PLAYER: Miquel Torres	CHARACTER: Respiro
PRONOUNS: He/Him AGE: 12 LOCATION: Barcelona, Spain OCCUPATION: Student (Homeschool)	BODY TYPE: <M> AGE: Adult ENABLE PKMN SPEECH? Yes PAIN THRESHOLD: Reduced

OUT OF THE GAME His name was Rook, and he didn't kill her. His name was Rook, and it wasn't his fault. His name was Rook like chess towers and toppling castles and a real boy's last name, and like a bird who cries noisily and is not afraid to make a sound. His name was Rook and he didn't storm the castle, he turned his back on the ice and snow, and when the cold and the Corruption crept in she was the first to fall. His name was Rook, and he loved his starter and he ran through the red halls and bent his soul to bring her back and it wasn't his fault. His name was Rook, and he didn't kill Respira. She chose not to come back. He is silent now. A breath without a song. A rest between notes. He brought her name back with him, if not her body, if not her heart. He thinks her spirit is with him, but the truth is that it remains far away, far away, and she told him you still haven't learned and when are you going to get that there are consequences for the things you do? and he doesn't understand. SPOILER: Click to show {PREVIOUS: UNOVR (EU)}Miquel Torres, a Spanish player affected by selective muteness in real life, originally played on the EU server as a form of exploration and escapism. This was not his first VR game, and he had been playing his masked swordsman character 'Rook' for a long time in fantasy RPG simulators since the early headset VR. However, the close-knit Pokemon dynamic in UNOVR led to him opening up more than in previous games, and over time he came to see it as a safe space where he was comfortable using his own voice to speak. This was in no small part due to the support and tutelage of his starter, an Infernape who he named Respira. While he originally saw his starting Chimchar as a weapon, this game's equivalent of a sword or rapier, he grew to see her as a mentor, master, and almost a mother figure instead over time. UNOVR became a safe space for Rook, but some part of him always knew it was a tool. His love for Respira was sincere, but her world-- which she cared so much about— was never quite as real to him. It was like a rented apartment, a place to live in, but not a place to protect and preserve. Not a place to fight for. He showed this by making no attempt to join the major World Events which were so integral to the story. He never saw Corrupted Moltres. He never waltzed with the Princess in the Dream Kingdom. He never charged alongside the reborn Prince to retake the Timberlands from the grip of tyranny. He thought that the results of these things wouldn't affect him, that he could choose what he did or didn't want to engage with in this world. He was short-sighted. He was selfish. The Chill killed Respira. An otherworldly entity that spawned from the aftermath of Precipice Crown. It's a common story— most of the Pokemon sent to the Everworld in Europe are not from within the dream, but those outside. Hunted down like prey. A fitting end to a story where the hero heard the call to adventure and turned his back, again, and again, and again, because he already had everything he ever wanted. He never thought it could change. He never thought she'd be taken away. And he never thought she'd reject him when he finally reached her, at the end of the Trial, when everything seemed like it would go back to the way it was. In a way, he still saw Respira as a weapon. Not in such a bad way. In all his fantasy iterations, and real life as well, Miquel has loved swords more than life. He reveres their craft, their use, their history. No sword is ever just a sword, and Respira could never have been just a starter. But a sword does not speak for itself. A sword might be turned on its master, but it never simply says no. It never chooses not to fight. It never does nothing, when something bids it to rise up. Respira was trying to teach him something about inaction, about running away, about expecting people to care for you when you don’t care for anything else. But Miquel wasn't ready to listen. He fled the Everworld, and he fled the server, using a proxy to start the game again in North America. He took her name, if he couldn't have the rest of her, and carried it with him to the new world. But it wasn't the same. She wasn't here. Without a target in the NA servers, her words to him were trapped, lacking any actionable outlet. And his safe space, which had been contingent on the Infernape's company, died along with his voice.

INSIDE THE GAME Respiro is his new name. Respite. Inhale, then pause. An in-between place. He doesn't know where he's running to, or what he's looking for. He doesn't speak or understand English, except for general cognates and the basics he's picked up from media. Even if he could, he wouldn't speak. He can't even scream. He is only breath. He acts impulsively and actively. He loves to use his body, whether that be running, climbing, jumping, or riding. The novelty of Deep Dive is still a matter of utmost joy to him, and sometimes he can even still lose himself in it. He is a good person, he thinks. He tries to help, in an awkward way, when he sees something wrong. But World Events? Hundreds of other people? Even dungeons are sometimes too much. People remind him of things. He's sweet, in his way. Innocent, wide-eyed, pure as someone who would sit high on a crow's nest and watch the world burn from safety, thinking only of their own good fortune. He's lucky, too. Fatally. Usually. He can't face consequences. His mantra is bad things can happen to good people, and he sees any fallout from his choices as separate from his actions. The world is ruled by chance and fate, and sometimes you can't do anything about it. In a way, this mindset has protected him in the past. Some memories become palatable when distanced from the self, from internalized shame, from 'fault.' He has always worn a mask. Perhaps hiding his mouth is one way of warning people he does not speak. Perhaps it's his way of masking, for himself, the object of his suffering. Nothing anyone would blame him for. A few words at a court case. Mama and his sisters, crying. Kind strangers, offering him their arms. It should have been a relief. A victory. Now, it is quiet. Without the intense connection to his starter that he had in the European server, Respiro focuses on completing the Asper Pokedex. He may venture into Ostellia in time, but for now, this is his way of re-orienting himself in the world.

FACE CLAIMS IRL CHARACTER / PLAYER CHARACTER [u]MY HERO ACADEMIA[/u] Chisaki Kai/Overhaul as [a href="https://unovr.boards.net/thread/2807/ti-wip-respiro-rook"]Miquel Torres[/a]/@respiro

OOC NAME M00k

STARTER PKMN Do you want to receive your starter in-character at the Starter Lab? NO, I'LL JUMP STRAIGHT INTO RP!