Piere Lefort

Physical Appearance
Piere Lefort is a 14 year old harpy child born and raised in Thaibi. He presents as a mallard taking after his mother, Cecilia (Cecil) Lefort. Like his father, Ludvig Van Hughes, he has vitiligo style markings. His stretch out from the tips of his fingers and spot up to the left side of his neck. These markings are passed down through the Hughes family line and symbolize their ability to manipulate fire and heat/temperature. Like his father, Piere can create and extinguish fire at will. Weather he knows how to control this is another matter entirely.

Personality
Everyone who meets him sees Piere as a little ray of sunshine. He’s all smiles, always happy all the time. Easily excitable, and energetic.

Piere is in a constant state of trying to prove himself. Despite often functioning on 1 brain cell, he always has the best of intentions, and will go out of his way to make someone happy, even at his own expense. He’s very empathetic, and always wants to help.

Because he’s always trying to people please, he bottles up any negative emotion he feels. The environment he grew up in, the trauma he’s been through, the mental and physical abuse he went through, he bottles it all up. If other people see he’s struggling, he’s hurting, then they might not want to be around him.

This was also very apparent when he was traveling to Eswood with Kiren. He drastically down played his injury’s. If they were hurting, burning, getting infected he wouldn't let the other boy see. This even went as far as covering up the brunt of injuries inflicted upon him while in Thaibi. He’d make jokes about it along the way to ease the tension, and would ignore his own pain in leu of making progress forward.

Like his father, Piere can create and extinguish fire at will. Weather he knows how to control this is another matter entirely.

Appearances
Piere first appears in the series at the beginning of the first book  'Asylum Seeking', where it's shown that him and Kiren are in a heavily wooded area. It's implied that they are traveling to Eswood, a country currently welcoming in refugees from the war between Thaibi and Parsea. Piere is depicted in tan/green colored traditional Thaibi clothing, with medical tape wound around his hands and feet.  

Relationships
Cecilia (Cecil) Lefort: Piere is very much a mama's boy, and would do anything for her; as she's done for him while he grew up in Thaibi. She endured an abusive marriage in an effort to hide her and her Piere's identities, wanting nothing more than for him to live a better life that she, herself, lived. Everything her parents where, she refused to be. She encouraged him to pursue any interests he had, signed him up for gymnastics lessons when he showed an interest, bought him a radio when he expressed his love for music (something that proved useful to you younger boy as it helped tune out the arguing), and helped him face fears he had. She was very good at shielding Piere from the brunt of her abusive relationship his his stepfather, Sphen.

The most Piere experienced of their relationship was hearing the loud arguing through walls, things breaking, and Sphen storming through the house while in one of his "moods". She did well to hide the bruises, making excuses for cuts on her body, and overall deflecting to different topics when he asked about them. It wasn't till Sphen hit Piere, and Cecil lost it, that he saw just how terrible his stepfather was to his mother.

Sphen: Piere's abusive stepfather. They share a very negative relationship, and for the most part, Sphen was very verbally abusive towards the younger boy. Going so far as to throw homophobic slurs in his face on assumptions.

Ludvig Van Hughs: Piere's biological father. He doesn't have any real relationship outside of blood relation, but does have very negative feelings towards him; the one responsible for his aunt's death and person who called for the orders to have him tortured for information.

Kiren Fareed: Piere's best friend and partner in crime. The two escaped Thaibi together to seek refuge in Eswood in search of a better life. Piere often credits him with saving his life, as when they met, Piere was locked away in the palace dungeon, being tortured while they tried to get information out of him to try locating the queen, Cecilia (Cecil) Lefort's, location. The two broke out of the castle and made a mad dash for Eswood while being hunted down by Thaibi Military Police.

The two share a small studio apartment at the Stock Pot Complex in Eswood, sharing a bed to conserve space in the small room. This works out in the Siren's favor, being cold blooded and having someone with a naturally higher body temperature than a normal warm blooded person to cling to at night. Kiren is a very tactile person by nature, and uses that as his excuse for constantly being all over the smaller boy, carrying him around, curling up with him on the couch to watch him play video games, and letting him play with his hair all the time.

Kiren is very in tune with Piere's physical and mental health, despite the boys ability to hide his pain from others. The two care very much for each other, and even though Piere and Kiren don't realize it for quite a while, the two have romantic feelings towards each other.

Mateo Actius: One of Piere's caregivers in Eswood, and one of the most in tune with his emotions. Instead of being permitted to go to a public school, Catalina Alcaldo, Queen of Eswood, required Piere to work a part time job with Mateo and receive homeschooling. Mateo is absolutely livid about this, angry that she's forcing a child to get a job and work at a gas station instead of living out a normal childhood like the rest of the kids at the Stock Pot Complex. Between a part time job and Piere doing kid stuff with the other children at the complex, Mateo homeschools him along with Atlas, one of his adoptive children. Mateo is very protective of Piere, especially at work; and is good at reading turbulent situations where he might be racially targeted, before they happen and is quick to intervene and deal with shitty customers so Piere doesn't have to.

