Leonardo Cambridge

"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."

Appearance:
Leonardo was a tall, attractive young man of muscular build with tanned skin, slightly long orange hair that covered most of his left eye and grey eyes. His main outfit consisted of:
 * A four tailed orange coat with black detailing and hidden silver clasps
 * A sleeveless, short and fitted white vest with two grey buttons
 * Baggy black pants adorned with three pale orange belts and orange cuffs with the right leg tucked into his boot
 * Black combat boots with four orange straps
 * Two heavy duty square pouches (one on each leg) to store extra ammo and other important items

Personality:
Loud would perhaps have been the best way to describe Leonardo, though charming would have also been a close second. Having been raised in an upper class house hold, Leonardo received training in manners, etiquette and how to act like a proper gentleman though learning these things and actually implementing them were two very different things.

Leonardo loved being in the spot light and being the center of attention and it was this love of attention that often got him into trouble. Leonardo also loved to flirt but his somewhat naive nature when it came to love and romance saw him strike out more often than not.

Leonardo was also very brave, never hesitating to jump in to defend someone whether there was anything in it for him or not. He could also be very stubborn with Tawny being noted as saying more than once that once Leonardo had made up his mind, trying to change it was like trying to move a mountain.

History:
Leonardo was born into a very wealthy family, and as such, this meant  much of his life was planned out for him from day one. He was given everything he ever wanted, but there were always strict conditions attached. Leonardo received the best tutoring money could buy.

However, as time passed and as he got older, Leonardo grew restless and frustrated by his lack of freedom. Acts of rebellion soon brought things between he and his parents to a head. They had a terrible argument which resulted in Leonardo running away for several months. During this time, Leonardo worked on the docks moving heavy crates and generally putting his strength to good use. He did odd jobs around Vale until eventually, he decided it was time to return home to try and work out things with his parents. Thought things were still tentative, Leonardo asked them to allow him to attend Beacon Academy. They agreed, but on the provision that after his four years were up, that he would join his father and work along side him at the family business. Leonardo, frustrated, agreed. . . but he had no intention of following through on the agreement.

Having no previous training from a combat prep school like Signal Academy, but nearly overflowing with self confidence, Leonardo worked hard to create his weapon, Cinder Breaker, and then took the Beacon entrance exam. His skills, as well as his physical strength, impressed those in charge of admittance and Leonardo was accepted to study at Beacon Academy. During initiation, he was paired with Tawny Lettel, a young woman who's patience and motherly instincts would end up getting him out of trouble more than once and who he would go on to have his first serious relationship with.

During his second semester, Leonardo had a tumultuous and unknowingly final encounter with his parents. It had gotten back to them that Leonardo had lied to them and had no intention of joining the family business after graduating Beacon. They showed up at the school, berating their son in the middle of the courtyard before Leonardo's father roughly grabbed his arm and attempted to remove him from the campus. Viola interrupted, slapping the older man and shouting a few choice words at him. While the situation ended with Leonardo being disinherited, he was grateful that Viola stood up for him and looked forward to learning how to provide for himself and stand on his own two feet.

Leonardo, with the help of his team mates, learned to harness and re-direct his what seemed like boundless energy and channel it, and this led to his skills improving greatly during his time at Beacon. While things went smoothly for Leonardo and his team apart from the occasional skirmish with a young woman from the White Fang until towards the end of the Vytal Festival.

Leonardo was at the fair grounds with Midori and Tawny getting pizza when everything started going down. Unable to get to Beacon, the three of them stayed to defend a group of children and their parents who were also stranded. The three of them pushed themselves past the point of exhaustion and to their absolute limits in defense of the civilians, but it wasn't enough against the hordes of Grimm and they were eventually overwhelmed and killed.

Weapon:
Leonardo carried a cleaver Dust rifle (CDR) called Cinder Breaker that had two forms:
 * The first form, and the one that Leonardo carried it in outside of combat, was that of a large slightly curved cleaver. Incredibly sharp and with Fire/ Burn Dust having been used in the forging of the metal, the size of the cleaver blade wasn't the only thing that made it incredibly damaging.
 * The second form sees the weapon transform into a heavy machine gun. Capable of firing a special variety of Dust bullets, the .50 cal rounds used by Leonardo when his weapon was in this form were quite powerful. The weapon had a clip size of 100 rounds.

Abilities:
Leonardo's incredible physical strength was by far his greatest asset in combat. This coupled with his impressive endurance made him the tank of his team, able to both dish out massive amounts of damage as well as take it. This also made Leonardo the perfect fit for a bodyguard role on the battlefield, shielding his physically weaker team mates. Though Leonardo was lacking in speed, it didn't overly impact his fighting style as Leonardo was usually running towards a fight and not away from it.

Leonardo's Aura was orange in color.

Leonardo's Semblance was called Gravitas and enabled him to manipulate his own personal gravity. In doing so, he was able to augment his already impressive strength or anchor himself to the ground. Leonardo would only use his Semblance in short bursts; up to 10 seconds, as doing it for prolonged periods proved too exhausting and taxing and brought with it the risk of damage to his muscles.

Solo:
Leonardo was always a strike first, ask questions later kind of fighter. Not one for going into a fight with any semblance of a plan, Leonardo was the human equivalent of a wrecking ball when it came to fighting. He would always take on the biggest and meanest enemy first, relishing any challenge and the chance to test his strength and skills.

With Team:
Leonardo was highly valued by his team. His strength and resilience was often the key to taking down larger enemies as it was something the rest of them lacked. Leonardo would also act as his team mates body guards if needed. Though reckless with his own safety, Leonardo was extremely mindful of his team's well being, taking hits for him that would occasionally see his Aura substantially drained or see him knocked out for a period of time.

Relationships:

 * Viola: Viola ended up being like the sister Leonardo never had. Leonardo would often make comments that would see the two dissolve into laughter, often at the most inappropriate times. They were also quite an effective duo on the battlefield.
 * Midori: Leonardo was always quite competitive with Midori and vice versa, the two always trying to out do one another. They always looked out for each other though and kept each others spirits up, Leonardo getting his friend into trouble to distract him if he was worrying or stressing too much.
 * Tawny: The connection between Leonardo and Tawny was instant. The two were like two sides of the same coin, their strengths balancing out the others weaknesses. They would study together or just spend hours at night talking in the library talking about their families and plans for the future. The two eventually started dating and had planned to travel Remnant after graduation.

Misc:

 * His semblance reflected Leonardo's desire to stand strong against adversity and to have the strength to forge his own destiny.
 * Leonardo would have sweets on him at all times while at Beacon and would try to eat them without being caught while in class.

Trivia:

 * Leonardo alluded to Hercules.
 * His name is Spanish in origin and means Lion-bold. There is a color called Lion which has the hex triplet code of #C19A6B.

Illustrations:
