Chris didn't bother looking behind him when he heard the whistle. He just started running faster. Dashing down the sidewalk, he weaved around the sparse groupings of pedestrians. Rounding the corner, he spotted a fire escape down the nearby alley. Bolting for it, he started climbing back to the rooftops. 'Well, plan C isn't going to work. How do I get this crazy bitch off of me?' he thought, climbing to the top of the fire escape.

He used the guardrail of the fire escape to kick off and grab the edge of the roof. Pulling himself up, he looked around for nearby rooftops to jump to.

Chris could not take the opportunity to look behind him. He needed to focus on the jump ahead. 'Well, you didn't come all this way without a pair on ya.' he thought to himself, praying that his memory served him well. When he neared the edge of the building, instead of speeding up, Chris would slow down. He planted his feet on the edge of the building, keeping his forward momentum small. He activated his semblance and jumped off, aiming for the next building.

He came very short of the roof of the next building. And, if he were aiming for that, he would have eaten a face full of brick. Thankfully for him, he managed to get his momentum mostly correct and landed somewhat awkwardly in the kitchen of an apartment. His forward roll he attempted to do to spread out the impact may have knocked his head a bit, but he was mostly okay. He quickly closed the window behind him, taking a brief second to take his mask out of his inside pocket and start tying it on as he moved toward what he assumed was the exit.

Chris turned around briefly, watching the girl smash her heels and start coming at him. He grabbed the fence behind him for a brief second, groaning in annoyance. "You've got to be kidding me." he said before taking off down the alley. He turned the corner and broke into a full sprint toward what he hoped would be far enough away from this girl that she would just give up.

That sprint lasted for all of 3 seconds before he found himself at a dead end. Thinking fast, he jumped off a nearby dumpster, grabbing onto a windowsill of the nearby building and started to climb for all he was worth.

Anonymity is a wonderful thing. At least, that's what Chris was thinking as he walked out of the bakery, eating a bagel wrapped in a piece of wax paper. He began walking back toward the dorms, subtly walking to the beat of the song playing in his wireless earbuds hidden under his cap. He was feeling especially confident today. New school, ready to just kill those classes. He bounced on the balls of his feet for a few seconds, a smile coming to his face as he psyched himself up.

As he rounded the corner, he spotted a pretty young thing. Between the dress and the hair, she looked stunning. 'She looks annoyed. Maybe she could use a bit of affection.' he thought, trying to move closer.

He got right up next to her, using his old skills as a pickpocket to slip a hand into her purse. 'Play it cool, and she'll be swooning over you soon.' he thought, immediately before catching his hand in her purse, his smile dropping instantly.

Changed the wording on the semblance slightly to better illustrate what I mean, and also added an effect on his stamina.

CHARACTER

Name: Chris "The Tiger" Sebei

Age: 19

Species and Gender: Male Panther Faunus

Symbol:

Occupation: 1st Year Beacon Student, Official spokesman of Spike Energy Drinks

Appearance: Standing at 6'1" and weighing 238 lbs, Chris has the body of a greek god. The dude is chiseled. He takes considerable care of his body, given that he fights shirtless. He has no body hair waist up. Even the hair on his head is groomed to a neat black stubble, which goes well with his tanned skin. He has a pair of black panther ears on top of his head, which are usually hidden under his mask.

With his natural propensity to show off, it reflects in his choices in attire. He tends to wear baggy sweatpants and sleeveless shirts in bright neon color schemes. He's got a rainbow of colors, and he always matches the shirt and sweatpants.

When he's fighting or making any sort of appearances, he'll wear his black mask. The mask has a white tiger design, which is where his name is derived from. Along with this, he  wears black pants with white claw pattern on them, black boots, black elbow pads, and white tape from his knuckles to his elbows. During press releases or important public events, he will wear the mask with a black suit. More recently, he has been working on having various colors of his outfit made for public exhibitions (for merchandising reasons).

History: According to a little bit of digging he did before deciding on where to go to school, his parents were most likely from Vacuo. He never knew his parents. From what he's heard, he was left on a church doorstep in southern Mistral.

His earliest memories are from the St. Agatha orphanage in Mistral, which was generally overcrowded and understaffed. Not to say the poor workers in there were not trying, but they simply had too many kids to look after at once. During his early life, he would sneak out at night to meet up with some kids from the city. He learned a bit of pickpocketing and sleight of hand, but was mostly disinterested in it shortly after learning.

