OOC: Info and Profile
Mello
Full Name: Mihael Keehl
Fandom/Timeline: Death Note, Manga. Just after he removes his helmet and shows his face to Takada. Imported from a previous game.
Current Location: An apartment near the upper class area. Also has an apartment in Dismas.
Occupation: Consult and dirty work (hits, kidnappings, etc) for Underworld mistress Milena Roew. Arms dealer on the side.
Relationship Status: Taken by Matt (onetoignite).
Languages Spoken: Common, English, German, Russian, Japanese, French, probably more that haven't come up.
Deaths: Zero
Links: IC Contact, Relationships, How's My Driving, Ask me anything
And you climb on the wall and you're not afraid of fall.
Scared you'll throw yourself over the edge of it all.
You prayed for years, and you buried your fears.
Now didn't your mother tell you we'd all end in tears for
You.
Appearance and Impression: Mello is slight, wiry and androgynous with near shoulder length golden blond hair and glacial blue eyes. A nasty burn scar covers the left half of his face and much of the left side of his torso and shoulder. He can often be seen in dark sunglasses, and is almost always seen in skintight black leather - gloves, pants, a vest, high heeled leather boots. Often, he covers his scarred face with his hair, and his body with a black sweater, bulky coats. His body language is large and sprawling, moreso in private than in public. It is also immensely quirky - as he's given to rolling his head, and strange, almost reptilian movements. His body is toned, athletic, and constantly tense, as though he is expecting an attack at any time. He is alway adorned with silver jewelry - a cross-like belt buckle, and no fewer than three crucifixes - a rosary at his neck, on his wrist, hanging from chains at his belt. If he pulls off his gloves, you'll see that his nails are perfectly manicured, and painted black. He is always armed.
Mello has a presence infinitely larger than he is, himself - oh, for one so thin he takes up an immense amount of space. And while he is, as said before, androgynous of body, any doubt falls away the moment he opens his mouth: his voice is jolting - a deep growl in his throat.
Finally, his accent is a mix of things - a touch of upperclass British, the barely noticeable hint of German, mixed with that flat, American tone you see on television. All of that is natural, and can disappear when he wants it to - evaporating into a perfect replication of... whatever accent he wants, in whichever of God only knows how many languages he speaks.
What a shame we all became such fragile, broken things.
A memory remains, just a tiny spark.
I give it all my oxygen to let the flames begin.
So let the flames begin
Oh, glory.
Powers, skills and equipment:
Pyrokinesis: Creation and manipulation of fire. Intensifying/feeding/growing fires - can be manifested as anything from a lighter flame to an explosive ignition or large area inferno. Includes various pyrokinetic tricks (eg. balls of flame, blah blah). As a side effect, he appears to run a fever at times.
Regeneration and rebirth: Call it a healing factor gone mad. Healing speed is positively correlated with the damage done - he'll heal from a gunshot wound more quickly than paper cut, for example. This doesn't reduce pain, but it does make him extremely difficult to kill. Fire/heat related injuries heal instantaneously regardless of degree, but they still hurt when inflicted. Interestingly enough, can't heal his scar. If he is actually killed, flames consume his body (if there is one) and he is reformed from fire. Note, this does not mean the world itself can't kill him (Blood Awakening, for example, will still do it).
General enhanced physical abilities: Not superstrength/speed/durability/etc. but definitely above normal human levels, especially for someone of his size.
Equipment: A boatload of firearms, explosives and other "useful" items. His primary weapon is a white metal handgun with a gold cross on the handle and a crucifix hanging from the bottom of said handle via a string of prayer beads. However, he also carries various other forms of artillery, nevermind what a weapons stockade his apartments are.
Also: High level detective/investigative skills, genius level intellect, formidable hand-to-hand combatant, highly skilled in the use of modern and some melee weapons, techsavvy (not a tech genius, but he definitely knows what he's doing), excellent planner, knows a lot about Catholicism. Generally athletic. Willing to blow himself up to score a point.
It's more than just wanting the notebook.
I want Kira's head.
And I'll kill anyone who gets in my way.
