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[manforflowers]

Out-of-Character Information

Name: Toni
Are you over 15?: :c
Time Zone: Pacific
Personal Journal: zedlast
Reliable Method of Contact: punchpolygons, AIM: parakeetnomad
Other characters in the game: flowerofmtsilver, caincarnate

In-Character Information

Name: Inigo
Game/Series: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Teacher/Student/Other: Student
Canon Point: post-game, fathered by Chrom, Flower Picker epilogue
Age: 17
Grade Level/Class Taught/Job: Junior
Dorm or Living Arrangement: Dorm

Personality:

Ever since he was a child, Inigo has been desperately shy, but it'd be hard to tell with the way he is now. His most obvious quirk is also his most annoying - that incessant habit of flirting with every pretty lady he comes across. It is his self-proclaimed mission in life to be popular with all the girls of the world, and on that front he is an utter failure. He's almost as fast with a smile and a charming compliment as he is with a sword, but being so completely indiscriminate with his womanizing, it all comes off as shallow and meaningless. For someone who grew up in the midst of a hopeless war, the sunny disposition and carefree exploits that Inigo obsesses over seem inappropriate and frustrating. Yet despite the staggering number of rejections he's racked up over the years, he persists in this lifestyle - much to the annoyance of his childhood friends and the comrades who struggle to tolerate him. But the war took its toll on all the children of the Shepherds, and Inigo is no exception.

In truth, despite his womanizing, he's aware of the responsibilities riding on his shoulders, and they're not something he takes lightly - after all, he is a crown prince. But Lucina's burden had always been heavier, and she took after their father's strength, his nobility and charisma. She could give men the courage to fight, whereas Inigo was much more his mother. In his blood, he was a performer. He may not have been invincible, but he put on the act to hide any sign of weakness instead. When push comes to shove, Inigo has a fairly level head on his shoulders, and at least an ounce of common sense in the field of strategy, even if he can make reckless decisions when cornered. He's not quite a natural born leader, but he does try to be the mature one among his more dysfunctional close friends. Among the more brooding, overly serious members of the Shepherds though, he's much more likely to try and lighten the mood. It doesn't help morale to be grim and gloomy all the time, no matter how dire the straits. If ever Inigo was ever found moping, it's definitely from the nth rejection he's gotten from a pretty girl, rather than anything of significant strife. It certainly gives the impression that the biggest problem he has to face day to day is being turned down for a date.

Call it what you will, the flirting is something he can't really help. Even though it started out as a way to help him overcome his shyness, it's developed into an instinctual bravado born of 'fake it 'til you make it.' He really does put his all into this seemingly sexist habit though; a dancer's allure is one of their most important qualities. In a way Inigo sees it as training - he'll never be able to be a truly good dancer unless he's able to capture the hearts of any and every woman. And just like practicing one's steps, he continues to try again and again with every woman he sees. It stops at getting a date though - he wouldn't know what to do if he actually got someone into bed with him. Despite all the pretty words and chivalrous kisses, his self-consciousness flares up once he's actually met with anything approaching a genuine act of desire. It can't be said he's ever been anywhere near that successful, but all the same, a dancer's training only leads so far as to entice. He's not well equipped to go much further. Everything about his debonair facade falls apart when it comes to so much as a kiss on the lips or walking in on him getting dressed.

If his priorities seem a bit skewed on the gender divide there, well... he's always assumed that male soldiers wouldn't exactly be invigorated by a male dancer's charms. It was vanity at best, and at worst the endangerment of them all for any able man not to dedicate themselves to fighting with the threat of humanity's destruction all around them. Inigo's skill with a sword was definitely helped by the nimbleness of his movements, but necessity meant that dedication to honing his true passion had to come second to the skills that would help them survive to see the next dawn. To that end, he's become used to compartmentalizing away what he truly feels, letting the more trivial matters take center stage for others to see. He doesn't allow people to see the toll that war has taken on him, even though he grieves and hardened his heart to cut down enemies - but he'll moan endlessly about not being able to score a date. He'll privately stow his dancing dreams away - but hit on girls whenever he has a free moment. It comes to the point of even actively hiding serious wounds from people so they have no cause to worry about him - but if they consider him a vapid floozy, that's something Inigo can accept as long as they still recognize that he can pull his weight.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of him, he cares deeply for for others. He's not the kind of person who can stand by and let someone get hurt, even if it costs him his own safety in the process. The desire to do good for others is the idealistic stem of his mercenary lifestyle - in a world that had been ravaged by despair, being able to spread joy again was its own reward. That's his ultimate goal, really. And in theory, compliments and attention and dates ought to make people happy! On that front, Inigo can be pretty dense about how actual humans react to that very simplistic strategy. No matter how charming and attractive he is, he can't seem to wrap his head around the notion that what his female 'audience' would covet most is feeling unique - not just one among hundreds.

