Profile
Aina Midoriko
愛菜 緑子
General information
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Name: Aina Midoriko
Meaning of name: Aina - love, affection, Midoriko - green, child
Pronunciation: Ah-ee-nah - Mee-dou-ree-kou
Nickname(s): Ai, Mido, Midori
Hero Alias: Hasn't decided yet
Age: 15-20
(15 at the start of the story, 20 at the end)
Sex: Male
Gender: Male
Pronounce: He/Him
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Romantic orientation: Homoromantic
(Though is questioning for a large part of the story)
Height: 155 cm (5'1)
Weight: 50 kg (110 lbs)
Nationality: Japanese
Power: Plant Growth
Date of birth: 4th of June
Residence: Aoihama, Shizuoka Prefecture
(Lives in the middle of Aoihama)
Bio
(Please note that this character is a part of a story, so this bio is an overall
view of the character and is therefor pretty static. Some things will be vague)
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Aina is a rather quiet and calm person who is not good around other people. He can often be brutal with his honesty and often radiates a "I don't want to be talked to" vibe, which leads a lot of people to stay away from him. On the outside, that seems to fit him just fine. He seems to take a liking to be alone, finding it easier to do that than being with other people. He has a hard time asking for help from others, and will often not speak up if he is upset. Unless that something is external, then he'll very much pipe up if it bothers him enough. He can often be snappy and quick on the trigger, and can sometimes react with more anger than necesary to things that annoy him. It can sometimes seem quick and out of the blue, as he doesn't show a lot of emotion.
On the inside though, Aina is fully aware of how unfriendly he seems. He is incredibly lonely and really wants someone to talk to, but doesn't have much of an idea on how to go about it. He is trying his best to improve himself, and he thinks there's been a slight change for the better, but he still has a long way to go, as to him it's been like this for as long as he can remember.
Aina often has trouble identifying his emotions. He will often experience a lot of emotions at once, and be unable to put a word to what each of them are. It often overwhelms him, and he has no idea on what to do about it. He often wonders if something is wrong with him because of that, that he is fundamentally broken, but has never voiced this to anyone. He thinks his parents couldn't care less, so in his mind, why would anyone else? In his mind, why would anyone care about his emotions or feelings on things, if he is upset or happy or angry? In his mind, if he doesn't even know what he is feeling, how would anyone else be able to help him? Because of that, he has a rather tight lid on his emotions, rarely telling anyone how he feels.
It often takes quite a while before Aina gets close to anyone and opens up, though it is not impossible. He'll often be a little more open with the people he is closest to, but doesn't express his emotions a lot due to his parents often shaming him for showing strong emotions. He fears that others may have the same reaction to it, or withdraw affection or give him the silent treatment like his parents, so he doesn't show his emotions often. Though despite not showing strong emotions a lot, smaller emotions is often something he does express. It can be a little hard to read him, as his voice is more monotone and his expressions are small, but it's much easier when you know what to look for.
Despite his general withdrawn nature, he does care about others. While he may not show it much, seeing others get hurt, especially if he is the cause of it, often makes him feel bad. He really does not wish others harm, but he was never taught how to express his affections for others. It can make him seem cold and distant when in reality he genuinly does care about others. He loves to make other people happy, though only knows a handful of ways to do so. Compliments or physical gifts is among some of them, though he often worries if he may come across as weird because of it. If anyone does anything nice to him, it often leaves him stunned, as people barely do nice things to him, and his parents never did. He can often be awkward or stilted when receiving compliments or gifts, having no idea on how to react to it. In some cases it can even cause him to tear up. He can be a very sweet person, and will show great care about saying certain things or doing certain things if others have requested him to do so.
Despite Aina being able to create any plant he wants to, he refuses to use poisonous plants in combat. Hemlock, belladona, poison ivy, manchineel trees, and so on are off limits. Even in truly dire situations he'll refuse to do it. He is a very peaceful person, and while the plants he grows cannot spread on their own, and will wilt remarkably fast, their poison is very real. And so are their other abilities, like the sandbox tree's explosive seed pods. He does not wish to use plants that will seriously hurt others, and will refuse any request to do so. He also refrains from carnivorous plants. He is okay with using plants of... certain foul fragrances, should the situation need it. Carrion plants, corpse flowers, rafflesia, and other foul smelling plants are okay, and can be a great deterrent.