Personality:
When you think of Mello, think of fire - the slow burn of resentment, the intense heat of an inferno, the destructive flames of an explosion. Despite what is best referred to as an emotionally stunting childhood environment, and unlike many of his former colleagues, Mello never managed to repress, manage or eliminate (depending on one's perspective) his emotional reactions. Instead, he is a creature of passion, drive and obsession, existing largely in extremes. While he is indeed a genius - one of the greatest minds to emerge from Wammy's House in fact, his common sense and rationality are often warped (or overruled entirely) by any of his myriad personal hangups - his hatred of and competitiveness with regards to Near, his hero worship of L, his quick to trigger temper. As a result, Mello is an intense and difficult to predict person, sometimes prone to following his drives instead of his head.
However that only applies in the short term. In the long term, he makes very effective use of his mind and the skills taught to him by the House, and rarely allows his overall goals to be compromised. Thus, while he might act impulsively in some areas, he won't kick over anything critical for his plans. The truth is, despite his apparent inconstancy, he is actually extremely focused and calculating at all times. While he is willing to commit violent acts, for example, it is never gratuitous or unnecessary (at least from his perspective - mileage, of course, may vary. Considerably.) He always aims to keep death to the minimum necessary, for example, as evidenced by his regret when forced to kill Soichiro Yagami -- which he genuinely hadn't intended to do. It was, however, a somewhat shallow regret; in the end, the demands of necessity is more important than any specific action or lack thereof, and he does lack a normal amount of empathy.
His rivalry with Near is the greatest defining point of Mello's personality, and he is absolutely driven to defeat/prove himself superior to Near in every conceivable way. As such, he will always take an interest in what Near is doing, and seek paths to attack those things himself with the goal of reaching whatever finish line is appropriate first. This is especially applicable to cases, or anything involving intellectual abilities or knowledge. This is also the area in which he is willing to take the most extreme actions - for example, he orchestrated the slaughter of the majority of Near's organization, the SPK, entirely to cripple his rival despite having no qualms with the specific members of the team. Indeed, the only thing capable of causing Mello to break his long-term goals in pursuit of short-term satisfaction is Near. For Mello, the greatest possible insult is for Near to look down on him or use him as a pawn in his games, be it with Kira, with L's memory, or in any other circumstances. That he believes Near does, indeed, do this fuels his drive to win, and that drive can push him to extraordinary measures. He can be quite ruthless in pursuit of his goals. Just as an example, while he stayed with the mafia for over a year and presumably made some connections with them, he did not hesitate to blow up their headquarters with himself inside it, in order to break his way out of a corner. Furthermore, he is full of stories
All of this said, he should never be taken for amoral - his actions often stem from intentions that are, if not good, then at the least not bad, and in Another Note, his disgust for Kira - both his actions and his attitudes - virtually dripped from the page. Furthermore, he is not without decency - when he kidnapped Takada, for example, he allowed her to undress with a blanket to protect her modesty.
Mello's self-image is complicated. His prolonged (and always unsuccessful) attempt to surpass Near has warped his personality and resulted in an inferiority complex nearly crippling in its weight, but at the same time, he does see himself as superior to practically everyone else. The result is that he has very little respect for most people, and does not hesitate to use them, sacrifice them, manipulate them... generally do anything to them that he deems necessary... and yet at the same time, is continually driven to tackle challenges that may prove his worth in the eyes of himself and others. And while he has excellent social skills, is rather charismatic, and excels at making others feel they are his comrades, in reality he tends to hold himself both above and apart from others in such a way that he rarely feels truly a "part" of any group aside from "Wammy's House Alumni." In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, he places great value on the few he does accept as a peer, and is far more tolerant with them than with most others. He tolerated some rather formidable blunders on the part of Matt, for example.
Mello can sometimes present himself as 'rough,' but this is largely a front - consider that he was raised by in a mansion by British gentlemen and academics! Furthermore, during his mafia years he can be seen as something of an aristocrat among the rabble - he holds himself above them, uses authoritative body language, etc. While he uses them, he is not truly one of them, as explained in the previous paragraph. Furthermore, going back to the Takada kidnapping incident, not only did he allow her to protect her modesty, he also spoke to her rather politely despite the circumstances.
It should be noted that, while Mello is emotionally very intact compared to many of the others emerging from Wammy's House, he does have a great deal more trouble with positive, gentle or subtle emotions than he does with negative or extreme ones.
