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[bloomingdespite]

Player Information

Name: Doom
Age: 18
Contact details: TheDoomkitten
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Canon: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Canon Point: After the events of R, but before the cult of Doma awakens.
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: AU
Age: 18

World Information: Domino City is largely the same as it is in canon, so this should do.

Personal History: One spring evening, Yugi Muto bequeathed Anzu Mazaki the Millennium Puzzle, intending to help her achieve her dreams. Instead, he accidentally sealed the spirit of the long-dead Pharaoh and the great beast of darkness within Anzu's heart, changing her fate forever. From then on, the shadow of Anzu's soul struck out at any who wronged her or her friends, possessing her body and playing ancient Shadow Games to punish the wrongdoers.

This is a familiar story. However, the change in players brought consequences that puzzled destiny itself; namely, the matter of Anzu's and the Pharaoh's souls. Yugi was the perfect vessel for the spirit, meant to fit him like the last piece of a puzzle. But Anzu's soul was fierce and independent, instinctively raging against the bonds the Pharaoh put on it when they took control. And so in the subtle, daily clash between the spirits of Anzu and the Pharaoh, their souls occasionally overlapped, interlocking in ways that were never supposed to be.

The unconscious conflict came to a head when the Pharaoh saw fit to punish a friend of Anzu's, Katsuya Jonouchi, for violating her privacy. Unwilling to stand by and let Jonouchi endure the same hell that the Pharaoh put their other victims through, Anzu wrested control of her body back from the Pharaoh... albeit too late.

This great clashing of souls left pieces of the other in each of the two participants, creating a second shadow. One who was both Anzu Mazaki and the ancient Pharaoh, but also neither. This spirit would later be known as Wester, but that is far, far in their future. Back then, they were a shadow. Nothing more.

The "little shadow" dwelled in the souls of Thorn (what Anzu dubbed the Pharaoh after referring to them as they were a "a thorn in my side") and Anzu both, barely cognizant of their own presence and completely unknowing of their true identity, simply viewing themself as a representation of Anzu created by Thorn in their mind. They advised—and saved the bacon of—any visitors to the soul, and sometimes, when hearts aligned or attempted to tear from one another, they saw through Anzu's eyes.

While it was conflict that brought the little shadow into existence, it was unity that solidified them into their own being. After Anzu was brought low by despair due to Jonouchi nearly dying due to the consequences of the half-aborted Penalty Game, her parents' decision to move out of town to curb their daughter's "delinquent behavior," and one of her former victims—Seto Kaiba—returning to exact revenge, she finally managed to reconcile with Thorn in the depths of Kaiba's dungeon... and convince them that they needed to save Kaiba, not punish him.

When Thorn and Anzu, both possessing the body at the same time, confronted Kaiba with such unity of purpose they unknowingly both merged into the little shadow, who made an impassioned plea for Kaiba to stop the madness. This didn't work, but the little shadow did win the following duel, and rather than completely shatter Kaiba's mind, they accompanied him in his dreams (and occasionally swapped shifts with his little brother) to help him regain what he had lost.

The shadow returned to take the wheel whenever Anzu and Thorn were fully of one mind in achieving their goals... most notably when, in the post-finals of the Duelist Kingdom tournament, the little shadow took full control of the duel in the latter half of the duel against Maximillion Pegasus after the man took Jonouchi's soul. The stress of that particular Shadow Game brought the souls of Anzu and Thorn closer than ever before, and the shadow grew in equal measure.

After, Anzu's life was peaceful for a few months, until Kaiba was trapped in a virtual reality based on Pegasus's crazed notes about a world of card spirits known as the "Duel Terminal." But when Anzu attempted to enter the Duel Terminal to rescue him, the software malfunctioned and drew the little shadow within instead. They lost all of their memories but their purpose to rescue Kaiba, and took up a name for the first time: Wester, named after the "Westerlund" star supercluster their Duel Monster avatar was based off of. Alongside Anzu's allies, they opened the gate to Xyz and Synchro summoning, before finally managing to save Kaiba and exit the simulation, at which point they lost all memories of their time within.

