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ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pm
tripled_mods) wrote in ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pmAPPLICATIONS | 2012; 01
THIS APPLICATIONS POST IS CLOSED. Please direct your attention to the new one here!
tripled_mods) wrote in ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pm
Tavros Nitram // Reserved [1/2]
Player DW:
Way to contact you:
Email: idgiebay[at]gmail.com
AIM: idgie rp
Other: PM
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: None
Character: Tavros Nitram
Fandom: Homestuck
Character Notes:
History:
In the first part of Homestuck: Act 5, we're introduced to a race of beings called trolls. The planet they're from is Alternia, which is mostly inhabited by children, as the vast majority of adults travel off-world to join the ongoing battle for galactic conquest. Tavros is one of twelve troll children featured.
One of the first things one might notice about Tavros is that he's wheelchair-bound. We learn that this is due to an accident during a FLARP session that took place an uncertain amount time ago. FLARP (somewhat like a troll equivalent of LARP) is an extreme, real-life roleplaying activity that poses the real dangers of death and/or dismemberment (among other things), and it is said to be used as a means of practice for the trials a troll will face in adulthood. During a flashback, we're shown the aforementioned session; Tavros is caught between a cliff and several high-level enemies. He does the math and comes to the conclusion that, no matter what he rolls, his predicament won't have a favorable outcome, so he opts to give up instead. Vriska, his Clouder (or Dungeon Master), intervenes. She criticizes him for being a coward and tries to pressure him into rolling the dice. When he refuses to do so, however, she uses her psychic powers to manipulate his body and make him jump off of the cliff, costing him the use of his legs.
This sparks a violent cycle of revenge, which results in the death of Tavros' friend and FLARP teammate, Aradia, and causes irreparable damage to the other trolls involved. In short, Aradia used her powers to send the ghosts of Vriska's past victims to mess with her. In turn, Vriska forced Sollux to consume mind honey, which caused his powers to go out of control; he ended up destroying Aradia's hive, as well as Aradia herself. Suspecting Vriska was somehow responsible, Terezi advised Doc Scratch that Vriska was in possession of a magic cue ball, which resulted in said cue ball exploding in Vriska's face, costing her an arm and her Vision Eightfold. Vriska then, once again, controlled Tavros' mind and forced him to commune with Terezi's lusus, who urged a sleeping Terezi to wander outside and look at the sun, which blinded her.
Since then, Tavros understandably hasn't partaken in any FLARP sessions. He's tried his best to avoid Vriska, as well, but is soon forced to interact with her when they all decide to play SGRUB, which is when the real adventure starts.
According to a prophetic dream Sollux had, Alternia is slated for destruction, and the only way to save it is by playing a game Aradia found in the ruins near her hive. Sollux is able to hack and reformat the game to be compatible with their computers, and the twelve of them form two competing teams: the red team and the blue team. The purpose of the game, to put it very simply, is to level up by defeating enemies, eventually becoming strong enough to take on the Big Boss and obtain the prize of a new universe. It runs on a server/client system. One player, acting as the server, connects to another player's computer, known as the client, and is able to control that player's environment. After a series of complicated events that involve crafting totems, punching cards, and creating items, the client player is then transferred into the medium of SGRUB, to a planet that is unique to them.
It happens that Vriska is Tavros' server player. Once Tavros is transferred to his planet, the Land of Sand and Zephyr, he makes a rocket-powered wheelchair and spends most of his time completing useless side quests with an army of imps and ogres backing him, thanks to his ability to commune with and befriend animals and other creatures.
Frustrated by Tavros' time-wasting obsession, Vriska guides him to the gate that leads to her world, the Land of Maps and Treasure. She greets him with a surprising kiss--surprising to both of them, apparently, as she then drops him to the ground and looks shocked.
Why she kissed him isn't clear; it's possible she harbors romantic feelings for him, but not the kind someone like you or I might think. Trolls have a somewhat complicated relationship structure. To avoid going into excruciating detail, I'll just link the explanation, if that's all right. I'd be more than happy to write it out myself if need be, though! That being said, she may have desired to be his kismesis, which Karkat suspects is the case, or she may have had actual red feelings for him.
