[OOC: Just for reference.]

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 05:56:24 GMT

Name/Handle: Kura
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Time zone: EST
Email Address: shuichi210@hotmail.com
AIM/other messenger screen name: YoukoKurama210
Personal LJ username: Kurama_chan
Is English your native language? Yes
Character you're applying for: Duo Maxwell
Series the character is from: Mobile Suit Report: Gundam Wing
Character's age: 15
Character's gender: Male
Character’s “Real Name”: David Michaels

How long have you role-played your character, if at all?:
I played Duo a long time ago, for a year or two.

Where have you role-played in general and/or with this specific character?:
With Duo, I played him in some LARPs. In general, I’ve done community RPs (Landel’s), IM RPs, and LARPing.

Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?:
I’ve watched the entire series several times, as well as the movie, and own the Episode Zero manga.

Please give us a detailed personal history of your character:
Duo’s early years of life aren’t spelled out completely, and though not everyone considers Episode Zero as being completely ‘canon’, from it a lot can be implied about Duo’s childhood that would otherwise be a blank.
The colony that Duo was born on was considered extremely impoverished and facing a war, so it’s assumed that Duo’s parents were either killed or died of starvation/disease. At the time of their deaths, Duo was very young. He was barely old enough to remember his parents, and knew nothing of his own life. He had no family, no home, and no name that he could remember. He wouldn’t have survived on his own without the help of an older boy by the name of Solo, who taught him how to live on the streets as a thief. When Solo later died of a virus, Duo chose to honor Solo’s passing by naming himself ‘Duo’ and taking over the gang of war orphans that they’d collected.
When Duo was about 7, he ran into Father Maxwell (literally) while running from a vendor that his gang had robbed. The next day, his gang attempted to rob a military base nearby, but was forced to make a run for it when the soldiers started shooting at them. Consequently, it was decided that the house the orphans had been staying in would be demolished, and the Maxwell Church would take the boys instead.
Upon entering the church’s ‘family’, a nun by the name of Sister Helen attempted to cut Duo’s already waist-long hair, but the boy adamantly refused to allow her. Father Maxwell decided that Duo should be allowed to keep the hair. So instead, Sister Helen tied it back into a braid for him, a hairstyle that he still wears to this day.
After a year, every boy that the church took in had found a new home, except for Duo. Continuously, the families he was placed with would send him back due to his rowdy nature. Finally, Father Maxwell and Sister Helen decided to keep Duo themselves and raise him to be a priest. Duo, though, claimed that he didn’t believe in God, but rather believed in the ‘God of Death’. His reason was that he’d never seen a miracle, but he’d seen a lot of dead people.
It wasn’t long after that the Maxwell Church was invaded by terrorists trying to overthrow the Alliance that had taken control of the colonies. They needed a place to hide out while fighting. In an effort to get the soldiers out of the church, Duo promised to steal one mobile suit for them, just as long as they left and didn’t come back. Sister Helen tried to stop him, but the boy quickly ran from the church.
Despite being a child, Duo actually managed to hijack a cargo truck that wasn’t being watched carefully, one mobile suit loaded aboard. Unfortunately, by the time he returned, the Maxwell Church was nothing more than flames and debris. Father Maxwell was already dead. He found Sister Helen in the rubble, but she only managed to say a few words before dying in his arms. Afterwards, Duo took the name ‘Maxwell’ as his own in memory of the only family he’d ever known.
At the age of 12, Duo snuck aboard a Sweepers ship to raid the food stores, and was caught by one of the crew. Also aboard this ship was Professor G, the creator of the Deathscythe Gundam, a highly advanced mobile suit. Professor G remarked that his ship’s defenses should have been perfect and demanded to know how Duo got aboard, to which Duo snarkily replied, “That’s a trade secret, but if it helps your pride, I’ll say it was pretty tough.” Apparently, Professor G liked his attitude and told the crew to let the kid go. Upon being called that, Duo demanded that his was not a kid, and introduced himself as Duo Maxwell, the God of Death.
Duo apparently joined Professor G’s crew, since he was still aboard the Sweepers ship three years later (as the co-pilot, no less), fleeing from an Alliance military spaceship. Surrounded, Professor G told Duo to come with him to the Deathscythe. Duo shouted back that he refused to pilot the Gundam for Operation Meteor. The initial plan was to use the Gundams to drop several colonies on the Earth, killing thousands of people. Instead, Professor G told Duo to steal the Deathscythe so it couldn’t be used for the Operation, and to use it to directly fight against Oz, a secret Alliance organization responsible for the suffering of the colonies. Duo agreed and took the Deathscythe to Earth to begin his first mission. (This ends Episode Zero canon.)
