Lincoln LeVert

"What can I say? Ladies love the legs."

- Lincoln, on several occasions

Introduction
Lincoln LeVert is a member of Team CLST, a team from Beacon Academy. Lincoln is the only Faunus of the team, and the only member who doesn’t use a melee weapon. Instead, he uses a customized sniper rifle during combat. He is the scout, jokester and sniper of Team CLST. LeVert is the second original character created by King Zwei.

General Looks
Lincoln is a dark skinned teenage boy, with gray eyes and short black hair, that’s worn in an undercut with two small green lines along the right side. He also sports a small black beard. LeVert is 5’ 11’’ (or 179 cm) tall and weighs 170 pounds. He is noticeably less muscular than the rest of his team, but has incredibly powerful leg muscles. As a result of his Faunas heritage, he has the dark brown legs of a wildebeest from the knees down. Lincoln is easily the fastest member of the team because of this, and won’t hesitate to show it.

Huntsman Attire
LeVert wears a tucked, dark green v-neck shirt underneath a long coat. The coat is light gray, with a dark gray stripe across the middle and several metal straps on the sleeves. Lincoln stores his 4 magazines of spare ammunition in the pockets inside this coat. The shirt has his emblem, a wildebeest hoof, on the right side. Lincoln wears a pair of light brown, knee-length compression pants and has dark bandages around his knees, leaving his wildebeest legs exposed. LeVert never wears shoes or leg protection, because that impairs his movement speed.

He wears a white weapon holster on his left hip, where Báiyǔ rests in her sheathed form. Lincoln also wears black leg holsters strapped to the sides of both his thighs, holding four knives each. LeVert’s only form of protection are the steel shoulder pads he (reluctantly) wears underneath his shirt and coat. He doesn’t accessorize much, except for the white tape on the fingers of his right hand and a necklace with two white feathers attached.

School Attire
Lincoln wears the standard Beacon Academy uniform, just like everyone else. He has made one adjustment: he has replaced the standard trousers with knee-length ones This way, everyone can see his legs. Because, you know, ‘Ladies love the legs’. LeVert also doesn’t wear shoes, but then again, he never does. He prefers to wear his suit unbuttoned during classes and wears his necklace underneath his shirt.

Nightwear
At night, Lincoln just wears a pair of boxers and his necklace. These are usually some sort of black, brown or green. He does not wear a shirt at night, and apparently doesn’t believe in blankets.

Voice
LeVert has a deep, smooth voice. He does not have an accent, and has quite an elaborate vocabulary. Lincoln rarely calls people by their names, he creates nicknames for the people he meets. If he can’t come up with something catchy, he’ll call them ‘brother’ or ‘sister’, even if he has just met them. Lincoln uses his mouth almost exclusively to crack jokes, and tries to avoid deeper conversations as much as possible.

Personality
Lincoln is a laid-back, carefree, calm and collected individual. He uses his smooth voice to tell his fellow students jokes during classes, has a lot of self-confidence and loves to be the center of attention. Unlike most Faunus, he seems to be be perfectly cool with showing his Faunus heritage, and does not seem bothered by close-minded people. If someone acts discriminatory towards him, he’ll usually break the ice with one of his many puns. If that does not work, Lincoln will just ignore them. He will not hesitate to intervene if he sees others getting bullied. He may not be physically intimidating, but can usually solve problems by talking it through.

LeVert is a smooth talker, and is prone to flirting with girls. He’s surprisingly successful in his attempts, claiming it’s because of his legs. Lincoln is great at small talks, but usually avoids deeper conversations and feelings, which can make him come across as inconsiderate. He enjoys being surrounded by people, and can’t stand being alone or being in small rooms for an extended period of time. Lincoln is also unable to swim, which annoys him a lot. LeVert does not enjoy studying or reading, and spends most of his spare time sparring, working out and running around in the city of Vale. He loves being outside and often works in the fields of his sister’s farm.

Primary
Lincoln’s weapon is called Báiyǔ, which is Chinese for White Feather. He crafted the gun himself when he was fifteen years old. Báiyǔ is a semi-automatic sniper rifle and is based on the PGM 338. Lincoln has adjusted the firing mechanism to increase the rate of fire, added a suppressor for extra stealth, sharpened the bipod legs for increased grip and removed the scope because of personal preference. He also attached two white feathers to Báiyǔ’s barrel for aesthetic purposes and drilled a small hole in the back end stock, because of his Semblance.

