Application for badfic_manor
OOC Information:
Name/Alias: Waffle
Age: 21
E-Mail: waffleroll (at) gmail (dot) com, AIM: waffleroll
Personal LJ: wafflepop
How did you hear about Badfic? GUESS I'M JUST PSYCHICALLY DRAWN TO AWESOME \o/
IC Information:
Character Name: Near
Name that appears on name plaque: Near
Character Journal: whitestlie
Canon: Death Note
Point in Canon: Chapter 103, immediately after Mikami counts to 40 seconds at the warehouse
Age: 18
Birthday: 8/24/1991
Appearance:
Lookee! ← Near has white hair, pale skin, round black eyes, wears a white button down pajama that's too large for him, and usually sports a rather bland expression (sometimes exchanged for a childish pout when upset or creepy smile when not). Although Near is 18, he looks like a little kid, standing at at 5'1 tall and weighing a whopping 88 lbs. He is almost always seen sitting, sometimes in a chair but much more frequently on the floor with one knee drawn up, immersing himself in toys, stacking things, or twirling his hair. He doesn't usually look up from his work, even when speaking to others.
Abilities: Near is extremely intelligent with the ability to somehow deduce a vast amount of information from a meager set of data (I'd like to call this the Psychic Wammy Effect). He consistently ranked first at Wammy's House, an orphanage that pruned some of the top child prodigies in the world, which shows just how hardcore the little freak really is. He has the ability to focus on multiple events simultaneously, evidenced by his ability to watch several different television screens (all airing different programs) at the same time while gathering information. He's also shown to be able to build impressive monuments out of small things like die and matches with little difficulty.
Personality:
As a strategist:
Near is a strategist, a chess master. He is a genius, planning his moves two, three, four steps ahead and predicting his opponents' moves just as thoroughly. Brought up with the goal of succeeding the world's greatest detective (L), he thrives on solving puzzles and winning games, and he does it well.
Consequently, he treats everything like a game, even when lives are on the line. This does not, however, mean that Near doesn't value those lives, as he does express regret when key players (such as most of the SPK members (his team) and Mello (his rival)) die. However, he is perfectly aware and accepting of the fact that sacrifice, though better kept to a minimum, is sometimes necessary, and all in all, it's the end result that really matters. We see evidence of this belief when Near declares L to be a loser for not being able to solve the Kira (Kira = the big bad of the series) case in time, even though he acknowledges L's contributions and later even admits to holding him in high regard. Also, at the end of the long battle with Kira, Near declares that he had “lost the game,” implying that, not surprisingly, Near had viewed the entire battle that had cost millions of lives as yet another game.
Because Near treats everything like a competition, given that it provides enough challenge to be worth his time, his motivation to catch criminals isn't exactly due to any strong belief in justice. He isn't above using underhanded means such as kidnapping (or “taking into custody,” as he calls it) and deceit in order to get what he wants. Although Near has expressed extreme disgust towards Kira's actions, this is more likely due to his stubborn dislike of Kira, his opponent, himself rather than his beliefs and what he stands for. Furthermore, although Near understands Kira's ideals well, he completely dismisses them when Light uses them as justification for his actions, calling him "just another murderer," showing that although he understands the logistics behind everything, he doesn't particularly care about Kira's ideals, only the opponent himself. In other words, only the game itself. He will, however, role play justice, but that doesn't mean he has to waste effort in actually doing it well (Near quote: "Of course saving lives is important, but our priorities are clear. We need to seize the notebook."), especially not when there are more important things to focus on.
Near is methodical, and he plans everything to death. He is not a risk taker. The kid has an extreme amount of patience and is willing to cover every last corner case of a plot if it means that this would optimize his chances of securing a win. He absolutely has to simply because Near doesn't lose. He never has and he cannot afford to as one loss can undermine everything the title of L stood for. He will wait until he is practically certain he can see his win to its conclusion. For instance, even after Gevanni (SPK member) confirmed that Mikami (Kira's lackey) had a Death Note on him, Near continued to have him tail the target for about 10 days until he's certain there was no Shinigami following Mikami. He then had everyone wait 24 more days to ensure Gevanni didn't die after touching the notebook. It's not surprising then that Near dislikes, well, surprises, especially those that interrupt his plans. He dislikes losing control of the situation, although when it happens, it doesn't take long for Near to recompute the next best strategy.