Finally, he is immensely religious - Catholic, to be specific. This causes a great deal of internal conflict due to both his life choices and sexual behaviors coming into conflict with his religious and moral beliefs.
I can't move past this wall.
I give it meaning when it means nothing at all.
I want to divide it to make it fall.
I want to burn it to the ground.
But I still feel it racing in my veins.
But when I let go nothing walks away.
Background:
Relatively little is known about Mello's personal history, but the few things we do know can be summed up thus: eventually he ended up orphaned and taken in by Wammy's House in Winchester, England. This House, the most exclusive and secretive of a strong of orphanages, served primarily as a training facility for extremely gifted children who could serve as potential replacements for the world-renown superdetective, L. Thus, in order for the facility to become interested in him, he must have been a highly intelligent and talented child, though it is unknown how they came to know this or contact him. Based on his name, as well as his appearance, we can assume he has Slavic origins. Based on his accessorizing, it seems likely that he comes from a Catholic background.
At Wammy's House, Mello's naturally competitive personality helped him to achieve a ranking of #2, behind only the child prodigy Near. While many would have been satisfied with this, Mello was unable to accept his secondary placement and strove to overtake Near, taking on a largely one-sided rivalry with him. In the service of his goal, Mello studied constantly and drove himself close to breaking, singularly fixated on his obsession. Yet, despite his effort, he consistently failed. This eventually warped Mello's personality, bringing out the previously latent darker side of him, though he remained active and popular amongst the other children (as well as being an avid soccer player at the time). Over time, the dangerousness of the combination between Mello's personality and his obsessive rivalry became evident, bringing out some of his crueler nature (in his first appearance he is shown kicking a ball into another student, hurting him, and laughing at his complaints), and fueled by his frustration and resentment.
Presumably Roger (the man who ran the Orphanage) spoke to Wammy/Watari or L about this situation, because eventually L spoke to Mello in person, telling him the story of the original #2, B, who had become so twisted by his rivalry with L himself that he was eventually driven to become a serial killer. In this way, L sought to warn Mello not to let his issues with Near break him entirely.
Mello took the lesson to heart... at first. But shortly thereafter, L was killed by the supernatural killer, Kira. He died without deciding whether his name should fall to Near or to Mello. Frustrated and angry, Mello stormed out of the house, and bowed out of the contest, and decided to strike out on his own at only 14 years old.
We next caught up with him at age 18. By this time, he was living in LA and had not only gained entrance to the American mafia (having bought "membership" by literally delivering the head of a mob boss), but had all but taken it over within his one and a half year association with the organization. Indeed, he seemed second to boss Rod Ross only in name, as Ross often deferred to him on pretty much everything. Still enmeshed in his unilateral rivalry with Near, and having discovered the source of Kira's powers, a magical notebook known as the Death Note, Mello set his sites on acquiring it. To achieve this goal, he arranged for the kidnapping first of the NPA director and then (when said director hanged himself, presumably the work of Kira), of Sayu Yagami. That plot worked rather better for him, and he ended up in command of a Death Note, which he used to kill most of Near's allies as well as blackmail the United States president, driving him to suicide.
The NPA task force, however soon tracked Mello to headquarters. A standoff resulted between Mello and Soichiro Yagami, in which both nearly met their death in various ways. Ultimately, Mello detonated explosives he had previously set up throughout the headquarters, killing Soichiro along with most of the remaining mafia members and policemen. Mello himself emerged permanently scarred along half of his face and much of his body.
At this time he came back into contact with Matt, a fellow Wammy's House alumni, as well as Hal Lidner, an ally of Near's who also served as an agent for Mello. Together they continued to pursue Kira, sometimes working "with" Near in a roundabout sort of way and sometimes working against him. In the end, Hal informed Mello that Near intended to end the case by having his own name written in the Death Note (presumably to determine which of the black books floating around was the true notebook). This spurred Mello into action. Realizing he could no longer beat Near he determined instead of snatch Near's victory away by claiming half of it for himself in what amounted to a suicide mission - he kidnapped Kiyomi Takada, Kira's spokeswoman, getting Matt killed in the process and offering himself up as a sacrificial lamb.
Take second best, put me to the test.
Things on your chest we need to confess.
I will deliver; you know I'm a forgiver.
Reach out and touch faith.