“I want everybody to stop and stare, and you know why, it's me (Robaire)”
FULL NAME: Robaire Laflash
BASED ON: Robaire (Turning Red)
FACE CLAIM: Jordan Fisher
PRONOUNS: He/Him
BIRTHDAY: January 20th, 2004
CURRENT STATUS: Taken
Fame favored the big cities, rich with life and opportunity.
Baie-Comeau was rich in… everything else. History, scenery, rocky coastlines and deep-cold winters. It favored athletics over arts, to the point where if one were to list the notable figures that came from the Québécois shoreside city, they’d find themselves naming hockey player after hockey player after hockey player before they finally reached an actress - but Robaire’s dreams and aspirations stretched far outside the realm of professional sports.
Robaire craved the spotlight. He wanted to be a star.
His parents had warned him from the start that such a thing would be difficult, even impossible. Especially for someone like him. The risk, they’d always say. Preposterous. It’s too dangerous. Think of your grandparents. They’d remind, as if the young boy hadn’t had the image of his grandparents’ brutal death burned into his mind every night when he slept. He supposed it was silly though, to think that a merman had a chance at being some global popstar like the musicians he was so obsessed with. He couldn’t help but wonder if anyone would even take him seriously, given his magical advantages that would make it feel inauthentic - and that was disregarding the fact he would only be putting himself on display for the whole world to see.
One big open advertisement that would only invalidate all the work his family had done to keep his status undisclosed.
So it was a dream that stayed simply that; a dream.
The disappointment was enough to have his family offer him a deal at the very least. That Robaire would be allowed to participate in public schooling with humans, so long as when graduation came, they’d all go back to their true home and he’d follow his father’s footsteps in helping hunt for their community. At the time, graduation had felt like a lifetime away, making it an easy and enthusiastic agreement for the young merman. School was where Robaire really felt himself flourish, dominating all things theater and music - always scooping up lead-roles in school musicals all the way up through high school. He felt like himself the most there, surrounded by friends and getting his first little taste of the all too savory limelight.
And by Neptune, was it delicious.
But all too soon graduation came his way, and with it? The end of his freedom. The diploma hung on the wall of a mostly abandoned household on the coastway as Robaire’s family returned to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. For years, the merman felt his dreams slipping out from under him again as he fell into a routine he wasn’t passionate about, hunting, gathering - straining to hear the music that sometimes echoed off the ships that passed through the strait.
But risk reared its ugly head once more - and another close call attack on their community had his parents fleeing their home and questioning the safety of themselves and their son regardless of what precautions they attempted to take. Not to mention, the happiness of their son too. What was the point of being miserable instead of following your dreams if danger lurked around the corner no matter what?
The pamphlet for Pride U had ended up in Robaire’s hands one day, back on the shores of Baie-Comeau, passed to him by his parents. They sat him down and did their best to hide their worries as they pressed him to finally follow his dreams - but to do it smartly. In a place where sanctuary might actually be more than just an empty promise.
Opportunity wouldn’t wait for him, and while the risk would rip it all away if he weren’t careful, Robaire too was tired of that risk dangling over him no matter what he chose to do.
So to Swynlake, England he went; enrolling into Pride U as a Performing Arts Major and easily jumping straight into as many different activities as he could. SDG was one of his absolute favorites, and within weeks he was feeling that same high he hadn’t felt in years. An intoxicating high that had him thinking he was hallucinating when a strange man approached him one day, offering his very dreams and aspirations on a silver platter.
A very real, very legit management label - even if it was a small, unknown one at that - offering him a place in their ranks.
Robaire didn’t think he’d ever said yes faster.
Yet the training period had felt like the most brutal thing Robaire had ever gone through in his life - even with the addition of four other boys he’d never met before suffering right along with him. Long days bleeding into long nights, drilling choreo hour after hour before recording their lines and then doubling right back to grueling workouts and more time spent in the studio, capped off with media training that made his head spin. Robaire had become far too acquainted with the image of his exhausted frame looking back at him in the mirror - the snap of the choreographer to remind them to straighten up, smile, sell themselves.
But no matter what; they just weren’t good enough. Weren’t talented enough. Weren’t attractive enough. At least to the company, to their manager. Even with the disappointment evident, when a controversial idea was floated around in one of the meetings, Robaire remembered the way his brows knit together. The sheer absurdity having him believe it was just a joke. After all, what kind of company would seriously suggest summoning demons to possess their group in order to achieve the fame they all dreamed of?
Except it hadn’t been a joke - and despite Robaire’s firm dismissal of the idea and the worry he had about the others who’d also disputed it, the final decision overruled all of their concerns, somehow even agreed upon by some of the group’s members… Not to mention… they’d signed a contract, after all.
His demon was the one that kept him in line now, even if Robaire felt the flair of doubts about this group and especially about their management circle in his head at every waking moment. All he could do was keep his chin up and push on. He was responsible for these guys now, this group. He was their leader - and if he failed, they all would.
…besides, this was what he wanted.
✓ helpful, good listener, humorous
✖ indecisive, obnoxious, disorganized
