Halfblood Hill Application

[unstiff]

PLAYER
Name: Kristi
Personal Journal: likeabulldozer
Plurk: [Bad username or site: ’rageblackouts’ @ ’plurk.com’]
Time Zone: Central
Email: rageiscute@gmail.com
Messenger: rageiscute [aim]
Previous Characters: NA
Munhead/Musebox: thingsthatshine

CHARACTER
Name: Four aka Tobias Eaton
Canon: Divergent
Age: 16 (canonically 18)
Demigod/Hunter/Satyr/Nymph: demigod (Roman God of War: Mars)

Demigod abilities: Tobias has all the basic demi-god abilities. His brain is hard-wired for Latin because he’s a Roman demi-god. He’s very skilled at hand-to-hand combat as well as combat with a weapon. He’s also a gifted, natural tactician.

Personality:

“My name is Four,” I say. “Call me ‘Stiff’ again and you and I will have a problem.”


Tobias, more commonly known as Four because he only has four fears (in canon, the average person has 10 to fifteen fears), is an example of duality. There is a side of himself that he shows the world and a side of himself that he keeps secret.

The side of Four that he shows the world, the side that will never be known as anything but Four, is self-possessed and intimidating. He chooses his friends carefully and even among them rarely relaxes entirely. He is a coiled spring, ready to react to whatever the situation may present. He appears to be confident and fearless, as well as independent. He can be cold, sarcastic and stern. His sense of humor tends to be dry and many people who only know him peripherally would say that he had no sense of humor at all. He is exacting and has high expectations for people. He is also protective and defensive of people in general. He is shown in canon protecting those that aren’t necessarily good people because he feels he can and he should.

He can be an incredibly dangerous person because he is intelligent, brave and strong. He is confident (sometimes even arrogant) and he’s aware of what he’s capable of, of his own limitations and strengths. He’s able to block out the things that scare him and move beyond them. This is seen most notably when he climbs the ferris wheel to the very highest point with Tris. He’s not happy about it, in fact, he’s terrified, but he continues moving because he is stubborn and refuses to allow his fear to beat him. Part of this is his competitive edge. He was first in his class canonically and some of that he can attribute to life he lived with Marcus. Violence and pain were such a part of it that Dauntless training seemed an extension of that. Living with Marcus had also taught him to think on his feet, to think several moves ahead, all in the interest of attempting to avoid a beating. He has fewer fears than anyone in the history of Dauntless. Competition pushes him through when fear would hold him back. Confronting his fears, pushing himself also makes him feel powerful; it takes away the vulnerability and helplessness that he felt living with his father.

“How have I never realized before that for all the strong, kind parts of him, there are also hurting, broken parts?”


The side of Four that he doesn’t show the world, Tobias Eaton, is a broken man. As a child, he was abused by his father, an upstanding member of the community, so he learned very early how important it was to out on a façade. His father was generally careful to leave belt marks only on Tobias’ back and legs so that his clothing would hide them. He was told ‘this is for your own good’. He tells Tris at one point “Don’t worry about me handling the pain. I’ve had a lot of practice” because even with his back and legs a criss-crossed mess of wounds, he had to stand straight, smile, nod and act as if he wasn’t in agony because the punishment would have been so much worse if he’d ever spoken out against his father.

Because of his father, because of the abuse he suffered at his hands, Four shies away from leadership positions. He doesn’t want to have to make decisions for others. He is afraid that the power a leader wields will go to his head the way it so obviously did with his father. There is a part of him that is afraid of turning into the man his father is and he bases the choices he makes in his life on that. Canonically, one of his fears is his capacity to kill, his capacity (and ability) to hurt people. This fear stems from watching his father and knowing that is a part of him. At least choosing Dauntless allows him to turn this ability into something good, into protecting people.

In his world, people divide into factions based on personality traits. Dauntless is brave; Erudite is intelligent; Amity is peaceful; Abnegation is kind (selfless) and Candor is honest. Rather than be one of those things, Four strives to be all of them. He tells Tris that he is still working on being kind and in some respect, he is right. However, he was raised Abnegation; he’s had a great deal of practice at being selfless and kind. When it counts, when he needs to be he is kind and sometimes he is kind in ways that don’t make sense at the time(for example, clipping Tris’ ear with the knife. Eric would have never let her step away from being target practice if Four hadn’t done that and eventually, he might have taken over the knife throwing which could have easily ended up in serious injury or death).