Part of how Near minimizes risks is to first act as the observer before making any moves. Prior to relocating to Japan, Near basically sat back and watched the battle between the Japanese task force and Mello's mafia unfold. He left everything up to the task force initially, with ulterior motives of course,and when the director of the FBI asked if it's really safe to leave everything to an inept task force, Near responded that their ineptitude could give the SPK a chance to gain information and possibly snatch the notebook. He watches and analyzes things from a safe distance, using the subjects as tools to gather information for him. However, Near is perfectly willing to cooperate and even be used as a tool himself when there is mutual benefit for both parties and as long as he can still win in the end. For instance, he allowed the Japanese task force to make full use of the SPK's resources when catching Mello and was perfectly willing to have Mello use him to wring information out of Mogi (task force member).
When he's not watching other people duke it out or sending his own people out to do the dirty work for him, Near plays the manipulator, namely, he stirs up trouble for his enemies by turning people against each other, shaking them up, or simply pissing them off via snark, deceit, verbal abuse, and just all around cheeky behavior. Oh, Near loves making his opponents feel like crap. After Kira's failed attack on SPK HQ, Near sent a cocky message to the task force assuring them that the number to reach him had been re-established and that he would be waiting for their call, as though it's a given that one of them would betray Light and call him. Near's also not above lying in order to further his goals, and because he hardly ever changes his tone (usually monotonous) when speaking, it's hard to detect whether he's actually being truthful or not. He lies several times in order to rouse suspicion among the task force, even claiming that one of their members had died in order to motivate them to move in his favor.
Ironically, Near himself hates it when others lie to him, especially when they don't make any effort to hide it. At one point Light lied to him in such a bold, mocking manner that Near broke an action figure with one thumb. This is exactly what Near himself does to his opponents, showing just what a hypocrite he really is.
On social interaction (or lack of):
Near surrounds himself with allies (though not as much as he surrounds himself with toys). It's an absolute necessity, because as smart as he is, he is incapable of doing much of anything without others' help. He has little life skills and cannot really take care of himself if left alone. Therefore, he does treat his teammates with respect so long as they are competent at their jobs. By respect, I mean he is patient with them and willing to answer questions and explain everything in great detail when necessary. Even when not asked to do so, Near will often explain something if he thinks it's relevant to the current topic at hand. This is usually because Near at times will think out loud and as long as there's no reason not to share information, he won't mind those around him whom he trusts hearing and weighing in on it. He also asks people for there opinion on an issue, although whether or not he actually takes them into serious consideration is questionable. Near is, however, uninterested in small talk or anything that doesn't contribute to the current game at hand. He handwaved both Rester's and Lidner's apologies when they expressed disappointment at having failed in some aspect of their assigned tasks, preferring instead to focus on the next steps.
Unlike the way Near might treat those who he consider nuisances or enemies, he does not ignore his most trustworthy and useful allies or snark at them when displeased, at least not with the intention to insult. He might say cold things off-handedly, but that's because Near doesn't put much effort into trying to act nice, especially if he already knows the people will react the same regardless of his manners. For instance, when he thanked Mello for inadvertently helping him narrow down Kira's identity, the implication that Mello had been used as a tool led to a gun being pointed at Near's head. He also told Gevanni that he didn't have to touch a killer notebook if he's too scared, a rather condescending comment. It's unlikely that Near had actually meant to insult him personally, although he might have used that phrasing on purpose to push Gevanni into action. He pulls the "if you don't think you can do it" line more than once throughout the manga. Near's likely to be perfectly aware of how his stand-offish attitude comes off to others but just doesn't care under most circumstances.
And of course, nothing keeps Near from spewing out waves of orders and expect them to be followed like its a given, going so far as to ask Rester (SPK member) to fly all the way from Japan to the US and back just because he didn't want to fly on his own, as if he was asking someone to pass the salt.
Contrary to the way Near responds to those who are worthwhile, if people are useless to Near or aren't challenging enough to pose a threat, he will most likely ignore them or at most respond to the bare minimum in a bored manner. If asked a question, he'll likely just answer as long as there's no reason not to, but may not go into further details. When Near planned to have Mikami write everyone's names in the fake notebook in order to catch Kira, the task force yelled questions like "You mean some guy's just going to poke his head in and kill us all? And you just want us to sit back and watch?" To which Near replied nonchalantly "Yes that is correct, now listen carefully ..." and proceeds to give out further instructions, losing interest and focusing on his own thought process instead. Sure, he may answer, but he'll just give a yes or no response without explaining any further unless he finds something worth his time to explain. On that note, Near does not like explaining things more than once. If bothered enough, he will go from a state of boredom to exasperation and start ignoring some people completely. He is much more interested in continuing his own train of thought than to waste time explaining something twice, since hey, it doesn't take him more than once to soak a piece of information thoroughly. Other times, he'll just wave people off if he doesn't agree with what they have to say. When Gevanni started to doubt that Mikami is X-Kira, giving reasons as to why, Near's ignored them and responded with "No, there's a good chance he is. Keep tailing him."
