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Entry tags:
save the earth (application)
OOC Information:
Name: Ran
Are you over 15? yup
Contact: AIM: Faildere; Plurk: Faildere
IC Information:
Name: Grantaire (surname; no canon given name)
Canon and medium: Les Misérables (novel)
Age: 26; approximately his age when introduced
Preincarnation Species: Human.
Preincarnation Appearance: "Inordinately homely," is the only descriptor of Grantaire's appearance in the novel. The first thing anyone will notice about his appearance is that he is just so ugly. He looks older than he is from his many unhealthy habits, and the bags under his eyes constantly make him look tired. His nose is large and prominent, his eyes droop, and his skin is an unhealthy pale color. His hair is naturally dark and curly, and he generally looks very morose.
Any differences: Thanks to new hygiene habits, Grantaire's teeth will be crooked but not entirely rotting. He also won't smell quite as bad, and will have put on some weight due to modern American eating.
Preincarnated History:
Little was known of Grantaire's history before the events of the book, save for what he said himself in drunken rants. Said rants were not entirely truthful and often contradicted each other, but for the purpose of extrapolation they can be considered vaguely accurate.
Grantaire's age was unstated other than him being the same age as Bossuet, who was at least twenty-five when introduced. He was born in the south of France and moved to Paris at some point for schooling. He claimed to have never had any money, but he had enough for a furnished apartment, university, and copious amounts of alcohol and gambling. He was not mentioned to be wealthy like some of the others, though, so it can be assumed he was not quite as well-off as them. He stated that his father always detested him for not understanding mathematics, and there was no mention made of his mother. Either he was setting up for a pun, or he was actually a student of the artist Antoine-Jean Gros. In any case, he went on to say he wasn't as fond of painting apples as stealing them, and he seemed to have no other connection to art so it was likely that it did not linger with him.
Though the purpose of Paris was for school, he spent less time with studies and more with wandering about the city. He was said to know of all the best restaurants and entertainment. Somehow he found out about the secret group, The Friends of the ABC. They were dedicated to elevating the people of France and rallying against the king, and Grantaire decided to stay with them. He found the wine-shop, Corinthe, that they subsequently met in and built the barricade near.
His time with them was spent as a disruption to whatever work they were doing, but they did not mind him coming because he had a good sense of humor. When another man was needed to go to the Barriere du Maine and convince the men there to align with their cause, Grantaire volunteered. Though Enjolras was dubious about giving him the job, he allowed it and Grantaire went on his way. Unfortunately, when Enjolras checked up on him, he found him playing dominoes instead of tempting them toward rebellion.
As time neared for the rebellion, Grantaire gradually began drinking more and more. Enjolras eventually demanded he leave, but he asked to stay until he died and passed out drunk on the table. He stayed there, sound asleep, throughout the entire battle despite guns and cannonballs firing around the building. It was only when a distinct silence was created by preparation for Enjolras's execution that he awoke, perfectly sober. Though the National Guard did not see him there, he announced his presence and went to stand beside Enjolras. He asked permission to die beside him, and it was granted.
Reincarnated History:
Grantaire was born to a middle class family in southern France. He was the middle child of the family, and subsequently developed a bit of middle child syndrome. His home life was somewhat rocky, with his father often drinking and his mother hardly around. At the age of five, his mother ran off, and when he was six his father decided to move them to the east coast of the US.
In a completely new environment, Grantaire was naturally guarded and had a particularly difficult time making friends. His siblings had begun to distance themselves from their father and family in general, so he was often alone. Being someone who longed for company and attention, he became bitter and angry when he didn't receive it. Instead of accepting his desire for social interaction, he deflected it by telling himself that people were horrible and entirely bad.
As he grew older, he found he could never assign himself to one idea. He had nothing in particular to believe in, no philosophies or genuine opinions could convince him. His opinions about a particular topic would change on a daily basis. He tried to find something to convince himself of and in doing so read up on classic literature and history, immersed himself in a multitude of hobbies, but still nothing seemed right. Exposed to alcohol at an early age by his father, he decided to try it out himself in his teens. He found it was a good way to distract himself from the world around him, and it became something he clung to.
Deciding on a college meant moving a good distance away from his community, and he ended up at the university in Locke City. Though few majors caught his eye, he decided he could put his previous knowledge of ancient literature to use for a classics degree. Of course, he focused very little on school and used his time to explore the new city. He ended up quite knowledgeable about it, and made money through gambling. Any attempts at finding an actual job ended with a quick termination.
