Wrath (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
garbagechild) wrote2024-12-06 02:47 am
garbagechild) wrote2024-12-06 02:47 am
Entry tags:
That's me, the boy with a broken halo.
Player
Name: Kit
Personal Journal:phantastus
E-mail: psychologyseaurchin@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: Phantastus |![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
phantastus
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: Heather Mason |foolishwren
Character
Name: Wrath
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
Timeline: Directly after being temporarily "killed" by Lust in Episode 46
Canon Resource Links: Wrath on the FMA Wiki. The page is... a little bit sparse so if you guys need something more detailed, let me know and I'll do a writeup!
Personality:
Wrath is, to put it simply, one big hot mess.
The spectrum of Wrath's personality starts with 'sweet, earnest little boy who isn't very good at humaning but god does he try' and ends with 'murderous psycho trigger-happy monster child (who still tries to be human but not in ways that anybody wants)', and Wrath pretty much sits on a greased slider and gets violently shaken up and down said spectrum over the course of his time in canon, before finally landing on Fun Happy Existential Crisis Land and ending in blood and tears.
But let's start from the beginning.
Blank Slate Wrath, a mysterious amnesiac child armed only with weird powers and the knowledge that 'Huh, it sure is bright out here, and I guess I can talk and make noises and run around? Neat!' is a sweet kid, all things considered. What little he remembers at first is mostly just days spent roaming the island he emerged on. Curious and energetic, he takes awhile to build up the nerve to actually approach other people (which doesn't get the best of receptions when he does, because popping up unexpectedly and looking like a FERAL WOODLAND CHILD is never the best first impression to make) but does so earnestly and, for the most part, cheerfully. He's awed and delighted by human things and eager to participate in everything that he observes, even if he doesn't seem to really get most of it. Food is awesome, but-- oh, wait, why isn't he supposed to eat meat that hasn't been cooked yet? Why does everybody die when the sun goes down and not come back to life till morning? Why is everybody so freaked out when he skitters around on all fours and catches mice, he's only playing! Being human is clearly a lot harder than it looks. Despite his good intentions, Wrath's attempts at engaging with other people aren't always met with kindness, and Wrath spends much of his early days confused and afraid when his friendliness is met with suspicion and aggression. Still, everything is new and exciting, and as puzzled as he is about what makes him so different, Wrath at his untainted core just wants to be accepted and join in with everybody else. Between bouts of rambunctiousness, he is inquisitive and thoughtful, constantly questioning who he is and where he might have come from. Even after learning the truth about himself, Wrath still retains much of this personality, remaining affectionate and fun-loving to those he's not holding a vicious grudge towards. It's just... you know, tempered by the horror show that his subsequent dive into villainy.
The truth, of course, is that Wrath isn't human. He's a Homunculus, a creature that, Pet Sematery-style, results from a human using magical chemistry to try and bring another human being back to life. Never a good idea. A fully-formed Homunculus physically resembles the person they were meant to become and in most cases also possesses disjointed memories of their life as a human, but is still for all sakes and purposes more monstro sapiens than homo sapiens. Most surviving Homunculi come into being and are then sheltered and fed until they start to resemble something other than a gruesome industrial machinery accident, but Wrath's case was a little bit different. Originally a stillborn infant, Wrath was initially brought back by his grieving mother, who (understandably horrified by the screaming Eraserhead fetus that she got for her troubles) then abandoned the newly-revived nightmare baby back inside the otherworldly gate from which he came. Where he proceeded to age like a normal human, just without all the handy life experiences and emotional growth that are pretty important for your average growing child.
This sets Wrath part from the other Homunculi for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being that he has approximately zero memories of ever being human, and instead has only roughly eight years' worth of memories of sitting inside the Gate in total, tormented darkness-- save for the occasional exciting instances where some alchemist tried to do something stupid and wound up getting partially dragged into the Gate as payment for whatever alchemical tomfoolery they were messing with. One such occurrence being when the Elrics attempted to bring their deceased mother back, an opportunity which Wrath leaped upon because HEY, FREE LIMBS! SCORE. For something like Wrath, getting hold of actual genuine human body parts is one hell of a gateway drug, and it's ultimately what allowed him to escape the darkness of the Gate and claw his way into the world, filling him with a thirst for life and desperate desire to be human for real, hence his endearingly clumsy attempts at fitting in with the first humans he meets.
It isn't until he regains the knowledge of what he is and where he came from that Wrath takes a sharp turn for the worse. Upon remembering his 'birth' and subsequent abandonment, Wrath becomes consumed with bitterness. All the sweetness and innocence of his original personality goes poof and he changes gears into acting like a snotty, unrepentant brat. He mocks, teases, jeers, and says whatever he needs to for the sake of getting under his opponents' skin. This sneering facade can be shattered if he becomes upset enough, but it's a toss-up as to whether he'll be taken aback and shocked into submission, or just lunge for somebody's throat. The cruelty of his very existence and the cold treatment he received before even knowing what he was become justifications for his anger, and his quest for humanity takes on a sinister bent when he remembers where his mismatched limbs actually came from.