Duo’s first appearance in the series is during the completion of his first mission, the annihilation of an OZ weapons base. Following this mission, Duo investigates a suspicious assembly of mobile suits and finds an abandoned Gundam at the bottom of the ocean. After wiping out the other mobile suits, he disarms the self-destruct device on the Gundam and sets his own to carry it to the surface.
Upon returning to the surface, Duo finds a young boy (Heero) about to shoot a young girl (Relena). Stepping in to save the girl, Duo shoots and disarms the boy. Much to his surprise, the girl rushes to protect the boy instead of fleeing. Before Duo can ask what’s going on, the two Gundams break the surface. He uses a flare to ensure the other two won’t be witnesses, but Heero shouts that it’s his mobile suit and dives for the torpedoes he’d been setting up, launching them at the Gundams. The torpedoes hit and drop the Gundams back to the ocean floor.
Duo escapes the scene, allowing Relena to take Heero to the nearby military hospital. Unbeknownst to her, the hospital has its suspicions that Heero is a terrorist, so they keep him restrained and under surveillance. However, Duo breaks Heero out of the facility, by way of a hole in the wall several dozen stories above the ground. Duo tosses a parachute to Heero before they jump out, but he refuses to deploy it as he falls. Remarkably, Heero hits the ground and rolls down the hillside, finally coming to a stop, still alive. Duo remarks that Heero has to trust him, since he’s ‘the only friend he’s got’.
Fortunately, Duo has the assistance of Howard, a friend of Professor G’s. Using Howard’s equipment, he manages to pull up both Deathscythe and Wing Gundam from the bottom of the ocean.
Later, Duo offers to fix Heero’s Wing Gundam using Deathscythe’s spare parts, but Heero declines, even after receiving new mission data. Duo is incredulous when Heero explains that he’ll start on it in the morning, considering his Gundam is in shambles. Much to his surprise, Heero does have the Wing Gundam up and running by morning. Duo compliments him on a job well done…until he realizes that Heero took parts straight from Deathscythe to fix his own machine.
Howard helps to fix the Deathscythe up once more, just in time for Duo’s next mission. The target is the North Pacific OZ base, and upon arriving there, he finds that Heero has been given the same assignment. Duo asks Heero if he has anything to say, but Heero responds by raising Wing’s rifle and firing. The aim isn’t on Duo, though, and the beam goes straight through a mobile suit that’d been creeping up on Deathscythe. Heero then laughs and flies away, leaving Duo cursing him for being an ass.
Later, another mission is given to him: Destroying the OZ leaders who are apparently gathering at the New Edwards base. Once again, Duo meets up with Heero, and this time they plan to work together on the mission. Together, they attack the base, wiping out the defense line of mobile suits. In the process, they meet two other Gundams (Heavyarms and Sandrock) on the battlefield, mistaking them for OZ forces. Before they can start a proper fight, though, an OZ shuttle leaves from the base, and Heero rushes off in Wing to destroy it. In the meantime, Duo attacks the Gundam Heavyarms. As they’re fighting, another Gundam appears (Shenlong) and its pilot Wufei informs the group that they’ve been tricked. The base wasn’t gathering OZ leaders, but rather Alliance leaders who were negotiating peace.
Realizing the mistake they had made, Trowa and Wufei (Heavyarms and Shenlong) rush off to find Trieze, the man responsible for tricking them. Quatre (Sandrock) stops Heero and Duo from running off as well, explaining that Trieze would be expecting it and they would need to find another way. Instead, Duo and Quatre attack the remaining mobile suits on the base. However, Heero remains motionless in the battlefield until he hears an announcement over the base’s intercom system directed to him. The announcement is from a woman named Sally Po who had been working at the military hospital that Heero was held at earlier. She asks Heero to deactivate the missiles on the base that had just been programmed to self-destruct in order to wipe out the Gundams. Heero then flies off without a word. Duo shouts that Heero’s deserting them, but Quatre explains that he’s not running away. In response, Heero states that he’s entering the missile base to disarm the missiles. While Heero does this, Quatre continues fending off the mobile suits, and Duo secures three carriers for them to use to leave the base. The missiles are disarmed and the three pilots make their escape.
In order to complete their next mission, Heero and Duo infiltrate a school near the targeted base, posing as students. Remarkably, Relena shows up once again, having been trying to find Heero. This doesn’t stop the two from proceeding with their mission, though, and together they destroy the base.
Following this, OZ decides to transport their Taurus mobile suits to their base in Siberia. They plan to use two routes: one by air and one by land. Duo decides to cover the land route and asks Heero to cover the air route to discover which route is the decoy.
