(no subject)
1. Player Information
Name (or internet handle): Curry
Current characters in Bete Noire: Chivy Darrell / Markham Rouke
2. Character Information
Name: Duo Maxwell
Livejournal Username: braidedreaper
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Image: That's me in a nutshell.
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: He's eighteen, with brown hair that's always in a braid and purple blue eyes. He tends to wear dark colors, but he's thankfully stopped wearing only his priest's outfit. He's short for his age, and skinnier than he should be - he has a pretty active lifestyle, and never really got the hang of how much was the right amount of food at a go.
History: History! Ignore the Frozen Teardrop section, that's... something of a mess, and beyond his canon point, anyway. Duo is from two years after the end of Endless Waltz (AC 198), so there's two years of headcanon to fill in after that link drops off.
At the end of Endless Waltz, the war is over, and this time for good - or at least for good in Duo's lifetime, who knows what the future holds? He moved in with Hilde and the two of them started up a salvage yard of their own. There was more than enough scrap metal to choose from, considering all the fighting that went down in outer space, so their business went pretty spectacularly. Unfortunately, their personal life didn't fare quite so well. Two sixteen year olds living together, on their own, based solely on the fact that they'd fought together a few times? It was surprising they lasted as long as they did - a little over three months - before they both realized it was a bad idea. Of course, the trigger was that Hilde fell for another boy (one of several people they'd brought into their business as things really took off), and Duo found out about it when he came home one day to all of his things packed and a heartfelt talk from Hilde.
From there, he went to join the Preventers, a quasi-"world police" organization, whose purpose was to protect the peace that the colonies and Earth were currently experiencing. It wasn't terrible - he certainly saw a lot of action, which he didn't mind, and it kept his mind off of anything else that could trouble him - but his age and somewhat... unorthodox methods meant that he didn't fit in very well with the rest of the organization. It wouldn't have been so bad if he had been able to spend time with either Heero or Wufei, both of whom were also members and with whom he could at least identify more closely with (and how often could anyone say that?), but the three were stationed in different places and rarely encountered each other.
Duo lasted exactly a year with the Preventers - no more and no less than what he'd promised Wufei when he signed on. He lost two months to just general travelling, catching up with people he hadn't seen since the wars and otherwise basking in the fact that he had no schedule, and then another month and a half to not-quite-depression in an apartment on L2 while he hit the downside of no schedule. He was jolted back to reality by an invite to Hilde and boy-from-the-salvage-yard's wedding, and made the mistake of agreeing to walk Hilde down the aisle. The time between that and the wedding itself was spent doing his best to help her get everything ready and realizing just how lucky he was that she'd decided to kick him out instead of keeping him around longer. The wedding was in late September, and after seeing the two lovebirds off on their honeymoon, Duo started working back at his old salvage yard - someone had to keep things running while the newlyweds were away - and remained there even when they returned. With the second anniversary of the Mariemaia Incident coming up, though, he decided to go to Earth for New Year's, and while wandering dirtside he found himself in an unknown city - which just happened to call itself the City of Sin.
Personality: On the surface, Duo is a laid back, cheerful guy, which holds true most of the time, but it's nowhere near the full story. Duo's greatest goal is to make life better for those around him; he says himself that his reason for fighting in the war is to bring the smiles back to the colonists. His attempt at keeping a positive outlook doesn't keep him from being a good soldier, though, it just means he sometimes tries to find more creative ways of achieving his objectives than what was originally planned -- but hey, the ends justify the means, right? He has no problem with bending orders to suit what he thinks works better. It may not be the kind of attitude one expects from a soldier, but it works well with his status in the war as essentially a side of his own.
His motto is that he'll run and hide but never tell a lie, but even that isn't true. He's perfectly willing to break the rules (and the truth) when necessary, but he does his best to stay within the lines.
Impulsivity is probably Duo's greatest fault. He's good at thinking on his feet, but he often doesn't take the time to factor in the longer-range strategic value of his actions, preferring the more hands-on approach.
His past is filled with death, and he calls himself the God of Death because everyone he gets close to dies. This hasn't stopped him from making connections, but it does mean that it takes time for him to let people get close, and he has a bad habit of taking personal responsibility for any damage done to them.
Two years of peace have been good for him, in terms of letting him adjust to a more normal lifestyle. He still doesn't do well with obeying authority, but at least he hasn't had reason to try blowing up a military establishment for a while. Small steps, yeah? A lot of his cheerfulness is also more sincere, now, since he's had some time to see how life should work. It doesn't mean all of his cynicism is gone, of course, and he's still in about the same place as before in the serious-friend/relationships department, but at least he isn't at the same level of everything-I-touch-dies.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: He's much more into guys than girls - he did his best for Hilde's sake (and his own, who doesn't want to get the girl after they save the world?), but she just wasn't what he was looking for. Doesn't mean he couldn't manage with a girl at some point in the future, but for now he's pretty sure he'd rather be with guys. He's never been with anyone else - he's a little young to try picking guys up at a bar, and physical closeness just seems wrong with someone he doesn't know well. He knows the mechanics of sex (all that time spent with the Sweepers was good for something, anyway) and would definitely like to have a go at it, but he just hasn't quite pulled it off yet.