From that point on, Wrath is hellbent on reclaiming what he feels he's owed by force, whether it's a human body or a mother. Having been rejected by his real one (and subsequently rejecting her despite her obvious heartbreak over what she did to him), Wrath is particularly desperate for parental affection and has a tendency to latch onto mother figures, whether or not they fully return the feelings. The immediate recipient of his desperate neediness is Sloth, the Homunculus who was born from the same event that granted Wrath his limbs. The irony of this is not lost on him, and despite his genuine (if childish) attachment to her, he also takes malicious glee in the thought of taking yet another thing away from Edward Elric. Petty grudge aside, Wrath naively considers the fellow Homunculi to be his new 'family' and adopts many of their standout traits for himself in order to fit in. A mimic by nature, his original poorly-executed attempts at humanity are quickly redirected into emulating his team-mates. He quickly adopts their manner of dress and derisive attitude towards humans (a direct consequence of being exposed to Envy before any of the rest), reveling in his newfound power and sense of belonging. The glee at finally being accepted is tempered by a deep and ever-present fear of what will happen should he ever mis-step or mess up, and even though his naivete blinds him to the true insidiousness of his situation, he is definitely aware of the danger that he and the other Homunculi perpetually live in under their Master. Because he knows so little else, Wrath's perception of family relationships is thus horridly skewed, punctuated even at the best of times with the 'knowledge' that a wrong move on his part could result in rejection, brutal punishment, or even death. To compensate, he's thirsty to prove himself, and quick to whirl on even his team-mates if they show weakness or prove disloyal (lookin' at you, Lust)-- even in the 'family' environment, tension and competition to stay the apple of their master's eye is more than present, and few are more susceptible to it than Wrath, the youngest and neediest.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
+Persistent: Wrath is nothing if not determined. He weathers a lot of beatings (literally), but never quite stoops to giving up on a goal, whether long-term (like trying to complete his Elric body part collection) or something he decided on in the spur of the moment (like trying to protect/revive Sloth). Not even getting his limbs torn off ends up stopping him from doing his damndest to sway a fight in the direction he decides is right.
+Curious: Wrath's curiosity is absolutely insatiable-- anyone else who spent almost ten years sitting in a black abyss and not knowing anything else would have a lot of questions, too! For such a bitter person, the world fills Wrath with utter awe and wonder. He's rarely afraid to try new things and sometimes even finds seemingly bad things delightful just for the novelty of it. In this regard, his naturally-inquisitive nature makes him very open-minded. He's eager to learn and unless he has any pre-existing grudges against somebody, he's almost always excited to see what they can do.
+Adaptable: One advantage of having no real formative experiences is that just about everything is new. Wrath entered the world with no preconceived notions, and was forced to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances literally from day one. On one hand, his life has been constantly chaotic and with very little in the way of security, but on the other, he's pretty good at adjusting to new situations on the fly.
+Fast learner/Observant: He picks up on things quickly, even if it might take him awhile to get the hang of them. He's quick to emulate what those around him are doing and trying to puzzle out the whats and whys behind their actions through mimicry.
+Enthusiastic: Pretty much no matter what Wrath is doing, you can be sure he's giving it his all. Wrath has two settings: "OFF" and "we found a squirrel in the espresso machine and now it's taking apart the calculator and putting it back together again over and over SEND HELP"
+Creative: Wrath is more or less the exact opposite of a creature of habit-- he hasn't existed long enough to form habits. He thinks outside the box and has a colorful imagination. His problem-solving methods aren't always the most effective, but they're at least pretty unique. ... For better or for worse.
+Obedient (to an extent): Barring angry temper tantrums, Wrath is obedient to those he respects (or fears). Fearing rejection above almost anything else, he'll often do what he's told purely to keep his superiors happy. His eager-to-please nature can't always be relied on, but for the most part it makes him a pretty good henchman.
+Loyal: Relatedly, Wrath is fiercely loyal to anyone who manages to gain his trust and affection, whether they actually deserve it or not.
+Protective: Wrath will do just about anything to defend someone he's decided that he likes. UP TO AND INCLUDING TRYING TO PHYSICALLY FUSE HIMSELF WITH THEIR BODIES. YOU KNOW, AS ONE DOES.
+Can fit into a washing machine: Wrath is very small, and thus very good at getting into tiny spaces.
+Also, basically a monkey: Even without his powers, Wrath is naturally acrobatic and speedy, and he's super great at climbing near-vertical surfaces and hanging off of things that no one should ever let an eight-year-old hang off of. PARKOUR.
-He's eight: Being a little kid just kind of sucks. He's small enough to be picked up with one hand and it's virtually impossible to take him seriously.
-Emotionally stunted: He lived most of his life in what basically amounts to a magical black hole of horror and then popped into the world without any memories. His emotional capacity to deal with things is pretty warped, whether it's killing things without batting an eye or breaking down into tears over something completely asinine.
-Needy as hell: Some troubled kids withdraw from everyone and reject all forms of affection. Wrath is not one of those kids. He practically exists for attention. People who he likes may find themselves with a short, badly-dressed shadow with no concept of social boundaries following them everywhere.
-Naiive: Despite having an unfortunate knowledge of the darker truths of the universe, Wrath's understanding of the world is very simple and very childlike. There's a lot he doesn't understand and he is easily taken advantage of.
-Easily-manipulated: Relatedly, he doesn't have many defenses against manipulation and tends to latch onto the first thing he's told as solid truth, no matter who's telling it. He's terrible at spotting lies (although he's quick to accuse people of BEING liars if he doesn't like what he hears) and falls in with The Wrong Crowd almost immediately for this reason. This kid needs good influences, STAT.
