Empatheias Application.

[lalliho]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Otis.
Contact: Humbugger.
Age: 22.
Current Characters: n/a.


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Lalli Hotakainen.
Age: 19.
Canon: Stand Still Stay Silent.
Canon Point: Chapter 8, page 403.

Background:
Wiki page.

Personality:
A lot of the time, Lalli doesn’t seem like he’s entirely connected to reality. He’s often shown staring blankly off into space in group photos, and even when he’s inspecting something he appears largely unaffected. This disconnection and acceptance leads to a few misunderstandings, most notably his inclusion in the expedition crew sent out into the Silent world, an unexplored and dangerous area, as he assumed his cousin was joking around whenever she mentioned it and so went along purely because he didn’t really understand what she was getting at. Similarly, when he was told that this meant he had a new boss, Lalli assumed that he must have been fired and forgotten about it, having to be corrected and told he resigned. It’s safe to say that outside of his work, he doesn’t put much care into following along. If it concerns him, then someone will make sure he gets the pertinent information, but otherwise he is more than fine with detaching himself and disregarding things as unimportant when it’s not strictly his business.

This extends to how he deals with people as well. Lalli prefers to isolate himself from everyone else, working alone whenever possible to the point of abandoning other members of the crew in potentially dangerous situations to do his own exploration work and fix the problem. It takes him a while to warm up to others, questioning why he has to be near them and showing reluctance even after being assured that he’ll be able to get along with them, but as shown with his interaction with Emil, he does come around towards accepting them eventually and will interact with them or show a little more emotion around them when he does. Even when he’s not attached, though, Lalli does what he can to protect people in general to minimize damage. Whether this is out of a genuine concern or passively fueled by his need to not have his ability called into question is unclear at times.

He’s good at what he does, to the point where it’s really the only thing Lalli takes pride in and he chooses to ignore everything else. A lack of opportunity caused him to lead a sheltered life, and so most of his education has been the informal training in mage ways and the slightly more structured military scout training. Because of this, it isn’t unusual for Lalli to feel lost when placed in an unfamiliar situation, but unless he feels it’s relevant to him, he’ll allow things to go on as they are and remain ignorant, coming up with vague terms to dismiss the unknown. Societal norms and proper conversation, even when there is no language barrier to work around or there’s a family relation, are also often ignored because he can get away with not abiding to them -- he even finds it perfectly acceptable for him to steal food from others when he decides he wants it. However, not learning how to deal with people that way has backfired when friendly contact goes over his head or when he’s forced to acknowledge and reciprocate things like greetings, etc. All that staring he does comes in handy, though, as he’s taken to watching people with an unsettling focus. The more comfortable he gets with an individual, the more he can judge their body language with accuracy, even if the explicit meaning still escapes him.

That doesn’t necessarily help any, though, as Lalli is still very obviously uncomfortable with contact. When seeing his cousin Onni for the first time in a while in a setting he is inherently more communicative in, he still pulls away when it looks like the other is going in for a hug -- having his shoulders grabbed is the only physical action he seems consistently okay with, likely having gotten used to it from being led around or seeing it used as a sign of approval and sympathy. Emil is really the only person he initiates contact with in the “real” world (outside of his dreams), though even that is often limited to reassuring headpats and vaguely more expressive faces. When confronted with situations of distress, Lalli becomes more lenient in his detached ways, letting others use him as a sort of safety blanket for brief periods as it will allow them to process things faster so everything can go back to normal faster. He is also more tolerant of things in the Dreamscape, possibly because it’s a realm of spirit stuff and so is, by default, more true and naked, although that also leads to truer negative emotions as well. When someone is able to walk freely into his area of safety, Lalli is quick to anger and force him out.

His need to seclude himself, aside from the safety aspect while in the Dreamscape, is a possible result of his being raised as a night scout. Not only was he primarily living a nocturnal life for many years, scouts are very much like cats, seemingly as a whole. It’s hard to say whether the job forms this type of behavior on its own or if that type of personality is chosen as it results in the best workers -- either way, Lalli is no exception, disliking loud noises, remaining aloof, taking a haughty, overconfident approach to things. This lack of regard extends to his personal wellbeing (not blinking an eye when removing glass shards from his arm) and his appearance, though he subjects himself to others taking care of those things for him, especially if it follows protocol (quickly stripping out of possibly contaminated clothing and allowing Emil to bathe him “properly”, although these things cause him to have to put off sleep for a little while longer.) Largely, he prefers to be a passive participant when it comes to his care and keeping.

