Tavros Nitram (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
i_bullieve_i_can_fly) wrote2012-01-24 08:37 pm
i_bullieve_i_can_fly) wrote2012-01-24 08:37 pm
Entry tags:
Soul Campaign Application
[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]
Player Name: James
Age: 18
Timezone: EST
Personal Journal:vastexpletive
Contact Information: itsasekrit@hotmail.com
AIM: itsasekrit1993
Current Characters: N/A
Links to Activity Check: N/A
Name of Beta-reader: N/A
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Tavros Nitram
Age: 6 Sweeps / 13 Human Years
Gender: Male
Canon: Homestuck
Timeline: From the most recent updates featuring him, after the Tavrisprite incident and after his conversation with Vriska.
Character History:
http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Tavros_Nitram
http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Homestuck
Character Personality:
The first thing you would probably notice about Tavros' personality is that he a extremely shy; you could almost say cripplingly so, ignoring the obvious jab at his paralysis. His people skills are nonexistent, and he is very awkward and rather quiet when around people, friends included, though he is a lot more confident around Gamzee, not quite faltering so much in his conversations with him as much as he does other people. In person and in real life, he speaks in a shy and faltering manner, with lots of 'Uh's' and 'Um's' coating his speech; he generally comes off as very unsure and nervous a lot of the time, and this is because he has confidence issues. Lots, and lots of confidence issues.
He isn't confident in anything he does, always second guessing himself, avoiding conflict when and where possible at all times. He has very low self-esteem and definitely tends to feel inferior to the other trolls. In a way, he even looks up to some of the ones that are mean to him, even Vriska, as he wishes he could be more like them. He is very much a pushover when it comes to actual conflict, too, easily agreeing with jabs against him because he knows that they're true. When it comes to things that are actually true, that is. Because despite all of this, he has shown that he can stand up to people when it's taken too far. For example, he absolutely refused to apologize to Vriska when she told him to apologize for being a cripple- which was caused by her in the first place, to boot.
This shows that Tavros does have something of a bullshit-ometer, meaning that sometimes he actually does stand up for himself, however rare. It just takes a lot of antagonism and ridiculousness for it to really show. But even the way Tavros stands up for himself is nothing special, and he wasn't actually able to make Vriska stop antagonizing him for long- or at all, really, as it inevitably lead to more antagonism because of the fact that he is just so horrendously bad at actually standing up for himself even when he does try.
To compensate for these issues, at the suggestion of one Kanaya Maryam, Tavros made up an imaginary friend called Rufio, who is supposed to be Tavros’s confidence and self esteem personified. He based it on a character from his favorite fairytale, Pupa Pan (the Troll equivelant of Peter Pan). This actually didn't end up helping at all, because as it turned out, simply giving a name to your self esteem and pretending it's a character out of a fairytale doesn't actually magically give you self esteem. If anything, this was just a coping mechanism to make himself feel better about not having any in the first place. And it really just shows how childish Tavros is at heart, that he would do this in the first place and hope it worked; though he can fully admit that it doesn't.
Underneath his insecurity and lack of confidence, Tavros is a very sweet and caring person. It is pretty much nearly impossible to make him mad or offend him, as he's both too nice as well as a bit too timid to reach that point. Even despite his confidence issues, making friends is one of Tavros's favorite things, and he always has a pretty enthusiastic greeting when initiating conversations, and he's usually nice to everyone he talks to. He even tries to be nice to the ones he doesn't actually like. Which ends up getting him walked on more. Most of the trolls tend to find him weak, and even though he tries getting along with most of them, there are only a few he can actually say are his friends (even though he would claim they are all his friends). His best friend is without a doubt, Gamzee Makara, though he and Aradia were definitely very close before she died, though the two of them drifted apart after this.
Saying that Tavros is never awkward around his close friends though, would not be accurate. As comfortable as he feels about being around his best bro, it's also clear that a part of him finds Gamzee just a bit weird. But then again, it's safe to say that a lot of people find Gamzee weird. But Tavros sticks by him anyway, and tends to ignore some of Gamzee's quirkiness. However, even Tavros is put off when Gamzee makes inappropriate suggestions such as sloppy makeouts- but that's mainly because Tavros is just so bad at the whole romance thing, as stated below when it comes to his failure at confessing his feelings to Jade.
His relationship with Vriska is complicated and he actually tries his best to avoid her completely most of the time, a thing she makes hard to do. But even despite how much he dislikes her, he's usually as nice as he can be to her, though it's obviously strained. A lot of his interactions with the trolls who aren't exactly nice to him are like this as well, though it's most notable with Vriska. Though as nice as he tends to be, he is not above being vaguely passive aggressive in his interactions with some of them, either, though it's not very noticeable, and he's not very good at the whole passive aggressive thing in general.
Tavros is also probably the worst out of all his fellow trolls at trolling the humans, as he's just too nice to do it properly, and inevitably ends up befriending whoever he is trolling, or otherwise getting countertrolled hardcore. Despite the fact the intention was to lead the humans astray, Tavros ended up befriended Jade despite the fact that he was also responsible for killing her Grandpa. It's complicated. But he totally had the best intentions, as he mistook her grandpa for a dangerous intruder. Overall, his good nature just makes it really hard for him to do any successful trolling.
