headcanon: personal

as a child, tavros grew up in what could be considered a decent part of the lower district, despite the high crime-rate. he was exposed to hemospectral discrimination early on; off-handed comments and intentional pushes and shoves became a part of his daily life before he was tall enough to see over a vendor's counter at the market. like most others of his blood class, he accepted the hierarchy without much complaint. but, over the course of his childhood (wrigglerhood?), he developed a pattern of social anxiety in response to the treatment, and began to avoid other alternians whenever he could. as a result, most of his early interactions were with carapaces, or, more specifically, his guardian.

she was kind; a hard-working, older carapace who'd read him fantastical stories before he went to sleep and spent as much time with him as she could. she taught him how to make different basic meals and take care of the house, and how to contact someone if he needed help with anything while she was out. and though they weren't connected by any sort of physical bond, be it in blood or genetic make-up, his guardian was the almost-equivalent of a human mother to him.

tavros hasn't ever been known to make exciting first impressions, and that's fine with him. he's kind of a pushover like that (who also happens to like marbles and animals and fairy tales and playing pretend games and writing awful slam poetry). regardless, it's no less gratifying when someone decides to look past his victim-like posture, nervous stutter, and his faltering smile and actually recognizes him as a living, breathing, sentient creature.

he had a friend once whom he'd hoped would eventually be able to: a troll girl he'd met on his very first day of school. her name was Vriska Serk8 (though she'd introduced herself as "mindfang") and she liked to go on adventures. their relationship wasn't exactly healthy; in fact it was horribly co-dependent, with tavros being the pawn to her queen. he'd tell himself she didn't really mean what she said most of the time, that her insults and abuses were "probably just a way she avoids dealing with her own self-image," like his guardian said. he'll admit that she did scare him sometimes, and it was kind of appalling how she'd jump on any opportunity to put him in harm's way, but tavros had still valued her opinion the most. she wouldn't call him anything but boring, pathetic, and weak, but he'd never stopped trying to win her praise (until the accident, of course).

through vriska, he'd met another troll: T3R3Z1 PYROP3. at first, considering tavros wasn't used to interacting with anything that wasn't vriska or a carapace, he was uneasy around her. eventually, though, as they spent more and more time together, he grew to like her and enjoyed the appreciation she had for justice and law systems. sometimes, she'd tell him all about different prospitian laws, about their purposes and loopholes, and sometimes they'd play "detective" (he was always her sidekick, because vriska always wanted to be the culprit -- terezi, obviously, was the detective). they were still relatively new acquaintances when terezi's accident happened, but tavros visited her often. as time passed and terezi learned that her eyesight would not return, she stopped talking as much, which left tavros to have one-sided conversations with himself. he eventually concluded that maybe she was tired of him, so he gave her some space and instead spent his spare time idly worrying.

about half a solar sweep (one year) or so after, he'd met Kanaya Maryam. kanaya was nothing at all like vriska -- or terezi, for that matter. prior to meeting her, the two middle-high-bloods had been tavros's only friends. he was still a bit anxious around other trolls; in all honesty, he hadn't a clue how to interact with her. kanaya was poised and quiet where vriska was volatile and terezi crass, and preferred to stay inside while his other friends enjoyed being outdoors. rather than running around and getting into trouble like he, terezi, and vriska would do, kanaya kept tavros safe. together, they'd play with marbles, or games like hide-and-seek, which tavros was never very good at. for a while, he was frustrated and confused as to how kanaya always seemed to be able to find him, until she pointed out that his horns were visible from derse -- he'd never blushed so much in his life. as the two grew older, they would often just sit together. indoors or out, in conversation or silence -- it didn't matter. he found her knack for fashion impressive, and often visits her at the tailor shop, sometimes bringing her lunch (though too-often it becomes cold before he can get there).

then, there was GaMzEe MaKaRa. tavros had recognized him from the one or two times he'd seen the troll in school or on his way home while the other wandered aimlessly through the streets -- but this time, he was... juggling? and he was really quite good at it! tavros found himself caught between an emotional something he didn't recognize and the intense need to abscond with all the speed and urgency of a clumsy, nervous troll with giant bull horns. somehow, the other wound up spotting him and sort of waddled over, and they introduced themselves, with a good amount of stuttering on tavros's part. the topic of slam poetry came up and they then proceeded to have the worst rap-off in all of paradox space. as they parted ways with every intention of meeting up again sometime, tavros realized he had just made a friend (all on his own, no less!). in the months following, he and his new friend became pretty close, and after the accident and his stay at the hospital, they began to spend more time together. sometimes, gamzee would push him around in his wheelchair, and other times he'd help carry him up or down flights of stairs.

at around three and a half solar sweeps (seven years old) was when tavros had his accident. he and vriska had been arguing (rather, she had been yelling, and he was just responding in a series of "ums," "uhs," and "i don't knows") earlier when they were on an adventure through prospit's garbage pits, and, in the heat of the moment, she had "convinced" him to jump off the ledge they were standing near. he'd barreled toward the ground and landed flat on the rocks and dirt and refuse below. she left him there by himself as the light from skaia's atmosphere began to fade and prospit spun and the "night" shift did their rounds. they found tavros unconscious in a pool of his own blood, and he was rushed to the hospital. eventually, he would come to, and his guardian would apologize for being unable to visit as often as she felt she ought to, and he'd try to convince her that it was okay, that he had kanaya and terezi and gamzee around if anything happened, and that he would be sure to contact her with updates, courtesy of the parcel mistress.

