𝄆 application: high seas 𝄇

[bitty_blue_brother]

[Name]: Sora.
[Age]: 26.
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: cinnamonical
♦ AIM: n/a
♦ Plurk: cinnamonical
[Timezone]: US Central.
[Other Characters]: None!



[Name]: Hubert Lhant.
[Canon]: Tales of Graces f.
[Age]: 10.
[Gender]: Male. The only way you can tell is because he likes boats.
[Canon Point]: As Hubert is on his way to the capital city of Barona with his father and Richard.

[History]: One fine day, Hubert Lhant (the son of Aston, lord of Lhant) is dragged out by his older brother Asbel to nearby Lhant Hill, despite parental warnings against visiting the area (which Hubert sternly reminds Asbel of). Asbel just wants to see the flowers that supposedly bloom there year-round, but when he and Hubert reach the top of the hill, they find a mysterious girl sleeping amongst the flora. She wakes up upon their approach, having no idea who she is or how she got to Lhant Hill in the first place. She does, however, seem fascinated by the flowers on the hill. Hubert suggests that she has amnesia, and Asbel decides that they'll just take her back to Lhant since it doesn't seem right to just leave her there.

In town, the two brothers are confronted by a sickly girl named Cheria, who's furious that Asbel left her behind again -- especially since he'd promised to bring her to Lhant Hill one day. On Hubert's recommendation, Asbel hands over a sopheria flower he'd picked while on the hill in order to appease Cheria. When Cheria hears about the mysterious girl's situation, she says that her grandpa Frederic (who is also the butler at Lhant Manor) might know who she is. Unfortunately, this doesn't pan out, and the kids have to pick up the sleuthing on their own. The only lead they get is in an encounter with an out-of-town beastmaster, who theorizes that the girl may be an acrobat of some sort based on her ability to perform physical feats like backflips and such. With no other options left at the moment, the group returns to Lhant Manor. Kerri, Aston's wife and therefore Asbel and Hubert's mother, tells the boys that their father wants to talk to them. Cheria is taken home after she falls into another coughing fit, and Sophie follows Asbel and Hubert into the manor.

Aston explains to Asbel and Hubert that there is a young boy visiting from the capital soon, but that Asbel is forbidden to socialize with him. Additionally, he'll turn over the mysterious girl to the authorities for them to look after until they can find her parents. The girl shakes her head and refuses to leave Asbel's side, but the conversation is interrupted when Frederic comes into the room and says they've received a message concerning the visitor from the capital. Aston dismisses his sons to investigate this.

Outside, Asbel complains about his father always treating him like a kid, and states that he has no choice but to take care of the girl so he can prove to Aston that he's not some "useless child." Cheria, who's snuck back out of her house to talk to the brothers again, is not at all happy to hear about this development. Hubert apologizes for his brother, saying Asbel's never going to change his mind on this. With that issue settled, Asbel decides that the girl needs a name if she's going to be their new friend. Eventually, inspired by something Hubert says, they christen her "Sophie" after the sopheria flower that she seems to like.

All of a sudden, Aston and some of his men rush past the group out of the manor. Frederic explains to the children that the transport containing their guest from the capital is overdue and that Aston is worried that something might have happened to them on the road. Asbel sees this as another opportunity to prove his maturity. He leads his ragtag band of kids out to East Lhant Highroad, where there's a transport being attacked by monsters. Despite Aston's protests, Asbel specifically draws one of the monsters away so he, Hubert, and Sophie can deal with it while Cheria leads the people in the transport to safety. Afterwards, Aston scolds Asbel for getting involved, but it's precisely this involvement that leads the escort for the transport to forgive what Aston claimed was a "lack of protection." Nevertheless, Aston once again warns that Asbel is not to approach the transport's guest, Master Richard, for any reason. Asbel claims he'll obey, but when Hubert wistfully says that he wishes they could have met Richard, it turns out that Asbel is scheming to do just that.

The group returns to the manor and enter the guest room that Richard is staying in through a side window. Understandably, Richard is suspicious of their intent, but he is reassured when Asbel stands up against Richard's sword teacher Bryce in a fight just so Richard won't have to practice when he's not feeling well. Asbel offers to take Richard out to Lhant Hill despite the fact that it's almost sundown. Sophie accompanies Asbel and Richard to look out for them on Cheria's order, while Cheria and Hubert stay at Lhant Manor to cover for the missing boys; they don't find out until the next day that Richard was almost assassinated by Bryce.

Aston is understandably furious with Asbel, not just because he put Richard's life in danger (or more danger than it had to be) but also because Hubert and Cheria having to cover for him meant that the search party was delayed for hours. Aston grounds Asbel to his room, then orders Hubert to come with him as he escorts Richard back to Barona. Asbel is dismayed, but tells Hubert to have a good time. He apologizes and offers to buy Asbel a bunch of souvenirs. Hubert's last memories of Lhant before leaving include seeing his mother tearfully bidding him farewell and Asbel giving him a good luck charm to keep him from being scared when Asbel's not around.

[Personality]: Hubert is a very shy and anxious boy who would rather stay home to study instead of going on wild adventures (especially if they are wild adventures that defy higher authorities, a.k.a. the first scene of the game). He's such a scaredy-cat, in fact, that he'll hide behind a girl in fear and can be startled enough into wetting his pants. But it's precisely this timidity that allows him to be led around so easily by his more assertive older brother, to the point that he gets blamed for a lot of things that are actually Asbel's fault. He does his best to act as Asbel's voice of reason, constantly questioning his sense (or lack thereof) in doing or saying certain things (sometimes with a hint of childish teasing or petulance). But in the end, Hubert defers to Asbel's authority, whether it's on what they should do with the mysterious girl they just found or covering for Asbel when he takes Richard out to see Lhant Hill. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Hubert as a child mainly or solely defines himself as "Asbel's brother," particularly since it's widely known that Asbel is to be the heir to the Lhant lordship. He has talents (some of which actually benefit from his secondary role), but he mainly puts them to use to help Asbel or other people out -- and in fact he's more than happy to explain things to people or just generally be respectful, as opposed to Asbel who's a bit of a rascal. Hubert's generally polite and considerate demeanor has earned him the goodwill of many of the adults in town as well as most of the girls (he made such an impression on one particular girl that she sent him letters when he went off to live in Strahta, and when he returned seven years later as the new governor of Lhant under Strahtan occupation, she supported his work and wanted to do her best for his sake). As much as Hubert becomes exasperated with Asbel's antics, he seems to have no real desire (yet) to usurp Asbel from his role as the head of the pack (which is good because the kid is pretty smart in addition to hard-working).

Hubert's relationship with Asbel is far from one-sided, however. Asbel is undoubtedly a bit (or a lot) of a brat, but his heart's in the right place. Many of his rebellious or reckless actions are rooted in the well-being of others, such as challenging a trained knight to a duel simply because he didn't want his new friend Richard practicing when he wasn't feeling well. As well, Asbel being a "typical" boy means that he tends to express his affection a bit roughly: while he can't ever bring himself to directly tell Hubert that he's proud of him for being such a genius (and he warns Richard to never say anything about that, even), he gives Hubert a good luck charm so that Hubert doesn't get scared being away from Asbel or from home. In many respects, Hubert and Asbel actually have a pretty good sibling relationship (well, at this point in their story, at least).

In that sense, Hubert tagging along in Asbel's misadventures is as much about him being too timid to really speak up as it is him genuinely caring about Asbel's well-being and wanting to look out for him in his own way. He steps up to help Asbel make up with Cheria when Cheria is upset about being left behind again; he gladly offers to buy Asbel souvenirs from the capital city when Asbel is (rightfully) grounded until further notice; and when he scolds Asbel for relying on him to translate a formally-worded inscription into something more kid-friendly, it's less about Hubert being annoyed by it and more because Hubert knows at that point that he's going to be sent to live with another family soon, so he won't be able to help Asbel out as he usually does. Family in general seems to be important to Hubert (he understands that Aston is only harsh on Asbel because he wants Asbel to become a good lord of Lhant someday, and Hubert's default shirt is something he likes because his mother picked it out for him), but most prominent in the canon is his relationship with Asbel, and it's what defines a lot of his character.

