Bastien

Name: Bastien

Nickname: Bas or Bast

Height: 5'11"

Gender: Male
-generally homosexual but honestly very inexperienced in romantic relationships all together
Personality:
Nervous, introverted, has low self esteem, and believes he's a monster due to his curse(explained in more detail below). Given his life has been a lie up until now he worries a lot about doing things wrong since the world outside of the cult is all new to him. He feels immense guilt for the things he's unknowingly done in the past(even though a lot of it wasn't entirely his fault). He gets flustered and nervous easily, in particular when people are kind to him as he doesn't feel like he deserves it. That being said, even if it makes him nervous he still latches onto people who show him kindness as, with no real "home" or friends, it makes him feel grounded. Despite everything he's pretty gullible and naive. He's so worried about how he might hurt others that he really doesn't consider the possibility of it being the other way around. He's very anti-confrontation, what little anger he experiences he never acts on and always airs on the side of pacifism. He's caused enough harm to others, he never wants to be in that position again. The only way he'd be willing to enact violence on someone else is if that person was actively trying to hurt others or in a last ditch desperate attempt at self defense(even though he thinks of himself as a monster he still can't help but want to live). It's a last resort and likely he'd need some time to mentally/emotionally process the guilt later. Despite his initial gloomy impression, he's not always moping around like a dark cloud. When he gets more comfortable in a place and around certain people he starts to resemble how he used to be before everything went to shit at the cult.

Before the truth was revealed to him he was generally calm, dedicated to his studies and responsibilities, self conscious at times, friendly in some instances but restrained, reserved. He had to keep up his appearances as the all-knowing holy oracle of the cult but he loosened up around the few people he was closer with, joking and behaving more casually(only when alone with them). He enjoyed reading(though it was usually scripture and religious texts since that's what he had access to) and would sometimes play cards and other games with some of the priests. In general he does enjoy learning new things but isn't the type to pry unless he feels it's important. He's good with kids as he was around them often enough at church but, given his curse, he keeps touching to a minimum and only when he's 99.9% sure he's fully covered. He might lightly pat them on the back or guide them in a certain direction with his hand but that's about it.

Strengths/Hobbies:

• Writing/Calligraphy
• Dancing(Contemporary leaning heavily into ballet)
• Reading
• Playing Certain Card Games
• Pressing Flowers

Bastien grew up being told his mother was a saintess who made the ultimate sacrifice giving birth to him, a divine oracle. After death due to her selfless sacrifice, she ascended into goddess-hood to watch over the church and all its inhabitants. She became the main goddess the church worshipped, representing good, abundance, wisdom, protection, and light. Statues of her are riddled throughout the church's interior and even a few in town(plus smaller ones used in personal home shrines of townsfolk). Given the lack of living/present parents, Bastien was raised by a handful of trusted nannies and priests. If you looked at any of his baby/toddler photos you'd see him being cared for by a group of women dressed from head to toe in white with only their eyes visible(to reduce the chance of being changed by his touch, since keeping gloves on a toddler and reasoning with a toddler would be impossible. The older he got the more typical their uniform became). He was taught the church's scripture, rituals, and given responsibilities fit for his position, starting with small things when he was younger and adding as he got older. Of his responsibilities he would write and perform sermons, participate in rituals and ceremonies, provided acts of service to his community like overseeing food drives, and recording and reporting whatever visions he had to the head priest. Some rituals required him to perform specific dances, orations, and other special requirements. 

As his oracle title indicates, he also had sporadic visions. These visions varied in detail, length, and helpfulness. When he was younger they were mostly flashes of incoherent imagery, blurry, and confusing. In particular, as a baby these visions were very short flashes of colors and shapes and often made him cry. The older he got the more clear the imagery got and the better he handled it. It still felt unpleasant but as soon as he was old enough to understand, the head priest(and everyone else) started drilling into him that these visions were a blessing bestowed upon him by the goddess and that they were important. He was taught to always report the things he saw and record them once he learned how to write. As he aged the visions got longer, sometimes depicting snippets of scenes, places, or people. Sometimes they were more straight forward, other times they were more symbolic in nature and had to be parsed. Regardless he was always supposed to report it to the head priest. No exceptions.

Under normal circumstances in public he was typically covered almost from head to toe in white/cream garments(sometimes with light accent colors and gold or pearl jewelry), including gloves. The only time he was permitted to take off his gloves in public was during "enlightening" ceremonies. As the priests put it: "It's a ceremony where the lucky chosen few can be freed from pain and suffering so they can be ready to join the Goddess."

---------WIP----------

Appearance: 

-Underneath the bandages he has dark grey arms covered in gold scars from his curse. 

-He has a bit of a choir boy mullet situation going on. 