Powers: He's skilled in firearms, hacking, salvaging, piloting mechs, breaking-and-entering, and explosives.
Reason for playing: Where do I even start? Duo Maxwell was my first real step into roleplaying, outside of original characters, and he remains my strongest voice. There's just something about his ability to and insistence upon grinning in the face of terrible odds and events that draws me to him.
Bete Noire offers me a particularly interesting opportunity in that I can play him in a mature setting, which is probably the one way canon didn't shed a lot of light on. (Okay, I lie, canon didn't shed a lot of light on anything beyond its own convoluted politicking, but the repercussions of the events that shaped them and their decisions was particularly short-shafted.) He's also much more of an action hero type than either of my other two, which would be nice when plot things go down.
4. Original Character Supplement
World History:
Character History:
5. Samples
First-Person: So I get that this isn't New Edwards anymore, but can somebody explain how a guy can just end up somewhere they weren't? Maybe it's just me, but I usually notice that kind of thing. I don't really have anywhere to be, but is there anyplace to stay around here? Or, you know, directions back to the Memorial Park and my helicopter would work, too. Whichever's easiest. The faster the better, though, it's damn cold out here.
Third-Person: There was something ironic about starting friendships at gunpoint. Not that Duo would call Heero a friend, but he wasn't the only one that fit the pattern. All of the pilots, really, had met under violent conditions, but that made sense. Teenagers sent to Earth to destroy themselves and whatever else they could take down with them, violating orders with every breath they took; how else could they have met?
And then there was Hilde. Hilde with her wide eyes and fierce principles, ready to die for a cause and kill for a cause and never flinching away from the edge of destruction. Empathy and understanding, on the other hand... what better way to throw a soldier off-guard than to claim status as an ally? Even Heero hadn't understood Duo's calm acceptance of fate, but what else could he do? Just because everyone else wanted to run around like idiots it didn't mean Duo did, too. Fighting against someone with a common goal was just stupid. That wasn't to say Duo hadn't done his share of idiot things (what was the saying? Fools rush in?) but he did his best to keep his enemies and allies straight, even if that usually came down to who's-shooting-at-me versus who's-shooting-the-guy-shooting-at-me.
Besides, his whole goal in this war was to stop the fighting. All he needed to do right now was get his enemies out of the way, if he started fighting allies, he'd never get anything done.
Third-Person #2: They're kissing -- making out, by this point -- and all Duo can think is 'where do I put my hands?' His arms are hanging at his sides and it seems like he should be doing something. Or at least something more than keeping his mouth open and trying to keep from knocking his nose into Hilde's or hyperventilating. She doesn't seem to mind, based on the little gasping sounds she's making, but he still feels awkward, even when he puts one arm around her back and she presses closer.
It's only been eight days since the Mariemaia Incident, eight days since they almost fell into another useless war, and Duo's still having a hard time catching his bearings. The last week has been a blur of publicity and celebration, and it was only the night before that Hilde and Duo decided to start their own salvaging business. It's what everyone is doing, in their own way, trying to salvage peace from years of oppression and hatred, and it had seemed only natural that their celebratory breakfast be preceded by a kiss. But the kiss had turned into several, and he's pretty sure the eggs he burned and the pancakes she didn't quite finish are going to be completely inedible by the time they get back to them.
He's jolted out of his wandering thoughts when she suddenly takes charge, sliding both hands under his shirt and trying to push it over his head without removing her lips from his. He steps back, grinning, to pull it off himself and then they're both on the floor, laughing between increasingly breathless kisses. He's lost track of his thoughts entirely, more interested in fighting Hilde for who gets the upper hand (and position), and they manage to lose her top and his hair tie before one of them knocks into the table, upending a plate and the pitcher of orange juice. They both freeze in place, his lips pressed to the skin just below her ribs and her hands on his shoulders, as if their stillness will keep the world from continuing on and the juice from spreading further on the hardwood. But after a few, long moments they pull apart, both flushed, and staring at anything but each other. Hilde self-consciously adjusts her bra, and Duo goes to zip his pants, and they both laugh, somewhat awkwardly, when they realize the button is still in Hilde's hand.
They don't speak, both starting to clean up the mess they've made, until Duo forces himself to stop brushing up pancake crumbs and clears his throat. Making eye contact brings back the flush (what is he, ten? at least she's blushing, too), but he grins anyway. "Alright, next time? We're eating first."
