing to sink it’s fangs in for the kill-and the boy would have no doubt became the spider’s lunch if someone had not intervened then. A sudden cold gust of wind blew through the attic-although there were no windows open whatsoever, the spider hissing at the direction the wind came from angrily, taking it’s beady eyes off Haroildo for a moment. Haroildo managed to slip his arm out of the spider’s grasp while it was distracted-though it’s web still held him tight. The spider, however, noticed his movements and turned to him, fangs glowing purple as it hissed at him-but suddenly, the spider screeched, and fell backwards, the sheer force of it’s weight cutting it’s web-as if it had been struck from behind by an invisible force. Haroildo took his chance and ran a good distance away from the bug-but he couldn’t take his eyes of it. His sister, having heard the struggle, rushed over-and her eyes went wide at seeing the large spider on it’s back on the floor. The spider got up, hissing angrily and spitting web at seemingly thin air-but it was revealed not to be thin air, and the web struck an object, bringing it into a view-it was an odd round purple face that had fog surrounding it. The revealed creature let out a creepy cry, before it’s eyes began to glow a bright red, fixing the spider in a trance-and making it fall asleep. The figure then began to glow purple, seeming to drain energy from the spider, the arachnid twitching violently several times before it lay still, defeated.
Haroildo and Isabella were safe from the spider-and Haroildo said suddenly, “I…I recognize that creature! I learnt about in from Joan’s books on Pok’emon…it’s a Ghost-type pok’emon called Gastly, I think.” “D-d you think it wants to hurt us..?” Isabella questioned, shivering. The ghost turned towards them with a cheeky grin, before cackling in a playful tone and sticking it’s tongue out at them in a most amusing manner, which made both the kids laugh - but then the ghost vanished altogether. The kids stared at the empty space where the ghost had been, before Haroildo finally said, “I think…I think that ghost was just happy to see someone up here, and wanted to help…at least, that’s the feeling I get. But…what was a Ghost-type doing in our attic, of all places..?” This question remained unanswered as the two mad either way back down, not wishing to stick around for when the spider woke up, Haroildo shivering violently and only being too happy to get out of there-this is where his Arachnophobia first originated from. When they both went down and told Joan of the events, he sighed-saying, “Those parents of yours…they should have locked that place up properly, knowing your curiosity and all. But I am glad to see you both unharmed.”
Haroildo said, still shaking with fear at remembering the event, “Jo-Joan…do you know what that place is for?” Joan said, “Ah ~ you see, a long time ago-your father was a pok’emon trainer. However-on his journeys, he was attacked by a wild pok’emon-making him lose all trust in pok’emon altogether, and making him see them only as tools…therefore, he ripped up his trainer’s license, and threw it away-and he also threw his pok’eballs away. That bit of document you saw Haroildo, which was half destroyed…was most likely his old license. The Ariados…I’m sad to say that most likely, it is one of your father’s old pok’emon that escaped from it’s damaged pok’eball somehow…I do not know how it found it’s way back here, but it was most likely angry at being disowned, and thus wished to get revenge…that being the most logical reason it would attack you, Harold...the Gastly, too, is one of your father’s pok’emon-but it, unlike it’s companion, shows no anger at being disowned, and likes floating about the place-therefore, when it saw it’s old team-mate posed for revenge, it naturally wanted to stop the spider from doing such cruelty-after all, your father did the act, not your yourself, Harold. That is what I can make of all these events.” Haroildo was shocked, as was Isabella at this, and Joan said, “Now….you two must not tell anyone what I just said to you. Your father would most likely fire me if he knew that I told you such things...he has no feelings now, I’m sure of it. That attack…ruined his old personality, and made him twisted…and I do not think it would be right to tell anyone else.” Isabella and Haroildo both said, “We promise we won’t tell anyone…”
Haroildo, when he went to bed that night, couldn’t believe that his father could be as twisted as Joan made him out to be-but he soon did believe this, for a week after the Ariados incident, his cousins came over to visit. His mother took a lot of attention of him on the day before they arrived, saying, “Now Haroildo…you must ALWAYS smile when your cousins are around. Yes-and you can’t wear these old clothes, no dearie me! You must get a suit for the occasion-it is a very important affair.” Haroildo stared at her in bewilderment, but he had no time to say anything as his father grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off to have the suit fitted. Haroildo hated the suit-it made him itch, and it was far too tight. Those clothes made him so uncomfortable…but when he politely suggested this to his father-the man did a horrible thing. He lashed out-and hit his own boy. Right across the face, and sent him sprawling. The man hissed, “Ungrateful little brat-you’ll wear what WE tell you to!” Haroildo staggered, attempting to get up-tears stinging his face. But-upon seeing these tears, the male went further, and said, “Pathetic…just a pathetic waste of time you are. Joan! DEAL with this…I’m going to get changed.” Haroildo held in a sob. His father…his own father…had called him pathetic and a waste of time. But Joan-Joan lifted the boy up, and said, “Shhh-it’ll be alright. Harold…I have an idea. The master said you had to wear A suit-he didn’t say which one, now did he?” Haroildo shook his head meekly, upon which Joan smiled, heading to the nearby drawer and taking out a white jacket which the collar stuck up on, making it resemble a lab coat suit, as well as a black bowler hat. Joan smiled as he handed these to the boy, saying, “Here…take this.” Haroildo put the hat on-but it was so big that it slid down to his small nose rather quickly, the boy laughing at this as he went to get changed-when he came back-wearing his favourite red T-Shirt with the jacket, and his favourite black pants and work-boots-he said, “This is way better than the uncomfortable suit! I like this hat, too, though it’s a bit big for me, hahaha. I’ll always keep clothes like this…thank you, Joan!”