He has a more naive view of the world than those around him his own age. He has a childlike belief that fairies are real, despite never having actually seen one (he doesn't need to see one, because that's what faith is for). This is especially prevalent in his FLARP sessions (A form of extreme roleplay, during which he was also injured and confined to his wheelchair, by Vriska), where his dresses up and plays Pupa Pan, the troll equivalant of Peter Pan. Another reason he is so enamoured with Pupa Pan is that he has always been fascinated by the idea of flying- and not just because he’s in a wheelchair. Because as he said, that would be silly. He believes so much in Pupa Pan and is just so childishly hopeful, that he leaves his window at night in the hopes that Pupa Pan will show up and take him away.
Tavros also has a way with the creatures of Alternia, being able to communicate telepathically and control them. With this, he's able to get them to do whatever he wants. This leads to one of his other hobbies, which is capturing and training them, and he considers all of them his friends. They are his main source of real life interaction, after all. And because he prefers to avoid all conflict if he can help it, and also because of his own mediocre fighting skills, while in the game Tavros ended up using his powers to control the Imps and built his own little army of sorts, rather than fight them. Going back to his FLARP as an example, Tavros is much more of an adventurer than a fighter. Even in FLARP, he picked more of a non-combat class, as he liked exploring and storytelling much more than the fighting. He is just essentially a player, wanting to have fun adventures and not worry about the bad things, even though this is not actually possible. Before his dream self was killed, he also spent a lot of time sleeping, so that he could play and fly around with on prospit, the one place he actually could fly like Pupa Pan.
He is also very into Alternian slam poetry! And this is about the only area where he has any real confidence in himself, as well as showing a more smug side of his personality than is usually witnessed daily. He does perhaps have too much confidence in his rapping, because he is admittedly not very good at it at all. It's also about the only time he'll say anything at all meanspirited, as his goal was definitely to upset Dave with his raps, though obviously it didn't work at all, because Dave is just too cool to be affected by Tavros's shitty raps. Tavros did not realize this though, and ended up leaving the chat feeling pretty good about all the SICK FIRES he'd created.
Upon receiving his Robo Legs, Tavros’ confidence levels soared to previously unreached levels- and not entirely in positive ways, as he had a rather comically skewed idea of what having confidence entailed. He was under the impression that he could do what he wanted, going as far as to suggest that he wouldn't listen to Jade when he wanted to commune with Bec, her dog. Overall he acted kind of like a cocky, arrogant jerk, under the impression that that's what people with confidence did. It's safe to assume that the reason for this is because the only comparison he had was people like Vriska, who act like assholes daily.
Receiving robo legs also did two other things for him, one of which was give him the courage to confess his crush on Jade... which ended up proving that Tavros is so very, very bad at romance. His social awkwardness mixed with his horrible sense of confidence of course meant that none of it went over well at all. In fact, he kind of assumed the fact he had so much confidence would automatically mean Jade would reciprocate his feelings. He ended up referencing his new confidence multiple times, prompting Jade to tell him that just because he said he had confidence didn't mean he really did.
It also gave Tavros the courage to stand up to Vriska after all of her antagonism and after finding out that she was the source of pretty much everyone's problems. With his lance, he confronted and attacked her, while also finally calling her out on some of the things she'd done. Of course, his combat skills were inevitably no match for her superior god tier powers and in the end he was impaled through the chest by his own lance.
So all it really takes for Tavros to gain confidence is legs! Even if it's a weird, screwy version of confidence. And in the end, he really did realize that he had it wrong, and he was still the nice, friendly troll that he always was, before he died. He just really wanted to have confidence so badly that he convinced himself that he did, and because he never had a very good example to follow, it just didn't work out like he wanted it to, and even ultimately lead to his death. But in the end, he stood up to Vriska for his friends and for himself.
After he died, he very much enjoyed the dream bubbles and being able to hang out with Dave and Aradia, create some sick fires as well as just take it easy and not worry about things anymore. In a way, he was a lot happier in death than he ever was in life, a fact he outright stated when he showed up in a dream bubble later, as well as admitting to the fact that his confidence was silly and fake. There was nothing to worry about in a dreambubble; he could have adventures and chill with his other dead friends, so really what more could he actually need?
Character Abilities you would like to expand on further:
There isn't a lot about Tavros's abilities that I also didn't touch on in his above personality section. He's fairly decent with a Lance, though by Troll standards he's a mediocre fighter. However, he's obtained a fair amount of upper body strength from his time in his wheelchair, so he's fairly strong!
Tavros also has it in him to be brave and stand up for himself. The fact he stood up to Vriska shows this, and while he may have later called this fake confidence, the fact he actually did it at all means that it still came from his heart.
Tavros's sburb title, the Page of Breath, while not having a lot of actual canon description, has been described as having a lot of potential. This ties in with the fact that he has the innate ability inside of him to be a more confident, strong person. Not just mentally, but physically as well, since the game is so fighting oriented.
Communing with animals telepathically is also something he can do, and is just about Tavros's only power, really. A lot of trolls have psychic powers, and Tavros is no exception. His allow him to enter the minds of animals and control their actions. This ability is actually quite powerful, as he was capable of communing with a wide range of creatures in the game as well as Jade's dog, Bec, who was extremely powerful. Mainly, he uses this power passively and to befriend things, but he's capable of making them do just about anything.
