⚡ app. for somarium
[Player name] Rae
[Age] 20
[Personal Journal] of_culpability
[Other characters currently played] Nope.jpg
[Character name] Pao-lin Huang
[Age] 15
[Canon] Tiger & Bunny
[Point in time taken from canon] Post Episode 25
[Background]
Pao-lin @ Tiger & Bunny Wiki
There's not too much that's currently known in regards to Pao-lin's past. It is known that she's originally from Hong Kong and that neither of her parents currently reside in Sternbild with her. Instead, when she left for the city in order to become a Hero, she was left in the care of a woman named Natasha.
Her work for HeroTV began soon after, and she was sponsored by Odysseus Communication. While Odysseus acted as her sponsor company, Pao-lin also gained sponsorship from DMM.com and Calbee. In order to be in line with the other Heroes, Pao-lin adopted a hero alias -- and thus -- Dragon Kid was born.
It's unknown just how long she worked for HeroTV prior to the events of the series, but it's presumed to be a short while considering she was only thirteen at the outset of the show.
When her time in the limelight appears, she's tasked with caring for the Mayor's young son, Sam, who (unbeknownst to the Heroes at the time) possesses telekinetic abilities as a NEXT power. The rest of her colleagues are reluctant to care for the baby, essentially leaving a befuddled Pao-lin with the task. She's quite out of her element at first, since she has no experience dealing with children, but over the course of the day she's shown to embrace the job.
When she and Sam are kidnapped for ransom by a criminal trio of sisters with NEXT abilities related to scent -- sensing lies, money and danger, respectively -- Pao-lin is able to overcome the women using her ability (with a bit of help from Sam).
She later aids her fellow girls Karina and Nathan in disarming the mechs set throughout the city by Jake Martinez and Kriem.
Afterward, she and the remainder of the Heroes (sans Kotetsu) fall victim to Albert Maverick's ability to manipulate memories, causing them to believe Kotetsu to be an impostor and a murderer. They are told to go after him, and attack him until his daughter Kaede -- who has developed a NEXT ability of her own -- rewrites each of their memories, apart from Barnaby. Then they enter into battle against the android H-01, the false Wild Tiger, before being overpowered and captured. When she reawakens, Pao-lin discovers that she is alone in a strange room with no exit, and that she has a bomb around her neck, essentially. To complicate matters further, Dr. Rotwang reveals that her fellow Heroes are in the same predicament, and that they will all die once Barnaby and Kotetsu lose to H-01 -- unless one of them pushes the button attached to their bomb in order to live, thus killing the other five.
Despite being rivals, the heroes care about one another too much to leave the others to die. Kaede manages to use Karina's powers (which she acquired when they touched) in order to foil Rotwang and save the heroes, but not before Kotetsu takes a (seemingly) fatal blow.
Once Maverick's plans are foiled and he is killed by Lunatic, the heroes seem to lead rather normal lives while continuing on with HeroTV -- despite Kotetsu and Barnaby's temporary retirement. A year has passed since then when Pao-lin is seen again, in a boutique wearing a dress bought for her by her parents, who are with her when her wrist communicator buzzes and she heads out for her job as Dragon Kid.
[Personality]
Likely the most dominant aspect of Pao-lin's personality, as well as the most easily recognizable, is her tomboyish nature. At the beginning of the series, Pao-lin essentially seemed to avoid any and everything which might mark her as even remotely feminine. She didn't wear dresses, instead preferring a more comfortable and practical jumpsuit, did kung-fu, and refused to act cutesy for the cameras as Dragon Kid, facts which caused her guardian Natasha to bemoan her tomboyish tendencies.
Pao-lin appears to be comfortable in her own skin until episode thirteen, which sees her regard Nathan as more of a girl than she is. It seems as though she's a bit concerned by this fact, as she had only recently begun to embrace a bit of her feminine side. The first sign of her slowly evolving nature comes at the tail end of episode nine, after she and Sam escape their kidnappers. She realises then that she enjoyed caring for the baby, despite her initial reservations and fear that she wasn't feminine enough to do such a thing successfully. In addition, Pao-lin comes to the realisation that her own parents care for her very much when she discovers that the flower shaped hairpin they gave her before she left for Sternbild -- which she had previously discarded for being too 'girly' -- held the meaning "thinking of you always."
Upon her discovery, the youngest hero decides to don the pin whenever she's in her civilian garb in order to express her own feelings for her parents. This moment opens up a new hobby for her, as she later states that she enjoys collecting flower pins -- something that the old Pao-lin would certainly never do. She further embraces her femininity following the timeskip at the end of season one, in which she is seen wearing a dress, which she enjoys despite her clear embarrassment.
Being as young as she is, Pao-lin is easily the most energetic and gung-ho of the Heroes, along with the somewhat childlike Kotetsu and Keith. Her young age and small stature may cause some to overlook her as a sufficient threat, which is a huge mistake when her NEXT ability and physical prowess are combined. Of course, she's not as much a sheer physical threat as someone like Antonio, but she can easily hold her own in hand to hand combat thanks to her extensive martial arts training.