When questioning people, Near will ask straightforward questions if he doesn't think they pose any challenge, such as with Soichiro Yagami (Light's father and task force member), but will try to fish for them or test his opponents if he does sense a challenge, such as with Kira himself. Although he appears aloof most of the time, Near does pay attention and adapts to the people he talks to accordingly. He is even able to think like them, a skill that comes in handy when trying to predict others' moves, although this doesn't evoke any form of sympathy on Near's part.
To those whom he dislikes wholeheartedly, he will make no effort to hide his distaste. He will also boldly share information with his enemies with a so-what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it kind of attitude (usually along with a crazy smirk that borders on creepy), such as when he admitted to Light upfront that he had taken Misa and Mogi into custody with their consent, or just to piss his enemies off. Near is pretty sure of himself when it comes to deductions, and he enjoys letting his enemies know it too, especially if it has the effect of making them feel uneasy. When Near states his assumptions, he usually states them as though they were fact. When it was revealed that a Shinigami was with the task force, Near immediately declared that the Shinigami was lying on Kira's behalf as though it was already proven (Near quote: "Investigations are about making assumptions. If you're wrong, you just have to say sorry"). If people question Near's deductions or appear skeptical, he'll sometimes get defensive about it and tack on at the end something along the lines of “I'm only saying it's a possibility” or “Well it's only so-and-so percent certain,” although he likely believes himself to be right anyway.
Finally, if he really looks down on someone, he will tell it like it is, making blunt insults (like calling the Vice President of the US "less than a maggot"). If he knows that they're already fully aware of some mistake they've made or of their own level of ineptitude, he won't hesitate to further rub salt into those woulds, such as when he chewed out Light and the Japanese task force for handing the notebook to Mello so easily. Just like in questioning others, Near tends to use more straightforward means of berating those whom he dislikes when he finds them incompetent. If a challenge is involved, he will use more subtle means of mockery via his cocky attitude and ways of wording things. This is seen in the way Near criticized Light outright upon first meeting him, believing him, as a fake L, to be inept. He then began to mock him in less direct ways after it became apparent that he, as Kira, was a worthy foe.
Although Near's tone is usually aloof or condescending, he actually uses polite wordings when speaking in general, addresses strangers by their official titles, etc, but does so in such a dispassionate way it's almost comical. He tacks on good manner phrases such as “please,” “thank you,” “it's a pleasure,” etc. without expressing any sort of actual gratitude in his tone, almost as if those words were just an afterthought. It's likely that while sometimes Near speaks politely in order to be sarcastic, oftentimes he just does it out of habit or for formality's sake.
Quirks:
Near is antisocial and withdrawn. He's often seen sitting or lying on the ground, playing with toys or stacking small objects into towers well over his own height. Even when he talks with others, he does so while playing with toys, at one point even having Rester hold the phone for him while he spoke because he was too busy opening boxes of die. He won't even bother to look at or face the people he's conversing with if he's preoccupied with something else. Near also uses these toys in order to explain his thoughts. This is particularly evident towards the end of the manga when he actually creates finger puppets in the likeness of the major players in the Kira case and uses them to model his plans and play out difference scenarios.
Although Near has a few toys he keeps around, such as robots and die, he generally has short attention span when it comes to trying out new kinds of toys and can be seen moving from one kind to another from chapter to chapter. Vol 13 lists up to 25 different types of toys and toy sets that Near's gone through over the course of the story. Oh, and Near has a huge hair twirling addiction.
Strengths:
First of all, Near is a prodigy. In addition, the guy is so emotionally stable, it's almost disturbing (When his team members are all dying around him, he basically just went “hmm” and observed. When the SPK HQ was in danger of being brought down by a mob, he takes the time to give a lecture first before carrying out plans for escape.). However, this trait allows him to remain calm and collected and think optimally even under pressure. His patience is quite impressive and is part of reason why he's such a skilled planner and strategist. Near wouldn't mind waiting weeks in order to fully polish a plan before making a move. He is also a top liar and will lie without hesitation. Unless he intentionally seeks to piss off his enemies, his deadpan expression and monotone remains the same regardless of lying or telling the truth, making it difficult to detect deception.
