Drein Laerisc

TheLadyAnatola

Info


Created
8 years, 8 months ago
Creator
TheLadyAnatola
Favorites
16

Basic Info


Name

Drein Laerisc (drey-in lay-risk)

Nicknames

Occasionally shortened to Dre by Chatta or Justin

Age

22

Species

Feela

Element

Steyl

Occupation

Drifting vigilante of sorts

Gender

Male

Sexuality

Heterosexual

Significant Other

Tera Miustar (crush/girlfriend)

Creation Year

2004

Family

Flynn Laerisc (father), Muna Laerisc (mother, whereabouts unknown)

Birthplace

Uniselias - Doobutsu Tenshi

Current Home

Eskete - Doobutsu Tenshi

Profile


Physical Appearance

  • Shoulder-length white hair often tied into a ponytail over his left shoulder
  • Yellow eyes, although his right eye appears glazed over and he is blind in it
  • Pale skin covered in scars from cuts, burns, and other injuries
  • Tall in height
  • Physically fit with strong muscles
  • White fur on ears and tail
  • Patch of skin torn out of tail with a large visible scar
  • Visible burn scar under left eye he has trouble covering entirely
  • 3 piercings per ear
  • According to Chatta, he has a very nice posterior (which embarrasses him whenever she mentions it)

Clothing Style

Drein always dresses to cover himself as much as possible, and he only is comfortable with less covering clothes if he is safely locked away in his home. His choice of clothing always includes long sleeved-tops, pants, boots, gloves, and something to cover his face. He prefers darker colors and very simple designs to not draw attention to himself. If there are tears in his clothes, he will immediately mend them or find something new to wear. He's only okay with tears in his sleeves sometimes if they are above his elbows, since the burn scars on his upper arms are very mild compared and he's attempting to slowly ease himself into being okay showing some of them sometimes. When going outside, he sometimes wears a steel mask with bandages over his face. Even when he doesn't wear his mask he always wears the bandages when he goes out in public since the scars on his face are the most serious and poorly healed. He usually wears something to cover his head such as a head wrap, hat, or hood, but he's sometimes comfortable going without. He does have scars on the back of his neck that he'd like to keep covered, so if he doesn't wear some kind of head cover he tends to wear high collars or wrap his bandages down his neck as well, although he's also trying to be more comfortable with not always having them covered as well.

His most common look consists of a blueish gray long-sleeved shirt with a stitched hole on his right sleeve just above elbow level. The torso area of the shirt has two layers, the top layer having a cross-stitched strip down the left side. He also wears three belts, one around his hips normally and the other two around his waist. The belt highest up on his waist has a black sash wrapped around it. He wears black pants and black boots tucked under his pant legs, along with black gloves and a black head wrap that ties in the back and hangs down to about shoulder level behind him. He wears a black cloak if he is traveling.


Personality

Drein is a quiet and rather aloof man that has a strong sense of justice. He can be rather shy around others due to how self conscious he is about his body and the scars that coat it. He always seems to be at least mildly anxious about people seeing him, so he does whatever he can to keep himself covered up out of fear of scaring others or being judged for his appearance. He finds himself ugly and shameful to look at, and nothing causes him more distress than when his concealing clothing is compromised in some way. He tends to get flustered easily when others give him too much positive attention, mostly because he lacks confidence in himself so praise and compliments tend to come as a surprise to him. He has utter confidence in his skills though, and nothing can turn him away from his purpose or goals.

His main focus in life is to do whatever he can to ensure the safety of those around him, particularly the denizens of Eskete and people of the mainland desert, since those are the locations he tends to travel the most. Drein is very protective toward his friends and others that may not be able to defend themselves, and he feels if he has the strength and skill to defend others from danger then it would be wrong to not put it to use. He is a selfless and modest man that doesn't mind helping others without any thanks or recognition. He's not terribly comfortable socializing extensively, yet he is perfectly capable of having conversations with others without issue. He always speaks politely and is respectful toward anyone he meets, so long as they don't give him reason to act otherwise. Drein can tolerate rude or ill behaved people without losing his cool, but he will not stand for the oppression or endangerment of others. He always maintains a level head, but he gets very fierce in hostile situations and is not one to be trifled with.