-Violent: Although gentle with those he likes, Wrath has virtually no compunctions against violence and takes to fighting like a fish to water, with a lack of remorse that almost borders on being sociopathic. Lacking his powers of strength and regeneration should cull the worst of Wrath's violent tendencies, but he still responds to most things he finds upsetting by physically lashing out at his surroundings.
-Whiny: Wrath is... let's just be real, Wrath is a giant crybaby.
-Unpredictable: While his obedience is commendable, there's also a chaotic element to Wrath that can make him a little unreliable. Like many children, he's prone to flights of "YES THIS IS A GOOD IDEA I'M GOING TO DO THIS" without a lot of warning. Or forethought. It makes him kind of dangerous, to himself just as much as the people around him.
-Anger management: He ain't called 'Wrath' for nothing. Let's put it that way.
-Physically vulnerable: Without his powers, Wrath is... not a particularly formidable foe. He's small and relatively frail (resilient, yes, but certainly not powerful), and on top of that has very little idea of how to care for a human body. When you're used to not having to eat, sleep, or take care of injuries beyond just waiting a few minutes for them to heal and suddenly all of that goes away, you have basically zero survival skills and will probably need outside intervention to avoid grievous injury. The number of walls that Wrath is going to smash into before he accepts that he can't phase through things anymore is... it's gonna be a big number, you guys.
-Vindictive, holds grudges: For all that Wrath is surprisingly accepting of strange and sometimes unpleasant things, he also clings to injustices like a food-aggressive dog with a bone and the lengths to which he'll take his grudges are outright vicious.
-How do I human?: On a tamer but more awkward note than the more severe limitations his inhumanity leaves him with, Wrath is just... very clueless when it comes to the subtleties of being human. From reaching across the table to grab at raw, uncooked meat to misinterpreting people going to bed as them "dying", Wrath's grasp of humanity is tenuous at best and unsurprisingly tends to make people uncomfortable. He tries, though. He tries so hard.
-B A B I E S: If there's one thing Wrath absolutely cannot handle, it's the sound of upset babies. Hearing a squalling infant immediately conjures vivid and horrifying flashbacks of his rebirth and subsequent abandonment to the Gate, which in turn results in Wrath absolutely losing his shit. Nothing good happens when Wrath is around crying babies. Avoid at all costs.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Level 15 Kangaskhan ("Mama"), Level 5 Zubat ("Pipsqueak").
Samples
First Person Sample:
[Victims of motion sickness beware, because there's about to be a good two minutes of jerky, dizzying footage of the floor, the ceiling, an upside-down bed, and what appears to be the foot of a small child. The telltale sounds of hands grappling with a PokeGear are what dominate the audio feed, but murmuring in the background are what sound like deep, rumbling growls and a youthful, high-pitched voice-- probably belonging to the owner of that foot.]
[And then all at once the camera stops and gives everybody a great view of a pair of nostrils and, somewhere above them, a slightly more pleasant-to-behold pair of bright blue eyes.]
--ink... I think it's a toy.
But not the kind you chase.
The other kind.
Um.
A puzzle.
[The screen jitters again-- now it's mostly tangled black hair on the screen, and a bony shoulder poking out a shirt that's way too big for it. Behind it is an expanse of leathery-looking flesh probably belonging to whatever's doing all that growling.]
Ahuh... yeah, it's definitely a puzzle. I can tell 'cause it's got a lot of buttons.
[A chorus of deafening beeps sound as the kid promptly sets about trying to solve the puzzle by PRESSING EVERYTHING until the PokeGear is gently removed from his grasp by a set of bulky, blunt-clawed hands. And then, at a proper angle for the first time in this entire broadcast, a Kangaskhan's face appears in front of the screen, rumbling softly in greeting. She knows what a PokeGear is for! ... But then almost immediately a pair of pale little hands pop over the Pokemon's shoulder and try to grab the camera back.]
No, no, I wanna solve it! I wanna solve the puzzle! Please? Please! Pl-- whoa!
[Standing all the way up, the Kangaskhan holds the camera in front of her and starts to plod across the small, undecorated dormlike room they're in, presumably towards the door, and presumably with her pint-sized trainer dangling from the 'puzzle'. Aaaand after some jostling, the feed cuts.]
Third Person Sample:
For a good long while they just stared at each other, Wrath kicking his feet from the bed and what he could only guess was a particularly large chimera gazing serenely at him from where she rested her back against the wall. The baby in her pouch was asleep now, soothed from its earlier fussing-- an episode that had nearly ended in tears for everybody involved.
Wrath couldn't stand the sound of crying babies.
It brought back images and sensations so strongly that they paralyzed, images and sensations that he'd do anything not to remember. Up to and including silencing the source of the noise by any means possible.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the crisis had been averted when an enormous, scaly-skinned paw had closed around his head and lifted him onto the bed, whereupon the creature shushed him, gave him a pat, and returned to the other side of the room to pacify the sniveling creature in her pouch. Wrath had been a little too shocked to do anything after that. There was clearly a boss in this situation, and it wasn't him.
