save the earth application

[partyqueen]

STE APPLICATION FOR
LOUIS LINDBECK!

OOC Information:
Name: jaz
Are you over 15? yes
Contact: plurk (poisonparfait) or AIM (poisonparfait) are both just fine; whatever's more convenient.

IC Information:
Name: Louis Lindbeck in both lifetimes.
Canon and medium: Best Friends 4ever, webcomic
Age: 17 in both lifetimes.
Preincarnation Species: Human
Preincarnation Appearance: Louis is slender, pretty and pale. He has gray eyes, and medium length sandy blond hair. Louis styles his hair into an obnoxious, flamboyant pompadour most of the time. He typically wears stuff like well fitted polos and bootcut jeans. He also has bad eyesight, and sometimes wears glasses. Additional reference can be found in his icons!
Any differences: Louis mostly looks the same. His hair is a little shorter, also—it's like a long outgrown normal boy's cut.
Preincarnated History: Since Louis's history is currently completely undisclosed in canon (even the protagonists are sort of a mystery, and Louis doesn't even have such a lofty role), I'm gonna wing it in headcanon italics for a lot of this! That said:

Louis was born in California, where he spent most of his life. He grew up with his parents Kristal and Ellsworth. Kristal and Ellsworth had compatibility problems; Ellsworth was more interested in designer suits and his work than he was in being a father or a good husband, and what time Louis spent with him was precious little. Kristal, delicate and prone to over-stressing (especially when it comes to not getting her way), often took escapist routes—she was always pretty absent to spend ample time at the spa, salon, or to impulsively take vacations.

During one such impulse vacation, Kristal took an extended trip to New York City. There, she met John Kingsley II—a surgeon who often worked between New York and New Jersey (where he lived). Somehow, the two ended up hitting it off and Kristal had an affair, despite that at the time, Kingsley himself was still married. Louis was unaware of his mother's unfaithfulness to her father. Years later, Ellsworth and Kristal finally broke it off—the fact that Kristal may have been having an affair became more clear to Louis, especially when his life was suddenly set for New Jersey.

Louis didn't like this turn of events—New Jersey was lame compared to the cool, easygoing California, after all. And plus, it meant less time with his father—although, unfortunately, Ellsworth was altogether less interested in raising Louis, even if their relationship was decent enough.

Between the ages of 13-14, Louis met Kingsley and his son, John Kingsley III, for the first time. He was not impressed. He didn't get along with his step-brother and was somewhat avoidant of his step-father. However, through some kind of means (likely from getting used to him), Louis eventually grew to like John III and vice-versa—it's likely they found that they both enjoyed behaving badly together (partying etc), made easy by Kingsley senior and Kristal constantly being gone. After all, Kingsley works full time as a surgeon, and Kristal is needy and sensitive and so pampers herself ridiculously. Louis also seemed to get integrated into the in crowd at John III's ridiculously expensive (talking 1% expensive) private school, Victoria High, where he there comfortably enjoyed popularity.

Despite the negligence and the messiness of the divorce, Louis has good relationships with both of his parents, and generally, that's always been the case. When he's not at home with Kristal in New Jersey at the Kingsley estate, he visits California during school vacations to spend time with his father.

Reincarnated History: Louis, like before, was born and raised in California. However, he was raised primarily by his mother. His father fled the scene of fatherhood when Louis was only 6, deciding that it wasn't really his style and that it got in the way of his media work. It didn't help that his marriage with Kristal wasn't working out as it was, but throw a fussy toddler into the mix and he couldn't justify staying to himself.

Because of this, Louis grew up a lot more closely with his mother—he got used to accommodating her needy whims to keep her from running off to the spa. She still does a lot of her escapist stuff, but sometimes that involves Louis; since he was about 11, she's been taking him along to her trips to the spa or the salon, and Louis has taken to emulating Kristal, since he had no other parental figure to really admire.

Unfortunately, another way Louis has taken after his mother is that he's a little prone to anxiety—for which he's medicated, as of age 15. That's not to say that Louis's anxiety is environmental, exactly, but he also doesn't party wildly, sleep around or engage in other escapist behavior like his old self—it's just what a mostly sober life for Louis Lindbeck seems to mandate.

Kristal still ended up meeting Kingsley (destined true love, okay), and Louis still ended up getting dragged to New Jersey when he was about 13. However, he was less attached to California, LA and Hollywood, so uprooting was less painful. He was also still enrolled into the same ritzy private school. However, Louis didn't aggressively thrust himself into the social spaces of other people—and so, he never took the lime light, and he also never got terribly close with John III.