Drein comes off as a bit distant and brooding since he doesn't like attention, and he will usually not initiate conversation or interact with others unless he intends to help them or if he is approached first. Although he is a friendly and down to earth person, he is very slow to open up to others and prefers to remain only acquaintances with most people he encounters. The few friends he does have are all very persistent about getting to know him, and it has taken him a great deal of time to feel comfortable being more personal with them. However, he is very closed off about his past even with his closest friends, and he can sometimes get a little snippy when pressed too much about it. The subject of his childhood, his family, and how he got all his scars is a very sensitive topic for him, and he prefers to not have it brought up at all. He doesn't entirely avoid questions about them all the time though, but he will only give very minimal answers and won't elaborate more than he's comfortable with.


Abilities

  • Steyl rifting - rank 4/5
  • Shapeshifting - white panther
    • His animal body and fur is marred with scars too, so he only ever shapeshifts in conjunction with his rifting, which turns him into a panther coated in metal
  • Skilled at hand to hand combat

Strengths

  • Focused on his goals and seemingly fearless when face with adversity
  • Hairline reflexes, well balanced, and has heightened senses
  • Compassionate, down to earth, and protective
  • Selfless, modest, and patient

Weaknesses

  • Lacks confidence in his appearance, considers himself ugly and frightening, and has crippling anxiety about being seen by other people
  • A loner, emotionally closed off, shy, and a bit socially awkward in crowds
  • Depth perception is a bit off due to blind eye, although he does fine in close range
  • Highly critical of himself, has trouble accepting praise, and can be overly intense toward perceived threats

Backstory

(Includes mentions of physical abuse)

Drein was born to Flynn and Muna Laerisc in Uniselias, but the family moved to Flynn’s hometown on the island of Eskete shortly after his birth. He grew up in the small community with his father working as the local optometrist and his mother working at the island library and bookshop. Drein doesn‘t have too many clear memories of his early childhood in Eskete, since his family was taken by the Enlightened when he was four years old to a hidden lab in the mountainous region of the island. His father was made to work on various bioengineering projects, and his mother left them at some point, although Drein does not remember when. From what Drein could understand at the time, his father's engineering often had to do with modifying and enhancing mortal biology, particularly a project with adjusting the body of the Steyl rifting Feelas to simulate androids. Drein's father often took blood, plasma, flesh, and other samples from his child during his research, and Drein was later used as a test subject in converting a Steyl rifter into an android through rifting alone. Numerous tests and experiments left him covered in scars and burns.

At the age of eleven, Drein escaped the lab during a dispute in the complex and wandered the mountains, eventually finding a path and reaching the base while avoiding sentries and members sent to search for him. After many days of traveling away from the mountain range, he came to the main town of the island. He was recognized and taken in by the townsfolk and nursed back to health, although his scars never fully faded. Ashamed of his appearance, he'd constantly keep his skin covered at all times, and one of his caregivers fashioned a steel mask for him to sooth his anxieties.

Ever since, he's dedicated his life to helping the people of Eskete and others for showing him such kindness. He often traveled across the island and through the desert of the mainland, helping travelers in the treacherous region. At first he tended to avoid the Enlightened entirely in case he was identified by anyone familiar with his father's work, but over the years he's grown confident enough to deal with their activity in the desert on his own. Although usually aloof and distant from most people, he has more recently opened up to a small handful of friends from Eskete. After rescuing Tera Miustar from kidnappers in the desert and escorting her back home, he unexpectedly found her best friend, Chatta TigaraStripe, and Chatta's boyfriend, Justin Sendeskra, becoming more interested in getting to know him as well. Despite his dislike of receiving too much attention, he does appreciate their company and friendship, something he hasn't been accustomed to years outside of simple acquaintanceship. He's also noticed that he's more drawn toward Tera than he's comfortable with, and he fears he'll one day drive her away should she discover what lies beneath the mask.


