Guest takes on the role of my OC My name is Octavia Baird, and in Walsh, West Virginia I was born. My story starts like any other cosmic joke— drunk father and eccentric mother. Rex and Mary Baird, what a pair they were. My daddy brought me up tough and my mama brought me up gentle. Rex was a real brilliant man, despite himself. Taught me astrophysics before I learned my ABC’s. He would drink and tell me secrets. Conspiracy stuff. We would move around a lot, us three. Pack up all our stuff and do “the skedaddle,” as daddy called it, ‘cause the feds were after him. And on that dark day hit— the one where we were doing the skedaddle out of Blythe, Nevada, that day when the cops ran us off the highway— I had been eight years old. Complete wreck. Mama was gone. They tried to fix up daddy, but he didn’t make it. They put me in some group home. Didn’t last long there. I won’t get into the horrors that happened in that house, but I ran away and that’s all you need to know. That’s when I started stealing. Pickin’ pockets, mostly. I was real good at it on account of my Quirk, Amnesia. One touch and whoever was on the recievin’ end lost an hour of memory. I made my way to a big ol’ library in Richmond, Virginia. It had a big globe, and that’s when I decided I best leave the country before CPS discovered I was all alone. I spun that globe, and my finger landed on Musutafu, Japan, so that’s exactly where I went. Nine years old and that city welcomed me like an old friend. Learned the language real quick ‘cause my daddy taught me to be a fast learner. Met a boy— Touya Todoroki. He was a few years older than me— 14 to my nine. Had a fire Quirk that burned hotter than his daddy Endeavor’s. He would visit me out on the streets. His ma, Rei, was real kind to me. She’d always send Touya to feed me and we would play together. And we’d sit and look at the stars and talk smack about out daddies. His was worse than mine. At least mine was gone. And Endeavor was one mean son of a gun. Said Touya shouldn’t associate with street rats like me. And then word got out that he’d disappeared on Sekoto Peak, where he was trying his best to control that Quirk of his. But he couldn’t tolerate the heat. Never seen him again until now. We’re both way older now. He’s got me surrounded by a ring of fire, callin’ himself Dabi, saying it’s right crappy of me that I forgot about him, which I never did. I just moved on, is all. I ain’t no stranger to loss. He’s in his twenties now and I’m getting there myself. He’s all different now. Got this purple skin stapled over his burn scars and now his hair’s all black. Yeah, he calls himself Dabi— but I’m still calling him a damned fool.