Application
[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]
Player Name: Aiko
Age: 19
Timezone: EST
Personal Journal: procrastinado
Contact Information:
Instant Messenger: AikoKazayama (AIM)
Email: aikowaffle@gmail.com
Current Characters: Greed (alldesires)
Activity Checks: Here
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Tavros Nitram
Age: around 13 in earth years
Gender: Male
Fandom: Homestuck
Timeline: Just before Kanaya saws his legs off, when he's still asleep.
History: Main canon article, article on Tavros
Also, it might be pertinent to note that troll romance is pretty different from human romance in that it encompasses four different quadrants, and it gets fuckall confusing both for humans and for trolls. There's an article on it here. You don't necessarily have to read/understand it, but later on in the app I refer to 'red' and 'black' feelings, so that's the context for what I'm talking about.
Character Personality:
Out of the trolls, Tavros is possibly one of the least violent. The trolls are said to be an inherently violent race, so this is worth noting. Beneath his default shit-eating grin, he's generally calm, patient, and a bit childlike in his views and understandings. It isn't that he lacks intelligence, but he can be naive and has the trusting and curious qualities of a young child. He doesn't have much self-esteem, and his willpower is lacking when it comes to others telling him what to do (namely Vriska). He does sometimes attempt to strengthen his belief in himself, and on the advice of a friend even gave his self-esteem a name: Rufio. But when it comes down to it, he easily admits to others and to himself that Rufio is fake and that he himself is a burden and/or useless because of his disability and personality.
Tavros is a woobie. He's had some pretty bad shit happen to him and he doesn't seem to get much support from the other trolls (though when it comes to trolls, that's probably normal). But he rarely seems to get angry, annoyed, or overly upset, to the point where he could come to harm (or already has) because he won't fight back or stand up for himself. The most prominent example of this is when Vriska caused him to lose the use of his legs by forcing him to jump off a cliff with her psychic manipulation ability. Even lying at the bottom unable to feel his legs, he reacted pretty mildly as if it wasn't a big deal.
(It's been shown in recent updates that he is at least capable of getting angry and standing up for himself, though he still seems to deal with it rather calmly.)
Vriska seems to hate Tavros' guts for no particular reason, and at one point she seemed to hold both red and black feelings for him (it's not entirely clear whether she still does or not), which he doesn't (currently) appear to return. Despite her abuses, he more or less allows her to boss him around out of passiveness and sometimes fear. Because he doesn't ever blame her for hurting him or outright refuse to go along with her shenanigans, they have an interesting (if hard to describe) relationship of sorts.
Tavros has had a fascination with flight since long before he was confined to a wheelchair. His favorite story is of Pupa Pan (the troll equivalent of Peter Pan); whether this is the source of his fascination or a side effect of it isn't clear. Due to circumstances in canon he was able to fly for a time, and it was his favorite thing to do. He also enjoys games and adventure, namely in games like FLARP (an extreme version of LARP) and unlike most other trolls likes to play for the enjoyment of the experience rather than just getting all the treasure and winning. He also enjoys slam poetry.
Character Abilities: Tavros is of an alien species called trolls. Trolls appear more or less humanoid, with a few significant but ambiguous biological differences, including gray skin, sharp teeth, and orange horns. Trolls seem to also have a different internal body structure and are somewhat more physically resilient than humans. Some are gifted with psionic abilities, one of which Tavros has:
Tavros has the ability to mentally "commune" with animals and creatures, allowing him to command their loyalty and control them. He's been shown to control an entire horde of imps, just having them follow him around and put together stone puzzles for him.
Character Weaknesses: The most obvious physical one would be his paraplegia. Due to his low level on the blood caste scale (trolls have a caste system based on blood color), he is very susceptible to the psychic abilities of others. His weak will, low self esteem, and lack of self-worth also leave him susceptible to being bossed around by more overbearing types. Or anyone, really. He's kind of a pushover, for the most part.
Up to the point I'm taking him from it doesn't seem like he's easily provoked, but in a recent update he was successfully provoked when a friend he felt red for was insulted. So that could be considered a weak point, since it could lead him to act rashly if that happens.
