[SPIRIT] Tristan Cardonza

human form ::
Even as a human, there's still much that is considered "strange" about Tristan. He has multitudes of tribal tattoos that cover his body, especially on his arms and chest, and piercings dot his face and ears. He has alabaster skin that almost glows in the moonlight and contrasting midnight-black hair that is constantly shaved short on one side while the remainder is pulled into a ponytail. The oddest thing about his appearance, though, is his eyes; no matter how much he tries, he has not been able to alter them. The normal whites of his eyes are a striking black, and instead of a natural iris, they are stained a bright red. He normally plays this off as an eye tattoo and contacts, though.

semi-human form ::
This does not differ greatly from his normal human form; however, his lips turn black as well, clusters of feathers sprout on his skin in seemingly random patches, and long feathers sprout from his arms and trail down to become wings. The wings can only be used for a short period of time, though, and only are usable to hover in place or extend his jumping capabilities since his bones are only just beginning to become less dense.

natural form ::
As a crow, Tristan is, well... pretty crow-ish. The only thing that sticks out about him is that his eyes are still the same strange coloration.

Tristan enjoys playing.  More than anything, he simply wants to be happy, and he finds the most joy in simply looking on the brightest side of life and squeezing out all that it has to offer.  His creative mind enjoys making anything and everything possible into a game, even if he doesn't know the rules or has to make them up as he goes.  And, of course, anyone around will quickly get roped into it and, if they refuse, he enjoys pestering them by making them the center of attention in his tricks.

The same can be said about his diligence and eagerness to work as hard as possible towards any goal, even if it means pulling in his friends and acquaintances to help (sometimes against their will).  But he always tries to find a way to reward the ones who help them, even if it's something as small as a genuine "thank you" and a deep-tissue shoulder rub.

Some may think that with these traits, Tristan could easily be taken for a fool, and while it is true, underneath his happiness and eagerness to please lies a wealth of knowledge.  He is not only wise from his lifetimes in this realm but also intelligent enough to pick up on the smallest details, even if he simply stows it away to call upon later.  He also has an innate sense of leadership and enjoys being the head of a group or just supporting the one in charge.

Tristan's tendencies towards these things, though, does instill a deep self-love in himself to the point of being narcissistic.  He adores his appearance, voice, and even patterns of speech and way of walking.  While he doesn't think he is the best at anything, he definitely has a haughtiness about him that radiates from the way he carries himself and hums happily at any given time.

He's also quite obsessive over the things that he loves and will manipulate any situation to the best of his abilities to protect anything that he deems worthy.

Tristan hadn't adopted a name until recently; before this point, he simply flitted from one branch to another, cawing away his happy songs and enjoying everything that being a crow had to offer.  He never enjoyed keeping track of days or months or years; he simply honed in on what was most enjoyable and resided there for as long as the fun was around.

It wasn't until he became aware that he wasn't like the other crows that he realized exactly what he was.  He was able to shift into a human or human-ish form at will and urged the other crows to do the same, but as much as they wanted, they simply wished him well in his endeavors.  It was saddening at first to see his friends grow old and die over and over again while he stayed the same, but he learned that there was still much fun to be had.  He could always make new friends, after all.

And finally, someone caught his eye.  A girl with sunlight-colored hair and bright green eyes that never ceased to fascinate him with her brilliant stories, even if she was a little more than frightened of him and his strange appearance.  The two fell madly in love with one another and tried to start a family, but every effort was futile.  After all, the crow was infertile since he was not a truly living being.

After grieving for quite some time, the two decided to instead stay together for as long as they could.  And they did--the crow stayed young and beautiful while his lover slowly withered away into nothing more than dust.  He scattered her ashes where they spent their days together with a smile, knowing that she had lived a happy life, but he could not make himself love for another woman again.  He was more than fine staying a few nights with the men in various towns, but he simply fell short when he even attempted to gaze on women with the same passion.

Feeling as if he needed a fresh start, the crow adopted the name "Tristan" and began wandering where ever his heart desired.  After however long, he discovered that the human technology had begun blooming into a grand thing that drew him in entirely.  He'd become quite obsessed with the shiny new gadgets and kept up to date on them all, even going so far as to learn how to use the Internet and buying a computer for himself.  It wasn't long before he learned to blog, then vlog, then simply make a small career out of it.

Quite proud of himself, Tristan finally settled down in Seaside to live out a fresh new life with some sort of responsibility and, hopefully, find more than a few things to hold his attention.