"... Are you mad?" he asked finally, swinging his legs back and forth. Sitting still had never come easy to him, even while waiting in trepidation to receive a verdict on his behavior. He didn't expect a verbal answer-- talking chimeras were extremely rare, after all-- but the reassuring rumble he got in response might as well have been one, and that took a load of weight off his very small shoulders. Sitting up straighter, the boy shot his large companion a tentative smile, confidence somewhat renewed. "You're a mommy, right? You're a mommy and that's your baby."
The Kanghaskhan dipped her head modestly and swept her long, thick tail across the floor with a scrape, but was clearly pleased.
"I have a mommy too, but she's not here right now. I'll find her, though. She left to do something important but she said it was only for a bit, so she'll prob'ly be here soon."
Sucking his lips inward, Wrath mentally weighed the pros and cons of approaching once more-- he wasn't angry anymore (now that that awful crying had stopped...), so maybe it would be all right. Sliding off the bed, he padded across the room to stand in front of the hulking animal and her slumbering child, feet squared.
"Since Mommy's already got a name, I guess we should think of a different one for you. That way she won't feel bad, when she comes back."
As he stood, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the Pokemon tilted her head, licked the palm of her paw, and then reached down to scrub at a stray smudge on his cheek. Wrath sprang backwards with a surprised yelp that turned quickly into a laugh of delight when she leaned in to give his face a hearty lick for good measure.
"Hey!"
Still giggling, he planted his hands on the Kangaskhan's blunt nose to fend her off, contemplative expression exchanged for a giddy grin. What an unusually friendly chimera!
"I know-- I know! I'll call you Mama! Mama's almost like Mommy, but different. That way, no one's being replaced. Okay, Mama?"
"Khhangrra!"
Name: Kit
Personal Journal:
phantastusE-mail: psychologyseaurchin@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: Phantastus |
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: Heather Mason |
foolishwrenCharacter
Name: Wrath
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
Timeline: Directly after being temporarily "killed" by Lust in Episode 46
Canon Resource Links: Wrath on the FMA Wiki. The page is... a little bit sparse so if you guys need something more detailed, let me know and I'll do a writeup!
Personality:
Wrath is, to put it simply, one big hot mess.
The spectrum of Wrath's personality starts with 'sweet, earnest little boy who isn't very good at humaning but god does he try' and ends with 'murderous psycho trigger-happy monster child (who still tries to be human but not in ways that anybody wants)', and Wrath pretty much sits on a greased slider and gets violently shaken up and down said spectrum over the course of his time in canon, before finally landing on Fun Happy Existential Crisis Land and ending in blood and tears.
But let's start from the beginning.
Blank Slate Wrath, a mysterious amnesiac child armed only with weird powers and the knowledge that 'Huh, it sure is bright out here, and I guess I can talk and make noises and run around? Neat!' is a sweet kid, all things considered. What little he remembers at first is mostly just days spent roaming the island he emerged on. Curious and energetic, he takes awhile to build up the nerve to actually approach other people (which doesn't get the best of receptions when he does, because popping up unexpectedly and looking like a FERAL WOODLAND CHILD is never the best first impression to make) but does so earnestly and, for the most part, cheerfully. He's awed and delighted by human things and eager to participate in everything that he observes, even if he doesn't seem to really get most of it. Food is awesome, but-- oh, wait, why isn't he supposed to eat meat that hasn't been cooked yet? Why does everybody die when the sun goes down and not come back to life till morning? Why is everybody so freaked out when he skitters around on all fours and catches mice, he's only playing! Being human is clearly a lot harder than it looks. Despite his good intentions, Wrath's attempts at engaging with other people aren't always met with kindness, and Wrath spends much of his early days confused and afraid when his friendliness is met with suspicion and aggression. Still, everything is new and exciting, and as puzzled as he is about what makes him so different, Wrath at his untainted core just wants to be accepted and join in with everybody else. Between bouts of rambunctiousness, he is inquisitive and thoughtful, constantly questioning who he is and where he might have come from. Even after learning the truth about himself, Wrath still retains much of this personality, remaining affectionate and fun-loving to those he's not holding a vicious grudge towards. It's just... you know, tempered by the horror show that his subsequent dive into villainy.
The truth, of course, is that Wrath isn't human. He's a Homunculus, a creature that, Pet Sematery-style, results from a human using magical chemistry to try and bring another human being back to life. Never a good idea. A fully-formed Homunculus physically resembles the person they were meant to become and in most cases also possesses disjointed memories of their life as a human, but is still for all sakes and purposes more monstro sapiens than homo sapiens. Most surviving Homunculi come into being and are then sheltered and fed until they start to resemble something other than a gruesome industrial machinery accident, but Wrath's case was a little bit different. Originally a stillborn infant, Wrath was initially brought back by his grieving mother, who (understandably horrified by the screaming Eraserhead fetus that she got for her troubles) then abandoned the newly-revived nightmare baby back inside the otherworldly gate from which he came. Where he proceeded to age like a normal human, just without all the handy life experiences and emotional growth that are pretty important for your average growing child.
