SPIRITED

so two of the big changes with my leon is who his starter was. 

his father is from sinnoh  &  his mother is from galar. however, his father was always traveling for work  &  so, leon rarely saw his father, but every time he came home leon was always given a gift.

one day he was gifted with a pokeball, curious as to what was inside, leon was surprised with a special little piplup. special being the fact that it was a shiny piplup, it had hatched while his father was at work ( he worked as a pokemon researcher )  &  his father believed it’d be a great gift for leon. a little symbol that his father is with him when he leaves to travel once again. 

when leon’s parents divorced, he had it rough. imagine having to explain to your baby brother why dad is leaving,  &  why their older sister was going with him. imagine having to explain in the gentlest way possible that they wanted a break as his mother explained it to him, but leon knew, they weren’t happy with the distance. how his father was never home and his mother had to take care of so many things without him, but they love each other ! oh, they love each other so much.

but they believed it was best for them both that they part, it doesn’t mean that they’re not a part of each other’s lives anymore. but it didn’t mean leon wasn’t hurt witnessing his parents close this chapter of their life together in this way. he didn’t like saying goodbye to their older sister, not knowing when or if he’d see her again.

no one expects a 12 year old to truly understand the situation, but there were arguments. as unpleasant as they were, leon has heard them in the night. when everyone should be in their 4th dream, leon has heard the sad words from his mother to the tired responses from his father. bickering, back  &  forth, back  &  forth. it bothered him, it scared him, why would any kid wish to see their happily married ( or so he thought ) parents leave each other? 

okay a proper hc this time. not a long one but a short one.

leon is very in tune with his emotions, he’s very empathetic  &  he’s usually the type of person many friends can ring up when he isn’t busy  &  just vent to. 10 / 10 times he’ll probably cry for your muse if you’re going through something rough and it’s so stressful, he’s … very accepting of emotions  &  he never thinks it’s okay to bottle them up. his mother taught him at a very young age that allowing yourself to experience the emotions you’re feeling helps you grow  &  better yourself. if he’s upset, he’ll cry. if he’s angry, god damn it, he’ll be angry!

sadly, you’re absolutely right  &  to him, he thinks it’s nothing, but after discussing some things with @earngalar. it was pretty much just a realization that leon was stripped of pretty much everything to the point that even he doesn’t remember much about who he is as a person. kind of causes a bit of a crisis that he definitely internalizes for a good moment, like, he’s given up so much as the champion at his age. he grew distant with the people he grew up with, he was barely in his younger brother’s life because of his title, he grew distant with sonia  &  hell, he even grew distant from raihan. the only thing that kept raihan in his life throughout it was because of their rivalry  &  constant battles during the championships.

leon doesn’t want the young champion to give anything up or feel like they have to, his thing is that he didn’t grow up with someone telling him it’s okay to take things one day at a time. he was dragged everywhere, he was conditioned to think this type of work ethic was normal. no one told him that going home at such late hours exhausted but unable to sleep was an issue, there would be days where he’d lay in bed  &  stare up at the ceiling thinking about what he has to do tomorrow. getting out of bed when he didn’t get any sleep at all only to repeat the routine. 

leon is all for promoting body positivity !! while he, of course, is a physically fit  &  healthy person. a lot of people don’t understand why he goes out of his way to promote such a thing, people think his physique or like minded physiques should be ideal but he says fuck no to that! fuck the unrealistic standards people have! he loves all body types, each  &  every body type is beautiful  &  unique! 

WHAT SHAPE DOES YOUR PAIN TAKE?

