Post by Shelby on Aug 29, 2017 1:27:00 GMT
Basics
Name || Tanip Virk
Nicknames || Turnip. No, seriously, people call him Turnip and he loves it. It just... Fits him, in a way. Just a weird sort of vegetable sitting out there in the world like himself! It also has a lot to do with his name being similar to turnip, and it's funnier.
Age/Year || Tanip is seventeen years old with his birthday falling on November 1st.
School/Year || He attends Salem High and is currently a junior.
Gender || Male
Sexuality || Heterosexual
Health Issues? || None of any significance. He's broken a few bones throughout his lifetime, but otherwise he doesn't have anything seriously wrong with him. Surprisingly.
Eating diet/habits || Tanip is a pure omnivore, eating meats, vegetables, and fruits. Basically he doesn't care what he eats, and anybody who complains about him eating meat and other dairy products he laughs at them. It's a free country, he can eat what he wants! However, he doesn't eat pork.
School/Social Life
Job || Along with being the 'spirit' bringer at Salem as being the mascot (though he doesn't get paid for that. What the fuck is up with that?!) he works at one of the shops in the mall, working in clothing retail. It sucks, but it pays... Well, for his splurging in stupid little things.
Reputation || Since he was a freshman and was given the opportunity to be the mascot after the original mascot had an accident and could no longer go about cheering and bringing spirit to the school, that is what Tanip has been known as; the mascot of Salem high. Generally he is well liked, never situating himself in any particular group, always going around to everybody, giving them high fives, trying to cheer them up, or over all just messing with people in a way that makes them laugh. People like his tenacity and energy whenever he comes out in his mascot costume and regard him with hoops and hollers.
Grades || Tanip is a C average student, not much caring for school work or school in general. He tries to skip class as much as he possibly can, and uses his mascot powers in order to to sneak his way around school.
Relationships || Open!
Relationship Status || Single. He feels like there's no girl at the school who can handle his energy, so he doesn't try his luck with any of them--well, not seriously. He'll always put an arm around a girl, bring her in for a hug, but otherwise he doesn't do much else.
Clubs and Organizations || He's the mascot for Salem High School.
Appearance
Height/Weight/Body Type || The best way to describe Tanips body type is simple: he's small. Short, only standing at about 5'4" with a lean figure, he's pretty "fun sized". It sucks when having to stand in a crowd, though, because most of the time people around him are much taller, blocking his view, but that's when he uses his lightness to get on somebodies shoulders to get a better view of what he's trying to look at.
Hair color/style || Dark brown, nearly black hair that sits like a bush on the top of his head--thick, sometimes unmanageable, but it always seems to look nice. He usually just leaves it as is, brushing it towards the right.
Eye color/makeup preferences || No makeup--are you kidding him? He looks good enough already! But his eyes are brown.
Clothing Style || His clothing style can best be described as the typical American boy--he loves to wear jackets even when it isn't cool outside, and generally you'll see him in a t-shit and jeans. Simple.
Notable traits || His eyebrows. Most people call them caterpillars or make other jokes about them, but Tanip could care less. He loves them and thinks that they make a statement on his appearance.
Ethnicity/Nationality || Indian American
Playby || Vikram Barn
Personality
Likes || Sports (he's terrible at them), cheering, dancing, music, warm blankets, warm socks, jackets, people
Dislikes || Curry (blasphemous, he knows), his favorite teams losing, being clumsy, embarrassment, bullying, cliques
Nervous Habits || When Tanip gets nervous, he starts to get antsy and starts laughing uncontrollably which in turn comes out as uncomfortable.
Hobbies || Being the mascot for the school, basically. Other than that, he is a huge advocate for anti-bullying and does what he can to help organizations that support anti-bullying messages. He also likes to film things, even if he is the farthest thing from a filmer, but it's more fun for him than anything. So it's not unusual to see Tanip running around with a camera in his hand. It gets him mistaken for a Metric student, but he just laughs it off.
Personality || Tanip is a cheerful kind of guy, the type of person that likes to see others laugh, whether or not they're laughing with him or at him. He's a goofball, with a lot of energy, which couples well with his title and job of being the mascot of the school. That energy of his can lead to a bit of an annoyance, but overall he's just trying to do what he can to make sure that people are happy. It may not be a part of his personality, but he is a clutz, always tripping over something or bumping into someone. How he's able to walk around in the mascot outfit is a wonder to him and everyone else around. He will always stand up for the little guy, even if he knows he's at a disadvantage, but whether or not it's chivalrous can be left up to other people. Him butting into business that isn't his own is ill advised, but he can't help it.
-/ clumsy
+/ heartfelt
+/ caring
+/- overenthusiastic / goofy
-/ self-deprecating
+/ heartfelt
+/ caring
+/- overenthusiastic / goofy
-/ self-deprecating
History
Family ||
Anjali Virk -- Mother -- Stay at home Mom || Tanip has always been close to him mom, even if she has always been a little hard on him. Do well in school, she always tells him, and when he comes home with a bad report card she normally ends up hitting him with a wooden spoon over the top of his hand (which she always does as well when Tanip tries to stick his hand in dinner before it's ready), but he knows that she does it out of love. She badgers him, nags at him, and though he doesn't listen to her all the time, he loved her very much! After all, she was the parent that was most in his life, with Tanip every day as she stayed at him and his father was out at work.
Reyansh Virk -- Father -- Accountant || Despite him always being away from work when Tanip was a child, the two have a strong bond with one another. Reyansh may not understand Tanip's carefree ways, he's just happy that his son isn't in jail! Sure, he would love it if his son would settle down and actually do school work, but it's not like he's flunking. He could still get better, go to college, and become a successful man, which he is confident of. Besides, matters like that are better left for his mother. To be honest, one of the reasons why Tanip gets along so well with his father is because he knows he can get away with a lot of things that he otherwise wouldn't be able to with his mom. It's a welcome release.
Backstory ||
Born in Salem, California, it was a little difficult for Tanip as a kid. Growing up and going to the elementary school and being one of the only Indians in a sea full of blacks, white, Hispanics, and even Asians, Tanip knew that there was always something different about him that people didn't understand, that not even he understood himself. He was bullied a lot for the way he looked and the way he spoke--as if he has a constant stopped nose, something that he can't help, that's just the way his voice sounds--especially when it came to his eyebrows. They've always been busy, even since birth it seemed, and there had been a point in time when he wanted them gone. He had even asked his mom to thread them once, which she was against and refused to do, saying that boys didn't get their brows trimmed or waxed. But it wasn't only just based off his looks.
When he entered middle school people started picking on him because of his ethnicity; he was Indian. But what confused Tanip more was the fact that they made fun of him over that. He was, and is, completely westernized. He was born in American and has grown up here all his life. His parents doesn't even fully conform to the rules of their home country India, having been westernized themselves. There are a few customs they still partake in, but ever since Tanip grew old enough to start making his own decisions his parents allowed him to fully delve into the Indian culture or keep on being the American that he was. And because he didn't want to be any more different than he already felt, he wanted to stay westernized. It was normal to him, what was right. He is bilingual with his parents, but otherwise he speaks English like everybody else he knows. Heck, he doesn't even like curry--which admittedly his parents don't understand in the least bit, whether or not it's a stereotype.
He just... Didn't get it. He looked different than a lot of people, but he didn't understand why he was treated the way that he was treated.
For a while, Tanip closed himself off from people, not at all feeling like he could be a part of any group around school. He couldn't be with the cool kids because he wasn't cool, he couldn't be with the smart kids because he wasn't that smart, and he couldn't be with the jocks because he wasn't good any any sports. But eventually he did get one friend; a dear friend of his that changed the course of his life.
It was a guy named Ashland. Skinny, always with dirty clothes, looking like he didn't get a good bath every day like every other kid in school. The boy got picked on everyday, just like Tanip did himself, and when Tanip realized that, he stepped up. He refused to stand by and let someone else get bullied and tossed around because they were different. But why was this kid different? He was white, spoke normally despite a lisp. He was just un-kept and skinny. Unfortunately, that was the reason why. The kid was poor, his family couldn't afford much food, and they could afford to give him new, shining clothes like everyone else. One day when Tanip saw the boy alone at lunch, Tanip approached him, and from then on the two had an inseparable bond.
Tanip started to stop caring about what people though about him. He heard the whispers, that he was handing out with the poor kid, that he was even worse before, that the two of them were even in a relationship with one another. But he didn't care. He had a friend, and he started to feel better about himself, because though he was different, he was himself.
Unfortunately, before the end of the school year, Ashland ended up moving away. To where, Tanip doesn't. Just one day Ashland didn't come to school and the kid was never seen again. It sent Tanip back into a sort of depression where he closed himself off, afraid of being bullied and pushed around like he had been before, but he... He just kept thinking. He couldn't be like this. He had to be confident. He may be different, but everyone was different in their own way. This is what started his care-free attitude, the attitude that started making his grades slip, that started making him a nuscence in class. Make people laugh at him before they could do it themselves. That was the trick. If he could realize the differences in himself, then nobody could hurt him. He didn't even care if people made fun of him, as long as he got the first word, and even then he always came back with a self-deprecating joke. At leas the could laugh at himself. At least he was the bigger person, he always told himself. He was better, because he wasn't a bully, because despite everything people said about him, he liked himself. And there were people who genuinely liked him.
He ended up gaining a few friends, which made him feel better going into high school. He saw that there were auditions for the position of mascot, and though he couldn't dance well, he wanted to try. And he got it. He actually go it. People cheered for him at the games without knowing who it was behind the suit. They loved his energy, the way he could pump up the crowd. He showed them, he always thought. That they could like him, like he was a great person!
It was a shock when his identity was found out, but Tanip basked in the glory, and he still does now as a junior. Yeah, he's the beloved mascot, the guy that people picked on for looking different. So what. Now he goes around school, trying to cheer people up.