At the age of 10, he decided to pack up the few belongings that he had and try to find his birth parents. He stowed away on a shipping airship and waited to see where it would take him. He then proceeded to be caught on landing. The local authorities did not quite know what to do with him, as he had no documentation. They attempted to fly him back to Mistral, but he slipped out of their transport and managed to hide in an alley until he could slip away.

Which left him with one question: Where in the hell he was. He found out later that he was in Vale. He soon realized he made a terrible mistake, finding himself breaking into various places to try and stay the night in the colder climate. One day, a few weeks into this, he found his way into a gym. Hiding in one of the storage rooms, he was found the next morning by Sami, the gym's owner. Taking pity on the boy, he didn't throw him out.

Chris found an opportunity there, helping to clean and maintain the gym in exchange for being able to sleep in one of the back rooms. He worked there for several years, using the equipment after hours and studying the various fighting styles of those training there.

While there, Sami taught Chris the fighting style known at Mococoloa, the serpent dance. Sami was once part of the Cuauhte, a group of indigenous people of Menagerie. Sami taught not only the fighting style, which was based on religious rituals and war dances of the Cuauhte, but also much about the culture, lost when the masses of Faunus moved into Menagerie after the Faunus Civil War.

He used money he saved up in working for Sami and flew back to Mistral, going back to his old orphanage to get any papers they had on him and try to start a legitimate career. Between his physical ability and desire to learn, he went to Sanctum Academy, starting with strictly hand-to-hand combat, continuing to use the style Sami taught him.

Once the Mistral regional tournament came around during his first year, he decided to do something special. He had a mask and outfit made to resemble the animal-based war paint that the Cuauhte would wear. He wore the outfit during his run in the tournament, and the announcer gave him the nickname "The Tiger" based on it. Before he could manage to correct the announcer on the difference between panthers and tigers, the nickname had already stuck. Even though he only made it to the semifinals, he managed to get his image in the minds of the audience.

The next year, he got even further, making it to the finals before failing once more, his flashy style and acrobatic moves garnering a lot of support from the crowd. The next two years followed suit, with him reaching the finals but never being able to win. His natural charisma got him a sponsorship deal with a smaller energy drink brand, Spike Energy. As the energy drink grew in popularity, he was brought on as a spokesperson, giving him a small celebrity status.

But, as much as he enjoyed the endorsement deal and the fans, the losses still got to him. He took a year off of his schooling, trying to figure out what to do with his career. The brand, not wanting their spokesman to go to waste, arranged to have him fight a former huntsman and Mistral Regional Tournament winner, Eddie Val'Zuul. They hyped the fight for months, doing press releases and trying to build public support for Chris.

When the fight happened, both men gave it their all. The fight lived up to the fan's expectations in it's length and showmanship. Chris managed to pull ahead at the last minute, taking down the huntsman in spectacular fashion and finally pulling off a win on a big stage.

With a new fire and enthusiasm, Chris decided to go back to where his training started, going into Beacon Academy as a first year student, one year behind his fellow students.

Personality: Chris is a determined fighter and entertainer. He loves nothing more than the crowd, and thrives when he has the praise of others. He is a confident individual, and can get a bit cocky at times, especially during fights. He is very relaxed around his friends, and will be very friendly until he feels threatened. He can and will stand up to people he feels are threatening him or his friends or is being disrespectful. He also has a tendency to be a shameless flirt, but he's generally joking when he makes his remarks.

He is also unbelievably energetic. He is hyperactive and loathes monotony, which causes him to struggle through the academic side of schooling. He also can't sit still for any significant period of time. But, he also tends to be hit hard by losses, sometimes lashing out in anger after defeat. That anger serves to motivate him, but can also cause him to push himself to the point of injury.

Aura and Semblance: Chris can use his aura to speed up both himself and his perception of time, making it seem like he's moving in a blur. Time will seem to dilate around him, increasing his speed and causing him to perceive time at 1/4 it's normal rate. This allows him to dodge and counterattack effectively.  This uses more aura the longer he uses it without stopping, so he uses it sparingly. It depletes his aura, starting at 1% per second and doubling every two seconds unless he takes a ten second cooldown in between, which restarts it. After a combined 45 seconds of using it in a 5-minute period, he becomes physically exhausted and prone to making errors.


Combat Behavior: Chris is a very aggressive fighter, loving to get up close and personal with an opponent. His specialty is misdirection and reversals. He gets up in an opponent's face and uses their own momentum against them. Every time they try to strike, it's an opportunity for Chris to disarm them or send them to the ground. His grappling skill is also impressive, and he can easily manage to take down someone double his size.

