Waver Velvet | Lord El Melloi II (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
slightlytaller) wrote2025-11-04 09:36 am
slightlytaller) wrote2025-11-04 09:36 am
App for Laby
OOC INFORMATION
Player Name: Basil
Pronoun Preferences: they/any
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
woodrift
Are you over the age of 18?: yes
Invitation Link: here
Current Characters: N/A
Link to Permissions: Permissions.
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Waver Velvet
Species: Human
Canon: Fate/ Stay Night ... Technically Lord El Melloi II Case Files is in the F/SN timeline but it's also sort of stand alone.
Canon Point: At the end of the anime, when he learns that he wasn't picked for the 4th HGW
Character Age: 30
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Here.
Powers and Abilities:
Although Waver is a trained magus in canon, he is far from being considered skilled or powerful. In a world where lineage marks the path to power, a young man who is the first to properly study magecraft in his family is left in the shadows cast by the old names that had existed since the beginning of the tradition. However, that isn't to say that he doesn't make-do within his limitations. What most mages can accomplish with a few flashy spells, he can accomplish with a little bit of planning, precision, and some basic alchemy.
Waver, even in adulthood, never becomes all that powerful in canon. However, his talent and intelligence shines because, unlike many others who take their talents for granted, he knows exactly what proper form and execution is supposed to look like. Because of this and his patience for those who truly wish to learn, he becomes a well liked teacher and researcher in the very school where he was previously ridiculed. At the Clock Tower is where he finds his true calling as a teacher, and all of the students who study under him move on to shine in their respective fields.
This is itself a rare talent which even he doesn't fully appreciate.
Beyond this, while he lacks skills for the sheer magnitude of spells that his students Flat Escardos and Luviagelita Edelfeldt can use, he is skilled with hypnosis (and protecting himself from such skills) and at utilizing naturally occurring Bounded Fields so he can ensure his privacy. Additionally, he can break down these Bounded Fields, utilize very mundane magics associated with every day activities (like cursing out his political rivals being akin to placing an Actual Curse upon them), and he can fire off or otherwise utilize low grade bursts of mana for offensive and utility purposes which include but aren't limited to starting motors in small vehicles, forcibly lifting students with only his fingers around the top of their skull, and storing mana in his hair so he can strategically cut off a lock to divert a magical attack.
To elaborate: his skill in hypnosis is less about controlling another's mind and perceptions entirely and more about subtly imposing upon them the notion that he belongs wherever he is. Think: The Jedi Mind Trick for an example of how it can work. He used it in Fate/Zero on Martha and Glenn Mackenzie, although they broke through it multiple times and Glenn later calls him out on it. Additionally, he can use his hypnosis to alter how a person perceives their surroundings, which he demonstrated in the Case Files novels with Gray and helping her understand what a highly spiritually charged location is supposed to be like.
This is not a skill that he is likely to use on player characters without express permission, IC or OOC.
Beyond this, he possesses the mundane talents of an archival researcher, appears to have something akin to an eidetic memory, and applies logic and deduction in the fashion of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes, in order to resolve his cases. His focus, as per the dominating culture within the scope of the Mages' Association, is less on the 'who' or the 'how' of the case, but the 'why'. From there, he can figure out the course of 'how' events played out and deduce the 'who' from that.
There's little need to nullify these skills as they are mostly based on his intellectual skill or they are strictly minor utility in use. As Fate/verse mages go, he is one of the weakest in raw potential. The thing that makes him the most dangerous is his intellect... But, honestly, his favorite cafe being closed for mysterious reasons is enough to give him psychic damage and have him disappear from the lecture hall for an extended period. Give him a tummy ache and he's down until he decides to stop moping.
What Did Your Character Wish For? To see Iskandar one more time.
What Potion Did They Receive? yellow
Did They Drink It? of course- it's rude not to after asking for the impossible
If Yes, What Element/Animal? a black domesticated cat
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
The person Waver misses the most is and will always be the Servant he summoned in Fuyuki during the 4th Holy Grail War- Iskandar of Macedonia, known to the history books as Alexander the Great. Although they knew each other for a total of two weeks- the duration of the 4th Holy Grail War, and Iskandar's life contains multitudes, his impact on Waver's life set him on the course for everything that he has done since.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Failure- because Waver already views himself as a 'failure' in many respects due to his poor background and limited skills as a mage- despite his acheivements in being a successful teacher, brilliant detective, and surviving a trial that mages with far stronger bloodlines and raw power did not. He has big ambitions for himself, which he does his utmost to act upon. The failure condition is equal to not amounting to anything in his relatively small existence.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Emotional: Waver is prone to depression, if that counts as a weakness- always has been due to his relative lack of magic capability as is further explained below. This lack of self worth is compounded by the complex grief he carries for Iskandar- as he will always want to see that man again even though he knows that he needs to live- per his orders, for both himself and for a man whose life was cut short too soon.
