Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

 The assignments hadn't been coming as frequently these days. It had led to the band of mercenaries all getting restless and snappish with one another. Travis mostly avoided the conflicts, instead spending time with Leo. It was strange to have confessed love to one another and now having to deal with the consequences. Of course, the consequences were mostly good, since he had Leo in his bed most nights. It was amazing to see how the Lion could go from his brutal, take-no-prisoners attitude with anyone else to becoming sweet and affectionate behind closed doors.

The flip side, of course, was that Leo had the emotional range of a teaspoon. What he felt, he didn't stop to analyze, which occasionally left Travis wondering how a man could go through life without being the least bit of introspection. His emotional state sometimes conflicted with the Lion's usual way of dealing with things, which was usually punching them until they went away. The Tin Man was left trying to explain the disconnect between what Leo was feeling and why he didn't understand it. This was one such awkward moment. They'd gone out to a bar where a man had made a pass at Travis. Leo had nearly beaten him to death before Travis had pulled him away and dragged him back to the compound.

Before he could even start to explain why he just couldn't do that, Grimm gave the two of them a new assignment. This was going to be a simple retrieval of information. The Tin Man was to go in and steal some very important documents from a heavily-guarded facility. The Cowardly Lion was there to watch his back and take care of anyone who got in their way. Stealth was the name of the game for this job. If they got caught by the enemy forces, they were on their own. So here they were, watching the military facility where the documents were stored from about half a mile away through a pair of binoculars.

"I'm just saying you can't beat the crap out of anyone who so much as looks at me," Travis was saying, trying to get the message through Leo's thick skull.

Player Info
Player Name: Shade
Preferred IM: unlimitedbytime on AIM
Email: PM for it.
PM: This journal
Timezone: PST
Other characters: Nuka

Character Info
Real Name: Travis Cooper
Codename: The Tin Man
Age: 32
Unit & Position: Oz Unit, Breaking and Entering Specialist.

Backstory: Some people are just destined to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Travis Cooper was definitely one of them. It all started with his grandfather, Daniel Bartholomew Cooper. He'd pulled off little schemes before, but in 1971, he hijacked an airplane. Every crome from then on was only bigger and better. Though he lost most of the money in the parachute jump, Dan had found a real knack for pulling off sophisticated crimes. He passed on his knowledge to his sons. The second-oldest was named Tyler. Tyler developed his skills in a slightly different direction, becoming a con man who could pull off even the most outrageous and far-fetched schemes. He ended up marrying his girlfriend, Stacy Johnson, when she became pregnant. Travis was born on April Fools Day, a fact which never ceases to amuse him.

The marriage ended almost as quickly as it had begun. After six months of fleeing from one town to the next and living out of hotel rooms with the cops always on her husband's trail, Stacy left one night without so much as a note goodbye. Saddled with a baby and still practically a kid himself, Tyler did what any kid stuck without a clue what to do next would do: he returned home and expected his parents to help clean up the mess. Travis was raised almost as much by his grandparents as his father, with aunts and uncles always coming through the practically-revolving door of their home. Encouraged by his grandfather and father from an early age to develop his skills (and with a stern warning from his grandmother to never get caught), Travis discovered early-on in childhood his natural born athleticism and agility made it easy for him to slip in and out of places no one else could gain access to.

When he was around seven, one of his father's schemes took a bad turn, and they were forced to go on the run, accompanied by Grandpa Cooper. Travis got used to staying only a few weeks in one place before having to drop everything and move on. Most kids would have complained, but he really didn't know any better. When things calmed down a few years later, they returned home. This cycle would be repeated for the rest of Travis' childhood. As he grew up, his father began including him in more and more schemes, allowing him to refine and hone his skills as he broke into bigger and better targets.

Travis ended up dropping out of school when he was around 17. He had just moved around too much and missed too much school to graduate on time. He never bothered to get his GED, figuring he already knew enough to get himself through life. The jobs he took on over the next few years gave him enough money to move out on his own. Living across from the small apartment he'd rented was Lynn. An extroverted English major, she fell hard for Travis and vice-versa. At first, she never questioned where all the beautiful presents he showered her with came from or how a guy who didn't have a 9-to-5 job was able to move them into a penthouse. Eventually, she did ask, and Travis lied. He kept right on lying for the next four years, until she stumbled onto the other half of his life quite by accident.

To say she didn't take it well was like saying the Hindenburg was a small explosion. She screamed, cursed, and threw things at Travis, who honestly didn't understand why she was so upset. He was using his "talents" as a way to support them both. Sure he had lied, but only to protect her. Angry, she walked out. Travis didn't go after her. He waited for her to come back. Once she had cooled off, he was sure she'd come around to the idea.

He waited and waited. When one o'clock in the morning rolled around, he was pacing back and forth, worried sick. When the phone rang, relief washed over him, but only for a moment. The call came through from the police, telling him there had been an accident. Travis kept it together until he saw Lynn's body. That's when his heart left, never to quite come back to his body.

Heartbroken and distraught, he blamed himself for Lynn's death. It was all his fault and no one could prove differently. Anti-depressants helped lessen the pain only enough to get him barely functioning. He went back to breaking and entering, stealing for anyone willing to pay the price, but his heart just wasn't into it like before. Nothing, it seemed, could make him happy ever again. He became reckless, taking on jobs he knew he couldn't handle.

Travis was finally caught when he broke into the home of a millionaire with a better than expected security system. He would have gotten a lighter sentence, had it not been for the fact he'd shot and killed one of the security guards during the robbery. Completely apathetic to the idea of prison, it was then that the mysterious figure known as Grimm approached him. He offered him a chance to put his skills to use in a different line of work. With nothing to lose, Travis accepted. The Tin Man was born.

That was eight years ago. He's been with Grimm Units a long time now, enough to see people come, go, and die in the line of fire. Travis is in a much better place than he was before. Grimm's his home now, for better or for worse.

Personality:  Travis' personality is best defined by his occupation. He's a thief and a damned good one at that. The understandably different messages and morals that his family taught him led to a warped sense of right and wrong. He honestly doesn't see what's so terrible about what he does. It's a dog-eat-dog world and he's just staying one step ahead of those too stupid to know that they're the next target.

Tin's got two very different sides to his persona. In public, he's warm but distant with people, the kind of person who is likable yet a little bit dim. It makes it a lot easier to kill a mark if he doesn't care who they are. In Grimm, upon first meeting him, he is very much the same way. People should be lied to until they can be trusted. Combining these two traits makes it hard for him to get close to anyone at first.

Once he trusts someone, they've got a very loyal friend. He's got a natural empathetic streak that allows him to tell how people are feeling very easily. Those who try to hide anything that is bothering them will be bugged until they spill the beans. He's often found playing the part of mother hen to the younger Grimm orphans, always trying to look out for them. This empathy extends to his teammates and those he trusts. Everyone else is under suspicion until he gets to know them better.

Reason for joining?: Grimm bailed him out of what would have been a very long prison sentence eight years ago.