Aina is a very determined person, and can often be stubborn. He can and will get things done, even if others may try to stop him. While he does not posses a lot of physical strength, he has a very fine tuned grasp on his powers. He can be a very dangerous opponent in battle, as he can attack from a distance and up close.
Aina doesn't shout often, and his voice will often become strained and more raspy when angry. He has shouted on occassion, but is not very loud in general. He is typically pretty patient, but can lose his patience quickly if he is tired.
Aina does not cry easily, and if he does, it is typically completely silent. He can start being rather loud in certain situations though.
Aina has a pretty dry and sarcastic sense of humor. Dead pan and dark jokes are not uncommon, even though it can be hard to tell if he is joking or not. He barely gives any visual or audible indication that he is joking, which can often lead to people taking him literally. He has a special affinity for plant jokes or plant puns, and they never seem to fail at making him laugh. He is typically not easy to fluster, but flirting with him will make him a spluttering, blussing mess. He is completely hopless at flirting himself, and will fall very hard for people if he develops feelings for them.
Tl;dr: Aina is a rather quiet person, though can be snappy at times. He often experiences a lot of emotions at once, and doesn't know how to describe them or put them to words. Due to his parents rather emotionally neglectful upbrining, he has trouble expressing emotions and describing them. He cares a lot about others, but struggles with showing it. Doing nice things for him can make him tear up.
Power
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Name: Plant Growth
Type: Activation
Control: Fine
Activation: Manual
Aina can create various kinds of flora as long as his bare skin is touching the ground or an object. He is not limited in what kinds of flora he can create, from daisies to baobabs, nor the size or speed of the flora in nature. He can even grow flora out of his own skin, but the process is extremely painful. He can control the size of the plant as long as he is actively growing it, allowing small plants to reach beyond any natural size. He can only grow one plant at a time, and has to actively stop growing one if he wants to switch. He has to decide on the plant he wants, and under stress his mind can blank. The plants he grows cannot spread on their own, such as through seeds or roots. They simply will not do so, but can still produce seeds. The plants will have the attributes of the plants in question, such as smells, poison, carnivorous nature and explosive seed pods. The more he uses his power, the more of his body will turn tree-like. His skin will slowly become covered by bark, of which can take the appearance of any bark, from oak to birch to rainbow eucalyptus. Moving bark-covered joints is extremely painful, and will often cause the bark to crack, which is even more painful. He could theoretically become completely covered in bark, but has never done so. It wouldn't kill him, but it'd make it impossible to move without intense pain. As time passes without using his power, the bark will slowly disappear until it is fully gone. If the flora he creates become damaged, such as being snapped or burned, it'll cause him pain. The more of his skin is covered by bark, the more pain damage to the flora causes him. Due to his power being an activation power, it can become unstable if Aina is stressed, anxious or otherwise not in a great emotional state. He has a fine control of his power, so the chance it'll go out of control is small.
Backstory
(Content warning: The topics discussed in this can be sensitive to some viewers. This includes descriptions of emotional neglect, unhealthy mentalities and self hatred. If you
are uncomfortable with any of these topics, please skip this section)
(Please note that this backstory does not contain every event leading up to where the character currently is. It only covers
the most important/crucial events)
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Aina has not always been a very quiet and calm person. While he wasn't super outgoing and energetic when he was younger, that part of his personality manifested over time. When he was younger, he was more outgoing and would often interact with other kids. He would often ask his parents if he could go play with the other kids, and they just hummed, nodded, and he was on his way.
