Post by 🌪️《 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐 》 on Aug 21, 2023 19:38:37 GMT 11
 | • name Gentian Seba • age 15 years old • gender Male • trainer type Novice Trainer • hometown Goldenrod City, Johto • goals Finding a calling & staying by Marigold's side • how did you find us? Rejoining from years ago • application completed [ yes ] |     |
─── appearance
With his stature firmly on the smaller side, Gentian's unassuming height compliments his lithe silhouette. The structure of his bones are petite, and little muscle mass to speak of rests on his frame to conceal this. Slim shoulders transition to scrawny arms that leave much to be desired in terms of physical strength, and narrow hips describe to a pair of legs no less twiggy in structure. Although slim, the lack of boniness to his physique steers him away from seeming sickly, and no feature of his body appears particularly sharp or gaunt.
Gentian's face consists of clean-cut and relatively defined features, retaining a youthful appearance aided by the rounded shapes making up his cheekbones and jaw. His face at rest has a tendency to fall into an expression that is disinterested at best and annoyed at worst, yet while a small smile does grace his lips it is without a doubt sincere. In complimentary contrast to the softness of the rest of his features, his nose bears a straight bridge that leads down to a pointed tip while remaining well within the realm of average in terms of proportion.
A sharp pair of eyes serves as the centerpiece of Gentian's face, reflecting profound depths beneath a dusty hue of brown that's further accentuated by an outline of thick lashes. Whether his attention is directed towards his surroundings or the smartphone nestled into his palm, he remains highly observant at all times and his keen gaze betrays as such. The apparent heaviness of his eyelids lends of something of a static appearance of weariness.
The color that Gentian's hair naturally takes on is an ashen shade of blonde. The thick locks are kept cropped short, left with only as much length as it takes to frame his features, and show a slight bit of persistent bend in their texture. Although a fair amount away from being what one would consider curly, the waviness of his hair does direct it into every direction in a manner that appears unruly.
Matching the hue of his hair, Gentian sports a pale complexion that makes his preference to not excessively mingle with the outdoors clear. Cold weather touches his extremities with a flush of red that the pallid backdrop of his skin renders highly accentuated. On both of his ears, tastefully simple stud earrings decorate the pierced lobes, pierced by none other than his friend Marigold.
The clothing in which Gentian adorns himself with is chosen based on the factors of comfort, convenience, and sentiment above all else; yet oddly enough, the article he can most commonly be observed wearing is a rather peculiar one, taking on the form of a cotton trench coat that hangs just below his knees. Purchased from a musty thrift shop for a steal, the jacket displays a patchwork of different patterns from monochrome tartan to stripes. Having been chosen and stylized by Marigold, it holds great sentimental value to the teen and is worn primarily for its comfort and weight. In accompaniment to his trusty trench coat, Gentian is fond of the tried and true combo of hoodies and jeans - the former tends to be utilized as a splash of color among his wardrobe otherwise consisting of less vibrant, neutral hues.
With his stature firmly on the smaller side, Gentian's unassuming height compliments his lithe silhouette. The structure of his bones are petite, and little muscle mass to speak of rests on his frame to conceal this. Slim shoulders transition to scrawny arms that leave much to be desired in terms of physical strength, and narrow hips describe to a pair of legs no less twiggy in structure. Although slim, the lack of boniness to his physique steers him away from seeming sickly, and no feature of his body appears particularly sharp or gaunt.
Gentian's face consists of clean-cut and relatively defined features, retaining a youthful appearance aided by the rounded shapes making up his cheekbones and jaw. His face at rest has a tendency to fall into an expression that is disinterested at best and annoyed at worst, yet while a small smile does grace his lips it is without a doubt sincere. In complimentary contrast to the softness of the rest of his features, his nose bears a straight bridge that leads down to a pointed tip while remaining well within the realm of average in terms of proportion.A sharp pair of eyes serves as the centerpiece of Gentian's face, reflecting profound depths beneath a dusty hue of brown that's further accentuated by an outline of thick lashes. Whether his attention is directed towards his surroundings or the smartphone nestled into his palm, he remains highly observant at all times and his keen gaze betrays as such. The apparent heaviness of his eyelids lends of something of a static appearance of weariness.
The color that Gentian's hair naturally takes on is an ashen shade of blonde. The thick locks are kept cropped short, left with only as much length as it takes to frame his features, and show a slight bit of persistent bend in their texture. Although a fair amount away from being what one would consider curly, the waviness of his hair does direct it into every direction in a manner that appears unruly.
