Saul

> \*nervous laughter\*
>
> Saul

In the original storyline, **Saul** is a young fire elf attending NAME OF ACADEMY IDK. He's currently enrolled as a name of rank. His only extracurricular is the Gardening Club.

## Kingdom AU

In the Kingdom of Pyris, Saul is the 2nd son and middle child of King Solomon. Following the death of his brother, Saul is put in immediate line for the throne. However, as the second son, he'd never received proper training to rule a kingdom. In order to combat this issue, he was sent to a neighboring kingdom to train alongside fellow royal heirs.

## Personality

Saul is intrinsically a very anxious and insecure person. He commonly doubts his own abilities, tends to stick in the background, and goes with the general public flow. In fact, most of his mannerisms are dictated by the fact that, at his core, he fears not being accepted by others. For example, he will commonly suppress his own opinion in favor of others. This results in him coming off as extremely quiet and antisocial.

However, in reality, Saul craves companionship. He often feels lonely and isolated when by himself, however, dreads the thought of failing a social interaction. He also gets nervous easily, which causes him to stammer. Saul's panic during confrontations may cause him to speak without thinking and blurt out whatever he thinks of first.

He also desperately wishes to be helpful to others. His greatest social goal is to feel needed and appreciated by his peers, in contrast to his fear of being cast aside. He also generally enjoys assisting others out of general goodwill. Unfortunately, many of his desires are denied by his simultaneous uncertainty when interacting with others. While he may wish to help, he rarely does so. His inability to defeat his own social anxiety usually adds to his discouragement.

Nervous by conflict, Saul will seek to escape from arguments and physical fights. For this reason, his least favorite core class is Combat Instruction. As a fire elf, he's expected to utilize his naturally assertive and destructive abilities to service his community, a standard he dislikes. He commonly experiences extreme stress attempting to channel a character within himself that doesn't exist. Rather, Saul prefers learning about medicine. He highly values qualities that are soothing and pacifying rather than brash and aggravating. This causes him to envy Earth elves greatly.

Incidentally, a Healer course was offered to all students. However, Saul refrained from applying due to the peculiar combination of fire and medicine. He attempts to soothe his misery with the thought that he would've been ridiculed for choosing to be a Healer. It rarely helps.

Many of Saul's true qualities are dampened by his struggle to express himself without caring about what others think of him. Thus, only true friends know what he's really like.
Saul uninhibited is very eager and adventurous. Furthermore, despite his anxious tendencies, he's at heart an optimist. He believes that the best will happen despite current hardships if one simply manages to persevere. It's difficult for him to let go of things as he continually holds out on the chance things will suddenly improve. Unfortunately, his optimism also only thrives when he thinks it's safe for it to.

Furthermore, despite his tendency to bend to other's will, Saul has strong personal values. He has set beliefs of what's right and wrong, proper ethics, and moral standards. Thus, he experiences inner turmoil when he forces himself to do something he thinks is wrong out of fear of rejection. This is coupled by the fact that Saul somewhat naïve. He tends to daydream without knowing and commonly entertains idealistic futures. Furthermore, he believes that everyone is good inside and tends to trust others easily. This works both ways when concerning what he believes is right for him. On one hand, it makes him more hopeful in becoming the idealistic version himself one day: a fair community hero that's exceedingly helpful and kind, the backbone of a healthy society. On the other, his imagination gets a hold of him and makes him terrified to attempt growing into this goal.

The key to befriending him is typically with consistency. Saul is naturally a social person, but more likely than not will worry he's overbearing and as a result, distance himself when he'd rather do the opposite. Thus, this requires the opposite party to routinely seek him out and catch him when he tries to escape. Only those who metaphorically adopt him socially will be able to make him think it's okay for him to stay. Off-handedly commenting on, rather than questioning, his hobbies is another way to make him feel better about interacting with you. Expressing nonchalant interest in what he likes will embarrass him at first, but also make him feel relieved and happy. Furthermore, those who are keen to the unsaid parts of communication (body language, facial expressions, general atmosphere/mood, etc.) can usually talk to him more easily than those who can't, since many of Saul's true emotions are expressed through these silent indicators.

It also helps if you have traits that Saul believes to be admirable. Acting loud, arrogant, and overwhelming are good ways to scare him off immediately.