His biggest weakness is his lack of armor. He doesn't wear any kind of armor, save a set of knee and elbow pads. He also has a lack of accuracy at range, his pistols more relying on sheer firepower than accuracy.

WEAPON

Name: Atri Coruscantis

Primary Form: Atri Coruscantis is a pair of nunchucks with a metallic end on both halves. The metallic end is infused with electric dust, making it act similar to a stun gun on contact. They are approximately 13 inches long each with a 3 in chain in between.

Secondary Form: Atri Courscantis can be transformed into dual machine pistols by interlocking both of the chained ends together and twisting, where they flip into their pistol forms. They hold 42 rounds of 9mm ammo each and are fully automatic. Chris usually keeps a few magazines on his person, and he tends to keep them attached to his boots during combat for easy access.

Dust Functions:   In it's primary form, a small canister of lightning dust is used to electrify the ends of his nunchucks. The canisters last for about 10 minutes when activated. They can be replaced, but not in battle, so he only gets one in each.

History:   Having been naturally drawn to the nunchucks for their flash and flair, Chris used some of his money to make the modifications to make it more effective against the grimm.

CHARACTER

Name: Michael Vaktar

Age: 18

Species and Gender: Male Human

Symbol:  Vaktar Crest

Occupation: First Year Beacon Student

Appearance:  Standing at a massive 7'5" and weighing 345 lbs. Michael is a literal giant. He has a massive frame and frying-pan sized hands. He has a short crop of brown hair on his larger than average head. His build is rather wide, which keeps the muscles in his chest from having a lot of definition. When not in his uniform, he tends to dress in dress shirts or suits, depending on the weather. He prefers blue or purple in his shirts, paired with blue jeans or black dress pants, and is never wearing a tie, not even on his school uniform.

In combat, Michael wears a dark blue knight's armor. He has his family's crest both on his shield and his breastplate.

History:  Michael was born the son of Joseph and Marigold Vaktar, the former the heir to the Vaktar Corporation and the latter the daughter of a high-ranking general from the Atlesian Army. He was the younger of two sons, his brother Christopher being 8 years older than him. During his early years, he mostly stayed hidden in the Vaktar mansion in southern Atlas, on the outskirts of the city proper.

In the first few years of his life, he spent a good amount of time with both his mother and father. But, when he was 6, his grandfather turned control of his company fully over to his son. Michael very sparingly would see his father from that point onward, the responsibility of controlling Vaktar munitions coming before his responsibility as a father. As such, the two people Michael spent much of his youth with were his older brother and mother.

Fortunately for Michael, he received his mother's intelligence. School came easily to him, and being home schooled allowed for him to advance past his age in terms of school. However, this meant that he had a fair amount of free time with little to spend it on. When he was still that young, he did have a small group of friends, but he started to grow. He grew to a large size quickly, gaining the size of someone twice his age. Medical examinations saw that he had a form of gigantism, caused by a tumor in his brain.

He spent months getting treated for the tumor, the treatment being extended due to a misdiagnosis by the doctor on the state of the tumor. During this, his parents would very rarely allow his friends to visit. After a while, they just stopped showing up.

Unfortunately for Michael, his brother managed to inherit his father's charisma. Christopher managed to keep a solid friend group in spite of his home schooling, even managing to hold several girlfriends over time. Michael, on the other hand, was rather lonely. He was seen as being too big to be approachable. This, combined with his shy nature, resulted in him not managing to endear himself to people well.

He spent his time reading on the history of great battles, especially being fond of knights of Arthurian lore. As he developed into a teenager, he decided to start tinkering with weapons, using his accumulated knowledge in dust use to help him experiment. With the help of a few people in Vaktar Munition's R&D department, he managed to make a back-mounted dust launcher that could switch between two different types of dust.

During his trips from the mansion to the factory, Michael one day heard the sound of someone in trouble. Despite not being formally trained in fighting, he ran down the alley where he heard the sound coming from. He saw a small woman getting mugged by a man in a black biker getup. Without thinking, he grabbed the man by the back of the shirt and threw him into the opposing wall. Michael then got stabbed in the stomach for his trouble. His aura took the brunt of the hit, but the blade still managed to cut into part of his abdomen. The man got away, and he sat in the alley as the woman knelt next to him, trying to call the authorities.

As she panicked next to him, the hand that he put over his stomach began to glow a powerful white. By the time the authorities arrived he had not only stopped bleeding, but he had healed the wound entirely. After giving the relevant information to the authorities, he checked in on the woman. The woman's name was Maria Verdenta, and she thanked him. They quickly became friends, Michael seeing her during every walk to the factory. Eventually, he grew to harbor feelings for her, but was too shy to say anything about it.

