Dualaich Oidhche (Kameanmhainn) [student]

PERSONALITY

Dualaich is an agonizingly honest kid. He feels everything strongly, and he is growing increasingly bad at hiding his feelings as he grows older.  Not better, worse.  His face is basically a possessed etch-a-sketch on an average day, and a mood ring on a quiet one.  Fortunately, he has an unrestricted range of moods, and while he rarely gets stuck in any particular one for long, his mood does fit the circumstances... more or less.  As long as you know that someone asked who he was crushing on while in the middle of a very sombre assembly.

As he does feel so strongly as a baseline, Dualaich has a number of methods to help himself calm down, and he is... okay... at remembering to use them.  They mostly focus on reconnecting with his physical senses, especially his sense of touch, and also help when he starts to get overwhelmed with crowds or noise or whatever.  He does have an unfortunate tendency to start to panic if multiple people try to talk to him at the same time.

In class, Dua is usually more focused than he appears to be, as he is a prolific fiddler.  He always has stacks of patterned paper handy, since folding origami is extremely calming for him, but will also doodle in the margins of his notes if necessary.  In a pinch, he will absentmindedly use his quirk to give himself something to fold.

Outside of class, Dua spends his time studying (for the classes he doesn’t get to fidget in), working out (on holidays at home, he gets to do his cardio workouts with Nic; she also helps out with his pushups and sit-ups, being a solid 50 lbs), making origami out of a variety of... unique materials, braiding and plaiting anything from rugs to curtain pulls, and reading about origami and knots.

As a final note, Dualaich is surprisingly stubborn... at least until you meet his mother.  His moods and expressions may change like Scottish weather, but he sticks to things like burdock. 

BACKGROUND HISTORY

Some people hide behind big, dramatic histories secrecy and heavy emotions.  They like to pretend that they had happy, normal childhoods and came to their passion and drive through vicarious stories of heroes versus villains.

Some people actually have happy, normal childhoods, but had one sudden burst of drama that drew them into the field.

Dua is the son of a villain.  Not big time, and not exactly known in Japan since Hitch moved to Glasgow as a teenager.  A few years later, he had a growing reputation for tying people to anything nearby, an infant daughter, and a lot fewer people in his life than he expected.

When Sakura was five, Hitch met Catriona.

It went very badly.  She arrested him.

Three times.

Hitch went to prison on the third, and Catriona inadvertently fostered his daughter.  Over time, Sakura drew the two together until Hitch successfully made it through a villain rehabilitation program.  Dualaich was born three years after that.

Three days after he was born, Hitch received a warning from an old villain friend.  He and Catriona boarded a plane for Japan a week later, kids in tow.

Hitch and Sakura died in a purely coincidental car crash six months later.  Catriona and Dualaich survived, though Catriona was injured.  Once discharged from hospital, she moved in with her only remaining connection in the country, her dead husband’s largely estranged parents.  They had strong opinions about their son and how their grandson ought to be raised.  Catriona withstood them, indomitable as her quirk, until Dua was ten and she had built up some seniority with her new police detachment.  Then she transferred just far enough that the elderly Yamanaras couldn’t show up every week.

She never hid the past from Dua or her coworkers.  She was a steadfast supporter of opportunities for criminal reform.  And when her usually quiet, occasionally suddenly hot-tempered son declared over dinner one day that he wanted to be a professional hero, and that he wanted to go to the best school possible to do it... she raised an eyebrow and asked if he expected to do that before or after finishing middle school.

Dua stopped to think about it, agreed that he couldn’t start right away, and then moped until his mother gave him two things: a puppy flown over from her brother’s farm back in Scotland; and a small book detailing how to get in shape for hero schools.

In some ways, Dua’s life really started that day.  He had been passably involved in both sports and academics, but nothing outstanding.  He was neither popular nor a complete loner, for all that his apparent baseline was Nervous Mouse, but he hadn’t found a passion.

Now he had both.  If asked, he doesn’t remember what made him want to be a hero.  Something about combining the best of both his parents.  In reality, he remembers but it’s something that grew very gradually over several years.  Finding the courage to speak up... that took a lot longer.  Now, though, he had a puppy with a concerning amount of energy - physical and mental - and knowledge about how to get himself to be capable of doing what he felt he ought to do.