Matching the hue of his hair, Gentian sports a pale complexion that makes his preference to not excessively mingle with the outdoors clear. Cold weather touches his extremities with a flush of red that the pallid backdrop of his skin renders highly accentuated. On both of his ears, tastefully simple stud earrings decorate the pierced lobes, pierced by none other than his friend Marigold.
The clothing in which Gentian adorns himself with is chosen based on the factors of comfort, convenience, and sentiment above all else; yet oddly enough, the article he can most commonly be observed wearing is a rather peculiar one, taking on the form of a cotton trench coat that hangs just below his knees. Purchased from a musty thrift shop for a steal, the jacket displays a patchwork of different patterns from monochrome tartan to stripes. Having been chosen and stylized by Marigold, it holds great sentimental value to the teen and is worn primarily for its comfort and weight. In accompaniment to his trusty trench coat, Gentian is fond of the tried and true combo of hoodies and jeans - the former tends to be utilized as a splash of color among his wardrobe otherwise consisting of less vibrant, neutral hues.
─── personality
Gentian is an individual driven by inner workings so endlessly complex that they've circled backwards to render his preferences quite simple.
With a desire to blend in rather than venture out into the crowd, Gentian would be the first the admit that he's a textbook introvert. Both physical and emotional closeness tend to leave him uncomfortable; instead, he very much prefers to surround himself with a protective bubble of personal space, and prefers to do things alone. While this doesn't necessarily make him unfriendly or unapproachable, it's readily apparent that he is an incredibly aloof person who wishes to be left in relative solitude.
Whether one reads him as aloof or antisocial, he doesn't seem to mind and keeps others at arm's length. Gentian isn't particularly keen on conversation, and dreads nothing more than idle chitchat and small talk. Quiet by nature and much more adept in the art of listening, words seem to wholly fail him at times, leaving him selectively mute as a consequence of social overwhelm. While he doesn't go out of his way to interact with others or smile, he won't turn others away if they come to him.
To most, he makes uninteresting company due to the manner of when he does speak. Words are carefully selected and are more often than not delivered at a volume which is easily drowned out by a louder environment. The only exception seems to be his best friend, Marigold - and likewise, introverts who prefer to hold one-sided conversations may find a fast friend in Gentian.
His way of expression is straightforward and without any unnecessary padding or flourish. In fact, Gentian seems to be almost incapable of sugar-coating things or even telling white lies, and instead does the best he can to navigate awkward situations with a careful selection of both expressed and concealed truth strung together to imply something more palatable. Little tolerance is held by the teen for those who hide behind being brutally honest to excuse being a bully, but in a cruel case of irony, statements he makes which are entirely neutral to him are not often received that way in kind. Repeated instances across a lifetime have only worked to further solidify his feeling of ostracization and otherness from humanity as a whole; one more reason to keep others away.
As meek as the manner of which he carries himself may seem, it would be a mistake to assume Gentian is a pushover. Beneath his shy exterior burns a strong and passionate resentment towards abusers and bullies. While incredibly complex thoughts for his age exist within his mind regarding ethics and morals, his views are predictably straightforward as he tends to be: the underdog deserves to win. Being raised in such a harsh school environment has worked further to solidify this belief in him.
In fact, the impact that his school environment has had on him cannot be understated - the trauma of bullying has had a profound effect on Gentian. A general exhaustion towards humanity's perceived faults, generalized by the developing mind of the boy to be oversimplified, has left him with high patience but little tolerance. While uncalled for aggression isn't part of his personal conduct, his generally distrustful outlook on those around him renders him prone to reactivity if he's approached improperly. Observant from an inherent suspicion towards most, he's quick to notice a challenge and sensitive to ridicule from others. Unfortunately to those who may misjudge his patience and his quiet demeanor, he's anything but immune to being provoked when his buttons are pushed, and he sees no need to conceal his irritation from those who have willfully invited it.
Gentian exudes a sense of simplicity on the surface regarding a certain number of things - he likes his personal space, a small handful of foods, and a specific set of subject matters. Below the surface, thousands of thoughts bloom and grow within his mind at all times. Careful analysis must be conducted on many things that others tend to care very little about, leading him to get lost in his mind and conduct what are essentially mental essays.