-He pretty much always looks tired. Partly because he has slightly downturned eyes and partly because of the dark circles under his eyes.

-His eyebrows are thin and he has pretty long eyelashes.

-He's got beauty marks and a few freckles here and there. Most notably one small beauty mark below the corner of his left eye, three freckles on the right side of his nose, one slightly larger beauty mark on the right side of his neck, and one on the top tip of his right ear. 

Social Tendencies:

Everyone - Generally given his warped sense of self worth and guilt towards humanity he's willing to sacrifice his own well being for the sake of others, like penance for past grievances he's committed.

Strangers - With strangers Bastien tends to be nervous first and foremost. Regardless he tries to behave cordially and has decent manners(ingrained from years of living in the church). An important note, strangers can very quickly turn into acquaintances and be treated as such, sometimes even within an hour of meeting depending on the circumstance.

Acquaintances - He's more relaxed. Interactions are mainly friendly but impersonal. He does take an interest in others well-being and would even go as far as to spend the day helping them with something but he keeps info about himself to a minimum. He likes to be of service to others(again, something he maintained from his days living in the church).

Friends - He's a little more relaxed than with acquaintances and he will talk about more personal things. Weirdly some of that nervousness begins to trickle back in. The closer he is the more opportunities he has to hurt them, disappoint them, and for them to realize what he is. On top of that, the more it'll hurt if any of that happens. Closer friends he openly shares his secrets with and is far more honest about how he's feeling with.

Lovers/Romantic Interactions - He's not used to this kind of attention so he often gets shy/bashful when others flirt and do things for him. If he's not very close with whoever's flirting then big romantic gestures make him uncomfortable. He finds it burdensome like he owes them something. He much prefers small things that just show that the person cares and was thinking of him. Similar to friends, Bas is of course open with lovers about his past and secrets, his feelings/insecurities, etc. He's not the type to sleep around much and even if by some strange turn of events he did he'd get too attached to the person and would probably want more of a relationship than that. It would take him a while to gain the courage to initiate more intimate things like kissing, hugging, etc. Early on in the relationship he'd also be the type to, as embarrassed as he'd get, ask for things like kisses and hugs(both if he could give them or if they could be given to him). Given how dangerous and scary life has been for him, if a person makes him feels safe that's a big plus.

Things he likes/finds attractive:

• Assertiveness, he finds that an attractive quality. Not to be confused with being bossy or mean about things but rather taking action with confidence and competence. Doesn't have to be in every aspect of life could be just a particular situation but he likes it. I think partly because it's something he feels he lacks a lot of the time and so he admires it and finds it attractive in others. So for example if someone instructs him how to do something or is making a plan of action. Again not to be confused with condescension. It does not have the same effect if they treat him like he's beneath them or if they're too forceful about it. Firm, not aggressive. Firmness can be swapped out with compassion too. So using instructions as an example again, if the person is really patient and sweet about it that also does it for him(and no I'm not just talking sexual innuendos but also just day to day stuff).

• He also likes to feel taken care of, plays into the safety thing. Like a dog that only wants to eat when its owner is watching because it knows it can let its guard down and that its human will keep an eye out for danger, Bas finds a lot of comfort in knowing that someone has his back. He can finally let his guard down a little. So little things like unprompted giving him something cold to eat/drink on a hot day(more so if they were already getting themselves something to eat/drink already), putting his hood up for him if it starts raining(assuming he hasn't done it himself yet), remembering something he likes that he only mentioned briefly. These things can also fall into platonic territory so its not always something he's attracted attracted to.

Extra Info:

-Is cursed with a touch that makes people instantly lose their minds. From his elbow down to his hands is unsafe for skin to skin touch for normal people lest they want to turn into a maniacal, laughing, violent shell of themselves. He wears bandages, long sleeves, and gloves to cover them up and prevent people from being changed but he still keeps to himself because after all accidents do happen. 

-technically a character insert I made for the MC(main character) in the upcoming visual novel game, Touchstarved. As such certain characteristics, like his grey gold scared arms and curse + backstory, are directly taken from that storyline.

-Backstory: Grew up as a divine oracle being used by a religious cult to "enlighten" people with his touch until a traveling magician rolled through and told him the truth about his curse. So he fled to find a cure.

-The plants behind him are bog rosemary, flowers that can represent "lacking trust in oneself and others; immobilized by a fear of the unknown; inability to take risks in order to grow or heal", and also " enables us to feel divine support while being present with our deepest fears"

-He cuts his hair himself, partly copying how the church used to cut his hair(the bangs)and partly just winging it like any non-hairstylist(his hair was long for a good portion of his adult life at the church so he has no idea how to cut it short other than to just grab pieces and cut until it's short, hence why it looks a hot mess back there).