About

Appearance

Tau has pale, silvery blue hair and ruby red eyes. Influenced by careless advice on how to properly behave in social situations, he frequently 'makes eye contact' by keeping his eyes wide and largely not blinking, and he frequently smiles, showing off pointed teeth. He has a small dimple on his left side when he grins. Tau has acid burn scars on the left side of his face, and on his right forearm. Tau has his own, unique mask, but doesn't like wearing it because he thinks it makes him look "unfriendly". (In truth, it keeps him from looking unhinged because it hides those wide, staring eyes, but Tau doesn't understand this.)

Personality

Tau is excitable and distractable. He's friendly, but also has an unintentionally sinister air about him due to his lack of understanding concerning common social behavior and ethics. He's mostly interested in studying and researching whatever catches his fancy at any given time. He comes from a time in Il Dottore's life at the Akademiya where he was just beginning to gain a keen interest in machines. While Tau appreciates and likes machines, he's actually more interested in animals. He knows a plethora of animal facts, and likes to tell them to people to fill silence. He likes petting and snuggling animals, and is unperturbed by resistance from them. He has an incredibly high tolerance for pain, and will happily suffer animal bites and scratches in order to show them affection, and he interprets this as a kind of affection all its own. He himself is fairly physically affectionate with people as well, and frequently invades others' personal space. He brushes off most things, but he can be made to understand that something is an insult, and he's capable of being emotionally hurt--though he tends to brush it off or bury it. He doesn't like dealing with serious emotions. As he becomes his own person and starts to identify more as an individual and not one of Il Dottore's segments, he leans on his friends to help him sort through complicated emotions. Tau moves frequently--he paces, swings his legs, gesticulates, etc. Perhaps his strangest quirk is that, when faced with a question he doesn't know the answer to immediately, or a strange situation, he imitates Il Dottore or other segments, making suggestions to himself in their voices and with their personalities until he finds a solution he finds acceptable. Tau is forgetful and very, very easy to distract.

History

Tau was an especially experimental subject, an attempt to create a segment using fewer materials and less time. These parameters caused Tau to come out a bit broken. He's strange and eccentric, and he annoys, unsettles, and disappoints Il Dottore and the other segments. Tau was sent off to Mondstadt and given something of a mission to keep him out of the way, and was then largely forgotten about. Because Tau is so different from the other segments, he was unaffected by the Omega build's decision to destroy them all. He is alive and well in Mondstadt still.

Relationships

Lotte -- Tau and Lotte started off on the wrong foot when he kidnapped her. His original intention was to turn her into the Fatui, as he'd heard they were looking for her, but she ended up winning him over, and when her friends mounted a rescue, Tau left after a brief scuffle. Since then, he's worked to become friends with her. He doesn't quite understand how to do things like casually hang out, so when he wants to visit her, he tends to resort to a friendly kidnapping. Lotte has grown accustomed to this.

Xingqiu -- Tau thinks that Xingqiu is a good match for Lotte, and he thinks they make a cute couple. Xingqiu doesn't like him, but Tau believes they're on good terms.

Tamako -- Tau is under the impression that Tamako likes him--maybe as more than a friend. He believes she truly cares about him, and that her aggression is merely her way of showing that care. He likes to antagonize and play around with her. For Tamako's part, she can't stand him, and her aggression is exactly what it appears to be.

Il Dottore and His Other Segments -- When he was first created, Tau wanted to be useful and sought approval from Il Dottore and his segments. That desire has since faded, and he's more interested in becoming his own person. He doesn't necessarily condemn what they do, but he's coming to terms with the fact that he will never be liked by them, and that he doesn't owe them anything.