Name (or internet handle): Curry
Current characters in Bete Noire: Chivy Darrell / Markham Rouke
2. Character Information
Name: Duo Maxwell
Livejournal Username: braidedreaper
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Image: That's me in a nutshell.
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: He's eighteen, with brown hair that's always in a braid and purple blue eyes. He tends to wear dark colors, but he's thankfully stopped wearing only his priest's outfit. He's short for his age, and skinnier than he should be - he has a pretty active lifestyle, and never really got the hang of how much was the right amount of food at a go.
History: History! Ignore the Frozen Teardrop section, that's... something of a mess, and beyond his canon point, anyway. Duo is from two years after the end of Endless Waltz (AC 198), so there's two years of headcanon to fill in after that link drops off.
At the end of Endless Waltz, the war is over, and this time for good - or at least for good in Duo's lifetime, who knows what the future holds? He moved in with Hilde and the two of them started up a salvage yard of their own. There was more than enough scrap metal to choose from, considering all the fighting that went down in outer space, so their business went pretty spectacularly. Unfortunately, their personal life didn't fare quite so well. Two sixteen year olds living together, on their own, based solely on the fact that they'd fought together a few times? It was surprising they lasted as long as they did - a little over three months - before they both realized it was a bad idea. Of course, the trigger was that Hilde fell for another boy (one of several people they'd brought into their business as things really took off), and Duo found out about it when he came home one day to all of his things packed and a heartfelt talk from Hilde.
From there, he went to join the Preventers, a quasi-"world police" organization, whose purpose was to protect the peace that the colonies and Earth were currently experiencing. It wasn't terrible - he certainly saw a lot of action, which he didn't mind, and it kept his mind off of anything else that could trouble him - but his age and somewhat... unorthodox methods meant that he didn't fit in very well with the rest of the organization. It wouldn't have been so bad if he had been able to spend time with either Heero or Wufei, both of whom were also members and with whom he could at least identify more closely with (and how often could anyone say that?), but the three were stationed in different places and rarely encountered each other.
Duo lasted exactly a year with the Preventers - no more and no less than what he'd promised Wufei when he signed on. He lost two months to just general travelling, catching up with people he hadn't seen since the wars and otherwise basking in the fact that he had no schedule, and then another month and a half to not-quite-depression in an apartment on L2 while he hit the downside of no schedule. He was jolted back to reality by an invite to Hilde and boy-from-the-salvage-yard's wedding, and made the mistake of agreeing to walk Hilde down the aisle. The time between that and the wedding itself was spent doing his best to help her get everything ready and realizing just how lucky he was that she'd decided to kick him out instead of keeping him around longer. The wedding was in late September, and after seeing the two lovebirds off on their honeymoon, Duo started working back at his old salvage yard - someone had to keep things running while the newlyweds were away - and remained there even when they returned. With the second anniversary of the Mariemaia Incident coming up, though, he decided to go to Earth for New Year's, and while wandering dirtside he found himself in an unknown city - which just happened to call itself the City of Sin.
Personality: On the surface, Duo is a laid back, cheerful guy, which holds true most of the time, but it's nowhere near the full story. Duo's greatest goal is to make life better for those around him; he says himself that his reason for fighting in the war is to bring the smiles back to the colonists. His attempt at keeping a positive outlook doesn't keep him from being a good soldier, though, it just means he sometimes tries to find more creative ways of achieving his objectives than what was originally planned -- but hey, the ends justify the means, right? He has no problem with bending orders to suit what he thinks works better. It may not be the kind of attitude one expects from a soldier, but it works well with his status in the war as essentially a side of his own.
His motto is that he'll run and hide but never tell a lie, but even that isn't true. He's perfectly willing to break the rules (and the truth) when necessary, but he does his best to stay within the lines.
Impulsivity is probably Duo's greatest fault. He's good at thinking on his feet, but he often doesn't take the time to factor in the longer-range strategic value of his actions, preferring the more hands-on approach.
His past is filled with death, and he calls himself the God of Death because everyone he gets close to dies. This hasn't stopped him from making connections, but it does mean that it takes time for him to let people get close, and he has a bad habit of taking personal responsibility for any damage done to them.
Two years of peace have been good for him, in terms of letting him adjust to a more normal lifestyle. He still doesn't do well with obeying authority, but at least he hasn't had reason to try blowing up a military establishment for a while. Small steps, yeah? A lot of his cheerfulness is also more sincere, now, since he's had some time to see how life should work. It doesn't mean all of his cynicism is gone, of course, and he's still in about the same place as before in the serious-friend/relationships department, but at least he isn't at the same level of everything-I-touch-dies.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: He's much more into guys than girls - he did his best for Hilde's sake (and his own, who doesn't want to get the girl after they save the world?), but she just wasn't what he was looking for. Doesn't mean he couldn't manage with a girl at some point in the future, but for now he's pretty sure he'd rather be with guys. He's never been with anyone else - he's a little young to try picking guys up at a bar, and physical closeness just seems wrong with someone he doesn't know well. He knows the mechanics of sex (all that time spent with the Sweepers was good for something, anyway) and would definitely like to have a go at it, but he just hasn't quite pulled it off yet.