Weaknesses:
At 5'1” tall and weighing 88 lb, Near has an extremely poor build for a man his age (he's 18 and looks like a child). Intelligence is his greatest strength, but if you can't even win a fight against a park pigeon, it would probably do you no good when it comes to fending for yourself. Speaking of which, Near indeed relies on others to take care of him. Having always had everything done for him, Near has practically nonexistent life experience and is therefore almost completely dependent on other people to handle even the simplest of tasks. He has a sedentary lifestyle, rarely seen standing. If he gets any less active he'd be dead. It also doesn't help that Near has laughably poor social skills (he doesn't even look at people or bother to face them when talking), so unless there is some great motivator for those who bother to work with him, he's unlikely to make any allies easily as he is prone to the greater-than-thou attitude that is quite off-putting.
I've stated before that Near's a skilled strategist, but he will sometimes get a little too absorbed in his own plans, pruning and polishing it until its perfect. Unless his tools teammates are incredibly patient as well, its unlikely that any of them will put up with Near for long. He can be a little too confident in his plans however, which was probably what led him to underestimate Kira and overlook the possibility of his enemy forging a notebook as well, almost leading Near to a loss.
He also sucks at darts.
History: Nate River, born August 24th, 1991, under the alias Near, grew up at Wammy's House, an orphanage that fostered young genius minds with the intention that one of them would become the successor to L, the greatest detective in the world.The boy consistently ranked first during his time at the orphanage, and thus he and the runner-up, Mello, were eventually singled out as L's potential successors. On December 5, 2004, Near, age 13, and Mello were informed of L's death from Roger, the current head of Wammy's House. Since L died before he could make a decision regarding his succession, Roger suggested that the two work together. Unwilling to work with Near, Mello abandoned the orphanage, leaving Near to inherit L's title.
Over the course of 4 more years, Near individually compiled research and data regarding the Kira case and assembled an investigation team composed of FBI and CIA agents called the Special Provision for Kira (SPK). He reported his findings to the president of the USA, including the existence the Death Note, the notebook that can kill anyone just by having their name written in it, one of which he suspected to reside with the Japanese task force.
To acquire said Death Note, Near sent an SPK member to the task force only to discover that their director had been kidnapped and subsequently killed. At this point, he began to suspect Mello's participation in the kidnapping. Following Sayu Yagami's kidnapping, Light (Kira posing as L) contacted Near for the first time, and the latter revealed that not only did he know of L's death, but that the SPK were a new organization that operated without the help of L. However, he agreed to have the SPK work with the task force by providing resources for them while L and the task force made all the decisions with the goal of observing and possibly snatching the notebook at the right moment.
Eventually the notebook fell into Mello's hands. After Near questioned Soichiro Yagami, who took part in the notebook exchange, to verify who was responsible for the kidnapping, most of the SPK members fell prey to the Death Note, now under Mello's control. Following a some heated verbal exchange between Near and the second L, the former decided to reveal his and Mello's origins in return for more information regarding the notebook. While the task force figured out ways to get into Mello's hideout, Near continued to observe.
WIth Kira's aid, the Japanese task force was finally able to retrieve the notebook. At that point, Near began to suspect the second L of being Kira. He also intended to lure Mello out by having the disbanding of the SPK publicly announced and was successful. After a face-to-face (or rather, it was more like back-to-face) confrontation between Near and Mello, Near to deduced from information given by his rival that the 13 day rule in the notebook was fake. After speaking with the task force and confirming that a Shinigami was with them, Near started to rouse suspicion among them against the second L, who he's now convinced was Kira.
Shortly after, Mello called task force member, Mogi, and led him to the SPK headquarters in order to have Near get information out of him for both of them. Before Near was able to make any progress, however, a horde of Kira fans (sent by Light) started attacking the building. Near had money showered upon the crowd in order to distract them then made his escape along with the rest of the SPK and Mogi. Since Mogi refused to give out any information, Near contacted the task force and informed them that he had died of a heart attack, arousing more suspicion against Light. Finally, task force member Aizawa agreed to give Near some information regarding the previous L's movements. With the new information, Near released Mogi and sent both back to the task force. Based on their exchange, Near deduced that the new L was Light Yagami.
Eventually, he discovered that Kira was doing his killings through another person, Teru Mikami, and was keeping in contact with him through news reporter and Kira spokesperson, Kiyomi Takada.
Near had SPK member Gevanni tail Mikami for weeks in order to discover the location of the notebook with the intention of inserting false pages for Mikami to use on the day that he will expose Kira. He had set up a time to meet with Light, assuming that at that point, he would reveal his face and Light would have to have Mikami write his name in the fake notebook. He would then catch him in the act, or so that was the plan.
