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PLAYER INFO
NAME: Jaina
LOCATION/TIME ZONE: Eastern
CURRENT CHARACTERS, if any: Kuchiki Rukia/Kazahana, Ema Skye/Rosalind
CHARACTER INFO
CHARACTER NAME: Nicholas D. Wolfwood
SERIES: Trigun
RESERVED: N
WISHLIST: N
PERSONALITY: Wolfwood has a somewhat contradictory personality. He has noble goals (caring for the orphans brought to live in his home orphanage outside of December city) and a traditionally benevolent profession (traveling priest), yet the harsh conditions that residents of the planet are subject too have made him quite jaded and cynical. Even in his official time on the job as a priest, he charges money for hearing confessions, and rarely spends time actually talking about God.
The biggest difference between a traditional priestly outlook and Wolfwood's is that Wolfwood is more than willing to use violence and even kill when necessary. When traveling with pacifist Vash the Stampede, Wolfwood goes along with his refusal to kill, but considers such an outlook to be foolish and more likely to cause further harm in the long run. Wolfwood accepts the world as it is and has trouble imagining or working for something better, despite his concern for the orphans and children in general. He is slow to go out of his way to help people without prodding, but once he commits to such a cause, he's fully focused on it.
Though Wolfwood is fairly straightforward as far as his personality goes--what you see is pretty much what you get--he's also a skilled liar, easily able to hide his role as a hired gun and presenting a front of idle wandering. All the same, the affection and irritation he shows to his companions are entirely real, even though they don't know the whole truth about him.
Wolfwood's biggest weakness is children, or otherwise innocent people. Despite his belief that the world is a pretty terrible place that everyone will just have to learn to live in, he goes berserk when women and children are threatened, on one occasion loudly declaring that he will not let anyone suffer again. This is likely related to his own loss of innocence when he shot his abusive guardian while still a child. For all his cynicism and occasionally violent nature, Wolfwood can be very charming and charismatic at times, and is capable of enjoying himself with friends. Oddly--or perhaps understandably--he is most drawn to people like Vash and Milly, whose sincere and idealistic outlooks most challenge his own way of seeing things.
During his previous stay in Edensphere, Wolfwood’s personality remained pretty much the same as in canon, although he showed his irreverent side a bit more often to keep people at an emotional distance, since he couldn’t just up and leave--plus, since he didn’t need to do bad for good reasons so much in the sphere, he didn’t have as much to be actively cynical about, at least at first. He grew more bitter after Vash, someone very important to him in the sphere and out of it, abruptly disappeared, then returned with no memories of him. He’d never seen the sphere as a true Eden, but between the loss of Vash, the great fire, and the fact that the powers behind the sphere seemed to love messing with people, even children, he was starting to see the sphere as a kind of purgatory--or worse.
TIMELINE: From canon, immediately after his death in episode 23 of the Trigun anime; I would like him to retain his memories of Edensphere as well. He won’t know how long it’s been since he disappeared.
BACKGROUND: Wolfwood was born on a desert planet where the remnants of the human race crash landed after a failed attempt to find a replacement for the ruined Earth. His early years are unknown, but at seven years old he shot and killed his abusive guardian, and learned just how it is to kill. Afterwards, he was taken in and mentored by the killer called Chapel, one of the Gung-Ho Guns who served the villainous Knives, and became a talented gunman himself.
Feeling that it was too late for himself but not too late for children who could grow up differently, Wolfwood started working with the orphanage as an adult. (It is never stated in canon whether he went through any real training to become a priest, but for the purposes of this game, it will be assumed that he did go through some very unorthodox theological education in a very unorthodox world, and can genuinely lay claim to the title.) He enjoyed the work (which sometimes involved violence and killing in the name of protection, not just childcare) but never forgot what a horrible world they lived in.
At some point in his adulthood, Wolfwood was called upon to meet and travel with Vash the Stampede in order to track his movements and later guide him to Knives in return for money for the orphans. He did so, making it seem like a coincidental meeting, but actually hit it off with Vash and got along with him very well, despite their opposing ideologies and Vash's tendency to irritate him. Despite the trouble they ran into together, Wolfwood enjoyed the time they and the insurance girls Meryl and Milly spent together.
