i did a thing
Name: Takeru Yoshii & Qui
Rider Name: Kamen Rider Tao
Age: 20
Appearance: Takeru is a fairly scrawny sort of twenty year old, and he has the look of a bum. This is not surprising, because he actually is a bum. He has thick dark hair that probably gets cut about once every other year, and his clothes are consistently half a decade out of style. His Imagin, Qui, has a much more refined look about her. Her form is based off of a zebra, and she has black and white stripes accenting her armor-like body. Her face consists of a white jaw and a black visor that obscures any other facial features. Behind her she sports a flowing black-and-white mane of hair that travels down most of her back. When possessing Takeru, his hair acquires white stripes. Qui is contracted to Takeru and therefore has a physical form, but cannot disguise herself as a human; when going out into the world she usually tries to wear clothing that conceals her identity as an evil inhuman monster. Such as sinister trenchcoat-and-hat ensembles.
Suit: The Tao Suit is contained within the Cross Buckle, a belt with a look to it that is not entirely unlike a railroad crossing. When activated, Takeru becomes surrounded by a standard Plat Form. Track-like designs form an X on his chest, and his helmet features a pair of tracks, one splitting it in half vertically and the other going across diagonally. Depending on the activation, Tao can take one of two forms:
- Yang Form: Yang Form is Takeru's default suit form, and is activated by inserting a White Ticket into the Cross Buckle. In this form, a white aura armor affixes itself to the Plat Form. The face mask generated for this form is a white droplet-shaped mask, not unlike the yang side of a yinyang symbol.
- Yin Form: Yin Form is a form activated by Qui possessing Takeru, and then inserting a Black Ticket into the Cross Buckle. In this form, a black aura armor is generated instead. In addition to the more cosmetic differences, this form also has black claws, in spite of the fact that this is thematically inappropriate for an equine-inspired Imagin. The face mask is a flipped and inverted version of Yang Form's mask.
Abilities: Takeru is in fact an excellent performer, with a wide repertoire of various magic tricks and amusing routines. He has been known to
beg perform on the streets when he needs a little bit of cash for something. Qui, for her part, is a ruthless killing machine, being well versed in all the arts of war, including armed combat, deception, and extreme knitting.
Rider Powers: Kamen Rider Tao has access to two forms and one adaptable weapon.
- Yang Form: In Yang Form, Tao has enhanced punching and kicking strength, and heightened physical resilience. In addition, the ChangeGladius in this form takes the shape of a large sword, which can be used to execute a number of powerful attacks and his finisher. Yang Form is accessed by burning "good" memories in the form of a White Ticket in the Cross Buckle.
- Yin Form: In Yin Form, Tao has enhanced speed and mobility. The ChangeGladius in this form takes the shape of a longbow-like ranged weapon, which can be used to execute a number of powerful attacks and her finisher. In addition, Tao has the use of a close range secondary weapon in the claws on the suit's gloves. Yin Form is accessed by burning "bad" memories in the form of a Black Ticket in the Cross Buckle.
- ChangeGladius: The ChangeGladius is a two-form weapon. Sword mode, used in Yang Form, looks like a half-black, half-white outline of a sword blade with a wide tip. The sword has an exceptional cutting ability, and combined with Yang Form's strength can slice through most any material. Longbow mode, used in Yin Form, looks like a half-white, half-black twice-curved longbow, and is formed by the blade of the sword mode ChangeGladius splitting in two and swinging out. Longbow Mode fires powerful blasts and has an exceptional range, making it ideal strategy for Tao to stay out of reach while firing off blasts at the enemy.
Rider Machine: Takeru and Qui travel and live in the TaoLiner as its only crew. Due to the lack of a conductor on the train, it is limited in its time-travel capabilities. For the most part the dynamic duo tend to just park it out in the Sands of Time unless they're traveling somewhere far away.
Technically, there is a motorcycle called the TaoSteed stored on the TaoLiner, which "belongs" to Takeru. However, Takeru is an interdimensional time traveling bum and does not have a license and neither he nor Qui actually know how to ride a motorcycle, so it mostly just collects dust when not being used to conduct the TaoLiner.
Personality: Takeru and Qui have an odd chemistry together, wherein Takeru tends to give to charity, say good morning to people, rush in to save the innocent bystanders, etc. Meanwhile, Qui tends to steal candy from babies, make murderous faces at anyone that talks to her, and get the job done regardless of casualties. While it's tempting to say they keep each other in check, the truth is that they're both pretty ineffectual even by themselves, with Takeru basically failing at most of the things he attempts and Qui just coming off as an antisocial jerk, who also happens to be a zebra. In short, Takeru tries to be the superhero he wished to be; while Qui just kind of does her own thing. Make no mistake, however; as Qui's contract is completed, she can take off and leave at any moment, and Takeru doesn't particularly need her either as long as he holds the buckle. It's almost like they secretly don't hate each other...
Backstory: Once upon a time there was a cunning and powerful Imagin soldier that went back in time to really eff things up. But then she contracted to a total screw up and that was the end of her illustrious career.
That's how Qui would tell the tale, at least, and it's not totally wrong. Contracting with Takeru was simultaneously one of the best and worst decisions of her life. It was a great day for a freshly-minted graduate, however, who suddenly had his own real life wish-granting genie. Takeru knew exactly what his wish was right then and there: he wanted to be a superhero. And this is what caused Qui to bash her head against a wall for three weeks straight trying to grant it.
Finally, after many unsuccessful attempts (it turns out that, unlike in the comics, gamma radiation just gives you cancer), Qui determined that the only way to fulfill this contract was to do the impossible: hijack a time train. Fortunately, with the powers of zebra-ness, the impossible became possible; somehow she made off with none other than the TaoLiner, evaded the authorities, and delivered the train and the Cross Buckle into Takeru's care.
To this day Takeru and Qui are high up on the interdimensional wanted list; though some might suggest that the time police are taking their time to catch up to them, thanks to Tao's vigilanteism making things a little easier for them. Between evading the authorities and taking down time criminals, Takeru and Qui try to do their best to keep their heads down and not attract too much attention. Which can be difficult at times, as Takeru likes to send them off on wild goose chases all the time whenever he hears about villains roaming about. These days it seems Tokyo has been getting more and more dangerous, in the evil monster department. Perhaps they will be making a trip there soon...