Tseng
From Desaiuniversity
Contents |
Overview
Tseng is that sharp-dressed snarky bastard from Squaresoft Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII game. He's an asshole, and he knows it. Its not because he loves getting up in everyone's grill (okay, well maybe that's some of it), its mostly because he is almost always on the job and therefore must act accordingly. His sense of professionalism sometimes gets in the way of things like personality. He's also polite, but to an almost patronizing extent. It ends up offending people more than if he were to speak with them normally.
Despite all of that, Tseng does have a personality and hobbies and other things! You just have to get to know him well to see them.
Tseng is played by Misao.
Let it also be known that Misao doesn't particularly care for any of the other FFVII spin-offs, to Tseng is primarily based on what little we see in the actual, original game. As such, a lot of it gets fanon'd all up since there is no evidence to the contrary.
Statistics
Age: 32
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 11 January
Birthplace: Wutai
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Green
Occupation: Leader of the Turks
Mastered Materia: Time, Poison
Weapons of Choice: 9mm handgun, materia, sniper rifle, tanto.
Personality
Tseng is one tough nut to crack. He rarely, if ever, lets his emotions get the better of him and as such, is always presented as the Three C's: Calm. Cool. Collected. In one word: professional. He's a straight-to-business kind of guy and doesn't enjoy listening to other peoples' bullshit. He prefers to give the speeches and be the tactician of the Turks, while letting his underlings do all the dirty work. That does not mean he's above what they do; if he feels that he can't trust anyone else to get the job done properly, he'll take it on himself, making sure it's completed right down to all of the grisly details.
Due to his very professional mannerisms, he has few friends. There is no one outside of the Turks that he will willingly socialize with for fun. Even within his circle of minions and few superiors, he usually keeps things strictly business. His closest friend could be considered Rufus Shinra, but that's quite a stretch.
One odd thing about Tseng is that he is quite happy where he is now: he barks orders, yet isn't the absolute authority. He still has to answer to President Shinra. And, strangely enough, he's next in line for the President Shinra title. This bothers him on a deep level, as he believes he isn't cut out to be the leader and face of a corporation. He wants to just stay with the Turks.
Something strange about this extremely professional man is the supposed tilak (or bindi) on the center of his forehead. Nobody really knows WTF is up with this, but the mun speculates that Tseng may follow a FFVII religion similar to that of Hinduism. The tilak is symbolic of a third eye, enlightenment and things of that nature, but... it's hard to say whether Tseng actually believes all that or not. It just may be a coincidentally placed birthmark.
Sexual Preference
This one's a tough issue with Tseng. He hasn't been known to indulge in romance in the past, only sating his carnal desires with a one-night stand. It was thought that he loved Elena, but his affections seemed to turn out to be a very deep mentor-student bond, as he wants nothing more than for her to succeed him in his position of commander.
At one point in play, he had a drunken encounter with Kuchiki Byakuya, that turned out to be an experiment of sorts. They are now lovers, and not a word of their relationship has been made public and there are no plans to make it available knowledge ICly.
Current Status
He lives in room 405B of the Vertigo Skyrise dormitories, on the pretty much barren teachers' floor. He's set up quite a few wire taps (in public areas) and knows things. About what goes on. Big Brother, Tseng is watching you.
Tseng's eyes were originally black, but have turned green with a bit of an unnatural glow due to his exposure to Mako. His first exposure to it was when he was in Shinra's military, and after that, it became an addiction. It didn't become as severe as say, Reno's, but he did inject himself with Mako for shits and giggles. He's kicked the habit and gone clean, only indulging himself in alcohol when off-duty.
As a result of being stabbed by Sephiroth and almost not making it, he's lost a considerable amount of his strength. He's got Yamada Hanatarou as his healer and Kuchiki Byakuya as his trainer. Slowly but surely, he'll recover from his injuries and be stronger and better than ever! Hopefully.
Associations
Tseng doesn't have very many friends. There are a few, though they are more coworkers than anything else...
--Rufus Shinra, Tseng's boss and friend. He's known the young Shinra for a great many years and has sworn to protect him. His loyalty to Rufus might come off as a bit overbearing and kind of naggy, but he means well.
--Elena, the rookie of the team and Tseng's current, uh, love interest. Sure she's a lot younger than him, but he admires her optimism and determination. He's made sure to take her under his wing and make her the best Turk she can be, and possibly... his successor someday! Gasp! Shock! Whoa!