There were two unfortunate things for Michael here. First was that both of his parents despised faunus. Second, Maria was a rabbit faunus, with her tail being hidden easily in the cold Atlesian climate. Eventually, his mother found out about the relationship. Soon after, he was banned from ever seeing her again.

In his anger and frustration over the situation, Michael focused in on a new goal. If he could not find what he wanted in Atlas, he was going to go out and find what makes him happy, even if it kills him. So, he hired a former trainer for the Atlesian army and managed to learn as much as he could about combat in a 3 year span. He then decided to move south, seeking admittance into  Beacon academy.

During his entrance exam, he was above average in the academic test, average in the live combat test, and below average in the sparring test. As such, he only barely managed to enter into the school.

Personality:   Michael is a well-meaning klutz. His terrible luck seems to stem around him, and he manages to injure himself rather easily. This is compounded by the toll his gigantism takes on his body, and he's constantly trying to keep up with the other students in physical conditioning. He is rather shy, not used to social interaction with people around his age. Contrary to what people would assume of a man of wealth, he thinks rather low of himself. He tends to give praise to those around him frequently, but disputes any praise given to him.

His parents' views on faunus have had an impact on him. While he may not share his parent's exact views on faunus, he tends to be rather uncomfortable and even afraid of faunus. He has even said some rather insensitive things about faunus before, painting his views as more extreme than they actually are.

His social awkwardness combined with lack of dating experience leads him to be the antithesis of smooth when it comes to talking to the opposite sex. He's not a great conversationalist, but has a good heart and tries to treat everyone as best as he can.

Aura and Semblance:    Michael's aura glows white, with his semblance being advanced healing. While aura naturally tends to heal someone quicker than average, Michael can use his semblance to speed the healing of any wound. The exception being large separations. If the cut is too wide, his semblance cannot properly close the wound. His semblance drains at an exponential rate, with more severe injuries taking longer to heal. This causes him to lose aura at 2^n % every second. Most minor injuries will only take 2-3 seconds to heal. More severe cuts take 3-4 seconds. Dislocations and broken bones take 5-6 seconds. Beyond that, the aura needed for Michael to heal the injury would completely drain him, causing him to be in serious danger himself.

Combat Behavior:  Michael is a very defensive fighter, preferring to use his shield and weapon to keep enemies at a distance. He holds for as long as possible, hoping to tire out his opponents before he uses his Olympic wrestling training to be able to hold down human opponents or hold grimm for his teammates to end. He is rather crafty in combat, making up a lack of diverse training with resourcefulness.

His big weakness is his lack of pressure on the opponent. A crafty opponent can target his knees and take him out fairly easily. A long-range opponent can find a hole in his defenses and shoot him down. Surrounding him leaves him with few options other than go on the offensive, which puts him at a disadvantage.

WEAPON

Name: Akta

Primary Form:  Large 6'6" shield. Large enough and thick enough to block bullets. Made of an aluminum-steel alloy, it weighs roughly 60 lbs. It is held on with an elbow strap and a handle, meaning it takes great effort to remove his shield.

Secondary Form:  Pulling a lever on the shield makes it open horizontally down the center of the shield and fold out a grenade launcher made for specially-crafted dust grenades. It has a capacity for 3 grenades before it needs to be reloaded, and can fire the grenades around 45 feet.

Tertiary Form:

Dust Functions:

History:  One of the concepts given to him by the researchers at the Vaktar Munitions labs, Michael crafted this shield with their help. Its original design was based on tank plating, but eventually was refined into this form.

WEAPON

Name: Laga

Primary Form:  Dust launcher. Built into his armor, it fits into the gauntlet above his right wrist. It fires a spray of dust crystals that activate in the air, giving different effects. The spray goes out to a range of 16 feet.

Secondary Form:  Michael can switch between two types of dust using a bolt action switch on his upper arm.

Tertiary Form:

Dust Functions:  The different types of spray have different effects. The four Michael has tested are fire, ice, wind, and lightning. Fire launched a pillar of flame from his wrist, ice would cause a thick layer of frost to form around his target and the ground, wind managed to throw him back against the wall with a substantial amount of force, and lightning electrocuted him. Subsequently, he tends to stick to fire and ice to be used in his sprays.

History:   The result of a failed attempt to manufacture dust grenades, the method of spraying small dust crystals into the air has proven effective at short range, but has little practical application beyond that.