For a while before his power was fully developed, he had been theorizing about what it could be to his parents, who just nodded and otherwise didn't pay much attention. Due to how often that happened, he started to share his theories with the other kids in his friend group, and found that there was a lot more interest. They shared and exhanged theories and came with suggestions for each others' powers. When Aina was 4, his power was fully developed. When he discovered he could make flowers grow out of the ground, he was absolutely extactic. Not only was his theory about his power being related to plants correct, but after a bit of experimentation he realized how many things he could do with it. He immediatly told his parents, who for once seemed pretty happy. They patted him on the head and congratulated him, asking questions about how his power worked and what it was capable off. Aina really enjoyed the positive attention, as his parents had never seemed to pay much attention to him before now. He also told his friends about his power, and they used a good while experimenting and seeing what Aina was capable of, as well as discovering the downsides to it.
For a few days, things went really well. Aina's parents would listen whenever he told them something new about his power. Though when a few days passed and he had explored his power as extensively as he could, they went back to not paying much attention to him. This confused and angered Aina, as he had no idea why they were doing it. They didn't seem to care all that much when he said that a person had insulted his power and that it had hurt to hear, but when he tried to grow plants out of his hands and ended up having to get them ripped out, they suddenly paid attention to him. They didn't ask him how he was doing, they just took him to the doctor to get his wounds patched up and that was it. Aina ended up having permanent scars on his hands and arms from getting healed by a healing power. Whenever he started crying or showing emotions that his parents deemed to be "unnecessary", they'd often give him the silent treatment, get angry at him, or withdraw affection. After a while of trying to get his parents' attention, Aina gave up and thought that maybe that was just what his parents were like.
As time progressed and he got older, he started school and had to make new friends. It went alright in the start, powers where a great conversation topic and people where often impressed with his power. Aina started to grow proud of his power. Its strength, utility and applications was something he felt he was lucky to have. It became one of the few things about himself he liked.
As time progressed, school changed and new people went in and out of Aina's life, Aina started to grow less and less social. For a long time, it didn't bother him at all. People just didn't interest him as much anymore. He used his time surfing the internet and training his power. He didn't talk much with his parents, as they where busy with their botany work. When he wasn't spending time on the internet or training his power, he cared for flowers, cacti and other plants. He found he could not use his power to speed up the growth of plants that he hadn't created, but could make things like branches or other plants grow out of them. He didn't really care how quick his plants grew though, seeing them grow in any speed they did made him happy.
Though as time progressed and he was alone for massive periods of time, loneliness started to settle in. He started to miss having someone to talk to about things, like he had when he was younger. He occasionally brought his loneliness to his parents' attention, but they just responded with their distant "hmm, alright, yeah that sucks. We'll do something about it"'s and then never did anything about it. After a few attempts, he stopped, internallizing that his parents where just busy and didn't have time to care about "less important things" as he put it. he started to wonder what the case could be. He decided to try and do something about his loneliness himself. He tried to be more aware of his behavior, finding that he had grown rather distant. All he did was train or surf the web or caring for his plants, he barely interacted with others. He wondered if his cold behavior had driven people away from him, and started to feel guilty. He wanted to do something about it, but had no idea where to start. His mental health started to go downwards as he struggle to figure out how to deal with his loneliness. Maybe something was wrong with him? Maybe that was why his parents never paid attention to him or cared about him? Because they knew he was fundementally broken. He started to hate himself. Of course he had driven people away, it was in his very nature to be broken and not know how socializing works.
As time progressed, he became even more reserved. He spent most of his time in his room, taking care of his plants, and surfing the web.
One day, on a bored afternoon, he came across an interview with the pro hero Photosynthesis. Not having much else to do, Aina decided to watch the interview. It was about a recent villain attack that had taken place in Tokyo, and Photosynthesis had brought an almost record amount of people to safety. While the story was tragic, yet hopeful, one thing that caught Aina's attention was how sociable Photosynthesis was. They laughed along with the interviewer, made jokes and was in general in a very good mood. Though they could also become solemn and serious when they had to talk about serious issues, and handled them with a lot of maturity. Aina found out through the interview that Photosynthesis had a plant related power, that they could speed up the growth of plants if they touched them. Even though their powers were different, Aina still found that he related to Photosynthesis, even though he wasn't entirely sure what the feeling was at the time. He took note of Photosynthesis's sociable nature, how he talked, how he acted. This person was everything Aina wished he was, and he slowly gained an admiration for them. He even dyed his hair green to hopefully feel a little closer to his idol.