Character Weaknesses you would like to expand on further:
As I have mentioned in his personality, a lot of his weaknesses come in the form of his insecurities and confidence issues. He is too easily pushed around, not to mention far too trusting for his own good. What this means is that he's easily manipulated, as he is the type to want to see the good in everyone. While he generally knows right from wrong, he can still be manipulated into things that he would not normally do. His personality issues also means that he has a lot of problems filling quadrants (Troll romance; it's a confusing concept!!), which is an extremely important part of troll society.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What abilities will your character retain in Soul Campaign?
- A natural affinity with animals. This won't be nearly as powerful as his telepathic abilities, but Tavros will still be able to befriend animals better than most. Of course, this won't prevent him from getting attacked by wild animals or the like, but smaller animals will not be as afraid of him as they might be other people.
That is about it, really! As far as having abilities goes, he is average at best. That is the only noteworthy thing that I feel he would keep in any significant form.
What weaknesses will your character lose or gain in Soul Campaign?
While he won't really gain or lose much on his own, Death City will end up being beneficial to his character development. It might take a while, but eventually he'll come to the realization that it's not nearly as suffocating and horrible as Troll society is. He'll be able to come out of his shell and learn to not be such a pushover, because he doesn't actually have to be in Death City. He can be stronger and more confident, and after a while he will. I think if anything, barring traumatic experiences within the game, Tavros would do very well here overall.
The wish Death the Kid made to the BREW in 2009 was to “rescue Death City and stop the waves of Madness from overtaking the world.” By whatever means necessary. Pretend you are the BREW. Why would you choose to bring this character to Death City?
There are a multitude of reasons as to why BREW would have picked up on Tavros and decided to bring him to Death City. The biggest reason is simply that Tavros is a good person, and is strong in his own way. As harsh and unforgiving as Troll society is, Tavros is one of the nicest trolls there is, and is always looking to do the right thing if he can. He would jump at the opportunity to help out Death City, seeing it as a way to prove that he isn't a failure- especially considering he would be taken post death, when he's realized his previous confidence was fake.
I think he would take it as an opportunity to start gaining confidence for real, and would try and be an active part in helping any way he could. Another reason I think BREW would have picked up on him and decided to bring him to Death City is because he is the Page of Breath. Pages are described as being full of potential- nothing but potential, even, and I think BREW would see that and take him in the hopes that he reaches his full potential within the city. And he very likely would reach this potential, given time and the right encouragement, especially considering he would come as a weapon, as Tavros would get a huge boost of confidence just from that.
If your character has difficulty verbally communicating or can’t verbally communicate at all (mute or non-humanoid), elaborate on how this will be treated in the game. N/A
[ WEAPON ONLY SECTION ]
Why is your character a Weapon and not a Meister?
I feel Tavros is better suited to be a weapon than a Meister for several reasons. One of them being that he's not by any means a goof fighter. While he's decent with a lance, when standing up to Vriska he was killed extremely quickly. His psychic powers in canon were much more suited to defense rather than offense- though he could use them offensively, he preferred not to. That isn't to say he's against fighting- that would be silly, as Trolls are naturally more aggressive than humans. He just... prefers not to, if he can help it. Considering trolls are a naturally violent race, this is a big reason as to why he wouldn't be against or upset about being a weapon.
In fact, it would be the complete opposite; being a weapon would be very beneficial to him and his development. He would feel like it makes him powerful, as well as fill him with confidence and probably even some pride. Additionally, instead of feeling upset that at his weapon form, it would end up being a very empowering thing; being the weapon that was used against him will make him a stronger, more confident person overall. Having a good partner will also be beneficial in a lot of ways. Though he already trusts other people, having a good partner will allow him to trust them in stronger, more positive ways. He won't feel manipulated and put down, or used in a negative manner. I think overall, it would be an extremely positive experience, moreso than if he were a Meister.
What is your character’s Weapon Form? Why?
Tavros' weapon form will be that of a Lance, similar to that of the one he uses in canon. As it's what he uses in canon, I figured it made the most sense for it to be what he turns into in the game.
To give you an idea of what he'll look like in his weapon form, refer to this image!
What is your character’s Weapon Ability?
Tavros's weapon ability works in that during resonance with Tavros, the Meister is protected from insecurities and fears created by the Madness Wavelength. This means that the Meister will be braver and can fight to the best of their ability regardless of the level of Madness in the area. Additionally, when Tavros achieves Soul Resonance with his Meister, the reach of his Lance grows considerably, achieving a length of around fifteen feet as opposed to his normal Nine feet during his resonance attack.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Describe your character’s soul with six adjectives.
Optimistic, determined, cheerful, driven, playful, weak
What does your character’s soul look like? Be creative.
Tavros's soul is a deep brown colour, much like his blood. It also has overly large horns jutting out out from either side, along with a mohawk just like he has himself. It also has somewhat of a timid smile.
[ SAMPLES ]
Provide a First Person style sample in the form of a post to the DEMISE network.
sO, uH,
bEING ALIVE AGAIN AFTER SO LONG IS,
sOMETHING THAT IS HARD, tO GET USED TO,
i MEAN, i gUESS NOW i'M BACK TO HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT THINGS,
i DIDN'T HAVE TO, uH, dO THAT WHEN i WAS DEAD,
bUT i THINK THAT, gIVEN HOW i ENDED UP HERE FOR A REASON,
tHIS ISN'T SUCH A BAD THING!
