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[avotresante]

❧about

NAME: Grantaire
NICKNAMES: R
AGE: 25
RESIDENCE: N307C
CANON: Les Misérables (2012 film, novel)
DEPARTURE: Post-Death
ARRIVAL: Beta Phase, Rapture
POSESSIONS: Clothing

❧links

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ooc

NAME: Gene
AIM: fillthesun
PLURK: bluegenes
TIME ZONE: EST (GMT-5)

Grantaire

can it be you fear to die

❧personality

MENTAL: Nihilist. Highly intelligent. Quick wit. Devil's advocate. Self-deprecating. Closet romantic. Recovering alcoholic: anxiety, disorientation, insomnia, mild hallucinations.
TRIGGERS: Here, here, here

Ah, the drunken cynic.

To summarize his introduction from the novel, Grantaire is the lone skeptic amongst Les Amis de l'ABC, "a man who took good care not to believe anything." He's tremendously well-rounded in his knowledge of places, activities, philosophies, and classics and generally puts off an air of arrogance. He is "a rover, a gambler, a libertine, and often drunk", living under the pretense that nothing truly matters and therefore one may as well simply enjoy what one can. In short, his front is essentially that of a libertine Nihilist and he is only tolerated by those around him for the sake of his good-humour.

Beneath all of that, however, Grantaire is essentially more of a jaded romantic. He waxes poetic on a fairly regular basis, egged on by the combination of amusement and irritation in those around him, as well as the wine that he's constantly drinking. The one thing that he truly believes in, all else be damned, is Enjolras, of whom he is described to be "a true satellite", and his one delight in life, that which makes it entirely worth living, is the company of his friends. Though he openly mocks the concept of devotion and often taunts his friends for their beliefs and ideals, he is irrevocably devoted to Enjolras and Les Amis in a way that he is attached to nothing else.

Now, on a note in more modern psychological terms, Grantaire is an addict and displays the signs of what would be called an Addictive Personality. He can, on one hand, be impulsive, insecure, maladaptive, and easily depressed while, on the other, he is often tremendously verbose, assertive, and gregarious. His form of self-medication has always been a combination of inebriation - most notably preferring wine, though opium and hash are both also mentioned - and personal attachments, reveling in the attention or even mere presence of others.

This is all very important to understand due to the fact that he first arrived after having recently awoke from a drunken slumber and proceeded to combat the beginnings of alcohol withdrawal while attempting to acclimate and survive the horrors of Rapture. He managed to find some wine and absinth to stave off the worst of it but, upon reaching the Charon, suffered through all of the typical minor effects - including shakes, nausea, anxiety, headaches, insomnia, etc. - as well as some of the more severe ones - such as inexplicable disorientation, hallucinations, irregular heartbeat, tremors, fever, and so on. Symptoms peeked approximately four to five days after alcohol cessation and the worst was only just subsiding by the time everyone was sent home.

Being dead, Grantaire spent the time between Beta and Gamma in limbo. As such, he enters Zelien still a bit worse for the wear. Once a recovering alcoholic, always a recovering alcoholic, and the advent of his recovery is still too recent to know how the entire affair will go. Having somehow come through Rapture and the ensuing situation back on the Charon intact whilst suffering the ill effects of drying out, he may get a bit shaky at times and is more prone to headaches, anxiety, and insomnia but is generally determined to avoid returning to the bottle. For now. After all, even if it were available to him one day, would it be the next? Would it be worth potentially suffering through some degree of withdrawal again for the sake of that temporary comfort? Only time will tell.

(Note: I must admit to a tremendous amount of personal experience with handling alcoholism and I aim to treat it in a realistic manner. Relapse is, therefore, a real possibility, just as future rounds of withdrawal may be.)

❧abilities

MEDICAL: Strong. Physically active. Boxer, fencer, dancer, etc. Recovering alcoholic: shakes, sweats, nausea, headaches, irregular heartbeat, mild fever.
CONTACT: Thrives on physical affection. Will be jumpy about contact with strangers.
RELATIONS: With discussion. When acting normally, he's a flirt. Friends are more important.

Super Alcohol Tolerance, Sonic Cynicism, Power Trolling, and a sense of humor capable of winning over everyone but Enjolras.

But no. To be serious, Grantaire is an extremely well-rounded individual. He has a tremendous memory for facts as well as an extremely eloquent way with words, when he really gets going. He is, on one hand, an artist and an intellectual and, on the other, extremely familiar with physical activity. Canonically, he is variously mentioned as being a decent kickboxer, gymnast, and dancer. That being said, he'd much rather fight with his fists than with any sort of weapon and he is a relatively formidable foe to anyone of equal physical stature in that regard.

In Zelien, people may take more notice of the fact that he is an artist. If he can get his hands on some paper and sketching utensils, he will likely be found in the library, recreating and possibly attempting to complete illustrations. The readability of the words doesn't particularly bother him. Unfinished pictures, however, get under his skin. He is a fairly good sketch artist, best at realism and attuned to people in a way that makes him quite adept at portraiture, but has always been best with oil paints, when at all capable of gathering the time, inclination, and ability to focus.

❧activity

Beta
Grantaire first arrived while the prisoners of COMPASS were trapped in Rapture. Prior to waking up under a gallows in an underwater city of horrors, however, he had just recently woken from an alcohol-induced slumber to find himself alone and apart from the sounds of a slowly dying attempt at revolution. He stumbled off in search of his friends only to find Enjolras before the firing squad and promptly joined the young leader there to die. Both were shot and killed.

Given what was next to greet his eyes, there is little wonder that Grantaire was momentarily quite determined that he had been wrong to not believe in an Heaven for there most certainly appeared to be an Hell. The arrival of Enjolras, of course, promptly negated the entire notion of any such religious experience as well as left the still notably intoxicated young man under the impression that he had merely dreamt his own waking and subsequent death by his friend's side. After meeting with an ADAM-addicted Marius as well, Grantaire proceeded to spend his remaining time in Rapture hiding under the nearest rock and scavanging just enough alcohol to keep his encroaching withdrawal at bay.

Once on the Charon, little about Grantaire's routine from below had reason to change. He was scared, confused, and entirely uninterested in any of this resisting nonsense that seemed to be going on. That is until his stash of wine ran dry and, thus, so did he. Withdrawal and constant threat of death at sea do not mix too terribly well, it should be noted, and hours spent vomiting into the ocean have left him about as fond of sailing as he is of being locked up with a bunch of strangers.

Gamma
Welcome to Zelien.

CODE BY TESSISAMESS