--Reno is Tseng's second-in-command. He acts annoyed by Reno's disheveled appearance and slacker attitude, but underneath it all, he's come to enjoy the man's company (in a strictly platonic sense, STFU Selina D: ).
--Kuchiki Byakuya is someone Tseng has recently met in person after getting into a snarkbattle with over the network. Byakuya is going to help rehabilitate Tseng with kendo (eventually). The two are still unsure of each other and there's a lot of "..." and other stuff like that. Who knows, they may be a Very Boring BFF Duo someday, and make Reno's head expode from the sheer amount of "..." and B|.
--Yamada Hanatarou is Tseng's newest friend, which is odd. Because Tseng doesn't have any friends. Except for Hana and his puppy, whoo! Hana is the healer recommended to him by Byakuya, so yeah. The two get along surprisingly well! Amazement. :o
Come on folks, add to this list! Tseng needs more friends! Feel free to catch him on the network, comment on his blog posts or set up a specific scene or thread! The mun doesn't bite~
History
There's not much info at all given in-canon for Tseng, so the mun gets to make it up!
The first made-up thing would be his last name. 'Xu' is a name chosen pretty much at random. It has no connection to canon whatsoever, it's just there to fill the void of Tseng's lack of a last name. Same goes with his birthdate.
Tseng grew up in Wutai and was trained in the martial arts and became proficient with Time and Poison materia. He left Wutai for Midgar on the day of his 17th birthday, as a SOLDIER recruit. He showed tremendous skill and was soon at the top of his class at the Junon Military Academy. Finally, he was assigned as a rookie to the Turks. During that time, he slowly climbed up the rank ladder as his teammates retired and/or got killed to make it to his current place: the leader of the Turks.
Blah blah, Aeris happened, etc. He did have romantic feelings for her at one point and tried to get her to join him in Shinra. He did so subtley, trying to persuade her into joining, rather than ordering her capture (though he eventually got impatient). But then she got shanked by Sephiroth (mun's second-favorite part of the game). So did he. Speaking of which, getting sworded by Sephiroth didn't kill him. He crawled his way out of the Temple of the Ancients before it shrank into the Black Materia, was discovered by one of his colleagues, and was transferred to a medical facility at an undisclosed location. He escaped that ordeal with his life, a really horrible scar across his midsection and a limp. Since then, his affections have shifted from the Ancient to someone who is, y'know, alive. Sorta.
His journey to that rank hasn't been a pretty one, by far. He's participated in kidnappings, murders, thefts, arson, and scores of other crimes. He's even got a bit of a drug addiction (Mako) but he isn't as deep into it as his co-workers (ex: Reno) are. Again, this is something he sweeps under the rug in the name of being professional. He isn't particularly proud of the gruesome things he's done, but he IS proud of how far he's come within Shinra and how he has kept the small, yet strong group together through the crises that have befallen Shinra.
Weapons
Again, his combat skills aren't really delved into in-game so once again, the mun gets to bullshit this all up.
Tseng prefers not to be in the middle of combat, but rather, lend distance support. He's good with knives and a pistol, particularly throwing them. He is also proficient with a sniper rifle. Despite his aversion to close quarters combat, he can and will mess his opponent up with a few well-aimed punches and kicks if absolutely necessary.
His choice in materia is a bit different, as they are more support materia for those doing the actual fighting. He has mastered Time and Poison materias, and places the two orbs on a bangle he always wears. The bangle itself ups his defense and magic powers.
Classes
Tseng is not a student, OH SNAPS. He's an instructorish kind of dude. Mun is still doing the paperwork for that, so STFU. Want to be in Tseng's class? Let Misao know! Tseng is teaching a handgun course.
Contact
You can find Tseng bopping around on the DU Network [IC AIM] with the username tsengxu. No, he's not one for creativity. Simple and to the point for that man.
Playlist
Because I am a huge dork, I've compiled a playlist that I like to listen to when writing for Tseng. It mainly consists of songs that either have a mood that reminds me of Tseng and situations he's been in and the like. So, yeah. If you want any of these songs in mp3 format, just hit me up. I shall send them.
1. "I Don't Love Anyone" -Belle & Sebastian
2. "Aqueous Transmission" -Incubus
3. "Narayan" -Prodigy
4. "Infra-Red" -Placebo
5. "Because I Want You" -Placebo
6. "My Sweet Prince" -Placebo
7. "Half Life" -Sneaker Pimps
8. "Right Where It Belongs" -Nine Inch Nails
9. "Synasthesia (Fly Away)" -The Thrillseekers feat. Sheryl Dean
