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May. 30th, 2021 09:38 pm- « PLAYER INFORMATION »
Name: May
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact:
Other characters, if any: N/A
« CHARACTER INFORMATION »
Character: Laurent Thierry
Canon: Great Pretender
Canon point: Pre-Case 4 after Makoto's departure from Cynthia's island
OU or AU?: OU
Age: Late 30s
Species: Human
« RECORD »
Disposition:
Laurent is, to put it simply, the ideal person to be a con artist. He's charming, quick witted, merciless and has a good balance of book smarts and street smarts. He has a penchant for understanding of the nature of people, which is more dangerous than anything, and has sharp skills in manipulation. All this combined gives him a notable reputation as a world renowned con artist to whom other con artists gather, both as a fairly skilled confidence man and a huge pain in the ass.
Laurent takes great joy in teasing people that are reactionary. Edamura, unfortunately, takes the brunt of this in series as Abby and Cynthia seem accustomed to his ways. To him, there's something charming about an innocent soul, especially in someone that's in his line of work, and he can't help but want to prod and rile them up. He's a 'playfully rude' type with Edamura, enjoying pissing him off and tricking him to motivate him to do more than what Edamura believes he's capable of doing. As Laurent seems to have found a comfort in the fact that he's been tainted by the rough parts of the world, he likely finds an innocent heart's approach to the Robin Hood brand motives found among the confidence men refreshing and entertaining.
According to Cynthia and Abby's offhanded insults, Laurent has a reputation as a playboy. While he's chock full of mostly well-planned schemes (Though Abby and Cynthia will protest that he's downright careless), he has an unfortunate tendency to follow his dick. Abby is the most vocal about this, claiming that the reason Edamura was recruited at all was because Laurent followed the 'little brain between his legs' and insulting him by saying he 'is as horny as a rabbit'. In the manga, he can be seen acquiring the number of a sales lady as he and Edamura are out shopping and admits casually to his intentions of flirting Cynthia on the beach in Nice. His advances are more nonchalant and charming than forceful or pushy, typically letting the topic drop the moment disinterest is voiced such as when he asked Abby if she wanted to join him in the shower or when asking Lewis's wife if she'd like 'private lessons' in acting.
While he does function as a sort of leader of their little crew, Abby, Cynthia and Edamura all resent him to some extent for the ways he manipulates them in his favor and jokes about their mistakes, big and small. As he's a meddler, too, especially with bringing the others before their pasts, he tends to be the person in the room the others would be most likely to choose to kill in fuck-marry-kill games. If they were to be framed as a dysfunctional family, Laurent would be the obnoxious older brother. Cynthia comments that he's 'not very well liked' and he typically doesn't deny it. He knows he can't Not make a comment, even when they prefer he'd shut up.
Despite this, Laurent seems to hold nothing but amicable feelings for the rest of the cast, treating them as his colleagues and friends. He's often encouraging them and pushing them to accomplish goals he feels will best benefit them. He seems to hold great faith in their capabilities even though he is seen occasionally setting up contingency plans for deviations he predicts will be caused by Edamura's pure spirit. This faith and encouragement often get aimed at Edamura since he is their upstart, telling him that he believes he will be an excellent conman. At the end of Case 1, he is heard encouraging him to return to his side when he is back from Japan. He sees the potential in people and is empathetic regardless of his offhanded comments. He wants the best for the network of confidence men he's connected with and especially for the other three he's chosen to spend the most time with.
While his demeanor is often calm, cheerful and gregarious, he can be ruthless when it comes to dealing with his marks. He will smile the whole way through ruining a person's life, even if that person, in his mind, are worthy of the downfall he sets up. It's this calm and collected attitude towards falling into the depths of the underbelly of the world to accomplish a goal is one of the things that puts him on Edamura's bad side. He will play whatever part he needs to, whether it's a drug trafficker or the maintainer of an illegal fighting ring, to do what he believes he needs to do to take a worthy mark out and get the money he and his team expect from their investments in a plan.