“I do like to hit people-I like the explosion of power and energy, and the feeling that I am untouchable because I can hurt people. But I hate that part of myself, because it is the part of me that is the most broken”



Four is observant and manipulative. He watches people and figures out which buttons to push in order to make them do or feel the things he needs them to feel. He manipulates Tris repeatedly in his canon in order to help her. He manipulates other leaders in Dauntless as well in order to guide them towards some behavior or action that he wants or needs.

He can be cruel, though he tries to temper this. He tells Tris that fear wakes her up and then that sometimes he wants to scare her so he can watch her wake up. He beats a boy unrecognizable for trying to kill Tris. He is self-deprecating, convinced that there is a monster inside of him, something that his father felt the need to control, the need to beat out of him.

With the exception of his fear of heights, Four’s other fears speak very much about his childhood. His claustrophobia comes from his father locking him in a small, hallway closet as punishment. We’ve discussed the fear of his capacity to kill and his fourth and final fear is the fear of his father. When confronted with his father, it takes everything in him not to turn into the timid, cowed boy that he was before he transferred to Dauntless.

His transfer to Dauntless brings another personality trait into sharp relief. Dauntless was by far the most difficult path that he could choose. However, it is the one that would cut his father the deepest. It was a decision made, in part, out of spite. This is a reflection of the rebelliousness and spitefulness that lies within him.

Earning Four’s trust is a difficult thing. His experiences have led him to be naturally distrustful of people. He is closed mouthed and secretive; Again, personality traits that were learned more than anything. He doesn’t share a great deal about himself without a good deal of prodding, and only to those whom he does trust. In canon, that number is limited to Tris.

He is loyal, but his loyalty, like his trust, is hard earned. He does not blindly follow rules or people. He learned at a very early age that people, government and factions aren’t always what they seem to be.

Often, to outsiders, Four appears reckless and fearless. In reality he is neither of these things. Yes, he is an adrenaline junkie and his fears are few and far between, but his risks are calculated and when he takes them, he’s confident of his odds of survival. He is reckless in on regard; his tolerance for pain is incredibly high, so he doesn’t often let the fear of injury or pain dissuade him from doing something he wants to do.

AU History:

“How many young men fear that there is a monster inside of them?”

Tobias grew up an only child in Chicago. His father was a pillar of and leader within the city. His mother was the perfect wife, quiet, supportive and completely uncontroversial. No one ever knew she was a victim of Marcus’ abuse. From the time he was very young, his father abused him. He was beaten with a belt and locked in a closet. He was told that these punishments were for his own good. They were meant to make him more selfless, to help him become a better person. In reality, they taught him about pain, about fear and how important appearances could be. They taught him to manipulate and intimidate. They taught him that he had that ability to hurt, that ability to enjoy the pain that he could cause. They taught him about the kind of person he never wants to be.

Tobias’ life changed the summer he turned eleven. He was offered an escape from Marcus, for at least part of the year in the form of Camp Jupiter. He jumped at the chance to start clean, to remake himself, despite the fact that he was told he’d have to prove himself to Lupa. He managed to do this by confronting his fears. He wasn’t perfect, but he did manage to overcome them in the moment, deeming him strong enough for training at Camp Jupiter. That was when he adopted the name of Four.

The September after being accepted at Camp Jupiter, Four returned home to attend school. He was only in school for a few weeks when tragedy struck. His mother died in a car accident. Later, Four would discover that his mother had been prepared to leave his father. Four was safe and there was no reason for her to stay with him. The car accident had very coincidental timing. Four returned home to attend his mother’s funeral. Naturally, being at camp and being claimed by his real father, had pushed Four’s powers into manifesting. This attracted a pack of Hellhounds. They attacked at his mother’s wake. Four defeated them using celestial bronze throwing knives he’d thought to bring with him from camp. Not a single person was harmed in the attack because of his quick thinking. However, his father was furious, refusing to believe that Tobias had nothing to do with the pack of feral, stray dogs that had attacked during the wake (what the mist showed Marcus). He sent him back to Camp and told him not to return home until he could avoid being a disappointment to his family. Tobias knew he was being kicked out of Marcus’ life for good. The man would always be disappointed in him. In truth, Four was relieved not to have to return to his childhood home. With his mother gone, there was nothing left for him. Upon arriving back at Camp Jupiter, Four was taken off probatio for his courage and quick thinking in the attack of Hellhounds. He became a full-time camper.

