Valentin Fuchs

## Example

**Valentine Fuchs** is a current resident of Lichbarrow

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## Personality

Valentin values the interests of the group over his own interests. He taking care of others and making them happy (even when he himself isn't). He enjoys chatting up his customers since most are people who he grew up around and feels connected to in a community-bond kind of way. Valentin upholds promises and keeps secrets. He would be a good leader, as he does not slack off or flake on people. When there is an established time to be somewhere, Valentin is rarely late.

When Valentin gets his head wrapped up around something, he gets possessive about it. This ruins his relationships and mental health, but he never leaves anything unfinished. Even if it seems like he has, Valentin will make sure to go back to finish it. Once someone leaves an impression on him, it sticks. He sets many goals for himself; however, this often leads him to expect too much, shoot too high. When he fails a goal, Valentin feels extreme disappointment and low self-esteem. While Valentin cares about how people are doing and is invested in their well being, he gets a bit nosey if left unchecked. He likes the feeling of conquering the unknown, sometimes pushing boundaries that he probably should not.

Valentin has over-the-top reactions to things and exaggerates events. He acts like only his intentions are truly good and pure. For example, as a scientist, he questioned whether or not his coworkers' intentions were truly “helping the environment and protecting nature” or just “for the money”. Valentin often got it in his head that saving the planet was the only matter that truly mattered in the end, accidentally brushing off personal problems that he caused in the process. His knack for taking care of people oftentimes turns into babying. Valentin frets over small details and always warns others of things he has heard.

## Appearance

Val is a tanned young man with brown eyes and long brown hair. He is lean muscle: arms toned from kneading pounds upon pounds of dough, legs toned from biking to most places.

He is usually seen wearing some sort of button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up, jeans, and sturdy shoes.

## Background

[ breathe deeply and remember stifling summers. gangly limbs carelessly dangled into the lake. the suspense just before a popsicle was free of its plastic sleeve]

If he would look back on it, Val would see his childhood replay tinted in sepia. It would cause the same ache of nostalgia that re-watching a dusty B-list, straight-to-home video movie induces. Val never dwelled too deeply on the parts of his whole before leaving Lichbarrow. In his youth, the only way he saw himself was as an explorer and a pupil of the Elm Woods. If the twice-monthly weekend boy scout camping trips didn’t satisfy his hunger, he would take it upon himself as a personal mission to get lost in the woods, often for days (this happened quite frequently, and he got to know many regulars of the search party).

The more conventional ways he developed reports with other townspeople were by helping out in the bakery or volunteer opportunities or summer camp or student council activities. He was excited to get to know others not only because he was just naturally extroverted, but also because of the gossip. The hushed retellings of odd-goings on that were native to Lichbarrow hit a somewhat patriotic muscle in his chest as well as piquing an analytical curiosity.

He left his life in Lichbarrow behind to pursue an Environmental Science degree at an out-of-state university; said degree came with whip cream on top: a well-endowed scholarship by virtue of his Eagle Scout rank among other merits. The program captivated him. He even “skipped” a year because of community college credits he’d racked up while the education was still free. Early on, a professor who took a liking to him offered Val a position in a sought after the research lab. Life was on the up and up. He never quite found the time to go back to Lichbarrow, only meeting up with his parents to go on their annual winter vacation back to Austria to visit his paternal extended family.

His adolescence and his Bachelor of Science degree passed by in a hurried optimistic fervor. And his Masters would have passed by too if not for the naive blinders he’d put on early in life. He was trusting and believed in the goodness of others and was punished for it.

[ atlas remembers something that Isaac Newton said. in that moment he also remembers that titans are myths, that titans were created in man’s image.he is just a man. a snake lets something fall of the tree. the gravity crushes him]

Val became weary with the indifference of others. Few listened, most just looked at him and his peers like their published study -- respected in the field -- was instead a cardboard sign that read “The end is nigh! Repent for your greenhouse gas emissions.” It was unbearable how many days a year he wanted to become a blanket cocoon compared to his teen years (365 vs 0). Tears wore the skin around his eyes raw. He couldn’t sleep. Some days he couldn’t chew his food without feeling sick. Meaningful relationships wore themselves away. He’d complained of chronic searing pain in his epigastric region, but the doctor’s tests were inconclusive.

A sparkle of hope glimmered when someone in the lab told him the paper would be used as evidence to prevent some bill that would allow the industry to tear apart local wetlands. Val didn’t keep up much with politics or social media as he did even a few months prior, but he’d heard some friends talk about going to protest it. The news was welcome, even putting a little lost pep back into his step for a while.

The bill passed.

At that point, academia was too much for Val to handle. It felt menacing in a foreign and ominous way. Thankfully, the crescendo of awfulness that his grad program had become coincided with the yearly family trip. He spent most of it lying supine -- though on occasion, he treated himself with something special: lying prone -- and letting the air thoroughly dry his corneas before blinking. His laodicean peace was interrupted by an ex-girlfriend’s text. She sent a photo of a newborn with a long-winded caption (probably typed out in the midst of postpartum panic) that explained that the baby was his and, while she wished she could keep the baby, she feared it would be the end of a promising career. Not seeing why he wouldn’t, Val agreed to raise the child. Upon their first viewing of the picture, Val’s parents immediately picked out whose features came from whom and demanded that he move back to Lichbarrow so they could visit their grandchild every day. Neither fight nor desire to move back to his apartment in him, Val agreed to that too.