Naw

Storms in

Greetings.

Barges in.

Welcome.

You Can Become a Hero!

Tanegashima Wakako

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Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, Auditorium. April 7th

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Wakako had not expected to be approached in such a manner as she sat there. She got all rigid as she internally panicked for a moment. She shouldn’t have been so nervous, but she was still awfully worried she was going to make a fool of herself in her first real interaction with another student at this school. Of course, it probably wasn’t helping matters that she was sitting there acting all jittery because someone had spoken to her.

Brave face, brave face… She told herself. She faced this Kenzo Osamu with the best smile she could manage. “Not at all, buddy! Sit right next to me!” Her response was a far cry from the obscene formality she had been greeted with. But it wasn’t like Wakako to speak so formally, not that she minded someone else speaking like that. This Osamu definitely seemed like a very straight laced chap, all prim and proper, like a model student. He was perhaps the very model of at least half of what she expected from this school. As for the other half, she couldn’t quite say yet, but at least he seemed nice and polite.

“So, yeah, I’m, uh…” As much as she tried to put on a brave face, she was still more than a little nervous. ”I’m Tanegashima Wakako! I’m a Hokkaido native from Tomakomai, and, uh…” Still floundering. Not a good sign. He was going to think she was awkward. Which she was, but she didn’t want people to think it.

”…well where are you from, Kenzo-san?” She figured keeping him busy answering personal questions was a great way to make it seem like she was just fine conversing, while all she had to actually do was nod along.

---

@Etranger

S.P.D.S.V.B.E.E.V.

Salve.

Salutations!

Greetings.

Hello, Hi Hello

Welcome.

You Can Become a Hero!

Tanegashima Wakako

---

Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, Auditorium. April 7th

---

It was finally time. For so long, Wakako had been living on and off her mother’s blasted ship, getting her education as a mix of homeschooling and brief stays at schools in various ports. It was a mess, but her mother had many expectations, all of which involved shutting up and putting up. It was almost liberating to know that she would finally be settling down somewhere, just like before that fateful day she decided to travel with her mother, blissfully unaware of the ordeal that awaited her. Of course, given all the talk about Ishin and the fact that her mother adored the place suggested it would be a scant improvement over the rigid naval life she was about to leave behind. But, no matter what, at least her mother wouldn’t be there, and she would just be one of many students.

However, to call her just another unremarkable student was hardly appropriate. Due to an unholy combination of her genetics and her mother’s harsh and deliberate sculpting, Wakako was taller than just about all the students she could see around her, and ludicrously muscular to boot. The first day she was asked why she was wearing the girl’s uniform at one of the schools she went to, she cried in the bathroom shortly afterwards. Whether it was true or not, she could feel eyes upon her. She was deathly worried that the school’s reputation for conservatism was going to nettle her over the entire span of her stay here. Sometimes she wondered how her mother ever got used to looking the way she did. Somehow, Sanae Tanegashima, the Warship Hero, managed to embrace the amazon aesthetic wholeheartedly. Wakako wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to it.

But Wakako had not come this far just to wallow in misery. She had made up her mind long ago to grin and bear it all, whether “it” was her mother’s harshness, the leering of others, or the rigours of her tenure at Ishin Academy. She had already practised her smile so often in anticipation of this moment; it was a nice, warm, toothy, beaming smile. Ironically her mother liked to smile too, but it wasn’t a nice smile. Sanae Tanegashima was better known for a casual smirk that donned her face as she waltzed around taking down villains. Wakako had never asked, but she assumed that it was meant to be domineering and dismissive of those she fought with. That was the kind of thing she expected from her mother, and the exact kind of thing she never wanted to be. She may have never worked up the courage to oppose her directly, but she would never be the person her mother wanted her to be. She would get through this ordeal and come out of it her own person.

Wakako passed through the front gate, smiling and waving at those that caught her eye. They weren’t guaranteed to be looking at her, but just the same, best to put on a brave face. No point in cringing in fear and looking down, that would just invite trouble, and she knew from experience that not everyone found a six foot one girl with large muscles impossibly intimidating. She passed through, into the building, and took her seat with the other first years. She hoped she wasn’t going to end up sitting in front of someone who needed to see past her, because that had been an issue in the past.

As she sat there, her thoughts wildly vacillated between imposed optimism and doubts that crept into her head. But through it all, she repeated to herself; You’re gonna be a hero, Wakako. Your own hero. Just get through it. You’ll be fine. You’ll be great. Just show your stuff.

Hello!

Welcome.

Hey All!

Greetings.

You Can Become a Hero!

W a k a k o

Personal Dossier

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_Name

Tanegashima, Wakako

_Age

15

_Origin

Tomakomai, Iburi Prefecture, Hokkaido, Japan

_{Physical Description}

Wakako is a very ungirly girl. She is distinctly muscular, possesses broad shoulders and is well beyond the average female height (6’1). She tends to have her hair short and reasonably well kempt. Her uniform is always neat and tidy, but whenever she can get away with it, she prefers to wear casual clothing, anything that wouldn’t be considered too “prim and proper”. She also likes to be a little showy if she can manage it.

Although it will not be immediately apparent when her midriff is not exposed, an extendable cannon barrel is built into the centre of Wakako’s stomach region, around where her belly button would be (although significantly larger). The recess the barrel sits in is circular and made from a steel alloy.