Soon after, Kaiba announced the Battle City tournament to collect the three legendary God Cards. Anzu and Thorn made their way to the finals and earned Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the three God Cards, then came face-to-face with the ringleader of a criminal syndicate known as "the Ghouls" and the wielder of the Millenium Rod: Marik Ishtar, who desired to destroy the spirit of the Pharaoh for the treatment of his clan who was forced to uphold his legacy. But before the final confrontation, Anzu and Thorn were kidnapped along with the rest of the finalists by Kaiba's lost brother, Noa, and placed in another virtual world, this time a rendition of a different era of the Duel Terminal's history. This time, Anzu and Thorn manifested completely separate from Wester, and kidnapped by Noa to motivate the rest of the group to play his games. When the three were reunited, Wester disappeared from the virtual world and retreated into Anzu and Thorn's minds once more, dormant from the shock...

...until a direct hit from Marik's God Card, the Winged Dragon of Ra, so overloaded the minds of both with spiritual energy that the fusion was fully completed, and they took shelter within Wester's own burgeoning soul. With Anzu and Thorn silent, Wester completed the duel, and won Battle City under they impression they were Anzu or Thorn having an extended bout of identity trouble, as they were prone to, and doing their best to ignore the sudden memories of their stint as Wester.

When Jonouchi was kidnapped again by a protege of the dead Pegasus as part of a plot to revive him, Wester was forced to confront their own identity in a duel against the orchestrator of the plan and his "Wicked Gods." Ever since that realization, Wester has lived in constant fear of their friends discovering their true identity and casting them out for taking away Anzu and Thorn away from them.

Personality: As Wester is a fusion of two different souls and also their own person, it's important that they be discussed in the context of their components.

• Passionate: Anzu and Thorn are extremely passionate, albeit in different ways. Anzu's passion runs bright and hot, exploding into acts of kindness towards the deserving and unrestrained fury against those that harm her and her friends. Thorn keeps his emotions in check, only unleashing them when in the throes of a duel—but when they are released, they're like a raging wildfire. Wester is the synthesis of these two different ways of experiencing emotion: they're open and expressive to everyone they meet, but with Thorn's control, Anzu's hair-trigger temper is less apparent (although they're not above gently ribbing their friends and calling them out if they're being idiots). However, despite Thorn's tempering influence, Wester experiences emotions more deeply than either of their components. While this generally makes them a jovial, pleasant, and excitable person, it can leave Wester falling into deep depressions or expressing a terrifying, volcanic wrath when something truly angers them.
• Empathetic: While Anzu and Thorn can be ruthless in their own ways, Anzu's deep well of empathy is only enhanced by Thorn's natural sense of honor when they're fused. Wester feels compassion for everyone and everything around them, and wants to connect and help even the most despicable of villains. (Their hyperempathy also makes them a huge crybaby when it comes to emotional books and movies.) However, when encountering somebody truly despicable and vile without a solitary shred of humanity to them, or after being burned multiple times despite their attempts to reach out, that empathy will reverse into a cold fury that cannot be quenched.
• Guilt-ridden: Wester's hyper-empathy and care for everything and everyone has another side effect: combined with Thorn's tendency to assume responsibility for everything, it leads to a massive guilt complex. Whenever anything goes wrong anywhere in their vicinity and people are hurt, Wester will endlessly beat themself up for not being able to stop it—and god (cards) forbid that they caused undue harm to anyone. It's not something Wester can easily shake off with an inspirational pep talk, either; it throws them off their game for days and they'll spend all their energy trying to find ways to make up for it. Even if the incident happened long ago, Wester will still be struck by sudden bouts of melancholy and be laid up in their bed a depressed wreck for a few days out of every month as they think about "wouldcouldashoulda." The worst part of it for them is how frustratingly cliched this is; the angst is so textbook that they feel like they should be able to easily find a way to overcome it, but they can't. Which makes them feel even worse, and so on and so forth until something snaps them out of it.
• Enthusiastic: While Thorn usually takes his games dead seriously, with no time for nerdiness or any sort of tomfoolery, Anzu's outgoing nature brings out the inner dork in Wester. They are more than happy to geek out at the slightest provocation about any of their interests, releasing all of the knowledge that they have absorbed like a sponge onto the unsuspecting fool who provoked their ramblings in a flood of trivia. From Duel Monsters to Monster World to tidbits of game design to punk music to so much more, Wester will babble on about technical details and optimization techniques that nobody other than themself or an expert int he field they're talking about will understand. Once the tide has subsided, they usually feel somewhat sheepish about infodumping on hapless bystanders (usually), but have no regrets about talking shop to anybody who's a willing participant.
• Intense: While Wester's open enthusiasm for everything that interests them is largely inherited from Anzu, their sheer intensity and menacing aura when they get down to business is a trait of Thorn's that's only underscored by Anzu's more subdued intensity. Whenever something precious is on the line or when they're in a serious competition, Wester is downright terrifying; shooting death glares to their opponents, declaring their intentions in a sinister monotone, and exploding with passion whenever they're executing a particularly skillful gambit. They emit the same aura whenever they're crunching numbers, thinking about campaigns, or even doing homework as an unconscious reflex. (Wester has accidentally made kids cry with this, something they feel very guilty about.) When they snap out of this trance, Wester returns to their normal cheery self, but is internally conflicted about the possibility of going too overboard and hurting someone in this state.
• Protective: One thing that Anzu and Thorn can agree on no matter what is a self-sacrificing devotion to save their friends and loved ones, and this is only amplified through Wester. They'd happily lay life and limb on the line to protect anyone they care about, and seeing their loved ones hurt is enough to instill a world-breaking ire in them that won't be quenched until someone pays. This devotion often goes too far: Wester will happily let others treat them like a doormat if it means helping the ones they care about, and while nobody that would take advantage of this has wormed their way into their hearts yet, it's an ever-present possibility. This fierce, unending love is Wester's defining traits, and the one thing that they can always count on to keep themself moving forward.