[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Meister: Tavros is pretty much mutually viewed as the most useless of the trolls by the other trolls, especially since his accident. Because of his personality differing so greatly from those around him, he never really gets to show his stuff and has pretty much grown accustomed to being in the background. I think that underneath that, his adventurous and helpful side makes him suitable as a meister in that it could push him towards developing more self-esteem. As a weapon, he might just resign himself to being an object of little use to others (even though that's not really what being a weapon entails), which is pretty much how he views himself now. (He'd probably also be more likely to treat his weapon with respect than some of the other trolls.)
Meister Ability: For the first of the three choices I'd like to suggest a new ability to mirror Tavros' commune ability (how about "Soul Commune." I am original) Like I said before, it allows him to psychically communicate with (a direct psychic connection, not literal speaking or language) and command animals and creatures, sometimes in large numbers. (Aside from that, it would be interesting if this also allowed him to command kishin eggs to an extent, though if that's too much or too witchy then that part isn't necessary.) I was told that Soul Talk covers that particular ability, so uh... just animals and whatnot then, I guess.
AS FOR THE OTHER TWO, if the first one doesn't work out: Calming Wavelength or Soul Levitate.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: woobie faltering, idealistic, passive, self-deprecating, honest, childlike
Soul Appearance: His soul is an orangey brown color, like his blood. It has two large horns to mirror his physical ones, and its glow is more subdued than normal.
[ SAMPLES ]
First Person:
hELLO EARTH HUMANS, aND WHATEVER OTHER SPECIES POPULATE THIS PLANET,
uHH,
tHIS WASN'T REALLY HOW i ENVISIONED MYSELF MEETING HUMANS IN PERSON, aCTUALLY i NEVER ENVISIONED THAT AT ALL, sINCE IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE A POSSIBILITY, aT THE TIME, aND TECHNICALLY i'M NOT ACTUALLY MEETING ANY OF YOU IN PERSON RIGHT NOW ANYWAY, sEEING AS THIS IS JUST A TEXT ENTRY ON A NETWORK,
wOW, i COULD HAVE STARTED THAT OFF BETTER, uMM,
iT'S NICE TO MEET YOU ALL i GUESS, aLTHOUGH i GET THE IMPRESSION THERE ARE, a WAY LOT OF YOU SO THIS WHOLE INTRODUCTION THING IS KIND OF POINTLESS, sEEING AS i'LL PROBABLY NEVER MEET MOST OF YOU FACE TO FACE, uHH, wHICH IS PROBABLY FOR THE BEST,
i THINK i'LL STOP THERE, tHIS IS STARTING TO FEEL REALLY AWKWARD,
Third Person:
Tavros would never say it out loud, because even to him it sounded like some silly wigglerish cliche. But when he was flying, he felt a freedom unlike anything else that made all of his problems just melt away.
Not many trolls got to experience their dreams like this. Then again, he doubted many other trolls had such dreamlike fascinations. Regardless, he wasn't about to take it for granted. He savored every moment, every flurry of wind that brushed past his skin and every twist, flip, and dive that he maneuvered through the air. The feeling of his legs stretched out, fully functional, behind him. The golden architecture of Prospit provided a beautiful backdrop to such a fantastical experience. He was flying. He was happy.
For now, just for now, he had all the time in the world.
He deftly zipped around a corner and was suddenly and roughly jerked awake. Or maybe it wasn't that rough, but the transition from riding the wind around golden buildings to complete stillness in a dark, enclosed space felt enough like a slap in the face. It was like being rudely awakened from a great dream, which made sense, sort of. The part that didn't make sense was wherever he was now.
He seemed to be on the floor in a strange, dim chamber that was most definitely not the troll's meteor prison in the Veil. Even more unexpected was his wheelchair, sitting right next to him. At least he assumed it was his. As he pulled himself up into it, he was startled and nearly fell back out of it when three screens appeared in midair and an alien- a human?- began talking to him.
He didn't understand most of it. But the gist of it seemed to be that he wasn't where he was before. He felt a mix of trepidation and wonder as he rolled himself toward the exit. Was this another part of the game, or had he somehow escaped...?
[ NOTES ]
My cat's breath smells like cat food.
Also, in a recent update it was revealed that something happened during the Troll's session that left Tavros feeling "terrible and sad and sleepy," and so he slept a lot to spend time having fun as his dreamself instead of thinking about whatever said terrible thing was. Whatever happened hasn't been revealed yet (though it unsurprisingly seems to involve Vriska somehow), so while I'm trying to keep that in mind for playing him, I'll have to keep it vague until we find out what happened.