MERO, claudius

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NINETEEN - MALE - 5"9' - HETEROSEXUAL - SQUIRE (+ ASPIRING KNIGHT)
ONCE UPON A TIME


"and so they say, for everything a reason."[/font][/size][/center]

LIKES & DISLIKES


● candlelight
● flora & fauna
● the colour red
● honour & worth
● romantic notions
● letting luck decide

● midday heat
● discrimination
● broken promises
● unproductive days
● sickly sweet alcohol
● unnecessary violence


PERSONALITY

First and foremost, Claude is a gentleman. He was brought up traditionally, with a great respect for family, friends, duty, and the feelings of others. He is amiable and charming to most people he meets, and has a keen sense of propriety when meeting people for the first time, making it generally quite easy for him to make friends. However, his politeness towards others can be taken almost to a fault, and he often puts others ahead of himself if he feels that the end result of a situation would be better served by complicity than conflict (he is readily willing to compromise or mediate if need be for the greater good). This sometimes lends him to being an easy target to be walked over.

In a similar vein, Claude is a natural caregiver, and can be quite sympathetic to the plights of others, particularly those less fortunate than himself. Whether it be the sick, the defenseless, the destitute, or even just the misguided, confused, or lonely; he has an almost involuntary compulsion to help those around him. He recognizes that everyone has their own struggles to deal with and that we may all need assistance at some point in our lives, whether we admit it or not. This leads him to be quite overbearing to those he really cares about and he will tirelessly offer you his protection — even if you don’t want or need it.

Luckily for Claude, thus far in his life he has encountered very few people that he could really call enemies. Of course, there are those whose behavioral choices or personal affronts have caused him to harbor some degree of aversion, but he mostly strives to remain generally pleasant and tolerant even when someone’s attitude might rub him the wrong way. However, everyone has a line, and he can prove as effective an enemy as he can a friend if that line is crossed. He knows to be cunning, and while he does his best to be honourable, he doesn’t always take it upon himself to go by the book.

Claude values the simple things in life; from the beauty of a sunset and the freshness in the air after a spring rain, to the feeling of excitement and comfort that comes from connecting with another human being, or the incredible peace that can be found in a moment of silence. Though he lacks natural charm, Claude could be considered a romantic in this sense. Due to his lifestyle, he’s had little to no experience in the matter of women, and while he may not have the ability for it, he’s always been fond of the idea of courtly love.

Despite everything else, he is also undeniably driven in his quest to better himself. He believes he’s just as good as anyone else out there — though this remains to be proven — and he’ll let little get in his way when he’s got his mind set on something. As a child, he often tended to cry and grow anxious over the smallest of things. His compassion is a strong factor, but he tries to hide or disguise it for fear of being thought to be delicate. He has a habit of thinking aloud, however, which does no good in helping him hide this fact. Additionally, Claude believes strongly in luck and keeps a coin in his pocket as a matter of chance. He’s recklessly daring, but more than most things, he simply wants to fit in.


THE STORY SO FAR

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It is fair to warn you straightaway that this is not a happy story, or a fairy tale, or even the sort of thing that one would probably interested in reading. The unfortunate truth is that our hero is not much of a hero; he is not particularly noble or strong or handsome, and to not possess any of these qualities is a dreadful setback.

It begins like this.

Before he is a man, before he is a squire, he is a boy — red-faced and unmarred by the ages. The world was still an oyster, still his oyster. He was born out of wedlock, a consequence of an affair between a highborn woman and a lowborn man. The lady refused to give up her son, and so she kept him and gave him her family name. Even then, he was usually kept out of the way; when the house entertained visitors, she was too ashamed to introduce him.

The nobleman of House Aster who raised him, his “father” by right, mostly referred to him as “the bastard”. His brothers were allowed to do things he was not, and he was hidden away instead of shown off like they were. At the time, Claude hadn’t understood any of this, never knew what he’d done to deserve it, but learned to keep quiet all the same.

He was lucky enough, in a circumstantial sense — he was born to a noble family, and hadn’t been cast out, and was never for want of money or food or anything else. He was also lucky the day he found a dusty silver coin lying on the ground. From then on, he kept it with him on his person at all times, and to this day has a penchant for making little bets with himself and flipping that very coin. Making decisions always requires a bit of luck, he believes, and a shiny coin always seemed to be just the thing for the job.

One such occurrence was the day he had been given his first sword. As aforementioned, Claude is unfortunately lacking in most of the qualities that are said to make a man impressive or heroic. He was attending a hunting trip in which he was merely supposed to carry things for his brothers, but after they had managed to shoot a deer, he was asked to go fetch it. Upon looking down at the creature, he discovered it was still alive and looked at him with such desperation that he began to cry. The only way he could make his next move, he concluded, was to let luck decide. He flipped his coin and it landed the wrong side up, so he muttered a thousand apologies and ended the animal’s life with his eyes closed.

It was, and is, a well known fact that the Aster household was well-connected with the kingdom’s capital. When Claude was twelve years old, it was agreed upon that one of his father’s sons would be sent to the castle as a knight’s squire. Most had assumed that this would be the eldest son, who had turned eighteen not long ago, or perhaps his younger brother, who was yet to come of age but would not have long to wait.

Neither of them were sent. Instead, the nobleman packed up the Mero bastard and sent him on his way. The boy arrived at the castle on a very rainy day, small and soaking and very embarrassed. Surely they would not see him fit to be a squire — perhaps they would send him away, or make him a servant instead — but they kept him all the same.

The knights and palace guards became a family to him, moreso than the people who were supposed to be his real one. They rarely called him a bastard, nor did they introduce him as such to others, and Claude had the distinct sense of belonging that he had never had with his own brothers. Yet still, he felt as if he were out of place: him, the bastard, the Mero, always the odd one out, so meek and tender and quiet. He knew nothing of honour and greatness, but he did his best to be like the rest of them.

Everything was a challenge, a dare, a call to arms, a chance to prove himself worthy through the pranks and reckless behaviour. The softhearted boy hid his fears away, he who had cried for fallen prey, men at war, their widows, and the family who turned him away in shame.

Throughout his years he was given lessons in swordsmanship, and on his eighteenth birthday, the knight he squired for gave him a proper weapon. Not the crude longsword of his youth, but a sleek, sharp steel blade that he was made to practice with every free hour of his day. He looked upon the kingdom, listened to the news that run through the veins of the castle. And he decided, beyond anything else, that when he was older and stronger, he would protect the land with his life.

He was brave, he is brave, he has always been brave.

But whether his story will end happily ever after remains to be seen.


OTHER INFO[/font]

● Born out of wedlock into a world where birthright means so much, Claude’s entire life has been a struggle with his identity and allegiances. He is a self-martyr who only wishes to prove himself and please others. He views the knights and the palace guards to be more of a family than his biological relatives of House Aster.

● He owns a golden-maned silver mare by the name of Sigyn, whom he had bought with his own earned gold upon his sixteenth birthday; he later taught himself to ride with the informative help of a few others. Though he hasn’t had the horse for long, Claude considers her to be a close companion of his and offers her a lot of his time, attention and care.


FACE CLAIM[/font]

Lelouch Lamperouge of Code Geass


YOUR ALIAS[/font]

Blue
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