His puppy, Nic (for Nighean, because his mother always called the pup girl anyway), did more than whip her human into the best physical shape of his life, and more than bulk up his mildly subpar social skills.  She also managed to put him in the path of a petty thief in one of his classes, attempting to break into a neighbour’s house, and distracted the guy long enough for Dua to fold his classmate’s arm into the railing.

He got a very extensive scolding, both by the responding officers and his mother, but despite using his quirk he had caused no harm to his classmate.  It was the first time he had ever used his quirk on a person.  Up until that moment of desperation, he hadn’t known how much his quirk was like his father’s.  There was a lot less similarity than either he or his mother had thought.  

Hiccup aside, Dua successfully made it through the U.A. application process and found himself in a U.A. classroom.  

Now what?

THE ARMORY

Costume: Predominantly dark purple shading toward indigo, with subtle patterns in gloss/matte reminiscent of traditional origami paper designs, and featuring both temperature resistance to 600 C (although Dua would rather the space stay below 40 C; he can still heat up in the thing) and moisture impermeability.  The suite features slim storage compartments, all easily accessible, on both thighs and the lower back for origami material; open-palm gloves with armoured backs, and a helmet/half-cloak combination in the style of a traditional crane to protect his upper body; he is less thrilled with the wing-styled shoulders.  The helmet includes a solid black mask which completely hides his face, but which does not impair air flow nor tint his vision more than good sunglasses (it’s even polarized!).  The suit’s calf-high boots offer good traction and support for running on a variety of surfaces and open windows on his arches and calves for use of his quirk while grappling. 

Equiment: sheets of various materials for use with his quirk (aluminum x 10, steel x 3, plexiglass x 5, rigid plastic x5; 6x6 inches each except for four 4x16 inch aluminum) in sorted compartments; radio and microphone built into his helmet; and a pre-folded item: a three-inch-wide, ten foot long piece of lightweight metal strong enough to support his weight without bowing and thin enough to fold quickly, kept folded but not creased into a flat multi-point star with only a small latch keeping it from reverting to its original shape.

QUIRK & SKILLS

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ORIGAMI

TYPE: Emitter
RANK/LEVEL: D+
SUMMARY:
Dua can, through direct contact, alter the properties of what he touches such that it may be folded like paper without damaging the thing being folded.  Once he loses contact, it regains its original properties for the most part.  What lingers is the ability to unfold any folds that have been made without damage, and being folded does not cause damage.  If something remains folded for more than one post, there will probably be some creases left behind for a proportionate length of time (same number of posts as spent folded) after unfolding, but these are also non-damaging.  Folding along pre-existing creases reduces the physical effort required to re-fold the object.

This quirk is primarily limited by time. From the initiation of contact and quirk activation (fully intentional or otherwise), the affected object gradually becomes more foldable. A thin sheet of rigid but not brittle material, such as plexiglass, becomes foldable almost instantly, but a sheet of glass of similar thickness will take half a post to fold without breaking - assuming it isn’t attached to a frame. A plank of wood, like a shelf, takes closer to a full post; the specific time depends on how hard Dualaich pushes it and the species of wood involved, as well as other layers like lacquer, paint, or lamination. The least-flat object Dualaich has folded is a table; it took him about five minutes to make it foldable. He also has to maintain contact to maintain the foldability of the object; without contact, the flexibility rapidly returns to the original condition. Most objects return to their usual foldability in half the time it takes Dualaich to make them foldable; he has found that non-living organic materials, like wood, instead take twice as long to return to their original condition. Returning to the original degree of foldability does not automatically undo completed folds, but un-creased folds not held by another fold often spring back into their original shape.

For objects less than a foot in average dimension (i.e. a one-foot cube or a sheet that is one foot wide, ten feet long, and one tenth of a foot thick), it becomes more or less foldable as a single unit with no size related complications. Larger objects are trickier. Dualaich can use multiple points of contact, with each point able to affect a cubic foot of material. If this results in at least 90% of the object becoming foldable, the object becomes completely foldable. If the object is too large to affect, nothing happens. If Dualaich can identify a discrete piece of the object, he can focus his quirk on that piece alone, such as one plank of a fence. A point of contact must be direct skin contact with the object to be affected, and requires a minimum of about two square inches of contact. His palms are the most common point of contact used but all of his skin can active his quirk equally.

