Description
(Avatar art by nc83-d2yyxsy, profile pic by jouste, both of DeviantArt. Will remove if requested.)
Theme song: Metallica - Broken Beaten Scarred (high quality "remix":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKGiH2yR7Mc)
Approximate power level:
Neo Vs. Smith from The Matrix (Tobias being Neo in this setup)
Physically, Tobias is 6 feet 1, but a combination of hard living and horrific injuries have forced him to cut back on his training, so he now weighs in at about 250 pounds (most of it comes from the mechanical leg--see below). He appears lean yet hardy, as a man who has gone through many trials and somehow survived them all. This isn't to say that he hasn't taken his fair share of punishment; indeed, his body has collected more than a few scars in his street fighting career, even going so far as to have replaced his badly damaged right leg with a cybernetic replacement on the Coalition's dime.
His blue eyes seem to almost look through the object of his attention, appraising and calculating various aspects of size, distance, velocity, lighting and position in order to know what he might be able to take advantage of should a fight break out. This critical eye also lends itself to him keeping his dark brown hair short and neatly trimmed, to reduce the chances someone might grab him by it.
Due to being hit by lightning, his ears are almost completely nonfunctional and replaced by what are essentially tiny microphones that feed directly into his brain, in many ways mirroring the incident that gave rise to his callsign of "Pegleg." He also has a rather ugly scar running down the left side of his back, a personal memento of the time he managed to fight off a hitman.
Personality
Tobias carries himself as a person that is rarely intimidated by an opponent's apparent strength or ability, unless the person in question has demonstrated such to a sufficient extent. This same mentality carries over to almost any challenge. While he acknowledges that some feats might be beyond his ability to accomplish, Tobias has a keen interest in seeing how much he is personally capable of, whether it's a drinking contest, a foot race, or vying for the attentions of an attractive woman. However, that youthful spirit is quickly being tempered by the fact that death seems to wait for him around every corner, leading him to perfect the air of a jaded and callous soldier that thinks nothing of what others think of him.
As much as he finds himself embodying the spirit of the Scatterran ubermensch that is reborn through joining their society and is only truly alive in the heat of combat, the official stance on this uncanny resemblance is that he is to be treated with the respect all decent people are due one another...which usually translates to him getting relentlessly bullied and unable to fight back against his bigger, stronger and faster Scatterran oppressors even though they're nominally on the same team. Some take a higher road and rationalize that it's only natural that these virtues manifest in one from their original home, but they're few and far between. Part of him wouldn't have it any other way, though. As much as he gets bent out of shape over seemingly trivial matters, sometimes to the point of doing horrible things that he regrets for years to come, his nigh unbreakable will sees to it that he manages to right himself and re-orient his gaze towards higher ideals. These ideals are rather mutable, however--he'd rather compromise his integrity and live to patch it up than die with "honor."
His fighting style revolves around pain. Pressure points, liver shots and knockdowns to set up powerful blows are all part of his eclectic repertoire. As far as formal martial arts training, he has received Shotokan tutelage from the mighty Akuma, though he also presents his artificial shin for Muay Thai style blocks.
Equipment
As a martial artist, Tobias has learned that weapons are not absolutely necessary, but they are a useful catalyst to certain maneuvers, depending on the weapon of choice. His favorite weapon is anything improvised, the logic behind this being that this way he doesn't have to carry a weapon and still be armed if he so desires. He tends to dress in "heavy" clothing regardless of the season, the better to conceal his light Scatteran body armor in case he's "on call."
Due to a grave injury that left most of his right leg unusable, the whole thing up to the hip has been removed and replaced with a cybernetic version that packs more speed and power than its counterpart on the other side of his body, letting him deliver devastating stomp attacks capable of bashing down doors and blocking incoming attacks with his shin, Muay Thai style. Learning to hide this imbalance despite the synthetic skin and nanite injections to simulate nerve endings is a daily chore for him, making him take more care with even "basic" activities such as getting dressed, walking, and delivering unarmed strikes. As a result, he has developed uncanny powers of concentration, able to focus on almost any task even when under pressure and in less than ideal circumstances. Recently, the nanites have begun to spread to other areas of his body as well, giving him what seems to be a remarkable ability to bounce back from injury and perform remarkably well despite his fondness for cancer sticks.
