W. Velvet

Inbox!

Leave a message.

OOC Information

Player handle: Thea
Contact details: PM this journal
Time zone: EST
Other characters: N/A

Nicknames/Alias: N/A
Age: 19

Source canon: Fate/zero

Personality: Waver Velvet is a smart young man who starts off as immature, arrogant, insecure and short tempered, and ends up showing that he is capable of great bravery and loyalty. These traits are tied into his ability to analyze and understand complex magical academics, and the classism in his particular brand of magic where he is viewed dimly for being smart, but not having magical firepower to back it up.

Waver’s priorities are demonstrated in his first appearance when Waver's professor brings up the thesis Waver submitted. Expecting praise, Waver's paper is ripped to shreds, and gives an opportunity to show off Waver's arrogance. He is angry about being made fun of for an idea in a public manner, but his assumption is that being proven "right" about something will automatically grant him the respect of everyone else. It is a mark of immaturity and a show that he is a person who puts too much stock in being right. That his next action is to steal an ancient and valuable artifact in retaliation for that kind of treatment demonstrates a short temper, cowardice in his refusal to confront problems directly, and a certain level of pettiness, never mind immaturity that reveals that when things don’t go his way, he will lash out, acting as another demonstration of his short temper.

That temper comes up again and again in Fate/zero primarily through clashes with the character Rider. Waver is frequently disobeyed or ignored - ignored for reading books, rebelled against over the matter of wearing trousers, ignored so that Rider can go into battle - and Waver’s response is to yell at Rider or else whine about how little he’s being listened to.

All of these actions demonstrate Waver's insecurity. Because he's been bullied in the past, he has a negative view of the skills he does have, and would rather do badly in a harder situation than succeed in an easier one. This is demonstrated when Rider praises Waver for finding Caster’s lair only for Waver to shrug off the compliment because it took him too long and circuitous a route. When Rider gives him a pep talk, Waver states that he’d rather be fighting with a servant that would make it harder to win, rather than have an easy victory through Rider. Rider tries to assure Waver that the Grail War won’t be the most important thing in Waver’s life, which is met with a lukewarm response.

These personality traits transform by the end of the series. His cowardice in resorting to theft as well as his hiding behind Rider in the first half of the series slowly but surely changes.He has no desire to be on the battlefield beside Rider at first and he isn’t afraid to show it. In each subsequent fight, Waver's fear decreases, so that by the time that Waver and Rider are facing Saber on his motorcycle, Waver is just as ready and excited to head into a fight as Rider is, rather than afraid.

His temper starts cooling after a fight against a sea monster and also shows his growing maturity. When he and Rider pull together to defeat said monster, Rider refuses to draw on Waver’s magic energy, showing decreased animosity between the two. Afterwards, the two converse and seem to understand each other, and the arguments between the two decrease considerably. Around this time, Waver’s arrogance declines thanks to Rider’s idea of conquest without humiliation. Waver sees that it is possible to win people over without being a total jerk about it through Rider’s example of talking to others and if not winning them over to his side, then winning their respect and being seen as a worthy opponent.

All of this allows for Waver's personality to show it's greatest strength - loyalty. In seeing Rider’s path of conquest, Waver realizes he wishes to follow in those footsteps and professes loyalty to that path and to Rider out loud. It is recognized and accepted by others.

By the end of the series, Waver is shown to be a more mature young man than the person he began as, with a better temper, decreased arrogance, the understanding that one can win respect through other means than demanding it, and loyalty. The series conclusion doesn’t suggest that there’s a switch that has been flipped making Waver shed all of his older traits, but it implies that with more time they will fall away completely. After all, one doesn’t become a mature adult in two weeks.

Canon history:
Canon Wiki. However, canon is long and confusing and the wiki is badly done, so I also offer this quicker version as well:

At the start of Fate/zero, Waver is introduced in his home university, called the Clock Tower, awaiting the response of his professor regarding a paper Waver wrote. The topic concerned the theory that a mage could become more powerful through experience rather than genetic lineage. The paper was mocked by his professor Kayneth in front of the entire class, and Waver fled both angry and humiliated. To retaliate, Waver steals a summoning artifact from Kayneth, aware that the man was going to participate in a ritual. This ritual is known as the Holy Grail War, where seven Masters summon seven Heroic Spirits to fight for an omnipotent wish granting device.

Waver summons Iskandar, King of Conquerors (Alexander the Great) into the Rider class. The contrast between the two immediately clear: where Waver is small, angry, and desires recognition, Rider is large, boisterous, and inclined to let things roll off of his back as he attempts to re-conquer the world thanks to his summons into the 1990s. The first half of the season sees the two fight over small matters and reveals that Waver is clearly out of his element in this Grail War. The first fight that the two enter features the reappearance of Waver's professor, Kayneth, and the man makes a pointed death threat. Rider responds by defending Waver verbally, demonstrating that there is a modicum of respect for Waver underneath the fact that Rider does not seem to enjoy Waver's small minded desire for the respect of the Clock Tower. Waver's bratty personality continues to clash in smaller scenes of the two planning to fight other masters (and an argument about Rider wearing pants), but this starts to change when Waver and Rider participate in seeking out a murderous Master-servant pair. Using his alchemic abilities to perform magical forensics, Waver is able to find the two, and he and Rider end up finding a straight up murder show of mutilated bodies. Waver takes a moment to react in absolute horror, but the reaction is cut off as he and Rider are ambushed by the servant Assassin. Again, Rider defends Waver and the two leave the murder palace, but not before setting it ablaze in order to remove a base of operations for Caster and his master.