This sets Wrath part from the other Homunculi for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being that he has approximately zero memories of ever being human, and instead has only roughly eight years' worth of memories of sitting inside the Gate in total, tormented darkness-- save for the occasional exciting instances where some alchemist tried to do something stupid and wound up getting partially dragged into the Gate as payment for whatever alchemical tomfoolery they were messing with. One such occurrence being when the Elrics attempted to bring their deceased mother back, an opportunity which Wrath leaped upon because HEY, FREE LIMBS! SCORE. For something like Wrath, getting hold of actual genuine human body parts is one hell of a gateway drug, and it's ultimately what allowed him to escape the darkness of the Gate and claw his way into the world, filling him with a thirst for life and desperate desire to be human for real, hence his endearingly clumsy attempts at fitting in with the first humans he meets.
It isn't until he regains the knowledge of what he is and where he came from that Wrath takes a sharp turn for the worse. Upon remembering his 'birth' and subsequent abandonment, Wrath becomes consumed with bitterness. All the sweetness and innocence of his original personality goes poof and he changes gears into acting like a snotty, unrepentant brat. He mocks, teases, jeers, and says whatever he needs to for the sake of getting under his opponents' skin. This sneering facade can be shattered if he becomes upset enough, but it's a toss-up as to whether he'll be taken aback and shocked into submission, or just lunge for somebody's throat. The cruelty of his very existence and the cold treatment he received before even knowing what he was become justifications for his anger, and his quest for humanity takes on a sinister bent when he remembers where his mismatched limbs actually came from.
From that point on, Wrath is hellbent on reclaiming what he feels he's owed by force, whether it's a human body or a mother. Having been rejected by his real one (and subsequently rejecting her despite her obvious heartbreak over what she did to him), Wrath is particularly desperate for parental affection and has a tendency to latch onto mother figures, whether or not they fully return the feelings. The immediate recipient of his desperate neediness is Sloth, the Homunculus who was born from the same event that granted Wrath his limbs. The irony of this is not lost on him, and despite his genuine (if childish) attachment to her, he also takes malicious glee in the thought of taking yet another thing away from Edward Elric. Petty grudge aside, Wrath naively considers the fellow Homunculi to be his new 'family' and adopts many of their standout traits for himself in order to fit in. A mimic by nature, his original poorly-executed attempts at humanity are quickly redirected into emulating his team-mates. He quickly adopts their manner of dress and derisive attitude towards humans (a direct consequence of being exposed to Envy before any of the rest), reveling in his newfound power and sense of belonging. The glee at finally being accepted is tempered by a deep and ever-present fear of what will happen should he ever mis-step or mess up, and even though his naivete blinds him to the true insidiousness of his situation, he is definitely aware of the danger that he and the other Homunculi perpetually live in under their Master. Because he knows so little else, Wrath's perception of family relationships is thus horridly skewed, punctuated even at the best of times with the 'knowledge' that a wrong move on his part could result in rejection, brutal punishment, or even death. To compensate, he's thirsty to prove himself, and quick to whirl on even his team-mates if they show weakness or prove disloyal (lookin' at you, Lust)-- even in the 'family' environment, tension and competition to stay the apple of their master's eye is more than present, and few are more susceptible to it than Wrath, the youngest and neediest.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
+Persistent: Wrath is nothing if not determined. He weathers a lot of beatings (literally), but never quite stoops to giving up on a goal, whether long-term (like trying to complete his Elric body part collection) or something he decided on in the spur of the moment (like trying to protect/revive Sloth). Not even getting his limbs torn off ends up stopping him from doing his damndest to sway a fight in the direction he decides is right.
+Curious: Wrath's curiosity is absolutely insatiable-- anyone else who spent almost ten years sitting in a black abyss and not knowing anything else would have a lot of questions, too! For such a bitter person, the world fills Wrath with utter awe and wonder. He's rarely afraid to try new things and sometimes even finds seemingly bad things delightful just for the novelty of it. In this regard, his naturally-inquisitive nature makes him very open-minded. He's eager to learn and unless he has any pre-existing grudges against somebody, he's almost always excited to see what they can do.
+Adaptable: One advantage of having no real formative experiences is that just about everything is new. Wrath entered the world with no preconceived notions, and was forced to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances literally from day one. On one hand, his life has been constantly chaotic and with very little in the way of security, but on the other, he's pretty good at adjusting to new situations on the fly.
+Fast learner/Observant: He picks up on things quickly, even if it might take him awhile to get the hang of them. He's quick to emulate what those around him are doing and trying to puzzle out the whats and whys behind their actions through mimicry.
+Enthusiastic: Pretty much no matter what Wrath is doing, you can be sure he's giving it his all. Wrath has two settings: "OFF" and "we found a squirrel in the espresso machine and now it's taking apart the calculator and putting it back together again over and over SEND HELP"
+Creative: Wrath is more or less the exact opposite of a creature of habit-- he hasn't existed long enough to form habits. He thinks outside the box and has a colorful imagination. His problem-solving methods aren't always the most effective, but they're at least pretty unique. ... For better or for worse.
+Obedient (to an extent): Barring angry temper tantrums, Wrath is obedient to those he respects (or fears). Fearing rejection above almost anything else, he'll often do what he's told purely to keep his superiors happy. His eager-to-please nature can't always be relied on, but for the most part it makes him a pretty good henchman.
+Loyal: Relatedly, Wrath is fiercely loyal to anyone who manages to gain his trust and affection, whether they actually deserve it or not.