Ever since that interview, Aina quickly developed an interest in hero work. It was a dangerous profession, he knew that much, but it was also a profession that saved a lot of people and made many people across the world feel safe. Maybe Aina could do that too? Make other people feel safe? Maybe it could, as he saw it, make him feel like he wasn't completely broken after all? His power would be pretty good for that kind of work, with its strength and utility, so he felt like he had a chance of getting in.
Then the question just was: what school should he go for?
There where a lot of different kinds of schools across Japan. Some covered all sides of the hero profession, some heavily focused on one or two areas. Aina knew that he would go for something that covered all of them, both because that was what Photosynthesis had decided, and also because he felt like his power could be useful for more than just frontline work. That narrowed his search down, and he finally decided on Aoihama Hero School.
Aoihama was a hard school to be accepted in. Only the absolute top 60 where accepted in in total, in contrast to the more common 100 people or 150 people. They covered everything, from rescue to frontline to general school things.
That settled it, Aoihama it was.
As Aina waited for his 15th birthday to roll around, and for applications at Aoihama to open, he tried to socialize more. Being able to communicate and talk with people was important, and if Aina had any examples from his group projects to go by, his communication needed work. While he improved slightly, he still felt like he had a long way to go, especially with how easily snappy he could become.
His 15th birthday rolled around, and Aoihama opened up applications. While Aina knew his communication and people skills still needed work, perhaps Aoihama could help him with it, either by having greater chances of observing people in different situations and learning from it, or maybe the teachers being able to give him pointers. He started to study as hard as he could for the written exam, and got a pretty decent score in it.
Then there was the physical exam.
Tl;dr: Aina wasn't always quiet and secluded, but slowly became so over the years. His parents didn't really pay much attention to him, and only really did when he manifested his power. As he became older, he slowly had fewer and fewer friends until he had none. He started to get lonely, and found that he had grown quite distant. He wasn't sure on what to do about it, and slowly started to hate himself for it. One day he found an interview with the pro hero Photosynthesis, and realized that he wanted to be more like them. He even dyed his hair green in admiration of them. That was also how he got an interest in the hero profession, and he started to plan on going to a hero school. After a lot of back and forth, he settled on Aoihama Hero School and started waiting. In the meantime, he tried to not be as distant, and did get a bit better. Then apllications at Aoihama opened, and he studied hard for the written exam. He got a pretty good score in it.
Relationships
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Akako Midoriko
Biological mother
Plant Fiber
Aina's relationship with his mother is... distant. She doesn't pay much attention to him and is almost always busy with her botanical work. While she is often the most responsive to things Aina says, it is still mostly just hums and "yeah"s and "mh-hm"s. Aina doesn't resent her or anything, but does wish deep down that she'd talk to him, and not constantly talk about her work at him whenever they sit around the dinner table. He doesn't know that her behavior is emotionally neclectful and is a major reason as to why he has trouble with emotions and other things, nor that it is even harmful in the first place. He excuses their distant relationship with her always being busy. Akako herself doesn't know that her behavior is emotionally neglectful or harmful either.
Aina generally doesn't take much from his mother, but did inheret the messy hair and sharp features from his her.
Eiko Midoriko
Biological father
Growth
Aina's relationship with his father is... distant. His father barely talks to him unless they're at the dinner table, then it's often quick comments about his work, then silence. Aina doesn't resent him or anything, but he does wish his father would say more than just quick rundowns of what he had done that day. He is the one who is the most absorbed in his work, and the only time Aina ever felt connected to him was when Aina wanted to know some things about taking care of certain plants, and his father gave him a quick rundown. Aina doesn't know that his father's behavior is emotionally neglectful, nor that it is even harmful in the first place. He excuses their distant relationship with him always being busy. Eiko himself doesn't know that his behavior is emotionally neglectful or harmful either.
