Carter, Lazarus "Laz"

[Lazarus Carter]

DOSSIER: DEMON HUNTER


”The strongest among you may not wear a crown.”

BASIC DETAILS

NAME:
Lazarus "Laz" Abel Carter

AGE:
19

GENDER:
Male

NATIONALITY:
American

BIRTHPLACE:
Helena, Montana, United States of America

BIRTHDATE:
4th December, 1992

PICTURE:

Spoiler:

*********

PERSONAL DETAILS

DESCRIPTION:
Lazarus stands at around 6" 4' with a muscular and toned body but an overall slender build - typical of a semi-professional basketball player. He has sharp red hair that was originally orange by birth, but he dyes it regularly, having done since around 11 - gives him something for the audience to remember him by. His eyes are of the same tone, and typically he wears clear contact lenses over them.

Lazarus will not be found without a pair of headphones hanging around his neck. He always carries at least one spare, and a pair of high-capacity interchangeable iPods, typically holstered at his belt. Normally, Laz wears loose-fitting t-shirts underneath an orange and black bomber jacket, along with black cargo pants and a pair of black sneakers. When in Inferis, simply enough, the jacket, trousers, and shoes all change to become white.

Lazarus typically walks with a fairly contented and enthusiastic demeanour, and though he's 6" 4', he has bad posture and continually slouches. Usually, something connected to him is always moving along to a beat he's humming or listening to - and in spite of his attempts to keep as much of the sound as possible flowing INTO his ears, a lot of the time it leaks and an aura of ambient buzzing seems to surround him. His voice is typically enthusiastic and cheery at the very least.

With new developments and his weaponry, plus his very nature, Lazarus oft takes on a very dishevelled appearance whilst in the world of the no longer living. Usually with shaggy hair and a few bruises and scrapes, nothing too serious, your usual action hero glaze. He also tends to have bandoliers filled with clips for the Nomads strapped over his chest as an absolute staple.

Now in Inferis, little has changed; but an additional bandolier has been added around Lazarus' waist to accommodate for the Devil Saw shells. As well as this, it's been shown that, on Earth, whilst trying to remain hilariously "incognito", he bears a trilby hat and a pair of Blues Brothers-style Wayfarer Ray Bans, which are of course cheap and tacky knock-offs.

PERSONALITY:
It's evident from anyone's first impression that Lazarus is an upbeat and cheery character. He's always happy, always enthusiastic, and it's very difficult for someone to be a downer towards him. Typically he's just a bit of a goofy yet cheery individual and is usually quite lighthearted and laid-back in day-to-day life.

That said, Lazarus does enjoy being alone and detached; for it provides him time to concentrate on one of his great worldly loves. Music. Lazarus adores music. Be it rock, rap, hip-hop, electronica, pop, metal, country, folk, whatever - if it's got something of a catchy beat or an underlying meaning, Lazarus will be content with listening to it. Bordering on being an obsession, Laz's appreciation for music is very intense and very strong.

Lazarus believes that everyone, no matter who they are, deserves time alone and peace of mind. Laz grew up in a small household with three younger brothers and his parents were eternally rushing around and it's for this reason that he swiftly begun to appreciate every moment alone he could get. Laz is also a fan of sheer colloquialism, who has a habit of nicknaming everyone and everything, occasionally in Buffyspeak.

The redhead Hunter is typically something of a team player - being a sportsman from a young age has reinforced this in him to a t. For as long as he can remember, he's always been of the ideal that a problem shared is a problem halved; but most Hunters seem to view others as liabilities, which is something of a stark contrast to his ideals. Lazarus, however, is courageous, can often be an inspirational figure in his speeches, and often a prime candidate for leader. He's not a lone wolf - there are strength in numbers, and the Hunter numbers in Inferis are far fewer than the Demons. He believes that sticking together is ESSENTIAL.

