"He doesn't smell alive" -???
Lucas is my main focus character. I'm currently working on a new proper art reference as well! I'll be adding more character info as the blog goes. Here's something about him:
Personality: Lucas is introverted, though not shy. His traumatic past has made him quiet but very observant. He enjoys watching and learning behaviors of people around him; how they move, talk, or react which is highly visible and usually turns others uncomfortable but it also makes him able to adjust his personality perfectly and is actually quite a pleasant person to talk to if you get the chance which there aren't much of since he keeps people at arm's length though. He follows rules precisely and works very carefully but efficiently, focusing and enjoying the certainty that comes with his routines and repetition.
Appearance: His most distinctive feature is his constant use of black latex gloves, which he rarely removes due to a fear of germs and contamination, resulting in soft yet sensitive hands. He has his dark brown hair often tied in a messy rat tail or a ponytail. Wears black round glasses, has no visible irises (only black pupils!!) and elongated canines, most likely a result of his primarily meat-based diet. Lucas is underweight, wears black turtlenecks, trousers, polished black shoes, and a white doctor’s coat with a fake worker ID in an attempt to blend in with the actual staff.
Conditions: Lucas is diagnosed with a terminal illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. The disease slowly "eats away" at the brain, causing progressive brain damage and leading to symptoms such as muscle spasms, difficulty with balance, cognitive decline, memory loss, and hallucinations. Most vCJD patients pass away within months of diagnosis. However, thanks to the experimental treatment ORCA provided, Lucas’s condition has been significantly slowed. While the medications cannot cure him, they have prolonged his life. Though symptoms like tremors, disorientation, memory loss, and weakness in his limbs are still present.
Lucas also suffers from obsessive-compulsive tendencies (however, he's not formally diagnosed), which show themselves in several ways. One is his belief that consuming human meat helps slow the progression of vCJD even more. Another is his obsessive cleaning habits; everything around him, from his workspace to his body, must be thoroughly disinfected and cleared, a behavior rooted in the filthy conditions he endured as a child. At one point, he resorted to washing himself with diluted bleach, which caused his body hair to fall out entirely, leaving his skin lighter, extremely sensitive, and with little to no body hair.
Backstory: Lucas lived with his abusive father, and his existence remained unknown to most of his family acquaintances due to the chaos surrounding his parents’ divorce. Those around his mother believed the child was with his father and vice versa. This continued until Lucas was eleven years old. Enraged by Lucas's 'misbehaving', his father boarded up their house to prevent him from running away. However, while doing so, the father's excessive physical exertion, combined with his poor health from years of heavy drinking and smoking, led to a sudden cardiac arrest, leaving Lucas trapped inside the house with his body. Days past and he slowly ran out of food. Eventually, he resorted to eating parts of his father’s corpse as a source of nourishment. Two weeks later, neighbors alerted the police after noticing a terrible odor from the apartment. Upon entering the premises, the police discovered Lucas with his father’s corpse and immediately took him to St. Jude Medical Center, which is under the ORCA system, for emergency medical care.
His Part in ORCA: A psychological evaluation concluded that Lucas was incapable of integrating into society due to having little to no contact with the outside world before the incident. He was diagnosed with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a terminal illness caused by his decision to turn to cannibalism. ORCA decided to place Lucas under the care of an unnamed doctor and began an experimental treatment with 24/7 monitoring.
Lucas couldn't leave the hospital much. The news about a boy who ate his father spread fast in the country and even faster abroad. However, hospital staff always worked hard for his well-being; involving him in their work, teaching him how to read and write properly, and providing him with a sense of belonging. Everyone knew of his limited life expectancy, but they aimed to make his remaining time as meaningful and comfortable as possible. While the disease continued to progress, the experimental medication slowed its progression significantly, allowing Lucas to live much longer than everyone expected. He became an unofficial nurse over time, helping where help was needed. No one let him really take care of the patients; of course, they just made him believe that. After a few years, he figured that facade out...of course. He decided to focus on the more overlooked part of the hospital, the pathology department, and became an unofficial diener.
