HORACE DARK. EUGENE FITZHERBERT. FLYNN RIDER. // TWENTY-FIVE. // NON-MAGICAL. // BARTENDER & THIEF. // WHOLESOME IDIOT.
It was almost as if Flynn had been destined to a life of deceit. Or at least it would seem that way if he knew the whole story of his early years. All that Flynn was ever told was that he was left at the orphanage being only about a year old, with no name or way of tracing where he may have come from. Renamed Eugene Fitzherbert, that is where he believes his story to begin - but oh is there so much more to it than he may ever know.
The truth is - Flynn is far more than just some nobody orphan. He was born Horace Dark, the son of a Duke and Duchess in a city that once stood near Walt Grove. The city had been plagued with a war of their own for far longer than Walt Grove ever had been - lasting for decades until it finally came to an end twenty-four years ago. Only unlike in Walt Grove… the good guys didn’t win in the end. In the last days of the war, the young boy’s mother saw the way the tides were turning and did the only thing she could think to do - she fled to her great-grandmother’s hometown of Walt Grove with her baby in tow. Torn between her responsibilities as a mother and her duty to her people back home - she left her child on the doorsteps of the local orphanage and returned to her city with the intention of getting as many people out as she could before returning for Horace. There was no time to explain and it was too risky to leave behind any information regarding his birthright, so the toddler was left with nothing. No name, no family - nothing but the love of a mother and the hope that she would soon return. Only… she never did. And she never made it back to her husband to tell him where she had taken their son. Young Horace was officially gone and forgotten to the world, leaving behind Eugene Fitzherbert in his wake.
The next rebirth that this boy would go through is one he’d actually remember. While the life of Horace was put to rest without his say or control - killing off Eugene Fitzherbert and becoming Flynn Rider was a decision that he would make and own for the rest of his life. It wasn’t anything serious - no official change or anything (he was far too broke for that) - but it was a moment when a young boy decided to take it upon himself to create his own future and life. It may not have been one that many people would approve of, going into thievery and conning, but it was a life that he decided for himself. It was one that did him good, that got him everything he wanted with only a few minor setbacks (and one major one… but he doesn’t like to think about that night with Lance if he can help it), so fuck what anyone else had to say. He had no problems being who he was and living how he did… until he met Rapunzel.
Or more accurately, it wasn’t until he started to really get to know Rapunzel that things began to change. Flynn started questioning some of the things he did… not enough to stop completely… but enough for him to begin cutting back. He still hangs out with his old crowd as much as he used to, still pickpockets nearly every time he passes an easy mark, and still lives a life of crime on the whole… but he also has a real job now, working as a bartender at the snuggly duckling and is even working on getting his GED (though very few people know that part yet). It may not seem like much, but it’s far more of a straight and narrow life than Flynn ever thought himself capable of having.
Flynn started off stealing with just simple things - swiping food from another kid at the orphanage when he was hungry himself and there wasn’t enough to go around. But it wasn’t until Lance came into the picture that he started to get really good about it. The two taught themselves everything they could and began stealing from far more than just a few fellow orphans.
Dropped out of school when he was fifteen - that’s when he and Lance ran away from the orphanage and found their place behind the snuggly duckling. They paid their way with free labor, washing dishes and working as busboys when needed, and when that wasn’t enough to cover rent they always managed to scrape the rest up through a few con jobs or pickpocketing moments.
That lasted for a few years, until the night that everything went to shit. They were behind on rent. Way behind. Further behind than they’d ever been because business was slowing down at the snuggly duckling and their free labor wasn’t needed as much. So Flynn and Lance needed cash. Quick cash. More than just stealing a few wallets type of cash. Which was why they decided to rob the little gas station down the street. It should have been fine. An easy and quick job. But the man working the cash register that night had a gun and things got messy. With Lance’s encouragement - Flynn ran, thinking his buddy would be soon behind him. Only before the older boy could get out, the cops arrived. Lance was arrested and Flynn was officially on his own again. Without the second person around to pick up shifts and help with the thievery, Flynn was kicked out of his home. He quite literally lost everything because of that night.
Or at least - most everything. He still had his girlfriend, Stalyan. Who he ended up moving in with after being evicted - she had a small apartment, paid for by her father’s own life of crime. The two had only been dating for a few months and it was far quicker of a commitment than Flynn would have ever made under any other circumstance… but he needed a place to stay. And things with Stalyan were fun. So that lasted for a few years, reaching a peak on Flynn’s twentieth birthday when he drunkenly proposed to her and the two made arrangements to meet the next morning at the courthouse and elope - separating for the night to have last minute bachelor and bachelorette parties. Missing the wedding had been a complete accident, in all honesty, Flynn had simply overslept… but when he woke up and realized what he’d done, he freaked out. Marriage wasn’t for him. Especially not right now. And definitely not with Stalyan. So before the girl could track him down, Flynn packed up all his shit that mattered to him (which wasn’t much) and hightailed it out of that apartment, ending the relationship without so much as a note goodbye. A blowup fight came a day later, one that left him with a close to broken nose, and Stalyan was gone - leaving Walt Grove to return to live with her father. Flynn has yet to hear from her ever since that day - but he’s not dumb enough to think that things will stay that way forever.
After moving out of Stalyan’s - he started crashing with the Stabbingtons, which is how he got entangled with them and their higher levels of crime. He wouldn’t call them friends per say, certainly not family the way that Lance was, so the spur of the moment decision to betray them wasn’t a hard one to make. It’s still not something he’s ever really felt guilt over - except for perhaps in the few moments he’s ever mentioned them to Rapunzel.
Speaking of Rapunzel…. THATS HIS BEST FRIEND. And he’s also lowkey in love with her but in complete denial because… she’s far too good for him and he is absolutely aware of that. Plus she’s got enough going on and needs to have a chance to find a life for herself out from under Gothel’s thumb. She doesn’t need him making her life any more complicated with dumb, stupid feelings.
Uhhmmm he likes country music. Yeah.
Bisexual as fuck. We don’t know straights in this house.
He’s an idiot.
More to potentially be added as plotted/developed.