+Protective: Wrath will do just about anything to defend someone he's decided that he likes. UP TO AND INCLUDING TRYING TO PHYSICALLY FUSE HIMSELF WITH THEIR BODIES. YOU KNOW, AS ONE DOES.
+Can fit into a washing machine: Wrath is very small, and thus very good at getting into tiny spaces.
+Also, basically a monkey: Even without his powers, Wrath is naturally acrobatic and speedy, and he's super great at climbing near-vertical surfaces and hanging off of things that no one should ever let an eight-year-old hang off of. PARKOUR.
-He's eight: Being a little kid just kind of sucks. He's small enough to be picked up with one hand and it's virtually impossible to take him seriously.
-Emotionally stunted: He lived most of his life in what basically amounts to a magical black hole of horror and then popped into the world without any memories. His emotional capacity to deal with things is pretty warped, whether it's killing things without batting an eye or breaking down into tears over something completely asinine.
-Needy as hell: Some troubled kids withdraw from everyone and reject all forms of affection. Wrath is not one of those kids. He practically exists for attention. People who he likes may find themselves with a short, badly-dressed shadow with no concept of social boundaries following them everywhere.
-Naiive: Despite having an unfortunate knowledge of the darker truths of the universe, Wrath's understanding of the world is very simple and very childlike. There's a lot he doesn't understand and he is easily taken advantage of.
-Easily-manipulated: Relatedly, he doesn't have many defenses against manipulation and tends to latch onto the first thing he's told as solid truth, no matter who's telling it. He's terrible at spotting lies (although he's quick to accuse people of BEING liars if he doesn't like what he hears) and falls in with The Wrong Crowd almost immediately for this reason. This kid needs good influences, STAT.
-Violent: Although gentle with those he likes, Wrath has virtually no compunctions against violence and takes to fighting like a fish to water, with a lack of remorse that almost borders on being sociopathic. Lacking his powers of strength and regeneration should cull the worst of Wrath's violent tendencies, but he still responds to most things he finds upsetting by physically lashing out at his surroundings.
-Whiny: Wrath is... let's just be real, Wrath is a giant crybaby.
-Unpredictable: While his obedience is commendable, there's also a chaotic element to Wrath that can make him a little unreliable. Like many children, he's prone to flights of "YES THIS IS A GOOD IDEA I'M GOING TO DO THIS" without a lot of warning. Or forethought. It makes him kind of dangerous, to himself just as much as the people around him.
-Anger management: He ain't called 'Wrath' for nothing. Let's put it that way.
-Physically vulnerable: Without his powers, Wrath is... not a particularly formidable foe. He's small and relatively frail (resilient, yes, but certainly not powerful), and on top of that has very little idea of how to care for a human body. When you're used to not having to eat, sleep, or take care of injuries beyond just waiting a few minutes for them to heal and suddenly all of that goes away, you have basically zero survival skills and will probably need outside intervention to avoid grievous injury. The number of walls that Wrath is going to smash into before he accepts that he can't phase through things anymore is... it's gonna be a big number, you guys.
-Vindictive, holds grudges: For all that Wrath is surprisingly accepting of strange and sometimes unpleasant things, he also clings to injustices like a food-aggressive dog with a bone and the lengths to which he'll take his grudges are outright vicious.
-How do I human?: On a tamer but more awkward note than the more severe limitations his inhumanity leaves him with, Wrath is just... very clueless when it comes to the subtleties of being human. From reaching across the table to grab at raw, uncooked meat to misinterpreting people going to bed as them "dying", Wrath's grasp of humanity is tenuous at best and unsurprisingly tends to make people uncomfortable. He tries, though. He tries so hard.
-B A B I E S: If there's one thing Wrath absolutely cannot handle, it's the sound of upset babies. Hearing a squalling infant immediately conjures vivid and horrifying flashbacks of his rebirth and subsequent abandonment to the Gate, which in turn results in Wrath absolutely losing his shit. Nothing good happens when Wrath is around crying babies. Avoid at all costs.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Level 15 Kangaskhan ("Mama"), Level 5 Zubat ("Pipsqueak").
Samples
First Person Sample:
[Victims of motion sickness beware, because there's about to be a good two minutes of jerky, dizzying footage of the floor, the ceiling, an upside-down bed, and what appears to be the foot of a small child. The telltale sounds of hands grappling with a PokeGear are what dominate the audio feed, but murmuring in the background are what sound like deep, rumbling growls and a youthful, high-pitched voice-- probably belonging to the owner of that foot.]
[And then all at once the camera stops and gives everybody a great view of a pair of nostrils and, somewhere above them, a slightly more pleasant-to-behold pair of bright blue eyes.]
--ink... I think it's a toy.
But not the kind you chase.
The other kind.
Um.
A puzzle.
[The screen jitters again-- now it's mostly tangled black hair on the screen, and a bony shoulder poking out a shirt that's way too big for it. Behind it is an expanse of leathery-looking flesh probably belonging to whatever's doing all that growling.]
Ahuh... yeah, it's definitely a puzzle. I can tell 'cause it's got a lot of buttons.
[A chorus of deafening beeps sound as the kid promptly sets about trying to solve the puzzle by PRESSING EVERYTHING until the PokeGear is gently removed from his grasp by a set of bulky, blunt-clawed hands. And then, at a proper angle for the first time in this entire broadcast, a Kangaskhan's face appears in front of the screen, rumbling softly in greeting. She knows what a PokeGear is for! ... But then almost immediately a pair of pale little hands pop over the Pokemon's shoulder and try to grab the camera back.]