However, these thoughts come in much too high of an excess for the teen to bear. Whereas some paths of contemplation have lead him towards a sense of self, many have formed into inescapable tangles threatening to suffocate him. An awkwardly worded response to a waitress can fester in the forefront of Gentian's mind, leaving him helpless to resist endlessly inspecting the newly formed memory until it blossoms into a socially devastating instance of hundreds of underlying factors and potential consequences. Some days are less in his favor than others.
As habitual as his overthinking, is the way of which excess thought clouds all that he's certain of. As sure as careful consideration had made him of his personal preferences and ideas, chronic indecision lurks just behind the corner. Presented with a choice, Gentian is plunged head first into a vicious cycle of second guessing and dreading the very concept of regret until it renders him unable to take any action. His inability to make decisions clashes rather starkly with the independence that his solitary nature thrives on, and as such, he avoids getting crushed by allowing himself to enter a state of stagnation.
Beyond the serious and blunt disposition that Gentian meets the world with, he harbors an undeniable inner warmth once one can accept that this is just how he is and learn to look past it. Even though the boy struggles to express sentiment out loud - perhaps in order to not render initial impressions of him too vulnerable in order to avoid being bullied - he's a highly empathetic person wishing to do right by others whenever applicable and wishing to take away some of the evils he perceives the world to be plagued by.
He wishes to do harm no more than he wishes to receive it upon himself, unless driven by the distinct yet typically dormant protective streak awakened in him by a strong attachment to an object or idea - perhaps even a person, were the stars to align.
Although it's quite easy to characterize Gentian as something of a hybrid between an inoffensive loner and a surly grump, somewhere deep down he does long for connection in the form of understanding, patience, and perhaps a push towards the edges of his comfort zone. One could argue that such a desire exists buried too deep within for Gentian himself to be aware of its existence.
aloof reserved honest quiet moody
Gentian is an individual driven by inner workings so endlessly complex that they've circled backwards to render his preferences quite simple.
With a desire to blend in rather than venture out into the crowd, Gentian would be the first the admit that he's a textbook introvert. Both physical and emotional closeness tend to leave him uncomfortable; instead, he very much prefers to surround himself with a protective bubble of personal space, and prefers to do things alone. While this doesn't necessarily make him unfriendly or unapproachable, it's readily apparent that he is an incredibly aloof person who wishes to be left in relative solitude.
Whether one reads him as aloof or antisocial, he doesn't seem to mind and keeps others at arm's length. Gentian isn't particularly keen on conversation, and dreads nothing more than idle chitchat and small talk. Quiet by nature and much more adept in the art of listening, words seem to wholly fail him at times, leaving him selectively mute as a consequence of social overwhelm. While he doesn't go out of his way to interact with others or smile, he won't turn others away if they come to him.
To most, he makes uninteresting company due to the manner of when he does speak. Words are carefully selected and are more often than not delivered at a volume which is easily drowned out by a louder environment. The only exception seems to be his best friend, Marigold - and likewise, introverts who prefer to hold one-sided conversations may find a fast friend in Gentian.
His way of expression is straightforward and without any unnecessary padding or flourish. In fact, Gentian seems to be almost incapable of sugar-coating things or even telling white lies, and instead does the best he can to navigate awkward situations with a careful selection of both expressed and concealed truth strung together to imply something more palatable. Little tolerance is held by the teen for those who hide behind being brutally honest to excuse being a bully, but in a cruel case of irony, statements he makes which are entirely neutral to him are not often received that way in kind. Repeated instances across a lifetime have only worked to further solidify his feeling of ostracization and otherness from humanity as a whole; one more reason to keep others away.
As meek as the manner of which he carries himself may seem, it would be a mistake to assume Gentian is a pushover. Beneath his shy exterior burns a strong and passionate resentment towards abusers and bullies. While incredibly complex thoughts for his age exist within his mind regarding ethics and morals, his views are predictably straightforward as he tends to be: the underdog deserves to win. Being raised in such a harsh school environment has worked further to solidify this belief in him.
In fact, the impact that his school environment has had on him cannot be understated - the trauma of bullying has had a profound effect on Gentian. A general exhaustion towards humanity's perceived faults, generalized by the developing mind of the boy to be oversimplified, has left him with high patience but little tolerance. While uncalled for aggression isn't part of his personal conduct, his generally distrustful outlook on those around him renders him prone to reactivity if he's approached improperly. Observant from an inherent suspicion towards most, he's quick to notice a challenge and sensitive to ridicule from others. Unfortunately to those who may misjudge his patience and his quiet demeanor, he's anything but immune to being provoked when his buttons are pushed, and he sees no need to conceal his irritation from those who have willfully invited it.
