Tara Rhys

Tara Rhys, a.k.a. Terumi MacTavish is the second character co-created by KurosakiHisana and the first co-created by a nonmember of RWBY wikia. She is a student at the fictional Siren Academy, and a member of Team STRM , alongside Saige Cristallo, Raine Shiba, and Macy Mousse. and her brother Ringo Alexander, a.k.a. Rory MacTavish.

NOTE: This article is a work-in-progress.

Appearance
Tara is a fairly lean girl of average height, but abnormal figure. Despite how skinny she looks, she has a well-developed body with lightly muscular calves and biceps. Her bra size is a B-cup, much to her annoyance whenever someone points it out. Her skin is a nice olive tone, tanned from her days playing outdoors and training whenever she had free time. Her emerald green eyes are as striking as her kicks, usually focused in a mundance, uninterested expression. Tara's hair is a nice healthy shade of red, wavy and slightly tangled; it can usually be found parted in feathered bangs over the right side of her head and put up in a ponytail or braid.

Her outfit was made to suit her taste in fashion and combat—which is, let's face it, breathable and tomboyish. Tara has bandages wrapped around her upper torso and her right hand. Over her chest, she wears a light purple (maybe thistle-colored) vest with deep pockets, and a string around her neck with a fake red Dust crystal hanging from it (it's sentimental). Both of her arms have some sort of sleek, pale blue armor, with intricate swirl designs embedded into them. Her right hand has a finger cuff and bracelet connected by a loose chain, whereas her left forearm is fully covered by a brace, which covers a black sleeve that goes up to the middle of her bicep. Her legwear includes a pair of somewhat baggy pants that go down to her ankles (or close enough), however, the right leg is slightly wrinkled up, so it doesn't quite reach the ankle like the other. On her feet, she wears a pair of socks the same color as her vest, and a pair of white tennis shoes, painted with deep teal accents and tied with pale blue shoelaces.

Personality
Tara is what anime-fanatics would describe as a "kuudere," or someone who acts cool and collected until the right person comes along. At that point, when the right person does pop up in her life, she can be snide, joking, mocking even, or something of a partial tsundere, acting like she's annoyed or bothered by surrounding people and students, regardless of who they are. Tara is a fierce woman, stubborn, relentless in her decisions, and always makes sure to finish what she starts. Respect is something she thinks needs to be earned,and she will not bow to someone of a higher rank until they earn her respectthat is, unless it's a teacher. Then she'll put on a slight smile and act like the most diligent student in Siren Academy, no matter how bad it pains her. Honor is something she holds in high regards, and she dislikes thos ewho use any sneaky or underhanded tactics. Above all, she is fiercely loyal to those she deems friends and family, and will do anything and everything in her power to defend them against harm, even risk her own life, if need be.

Backstory


Ah, let's see. Before Tara was Tara Rhys, she was born as Terumi MacTavish to a wealthy family in Vale. She had a brother, named Rory, and a mother and father, Nara and Taichi respectively. They were what seemed to be a picture-perfect family as younger people; however, Terumi didn't realize that her parents were mobsters, let alone criminals, and had gradually rubbed off on her and her brother over the years. When Terumi was ten, her father encouraged her that fighting wasn't such a bad thing, regardless of who it was she was going up against. She took this to heart, and before anyone realized it, the girl was spinning polearms and bo staffs left and right. Her parents were impressed, sure, but Rory was becoming increasingly worried for her sake. Over the years, the innocence faded from her eyes, and she was slowly being molded into a killing machine, for the sake of people she didn't even know existed.

It got even worse when she met a Faunus boy during her time at Signal Academy, someone named something like Sestran. He had been Terumi's first real friend—or so she thought—and helped her to see that fighting didn't solve everything that she wanted to be resolved. They developed a friendship, and eventually, she took him to meet her brother. What she didn't realize, though... He was a Faunus, the one life form Nara and Taichi hated above all, something that hadn't rubbed off on her. When Rory met him, he was okay with it all, but still a bit weary about letting a half-animal creature into their house. Everything went full-on panic mode when he told Terumi that their parents were extremely prejudice, and right afterwards, they came downstairs and saw a wolf tail dangling from Sestran's backside. Arguments ensued, and then several slaps and punches. Before long, though, Sestran interrupted the fight, potentially saving Terumi and Rory's lives...by taking out their parents. Ah, if only Terumi had noticed it before—Sestran had a White Fang tattoo on the side of his neck underneath his shirt collar. The last thing either of the MacTavish siblings had expected was for someone to get right under one of their skins and then rip it apart. Before Sestran left, he said to them, "I imagine the problem of how to come forward with your abilities resolved itself with my arrival. It is, most simply explained, that they stole everything from you. Do not let any one man hold you back again; true strength cannot be restrained." He left, possibly forever, and Terumi and Rory were left astounded. But he had a point. They couldn't stay much longer; their parents owed some considerable "favors" that would naturally fall to them if anyone figured out they were murdered. As such, the siblings grabbed whatever they could, and hightailed it out of there.

