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Arson's ArtFight/Character ID: #3094346

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Personality

Full-time wall dweller, part-time butler, and the adoptive son of Dr. Kingston-Law. Despite the regenerative aspect of his abilities, Arson's been perpetually fatigued since he was a child. Through the course of being forced into a rigid, unforgiving regimen of tests and training during the day, and attempting to find their biological parents at night, Arson rarely slept- and their exhaustion pushed them to find loopholes in their required assessments that they couldn't be punished for. Dr. Kingston-Law said their tendencies to 'almost' follow the rules made them 'lazy'. Arson preferred the term 'creative'. As it turned out, it was inevitably that skill, whether it was laziness or creativity- that served to prepare them for some of the most difficult times of their life. 

After an incident permanently degraded their abilities, Arson was forced to learn to use what remained in continually unorthodox ways. From gaining a job duplicating lengths of embroidery as a seamstress's aide, to allowing them to continue their vigilante habits by duplicating the soles of their adversaries' shoes and sending them off balance- Arson gets the job done in their own particular fashion. They still struggle with paralyzing flashes of the past, and struggle at times to come to terms with who they are and who they used to be- but their creativity has allowed them a way to move forward. 

And obviously, a means to cause as many problems as possible for anyone who'd oppose them from pursuing the life they deserve.

Story

Ezra Byrne used to be a prodigy. They‘d been blessed (or cursed, depending on who you asked) with the ability to create perfect clones of anything- clothing, cars, or even themselves. Along with their siblings, the ‘Kingsmen’, a group of children brought together by scientist Dr. Kingston-Law, they were tested and trained to protect the city.

After a horrible accident in which they and one of their siblings were seriously injured due to faulty supersuits, however, their powers began degrading. Left in a state where they were hardly able to replicate a single copy of them, let alone the multitude of clones they’d been able to sustain, Ezra left the team and took on the pseudonym Arson Sommers.

For a time, Arson wandered, desperately attempting to find a place where they could exist free of ties to their old name, and eventually found a home with the Seamstress. The only AEGIS-unaffiliated creator of rune-enhanced supersuits, she was strictly against allying with any organization or company, instead choosing to follow a code of honor of her own. There, Arson began to rebuild what was left of their powers (and their mental health), and worked to again strengthen their powers by learning to replicate  the Seamstress’s intricate designs.

Finally reaching a point where their burns had healed, and they were no longer subject to the nightmarish visions in their head, Arson would’ve been content to stay with the Seamstress indefinitely. Unfortunately, their ‘family‘ had other plans. 

Addt. Notes

Arson’s talent with duplication functions through the usage of Kingston-Law matter, also known as Residuum. Discovered by the Kingston-Law’s in the early 2000’s, but often theoreticized by members of the supramundane scientific community, Residuum is the remnants of supramundane abilities. After the usage of an ability, some powers leave trace amounts of Residuum in the air. Most Residuum remains dormant in the air for indefinite amounts of time- meaning that traces of ancient supers’ abilities still reside across Halcyon. 

Some people, like Arson, are able to make use of them. When they find something they want to duplicate, Arson separates every second atom and displaces them away from the original- while keeping them in their original positioning. They then fill in the spaces left in the original and the duplicate with Residuum. Once the item is no longer needed, Arson allows the Residuum to dissipate and returns the original’s atoms to itself. In order to make an item more permanent, Arson will use their own energy reserves. The more accurate their perception of an item is, the more accurate the duplicate will be. 

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Relationships

Westcott

Arson's twin, and occasionally a very large house cat. Before their fallout, West and Arson were partners in crime, from sharing the burden of Mother's rage when they tried to find their birth parents, to explorers of the Kingston-Law manor when they needed a respite from the more exhausting points of their training. They always promised to be there for each other- until they weren't. After a confrontation with another super led to West being severely injured, they were trapped in their panther form for an extended amount of time. And Arson, designated lookout, was nowhere to be seen. They stopped talking after that- and by the time they saw each other at a party years later, they were both looking at strangers.

Mayonnaise

Arson and West's younger, older, back to younger sibling. Despite her outward appearance of twelve years, May's.... jumping rope with the line between old and ancient. As a result of her own tampering with the space-time continuum and subsequent teleportation into the midst of an apocalypse, May's seen far, far too many things for anyone to handle. Upon her return, she's back to being a kid- whereas her siblings have continued to age during her disappearance. They're older, stranger, and much less of a team than she remembers them to be. And Arson knows there's no hiding their own transformation, much less pretending it never happened. He appreciates having someone he can truly confide in- but also fears knowing the siblings' place in the future May saw. 

Oh, also notable is the fact that she's in a romantic relationship with a mannequin's hand named Henry. It's unclear where the rest of him is, or if it ever existed in the first place.  

Ebony

Arson's not exactly certain how they ended up first as a butler, then as a manager to their younger sibling, but they're going to do the best they can to fulfill their newfound obligations. Ebony may be a talented super, but they're also a professional dancer and a promising mage, and Arson will do their best to keep those opportunities in place, despite Mother's attempts otherwise. Even if it does mean replacing Stargazer's former costuming company in doing so. And learning how to sew ribbons on dance shoes. And being Kazuyuki's personal bodyguard between numbers. The two have long been allies in rebellion towards Locke and Mother, and creators of chaos in pursuit of freedom- and even after years apart, that's one thing that's never changed. Even though Arson has.

Cerian

After their estrangement with the rest of their siblings, Arson returned to find Cerian vaguely strange and off-putting. Not in the normal, younger-type sibling type of strange, or off-putting in the way they'd all grown up for two years in each other's absence- but in a 'muttering-to-self, suddenly impervious to damage' way. 

Due to Arson's amnesia surrounding parts of their past with their adoptive family, they can't exactly remember whether any of those behaviors were a factor before now. What's more, nobody else seems to have noticed anything unusual yet. So they're going with it, and if they see the mushrooms growing from Cerian's scalp, or hear them talking to someone they call 'Gold' from time to time.... well, siblings are pretty strange. 

Locke

Locke is a miniature Dr. Kingston-Law, and the resemblance has thrown Arson off mores and more as the years go by. As much as they'd like to trust Locke- the one who, one could say, has been the most affected by Mother's influence- it's not a risk that Arson can afford. Despite her notably pink divergence from Dr. Kingston-Law's appearance, and emphasis on actually listening to their siblings, Locke is too loyal to her experiments, too influenced by the rules and regulations- too keen, too observant- for Arson to ever fully let their guard down. After returning to their adoptive family after two years, Arson is even less trusting than before- Locke is the only one who stayed, and nobody knows what price she's paid in doing so.