Deck: Mantel
Jeu Name: Racoon
Duvall is the Jack of Paris and unlike most Le Jeu players who range from ages 21-80. he's the youngest player they have on file. Duvall is 16 years old and several Le Jeu players struggle to take him seriously for two reasons. To be a Jack, they feel he’s too young and lacks the refined experience that makes a Jack exquisite and he's easily influenced by his extreme emotions in political situations.
He was sex trafficked into Le Jeu and it wasn’t against his will. He was approached by Bryce Lennox, a shady individual who prided himself for being promoted as the main trafficking agent for the Trump Council. Bryce didn’t hesitate to conceal his identity or his intentions with Duvall. He told him he was sent out to find promising candidates for Le Jeu and that Duvall met the profile the Trump Council wanted. He then proceed to inform him that he had two options. He could either come quietly or if he tried to run off or scream for help, Byrce would silence him before he could. Byrce was expecting Duvall to make a run for it or scream for help or at most, tell him off and resume his walk down the sidewalk. Nothing would have prepared for Duvall walking around to the passenger side of the van, quickly jerking the door and ordering, not telling him, ordering him to get a move on and stop wasting his time.
Bryce sat there in the driver’s seat, shocked that he didn’t have to force Duvall into the van or use brute force to kidnap him. Normally Bryce didn’t come across people who wanted to walk openly into the realm of Le Jeu, but Duvall was… different.
To make sure he wasn’t hearing wrong and his captive was literally okay with how things were going, Bryce asked Duvall to tell him the reason why he was so eager to be kidnapped and taken away from his home, friends and all that he knew. Duvall only agreed to tell him his story if Bryce agreed to take him away for good. Bryce nodded and agreed to his request.
On the drive to Le Jeu main’s HQ, Duvall gave Bryce the full story behind him running away. He told Bryce that he was sick and tired of people always trying to control him, always telling him what to do and refusing to care about him, acknowledge his feelings or strive to see him happy. Currently, his parents, teachers and the school’s security guards were constantly onto him, watching his every move and paying extra close attention to what he did or what he said. Intrigued, Byrce asked why that was and got a answer he didn’t expect. Duvall turned in the seat to look at Bryce and revealed that he wasn’t allowed on computers or any devices that could connect him to the internet because everyone was afraid he’d make a illegal purchase and use a fake ID like he did before.
He was tired of being picked on, harassed and physically assaulted by bullies at his private school. The principal and faculty turned blind eye to his suffering, so one day, he walked in and decided to do something it.
Duvall would make people notice him. Make people see him for who he was, which wasn’t a doormat or their punching bag. He could have brought a knife to school, but he wanted to make a scene for them to remember so he brought a gun. He waited until his afternoon class before reaching in his vest pocket and swiftly taking out his gun. Screams followed as he shot a three celling lights, causing them to combust and shatter over his peers. The next bullet went into a random spot in the ceiling. He would have proceeded to shoot at a hanging decoration, but his science came in from behind, disarmed him and wrestle him to the floor.
The school shut down for the rest of the day, Duvall’s parents were called and were informed about what he had done. Naturally, the school pressed charges and the Hamilton’s had to pay for the damages Duvall’s gunshots did to the ceiling and lights. and he was sent to a mental hospital to be evaluated. To everyone’s shock, he passed his evaluations and tests. He wasn’t on drugs or under the influence of anything when he went to school with a gun. He was emotionally fed up with everyone who continued to let the bullies harass him. His father and mother were embarrassed at what their son had done and rather than help him further by showing emotional support and trying to understand his perspective and get him help, they shamed emasculated him. Duvall’s parents kept taking about how much of a disappoint he was and his mother went so far to say she wished she had never given birth to him.
The students at school avoided him. They were too scared to say something in fear that Duvall would lash out and hurt them. Even the bullies backed, which was what Duvall wanted, but the isolation, menacingly glares from the faculty and going home to a cold, empty house, wasn’t the ending he wanted. His parents purposely avoided him, coming home late or if they did come home when he was there, they didn’t talk to him a lot and did the bare minimum when speaking to him. His parents shunning him and barely engaging combined with the harsh glares from the faculty at school was too much pressure. He reasoned if they hated him so much and detested his presence that badly, they wouldn’t miss a failure like him. His plan however, was to leave and start over somewhere else. He didn’t know where that would be or who he’d wind up with, but anything was better than his parents and the school. Bryce finally understood Duvall and had compassion for him, a rarity for a cold blooded killer like himself.
Bryce assured Duvall that joining Le Jeu would accept him, take him in and build up to be someone of great power. What Bryce failed to tell Duvall, was how becoming a Jack would increase his anxiety. Duvall was no longer fighting bullies who wanted to beat him up. He was solely responsible for keeping himself and his Deck alive. It was his responsibility to make sure his Deck, Mantel, avoided elimination from aggressive Jeu players, to keep his Queen up to date on Jeu policies, arrange or avoid Territory wars and more. Duvall was happy to final be wanted and of use, but the stresses that came with being Mantel’s Jack was starting to get to him. He couldn’t escape now, he was too far in and even if he did manage to escape Le Jeu, who would take in a runaway minor who now has blood of Je players on his hands? Certainty not his parents. Duvall’s family, was Deck Mantel and as much as he enjoyed the rush and feared the unknown and entertained leaving, he knew he wouldn’t do it. He admired his Queen far too much to do something risky like that.
His Queen was stunning and just a few years older than him.
As Dejah's Second, Duvall was determined to protect his Queen at all costs. While he couldn't embrace taking life as Jack and be out on the battlefield like their Joker could, Duvall was aware that his feelings for her, although unreciprocated, would emerge fiercely if anyone attempted to harm her in his presence. If he was prepared to act violently for no one in his past and make a scene knowing he’d get in trouble, he was absolutely ready to take down a Jeu player for his Queen, the one he was genuinely beginning to fall for. Whatever came as a consequence for taking a life, he would proudly accept, even if it cost him his own life.
⚡Fun Fact: Duvall Hamilton is the Christian version of Nathan Prescott from Life Is Strange.
