After spending four years away from Camp, and after an eventful couple of years in Tokyo, Tristan has now returned to Long Island and intends to stay. For now. Soon after arriving, due to the very small number of Apate children currently living in Camp, Tristan was made lieutenant counselor of the cabin.
Personality[]
Tristan is self centered and aloof. After being betrayed and hurt quite a few times in his life, he will more than likely save himself first if faced with danger. Despite having a soft side, he has adopted a snarky, sarcastic attitude to keep people from getting close too close to him. He is also quite ambitious and headstrong, stubborn even; if Tristan has set his mind on achieving something, whatever that may be, there is nothing people can do to stop him. Despite being mostly introverted, his greatest fear is silence, which is why he prefers to sit in a room full of people if he needs to think, or work, and listens to music to fall asleep.
History[]
Nick Okamoto, born in New York and raised in a substantially wealthy Japanese family, was a hard working man. His social skills were nothing to write home about, but he wasn’t mean spirited, and all he wanted out of life was to make something of himself. His studies in law and economics were more important than anything, which is why he had little friends and even less romance in his life. The fact that this largely unremarkable man was hiding an incredible amount of ambition and a quiet sort of self confidence, something that became apparent by spending an hour or two with him, might have been what made the Greek goddess Apate attracted to him.
For the first time in his life, Nick learned what it was like to very quickly fall in love with someone. However, two weeks after meeting him, the woman Nick would spend nearly a decade being quietly, but passionately in love with, a woman he knew as Isolde, disappeared. He threw himself back into his studies and his work, slowly turning more and more cold and disinterested, but a few months later something unexpected happened for the second time in Nick’s life. In late April of 1996, Nick Okamoto found a basket on his doorstep. He didn’t have to look at the small child inside twice to understand it was his son. He decided to name him Tristan, a nod to the child’s mother’s name. Little Tristan looked exactly like Nick. Even his eyes, despite him being only a few days old, were already a little sad, just like his father’s.
The Okamoto family cut ties with Nick the day he introduced them to his son, who was technically a bastard. They didn’t disown him, but they made it very clear he wasn’t welcome at any family gatherings. He continued to work at one of the family’s firms, as a lawyer at first, eventually earning a seat in the board of directors. When Tristan turned eight years old, Nick met Claire Desaulniers. They were married within the year and soon enough Tristan was calling Claire “mum”.
Claire spent her summer away from her new family, volunteering somewhere in Long Island. She'd always come back with a dozen stories, and Tristan was always a little jealous. The boy was closer to his mother, because his father seldom had time to even talk to him. It would be a few years before Tristan would learn where his mother spent the summer. It was his eleventh birthday. Claire took him out for cake and they were attacked by two creatures he now knows to be hellhounds. Claire, taken by surprise but otherwise entirely calm, pushed Tristan behind her and pulled out a throwing knife from an inside pocket. She aimed it at one of the creatures, hitting it between the eyes, which gave her time to pull out her sword. Only a few minutes passed before the hellhounds were nothing more than dust on the tile floor of the mall. Claire turned her attention to Tristan, who was seemingly shocked into stupor. She took him by the hand and led him back to the car, explaining everything as calmly as possible on the ride home.
And thus began Tristan's training. After revealing what she and Tristan had in common, Claire — who turned out to be a daughter of Athena — gave her stepson a celestial bronze sword that could transform into a small crystal he could wear around his neck. She told him where she spent her summers — a place called Camp Half Blood, training other children like him. Not wanting to send him to Camp in the middle of the school year, Claire took time off work to train him herself. Tristan proved to be a quick learner, and soon he became quite good in sword fighting, knife throwing, and even some hand-to-hand combat.
Each year Claire said she’d take Tristan to Camp, but each year something prevented her from doing so. The boy had the means to protect himself now, so it didn’t bother her too much. Due to various circumstances, Tristan and Claire put off the trip to Camp for several years, until finally the boy turned fifteen. They both knew it had to be done, so that he could be claimed, and learn to use his powers properly, and make friends without fear of them thinking he was weird after seeing him pulling out a plastic sword and charging at stray dogs. They just had to wait for school to end.
On the 29th of May, 2012, there was a terrible car accident at an intersection. Claire was driving home from work, when a truck ran into her car. She died on the spot. Nick and Tristan had very different reactions. While Nick succumbed to drinking until he'd black out, then leave for work and repeat day after day, Tristan only trained. He hit the punching bag in his room until his knuckles would bleed, he slashed at the training dummies Claire made for him until he could no longer hold his sword. Everything in their home reminded him of the woman he considered his mother. At some point, he decided he couldn't do it anymore. He took what money he could from his father, packed some clothes, his weapons and ran away from home.