Trivia:

  • I spelled Drein's name like that because it's just Dre-in, but years later after I took German classes, I couldn't help but read his name like Drei-in, like the German number for three. That isn't how it's pronounced though, and I'm not changing the spelling to make more sense. ^^;
  • He particularly enjoys being outdoors and around nature. He doesn’t especially dislike being indoors, but he’s not as comfortable indoors as he is when he’s outside and is free to roam about.
  • He usually says he likes being alone,but he actually enjoys company very much. He’s not particularly well practiced at socializing yet, but he likes helping others and having generally normal interactions with others, since people tend to treat him as something odd and frightening.
    • That being said, he dislikes being the center of attention when there are too many people he’s not familiar with around.
  • Since his vision is somewhat poor since he only has one eye to work with, his other senses are quite heightened to compensate. He typically can smell or hear someone before he sees them.
    • He's blind in his covered eye, and he's rather colorblind in the other; he has trouble seeing colors in general and respond better to brighter or more vibrant ones.
    • His covered eye has extensive cornea damage that blocks all light from entering his eye, rendering it blind. He is unaware that this damage could possibly be corrected with corneal surgery.
  • He doesn't peresonally believe he's deserving of love or that anyone would love someone like him; however, he is very protective and tender with those who earn his affection. He seems to be under the impression that no one who might be in a relationship with him should have to put up with his “ugly appearance,“ and that they could find better. 
    • He tends to severely underestimate how endearing his personality is to those who know him well.
    • Oddly enough, if asked about anyone else who might be subjectively just as “ugly” as he is, he would insist that their appearance shouldn’t affect how worthy they are of love and respect. For some reason he just doesn’t think that applies to him.
  • His first kiss was with Tera during an incident in which they were taken prisoner by the Enlightened. The guards that were watching their cell were starting to harass Tera, and Drein provoked them into attacking him to keep them away from her. He took quite a beating from them, and by the time Tera found a way out of her cell and found him, his mask and facial bandages along with some of his clothing were damaged and tattered during their torture of him. He tried to hide himself from Tera, but instead of being fearful like he expected when getting her first real look at his face she kissed him and thanked him for protecting her before she began tending to his wounds.
    • Obviously after the events of Anonymous, they are a little more open about being an actual couple rather than both awkwardly pining for each other, although they’re both still pretty awkward.
  • Chatta has referred to him as a “CWAB,” and he’s too afraid to ask what that means.
    • For the record, it means “cutie with a booty.” Chatta isn’t that subtle about her admiration of Drein’s butt.
    • Literally the only reason why Drein has a fabulous booty is because I drew him facing slightly sideways one time and thought to myself “huh, why did I give him a more shapely butt than Chatta?” It was unintentional, but I decided to roll with it and always try to draw that booty right, even if I’m not great at it.
  • Some other Steyl rifting Feela can also use their rifting to become basically metal cats (like Matt, for example), but typically it is done by first shapeshifting to their feral form and then applying their rifting. Drein has trained himself to skip this step entirely and immediately shifts into a metal panther, since he doesn’t want anyone to see how scarred and deformed his feral form is either.
  • Knows how to swim but doesn’t really like to, since he would have to do so fully clothed to feel comfortable, and then that would just be uncomfortable in a different way. He cannot swim in his feral form though since he refuses to be in feral form without the use of his Steyl rifting, so he would just sink.
    • He probably could swim in feral form if he’d just get over the rifting thing, but don’t count on it.
  • Although the form of his feral state is structured like a panther, and he refers to himself as a panther when asked about it, his tail is a little bit floofier than a typical panther would be. He comments it’s probably because his mother’s feral form was apparently a floofy white cat, not that he remembers her clearly enough to know for sure, since he was very young when she left.
    • His father apparently is also a white panther, but his tail is not floofy like Drein’s and is more typical looking for a normal panther, aside from having white fur, of course.
  • I used to have a group of Steyl rifting characters that I'd draw together and have them doing non-story related things. It included Justin, Chatta, Drein, Tera, along with two characters that are no longer in the group, Steve and Betalia. Steve was more of just a fun addition and didn't really fit into the group, but Betalia used to be another Steyl rifting cat like the other four. She was later moved to be a part of Zivian, which is too far away from the group's setting to be applicable. 