Delighted as punch with his new clothes, Haroildo went to the dining room and put on a smile for his cousins-but he had to literately force the smile to stay there, for the cousins made fun of his big sister, who he respected, the whole time they were there. She ignored them-but Haroildo could tell she disliked their comments. But - Haroildo remembered that he must be a gentleman, for Joan’s sake…and so his sister didn’t get in trouble from his mother and father. The cousins, however-kept on visiting day after day, and Haroildo had to force a smile every single time. He found himself wishing again - that he had a more simple life. But Joan’s kindness towards him urged him on-as did his sister’s kindness. They were both so wonderful - and he had to be strong for their sake. However, the last straw for Haroildo, though, came many years later - when he had just become a teenager, in fact. His parents had organized a dance-a dance in their hall. Haroildo, as he stepped into the hall, found his heart beating wildly at seeing all these unknown people-all upper-class rich folk, of course. Now, the dance came - and everyone had to pick a partner of the opposite gender. Haroildo tried to get to his sister - he didn’t want to dance with someone he didn’t know - but, too late ~ a man with brown hair had already taken her for his dancing partner. Haroildo gulped nervously as a lady with long white hair took his hand-and they danced. Now, the lady talked while they were dancing-and Haroildo found himself disliking her, for she acted like a snobbish brat, to put it lightly-but imagine his horror when after the dance, he learned that his mother and father had arranged for him to MARRY that lady-even though he’d only just met her, and with no regard to his own thoughts and feelings whatsoever.
Haroildo tilted his bowler hat over his eyes so that his parents wouldn’t see the angered expression he had on his face - that did it. That was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’, so to speak, and that night, he got up really late - when he was sure his mother and father would be asleep - to tell his sister and Joan that he was catching the ferry to go live with his grand-father. Now, his grandfather had sent him a letter earlier today - Joan had arranged for Haroildo to be able to write to him since he was old enough to, since he thought they would enjoy writing to each other and all. George sympathized with the boy, and had come up with an idea - there was an open position in a school close to where he lived that had come up recently, and he suggested that Haroildo escape his parents and come live with him - apparently, George had given up the rich life long ago, and was all the more happier for it - thus, it was safe to say today’s events were making Haroildo want to go – but - he wanted to discuss it with his sister and Joan first-he didn’t want to leave them, despite the place sounding lovely. But Isabella and Joan smiled, saying that they would love to see Haroildo go off-for they were planning on doing the same thing, anyways. Sure - they weren’t going to the same place as him - but they had been planning it for a while now, they both having had enough too.
Haroildo was delighted to hear they wouldn’t stick around in the place - and this encouraged him to go. Now, when he got to George’s place-which was a house in the far-off Jhoto region, so there was less a chance of his parents finding him again, he didn’t take any money with him, purposely-he had enough of that stuff. As he furthered his education - he didn’t care that he was poor, and didn't have much in the form of possessions - for he was happier than he had ever been before. He wrote to Isabelle and Joan, and they sounded delighted with their new homes and lives as well. Haroildo still retained his curiosity, however, despite not many of the folk at the school paying attention to him, due to the fact he was shy for being secluded from contact with strangers for so long-and he decided to aim for a degree in studying the very thing his father detested- pok’emon, for the mysteries there were too tempting NOT to go and sort out.
Despite never fully understanding pok’emon as much as he studied them, he felt happy. His love for riddles and tendency to spout them off like a literal fountain became well-known there, also... As he worked on-however-he still felt lonely. One day, he decided he’d had enough – he was going to do something he should have done long ago, and become a trainer. Even if those in the place he graduated thought that becoming a trainer at HIS age would be impossible: he did not listen. He’d held it off far too long already. Thus starter Haroildo’s journey into the Jhoto region, he taking the soonest transport available to the lab area…
Other info: Haroildo suffers from Arachnophobia due to a nasty incident with an Ariados as a child, and as such is mortifiedly scared of Spinarak and Ariados in general: when he sees a spider, his fear becomes so bad that he is incapable of any sort of movements or words, and his pokemon shall be – in such a situation – forced to think for themselves. Once the spider is gone, Haroildo will relax again and apologize for what happened – though it will take him a good while to truly ‘calm down’ after such an event.
How did you find us?: Through Pokemon Torrenta, on the ‘affiliates’ bar. I do apologize if this is too long, but I really love putting depth into my characters's backgrounds...like they are part of a story. If it's too lengthy for you, simply say so and I will happily take out what I can.
- I have Tidal as my starter Pokemon, but it will take much time for him to reach this form. But that is okay. I am in no big rush...and it is his choice wether he chooses to evolve or not anyway. 
- I caught Apollo in the New Bark Town area, and it will take much time for him to reach this form also...if he chooses to reach it.
- I have yet to find and befriend a Sandshrew...but I heard that you can find them in Cherrygrove. It would be a good idea to go there and see if I can perhaps befriend one, no?
- I have yet to find a Paras...and though I fear spider Pokemon, I feel that obtaining a bug I do not fear as much might help me to get over that fear. I shall have to remember to look in the Ilex Forest for one.
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