Post by Tara Hastings on Jul 17, 2011 5:36:38 GMT -8
[/i][/ul]HASTINGS, TARA MARIE
DEMIGOD
Seventh Year at Camp
Age: Eighteen
Daughter of Demeter
Alliance: Resistance Spy
Appearance:Eyes: Forest Green
Hair: Rusty Red
Height: 5'7''
Build Type: Athletic - Slim
Brief Description:
Tara stands slightly above average at five feet and seven inches. She is quite athletically built, despite her slender appearance. Her muscle hangs tight to her body, surprising most people should she launch her right hook. She carries several scars on her body, but never any tattoos. She has four long slashes covering from her left shoulder to about the middle of her back. Then she has a small slash along her right thigh, as well as a puncture scar around her right hip as well. The last scar was from a capture the flag game, when she forgot to see the arrow coming. Though she finds that she is actually quite flexible, and that really helps when it comes into combat. It allows her to quickly evade close-up sword sweeps and dodge enemy arrow-fire. Being right handed, she tends to favor the hand when it comes to most everything. So when she gets in close, it's that right hook to the jaw your going to have to worry about.
Then going to her face, she really has her mother's eyes. They're as green as the spring leaves, and just as bright. They shine with a certain intelligence to them, but cold as well. They tend to switch back and forth with her mood, usually they have that cold look to them. But, every now and then they sparkle with that intelligence. Her overall face has a soft heart-shaped look to it, with slightly high cheek bones. Her hair falls down past shoulder length in long red streaks that she naturally inherited from her father. She tends to tie it back into a pony-tail when she's really trying to focus so it stays out of her eyes. As a rule, she usually doesn't ware make-up because she doesn't care. She has been told by the Aphrodite cabin multiple times that she could be so much better looking if she had make-up....It still doesn't really matter to her.
Background:
Mortal Parent(s):
Joel Hastings [Father]
Other Family:
Julia Hastings [Step-Mother]
Victor Hastings [Half-Brother]
Naomi Hastings [Half-Sister]
Pets: N/A
Brief History:
Joel Hastings was a Military Sniper in the Marine Core, and it was all he had known really since he was 18. He enlisted because he felt like it would give him a sort of purpose. Truly speaking, it did. It gave him a cause to fight for, a reason to train. He became a man of discipline, not cold exactly, but strict. It was something that kept his mind from wondering, and in a way, it gave him a sort of peace that he couldn't find at home. He was an excellent marksmen, and rose quite steadily through the ranks. He really didn't have much family left, so he didn't really beg to be put on leave for any reason. He just signed right back up again. However, there was one time that he chose to stay back for his maximum time allotted.
He was visiting his home town, Holstein, Nebraska, when he saw her. It was a town with farms on the outskirts, and his family's farm was what little was left to him. She told him that her name was Jacqueline, and that she just came into town. She truly was beautiful, like a field in full bloom. He had no idea why that even came to mind, but that's how he described it. Demeter had an attraction to him as well, but she didn't tell him about her true nature. Things moved fast as lightning between them, passion exploding in a wild-fire. She gave him the kind of peace he only seemed to get when he was away from everything he was used to. He grew very attached to her, he was so sure that he wanted to propose to her. He gave him the peace which he thought he could only get when he was away from home. She just made him want to stick around, be there for her. Soon he found that she was pregnant, an honest accident, yet still a happy one. He had to leave her though, to go back into service. It pained him, but he had decided to. Eventually, when he came back to Nebraska, she was gone. However, the next day a baby in golden cloth was left at his doorstep. He found that there was also a note left with her, and it explained everything. To say he was happy would be a lie, but he understood what she had to do. He decided that he was going to leave the military, only so he could take care of his daughter, really be there for her.₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪
Eventually he ended up owning a shooting range in Hawthorne, Nevada, trading the family owned place for the money to travel and open up shop. His business actually took of quickly, becoming known for the excellent facilities and customer management. He could manage the place from his home and come in whenever he wanted to. Tara herself grew up knowing that she could be the best if she worked hard. Her father drove home the military values since he was home often. She was quite intelligent and observant, even as a child. She was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia early on, but it seemed that her father wasn't surprised by this. He just told her that she could get past it. Perfection was the key, and she knew that she would do everything she could to reach for it. Once she was into school, she found that she could finish her homework rather easily once she could understand what they said. The tests were murder for her though, something that she couldn't help. She pushed herself so hard to try and get it right, trying not to let anything slow her down.
Around six years old she started to learn how to defend herself. Her father started her out on easy stuff obviously. Then continued to progress in difficulty with age. She exercised well, allowing her to vent the excess energy apparently from her "ADHD". Once he taught her about fire-arms and other kinds of marksmanship, they found she had a natural aptitude for hitting targets. The thought made him smile, she might have made an excellent sniper if she decided to go into the military. There were many things that he would push his daughter to do. Chores, School Work, Extra activities, but the military was a choice. He couldn't make that kind-of decision for her.
Her life might seem nice, and her father really did try. But, at school there was always the bullies. She ignored them mostly, trying to take the high rode. What it really did to her psychologically was aid in making her colder. She never found that the bullies would become physical, perhaps because of her father. It just was always the taunting. She was ostracized from the main group, and had few friends. She never had to heart to really tell her father how she felt alone at school. She found it was just simpler to try and perfect herself then to try and adopt her social skills to beat these bullies. Then at the end of Fifth Grade, everything came crashing down around her.
The pack of Hell Hounds seemingly came from no where, something that seemed right out of a horror movie. It was the dead of night, she was asleep at her house and the door was busted down. Her eyes snapped open at the noise, she grabbed the knife that she was always told to keep under her pillow. Once she reached her bedroom door quietly, she found her father looming over her. He carried a pistol in his left hand and cupped her mouth with his right. He quietly told her to go and leave him behind, that he would deal with what was down stairs and he had no time left to explain. She tried to tell him not to, it was too dangerous, that she needed him. But, her complaints fell on deaf ears. The last things he gave her were this, a piece of paper with an address of a home in town. She took a back fire escape down, she was about to turn and run when she saw the monsters. A total of four gigantic black dogs. Two were smaller then the others, pups most likely. She didn't even scream when she saw her father firing bullets down at the dogs. He was able to kill one of the pups with his entire clip. Then the rest of them closed in on him. He was covered in the dogs, most certainly ripped to shreds. She felt what can only be described as pure adrenaline as she screamed and felt a gut-wrenching pull. Massive vines and roots exploded from the floor underneath the dogs. Wrapping around all of their legs, pulling them down to the ground. She turned away from the scene as she saw what just happened next. To put it simply, they were drawn and quartered. Then all that was left was sand. She couldn't see if there was anything left of her father through all of the plants. She was sure she didn't want to either. There was only one thing to do now, go to the address.
Turns out the address was to one of the schools student teachers, Mr. Foley. He was rather young, and always seemed to keep checking behind his shoulder. He walked with a limp and was nearly always wearing a hat. He may have seemed like a push-over, but that was where people got it wrong. Push him too hard and he just snaps, other then that...he's a rather decent person. Yet, she had no idea why she had his blasted address! She was so frustrated and angry, she practically beat down his door. She was quickly answered by the man, who at first looked at her strangely, then with shock. He hurried her inside, he quickly said they had to go. She didn't argue as she was swaying slightly. The adrenaline just worn off from her and the amount of power she just used was huge. The last thing she remembers was falling unconscious as he picked her up and hurried out the door.₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪ ₪
The next time she awoke it was in the infirmary of camp. Her head was pounding hard and she looked around her scenery. She found a a camper standing near her bed. She wore a bright orange shirt with the words, CAMP HALF-BLOOD, printed prominently across. She asked the basic questions to her first, where was she, how'd she get here, what was happening? The girl told her to calm down and gave her a bit of a sweet smelling drink. From the moment it passed her lips she felt better, her head ache was greatly lessened. The drink tasted like the best coffee she's ever tasted, absolutely perfect. The girl did stop her after a few sips, explaining that too much would kill her. She raised one eyebrow, but stayed silent.
During the rest of the day, she was given the full tour. First came the orientation film though of course. She took it all rather well, seeing as it started to make some sense about what happened. Though she was glad that she wasn't going insane, it also meant one thing happened for sure. Her father was dead. She didn't sob, nor would she ever do so in front of all the other campers. It wasn't going to happen, she couldn't so weak when she was this new. She would deal with the emotional baggage on her own time. When she saw the archery range, she felt her heart life up a little. It was something that she was already quite good at, all the better for her to do something. She already was thinking in another part of her mind, who her mother could be. She knew she would be claimed soon, but by who? Her claiming came around dinner time, she first filed in with the Hermes cabin, with the other unclaimed kids, all one or two of them. Once she got her meal and sacrificed to the fire, she prayed to get some answer about her parentage. As she sat down at the table a symbol exploded over her head, it was a golden icon of wheat, the symbol of Demeter. She just caught a last glimpse as it disappeared into oblivion. She looked around her and everyone seemed to fall silent. There was a nod of acknowledgement, some muttering, and everyone went back to eating. She was moved quickly from her table to that of Demeter, where she made her attempts to get to know her cabinmates.
You can sum up what she did at camp in one word, training. Never a social butterfly, she just focused what she did at training. She was correct in thinking her best aspect would be archery. She nailed target's constantly, and she appreciated when opponents acknowledged her superior skills. When it came to blades, she preferred knives, weapons she could manipulate quickly, as well as throw. She felt like swords were just too clumsy in comparison, added to the fact she was never good at them anyway....She just tries to survive her sword lessons. She still made only a few friends in all of the years which she has been in camp. Many of the senior campers know her skill, younger ones tend to underestimate her. Either for her thinner build, her parentage, or perhaps many other reasons. It makes no difference to her, she'll push through anyone that she has to. In more recent times, when the rebellion came around, she decided early on to become a spy. She would infiltrate the rebels and try to get the information back to the Resistance.....However, her efforts so far seemed to have failed, the Rebels took camp. Who knows what's next....her one hope is that they can be stopped before everything crumbles to the ground.
Personality:
Tara possess a natural aptitude for intellegence, and has since she was little. She is quite aware of her surrondings, noticing smaller details which she feels may be important. Though she has the ability to think highly logical, it's the non-linear thinking where she can be the most useful. She can find more effeciant ways to do a task, look in the last place that is thought of. It makes her a brilliant tactician when she wants to be. Not exactly in the most practical sense, but the job gets done. When she can find a way around a trap, undetected, rather then bashing through, who could argue? It does tend to be a problem, however, when she neglects to inform others of what she is doing. It's a common misconception that when she goes off alone, she's doing so blindly, without help. On the contrary, she's considered exactly what she's doing and plans to follow it to the end. When she does start to explain her thinking, or start thinking out loud....it's hard to get her to stop. She'll continue on and on looking for an answer, only expressing it verbally. It's best to try and let her leave those thoughts in her head.
Tara is quite Arrogent in many ways. She tends to draw pleasure from besting others, although she tries to refrain from showing it. She likes to hear others compliment her supirior skills when they know that she's won. However, she does not seek to be the one in the spot-light. No, she much more prefers the cloak-and-dagger work of a spy, scout, or sniper. It can be a bit confusing to most people trying to figure her out. As for her sense of humor, she tends to be quite sarcastic. She pokes fun at people by taking their words literally, and with sharp witty comments. Though her sarcasm and other jokes tend to be missed as she is mostly taken seriously. That's also her fault, she carries herself in such a cold way. As if she is totally disconnected from the world around her, smiles tend to be rare for her.
Learning from her father at a young age, perfection has always been a goal. She wants to push herself to the very limit, give herself a challenge. By pushing herself, she makes herself that much better. It also helps that it increases her chances of survivng in the mortal world. When Tara does fail, it tends not to go over too well inside her head. She'll get over it eventally, when she's satisfied that it has made her better for it. Tara is also very headstrong in what she does. It's not impossible to change her mind, but very difficult. She has a one-track mind with somethings, it's just another challenge, a puzzel for her to try and solve. Something that is rather interesting about her, however...is the fact that she is loyal to her friends. More so then that, she truly values her own morality. It prevents her from letting her turn into some pschyopathic killer. If there is any one thing that scares her, it's the idea of losing her morality.
Likes:
- Boys
- Girls
- Challenges
- Nature
- Starry Nights
- Utilizing her Talents
- Stealth
- Books
- Coffee
- Precision
Dislikes:
- No Challenge
- Insanity
- Orders
- Failure
- Stupidity
- Hades
- Death
- Brute Force
Skills:
- Bow and Arrows
- Hand-to-Hand Combat
- Knife fighting
- Throwing Knifes
- Stealth
- Chlorokinesis
- Staying Calm
- Problem-Solving
Weaknesses:
- Cold
- Most Close-Combat
- Loner
- Rash
- Stubborn
- Significant others
- Arrogant
- Slightly Addictive Personality
Passions:
- Marksmanship
- Nature
- Books
- Challenges
- Stealth
Fears:
- Failure
- Losing her Morality
Hobbies:
- Running
- Reading
- Practicing
- Gardening [some]
- Sudoku
- Sarcasm
Fighting Specialty:The problem when you fight against Tara is the fact that she usually leaves no time for you to fight back. Long-Range is her specialty, and she's deadly accurate when you put that long bow in her hands. It takes her no time at all to pull an arrow from the quiver and onto the string to let it go. With a variety of arrows to choose from, along with the fact that she can tie up her targets via vines, she can make a bow and arrows using her powers [though this is extremely tiring]. Unfortunately, her weakness comes in when it comes to close range. She fights with knives in combination with hand-to-hand combat. Sure if she gets the jump on someone she can take them out quick and easy. Strikes in the right places can make anyone go down. Her father was a military sniper, he wouldn't just leave his daughter without any self-defense. She'll hold her own for some time, just not too long.
Describe the extent of your powers/abilities:
+ Chlorokinesis
+ Natural Gardener
+ Minor Mist Manipulation
When it comes to her abilities she is quite practiced with them from experimenting and such. The easiest way to explain it is that she has Chlorokinesis, or the ability to control plant life with her mind. So she may manipulate wood, vines, plants, fruits and flowers, even moss found in a natural field or habitat. Though she's never been able to grow oranges or grapes....she doesn't quite understand the first like she does the second. The benefits of these things, outside of a beautiful garden, is that quick growing plants do more damage then they are given credit for. Vines can work they're way threw a cracked floor, or roots could wrap around a target to immobilize it. Her favorite is to create a shield out of various foliage to provide her cover to escape to range. At the most intricate, she can grow her own bow & arrows out of wood and vines.
As it seems with every demigod ability, there are drawbacks. The bigger or more complex the task, the more energy it requires. It's a very simple boundary, but with horrible consequences if broken. When she over extends herself, she'll shut down like an over-tasked computer. She'd collapse wherever she is standing at that moment. To do astounding feats like grow a forest, would likely kill her, period. She's never tried, and doesn't plan to any time soon.
She has been training more recently to work with manipulating the mist. It's not something that comes naturally to her, but she wants to really try to get the hang of it. Already she is able to fool most mortal minds into not seeing weapons that she may be carring. She hasn't yet got the hang of getting half-bloods or monsters to fall for anything yet. With time, she hopes that she might be able to achive something like that.
Magical Item:
+ Shapeshifting
Mimi̱theí or Mimic, are magic sunglasses that were given to her by her mother. When she puts the glasses on, she can change her appearance to any humanoid form at will. From male to female, even a few humanoid monsters. The glasses can even make it seem like she isn't wearing it at all. However, she can't take on the abilities of the form that she has. The glasses also deactivate if they are knocked off her face. Though the only real thing that she can't remain in the same form for longer then about a few hours. If she does, then the glasses overheat, it forces her to change back piece by piece until she's back to normal. Then she has to wait about 20 or so minutes before the next use. But, usually this can be avoided with a quick change every few hours or so.
