PLAYER:
Name & LJ: May
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manglesBirthdate & Age: December 17, 1990; 20
Characters played in Zodion: N/A
✖ CHARACTER:Name:Quatre Raberba
Canon: Gundam Wing
PB/Image: Here he is.Info links: Gundam WikiCanon Point: End of Series; After Odds and Evens
Gender: Male/Male
Age: 16 aged to 18
Birthdate/Sign: March 4 - Pisces - I chose this for Quatre based on several very important traits of this sign: mutability, compassion, self-blaming, and the ‘sixth sense’ and music attributes.
The mutability is the most important, because Quatre’s big thing, like Relena and the other pilots, is to change the state of the world. He wants a world of peace for everyone and all of his goals are geared towards ending the war and bringing in a new era. The world needs to leave behind one era and move on to a new, better era. The world needs to adapt to the changing times and he hopes to help the forward movement towards that new time.
To a lesser extent, he is always seeking change in himself. ‘I want to be proud of myself’ is his motto, and over the past three years, he has changed himself quite a bit from the moody, misanthropic child he was at age thirteen and before. Instead of hating himself, and others, he has adapted to his new responsibilities since meeting the Maganacs and vowing to meet them on earth.
Quatre is always described as someone kind and compassionate by those around him. Kindness is a big aspect of Gundam Wing, the discussion of it, whether it is permitted in those on the battlefield, whether or not the pilots themselves are kindhearted. Quatre is often, alongside Heero, marked by his compassion to others. His compassion is much more obvious, though, and much more straightforward. It is also that kindness and compassion that leaves him too exposed when he witnesses his father die. It is that compassion, that kindness, that is remarked as being a part of the reason he snaps. But Quatre never loses that unbending compassion for others, though it slips from him for that time, and he keeps a hold on it throughout the war, eventually trying his best to keep as many soldiers alive as possible.
Self-blaming and guilt is a negative aspect of Quatre that is brought up a few times. He is a person who takes responsibility for things that are beyond his boundaries of influence and so, when things go wrong despite him having little control, he tends to suffer guilt from it. ‘If you leave him alone too long, Quatre will start blaming the absence of air in space on his lack of effort’ (Duo Maxwell, EW) is a rather mocking comment on this part of Quatre as a person, but despite the exaggeration, it isn’t completely unfounded. This might derive from his father’s attitude towards him. When we see their only face to face interaction in the series, Zayeed berates Quatre and practically blames the war itself on his son (‘Well? Did your battle bring peace? Did your war bring peace, Quatre?’), then proceeds to tell him that ‘a child like him’ can’t hope to change anything. This is a very likely stem for Quatre’s attitude.
The music is a thing that is associated with Quatre very heavily. In times of stress, he likes to play the violin to calm his nerves. When he is with Noin, he plays the piano, a ‘melancholy tune’, as noted by her, expressing his own guilt and depression over Trowa’s missing in action status. Music has a lot of importance for Quatre.
Suitability: Quatre might seem like the most sheltered pilot of the five, but he’s just as forcibly matured as the rest and just as tainted. No matter how many times the adults refer to the pilots as ‘kids’, even amongst each other in Duo’s sake, they’re still much more grown than they seem. Quatre’s been acknowledged as matured and adult-like since he met the Maganacs at age 13 and he’s always been very aware of the world at a higher level. Love, death, hate and sorrow are all familiar to him, even if not experienced personally. He lives in the adult world, runs a business, speaks on the same grounds as men twice his age. Though he is a little more optimistic than the others, it is from a sense of confidence, not from immaturity.
Tattoo:Hip, opposite his stab scar, 3.5 inches across
Power: Quatre is, for all intents and purposes, powerless. The only thing he’s got going for him are some miraculous strategic skills and a brain for engineering, hardly powers, and so he would have to be given a power upon arrival. The power of manipulation would be best for him. He seems to be the least capable when it comes to first aid, having no prior experience or training, and something like liquid manipulation would suit his inquisitiveness that comes with an engineering interest and enjoying building Gundams, which he does, if his predicted future in Frozen Teardrop is any sign. He enjoys working with his hands and in the end, he is still a trained fencer and fighter. For as much as a healing ability would come in handy, he’d much prefer a line of offence and defense first and foremost. If he has something to work with against an opponent, he won’t have to worry about healing either way.