Powers: He's skilled in firearms, hacking, salvaging, piloting mechs, breaking-and-entering, and explosives.
Reason for playing: Where do I even start? Duo Maxwell was my first real step into roleplaying, outside of original characters, and he remains my strongest voice. There's just something about his ability to and insistence upon grinning in the face of terrible odds and events that draws me to him.
Bete Noire offers me a particularly interesting opportunity in that I can play him in a mature setting, which is probably the one way canon didn't shed a lot of light on. (Okay, I lie, canon didn't shed a lot of light on anything beyond its own convoluted politicking, but the repercussions of the events that shaped them and their decisions was particularly short-shafted.) He's also much more of an action hero type than either of my other two, which would be nice when plot things go down.
4. Original Character Supplement
World History:
Character History:
5. Samples
First-Person: So I get that this isn't New Edwards anymore, but can somebody explain how a guy can just end up somewhere they weren't? Maybe it's just me, but I usually notice that kind of thing. I don't really have anywhere to be, but is there anyplace to stay around here? Or, you know, directions back to the Memorial Park and my helicopter would work, too. Whichever's easiest. The faster the better, though, it's damn cold out here.
Third-Person: There was something ironic about starting friendships at gunpoint. Not that Duo would call Heero a friend, but he wasn't the only one that fit the pattern. All of the pilots, really, had met under violent conditions, but that made sense. Teenagers sent to Earth to destroy themselves and whatever else they could take down with them, violating orders with every breath they took; how else could they have met?
And then there was Hilde. Hilde with her wide eyes and fierce principles, ready to die for a cause and kill for a cause and never flinching away from the edge of destruction. Empathy and understanding, on the other hand... what better way to throw a soldier off-guard than to claim status as an ally? Even Heero hadn't understood Duo's calm acceptance of fate, but what else could he do? Just because everyone else wanted to run around like idiots it didn't mean Duo did, too. Fighting against someone with a common goal was just stupid. That wasn't to say Duo hadn't done his share of idiot things (what was the saying? Fools rush in?) but he did his best to keep his enemies and allies straight, even if that usually came down to who's-shooting-at-me versus who's-shooting-the-guy-shooting-at-me.
Besides, his whole goal in this war was to stop the fighting. All he needed to do right now was get his enemies out of the way, if he started fighting allies, he'd never get anything done.
Third-Person #2: They're kissing -- making out, by this point -- and all Duo can think is 'where do I put my hands?' His arms are hanging at his sides and it seems like he should be doing something. Or at least something more than keeping his mouth open and trying to keep from knocking his nose into Hilde's or hyperventilating. She doesn't seem to mind, based on the little gasping sounds she's making, but he still feels awkward, even when he puts one arm around her back and she presses closer.
It's only been eight days since the Mariemaia Incident, eight days since they almost fell into another useless war, and Duo's still having a hard time catching his bearings. The last week has been a blur of publicity and celebration, and it was only the night before that Hilde and Duo decided to start their own salvaging business. It's what everyone is doing, in their own way, trying to salvage peace from years of oppression and hatred, and it had seemed only natural that their celebratory breakfast be preceded by a kiss. But the kiss had turned into several, and he's pretty sure the eggs he burned and the pancakes she didn't quite finish are going to be completely inedible by the time they get back to them.
He's jolted out of his wandering thoughts when she suddenly takes charge, sliding both hands under his shirt and trying to push it over his head without removing her lips from his. He steps back, grinning, to pull it off himself and then they're both on the floor, laughing between increasingly breathless kisses. He's lost track of his thoughts entirely, more interested in fighting Hilde for who gets the upper hand (and position), and they manage to lose her top and his hair tie before one of them knocks into the table, upending a plate and the pitcher of orange juice. They both freeze in place, his lips pressed to the skin just below her ribs and her hands on his shoulders, as if their stillness will keep the world from continuing on and the juice from spreading further on the hardwood. But after a few, long moments they pull apart, both flushed, and staring at anything but each other. Hilde self-consciously adjusts her bra, and Duo goes to zip his pants, and they both laugh, somewhat awkwardly, when they realize the button is still in Hilde's hand.
They don't speak, both starting to clean up the mess they've made, until Duo forces himself to stop brushing up pancake crumbs and clears his throat. Making eye contact brings back the flush (what is he, ten? at least she's blushing, too), but he grins anyway. "Alright, next time? We're eating first."