Generally, Lazarus is a benevolent and cheerful individual; but when faced up against Demons he becomes somewhat aggressive and vindictive, and his "enthusiasm" twists somewhat. His courage will take him as far as he needs to, and thus he's not in the slightest afraid of combat. He has weapons, he has skills, and in Inferis, he's nowhere near afraid to use them. The bottom line? He's a nice guy, unless you start flinging fireballs at him first. And above all else, with Lazarus?

Friendly fire... isn't.

*****

That trademark enthusiasm? Not such a staple with Lazarus in Inferis. Hell's a bad place to be, unlike the AC/DC song may suggest, and it's not somewhere that Laz has yet become accustomed to. As of time of writing, he's ventured there twice, and each time makes him feel extremely queasy, and not entirely comfortable with being there on a whole. As is evident from his interactions with Jinhong, the revelation of Inferis' existence struck him with a bout of chronic insomnia and just generally left him in a rather vulnerable state for a while, both inside Hell and out.

However, over time, Lazarus has very clearly acclimatised well - for someone in his position - and is simply just appearing less enthusiastic about things in Inferis. There are times when he completely disregards this and the grinning fool shows through once more when he's pulling those triggers and feeling like something straight out of a Duke Nukem game, but that said, thus far, the eternal optimist's first views of Hell have been nothing short of utterly unbelievable and harrowing. Though he will progress into a much more fitting leader and a rallying figurehead, for now, the ground he has to stand on these would-be claims are, at best, shaky. At worst, violently quivering like an aftershock on the San Andreas fault.

*****

So, things have changed. In the past month of development Lazarus' will has become far more tempered. His true colours have shown through; and the diamond in the rough is sparkling more than ever before. Emerging after the first group outing of what would later become the founding members of Nephilim, the redhead felt himself strain under pressure and assault, and from the ashes of a traumatised, weeping, insomniac American rose through adrenaline a glorious phoenix who would lead his erstwhile comrades onwards.

And thus he did. Displaying formidable vigour and audacity within the Aviax den, Lazarus has shown his true self and begun to forsake the fretting worrier he left behind, now instead brave and courageous enough to march into embedded Demon positions on his own all for the name of training. His powers have advanced exponentially and his confidence has been bolstered when it comes to combat - and in turn, on Earth, this has only made him more outgoing and charismatic.

The change is not entirely positive, however. Whenever he does get a free and sentimental moment, Lazarus often reflects on the fact that his life has been irrevocably altered forever: he will never be the same person he once was. What he just doesn't know yet is whether this is something he appreciates or simply despises.

HISTORY:
Born in 1992 to parents he never knew, by the age of around six months, this unnamed child was adopted by parents Mariah, housewife, and Isaiah Carter, Montana lawyer. Neither of them were devoutly religious, but aware of Christian myths, and considering the birth complications that they'd been told of, in which Lazarus' life hung in the balance for two or three days after his mother died - with no father to be found - they decided that they'd give him a... "different" name, after the famous resurrected individual of Christian lore. Lazarus. The man who came back to life.

The married Mariah and Isaiah had adopted Lazarus in their late twenties for fears that they wouldn't be able to conceive, but nine months later, Mariah found herself wonderfully pregnant, consigning it to the fact that their darling toddler son must have been a good luck charm for the pair of them. After another short while, she infact stumbled upon a further miracle - not only was she giving birth, but to twins! Whilst for most people this could or would have been a problem, the Carters were perfectly able of supporting three children thanks to Mariah's rich family and Isaiah's relatively lucrative occupation.

In March 1994, she seamlessly gave birth to twins Kurt and Irving Carter. Kurt and Irving grew up alongside their older brother for another few years until in late 1997, the fourth and final Carter child, third of "real" conception, came along - Jennifer Carter. And from there on, things in the Carter household were never better.

Lazarus was, from a young age, bitterly defensive of his younger and physically smaller younger siblings. By the time he joined school, he was renowned for being family-centric; and in spite of the fact that Kurt and Irving, only fifteen months younger, spent all their time together, the siblings of the Carter family lived harmoniously. Isaiah and Mariah had made no secret of the fact that Lazarus was not their son - with three children possessing brown hair and blue eyes with slightly pudgy forms, and his having stark ginger hair and a pair of crimson orbs set on his face - genetic pigmentation deformity, the doctors said - alongside his gaunt and slender build, it was something obvious from early life, anyway.