    • Betalia is still from Eskete, but she does not appear anywhere in the Spirit Anima series. It is likely that Justin, Chatta, and Tera remember her from their childhood, but Drein would be less familiar with her since he didn't like to be seen by people as a child.
  • Even though Drein grew up in Eskete from age 11 to 18 before he started traveling extensively, he wasn't very familiar with Justin, Chatta, or Tera until after he rescued Tera from her kidnappers. Drein tended to only interact with a select few people from Eskete as a child, and he would also frequently help certain artisans collect and move supplies and resources, since it was outdoor work that kept him away from most people.
    • Tera and Chatta weren't familiar at all with Drein when they met as adults, but Justin vaguely remembered Drein's presence in the community even though they never talked or interacted much with each other. Drein remembers observing Justin practicing guitar in the town square as a teen, and he recalls seeing Chatta and Tera around in town up until he started traveling outside of Eskete. He only vaguely remembered who they were after seeing missing person flyers of Tera around the coastal and desert settlements of the mainland, but he never actually knew them or their names until after this.
  • Several of the townsfolk of Eskete recognized Drein when he appeared after escaping the lab when he was eleven. They remembered his family living in town, with his father being the local optometrist, and the family mysteriously disappeared when Drein was four years old. When asked about his family, Drein only responded that he didn’t want to talk about his father, that “he did this” while referring to his scars, and that his mother left a long time ago.
    • Most of the townsfolk find it shocking that Drein’s father would do such things to his son, since he was apparently always a gentle and kind man in the community and always seemed to be a loving father and husband. But no one has really pressed for more information since Drein doesn’t like to talk about it, and he was instead taken back into the community without many other questions.
    • Drein does not remember very much of his time living in Eskete before they apparently relocated to lab, nor does he remember how they got there in the first place. He doesn't really remember any of the townsfolk from before then either, but he seems to believe them when they say they used to know him as a young child and his family when they once lived there.
    • Apparently his family’s house remained empty while they were missing, and townsfolk took to maintaining it while they slowly deliberated over what to do about it. Once Drein returned, they allowed him live in his home again, although Drein didn’t really recognize it. He still lives in that home to this day. His father’s optometry office, which is a building nearby the house, has been repurposed as a different shop now.
    • Drein mostly knows what his mother looks like only from photos in their family home, and he wouldn't say that he remembers much about her aside from some vague memory of her being present at some point when they were taken by the Enlightened. There are also photos that include him as a child and also his father, so it serves as some kind of proof that he was a part of the Eskete community before, and that they apparently lived in Uniselias before moving to the island. He doesn't like to look at any of these photos though; he doesn't like to look at his father, and he feels uncomfortable looking at himself when he was "unscarred."
  • Tera and Drein have never talked to other people about the specifics of her kidnapping, and no one has really tried to pry about it anyway. Even Drein never asked her about anything that happened to her, since it's obvious she does not wish to talk about it, although Tera is aware that any of her friends would be more than willing to be there for her should she decide to open up about it.
    • Drein simply saw missing person flyers for Tera up around the desert and coastal settlements, and he later recognized her being walked into a building by a group of men, who were the gang members who had kidnapped her. He sneaked into the building when the majority of the gang had left, and he found Tera in the basement being harassed by one of the men who had stayed behind. Drein incapacitated him quickly and told Tera that people were looking for her and that he would bring her home to Eskete, and she followed him out of the building where they sneaked onto a supply truck in the area and hitched a ride closer to the next desert town. The next day they rode a bus out to the coast and then took a boat to Eskete.
    • Drein is well liked in this desert town due to his reputation of keeping the outlaws in check and aiding the townsfolk, so a local shopkeeper was more than happy to provide Tera with some new clothing and shoes for free when Drein briefly explained the situation to her.
  • Old Charahub blurb: "Horridly defaced from an abusive past, he hides his scarred body while attempting to make up for his family's sins."