As part of his employment in the ranks of Coalition forces, he is also equipped with a standard-issue MR-18 rifle with 25-round magazines (with four extras on his person to either use himself or toss to a buddy), though a combination of pride and reluctance to escalate a battle means it usually remains in its holster. A couple of fragmentation grenades act to break up groups of opponents as well as cause damage to a wide area if necessary.
History
Tobias is indifferent about his history, except the part that spurred him to become a martial artist. When pressed, he will admit that though it sounds trite and overused, his parents were indeed killed by robbers when he was a child. Taken in by a friend of the family who happened to teach at a dojo, Tobias quickly became adept at martial arts. Eventually, he was shown that there came a point where kata mastery failed to impress, and that there was more to combat than simply beating the snot out of your opponent. To this end, he has begun learning certain tactics and maneuvers that are derided by purists as "dirty" while others take a more positive view, praising their utility and how they reflected on the resourcefulness of the warrior that managed to use them well. He has found that the Muay Thai style, featuring a wide variety of close-quarters strikes and judicious grapples to set up particularly egregious blows, meshes well with the situations he finds himself in as well as his own personal inclinations.
Some time ago, a young, spunky warrior by the name of Lamina Manira danced circles around the aging man, foiling his every effort to cause her harm and ultimately dealt the grievous injury to his leg that has dictated a large part of his recent activity. Since then, he has found gainful employment as an operative for Coalition forces stationed in Wing City on Terra, and while he's still getting used to the strictures of his new job, some extra money in his pocket is never a bad thing. Shortly after employment, he found himself earning his first decoration, the Crown of Valor, for displaying uncommon bravery while off duty in saving a marine from an assassination attempt and sustaining significant injury during the resulting battle. Over the course of his distinguished (for a non-Scatterran) career, Terra has found itself free of Aschen occupation, and he's even taken a wife, Crystal.
So begins...
“
Aw, come on, babe! You'll only be gone for 7 minutes! Who's going to notice or care in a place like this?
”
Tobias Malari widens his eyes and turns around on his heel to face this new presence, just in case the new voice was someone intent on sucker-punching him. He is shocked to see...a clock? "What the hell man, stop cock-blocking me!" Inside, his mind is racing, trying to think of ways to prevent this thing from attacking him.
“
Could it wait, clock thing? Can't you see I'm trying to get laid here?
”
“
If you know what I'm trying to do, then why are you preventing me from doing it when I've had blue balls for two weeks?!
”
Tobias Malari gestures towards his genital area, as if to emphasize his point.
“
I...um...oh...shit, sorry. Didn't know that. Thanks, clock thing.
”
Tobias Malari is now thoroughly confused. This clock-like machine registered Kisa as "in a relationship," whereas she considered herself as "single."
Tobias Malari turns just his head back to Kisa. "Hey, pretty babe, which one is it?"
Tobias Malari takes a while to register the hum of jet engines above the usual din of the bar and the sound of his own voice. "Great...what the fuck is it...now..."
His words trail off as he notices Jane Garcia floating above him.
Tobias Malari is confused at this sudden whirlwind of attention between Kisa, Jane and the clock. Like any good predator, he figured that easier prey might be found elsewhere and walked quickly away from the awkward scene.
Tobias Malari takes stock of the new arrival. Teddy bear...ick, he wasn't a pedo. And now that chick that had come in had left as well...looks like he was quickly going on 15 days without bedding some unsuspecting chick. He didn't understand what the problem was...everyone knew he used protection, after all!
Tobias Malari processes this new information...a shapeshifter being his friend...meaning that she could turn into whatever he wanted her to, but it looked like she had a problem with her color palette. What the fuck ever. "Sure, babe. What's your name?"
“
Absolutely. Name's Toby.
”
Tobias Malari secretly thinks, "Yes, finally, I at least got a NAME tonight."
Tobias Malari grins. Finally, he was getting somewhere. "Of course I do...Jane, right?" Nice save, he thought. "Anyway, how about we get out of this place and we can see what else you can turn into?"
Tobias Malari returns as well, practically beaming with pride. Finally, after 2 weeks, he had managed to score! It was an ecstatic feeling, the knowledge that he still had the ability to get with the ladies.
“
Hey, Jane, if you ever want to do that again, you know how to get my attention. Don't be a stranger, now!
”
“
Hell yeah, you were good! I've never had anything that good all month!
”
“
Absolutely. Like I said, you want to get in touch with me, you know how. Likewise on my end.
”
Tobias Malari produces a little notebook with black covers.