While Louis generally lives a comfortable life in Locke City, he gets the occasional impression that he should be something bigger; that he could be something bigger... but compared to his past self, Louis's personality just isn't as big, and neither is his confidence.


First Echo, REVISED 2/21: Louis has had a boyfriend for almost two years—in scoffing response to this, his school's head cheerleader said he was "such a slut." Louis had to excuse himself for how abruptly he was bombarded with his past self's more apt association with the word--the same head cheerleader, named Kamri, who in his past life was one of his best friends, had said the very same words. However, this was in response to Louis’s tellingly disheveled appearance, as she’d incidentally caught him post quickie after practice (specifically, he was fixing his hair and collar as he left the lockers--a place he had no business being). More than just the phrase itself being a striking marker in this memory was the telling, physical sensation of satisfied afterglow. After his first Echo, Louis has been pretty sure he must be crazy. He and Kamri in this life time, after all, have never been friends--and he has never been so bold as to hook up with random football dudes in public.

Preincarnation Personality: The extroverted Louis was wild and impulsive, and he was well known for it. Because of his somewhat neglected upbringing, Louis developed a habit of acting out for attention—good or bad, it was well received by Louis. He did anything he could to turn heads, and while he wasn't particularly well liked at school, he wasn't detested, either—in fact, he was fairly popular.

Louis blew money like it was his job, being allowed a large allowance from his wealthy family. It could be argued that Louis's behavior was escapist, but he wasn't depressed or even generally unhappy. A better word for it is probably listless; nothing truly interested Louis and nothing made him feel anchored. In his own way, he was sort of helpless. Essentially, a privileged life left him no anchor, and so he kind of grasped at anything he found exciting. After all, the wealthy, popular Louis Lindbeck could have anything he wanted—but he couldn't define himself, outside of being outrageous. He didn't know what he wanted, or what really made him happy—and so, the result was that he lived recklessly, not weighing any importance or value on his own life. Live fast, die sexy young!

He also didn't seem to generally care much for sparing the feelings of others—he preferred to do what served himself best, even for things as petty as entertainment.

Another thing Louis was very notoriously known for is that he was extremely promiscuous. It was characteristic of him to flirt with all of his male friends, and he was probably ballsy enough to hit on strangers just as easily—he seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of people, but that wasn't his sole intention. Entertainment was fine, but actually getting laid was a bonus. Louis also enjoyed cruising; he had apps like Grindr, and the author's implied that he's used Craigslist to find hookups. Much to the chagrin of his step brother, Louis had fooled around with some of their mutual friends. He even would make suggestive jokes aimed at his step-brother... Unstoppably offensive!

Somewhat in hand with his skanky ways, Louis was shameless and confident. He had no shame in his game and had no baggage regarding his sexuality and expressions therein. Part of why Louis didn't try so hard with his grades and things like that was also because he wasn't worried about not succeeding. With his extravagant wealth and well connected family, he knew that he probably couldn't fail if he for some reason even wanted to try, and so he's never very worried about...well, anything.

As for his grades, speaking of his not trying very hard, they were sort of in the C-B range, because Louis was far more interested in partying—no surprise there, but Louis didn't take his future very seriously. He was hardly so serious. In fact, he and his stepbrother were known to throw parties every other weekend (this worked because their parents were essentially never home).

Louis also, for the longest time, didn't believe in "true love"—he thought there was only friendly infatuation paired with intense sexual desire, which people confused for love (check it out, this 17 year old's got it aaaall figured out). This was due to how his parents were never close and eventually separated on bitter terms. This way of thinking didn't bum him out (although the divorce surely did), but he readily accepted it as a reality. However, seeing his schoolmates Vincent and Teddy toe bashfully around their obvious romance got to him. What he saw demonstrated before him was what he grudgingly decided must have been true love. Seeing it made him well with contempt bred from jealousy—even more infuriating yet is that they don't go for it.

Louis specifically didn't seem to hold onto boyfriends for more than a couple weeks, which might also be due to his unsavory outlook on "love"—he sees no point in being seriously committed, even if he is beginning to tire of one night stands a little.