Aina generally takes more from his father, mostly with the petite build and green eyes.
Kichi Midoriko
Grandmother, father's side
Growth
Aina's relationship with his grandmother is a bit distant, but not to the same degree as his parents. She is one of the few family members he feels a connection with, and will spend as much time with her as he can. It's not often that he sees her though, but whenever they're together he tries to make the most of their time.
Hiraku Kenta
Best friend
Future boyfriend
Healing Sweets
Aina wasn't entirely sure on what to think of Hiraku at first. The guy's laid back and chill attitude was something he wasn't quite expecting to find at one of the greatest hero schools. Though after a few interactions, he did grow a friendship with Hiraku, as the guy was easy to talk to and could carry a conversation, even when Aina wasn't sure on what to say. Although it took quite a while, Aina started to open up to Hiraku a bit more, and found that the guy would listen to him. It felt completely foreeign to Aina to be listened to, but found the entire thing incredibly comforting. He realized just how much he wanted others to listen to him, and started to open up a lot more to Hiraku. He knows he can talk with Hiraku about anything, no matter what it is.
The two often spend time together at school or after school. They will also occassionally train together.
Kenzoku Hiroshi
Classmate
Magnetism
Aina has not talked a lot with Kenzoku, but does like him from the few interactions he's had. Kenzoku's care and understanding for everybody is something Aina looks up to.
Family
Grandparents
Cousins
Aunts and uncles
Distant family
Aina has a rather distant relationship with most of his family members, mostly because he rarely sees them. Around once or twice a year. His relationship with them is typically pretty neutral, and he does get along well with some of them. He wishes he could hang out with them more.
Classmates
Aina has a rather neutral relationship with his classmates. He does feel positively towards a certain few, but otherwise doesn't feel like he can make any assertions on others, as he doesn't know them well enough to do so.
Other
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He is petite and skinny
His hair is thick and strong
is right handed
Has thin and short hands
Often stands straight, but has a habit of hunching forward a bit
Walks in long strides
Is not very flexible
His voice is midtone, slightly raspy at times
Often hums, says "yeah", often mutters when nervous
Has a sligthly wheezy, can sometimes sound like cackling
His face is sharp and angular
He likes plants, flowers, cacti, roses, spring, water, people listening to him, piano music, bright colors, landscapes, fog, foggy landscapes, rain, quiet, plant jokes, plant puns, sunlight
He dislikes the cold, loud noises, thunder, fire, feeling numb, not knowing what he is feeling, being stressed
He loves the color green and plants
He hates fire
Often fidgets with his fingers when bored or anxious, unconciously runs his fingers of the scars on his hands when stressed or anxious
Has a habit of thinking out loud
He fears finding out that he is useless to everyone and the grand scheme of things
His skills/talents includes having a great control of his power, and can be quite creative when figuring out which fauna to use in different situations
His hobbies include taking care of his plants, training his power, surfing the internet, casually skateboarding to different places
Was born in Aoihama hospital
An ideal birthday gift would be some plants
Has a more narrow taste in music, really likes piano music
Can be very sarcastic
Not a morning person, will sleep until 12 if given the chance
His power becomes stronger when he is in water
Power weakens in the winter
Will occassionally sing, but thinks he isn't good at it
Casually skateboards, isn't interested in doing a bunch of tricks
Has permanent scars due to getting healed by a healing power
His hair grows really fast, and he tries to keep it semi-short
Will sometimes sketch plants in his notebooks
Knows a ton about plants
Is a lot slower during the winter
Freezes easily
Often uses vines to trap his opponents
Does not have a lot of physical strength and relies a lot on his power
His fighting style is more offensive than defensive, relying on hard hitting strikes
He is very good at dodging attacks
His natural hair color is black
Wears a lot of green and stuff that may be considered quote unquote "edgy"
Occasionally wears a spiky collar and checker patterned armbands
Will sometimes swear when angry
Really quiet sneezer