Whatever the case may actually be, the two come to an understanding off-screen and proceed to hunt for treasure together, until they're interrupted by Aradia, now a robot and on a quest for vengeance. She beats Vriska to near death and then disappears to take care of other business, saddling Tavros with Vriska's bloodied body. Uncertain of what to do, Tavros attempts to revive her with a kiss but is stopped by Vriska's recently awakened dream self, who uses her powers to make Tavros choke himself. Then, using her blood as ink and Tavros' finger as a quill, she informs him that she's not quite dead yet and instructs him to take her to her Quest Cocoon, so she can die there and achieve God Tier.
Tavros does as he's told, but upon Vriska's insistence that he kill her instead of letting her bleed to death, he freezes up and then runs away, leaving her to do just that. The experience is extremely traumatizing for him; he spends practically the rest of the game sleeping, seeking refuge on Prospit's moon (the place he inhabits in the dream world), where he can walk and fly and be happy and carefree.
Not long after, through a combination of strategy and sheer luck, the trolls are able to defeat the Black King and reach the end of the game. Their prize is a newly-created universe, which they assume they will inhabit and populate, since Alternia is doomed. Just as they're about to claim their prize, though, a phenomenon called the Scratch takes place, which they assumed opened a gateway between their game session and another.
It turns out the universe they created is ours. Millions of years in the future, a group of four kids is playing SBURB, which is the game Aradia found in the ruins and which Sollux reprogrammed to make SGRUB. Due to a series of unfortunate events, these kids will decide to implement the Scratch in order to reset their game session. When a session resets, everything is destroyed. In order to save himself, Jack Noir--a former agent of Derse, now an unbeatable enemy--teleports himself to a different session: the trolls'.
Forced to hide, the trolls seek refuge on an asteroid in the Veil. Here, Tavros continues sleeping his time away. In an act of... friendship or mercy or something... Kanaya uses her chainsaw to remove Tavros' legs while he sleeps, making way for the robotic legs that Equius fashioned for him. This excites Tavros and makes him feel empowered and more self-confident! He seems to have a problem with stairs, though, which Equius warned him about, but he insists on trying, anyway.
At this point, Karkat discovers that he can use the chat program Trollian to watch the humans at various points in their time-line. After watching their SBURB gaming session, he comes to the conclusion that it's all their fault that the trolls didn't get their prize, so he resolves to troll them relentlessly and orders the others to do so as well.
Tavros isn't the best troll, and he often gets trolled in return. His first target is the human Dave, whose counter-trolling is so good that Tavros ends up blocking him. He then turns to Rose, another human and Dave's friend, and asks the best way to get on Dave's nerves, to which she answers, 'poetry'.
'Slam Poetry' (basically rap) happens to be one of the "oldest, most revered, and certainly freshest" art forms in Alternia's rich history, and Tavros likes to engage in it. He proceeds to troll Dave with sick rhymes (they're awful, really), which Dave ignores. Tavros, however, is satisfied. At times it seems like he may have a crush on Dave, but it's mostly due to using human phrases that he's not familiar with. His feelings appear closer to admiration, as shown later when the two finally, er... 'meet' in a bubble.
But before I get ahead of myself, Tavros does attempt to troll Jade for a while. The two share a common love of the dream world. He talks to her throughout various points in her time-line and even saves her life when she's a child by communing with her guardian, Bec, who teleports a rifle and bullet safely away before Jade succeeds in shooting herself in the face. Unfortunately, the bullet is teleported in front of her grandpa, who is killed. Tavros doesn't see the problem with this, as he's sure Grandpa was an intruder on Jade's land, and Bec was her lusus. This is because--TANGENT ALERT--trolls do not have family units. They are born of a creature called the Mother Grub, who takes the trolls' genetic material collected by the Imperial Drones, mixes it into "one, diabolical incestuous slurry", and lays hundreds of thousands of eggs at once. The eggs hatch into wrigglers, who later pupate and grow into trolls. Those who are able to survive the tumultuous trials of the brooding caverns are then selected by a lusus (a creature native to Alternia) who aids them in digging to the surface, and then becomes that troll's Custodian.