Some examples of larger things Dualaich has folded in the past: a 3/8” thick, 4x8’ sheet of plywood into a box and lid to hold his mother’s Christmas gift; a 1/2” thick, 3x3’ sheet of glass into a crane to go into said box; a 2x5’ wood coffee table into a mess; a collection of 2x4s and 3/4” plywood into nail-free agility ramps for Nic; a steel exterior door into a still-locked mostly-triangular non-obstacle (he forgot his keys at home); and car doors, to protect them from oncoming traffic while helping his mom with groceries and the like.  Also, his phone has been folded more times than he cares to admit (not every use of his quirk is, uh, intentional), but he will admit to folding it to protect the screen from scratches.

Dualaich applies his quirk to non-animal solid objects. He can push it too far, resulting in a backfire that makes his own point of contact foldable, but otherwise it does not activate on flesh. He can make trees foldable if they are small enough, but they are very stubborn. Wood that is no longer alive is generally easy to work with, size permitting, although thin sheets of metal and plastic are faster and often more useful. Glass is a headache due to its brittleness, and the same goes for ice. Soft objects, liquids, gases, and anything floppy is a no-go; they just won’t hold a crease! He can use his quirk on paper, but it really only stops him from permanently creasing it.

Dualaich can maintain the foldability of more than one object at a time. More objects dramatically increase the mental strain as well as the dexterity required, as with braiding using an increasing number of strings. Each additional object takes ten percent longer to make foldable than the previous object. With cooperative objects and plenty of time to keep it all straight in his head, he can currently manage four objects reliably (six if he just crumples them together) for up to six consecutive posts (ten posts if he keeps it under two objects, and each post without using his quirk recovers two posts). With uncooperative objects, like live wood, glass, or anything not very sheet-like, two is possible but requires his full attention. He has to physically fold an object once it has been made foldable, but anyone else can do the folding as well. His quirk just makes it able to be folded. Folding the object requires minimal physical strength, similar to folding good, sturdy paper... as long as it isn’t securely attached on all sides, like a window in a frame.  The (currently theoretical) exception to this would be a structural support beam: if made foldable, the structural weight on it would likely cause it to immediately fold and collapse... which is why it remains theoretical.  Dualaich is not squish-proof.

Origami Weapons
Probably the most combat-based use of Dualaich’s quirk.  This uses the sheets of metal stocked in his suit to fold a weapon, usually simple knives or batons, for use in combat.  He is currently experimenting with creating a crossbow but has yet to find appropriate materials.  He can fold a basic knife in one post with both hands, two posts if only using one hand.  A baton barely takes more time than taking out the sheet to make it.  

Origami Shield
Functionally very similar to making a simple weapon, but requires more time to make a stronger shield using more sheets of material.  To defend against a punch of average human strength, one post and either aluminum or steel is sufficient; to stop or deflect something like a baseball bat swung by a decently strong person, two posts and steel. The shield does not necessarily stop Dualaich from being pushed back by the impact, but is very helpful for deflecting things.

Folded Restraint
Dualaich folds a nearby object around his opponent’s limbs, ideally a fence or other sturdy thin object, preventing them from moving until it has been unfolded.  Difficulty depends greatly on opponent’s level of resistance, since it is very hard to tie up something flailing around. He then requires one post to lightly restrain a non-resisting opponent, or two to strongly restrain them; for a resisting opponent, he needs two to finish lightly restraining them, and four posts to strongly restrain them.  A lightly restrained opponent may break free with very lucky thrashing, at risk of self-injury, or the restraint may be unfolded in one post using one free hand.  A strongly restrained opponent can break free using one free hand over four posts (two posts if they happen to be familiar with the folding pattern used), or two posts using two hands from the same person (one post if they are familiar with the pattern).

Fragile Transport
Got something to transport or protect that can’t handle being crumpled, bent, or folded?  Is it too big or unwieldy to prevent that from happening?  Is it of a volume that Dualaich can work with it?  Excellent.  He can use his quirk to safely fold it into a manageable size and/or shape, and then unfold it with no harm done once it is where it needs to be.  Alas, it is not protected from other effects or made any lighter.

