IN CHARACTER
Character Name: Louis
Canon: The Walking Dead Game
Canon Point: End of Season 4 Episode 4 "Take Us Back" + 10 months of CRAU in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entranceway.
In-Game Tattoo Placement: On the index finger of his right hand
Current Health/Status: Pretty dang healthy! He's got a bullet wound on his left bicep but that's pretty much healed into a scar by now. Due to him being from The Walking Dead universe he does, however, carry the pathogen that makes people come back from the dead. Should he die and not have his brain destroyed, he'll come back as a walker and try to eat everyone. Good times.
Age: 17
Species: Human
Content Warnings: Child death, child endangerment, child kidnapping and torture, self-loathing and mental health issues in general, gun and knife violence, blood, gore and of course; a whole lotta zombies
History: Here. As he's from a canon with multiple-choice canonical paths, the world state I'm taking him from is here.
CRAU History and Impact:
Louis spent ten months in entranceway
Major CR: Clementine (canonically too), Michonne, Kokichi Oma, Wendy Corduroy, R, Dipper and Mabel Pines, Wirt, George and Shaun Mason, Juliet O'Hara, Peridot (and Steven!), Souji Seta, Alice.
Physically
Louis is physically the same as he was when he first left his homeworld. Wonderland prevented anyone ageing and though he was killed once - the physical scars from the experience healed. He got his badass longcoat fixed by Kokichi - which is about the biggest difference there is.
Mentally
He gained himself a bunch of vitally important friends, and he learned that Not All Adults are out to abandon or harm him. Here, he got close to Michonne- seeing her as a surrogate mother figure and Juliet, who became something of an older sister. These were the first adults he trusted in a long, long time.
Thanks to R, he learned to question what he'd assumed was the truth about walkers for as long as they'd been walking- that they were mindless and the people they once were had faded to nothing. R was a person, almost healed from zombieism. It was only after his own death (and subsequent turning) that he realised the cure R had gone through was not possible in his world- a shame, but at least he saw the undead as more than black and white afterwards.
He also learned that magical(?) kidnapping lands existed and they were the worst. He'd come into Deerington at least a little prepared for the unexpected and weird. He's also aware of alternate versions of people- thanks to the Mirror Universe Wonderland held. He tried his best to see them as people in their own right, even if they were creepy copies of people he knew.
Emotionally
Unsurprisingly, this is where events hit Louis the hardest, and where most of his growth and scars from his time in Wonderland come from.
The mansion had an event based around a person's deepest regret- trapping them in an endless loop of the action that brought them the most guilt. If they were able to forgive themselves, they would be freed from it- if not, they were trapped there for the entire three days. Louis re-lived the moment he sent the receipts of his father's invented affair to his mother. He was understandably distressed, having to live through this over and over- and having people learn of what he did. Michonne and Clem were already aware, and offered him comfort in this time, something he was glad for, even if he couldn't find it in himself to forgive his own actions. This was where Wendy and Wirt learned of his past- Wendy provided as much support as she could, while Wirt- triggered by his own bad memories of his parents' divorce lashed out at Louis. Louis felt this validated his self-loathing- finally having someone react to his actions in horror, treating him as he felt he deserved. Wirt came round after the event ended to apologise for the way he acted. The two boys had a heart to heart and understood one another a lot better for it. Louis never forgave himself for what he did, but at least he learned it was probably better talking about this rather than holding it in all the damn time. At least around people he trusted.
His most major emotional blow came from an Infinity War Event - this event arrived only a month or so after Louis and Clem returned from their canon bump. Clementine was missing a leg and knew she'd be unable to hold her own so well in the fight to come. Aware that Louis would stick by her even if it killed him, Clem told him not to look for her and went into hiding. Louis, of course, went looking for her and ended up being killed by the aliens attacking the mansion. The killing blow didn't destroy his brain, however, and he turned. His zombie self nearly killed Kokichi, until Clementine - roused from her hiding place, put a bullet in walker-Louis' head, killing him proper. Louis returned- as everyone who does in Wonderland, to learn half the mansion was turned to dust in "the snap", including most of the people he was closest too. Worse, Clem was heartbroken over having to put him down. The close-but-technically-not call was enough to nudge to two into finally telling one another that they loved each other. He also went to find Kokichi, and was glad to find Kokichi didn't blame him for the whole zombie thing. Regardless, Louis was quiet and withdrawn for a while after this- grieving for himself and feeling guilty for doing so, after so many other people died in the mansion, too. He eventually managed to put his 'this is fine' mask on, but this marked the longest time he was unable to fake a smile.
Of course, it wasn't all awful- even in the spooky events, Louis managed to keep his head and help others out of trouble with his usual altruistic self- be it helping Wirt through a facsimile of the Unknown, or checking up on Peridot while she blasted into Wonderland's creepy depths. He got turned into a pegasus which was a blast, he and Mabel plotted to get Wirt and Dipper together- only to find the pair finally did it on their own (rude) and he learned himself some responsibility by helping Juliet run her bowling alley. He managed to go through most of his time during Wonderland being a cheerful and comforting presence for everyone who came near him. Just the way he liked it.
