App: Deer Country

Character Base

• Character Name: Allen Walker (prev. "Red")
• Age: 17ish as of the latest arc? (he doesn't canonly know, and technically he should be in his mid-30's but an event he can't remember made him regress back to a child)
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: D.Gray-man. Released in 2004 and still ongoing. Taking him from a 2021 date/ch239.
• Items Coming Along: Literally nothing. This poor hobo child.
• Content Warnings for Character: Horrible things happening to depressed, orphan children who Deserve Better and suffer at the hands of an overbearing, militant religious order is 90% of this canon. But seriously, his childhood (and entire life) is full of horrific abuse. Highly violent, emotional, and very vaguely implied possible sexual abuse as a six(?) year old in recent chapters. Occasional suicidal moments, but they're brief and glossed past.

Character Background

• History: Wiki
• Core Relationships:

• Timcanpy. For a small golem who's a creation of alchemy and science, Timcanpy is Allen's best friend and one of the few constants he's had in his life. They're inseperable and Allen refers to them being a team, in Q&As even referring to him as basically his little brother. It means Timcanpy is also the only one who Allen actually confides in, given he is not human and thus Allen isn't concerned with being a burden on him, and later in canon when he's a fugitive he is literally one of the only things that keeps Allen sane and mentally strong enough to resist being taken over by Nea. It makes it even sadder when Timcanpy is ultimately destroyed and Allen, for the first time ever, who normally wears his caring on his sleeve and cries over the death of a stranger—finally seems to snap inside, and has no more tears to grieve with upon hearing of his destruction.
• Mana Walker/Campbell. Arguably the most important person in Allen's life—and Allen would say so—Mana is complicated as there are two entirely different stories: the one Allen tells, and the truth (with the current flashback revealing more). The easy story Allen tells is that Mana was his adoptive father, a traveling clown who was kind to him and saved him from the circus he had been sold to. Who died in a tragic accident, and Allen was tricked by the Earl into bringing him back to life—only it was as an akuma, and Allen ultimately (unwillingly) had to destroy him, traumatizing him so severely he was catatonic for months. He snapped out of it only when being reminded that Mana had always said to "keep walking", and he took it to heart as his own personal mantra, going so far as to then replace his own personality with that of Mana's as a coping mechanism and effort to keep him alive. Mana cursed him as well with the ability to see the souls of other akuma with his left eye, and Allen's desire to save them (and thus his whole motivation for everything) comes from that and making right by the fact he had to destroy Mana.
  The "truth" is that Mana never actually adopted him. He was a slightly insane clown with a damaged memory who, when Allen ended up attacking him with his Innocence in a fit, was mentally broken further by that as he was actually the Earl of the Millennium, a Noah. To the point where he had forgotten even what he was and what he was searching for, and mistook Allen—then known only as "Red"—as his dead dog... who had been named "Allen". Thus Red took on the identity of his dead dog and became Allen, swearing out of guilt that he would become the man's dog in order to make him happy—and also because he was so starved for any form of human kindess, which Mana was the only person to ever show him. Allen's very aware of this, but he chooses to tell the story differently and in a much rosier light.
• Cross Marian. For all that Allen sees Mana as his adoptive father and frames his memories of him in that way, Cross is the one who raised him, trained him, and is actually the one consistently a father to him. Even if a rather poor one. Their relationship is complicated as Cross was extremely harsh on him, and is Allen's polar opposite in many ways as a shallow-seeming bastard of a man who drowns himself in his vices of women, wine, and expensive things. Usually by billing everything entirely to his young apprentice of Allen and leaving the boy with more debt than some country's. But as much as they clash and as much as Allen complains about him and has various PTSD triggers from their years together, they both care deeply for each other in their own ways, even if never really showing it. Allen respects Cross's ability as a general tremendously, someone he believes is ten feet tall and rather literally bulletproof—and he is thus shaken to the core when Cross dies. After that he takes great pride in being his apprentice, and indeed he reflects (the better sides of) Cross in many ways, and finally when pursuing Cross's killer later on admits that he truly had loved him. And I just realized the three most important "people" to him are actually all dead now. Oh my god I've just made myself sad.

