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[Malice Aforethought]

Character Profile: Curt Clawson

Name: Curt Clawson
Age: 18
Gender: Male

Personality:
Curt’s personality cycles between four general phases, always in order, although he doesn’t always have the same general mood for the same length of time. The first is light-hearted and fun-loving. He becomes confident in himself, sometimes to the point of arrogance. His main priority is usually just to enjoy himself, doing whatever feels good and doing whatever he wants. He becomes rather irresponsible and is easily distracted. He’ll spontaneously decide to pursue something, but will easily drop his newfound ambitions if he finds something more interesting. However, sometimes when he starts to pursue a goal, he doesn’t lose interest; he might instead move on in his cycle of moods.

During second part of the cycle, he has just as much energy, but more enthusiasm, and determination. He is no longer easily distracted, but instead is focused on his goals. Sometimes, he becomes so focused on achieving something that he leaves room for nothing else, and simply won’t stop his efforts until he reaches his goals. He becomes ambitious and dominant, sometimes to the point of bullying or manipulating; the more focused he is, the less he cares about his effect on other people. He can lose his temper more easily than usual if something gets in the way of his goals, but otherwise just ignores people, except for how he can use them.

The third stage is a major change from the second one. Curt becomes more thoughtful and introverted, often reflecting on his past experiences. Despite the result of his attempt to reach a goal, he often starts to feel depressed, whether it’s because he has nothing to aim for anymore or because of a disappointing outcome. He cannot seem to get anything significant done in this stage, because he lacks the motivation. Whenever he does try to do something, he feels unsatisfied and discouraged, because he realises too late that he should have done something a certain way. Unless he did something perfectly – which never happens – he just feels regret for what he didn’t do right.

During the fourth phase, Curt is still generally quiet and calm, but he’s also usually more content and at peace. He is more curious and observant of the outside world, but not very inclined to do much about what he sees. Because of his relaxed disposition, he is also rather lazy and would rather leave things alone unless he has a very good reason to take action. In this stage, Curt is perhaps the most rational he will ever be. Rational responses conveniently tend to agree with his desire to avoid trouble, and he’s more likely to avoid or run away from danger if the option is available.

Despite his sometimes rapid, sometimes slow changes in moods, Curt’s basic morals and likes and dislikes don’t change. His morality basically consists of “what is good for me is right”, although his interpretation of this may change. He won’t hurt others just for the heck of it because the consequences aren’t worth the reward, but if it would benefit him to kill someone, he’d do it without problem. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, except for those he is close to – except that isn’t so much of caring for them as resentment that something of his was hurt when he didn’t want it to be. His “selfless” acts are only motivated by the reward or the effect it will have on his interactions with the world; he doesn’t mind if they benefit more than he does, as long as he benefits and the reward is worth the work needed to get it.

Appearance:
Curt has blue eyes, with a ring of brown around his pupils. His messy brown hair too short to get in the way of anything, and tends to get plastered to his head when wet. He is of average height, but is tanned and athletic-looking from the amount of swimming and climbing in Sootopolis his whole life. He also has several scars on his arms and legs from these same activities. He wears a t-shirt, belt, pants, and a long psyduck-yellow raincoat, and keeps his stuff in an old blue backpack.

History:
Curt lived with all four grandparents in a large house in Sootopolis, and they took the role of parents that their children had seemingly abandoned; Curt’s mother and father were never at home, in favour of work, and he only knew they were alive because they were constantly sending money back home. He missed them, sort of, as a child, but he thought that he probably preferred his grandparents anyway, because they were trying to compensate for his lack of a real mother and father. It was easier for him to get what he wanted from them than other people could from their own parents. They'd buy him anything he wanted and more.

His mood cycle was observable from a young age, although it was fairly mild and barely noticeable; it became more pronounced as he grew up, but his grandparents were used to it and didn’t find it too much of a problem, as they didn't spend much time with him and he wasn't disruptive. The teachers, though, were more concerned, as they hadn’t gotten used to him at first. He didn’t want to go to a psychiatrist or anything, though, so his grandparents assured him he wouldn't have to. He had a fairly normal life otherwise, passing through school without effort but also without exceptional grades.