A few days later, after a drinking parlay with other servants spearheaded by Rider and then a pep talk where Rider remarks that while Waver is quite small, in the grand scheme of things they are equal, Caster returns to action in the war and proceeds to summon a giant sea creature in the middle of the river of the war's host city. The two help take the monster out with Rider using his army to chip away at the monster’s power and Waver remaining a support for Rider as well as a communications coordinator between Rider and his army and another master who helps detonate a bomb to finish the creature. During this fight, Rider does not draw on Waver because Rider had no desire to take on Waver's energy to the point where it could kill him. The two talk about it later when Waver goes back to where he summoned Rider to help Rider re-charge. Rider admits that he has concerns that the Grail might not exist, although this thought does not impact Waver's desire to keep fighting.

The next time the two appear, it is against the servant Saber with her on a motorcycle and the two on an ox drawn chariot. During this fight, Waver admits that he finds this exciting - a contrast against the outspoken yelling and desire to hide during earlier fights - and while they lose, Waver and Rider speak frankly about what to do next. It is clear they are on the same page, contrasting sharply with their constant fighting from the first half of the series. When they return to the home they have been staying during the war, Waver sits on the rooftop with the host he hypnotized into thinking that Waver is his grandson and Rider is a friend. The man reveals that he knew Waver wasn't his grandson - meaning that Waver's hypnosis failed - but that he didn't say anything because it made his wife happy. Waver is then asked to stay longer, but Waver admits that he cannot do that as he's risking his life. The response is that there's nothing worth dying for.

As the war draws to an end, Waver realizes that he cannot safely participate anymore and to withdraw. He uses all three Command Seals bestowed upon a master (unbreakable spells that compel a servant to do as ordered no matter what), instructing Rider to defeat the remaining servants, win the Grail, and then seize the world. Effectively, Waver gives up his position as Rider's master - which Rider recognizes, and he proceeds to have Waver come along to the last fight as his friend.

The last fight sees Waver seated up on Rider's horse with the man himself, charging with Rider's army against Archer. Ultimately, Archer manages to destroy Rider's army, and it is at that moment that Rider has Waver get off of the horse and stand aside. The two share a final conversation, where Rider asks "Waver Velvet. Would you be a servant, and serve me?" Waver confirms that Iskandar is his king, that he desires the same dream as Rider, and that he will follow after Rider. In response, Waver is told to live through everything and speak of everything that passes.

At that, Rider gallops off one last time against Archer. He is stabbed, and dies while Waver watches. Immediately after, Archer approaches Waver and asks if Waver is still Rider's Master. When Waver responds that he is Rider's servant, Archer spares Waver's life and remarks on the boy's loyalty.

Waver returns to the house where he and Rider had been staying safely. It is clear that Waver's desires involve taking a break from his studies and traveling. He begins to clean up the mess that Rider left behind, saving the video game console that Rider bought. It is clear that he has regrets: the Holy Grail War ends in a fire that has him wonder if he and Rider could have prevented, and that he accepted being subordinate to Rider rather than an equal.

Canon point: Waver comes from the end of Fate/zero, where he decides that after the disaster of the Great Fuyuki Fire, he will spend some time traveling and following after his mentor, Iskandar, King of Conquerors.

Appearance: Waver Velvet is five feet and one inch at age 19 with pale skin. He has short black hair to his chin, green eyes, and a grumpy disposition. In canon he wears a white collared shirt, a green sweater, a black and yellow tie, and dark green trousers with a little brown wallet chain that hangs out of his right pocket. His shoes are brown.

Within the game he would continue with his current height, eye color, age, and skin tone, as well as hair and general grumpiness. Within Lethevale Waver will be wearing fairly basic digs, all things considered. His trousers will be either black or dark green, his shoe color will remain the same, and his suit jackets will be either dark green or black, as appropriate, with any vest taking the color that the jacket isn't. The shirts will be white, and the tie will be either a dark blue, yellow, or black, as his wardrobe permits. These changes of clothes will be limited to acknowledge that he is working his way up from the lower class. The only true splash of color he has is his winter coat, which is a deep, dark red, with a fur trim around the collar for extra warmth.

Played by is not applicable.

History: Waver Velvet was born to parents who had just joined the middle class of Victorian London through a lot of hard work and a few smart business decisions, led by Waver's grandmother who wouldn't reveal how she was able to get so far ahead for a woman, never mind a woman who started out in the lower class.