As a young girl, she's shown to have a rather sunny disposition despite her ability to decimate a foe when angered. Pao-lin is often seen wearing a smile when off duty, and once she learns to overcome her own personal insecurities a bit, she enjoys keeping close company with her colleagues despite many age gaps. She's especially close to Karina and Ivan, who are only a few years her senior. It's probably a bit overwhelming for her at times, when only two of her seven fellow heroes are within her age range, but she's shown to have rather close relationships with Nathan and Kotetsu as well -- seemingly viewing them as a welcome feminine presence and foster father of sorts, respectively -- despite the clear difference. It's unclear what her relationships with the remaining three (Barnaby, Keith, and Antonio) are like, but it's likely that she views them all as a surrogate family of sorts since she's so far from home at such a young age.
With her youth also comes a bit of awkwardness. Sure, she's determined and spunky, but underneath it all, she's bound to face a bit of insecurity. It appears as though she masks most feelings of inferiority or frustration underneath the guise of happiness and outward strength, likely because she doesn't want to be viewed as weak by anyone -- least of all those she cares about. That's not to say that she's a gloomy person by any means, since she's almost always shown to be quite the contrary, but instead she merely chooses to hide the occasional dampened mood rather than express it.
[Abilities]
Pao-lin has a NEXT ability which allows her to produce and manipulate lightning. She's also armed with a metal staff, which simultaneously allows her to conduct electricity and acts as a formidable weapon all its own. The youngest Hero is exceptionally skilled in the area of martial arts as well.
[Other important stuff]
There's a running gag that Pao-lin loves to eat. Seriously, for as little as she is, girl can put away some food.
[Sample post]
[First Person]
- What were you doing before now?
I was with everyone else working to capture the robbers, but Blue Rose caught them before any of the rest of us even had a chance!
[Sure, she's a bit bummed, but the criminals were captured and Karina had been pretty amazing -- and there was always next time.]
- Someone is trying to rob you! What do you do?
A criminal?
[She perks up the slightest bit at this.]
I'd apprehend them, of course! The city would be much better off without them on the streets.
[Sheepishly:]
Ms. Natasha would probably want me to do something cuter than knocking them out with my staff when making the arrest though...
- Do you stand up against authority, go against all odds, and if you could, pierce the heavens with your fighting spirit? If not, would you if you could?
'P-Pierce the heavens with my fighting spirit?'
[She offers a comical blink before giggling.]
That sounds like something from one of those Shounen mangas Ivan likes to read!
- If you could have any super ability, what would it be and why?
Well, I think my NEXT ability is pretty cool already, even if Ms. Natasha doesn't think lightning is girly enough. I mean, of course Blue Rose's ice and Fire Emblem's flames are pretty, but I don't really care about those things too much. As long as the criminals are locked away, I'm happy.
- There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
[She brings a finger to her lips in silent contemplation.]
I guess I'd eat it as long as it's not completely ruined. There's no point in wasting perfectly good food, is there?
- The hottest boy/girl in class/workplace just confessed their love to you. How do you respond?
[CUE SHOCKED FACE.]
M-Me? I don't think that would ever really happen to me... Karina's the one that likes girly things that boys like. Or maybe Nathan, he's a lot like her too I guess.
[Third Person]
Pao-lin carefully surveyed her surroundings for the twenty-sixth (yes, she had been keeping a running tab with how utterly bored she was) time that hour before letting a tiny sigh slip out from between her lips as she set a course for nowhere. She had been in Somarium for about three weeks now, and while it was easy enough to adjust to most of the changes -- since she had left her family and home in Hong Kong in favour of life in Sternbild at such a young age -- the young NEXT was finding it immensely difficult to accept that she just wasn't needed here.
Since her adoption into the HeroTV family, Pao-lin had dedicated her entire life to ensuring the safety of the citizens of Sternbild along with her fellow Heroes. It was understandable, then, that the fifteen year old struggled with her new-found sense of... was it freedom... or constraint? A lack of criminals meant a severe lack of need for heroes, which meant a severe increase in free time which Pao-lin had no idea how to properly deal with.
Of course, she had many of her colleagues here to keep her company, but there was no way that she could monopolize all of their time! Training was always a nice way to spend time, since it kept her in shape and allowed her to meet new people along the way -- but she wanted more.
Glancing briefly at a store-front window as she passed through the streets of Somni in search of something decent to eat (which really meant nearly anything), Pao-lin stopped dead in her tracks at what she caught a glimpse of. It was a dress, not entirely unlike the one her parents had bought her right before her arrival in Somarium. It wasn't really anything special, certainly not something that a girl like Karina would ever wear, but to Pao-lin... it was almost like home. Pressing her fingers into the glass, she allowed herself a second of sadness before reaching a decision. Withdrawing her fingers, unaware of the smudges left behind on the previously pristine glass, the girl pushed open the door to the small boutique and with a blossoming smile, found her answer.
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I missed this place and my old cast which is full of horrible enablers.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] The simplest of all: be nice to others. It kind of takes the fun out of things otherwise.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] I used to play here!
[Any questions?] None. :|b