Age: 19
Gender: Male
Field of Study: Chemistry
Physical Description: Lucas is tall, at 5'11", and thin, at 160 pounds. With little excess weight, he is lean but not willowy. As a result of his Northern European heritage, his skin is pale and fair, with cool undertones. His skin is clear and free of blemishes, but he burns heavily in the sun. He has an athlete's physique—toned by regular, frequent exercise. There are some minor scars across his body from scuffles when he was younger—also, he has some scarring from the blunt force incident that took away his eyesight, stretching across the left side of his temple and brow.
Lucas' face and head are largely average looking. He has shallow cheeks and pronounced cheekbones, and his jaw is slim but well-defined. His nose is straight and lies in the center of his face. His mouth is small, and he has thin lips. He has large, azure eyes. His blond hair is straight and soft, with mild waves at the fringes—though, usually, it's cut too short for them to be visible. He currently has a classic taper cut, slightly faded at the sides. His eyebrows are thin and neat. In addition, he shaves his face regularly.
Lucas likes to dress nicely but doesn't tend toward overt formality—one is more likely to see him in a polo shirt than a button-up. He also prefers to minimize his blindness when possible and opts to forgo the typical black sunglasses that some would expect. On the day of the trip, Lucas wore clothes in line with his usual preferences: a thermal jacket, a long-sleeved polo shirt, a pair of insulated jeans, socks, and some hiking boots, as well as a black stainless-steel EUTOUR tactile watch and a navy-blue Washington Nationals baseball cap.
Background:
- Lucas Anholt was born in Tacoma, Washington, to William Anholt, an avionics engineer, and Alma Anholt (née Hagen), a pediatrician. Due to their combined income, Lucas had an easy childhood, wanting for little, though their work left the family somewhat distant.
- From a young age, he did well in school. He passed his classes with ease and did well in most subjects. Also, he joined the school's baseball team and performed well, serving as his school's star hitter—this would, in his Sophomore year, attract recruiters from the MLB, who fed him talk about future drafting.
- When Lucas was fifteen, things seemed perfect. One day, though, he stepped up to the plate for the last time. A pitch—a fastball thrown faster than he'd expected—struck him in the head. He was knocked unconscious and subsequently rushed to the hospital. He suffered from severe blunt-force trauma. Though the injury spared his brain, it resulted in optic neuropathy. He was rendered blind, with no hope of recovering his vision in the future.
- In the aftermath, Lucas fell into a deep depression. His future, as he had known it, was gone, shattered by something he couldn't have predicted. He sunk into grief for a long time and closed himself off from others—eventually, he stopped doing most of the activities he previously enjoyed, preferring to spend all day sleeping.
- In time, he learned to resume life, but it wasn't an easy or quick process. He returned to school, but it was hard to acclimate. Still, he managed—albeit without the energy or drive that once characterized him. To him, it was just survival, but it never felt like he was living.
- Lucas became a recluse. He spent most of the time inside, locked in his room, playing video games. All that mattered was escaping his situation. While most games weren't accessible to him, he did find some that were, such as Mortal Kombat 11. At this time, due to his sedentary existence and poor diet, he began to lose shape.
- The loss of his physique was a wake-up call for Lucas, who began to realize that he was losing himself to his condition. He turned back to exercise, determined to get back in shape. In some ways, it was his method of fighting back against depression. It gave him goals on which to focus and a way to keep moving forward.
- As a means of vicariously reliving his past glory, Lucas began to listen to sports commentary on the radio and television shows. However, this nostalgia invariably leads to further heartbreak, as he can't help but think about the life he could've lived.
- Seeing no other options, he enrolled in the local University of Cascadia with a major in Chemistry—his best subject in high school, though not one for whom he is notably talented. He has found little success here, his depression hampering his ability to make meaningful progress.
- Lucas went on the trip to Severniy Norin as a means of soul searching, hoping to find some answers for the future. He isn't sure what he'll find there, but that doesn't matter. His focus is less on solving the problems he faces and more on running from them.
Assets: Lucas is intelligent when he applies himself, and is accustomed to thinking strategically, which will serve him well in this situation. His reclusive nature will help him keep his guard up and prime him to rely on himself. Lucas is emotionally isolated and resentful towards the world: with his expectations at rock bottom, there's no room for him to be disappointed. He is physically fit, giving him a small leg-up on the other Participants.
Limitations: Lucas is entirely blind due to neurological damage—unlike most of his peers, he can't see, presenting a variety of struggles to overcome. He suffers from profound depression, which takes away his drive and energy, making him an easier target. Lucas struggles to have hope for the future—it's possible that faced with impossible odds, he might give up entirely.
Assigned Weapon: RGD-5 Frag Grenades (x3)
Conclusion: A blind kid with grenades is probably the funniest thing I've read all day. - Hatfield