After graduating from college, he still had no particular habits other than drinking. There was no one he'd grown close to and no place where he felt like home. He continued to wander and live off his father's money with the occasional support of gambling.
First Echo: It was a fairly normal day; Grantaire was getting on the bus to go across town for lunch at a deli. The bus was packed for whatever reason and Grantaire ended up squeezed behind a blond man (who would turn out to be Enjolras). At a sharp turn, Grantaire was leaned into him and, determined to make it less awkward, he mumbled a, "sorry," in the man's ear. Reminiscent of the point in canon where he whispered "Be easy," in Enjolras's ear, it left him overcome with feelings of veneration, love, and a desire to impress.
The bus ride remained awkward.
Preincarnation Personality:
Grantaire is a man of contradiction, or rather a man who will claim one thing and do the other. He is a skeptic, yet he works hard to remain so; he disdains the idea of devotion, yet finds happiness in his group of friends; he claims to be in constant demand from women, yet is so homely that none want him. Most of what he says can never be taken at face value, so it is easier to understand his character from his actions rather than his words.
His skepticism is more than a dubious nature about the way of things. He has looked into many schools of thought, histories, and practices, and has found nothing that he can believe in or consider the truth. Much of this is due to his cynicism; he feels the main problem with everything is humanity. He thinks that humans, himself included, are ugly failures who are too selfish, power-hungry, unfaithful, what have you, to have anything good happen in the world. There can be no progress in society because of this, and so the idea of overthrowing a king to create an ideal world is laughable to him. Additionally, he can rarely see good qualities in people. To him, anything good borders on a fault, and he prefers to see the faults in people. All of this comes from a desire to avoid being let down when things inevitably end up poorly.
Grantaire's view of the world is outright depressing and so he does what he can to escape from it. The easiest way is, of course, alcohol and various other substances. His drinking is the most prominent, and it's clear he does it to forget the ugliness of life. Upon entering a wine-shop in the morning, he is automatically given two bottles of wine just for himself by the server. This can indicate his usual amount, but as his friends were beginning to arm up for a rebellion he later began to drink excessively to the point that he needed to be cut off. It is rare to see him when he is not drunk or drinking himself into that state, and though he is often troubled while sober, intoxication does not help his outlook.
When he is drunk, Grantaire falls into quite an interesting state. Not only does he keep his opinions about the world, he is much louder about them. He does not send out quips, he creates entire speeches that are, more often than not, incredibly dramatic but intelligible. It is important to note that even while drunk he is capable of making historical and classical references in excess, showing that his mind is not horribly incapacitated. He is very indirect, disguising his complaints with metaphors and insults, and even distracting from the topic at hand in order to avoid whatever is going on. They are tangents upon tangents, and Grantaire is shown to be the type of person who can go on and on about any subject even without prior knowledge of it.
That is not to imply that he has a lack of knowledge by any means. Grantaire, in his tirades, tends to say that he is ignorant, or stupid, and then goes on to show otherwise. As has been stated, he can allude to a number of sources while drunk, but when trying to convince Enjolras to send him to the Barriere du Maine, he lists his qualifications. He has read up on political works and groups, memorized some of them, and understands their cause well enough. It is said by the narration that it is his skepticism that decays his intelligence (it is more that the idea of cynicism is looked down upon in the book; hence Grantaire), and makes it so that he does not subscribe to any one belief or cause. In a show of irony, it is said that he is one of the students to have learned the most in Paris--not through schooling, but through his wandering. He knows a great amount about the city through that, mostly the best places to enjoy himself.
It should be said that Grantaire is not entirely a depressive drunk. He has his hobbies, and is said to have at least participated in things like savate, dancing, and single-stick. Combined with his description as a "rover" it's obvious that he is fairly active outside of his persona at ABC meetings. His wandering, however, is further proof that he cannot settle into one idea, place, or belief. The only consistency he has is with the Friends of the ABC. In addition, he has a good sense of humor. He is often sarcastic in what he says, generally ironic, and never passes up a chance for a pun; so much so that he made a rebus of his own name and will call himself (Grand) R. He tends to be melodramatic when he speaks, even complaining that he hates humanity after having a bad oyster. He is described as a libertine and therefore finds very little shame in his actions and has rather poor morals. In his playfulness, he is often insulting, to others or himself. He will say what is on his mind without much of a filter, but his friends seem to enjoy it.