Personality: .
Quatre is a natural born leader. Since the day he met the Maganac, he has taken a leader’s role when it comes to fighting. He’s excellent at strategics the moment he gets in ‘the zone’ and this doubles if he’s utilizing the ZERO system, though he‘s only used it once after its initial use with Heero‘s insistence. He has the charisma and confidence levels to take the lead of a group, but it’s not always easy for him to corral the Gundam pilots together to get things done. This doesn’t mean he fails, though, but instead that he tends to have to take some extreme tactics. When he decides the pilots need to go to outer space to protect the colonies, he and Duo storm an OZ base in order to get the ‘message’ broadcasted on news stations around the world.
For being 16, he takes on a lot of responsibilities, more than most adults have on their shoulders. Some are willing and some are given to him beyond his will, but he takes to them with the same air maturity. He takes the leadership position for the Maganacs when their leader is down. He is the one to volunteer for the position as Gundam pilot, despite his father’s wishes, so he can play a role in saving the colonies, and later, to help all people gain true peace. He accepts his own self-sacrifice when he attempts to self-detonate to ensure the others make it into space. When his father dies, he assumes his father’s position in the company while still remaining a pilot. In this, though, he also has a problem with taking a bit too much on his plate, but he rarely complains. He’s actually more prone to get annoyed if he DOESN’T have a lot to do, as seen in the end of Episode Zero when the Preventers call on him for a job and he states that a desk job environment just isn’t his style.
Even if he takes a lot onto his shoulders, he seems to manage it well, unless his expectations become too idealistic, as with the incident on his home colony. He broke when he assumed the colonies would see his father’s kindness and remember all he had done for them. When they turned on his father, he couldn’t understand it, and his own intuition about situations rarely fails him. He has a lot of faith in other people, and this major betrayal by people he believes his family has always helped was a big crusher, as much as the murder of his father itself was. This caused him to temporarily go into a state of psychosis, emotionally shut down and running only on his goal to eradicate the colonies. We see this behavior when he blows up the resource satellite and is astounded to see tears inside his helmet. ‘That’s funny, I’m crying… but I’m not one bit sad’.
Trowa blames his breakdown on his kindness when he tries to calm Quatre down. Quatre is constantly marked by others as being kind. When he and Heero are ‘captured’ together by a rather friendly army, Heero is seen playing with a group of dogs while Quatre looks on. He tells Quatre he should play with them, too, because dogs can sense kindness in people. The same claim occurs during the duel with Dorothy, when they have their discussion, she criticizes him for his kind heart. Quatre seeks to find the good in people as often as he can. There is not one person in the series that he truly spites. Even with his relationship with his father being jagged and difficult, he still loves his father. But that genuine search for good, his want for peace and happiness for both the colonies and the Earth and his consideration for soldiers he calls his enemy is something that marks him as a very kindhearted boy. He wants only to help others, to see people have a better tomorrow. He isn’t selfless, he has some selfishness to him that any person would have when he’s irritated, such as when he argued with Iria over getting a shuttle or when he rushed a soldier to observe Trowa’s blown up mobile suit, possibly endangering Heero, but he is willing to self-sacrifice. He’ll give his life for the cause readily.
But Quatre bring a lot of guilt upon himself. ‘If you leave him alone long enough, Quatre will start to blame the lack of air in space on him not trying hard enough’, a claim by Duo that’s exaggerated, but not unfounded. Quatre has this problem, again, with responsibility. While it’s a benefit that he is mature enough to take on a lot of responsibility, it is also detrimental. Quatre takes on TOO much responsibility, for things he sometimes is incapable of changing. The war itself cannot be fought by one person, as Trowa tries to explain to him, but all of the pilots are taught to fight solo. Even Quatre, who wants all of the pilots to act together, feels he should fight the war alone deep down.