However, he discovered at the last moment that the notebook Mikami appeared to be using had been a fake itself this whole time. Takada had actually been the one doing the killings for him and the real notebook was hidden elsewhere. The location was discovered at the conclusion of Takada's kidnapping and Mello's resulting death after Mikami used the real notebook for the first time since the SPK began keeping watch over him to finish her off and destroy the evidence. This time, Near had Gevanni replace the real notebook overnight.
Upon finally meeting, Near made everyone present (the SPK and task force) wait until Mikami had finished writing all of their names down in the notebook. Light then called Mikami out and asked how long it had been since he wrote down the first name, knowing that the first victim would die exactly 40 seconds after having their name written down. To this, Mikami began to count the number of seconds elapsed until he finally hit 40.
First Person Sample: Note: Consider this first person sample a hypothetical situation at the manor.
[Audio clicks on.]
A moment of your time please.
[At this point, the device switches to video, but the only thing being filmed appears to be a wall.]
I found this. Does anyone happen to recognize it?
[A hand now enters the camera's field of view, holding onto what appears to be a thin, worn, black, leather-bound notebook. Sure enough, it's a Death Note, the very one he had Gevanni steal from Mikami prior to his unexpected relocation. Although the front of the notebook does contain a set of very distinct, alien symbols, it is only the blank backside of the notebook that's displayed on video. However, anyone who has seen or used such a notebook should undoubtedly be able to recognize it. A notebook that kills is not something that can easily be forgotten.]
If the owner would like to reclaim this notebook, please respond with a brief description of the its contents so I can be sure it actually belongs to you. If you are not the owner but have an idea of who it might belong to, feel free to let me know as well. I will hold onto it in the mean time.
[Off camera, Near grins, and the feed returns to audio.]
Well then, Owner, I look forward to hearing from you.
[The feed ends. Sure, various kinds of reactions could expected from those who simply know of the notebook's existence, but only someone like Kira would take that last line personally for what it was truly intended to be, a challenge.]
Third Person Sample:
Kiyomi Takada. Suicide. Burns to death by setting fire to everything around her including what she wrote on. January 26th 2:33 PM.
For Mikami to risk exposing himself and the real notebook in order to take care of Takada and any evidence on her, he must have been pretty sure that she actually did have something to write on. No, more than that, he must have been pretty sure that she had actually written on it. So Takada must have found some way to contact him. Of course she had means of communicating with both Kira and X-Kira and could have informed them of her movements, but Mello was not so careless that he would just leave her alone with some sort of communication device unguarded.
So the first name that she would have to write, no, the only name that would have even mattered at the time would have been … With a flick, Near knocked over the formerly standing finger puppet that looked oddly similar to his rival.
He tugged at a strand of hair. Like always, Near had done his best to cover every corner case, every blind spot he could conceive before setting a plan into motion. He had tried his hardest to maintain multiple steps ahead of his opponents by predicting all possible moves down to the very last detail. Yet he had somehow underestimated his own behavioral predictability. Near pulled the tress all the way out before letting go so that it snapped back harshly like a spring. He had been wrong, as much as it ripped at his ego to admit it. Had it not been for Mello, he would have been the one who would have lost.
The boy picked up a miniature puppet forged in his likeness and placed it beside the figurine marked “Kira.” So, I alone could not surpass L after all. With a disgruntled, childlike pout, he picked up the puppet that resembled L and placed it on the other side of the Kira figurine. Finally he picked up the fallen Mello puppet and placed that one behind miniature Kira. But together, perhaps we could have surpassed him. Near continued to eye the four major players now stationed like soldiers on the battlefield, three puppet detectives encircling their elusive target. His eyes narrowed.
However -
He knocked over the L puppet. He knocked over the Mello puppet. Both were already out of the game after all. And he instead turned his attention to Kira.
Kira, the second L, Light Yagami. He had not canceled their meeting even after the incident with Takada, which meant for sure that he had not been aware of Mikami's independent actions. If that were the case, he must have tried to kill Takada himself in the exact same manner. How convenient. Then as long as the task force continued keeping their eye on L, Mikami would not be able to alert him of anything before the 28th. Everything would go according to plan, and Kira would lose for sure.
This time with a defiant smirk, Near knocked over the miniature Kira as well. Now among the four toy figures, only one remained perfectly upright, the last one standing.
- in the end, it will still be my win.
Links:
Wiki!
DN Wiki!
Notes: For funzies, I'd like to bring Near back in the exact same condition he was left in when last at the manor, meaning he's not going to have any idea that he'd ever left in the first place!
Bonus: Because BF is made of awesome! fffft. And this kid could use a dose of crazy. 8D