Gentian exudes a sense of simplicity on the surface regarding a certain number of things - he likes his personal space, a small handful of foods, and a specific set of subject matters. Below the surface, thousands of thoughts bloom and grow within his mind at all times. Careful analysis must be conducted on many things that others tend to care very little about, leading him to get lost in his mind and conduct what are essentially mental essays.
However, these thoughts come in much too high of an excess for the teen to bear. Whereas some paths of contemplation have lead him towards a sense of self, many have formed into inescapable tangles threatening to suffocate him. An awkwardly worded response to a waitress can fester in the forefront of Gentian's mind, leaving him helpless to resist endlessly inspecting the newly formed memory until it blossoms into a socially devastating instance of hundreds of underlying factors and potential consequences. Some days are less in his favor than others.
As habitual as his overthinking, is the way of which excess thought clouds all that he's certain of. As sure as careful consideration had made him of his personal preferences and ideas, chronic indecision lurks just behind the corner. Presented with a choice, Gentian is plunged head first into a vicious cycle of second guessing and dreading the very concept of regret until it renders him unable to take any action. His inability to make decisions clashes rather starkly with the independence that his solitary nature thrives on, and as such, he avoids getting crushed by allowing himself to enter a state of stagnation.
Beyond the serious and blunt disposition that Gentian meets the world with, he harbors an undeniable inner warmth once one can accept that this is just how he is and learn to look past it. Even though the boy struggles to express sentiment out loud - perhaps in order to not render initial impressions of him too vulnerable in order to avoid being bullied - he's a highly empathetic person wishing to do right by others whenever applicable and wishing to take away some of the evils he perceives the world to be plagued by.
He wishes to do harm no more than he wishes to receive it upon himself, unless driven by the distinct yet typically dormant protective streak awakened in him by a strong attachment to an object or idea - perhaps even a person, were the stars to align.
Although it's quite easy to characterize Gentian as something of a hybrid between an inoffensive loner and a surly grump, somewhere deep down he does long for connection in the form of understanding, patience, and perhaps a push towards the edges of his comfort zone. One could argue that such a desire exists buried too deep within for Gentian himself to be aware of its existence.
─── history
Surrounded by the massive and expensive city of Goldenrod, a rickety two-story apartment in the shady area downtown would serve as the antithesis to what most would consider the ideal place to raise a family. While it lacked a massive yard for the kids and the family pokemon to play in, its passable interior and large windows granted it the illusion of depth and character - and, more importantly, it was cheap for its lower middle class inhabitants who were expecting a child they felt ill-prepared for.
The mother of the family who had proudly never missed a day at her job working at the local pokemon center was now having to take time off as her pregnancy grew. Her husband, a staff member at the local casino, did his best to support his growing family but worked hours long enough to also distance himself from them. While the journey of carrying to term was long and strenuous on them both, the parents felt that it had all been worth it when their son finally arrived one cold October night.
As an infant, Gentian was quiet and rarely cried, sleeping soundly through the night and hitting developmental milestones more quickly than average. Showing little to no problems initially as he grew, he began to display some personality traits of his mother; he was some-spoken and patient, the uncomplicated manner of his emotions allowing his parents to raise him with simplicity - well, mostly his mother.
The constant stress of increasing demands at work soon led Gentian's father to start bringing his troubles home with him long after his shift had ended. As time passed, the thin thread by which he kept his secrets held back began to burn shorter and shorter.
The day that her husband disappeared, Gentian's mother was hardly surprised.
After filing a missing person's report, it would be months until she finally got a call back, finally confirming her suspicions that her husband had secretly been a member of Team Rocket. It was theorized that the stress of the double life and his disappearance couldn't have been a coincidence.
Gentian was still a young boy who had been too young to fully understand or grieve his father at the time. His mother vowed that she would make his remaining early childhood years happy ones regardless, full of memories involving walks through the park and hours spent playing the games she bought him to keep himself busy while she was at work. Her love was unrestrained and unconditional, and she did her best to ensure that her son always knew as such.