At times, however, bits of truth can be found in his jokes. When speaking of Marius's love affair, he starts out very much mocking him, however he very quickly becomes poetic about love to the point where he seems genuine. In fact, despite Grantaire's staunch position against any sort of belief, he very much wants to be able to believe in something. The excessive cynicism in his speech when drunk is often a way of being contrary. He scorns loyalty, but is an incredibly loyal individual. His friends mean very much to him, as they are, in his mind, a rare sort of people who are genuine in their beliefs and convictions. The narration says that he finds his only happiness when he is around them, showing that he needs to be in the company of others to be satisfied. When they are going towards what he believes is their death, he drinks himself into unconsciousness so that he does not have to see his friends die.
In actuality, Grantaire does maintain belief. He cares for his friends because they are genuine in their cause, and so it is only right that the most absolute of their group attracts him. In fact, he "admired, loved, and venerated" Enjolras. Their relationship is complicated and full of metaphors, so in essence: Enjolras and Grantaire are complete opposites which is exactly why Grantaire is drawn to him. It is not because of what Enjolras preaches or his ideals, but because he believes so strongly in everything he says. Metaphorically, this means that Grantaire is "the other side" of Enjolras's existence which shows that he is, in a sense, incomplete. He is dependent on Enjolras, but is notably unaware of the effect Enjolras has on him.
Their relationship is compared to that of Orestes and Pylades, with Grantaire being an "unaccepted Pylades." This shows that although Enjolras rejects and disdains him, Grantaire is endlessly loyal to him, as well as to the rest of their friends. There have been times where Grantaire tries to prove himself to Enjolras, but they end in failure because he becomes distracted and doesn't complete his task. Still, when he wakes to find Enjolras about to be shot, he chooses to die with him and manages to settle with a belief at the end of his life.
Any differences:
The biggest difference for Grantaire is that he lacks Enjolras and his other friends in his life. For one, this means he believes in nothing. While it often seems like he believes in nothing in canon, the difference is very important. Because he believes in Enjolras due to his strength of character, it shows that he has not altogether given up. Without Enjolras and the others to show him that people can be good, he simply has no hope.
He lacks hope, he lacks love, and he lacks any sort of stability. He is far more depressed and cares very little about his life, so he drinks and dabbles in narcotics more so than in canon. However, his views on humanity differ greatly. No longer does he think the human race is a failure, it’s simply a personal defense, which means his hatred is nowhere near as strong. This can also be seen in how guarded he is now; though he dabbles in quite a few hobbies, he makes no effort to reach out to anyone in particular. He is far more quiet when unprovoked, but it doesn't take too long to open him up.
Abilities: A normal human with a liver of steel. He has quite a good memory, an extensive knowledge of history and literature, and can talk non-stop for about four pages.
Roleplay Sample - Third Person: (my third person sample originally for ataraxion!)
For a reason he had yet to remember, Grantaire had not expected himself to wake up. For more obvious reasons, he had not expected himself to wake up with something down his throat and a mockery of the ocean before him. Not a few moments after his eyes blinked open, the offenders disappeared as if they had been caught. If Grantaire had not fallen to the floor, he would have congratulated himself.
The floor was not wood or carpet, clearly, but he began coughing excessively before he had time to think about it. It was ultimately a very bad experience, but perhaps not entirely the worst he'd had. He cleared his throat in a dignified manner and lifted himself off the floor, eyes adjusted and flicking around. They landed on a number in his skin.
There must have been something particularly incredible in the absinthe he'd been drinking--that's right, he was drinking absinthe, or rather, a combination of alcohol. In some part of his mind, he remembered why, but did not acknowledge the thought as he staggered around. He could only assume he was still in the wine-shop, and perhaps the mixture had flickered something in his mind. Although, truthfully, he had assumed such a concoction would send him to the Bacchanalia, if anywhere. He would have to ask Joly if that was possible; the flex of his hand as a subtle reminder that Joly would not be around once he woke from this dream remained unacknowledged.
