Kannagara Application for Mihael Keehl

PLAYER INFO
Name/Nickname: Bee.
Age: 20
Journal: PaintsWithTea
AIM/MSN/IM: LivesInYesterday
Email: ErasetoForget@gmaii.com

CHARACTER INFO
Name: Mihael Keehl (aka. Mello) 
Canon: Death Note (Manga) 
Point taken from canon: Final page of Death Note chapt. 59/Flashback in chapt. 60. - Roger's revelation of L's death. 
Age: 14, a few months before turning 15. 
Gender: Male

Appearance:
No specific height is ever given for 14 yr old Mello, but considering he is 5,6 by the age of 19, i will assume that by this canon point he is in the 5,2 / 5,3 area. He wears his hair in a blonde bob cut off above his shoulders and has dark eyes and pale skin. He is thin, lanky, and has bad posture and is more often seen with a wide-eyed expression accompanied by a scowl or a smirk. 

For clothes he wears black sweats. 

Canon Background: 

Because I am taking Mello from literally the start of the second arc, there is not much canon history for him up to this point. What is known is: 


Mello, like L and Near, spent his childhood at Wammy’s Orphanage in Winchester, England. The age at which he entered Wammy’s is unknown, as is the identity of his parents or where exactly Mello, born “Mihael Keehl”, is from. Wammy’s, however, is not only an orphanage but also an institution for developing brilliant minds, and when Mello was there, an institution for grooming successors to the title of “L” – World’s Greatest Detective.

At Wammy’s Mello’s investigative skills were second only to those of Near, a younger boy, with whom Mello found himself in constant competition, even though Near really did not seem to view it in this same way. Near’s indifference to their “obvious” competition, however, only served to fan the flames of Mello’s hatred and determination to succeed even more. It is in these early years that Mello’s obsession with being number one started. It became so ingrained that by the time the news of L’s death reached the orphanage and the two boys were informed that L had yet to pick a successor, Mello not only refused to work in a pair with Near, but decided to leave Wammy’s completely, saying that he would pursue Kira with his own means. And he would do it before Near to boot.

Thus, not even fifteen, Mello was on his own with only a mission.

Post Canon point information: 

The next time he is seen is 4 years later. The majority of what took place during the time skip is glossed over and all we are told is that Mello has since been working with the mafia who, after being unable time and again to kill Mello, follow his every word without question saying that Mello has never been wrong since he joined them a little more than a year before. He, without the aid of Wammy’s or diplomatic leaders, such are at Near’s disposal, has managed to start his own investigation and at that point is pretty much head to head with Near in terms of the amount of information he has gathered concerning the Kira case.

Mello fully reenters the scene with the kidnapping of Yagami Sayu, with which he announces to both Kira and Near his return and his intent to take the deathnote and defeat Kira by any means necessary. This act also forces the team working with Light Yagami, Kira acting as Second L, to come to LA, thus putting the ball in Mello’s court.

And thus Mello’s game, played against two competitors, begins.

Canon Personality:

“Mello’s existence in itself is dangerous.” – Light Yagami.

Mello has an “ends justify the means” outlook in his obsessive race to be number one. In this respect he is a danger to anyone who might be in his way, including himself. Manipulation, murder, kidnapping, explosives – the list is long and dirty, and is in no way short of shady dealings and backstabbing. To Mello the pursuit of Kira is a game he’s been playing since he entered Wammy’s as a possible successor to L and unlike Near who acts slowly in small measured steps, Mello is impatient and determined, clawing and blasting his way forward as fast as he can with any resources his suspect connections put within his reach.

For example:

When trapped in a building Near thinks of a way to escape the building with the remaining members of the SPK in tow.

Mello, when trapped in a building, waits until the last possible moment, losing every member of his mafia team and when all else fails blows the entire building up with himself still inside.

And needless to say he addressed the issue of losing his “team members” with an off-handed “it can’t be helped,” before proceeding to save what was left himself from the burning wreckage of his hideout. Though it is unfair to label this as a heartlessness in Mello. Instead it is more properly viewed as a willingness to make any sacrifice to reach his goal, whether that sacrifice be trivial, something along the lines of a building, or extremely personal, such as the death of Matt, his own friend. And finally, of course, the sacrifice of himself.

This way of viewing the world leads Mello to see nearly all people and things as expendable, to see alliances as terminable when they no longer suit his needs, and to distrust and disvalue the prospect of help or assistance. If its going to get done, he’ll do it himself. He’ll beat Kira himself, he’ll beat Near himself.

Or he’ll die trying.

Perhaps the only person Mello will voluntarily recognize as above himself in skill and worth is L, as is seen both in his destructive pursuit of L’s legacy as well as the fondness and reverence with which he speaks of L in is post-mortem narrative of the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases.

At this point in canon, Mello's volatile nature is present but not fully developed into the cutthroat criminal he will become towards the climax of the second arc, and thus by default has more opportunity for change or influence, but there are still basic elements of his character that are present. That inability to accept being second, that stubbornness and that dramatic overreaction to things that he dislikes or feel insult him are deeply ingrained in him by this point. 


