Duo Maxwell | Pilot 002

Applicant Info

Name: Rin
Contact: rubberfaceokumura
Current Character(s): Rin Okumura | satanslash

Character Info

Character's Name: Duo Maxwell
Character's Canon: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Character's Age: 16
Canon Point: Endless Waltz
Background/History: Gundam Wikia

Strengths:

🌟 Loyalty

Mentioned below, Duo struggles with forming long, meaningful friendships. Though initially friendly it is rarely followed up with continuing connections and does little to truly ally himself with any one group until much later in the series. It's not for lack of wanting those bonds; truly he is one who understands, knows and feels the constant threat of morality that surrounds himself and people like him better than anyone else, making such bonds difficult to begin in earnest. That said, Duo isn't entirely incapable of creating deeper relationships, and given enough time he is capable of becoming someone's most loyal, trustworthy friend willing to come to their aid and even risk his life if it came down to it.

He proves time and again that he'd rather fight to the death than leave people behind to die in his place. His love for Father Maxwell and Sister Helen drove him to run head first into a military compound where soldiers had no issues firing at a child all so he could get a mobile suit and chase the rebels that were hiding in their church out. He rescues Heero multiple times, never knowing if the other will do the same for him and also being fully aware that it's likely to be a suicidal mission to do so. He claims more than once "I may run and hide but I'll never tell a lie", except it seems in the end the only thing he's 'running and hiding' from is his past rather than any dangerous or difficult situation, especially when those he's actually become loyal to are involved.

🌟 Survivor

Something about Duo, be it luck, skill, or simple random chance, has kept him from dying when he should have gone out many, many, many times over by now. A plague swept through the poorer areas of L2. He lived when everyone around him died. A skirmish between warring factions tore through the church and surrounding neighborhood in which he lived. He survived, despite having ran through a compound being shot at the entire time. Beatings, failures, imprisonments; all things that would have killed a lesser man. All things Duo Maxwell came through the other side of. He isn't stupid, though, and like hell he would rely on possible "luck" to get him through time and time again. Every incident was a learning moment, a chance to learn how to prepare for the next time. Because there was always going to be a next time.

🌟 "Jerk with a heart of gold"

Duo is, by all accounts, a lesser version of the trope. He's not really a "jerk", if anything more snark and sarcasm than anything, but its a trait that belies how nice he can actually be. Even foregoing traditional friendships or keeping people at arm's length, he can be just as kind and generous as Quatre, as seen when even after a lot of tension and distrust he still goes to the trouble aiding Heero and giving him space to repair his Gundam. He might complain a lot along the way, though. Can't let people think you're too kind, after all.

Weaknesses:

🌑 Hidden Behind a Mask

It goes without saying that all of the pilots have pasts that have made them who they are now, shaped them in to the people they started the war as and even carried them through to the end of both wars that they took part in. Duo, however, is the only one who can truly be stated as wearing a mask that hides the pain and anguish he experienced in his younger years. He went through trauma after trauma, personal relationships meeting untimely ends one by one in his presence. Yet for all that he is the loudest, affable, friendliest. The first to crack a terrible joke and smile. Those who first meet him wouldn't realize that beneath this superficial friendliness is something of a nihilist, an individual that has seen so much death in his short, short life that he claims he never believed in God but believed in a God of Death. He has grown somewhat past the point of shirking close and constant friendships, though he still struggles with actually interacting with others on a deeper level and probably always will to some degree.

🌑 Combat (Weak hand to hand skills)

Of the five pilots, Duo is often considered on the lower end of hand to hand combat abilities. He lacks the training that Heero, Wufei and even Trowa had in their pasts, much of his experience coming from his time on the streets and having to learn by simple trial and error. His skills lie more with explosives, gadgets and firearms, so while Duo can hold his own in a physical fight without these, he's also been shown to be the one most often overtaken and captured.

While Duo certainly isn't one to complain about such shortcomings, or even really compare himself to others knowing full well that all their circumstances were different, it does tend to get him in trouble enough to lead to some whining at times. He bemoans in Endless Waltz that being the weaker member and often the scapegoat because of it (he's used as a decoy "prisoner" for Trowa by taking a KO hit from Heero in the gut) means he misses out on "all the fun" of the missions. Despite this he doesn't ever seem to consider doing anything to change this fact, though, hinting at some level of stubbornness when it comes to his current skills. One would be hard pressed to convince him that he needs to advance or hone his lesser abilities, likely to be brushed off with some level of irritation about it.

🌑 Recklessness

Even as a child Duo had little regard for his own well being. From the start it seemed like everyone around him was destined to die while he was left to survive in the aftermath. Convinced at a young age that he was always going to lose those close to him, it turned him into the sort of person who would do anything to protect those people, including going so far as stealing a mobile suit from a military base, running through a hail of bullets as he did so. He was often the pilot saying "We're used to fighting losing battles", and more than once threw himself in to dangerous, possibly suicidal situations for the sake of others. Though he has grown up in the violent shadow of near-constant war, the recently established peace has tapered this bahvior off some. Still, it's an old habit that will certainly not go away anytime soon.

Powers/Abilities:

✨ Pilot

Heero was the first one to admit that Duo was the "better pilot", likely because unlike the others Duo actually had some experience piloting space shuttles and other crafts before he ever took on the mantle of Gundam Pilot. Taking Deathscythe was a natural progression for him.

✨ Mechanic/Scrapper

Before Operation Meteor was put in to motion (though not as originally intended) Duo had been picked up and eventually employed by the Sweeper Group, led by Professor G who was one of five professors in charge of creating the original Gundams. He was trained as the eventual pilot of Deathscythe, but during that time he was also put to work gathering scraps and debris in space that would be useful in various machines. This became a useful skill after the wars as he was able to open his own shop and continued scrapping and building as a proper job.

✨ Communications/Computers and Gadgets

It's never really stated where Duo got his ability with computers, gadgets and hacking but it is implied that before Professor G found him on the Sweeper ship he had stowed away on, he had "easily" disabled quite a few security systems in order to do so. Said skills came in handy later, obviously, and were even added on to as he became something of the de facto communications expert among the pilots.

✨ Stealth/Agility

It really applies more to his Gundam, as Deathscythe was built for stealth and speed over munitions and strength, but Duo himself is not without these skills personally. Even though it's something of a running gag that he often gets captured, he is often the one capable of getting himself out of those situations and ducking out unseen before anyone has noticed.

Other Noteworthy Traits:

💫 Weapons proficiency

He lacks most of the training that Heero, Trowa and Wufei were given in their younger years, but he's still decent with firearms and capable of picking up and using new ones without much difficult. Even with the wars over he still carries a pistol on his person, usually concealed.

Weapons & Other Special Inventory:

🌠 9mm pistol

🌠 Clothing

🌠 Baseball cap (dark blue)

🌠 Backpack

🌠 Metal scraps

🌠 A broken tablet computer

🌠 Small tool kit

🌠 Passport (fake, lists him as being 21 years old and from Earth)

Color: #00002a
Duo's gundam motif is generally considered to be black and red with hints of green, though his clothing is often shades of dark, dark blue, white and black. His mobile suit pilot designation is also 002 (the pilot names being something of a play on their number designations, "Duo" obviously meaning "two"). Keeping with the darker theme and using the number 2, but ensuring that he's within the blue spectrum I chose #00002a for Duo's forum color.

Sample: Dealing with a broken bus and a horrible storm

[ OPTIONAL ] World Aspect: None