Being the only Carter that really fit the bill, seeing from an early age that the other three's skills lied in academic pursuits, Lazarus quickly found an innate talent for sport. He begun as a general sportsman, and by about 11 or 12 had found that his specialties lied in speed-based sports, typically athletics challenges. Usually sprinting, though with his height, he was a formidable basketball player, and when he joined high school, found that he was considered an asset to most of the sports teams he was a part of.

He could run like a beast and quickly became revered as the redhead sprinter of Helena. It wasn't long before Lazarus found himself competing at a regional level for 100 and 200m sprint and on a semi-professional level for basketball. His coach told him that by 22 or 23, he could go national; but a few days after his eighteenth birthday, in his senior year, Lazarus underwent a massive mental breakdown for fear that he had his whole future now immediately defined, and leapt from a first floor window of his house, breaking his leg.

The jump hadn't been a suicide attempt - and it took Lazarus some time to convince the medical and psychiatric staff looking over this case in particular - so much as something to try to bring him back to reality. The break was clean, and healed over the next three months, but they brought with them the close of Lazarus' high school years. And by then, he knew where his passions and talents had truly lied. Music. Music Technology, specifically. He wasn't talented enough to create it; but perhaps he could direct it. Produce it. Find young minds who knew what they could do, who had the skill, and teach them how to refine their inner potential - in a way different to how he'd been taught to refine his.

With that in mind, looking for a fresh start, with an ample sum from his father's grandiose savings, Lazarus went off to London, beginning to study a Music Technology degree at undergrad levels in October 2011. And from that point onwards, Laz Carter thought he had everything planned out. But it wasn't quite that simple, as, with the advent of the new year, he'd soon discover...

*****

A visit to an old friend in Rome. One he hadn't seen for eras past. That's where the latest chapter of Lazarus Carter's story begins.

You may well recall New Year's Eve 2011. A grand time for all involved. Included in that are Laz and his good bud Cael, "childhood" friends, and a man who's had more influence on the teen than he could possibly imagine. Add some bastardisation of punctuality, a good bar catch-up, and two large bottles of cheap tequila into the mix, and you have a vicious hangover and some stories to tell. The flights had come as a Christmas present from Laz's family, but after that, he returned home to D.C., and whilst on his way out, almost managed to get his way into a car crash.

The only thing saving him from a short and squishy end with a stick of rebar through the face was, ironically enough, his genealogy. That of a Demon Hunter, as of yet undiscovered. The crossing into Inferis was what Laz laconically, at first, believed to be a hallucination, far too exhausted to appropriately register his surroundings, instead deciding that sleep was a better idea, because this was probably just someone spiking his drink back in Rome. Or maybe he was dying. That wouldn't be fun. Huh.

However, before long, a lady appeared, and with a deft raise of her boot, kicked the sleeping Lazarus right in the sides (bitch!) until he woke up, bringing him crashing back down to not-Earth with the revelation of the century: he was in Hell. Long story short, the redhead had something of a time acclimatising to this before a set of monstrous creatures looking like something out of a poultry-based horror B-movie decided they'd show up and try to tear him to ribbons.

It was only through dumb luck that the teen managed to fend them off, at some point discovering that along with his ability to cross at will, as the girl, Yuuko, had explained, he could conjure these magic pistols. They were pretty cool. Moments later, only a hazy cloud of sawdust and torn metal remained, and somehow, Lazarus was alive. With the pair of them standing along the interstate, they stared out at these KFC rejects' home base, her making the impromptu decision that, until they wiped the place out, the pair of them were to team up, Batman and Robin style. For a couple of weeks, they swapped numbers and went their separate ways.