This, though, is probably rooted in his father’s treatment of him. Zayeed Winner was a very strict man, firm in his belief of total pacifism. When Quatre decides to join the war effort, despite his admiration for his son, he reacts to Quatre very harshly. ‘Did your battle bring peace? Did your war bring peace to us? What can a child like you hope to do?’ Their first meeting together since Quatre ran away to earth in Operation Meteor, Zayeed berates Quatre for fighting and practically blames the entirety of the war on him. Zayeed seems lay the heavy burdens of the world Quatre’s involved himself in on his son, identifying all of the problems of the war with his son. This negatively impacts Quatre, who, despite being very defiant against his father, still takes his every word to heart. This is more than likely the direct source of his guilt complex. Meanwhile, the rest of his family is completely separated. He can’t even recognize the sister he has that appears to have lived the closest to home. Zayeed has been his only ‘family’, and that family has treated him harshly for years. It wasn’t until the Maganacs adopted him that he truly had a family to identify with and he is definitely closer and more comfortable in the company of Rasheed and the others. Blood is not as important to the idea of a family for Quatre as camaraderie and an emotional connection, especially since he still believes himself to be a test tube child.
This is what sparked his desire to be proud of himself. Quatre doesn’t want to be the child his father wanted, despite wanting his father’s love. He wants to grow from the arrogant child he was into being more like the Maganacs. He wants to be noble, gentle, and help others. His ideal self is someone who acts for the benefit of others. He wants to prove himself as a ‘human’ and find a place in the world he has made on his own. That is why he becomes a Gundam pilot and that is why he decides to find the Maganacs again. He takes the paths he feels will shape him into being that great person he hopes to be, so he can confidently say he likes the person he is.
In that, Quatre is often, as previously stated, confident in himself. He rarely doubts decisions he makes himself. He’s not one to second guess, because he’s usually the type of person who thinks ahead. Again, he’s a strategist, so he doesn’t stumble into a situation thoughtlessly unless it is urgent. Even in urgent situations, if his own life is the only thing at stake, he will even be confident in a reckless route, such as the incident with the message to the pilots or coming out of his Gundam to talk face to face with Trowa for the first time.
This confidence comes a lot from his ability to trust in others. Again, he likes to find the good in others, but he is also a great judge of character. He can figure someone out just by reading their battle tactics or their manner of carrying themselves. He often knows exactly whom he can trust. When he first comes in contact with Heero a bomb needs defusing at the base they were fighting on, he tells him that he’ll place his life in his hands. When he meets Trowa, he invites him to stay at his base and as he pleases. He trusts them both without question. It seems rather naïve for a while, but he really does know what he’s doing. The only time he has trouble with this, again, is when the colonies decide to shift their views on who they should ally with.
Quatre has been a rather sheltered child, so he’s a little quirky. The creators gave him an unfortunate ‘ability’, his apparent randomized empathy that seemingly is linked directly with Heero and all things related to Heero, which is a call back to the Newtypes from the original Gundam, supposedly, and it’s never given any real explanation. Quatre doesn’t even really understand it, so he just refers to it as his ‘space heart’ without any real rhyme or reason and it makes him sound a bit strange. He drinks tea at any given moment. He has been seen taking joy watching flamingoes completely cover his gundam. He is the second most pilot to have an oddly affectionate view of his gundam, calling it ‘my dear Sandrock’ oftentimes. He can say some really hokey lines, sometimes, like ‘two is better than one!’ and ’I almost hope he attacks us so I’ll see him again!’. He’s not really used to interacting with people, especially people his age, and he doesn’t seem to know how to gauge himself sometimes. He’s excited for teammates and friends, but he’s new to the idea of even making friends, so he doesn’t always know what he’s doing. He makes his best effort, though, even if it can be a little too straightforward at times. He’s persistent, though, and charming, so he successfully befriends some of the most abrasive personalities in the series.
✖ SAMPLES:
"Zodion" First-Person Network Entry:
[ Quatre appears to be fiddling with something other than the device. He might be making a dinosaur out of paper clips. ]
I definitely think I need to gear myself towards some hands on jobs. I mean, getting myself ready for my work back at home would be a good thing, it’s a useful thing but… I don’t think desk work and papers are really me. I feel so much better working with my hands.
[ He sighs a little and leans on one elbow. ]
It’s a little hard, though. Even after everything, I don’t have much of a choice. I don’t mind it, doing what father did, but I guess a younger me is a little disappointed that I’ll probably be jumping straight into what I dreaded before.