mAYBE i CAN BE USEFUL, hERE,
wHEN i COULDN'T BE USEFUL BEFORE,
bUT HERE i CAN TURN INTO A POWERFUL WEAPON, aND BE USED TO DO THINGS,
tHAT ARE GOOD AND, nOT BAD,
aND, uH,
i DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE RAMIFICATIONS OF,
fUCKING SHIT UP WITH VRISKA, lIKE i DID BEFORE i ENDED UP HERE,
sO THAT'S ALSO, a GOOD THING,
dEFINITELY A VERY GOOD THING, eVEN,
yEAH,
i THINK OVERALL, i'M REALLY HAPPY TO BE HERE AND, uH, i'M ALSO HAPPY TO MEET ALL THESE,
aWESOME PEOPLE THAT ARE HERE,
aND i AM ALSO GLAD THAT, i'M NOT THE ONLY TROLL HERE,
bECAUSE THAT IS, uH, a COMFORTING THING,
aND i CAN'T BELIEVE THERE ARE, eVEN GROWN UP TROLLS!
i NEVER, uH, eXPECTED THAT TO BE A THING,
i DIDN'T THINK i WOULD EVER GET TO SEE, oNE OF THOSE,
sINCE i DIED BEFORE i COULD,
uHH, bUT ANYWAY,
i GUESS i GOT OFF THE POINT THAT i WAS, oRIGINALLY TRYING, tO MAKE,
wHICH IS THAT, i THINK i REALLY LIKE IT HERE SO FAR,
}:)
Provide a Third Person sample set during the last minutes on their world and/or their first few moments in the Kishin Chamber.
It was safe to say that overall, Tavros found that he preferred being dead as opposed to being alive. There was nothing expected of him, which meant there was no need to worry about not living up to those expectations. He didn't have to worry about screwing things up, or even having confidence. In a way, being dead gave him confidence, because there just weren't any consequences to be had in death. And besides, it wasn't as if there were nothing to do in dreambubbles. In a lot of ways, they were just like being alive but without the stress. He could see all of his dead friends, and even occasionally the live ones if they happened to stumble onto his bubble. So yes, Tavros definitely liked being dead.
At least until Gamzee decided to prototype him and Vriska together, throwing him out of his dreambubble and back into life in what had to be one of the most traumatizing ways possible. But unlike Vriska, Tavros wasn't completely horrified by it. Yes, it wasn't an ideal situation, but being the optimistic troll that he is, he actually saw it as somewhat of an adventure, even if it didn't actually last long. He found that he really liked getting a glimpse at having real confidence was like, thanks to being merged with Vriska briefly. It wasn't anything like his old, fake confidence; the kind he'd convinced himself he had back when he was alive. It wasn't even really like the dreambubble confidence he had, which wasn't really confidence so much as just not having to worry about much. It was the real kind- if a little bit too Vriska-ish for his liking, but he could ignore that part and focus on the positive.
Another thing that being alive briefly managed to do, was make Tavros miss it. With his newfound idea of what having confidence was really like, Tavros couldn't help but wonder just what it would be like to be alive once more, so he could try again and hopefully get it right. But instead, he was pretty much forced to go along with some kind of terrible plan with Vriska in order to fuck shit up. Even though he'd agreed to do it (admittedly with some mindcontrol), he still wasn't actually looking forward to it. Because fucking shit up just seemed like a really bad idea. If he couldn't be alive, then he at least wanted to go back to being dead in peace and put the minor disruption of being prototyped behind him. But Vriska was going to make that impossible, and he knew it.
Imagine his alarm and surprise when during another countless argument about how it was a really bad idea, that suddenly Tavros felt himself losing consciousness. At first he thought it was Vriska's tricks, but when he opened his eyes again, suddenly he was no longer in the desert with Vriska. At first he thought maybe he had somehow entered another persons dreambubble, but... soon that theory went out the door. This felt different than a dreambubble. It was a subtle feeling, one that under normal circumstances he might not have noticed- but the fact he'd just recently been brought back to life meant he had a pretty good comparison. He was alive again, he could feel it. The sudden elation he felt at realizing this was enough to momentarily push aside the questions he should have logically been asking. He didn't care about the how's, or the why's, all he knew was that he was alive and that was great. Because he could have a second chance!
Of course, these feelings were somewhat shortlived, as he was broken out of his thoughts by a screen nearby coming to life, illuminating the darkness. Tavros shielded his eyes, recoiling in a slightly startled manner. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw the man standing before him onscreen. He'd seen plenty of humans in his dreambubbles, so the fact he was human wasn't a completely foreign concept. Tavros was just not sure why he was somewhere a human would be, least of all on a television screen. That was when the questions he'd not thought to ask were suddenly invading his mind like a swarm of angry bees. When the man started speaking though, Tavros was sure to pay absolute and total attention.
As he listened, his confusion only grew. "A... A war?" he asked aloud, though it was silly of him to do because obviously the man on the screen wouldn't reply. But thankfully the man continued and elaborated more. As he went on, Tavros's confusion slowly went back to his earlier eagerness. He'd been chosen to help fight a war. He couldn't fathom why he of all trolls had been chosen, but... It made him feel good, like maybe he wasn't a total failure. Someone, somehow, somewhere, thought he was good enough to be brought in to fight in a war. As much as he didn't like fighting, he couldn't help the joy he felt at this. If it was fighting bad people, then obviously he would do it! And he could do it, maybe, now that he knew what having confidence was like. He had an example to follow, he could build confidence the right way! And he could help the people here, because they needed him and that felt awesome. Was he scared? A little. Confused? You bet. But above and beyond all of that, he was optimistic. Maybe he could change himself and things here for the better. He could feel in his heart that this second chance was just what he needed, and this time he would do things right.
