name || travis beck
other names ||
+ bae taekryong :: korean name
+ travs :: shortened version of his english name. no one really uses it other than his childhood best friend, kevin.
+ wrongryong :: he used to introduce himself in both korean and english in school. once, someone asked him to write out his korean name in roman letters, and lots of people mistakened pronounced "ryong" like the word "wrong." so this nickname was something he got teased with.
 || male

age || 20, 21
birthdate || 14.08.1993
height+weight || 179cm, 60kg
ethnicity || 1/2 korean, 1/2 american
birthplace+hometown || los angeles, california
languages || 
+ english (fluent) :: he was born and raised in america, with english speaking parents and peers.
+ korean (semi-fluent) :: he can speak and listen pretty much perfectly, but he has a hard time still with reading and writing in korean. he learned this from his father, and from listening to k-pop for most of his young life.
+ french (conversational) :: this was the language he learned in primary school since it was mandatory to take a language class. he has forgotten a lot, but can still survive in a french-speaking country.
+ japanese (basic) :: his best friend kevin taught him japanese for fun when they were kids, and over the years he's picked up on a few phrases and such. he can greet people, order food and find a bathroom.

plotline || the author's oc

faceclaim || kwak min jun
back-up faceclaim || n/a
style || most of travis' style has heavy reliance on comfort. he doesn't care too much about what he comes off looking like off stage, so he'll stroll around in sweats and graphic tees, or anything that just happens to not be in the laundry pile. this is pretty much his philosophy for what he wears casually and in the apartment, so most of his wardrobe is jeans, sneaks, and tees with hoodies or jackets. since he grew up in california, he's also used to warm weather and having his shirt off as well, so he'll often take it off in the hotter months in the dormitory, even if s that he's being so revealing. no matter the season though, travis refuses to sleep with his shirt on.

at practice, travis will usually wear shorts or regular pants, rather than sweats, since he knows that there's a 95% chance that he's not going to be comfortable in what he's wearing when they debut, so he may as well practice in something similar. formally, he likes a little dazzle in his style, so sometimes he'll wear suit jackets that have a lot of cuffs or accents, or skip a tie, but otherwise uses the general deal -- dress shirt, jacket, and dress pants. he still prefers sneakers to dress shoes though, and will swap them out if he can do it without looking stupid. he has three piercings, one in each earlobe, and then an extra on the edge of his left ear. he also plans on one day getting a small tattoo on his left wrist, once he figures out what he wants to put there.