Fatal Flaw:Loner - She really prefers to work alone. It's something that's primal, in some ways it might actually be beneficial. As a Demigod she can endanger less other people, which she seems to have the tendency to do. When she only has to depend on her, things are just easier for her to take care of.
Theme Song:
...
The Puppeteer:
Name/ Alias: Jack
Age: Eighteen
How long have you been role playing?: Several Years
Rate Your RPing: 4-5 stars
How did you find us?: Google =D
Role Playing Sample:
[from another rpg]
Casey was heading to the pool area today. She had recently returned from a mission, but her down time was never really easy. She planned on doing multiple laps in the pool. Swimming was known to use nearly all of the muscles in one's body. It was great for toning and strengthening muscles. She herself was more of a land trainer herself, like to take long running sections. She has memories of all the times she had made journeys along the biodomes. She would use the tracking ability she had to map out her run each time. It was a great aid, especially when she felt it was always her responsibility to look out for things that are out of the ordinary. Hackers look no more different then the normal humans did. The dead give-a-way was the fact that she would not be able to sense, more so use her tracking ability, to feel them there. All she had to do was think of the person, she wouldn't know the name but she knew the face. If there just happened to be no result, why that meant the person in question had a fried computer chip. That couldn't be allowed to happen, so she would take them in with as a little a scene as possible. It didn't always work, and sometimes the knife that she always seemed to carry on her just appears in her hand. It's instinctual to her, if they struggle she'll draw blood. Simple as that.
She reached the pool fairly quickly, there wasn't as much congestion in the halls it seemed. She wore blue jeans and a fitted tank top, the tank top was a dark blue in color, nearly black. Blue wasn't her favorite color but it really would do just fine. Underneath this she wore a one piece bathing suit, simple in design, and totally black instead of another dark blue. The matching hues of both the bathing suit and the tank top blended together, making it harder to see that she was wearing a bathing suit underneath. She wore no jewlery with what she wore, she never really has worn jewelry. With of course the exception a necklace or bracelet she's worn once or twice. Once she reached the edge of the pool she scanned the area around her. She noted that there were a few people working out that she could see through the glass door. She counted two brutes and one generic as those few. She was not totally sure of the faces that she saw at this distance, but at the moment she did not give them much mind. She pulled off her tank top over her head first, then unzipped and took off her jeans. This finally revealed the black bathing suit underneath. It was snug firmly to her form to reduce water resistance to her, but was not a product for professional swimming. She cared that it was a bathing suit and it served it's purpose. She threw the two articles of clothing away from the pools edge. She heard the resulting thud of those clothes with her enhanced hearing. Then she changed her attention back once more. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. She extended her arms forward and dived into the pool.
She really had no need for goggles that most people used. But, was that the lab's fault or a by product of her family's own jeans? Another unanswered question, another question that had no point. She hated when she does that herself. It seems her that it make s her a hypocrite. When others make other useless actions such as talking about something that leads to no real effect what so ever. She flipped her turn when she got to the other side of the pool. Her feet landing squarely on the hard surface. She pushed off that surface and began another lap. The water rushed past her body as she very gradually increased her speed as she reached lap eight. She knew full out sprinting would do her overall workout no good at all. She would reach that point of full strength swimming on her last two laps, as she reached ten, she counted twenty more to go. Her process of putting her mind into retaining the count made her unaware of her surroundings. Finally reaching lap twenty-eight, she kicked her body into sprinting with her last reserve of energy. She breathed heavily as she grabbed hold of the wall. She rested her head against it and breathed slowly to steady her heart. Once she finally collected her breath back, she realized that there was someone standing not to far from where she was in the pool. She focused in on the new comer, eyes still slightly stinging from the pool water. She couldn't help but wonder, 'who was it?' She would get her answer once her vision cleared in a few moments.
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