Lori

Name: Lori
Age: 23
Pronouns: They/Them
Gender: Agender
Sexuality: Bisexual
Status: Married to Gordie
Born in: Kalos
English Voice Claim: Kimiko Glenn

Lori was born as the only child of a rich and prestigious family with an aristocratic background. During their childhood, they travelled and lived in various regions such as Hoenn, Unova and Alola. Growing up, Lori was forced to study hard and be an exemplary child, with the poise and grace of any young lady of their status. Not receiving any positive attention or love from their parents, Lori did find kindness and care from some of the family staff, especially Madame Sophie the cook. She taught Lori early on the importance of being caring and taught them some basics on cooking and food preparation. On top of that, the only real friend Lori had was their Skitty and later Delcatty Missy. 

When they turned 18, Lori's parents found a suitable partner for them. A young man from a Galarian noble family called Frederick. And so, Lori was shipped off to Wyndon in Galar to live with him in preparation for the marriage. While things were fine at first, over the course of their stay with him, Frederick began to slowly exert more control over them, manipulating them and making them believe that he was the only person they could trust and depend upon. Lori didn't go out of the house alone and usually spent their days in the house, studying and dabbling in cooking and coffee brewing; their latest interest. 

While perusing the internet, Lori found the blog of a young lady called Lola, a baker who shared her love of baking and food. In a rare moment of feeling brave, Lori shot her a message and the two got to talking. Eventually, Lori was invited by Lola to join a small friend group consisting of her wife Rosemary and mutual friend Devon. At long last, Lori had some contacts outside of just Frederick that they could talk to and confide in. It was to them that Lori eventually came out as nonbinary, with their new name and pronouns. 

One day, a wild Espurr appeared at Lori's window sill with an injured paw. Loving cat Pokémon in particular, Lori let him in and treated the injury. Taking a liking to them, the Espurr decided to come back regularly and Lori decided to name him Dexter. At this time, Frederick's behavior became more and more horrible, with bouts of anger, violence and mistreatment towards Lori. This increased abuse, together with their friends' increasing concern for their wellbeing and safety, made Lori eventually take a stand against Frederick to tell him to stop. As a result, Frederick flew into a rage and punished them severely. After this, Frederick stomped off and Lori, distraught beyond belief, decided to take the plunge and leave him. They messaged their friends to tell them to come get them. Before they could leave, Frederick returned and started threatening them. Before he could do anything, Dexter appeared and blasted Frederick with a psychic blast which knocked him out. Fleeing with both Missy and Dexter, Lori ran to their friends who were waiting with a car and took off to Motostoke, only stopping on the bridge to throw their engagement ring away. 

Now living in Motostoke, Lori began a new life with a new identity and look, working with their friends in their newly created Pokémon cat cafe. Their talent to brew coffee and tea made them a great addition to the team, not to mention they had two cat Pokémon who could work as part of staff as well. Their past abuse unfortunately caused Lori to develop agoraphobia and a general sense of anxiety whenever they went out. One day, Lori was brave enough however to visit Turffield to pick up an order for the cafe, and that's how they met Milo. After befriending him, Milo invited Lori one day to come to the stadium to watch an exhibition match between him and his friend Gordie. Before going out into the pitch, Lori's agoraphobia kicked in and they suffered a massive panic attack. Gordie, noticing the commotion, stepped in and helped Lori calm down. After the match, Lori gave Gordie a coupon for free coffee and an invite to the cafe to thank him. Gordie visited the cafe soon after and the two started talking. This was so pleasant that Gordie decided to come back regularly and eventually, Lori was brave enough to trust Gordie with their phone number so the two could text and make arrangements to have little outings together. 

Long story short, the two eventually ended up falling in love and starting a relationship. Lori, never having known real love or any experience with a loving, caring partner, slowly starting to heal and grow more confident with themselves. With Gordie being a celebrity, this did create some difficulty as he got a lot of attention and this made Lori nervous; what if Frederick found them through all this? One day, this actually came to pass as not only Frederick, but also Lori's parents showed up to try and take them back. With the help of Gordie and Lori's friends, this didn't happen and even Chairman Rose stepped in. Rose, being the boss of Lori's dad's company and having taken a liking to Lori because of their kindness (and great coffee) decided that any employee of his with this kind of attitude towards their children would not be tolerated. Frederick's abusive behavior also came to light when Dexter projected images through his psychic powers to showcase how poorly he treated Lori. As a result, Frederick got arrested and trialed for his misdeeds, meaning that Lori was finally free. 

Currently, Lori and Gordie are still together and very recently finally got married; a much happier and less stressful occasion than the arranged, forced marriage Lori was almost dragged into. Lori is also doing much better, going to therapy to deal with their trauma and having many loving friends and acquired family to support them <3