His mother watched him eventually make a recovery from the nervousness that the dismantling of the family unit had left him with, witnessing him blossom into a happy kid again. She tried to coax her timid boy out of his shell by pushing him to make friends, not realizing that this would be a mistake which would undo all of her tireless work to build her son's confidence and security back up.
His peers at school had taken notice of Gentian's shy and sensitive nature, alongside his awkwardness which was highlighted by a lack of socialization with anyone besides his mother. With no masculine figure in his life as a role model, it was too late for him to have realized that presenting any sort of weakness as a boy would make one a target of bullies, and their malicious interest in him began.
Gentian tried his best to take it on the chin, doing his best to pretend that he wasn't sensitive and that it didn't affect him. He had made the unfortunate mistake of going to his mother for help, who only made things worse with her overbearing nature when she contacted the school over the incidents. Gentian was soon the victim of even harsher targeted harassment, for now he was also considered a snitch.
The constant onslaught of his peers caused the young boy to grow up constantly on edge - anxious, overwhelmed, plagued by chronic nightmares. He went from being a reasonably happy child to an anxious and withdrawn one once again, full of fear for the hierarchy of existing social groups between the students. Every student became increasingly aggressive and emboldened by their peer groups, encouraged by a growing sense of agency that came alongside puberty.
And just when Gentian was preparing for the worst of it, a new student transferred to his school.
The charismatic exchange student, Marigold Fournier, had something that Gentian could only speculate was some sort of otherworldly power that made others feel as ease. Despite being new, Marigold expertly weaved himself in to more or less nearly every social group, bouncing between peers to laugh and show off at every opportunity. Gentian observed from afar as the new boy made friends with all of the bullies that had scrutinized him for so long - effortlessly - and, at first, resented the other out of sheer jealousy.
And one day, Marigold came over to his desk and introduced himself.
The pair became fast friends, which was hardly unexpected since Marigold became fast friends with everybody. But as time marched on, Gentian found himself immensely grateful to the other boy whom he once resented for being popular, finding that said popularity was now protecting him from a constant onslaught of cruelty from his peers. Marigold, in return, had taken notice of Gentian's blunt honesty and felt as though the down-to-earth boy was the only person who he could truly let his guard down around a little bit.
At long last, things seemed to settle down for Gentian socially as he accepted the protective shield that being Marigold's friend offered him. He began to lighten up around home and threw himself dutifully into his studies now that he could finally focus and afford to breathe a little. Elated to see that her son had finally made a friend and was taking his studies seriously, Gentian's mother accepted Marigold unofficially as part of the extended family as though he were a kid of hers as well.
On the weekends, the pair met up often to hang out around the city and go shopping for clothes, with Marigold soon infecting Gentian with an interest in fashion. On the weekdays, Gentian would take notice that Marigold was a notorious hooky player who skipped class a few times a week. Over the course of several months, a few times a week turned into multiple times a week, and Gentian soon found himself going up to a week without seeing his best and only friend at all and wondering why.
One fateful afternoon, as warm beams of sunlight caressed his back through an open window, Gentian rested his chin in his hand and dozed off through the lesson of the day until one of his previous bullies stood up to use the restroom, slipping a piece of paper covertly from his sleeve and onto the boy's desk. The note instructed Gentian to meet him in the gym's changing room at lunch.
It wasn't as if a vague invitation from one of his enemies to meet in an extremely secluded place away from the eyes of teachers didn't strike Gentian as extremely dubious; yet some secret part of him had always retained hope that maybe one day, the group would apologize to him after maturing and everything between them could be smoothed over and forgiven.
As soon as he arrived and closed the door behind him, he was yanked forward by the arm and flung into an enclosed ring of male peers who proceeded to violently beat him. The wicked assault lasted for several minutes as Gentian tried to protect his bloodied face from further damage and scream for help, before his peers finally decided he was being too loud and shoved him into a tiny janitorial closet. Exhausted and shaken, he understood with absolute certainty that his newfound position within the school's hierarchy was permanent as long as Marigold wasn't there to keep his torturers at bay.
Finally allowing himself to cry as he laid there and processed the shock of the brutal beating, he took off the tattered remains of his overshirt and wrapped it around his injuries, sipping on shallow breaths through the night to preserve the closet's limited oxygen. Anxiously, the boy chewed his fingernails down to the quick as he waited, losing track of time under the incessantly buzzing fluorescent light overhead. Eventually, the stifled atmosphere combined with his own panic led to a total wash over his mind; it was as though he had blinked and suddenly came to several hours later, when he finally heard keys jingling next to the door.