[ NOTES ]
Nothing I can think of!
Player Name: James
Age: 18
Timezone: EST
Personal Journal:
vastexpletiveContact Information: itsasekrit@hotmail.com
AIM: itsasekrit1993
Current Characters: N/A
Links to Activity Check: N/A
Name of Beta-reader: N/A
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Tavros Nitram
Age: 6 Sweeps / 13 Human Years
Gender: Male
Canon: Homestuck
Timeline: From the most recent updates featuring him, after the Tavrisprite incident and after his conversation with Vriska.
Character History:
http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Tavros_Nitram
http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Homestuck
Character Personality:
The first thing you would probably notice about Tavros' personality is that he a extremely shy; you could almost say cripplingly so, ignoring the obvious jab at his paralysis. His people skills are nonexistent, and he is very awkward and rather quiet when around people, friends included, though he is a lot more confident around Gamzee, not quite faltering so much in his conversations with him as much as he does other people. In person and in real life, he speaks in a shy and faltering manner, with lots of 'Uh's' and 'Um's' coating his speech; he generally comes off as very unsure and nervous a lot of the time, and this is because he has confidence issues. Lots, and lots of confidence issues.
He isn't confident in anything he does, always second guessing himself, avoiding conflict when and where possible at all times. He has very low self-esteem and definitely tends to feel inferior to the other trolls. In a way, he even looks up to some of the ones that are mean to him, even Vriska, as he wishes he could be more like them. He is very much a pushover when it comes to actual conflict, too, easily agreeing with jabs against him because he knows that they're true. When it comes to things that are actually true, that is. Because despite all of this, he has shown that he can stand up to people when it's taken too far. For example, he absolutely refused to apologize to Vriska when she told him to apologize for being a cripple- which was caused by her in the first place, to boot.
This shows that Tavros does have something of a bullshit-ometer, meaning that sometimes he actually does stand up for himself, however rare. It just takes a lot of antagonism and ridiculousness for it to really show. But even the way Tavros stands up for himself is nothing special, and he wasn't actually able to make Vriska stop antagonizing him for long- or at all, really, as it inevitably lead to more antagonism because of the fact that he is just so horrendously bad at actually standing up for himself even when he does try.
To compensate for these issues, at the suggestion of one Kanaya Maryam, Tavros made up an imaginary friend called Rufio, who is supposed to be Tavros’s confidence and self esteem personified. He based it on a character from his favorite fairytale, Pupa Pan (the Troll equivelant of Peter Pan). This actually didn't end up helping at all, because as it turned out, simply giving a name to your self esteem and pretending it's a character out of a fairytale doesn't actually magically give you self esteem. If anything, this was just a coping mechanism to make himself feel better about not having any in the first place. And it really just shows how childish Tavros is at heart, that he would do this in the first place and hope it worked; though he can fully admit that it doesn't.
Underneath his insecurity and lack of confidence, Tavros is a very sweet and caring person. It is pretty much nearly impossible to make him mad or offend him, as he's both too nice as well as a bit too timid to reach that point. Even despite his confidence issues, making friends is one of Tavros's favorite things, and he always has a pretty enthusiastic greeting when initiating conversations, and he's usually nice to everyone he talks to. He even tries to be nice to the ones he doesn't actually like. Which ends up getting him walked on more. Most of the trolls tend to find him weak, and even though he tries getting along with most of them, there are only a few he can actually say are his friends (even though he would claim they are all his friends). His best friend is without a doubt, Gamzee Makara, though he and Aradia were definitely very close before she died, though the two of them drifted apart after this.
Saying that Tavros is never awkward around his close friends though, would not be accurate. As comfortable as he feels about being around his best bro, it's also clear that a part of him finds Gamzee just a bit weird. But then again, it's safe to say that a lot of people find Gamzee weird. But Tavros sticks by him anyway, and tends to ignore some of Gamzee's quirkiness. However, even Tavros is put off when Gamzee makes inappropriate suggestions such as sloppy makeouts- but that's mainly because Tavros is just so bad at the whole romance thing, as stated below when it comes to his failure at confessing his feelings to Jade.
His relationship with Vriska is complicated and he actually tries his best to avoid her completely most of the time, a thing she makes hard to do. But even despite how much he dislikes her, he's usually as nice as he can be to her, though it's obviously strained. A lot of his interactions with the trolls who aren't exactly nice to him are like this as well, though it's most notable with Vriska. Though as nice as he tends to be, he is not above being vaguely passive aggressive in his interactions with some of them, either, though it's not very noticeable, and he's not very good at the whole passive aggressive thing in general.
Tavros is also probably the worst out of all his fellow trolls at trolling the humans, as he's just too nice to do it properly, and inevitably ends up befriending whoever he is trolling, or otherwise getting countertrolled hardcore. Despite the fact the intention was to lead the humans astray, Tavros ended up befriended Jade despite the fact that he was also responsible for killing her Grandpa. It's complicated. But he totally had the best intentions, as he mistook her grandpa for a dangerous intruder. Overall, his good nature just makes it really hard for him to do any successful trolling.