Although this weapon does not transform, it is capable of collapsing and holstering itself. This allows LeVert to carry Báiyǔ in a simple pistol holster. Báiyǔ’s paint job was done by Duke, Lincoln’s brother in law, and is a simple white to light brown gradient, with two small horizontal green lines along the body. Báiyǔ uses a standard ten-round magazine, and Lincoln carries four spare magazines in his coat. The first round of every clip is enhanced with green Dust, which causes some sort of air explosion when it hits the ground. These rounds don’t do any actual damage and are solely meant to stun and daze enemies. The other nine rounds are regular, not Dust enhanced bullets. Lincoln uses his Semblance to launch these towards his enemies.

Secondary
Unlike most of the weapons used by the students of Beacon, Báiyǔ does not transform into a melee weapon. Instead, LeVert uses a set of eight throwing knives. He stores the knives in leg holsters strapped to the sides of both his thighs, with each holster holding four knives. The knives have blades, made out of carbon steel, and have black leather handles.

Lincoln doesn’t actually throw the knives, he uses his Semblance, Compression, to launch the knives at his opponents. This is why each knife has a small hole in the back of the handle. Compression has the same effect on the knives as it has on Lincoln’s bullets: it drastically increases the launch velocity of the knife. This is why LeVert can take out a Beowulf with one well placed knife. However, larger enemies, like Ursai, require multiple hits.

Fighting Style
Lincoln is usually the first one to spot hostiles. LeVert never faces the enemy directly. Instead, he finds a hilltop, or a tree, or just an elevated place, and provides long-range support for his team from there. Lincoln unsheathes and unfolds Báiyǔ, plants the bipod in the ground for extra grip and is ready to go. LeVert fires each shot using his Semblance, Compression. He uses his right hand to pull the trigger, while simultaneously hitting the butt stock with his left hand. This causes the bullet to travel at incredible speeds, hitting his target immediately after pulling the trigger and causing way more damage than a regular bullet would.

Lincoln barely gets aggro from Grimm, but if one manages to attack him, he uses his speed to separate himself from his attacker before killing it using his Compressed throwing knives. It’s an effective strategy, but also a very dangerous one, since there is absolutely no room for error. LeVert uses the first round of every clip on large hostiles or groups of hostiles. The other shots are used on airborne enemies, like Nevermores, or anything planning to sneak up on his teammates. Also, like most Faunas, LeVert has remarkable night vision. The major drawbacks to Lincoln’s fighting style are his inability to perform hand-to-hand combat, his reliance on his Semblance and the amount of damage he can take.

Aura and Semblance
Lincoln has a very strong Aura, especially compared to other students at Beacon. He has spent a lot of time training it with Vern and Harley, and is already able to create small barriers for himself. His Aura radiates a green color whenever it is active.

Lincoln’s Semblance is called Compression. It’s an offense-based Semblance that LeVert has perfected over time to fit his fighting style. This Semblance allows Lincoln to increase the pressure of small amounts of air and use these to blast small streams of air from the palms of his hands. The air itself doesn’t hurt anyone, but LeVert uses them to increase the velocity of both his bullets and his throwing knives. Because of his strong Aura, he can use his Semblance on just about every single shot he fires before he starts getting exhausted.

Backstory
Lincoln was born in the kingdom of Vacuo. He was the son of two Faunus, and the little brother of Harley LeVert, who was three years older than him. Lincoln had a pretty normal childhood, despite being a Faunus and coming from a very poor family. When he was six, Lincoln discovered that humor was a great way to loosen the tension between Humans and Faunus, and would often tell jokes to the other kids in Vacuo. He actually enjoyed growing up, not noticing the class difference between Humans and Faunus. Harley did see this, so she decided to leave Vacuo when she was thirteen years old. She took Lincoln with her while he was asleep, and they travelled on foot for weeks. Lincoln missed his family and friends, but decided to follow his big sister. She always knew which routes avoided the most Grimm, thanks to her excellent eyesight.

One day, after almost three months of traveling by either foot and train, the children decided to take a nap on a hilltop. When Lincoln woke up, he saw a Death Stalker rushing towards him and Harley. Lincoln warned his sister and started to distract the creature. When it started chasing him, Lincoln ran as fast as he possibly could, leading the Death Stalker away from Harley. The following chase must have been going on for at least fifteen minutes, before Lincoln reached a farm, where one man was digging a hole in the field. The old, asian man in the field immediately started attacking the Death Stalker, easily killing it using nothing more than a shovel. After Harley joined the two, the man introduced himself as Vern. He used to be a Huntsman, but moved to this farm just outside of the city of Vale after losing his son to a Beowulf. Vern was intrigued by Lincoln’s legs and Harley’s eyesight, and even more impressed by the fact that they traveled from Vacuo to Vale without getting killed within a week. He decided to take care of them and train them, the way he should have trained his son.

