Tarot

:Name: Tarot
:Number: FS-99
:Gender: demiboy (he/they/it)
:Orientation: pan
:Age: 6.7 (aiming for him to be one of the oldest if that's okay!)
:Tribe: Sand/Night/Hive
:Mythical Creature: Gorgons
:Purpose: Neutralization
== Appearance ==
Tarot is a very hard to miss character. He's on the taller side of the spectrum, being slim and toned well with muscles. His features are greatly muddled between that of a SandWing and a NightWing, as those were his most prominent birth tribes. His tail is visibly longer than that of others, containing a trio of stingers at the end. Tarot has a pair of horns which are short and rounded over, having been smoothed down over time. His spines are peculiar, mostly in how it looks more akin to that of a mane of the sorts - if it weren't for the snake-like heads that reside at the end of each strand. These snake-spines only go down about halfway on his neck before ceasing to continue, and each one behaves according to his own emotions. His lack of wings renders him grounded, however this doesn't seem to pose as an issue with his daily activities. It would also seem that he has a small horn protruding from his forehead, referring to the late-blooming HiveWing heritage he has.
Tarot's coloration is very bland for the most part, being described best as grey-brown with darker circular patterns being seen all over his body. His underbelly is paled in comparison. It might also be worth noting that parts of his coloration (brighter accents which become prominent seasonally along his snake-spines) are a byproduct of other animals injected into his genetic code - such as selective starfish and jellyfish. His eyes are typically a shade of deep amber. Slightly below each eye is a silver, circular scale to indicate his gifts. When his primary ability is active, his pupils become a ghastly white.
== Personality ==
Tarot is a very quiet individual with questionable interests. He seems to have taken a strong liking in studying history of all forms: the history of dragons, the history of objects, and the history of scavengers too, for starters. With this, he also is keen on being a problem solver through analyzing problems of the past, and is also a passionate debater when he chooses to speak. He also has a particularly strong fascination towards magic-relevant stories (ie. animus stories). He does not like to get too close to anyone, for his purpose constantly repels him from getting into a deep connection with just about anyone. His morals, for the most part, are very strong on top of his good sense of what he believes is right or wrong, as well as efficient versus inefficient. He comes off as intimidating upon one's first encounter with him, however this is commonly a false assumption of his persona built off of hearsay on what he can do... However, the concept of him having "a heart of stone" may not be too bizarre of an assumption, given his decisive, cold nature. Despite what his purpose and interests may imply, he is not the most intelligent individual among the bunch, but he does learn from his mistakes very quickly and rarely needs to do something twice or three times to understand.
== Skillset ==
Tarot has displayed two (2) tribal abilities, coupled with one (1) mythological ability, as well as one (1) genetically modified ability.
* Gained via his tribal genes, Tarot can generate a time-limited paralysis venom (injected through his talons and tails) as well as aura read (a diluted variation of mind reading). These are both useful to recognizing potential threats and potentially stopping them before resorting to his mythological ability.
* Being modeled after Gorgons with his Gorgon donors, Tarot has the sinister ability to turn others to stone with a single glance. However, the after-effects of the statues may vary.
** For example, depending upon his own emotions, the now-stone individuals could fall into a pile of sand, blow away like dust, or stay as simple stone statues.
* Tarot's genetically engineered ability is the ability to regenerate or otherwise heal himself up at a significantly faster pace than that of a normal draconic individual.
** Though, this is only majorly seen with the snake-like strands that may frequently be removed and required to regenerate a head or three.
== Relations ==
* scientists generally receive a neutral response from him, not particularly hostile nor compliant. mercy does not check status
* same for subjects, they also generally receive a strict neutral response. however, he might be more hostile towards those who are overly aggressive towards him
== History ==
Tarot's egg was the result of a very unremarkable fling between his mother (a beautiful Sand-Hive dragoness) and father (a workaholic of a Sand-Night). His mother had studied heavily upon the religions of Pyrrhia and Pantala, and had a strong love for the dark arts and witchcraft. His father was a logical dragon bent on being a realist, not accepting much of the magical or otherworldly aspects of the world they lived in. When his mother found out she was with an egg, she initially was thrilled, though upon failing to find his father again she began to come to the conclusion that perhaps she was in over her head. She left her son's egg to an adoption center within Possibility before promptly fleeing town.
