Post by Lepa on Oct 24, 2023 21:52:32 GMT -8
Name: Maru Kichimura
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Race: Half-Tanuki
Home: Aster City
Alliance: Red Devils
Alignment: Neutral Good
Family: Tanuki father, human mother, Momo Kichimura (younger sister)
Friends: Kazuya Ono
Rivals: Ricky O'hara
Enemies: N/A
Likes: Cute girls, drinking games, money, karaoke
Dislikes: Kitsune, rabbits, fighting
Job: Server at Tanuki Noodle, his family restaurant
Relationship:
Maru lives with his parents and dotes on his little sister. He has an odd friendship with Kazuya, who protected Maru.
Personality:
Maru is a playful, trendy type with a penchant for girls and fashion. He's quite friendly, a bit teasing, but overall easy to approach. In the company of most people, he often makes light jokes. If a girl catches his eye, he'll be more prone to attempting flirting. He is also especially conscious of his appearance and usually makes an effort to look stylish and presentable.
In tense situations, he'll desperately try to remain diplomatic, if not clam up all together. He dislikes fighting and would rather avoid direct confrontation. He isn't above a few underhanded tactics however, claiming that he's just making the playing field more even for someone like him.
Powers:
Agility & Deception
Maru's not very strong, but he's very quick, so most of his close combat skill relies on evasive maneuvers and hit and run attacks. He tends to use the surroundings to his advantage, usually by hiding behind, scaling up or leaping from obstacles. He goes down pretty easily if struck hard enough once or twice in a fight.
Shapeshifting
An ability innate to tanuki. By default, Maru appears mostly human with natural tanuki ears and a tail, though he can magically hide them. He can use his shapeshifting to copy other peoples' appearances, but not powers or voices, though he is working to perfect the latter. Currently, the best he can do is imitate a person with his normal voice. He can also shift into a small, true tanuki, which is usually best for sneaking about or trying to appeal to others with cuteness.
Maru tends to use his shapeshifting for jokes and pranks, so he doesn't keep forms long. He can maintain his shapeshifted form for several hours if needed, but he prefers not to because he tends to get sore if he holds someone else's form for too long. He can also potentially transform into inanimate objects, but this would only be out of desperation; non-humanoid shapes are physically uncomfortable for him to maintain and again lead to soreness. Since he compares shapeshifting to tensing a muscle, he also cannot stay shapeshifted if he falls asleep or unconscious in some way. Startling, surprising him or making him laugh can also cause him to break his form, or at least enough to get his ears and tail to appear, exposing his charade.
Weaknesses:
He hates small spaces and is physically unable to use his powers if locked into a cage of some sort. He's also quick but a bit frail, so getting a good, solid strike on him can stun him, if not put him out for the rest of a fight. He also won't pass up an opportunity to drink - especially if challenged - but amusingly, he is a lightweight.
History:
Maru was born to a Tanuki father and human mother. He was later joined by a younger sister, and the small family lived a modest life. His parents made ends meet by running their own restaurant, Tanuki Noodle, where Maru would help out whenever he could. As a child, he was content, but as he grew older, Maru found himself coveting the nicer things in life.
But how could he even afford them? His parents already lived on a budget, and Maru couldn't just abandon the restaurant to find another job. He tried taking a second job on top of it, but with two jobs combined with school, he quickly burned out. Disheartened, Maru left his second job and returned to normal routine, though his parents gave him words of encouragement for his efforts. But what good was that? Maru loved his parents, but the thought of being trapped with them in poverty forever wasn't exactly the most reassuring thing in the world...
One day, when he heard his parents murmuring about being unable to afford birthday presents for his sister, Maru knew he had to try again. Just because he was unhappy didn't mean his little sister had to be. This time, however, he found himself taking a different approach... He purchased cheap snacks and began reselling them marked up at events, then slowly weaned his way into more... complicated sales. In plainer terms, he had become a small-time conman. Maru convinced himself that anyone foolish enough to fall for his sales deserved to be scammed, and with that mindset, he finally managed to make enough money on the side. He went on to surprise his little sister with several birthday gifts, much to his parents' own confusion and delight. He had explained it away as having taken up a side gig, which was true in a sense. They didn't need to know how he really got the money...
Maru would continue his small time cons, earning enough money on the side to support his family and to spend for his own leisure. It helped that he could shapeshift into a new person every time he made a sale - that made it all the while harder to pinpoint the true mastermind behind his schemes!
Unfortunately, all it took was for him to let his guard down once, and it was the opening someone needed. A pair of angry men, infuriated at being swindled, tracked down the half tanuki. They cornered him, demanding their money back - or else. Maru himself hadn't planned for this, and he wasn't a fighter by any means. He begged and pleaded, and when that didn't work, he ran. He tried and failed to shake his pursuers, and when they finally caught up to him, he was sure he'd be a goner.
Luckily for him, Maru escaped into the stomping grounds for a half-oni named Kazuya Ono. The large man interfered with the chase and frightened the two men off with an impressive display of very physical threats. Maru marveled at his power and thanked him profusely, though Kazuya berated him in response. This didn't deter Maru; in fact, the half-tanuki begged to stay close to him, just for a bit longer. He was still scared witless after all - he'd never been threatened like that before - and after some consideration, Kazuya allowed it.
Maru would go on to become good friends with the standoffish Kazuya, eventually joining his gang known as the Red Devils. He continues to work at Tanuki Noodle with his family, as well as his small cons and petty thievery on the side.
Anything else:
- He loves drinking games. He is very bad at them, but he loves them anyway.
- His favorite color is a peach or salmon colored pink.
- Maru hides the fact from his family that he's a gang member and borderline swindler. He doesn't want to make a bad impression on his sister or upset his parents.
Tanuki form:
