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African Lion
- Posts:
- 12
- Group:
- Admin
- Member
- #6
- Joined:
- March 6, 2011
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| Tristan Toretto |
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THE BASICS FULL NAME: Tristan Matthias Toretto
NICKNAME: Tristan, Tris
AGE: 28
BIRTHDAY: April 19, 1983
GENDER: Male
OCCUPATION: Co-Owner of Kai-Toretto Industries and its child company, their orchard and nursery. Owner and proprietor of The Firehouse, something of an entrepreneur.
PLAYBY: Axel Hermann
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| THE ANIMAL |
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WE'RE ALL A BUNCH OF ANIMALS SPECIES: African Lion
OVERALL APPEARANCE: Tristan's lion is large. He's about as large as an African lion can comfortably get, which is both an indicator of Tristan's physical size as a human, and also the size of his massive - sometimes overbearing - personality. His lion is strong, and his coat is the typical tawny gold of his species. He has a square, obstinate jaw somewhat reminiscent of his human face, and his eyes as a lion are amber.
Tristan as a lion is anything but flabby. As active as a human as he is in his feline form, he has a trim, athletic figure with a neat waist, broad chest and powerful driving hindquarters.
DISTINGUISHING TRAITS: Tristan's lion can be distinguished from others by his sheer size, as he generally towers over his counterparts by a good half-head at least. Another distinguishing feature is his mane, which has absolutely no dark patches but is the same overall gold as the rest of his body.
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| APPEARANCE |
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PAINT US A PICTURE
HAIR: Medium brown
EYES: Hazel, more toward yellow than green
BUILD: The first thing anyone is likely to notice about Tristan is that the man. Is. Tall. His 6'5" (198 cm) frame is long-legged and rangy, only saved from looking spindly by the fact that he's very athletic and trains regularly. His body is well proportioned, relative to the rest of him at least; lithe and honed as a predator.
Tristan has a long face and a sharply-defined jaw. He has a long nose and prominent cheekbones, as well as a high forehead with a pronounced brow. His complexion is medium to dark tan, depending on the season. Tristan does not burn easily, though it is possible.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Tristan's eyes, which are pretty wolfish in color, tend to catch attention first, followed by how friggin' tall the man is.
OVERALL APPEARANCE: Tristan's hair would be wavy if he didn't cut it. And that is exactly the reason why he keeps it short. If he let it grow into 'poet hair,' he'd bar none get it caught in the equipment.
Though he professes to dislike lots of jewelry, he does tend to be... ah... accessorized: - On his left ring finger is a titanium band with an incised strip in the middle, anodized to a warm bronze. - Around his neck is a ball chain, with a pair of thick, heavy titanium "dog tags." - A diver's wristwatch on his right wrist, gunmetal, with an orange enameled face. - Some sort of woven bracelet or faux-leather cuff on his left wrist. Varies from day to day. - A diamond chip stud in his left earlobe.
Tristan also has one tattoo and is in the process of deciding on a second. On his left shoulderblade is a highway shield with the digits of Route 66.
As an additional note, Tristan is farsighted. This doesn't create too many issues for him, except that he requires glasses or contact lenses to read. At work in the nursery and in public, Tristan opts for the contacts, but he keeps a pair of reading glasses at home. He also has a couple pairs of prescription sunglasses in varying styles.
TYPICAL DRESS: The most dressed-up you'll typically see Tristan is business casual, which nine times out of ten includes blue jeans. He gets away with it because his workplace is earth and green things. It still makes him rather unorthodox to a few of the circles he travels in.
Tristan prefers blue jeans and tee shirts to any other wardrobe option. Well. Aside from complete nudity, of course. Most of his tee shirts feature odd sayings and old band (or brand) logos from at least ten years before he was born. He goes out of his way to purchase and maintain clothes that fit well, both through careful shopping and tailoring when necessary.
As an interesting aside, he's fascinated by interesting boots. While working, Tristan insists on sturdy, nondescript steel toes, in his free time outside of the nursery he's known for wearing some... really garish footwear. Neon colors, flames, embroidery, yup. They don't all look like that, but he has several pairs that will make you want to say "Excuse me? I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your shoes!" Bless whoever invented mock suede and pleather.