In his distraction, he wandered--it was what he always did and what he always planned to do--but it did not take long for him to come across a room full of metallic boxes. One stood out in particular, for a reason that eluded him until he caught a glance at his arm again. It was for him. He eyed the workings of it, but it opened easily for him, and he supposed it was a type of locker.
His eyes locked on the brandy first, and he grabbed it out with haste. It was one of his favorite brands from Corinthe; his mind must have left it as a message he had not deciphered yet. He placed it by his feet, that were still bare and cold, and then rummaged through the clothes. It was what he had been wearing that day--this day--except there was a hole that suspiciously resembled the wound from a bullet, and red stains that were not wine.
"Ah." He had been shot, that was why he should not have woken up. It all made a lot of sense, except for his location. "I had won this coat from a man who claimed to be a duke of Danes," he said to himself, sullenly. In many ways, this afterlife made no sense, and yet in some, it did. It could be nothing but a true punishment: cold, empty, lonesome. There was, at least, some humor, he noted with a look to his brandy.
He gathered the rest of his things into his arms, inspecting a familiar deck of cards that he had put atop the pile of clothes. "There's Alexander, Pallas, Rachel," he noted with a look to the king of clubs, queen of spades, and of diamonds. "They are all here," his voice was louder this time, calling to someone unknown, "If you are a gambling man like myself, I invite you for a game."
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[ When the video turns on, Grantaire is frowning down at it. He's tapping the pen in his hand--clearly he's just written the number down. ]
I knew it was too good to be true. I couldn't turn into one of those psychics who predict lottery numbers at this point in my life. Talent doesn't just come to everyone, just like money or skills or anything useful. I tried probably every variation for every lotto card--you know I was kicked out? A man could piss in a convenience store and they'd only send someone to mop it up a week later. [ He ends up grumbling, having more to say. He changes the subject instead. ]
If this has to do with the other day, I do have concerns. Is it normal to receive a stalker before being inducted into this cult? Some sort of agent? I did this test online--figure out if you're being stalked--and this man meets five out of the ten conditions. It said my personal safety was very likely at risk. [ He doesn't seem horribly concerned. ]
Just wondering if I should actually shut my blinds or not.
Any Questions? I hope it's alright if I choose not to give him a first name! He obviously does have one, but I would prefer not to headcanon it since it wouldn't come up.
Name: Ran
Are you over 15? yup
Contact: AIM: Faildere; Plurk: Faildere
IC Information:
Name: Grantaire (surname; no canon given name)
Canon and medium: Les Misérables (novel)
Age: 26; approximately his age when introduced
Preincarnation Species: Human.
Preincarnation Appearance: "Inordinately homely," is the only descriptor of Grantaire's appearance in the novel. The first thing anyone will notice about his appearance is that he is just so ugly. He looks older than he is from his many unhealthy habits, and the bags under his eyes constantly make him look tired. His nose is large and prominent, his eyes droop, and his skin is an unhealthy pale color. His hair is naturally dark and curly, and he generally looks very morose.
Any differences: Thanks to new hygiene habits, Grantaire's teeth will be crooked but not entirely rotting. He also won't smell quite as bad, and will have put on some weight due to modern American eating.
Preincarnated History:
Little was known of Grantaire's history before the events of the book, save for what he said himself in drunken rants. Said rants were not entirely truthful and often contradicted each other, but for the purpose of extrapolation they can be considered vaguely accurate.
Grantaire's age was unstated other than him being the same age as Bossuet, who was at least twenty-five when introduced. He was born in the south of France and moved to Paris at some point for schooling. He claimed to have never had any money, but he had enough for a furnished apartment, university, and copious amounts of alcohol and gambling. He was not mentioned to be wealthy like some of the others, though, so it can be assumed he was not quite as well-off as them. He stated that his father always detested him for not understanding mathematics, and there was no mention made of his mother. Either he was setting up for a pun, or he was actually a student of the artist Antoine-Jean Gros. In any case, he went on to say he wasn't as fond of painting apples as stealing them, and he seemed to have no other connection to art so it was likely that it did not linger with him.
Though the purpose of Paris was for school, he spent less time with studies and more with wandering about the city. He was said to know of all the best restaurants and entertainment. Somehow he found out about the secret group, The Friends of the ABC. They were dedicated to elevating the people of France and rallying against the king, and Grantaire decided to stay with them. He found the wine-shop, Corinthe, that they subsequently met in and built the barricade near.
