Riley (Sentinels!Riley)

Basic info & abilities

• Superhero alias - Siberian Taiga
• Around 25 in comics initially.
• Over 2 meters tall, naturally - his dad was similarly a very tall fellow. Well built on top of that, partially due to powers, and due to his own discipline.
• Has had a massive stutter since childhood, which combined with his height makes him very easily recognisable.
• Because of that, he really fears being found out as Siberian Taiga. Always has a facemask on, almost never speaks to villains so they can't hear his stutter, has a habit of shaving his facial hair after battles so he can at least pretend it wasn't him cause "Well, he has a beard". And obviously avoids all cameras and journalists in sight.
• He doesn't have that much family or anything to be threatened, but he's a veterinarian, and has a bunch of pets on his own. Can't stand the thought of something happening to them...

• Supernatural regeneration: ability that has been in his family for generations - any wounds immediately close up on him, sickness barely touches him, and it's hard for him to even grow tired. On top of that, when affected by adrenaline or stress or other, he can raise his stamina beyond normal human levels, which allows him to punch through walls or other such feats.
• Healing powers: Riley's powers have an effect on others, as well. If others come in contact with his DNA, like through blood or spit, his DNA adapts to theirs and heals their wounds almost as fast as on himself. This adapts to animals and alien races, too. The drawback being that the more he uses his powers on others, the weaker his body becomes.
• Adaptive body: Less of a power, but a funny side effect of his body being very responsive to surrounding conditions is that he responds to the sun faster, too. He's prone to getting all freckled up and tanned after mere hours in the sun, and his hair gets sun-bleached, blonde streaks. These features tend to fade quickly when he's out of the sun, too.
• Polyglot: Riley was born in a bilingual family, and has always liked picking up new languages. He can't speak many fluently, but can speak bits and pieces of a lot of languages, including some alien ones, and just like with his powers, he's quick to adapt if he's around people who don't speak anything he knows. When he's caught up in forming slow sentences with newly acquired words, it's been noted his stammer disappears.
• Persephone: His dog that sometimes assists him on the battlefield, despite his constant worries about that. He didn't want it to end up this way - she'd just flee home and arrive at the battlescene anyway... she's a good girl.

Backstory

Born right outside one of the few cities of Siberia to a Ukrainian mom and American dad. Mom had a special power which helped her heal everyone around, and obviously made their family very popular in the area. Dad earned a living for them aside from that by tending to his small farm. They were already getting on in years when they had Riley.

Riley only spent first 5 years of his life there, as mom's health deteriorated quickly after years of strain put on her abilities. He barely remembers anything from this time, but remembers she was so calm about it, he didn't really realise she was dying until the very last moments. He also recalls that during her last year of life, when he was barely not a toddler anymore, she taught him he could save people like she did, too - she pricked his finger on a half wilted rose so he could see the flower revive and bloom through his blood. Not only did they have this power, it was their duty to use it for good, like his grandma and great grandpa did, and all the people before them.

Riley developed a stutter coincidentally close after his mother's death, and could never grow out of it since. His dad sold the farm a few months later and moved with his son back to America. He had a different view of their powers - he let his wife fulfill her so-called 'duty' because it made her happy, but now she was gone, and he took it harder than he thought he would. So Riley began to receive mixed messages, as dad taught him to never sacrifice himself like his mother did, or even reveal he had those abilities. Riley was all he had left now, and he needed him alive. He wanted to teach his son to just live his life in a way that would truly make him happy. So Riley thought, well, he always felt at ease around their farm animals, and less so around people. So...

Riley's dad died of illness when Riley was finishing his veterinarian studies. He didn't tell his son his state was getting worse to not stress him out, and as a student Riley was barely ever home, and didn't notice it in time. When visiting his father on his deathbed, he couldn't help but think this could've easily been prevented. Y'know, if he'd actually paid attention and used his abilities like he was supposed to. But over years of keeping his powers to himself, he found that they didn't work as fast as they did when mom used them - or maybe it was just too late for his dad? He didn't know. He had no experience. Dad obviously didn't blame him - he felt he's lived a good life, and was happy to see Riley grow up fulfilling his own path.