The following three years, Harley started training at Signal, while Lincoln and Vern trained every single day until Lincoln was old enough to attend Signal Academy. Lincoln was trained in just about every single fighting style and with every single form of weaponry, until he discovered which ones suited him best. It appeared that Lincoln was a naturally gifted sniper, an extremely efficient knife thrower and absolutely terrible at literally everything else. Instead of improving the rest, they decided to focus on his strong suits. Vern and Lincoln also spent a lot of time training Lincoln’s Aura. They soon discovered his ability to manipulate air, and decided to combine this with Lincoln’s sniping to create Compression.

By the time Lincoln started attending Signal, he was already more experienced than just about anyone his age. This is why he started to slack off in class, focusing on cracking jokes instead of training. Shortly after Harley graduated from Signal, Vern passed away of old age. Lincoln and Harley decided to bury him in the same field Vern buried his son when they first met him. Lincoln started wearing a necklace with two white feathers in honor of Vern, who used to wear a necklace with two black feathers. Vern’s death also motivated Lincoln to become a better student at Signal.

About a month after Vern’s passing, Lincoln started to work on his own weapon, a custom, semi-automatic sniper rifle. Lincoln added a suppressor, optimized iron sights and a bipod with sharp edges. He attached another pair of white feathers to the barrel of the weapon, and called it Báiyǔ, Chinese for White Feather. One year later, shortly after Lincoln turned sixteen, Harley got married to a Human named Duke and bought Vern’s farm. Duke and Harley were part of the same class at Signal, but decided they didn’t want to become Huntsmen. Duke and Lincoln got along great, and they would often go running together. Duke also did the the paint job for Báiyǔ, a white to light brown gradient, with two horizontal green lines. The next year, Lincoln graduated from Signal Academy. To honor Vern one last time, he enrolled into Beacon Academy.

Teammates
Celeste Velato

Celeste is not only his partner, but also his team leader. Lincoln and Celeste get along quite well, although Lincoln has the feeling she doesn’t take him seriously at times. Nevertheless, she has named Lincoln her second in command, and often puts him in charge during missions at night.

Sienna Bruciato

Lincoln likes and hates Sienna at the same time. He thinks she’s nice, smart and attractive, and lets her know almost every day, but she just keeps ignoring the obvious signs. It’s frustrating beyond hell, but it hasn’t stopped him from trying.

Tank Oshoku

Bro’s would be a good way to describe Lincoln and Tank’s relation. Lincoln has Tank’s back on the battlefield, and Tank has Lincoln’s back whenever he accidentally insults someone with one of his jokes. They often spar during classes, usually resulting in LeVert getting knocked out.

Family
Vern

Vern was like a father figure for Lincoln. They spent a lot of time together while LeVert was growing up, and Lincoln probably wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for Vern. His death had a huge impact on Lincoln, but it motivated him to become a Huntsman even more.

Harley LeVert

Harley is LeVert’s big sister. He used to hate Harley, because she took him away from his friends in Vacuo, but he has forgiven her a long time ago. Lincoln trusts her with his life, despite her not being a Huntress.

Duke LeVert

Duke is Lincoln’s brother in law. They get along surprisingly well, considering the race difference. They often go running together, and spend a lot of time having snipe-offs. Fun fact: Duke has never beaten LeVert in one of these.

Trivia

 * Lincoln is based on an South African tale about a man who was so fast, he could run with the wildebeests and zebras during the annual Great Migration. Lincoln and Harley’s ‘trek’ from Vacuo to Vale is another parallel to this migration.
 * Lincoln, Harlequin and Fern are all shades of green. Duke is a shade of blue. LeVert is just French for ‘The Green’.
 * Báiyǔ, Báiyǔ’s feathers and Lincoln’s necklace are all references to Carlos ‘White Feather’ Hathcock, one of the most legendary American snipers during the Vietnam War.
 * In case you were wondering how fast a wildebeest is, they can reach speeds up to 50 miles per hour. That’s almost twice as fast as humans.