User Profile

Character Name: Duo Maxwell
Series: Gundam Wing
Age: 18

Physical Description: Due to malnourishment from a young age, Duo never grew past 5’3”, and barely makes 100lb on a rare full stomach. This isn’t always readily noticeable because of his tendency to never stand still long enough to be examined properly. Despite his underfed appearance, his face is still heart-shaped and his cobalt eyes are clear. His hair might be described as his one vanity, though he might be wearing it in its meter-long plait out of sheer stubbornness than for any aesthetic reason.

When doing salvage or mechanic work he wears a grey utilitarian jumpsuit over a simple black turtleneck, coupled with whatever protective gear and tools he might need for the job. Otherwise he dresses in form-fitting black clothing, often riddled with concealed pockets to carry the tools of his other trade. He also favors a pair of dark sunglasses and a black cap.

Personality: When first confronted with Duo’s easy laughter and cheeky wit people might mistake him for being a carefree people pleaser, but that first evaluation would be too simple. Duo knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch and while he seems to openly talk about anything and everything, upon careful thought most people would realize that they know next to nothing about him. He’s a person that likes people easily but rarely trusts them enough to even scratch his back, let alone to count on them in a pinch. When anyone tries to build a closer bond with him, he often brushes them off with a lighthearted comment or a bit of obnoxious teasing. That said, despite his reluctance to accept help from others he has a bit of a Robin Hood complex. Even though he’s become jaded, part of him clings to the notion that the people around him deserve better than what life has dealt them.

Strengths: When it comes to machines, Duo is brilliant. Give him a couple hours and a basic toolkit and he could disassemble a device, puzzle out how it works, and reassemble it to work at 20% increased efficiency with little to no effort on his part. Near half his lifetime with The Sweepers has taught him more about mechanics than most people twice his age in the trade even know. Duo is also skilled at the many techniques involved in “stealing someone blind”. His slight frame makes it easy for him to squirm into crawlspaces, sewers, etc. and whether he’s picking a lock or lifting a wallet from the pocket of the person in front of him on the train, Duo is swift and silent.

Duo’s moral compass also tends to point north, and though he breaks the law more easily than breaking a matchstick it’s usually for the sake of evening the scales and helping out his fellows in the slums. Because of this, and his friendly and charismatic nature, people tend to like having him in the neighborhood and don’t give him much trouble.

Weaknesses: Duo’s reigning motto is “I run and I hide, but I never lie,” but the former two usually result in the latter. Duo avoids confronting difficult emotions to the point that he doesn’t always realize they’re there, effectively tricking himself into thinking he’s peachy keen. Dealing with things and being vulnerable is something that he still can’t bring himself to handle.

Duo also has a bit of a stubborn show-off to him, and his tendency to bite off more than he can chew regularly comes back to bite him in the ass.

On the physical side of things, Duo’s lack of inches and pounds make him an easy target in a head-on brawl. It’s only through some clever thinking and quick footwork that he’s been able to escape any major injuries from mugging and the like.

History: Like many others, Duo was orphaned at a young age. He can’t remember anything of his mother and spent most of his childhood stealing to feed himself and a few other street kids. Duo probably could have managed living on the streets indefinitely, but when one of the younger kids fell ill he decided to bring the whole group to the orphanage on The Drag so that the kid could get proper care. After getting over his initial feelings about being beholden to someone else he began to actually like the place.

He spent a year there off and on, constantly getting into trouble for nosing about and taking things apart to see how they worked inside. He tried to make up for it by doing odd jobs whenever he could to make some extra money for the orphanage. It was during one of these odd jobs that a weird old guy that called himself Howard noticed Duo, and offered to adopt him and give him a job with a group called The Sweepers. The Sweepers mostly did salvage work, going out into the desert to recover broken-down vehicles and repairing anything from airships to grandfather clocks. Duo decided to go with them and spent the next six years traveling about the desert and learning the tricks of the trade. He's been back in Azhun for a little under a month now and has a fledgling salvage and repair shop on Dragwest.

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