He brushed aside the confused and horrified janitor, pulled up his mask, and went to collect his bookbag for a spare change of clothes. Upon learning of the incident once her son returned home battered and shaking, Gentian's mother immediately pulled the boy out of school as she tried to figure out whether or not to go to the police over the incident. The previous bout of trying to seek help had only made the situation worse, and her son begged her not to press charges.
While his mother scrambled with the decision over what to do, Gentian had already decided for himself that he had enough of the charade and was never going to allow himself to be babysat by bureaucratic robots again. He didn't know what he was going to do with no aspirations, but he knew he wasn't going to go back to school.
Over the following months, Gentian heard little from Marigold, whom he perceived to have abandoned him. Whatever, he thought - this was all his fault anyway. Marigold hadn't been there for him when he most needed it and hadn't even given the boy so much as a warning to his absence. It could have been entirely avoided if only his friend wasn't such a flake, he could have chosen to skip that week too...
...but alas, now he was left with trauma that his mother put him into therapy for.
Gentian didn't really listen to the advice of his therapist of which he deemed to be unsafe and stupid. Advised by the therapist to keep putting himself out there regardless of what he had been through and try to make new friends, the frustrated teen relayed what he considered to be a poor excuse for "advice" to his mother. There were brief talks of enrolling him in summer camp to try and bolster his confidence and independence again, alongside mentions of a group workshop, but between his mother's busy schedule and Gentian himself being unwilling to entertain the ideas, nothing came to fruition.
It came as a shock when Marigold just suddenly showed up in his life again one day. There had been no text aside from the ones left hanging in radio silence during the week of his absence. While the traumatized boy blamed his friend for his ordeal and still harbored the resentment that came with such a belief, he was unable to turn the other away and invited him inside to hear an explanation.
It was shallow and didn't really offer Gentian any kind of closure - Marigold vaguely alluded to "needing more room to breathe", before going on to explain that he "just wasn't vibing with where he's at". Gentian nodded along, pretending as though he understood and that everything was okay - pretending that he hadn't been profoundly effected by his only friend just up and disappearing like his father had.
However his eyes widened with surprise as Marigold proposed the idea of dropping out of school and becoming a pokemon trainer instead - and even more so when he expressed the hope that his closest friend would want to join him.
It was... a massive commitment to consider, and one that honestly didn't interest Gentian. He was still bitter towards the perceived betrayal of the other boy, and he hadn't ever been the adventurous type. He much preferred to stay indoors and stick to familiar comforts over the unknown. And yet, he knew that he couldn't go back to school - and as much as it pained him to admit, he was now aware of how painful Marigold's absence from his life had been.
He expected his overprotective and doting mother to refuse the idea, especially since he was still recovering from the trauma of being assaulted. However, much to his shock, she took her son aside and relayed that she thought it would be a good idea. Having reflected on the advice of his therapist, she had considered potential ways that she could encourage her son to take initiative towards meeting new people and regaining his confidence. With Marigold to watch over him, she saw no reason to be terribly concerned over the prospect of allowing her son to embark on an adventure that boys much younger than him often did.
Between the pushy adults around him and the fear of losing contact with his only friend again, he finally relented. Gentian is worried he's bitten off way more than he can chew, but he pushes the fear aside in order to keep up with Marigold.
Surrounded by the massive and expensive city of Goldenrod, a rickety two-story apartment in the shady area downtown would serve as the antithesis to what most would consider the ideal place to raise a family. While it lacked a massive yard for the kids and the family pokemon to play in, its passable interior and large windows granted it the illusion of depth and character - and, more importantly, it was cheap for its lower middle class inhabitants who were expecting a child they felt ill-prepared for.
The mother of the family who had proudly never missed a day at her job working at the local pokemon center was now having to take time off as her pregnancy grew. Her husband, a staff member at the local casino, did his best to support his growing family but worked hours long enough to also distance himself from them. While the journey of carrying to term was long and strenuous on them both, the parents felt that it had all been worth it when their son finally arrived one cold October night.
As an infant, Gentian was quiet and rarely cried, sleeping soundly through the night and hitting developmental milestones more quickly than average. Showing little to no problems initially as he grew, he began to display some personality traits of his mother; he was some-spoken and patient, the uncomplicated manner of his emotions allowing his parents to raise him with simplicity - well, mostly his mother.