WEAKNESSES/LIMITATIONS:
Generally speaking, the form of overuse Dua is most likely to encounter is attempting to fold too many objects at once.  The consequences of this are mental strain (Tylenol-grade headache, fatigue, errors) and issues with dexterity.  He can only focus on so much at once!  He can also simply use his quirk too much: this generally stems from continued or repeated use on materials that are at least moderately challenging to fold, such as four consecutive posts folding at least two pieces of glass or live wood, two consecutive posts folding at least four pieces of such materials, or four consecutive posts folding his maximum number of of objects.

He can only use his quirk on one large object at a time, using an appropriate number of points of contact, or one solid cubic object (which really doesn’t even respond to folding much anyway), and can only maintain its foldability for half a post without consequence; doing so for a full post will lead to backfiring.  Posts spent making something foldable count toward this maximum at half rate if it is the sole focus of his attention and at equal rate if he is doing anything else, such as fighting, folding something else, or holding an intelligent conversation.  Each post without using his quirk recovers 25% of the elapsed time. The consequences of this form of overuse are quite a bit different from simply focusing on too many things at once: the point of contact (usually the palms of his hands) become numb and stiff, the rate of foldability becomes irregular, and in extreme cases his quirk will backfire and cause his own flesh to become foldable at the point of contact.  He very much wants to avoid experiencing this in both hands at the same time because yes, he will get stuck until someone else unfolds him.

Objects he folds are not damaged by the folding process, but that is the only change to their durability. He can’t use his quirk to break anything, and he can’t use it to make some sort of magic shield. True, if someone hits something he has made foldable, it will fold under the impact, but if it smacks into something else in the process it will still take damage. He could be useful if he had to protect a poster from crumpling, perhaps, but it could still get wear, dirty, or torn. Or catch on fire. Objects he fold also do not become more elastic, so significant force will either move the object or cause damage to its points of attachment.  No folding openings in windows; he really needs access to a corner.

Dualaich’s quirk is not especially combat-oriented.  It has some good restraint and utility applications, but it doesn’t easily lend itself to helping him in a fight.  Also, to continue to use his quirk, he has to maintain direct contact with the object.  This is usually using his hands, and hands are very useful in combat.  If he’s using one to make something foldable, he can carefully use the same hand to make the folds, but he isn’t using it to wave a shield or grapple with his opponent or open a door (unless he is folding the door).

Also, he is basically useless against tentacles.  Especially slimy ones.  If it bends without limitation, it can squirm out of his folding on the spot. Not very effective.   Also, they’re slimy and gross so he’s probably already noped out of there.

RANK/LEVEL: C-
SUMMARY:
Dualaich initially dabbled in wrestling in a middle school club.  He didn’t excel at the time, but has since taken some additional training in related disciplines to develop a decent degree of skill.  He has the highest success rate when luring his opponent to taking an apparently dominant position.  He has excellent hand grip strength and quietly vicious submission holds. 

RANK/LEVEL: C-
SUMMARY:
Dualaich has something of a runner’s build, but he is more of a marathoner than a sprinter.  He won’t stand out on a 250m dash but after a 10k? He can keep going without a break.  He runs 5k most evenings, and usually 15k once a week.  He can also run 5k with up to 20 lbs of weight without noticeably impacting his speed.  

RANK/LEVEL: C+
SUMMARY:
This is not a combat skill.  He’s just been doing this since he could first fold paper - and yes, that was before his quirk showed up.  He can follow most advanced instructions, and has developed enough muscle memory and experience to sometimes come up with his own designs with only a few horrible failures.  He can fold cranes and boxes and boats and stars with his hands behind his back, in the dark, or with paper as small as two inches to a side before he’ll want to pull out the forceps.  Also, he can use forceps to fold tiny origami.

RANK/LEVEL: D 
SUMMARY:
Dualaich comes to U.A. with an osmotic background in law enforcement, connections, and legal knowledge from a police officer’s perspective, courtesy of his mother.  He knows a few senior officers by face and name, and his mother is respected enough that there is a decent chance that someone in a given precinct will recognize her name (it is, fortunately, a distinctive name in Japan).  He also has above-average knowledge of the difference in roles between pro heroes and police officers, and respect for the latter.

RANK/LEVEL: (write proposed rank here)
SUMMARY:
A good paragraph explaining the details of this skill, remember that it will coordinate with their skill level.

Vhexxen

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