Personality:
"He walks into a room and it's like: 'Look at me! Watch me perform!' It's so stupid. But then I realised, under all that he really cares about people, and he doesn't just feel it, he says it. He'll tell you every goddamn day how much you mean to him. Shit, he'll probably sing about it."Louis is generally a very friendly, easy-going kid. He's very welcoming to strangers, and will happily talk to and help anyone - an unusual trait, eight years into the apocalypse where letting your guard down around the wrong person can make you wind up dead. Louis doesn't care, though, seeing no need to be a dick right off the bat- wanting to be a GOOD person. He acts as the emotional caretaker of his group. He's highly empathetic, and can usually tell when something is upsetting someone else. He's quick to relieve any group tension with a joke (sometimes at his own expense) or a game, bringing them together again and soothing any ruffled feathers. When Willy and Aasim fell out, thanks to the building tension in waiting for the Delta to break down their gates, Louis stepped in with a joke and a game of Truth or Dare to calm everyone down again.
He tends to shy away from confrontation, only standing up and fighting when he absolutely has to. After his actions with his parents, and the apocalypse thereafter, Louis leans
very hard into being decent and kind and doing his best to make sure no one is hurting around him. He's seen how much damage emotional pain can do - and is terrified of being the kind of person who creates that, as he once did. He does everything in his power to not be that.
Louis lives for the moment, holding it as his unshakeable modus operandi- any of them could die at any moment. None of them knows they will live to see tomorrow, so there was no point in stressing about the future. Instead, he chooses to live for the moment, grabbing whatever opportunities that come his way with both hands. This riles up the rest of his group, who see him as a slacker who has no long-term plans which could help the group as a whole - something he generally sloughs off as them being "boring". He's not completely incapable of stepping up, however. Thanks to Clem's influence- inspiring him to be a better person and by giving him the time and patience to make him feel like he
can be an important part of the group, he's started to grow out of this. Once the group gets back together as of the final episode and their leader is down one leg, he becomes much more willing to pull his weight- seemingly stepping up as Clem's second in command. He still jokes around and gets distracted, but he does his part.
Things can get to him though, he's only human. If a loss or an upset hits him hard enough, he can be quick to anger. He tends to say whatever's on his mind at the time, and when he's upset, those words can often hurt those he aims them at. After Marlon's death, he was extremely bitter and hostile towards Clementine and AJ- regularly sniping at them as a means to deal with his grief. He usually regrets it pretty damn quickly, though building the courage up to apologise takes him a little longer- usually content to avoid the subject that upsets him entirely if he can manage it - or trying to find ways to assuage his guilt by pretending things "aren't that bad". He's very good at burying his head in the sand when he doesn't want to deal with a problem, something he tries his best to work on- but old habits die hard.
On first glance, it's easy to dismiss Louis as a joking idiot. A joker he is, but an idiot he certainly is not - he was a straight-A student before he was sent to Ericson and it shows. He can quote Shakespeare at the drop of a hat and is responsible for making all the snares around the woodlands that's kept the school fed. The jokester side of him is a front he's put up - to deal with the horrors of the apocalypse, his own self worth issues and to make people more at ease around him- which unfortunately means no one ever takes him seriously. This means he's less willing to open up to people, to show them all his own emotional scars - because they dismiss him off the bat. It's a horrible cycle. When people do take the time to get to know him in the quiet moments, he'll let them see under the mask and be a little more honest with them about his general emotional state. As he says to Clementine "Everyone hears the jokes, the piano and after that, they stop listening. You didn't." He genuinely appreciates people looking past the upbeat font and seeing all sides to him- and as such he's more willing to let his walls down around them.
Louis is the Lord and Master of "this is fine". He has a LOT of self-worth issues, stemming from when he orchestrated his parents' divorce. He hates himself for what he did, and unfortunately, he often fails to see any worth others might see in him. When Clem rescues him from the Raiders, he honestly questions her why she saved him over Violet, admitting "I don't think anyone would have picked me.
I wouldn't have picked me." It takes a lot of trust for Louis to show this side of himself- the side that's actually just a sad kid carrying a heavy sense of self-loathing who desperately wants to be a better person and
stay that way.
He absolutely and utterly
adores Clementine. He's pretty dang besotted with her, pretty much from the moment he clapped eyes on her. Her treatment of him has made a huge impact on his life. His self worth is still garbage, but she's made him see
some worth to himself. Much more than he has in years. She's inspired him to become more responsible, to become a little hardened to the world outside Ericson's walls. She's a badass who made his life better and he will tell anyone who asks (and those who don't) this. Often at great length. Clem is his favourite.
