Amarant Gene

''"You learn a lot of things on the street. Who makes a easy mark, how to swallow your pride and eat from the garbage, and most importanly no moment comes twice. So you gotta make the best of what you got and live it up to the fullest." ''

Gene is a spunky and slightly cocky Hunter-in-training. Wielding a 3 section staff and knife in combat he intends on showing that just because he's off the streets doesn't mean he's trash.

Appearance
Gene is a fairly tall young man with a balanced body structure. He has visible muscle on him wehn he takes off his jacket but his muscles are compact and made for stamina while being capable of explosive power and agility. His blood red hair is a bit scruffy and messy but it looks good on him that way. He makes sure to wash it frequently at least. Gene also has long arms and legs that are just short of being gangly. It gives him a slightly awkward look but doesn't do too much to detract from his overall appearance. Finally the feature that Gene is most proud of is his long, powerful, and prehensil tail. Unlike most normal Faunus Gene has never hid his tail and never plans too. As far as he is concerned his tail is his best feature and practically a best friend. Finally Gene has a scar down over his right eyelid from his eyebrow down to his cheek. He got it in an attack by some vagrants over his groups ill gotten food. Thankfully the eye is still intact thanks to some scrambling, though the scar is a reminder of why confrontation is not always the best solution.

Gene wears a partially buttoned up jacket over a muscle shirt and pants. This is his main outfit mostly because he doesn't own that many others. He wears his jacket partially buttoned so that he can ditch it quickly should the need arise. Like if someone grabbed him by the back of it.

Personality
Gene grew up on the streets and as such his enviorment affected his behavior. Gene is normally a good, if somewhat cocky, kid. However Gene likes to live life to the fullest, because 'no moment comes twice'. He is capable of thinking ahead but mostly he wants to live his life how he wants instead of how circumstances dictate he should. However he is also capable of some impressive snarking and posseses a razor sharp wit. Still he had to learn when to keep his mouth shut sometimes in order to avoid unfavorable situations. And when those unfavorable sitations found him Gene found a new use for his gift of gab. Getting himself out of trouble. As such Gene has grown up to where he is comfortable with blurring the lines a bit and skirting. Gene get a bit of a kick out of pickpocketing and sometimes does so to his fellow students. It's mostly just a game and since coming to Beacon he hasn't had that many money problems. So if he does successfully manage to pilfer something from a student he usually hands it back almost immediately and will even give advice as to how to avoid such a fate in the future. A last side effect to Gene's nature is that he loves gambling. Luckily he limits himself to bets and such that don't use money. Though the guy seems to have the devils luck when it comes to that sort of stuff. People have long since stopped doing coin tosses with him.

However Gene is no stranger to hard work. Indeed when it comes time to put bussiness before bullsh*t he straightens up. After all his hard work is what led to him being at Beacon in the first place. Heck it was what allowed him to survive on the streets as long as he did. He also has a strong protective streak.

Personal History
Gene was given up for adoption in his infancy at a small orphanage. Probably a classic case of teenage parents who were unable to support the child. Gene spent the first 6 years of his childhood in that orphanage when disaster struck. It wasn't anything like a grimm attack but it was serious. I fire had broken out and quickly spread. It was most likely an accident. Might of had something to do with the wiring. Either way the place burnt down and many workers died trying to make sure the children lived. Gene lost a few friends in that accident and like any normal kid bawled his eyes out for days afterward. However it was not all bad. Quite a few of the children survived. A few of them 14-16 years of age. However the majority were his age or younger and were looked after by the older kids as they had no choice but to try to survive on the streets. Of course they weren't the only vagrants on the streets. The few  older kids had to physically protect the younger ones. Being reckless in his young age he always tried to join the older kids when fights happened. To their surprise he had a natural apptitude for fighting that let him help them. As such he joined the older kids as a protector for the younger ones. There group was a mix of humans and faunus however none of them cared about that. Their tight knit bonds kept such petty things from bothering them. After all they all starved together so what should it matter if a few of them had animal ears or tails?

