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Deerington Application
IN CHARACTER
Character Name: (Wes) Wrench
Canon: FX Fargo
Canon Point:
NOTE: As of March 2021, Wes has been canon updated and is now compliant with his full canon, through the end of S03E10: Somebody to Love.
In-Game Tattoo Placement: Behind his ear.
Current Health/Status: Immediately prior to his entry point from the bowling alley, Wrench has survived two attacks: firstly, the prison bus he is being transported in is run off the road, and he narrowly survives the ensuing ambush while chained to another inmate. After escaping through the woods, the two again come under attack. Wrench is shot through the left hand by an arrow from a crossbow, and sliced in the back of the right shoulder by a blade. The arrow in his hand is self-removed, but the wounds have not been dressed and Wrench has not been stabilized until he passes through via the bowling alley to Deerington.
Additionally, Wrench is deaf. The writer elects to assume that he has been deaf from birth based upon a flashback scene in the second season that showed him as a young child signing with his friend.
Age: ~38
Species: human
Content Warnings: death, gun violence, kidnapping & child endangerment
History: Wikipedia history here | Villains Wiki here
Personality:
When a life veers so drastically from its anticipated course, it's natural for a person to ask themselves what might have been. It's a question Wrench's parents might have grappled to understand when their son was born deaf. Perhaps it was shock or disappointment that led to the detachment, or maybe it was simply a want of what to do with a child for whom bonding did not come with the benefit of easy communication. Intent aside, the circumstance of Wrench's home life was enough to create the chasm that led to his early association with the man who would eventually become the leader of the Fargo mafia.
Divine providence is a consoling concept for many who seek to find meaning in the ambivalent cruelty of the world. But fate is a concept a man like Wrench has no need for. Perhaps it would be simpler if he could trust in the belief that someone greater than him has set into motion an immutable plan for his life. It would certainly serve as a kind of absolution, a spiritual bleach for the things he's done and seen. To reconcile his actions with something so divine would make him more avenging angel than mortal, and that simply isn't how Wrench sees himself. He's just a man whose value to the world lies largely in who he can eliminate from it.
To kill at the behest of someone else will always require a certain kind of mental gymnastics. Being brought up around heavy mob influences and groomed as a killer by others who have killed means that Wrench has had no shortage of influence for the actions that surround him. One thing he is not and never will be is indiscriminate with his killing. Every death must have some rationale, whether it be revenge, power, balance, or self-defense. Faced with uncertainty or indecision, Wrench is the first to insist on laying low, gathering more information, and being absolutely certain that the rightful target finds his retribution.
It's that certainty that allows him to move through life with a sense of confidence and clarity. Wrench is an information-seeker, and his knowledge guides his actions. Unfortunately, he's also a man with very few clear and straightforward routes to share what he does know. Despite his size and his power, he's used to being overlooked, disregarded, or disbelieved. It's likely that he's fought against some manner of stigma for the better part of his life, being a man who presents silently and largely relies on others to mitigate communication. Prior to the death of Grady Numbers, his former partner and childhood friend, this communication often proved inaccurate or unreliable, sometimes without Wrench's knowledge.
And that has been a not-insignificant part of his power. He cuts an imposing frame, no doubt, but Wrench has become a master at wielding silence and miscommunication as a weapon even more damaging than his arsenal of firearms. The average person has a craving to be known. It's simply a feature of humanity. An intrinsic part of being human is that need for association and understanding. Teaching himself to set it aside wasn't easy, but it certainly has made things less painful for the man. And the strain he can put on others simply by appearing content with that divide is enough to make even the most composed lose their cool over time.
Wrench's very existence is part-confrontation. Simply by living among them and confronting them in their own space, he forces most folks to considered a life through a perspective they can't quite grasp. In that way he is very much a tool to aid others in their progression towards some kind of self-enlightenment, or personal downfall. And for that very reason, it might not seem so strange at all that he's seen fit to allow himself to be outfitted with a pseudonym that illustrates precisely that.
None of that is to say that he's been entirely without connection in his life. In fact, his deepest and most personal kinship was also the relationship that turned him on a dime and forced Wrench's emotions and reactions into a place where he hardly recognized himself. If one were to understand him only through his association with Grady Numbers, they'd see a different man entirely. It's not hyperbolic to say that what he shared with Numbers was a sort of love. After all, there's been no one in the world to make him act with as much reckless abandon. With Numbers, Wrench was a man finally realized and understood. That comprehension was a double edged sword for him, because no one's rejection could have possibly cut him more deeply. There was no one else in the world who caused him to lose himself emotionally the way that Numbers did. He pounded on tables to insist his attention, chased after him like a heartsick puppy, and threw himself in front of anyone who got too close.