+ casual | 1 2 3
+ apartment | 1 2 3
+ practice | 1 2 3 
+ formal | 1 2 3

likes || 
+ carrots :: ever since he was little, his mother always gave him baby carrots to eat as a snack. once he got his pet rabbits, he loved to eat them together with them.
+ bunnies and hares :: they're cute and fluffy, and travis raised two of them. he thinks they make the best pets, since they're quiet, and cuddly.
+ screaming at the top of his lungs :: he claims it helps train his voice, but that he also just likes to startle people with just how loud he can get.
+ horror, thriller and action movies :: adrenaline is this boy's friend -- he loves the rush from fear and thrills, and action packed fighting. it also gives him an excuse to yell at the tv.
+ comedians :: as someone who loves to laugh at just about anything, it's nice to have people in the world who's whole career is focused on making people laugh.
+ street art :: he lived around it all his life, and just always liked how it looked, and decorated the dreary city buildings. he thinks it gives the city a unique look.
+ exercise :: he takes pride in his abs and his toned body. besides, sitting still for too long is just boring as fxxk.
+ lyric writing :: he likes to write his own meaningful lyrics to songs, rather than have someone else tell him what to sing.
dislikes || 
+ anything with caffeine in it :: he creates his own energy, he honestly doesn't need the boost from chemicals in his drinks and food.
+ sweets :: he hates going to the dentist, so once he found out sweets cause cavities, he stopped eating them all together.
+ zebra print :: it's just a pattern he can't see himself looking good in, so he dislikes it in general.
+ his natural hair colour :: he finds it boring, and too common.
+ swimming pools :: water + travis = failure. he can barely tread water, and flails like an idiot.
+ short hair on girls :: he has a natural preference for long hair on his women.
+ the flight between the states and south korea | he's taken this flight one too many times to be appeased with the service and the length of it.
+ formalities :: while he chose to use them to respect korean culture, he still doesn't like to. he'll ask those he becomes closer to if he can drop them in private.
hobbies || 
+ taekwondo :: he took this up as a kid in school to explore his heritage, and with knowing that his brother jason couldn't best him in it. he's considered a second degree black belt.
+ song covers :: he loves to learn how to sing other people's songs, and then do his own versions of them. he's made videos before of him covering his favourite star's songs.
+ trying on any pair of glasses he finds :: he just finds it fun to see what he looks like with glasses on, even if he has 20/20 vision.
habits || 
+ he drinks an entire glass of water before eating so that he won't feel as hungry.
+ he is an incredibly restless sleeper, and kicks. he can also fall asleep anywhere, and in any position, including in planes, cars, and on the dance floor during breaks.
+ he chews on his tongue when he's concentrating or focused.
trivia || 
+ he has one helluva potty mouth. he tries his best to hold himself back in public for the sake of s, but could cuss someone out like a sailor. and totally would, if he were driven to. he's learned to start censoring his curses, such as saying "fudge" or "carp." he also purposely learns curse words in a multitude of languages, so he knows when people are cursing someone out or making fun of them.
+ he is openly biual with his friends and family, but tries to keep it a secret from the general populace in south korea. this is due to the fact that his father told him his concerns about how homouality is viewed in asian cultures.
+ he has a crap french and japanese accent, but both his korean and english accents are really on par.
+ he has expressed desires of being an mc for a variety show.
+ back in los angeles, he has two pet rabbits, a massive gray one called charlie, and a netherland dwarf called midnight. apparently he tried to bring them to south korea with him, and was devastated when his parents told him it'd be best to keep them in the states.
+ he still has plans to someday get his pets to south korea.
+ he'd much rather send an e-mail, text or talk over the phone, than write or receive written letters. he thinks it's a hassle to store letters, and postal services are too slow.
+ he describes his ideal type as someone who loves to laugh, and can take criticism like a boss.
+ he eats carrots as a snack so often that it's a running joke that he'll turn orange one day.
+ since he dislikes his natural hair colour, he dyes his hair frequently.
+ travis loves to show off his abs. he strolls along in the apartment with his shirt off, no matter how often the others tells him he's being too revealing, and refuses to sleep with a shirt on.
+ travis actually cries pretty easily, and is touched by sentimental actions.
+ after one particuarily nasty cavity, travis has a fear of the dentist. he abhors going, so he'll do just about anything to get out of it. he's hidden himself in his neighbor's treehouse before, avoiding his mother who was trying to take him to get a wisdom tooth taken out, and cried the entire time he was there. he was 14 at the time.
+ he got two wisdom teeth taken out, so he only has his upper two left.
+ it is actually really easy to make him freak out -- just tell him charlie or midnight died. his panick overtakes any sensibility he has and he'll end up calling home to check on them after nearly having a mental breakdown.
+ once he starts laughing, it is really hard for him to stop. he has perfected the art of falling without hurting himself because of the fact he tends to fall over when he's laughing since his legs get weak.
+ he has no qualms against guyliner, or make up in general. he can apply it quite well on himself, or others.
+ he's used to people being angry with him when they use his korean name, since his brother did that, therefore he sometimes gets confused if someone calls him taek ryong.

personality || 
+ extroverted, open, cheerful, quick-witted, creative, zany, passionate
+ insensitive, critical, brash, whiny, vengeful, one-track mind

travis is the kind of person that you can talk to for about two minutes and pretty much get the lo'down on their entire persona. extremely extroverted, he can lead a conversation on almost anything, from puppies to pajamas; this guy has a mouth that runs just as fast as his legs. he'll approach just about anyone when he wants to, from strangers, to old friends he hasn't talked to in four years, to his housemates at 4-frickin' am in the morning when they clearly don't want to talk to him. he's very open about himself and his thoughts, and doesn't mind allowing others to know all his flaws as well as well as his good traits all at the forefront. at times this can be overwhelming -- he does have a tendency to talk too much, or say too many things, including things that probably had no place being said then and there. he's been known to accidentally expose facts about himself that might be offensive or opinions that could be controversial, or say things about the other members that they probably wanted to be kept private. he can be a little hard to trust with private information because of this.