Over the years Gene learned more skills and tricks to help the group. He was a natural with a knife and his tail was very helpful when they needed to steal and pickpocket to survive. They never did anything big or stupid like rob a dust shop. It was mostly stealing food and money from the pockets of rich looking people. Maybe a bit of jewlry to sell if their target was unaware enough. Still Gene grew up and into his role as a protector. Learning that sometimes he had to make sacrifices in order to make sure the other kids were safe and fed. Giving a fresh loaf of bread he had stolen to the younger kids and having to eat out of the garbage with the older ones is an example of such a thing. However always told the group that one day he would become a hunter and then they could all have enough money for food. The older kids knew such a thing would requre a tuition fee. Gene did as well and as such felt that his dreams were very far off. However the older kids worked hard. Working shady jobs or for people who didn't care about their situation as long as they did thier jobs. Eventually their combined efforts managed to save enough money for Gene to afford his first year of tuition at Siganl. However they noted that from then on it had to be all him. They had ammassed quite a sizeable amount of money and put it towards his dream with permission from the younger kids. To move forward it had to be him making the grades needed for getting scholarships and such to pay for the rest of the way. Utterly speechless at this fact Gene pledged himself to being the best student he could in order to become a huntsman. He owed them to much not too.

And so began Gene's journey by himself. The skills and tricks he learned would have to be used to give him every edge he could. He face prejudice a plenty on he journey. After all he knew about faunus racism. Honestly it didn't hurt him. He never hid is tail, in fact he practically showed it off every chance he could. He took the jeers in stride, though he still didn't tolerate it because of the impact it had on other faunus. However the taunts about his living situation hit much closer to home. The jokes about how poor he was and how he probably was a bastard child dug at him. But he would not give them the satisfaction of retaliation. He would let his grades and his abilities do all the talking for him. When graduation day came, satisfaction never felt so sweet.

Relationships
The Rat Pack: Various teenagers and adults from ages 14 to 22. They are doing a lot better know but still not doing all that great. Through combined efforts they managed to get a couple of apartments that they pack into as tightly as they can. Like rats.

Strengths
Gene has a good balance of both speed and power. However his real strength is his agility. Born from years of running through tight allyways and in some cases using the rooftops available to him Gene developed increadible balance and agility. This makes him a good all around fight and one that can be very tricky to fight depending on the situation. He's no muscle man but he can get the job done.

One other strength of his is his observation abilities. On the streets you don't last to long if your ignorant to your surroundings. With his skill for fast talking and watching for any opening or advantage he can take care of Gene had gotten very good at seeing things other people might miss. Things such as a tell that someone might be lying or that they are nervous. If he concentrates heavily he can even see attacks coming. However this is only if he shuts out other things and concentrates on where he thinks the attack is coming from.

Finally there is his tail. Thanks to it's prenhensil nature and Gene performing training exercises to strengthen it his tail it is more like a fifth limb than just a tail. He is capable of using it to hold his knife and attack. He can also use it like a fifth limb in unarmed combat.

Weaknesses
Gene is very balanced. However that has led him in the direction of being a sort of jack of all trades. He doesn't have anything he specializes to heavily in aside from what his skills on the streets and natural talents have brought him. He can be outsped, and out muscled so he often has to play smart. His defense is also average and is nothing to write home about. Another fact is that aside from his knife which has a surprise in it he has not ranged attacks what so ever. If he ever comes up against a ranger or sniper his best bet is to try to use his agility to close in as fast as possible and take them out. Otherwise he is hosed.

Another weakness of Gene is the fact that enclosed spaces don't work well for his fighting style. He needs room to move around. In tight spaces he is working at a severe disadvantage. Plus thanks to his fighting style he is at a disadvantage is someone gets in extemely close to him like a fist fighter as he can't use his main weapon.