Tavros Nitram // Reserved [2/2]
Later, Vriska boasts that she's responsible for creating the monster that Jack Noir became. Enraged by this, Tavros grabs his lance with the intent to kill Vriska, perhaps showing the most negativity he's ever felt. He engages her in battle, but she manages to take his weapon and stab him with it, sending him flying off the edge of a platform. He eventually lands on the floor next to Terezi, who pronounces him dead. She tries to revive him with a kiss, but as Prospit and all the dream selves inhabiting it have been destroyed by Jack Noir, it's no use; there's no way to bring him back.
After his death, his ghost visits the ghost of a Dave (there are a few, thanks to Dave being the Knight of Time and creating several copies of himself via stable time loops) in a dream bubble and flails at him and his awesomeness.
Whether Tavros is permanently dead or not remains to be seen, as Homestuck is an ongoing webcomic. As of now, though, this is where his story ends.
Personality:
Tavros is a sensitive soul. He likes fairies, fantasies, card games, and catching and training the various fauna of Alternia. His hero is Pupa Pan, a troll version of Peter Pan, and he is extremely fascinated by the concept of flight because of it.
Basically, he is what most trolls try not to be. As a race, they are meant to be ruthless and violent in order to withstand the trials of adulthood; killing those of a lower class isn't frowned upon and is, in fact, encouraged in some cases. Their relationships are based on the primary emotions of hatred and pity. Yet, of the twelve trolls, Tavros seems to be the nicest and most naive, possibly even ignorant of his own shortcomings as a troll. Karkat theorizes that Tavros is incapable of hate, even when it comes to the one who's relentlessly tortured him.
If it wasn't made clear in the history section, Tavros has self-esteem issues. In order to deal with this, he's taken the advice of Kanaya and personified his self-esteem. He's named it Rufio, and he talks to him on a regular basis, careful not to let anything or anyone hurt his feelings, though it isn't always effective; in the end, he knows that Rufio is fake, and Tavros' self-esteem suffers, anyway.
This changes a bit when he receives his robotic legs. He feels "great and really confident suddenly", as if Rufio has given him both the high fives he has, and "sort of one of those bro massages, as if to say, 'You're the champ!'". Terezi urges him to never let anyone tell him Rufio isn't real, because if you believe in something imaginary hard enough, that makes it less fake! This encourages Tavros to do reckless things, like take on a flight of stairs, which he's been warned against.
Even with his confidence backing him, though, his self-esteem isn't fool-proof. In fact, one might argue that his confidence is false to begin with, as he has to keep assuring himself and others that he is confident, to the point that it's incredibly awkward. The first sign he shows of true confidence is when he decides he has to stop Vriska; unfortunately, that ends in his death.
Because of his uncertainty, he speaks in a halting manner, with a lot of 'uhhs' and 'umms' and pauses interjected.
Other:
The troll caste system is based on blood color; Tavros' blood is orange-brown (not unlike peanut butter!), which puts him just above red--the lowest class--in social standing. Like many trolls in the lower class, though, he doesn't seem to care about that sort of thing.
On a related note, when trolls chat online, it's customary for them to use their blood color as their chosen font color, and type with quirks that fit their personalities and usual way of speaking. As such, Tavros types uHH, lIKE THIS,
As mentioned in the history section, Tavros is able to communicate with and influence all manner of beast. This ability apparently transcends time and space, as he is able to commune with Bec, despite being separated by universes and millions of years. He used this ability to control the underlings in his session, gaining experience that way instead of through battle.