No, no, I wanna solve it! I wanna solve the puzzle! Please? Please! Pl-- whoa!
[Standing all the way up, the Kangaskhan holds the camera in front of her and starts to plod across the small, undecorated dormlike room they're in, presumably towards the door, and presumably with her pint-sized trainer dangling from the 'puzzle'. Aaaand after some jostling, the feed cuts.]
Third Person Sample:
For a good long while they just stared at each other, Wrath kicking his feet from the bed and what he could only guess was a particularly large chimera gazing serenely at him from where she rested her back against the wall. The baby in her pouch was asleep now, soothed from its earlier fussing-- an episode that had nearly ended in tears for everybody involved.
Wrath couldn't stand the sound of crying babies.
It brought back images and sensations so strongly that they paralyzed, images and sensations that he'd do anything not to remember. Up to and including silencing the source of the noise by any means possible.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the crisis had been averted when an enormous, scaly-skinned paw had closed around his head and lifted him onto the bed, whereupon the creature shushed him, gave him a pat, and returned to the other side of the room to pacify the sniveling creature in her pouch. Wrath had been a little too shocked to do anything after that. There was clearly a boss in this situation, and it wasn't him.
"... Are you mad?" he asked finally, swinging his legs back and forth. Sitting still had never come easy to him, even while waiting in trepidation to receive a verdict on his behavior. He didn't expect a verbal answer-- talking chimeras were extremely rare, after all-- but the reassuring rumble he got in response might as well have been one, and that took a load of weight off his very small shoulders. Sitting up straighter, the boy shot his large companion a tentative smile, confidence somewhat renewed. "You're a mommy, right? You're a mommy and that's your baby."
The Kanghaskhan dipped her head modestly and swept her long, thick tail across the floor with a scrape, but was clearly pleased.
"I have a mommy too, but she's not here right now. I'll find her, though. She left to do something important but she said it was only for a bit, so she'll prob'ly be here soon."
Sucking his lips inward, Wrath mentally weighed the pros and cons of approaching once more-- he wasn't angry anymore (now that that awful crying had stopped...), so maybe it would be all right. Sliding off the bed, he padded across the room to stand in front of the hulking animal and her slumbering child, feet squared.
"Since Mommy's already got a name, I guess we should think of a different one for you. That way she won't feel bad, when she comes back."
As he stood, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the Pokemon tilted her head, licked the palm of her paw, and then reached down to scrub at a stray smudge on his cheek. Wrath sprang backwards with a surprised yelp that turned quickly into a laugh of delight when she leaned in to give his face a hearty lick for good measure.
"Hey!"
Still giggling, he planted his hands on the Kangaskhan's blunt nose to fend her off, contemplative expression exchanged for a giddy grin. What an unusually friendly chimera!
"I know-- I know! I'll call you Mama! Mama's almost like Mommy, but different. That way, no one's being replaced. Okay, Mama?"
"Khhangrra!"
CANON UPDATE Application
Name: Kit
E-mail: psychologyseaurchin(at)gmail.com
Preferred Contact:
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Heather Mason (
Character
Name: Wrath
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist 2003
Timeline: Conqueror of Shamballa, moment of death via transmutation/Big Chomp (tm).
Canon Resource Links: Wrath on the FMA Wiki, which is historically kind of garbage, but someone seems to have filled in the blanks pretty well since the last time I looked!
NOTE: Wrath's original app is here and goes SIGNIFICANTLY more in-depth, but because he's so dramatically different at this canonpoint, I didn't want to do too much rehashing of the previous stuff!
Personality: (GENERAL CONTENT WARNING FOR CHILD HARM AND SUICIDAL IDEATION)
Inside Wrath are two wolves.
One has depression. The other has unprocessed trauma.
Wrath has depression and unprocessed trauma.
"Conqueror of Shamballa" takes place two years after the conclusion of the 2003 FMA series. Having fallen apart both figuratively and literally (those stolen limbs he was so proud of? Yeah, he's got prosthetics now. The irony!), Wrath spends these two years in near-complete withdrawal from human contact.
Despite his extreme dedication to being antisocial, he still lurks awkwardly at the fringes of society; never straying too far from the places he knows and even (seemingly) keeping tabs on the surviving humans who he once clashed with. Despite the many Horrors (tm), his crippling desperation for acceptance and affection never truly left... but he never allows himself close enough to actually get it from anybody, preferring to skulk around like a very sad stray dog instead.
He's too guilty and gunshy to return to his original creator (aka HIS MOTHER) despite her attempts to reach out. He neglects his new automail limbs until they're visibly falling apart. He speaks only when necessary, and usually keeps his sentences quiet and terse. He deprives himself of the food source responsible for his (former) inhuman strength and miraculous abilities, leaving himself feeble and perpetually exhausted. He sleeps in the woods or various garbage dumps and, later, next to his aforementioned mother's grave. That post-supervillainy-lucidity is rough, man.