despite having a tendency to dig himself into trouble with his mouth, travis is usually smiling. he has this very cheerful outlook on life, which can be pretty infectious. his happy-go-lucky attitude can shake even the most awkward moments and make tensions lighter in a heartbeat. he has a contagious laugh, and loves to breathe freshness into the situation. he's good at coming up with things to do, and fortunately his quick-wit gives him an edge in conversation. he's also good at coming up with things to say on the spot, and carrying on talks thanks to his creativity, and usually has very unique, though sometimes impractical approaches to things. he's also a fast auditory learner, and understands things relatively easily when they are spoken. granted this in no way saves him from his runaway mouth; sometimes it'll be too late by the time he notices he's done screwed up, and pulling a save out of his arse isn't as useful as he hopes for the most part. this is usually on display when he makes unintentional ual innuendos, or switches accidentally between informal and formal speech in korean when addressing people. usually the people around him notice this a lot faster than he would, and he's left sputtering like an idiot. his wit only really works well when he hasn't already messed something up. 

as already established, travis' mouth is one of his biggest problems, even if it makes him an exceptionally out-going and vibrant person. because of his mind-to-mouth filter being so damaged, he often ends up being insensitive. he'll say something with total disregard of how someone else might perceive it, and unfortunately most people take his blunt criticism the wrong way. he'll often even blatantly tell people that he doesn't like something about them, or complain to their face about something they've done that's rubbed him the wrong way. his honesty in this sense, usually comes to bite him, and he makes a lot of enemies because he's usually unapologetic. he believes that he's doing people a favour by being critical, and doesn't realize he can be too harsh, or rude until he's already hurt the other person's feelings beyond his ability to repair his blunder.

travis also runs a streak of being quite brash with his demeanor. he's naturally an assertive person, and since he's so expressive, he can come off as rude or annoying. he's noisy and very loud about his achievements or successes, and will make a point to have himself stand out. more often than not he's trying too hard, since he has a bit of an inferiority complex. if he feels his status is being threatened, he'll make a point to prove anyone in his way wrong, usually by tripling his efforts. he doesn't like to be told what to do, or how to act, or that someone else is better than him, even if they clearly are. this also makes him quite whiny when things don't turn out the way he wants them to. he'll make a big fuss about not getting his way, and can be quite the sore-loser when it comes down to it. people will call him immature and melodramatic because of this, but he complains since he's used to being able to get what he wants from his parents by it. you could call him spoilt; in fact he admits that he can be a brat, but he can't help his loud nature.

besides being creative with words, travis has been shown to exhibit creativity, while perhaps being a little overzealous, with his actions. he's been called zany before, since he loves to laugh and play jokes to get other people to laugh. part of the reason travis is such a cheerful person is because of this; he learned to laugh at himself and accepted his stupidity and flaws. comedic at heart, Travis will purposefully pull stupid antics such as overdramatic falls or pranking others, just to get other people to laugh at him or laugh in general. while at times, this laughter does come at the expense of dignity, he believes that people should be able to laugh at themselves and up their pride a bit. he will apologize when he embarrasses someone, but he's usually busy laughing in their faces first. he doesn't mind it when people pull pranks on him either, as long as they're for fun, and not hurtful. in fact, sometimes he encourages this.

that though, brings out his tendency towards vengeance. travis gets back at people. in fact, he ensures he does -- and sometimes does it better than they did when they first messed with him. his jokes chain, and he and his friend kevin actually have an on-going prank war that continues every time travis goes back to the states to visit. while he's mostly vengeful in a playful way, this also does transpire to aggression at times. if someone hurts someone close to him, emotionally or physically, travis will go after that person like a ravenous dog. he is protective of his friends, and therefore takes attacks on them personally, and will definitely seek retribution for any wrongs. his vengeful nature makes him quite playful and child-like, but can also make him quite dangerous.

while the majority of his flaws are very in your face, one of travis' best traits is always on display too. travis is an extremely passionate person. since he was little, it's always been his dream to become a part of k-pop, and to be a singer, and he's barreled over everything to get to his goal. that kind of motive and dedication to his craft when he grew up has stayed with him all these years. when he gets into things, he'll give 200% to it, and it's very hard to make him give up. determined, and focused, travis will always take his dreams seriously, and wants to instill this kind of drive into the people he meets. his passion, just like his cheer, is very infectious. he encourages people to go the distance to achieve something from their lives, and when something's good, he'll definitely make it known. his motivations make him very hard to discourage, or get down. he's also someone who dishes out praise just as much as he can be blunt with his criticisms, and he's always there to offer a push in the right direction. he believes that passion will get anyone anywhere, and that giving your all is essential to being successful and happy.