Mental: As a professor, a sometimes detective, an alchemist, and a lifelong student, Waver doesn't have many intellectual weaknesses. He's highly analytical and has a keen memory for detail- but this is a double edged sword because he's prone to overanalyzing situations... And this combined with this depressive tendencies and lack of self worth leads to him at times sabotaging himself with his own internal self talk. At times this comes out on others- most notably Flat Escardos, who is functionally his opposite in every way.
Physical: His physical weakness is his lack of decent magic circuits due to not having a strong lineage of generations of magic users... And his general lack of stamina, endurance, and tolerance to stress because he just doesn't take care of himself very well.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Waver's inner self is still very much the young man we saw in Fate/ Zero; proud, but I'm a constant turmoil of uncertainty and shame because his actually capabilities do not match up with his ideals of being a 'perfect' mage. Shadows of this are still present in how he portrays himself as a distant and firmly put together teacher who is quite strict on everyone- including himself. He hides behind this small and even picked up the habit of smoking to reinforce the detached severity of his demeanor...
But his students see him- quick to anger because he's afraid of someone being hurt or worse, intolerant of nonsense because magecraft is dangerous work, but also extremely willing to step in and throw down next to his students in cases where everyone's safety is on the line.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
He's a self destructive man with chronic depression- happiness might hurt him! But, joking aside, nothing makes him happier and more proud than seeing his students succeed, especially when they reach levels with there magecraft that he cannot reach. Many of these students are from families as difficult as his, despite their coming from generations of literal and magical wealth. In an odd way, his students are like the family he never had a chance to have... And it makes him happy to be able to guide them to their own success.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
No one is going to win out over Iskandar in any sense for Waver- and he is aware of this. He hasn't tried to find a lover because of the two-fold reason of both the danger his lover would be in and how they can never compare to Iskandar. But, if he were to find a person...
That person would need to see him and need to be able to stand as their own individual at the same time. He would be looking for a 'partner in crime,' so to speak. Someone who would support his ambitions and whose ambitions he would support, someone who could keep up and even challenge him intellectually, but also someone who would respect his boundaries and the elements of his life that he cannot change. His being a teacher and mentor to his students is non-negitoable. It is not something he will give up, especially since the long time students in his class and his life, like Flat, Svin, and Gray, have become a strange extended family for him.
For someone from an orphaned background, this is a treasure he will not give up.
Any new people in his life will need to take him and everyone that comes along... Or not at all.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
Half of this was answered above in the questions about his inner vs his external self. His true passion emerges in these sort of situations- and he will always put himself in harm's way before he allows his students to even think of taking such a risk. He has gambled everything in the face of Servants- twice- and came out alive somehow. Even if he is choosing to put himself in danger, it's already for a reason... And he is determined to make it out alive, somehow.
Because that's what Iskandar would do ... And Iskandar ordered him to live
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
In a side story for the mobile game, Waver actually had this opportunity- and he used it to berate his younger self the exact same way he berates himself in his own inner thoughts.
If he had the chance to do this differently, from the Fate/Stay Night timeline, he would try to remember his own vow to Iskandar to live... And try to say something, gentler and kinder. Perhaps even he would let that skinny young man whose dreams were taller than he is that he would one day accomplish more than anyone dared to believe. Especially himself.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Waver defaults to fighting. Although he is a bottom tier mage with all of the physical strength of a street cat, Waver's loyalty to both his people and his ideals is such that he would throw hands with a bear- and, in multiple instances, stand up to defy the will of an enraged Servant that he knows he has no chance of beating.
He didn't get this far in life without standing up for himself, both in the judgemental halls of academia or when it's his literal life on the line.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
Although Waver has accepted that he will never see Iskandar again in this lifetime, he still wishes to see him again so he can show how far he has come in the last decade. It's a finish, impossible dream- but not so different from how Iskandar trekked across the Middle East in search of the fabled endless ocean of Okeanos and all of the unknown adventures it promised.
He also wishes for this because he wants to say goodbye, for now. Although he has done a lot in such a short period, he still has much more that he needs to do... And, as the Robert Frost poem describes, miles to go before he sleeps.
Samples:
TDM Thread with Flat Escardos.
Network Sample from 2023. Please let me know if you need a more recent one.
Player Name: Basil
Pronoun Preferences: they/any
Contact:
Are you over the age of 18?: yes
Invitation Link: here
Current Characters: N/A
Link to Permissions: Permissions.