it wasn't long after he'd woken when a nurse came into his room and told him he was paralyzed, and would likely be confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. she'd continued to inform him that he and his guardian would be moved into the higher district after he was discharged, and that the prospitian government had arranged for a house for them to live in with wheelchair-friendly accommodations. vriska serket was prohibited from coming anywhere near him, and he hasn't seen her since. he's still working on forgiving her.

as far as the war and rebellion go, tavros isn't sure where he stands. he believes in the rebellion's ideal; after all, if it were to succeed, he would only benefit. he wants that equality, but is hesitant to take part because he doesn't believe he's brave or "good" enough to do anything to help.


headcanon: physical

tavros is a relatively harmless troll -- which would probably make sense, considering he is currently confined to a wheelchair -- with an underwhelming presence and a sheepish grin. his muscle definition isn't spectacular; his build isn't necessarily considered "fit" anywhere, and because of his handicap, most of his strength is in his neck and arms. he stands (or stood, rather) at about five feet and four inches high and weighs approximately one hundred and twenty pounds. he has softer features and a round face, framing wide, vaguely "deer-in-the-headlights" eyes and sharp, snaggled teeth, which are quite noticeably yellowing.

his weaknesses lie primarily in his lack of mobility, with no notable strategic advantages aside from his ability to commune with the creatures around him, including lusii and carapaces (though it doesn't necessarily mean they'll help him). tavros's strife tactics include waving a lance around and/or running (wheeling) away as quickly as possible.


roleplay sample:

As he's laying there, on a pile of garbage in a giant Prospitian trash pit, Tavros thinks about his own mortality.

He thinks about life, and how fleeting it is.

He thinks about death, and how easy it is to come by.

He thinks about Vriska, and how she's the reason he's laying here on this pile of garbage in a giant Prospitian trash pit. How he can't feel his legs anymore. Can't feel anything right now, actually.

She's screaming at you. It's a string of insults that you don't want to hear. You open your mouth to say something, but Her crazy eight pupils tell you to close it again. You close your mouth. You were only going to point out that Her idea is dangerous and you didn't want anyone to get hurt. You don't want to get hurt. Did She just call you boring again? You think so. She's done yelling for now; you soak in the silence. Your ears hurt and you can feel them ringing. You contemplate how intimidating She can be and how scared you are right now. Conclusion: very.

You can feel Her taking control of your legs. You realize She'd been waiting for a reply to a question you hadn't caught, and She's grown impatient.

"Wait, um, Vriska, I'm sorry, but, uh, I don't know what you want me to do," you say, the falter-pause of your voice prominent, though you're shaking now. You wish you could sound confident. Rufio would want you to be confident. He's confident; why aren't you?

"I was asking you if you could fly, Toreadumbass," She's smug and Her words cut the air like knives, "Don't you want to fly?"

His eyes slowly blink and flutter open again, not having realized he'd closed them in the first place.

"No," he manages to croak out, almost inaudibly, as the blue light of Skaia dims and the sound of tiny carapace feet on hard ground echos from a short distance. Tavros can't bring himself to yell for help, his throat parched and dusty, with the leftover taste of blood still on his tongue.

By the time they've found him, he's unconscious, replaying the scene on the dreamscape. His legs, which are for some reason already beginning to look mangled, moving of their own accord, slowly shifting, walking backwards towards the edge. His eyes are forced to meet Her's as one of his feet doesn't find ground, and he sees her grin. Suddenly, he's free-falling, unable to scream because Vriska won't even let him have control over his mouth, only to start again right before he hits the ground. Over and over he dreams this, with only the one question in his mind:

Don't you want to fly?


out-of-character introduction:

hello! i'm adam, though i have no problem with being referred to as tavros :^) i first started roleplaying in... mid-2007, i think? been off and on since then, though i recently picked it back up again more actively within the past year or so. i'm pretty excited about this roleplay! the au's story is so well thought out. i hope it'll be a lot of fun, and i can't wait to finally meet all of you~ on a side note, if there's still trouble finding people to play the carapaces, i would be happy to take one of them on if no one shows up to do so (especially if it's wv)!

oh um disclaimer i guess??? no that's not the right word at all anyway um it's kind of three in the morning right now and i actually haven't slept for like two days so i'm really sorry i just didn't feel like capitalizing anything but the roleplay sample for now but i can go back and fix it later if you want

Oh gosh this is wonderful!!!!

This is really good, and really well written :3

You've made him more than a soft little troll!!

Can't wait to see if him and Saayri meet up!

Nicely fucking written.

Your writing is absolutely delicious. The dialogue and his thought process was gorgeous, as was your description of his interaction with Serket.

The RP sample was beyond exemplary. I absolutely loved how you picked one of the hardest scenes to write for Tavros and turned it into something gloriously wonderful while keeping it simple and articulate. Mad props for that.

I look forward to seeing you on the forum!

-MN

Welcome to the forum I love your writing! I especially enjoyed how you took the time to add such detail to each of Tavros's relationships. It really makes it so realistic and fun to read! I also agree with what Point said, the rp sample was amazing. I hope we can make Team Charge happen at some point although with the two planets, we'll just have to wait and see! See you around, definitely!

Character sheet accepted!

hot damn what a good tav
what a good sample
what a good sheet
welc bb :3

oh, golly! you're all so nice, thank you so much! polymoirallegiance love to all of you!!! <>

i'm really looking forward to getting to roleplay with everyone! and if we can find a way for team charge to happen, i'd be more than happy to join in on that!