Active action is reserved for scouting and mage work. While this is often strenuous or -- to be frank -- odd as hell tasks, such as skinning a dog’s diseased flesh so he can perform a spirit-sending ritual with its skull, Lalli puts the proper effort in out of respect, taking a gentle but firm approach. He takes his duties seriously and without complaint (assuming he hasn’t been overworked) both because it’s what’s expected of him and it’s what he’s good at, causing a sense of satisfaction. Lalli gets to be seen as useful and do the right thing! Win-win.

Of course, that leads to a miffed child throwing a tantrum when it comes to having his ability questioned. This becomes exceedingly clear as, over the course of their journey, Lalli gets progressively more tired, doing what is essentially the work of three scouts instead of one. Under the stress of that, and not being allowed to rest up properly, he’s more freely irritated (snapping at others when he’s woken up), reckless (pushing his Luonto/companion spirit to its limit), and forgetful (not taking weather into account when marking out their path). Because he’s the only one to rely on for certain things, he’s also become more conceited, though that kind of inflated viewpoint isn’t anything new, as shown in a flashback where a mistake he made caused the death of four people. While inwardly acknowledging his errors enough to learn from them and resolve to fix things, Lalli has a tendency to shove blame away from himself if he can find an opportunity to do so. When this fails and he has to take the fall, he’ll react by shutting down and purposefully ignoring the situation, especially if he’s being yelled at -- loud noises cause him to cover his ears already, but he reacts worse when these things are directed at him -- until there’s a chance to make things right again and earn back the respect he feels he deserves.

Abilities:
Mundane abilities - Lalli has a body and mind made for scouting out the area for his expedition team, being agile and having a good enough memory to not need to carry a map with him while he goes out and mentally notes the best routes available to them. He also has good eyesight and hearing in addition to his enhanced spiritual senses.

Sixth sense - He is able to detect the presence of spirits (including trolls, the carriers of the disease and primary adversary in canon), although this isn't guaranteed as he is still shown to be unaware of them at times. However, this ability isn't just shown to be in the moment, but also once in the form of a vision predicting the form and breach point of the giant attacking their train. This wasn't seen as anything more than bothersome until just before the impact, where he realized they were in imminent danger.

Dreamscape - When they fall asleep, a mage's mind is sent to the Dreamscape, where they can come in contact with other spirits, either friend or foe. Finnish mages like Lalli are able to defend themselves in their dreams with both offensive magic and with a barrier around their "area", a personal space influenced by them.
He can also control elemental forces to some degree (water and root structures specifically) and has been shown using a spiritually-charged knife and an explosive energy while under attack in the Dreamscape, though it's unclear whether these particular skills are limited to there or if he's capable of them in the waking world as well.

Spells - Although they're called spells, they're really more of a type of prayer. The examples shown of Lalli performing spells are when he pleas with Kuutar to allow the moon to show through the clouds and so make their journey on a train a little bit safer, when he requests/demands spirits leave from the area surrounding them so their radio stops being distorted by their voices, and when he hangs the skull of a dog from a tree and helps guide its spirit to the afterlife.

Luonto - A creature that is the third part of the human soul in the Finnish belief system. Lalli's is represented as a Lynx, and as a mage he can draw strength from it. If it leaves him for some reason, including pushing it to its limits, then Lalli will become weakened and incredibly tired. The concept is detailed more here.

Alignment:
Sosyne. When not staring blankly into space, Lalli is most often depicted sleeping or being annoyed that he's not sleeping. Even when he's rattled, he reacts sensibly.

Other:
Lalli carries a knife and a rifle on his person at nearly all times.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample:
January TDM.


Questions:
At Lalli's canon point, his Luonto has been overextended and had to leave in order to rest. Would he be left without his Luonto for a while in-game, or would it have returned upon his arrival?