As an extremely kind and compassionate shounen protagonist who socializes easily with people in a canon with a huge and well developed cast, I would be here for literal days and thousands of words listing all of the important relationships that Allen has that have left a mark on him... so I am leaving at the top three important ones haha. But he is very molded by every person he meets, and he leaves a part of himself with all of them as well. Especially the first actual, human friendships he makes with other Exorcists at the Order. It's literally what the entire series is about. But in a nutshell, Allen is an extremely lonely and distant character despite how friendly he is, because as much as he cares about people and connects with them—he holds himself back, too, and doesn't burden them with his problems. In fact, unlike most shounen protagonists, when it comes to him realizing his "true" self and what's important to him—he realizes he'd been blinded by the new friendships he'd made and had forgotten about his desire to save the most pitiable and hated things, the monsters that are akuma. So he makes a conscious choice to step back from his friendships in order not to be blinded by them and to remember that both are important. Ultimately he ends up leaving his friends and the Order he's come to consider home as well, and in fact realizes very early on in the series he will one day have to leave them because of how much his ideals differ from them—and he will always choose his ideals and the oaths he's sworn because he has to, they're the most important thing to him. Even if it breaks his heart.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences/Traits:

• Allen is tremendously kind and empathetic. He describes himself as a "small man who can't help but be moved by the world in front of [him]", casting that almost as more of a negative trait than anything and dismissing that he has any notions of being a hero. He sheds tears for strangers he's just met, will risk his life for them, or even just to give two people a little more time together before the inevitable, and if he can help someone (who isn't an asshole, he does have a keen sense of justice and just desserts) he wants to. But even an asshole, someone he hates, or an outright enemy that means him and his friends harm—he will still try to save them. A complete traitor he'll still see as a father who just wanted to see his daughter again, and will try to save him (Suman Dark). He becomes labeled a traitor himself even, and accepts that because he couldn't leave the person arguably one of his mortal enemies, Tyki Mikk, behind to die in the Ark and instead tried to save him from the Noah inside him.
• But he is also a survivor, and strong to the point of being nearly unbreakable. Simply because he's been broken so many times, Allen is almost as resilient a character as they come for someone as sensitive and empathetic as he is, just because he's had to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and put himself back together so many times. When Mana died, he was catatonic from trauma and couldn't even leave bed or eat on his own for months. Not until Cross finally got him to remember everything Mana had been about, and he snapped back by adopting Mana's manner and mantra for himself. When Tyki "killed" him and he lost his Innocence, his reason for literally everything and the only way he was making amends for killing Mana, he had a breakdown over both having experienced death and realizing his own powerlessness. But he refused to give up the oaths he'd made, publicly denounced the god that supposedly gave him his power in the first place, and literally remade himself in the image of his own desire to save both humans and akuma. Later on, when he's forced to become a fugitive and says goodbye to the Order and everyone he's come to love, he has to redefine once again his entire meaning to exist and how he is still an Exorcist, even if he's left the Order, and even if he's now lost everything and is quite literally in the process of losing his mind, identity, and body. Even if it means coming to peace with the fact that he is fading away and there's nothing he can ultimately do about it in all likelihood, so he'll do the best and the most he can while he can. He never gives up, even when he knows he can't win, and he will always find a way to keep going while being true to his core ideals and oaths.

(2+) Negative Experiences/Traits:

• He is inherently selfish in his selflessness. Despite characters like Lenalee repeatedly telling him they care about and worry about him, he makes choices to risk himself and act on his own entirely. It's for the best of intentions, but he makes decisions for others and they should sit out and not be bothered by him all the time, even when they tell him otherwise. Lenalee calls him out on this to the point of slapping him for it when he gets angry and yells at her after literally saving his life by keeping him from essentially suiciding himself in a risky move, and she's the first person to make him realize he does that. While he recognizes that about himself after that and does apologize, and does feel bad for it and how he makes others feel—it doesn't really stop him, either. He just tries to be gentler about it now.
• Allen is also actually quite dishonest. Not for any mean or underhanded reason (other than the fact he cheats viciously at cards, but that's for some very specific reasons that he has a code of honor around), but related to how he buries his own true feelings so much of the time. Ironically while he wears some of his feelings on his sleeve so much of the time, much of his more private thoughts (usually his concerns, worries, and things he thinks would upset the people he cares about) he keeps very thoroughly buried and will lie straight to their faces about, usually behind a very gentle smile or a sheepish laugh. Lenalee catches him at this several times, and is the only character to call him out on this too repeatedly, going so far as to say that she hates that smile of his. When he lies it's always because he's trying to spare someone's feelings, but he lies nonetheless and it arguably only serves to cause further trouble that he isn't considering. Kanda, his extremely antagonistic comrade and arguably rival, is also one of the few people to call him out on his bullshit (and Allen his), though his methods are much more violent and lead to many fights, even one that should have been fatal. Unlike Lenalee, who makes him feel guilty, Allen greatly detests being called out by him and he will get highly defensive.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers:
Innocence
Allen is an Exorcist, previously of the Vatican and Black Order but not so much anymore, which means he's the accomodator of a holy weapon known as Innocence (which seems to derive less and less from "god", and is a powerful opportunistic entity that also wants to/has destroyed the world? look dgm is wild). His is parasitic-type, meaning his body itself is the weapon and it's a part of him. Specifically his left arm is his Innocence and thus inhuman, becoming Crown Clown when invoked. He can transform it into an exorcising blade that only hurts "that which is evil", a destructive claw, and summon a ethereal cloak that functions as semi-sentient full body armor and occasionally resembles angel wings. He has a number of different abilities, destructive and shielding, with its various forms. The cloak can also puppet his body for him when it's too broken for him to otherwise continue moving (in order to keep fighting). He can also control ribbons from the cloak that can be used to bind people or rappel himself/be Spiderman.