at times though, travis can have a one-track mind. because he is so diligent in his work, he can be very obnoxious toward those who get in the way of it. if someone interrupts him in the middle of a thought, he waves them away, or tells them off if they persist. he doesn't pay attention to anything else when he's focused, and therefore often misses information or ends up accidentally ignoring people. he's had to have been hit upside the head before because he was being stupid, and not listening to them. he usually apologizes after realizing he was concentrating too hard on his goal, but it can take some time to snap him out of his own head. this does however, make him pretty reliable, since you can give him a job, and he'll do everything he can at the time to get it done. his focus brings him as much success as it does problems, and his passionate nature makes him pretty lovable after you get past all his big flaws.

background || travis' beginnings aren't all too flamboyant or interesting to share. his father, bae jungseop, is fully korean, and was born in wonju, south korea, before he moved to california to attend university. there, he met the woman of his dreams, a young american named karla beck, after joining the korean student association, whom he married after they graduated. to their name, two sons, jason and travis, were born in los angeles, where they would raise them for the remainder of their young lives. they lived right by the koreatown, where jungseop felt more at home, and he could pass on his heritage to his children. 

travis went to an average public school in l.a., and was mostly just a decent student. he never excelled in any particular subject, unlike his brother, who was both second in his class and vice-president of the student council in both sr. and jr. high school. he did take up taekwondo as an extracurricular, out of his interest in his culture and in an effort to remain active and fit, as well as find something he could best his brother at in school. he has his grievances toward jason for always showing him up, even though it's entirely unintentional. jason's superiority was mostly the result of the latter actually enjoying studying and wanting to become a doctor, as well as being travis' elder by three years. unfortunately, for most of his young life, travis felt he was traveling in the shadow of his elder brother's success, even if his parents were both very kind people who tried their best to not play favourites. jason also liked to poke fun at his little brother for being a bit of a mess with his mouth, and often scolded his talkative nature. this actually had a backwards effect, since travis' vengeful streak kicked into high gear and he kept his brash nature if only to as a physical retort to jason's criticism.

other than the inferiority complex though, travis' home life was mostly average as well. both his parents were mild people, and usually gave him what he wanted. when they didn't, he'd complain or pester them enough until they did. they were both a little too kind-hearted for their own good, and for the better of their younger son, but as a result, travis didn't have hard beginnings at home. he was a happy child, which helped develop his cheery, happy nature. his laughter only grew over time, and he learned to love being happy, and making others happy through actions close to how his parents raised him. if only he hadn't gotten such a rude way of talking from his lack of discipline.

in a lot of ways, travis was raised in possibly the perfect environment for his interests in k-pop and music to blossom. being in close proximity to the koreatown in l.a., travis had been exposed to k-pop early in his life. while it hadn't been so popular in the states at the time, he immediately took to the unique style of music and the image that k-pop stars put up, which led to his passion for music. his father would take him the annual korean festival each year, and he'd see stars from south korea live, inspiring him to pursue becoming an idol. for the most part, his family was okay with this -- jungseop was always a passive, accepting man, and karla had loved korean culture since she was young. she herself, had loved to sing in both korean and english, so she taught travis the basics of singing as a child. from there, he learned to love it, and it quickly became his drive in life.

most of travis' musically inclined american friends were, however, rappers, including his best friend from childhood, kevin. they didn't particularly understand why travis wanted to sing so badly, but travis always put them in their place when he demonstrated his powerful long notes and projection. he picked up singing as an art from as early as 6, and even started doing covers at 8 and writing his own music at 13. he was in the school choir, mostly to develop his skills, and did musicals all throughout his young life in and out of school. in his spare time outside of school, he'd sing in the garage, or perform with his friends in their own musical endeavors. he's been featured before in a lot of kevin's underground rapping, and continues to support his buddy by collaborating on lyrics together over e-mails. one of his artistic friends, amy, would make sets for them and design costumes for their mv's. 

unlike the majority of his friends though, music wasn't just a hobby. he had a dream to seek out, and he ran after it with all the fury of a wild bull. this did get him teased frequently -- but no matter how many times he was stepped on, he'd kick himself back up and move forward as if nothing happened. he was a competitive singer, and produced and wrote his own songs, granted he had some help in early stages from his mother. he even chose to enter singing competitions, and always sung in talent shows across california. one of his seniors in choir, nikko, even took him out of state to sing in other competitions, since his parents were too busy with their jobs to drive him to a lot of places. all of travis' young life was surrounded with song and music, and he particularily took to holding out long notes as his primary talent when he discovered his above-average lung capacity.

