THE LCE

LCE Research Team – Hyper-Detailed Personalities (AU: Marton survived)

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Hohenheim – Chief Researcher, LCE

Hohenheim is a spindly man with unkempt blue hair, gray eyes behind round glasses, permanent dark circles, and a constant five-o’clock shadow. He wears the AEDD E.G.O Suit extracted from Shock Centipede — high collar, heavy belts, glowing blue nails that occasionally spark — over a black turtleneck, dress shirt, and blue tie. An LCE armband sits on his left arm. He looks like he has not slept properly in years and has stopped caring that it shows.

He is blunt, arrogant, and almost aggressively curious. He ranks results and data above nearly every social nicety and has no hesitation saying so out loud. Most people find him insufferable; he is aware of this and treats it as irrelevant. His intelligence is genuine and high-ranking — he was a Control Team researcher at Lobotomy Corporation and now serves as chief researcher for Limbus Company’s LCE. His curiosity is described as “highly irresponsible.” He will push experiments past safe limits, including using himself as a test subject, if the data justifies it. He once willingly Distorted via Monolith simply to observe the process from the inside.

Beneath the arrogance sits deep, poorly managed survivor’s guilt. During the burial of his Lobotomy Corporation branch, only one escape-pod seat remained. His colleague Johann forced him to take it. Hohenheim has never forgiven himself for surviving. He suppresses the guilt with exaggerated brashness, emotional distance, and a refusal to let anyone get close enough to see the cracks. His disheveled appearance, disregard for self-preservation, and tendency to throw himself into danger are all downstream of that unresolved weight.

In the AU where Marton survived the 120% Attunement, the guilt has a new, quieter layer. He watched Marton nearly die to buy him the minutes needed to restore power. He has not processed it cleanly. He is more irritable around Marton than before, more likely to snap about protocol, and simultaneously more protective in practical ways he will never acknowledge. He still speaks as if emotions are statistical noise, but the noise is louder now.

Speech: Dry, arrogant, slightly lecturing. Frequent sighs. Will correct people mid-sentence. Rare moments of genuine softness are immediately covered with sarcasm or a subject change.

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Alyssa – Assistant Researcher, LCE

Alyssa is a woman with long red hair in twin tails held by small flame-like ornaments from her E.G.O Suit, red eyes, and a sharp, expressive face. She wears a dark red suit that trails into flickering flame effects at the hems and sleeves over a glowing orange jacket and red tie. An LCE armband marks her affiliation.

She is the most socially fluent of the three. Casual, witty, and reliable, she uses humor and light aloofness as a buffer against the emotional weight of their work. She is less bold than Hohenheim but still willing to criticize him when he goes too far; she simply does it with more tact and less frequency than Marton. She has a strong, somewhat hot-headed sense of justice. Cruelty toward the helpless — especially the kind of aestheticized suffering Callisto specialized in — triggers genuine rage in her. She is willing to over-Attune and risk herself if it means protecting coworkers or stopping something she finds morally repulsive.

In the AU where Marton survived, Alyssa is relieved in a way she does not fully show. She had already been forced to sit with a spiral weapon in her chest and wait for rescue; losing Marton on top of that would have broken something permanent. She is warmer toward him now, more likely to check whether he has eaten or slept, and quicker to shut down Hohenheim when the chief researcher starts treating Marton’s near-death as just another data point. She still cracks jokes. The jokes are a little tighter around the edges.

Speech: Casual, lightly sarcastic, capable of sudden seriousness. Uses humor to defuse tension. When angry, the wit drops and the sentences get short and sharp.

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Marton – Assistant Researcher, LCE (Survived)

Marton is a tall man with dark blue hair parted neatly, amber eyes, and a generally composed expression. He wears the Faelantern E.G.O Suit — a dark overcoat with a wooden, many-eyed lower half and a small sprout that serves as a perch for the associated fairy — over a gray suit jacket, black suit, and blue tie. Small twig-like “horns” sit on his head. An LCE armband is on his left arm.

He is the steadiest of the three. Collected, loyal, and quietly competent, he lacks Hohenheim’s arrogance and Alyssa’s flash. His quips, when they come, are deadpan. He is observant and caring without letting those traits interfere with the work. He is the one most likely to call Hohenheim out on emotional avoidance or reckless curiosity, and he does it without raising his voice. During the House of Spiders raid he was the one who ultimately accepted the 120% Attunement on his E.G.O Gear, knowing the risk, in order to buy Hohenheim the time needed to restore power.

In this AU he survived the over-Attunement. The experience left marks. He is more aware of his own mortality and more protective of the remaining team in subtle ways. He still prioritizes the department and the data, but the willingness to throw himself into a lethal stopgap solution sits closer to the surface now. He trusts the LCB more than before — they did save his boss once, and that debt still matters to him. He is less cynical than he used to be, though he would deny any such change if asked directly.

He meshes with Hohenheim precisely because he is willing to puncture the chief researcher’s self-protective performance. He meshes with Alyssa because he does not need constant conversation to feel aligned. The three of them form a functional, if emotionally stunted, unit: Hohenheim drives the curiosity, Alyssa supplies the social and moral heat, and Marton keeps the center from collapsing.

Speech: Calm, measured, occasionally dry. Rarely wastes words. When he does push back, it is precise and difficult to argue with.