The constant stress of increasing demands at work soon led Gentian's father to start bringing his troubles home with him long after his shift had ended. As time passed, the thin thread by which he kept his secrets held back began to burn shorter and shorter.
The day that her husband disappeared, Gentian's mother was hardly surprised.
After filing a missing person's report, it would be months until she finally got a call back, finally confirming her suspicions that her husband had secretly been a member of Team Rocket. It was theorized that the stress of the double life and his disappearance couldn't have been a coincidence.
Gentian was still a young boy who had been too young to fully understand or grieve his father at the time. His mother vowed that she would make his remaining early childhood years happy ones regardless, full of memories involving walks through the park and hours spent playing the games she bought him to keep himself busy while she was at work. Her love was unrestrained and unconditional, and she did her best to ensure that her son always knew as such.
His mother watched him eventually make a recovery from the nervousness that the dismantling of the family unit had left him with, witnessing him blossom into a happy kid again. She tried to coax her timid boy out of his shell by pushing him to make friends, not realizing that this would be a mistake which would undo all of her tireless work to build her son's confidence and security back up.
His peers at school had taken notice of Gentian's shy and sensitive nature, alongside his awkwardness which was highlighted by a lack of socialization with anyone besides his mother. With no masculine figure in his life as a role model, it was too late for him to have realized that presenting any sort of weakness as a boy would make one a target of bullies, and their malicious interest in him began.
Gentian tried his best to take it on the chin, doing his best to pretend that he wasn't sensitive and that it didn't affect him. He had made the unfortunate mistake of going to his mother for help, who only made things worse with her overbearing nature when she contacted the school over the incidents. Gentian was soon the victim of even harsher targeted harassment, for now he was also considered a snitch.
The constant onslaught of his peers caused the young boy to grow up constantly on edge - anxious, overwhelmed, plagued by chronic nightmares. He went from being a reasonably happy child to an anxious and withdrawn one once again, full of fear for the hierarchy of existing social groups between the students. Every student became increasingly aggressive and emboldened by their peer groups, encouraged by a growing sense of agency that came alongside puberty.
And just when Gentian was preparing for the worst of it, a new student transferred to his school.
The charismatic exchange student, Marigold Fournier, had something that Gentian could only speculate was some sort of otherworldly power that made others feel as ease. Despite being new, Marigold expertly weaved himself in to more or less nearly every social group, bouncing between peers to laugh and show off at every opportunity. Gentian observed from afar as the new boy made friends with all of the bullies that had scrutinized him for so long - effortlessly - and, at first, resented the other out of sheer jealousy.
And one day, Marigold came over to his desk and introduced himself.
The pair became fast friends, which was hardly unexpected since Marigold became fast friends with everybody. But as time marched on, Gentian found himself immensely grateful to the other boy whom he once resented for being popular, finding that said popularity was now protecting him from a constant onslaught of cruelty from his peers. Marigold, in return, had taken notice of Gentian's blunt honesty and felt as though the down-to-earth boy was the only person who he could truly let his guard down around a little bit.
At long last, things seemed to settle down for Gentian socially as he accepted the protective shield that being Marigold's friend offered him. He began to lighten up around home and threw himself dutifully into his studies now that he could finally focus and afford to breathe a little. Elated to see that her son had finally made a friend and was taking his studies seriously, Gentian's mother accepted Marigold unofficially as part of the extended family as though he were a kid of hers as well.
On the weekends, the pair met up often to hang out around the city and go shopping for clothes, with Marigold soon infecting Gentian with an interest in fashion. On the weekdays, Gentian would take notice that Marigold was a notorious hooky player who skipped class a few times a week. Over the course of several months, a few times a week turned into multiple times a week, and Gentian soon found himself going up to a week without seeing his best and only friend at all and wondering why.
One fateful afternoon, as warm beams of sunlight caressed his back through an open window, Gentian rested his chin in his hand and dozed off through the lesson of the day until one of his previous bullies stood up to use the restroom, slipping a piece of paper covertly from his sleeve and onto the boy's desk. The note instructed Gentian to meet him in the gym's changing room at lunch.
It wasn't as if a vague invitation from one of his enemies to meet in an extremely secluded place away from the eyes of teachers didn't strike Gentian as extremely dubious; yet some secret part of him had always retained hope that maybe one day, the group would apologize to him after maturing and everything between them could be smoothed over and forgiven.