Suitability: Laurent is a man who has been all over the world and has had his nose in the best and the worst of what society has to offer. As a con man that only targets the rich and corrupt, he has learned to adapt and play the part to survive and get the advantage in a situation. He's very used to playing by the rules and environment presented to him so he can twist it in his favor. He's adaptable, clever and thinks well on his feet. Sure, an alien world is completely out of his wheelhouse, but for Laurent Thierry... well, it's nothing more than a new, exciting place to learn and perhaps get better at his skills as a conman. Whether that's through actual conning opportunities or learning more about different cultures and societies through meeting a plethora of new people from different worlds.
He would want to know as much about the native gembonded as possible, meeting and talking to whomever was willing to talk. He was planning to be a diplomat as a child and continues to truly enjoy learning more about cultures, food, language and politics from places he's never been. He's never one to judge a new culture for being 'different' nor the people living in that culture, so no matter how outside of his wheelhouse the place might be, he will want to explore and learn as much as possible about it. He'd be oddly accepting, if not nervous about having SO many unknowns present.
He is absolutely the type who will be networking, making new acquaintances, taking people on dates and overall finding ways to function the way he normally does whether or not he cons anymore. He has no personal bubble, so connecting physically with people will be easy for him. While he's not an emotional sharer - most confidence men are not - he will still be happy to hear others issues and muster up some support. He's not a person to emotionally baby anyone, but he isn't allergic to being comforting to some level. The closer someone is, the more emotional support they can probably wring out of him.
Condition upon arrival: Perfectly healthy mid to late 30 year old, other than some functional alcoholism and the occasional smoke. He's of sound body. He's been kicking back, biding his time and getting in some surfing while organizing the current case in the background. His mind is starting to get more unstable with some issues with PTSD/grief hallucinations of his dead lover, and he's maybe struggling with some serious emotions deep down, but he's so used to keeping his cool now that it won't show on the surface.
Abilities:
Laurent is a normal, powerless human, but he does have a few skills he has specially honed:
Manipulation - Laurent's life is built around being a master manipulator. He uses his abilities in, at least in his opinion, a Robin Hood-esque manner, aiming them only at the corrupt and powerful in the world, but he still relies heavily on his ability to understand, empathize and twist the desires of others. He 'sells dreams', in his own words, and gives people what they want... at the cost of most of their money and power. As far as he's concerned, they deserve it.
Deception - With Manipulation comes artful Deception. Laurent can organize entire events that are completely fake. He can create fake fighting rings, underground casinos, art auctions... and he can make them all believable and consistent from the start of a con until the end where he can vanish it - and his people - away in an hour before they are caught. He can be anyone and play any part. He uses his network of people to validate his aliases and can build convincing realities to trap targets in and weaves them into his narratives expertly.
Adaptability - Cons often have a ton of variables outside of anyone's control. Laurent is accused time and time again of 'winging it', but in reality he is very adaptable. To an extent, his confidence definitely plays a part in him playing a little fast and loose with the structure of his planning, but he's otherwise very good at shifting things around to accommodate unexpected changes to the situation. When Makoto comes in as an amateur and an unpredictable element due to his sympathy for others, he puts that adaptability to the test. He almost seems to expect and anticipate Makoto choosing the path that helps and heals the most people and he's always ready with something to 'fix' any missteps or hurdles his emotionally-motivated actions create.
Polyglot - Laurent is an avid language learner due to his current career and his youthful dream of becoming a diplomat. He can speak French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, and a little Japanese.
Inventory: His suitcase containing:
3 designer suits
An extra Hawaiian shirt + bermuda shorts
A pack of cigarettes
A bottle of fine scotch
A few stacks of now unusable cash
A few dirty magazines
Gembond: Sapphire
Gem Location: His navel, like a little troll doll
« MISCELLANEOUS »
Sample: Sample 1: Thread from Another Game
Sample 2: Thread from Another Game
Noct TDM Response
I can provide other samples, but most are within a locked community, so I can take screenshots as requested if more samples are needed.
Notes: It is theorized that Laurent is based off of Real Life Celebrity Conman, Christophe Thierry Daniel Rocancourt