For a man whose job regularly forced him to confront concepts of mortality, Wrench had probably never felt loss the way he did when Numbers was killed. In one fell swoop an ambush gone wrong cost him his longest friend and compatriot, and every other individual in the mob that he'd grown up within. As he lay in a hospital bed, shot in the abdomen and chained at the wrist to prevent both easy communication and escape, Wrench found himself and his future entirely pitched to the wind. His profession had always forced him to endure a certain amount of danger and put himself up time and again for self-sacrifice, but with neither Numbers nor the rest of the Fargo mob behind him, Wrench confronted true loss and a genuine lack of belonging for the first time in his life. He was known by no one, understood by no one.
Undoubtedly that sense of true absence from the fabric of society is what caused the position he's taken from for inclusion in Deerington: five years after the death of his partner and the downfall of Fargo, on a prison transport bus, bound for incarceration. He's utterly dejected and presents as a shell of his former self. Only his disheveled hair and loss of weight give evidence that he isn't a man entirely frozen in time. Until the vehicle is run off the road and Wrench finds the inmate to whom he is chained the target of the attack, he can't seem to motivate himself to purpose. Only when aiding in her escape does he re-animate, further solidifying that the measure of this man is largely who he is in relation to others.
Wrench has confronted his own mortality time and time again. He's been kidnapped, shot, stalked like prey, and confined. He's been the one to take the final breath out of the lungs of more than a handful of men. And he's faced it all with a sort of utility and efficiency that belies the urgency of those situations, or the toll they can take on a man. Over time he's learned to lose his fear of death, and greets it now as an eventuality. It finds everyone sooner or later, and there's no great horror in being the cause.
For him, it's the missing that hurts worst of all.
Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Wrench is a typical human with no extraordinary powers or capabilities. That said, his upbringing and experiences lend to certain talents and abilities that may be worth special note. Firstly, he is fluent in both English and American Sign Language. He was raised by a mob boss and has spent ample time working as a contract killer, which has given him a proficiency with firearms. He is also a decent survivalist, and has been shown capable of living off the grid for extended periods of time. Perhaps most advantageous, he's a man without a concrete identity who is neither known or missed by society at large.
Inventory:
↪ Gerber 06 auto knife
↪ bottle Benchmark Old No. 8 whiskey, 2/3rds full
↪ Kent 2T handmade pocket comb
↪ M1911 .45 pistol with silencer
↪ SMALL TACKLE BOX:
▸ 43 yards Gamma Touch Fluorocarbon line, 8 lb
▸ 5 octopus-style fishhooks
▸ 1 tungsten sinker
▸ 3 spinnerbaits
▸ needle nose pliers
▸ nail clippers
▸ Rothco Aurora Fire Starter
↪ STANDARD OUTFIT:
▸ brown leather button-front fringed jacket
▸ navy nylon zip-front quilted jacket
▸ brown cotton button-up casual shirt
▸ gray cotton long-sleeved crewneck sweater
▸ dark denim jeans
▸ brown lace-up mountain boots
▸ socks + undies (c'mon)
Writing Samples:
TDM top-level | TDM tag-in | Baker Street text-to-meet | Baker Street text-to-ass-saving
OUT OF CHARACTER
Player Name: Andie
Player Age: 33
Player Contact: ampersandie#8263 on Discord | PM this journal
Other Characters In Game: None.
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Wrench: Andie
Permissions for Character: Permissions
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling? Yes, I'm perfectly fine with it.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most? I love the exploration of personality and discovery that comes when pushing a character to their absolute limit. Playing with elements of fear and mental tolerance have always been some of my favorite aspects of the genre, but I also love dragging up the metaphorical skeletons in a person's closet and subjecting them to the torture of their own guilt, or fear of being found out. Ghosts and ghouls and jump scares are good and fine, but I adore the slow and systematic erosion of a character's mental wellbeing and sense of self by subjecting them to things that question that, or force them to live outside their own expectation.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for? Trauma to the neck and/or wrists.
Additional Information: Please see this entry for frequently asked questions about American Sign Language, Deaf culture, and communication with this character.