#>> VERSE ( bnha » student — snake in the garden. )

[huntershowl]

@never-surrender ( shouto. )

❝ YO. TODOROKI. ❞ SEPH'S VOICE ALWAYS sounds harsher and more pointed than they mean it. in this particular case, she calls his name like she's about to confront him about some personal slight. but as she approaches him where he sits, seph's face is neutral, if not a little bright with intrigue. rather catlike, they hop up to sit on the table next to him, letting their gangly legs dangle off the edge. ❝ question for you. why don't i ever see you training without your quirk? like — don't get me wrong, you're strong as fuck, but. ❞

a pause; she runs her tongue over her teeth, spinning a little throwing knife between her fingers. how does she word this. ❝ okay — hypothetical. let's say aizawa's not on our side. or let's say there's a villain with a very similar quirk. coordinated attack, you're grappled from behind. what would you do? ❞

[huntershowl]

miscellaneous bnha verse headcanons.

thanks to @bcdomens for prompting a lot of these!!!

seph's chosen hero name would've been nightwalker, had she not been pulled out of UA before they could graduate. ( laughs in 'doesn't have a hero verse for seph because life & bad choices always lead them to villainy' )

her hero fighting style is a balance between range fighting (sniper rifle, pistols, throwing knives) and wrecking shop in close combat with high-velocity martial arts and dirty street fighting.

much of her hero fighting relies on precise hits (to vulnerable spots and pressure points), agility, and speed rather than brute force. this is a pretty stark contrast to the way they fight as a villain: high-damage blows, breaking bones, really brutal stuff.

seph carves extra time out of her schedule to train while purposefully not utilizing her quirk. it's extremely important to her sense of identity to be able to hold her own against quirk users without needing its assistance (it's a pride thing). if other members of class 1-A notice and ask her about it, she'll try to rope them into training quirkless too.

during current-gen verse, they intern with snipe!! :)

quirk-related notes. (cut for long.)

seph's voidsmoke quirk allows her to create large swaths of darkness within an area (a move called veil). inside that particular darkness, within which one is surrounded by faint and glimmering stars, she can sense where people and objects are, aka where the smoke's mass is displaced. this puts her at a huge advantage when fighting within a veil.

while fighting back-to-back or side by side with a partner, she'll usually not pull down the veil unless they have some kind of night vision. when the veil is active, it's safe to assume seph is fighting alone. not to worry! they can take on quite a few people in that fucked-up little space.

in brightly-lit areas, it takes double or triple the amount of physical effort to create and maintain a veil, as it is a patch of complete darkness — blocking more light puts an extra strain on her. if it's bright enough (ie direct sunlight with no shade) it's not possible at all. in addition, if a fire is started or explosions/flashbangs go off inside the veil, it tires her out much faster to continually re-strengthen it.

in general, voidsmoke counters — and is countered by — light/fire. because she can control the molecular structure of the smoke, it can be used to smother or dampen flames within its space, at the cost of an exponentially higher energy usage from seph's body. enough light can overpower the voidsmoke and shatter a veil prematurely.

congealing the smoke's molecules can very briefly solidify parts of it. this is how they can make an emergency bullet on the fly, hold someone down, or shield a fatal blow so that part of the damage is absorbed before it hits her. the longer she keeps up the solidification (ie after like 1-3 seconds), the more brittle the shadow becomes. this is the main offensive feature of the quirk, and by far the most taxing.

one of the later-learned upgrade features to their quirk is that, by manipulating the molecular structure of the voidsmoke in a very, very precise way, it can be used to filter out unwanted molecules from the air. this has only happened to her once unconsciously: it's how they survive a house fire a year or two after they get pulled out of UA, unable to move from the floor and bleeding out. the smoke acted on orders from their subconscious: survive, survive, survive. filtered the air, absorbed and redirected the heat before it could roast their body. doing this consciously is thus far impossible.

[huntershowl]

@ravenbled liked x.

she knows whose footsteps cross the rooftop behind her, even before turning around. ❝ hey. sorry i bounced. just had to get some fresh air. ❞

[huntershowl]

what's in seph's room at UA/JJT dorms!

overall vibe: organized, subdued goth. a lot of dark colors, black-painted furniture with red floral accents. wall decorations are mostly her extensive collection of cool knives.

notable things:

a century bob (man-shaped MMA punching bag) w/ boxing gloves draped around his neck

music stand & violin case leaned up against the wall

soundproofing foam peppered across the walls and ceiling in-between mounted weapons

motorbike helmet on the desk

daybed that doubles as a couch (extra long)

fully decked out windowsill seat: cushions, tiny wall shelves, little mini-table pulled up next to it to rest coffee cups. this is where she spends most of her time.

a locked black box on top of the dresser (don't worry about it)

loaded gun under the pillow (don't worry ab

one of those lamps shaped like a crow with a lightbulb in its mouth

dark red rug on the floor. seph will just lay down on it sometimes.

bedclothes are extremely high-quality high thread count cotton and silk

furniture pieces (bed, dresser, desk) are also really expensive and well-made if you know what you're looking at

how the fuck she makes all of this work in such a small space is hard to say

[huntershowl]

❝ YEAH, YEAH. ❞ THEY TAKE NO OFFENSE TO KYOKA'S TONE. it's the kind of talk seph prefers, in fact — she often gravitates toward the grumpier and more blunt classmates for casual chatter. after a few moments with their face scrunched up in thought, a pale fingertip taps the lid of a deep blood-red polish. ❝ you think this one'll look okay? ❞

she's put out quite a few options, though the colors all lean towards the dark-- she doesn't feel bad about the limited display, beggars can't be choosers after all! ❝  have you picked one out yet? i don't have all night. ❞ but don't be deceived by the dismissive tone, kyoka's grateful for the distraction.

[huntershowl]

concepts for mha-verse UA hero costume ( nightwalker ). imnot fucking satisfied with ANY OF THEM but the slow crawl continues.

[huntershowl]

" is that a fucking body ? "

a prompt i'm too lazy to find. @xplosionbomb

... SHIT.

PERSEPHONE DOESN'T TURN AROUND at first, but the familiar voice sends a sickening wave of dread through her body as she drops the corpse she was just holding by the hair. it lands with a wet thump in the puddle of blood still seeping from the gunshot wound in the back of his skull.

this was — not supposed to happen. this is why they normally ditch school to perform hit jobs. unfortunately, a direct order is a direct order, and her deadline was tonight, so saturday it is. she just... didn't think she'd actually run into someone she knows. hell of an unfortunate coincidence. ❝ fuck, ❞ she hisses in english under her breath, finally turns to face bakugou, wipes the blood off her cheek with the back of her hand ( and only really manages to smear it more across pallid skin. )

their face screws up into something between indignance and shame as they stare at him for a moment, translating in their head, trying to figure out what the fuck to say to their goddamn classmate. a hand hovers over the pistol they used to kill the guy a few minutes ago, sheathed at their thigh, still warm.

finally, she finds her bearings again. her voice drops low, dangerous — a warning. this is a completely different person than the gangly punk who picks fights with katsuki and eats lunch on the roof.

she should get rid of him. he could ruin everything ( and, knowing him, probably will without hesitation. she might be completely fucked. ) but there's no way in hell she could bring herself to pull the trigger if she tried. ❝ walk away. ❞

[huntershowl]

@deathonate liked x.

SEPH'S TAKEN TO EATING LUNCH ON THE ROOF, after one too many students got a little too comfortable sharing her table. is it very against the rules to be up here alone? yes. do they care? no.

the sound of the hatch swinging open has her bristling. her head swings toward the sound, the scowl on her face only deepening when she sees who it is. so much for peace and quiet. ( not the worst person to have walked through that door. in fact, probably one of the better ones. but seph would rather take a dive off this roof than ever say that out loud. )

❝ hey — step off, shithead, ❞ she calls over, complete with a middle finger flung in his direction. ❝ this is my turf. ❞

[huntershowl]

❝ i wish you weren't. ❞

"Everything will be alright!! Why? Because I am here!"

[huntershowl]

nightwalker (UA hero costume) update :)c i've gotta leave for the bar now but i'm pretty happy w this vibe so far hehe.

[huntershowl]

leaves a very nice writing pen in @vsagis' locker. attached, an unsigned note that simply says, in a harshly scrawled hand (both japanese and english):

おたおめ  hb

[huntershowl]

BNHA headcanon masterpost!

because i don't want to be annoying as fuck and reblogging them every time i'm thinkin about her again. LMAO

main verse post here.

STUDENT VERSE.

what's in their dorm? misc headcanons & quirk details villainous hero appearance & isolation.

[huntershowl]

HE'S SO PISSY IT'S ALMOST cute. something dangerous in seph wants to prod further, tease at that tense, wound-up thing in him until it snaps. there's something interesting about this one, much more than the other shitheels around her.

❝ because i'm fuckin' tired of these losers and their quirks. they don't know shit. i'm itching for a real fight — and you look strong. ❞ pause; a glimmer of challenge, amusement in their eyes. it's clear he doesn't trust them. he's probably waiting for the other shoe to drop: the reveal that she was only doing this to get one over on him somehow. prank the quirkless delinquent. please. she doesn't go for low-hanging fruit. seph steps closer, bends slightly with their hands shoved in their hoodie pockets. ❝ so what do you say, grumpy-face? real fight, hand to hand, no quirk involved. ❞

Of course it's about his quirk (or rather, lack thereof). It's always about the quirks.