RESULTS   :     MASK.

you hide your pain behind a mask. maybe you feel you can’t be helped, maybe you think no one cares, maybe you don’t want to hurt anyone else with it, you’re afraid of being judged, or maybe there’s another reason. but whatever the reason, you fake a smile and try to function normally even though you’re one step away from falling apart. secretly, you wish someone would notice it’s a mask, ask you if you’re really okay, see right through and make it be okay somehow. you’re hurt and a little angry that no one’s noticed yet, but you’ll never admit it. white lies, not that bad… are they?

bro the more i think about bea’s episode in twilight wings the more i just. bro leon has ruined the confidence of so many people  &  he can’t do anything to stop that because he’s doing his Job, like. seeing the extent bea pushed herself in that episode hit real hard when it first aired  &  it makes me think of how other trainers ( & gym leaders ) must harbor some hatred towards the guy  &  leon never sees this. 

im so sad that sometimes, leon doesn’t feel like he is allowed to u know. have fun - like, the moment he sees people having fun  &  enjoying themselves. he just looks on with a smile because he knows that eventually, he’ll have to leave  &  go back to work.

willow, his serperior was a gift to him from one of his sponsors to celebrate his 5th anniversary as champion.

she was a rescue pokemon, found abandoned by her trainer. she was severely injured  &  was found curled up in the deepest depths of the white forest located in unova. how she ended up there is still a mystery but when leon brought her out of her ball, she was terrified.

one of her hands was severely damaged to the point where she can no longer move it. so it remains limp at her side, there had been many times where leon would discuss possible treatments when she was first given to him, but they said the damage was too much, the nerves have died. 

they went through a great deal of personal time together, doing exercises so he could gain her trust. spending time with her  &  would allow her time to ease into coming to his side. they also spent a great deal laying in the grass in wyndon, under the trees where the shade was absolutely perfect, these were the moments willow loved being around leon.

the first time there is any breakthrough with their bond is when leon held charizard’s ball in hand, ready to throw it for their training but instead, mid-throw, willow forced her way out of her ball. a gentle cry leaving her. she wanted to train with him, the smile she received from leon was one of excitement. oh, she was so happy!

he doesn’t dive into work for the battle tower immediately, he doesn’t rush to do that. instead, he’s …. he kind of has to do a bit of searching post game it’s a big where do i go from here? is the person i was as champion really me or was that an entirely different person?  &  coming down to it, yeah, that was an entirely different person, looking through rose colored glasses  &  blinding lights, surrounded by people that loved this persona. people that hated him without really … Knowing who they hate.

deep down, he’s just a man who had to deal with a lot more than any kid should.  &  a lot of people won’t listen because they’ll act like he’s ungrateful like woe is me i’m too successful i can’t do anything! like … no. leon has always felt so alone on this pedestal that people have put him on that every time he has looked over the edge there was someone new keeping him there. he lost people in his life he cared so deeply for because of it, every time he’s thought of jumping off that pedestal he felt so closed in. leon has always felt so alone even in a crowded room with all eyes on him.

leon LOVES singing  &  dancing, he knows ballroom dancing  &  many spanish dances. to him, music is the way to someone’s heart! it’s such a vulnerable act honestly,  &  he’s got so much energy that he isn’t afraid to pull his friends off to the dancefloor  &  just have the time of his life! it really lets him get loose from the stressful life of being the champion.

leon has battle scars from the eternatus incident, in fact, some are even on his arms from when he blocked his face in the explosion! the shrapnel  &  attack from eternatus had sent him flying, on his chest, there are scars from the frontal attack  &  if he were to bring his arm up in the same position, it would complete the look of the scars. post game, he wears a lot more long - sleeved shirts  &  when he’s home he wears shorter - sleeved shirts. 

leon is the middle child and thus he’s the one that his siblings look to be the logical one amongst them. but as a kid, leon latched onto his older sister  &  followed her around. wherever she went, a tiny leon was calling out to her and running after her. he’d hold her hand whenever they went out  &  he’d swing their arms when they held hands, he was the happiest child in the world.

when leon’s parents went out with the kids, they would do that thing where they’d hold his hands  &  swing him. leon genuinely doesn’t have any bad memories with his parents, he had sad ones but …  the good ones weighed out many of the sad ones.