Tapou Pine – Capitol

Name: Tapou Pine (Don't ever call me poupou)
Age: 26? It's rather hard to tell these days...
Gender: Male
District/Area: The Capitol
Appearance:

Tapou Pine has what he likes to term a 'self-improved visage'. What this means, in layman's terms, is that his body looks like it was dreamed up by a Beatle on drugs. His nose is almost flat against his face, two narrow slits in a slightly upraised surface. His eyes sparkle different colors depending on his mood (which cost a fair amount, let me tell you) and have pupils that seem normal, at first, but quickly reveal themselves to be immensely misguiding. Due to an odd carefully crafted optical illusion (and maybe a slight touch of genetic rewrite), he's never looking where he appears to be. The techniques required to do this were expensive in the extreme and forced him to sign a little waiver that said A) He couldn't tell anyone else how it works and B) If his eyeballs fall out or start spinning in dizzifying, uncontrollable circles, it's not the company's fault.

He is a very cheery person, constantly smiling. When he's not smiling, he has that twinkle in his eyes that implies he will any minute now break out into laughter. That, too, may or may not have been surgically implanted. His hair is jet black with solar-activated highlights, which results in hair that seems to reflect the light of the sun in a warm amber glow. The effect is, even to others, rather impressive. When he moves, the highlights seem to shimmer and flow like salmon in rapids, flicking and leaping and generally heading upstream. This 'smartlight' technique was invented and patented by none other than himself, and is his most proud invention.

He is of medium height, perhaps slightly taller if he wants to be. He is never seen without his Metalgarb^®, a shirt and pair of pants created from flexible steel threads, which is surprisingly light and comfortable, not to mention an immediate attention-drawer: it flows like a waterfall across his body, glints with an almost ominous light, and has the general effect of a mirror aimed at your face in bright sunlight. Metalgarb^® was not invented by him, but he wishes it was.

He is a shoe atheist, and would rather have needles stuck up his heels rather than be seen walking in so much as flip-flops. He has, of course, had the bottoms of his feet callused and strengthened artificially so as to not be harmed by trodding upon raw ground, though he hardly ever does that. He prefers an urban setting, and that implies lots and lots of pavement.

Personality:

Tapou Pine is like most Capitol stylists – he's vain, he's snobby, and he looks down with disgust on all the works of his fellow stylists (except the geniuses who invented Metalgarb^®, of course). He makes friends and enemies easily: friends are people who compliment him on his work, enemies are people who insult it. He does not fully understand the concept of a long-term relationship, and thinks that marriage is a literary device. If he is married, it is to his art, which he devotes his life to. He will often sit in his studio all day, tinkering with this coloring and exactly the right amount of that chemical until he develops what is not only in his opinion perfect, but doesn't even explode or cause permanent skin damage. He is a reckless experimenter, which is why he has four studio sites and one standing studio, and smoking wreckages will never fetch a price on the real estate market (no matter how glittery they may accidentally be) so they aren't really considered in his mind. His shallowness makes baby pools and celebrities alike look good. However, he has his good side. He is an idiot, be he is an idiot savant, with surprising skill in art. Furthermore, many find him charming. Despite this, he is generally ignored because there is a requirement of an IQ above 10 to enter most conversations.

History:

Tapou Pine comes from a long line of easily-distracted much-mocked stylists. His grandfather was, however, one of the most famous stylists of all times. It was none other than he who designed the famed 10th Hunger Games outfits for Region Nine, with their Tolkien-inspired Elvish garb, scintillating crystal bows, and incidentally camouflage-friendly cloaks.

Tapou has always wanted to become a designer for tributes. Each year, he submits his name to a different District, hoping that this time he'll get lucky. He spends his time not spent on designing new unstable cosmetics doodling District Outfits on pieces of paper. You might even say he is obsessive.

He first discovered his goal at the age of 12, when his family held their celebration that he, unlike District Folk, was not going to be enrolled in the Hunger Games. It's a common enough ritual in Capitol society, but during the meal the topic of his grandfather was somehow brought up and he found himself captivated by the pictures of his grandfather's designs.

He knew there and then exactly how his life would play out.

At 18 he applied for, of course, District Nine stylist. He was kindly rejected in a letter that informed him that he seemed like a nice young man but that they already had a rather experienced stylist and didn't see a job opening any time soon. This infuriated him. He compared his grandfather's designs to the current stylist's, and saw no sense in their decision. The next year, he applied again, this time sending with him pictures of his grandfather's design. He received a letter saying that not only was there no job opening, but that he would have to come up with more original designs; these were already used. He told them that Yes, that was the point, but they were evidently too stupid to understand his logical reasoning. For the next six years, he applied consistently in the hopes that he would get accepted.

Who knows; maybe some day he will!

Codeword: muttations
Comments/Other:

He has ADHD and ADD.
OOC:I know I made my previous character less than a day ago, but to be honest this has been my character for a lot longer. I've been working out notes for this guy in a little notebook, and was planning to introduce him soon when in a single flash of Muse the entire outline for the history of Reiben hit me as I woke up from a particularly bizarre dream. It was after midnight, but of course I had no choice but to rush to my iPod Touch, log on, and write up the whole thing in a single blaze of tired creativity. Now, having resumed my normal brain functions, I'm finally bringing good ol' Tapou into the big, wide, world.