He has a more naive view of the world than those around him his own age. He has a childlike belief that fairies are real, despite never having actually seen one (he doesn't need to see one, because that's what faith is for). This is especially prevalent in his FLARP sessions (A form of extreme roleplay, during which he was also injured and confined to his wheelchair, by Vriska), where his dresses up and plays Pupa Pan, the troll equivalant of Peter Pan. Another reason he is so enamoured with Pupa Pan is that he has always been fascinated by the idea of flying- and not just because he’s in a wheelchair. Because as he said, that would be silly. He believes so much in Pupa Pan and is just so childishly hopeful, that he leaves his window at night in the hopes that Pupa Pan will show up and take him away.
Tavros also has a way with the creatures of Alternia, being able to communicate telepathically and control them. With this, he's able to get them to do whatever he wants. This leads to one of his other hobbies, which is capturing and training them, and he considers all of them his friends. They are his main source of real life interaction, after all. And because he prefers to avoid all conflict if he can help it, and also because of his own mediocre fighting skills, while in the game Tavros ended up using his powers to control the Imps and built his own little army of sorts, rather than fight them. Going back to his FLARP as an example, Tavros is much more of an adventurer than a fighter. Even in FLARP, he picked more of a non-combat class, as he liked exploring and storytelling much more than the fighting. He is just essentially a player, wanting to have fun adventures and not worry about the bad things, even though this is not actually possible. Before his dream self was killed, he also spent a lot of time sleeping, so that he could play and fly around with on prospit, the one place he actually could fly like Pupa Pan.
He is also very into Alternian slam poetry! And this is about the only area where he has any real confidence in himself, as well as showing a more smug side of his personality than is usually witnessed daily. He does perhaps have too much confidence in his rapping, because he is admittedly not very good at it at all. It's also about the only time he'll say anything at all meanspirited, as his goal was definitely to upset Dave with his raps, though obviously it didn't work at all, because Dave is just too cool to be affected by Tavros's shitty raps. Tavros did not realize this though, and ended up leaving the chat feeling pretty good about all the SICK FIRES he'd created.
Upon receiving his Robo Legs, Tavros’ confidence levels soared to previously unreached levels- and not entirely in positive ways, as he had a rather comically skewed idea of what having confidence entailed. He was under the impression that he could do what he wanted, going as far as to suggest that he wouldn't listen to Jade when he wanted to commune with Bec, her dog. Overall he acted kind of like a cocky, arrogant jerk, under the impression that that's what people with confidence did. It's safe to assume that the reason for this is because the only comparison he had was people like Vriska, who act like assholes daily.
Receiving robo legs also did two other things for him, one of which was give him the courage to confess his crush on Jade... which ended up proving that Tavros is so very, very bad at romance. His social awkwardness mixed with his horrible sense of confidence of course meant that none of it went over well at all. In fact, he kind of assumed the fact he had so much confidence would automatically mean Jade would reciprocate his feelings. He ended up referencing his new confidence multiple times, prompting Jade to tell him that just because he said he had confidence didn't mean he really did.
It also gave Tavros the courage to stand up to Vriska after all of her antagonism and after finding out that she was the source of pretty much everyone's problems. With his lance, he confronted and attacked her, while also finally calling her out on some of the things she'd done. Of course, his combat skills were inevitably no match for her superior god tier powers and in the end he was impaled through the chest by his own lance.
So all it really takes for Tavros to gain confidence is legs! Even if it's a weird, screwy version of confidence. And in the end, he really did realize that he had it wrong, and he was still the nice, friendly troll that he always was, before he died. He just really wanted to have confidence so badly that he convinced himself that he did, and because he never had a very good example to follow, it just didn't work out like he wanted it to, and even ultimately lead to his death. But in the end, he stood up to Vriska for his friends and for himself.
After he died, he very much enjoyed the dream bubbles and being able to hang out with Dave and Aradia, create some sick fires as well as just take it easy and not worry about things anymore. In a way, he was a lot happier in death than he ever was in life, a fact he outright stated when he showed up in a dream bubble later, as well as admitting to the fact that his confidence was silly and fake. There was nothing to worry about in a dreambubble; he could have adventures and chill with his other dead friends, so really what more could he actually need?
Character Abilities you would like to expand on further:
There isn't a lot about Tavros's abilities that I also didn't touch on in his above personality section. He's fairly decent with a Lance, though by Troll standards he's a mediocre fighter. However, he's obtained a fair amount of upper body strength from his time in his wheelchair, so he's fairly strong!
Tavros also has it in him to be brave and stand up for himself. The fact he stood up to Vriska shows this, and while he may have later called this fake confidence, the fact he actually did it at all means that it still came from his heart.
Tavros's sburb title, the Page of Breath, while not having a lot of actual canon description, has been described as having a lot of potential. This ties in with the fact that he has the innate ability inside of him to be a more confident, strong person. Not just mentally, but physically as well, since the game is so fighting oriented.
Communing with animals telepathically is also something he can do, and is just about Tavros's only power, really. A lot of trolls have psychic powers, and Tavros is no exception. His allow him to enter the minds of animals and control their actions. This ability is actually quite powerful, as he was capable of communing with a wide range of creatures in the game as well as Jade's dog, Bec, who was extremely powerful. Mainly, he uses this power passively and to befriend things, but he's capable of making them do just about anything.
Character Weaknesses you would like to expand on further:
As I have mentioned in his personality, a lot of his weaknesses come in the form of his insecurities and confidence issues. He is too easily pushed around, not to mention far too trusting for his own good. What this means is that he's easily manipulated, as he is the type to want to see the good in everyone. While he generally knows right from wrong, he can still be manipulated into things that he would not normally do. His personality issues also means that he has a lot of problems filling quadrants (Troll romance; it's a confusing concept!!), which is an extremely important part of troll society.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What abilities will your character retain in Soul Campaign?