When Izuku looks up and holds the other's gaze, his expression resembles somebody's who just ate a slide of a particularly sour lemon. And it didn't even taste fresh. "What do you think?" He answers Seph's question with his own, a tinge of sarcasm to his tone as his face goes blank save for raised eyebrows. "Of course not, I'm here for innocence. Obviously." A popular joke, so he's sure they'll get it.

"Why?"

It's just a cursory assessment, but what he's seen so far doesn't give they're here to start shit. Just your regular sour chick. With that thought in mind, and alongside hope that he isn't wrong, Izuku puts his notebook aside and gets up.

[huntershowl]

@loveheir — katsuki.

❝ HEEEY, THERE HE IS. THE BASTARD himself. ❞ seph's astride their bike with their arms crossed over the handlebars. it's a sleek black machine, custom-built from a vintage skeleton by the engineer who made her arms; over time, it's become something of an extension of herself. another prosthetic limb.

she's been keeping tabs on the media, so the various wartorn conditions of her classmates are not new to her. still, something crosses her face when he actually steps out to meet her, unreadable and stormy. but it passes quick. the biker jacket shields most of her arms from the eye, but her hands are clearly visible — metal and silicone and carbon fiber, intricately built to mimic human hands near-perfectly. minus the sensation of nerves under the skin, of course; she'll never be able to feel with her fingertips and palms, not unless technology jumps thirty years. ❝ didn't think i'd ever see your face again. ❞

[huntershowl]

❝  i’m staying,  okay?  you don’t have to be alone tonight. ❞ (todoroki)

THE NIGHT TERRORS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE lately, as the delicate balance between school and the unseen takes more and more of a toll on them. playing at being a hero while they take lives as soon as the eyes of justice are turned away, it feels — wrong. but she and her brother are in too deep to escape now. she is only sixteen, and she has taken more lives than the years she has lived.

and they haunt her, the innocent ones. as soon as the distractions quiet and they're alone with their thoughts in a desperate attempt to sleep, they wake up screaming and thrashing in the middle of the night. vivid dreams of killing her friends — the order could come any day and she knows it, always knows it, and on too many nights her mind plays out the possibilities in ultrafocused detail. shoto's body broken on the floor, his blood under her fingernails. the betrayed way they all look at her.

that's the purpose of the soundproofing foam, stuck all over the walls and reinforced by her brother in the support course. it's quiet enough that most of her fellow students can't hear the screams, not unless they happen to be extremely sensitive sleepers or walking through the halls in the middle of the night.

at least, she thought so.

todoroki continues to surprise her. not only in his perceptiveness, but in his determination to reach out to someone who has grown accustomed to biting the hand that feeds. persephone still trembles with residual shock as she sits on the floor with her legs drawn up to her chest. her hair has grown nearly two feet over the course of the night, a blatant tell that she has been terrified; it wisps around her waist now, black as the night outside. despite their initial reluctance, todoroki's presence — alive and unharmed — is... a comfort. it's nice not to be alone. but that doesn't mean he should be subjected to this. ❝ i'm not letting you go without sleep for an entire night, todoroki. it'll cut into your training. it's fine, it was just a bad dream. ❞

[huntershowl]

What if they kissed? 😫🥺

IT STARTS WITH A CIGARETTE. MANY OF their interactions do; they always have. perhaps it isn't the healthiest method of bonding, but it's theirs.

the rooftop they share tonight is not their school's, but that of the apartment seph and orion share, alone, illegally. it's a rare thing for seph to have time outside of school and work to spend with shota. she has to seize it, make it last — and in truth, she really doesn't want this night to end. if only time were a commodity to be bargained with.

normally, when shota asks, seph just hands him the lighter when they're done with it. this time, she scoots closer, flicks it on herself, and hoods it with the other hand so that she can burn the tip of the tightly-rolled paper. a quick flash of orange-gold illuminates their faces under a near-midnight sky. this close, seph can see his eyelashes. she can see the bloodshot corners of his sclerae. she can hear the soft intake of breath.

the idea — impulsive, stupid — comes after a few moments of staring. without a word, seph reaches over and plucks the cigarette from his fingers into her own. it seems at first that that's all there is to it. a mischievous little action, done just to make him scowl. it certainly wouldn't be the first time. but in this moment, something strange and terrible seizes persephone's common sense and throws it across the city. she doesn't lean away. instead, heart pounding in her throat like she's just run a mile, she closes the distance and presses her lips to his.

a stolen moment, a bargain with time. a few seconds outside of reality where nothing else exists: just seph, shota, the gentle waft of smoke around their faces, and above them a sky full of glimmering stars.