IC INFORMATION
Character Name: Waver Velvet
Species: Human
Canon: Fate/ Stay Night ... Technically Lord El Melloi II Case Files is in the F/SN timeline but it's also sort of stand alone.
Canon Point: At the end of the anime, when he learns that he wasn't picked for the 4th HGW
Character Age: 30
CRAU: No
Character Appearance: Here.
Powers and Abilities:
Although Waver is a trained magus in canon, he is far from being considered skilled or powerful. In a world where lineage marks the path to power, a young man who is the first to properly study magecraft in his family is left in the shadows cast by the old names that had existed since the beginning of the tradition. However, that isn't to say that he doesn't make-do within his limitations. What most mages can accomplish with a few flashy spells, he can accomplish with a little bit of planning, precision, and some basic alchemy.
Waver, even in adulthood, never becomes all that powerful in canon. However, his talent and intelligence shines because, unlike many others who take their talents for granted, he knows exactly what proper form and execution is supposed to look like. Because of this and his patience for those who truly wish to learn, he becomes a well liked teacher and researcher in the very school where he was previously ridiculed. At the Clock Tower is where he finds his true calling as a teacher, and all of the students who study under him move on to shine in their respective fields.
This is itself a rare talent which even he doesn't fully appreciate.
Beyond this, while he lacks skills for the sheer magnitude of spells that his students Flat Escardos and Luviagelita Edelfeldt can use, he is skilled with hypnosis (and protecting himself from such skills) and at utilizing naturally occurring Bounded Fields so he can ensure his privacy. Additionally, he can break down these Bounded Fields, utilize very mundane magics associated with every day activities (like cursing out his political rivals being akin to placing an Actual Curse upon them), and he can fire off or otherwise utilize low grade bursts of mana for offensive and utility purposes which include but aren't limited to starting motors in small vehicles, forcibly lifting students with only his fingers around the top of their skull, and storing mana in his hair so he can strategically cut off a lock to divert a magical attack.
To elaborate: his skill in hypnosis is less about controlling another's mind and perceptions entirely and more about subtly imposing upon them the notion that he belongs wherever he is. Think: The Jedi Mind Trick for an example of how it can work. He used it in Fate/Zero on Martha and Glenn Mackenzie, although they broke through it multiple times and Glenn later calls him out on it. Additionally, he can use his hypnosis to alter how a person perceives their surroundings, which he demonstrated in the Case Files novels with Gray and helping her understand what a highly spiritually charged location is supposed to be like.
This is not a skill that he is likely to use on player characters without express permission, IC or OOC.
Beyond this, he possesses the mundane talents of an archival researcher, appears to have something akin to an eidetic memory, and applies logic and deduction in the fashion of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes, in order to resolve his cases. His focus, as per the dominating culture within the scope of the Mages' Association, is less on the 'who' or the 'how' of the case, but the 'why'. From there, he can figure out the course of 'how' events played out and deduce the 'who' from that.
There's little need to nullify these skills as they are mostly based on his intellectual skill or they are strictly minor utility in use. As Fate/verse mages go, he is one of the weakest in raw potential. The thing that makes him the most dangerous is his intellect... But, honestly, his favorite cafe being closed for mysterious reasons is enough to give him psychic damage and have him disappear from the lecture hall for an extended period. Give him a tummy ache and he's down until he decides to stop moping.
What Did Your Character Wish For? To see Iskandar one more time.
What Potion Did They Receive? yellow
Did They Drink It? of course- it's rude not to after asking for the impossible
If Yes, What Element/Animal? a black domesticated cat
Character Questions:
1. Who is the person your character is most bonded with from their canon, or who is someone they miss the most and why?
The person Waver misses the most is and will always be the Servant he summoned in Fuyuki during the 4th Holy Grail War- Iskandar of Macedonia, known to the history books as Alexander the Great. Although they knew each other for a total of two weeks- the duration of the 4th Holy Grail War, and Iskandar's life contains multitudes, his impact on Waver's life set him on the course for everything that he has done since.
2. What are they most afraid of and why?
Failure- because Waver already views himself as a 'failure' in many respects due to his poor background and limited skills as a mage- despite his acheivements in being a successful teacher, brilliant detective, and surviving a trial that mages with far stronger bloodlines and raw power did not. He has big ambitions for himself, which he does his utmost to act upon. The failure condition is equal to not amounting to anything in his relatively small existence.
3. What are their emotional, mental, and physical weaknesses and why?
Emotional: Waver is prone to depression, if that counts as a weakness- always has been due to his relative lack of magic capability as is further explained below. This lack of self worth is compounded by the complex grief he carries for Iskandar- as he will always want to see that man again even though he knows that he needs to live- per his orders, for both himself and for a man whose life was cut short too soon.