When he reached the standard age, he left with a mudkip his grandparents got him, determined to get all the badges and win the pokémon league, like many other people. After a few major losses toward the end of the summer, he started to realise that maybe he wasn’t cut out for it after all, and no longer felt that it was worth trying any more – even with all of his work, he’d failed, so why bother? He returned home dejectedly, keeping his marshtomp as a pet until someone offered to buy the marshtomp at a really good price, and the marshtomp wanted to go anyway.

Curt’s cousin from some city somewhere came over near the beginning of the high school year, to live in the same house because his own parents had died. Phoenix, as he was called, was absolutely no fun at all, except for the fun found in provoking him; when he did that, though, his grandparents got mad at him. Phoenix was nicer sometimes, but still pretty distant, and he tended to be nicer when Curt had less interest in him. Phoenix started getting more interest in him as the first year of high school went by, and then started picking on Curt’s mistakes and challenging him to do better. Sometimes Curt put some effort into what Phoenix said to, but most of the time he was just irritated and didn’t bother.

Toward the end of his last year at high school, he heard some people at school talking about a place called Kutho, and when he asked, they mentioned that it was a place where a lot of older people started a new pokémon journey, like the younger kids did. And some really interesting things had happened there, like two towns being destroyed for various reasons. Curt looked it up, and decided it might be fun to go, so he ordered two tickets to a plane to Kutho soon after graduation. He was an adult, so he didn’t need his grandparents’ permission. He wasn’t quite sure why he bought two, so he just gave the second one to Phoenix, not really caring what Phoenix did with it – Curt’s parents would swallow the cost, and he didn’t care if they had to slave away for it. They were just faceless sources of money, after all.

[Malice Aforethought]

Back Pack: Curt

Kuts: 450K

Items: Pokédex, Pokénav, Pokéball x4, Potion x2, mysterious Ultra Ball x1 (misc: duct tape, pens, notepad, clothes, candy, snacks, water bottles)

Active Pokemon: Curt

Species: Teddiursa (Lunatic)
Gender: Male
Level: 7
Health Percentage: 27%
Experience Points: 5/10
Moves Learning: N/A
Learning Percentage: N/A
Moves Learnt: Covet, Fake Tears, Leer, Scratch, Lick

Personality: Lunatic is usually cheerful, affectionate, and playful; he acts cute and childish, even more so than he really is. He enjoys sweets, being petted or cuddled, and playing with other pokémon. Although much of it is genuine, he exaggerates his childishness in an attempt to get stuff from others with minimal effort. He mainly sees battles as a game, even the more serious ones, and he doesn't really believe that a pokémon can suffer permanent damage from battle, so he doesn't bother to hold back - he just likes to have fun, and tries his hardest to win. Even when he's in a lot of pain, he's usually smiling and enjoying himself. If it hurts badly enough, though, he won't want to fight any more.

He also has a violent streak that comes out mainly when he's angry or dealing with those he's comfortable with - though obviously he attacks more seriously when angry. For friends, it's usually just a playful punch or scratch when they annoy him. With other people and pokémon, though, he's too shy to hit them playfully unless it's in a battle, and he'd just prefer to sit there and look cute.

Species: Doduo (Psycho)
Gender: Male
Level: 10
Health Percentage: 17%
Experience Points: 0/10
Moves Learning: N/A
Learning Percentage: N/A
Moves Learnt: Growl, Peck, Quick Attack, Pursuit, Rage

[Malice Aforethought]

Rival Profile: Phoenix (Curt)

Rival's Name: Phoenix Burns
Rival's Age: 18
Rival's Gender: Male

Rival's Personality:
On the surface, Phoenix usually appears calm and cool, generally not expressing very much emotion. He usually tries to portray himself this way, as he doesn’t want to deal with people any more than he has to – they just get in the way of everything, and they’re very prone to making mistakes or messing something up for him. He doesn’t trust others very much, except for a select few people. Despite his apparent personality, he’s very easily frustrated by anything not going to plan, especially when it involves an outsider’s interference. Even though he tends to yell at other people for his failure, his anger at himself – whether he’s genuinely at fault or not – lasts much longer. He does find it hard to forgive people for making something imperfect, but at least beyond the first tantrum, he just ignores them rather than constantly berating them like he does to himself.