Vash and Wolfwood's differences came to a head the day Wolfwood killed Zazie the Beast, a child Gung-Ho gun, in order to save the lives of Vash and others. Despite his own belief that the killing had been necessary and justifiable due to the murders it prevented, it put distance between Vash and Wolfwood, causing Wolfwood to angrily claim his perspective as the correct one even as he wrestled with possibly accepting Vash's. To Wolfwood's surprise, Vash's peace-loving idealism (and Milly's, to a degree) had had an effect on him and he found himself grieving and questioning the path he chose.
After being consoled by Milly and then sleeping with her, Wolfwood initiated a final confrontation with Vash the next morning, but surprised them both by choosing Vash's side versus the Gung-Ho Guns who were about to attack them. Chapel, who had previously declared Wolfwood to be a true member of the Gung-Ho Guns and no longer just a hired hand, arrived with a cross-shaped gun similar to Wolfwood's and the two began to fight. At the climax of the battle, Wolfwood had the chance to kill Chapel and be free of his influence forever, yet he chose mercy and walked away, declaring his intention to take what he has learned throughout the years and apply it differently. However, the psychic manipulator Legato took control of Chapel's body and shot Wolfwood.
Even as he was bleeding to death, Wolfwood stopped to speak with Vash one more time and told him where Knives was located, making Vash realize Wolfwood had more to do with the Gung-Ho Guns than he had realized. Following this, Wolfwood made his way to a nearby empty church, where he initiated a rare talk with God. He admitted that he believed his sins couldn't be atoned for, but that he finally believed that Vash was right: there are ways to save people and avoid death, no matter how bad the world gets. As his life faded away, Wolfwood thought of his own desire to live a life of peace with Vash and the insurance girls. Railing against death, Wolfwood cried out that he did not want to die this way, and asked God if it would be too late to ask for his forgiveness.
He died holding his cross weapon, where Vash found him after following the blood trails.
When Wolfwood was born in Edensphere, he at first thought it was some kind of weird robbery/shakedown, but soon decided it could be an interesting experience, though he didn’t at all trust that they’d ended up in this place with no memories for a good reason. His first friend, Geranium, aggravated him, but there was something appealing about his company--he was a fun guy, and and his idealism was both frustrating and admirable.
The other shoe dropped when Geranium and Wolfwood discovered the murdered body of Truth one evening at the Aquarium. For Wolfwood, it was almost like confirmation of what part of him expected--the world could be a really horrible place, and bad things happened all the time whether people deserved it or not. (And a lot of them probably did.)
Still, there were things about the sphere that he found beautiful, and was even awed by--all the water in one place in the Aquarium, and the fact that it actually rained. Those were the things about the sphere that he found holy, in a way.
As time went by, Wolfwood explored the sphere and made some more friends, some kindred spirits, and some not so much like himself. While exploring the Scavengers’ Yard, he and Geranium discovered mechanical creatures from Trigun’s canon and had some major deja vu while fighting them. He received his first memory crystal in August 2009 and discovered that he had been a priest. He wasn’t sure how that made sense, knowing what kind of person he was, but he accepted the knowledge cheerfully, at least on the outside.
While the Wilderness was transformed into Hollywood, Wolfwood met Grift, who was a fellow dirty rotten scoundrel, and helped him pull off a quick robbery. They ended up fast friends and remained that way for as long as they were both in the sphere.
During the Great Fire that October, Wolfwood tried to escape the flames and chose to shoot a man who was trapped under a heavy branch, out of mercy. He knew there were some people who could not be saved. He turned out to be one of them, as well--a burning branch impaled him and knocked him down to a lower level of the tree. When he was rehatched, his new dream spoke of love and peace, things that he didn’t figure applied to him, and he heard Geranium’s voice. Afterward, he moved in with Geranium, Simon and Koi for a while. Soon after he had Geranium’s birth dream and argued with him over their respective principles in a conversation sparked by the dream, he moved in with Grift.
In January 2010, he purchased the Cross Punisher (a machine gun/rocket launcher/gun rack in the shape of a heavy metal cross) from Gene. Something about the weapon just called to him--probably its capacity for violence and its cross shape in equal measures. Soon after, Geranium disappeared, and Wolfwood was as angry and bitter as he’d ever been. But he went on with life and began actively practicing as a priest in the sphere--or he would have if anyone actually took him up on his offerings of blessings, confession, etc for a price. In April, he and Grift made plans to offer some of his priestly services at the bar. Hey, it made sense to Wolfwood. He also learned his true name that month.
That spring, Geranium came back, but he remembered nothing and called himself Broom. Wolfwood was very upset about this but hid it, choosing not to tell his friend that they had known each other right away. It ended up being a moot point, as Wolfwood himself disappeared from the sphere late that spring, leaving behind a few friends and the Cross Punisher.