Additional Links: MS Paint Adventures wiki
First Person (entry type):
[sample 1]
dEAR JOURNAL,
kARKAT SAYS i SHOULD STOP CALLING YOU A DIARY,
bECAUSE DIARIES ARE WHAT GIRLS WRITE IN, i GUESS, oR SOMETHING LIKE THAT,
aNYWAY,
i'M GOING TO TRY THIS THING THAT kANAYA SUGGESTED TO ME,
tO, uHH, hELP MY SELF ESTEEM, tHAT IS,
sO STARTING RIGHT NOW, i'M NOT GOING TO TALK TO PEOPLE THAT UPSET ME,
bECAUSE THAT WILL HURT rUFIO'S FEELINGS, aND HURT FEELINGS AREN'T GOOD FOR HIM, aS THEY MAKE HIM FEEL VERY SMALL AND THEN, aS A CONSEQUENCE, vERY ANGRY,
aND YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T LIKE HIM, wHEN HE'S ANGRY,
sO, uHH, i HOPE NOBODY MINDS OR, iS OFFENDED, tHAT i'M GOING TO DO THIS THING,
oK,
uM,
i THINK THAT'S IT,
(pS, oH YEAH, rUFIO IS THE NAME OF MY SELF ESTEEM,)
---
[sample 2]
wHO DO YOU TALK TO CONCERNING ABOUT, yOU KNOW, fEELINGS, oR THINGS OF THAT NATURE,
i TRIED TALKING TO rUFIO BUT, iT WASN'T THE MOST HELPFUL THING TO DO AS, bEING MY SELF ESTEEM, hE DOESN'T REALLY KNOW MORE ABOUT THE SITUATION THAN i DO,
aND, oH YEAH, hE'S ALSO A FAKE,
tHERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT, mAYBE, aRE KIND OF UPSETTING ME RIGHT NOW, i GUESS, aND, uHH,
i DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, }:(
Third Person:
"Okay, you had better prepare yourself because, uhh, I'm really going to give it to you this time!" Tavros grinned at Tinkerbull, who stared back in anticipation. Poised in the troll's hand was a yellow Oogonibomb, containing a fiduspawn only he knew the identity of. It was the perfect match against Tinkerbull's tortoillini; the lusus would never see it coming.
With a proud battle cry, Tavros threw the bomb. It hit the ground and burst open next to the tortoillini, who fled the scene a lot quicker than one of his type should. (Tavros noted the high speed attribute excitedly; this mash up was very likely to yield some good results.) In the wake of the blast was a blue fidusucker with a long body, four skinny legs, and a long, pink tongue. It wasted no time seeking out a host plush to lay its egg in. In no time, the plush burst open, and, after a shout of "Lizardna, I choose you!" from Tavros, a slimy, blue fiduspawn slithered away from the mess. Tinkerbull was on pins and needles!
The lizardna sought the tortoillini, who was cowering in a corner. With a little nudge from Tavros (not that anybody needed to know that part), the lizardna made his move with a flashy charm spell. The tortoillini was immediately swept off its feet. Success!
Now all Tavros had to do was let them get to know each other a little better, and surely a mating scenario would commence. Who knew what kind of offspring they'd produce? The suspense would be killing Tavros for the next few days.
Still grinning, Tavros looked at his lusus. "Good game! You're, uhh, getting a lot better."
Tinkerbull said nothing, though he didn't have to; Tavros could understand him easily by their mental connection. His lusus was proud, and that was enough for the troll. All in all, it was a job well done, and Tavros remained the best (and only) fiduspawn master on this side of Alternia. "Now, let's get some battle practice in." After all, even a commander of all manner of beasts needed to devote time to his own training, if he ever hoped to be a cavalreaper. (He pointedly ignored the voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like a certain sp8der telling him that Her Royal Condescension would sooner have him culled than allow a cripple like him into the ranks; Tavros was an expert at deluding himself to save his mental state.)
He archived his lance into his sylladex and wheeled himself out the door, Tinkerbull close behind. He would spend the rest of the night sparring with his jousting dummy, mostly because it was fun, but also because it made him feel that much less useless. It was similar with fiduspawn. This way, he was good at two things his friends couldn't do, and that gave him a short lived spark of confidence.
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