Years went by, and things were supposedly looking up. Terumi and Rory had moved half-way across the world and changed their names to something less ridiculous—Tara Rhys and Ringo Alexander. Likely, the two had chosen separate last names to avoid further suspicion, for the cause of protecting themselves. They had managed to scrounge up enough money from various jobs and favors to buy their own apartment, and for once, they felt safe, shut away from human kind in their own little space. With the idea of attending Beacon Academy behind them, there didn't seem to be many more options for training and honing their "unrestrained skills." Though one fateful day, on a peaceful stroll through down, Tara came across a flyer on a wall, and was immediately hooked. It read: "SIREN ACADEMY ENROLLMENT. APPLICATIONS NOW ACCEPTED." She immediately grabbed it and ran back home, practically shoving it in Ringo's face. An opportunity had presented itself, to train and hone their skills, as Sestran once said they should. After some time, Tara had finished flling out the applications, and presented herself for the physical trial, to which she miraculously passed, despite all doubts she and he brother had before. Finally, she had a way to fend for herself.

Weapon
Weapon Name: Crepuscolo Ladro {translation: Twilight Catcher}

Primary Type: Melee

Modeled After: A glaive, or a polearm with a blade at its head

Capabilities: Well, Crepuscolo Ladro has several abilities. The first, evidently, is that it can transform, or shift from one state to another. In this case, it has two forms—Melee Mode, and Sniper Mode. Glaive Mode, as pictured here, has a visible hammer, trigger, and gun barrel, which allows Tara to shoot the ammunition of her choice out the end opposite from the actual Glaive blade, the four-pointed star. Though it is possible to fire in Melee Mode, it's rather difficult, seeing how the trigger is too far away from where her hands are normally positioned.

In sniper mode, the blade itself has a handle that attaches to the inside of the polearm, and can separate to be used as a short-sword in addition to the gun part of it. Really, for the weapon to be used for the purpose of firing, Tara has to flip Crepuscolo Ladro upside-down [from its current position] to use it as an actual gun, the open end of the barrel being the four-pointed star on the end, which is normally closed into a diamond shape in Melee Mode. The shoulder holster is also a compartment for ammo, which can hold up to a whopping forty-five bullets. The ammo chamber itself is on the side of the gun, and can be opened by yanking back the green right-angle switch on the top. It can fire fifteen bullets, one at a time, before it has to be reloaded with more. Instead of having an actual chain of bullets, Tara duct tapes them all together, which is good, because the blast from Crepuscolo Ladro disintegrates the tape upon firing.

Rory MacTavish/Ringo Alexander
Ringo is Tara's older brother, and possibly the most overprotective sibling any girl could have. He was constantly worried for his sister's safety, and went to great lengths to see that she was safe and sound. Despite how secluded their relationship was as kids, Tara has learned that she needs someone she can count on, and for that matter, someone she can keep him from making stupid mistakes.

Sestran
The most intriguing person in Tara's life. He is the man convicted of murdering Nara and Taichi MacTavish, and for that matter, setting Tara free from a restrained life. He was supposedly Tara's best friend, however, this was all proven to be a hoax once he took an axe to her parents' head. Ironically, she doesn't necessarily hate him—her parents were somewhat abusive. Since that event, Tara hasn't seen Sestran, assuming the man to be dead.

Saige Cristallo
Tara's teammate Saige was the first other person aside from her brother that Tara could trust. The two were unsure of each other at first, upon meeting faces during the Siren Academy Initiation, but learned to respect each other, because of the similarity between their morals, values...and taste in weapons. They make an excellent melee duo, if not firing experts.

Raine Shiba
Possibly the most light-hearted and sweetest person Tara has ever met. When she crossed paths with Raine, Tara was skeptical at first of the results of teaming up with such a guy. However, as the team was locked in place, she has found that Raine is a bit of a pupil to her, someone to follow in her footsteps. She's taken it upon herself to take him under her tutilage and teach him just what it means to truly be a Hunter.

Macy Mousse
Honestly, Tara feels something of a grudge towards this girl. She finds it illogical that Macy could be so bouncy and full of energy all the time, regardless of how much good it does for the team. Taar feels as though Macy doesn't fully understand the bitter truth of reality, and that maybe being put on a team will do just the trick to toughen her up.

Nara and Taichi MacTavish
Tara's parents, and the two people she hates most on the planet. While growing up, they pressured her and Rory to be well-trained killing machines without so much as a single flaw. Whenever one of them messed up, punishment followed, along with painful memories. They did things as drastic as locking her and Rory in the basement of their own house.