He found himself in a shady hotel in a shadier part of Brooklyn, the owner of which, Eva, didn't ask for an ID if her costumers paid enough. Tristan would soon find out that she too was a demigod, when she caught him polishing a celestial bronze dagger and confronted him. She relaxed when he told her that he was unclaimed and had never stepped foot into Camp. Her hotel was guarded from monsters by a few aggressive looking members of the Broken Covenant, and while she was the one who hired them, she feared them a little and didn't want trouble. She herself was a daughter of Psyche, claimed after she supposedly refused a drink from none other than Eros.
Eva soon started caring for the boy, albeit in her own way. When Tristan ran out of money to pay her a few months later, instead of kicking him out, she made a deal with him. He could stay in her hotel for free, maybe even make some money of his own. He would only have to get rid of various illegal substances, namely marijuana and ecstasy. She didn't care who he sold it to, he only had to give her seventy five percent of the profits. Tristan agreed, reluctantly at first, but after selling the first batch, he realized that it was neither difficult, nor extremely risky in the part of the city he lived in now. Life continued on. His father never really looked for him. Tristan sold drugs and killed a few monsters along the way.
Years passed in relative tranquility, nothing crucial happening, until one late night in July 2014. Tristan was returning 'home', when he heard someone shouting for help. He found a homeless girl who spent most of her time across the street from Tristan’s temporary home being attacked by a group of men. He jumped to her defence, but they overpowered him. The decision to help the girl turned out to be a bad one, because as soon as the men attacking her focused on Tristan instead, she exclaimed that they would be able to find drugs in Tristan’s room, then proceeded to quickly abandon him once her attackers gave him their full attention. He had nothing else to do other than lead them to his room.
They didn't leave anything, not even a few hundred dollars Tristan kept hidden under his bed just in case. Eva was furious; he now owed her more than a little money, and he had nothing to sell in order to repay her. However, the solution came easy to her head. She needed a particular item from a jewelry store, and set Tristan on the job. However, he found himself chased out of the store by the owner's grandchild, who just so happened to be a policeman. A few minutes later, he was in the backseat of a police car, the young officer driving him to the station. However, a girl running out of a corner shop, being chased by an angry, elderly shop owner, made the policeman stop.
He left Tristan locked inside the car and chased after the girl. Tristan didn't see much of what happened after that, but soon the cop returned with the girl, making her sit next to Tristan. And she was the most obnoxious thief he'd ever met. Her name was Indiana. Everything happened very quickly after that. By some crazy turn of fate, or maybe karma, the cop turned out to be a demigod, and so was the brat sitting next to him. Apparently, hellhounds had attacked the girl as she tried to escape, and the policeman helped defeat them. A satyr was quickly recruited by him to take the teens to Camp Half Blood. Tristan, who had gotten used to providing and protecting himself, had issues with being assigned a babysitter. He convinced Indiana that they would be better off alone — it wasn't hard, but it was definitely the only thing the two agreed on.
They stole the satyr's map to Camp, and while he left his car to buy supplies for their trip, foolishly leaving the key inside, Tristan and Indiana speeded away. They fought during the whole ride, over Indiana's ability to read a map, over Tristan's driving, anything, really. They were very close to Camp's borders when he made a joke, admittedly a stupid one, to really get a rise out of his travelling companion. He didn't expect her to punch him in the face, though. He momentarily lost control of the vehicle, and it swerved right into a tree. The crash knocked both unconscious. Tristan woke up almost a week later in the infirmary. The demigod in charge explained where he was, and also informed him that he was claimed by Apate while he was sleeping.
Despite telling himself that he’d only spend a few months in Camp before returning to New York and his so called normal life, Tristan ended up spending around two years in Long Island. It was a pretty uneventful couple of years, but something about being surrounded by people who were a lot like him, having free food and a roof over his head made him stay, despite him being utterly bored most of the time. Of course it also helped that he met a lot of people he liked and made quite a few friends, most notably Skylar Lune and Rhiannon Stark. The three had left camp all together in 2016, after Rhi and Skylar broke up, and Tristan decided being more than a friend with Skylar was neither a good nor a healthy choice. The three went their separate ways soon after, except for occasional, rare meet ups.
Tristan was too proud ー and too hurt, but he wouldn’t allow himself to admit that ー to go to his father for help. He slept on Rhi’s couch for about a month before deciding he couldn’t stand to be a burden for anyone. Thankfully, he had some connections from his life before Camp and telling himself that, well, he’d tried to lead an honest life, but it just wasn’t going to happen, Tristan went back to selling drugs for a living. Going back to his old life was very easy for him. His sly nature thrived under the circumstances and his ability to lie masterfully was an incredible asset, not to mention the fact that his mother was literally the goddess of deceit and trickery.
It all came easily to Tristan, way too easily to be frank. Soon enough, people started to notice. Soon enough the pressure to stop being a lone wolf and join a pack, an organization, became too high. Tristan didn’t think too long before joining Yuto Hayashi’s drug ring, not because of their shared origin, or anything that could be associated with patriotism, but because he considered Yuto to be an honorable man, much more honorable than the rest of the scum working in New York, at least. His talent helped him to climb the ranks quickly. Yuto already liked Tristan, anyway, and it took just a few months for Tristan to become his bodyguard and confidant. When Yuto decided he wanted to go back to Tokyo and do business with his family there, Tristan was the first to know.