Then came the insomnia. The nightmares. The harrowing dreams. And a cute little Korean girl in a D.C. coffee shop. In his clumsiness, Laz spilt her coffee, sat down for a chat, and after a while, the pair funnily enough ascertained their mutual genealogies as being what were known as "Demon Hunters". New concept to the redhead all the same, but the girl, Jinhong Jangmi, and her twin, Pulean, seemed to be able to shed more light on his predicament. Deciding they'd help up with the base for the birdbrains, they signed up along with another of their mutual friends, a dude with a weird draw to sex whips, and of course, the bitchy swordgirl Yuuko herself.

And now they wait to embark on a potentially catastrophic and deadly perhaps last excursion to a ruined parking structure on the teen's second-ever crossing to Inferis. In less than a month, it's gone from music, alcohol, and girls, to being guns, Demons, and... well, different girls. Some things never change. But at the end of the day, all this in his stride, this omniscient narrator reckons that Lazarus will eventually just toughen up and learn to take things in his stride. After all?

Shit happens.

*****

The embarkation into Inferis proper with a team for the first time yielded results that could best be described as a double-edged sword. From there on out, Lazarus himself found an innate bravery that had been lurking within his soul, and wrenched forth the true flames of the Demon Hunter, rising up and becoming far greater than he had ever truly been before. It was also this unmistakeable drive and passion which drove him to, upon exiting the structure, announce that they were the basis of what would later become a highly ambitious organised multinational group of Hunters: branded Nephilim.

All this reward, however, was not without risk: a clash against the Templars - Lazarus' first encounter - came minutes after the team's entry, and upon Reverend Smith approaching the group under the false pretense of camaraderie, the Carter child idiotically embraced them with open arms, not realising the reality of the situation and indeed what a Templar was; it was then that the maniacal clergyman unleashed his team upon the Nephilim. Self-defense and escape came moments later, but at the cost of one Jerome Fontaine, team member. To this day, the redhead still kicks himself for the textbook naivete shown in that infernal multiplex parking lot.

With an encounter with a particularly maniacal Demon during a solitary excursion into the Chasm one day, Lazarus engaged in combat with the being known as Eris, who took on a harlequin appearance and sent after the teen waves upon waves of disposable plastic henchmen known as "Smiling Men". Dubbed "Eris the Megabitch", the teenager made his stand by liberating a microphone, and with his newfound synaesthesia, discovered that upon creating large sources of noise, the sheer amount of soul energy generated could be manipulated in an offensive manner, in this particular instance screaming KoRn's Here To Stay.

The combat with Eris' simple clown henchmen quickly ceased, and Lazarus pursued her into a funhouse whereupon he deftly located her through slightly more unorthodox methods - shooting out each of the mirrors as he walked past - and then delivered a badass McClane-esque speech before opening fire on the Demon. Promptly she morphed into something bigger and badder; and the teen's guns clicked empty, but after narrowly avoiding impromptu castration, the harlequin's reversion into her standard form - accompanied with a retaliatory attack after the unleashing of a second audiokinetic ability, amplifying vibrations to cause a small, controlled ground shockwave.

In the nick of time, however, the teenager prepared his weapon, and just as Eris attacked, promptly spun around and fired upon her, with two direct hits that downed, and, as far as Lazarus could tell, killed the chaos Demon. With a half-hearted salute, the teen made an exit, unaware that his would-be adversary, with capable regeneration skills, was simply playing dead.

After this came a brief encounter with the young boy-Demon known as "Typhon", and what felt like moments after, the big return to London; taking Yuuko with him, after some introspection on the plane, having placed Jinhong in charge, Laz decided that his ambitious endgame for Nephilim was indeed to establish a multinational network of individuals which could band together and help keep the Demon threat at bay. Upon landing, he returned to the same old routine, meeting the lovely Ms. Kingsford - blunt as she was - in the airport café, along with a chance encounter in a bar, and, finally, a new prospective member: one of his younger partner's recommendations from a random encounter.