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]: Hubert's main selling point is his intelligence. He's constantly the person explaining things to Asbel or the other characters, such as the roads the lead to/from Lhant, what gel seeds are for, or what a Discovery Book is. He likes to spend his time reading and studying (arguably because this is the best way he knows how of being "useful" to Asbel), so if you need to know something or if you want someone to pore over some texts for you, this is the kid you want on your side. Heck, you can even go send him to research something new because he likes learning things. Just make sure you send him with someone he can trust to protect him if it's going to be a scary ride.

However, that intelligence isn't limited just to books. Because he usually lets someone like Asbel take the driver's seat, so to speak, Hubert gets to spend his time standing off to the side merely observing. As a result, while Asbel just charges ahead on instinct, focused on one thing, Hubert sees multiple sides of a situation. This is why he knows how to handle Cheria being upset with Asbel, and why he understands Aston's impatience with Asbel's immaturity. While this obviously makes him ideal for a consultative sort of role, someone you'd ask for a well-considered second opinion, with the right sort of training (some of which will be hinted at in the next paragraph), skills like this would actually make Hubert quite a good leader -- just a different kind of leader than Asbel.

Less obvious to a casual observer is Hubert's capacity for inner strength in the face of adversity. In a side event much later in the canon, once Hubert and Asbel are both teenagers, Kerri shows them Aston's diary, in which he had written: "Hubert is a bright and tenacious boy who can accomplish great things under Sir Oswell's tutelage." It's true: within seven years of being adopted by the harsh, pragmatic businessman Garrett Oswell, Hubert becomes a respected officer in the Strahtan military, skilled with both forms of his preferred weapon (a dualblade that transforms and splits apart into a pair of guns) and completely self-assured. It's not an entirely positive change (it comes with seven years' worth of resentment towards his birth family, resulting in kicking Asbel out of Lhant in the belief that Asbel is unfit to run the town as well as being completely cold to his own mother, not even acknowledging her as such), but it does demonstrate that Hubert, despite looking and acting fragile as a kid, can become stronger and more confident in the right circumstances. It remains to be seen how Hubert will fare in a situation where his physical surroundings are less luxurious than what he's used to but which provides him with more of a chance to prove his own worth apart from Asbel as well as find more positive influences than that of his adoptive father.

For now, though, Hubert's definitely not much of a physical fighter, which isn't surprising considering that he's a privileged shrinking violet of a child. His battle quotes include things like "I don't think this is a good idea" (at the beginning of a random encounter) and "That was scary" (at the end of one). He at least has the sense to arm himself with two tree branches, probably because Asbel's dragged him out on enough escapades for him to have an idea of what to expect. He can also be surprisingly adamant about his own problems when confronted about them: he denies being a scaredy-cat when Asbel explains why he's giving him a good luck charm, and when Hubert finds out that he's being adopted by Garrett, the only way he admits to Asbel about this is asking him, rather cryptically, if he still considers Hubert his brother. This seems to be rooted in his consideration for the well-being of others (in other words, Hubert doesn't want to burden them with his own problems), but this also hampers attempts at getting Hubert to truly deal with whatever is bothering him. And, of course, he'll likely still scare easily for a while, so it'll take some shoving to get him out of his comfort zone into a place where he can grow as a person.

[Limited Powers]: None, because he's a squishy little crybaby. :|

[Other Important Facts]: ...he's moe?

[Samples]:
♦ Thread: Dear Mun - Sophie / lucentpalisade
Dear Mun - Asbel Lhant / curries
Test Sail - Ivan / sparkplasma

♦ Post: [text]

[In painstakingly neat cursive, a message appears over the journals. For such an innocuous topic, Hubert probably could have just used the voice function, but he's always felt more comfortable expressing himself in writing.]

Does anyone know of any good books back on Isla Empieza? I didn't get a chance to look closely at the shops here before I left the first time, but we'll be returning there soon. My favorite things to read are adventure stories, comics, and histories, but I'll try anything. [There's a lot of downtime on a ship for such things, after all.] Thank you. -Hubert

[Please don't traumatize him with trashy bodice-rippers though. by which I mean please do]

Other stuff...

The Tales of Encyclopedia lists his height as 138cm (~4'6") and his weight as 34 kg (~75lbs).