The left arm in both its active and inactive forms is essentially indestructible to everything save other Innocence and Dark Matter, both incredibly canon specific as perfect opposites. Similar panfandom materials (holy and dark) would have a much lesser effect. Against metal, human materials, and other magics however it is completely impervious. In its active form its smooth like marble in black with gold trim and white, delicate but wicked claws. Inactive it's a deep blood red, oddly hard but smooth, and plated like armor carapace over his knuckles. There's a golden crystalline cross embedded on the back of his hand that has a very faint holy aura to it when inactive.

Cursed Eye
Allen's left eye is cursed to see the souls that dwell within akuma (very canon specific), can allow others to see what he sees with its evolved form, and reacts in a more limited fashion to Dark Matter. He can detect akuma up to 300m away. When in his world it tends to wake him up every night with "nightmares", where he has a connection with akuma around the world and hears their cries, and the eye roils and tries to seek them out.

Exorcism
Allen's sword takes the true form of his heart which desires only to save people, thus it only harms "that which is evil". It will pass harmlessly through humans, humanoids—everything that doesn't fall under the category of evil/dark/malevolent. Against simpler demons, or things that are purely demonic/dark with no human element, it will cut them as any very sharp sword would, and exorcise them accordingly if applicable. But against any enemy with a human element, it will cut only the part of them which is "evil". (Like himself as a Noah.) How that happens is flexible. This will also generally (heavily) scar them. If Allen is comparatively powerful enough, it could force them human. If he's not, then it can just damage the inhuman part of them—possibly enraging it worse. Or any combination of what makes sense for the kind of being struck. Against characters who are possessed it can force out the possession as well, but if the character is acting on their own volition, just with a warped/brainwashed mind, it'll do nothing.

His claws also have a raw, destructive quality of exorcism/holiness to them as well, in addition to exorcising and cleansing the spirit. Interestingly enough, akuma who have been touched by his claw say it feels nice, almost healing. "With this I have been saved." But that's also given their very specific nature and bearing a soul that wants to be saved/exorcised, and so how it will feel depends on the character struck. Even if purely a negative response though, it would still be along the lines more of "gentle to the point of being searing".

Deer Country Changes
As he is reborn of and for this world, Allen's Innocence will evolve as well (as it is literally part of his DNA and reflects his will and desire to save others). It will be able to exorcise corruption and, pending mod discussion and approval, certain beasts if he is strong enough by comparison. His eye will also evolve and he will be sensitive to corruption, as well as being able to see the soul within certain beasts that might possess one.

While not listed above, Allen also has Noah abilities in canon as he is the host to the 14th, Nea. However, as Nea is a fully separate character trying to take over his head and is actually an appable character, he will be stripped entirely of the parasitic Noah entity in him and thus those powers.

I'd also like to play him as not getting his memory back for a much longer time—he needs to experience things in game that will remind him of the past, and slowly he'll get them back over time. This means having to relearn his Innocence and why he wants to fight, what he wants to save, because canonly it won't respond to him until he knows that about himself anyway. As for why he doesn't remember his past—canonly, his head is a mess and he already forgot his past self entirely. For one, he existed (in his current body) 30-some years ago already, regressed physically back to a child, and has no memory of it. Secondly, because the game mechanics means he no longer has Nea in his head and Nea has technically been a parasitic entity in his head the entirety of canon, that could conceivably mess things up in there further and make recalling the past foggy. He knows who he is, his personality is fully intact, but... he'll lack context of why. He'll eventually get it back, but in pieces as I thread things out with others.

• Blood Type: Paleblood
• Omen: A reborn Timcanpy lookalike because I have to make myself cry. None of the powers or abilities that canon Tim has as a golem, just his adorableness.
• Blessed Day: Dec 25, the date he left the circus with Mana
• Patron Pthumerian: Dorothea
• Blood Power Manifestation: Mild prophetic vision and the ability to dreamwalk with extremely close cr or extreme conditions. I am definitely playing him with primarily canon powers, complimented by his blood powers. Especially as he has extremely creepy, unexplained dreams in canon that seem to be like visions from the past meant to foreshadow the future, and does canonly share dreams with one person in particular (Lenalee) he has an unexplained but close bond with, I would like to run with that idea with blood powers. He'll also feel mildly stronger at night/under the moon.

Writing Samples

One: TDM top level
Two: TDM Ahiru

The Player

• Player Name: Sleight
• Player Age: 18+
• Player Contact: SleightsOfHand#7916 on Discord or PM
• Permissions: Here.