Color preferences vary towards warm, earthen tones. Tristan wears a lot of browns, reds, golds, warm greys and deep greens. He's absolutely repelled by pink and pastels, and most of the cool color spectrum turns him off. Notable exceptions include clear, unmuddied blues.
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| PERSONALITY |
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WHO ARE YOU?
Warm, sociable and easygoing, Tristan makes it difficult to dislike him - at least at first. He has a strong presence, a quick sense of humor, and an air of dependability. Receptionists let him by without an appointment, waitresses make sure his coffee never goes dry. They'd probably sit in his lap if he let them.
What the average passerby won't see is that this is mostly a mask. About his real self, Tristan is tightly guarded. He is territorial and possessive, and takes a very long time to trust anyone new. Strangers are permitted on his land and within his space only with his consent; women accepted more easily than men, people with prey animals more easily still. Anyone who tries to force their hand, however, risks a serious reckoning. Due to childhood difficulties with his lion, Tristan struggles with self control when his emotions are high. His deadly sober conviction that he will never injure someone while in his lion shape, however, tends to tame the worst of his difficulties until he can find some privacy.
He generally won't talk about his past, romantic or otherwise, especially when asked by someone who isn't his fiance.
On the lighter side, Tristan likes beef and seafood, a lot, and alcohol - both the mixing and enjoying thereof. He admires heavy machinery - cars, motorcycles, trains, and enjoys working outside in the soil more than any other task. Well... except for the activities he shares with Setry, but hey! Those are private.
Tristan is a quick learner, highly adaptable and a voracious reader, preferring histories, how-to books, theological texts and folklore. He's rather quick to judge people - submissive behavior irritates him and he tends to dismiss (or completely overrun) timid people. Tristan isn't without generosity or compassion, but sometimes he has to be nudged. ...Sometimes nudged very forcefully.
He dislikes the cold, and prefers dry heat in the summertime. Humidity can be rough on him. He has an irrational fear of elevators, flying, and secretly is afraid that he won't be able to adequately protect Setry.
- STRENGTHS: Driven, loyal, loving, intelligent, dependable
- WEAKNESSES: Stubborn, quick-tempered, overbearing, possessive
- LIKES: Cars, motorcycles, trucks, sparring with his fiance, getting dirty, collecting all manner of interesting boots, belt buckles and tee shirts. Dominant personalities, working outside with his hands, socializing, being in control of things. Orange, brown, and deep blood red.
- DISLIKES: Social isolation, feeling unnecessary or helpless, being separated from Setry for more than a few days. Attaining a goal 'too easily,' or being given something he didn't have to work for. Cold. Submissive personalities.
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| HISTORY |
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HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
Tristan and his older sister Erin grew up in the upper middle class urban neighborhoods of Queens, New York City with their parents. Tristan became fast friends with the next door neighbor boy, Bo, and for the earliest parts of his childhood, he grew up the 'usual' way. Bo's totem was a silky red dog, just as gangling and awkward as his lion, and they got along well together.
When Tristan hit thirteen, however, everything changed. Bo was fascinated by the idea of abandoning life in the city, of spending most of his time in the form of his Geis. He began wandering away from home, further and further away, and Tristan naturally went with him, determined to protect him from whatever was out there - and neither of them knew anything of the truth.
They got extraordinarily lucky.
Instead of crossing paths with anyone possessing real untoward intentions, Tristan and Bo met a group of young boys just like them - bored, restless, hungry for adventure. They tussled their way into the gang and worked their way up the hierarchy, until Tristan began to notice a change in himself. He was protecting Bo, but at the same time - he was enjoying giving his lion control. A... little too much. More and more as the months wore on, and they kept their second life from their parents, Tristan turned to his growing adolescent lion Geis for freedom and solace from the boring, everyday world. His band developed a territory, and fights broke out regularly with other groups of bored kids, just like them.
Then a fight went sour.
Normally, Tristan kept a grip on the lion's instincts during battle. They didn't fight to really hurt each other; they couldn't - they battled to imprison, just as they'd always been taught. But the day had been a bad one, with confrontation from a teacher over his slipping grades. He'd missed two meals, and was starving.
