Leon Leslie

Leon is a young engineer from a far-off fantasy world who one day found himself in the Metaverse by pure chance. Since then, he has severed ties from his home in order to practice his trade and use his skills to help others as best as he can. He mainly serves as the head engineer of the 
Starstruck Scouts, though he also works as a blacksmith for the Misty Shores and enjoys helping build contraptions for other friends and organizations. When he's not at work, Leon can usually be found attending The Purple Lotus as well as other various socials. At the end of the day, he wants to try and add some calm stability in this crazy chaos known as the Metaverse.
=Lore=
Leon was born in a magitech fantasy world separate from the Metaverse, in a coastal kingdom called Destello. At the age of 6, he was enrolled in a military academy, studying engineering for the next decade of his life. After his graduation, he enlisted in the Royal Golden Navy, spending several years at sea on various naval expeditions and in the sky working on airships. He spent this period of his life working on vehicles and various magitech robots, as well as tinkering with various strange contraptions in his free time.
=History=
Leon mysteriously appeared in the Metaverse some time in late February 2421 after his brother yelled at him to make some more friends. The reasoning for his arrival is unknown even to himself; all he knows is that through this event, he gained the ability to travel between his home world and the Metaverse at will. By a stroke of luck, he appeared in front of the Purple Lotus during one of its nightly socials. The awkward engineer struggled to socialize at first, but eventually found a few friends willing to tolerate him. Some of these friends even took him to a mall where he was able to purchase a smartphone to communicate (he may have accidentally bought and consumed drugs in the process). As a result of these experiences, Leon found himself a common patron of the Purple Lotus, befriending all sorts of people (and other creatures) at the establishment.
When his closest friend was killed and rebuilt as a synthetic to preserve her soul, Leon was heartbroken. He realized that he was no more than a bystander in the grand scheme of things, weak and helpless. Wanting to change this, he sought out ways he could use his skills for good and to protect the ones he loves. This lead to him applying to the Misty Shores, where he was accepted and later began work on the blacksmith team. Eventually, he met and befriended Taniks, a protogen who would go on to form the Starstruck Scouts; Leon was one of the founding members, and Taniks gave him the position of lead engineer due to his unique skillset.
While happy that he could finally contribute to the Metaverse and make a meaningful change, Leon had to juggle these responsibilities with his home world's duties, as he was still an active naval engineer for Destello's navy. Multitasking like this often left the engineer incredibly exhausted. At one point, he passed out in the Purple Lotus due to burnout and fatigue. Acknowledging that he was working himself to death, Leon planned out a way to escape from his home world: hack into Destello's military database, mark himself as MIA, and disappear without a trace. With the assistance of other Starstruck Scouts, the mission was a success, allowing Leon to leave his roots behind and dedicate himself to the Metaverse as a full-time engineer.
Since officially leaving his home world, Leon has had an incredibly active life. He has created all sorts of devices, participated in several missions, fought in a war against the Plague Lord, obtained a mech, lost a mech, learned how to program, acquired drip, suddenly became a micro-celebrity, and built a roomba that looks like a rock. Currently, Leon is actively working on various projects for the Starstruck Scouts, and still he longs to find other ways to put his toolkit to good use. After all, an engineer's job is never done.
=Personality=
Sometimes he likes to stop and watch the world move around him. He is infatuated with Metaverse technology - the more he learns, the more he wants to know. He tends to talk to himself a lot, usually without realizing it. He's not very good at socializing, but is getting better. It’s hard for him to keep still - He's always moving around, fiddling with his hands, or playing with things he finds.
=Powers and Abilities=
==Strengths==
*Jury-rigging: Years of academy training alongside tinkering with toys has taught Leon the art of improvisation in dire circumstances. As a result, Leon can repair, modify, or upgrade objects using unconventional materials if need be. Examples include (but are not limited to) fixing wiring with paper clips, reinforcing armor with gold coins, and welding nails to a sword. However, jury-rigged objects are more susceptible to damage and may not function as well.
*Academy Training: Leon has spent the majority of his life training and studying to become an engineer in the Royal Golden Navy. He has a knack for building, maintaining, and repairing all kinds of technology. His expertise is in vehicles and robotics, but with enough time to figure out how a device works he can extend his knowledge to any technology. (Key word being “enough”- particularly complex devices may require days or even weeks for Leon to figure out.) Other skills learned from his academy include basic first aid, trap spotting/disarming, and operating firearms (though he prefers not to unless absolutely necessary).
*The Way Home: Initially, Leon possessed the ability to travel between his home world and the Metaverse at free will despite their disconnection from one another; he even could transport other people with him. However, it is unknown whether Leon still has this ability, as he refuses to so much as try now that he has moved on to the Metaverse.
===Equipment===
Courtesy of the Royal Golden Navy, Leon carries with him a toolbox containing a variety of gizmos and gadgets fit for his job. Alongside the standard tools- hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, and the like- this toolkit contains several magitek items for more advanced repairs such as welding, fusing, and even magical enhancing (though this one is useless for Leon, as it requires mana to use). Additionally, Leon has a first aid kit, a combat knife, an energy pistol gifted to him by his captain, and a smartphone that he will never let anyone else use.
==Weaknesses==
*Frail Frame: Leon’s physique has not been trained with frontline combat in mind. As a matter of fact, genetics have blessed him poorly, as his endurance and strength are lackluster. A single punch to the face can knock him out in the right circumstance! For this reason, Leon tries to avoid direct combat whenever possible.
*I’m Not a Wizard, Hagrid!: Despite coming from a world thriving with magitech, Leon was born without a mana pool; he has no means of learning any sort of magical abilities, not even with enchantments, accessories, potions, or any other kind of excuse one can think of. Fate has decided that he must live his life without magic.
=Trivia=
*Leon Leslie is an iteration of a character that has been roleplayed for over a decade across various mediums and groups. Before Metaverse, Leon was a Homestuck OC.
*The backstory for this version of Leon was come up with on the spot based on a public avatar Scotty found that matched up well enough with his appearance. The name of Leon's former military, the Royal Golden Navy, was in reference to the letters seen on the back of the avatar's toolkit (RGN).
*For his first task as a blacksmith in the Misty Shores guild, Leon was tasked with building a door that had been destroyed from an earlier confrontation in the guild hall. A natural 20 was rolled, resulting in this simple door being absurdly high-quality. The "Nat 20 door" is treated as a relic and is currently somewhere in a dark realm after a dream demon ate it whole.
*During Leon's first mission, Scotty was unprepared for combat and therefore did not have a combat avatar created. When combat ensued, he was forced to improvise; thus, he began using the finger gun gesture as if it were an actual gun, calling out shots at the various enemies rushing them down. This has led to an in-joke related to Leon screaming "SHOT AT THE CORE!" at giant golems.
*A recurring joke that happens often around the character is: "Is that THE Leon Leslie, from THE (UNSPECIFIED LOCATION (Usually the Purple Lotus))". This joke seems to have been initiated by Sig, and adopted by many. While Leon seems to be annoyed by the bit, Scotty seems to like it.
=Links=
Scotty's Twitch
Category:Characters
Category:Articles Still Underconstruction