Duo arrives to intercept the land route transport, just in time to rescue Quatre from being mowed down in his Gundam. Unfortunately, the land route proves to be a decoy. In the midst of battle, Lady Une (a leading officer of Oz) threatens to stage a missile attack on the colonies if the Gundam do not surrender. The Gundams cease fighting, but do not surrender. Lady Une demands that a missile be launched. In response, Doctor J (Heero’s mentor) hacks into OZ’s intercom system and announces that he is responsible for targeting OZ and that he surrenders. But he adds that he will not give up the Gundams. Heero, who is fighting at the air route, acknowledges this and self-destructs his Gundam. The rest of the Gundam pilots are shocked by Heero’s sacrifice. Trowa retrieves Heero’s body and all the pilots retreat.
In order to make his escape, Duo accepts Quatre’s offer to travel with him through the desert, using the next sand storm to hide their crossing. Joining them is the Maguanac Corps, a personal army of forty men devoted to Quatre. During the crossing, they decide to take refuge in a secret underground base owned by the Maguanacs.
In the Arabic city above the base, Duo and Quatre discuss the nature of the five Gundam pilots and Heero’s fate. Unfortunately, while resting in the village, OZ soldiers also arrive, claiming to be seeking food and water. Instead, they set up time bombs in wooden throughout the city before quickly leaving. The bombs are set so that any movement will trigger a pre-mature detonation.
The decision is made that the Gundam are what OZ is after. Instead of fighting, the Maguanacs plan to create a hole in OZ’s defense to allow the Gundams and the civilians to escape. Duo and Quatre are unhappy about this decision, but go along with the plan. The Maguanacs use their underground exits to catch the OZ troops by surprise and secure a carrier for the Gundams’ escape. As they’re flying away, Duo asks Quatre to circle the sky once. Passing the battle, Duo fires down at the OZ troops to ease the fighting for the Maguanacs, his own personal way of saying ‘thank you’.
A month passes and no further missions are received. Duo continues to stay with Quatre at what can be assumed is a summer house owned by either Quatre or the Maguanacs. After viewing a television report about the OZ organization’s takeover of the Alliance among the colonies, disguised as an effort to ‘assist them’, Quatre and Duo decide that it’s time to return to space to protect the colonies.
In order to do this, they attack the Singapore space base, hoping to show the other three Gundam pilots that they need to go to outer space as well. However, during the battle, Duo and Quatre receive a news broadcast stating that if the Gundams continue to fight OZ as their enemy, then the colonies will consider the Gundams their enemy as well. Duo feels betrayed by this statement, but Quatre tells him that it’s ok if the colonies don’t understand their intentions right away.
Still, Duo and Quatre finds themselves being beaten back by the Singapore forces, at least until Wufei shows up with Shenlong to support them and assure them that they’re doing the right thing. Duo and Wufei then acquire a transport shuttle to take them to outer space. Duo shouts to Quatre to hurry up when he sees Sandrock still fighting, but Quatre tells him to go on ahead, that he’ll cover them while they take off. Grudgingly, Duo takes off in his shuttle, only to see Sandrock self-destruct as he leaves.
Unsure of whether Quatre is alive or not, Duo heads to outer space and is intercepted by a force of OZ’s mobile suits near Space Fortress Barge. OZ sends its newest model, the unmanned Taurus dolls to take down the Deathscythe, which they do quickly and efficiently. Duo attempts to self-detonate to avoid the Deathscythe being captured, but the device malfunctions. Duo passes out, and QZ confiscates his Gundam, throwing Duo into a jail cell on Barge to await his execution.
Much to Duo’s surprise, Heero breaks into Barge. His initial intention is to kill Duo to protect their secrecy, but instead he rescues Duo from the facility. They make their escape by turning the Taurus dolls against the fortress, but Duo is forced to leave Deathscythe behind.
Heero takes Duo to a hospital where he can recover and explains that a large amount of Gundanium being taken to the Lunar Base. Duo asks what he plans to do, but Heero informs him that, in Duo’s current condition, he’ll only get in the way if he tries to help. Instead, he tells Duo to take his place at school, since Heero enrolled under Duo’s name anyway.
Duo takes Heero’s advice and decides to lay low for a while to rest. While walking the streets of the colony he’s resting on (and ripping down wanted signs of him), Duo sees an outdoor television broadcasting of a mobile suit training exercise designed to find new pilots. Most of the pilots perform horribly, save for one pilot who calls himself Trowa. To Duo’s horror, the final test for the pilot is to completely destroy the captured Gundam Deathscythe, which he does without hesitation. Duo is forced to watch as his beloved Gundam is completely destroyed, screaming out his grief in the process.
It’s after this point that Duo is taken to Landel’s.

Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
Duo’s personality for the most part consists of being upbeat and casual, even in the face of death and war. However, he always takes a job seriously, despite how laid-back he may act. He’ll act like everyone’s best friend right up until the moment when it matters, then it’s all business. And Duo’s business is always handled as the God of Death.
But despite calling himself the God of Death, Duo hates unnecessary bloodshed. He’s all for killing the people who deserve it, such as the bloodlusty people responsible for starting wars, but nothing more than that.
Because of his carefree nature, Duo’s a fairly trusting person, but once that trust is broken, it’s hard to earn it back. The God of Death doesn’t often deal in second chances.
As far as his interactions with other people go, he’s somewhat of a gentleman, despite his casual appearance. Duo would never hurt women or children, and would only attack someone if provoked into doing so. He can be a little hotheaded and spiteful at times, but only to those that do something to brush against his honor code. Having been raised in the slums, Duo dislikes anyone who would use power or authority to take advantage of other people or cause them to suffer.

Please give us a detailed physical description of your character:
Duo’s a little under average height for a male teen (about 5’1½”) with extraordinarily long hair. He always keeps it tied back in a long braid, reaching down to about his knees. Long bangs cover his cheerful violet/blue eyes. His form is lithe and nimble, due to his childhood years as a street orphan.

What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?:
I’m taking Duo from after the destruction of Deathscythe, during his ‘resting period’ on one of the colonies.

What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?:
Duo doesn’t have any crazy powers, etc.

If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
(N/A)

Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?:
Duo grew up as basically a street rat, so he’s pretty efficient at thieving and picking locks if he’s got something to work with. Also, being a Gundam pilot, he’s knowledgeable with machines and especially knowledgeable with weaponry like scythes, guns, and explosives.

How about improbable appendages?:
None.

Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP:
At the point that I’m taking him from, Duo is in the midst of a small personal crisis. He went to outer space to relieve the colonies from OZ control, only to have them turn around and declare him their enemy. When his Gundam was destroyed, the colony citizens cheered and celebrated. Duo’s going to be looking for people to believe in him again, as well as a way out. And knocking off the top guy in the process wouldn’t hurt matters. He’s also going to be looking to find out what happened to the other pilots.

What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?:
Duo’s seen some pretty horrible things, even as a child, so even horrors of this magnitude wouldn’t have any kind of lasting trauma on him. Instead, I could see Duo being daunted by the fact that he doesn’t have the power to protect others like he normally does. At this point in time, he’s been fighting for a few months to make others happy and to bring peace. Being so helpless now will definitely frustrate him, especially after the loss of his Gundam.

Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?:
Duo’s a Gundam pilot, which essentially means that he’s been trained to kill. He’s experienced the horrors of war practically since he was born, and his both his street orphan childhood and his military training have given him the experience he needs to handle this kind of environment.

Third-Person Sample:

This had to be what rock bottom felt like ‘cause, man, it didn’t get much worse than this.

Duo groaned audibly into his pillow, the image of Deathscythe’s wrecked form surrounded by a multitude of explosions still flashing across the back of the young pilot’s eyelids. Damn that OZ! It was bad enough that they went and totally trashed his Gundam into oblivion, but did they have to do it on public television?! He could still hear the cheers from the surrounding civilians echoing through his head, and it was making him sick.

They’d come to outer space again to help the colonies, so what was their problem, anyway?! The Gundams were the only allies they had now, but OZ had suckered them like a bunch of schoolyard kids with promises of ‘help’ and ‘peace’. What a load of BS.

Nothing like being backstabbed by the people you’re fighting for, huh?

Grabbing the pillow, Duo threw it across the room in frustration and flopped back down onto the bed. Bad idea, as he winced in pain from his actions, his injuries not quite fully healed. Damn it! How was he supposed to sit back and rest when things like this were happening? It was pretty fucking hard, all things considered, but he still needed to sleep.

Deathscythe may be gone, but the God of Death was still here, and he was gonna make sure OZ’s lives were a living hell. Somehow.

----------------------------------

Oh god, the light… Duo rolled over and shoved his face deep into the darkness of his pillow to block out the morning light. He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep, but damn it if he didn’t want to stay asleep. But wait a minute... what was his pillow doing here? Hadn’t he thrown that across the room? And since when was the colony’s lighting system this bright, anyway?

Groggy, Duo opened his eyes and rubbed away the sleep that still clung to the edges, only to meet an unfamiliar scene. This...this wasn’t his room! Scrambling out of bed, Duo scanned the room, his guard raised. Standard bedding, impersonal furnishings, and—after a quick check—a locked door. And some creepy as hell kind of uniform, which made no sense. Unless it was psychological torture. Oh, yeah. That worked.

Duo kicked the wall out of frustration. “Man, this is so not cool. If I’m in a cell again, I’m gonna be really pissed off.” Hadn’t Heero just busted him out of Barge? Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to scream in public like that... A wanted man wasn’t supposed to call attention to himself. Apparently.

It didn’t seem there was anything he could do for now, so Duo flopped back down on the bed, surprised when there was no pain this time. Funny, he didn’t think a couple of bruised ribs would heal that quickly. Sure enough, though, he felt as good as new. What the hell was going on?! How long had he been out?

Lying on his back, Duo noticed the intercom set into the ceiling and frowned. “How long do you expect me to wait, huh?” Maybe it was on. Maybe they were listening to him. Maybe he just needed something to take his anger out on. “Hey! I’m talking to you! Answer me!” For lack of any better projectiles, Duo threw his pillow up at the speaker. The only response he got was two soft ‘thuds’, one for the speaker and one for the floor.

“Figures...” the pilot muttered under his breath, only to snap to attention when he heard the lock click, the door swinging open. On the threshold was a woman dressed in a white uniform, a smile plastered cheerfully on her face.

“Good morning, Aiden. Welcome to Landel’s.”

First-Person Sample:

Dear Facility in Question,

Regardless of your fancy words and hot nurses, I’m finding a distinct lack of service around here. I’ve seen graveyards look cheerier than this room, and your wardrobe has some major malfunctions. Honestly? The smiley faces? Those really gotta go, man. Creepy as hell and totally cramping my style. At least make it black or something, ya know? ~~Then I could color in that ghastly thing with a black marker.~~
And the whole ‘deadly monster at night’ thing is so overrated. Like one of those cheesy B-rated horror flicks. And you gotta be ancient to watch those anymore. Give me something more original to work with, k?

No love,
~God of Death