over the years, travis trained himself, and had his father teach him to perfect his korean, so that he could one day audition to become a trainee in south korea. he paid no mind to those who laughed at his dreams, and diligently practiced and perfected his skills every night, to the point where his parents have had to tell him to shut his trap because he'd be practicing in the garage till 1am in the morning. he'd look up korean culture and customs online, and would go visit his other korean-american friends often to practice. thanks to his exposure to so much of his heritage, he did manage to integrate korean culture into his own life pretty easily. soon enough, his constant practice and drive paid off; the fateful day came midway through travis' 15th year of life in the states, after he was accepted to become a trainee under s.m. entertainment during a global audition.

preferred positions || main vocalist, dancer, composer
persona || passionate power vocals
previous company || s.m. entertainment

trainee years || 5 years
trainee life || as a trainee, travis did have his troubles being a foreigner who literally only visited south korea on two summer vacations. even with all that his father taught him, at the beginning of his trainee life he had a terrible time in the rigorous language courses. he could speak pretty much fluently, but writing and reading in korean was exceptionally difficult, to the point where he almost didn't pass his trainee period because of it. he had other trainees help him a little, but overall he still has some difficulty. over time, travis learned more korean customs than he had at home, and getting used to the cultural change was one of his biggest hardships. he's been lost several times, and teased because of it, since he couldn't make out the signs in korean when he first got to south korea.

eventually, travis did become more accustomed to dormitory living, as well as actually being a trainee. the schedules got less taxing on his health and body over the years, and he learned how to dance pretty well from his prior experience in taekwondo. since his best friend from high school was an underground rapper and he's been around that world for a lot of his youth, he also picked up how to rap quickly, but does a lot better rapping in english than korean. most of his problems in his later trainee years was actually his personality. because of his tendencies toward cursing, being brash, and leaking information, he was considered a problem child to most of the other trainees, and by a lot of the staff. if he weren't so talented and diligent at what he did best, he probably would've failed long ago, since it took him awhile to adjust his mannerisms. he's improved for the most part, but still can be brash and kinda an idiot.

travis also had a bit of a hard time with relationship building in the music industry in his first few years. his foreigner status did get him a lot of skepticism, and at times it was hard for him to make friends, or others would avoid talking to him because of his nature. thankfully, his extroverted persona and cheerfulness made him able to obtain close friends over his time training. he'd often hang out with them, and they'd practice overtime together, since travis naturally took to people who shared his diligence and passion to achieve their dreams. he even got close to some of his sunbae-nim's like his role-models jonghyun and amber, whom helped him grow exponentially. even so, five years had passed without much of a change in rhythm for the young singer.
reason for leaving || to say the least, being a trainee wasn't exactly what travis expected. back in the states, he was a pretty good singer -- he had worked his whole life to perfecting it after all. but as a trainee, he still wasn't good enough. not even mentioning his terrible skill in picking up writing and reading korean. he wasn't a good enough dancer to be cast as a back up, and most of the time, he was just an errand boy as far as he was concerned. five years of waiting had withered away a lot of travis' strong belief that he could make it in s.m. entertainment. after seeing his friends debut and after seeing so many fail and leave the industry, he started to figure.. there had to be something better than this. he hadn't realized just exactly.. how few people ever made it to the stage. his image wasn't right, his mouth was off the hook, and no matter how much overtime he put in, it just seemed like his chance to debut wasn't coming.

the last straw was when they told him he'd finally be an official member of an upcoming boy group.. only to be scrapped just a few weeks before the official deadline. optimism can only carry you so far. so instead.. wild ideas took place. a night in the dormitory did many wondrous things for a frustrated brain. including coming up with an almost perposterous idea. a perposterous idea that took him to a close friend he knew was equally as frustrated, and equally as excited for a chance to debut. a close friend who agreed with him -- it was time to leave's the bird's nest for their own adventure. in late 2014, travis and his friend quit with several other trainees to work on forming their own independent group.
part-time job || barista at small cafe

singing twin || jonghyun [shinee]
dancing twin || niel [teen top]
rapping twin || n/a
idol twin || dongwoo [infinite]

aff name || shirouen
preferred name || kae

comments || n/a
questions || n/a
suggestions || n/a

scene requests || n/a

extra || " when you really want something, stride toward it like there's no tomorrow. reach out and take what belongs to you. "