His time with them was spent as a disruption to whatever work they were doing, but they did not mind him coming because he had a good sense of humor. When another man was needed to go to the Barriere du Maine and convince the men there to align with their cause, Grantaire volunteered. Though Enjolras was dubious about giving him the job, he allowed it and Grantaire went on his way. Unfortunately, when Enjolras checked up on him, he found him playing dominoes instead of tempting them toward rebellion.
As time neared for the rebellion, Grantaire gradually began drinking more and more. Enjolras eventually demanded he leave, but he asked to stay until he died and passed out drunk on the table. He stayed there, sound asleep, throughout the entire battle despite guns and cannonballs firing around the building. It was only when a distinct silence was created by preparation for Enjolras's execution that he awoke, perfectly sober. Though the National Guard did not see him there, he announced his presence and went to stand beside Enjolras. He asked permission to die beside him, and it was granted.
Reincarnated History:
Grantaire was born to a middle class family in southern France. He was the middle child of the family, and subsequently developed a bit of middle child syndrome. His home life was somewhat rocky, with his father often drinking and his mother hardly around. At the age of five, his mother ran off, and when he was six his father decided to move them to the east coast of the US.
In a completely new environment, Grantaire was naturally guarded and had a particularly difficult time making friends. His siblings had begun to distance themselves from their father and family in general, so he was often alone. Being someone who longed for company and attention, he became bitter and angry when he didn't receive it. Instead of accepting his desire for social interaction, he deflected it by telling himself that people were horrible and entirely bad.
As he grew older, he found he could never assign himself to one idea. He had nothing in particular to believe in, no philosophies or genuine opinions could convince him. His opinions about a particular topic would change on a daily basis. He tried to find something to convince himself of and in doing so read up on classic literature and history, immersed himself in a multitude of hobbies, but still nothing seemed right. Exposed to alcohol at an early age by his father, he decided to try it out himself in his teens. He found it was a good way to distract himself from the world around him, and it became something he clung to.
Deciding on a college meant moving a good distance away from his community, and he ended up at the university in Locke City. Though few majors caught his eye, he decided he could put his previous knowledge of ancient literature to use for a classics degree. Of course, he focused very little on school and used his time to explore the new city. He ended up quite knowledgeable about it, and made money through gambling. Any attempts at finding an actual job ended with a quick termination.
After graduating from college, he still had no particular habits other than drinking. There was no one he'd grown close to and no place where he felt like home. He continued to wander and live off his father's money with the occasional support of gambling.
First Echo: It was a fairly normal day; Grantaire was getting on the bus to go across town for lunch at a deli. The bus was packed for whatever reason and Grantaire ended up squeezed behind a blond man (who would turn out to be Enjolras). At a sharp turn, Grantaire was leaned into him and, determined to make it less awkward, he mumbled a, "sorry," in the man's ear. Reminiscent of the point in canon where he whispered "Be easy," in Enjolras's ear, it left him overcome with feelings of veneration, love, and a desire to impress.
The bus ride remained awkward.
Preincarnation Personality:
Grantaire is a man of contradiction, or rather a man who will claim one thing and do the other. He is a skeptic, yet he works hard to remain so; he disdains the idea of devotion, yet finds happiness in his group of friends; he claims to be in constant demand from women, yet is so homely that none want him. Most of what he says can never be taken at face value, so it is easier to understand his character from his actions rather than his words.
His skepticism is more than a dubious nature about the way of things. He has looked into many schools of thought, histories, and practices, and has found nothing that he can believe in or consider the truth. Much of this is due to his cynicism; he feels the main problem with everything is humanity. He thinks that humans, himself included, are ugly failures who are too selfish, power-hungry, unfaithful, what have you, to have anything good happen in the world. There can be no progress in society because of this, and so the idea of overthrowing a king to create an ideal world is laughable to him. Additionally, he can rarely see good qualities in people. To him, anything good borders on a fault, and he prefers to see the faults in people. All of this comes from a desire to avoid being let down when things inevitably end up poorly.
Grantaire's view of the world is outright depressing and so he does what he can to escape from it. The easiest way is, of course, alcohol and various other substances. His drinking is the most prominent, and it's clear he does it to forget the ugliness of life. Upon entering a wine-shop in the morning, he is automatically given two bottles of wine just for himself by the server. This can indicate his usual amount, but as his friends were beginning to arm up for a rebellion he later began to drink excessively to the point that he needed to be cut off. It is rare to see him when he is not drunk or drinking himself into that state, and though he is often troubled while sober, intoxication does not help his outlook.