- A natural affinity with animals. This won't be nearly as powerful as his telepathic abilities, but Tavros will still be able to befriend animals better than most. Of course, this won't prevent him from getting attacked by wild animals or the like, but smaller animals will not be as afraid of him as they might be other people.
That is about it, really! As far as having abilities goes, he is average at best. That is the only noteworthy thing that I feel he would keep in any significant form.
What weaknesses will your character lose or gain in Soul Campaign?
While he won't really gain or lose much on his own, Death City will end up being beneficial to his character development. It might take a while, but eventually he'll come to the realization that it's not nearly as suffocating and horrible as Troll society is. He'll be able to come out of his shell and learn to not be such a pushover, because he doesn't actually have to be in Death City. He can be stronger and more confident, and after a while he will. I think if anything, barring traumatic experiences within the game, Tavros would do very well here overall.
The wish Death the Kid made to the BREW in 2009 was to “rescue Death City and stop the waves of Madness from overtaking the world.” By whatever means necessary. Pretend you are the BREW. Why would you choose to bring this character to Death City?
There are a multitude of reasons as to why BREW would have picked up on Tavros and decided to bring him to Death City. The biggest reason is simply that Tavros is a good person, and is strong in his own way. As harsh and unforgiving as Troll society is, Tavros is one of the nicest trolls there is, and is always looking to do the right thing if he can. He would jump at the opportunity to help out Death City, seeing it as a way to prove that he isn't a failure- especially considering he would be taken post death, when he's realized his previous confidence was fake.
I think he would take it as an opportunity to start gaining confidence for real, and would try and be an active part in helping any way he could. Another reason I think BREW would have picked up on him and decided to bring him to Death City is because he is the Page of Breath. Pages are described as being full of potential- nothing but potential, even, and I think BREW would see that and take him in the hopes that he reaches his full potential within the city. And he very likely would reach this potential, given time and the right encouragement, especially considering he would come as a weapon, as Tavros would get a huge boost of confidence just from that.
If your character has difficulty verbally communicating or can’t verbally communicate at all (mute or non-humanoid), elaborate on how this will be treated in the game. N/A
[ WEAPON ONLY SECTION ]
Why is your character a Weapon and not a Meister?
I feel Tavros is better suited to be a weapon than a Meister for several reasons. One of them being that he's not by any means a goof fighter. While he's decent with a lance, when standing up to Vriska he was killed extremely quickly. His psychic powers in canon were much more suited to defense rather than offense- though he could use them offensively, he preferred not to. That isn't to say he's against fighting- that would be silly, as Trolls are naturally more aggressive than humans. He just... prefers not to, if he can help it. Considering trolls are a naturally violent race, this is a big reason as to why he wouldn't be against or upset about being a weapon.
In fact, it would be the complete opposite; being a weapon would be very beneficial to him and his development. He would feel like it makes him powerful, as well as fill him with confidence and probably even some pride. Additionally, instead of feeling upset that at his weapon form, it would end up being a very empowering thing; being the weapon that was used against him will make him a stronger, more confident person overall. Having a good partner will also be beneficial in a lot of ways. Though he already trusts other people, having a good partner will allow him to trust them in stronger, more positive ways. He won't feel manipulated and put down, or used in a negative manner. I think overall, it would be an extremely positive experience, moreso than if he were a Meister.
What is your character’s Weapon Form? Why?
Tavros' weapon form will be that of a Lance, similar to that of the one he uses in canon. As it's what he uses in canon, I figured it made the most sense for it to be what he turns into in the game.
To give you an idea of what he'll look like in his weapon form, refer to this image!
What is your character’s Weapon Ability?
Tavros's weapon ability works in that during resonance with Tavros, the Meister is protected from insecurities and fears created by the Madness Wavelength. This means that the Meister will be braver and can fight to the best of their ability regardless of the level of Madness in the area. Additionally, when Tavros achieves Soul Resonance with his Meister, the reach of his Lance grows considerably, achieving a length of around fifteen feet as opposed to his normal Nine feet during his resonance attack.
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Describe your character’s soul with six adjectives.
Optimistic, determined, cheerful, driven, playful, weak
What does your character’s soul look like? Be creative.
Tavros's soul is a deep brown colour, much like his blood. It also has overly large horns jutting out out from either side, along with a mohawk just like he has himself. It also has somewhat of a timid smile.
[ SAMPLES ]
Provide a First Person style sample in the form of a post to the DEMISE network.
sO, uH,
bEING ALIVE AGAIN AFTER SO LONG IS,
sOMETHING THAT IS HARD, tO GET USED TO,
i MEAN, i gUESS NOW i'M BACK TO HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT THINGS,
i DIDN'T HAVE TO, uH, dO THAT WHEN i WAS DEAD,
bUT i THINK THAT, gIVEN HOW i ENDED UP HERE FOR A REASON,
tHIS ISN'T SUCH A BAD THING!