_{Characterization}

-Boisterous
-Amiable
-Obedient
-Resentful
-Bullheaded
-Show off

_{Personal History}

Wakako is the daughter of Sanae Tanegashima, a hero known for travelling around northern Japan by sea, and for being a graduate of Ishin Academy. Wakako’s father, Kenta, played the role of stay-at-home dad and raised Wakako during her formative years as Sanae did her work. Wakako was raised on tales of her mother’s heroism and of a romanticised life on the sea. Wakako naturally had two goals growing up as a child; become a hero, just like her mother, and sail on the sea, just like her mother. She wanted to be nothing less than one of those swashbuckling heroes that swooped and and beat the bad guys, and then party on a boat afterwards. When Wakako turned 10, Sanae, during one of her visits to her own house, offered to take Wakako on her boat as an apprentice. She wouldn’t be doing any fighting, she’d just get to experience sea life and do a little work here and there. Wakako enthusiastically agreed.

It was not long after stepping on board her mother’s boat that Wakako began to deeply regret her decision. Far from the romanticised sea life she’d always imagined, life on her mother’s boat was harsh and cruel. Having only met her mother every so often, Wakako had never really gotten to know her as a person. Being under her direct care, Wakako quickly learned that she was an extreme disciplinarian. As she put it, life at sea was about absolute obedience to the captain of the vessel, and a failure to follow instructions required correcting. All Wakako was expected to do was haul things around, swab the decks and help with the rigging, but even the slightest failure on these parts was met with harsh scrutiny from her mother. She never spared a moment to tell Wakako that her father had been far too lenient with her, and it was about time this all changed. Wakako’s illusions were thoroughly shattered, and while she remained a largely obedient girl, she grew to resent the life she once idolised.

While Wakako had in fact been planning to become a hero since she was a small girl, Sanae had never intended to give her a choice in the matter. Her daughter would be made in her own image, as that was what was best for her. This not only meant instilling in her a regimental lifestyle, but also physical development beyond typical means. Sanae Tanegashima is well known for being something of an amazon; both tall and obscenely muscular for a woman. Wakako had long since inherited her genetics as far as her height went, but now she began to grow her mother’s musculature too. Only a few years back, a younger Wakako would have relished the idea of being just like her mother. Now she hated what she saw in the mirror.

On her thirteenth, Wakako quietly made a resolution. She would not become her mother. While she never once openly rebelled against her, she would take any opportunity to distance herself from her image. Where her mother was cold and distant, Wakako tried to be more warm and welcoming. While her mother preferred conservative, modest attire, Wakako preferred casual clothes that were brightly coloured. While some of these traits she had already possessed as a young girl, now she employed them as a means of quiet resistance. Her mother was no fool, and she saw the growing trend. She dismissed it as a youthful fancy. It was just a phase. The foolish girl would soon realise that no amount of contrarianism would mean anything to her plans to make her a better person.

The clincher to her plan was, as she had always planned, for Wakako to attend Ishin Academy. Sanae was sure that her old school would quash any remaining foolish thoughts in her daughter’s head and turn out a proper, civilized hero. Wakako, with little choice but to follow the path her mother had set her upon, prepared herself mentally and physically for the rigours of studying at Ishin. Wakako would not be a rebellious, petulant student, but she would never be a “perfect” one. If they sought to make her an automaton, she would not be broken. She resolved to always be her own person.

_{Character Development & Conceptualization}

Taking some inspiration from Etranger, I decided to create a character that in some ways fit the culture of the school, but not necessarily in a willing fashion. Wakako is a girl that has had obedience and discipline forced upon her, and she is not the type to go around committing wanton acts of disrespect and delinquency. However, she neither likes nor wishes to model herself upon the culture of the school. She may be a giant of a girl, but she has a little girl’s heart, and she still wants to be the light hearted hero she imagined being as a child. The school may yet try to break her, but she will resist it passively to the end.

I initially considered making her more sullen and cynical due to her experiences, but not only do I feel like there’s enough of those types of characters around, and the idea of her being almost deliberately cheerful just to passively spite her mother appealed more to me. Technically speaking, a lot of her characterisation is based on spiting and resisting her mother and rigid cultural values, but at the same time, to be a cheerful, loving hero like All Might (direct inspiration pending confirmation of his existence).

Abilities & Talents

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_{Quirk Type}

Mutation

_{Quirk Description}

Navel Artillery – This quirk involves the person having a battleship-esque cannon built into their stomach area. The cannon barrel can be extended and retracted at will for whatever purposes suit the user. The ammunition is generated inside the user’s body and funnelled into the cannon by muscle movement. Despite their biological origins, the shells are exactly what you might expect from a naval gun; possessing a metal shell and exploding on impact. The cannon presently has a maximum range of 24 miles, dependant on environmental factors.

Not being magically immune to their own explosions, the user must avoid firing in a manner likely to have their shells explode in their own face, unless they’re feeling suicidal. Firing the cannon also creates a large kickback effect, which can have creative applications, but is likely to be a liability depending on the person’s user’s surroundings. The user must ingest ingredients conducive to creating artillery shells in order to maintain the viability of their quirk, and while the user has a biological tolerance to the presence of such substances in their body, ingesting them is by no means a pleasant experience.

_{Other Talents & Attributes}

-Raw Physical Power: As part of her mother’s campaign to make her in her own image, Wakako was pushed into a brutal physical training regimen. She got enormous muscles and a big lifting capacity out of it at the expense of looking like an absolute ogre.

-A Tolerance for Tedium: Wakako has lived the last five years of her life toiling on a boat, lifting things and cleaning. She has developed a tolerance for being subjected to boring tasks and doing what she must in order to avoid belligerent shouting from overbearing authority figures. It also makes her great at maintaining an exercise routine.