His egg was the color of wet sand, decorated with few slightly darker stripes to indicate his heritage, but otherwise not much different compared to the remaining eggs of the adoption center. It had received glances from potential guardians, but to no avail compared to the more interestingly colored or wiggling eggs. Truthfully, even the individuals running the center had thought his egg was holding a stillborn from how quiet and still it was. It had been arguably too long for the directors of the center since Tarot's egg had been brought in, and they were about ready to deliver him to another center with higher hopes before a scientist caught word of this, approached them, and took his egg off their talons.
With the task of this scientist having been to grab an egg for Gorgon Blood, his egg had been brought to Base Alpha. Here, they started to combine the mythological blood with his own egg, adding other animals' blood donations for the sake of stability. The only indication of this having been a success was displayed when Tarot's eggshell had turned to a texture and coloration similar to stone. After having been noticed to hold a glow beneath cracks in the stony texture, another scientist suggested he be hatched outside, for there was a full moon due to be in the sky that night.
When Tarot first hatched, the scientists hadn't had a clue as to what to name him. For a while, he was referred to only as his ID to others as names were tossed around. 'Tarot' only became a lasting name after considering his ties to the ancient kingdoms of Night and Sand, alluding to the HiveWings' alleged Book from ages before as well. A suitably mythical name for someone with mythical blood.
Tarot had trouble speaking as he grew, as well as difficulty walking for the first couple of years of his life. He preferred to crawl, often speaking in gibberish and exaggerated sounds while his small snake-like comrades 'eep'ed and hissed to indicate the hivemind's thoughts as they aged. He had two separate incidents including the manifestation of his Gorgon ability, the first being early on in his youth where a scientist went to play peekaboo to keep him entertained before having promptly been turned into a statue.
The second instance was a couple years later, during his developmental stage as a student now while his emotions and thoughts began to grow as he learned. He was becoming attached to a relatively kind scientist, as they'd been responsible for helping him study more history and tutoring him to speak more fluently in the draconic language. It had gotten to the point where Tarot was ecstatic to meet with this scientist every day, and this was the happiest anyone had ever seen him. However, due to the first incident in his infancy, he'd been required to wear a blindfold since then to prevent others from becoming statues as well. At this point, his aura reading had also manifested, granting him this influx of trust in this tutor of his. Tarot had been taking a brief break from his studies one day, and requested to take off his blindfold to see the scientist. The two of them discussed the importance of his blindfold remaining as is, and he begrudgingly stopped his request. Until the next day, that is. He caught his tutor by surprise, tearing off the blindfold before attempting to jump into their arms - only to be met with stone, and then a cloud of sand and dust following. This was, perhaps, the most traumatic and tragic incident that Tarot had endured, for it was the moment he'd cried the most whilst simultaneously realizing the dangers he carried with his prowess.
Since that incident with his tutor, he had ceased talking. Or, at least, refused to speak unless absolutely demanding it of him. The scientists had noted his venom becoming leaky immediately following the incident, perhaps as a secondary method of stress relief when he physically couldn't cry any more than he already had. He absolutely refused to wear blindfolds afterwards, opting to keep his eyes closed in the presence of others to sharpen his aura reading and spatial awareness without it for the time being.
Currently, Tarot is working on utilizing his paralysis venom to fight, and is fond of utilizing evasive maneuvers. His aura reading now allows him to gauge the emotional levels of others, and how to properly approach de-escalating a situation when the intensity begins to reach a certain point between others. Being above the age of six (6) years old, he's trained in basic self-defense and can wield his abilities at a much more experienced level compared to a select amount of others. He has seemingly embraced the concept of becoming the project's ideal neutralizer, but at what cost?
== Trivia ==
* Tarot is often required to wear some sort of cover over his eyes to prevent others from being turned to stone with his gaze.
* He is the only one exempt of his own ability, same being said for his snakes.
* His aura reading ability often helps him determine who is who when his eyes are covered.
Category:Dragonets
Category:Males
Category:LGBT+
Category:Characters
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Artificially Created
Category:SandWings
Category:NightWings
Category:HiveWings
Category:Hybrids
Category:Content (FearStrikerKrysantheShimmer)