Phoenix is a perfectionist, to an unhealthy degree. Every little detail must be exactly right, meeting his high and strict standards, or he just can’t move past the perceived flaw. He will literally lose sleep over a small mistake he can’t fix, obsessing over it. Sometimes this leads to being unable to finish a project on time, such as in school, but he still can’t let go of the fact that he was doing something wrong. He’ll easily drop any friendships or anything fun in favour of fixing or perfecting something; those are unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, while perfection is always a must. Because of this attitude, he’s also reluctant to spend any more money than he has to; if he doesn’t very strictly need something, he should save it for when he might need it.

In addition to hoarding money, he’s also reluctant to use items of any sort, and he finds it difficult to let go of things after they’re no longer useful – even if they’re not perfect. Trash like plastic wrap and tissues and packaging—fine. And maybe he’ll throw out a half-completed project out of frustration if it’s not perfect. But anything else? He’s just compelled to keep it, whether it’s a broken blade or worn-out piece of clothing he’ll never wear or a potion bottle. This applies to people, too; once he’s decided that someone is one of the few trustworthy people, he will always view them as someone who should be a friend, even if they prove otherwise. He’s very clingy when it comes to these people, and really doesn’t want to be abandoned; if he can’t trust them, when they’re the only people he’s willing to trust, what then? Because of this, if someone seems vaguely contrite or seems to want to return to the previous relationship, he will accept them – no matter what they did to him.

Everything must be in order, or it greatly bothers him. His house is very well-kept because he can’t stand anything being out of place, and the files on his computer are very organised. His days are scheduled well in advance, and he does his best to stick to the schedule unless he has adequate time to rearrange his next few days. He absolutely must know all of the rules to a game before he can play it, and will get angry if anyone disobeys these rules.

Phoenix is good at making detailed plans in advance, and is very meticulous in training his pokémon to be absolutely perfect (in his eyes) and obedient. He dislikes using a pokémon if he doesn’t feel he trained it enough, and can’t focus on capturing another pokémon if one of his pokémon isn’t perfect. Given time, he’ll have a small team of very skilled and obedient, though perhaps not powerful, pokémon. Detailed plans aren’t that easy to make up on the spot, but he still tries to plan ahead in the middle of a battle. It can be difficult to tell if he’s setting something up for the future with a command or simply doing what’s best for the present.

Ethically, everything can be sorted into black and white, or at least it should be, in his mind; the few grey areas left are distress him greatly when he’s confronted with them. If he doesn’t know that something is 100% wrong or 100% right, he simply can’t make a decision about it – he needs another trusted person to do it for him. And because he’s obsessive about getting everything right, he can’t move past it until someone has made the decision for him. If it’s too late, he’ll need an excessive amount of reassurance to get over it; this also applies to any perceived mistakes or imperfections in his works and actions.

After the first time confronting a grey area like this, he’ll quickly take a stance on it, depending on the outcome. This way he can ensure that, should he run into such a thing again, he won’t have to be so confused and unsure. He hates not knowing what to do next. But in any other situation, he’d rather nobody interfered – he can only trust his own work and the power of his mind. Unless someone follows his orders to the letter, like his pokémon should, they’ll just get in the way.

Phoenix is very stubborn and set in his ways, believing that his way is right and there’s no need to change it. Unless he’s confused about what to do initially, it’s difficult to influence him to change his mind on anything. Even if someone manages to alter his course of action, he will remain convinced that what he would have done was the proper way to do things, and will only become more convinced if the outcome is not exactly what he wanted.

Rival's Appearance:
Phoenix’s insistence on perfection extends, of course, to his appearance, although everyone has a different idea of perfection; Phoenix’s doesn’t include any sort of beauty, but rather neatness. His short brown hair is combed out of his face, ensuring that nothing is blocking his dark brown eyes. He is fair-skinned, with average height and weight, and he usually stands and sits perfectly straight. His expression is always stern, critical, almost judging, and he rarely smiles. In fact, he usually looks somewhat frustrated, even if he doesn’t always act on it. His wardrobe consists of button-down shirts and dress pants, and he still carries a beige backpack that once tried to kill his back and posture in school, which has a padded pocket for his laptop.

Rival's History:
Phoenix’s father was, perhaps, the reason Phoenix insists on perfection today. Ever since Phoenix was a child, his father was never satisfied with him; no matter what happened, Phoenix ended up doing something wrong, so he was yelled at for it. Even though he tried his best, there was always at least one small thing wrong, which meant his father wasn’t happy. His father was like this with his mother, too, who was too timid to stop her husband from terrorising the rest of the family. As Phoenix grew older, his father started to use violence for Phoenix’s more severe mistakes; the use of violence became more and more liberal as time went on, until Phoenix reached high school.