After Kiren, Piere goes to Mateo to address his own problems with depression and OCD, who is quick to get him the resources he needs to help him cope with what he's going through. He's very heartbroken for the kid after hearing what he's been through, things no child should have to endure. He's also the one responsible for getting him a therapy cat(s) to help him through tough times when he feels like he can't quite address his problems to anyone else yet. The cats are named Noodle and Meatloaf.

Pavani Chidion: They become a very good friend of Piere's, the very first to pick up on the fact the younger boy is, in fact, very much gay. And is also the first one to pick up on his feelings for Kiren, even way before he himself realizes it. They love to relay gossip they hear about at school, and despite not knowing a single person they're talking about, Piere loves to hear about it. He misses going to school very much, and in they're own little way, Pavani gives him a little piece of that. They also love to go on and on about all the cute girls they meet at school, making him laugh at failed attempts to flirt with them. Them and Kiren are often the ones to go visit him at work, normally accompanied by Darwin, and sometimes Nisha. He enjoys their visits, and other younger coworkers will often tease him by letting him know that his boyfriend was here, always responded with "He's not my boyfriend!".

They're also fascinated by his ability to do cool flips, given his background with gymnastics. They're determined to get him to teach them how to do them themselves.

Nisha Chidion: Piere is incredibly unaware that the younger girl has a crush on him. Something that would never go anywhere anyways, as Piere is very much gay, and likes men. Regardless Nisha is very oblivious to that fact, only realizing it when her sibling, Pavani, brings it to her attention when Nisha tells them about her crush. Briefly, Nisha experienced a period of denial, only fully accepting what her sibling told her when she hears Piere mention it off hand. She was heartbroken for a while, but bounced back relatively quickly after talking with her adoptive father, Mateo Actius, about her plight. She still enjoys his company, and along with Pavani, will fill him in on all the gossip and drama going on at school, all while painting his nails. She even relays information she hears through the grapevine about how much of a different person Kiren is at school compared to at home, and how he unknowingly breaks several peoples hearts by being completely oblivious to their intentions and unknowingly rejects their advances.

Isa Tigre: Despite keeping to herself for the most part, being antisocial by nature and preferring being locked away in her room with her books and art supplies, she still enjoys Piere's company. She will sometimes join him and Atlas in the living room and watch them play video games on the television; or what consists of Piere playing through levels Atlas got stuck on in his game while the other two watch.

Their first ever interaction was a negative one, however, as she was terrified of the older boy after seeing his wings for the first time. Up till that point, her only interaction with Harpy's was while her and the rest of her family was running for their lives.

Bella Tigre: Though their relationship started off nice, Bella was quick to pin him as her rival. For what, he doesn't know; at least not till she started wedging herself between him and Kiren any chance she gets, and generally trying to get the Siren's attention away from him. Later on, the rivalry becomes pretty amusing to the older boys.

Atlas Maio: Though Atlas was very weary of the older boy, he becomes very attached to him after Piere helps him through a level of a video game he's been stuck on for a while. Afterwards, whenever Piere's around, Atlas will be joined at the hip with him; often getting jealous of the attention Piere would give to Kiren. Atlas will often seek Piere out to get help with a level he's stuck on, as well as watch him play video games. They're both homeschooled by Mateo, and the older boy will often help him with his schoolwork.

Darwin Zoro Chilote: One of Piere's caregivers in Eswood. He's very sympathetic to Piere when he talks about being raised as a girl to help conceal his identity in Thaibi. He's very protective of the younger boy, and along with Mateo Actius, will go out of his way to take him out of instances where he might face being racially profiled and targeted. He joins Kiren and Pavani often when they go to visit Piere at work, or for him to visit Mateo. They all travel on foot, of course, as Darwin should never be trusted behind the wheel of a car.

Sabara Mokoena: Sabara is often a babysitter for all the kids in the Stockpot Complex. She loves putting together little arts and crafts projects for the makeshift family they have going on during the weekends as well as after school activities. If Mateo is at work, she's the one to pick the kids up from school in her minivan she has for packing up things for craft fairs she tables at. She is example that "Gays can't drive." is a false statement, and that Darwin is an outlier that should not be counted for.

Noodle & Meatloaf: Both Piere and Kiren had a part in naming their beloved cats, finding their names hilarious; even more so when they become contradictory, as Soup grows up to be short and stout, and Meatloaf grows up to be a very long, lanky cat.