[ But, he smiles. ]
It’s different for me, now. Even if I’m happier, really being an active participant in the world, I know I have that waiting for me… I owe him at least t--
[ He shakes his head, catching himself with a laugh. ]
I’m getting ahead of myself. I mean, I’m still here, and when I get home, I have a lot of recuperating to do before I think about working at all. Rasheed will get cross with me if I even open my mouth about it. I should focus on trying to get back before I even start stressing over stacks of papers and writer’s cramp. It’s hard not to think about everything, but now probably isn’t the time.
[ He adds another bit of the dinosaur’s tail. ]
Right.
"Zodionlogs" Third-Person Prose Entry:
If he’d ever had a lucid dream, he would have been much less startled to not find himself in his hospital bed. To not find Trowa, or Rasheed nearby, watching over him. But Quatre always had floaty dreams, nothing really solid. He had dreams where he couldn’t make out faces, but could hear names. He had dreams where he walked on hard ground, but nothing was beneath him. This was too intricate for his dazed out dreaming, never quite getting the proper deepness of sleep.
Everything was beautiful, at least. He feared, a little, at having a dreary or gruesome scene. Everything was too solid. Where was he? Some great place with white buildings. This wasn’t a colony. Someone had kidnapped him right out of his bed, but they were a lot nicer than OZ had ever been. What a nice spot to be held prisoner, he thought, amused in a morbid way that all the pilots had adopted to cope with these kind of situations. His fingers felt longer when they pressed against the ground to push him up. His body still felt a little heavy, like medications and narcotics were still heavy in his veins, but he felt longer, like this was a different body. Not much, but enough to notice. A side effect of the meds. He was a little loopy, still, he decided.
Quatre lifted himself up, finally, looking around and calling out gently. He knew no one he knows is here, but each pilot’s title slipped out of his mouth as a preliminary.
Solo, he confirmed.
He spoke out questions, ‘Who’s there? Who are you? Why am I here? Where am I?’.
Nothing, he realized, and sighed. It couldn’t be so simple. There were still plenty of angry factions. It could be anyone. He wasn’t mad. He could understand, because once, he had also been very angry. He deserved so much more anger.
But those thoughts whisked away as he realized he’d been walking without even thinking. He was stepping towards a box, and his feet touched cool water.
Suddenly, pain. He jumped and touched his side. Everything in his abdomen was still tender and he hissed a bit. What?
The waters rose. What?
He could see his lower half, pale skin and stitching all on s-- what the hell was that?
Even in his mind, it’s pretty strange to curse, but he felt the brand deserved a good ‘hell’ in the spirit of one Duo Maxwell that maybe he’d officially spent too much time around in the past year. He almost went to touch it, but realized that that was, yes, what was stinging and he probably shouldn’t.
“Why on earth?”
Really? A tattoo? This wasn’t good. There were plenty of possibilities for branding a human and there just was not one good one in the bunch. But he, with a breath, stayed calm. He would be fine, and so would anyone else here. He‘d do something about this right away, with just some more information. ‘Mission accepted?’ he mused, like he’d given himself his own order. When would he hear that again, with the war over back home… He tried not to think too much on the water, the strangeness of the reflection. He would have plenty of time to speculate what he was possibly hallucinating later when he knew where he was, but he lifted his hospital gown to check his lower abdomen, just in case. Still there, still pink-skinned and tender. He felt a little obscene even thinking about having a tattoo. He’d never met anyone with one, until now.
His eyes met the box and he opened it without question. Take what you can get, devise a strategy, find a weapon. Keep casualties at a bare minimum, confirm status of other possible captives, continue planning from there. Contact Rasheed immediately after escape. No need to give him a heart attack.
There’s a sense of relief for a Gundam pilot that came with holding a piece of technology in his palm. It was almost as good as handing him a gun. He picked up the note and read it with care.
Well, this didn’t seem hostile, which was almost worse. Maybe they really did need him for something, though the note was outlandish and clearly, or he thought it was clear, not the actual goal. For all he’d been through, this was the strangest hostage situation of his short life. The zodiac signs were, for him, all he needed. OZ was involved, somehow, someway. Maybe wayward soldiers attempting something? He’d find it out soon enough.
He folded the note against the palm he held the device in, under it to keep it safe, and felt almost a little bitterness, thinking he already had the remnants of war on his plate. It was alright. He deserved them most of all.
“I guess it’s time to move out.”
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