So, Riley was an orphan now. And all he had left was an overwhelming feeling of guilt, even if he shouldn't feel that way. Obviously, he didn't feel happy. But he started his own veterinarian office, somehow even found an assistant (actually, the assistant found him more like. Luka is, uh, a character). Helping animals definitely made him feel better. Especially since he could be confident that they wouldn't rat him out when he helped them with his powers every now and then, just to make sure he knew how to do it. ...But he still felt he could, should give more.

He always liked reading travel books, including some memoirs of one Explordinaire. Not only a traveller, but a superhero, too. A superhero sounded comfy. You help people around, everyone loves you, and (as long as you don't fuck it up), no-one actually knows who you are. Riley just wasn't sure... how to... become one...?

His first attempts were shoddy. He'd pretty much show up to every aftermath, clothed up to make sure no-one could recognise him despite his posture (making him look like a thug more than anything else), silently tend to victims in the background. That worked for a while. ...Until he was seen and called out on the scene of a building fire by an actual, light-commanding, merman-looking superhero. Riley reacted accordingly - panicked and fled with a cardboard box of puppies he'd rescued on the way. So that went smoothly.

What went even more smoothly was when his regular clients, Noui and Plum, took note of one of the puppies back at his veterinary clinic the following day. Riley had made sure most of them were safe at a good shelter, but one of them (nicknamed Persephone) seemed more sickly, and he wanted to keep an eye on her. Having been told it seems she had smudges of ash in her fur, he commented that someone had just dropped her off like that at his door last night.

... So either way, Noui took one look at this ridiculously tall guy, compared him to the tall guy from last night, and revealed his hybrid superhero form there and then. Promptly him and Plum drew a confession out of absolutely panicking Riley that he was indeed the 'mysterious puppy thief'.

After that incident, Plum and Noui more or less took Riley under their wing, helping him come up with a proper superhero identity, and even sourcing an outfit for him. Complete with a facemask. Despite Riley being a tad older than the two, Noui became sort of his first mentor on the path to superheroing, and they worked together to make sure Riley could be there and use his powers to their full potential, but not deal with the discomfort and mortifying ordeal of being known.

Obviously it didn't take Luka long to connect the two dots, either. She was absent at the time of Noui unmasking Riley, but soon after he took on the Siberian Taiga persona, Luka turned out to be one of the pedestrians he soon shielded in a developing battle as schrapnel flew around. Others may have been unfamiliar with that large superstrong guy, but she'd recognise the uneven blonde streaks anywhere. She approached him about it at work, causing him to nearly have a second panic attack at his office. Help.

But y'know. At least that means he has not one, but TWO confident people to drag him in front of others and force him to talk, and like, make relations and stuff.

Storylines

(Individual plots and important events, more or less established, hopefully in a chronological order)

• Teams up with Mistral quite often and crushes HARD - though it takes a long while before they get closer and eventually become a couple.
• After Riot, Magpie and Invisitor pull an unsuccesful bank heist, Taiga and Exponential team up with Riot to stop and calm down Hollow, who's suffering side-effects from Exponential's powers.
• Siberian Taiga meets Miss Sing after she kidnaps a doctor for a medical conference, and she immediately uses him as a lab rat after finding out he's not as susceptible to her concoctions. He gets a bit injected with furry, but gets better and escapes with help of Luka, Dragoon, Gamble and Jas. Also gets to meet Red and Grimm yay!
• Taiga takes interest in understanding the language of Korrode, an aggressive alien made of poisonous gas. They have a rough start, but eventually (over, probably, a very long time) himself, Anna, Explordinaire and Derek manage to understand and befriend Korrode, who becomes a hero! Whee!
• At some point during the Ultimate CRhyssis, he figures out Luka that went in to work on her day off is not the usual Luka, and eventually confirms she's from a different timeline.
• When Call to War unveils Thicket's real name among others, he realises the horrible effect her actions (aside from all the stress) had on Mistral, and wants to get Thicket out of her life for good. At that point though, Mistral (who has already become more withdrawn and cold in an attempt to keep herself together) interjects and takes Thicket's side.