It seems Demon Hunters are in fresh supply in London: perhaps the goal that the young Carter has in mind is achievable after all. But he knows not what particular surprises pertaining to his own origin lie in wait in the great English capital he has called his hometown for so long...

*********

FACTION:
Lazarus is the founder of Nephilim.

REAL-LIFE SKILLS:
[ REGIONAL ATHLETE ] - High running speed over short distances. Regional sprinter.
[ KEEN AND AGILE ] - Regular basketball player, and as such has learned to be agile and avoid contact.
[ WHITE MEN CAN JUMP ] - Along with proficiency in both long and high-jump.
[ FREERUNNER ] - Practices parkour in his spare time.
[ PRODUCTION PRODIGY ] Whilst not inherently instrumentally talented per se, is an excellent music producer when it comes to recording samples and splicing them together.
[ TROPE ADDICT ] - Genre savvy to a T.

INFERIS SKILLS:
[ POINT AND PULL THE TRIGGER ] - Small arms use and marksmanship becomes almost expert.
[ FULL THROTTLE ] - Gains driving skills akin to that of a rally-driver.
[ ANKLES OF STEEL ] - Jump height increases dramatically as does Laz's control over it.
[ IT'S ALL IN THE GRIP ] - Can clamber up almost any craggy surface dexterously with just his hands, requiring no climbing tools, and in record time.
[ HARDENED SOUL ] - Emotional and physical resilience, with advent of Level 3, increases strongly, meaning Laz can take more of a beating.

WEAKNESSES:
[ CQC NOOB ] - No martial and close-combat skill whatsoever, whether in Inferis or not.
[ WHO EVEN PLANS? ] - Hot-headed and often doesn't premeditate strategy of any sort, has no tactical knowledge.
[ RAPID FIRE ] - Doesn't value precision, and instead just sprays rounds and attacks in a barrage at a target until they fall - he's wasteful.
[ MCCLANE WANNABE ] - Has a penchant for action film style speeches which do give the enemy a window to retaliate.
[ LOYAL FOUNDER ] - The other members of Nephilim; and indeed other Hunters, and by extension, most human life in Inferis, are always by default defended in Laz's book, unless openly hostile or Templars, considering he doesn't yet know of Ritualists in full.

COLOURS:
For human languages, Lazarus only speaks English, all in yellowgreen:
> "Speech." - (yellowgreen)
> Thought. - (yellowgreen) (italicised)
> "ATTACKS." - (yellowgreen) (bolded)
Lazarus also speaks Demon, completely in dodgerblue:
> "Speech." - (dodgerblue)

TRIVIA:

> When in Inferis, Laz sees loud and intense sounds as bursts of colour. This sensation is described normally as visual-auditory synaesthesia, considered a brain condition or abormality in most people, but as will later become evident, with Lazarus, this isn't really anything of the sort for him, infact acting beneficially.
> Studying Music Technology abroad at London Southbank University.
> Lazarus is an ex-regional sprinter for his home county in Montana, and was on a fairly high-league semi-professional basketball team up until he left last year.
> Can devour most high-protein meats and junk foods in a matter of moments. Prefers hamburgers. Record is nine McDonalds hamburgers (granted, he had been in Inferis for three days) in seven minutes and twenty-nine seconds.
> Carries two iPods with a 35000 song library split between them. Artists A-M can be found on the first, and N-Z on the other.
> LEVEL 2 alterations are in yellowgreen.
> LEVEL 3 alterations are in dodgerblue.

*********

USER DETAILS

ALIAS:
Ross.

OTHER CHARACTERS:
Lucifer, Damon T. Ruger, Bastian van Staade, Dante Alencar, and the Employer.

ROLEPLAY HISTORY:
7 years this summer.

FACECLAIM:

Code:

[b]KUROKO NO BASKET[/b] :: [b]KAGAMI TAIGA[/b]

CUSTOM RANK:
> THE SYNAESTHETIC
> TRIGGER-HAPPY HURRICANE
> RISING CRESCENDO

[Lazarus Carter]

Archive date is the 2nd May.

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