To anyone fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to actually corner him into conversation, Wrath comes off as aloof and humorless-- a shadow of the wild child he was previously. It's hard to get a read on him, in no small part due to the fact that he barely says anything, ever. But under the 24/7 'dead inside' vibes he gives off, there's a veritable landslide of pain, fear, and regret. His avoidance of others is no longer out of anger and vitriol, but one of shame and self-punishment. One of the (very) few times he speaks, it's to refer to himself as a monster, voice noticeably dripping with disgust and self-loathing.
In fact, he just straight-up wants to die.
Although he successfully keeps quiet on the matter right up until the very last second, Wrath admits in his final moments that he only came out of isolation for the sake of stopping a former enemy (Alphonse Elric) from sacrificing his life for a loved one-- an act he's now witnessed more than once, and "never wants to see again"-- by being the sacrifice instead. A perfect cap-off to a life spent primarily being used as a pawn for someone else's goals: self-dehumanization and suicide-by-fellow-traumatized-child! But by now, Wrath has had Enough; he just wants to be reunited with his mother, after wasting all chances to forgive-- and be forgiven by-- her while she was alive.
... TOO BAD HE'S GOING BACK TO POKEMON-LAND INSTEAD!!!
GET THERAPY-ANIMAL'D, IDIOT.
Despite his new outer-shell of all angst and no fun, Wrath is still a child-- physically no older than 12 or 13 (if that), and even then only working with a few years of real, tangible experience at existing. The off-kilter innocence and zest for life he once had is buried in there somewhere still, and a kinder world stands a better chance of chipping away at his walls than the one he ultimately tried to leave.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Cubone ("Son")
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample: Dusting him off with a random meme thread!
Victory Road Sample:
The can-- one of the only pieces of litter in this tiny town he'd been able to find-- lets out a satisfying metallic KLUNK as his automail foot connects with it and sends it flying out into the long grass, but it's not enough to make up for the rest of his morning.
Wrath scowls out at Route 29, the picturesque green grass, picket fences, and perfect, cloud-studded blue sky almost mockingly reminiscent of the place he'd just left behind in pursuit of an ending somewhere much more wretched. After all that? He doesn't want to be looking at this. He doesn't even want to be looking at anything.
Gritting his teeth, Wrath tips his shaggy head back to look straight upwards despite the sun in his eyes, and spreads his arms with a whir-and-clink of mechanical joints.
"WHY."
His voice sounds raspy, and feels even worse. It's the first word he's spoken since waking up in that little bed in the cottage, confused and disoriented. He had not returned the cheerful 'Good morning, sleepyhead!' offered to him by the kindly woman in the house-- he'd simply busted out of there like a bat out of hell, not realizing or caring that he was dressed in clothes that weren't his and holding a knapsack he'd never seen before.
It wasn't until he'd made it to the edge of that tiny town that the memories had started to come back.
Both sets of memories.
Down at his feet, a Cubone sits in the grass apprehensively, tapping his bone-club on the ground every so often. His trainer hadn't really acknowledged him much since letting him out of the Pokeball about half an hour ago, and he's not 100% sure what to do about that. The Pokemon is supposed to follow the directions of the trainer, but this trainer is just kind of... stomping around and sighing a lot. Sssooooo...?
When Wrath inevitably loses his staring contest with the sun and turns his gaze downwards again, grimacing and swiping at his stinging eyes, the Cubone decides he should probably just bite the bullet and start things off.
"Bone."
Still puffing, Wrath looks down at the gentle tap on his ankle-- oh. Right.
The Pokemon.
"You. ... You're... mine. Aren't you?"
It wasn't Mama. And it wasn't Pipsqueak.
But he remembers how this goes. Sort of.
So when the little skull-faced creature nods, Wrath sighs. He doesn't want a teammate. His last remaining teammate just bit him mostly in half and then they were both atomized by a massive alchemical reaction. But it would seem he has one now, again, nonetheless.
"I guess we have to stick together, then."
"Bone."
"I've been here before but I don't remember this place. Is this near the..." He falters, his words dropping to a mumble as his gut clenches. The memories don't feel like they even belong to him. "... th'yellow town?"
The Cubone cocks its head before shaking it, apologetically. No, he does not know of any 'yellow town'. This is like, the furthest he's been from Professor Elm's lab, Wrath.
Letting out another put-upon sigh, Wrath pinches the bridge of his nose. It's a gesture he picked up... somewhere. In another life. He frowns as the origin of the habit floats back to him, like bubbles floating to the surface of a pond. Then he swallows hard, clamping it down. It hurts, to bear the sudden weight of these other memories again-- like a swollen, broken limb.
It isn't until he feels another soft tap on his non-metal foot-- this one with the Cubone's stubby hand rather than the hard club-- that Wrath realizes his eyes are leaking. He immediately starts to scrub them again with the heels of his palms
"--fine, m'fine! Stupid, stupid human eyes..."
They both know it's not the stupid human eyes, though. More than anything else, he wants to lay right down in the dirt and scream and howl until he's too tired to keep going... but you don't do that in front of team-mates.
After screwing his eyes shut and holding his breath until he can feel his face turning red, the tears depart. And then he bends down to hold a pale hand out to the-- no, his-- Pokemon. The Cubone takes it, albeit a little apprehensively-- and Wrath tries to muster a smile.
He's so out-of-practice that it takes a couple seconds.
"Sorry... I know I'm scary sometimes... But, I'll protect you till you're stronger okay? That's... that's what team-mates do."