The decision to leave New York behind was also a very easy one to make. Tristan didn’t have anyone left there, after all. His father didn’t show any interest in him, while his only friends had their own problems to deal with; Skylar went back to France and soon went off the grid, while Rhi was dealing with the death of her little sister. 2018 found Tristan across the globe, trying to adjust to the criminal scene in Tokyo. All was well. Yuto was welcomed back with open arms and business was booming. WIP last update 15/4/2020
Powers[]
Offensive[]
- Children of Apate have the minor ability to create illusions of attacks so realistic that they are most likely to catch an enemy off guard; however, if they miss they are left vulnerable to counter attack.
- Children of Apate are able to command a weapon to go against it's master's will. However, they cannot command a weapon bigger than them. Also, the master of the weapon can resist the will of the weapon. Once the effect has wore off, the weapon is immune to further effects of it.
Defensive[]
- Children of Apate are able to make the objects in a small area shift appearance or location, confusing those who will see it. While the skill is in effect, it continuously drains the user.
- Children of Apate are able to trick charging enemies to face the opposite directions and charge at those directions instead. The more enemies and the longer the distance, the more it drains the demigods. After the effects have wore off, enemies will be immune to further effects of it for the battle.
Passive[]
- Children of Apate are innately able to see through lies, illusions or any form of deceit, as they are innately so well skilled with deceit themselves.
- Children of Apate have the innate ability to confuse, mislead or deceive others for a short time, the longer they try and keep up with the lies/deceptions, the more energy it drains
Supplementary[]
- Children of Apate are able to make a fake copy of an object not bigger than them, but they must clearly imagine the object in their minds for it to completely imitate the original object. Also, if the original object possess magical properties or whatsoever, the imitation will not copy those properties.
- Children of Apate can use their powers to lure someone into lying or coming into agreement with them when they truly don't want to without the person influenced even noticing. The bigger the lie, the more power drained. A person with a strong will can fight this, and most will remember being deceived shortly after.
- Children of Apate are able to mimic sounds or the voice of a person or creature they already heard speaking or making noise. The quality of the mimicry depends on the focus and skill level of the user.
3 Months After Character is Made[]
- Children of Apate can create illusions in order to twist other's perception of reality or make everyone around them see something that isn't really there. However, the illusion isn't physical and therefore is only a trick of sight. The bigger the change in perception, the more power drained. They can also delude single individuals in the same fashion.
6 Months After Character is Made[]
- Children of Apate are able to make a copy of their body, that they are mentally connected to, but cannot interact with its physical environment. It can be used to spy on others, bring back intel, distract others, carry messages, etc. It drains the user moderately.
9 Months After Character is Made[]
- Children of Apate are able to make a copy of their body, that they are mentally connected to. It is essentially a real copy of themselves, with all their powers to a weakened extent and can actually interact with their surroundings, however while the copy is active the user is entirely incapacitated. While the copies are active, the user is drained, so the longer the copy is active the more they are drained. Once the copy is gone, they must wait a substantially long time before making another copy.
Traits[]
- Children of Apate tend to be treacherous, fond of treachery or amused by it.
- Children of Apate are cunning, sly and uneasily fooled.
- Children of Apate are very good liars and at making alibis.
- Children of Apate are good at forging signatures and hacking systems.
- Children of Apate have deceit "intuitions", meaning they may have a hunch if someone will try to deceive them. However, their predictions may not be accurate every time.
Relationships[]
| Name | Relation | Explanation |
| Apate | Biological mother | "She gave birth to me and now I'm the best liar I know, that has to count for something," Tristan shrugs. |
| Nick Okamoto | Father | "Is that old fuck still alive?" Tristan asked, no emotion in his voice. |
| Claire Desaulniers | Stepmother | Tristan's face lit up in a rare smile. "I miss her." |
| Rhiannon Stark | Friend | "I heard she's back in camp, too." An awkward pause, a guilty glance in the direction of Morpheus' Cabin. "I should go say hi." |
| Yuto Hayashi | Ex boss,
|
"He did what he had to do to get me out. I owe it to our friendship to try to understand and forgive him," Tristan murmured, a sadness in his voice. |
Headcanons[]
— He is trilingual, as his father made sure his son was fluent in Japanese to honor his heritage, while his stepmother taught him her native French. The Japanese came in handy during his stay in Tokyo. During the first couple of months he tried to hide that he spoke the language to be able to listen in on conversations, but the secret didn't last long.
— He has a total of sixteen tattoos and both earlobes pierced, though he doesn’t always wear earrings in both.
— He identifies as pansexual.
— He plays the guitar, although he hasn’t practiced in a very long time. Other hobbies include reading and writing poetry, while his most useless skill is ball dancing, which he was forced to take as a kid.
— He wanted to be a teacher when he was growing up.