As soon as he arrived and closed the door behind him, he was yanked forward by the arm and flung into an enclosed ring of male peers who proceeded to violently beat him. The wicked assault lasted for several minutes as Gentian tried to protect his bloodied face from further damage and scream for help, before his peers finally decided he was being too loud and shoved him into a tiny janitorial closet. Exhausted and shaken, he understood with absolute certainty that his newfound position within the school's hierarchy was permanent as long as Marigold wasn't there to keep his torturers at bay.
Finally allowing himself to cry as he laid there and processed the shock of the brutal beating, he took off the tattered remains of his overshirt and wrapped it around his injuries, sipping on shallow breaths through the night to preserve the closet's limited oxygen. Anxiously, the boy chewed his fingernails down to the quick as he waited, losing track of time under the incessantly buzzing fluorescent light overhead. Eventually, the stifled atmosphere combined with his own panic led to a total wash over his mind; it was as though he had blinked and suddenly came to several hours later, when he finally heard keys jingling next to the door.
He brushed aside the confused and horrified janitor, pulled up his mask, and went to collect his bookbag for a spare change of clothes. Upon learning of the incident once her son returned home battered and shaking, Gentian's mother immediately pulled the boy out of school as she tried to figure out whether or not to go to the police over the incident. The previous bout of trying to seek help had only made the situation worse, and her son begged her not to press charges.
While his mother scrambled with the decision over what to do, Gentian had already decided for himself that he had enough of the charade and was never going to allow himself to be babysat by bureaucratic robots again. He didn't know what he was going to do with no aspirations, but he knew he wasn't going to go back to school.
Over the following months, Gentian heard little from Marigold, whom he perceived to have abandoned him. Whatever, he thought - this was all his fault anyway. Marigold hadn't been there for him when he most needed it and hadn't even given the boy so much as a warning to his absence. It could have been entirely avoided if only his friend wasn't such a flake, he could have chosen to skip that week too...
...but alas, now he was left with trauma that his mother put him into therapy for.
Gentian didn't really listen to the advice of his therapist of which he deemed to be unsafe and stupid. Advised by the therapist to keep putting himself out there regardless of what he had been through and try to make new friends, the frustrated teen relayed what he considered to be a poor excuse for "advice" to his mother. There were brief talks of enrolling him in summer camp to try and bolster his confidence and independence again, alongside mentions of a group workshop, but between his mother's busy schedule and Gentian himself being unwilling to entertain the ideas, nothing came to fruition.
It came as a shock when Marigold just suddenly showed up in his life again one day. There had been no text aside from the ones left hanging in radio silence during the week of his absence. While the traumatized boy blamed his friend for his ordeal and still harbored the resentment that came with such a belief, he was unable to turn the other away and invited him inside to hear an explanation.
It was shallow and didn't really offer Gentian any kind of closure - Marigold vaguely alluded to "needing more room to breathe", before going on to explain that he "just wasn't vibing with where he's at". Gentian nodded along, pretending as though he understood and that everything was okay - pretending that he hadn't been profoundly effected by his only friend just up and disappearing like his father had.
However his eyes widened with surprise as Marigold proposed the idea of dropping out of school and becoming a pokemon trainer instead - and even more so when he expressed the hope that his closest friend would want to join him.
It was... a massive commitment to consider, and one that honestly didn't interest Gentian. He was still bitter towards the perceived betrayal of the other boy, and he hadn't ever been the adventurous type. He much preferred to stay indoors and stick to familiar comforts over the unknown. And yet, he knew that he couldn't go back to school - and as much as it pained him to admit, he was now aware of how painful Marigold's absence from his life had been.
He expected his overprotective and doting mother to refuse the idea, especially since he was still recovering from the trauma of being assaulted. However, much to his shock, she took her son aside and relayed that she thought it would be a good idea. Having reflected on the advice of his therapist, she had considered potential ways that she could encourage her son to take initiative towards meeting new people and regaining his confidence. With Marigold to watch over him, she saw no reason to be terribly concerned over the prospect of allowing her son to embark on an adventure that boys much younger than him often did.
Between the pushy adults around him and the fear of losing contact with his only friend again, he finally relented. Gentian is worried he's bitten off way more than he can chew, but he pushes the fear aside in order to keep up with Marigold.
TM79: Dark Pulse X1