Any differences:

1. Louis is less promiscuous.
Probably the biggest bullet-point, here. Louis's biology isn't any different, and so he still has a really healthy (if not slightly over-abundant) appetite for sex. However, he tends to exercise this with one partner at a time, rather than with whomever whenever, like his past self. If the sex is good, Louis tends to over extend his involvement with partners he's not actually interested in. He mistakes sexual chemistry and feelings of emotional obligation for legitimate grounds to have a relationship, and for that relationship to have meaning. So basically, he has lots of sex with one person, generally speaking, and prefers that they be "romantically" involved. No Grindr for this guy. But he still has an extremely demanding and distracting sex drive—he just tries to stifle it, a little.

2. Louis is more invested in people pleasing and less interested in shocking behavior.
Louis is a lot less antagonistic. Having grown up as he did with his mother, he's sort of programmed to help people out and make them feel at ease. This aspect of him also shows up in his love life, as eluded to above; he sometimes invests himself overly in people who probably don't actually matter, and devotes himself to them without enough justification. This doesn't mean he's nice, exactly—he's got a bit of sass, but he is helpful.

3. Louis doesn't really party.
He's too busy with school, and his grades don't totally suck a bag. Louis is still an energetic extrovert at heart, but he indulges this in other ways. He prefers going out, like shopping dates with his friends, cruises, things like that. He sort of looks down on party animals, a little—even if he is a little curious, it's just not for him. Right?

4. Louis is more prone to getting overwhelmed.
Louis's former self was really hard to bother, offend or deliberately insult. However, reincarnated can be dramatic when misfortune befalls him (thanks mom), and it doesn't take a ton for him to feel overwhelmed by responsibilities and expectations set for him.

[2/21 REVISION EDIT]:
Reincarnated Louis's differences indeed primarily stem from the fact that he was raised by his mother, and because didn’t have his father’s influence to inspire him. In his past life, it was his father, in part, that inspired Louis to make partying a part of his personality--but that isn’t exclusively why Louis doesn’t party, which is probably the most major difference in his personality (in addition to his sexual behavior). Another catalyst is the fact that he’s not really close with John (III), who is essentially preincarnated Louis’s best friend. In canon and Louis's preincarnated history, they enable each other's appetites for being wild.

So to boil it down more concisely, Louis’s personality differences stem from the following:
a) raised by his mother;
b) without an influential father figure;
c) without the influence of his step brother.


Abilities: Louis never had any special abilities, save throwing amazing parties and getting amazing amounts of play. Now he doesn't even have those abilities! Sad story.

Roleplay Sample - Third Person: Louis should have been at his student council meeting about an hour ago. He's been avoiding his phone, knowing that he's probably received some gently put-out texts from other members of the council. Louis was encouraged to take an elective, and somehow, student council seemed like a good idea when he first transferred to this school.

Now, he lays on his back, his hair fanned out against his sheets, limbs sprawled. His dull eyes were half closed, staring at the top of his canopy bed—the chiffon curtains around it were drawn, enclosing him in a gentle magenta light, the remaining sunlight filtering through the fabric's sheer weave. He closed his eyes and sighed, resting his wrist across his eyes.

The idea of skipping student council gave him anxiety, but the idea of going was worse. He wasn't bad at it, but he worried. And it was boring. Louis felt like he could be doing something more fun, but here he was, at home... doing this.

He felt like a loser.

Louis rolled onto his side with a sigh, unsure if how to quell his listlessness. Some of his only regular friends were currently in the student council meeting... Louis combed his bony fingers through his hair, more as a gesture to comfort himself than to clear his vision, and slowly sat up. From between the curtains of his bed, Louis saw the door to his bathroom—which he shared with John, which connected to his room.

Louis paused as he sat up, then slowly scooted off the edge of his bed, smiling a little as he quietly made his way to the bathroom. He liked surprising John this way. And hey, he just wanted to say hi. See if he was up to anything. It wasn't exactly nice, sneaking up on him, really—Louis knew.

But something about it was just really, really fun.

Roleplay Sample - Network: ok so like. what is this? i haven't really ever heard of this before. is this even a social network? wtf

i tried looking around but i have no idea what the hell anybody's talking about. did i accidentally stumble on some like...nerdy programmer's friend's circle, or something?

ftr i totally found this on accident ok so don't like give me viruses or whatever it is nerds do

Any Questions? I'm honestly not 1000% clear on how echos work, so I'm not sure if my answer for Louis's echo is sufficient. Just putting that out there, I guess!