mAYBE i CAN BE USEFUL, hERE,
wHEN i COULDN'T BE USEFUL BEFORE,
bUT HERE i CAN TURN INTO A POWERFUL WEAPON, aND BE USED TO DO THINGS,
tHAT ARE GOOD AND, nOT BAD,
aND, uH,
i DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE RAMIFICATIONS OF,
fUCKING SHIT UP WITH VRISKA, lIKE i DID BEFORE i ENDED UP HERE,
sO THAT'S ALSO, a GOOD THING,
dEFINITELY A VERY GOOD THING, eVEN,
yEAH,
i THINK OVERALL, i'M REALLY HAPPY TO BE HERE AND, uH, i'M ALSO HAPPY TO MEET ALL THESE,
aWESOME PEOPLE THAT ARE HERE,
aND i AM ALSO GLAD THAT, i'M NOT THE ONLY TROLL HERE,
bECAUSE THAT IS, uH, a COMFORTING THING,
aND i CAN'T BELIEVE THERE ARE, eVEN GROWN UP TROLLS!
i NEVER, uH, eXPECTED THAT TO BE A THING,
i DIDN'T THINK i WOULD EVER GET TO SEE, oNE OF THOSE,
sINCE i DIED BEFORE i COULD,
uHH, bUT ANYWAY,
i GUESS i GOT OFF THE POINT THAT i WAS, oRIGINALLY TRYING, tO MAKE,
wHICH IS THAT, i THINK i REALLY LIKE IT HERE SO FAR,
}:)
Provide a Third Person sample set during the last minutes on their world and/or their first few moments in the Kishin Chamber.
It was safe to say that overall, Tavros found that he preferred being dead as opposed to being alive. There was nothing expected of him, which meant there was no need to worry about not living up to those expectations. He didn't have to worry about screwing things up, or even having confidence. In a way, being dead gave him confidence, because there just weren't any consequences to be had in death. And besides, it wasn't as if there were nothing to do in dreambubbles. In a lot of ways, they were just like being alive but without the stress. He could see all of his dead friends, and even occasionally the live ones if they happened to stumble onto his bubble. So yes, Tavros definitely liked being dead.
At least until Gamzee decided to prototype him and Vriska together, throwing him out of his dreambubble and back into life in what had to be one of the most traumatizing ways possible. But unlike Vriska, Tavros wasn't completely horrified by it. Yes, it wasn't an ideal situation, but being the optimistic troll that he is, he actually saw it as somewhat of an adventure, even if it didn't actually last long. He found that he really liked getting a glimpse at having real confidence was like, thanks to being merged with Vriska briefly. It wasn't anything like his old, fake confidence; the kind he'd convinced himself he had back when he was alive. It wasn't even really like the dreambubble confidence he had, which wasn't really confidence so much as just not having to worry about much. It was the real kind- if a little bit too Vriska-ish for his liking, but he could ignore that part and focus on the positive.
Another thing that being alive briefly managed to do, was make Tavros miss it. With his newfound idea of what having confidence was really like, Tavros couldn't help but wonder just what it would be like to be alive once more, so he could try again and hopefully get it right. But instead, he was pretty much forced to go along with some kind of terrible plan with Vriska in order to fuck shit up. Even though he'd agreed to do it (admittedly with some mindcontrol), he still wasn't actually looking forward to it. Because fucking shit up just seemed like a really bad idea. If he couldn't be alive, then he at least wanted to go back to being dead in peace and put the minor disruption of being prototyped behind him. But Vriska was going to make that impossible, and he knew it.
Imagine his alarm and surprise when during another countless argument about how it was a really bad idea, that suddenly Tavros felt himself losing consciousness. At first he thought it was Vriska's tricks, but when he opened his eyes again, suddenly he was no longer in the desert with Vriska. At first he thought maybe he had somehow entered another persons dreambubble, but... soon that theory went out the door. This felt different than a dreambubble. It was a subtle feeling, one that under normal circumstances he might not have noticed- but the fact he'd just recently been brought back to life meant he had a pretty good comparison. He was alive again, he could feel it. The sudden elation he felt at realizing this was enough to momentarily push aside the questions he should have logically been asking. He didn't care about the how's, or the why's, all he knew was that he was alive and that was great. Because he could have a second chance!
Of course, these feelings were somewhat shortlived, as he was broken out of his thoughts by a screen nearby coming to life, illuminating the darkness. Tavros shielded his eyes, recoiling in a slightly startled manner. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw the man standing before him onscreen. He'd seen plenty of humans in his dreambubbles, so the fact he was human wasn't a completely foreign concept. Tavros was just not sure why he was somewhere a human would be, least of all on a television screen. That was when the questions he'd not thought to ask were suddenly invading his mind like a swarm of angry bees. When the man started speaking though, Tavros was sure to pay absolute and total attention.
As he listened, his confusion only grew. "A... A war?" he asked aloud, though it was silly of him to do because obviously the man on the screen wouldn't reply. But thankfully the man continued and elaborated more. As he went on, Tavros's confusion slowly went back to his earlier eagerness. He'd been chosen to help fight a war. He couldn't fathom why he of all trolls had been chosen, but... It made him feel good, like maybe he wasn't a total failure. Someone, somehow, somewhere, thought he was good enough to be brought in to fight in a war. As much as he didn't like fighting, he couldn't help the joy he felt at this. If it was fighting bad people, then obviously he would do it! And he could do it, maybe, now that he knew what having confidence was like. He had an example to follow, he could build confidence the right way! And he could help the people here, because they needed him and that felt awesome. Was he scared? A little. Confused? You bet. But above and beyond all of that, he was optimistic. Maybe he could change himself and things here for the better. He could feel in his heart that this second chance was just what he needed, and this time he would do things right.
[ NOTES ]
Nothing I can think of!