ABILITIES: Wolfwood is a normal human being, though he seems able to take a lot of physical punishment. Anime physics or something more? You decide. He's a fantastic marksman, an ability achieved through ten years of training before setting out on his own as an adult. He has keen survival instincts, honed by necessity. Other than this, he's just a guy in good physical condition, aside from any lung damage caused by frequent smoking.
GAME INFO
EDENSPHERE NAME: Chapel again, but he knows his real name, so he would go by either--whatever people want to use
BIRTHDAY LOG: Yes please.
DREAM:
Everything was sand and sky. He lifted his cigarette to his mouth and inhaled as he realized he hadn’t expected anything else. Not that he could remember expecting anything at all--what had he been doing a minute ago? He wasn’t sure. All he could remember was being here in this twilit desert.
So he walked. It didn’t matter which direction he picked when everything looked the same, so he just moved forward. The weight of the large, canvas-wrapped item he carried on his shoulder was heavy, but for some reason he didn’t question it. This was a burden he could bear.
He looked down after a while and noticed a set of footsteps in the sand. Stopping for a moment, he placed his foot beside one. Exactly the same size, and that was another thing that didn’t surprise him. Somehow he knew that the footprints were his own, and he had walked this path before.
Why was he here now, if he’d been this way before and moved on? Why did he keep going instead of picking another direction or trying something else entirely? He paused briefly with the intention of setting down the thing he carried, but the suns rose higher in the sky and he knew that to stop now would invite death.
He kept walking. Voices drifted on the wind, specific words unintelligible but their sentiment and emotion perfect clear. A woman’s voice, bright and sunny, and he felt his lips curve into a smile. Then the voice of a man who sounded old and young at the first time, terrible grief in his words. The smile fell away then, and he wondered how he could hurt when he didn’t even know who was speaking or what he said. And then another man’s voice, lively and fairly bursting with scandalous intention. He knew that voice, liked that voice.
Then there was just silence.
Eventually he came to what looked like a path in the dirt, and a while after that, a fork in the path. He squinted off to the left, and he could barely make out what looked like trees and greenery. Something like a glass dome over it gleamed in the sun. An Eden, of sorts, but it just might be a mirage. To the right was more dirt and desert. There was nothing different from what he’d seen so far, but there was something familiar and comfortable about the idea of going that way. Why not?
He hesitated, though. It was just a path, a direction, and if he chose the wrong one, well, there were ways of changing things around to his advantage. But something inside him said this was important. The choice he made now could change everything. His future, and maybe the futures of the people whose voices he’d heard. Whose voices he would like to hear again.
Maybe then he’d remember how he’d gotten here, and why he was so very tired. Even if he didn’t know what they were, he was certain that he had things to do. He just needed the chance to do them.
He lifted his foot and took a step forward.
JOURNAL SAMPLE: Hey there, friends. I’ve been told it’s been quite a while. Cleaning off all that goo isn’t any more fun the third time around, but I think I’ve got the hang of it.
[The journal page singes slightly in a couple of spots, as though someone’s just shaken burning ashes off the end of their cigarette. Because someone has.]
I took a walk around to see if much has changed. It’s a little disappointing. The name was Chapel, but you can call me Wolfwood if you want. Nicholas D. Wolfwood. I’m just a humble priest who God has sent back to this land of Eden to tend the flock. That or I had some pretty bad hooch last night. But hey, who am I to question the Lord’s plan?
Oh yeah, one more thing. If anyone’s still got my gun, I’d like it back. I don’t have much money right now, but I don’t expect it for free--fair’s fair. But I’m sure we can make an agreement. Let’s say five free confessions to cover the maintenance while I was gone.
ASPIRATIONS: I gave this a lot of thought while deciding whether I truly had the drive to play Wolfwood through the close of the game. Since the messed-up side of the sphere is likely to reveal itself more and more as we get to the end, I’d like to explore some of Wolfwood’s more mercenary side. He’s not a villain and he doesn’t care only about himself, but it would be interesting to explore the side of him that’s willing to do bad things if he thinks it’s for a good reason. Also I would really like for him to fire his rocket launcher at least one.
PLOT PERMISSIONS:
ES 4th Wall: Yes
Chara 4th Wall: No
ES Mysteries: Yes
Memory Rec'v: Yes
Memory Distrib: Yes
Dream Distrib: Yes
Your Wilderness:Yes