He grew up invested in books and wanting for an education, which was something no one else in his family took seriously up until him. He was given above average schooling, and soon got it into his head that he wanted to attend university. His parents weren't keen on the idea because of the potential classism their son might face, and he was set on the idea. His interest in academics was wide ranging, and included the sciences and a smattering of humanities, particularly the study of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Waver's parents died in his youth, leaving him everything they owned, but not providing him a new source of income. Still dreaming of university, Waver proceeded to sell all of his family’s possessions so he could attend Cambridge. This led to a huge fight with his grandmother, and the two ceased speaking to each other at this time.

Once at university, Waver proceeded to experience nothing but bullying by other students thanks to his background. Being newly middle class, Waver was seen as smelling a little too much like the proverbial factory, and was mocked for it constantly. He continued to do his coursework in chemistry under the supervision of one Professor Archibald, and submitted a paper to the professor suggesting a new idea about potential elements and where they might be found.

The paper, viewed as lofty and impossible, was publicly read out loud and ridiculed by the professor in front of the class, prompting Waver to lose his temper and run out of the classroom. From there, he ran into a delivery man who was dropping off something for his professor, and Waver said he’d pass it along.

What Waver ended up doing was taking the item (a scrap of cloth from a particularly old mummy that had some ancient writings on it) and running off for some time. He headed towards London again, and without any place to stay because he had sold everything for tuition, he drifted through the streets for a night or two, before being dragged into an adventure on the black market for antiquities.

These fights (replacing the Holy Grail War in canon) revolved around the ownership of a rare artifact that was dug up in Cornwall, said to be magic. Waver, having his doubts about magic, was interested more for the prestige of winning in something and perhaps being able to take something back to Cambridge with him to prove that he wasn’t some new middle class kid who shouldn’t be there. He partnered up with a large, cheerful, muscular redhead who claimed to be from Macedonia but insisted on a Turkish name of Iskandar. Waver viewed Iskandar as a means to an end at first, and the two constantly fought because Waver’s awful temper and sense the world was against him grated against Iskandar’s lighter demeanor. However, the desire to win forced the two to work together more and more, and Iskandar’s cheerful demeanor, willingness to talk folks before picking fights, and general sense of a zest for life slowly but surely wore off on Waver. While wandering in a particularly sketchy area of the city, Waver ran into a man who was looking for assistance with a particular matter on the illegal antiquities market. This man, a cheerful and loud Macedonian who responded to Rider or Iskander, explained that supposedly the Holy Grail had been dug up in Cornwall and now there were seven parties in London all vying for the prestige of owning it - and perhaps using it's supposedly magical properties. Waver had his doubts about the magic part, but the idea of having such a fabled item to take back to Cambridge and make everyone give him a modicum of respect was enough to get him to agree to help Rider out. Waver wasn't sure why Iskandar had reached out to him, especially since the two started their partnership by fighting constantly thanks to the combination of Waver’s awful temper and sense the world was against him grated against Iskandar’s lighter demeanor. However, the desire to win and generally getting to know each other saw Iskandar's attitude, willingness to talk to folks before picking fights, and general sense of a zest for life began to wore off on Waver, mellowing him out by quite a bit. Eventually, Waver promised to try and follow Iskandar’s example, which delighted the man immensely.

It also saved Waver’s life. In the end, Iskandar was killed by another man who wanted the Grail, and was about to do the same to Waver. Before doing so, he asked Waver where Waver’s loyalty was - in pursuing the Grail or to Iskandar. Waver answered the latter, which pleased the man in question and prompted him to leave Waver be.

A large fire happened that same night, destroying a factory. The causes of the fire were declared unknown, but Waver found it to be no coincidence that all talk of the so-called Holy Grail stopped circulating around that time.

For his part, Waver decided that he would take a year off, travel, and pursue a new project for his thesis. His interest now lies in looking at ancient and medieval chemistry, and how information from older manuscripts can help the field move forward.

Job: Waver Velvet is a student at Cambridge University who is in theory taking a gap year to travel, but is using that time to research and view ancient and medieval chemistry manuscripts. He is in Lethevale for that reason, and will be picking up odd jobs in the area to make sure he has extra income.

Reason for coming to Lethevale: Waver is in Lethevale to conduct research on manuscripts in the area that relate to ancient and medieval chemistry. The area has information relevant to him.

Inventory:
-Several notebooks
-Extra paper and pens
-3 changes of clothes appropriate for a young man just introduced to the middle class
-Textbooks about engineering and chemistry
-A small pocket knife used mostly for opening the mail
-2 pairs of shoes and a pair of boots
-1 large coat, wool, for the winter


Anything else: Please ask me any questions you need to, I know this canon can be weird.

IC
Hugging: Ok, but he won't react well to it.
Kissing: Ok, but he won't react well to it.
Flirting: By all means, but he may not notice or assume he's being made fun of.
Fighting: Yes, but I'd like to discuss it OOCly.
Injuring: Yes, but I'd like to discuss it OOCly.
Killing: Not at this time.

OOC
Backtagging/Slow threading: Yes.
Fourth-walling: No.
Other: Nothing I can think of.

Concerns/Crit/etc.