He loves music and is a classically trained pianist- up to and including composing his own songs on it. The piano in the music room is his bolt hole, where he goes when things get too much for him. Here, he can quietly play in solitude and find a way to work through whatever's bothering him in his own head. His piano playing skills are the only things he takes
genuine pride in. He'll regularly crow about his walker-killing abilities or his hunting skill, but these are part of his jokester portfolio- they're not things he's
actually proud of. He creates music to try and help his community- him and Minnie co-composing 'Don't Be Afraid' after the adults abandoned the school. He truly believes that music is an
important thing to preserve - even in the end times - as it can bring light to just about any darkness.
And bringing light to the darkness is what Louis is all about.
Core Values/Moral Codes Louis believes in living life day-by-day. He's got better at accepting a future is possible by the end of the game, but he still stands by the idea that nothing should be left unsaid- no moment left wasted.
Louis is a pacifist whenever he can be. He hates guns (even more so after Marlon's death) and only fights the living when he has to. Monsters and the dead? He can fight them no problem. But living people? He understands when he has to defend his home and loved ones and he will- but he doesn't find any joy in it.
He works very hard to look after the wellbeing of others. He genuinely cares about people and wants them to be happy and safe. He's an emotional caretaker- stepping in when someone needs to feel better and making sure they do so- even if it's at his own expense. He'll put others before himself every single time.
He'll joke all the time. Over anything. Though a lot of this is a front for his own insecurities - he is genuinely a funny guy and loves making people laugh. He likes to bring levity to an otherwise bleak existence.
He's learned to not shirk his responsibilities as much as he used to. He still likes to goof off, but he knows he probably shouldn't.
Friendship and loyalty are super important to him. He's a ride-or-die friend, even when his friend is doing something with questionable morality.
He LIVES for music and the arts- poetry, books, painting, you name it. He feels they're a vital part of self-expression.
Incecurities/Inner Demons
The flip side to his day-by-day modus operandi means that he has poor foresight. He often fails at planning ahead and actions that might have obvious consequences often take him by surprise.
Louis has very strong feelings of self-loathing. Thanks to destroying his parent's marriage, and then being put into Ericson's where the staff care was bordering on the abusive. "They told us we were bad people" - Louis' seeds of self-loathing were planted after what he did to his family, but the staff at Ericson's made them grow and take root. He doesn't really believe he's worth anything and is surprised when people say otherwise.
His joking persona, though not completely faked, is a mask he wears to protect himself from all his inner turmoil and the world around him. If he can fake that he's fine, it's almost like being fine, right? He will let this wall down- if people earn his trust enough.
On the flip side of being very loyal- he struggles when conflict means he has to pick one side over the other with his friends. He has to eventually look past his loyalty and instead do what's 'right' instead.
Occasionally the spoiled rich boy he once was surfaces- if he's angry about something he can hold a grudge for a long time. It takes him a while to pluck up the courage to admit he was wrong and ask forgiveness - mostly stemming from the fact he feels he doesn't deserve forgiveness. He'll try and assuage his own guilt in situations like this.
He doesn't always have a good sense of self-preservation. When he sees a walker trapped in a rabbit snare, his first thought was 'walker pinata' over "maybe I shouldn't go near that thing because it can still bite me". It was mostly to make a point that Clem needed to let off some steam- but he'll still use humour as a defence mechanism, even against actual dangerous monsters.
Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Aside from the whole carrying the zombie plague thing, he's a baseline human without any powers at all. He is skilled in making traps and is an impressive mele fighter when he has to be. He's very skilled with a piano. He has a knack for catching onto the emotional states of others and doing what he can to help with any emotional problems they might be dealing with.
Inventory:
Chairles - (Weapon slot) It's literally a chair leg with nails in it.
His leather and sheepskin badass longcoat - the rips and tears in it have been fixed during his time in Wonderland.
A dirty deck of playing cards.
A wooden heart with the initials C+L carved into it- a Valentine's day gift from Clem.
Magic chalk from Wonderland. Whatever is drawn with it comes to life- though can be washed out/smudged like regular chalk and only has a short lifespan. Louis tends to use it to draw out music or, alternatively, dicks. If you need this nerfed in any way, I'm cool with it! He's just sentimentally attached to it.
A ridiculously yellow fake moose head from his Wonderland room. It's called Sir Archibald Antlerton the Third.
Writing Samples: TDM SAMPLE + TDM thread 1, TDM thread 2 + A more serious thread in Eway
OUT OF CHARACTER
Player Name: TF
Player Age: 36
Player Contact: ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
teeff or PM this journal.
Other Characters In Game: N/A I'm brand new!
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Louis : TF
Permissions for Character: Here is his Eway-specific one. Should he be accepted, I'll create one for Deer.
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Sure thing. His canon means there are multiple canonical paths and him having to deal with that in some way would sure be a thing.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: I love psychological stuff. Louis has a lot of inner demons, and I love prodding at them from time to time. Being from the canon he's from, I also love me some good monster/slasher horror too. I honestly just love horror in general, give me it all.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: I'm pretty cool with anything. I do have Claurophobia, though. Descriptions of clowns are A-OK, but I'd appreciate a heads-up for any images of them.
Additional Information:
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STAGGR
 "un/finished")