If anything, his mother had a greater effect on moulding his personality. Whenever his father was finished with him and sent him to his room, his mother would come to his room and comfort him. Every time, she’d also tell him softly that if only he was better, or more careful, he wouldn’t have to suffer like this. She’d tell him that she knew he could do better, so if he did something wrong, he just wasn’t trying hard enough. If he told her that the imperfection was due to someone else, she’d tell him that it was still imperfect and he mustn’t let anything get in the way. He had to make sure someone would do things perfectly or he couldn’t trust them with any of his goals. If he didn’t know how to do something, it was his duty to learn how on his own, not trust someone else to do it. There was always a right and wrong way to do things, and he was expected to know which was which. She would praise him for what he did right, which also lifted his spirits even if he thought it should just be expected.

Phoenix became insistent on absolute perfection in an attempt to please his parents, but also because he was made to feel worthless if he did something wrong. By the time he was in high school, he was already beating himself up internally for doing something wrong, and thought he deserved being harmed physically for it. He was only getting average grades because, despite his efforts, he often failed to finish projects because there’d be something wrong with it.

However, his parents had quarrels between themselves that Phoenix was unaware of, as he was too busy with school. He didn’t notice the steadily rising tensions between them, and so had no warning when his mother was suddenly arrested for killing his father. His mother had always been his moral guide, telling him what he should never do even in the pursuit of perfection, including killing. He was struck by a feeling of betrayal, and became totally confused about what he was supposed to do now.

He moved in with his cousin, Curt, his maternal grandparents, and Curt’s other grandparents, in Sootopolis. For some reason, the actual parents weren’t around, but he didn’t really care. The entire environment was totally different from the city and his home, more relaxed. Everyone was wasting time enjoying themselves, and worse, people kept getting in his way – they’d come up to him to try to talk. Most were discouraged by his attitude, but Curt’s grandparents kept pestering him and Curt himself seemed to have no respect for his privacy, just coming into his room whenever. Curt would ask him obvious questions like why Phoenix worked so hard at everything (why didn’t Curt?), if he ever got made fun of for his name (he had, but why would it matter?), and trying to pull Phoenix away from his work. Curt only pestered Phoenix sometimes, but when he didn’t, he acted like someone that Phoenix might not mind knowing. When Curt had the drive to work hard at something, and when Curt was unsatisfied with his work, Phoenix could empathise. Phoenix learned to read Curt’s moods and know when Curt would be dependable or understandable, so he came to appreciate Curt as family.

This of course meant that he had to improve Curt’s performance in everything, challenging Curt at every turn. It didn’t do much. Curt would just not care most of the time, whether he was too focused on something else to pay attention or he just wasn’t interested. He did get a little bit better at many things, though, so Phoenix was at least making some progress. But he realised that of course he couldn’t show Curt the value of perfection when he wasn’t perfect himself.

Rather out of the blue, Curt bought two tickets to some place called Kutho, where he planned to become a trainer. Now that he was done school, he told Phoenix, he wanted to try being a trainer again; he’d only gone out once for the summer but returned for school, but there was no longer such an obstacle. Phoenix, too, didn’t have school in the way so he didn’t have to focus on it so much any more. Phoenix had yet to apply for a university, as he’d intended to take more high school courses to round out his education. He accepted the ticket thoughtfully, trying to figure out what he would do.

He’d never gotten the chance to go on the usual pokémon journey because he’d been so pressured by his parents, but he could do it, this time. He had studied a lot about pokémon, and now it was time to put it to practical use. He had to know how to use pokémon properly since a lot of work involved pokémon, and it was another skill to dedicate himself to perfecting. Phoenix went out of his way to start training a pokémon in Hoenn, even though he couldn’t bring it with him if he was to challenge the leaders; he needed to learn how to do it, or he might not do it right. He started to learn some of the techniques of training, and learned to value pokémon he captured at a low level above all – and especially those which hatched from eggs. It would take longer to train them, but the end result would be worth it.

[Malice Aforethought]

Rival's Pokemon: Phoenix (Curt)

Species: Riolu
Gender: Male
Level: 5
Health Percentage: ?
Experience Points: ?/?
Moves Learning: N/A
Learning Percentage: N/A
Moves Learnt: N/A