He's genuinely earnest in his desire to help though, even if his definition of help often reaches the point of being a pest to others in his attempts to make them smile. The persona he steps into is obstinately chipper, but to most it simply seems like he's an idiot whose head is too high up in the clouds, or too dense to take a hint. Yet Inigo is nothing if not persistent, and he'll keep going even with a dour reception to his antics in the hopes of getting through to the good he sees in people. Hell, if it makes them happy he'll gladly take any amount of punishment to achieve it, well past when a normal person would have stopped. Sometimes he can push it too far, though - he's not necessarily the best at understanding people's limits, so it usually takes a harsh lashing out at for him to get the hint that his presence is truly unwanted, and he takes it pretty hard.

After all, as much as he plays a devil-may-care rogue, bold and unaffected by sadness, he's still a deeply sensitive person inside. While an optimist for everyone else, his views on himself are much more pessimistic. He's extremely critical on his own performance and filled with doubts about his ability to live up to his father's legacy. Even after the threat of Grima has passed, he feels like he doesn't have a right to remain near the family of his past. Without even realizing, Inigo has a tendency of "bottling up [his] happiness to drown out [his] sorrows later." Rejection's just something he's so used to, Inigo's inner anxiety considers it a given. It's not uncommon for him to hide away somewhere when he needs to cry, which is more often than he'd like anyone to let on. He doesn't know how to handle genuine praise either - it causes feelings of mortification more than anything else, and being scrutinized makes him extremely bashful. Even just the prospect of someone mocking him for something he put his all into is enough for the secretive dancer to bury himself in melodramatic shame.

It can be pretty exasperating, being his friend. After all, the more he considers you a buddy, the more likely you're going to be on the receiving end of his depressive funks, or dragged along to be his reluctant wingman. But he's a tease, he's a good sport, he enjoys a good ribbing and he bounces back quickly - all the faster if he has someone to encourage him. It'd be pretty contradictory to his dream of being a dancer if he couldn't pick himself back up after every fall. And maybe if he feels secure enough, he might let other people actually watch him dance sometime. Dreams aren't accomplished alone.

Backstory:

Inigo's wiki page
Support conversations
Full story script

The dire events of Lucina's future all started with Exalt Emmeryn's murder. Validar, the leader of the Grimleal and mastermind behind the assassination, stole the Fire Emblem from the castle in the chaos and in turn, sparked a war across two continents. His ultimate purpose: to collect the five gemstones and resurrect Grima, the fell dragon - the apocalyptic entity that was worshipped as god by the cultists of Plegia. He and his ancestors before him had strived to create a suitable vessel for Grima, but when he finally bore a child with the Heart of Grima, it was stolen away from him by his wife, who then fled the country. In spite of this setback, Validar continued to amass power. It was with the still-slumbering dragon's energy that the very dead could rise from the earth, and these Risen formed an inexhaustible army to slaughter the living. Though the forces of Ylisse and Regna Ferox fought back against this mounting tide, they could only hold it back at best.

Perhaps if the Shepherds had never found Validar's child and taken the tactician in as one of their own. Perhaps if Chrom had not been wounded in the initial assassination attempt, the prince would have fared better in the battles to come. Perhaps if Basilio had not been slain by Walhart, the forces of good would not have lost both a formidable leader, and the Gules Gemstone. There were many points in the war where destiny seemed to hinge on a single event. But above all, if Chrom had not been killed by the tactician he considered his closest friend after that critical battle with Validar, upon the altar of the Dragon's Table... the future would not have been lost to the darkness of Grima's rebirth.

The world was plunged into darkness. With the blood of so many years of conflict, and the brainwashed Plegians offering themselves to him, Grima's power grew and grew. It could no longer be described as a war they were fighting anymore, imply a struggle against extinction. The remnants of humanity banded together to save themselves, though daily the Risen would multiply.

Olivia did her best to carry on after her husband's death, but Inigo had been too young at the time to form an impression on his father. He was extremely attached to his mother though - and she, perhaps sensing how similar they were, imbued him with a love of dance from an early age. But his severe shyness impeded so much growing up that his mother taught him a method that Maribelle had imparted to her many years earlier, as a trick to build confidence - and that was to openly and blatantly hit on members of the opposite sex. Of course at that age, it was more an adorable quirk than anything else to have a tiny Inigo flirt with the ladies. It seemed to do him a world of good in terms of coming out of his shell though - but it really wasn't meant to become such a deeply ingrained habit.