When he is drunk, Grantaire falls into quite an interesting state. Not only does he keep his opinions about the world, he is much louder about them. He does not send out quips, he creates entire speeches that are, more often than not, incredibly dramatic but intelligible. It is important to note that even while drunk he is capable of making historical and classical references in excess, showing that his mind is not horribly incapacitated. He is very indirect, disguising his complaints with metaphors and insults, and even distracting from the topic at hand in order to avoid whatever is going on. They are tangents upon tangents, and Grantaire is shown to be the type of person who can go on and on about any subject even without prior knowledge of it.
That is not to imply that he has a lack of knowledge by any means. Grantaire, in his tirades, tends to say that he is ignorant, or stupid, and then goes on to show otherwise. As has been stated, he can allude to a number of sources while drunk, but when trying to convince Enjolras to send him to the Barriere du Maine, he lists his qualifications. He has read up on political works and groups, memorized some of them, and understands their cause well enough. It is said by the narration that it is his skepticism that decays his intelligence (it is more that the idea of cynicism is looked down upon in the book; hence Grantaire), and makes it so that he does not subscribe to any one belief or cause. In a show of irony, it is said that he is one of the students to have learned the most in Paris--not through schooling, but through his wandering. He knows a great amount about the city through that, mostly the best places to enjoy himself.
It should be said that Grantaire is not entirely a depressive drunk. He has his hobbies, and is said to have at least participated in things like savate, dancing, and single-stick. Combined with his description as a "rover" it's obvious that he is fairly active outside of his persona at ABC meetings. His wandering, however, is further proof that he cannot settle into one idea, place, or belief. The only consistency he has is with the Friends of the ABC. In addition, he has a good sense of humor. He is often sarcastic in what he says, generally ironic, and never passes up a chance for a pun; so much so that he made a rebus of his own name and will call himself (Grand) R. He tends to be melodramatic when he speaks, even complaining that he hates humanity after having a bad oyster. He is described as a libertine and therefore finds very little shame in his actions and has rather poor morals. In his playfulness, he is often insulting, to others or himself. He will say what is on his mind without much of a filter, but his friends seem to enjoy it.
At times, however, bits of truth can be found in his jokes. When speaking of Marius's love affair, he starts out very much mocking him, however he very quickly becomes poetic about love to the point where he seems genuine. In fact, despite Grantaire's staunch position against any sort of belief, he very much wants to be able to believe in something. The excessive cynicism in his speech when drunk is often a way of being contrary. He scorns loyalty, but is an incredibly loyal individual. His friends mean very much to him, as they are, in his mind, a rare sort of people who are genuine in their beliefs and convictions. The narration says that he finds his only happiness when he is around them, showing that he needs to be in the company of others to be satisfied. When they are going towards what he believes is their death, he drinks himself into unconsciousness so that he does not have to see his friends die.
In actuality, Grantaire does maintain belief. He cares for his friends because they are genuine in their cause, and so it is only right that the most absolute of their group attracts him. In fact, he "admired, loved, and venerated" Enjolras. Their relationship is complicated and full of metaphors, so in essence: Enjolras and Grantaire are complete opposites which is exactly why Grantaire is drawn to him. It is not because of what Enjolras preaches or his ideals, but because he believes so strongly in everything he says. Metaphorically, this means that Grantaire is "the other side" of Enjolras's existence which shows that he is, in a sense, incomplete. He is dependent on Enjolras, but is notably unaware of the effect Enjolras has on him.
Their relationship is compared to that of Orestes and Pylades, with Grantaire being an "unaccepted Pylades." This shows that although Enjolras rejects and disdains him, Grantaire is endlessly loyal to him, as well as to the rest of their friends. There have been times where Grantaire tries to prove himself to Enjolras, but they end in failure because he becomes distracted and doesn't complete his task. Still, when he wakes to find Enjolras about to be shot, he chooses to die with him and manages to settle with a belief at the end of his life.
Any differences:
The biggest difference for Grantaire is that he lacks Enjolras and his other friends in his life. For one, this means he believes in nothing. While it often seems like he believes in nothing in canon, the difference is very important. Because he believes in Enjolras due to his strength of character, it shows that he has not altogether given up. Without Enjolras and the others to show him that people can be good, he simply has no hope.