Key Themes: The primary theme of Wester's personal story is the pursuing of acceptance, and when to stop looking to find it inside yourself and your friends. Wester's greatest desire is to be known as themself to their friends, but they're so terrified of rejection and hatred that they continue leading a false life that makes them miserable as they loathe their very existence for "taking away" Anzu and Thorn. Before they can truly be happy, Wester needs to first accept that they aren't a monster or an abomination, and to face their friends and tell them the truth no matter what reprisal they may face.

Main Motivation: As corny as it sounds, Wester's main motivation is to protect their friends. They'll do anything to keep their friends safe from harm, including burning themself out in a glorious blaze, because of the compassion that's imprinted on their very being. It can be distressing to watch, and can alienate them from those they're trying to protect.

Skills: Wester is the best duelist on their home world by the numbers, with the discipline and planning of the King of Games and the instinctual drive and passion of Anzu in addition to their own mastery of game design. (Off world might be a different story, though.) They're tenacious by nature and nearly impossible to put down permanently, with a quirk of their tripartite nature making them three times as strong, fast, and durable as a regular human. Wester is a game design geek and can deconstruct any system, game or not, extremely quickly. They're also an excellent singer and dancer, has an eidetic memory, and learns new languages uncannily quickly. As far as powers go, Wester is a master of the Shadow Games, special games of various kinds that are used to test a person's soul and deem them either guilty of some crime or innocent of any punishment. (The innocent verdict is very rare.) To aid in these Shadow Games, Wester can create illusions while one is initiated to test the victim and can instantly tell whenever someone cheats. If somebody fails a Shadow Game, Wester can inflict a Penalty Game, which is less of a game and more of a personalized hell that they trap the victim's mind in to help them learn their lesson. Wester also can manipulate shadows to a minor degree, and has a "darkness sense" that allows them to smell the nature of a person's soul if they look or if a particularly nasty deed has occurred in the area. They can also sharpen their features and make their hair poofier at will.

Item: Their duel disk, complete with their Ghostricks deck.

Sample: Hey everyone,

This is Mazaki, if... that wasn't already obvious by my handwriting. I'm fine. I think. For the foreseeable future, at any rate.

I'm honestly still not sure what happened to me? Apparently I got abducted by a giant dimension-hopping train to be a part of a team of heroes. (I wonder if the real Duel Terminal world is somewhere out here?) I know it sounds really, really stupid, and trust me, it is. But I'm here now, and there's not much I can do about it.

Keep yourselves safe, alright? We've got to have a rematch at some point. Yes, all of you.
-Mazaki ♡

...

Why am I even writing this?

This is never going to reach you, and even if it somehow did, explaining the situation will just make you all worry more! "Conscripted by interdimensional train to conduct dangerous missions and who knows when I'll be back" isn't exactly the most reassuring thing to hear from your disappeared friend.

Osiris, I am an idiot.

I just...

This is so selfish but I wish you were all here. Then maybe I could

I

I don't even know.

I just miss all of you, so, so, so much. It's unbearable.

You know, I kinda wish I'd told you all the truth before I got picked up.

Then maybe you wouldn't be worried about me at all.

Notes: Thank you for reading this extremely long app.