He picked up a blade as early as he was able, but the prospect of trying to wield Falchion was too daunting to him. Lucina had matured so much faster than him, out of the necessity of being chosen by Falchion, the eldest, and the next in line. With her training furiously in the art of the sword, Inigo knew it was also his duty to support her, and help the people as best as he could. She that meant she didn't have time to be comforting him every time he cried, or holding his hand when he was anxious. Very quickly he began to hide away all those feelings so she wouldn't be weighed down by him. After all, she was a princess, a clear heir and leader of the people. He didn't hold a candle to that as any kind of real prince. Even after their mother died, he grieved in private - only in the dead of night did he practice dancing at his mother's grave.

One by one, Chrom's Shepherds fell, leaving behind their children to take up their swords. Eventually, they were driven to one last refuge in the corner of the land. The new generation of the Shepherds did their best protecting the villages that remained, tending to the weak and training new recruits, but it was clear that their world was doomed. There was only one last hope left to them, one final measure that Naga had taken in the event of Grima's return - the Outrealm Gate. A ritual placed on the portal would allow the children to return to the past, where they might rewrite history. Princess Lucina was determined to save her father no matter what, and the rest followed - some in the hope of changing their blighted future, some wanting to see their parents alive again, and some begrudgingly. In one last desperate mission, they passed through the gateway... and were separated.

On his own for the first time, Inigo wandered the land with nothing but his sword and his mother's wedding ring to identify her by. He searched the land for any dancers of reknown, hitting on all the village maidens on the way. But the past still held new surprises for him. Back in his own time, the only enemies he had to cut down were the undead. Sacriligious as they were, it was easy to numb one's heart to putting corpses back in the ground. It was entirely another matter to killing bandits, those who were still breathing. Didn't they return to the past in order to protect the living? Inigo felt lost, and utterly alone - but carried on in his usual debonair way until he was found by the Shepherds.

The rest of Fire Emblem: Awakening's plot carried on from here.

As it turns out, Grima - using Robin's body - had returned to the past with them, and the fell dragon was resurrected anyway. But with Robin's wits and Chrom's willpower, the Fire Emblem was assembled and the Awakening was performed. Because of the strengthened bonds of all their allies, the Robin of the past was able to fight the dragon's control, and delivered the finishing blow to Grima's vessel. Though it almost certainly spelled death for the tactician, Chrom never lost hope that his friend survived - and would search the world until that time he would be able to find Robin again.

Inigo, meanwhile, departed from the Shepherds. It wouldn't be too long until the true Inigo of this world would be born, and the new future that the Shepherds had won belonged to him. So instead, he returned to travelling - this time to survey the state of the halidom, and to try and boost the spirits of the people post-war.

It was in his wanderings that he came across this strange new city, the likes of which he'd never seen.

Anything Else?:
Birthday: August 7th
Class: Mercenary
Equipment:
Silver Sword
Killing Edge
Concoction
Abilities:
Rightful King - Adds 10% to Skill activation rates
Special Dance - Strength, Magic, Defence and Resistance +2 for one Turn for the unit who receives the user's Dance
Armsthrift - Attack does not reduce weapon usage
Patience - Hit rate and Avoid +10 during the enemy's Turn

- Has the Mark of Naga in his left eye, so like this except mirrored.
- Anyone who is Lucina's sibling is a giantic coward when it comes to excessively large spiders by way of support conversations
- I am sorry to anyone else who wants to app a Fire Emblem, please marry Chrom to whoever you want. Parallel worlds. You don't have to have to go by this ChromxOlivia baby
- I just wanted blue hair I'm sorry
- Will be prettying up the common room with a vase of flowers
- I will do my best to make Princess Bride references
- But I need to rewatch the movie
- He's... not left handed?

In-Character 1st person sample: This sexy DR post

In-Character 3rd person sample:
Inigo was elated. Ecstatic. He had his apprehensions about this strange, colourful city of metal and glass when he first arrived - really, how did he wander so far off the map when he was certain he was headed to Rosanne? If he hadn't known better, it almost felt like he'd wandered into another Outrealm Gate without even noticing - that was totally impossible, though. All that glowing was usually pretty hard to miss. But to think that he'd meet such a sweet, beautiful girl here so soon! That meeting went so much better than it usually did. Plus, she was the perfect kind of girl - kind, thoughtful, just a bit demure, and absolutely gorgeous with just a bit of a rosy tint in her face. What were the odds of such a find in this place?

He had to make sure their date went perfectly. This meant, of course, getting the perfect kind of present to impress her with! The mercenary ran everything he could remember about her through his head: a love for baking and flowers, very well dressed compared to the other girls of this city, but still so humble. In that case, perhaps a shiny bauble? It was obvious she liked to pretty herself, so why not spoil her a little. He still had a few gold buillions left. Maybe it wouldn't be the wisest thing to blow it on impressing a girl, but... this time, this time he was definitely not going to screw up. It didn't pay to be stingy if you wanted to be popular with the ladies.

...Hopefully the school she'd talked about had room and board just in case he didn't have enough coin left over to find a place to sleep tonight, though.