It shouldn't have happened, but it did.
In a moment of uncoiled aggression, Tristan lost his control, sprang at the coyote Geis pinning Bo ... and came back to himself with his opponent's ankle between his jaws. Human ankle. With the first stab of pain, the coyote had returned to his human form. A thirteen-year-old boy, just like him, and scared out of his mind.
With the help of Bo, Tristan got the kid to the hospital. And then the world turned inside out for a while. He had to explain to his father - a police investigator - what had happened, and why the kid he'd brought in needed stitches, and why the wound looked like a bite. He hadn't done more than make the poor kid bleed, and with some careful coaxing, Tristan's father convinced the boy's family not to press charges.
Then came the confessions. Then the lockdown. Tristan and Bo were separated, and Tristan spent months recovering from what was essentially an addiction to the predatory instincts of his totem.
To this day, Tristan hasn't forgotten the taste of blood, or the sound of his victim's screams. The thought of it still makes him nauseous, and still occasionally suffers nightmares. His greatest fear is that he'll hurt someone again, or worse, and this is why he takes great care to manage stress and keep himself on a regular meal schedule. ...It ain't no picnic being a lion.
Tristan and Bo were each assigned a tutor to help them recover the classtime and grades they'd also lost. Coincidentally, this was how Tristan met his first boyfriend.
Up until Jared, Tristan had a handful of fumbling preteen relationships, just like anyone else. Two years older than Tristan, Jared was gracious, flirtatious, attentive, and completely accepting of Tristan in spite of his past troubles. Jared was a little suffocating, but at that point Tristan was too young to mind. Their relationship deepened about a year after Jared began acting as Tristan's tutor, and continued up until Tristan graduated from high school and moved on to college.
At that point in life, Tristan wasn't interested in commitment, but Jared was. Not wanting to admit that he was unhappy, but still feeling frustrated and trapped, Tristan let the relationship sputter out, avoiding Jared completely - helped out by extremely disparate college schedules. Finally, Jared broke things off with him and moved on. Eventually, Tristan moved on, too - although the guilt over his own cowardice still lingers.
Over his college career, Tristan had several relationships with men and women, and came close to marrying once. He and Bo kept in close contact over the years. The friendship deepened briefly into something else, but ended abruptly over suspicion of Bo's infidelity with a mutual acquaintance. Tristan still isn't sure of Bo's feelings, but they no longer speak to one another, so he'll never know.
Tristan met Setry Kai at the gallery showing of one of Tristan's mother's contemporaries. Anna Maria Toretto - now a noteworthy (and thus invitation-worthy) sculptor whose finished pieces sold for thousands of dollars - received an invitation for two, and brought her son along. Tristan wasn't really interested, but found a reason to pay attention when he discovered that the artwork was appallingly bad, and humorous for all that. While he was admiring one particularly ostentatious piece of ceramic bullshit, he heard someone else beside him making the comment he wanted to make.
He looked over his shoulder, and stared.
It was all over after that but the details.
...Of course they found a reason to argue not five minutes later, thus setting the bar for the years to follow. Tristan calls him "Jay." Their relationship is well matched and intense, and with Setry, Tristan has been able to finally accept and deal with the predatory nature of his Geis without fear. As the fear receded, replaced by confidence, Tristan's control increased. He's always, always cautious, but the danger has long since passed.
He is human. Completely.
- FAMILY:
Mother: Anna Maria Toretto (Cheetah Geis) Father: Jerry Toretto (Gray Wolf Geis) Sister: Erin (Toretto) Carlisle, widowed (Otter Geis) Niece and Nephew: Giordano "Giordie" (Australian Shepherd Geis) and Andria "Andy" Carlisle (Geis hasn't manifested yet)
- FRIENDS:
None here at the moment, open!
- LOVE INTERESTS: Setry Kai
- PETS: One dog, a young female Shepherd named Sam
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| THE BEAST |
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NOW, WHO'S THE REAL ANIMAL...
NAME: Jazz
AGE: 27
OTHER CHARACTERS?: Atley Gallard, Cass Archer, Mark Sass
TIME ZONE: Central US
BEST METHOD OF CONTACT: PM only, please! |
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