Mundane Abilities
Gene is very good at talking. Having realized that you can't beat up all of your problems Gene quickly became fluent in the way of smooth talking. After situations could be dealt with before the became huge blow ups this way. And he could find ways out to trouble. He helped that he had a sort of attitude about him. Very affable and easy to talk too. He doesn't really consider himself charming, though that is not to say that he isn't fair looking he just sees charm as something you have or you don't. And he frankly thinks he doesn't. However let him start talking and your letting him have exactly what he wants, time. Time to figure out either a way to bring you around to his way of thinking, to convince of a point, or for him to plot an escape route. Gene has no qualms about using every tool at his disposale.

Another thing about Gene is that thanks to his long limbs and tail he can relieably run quickly on all fours. He in fact adopts this way of running whenever he needs to sprint. He feels comfortable doing it and his tail helps him keep balance. It's faster than running on two legs for him at least.

Gene is also has survival skills thanks to having to scavage food wherever he could and having to make due with anything he could use for shelter. Unfortunately this means he only really knows how to cook is if he is cooking something over a fire. If anyone could teach him to cook though he would be happy to learn.

Perserverance
Perserverance is a Quick Switch Staff Naginata (QSSN). The weapon's first form is a three sectioned staff that Gene has spent years acclimating too during his stay at Signal Academy. He can now wieild it adeptly and it is his main weapon. The staff sections are fairly big and thick, upping their impact. They also have metal stubs to increase the pain of the strikes. The weapon is colored red with gold highlights. When switching forms a simple press of a button on the staff is all that is needed to switch it to Naginata form. There is little fanfare in the transformation as it is quick and simple. Timed right it can even work into combos. When the switch happens the staff sections snap together, the chain length in between them retreating into the sections and an interlocking mechanism on said sections snapping into place. To finish the transformation a blade shoots out of the top section of the staff much like a spring loaded knife. The blade of the naginata is 50 inches in length and the shaft is 6 ft in length. The means that in the three sectioned staff mode each section is 24 inches long.

Protection
Protection is a rather unique knife. One that Gene was very lucky to 'aquire'. It has been with him for a long time now. Protection is a Special Scout Knife (SSK) that is also known as the NRS-2. It is a survival knife with a built-in single-shot shooting mechanism designed to fire an 7.62x42mm cartridge in the hilt. Fire dust is used in the round to give an explosive effect when fired. The knife has a safety latch underneath the hilt that must be switched in order to fire from the barrel, which doubles at the knife handle. The knife blade is 11 inches long and the barrel is capable of firing up to a range of 25 meters. The knife's single shot is meant to be used as a surprise attack. In a tight situation it could allow for victory or a swift retreat if used right. Gene's apptitude for knives along with how long he has had this weapon means it is a very reliable back up weapon for him. The knife is usually holstered in it's sheath that rests on his front, attached to a strap.

Dust
Gene only uses fire dust for explosive rounds in Protection.

Aura
All things considered Gene's Aura is pretty balanced. It provides him good defense and small regen factor, enough for minor cuts and scraps. However his ability to sense danger or 'the feeling of being watched' is very advanced.

Semblance: Perception Mode
Gene's semblance is a time activation type. Gene can activate his semblance which grants him perception mode. Perception mode increases Gene's occular abilities. Things he wouldn't notice before become visible, his vision is so clear that he can more easily see the subtle muscle twichches or beginnings of movement that broadcast an enemies moves. Things seem slightly slower than they were before giving him more time to observe. However it is not without weaknesses.

Gene has a time limit on this state. 30 seconds after activation is the longest he can hold it safely. After that his eyes start straining and popping blood vessels. 45 seconds is the absolute longest he can hold it, lest he irrevocable damages his eyes. After turning off Perception mode he can not use it again for 5 minutes. If he goes to the 45 second mark he cannot use it again until his eyes heal which can take up to 7 to 14 days. Another weakness is that if an enemy is on a completely different speed level from gene, even with his better mental reaction speed he still needs to be able to physically outspeed them. Meaning that a suitably fast character could work past Perception mode.

Trivia
Gene's last name, Amarant, is and archaic form of the word Amaranth which is a species of plant whose foliage comes in colors ranging from purple and red to green or gold.