Abilities/Strengths:  

*Physically: Mello’s primary form of self-defense is hand-held weaponry. Most obviously his gun (specific type not specified) that he carries on his person and with which he threatens Hal Lidner, Near, Takada Kiyomi, and various others. Mello rarely hesitates to wave the firearm about if he feels threatened, cornered, angry, frustrated, or anything other than pensive or victorious.

Another example of weaponry is Mello’s use of explosives: the one used to blow up the helicopter following the exchange of Yagami Sayu for the deathnote, and then the explosives controlled by a handheld trigger that he uses to destroy his hideout after the raid led by Chief Yagami.

*Mentally/Emotionally: Mello’s mental capabilities give him the benefit of being quick on his feet, adept at piecing together seemingly obscure pieces of evidence, as well as holding his own in games of wit against Near and Light. Mello’s passionate and overzealous determination to win enables him to take massive risks that for the most part are the reason for most of his success in investigating Kira. Even Near gives Mello credit where credit is due, stating that the information Mello’s no-holds-barred tactics uncovered has progressed the investigation immensely in a way they would not have with Near’s more meticulous approach.

Weaknesses: 

*Physically: For starters, it is never shown that Mello is particularly strong physically. He is of small stature and seemingly without much muscle mass. Not to mention his constant dependence on a gun suggests a disadvantage in the physical strength department. In addition to this, at this point in canon Mello is still very much a child in the physical sense. He's not fully grown and he's not particularly large for a 14 yr old. 

*Mentally/Emotionally: Despite Mello’s unusually high mental capacity, his actions are often swayed by his more passionate, brash emotions. He is cocky, confident, and has an assumption of being “bulletproof” that at times leads him to failure. That same determination to which he can attribute his success, he can also attribute to his downfall. The rapid pace at which he pursues Kira and the alarming rate at which he closes in on Light’s identity as Kira, makes it more and more of a priority for Light and his followers to kill him. And, due to his brash behavior during the raid of his hideout, Light’s team is able to kill him since they now have possession of his name and eventually his face to go with it. This, in direct contrast to Near, who at all times stays hidden or masked until it is a guarantee that he won’t be killed.


Defining Quote(s): 

"I'll live my own way" (61)

"In the end there is no greater motivation than revenge" (64)

"I'm not your tool to solve a puzzle!" (77)

"Which of us will get Kira first...it's a race!" (77)

"Our goal is the same, I'll wait for you there." (77)

"It's my turn to use you." (79)


Other:
 Mello, as a detective in Death Note, is thereby recognizable through his quirks.: 

*Quirks:

Mello has an obsession for chocolate, though if you watch carefully Mello is only seen eating chocolate during times when he seems to have the upper hand, or when he is calculating a plan. This is similar to L’s tendencies in eating sweets.

Mello also habitually has bad posture when sitting as L did, and as Near does, though unlike L who pulls up his knees, or Near who crouches, Mello slouches in his chair or on the couch, legs either splayed or crossed awkwardly.

He is the only one of the detectives who habitually wears shoes, not to mention he always keeps his hands covered with gloves.

The only one of the detectives who’s hairstyle changes in the series.

He’s also the only main character in the series who seems to exhibit any actual form of faith that is not kira-worship. This can be seen in the way he always wears a rosary around his neck. Though the particulars of Mello’s faith are never explored.

While Near and L wear white, Mello dresses in all black. Not to mention his sense of style is suspiciously similar to Misa’s, another character driven majorly by emotion [she’s blonde as well].

Near and L make a habit of being accompanied everywhere, L by Watari, and Near by Lester. Mello is seen to travel on his own, as he does when he takes Lidner as a hostage and when he comes to take Takada Kiyomi.


Action Writing Sample: 

[The screen flickers on but is given no time to settle as it is kicked by a small but vicious black boot accompanied by the sound of a curse and a scuffle]

BLOODY HELL. 

[Yes. Take that, Roger. Mello can curse because you're not around to stop him. He's all on his own now. All on his own in the great big .....tree?

A pack is dropped into view of the screen, followed by a adolescent looking boy, who might look vaguely familiar to some of you who have been here for a while, walking backwards, chin tilted up as he tries to get a good vantage point of the giant fucking tree that now stood where Wammy's had been just a second ago. No seriously. Where was the rain? Where were the brick buildings and the gate? He's standing there with drenched blonde hair sticking to his cheeks but in broad daylight with not a cloud in sight]

...bloody fucking hell. 

[This was not exactly what he had had planned for his dramatic exit.] 

Third Person Writing Sample:  

After a while Mello had had enough staring. Nothing was going to get done with him just standing there, and besides, he hadn't forgotten that he had a mission. To beat Near. To be L. And to have the world under his thumb as the greatest detective of all time. Yes, that sounded about right. 

Now all he had to figure out was: 1. Where the fuck was he? 2. Who's ass to kick for bringing him here. and 3. What direction was America in? He had already settled on America as his best chance to gather meat shields and idiots dumb enough to mentally arm-wrestle into doing his bidding, so right now he just had to figure out how to get there and out of this forest. 

Which, as he found himself wandering into the thicket, might not be as easy as it sounded. 

But he had no doubt he'd find away. Even if he had to blow this place to shit somehow.