GALAR'S ATLAS

leon has it rough in the episode huh 

so, under the heavy weight of his cape over him, leon begins to remove his arms from his champion jersey and the sound of his grunts escape him when he finally removes the hooks from their clasps. ❛ can you ... pass me the water bottle by my bag? it's over there. ❜ with a small point in its direction, leon let out a heavy exhale, deep breaths ... and exhale, he remembers sonia's words. he'll be fine, thank god the pressure on his chest lessened greatly. ❛ why are you here? i thought you went home with marnie. ❜

only person he’s ever had a genuine crush on was raihan when they were kids - but it kind of died out, in a way, but still lurks around and still makes him embarrassing to be around. he’s dated before, both men and women, but bc of his status of champion at the time it never stuck, his longest one was a year n a half until they eventually parted on relatively decent terms - but other than that he doesn’t seek out relationships. this is obviously ignoring the ship i have w @snarlcd​

passion! one of the main motivators for leon in everything he does, he’s a passion - driven man and it’s hard for him to quit when he gets that way! you can tell in the way he talks, behaves, and reacts to things about his passions. bubbly, a bit fidgety, a bit of the wiggles - the whole she-bang! it’s hard for leon to connect with someone if they don’t have passion in what they do, to him, it seems like a waste in a way. why do something if you don’t love it? why put yourself through the stress of something if it’s not evoking a drive? he believes that life should be lived doing the things you love than the things you despise. a happy passion makes for a happy life.

finally, she gives in, and endorses leon. eventually, with sonia’s wishes, gets an endorsement too. home changed for leon. home was what pushed leon to be better.

hope. it’s a word that’s really heavy for him, it reminds him of how everyone looked at leon when he was the champion. how rose said he was the bright future of galar, his face being that of hope to the region when danger inevitably turns it head their way. rose put a heavy, tall, inevitable weight on leon’s shoulders at a young age. hope was something that people looked at heroes would in fairytales. hope was something that made people strong and fearless, leon felt like he was that. that he was hope in the form of a human, but he knew that it wasn’t true. he is human, after all, humans are such fragile things no matter how strong they are. no matter how much they have at their back - leon knows he was simply fooling himself in thinking he could be that to the people of galar. he was, after all, a simple human.

big ol’ foodie alert! leon loves food, his favorites always gotta be savory combinations. but he does love a good sweet or super, duper spicy dish here and there as well! good food is the way to someone’s heart, in his eyes, it can also tell people what you yourself can’t say. leon loves cooking for people, whenever he can, he’s always going all out for them, all his love in his food for the people he loves! leon’s definitely the type that would spot a friend while on his way back home and invite them over for dinner in the spur of the moment. being home alone in his flat in wyndon can be pretty lonely. enjoying dinner with a friend is the best way to lighten the mood n cheer him up. hell, even video calling someone while eating dinner / making dinner brightens his day!

when he was a kid, he loved going to this small, quaint little gelato shop in turffield. it was famous for their fresh ingredients (for obvious reasons!) and super sweet n creamy gelato. whenever he went, he always had a field day picking and choosing what flavors he wanted, some days he wanted watmel berry, others magost berry or on the cheery days he went with a bright, freshly made grepa berry. but whenever he could, he made sure that he could grab a roseli berry gelato for his older sister - when she used to live with them still at least. they were always decorated with cute little pokemon sticks stuck into the gelato and the small spoons would have special pick - me - up lines on them! leon always enjoyed seeing them. 

as for the verb, since i love discussing the concepts of “a fall.” leon definitely struggles readjusting to normal life after the eternatus incident and losing the title of champion. after that, he had, at that point already, pushed himself too far physically. it ultimately resulted in a crash and burn, his injuries hurt and the acid burns felt like someone dug dirt and rocks into his open wounds. on top of that, he felt raw because of the way everything clung to him. the shock and upset that came with losing was painful enough, that everything felt so amplified. as if, suddenly, he was aware of everything. he was put on medical leave for a long time, in that time, leon struggled with his thoughts, routine, what have you, not out of depression while that surely plagued him. but because of his identity, where is the leon i know? he’d recall thinking, that wasn’t me, always came his reply. then who am i? seemed to follow after, leon didn’t know, wouldn’t know for a long time.