Tobias took to camp life, the militant existence and being a son of Mars like a fish to water. He had struggled, fought and scraped to be Marcus’ son, never good enough, selfless enough, smart enough, charismatic enough, but in Camp Jupiter he found a place that he not only belonged, but a place that he fit in. It seemed violence and combat had been born and bred into him. Being a son of Mars, it obviously had, but the way he’d been raised by Marcus was every bit a war zone and it had taught him to accept pain, to move past it, to think on his feet and to look several moves ahead. Camp only encouraged all of this. His past life, his competitive edge and the natural talent he seemed to have for violence landed Four a place in the first cohort. He received letters from his instructors and a from one or two of the other campers. He celebrated his placement in the first cohort by getting a tattoo on his back of the two crossed spears.

He was at Camp Jupiter when it fell, but like the other campers, he doesn’t remember much about it. He knows he wanted to stay; he wanted to fight for the only place that he’d ever felt welcomed in. In the chaos of the destruction, Tobias was separated from the other campers. Rather than go begging back to Marcus, Tobias elected to make a go of it on his own.

Losing the home and the people that Four had come to consider family was difficult for him. He’d done so well with the militant lifestyle, the structure and the sense of belonging that losing it suddenly was harder than he’d anticipated. For a little while, he returned to the quiet, timid boy that he’d been as Marcus’ son. He tried to disappear into the background, which was actually beneficial for his survival. He moved from place to place, never staying anywhere long. He took odd jobs and stayed in shelters, abandoned buildings and slept outside. Though he didn’t like doing it, he wasn’t above stealing. The only point of stability he had during the year he was on the run came about by accident. He happened upon a kid in the park being bullied and beaten by some bigger kids. He thrashed the group of bullies, taking out far more of his own pain and anger at the loss he felt when the Camp fell than was really necessary. That kid (Uriah) took him home, a tiny apartment that he shared with his older brother, Max. Their parents had died months before leaving Max (22) as Uriah’s only legal guardian. Once Max found out what Four had done for his little brother and that Four had nowhere else to go, he invited him to stay with them. He slept on the couch and had little in the way of personal space, but it was the closest to a family he’d had since Camp Jupiter fell. He held down a fairly steady job at a small, local bar where they paid him in cash. In that apartment, with those boys he managed to recover the person he’d become at Camp Jupiter, a person that he liked and was comfortable with. It was during this time that Tobias got the tattoo that covers his back. It started as a way to cover the scars that Marcus left, to add to the crossed spears and has become an expression of his independence and the person that he wanted to be He left the boys for their own good (God he felt like Marcus saying that in the goodbye letter he’d written) after he was attacked by serpopard.

When Jason catches up with him outside San Francisco to direct him to Halfblood Hill, the sense of relief he felt is palatable. He survived on the street, but he has missed belonging somewhere. He’d missed the rigor of Camp Jupiter’s schedule and the sense of purpose that being there had given him. He missed belonging somewhere.

**I put Four in First Cohort because, canonically, he’s first in his class and Dauntless training & Camp Jupiter training (from what I could tell) are scarily alike.


Counselor: None

SAMPLES
Iris Message:

[ Four is standing with his arms crossed. He’s frowning ever so slightly. ]

Anyone up for some climbing? This place can’t be this boring.

[ The truth is, Four is feeling a little helpless, a little vulnerable and confronting his fears happens to be the best way for him to feel proactive and productive. He may never make any progress, may never dwindle those four fears down to three, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try. ]

I’m not taking it easy on anyone though.

[ because his competitive edge takes over and he’s incapable of taking it easy on anyone. Besides, he believes that’s doing someone a disservice to have anything but the highest of expectations and standards for them. ]

Third Person Log: http://aboxofmuses.dreamwidth.org/2119.html?thread=17223#cmt17223

+


The Ares cabin is loud, practically vibrating with the beat of the music pouring out every open window, door and crevice. Four has wandered away, carefully negotiating the land mines and booby traps to stand out by himself in the shadows. He closes his eyes, listening to the night around him, letting the noise wash over him, feeling it under his skin, deep in his bones. He’s new enough that this doesn’t feel like home, but has been here long enough that he thinks it could be. He doesn’t have to walk on eggshells here. The only expectations are reasonable and the pain that is brought upon him really is meant to make him better, to help him survive. He doesn’t have to be a mirror of a man that is a lie. He’s not Marcus Eaton’s son here; he doesn’t have to be the person he was born, the person created and forged in the fire that was Marcus Eaton. He is Four: monster and boy of his own creation.