Mental: As a professor, a sometimes detective, an alchemist, and a lifelong student, Waver doesn't have many intellectual weaknesses. He's highly analytical and has a keen memory for detail- but this is a double edged sword because he's prone to overanalyzing situations... And this combined with this depressive tendencies and lack of self worth leads to him at times sabotaging himself with his own internal self talk. At times this comes out on others- most notably Flat Escardos, who is functionally his opposite in every way.
Physical: His physical weakness is his lack of decent magic circuits due to not having a strong lineage of generations of magic users... And his general lack of stamina, endurance, and tolerance to stress because he just doesn't take care of himself very well.
4. What discrepancies are there between their inner self (who they feel they are) and their outer self (how they present themselves to others)?
Waver's inner self is still very much the young man we saw in Fate/ Zero; proud, but I'm a constant turmoil of uncertainty and shame because his actually capabilities do not match up with his ideals of being a 'perfect' mage. Shadows of this are still present in how he portrays himself as a distant and firmly put together teacher who is quite strict on everyone- including himself. He hides behind this small and even picked up the habit of smoking to reinforce the detached severity of his demeanor...
But his students see him- quick to anger because he's afraid of someone being hurt or worse, intolerant of nonsense because magecraft is dangerous work, but also extremely willing to step in and throw down next to his students in cases where everyone's safety is on the line.
5. What would make them happiest and why?
He's a self destructive man with chronic depression- happiness might hurt him! But, joking aside, nothing makes him happier and more proud than seeing his students succeed, especially when they reach levels with there magecraft that he cannot reach. Many of these students are from families as difficult as his, despite their coming from generations of literal and magical wealth. In an odd way, his students are like the family he never had a chance to have... And it makes him happy to be able to guide them to their own success.
6. What characteristics does someone need to have to be your character's ideal significant other?
No one is going to win out over Iskandar in any sense for Waver- and he is aware of this. He hasn't tried to find a lover because of the two-fold reason of both the danger his lover would be in and how they can never compare to Iskandar. But, if he were to find a person...
That person would need to see him and need to be able to stand as their own individual at the same time. He would be looking for a 'partner in crime,' so to speak. Someone who would support his ambitions and whose ambitions he would support, someone who could keep up and even challenge him intellectually, but also someone who would respect his boundaries and the elements of his life that he cannot change. His being a teacher and mentor to his students is non-negitoable. It is not something he will give up, especially since the long time students in his class and his life, like Flat, Svin, and Gray, have become a strange extended family for him.
For someone from an orphaned background, this is a treasure he will not give up.
Any new people in his life will need to take him and everyone that comes along... Or not at all.
7. Would your character make a sacrifice to save someone else and why or why not?
Half of this was answered above in the questions about his inner vs his external self. His true passion emerges in these sort of situations- and he will always put himself in harm's way before he allows his students to even think of taking such a risk. He has gambled everything in the face of Servants- twice- and came out alive somehow. Even if he is choosing to put himself in danger, it's already for a reason... And he is determined to make it out alive, somehow.
Because that's what Iskandar would do ... And Iskandar ordered him to live
8. What is one thing they would tell their younger self if they had the chance, or if your character is young, what is one thing they would want their older self to remember?
In a side story for the mobile game, Waver actually had this opportunity- and he used it to berate his younger self the exact same way he berates himself in his own inner thoughts.
If he had the chance to do this differently, from the Fate/Stay Night timeline, he would try to remember his own vow to Iskandar to live... And try to say something, gentler and kinder. Perhaps even he would let that skinny young man whose dreams were taller than he is that he would one day accomplish more than anyone dared to believe. Especially himself.
9. When in dire circumstances does your character fight, flee, freeze or fawn and how does that look?
Waver defaults to fighting. Although he is a bottom tier mage with all of the physical strength of a street cat, Waver's loyalty to both his people and his ideals is such that he would throw hands with a bear- and, in multiple instances, stand up to defy the will of an enraged Servant that he knows he has no chance of beating.
He didn't get this far in life without standing up for himself, both in the judgemental halls of academia or when it's his literal life on the line.
10. Why did your character make the wish they did?
Although Waver has accepted that he will never see Iskandar again in this lifetime, he still wishes to see him again so he can show how far he has come in the last decade. It's a finish, impossible dream- but not so different from how Iskandar trekked across the Middle East in search of the fabled endless ocean of Okeanos and all of the unknown adventures it promised.
He also wishes for this because he wants to say goodbye, for now. Although he has done a lot in such a short period, he still has much more that he needs to do... And, as the Robert Frost poem describes, miles to go before he sleeps.
Samples:
TDM Thread with Flat Escardos.
Network Sample from 2023. Please let me know if you need a more recent one.