mercykills | deerington: application.

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Nicholas D. Wolfwood
Canon: Trigun Maximum
Canon Point: Immediately after his death in volume 10.

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Right shoulder-blade
Current Health/Status: Wolfwood will have just died from a combination of bullet wounds and organ failure after taking regenerative serum too many times. Apart from scattered bullet wounds he also took a giant spike through his right shoulder. He will have both internal and external scarring from his death.
Age: Chronologically about 18, but due to accelerated aging looks around 30.
Species: Human

History: Wolfwood’s history (manga section only), Trigun Maximum plot (down at the ‘Storyline’ section of Vash’s profile)

Personality: Wolfwood, first and foremost, is a realist. He doesn’t have much time or patience for idealism and lofty notions of a world without violence. Wolfwood is fully aware of how brutal the world is and believes that surviving it is of utmost importance. Where his constant companion Vash would be preaching love and peace, and never aiming to kill anyone, Wolfwood is much more likely to kill someone if it means stopping them from going after anyone else. For Wolfwood, the risk of retaliation isn’t worth the chance that someone might have a change of heart.

This is even more prominent for him when facing off against those with inhuman abilities, a concept that scares him and even drives him to try and kill the primary antagonists on a couple of occasions despite his disadvantage in power. If it could prevent further suffering, Wolfwood has to at least give it a shot.

This attitude stems from his upbringing as an assassin in the Eye of Michael. Forced to learn how to kill as a child, Wolfwood rapidly had to let go of the decent person he had been and adapt to a much harsher reality. Being brought up as a killer, modified with extreme surgery and ruthlessly educated by a man he hated caused Wolfwood to grow up damaged when it comes to morals and normal human behaviour. The training he was subjected to didn’t entirely twist him - Wolfwood never enjoys killing others, and it causes him a lot of emotional torment later on over what’s wrong and what’s right. Several of the more ruthless characters call him 'nice' because he doesn't have a true desire to kill others. As Vash puts it early in the series, Wolfwood is “a man forcing himself to play the devil while his own heart cries out.” He’ll do what he has to, always, stomping down his own sense of empathy and guilt in the process.

Wolfwood’s determination to survive no matter the moral cost to himself ultimately goes back to his childhood. Wolfwood was brought up in an orphanage, a place he genuinely loves and cares about. As a child he was helpful to the other kids and was a big-brother figure to everyone there. After he’s taken into the Eye of Michael he holds onto that sense of duty and protection to the orphanage, knowing full well that if he fails or dies the Eye will simply go back there and take another child… or worse, kill everyone there. This desire to protect his home runs through everything Wolfwood does, acting as his moral compass even as he becomes more brutal and cynical as time goes on. At his core he’s a decent person and wants to do right by those he loves, no matter the personal cost to himself. This goes far enough for him to die in his efforts to save a former friend of his, Livio.

Despite his constant fights with Vash about the nature of killing and what’s most important, Wolfwood eventually comes to believe what Vash says about doing better as a person, and that a murderer doesn’t always have to be a murderer. It’s tremendously difficult for Wolfwood to trust other people, and it takes right up until the day of his death for him to admit to himself that he does believe in Vash and consider him a friend. He’s entirely used to fending for himself and struggles to break away from that. He does start down this path in canon, starting by helping Vash escape from his brother and ending by fighting his childhood friend Livio in a desperate attempt to save him. He stops aiming to kill and while his efforts to change are cut short, he does indeed change. In Deerington Wolfwood will still be on that path, no longer seeing killing as inevitable and wanting to do better in his efforts. There’s a sense of hope for the future he starts to grow, if not for himself in particular.

That said, Wolfwood is a bit mercurial. He is friendly and personable to most regular people he meets, and definitely sees value in kindness and mercy. In his first appearance he's quick to be friends with those he meets and gives the last of his money to children. He helps out in a lot of situations when possible, and will go to any length to protect those he cares about. He does have compassion for others, though he doesn't always show it particularly well and is constantly weighing it against his other goals. He comes across as calm and unflappable in many situations, even deadly ones. It's less likely that the darker aspects of his personality will come out in ordinary conversation.

On the flip side, his temper is short and he doesn’t hesitate to lash out at anyone he thinks is being idiotic, either with words or with fists. He is ridiculously stubborn about what he thinks is the right thing to do and will arc up in a fight over it if challenged. Wolfwood is cranky and cynical a lot of the time, or just downright angry, especially if the situation is bleak or dangerous. He tends to be blunt in his assessments and doesn’t dance around difficult subjects.

Wolfwood is also incredibly observant of other people. Immediately after meeting Vash he points out that the other man has an empty smile that covers up his pain. Wolfwood is a very good judge of character and pays attention quite closely, whether it seems obvious or not. Part of this comes from his training, but on a deeper level it’s just part of his nature.

Wolfwood isn’t terribly open about his life or his past. Given the traumatic and damaging circumstances he grew up in, his actions as a double-agent and the fact that he’s younger than he looks, Wolfwood is more likely to leave those things unsaid or be outright deceptive about them when it suits him. This can be even harder when it comes to people he cares about, as he tries exceptionally hard not to let his childhood friends realise just what he’s become. There’s a deep sense of regret and self-loathing within him over what he is, something that will never fully be scrubbed out.

He’s taken some steps towards being more open in canon, at least when talking to his friends. It will still take some time and familiarity before Wolfwood really speaks honestly about himself to others, but it’s easier now than it used to be.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Wolfwood is human, but he was subjected to surgical and chemical processes to make him a more effective killer. This is described in canon as healing capabilities, increased muscle strength, strengthened bones and sharpened sensory nerves. The process also made him age faster due to accelerated metabolism. Wolfwood has physical strength beyond an ordinary human’s, as well as heightened resilience and durability. He wields a huge gun called the Punisher which clocks in at 300 pounds and has no difficulty both in carrying it and throwing it around during fights. He can take an excessive amount of damage before he’s taken down, and he does heal faster than the norm. It’s not spelled out how fast this is but it’s not at Wolverine-type levels, given he’s shown recovering in hospital a couple of times in the series. I would estimate it's about 2-3 times faster.

Wolfwood can boost this healing to nearly instant levels with vials of serum. This causes an extremely rapid heal but does come at a cost - the reason Wolfwood dies in canon is he takes three of these vials in rapid succession, which heals him but also sends his body into an overdrive that kills him. Wolfwood will have one of these vials with him! In terms of warping, what I’d like to do with the vial is have it only heal half of what it should. This could leave him with some still critical injuries to deal with afterwards.

Besides his physical capabilities Wolfwood is an extremely skilled gunfighter, both with his bigger weapon and smaller handguns. He’s capable of strategising and adapting to his opponents on the fly and has even fought while completely blind before.

Inventory: 1. Punisher gun
(Note: the Punisher is a combination machine gun and rocket launcher. I am happy enough for it to come to the game without any rockets in it though!)
2. One packet of cigarettes
3. One vial of regenerative serum
4. Cigarette lighter
5. Sunglasses
6. One cartridge of Punisher bullets

Writing Samples:
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OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Essie
Player Age: 32
Player Contact: dudemeister on plurk

Other Characters In Game: N/A
In-Game Tag If Accepted: nicholas d. wolfwood: essie
Permissions for Character: Here.
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: I really enjoy survival horror! A few individuals having to defend themselves against hordes of horrifying things is definitely my jam. Other themes I like are when things are slightly off and uncanny, deep space horror, and shifts in reality, either psychological or real.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: None that come to mind. I don’t like torture involving fingers but that’s really specific.
Additional Information: None that I can think of.