Meta lore

First appearance: Background character, a very tall and very nervous veterinarian, to whom people such as Noui or Plum go with their pets. Luka is his assistant.

In Noui's main line of comics, he has his arc of gradually becoming a superhero under Noui's mentorship.

Relations & teams

Last Call

As an organisation, he's not very aware of it. But he's most likely on the list due to his absolutely pathetic social skills - being forced to talk renders him useless as he freezes up. And he's very new. But aside from that, it's possible he's on the Last Call list due to his abilities. The tendency of his ancestors to abuse the healing properties of their blood and run their bodies to ruin was probably noted, and it might be in their best interests to keep him alive and figure out a way how to keep his powers useful without Riley's untimely death being the price.

Heroes

Mistral: Initially she immediately won him over with her confidence and charms - all things he didn't have, ESPECIALLY in front of the cameras. But in time he realised how much of Mistral was just a mask - and somehow it just... made him... love her more? He doesn't know what in the world she saw in him in turn, and he considers himself awfully lucky. They've been a support for each other. They've been hurt in similar ways, and Mistral is so strong through it, but Melanie gets sad, nervous or weak, and he adores Mel - whenever she allows herself to be seen, that is. And sometimes, Melanie is happy. ... He wishes she could always be like that. He's determined to help Mel find her happiness, even at the cost of Mistral. ... Though he's not sure she sees things like he does...

Luminaut & Plum: Owes... a lot to them. Noui is a calm and collected persona who understands how much Riley struggles with people, as his superhero persona and out of it. Also, Elec really needs to make Noui a proper character because she genuinely fuckin loves him and she just takes a while, excuse me.

Luka: AaaaaaaAAaaaAaaaaa. Very hyper. Much energy. Scary. He's glad to have her as an assistant (though oh god he keeps hearing about her boyfriends how does she keep meeting so many guys). He shouldn't be, but part of him fears she'll be more prone to talking about his superhero side to people, while it's already hard enough for him to maintain it a secret as is. But, at least she helps him talk to other superheroes... And he's happy to provide some quiet space for her when she inevitably needs it.

Explordinaire: Ah yes he nearly fucking died while meeting the dude. Riley still can't get over the fact he's now working alongside some people he (like most of the globe, really) always admired - and he gets to TALK to a guy whose travels he READ ABOUT. The guy that made him think of becoming a superhero in the first place! And he said he liked him! Nope. Still not over it.

Exponential: A heroine he's met during several battles. Maybe she heard of his struggles beforehand or just picked up the vibes from him, but when he was cornered by a villain through simple mockery he couldn't respond to, she stood up to the task and talked circles around him so Taiga could break through his defenses unbothered. He's felt grateful ever since, and even managed to talk to her a bit, discovering they're both of mixed origins. They promised each other to teach themselves their native languages!

Anna & StarSteel: A pair of very strange friends who are also his friends! Children usually make him nervous (they can sense weakness) but Anna's a very, very different child. And StarSteel is alien by definition. ...Also used to be a murderous villain. ...But Riley is experienced with non-verbal creatures lashing out to save themselves. It all worked out in the end!

Villains

Miss Sing: Pretty much the opposite of what Riley stands for morally, and she's annoyingly insistent with her toxins. Probably one of the few people who make Riley lose his calm demeanour.

Thicket: The repetitive song and dance they put Taiga through was annoying and disruptive, sure, but what he REALLY hates them for is how they ruined Melanie's life, in and out of their suit. Riley wants this person gone, no matter how that would come to be - but that'd break Mistral's heart. So... he can't touch them. Yet.

Additional info & variants

• uhhhh ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm uh
• this is probably space for post oblivaeon stuff
• thanks for liking him guys ilu so much hes a special boi

• Currently no variants
• he needs a deck first lol