Height: 5'4 ft
Weight: 142 lbs
Name: O'Brien, Flint
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Personality: Flint O'Brien's as stubborn as a mule and has a fiery temper that few can match. She has a strong distrust for authority, believing that she's better off making her own decisions than listening to anyone else. O'Brien is fiercely independent, more often than not choosing to approach a problem on her own than seek out help from others. She tends to rush into things without thinking them through. Flint's more likely to spend an hour ramming her head against a wall than to go to someone else, even if they're more capable, for help. Asking for assistance is a sign of weakness; and growing up how she did, Flint learned how to hide her weaknesses well behind an aggressive, unapproachable mask. She suffers from a poor ability to socialize due to this behavior. She has difficulty explaining her thoughts to others, especially if they have to do with her feelings. She'd much prefer to bottle up her emotions and let them fester than talk things out. Despite Flint's relatively powerful quirk, her many other shortcomings have made following her dream of becoming a hero...hard, to say the least. She's jumped between multiple schools, few being willing to deal with her rebellious nature. Yet, despite her many flaws, Flint has a passion that burns like the flames she commands. There is nothing in this life she wants more than to be a hero. Her overwhelming desire to help people cannot be overlooked. She has never let anything stop her from achieving her dreams.
Background:Flint O'Brien was born to Maria O'Brien in a run down Harlem clinic. Her father had run out on Maria the day she told him she was pregnant, leaving the young woman to raise Flint all on her own. During Flint's first few years, Maria had difficulty keeping up with two jobs and finding time to take care of her daughter. Raised staunchly Catholic by her own parents, Maria relied on a local priest to help watch her child while she worked since she couldn't afford an actual daycare or babysitter. Father Adams did his best with the toddler, though the girl turned out to be quite the handful. The young mother, exhausted from work and inexperienced in child bearing, leaned heavily on the older religious leader's guidance. He himself wasn't great with children; Adams routinely found himself bending to the little devil's whims. Neither he nor Maria ever properly disciplined her, leading to Flint never learning to respect her authority figures.
Flint's powers manifested on her fourth birthday when she used the candles to set fire to the cake...and the table it was on. The Father's first assumption was that the child was possessed. Adams tried to cast out the demon, only for the young girl to freak out and use her powers to nearly set fire to the church using flames from the candelabrum. Flint was then locked in a room for several days, only given food and water through a small window. The terrified four year old's pleas for an explanation fell on deaf ears. After much research and prayer, the priest came to the conclusion that Flint had one of the 'Quirks' that had been talked about so much on the news. The girl was finally taken back home by her mother, but the damage had been done: Maria was terrified of her own child, and Flint hated her for letting Adams lock her away. She refused to ever go back to the church. Her mom chose to leave her home alone instead, further forcing the young adolescent to become more independent and resentful of her mother.
Once she was old enough, Maria started to send Flint to school. She hated it. People kept telling her what to do. She fought against her teachers all the way till second grade, her defiance escalating to outright violence on a number of occasions. Flint was then forced to transfer to a 'special' school for more difficult children. As she grew older, Flint continued to defy authority. She got into altercations with other students practically every day. It was a miracle she avoided expulsion for so long.
Maria transferred her to another school after she finished elementary, hoping a new environment might promote better behavior. She was wrong. Flint continued to fight and rebel. She was barely passing all of her classes and went out of ers way to screw with the other students. If she didn't come home with a split lip or red knuckles, her mother counted it as a good day. Things continued to escalate until another student arrived at the school. A transfer, and the only student at the school other than Flint with a quirk, it was only a matter of time before word reached O'Brien of the boy's special ability. Her 'friends' dared Flint to fight him; and of course she took them up on their challenge. Flint caught the other student in the hall and attacked him. The new boy's super strength shattered Flint's ribs, and the pyro's fire covered her opponent in first degree burns before teachers were able to detain both of them.
That was the final straw. The police were brought in and ended up dragging O'Brien away in handcuffs. She was threatened with charges of assault and arson. Flint may have been taken to court, too, if it wasn't for the intervention of a total stranger. One of New York's more famous heroes heard about the incident and came to the station right away, working out a way to settle things without potentially putting a child behind bars. In exchange for the charges being dropped, the girl would have to serve a year's worth of 'community service' and would be put on probation. After talking it over with Maria, Flint agreed. The hero took Flint in to the apprentice program. He explained what it was they did there. To a young, impressionable mind like O'Brien, this man changed her whole prospective. Flint hated her lot in life. She hated everything about how her mother had raised her. People had treated her like a freak for having a quirk, and, in her mind, she'd been striking back at them for their persecution. This hero offered her another way. Instead of destroying the system, Flint should strive to fix it- to make sure no one else had to suffer or fight like she had because they were born different. O'Brien channeled her energy into this new goal, throwing all of herself into becoming a hero.
Quirk: Fire Manipulation-
Flint is capable of controlling fire with her mind. Any existing flame is hers to command. she is able to shape an inferno to her will, wielding it as a weapon or choking it out as she sees fit. O'Brien can quench or control a blaze roughly the size of a house fire, though doing so takes some concentration and effort on her part. She can't create fire from thin air; Flint is only able to control existing flames. Manipulating a blaze takes some measure of energy and focus, the intensity of which is dependent on the size and ferocity of said inferno. Unlike some pyros, O'Brien is in no way immune to her own quirk's destructive power. She can be burned just like anyone else. To counteract some of the limits of her abilities, Flint tends to keep multiple lighters on her person- just in case she needs to get fired up; they don't offer a great volume of fuel to work with, but it's something. To the same effect, Flint's been on the look out for fireproof clothing, though she's yet to find anything after rummaging through the stocks of numerous thrift stores.
Talents and Skills:- While she has no formal combat training, Flint's aggressive and stubborn personality have gotten her into plenty of scuffles. She can take a hit, and she knows how to dish it out.
- Due to her mother working two full time jobs and never having time to take care of her, Flint had to learn how to feed and take care of herself. Se isn't a half bad chef; O'Brien's especially good at making a decent meal with very few ingredients to work with.
- Flint's family never had the money to pay for a trip to the hospital. If she got hurt (and thanks to all the constant fights, that happened often) she had to patch herself up. She learned how to keep a steady hand when using a needle, and the best ways to make a splint or bandage a wound.