He lacks hope, he lacks love, and he lacks any sort of stability. He is far more depressed and cares very little about his life, so he drinks and dabbles in narcotics more so than in canon. However, his views on humanity differ greatly. No longer does he think the human race is a failure, it’s simply a personal defense, which means his hatred is nowhere near as strong. This can also be seen in how guarded he is now; though he dabbles in quite a few hobbies, he makes no effort to reach out to anyone in particular. He is far more quiet when unprovoked, but it doesn't take too long to open him up.
Abilities: A normal human with a liver of steel. He has quite a good memory, an extensive knowledge of history and literature, and can talk non-stop for about four pages.
Roleplay Sample - Third Person: (my third person sample originally for ataraxion!)
For a reason he had yet to remember, Grantaire had not expected himself to wake up. For more obvious reasons, he had not expected himself to wake up with something down his throat and a mockery of the ocean before him. Not a few moments after his eyes blinked open, the offenders disappeared as if they had been caught. If Grantaire had not fallen to the floor, he would have congratulated himself.
The floor was not wood or carpet, clearly, but he began coughing excessively before he had time to think about it. It was ultimately a very bad experience, but perhaps not entirely the worst he'd had. He cleared his throat in a dignified manner and lifted himself off the floor, eyes adjusted and flicking around. They landed on a number in his skin.
There must have been something particularly incredible in the absinthe he'd been drinking--that's right, he was drinking absinthe, or rather, a combination of alcohol. In some part of his mind, he remembered why, but did not acknowledge the thought as he staggered around. He could only assume he was still in the wine-shop, and perhaps the mixture had flickered something in his mind. Although, truthfully, he had assumed such a concoction would send him to the Bacchanalia, if anywhere. He would have to ask Joly if that was possible; the flex of his hand as a subtle reminder that Joly would not be around once he woke from this dream remained unacknowledged.
In his distraction, he wandered--it was what he always did and what he always planned to do--but it did not take long for him to come across a room full of metallic boxes. One stood out in particular, for a reason that eluded him until he caught a glance at his arm again. It was for him. He eyed the workings of it, but it opened easily for him, and he supposed it was a type of locker.
His eyes locked on the brandy first, and he grabbed it out with haste. It was one of his favorite brands from Corinthe; his mind must have left it as a message he had not deciphered yet. He placed it by his feet, that were still bare and cold, and then rummaged through the clothes. It was what he had been wearing that day--this day--except there was a hole that suspiciously resembled the wound from a bullet, and red stains that were not wine.
"Ah." He had been shot, that was why he should not have woken up. It all made a lot of sense, except for his location. "I had won this coat from a man who claimed to be a duke of Danes," he said to himself, sullenly. In many ways, this afterlife made no sense, and yet in some, it did. It could be nothing but a true punishment: cold, empty, lonesome. There was, at least, some humor, he noted with a look to his brandy.
He gathered the rest of his things into his arms, inspecting a familiar deck of cards that he had put atop the pile of clothes. "There's Alexander, Pallas, Rachel," he noted with a look to the king of clubs, queen of spades, and of diamonds. "They are all here," his voice was louder this time, calling to someone unknown, "If you are a gambling man like myself, I invite you for a game."
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[ When the video turns on, Grantaire is frowning down at it. He's tapping the pen in his hand--clearly he's just written the number down. ]
I knew it was too good to be true. I couldn't turn into one of those psychics who predict lottery numbers at this point in my life. Talent doesn't just come to everyone, just like money or skills or anything useful. I tried probably every variation for every lotto card--you know I was kicked out? A man could piss in a convenience store and they'd only send someone to mop it up a week later. [ He ends up grumbling, having more to say. He changes the subject instead. ]
If this has to do with the other day, I do have concerns. Is it normal to receive a stalker before being inducted into this cult? Some sort of agent? I did this test online--figure out if you're being stalked--and this man meets five out of the ten conditions. It said my personal safety was very likely at risk. [ He doesn't seem horribly concerned. ]
Just wondering if I should actually shut my blinds or not.
Any Questions? I hope it's alright if I choose not to give him a first name! He obviously does have one, but I would prefer not to headcanon it since it wouldn't come up.