Cress Apollinaire Bauer

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>  "I can't help being this awesome, y'know."
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> - Cress bragging to the Smurfs about his agility
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> Cress Apollinaire Bauer
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> Cress's claiming art
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> ### Player:
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> Proxima
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> ### Full name:
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> Cress Apollinaire BauerCress Matthew Newton (formerly)
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> Claire Mary Newton (formerly)
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> ### Fandom or universe of origin:
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> Ashridge Academy: After School Programming
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> ### Age:
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> 14
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> ### Gender:
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> Trans male
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> ### Pronouns:
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> he/him
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> ### Orientation:
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> Bisexual
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> ### Nicknames:
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> Crumpet (hates), Cake (hates), Crab (hates), Calendar (hates), etc.
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> ### Username:
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> @EggEnjoyer
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> ### SOUL color:
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> Red (determination)
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> Cress is the arrogant son of Gaston and a student at SOL Academy.
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## Behavior and Personality

Cress is a bit of a show-off who is almost always energized. His mere presence fills the room with warm and intense vibes. He's quite egotistical, stubborn to a fault, and is quick to anger. Whenever he feels something, he feels it with unbridled passion. He is competitive and feels that he has to "win" everything; even social interactions are a battle that need to be won in his mind. Cress also often has a difficult time pinning down exactly what he's feeling, and as a result, he often just assumes that any emotional pain he is feeling is simply anger.

Despite his self-centered nature, Cress *does* have a deep affection for people he cares about (such as his brother, his friends, and even his father). He wants to protect them, both for their sake and for the sake of being praised for it. However, he usually won't ask for help or protection from the people he's close to unless the situation is dire due to the fact that he'd have to swallow his pride in order to ask for help.

Due to the constant transphobia he faced during his childhood, Cress now feels he has to act 100% manly 100% of the time. He's terrible at emotional vulnerability, and as a result, despite not even being AMAB, Cress, like many other men, deals with toxic masculinity.

## Abridged Backstory

Cress was AFAB and has always been a troubled young man. His family was dysfunctional to say the very least, with an emotionally abusive mother who would tell her child very awful things and then blame him for "making her" say those things. Things weren’t much better at school, either. While his grades were generally okay, and he excelled in his gym classes, Cress was a target for bullying (not necessarily the first target, but a target nonetheless). His schoolmates would push him around and humiliate him– think “shoving him into a locker” kind of bullying– not just because they could, but also because he was trans. Of course, Cress was not one to be humiliated and embarrassed without a fight. After the first few months of being treated poorly by his schoolmates, Cress started to get into brawls with his classmates. The fights became more and more frequent (as well as increasingly violent), and eventually, he got into a fight with someone two grades above him.

Cress overestimated his own abilities. He thought he could easily take on this older kid, but he was very, very wrong, and for that, he paid the ultimate price– a black eye and a swirly.

Unable to swallow his pride (and unable to put up with his mother’s constant torment any longer), Cress ran away from home at the ripe old age of eleven, catching a bus to Chicago. Once there, the reality that Cress had left on an impulse set in. He was nowhere near prepared to live on his own. He turned to petty theft to support himself, although he wouldn’t ever panhandle on the streets– partly because it would get him spotted by authorities as an unaccompanied minor and partly because it would wound his (still very strong) sense of pride and ego.

When Cress was brought to Ashridge Academy, his primary goal was to make as many friends as humanly possible, and his secondary goal was to familiarize himself with the campus. On one of his explorations, he came across the training room, and it was there that Cress met his father: Gaston, the antagonist from Beauty and the Beast. This, of course, was incredibly embarrassing for Cress, so he opted not to tell anyone. However, he accidentally slipped up and his friend promptly outed him to the entire school. Whoops.

Later on, Cress learned that his brother and a few other students at Ashridge were part of a (mostly) secret rebellion against the High Queen, Snow White, and almost 24 hours after a life-threatening experience, Cress was once again plucked out of his world, this time to SOL.

## Appearance

Cress is 5'9" and has neatly combed black hair and green eyes, as well as rosy cheeks. Typically, he wears black pants, black sneakers, and a red button-up collared shirt. At all times, he wears a gold chain necklace that inexplicably goes well with everything he wears, and, when touched with intention, will become golden half-plate armor.

## Trivia

* "Bauer" is Gaston's last name at Ashridge Academy, named after Gaston's voice actor in "Sing Me a Story With Belle," Wolf Bauer (although Gaston's surname in the original animated film was LeGume)
* Cress was created long before Proxima joined Ashridge, so much has changed about Cress's character (for instance, Cress was originally supposed to know who his father is before ever meeting him, also HIS EYES WERE BROWN??????)
* Cress's mother's name is Angela Faith Newton-- her names being associated with purity for irony's sake
* When Cress first met his father, he magically grew six inches to the height he is now (he also magically medically transitioned. Who needs free top surgery at Claire's when you can get free top surgery via Gaston-masculinizing-magic?)