#Cooper's Gran's Place....the fuck

[whereisthedamndaddymanual]

Witcher 3: 👍

Art Purveyor....bravo for asking to get the statue's testicles back. What happened to his shaft though.

[thatforgottenbasilisk]

but though i may never be free / fuck you and your money

words: 2739 (AO3)

Summary:

it's six am. im not doing a serious summary.

gran torino gets fucking vaulted 👍

(no i didnt update the summary after posting. it's afohiko fyi)

"Sora, you know I- "

"Don't you 'Sora' me, you son of a bitch!"

Sorahiko throws a nearby vase at Hisashi's face at full force; the man has the good sense to dodge, and it shatters against the wall. Sorahiko doesn't even know why the hell there's a vase in here, considering that Hisashi is not the type of man to bring him flowers, and Sorahiko is not the type of man to display them.

It might've just been another display of wealth. Flexing every single advantage that he has over Sorahiko, money and power and everything else, that's always been Hisashi's game. Though, it's a moot point now, considering his current position, but he's always thought Hisashi was touched in the head.

"Please. Is that any way to speak to your husband?"

"You're not my husband if I don't have a ring." Sorahiko wiggles his bare fingers at Hisashi, showing that he is, indeed, without a ring. Hisashi pouts at the display in a way he would have once begrudgingly called cute, and now only comes off as mocking.

"Why would you get rid of it? You picked it out yourself, if I recall correctly."

Sorahiko takes a deep, fortifying breath, before biting out, "I picked it in a jewelry shop that wasn't in a fucking bank vault."

He glares at Hisashi from where they are both standing in the aforementioned bank vault. It's got a kitchen, running water, electricity, everything a home needs besides a connection to the outside world- or any kind of exit. Hisashi teleports in, and Sorahiko suspects that they're underground, surrounded on all sides by dirt. There are magazines full of classic cars, a side room that looks to be an empty showroom-slash-garage, and that's the second-most insulting thing here: the fact that Hisashi clearly remembers his interests and hobbies, and is most likely hoping to leverage them in exchange for him becoming complicit in this.

He can practically hear it now: "If you'd like, I can see about acquiring one of those Ferraris you were looking at, getting it down here for you to work on and modify to your heart's content. How about we talk about it over a meal, hm?"

Sorahiko could never be complicit, though. He would never accept that meal, or that car, or whatever peace offering Hisashi attempts next, and that is because of the one thing more insulting than the cars: the skylight.

It taunts him. Right in the center of the ceiling, a massive skylight that lets in sunlight and helps keep himself oriented in time. It's probably on ground level, a window in the middle of the grass for any outsiders looking in. He supposes that the damn thing is there because Hisashi knows that if Sorahiko was allowed to fully divorce himself from the natural passage of time, his circadian rhythm would readjust itself to achieve his natural state of "weirdly nocturnal-ish." That would, of course, be bad for Hisashi, because then Sorahiko wouldn't be quite so goddamned tired all the time and he could properly plan an escape.

Or, maybe the skylight wasn't supposed to keep him handicapped. Maybe it was meant to be a taunt. Maybe it was meant to say the same thing as the showroom: if you cooperate, I'll give you back what I stole from you.

Maybe, maybe, maybe. Speculation gets him nowhere, and neither does contemplating the accursed skylight. It's not like he can jump up there anymore.

With Pinball, getting out would be easy. All that he would have to do is start bouncing around the place and get enough momentum going to go out the skylight, and boom. Done. However, he doesn't have the luxury of quirk use anymore.

"Sora, it was- "

"Do. Not. 'Sora.' Me."

"Sorahiko- "

"Don't get so familiar."

"What do you want me to call you, then? Shigaraki? That is your name now, after all."

Sorahiko glances around for another vase; finding none, he hurls the now-empty end table at Hisashi. It, too, shatters against the wall, this time falling into splinters instead of ceramic shards.

"You stole my quirk. You stole my freedom. Now you're insisting on stealing my fucking name? What the hell else do you stand to gain, here? I've got nothing else for you to have, so just- just kill me already! Is that what you want? I don't care! Just get it over with and take my fucking life before you find another scrap of dignity to steal from me instead!"

He's breathing a little heavily after his impromptu rant, but he's not taking any of it back, just staring at Hisashi, waiting to see how he'll respond. He knows that Hisashi isn't angling to kill him, rather, keep him here forever like some kind of collectible, but he won't stand for that. He will not sit here quietly when he can scream and rage and say things that he knows will get under Hisashi's skin.

Hisashi, for his part, steps forward right on cue, a hand outstretched as though in an attempt at comfort. Sorahiko takes an equal step back, and snarls, "Don't touch me." The disgust in his voice isn't exaggerated in any way, unlike the false accusations. He wants nothing to do with his so-called "husband" anymore, no matter how well the bastard tries to plead his case.

The bastard in question lowers his hand and lets it hang limply at his side for a moment, before suddenly seeming to remember that he can't let himself look pathetic in front of a prisoner and faux-casually readjusting his cufflinks instead. Hisashi doesn't do that himself, Sorahiko knows he's got a quirk that he specifically employs so that he doesn't have to readjust his clothes, so it's even more blatantly obvious that he's just doing it so that he has something to do with his hands.

"I..." Hisashi hesitates, for a calculated moment, because Sorahiko will never believe that he was actually rendered speechless. "I want to keep you safe, here. You know how dangerous it is, out there, I don't want to risk- "

"Cut the shit," Sorahiko interrupts, "You and I both know goddamn well that taking my quirk and then claiming that it's 'too dangerous' out there is horseshit. You're just trying to keep me here, trapped like a pet for you to come and visit as you please."

Sorahiko stomps forward, maintaining steady eye contact with Hisashi. "Well guess what, sweetheart. I'm not your fucking pet, I'm not a fucking invalid, I was your fucking partner. I managed so much of your bullshit, I took care of so many attempted assassinations and headed off so many attempted 'quirk-erasing' drugs before they even started, all so you would keep your precious throne as the King of the Underground. All so you wouldn't have to worry about the minutiae of it all, all so you could look ahead at the 'future' you love so much." He's up in Hisashi's face at this point, close enough that their noses are almost touching. His voice started out at nearly a shout, but has since lowered to a dangerous murmur, the kind that he picked up from Hisashi himself, the kind that makes whoever hears it lean in and listen. Neither of them have even so much as blinked.

He lifts a hand to cup the side of Hisashi's face, in a mockery of the intimacy that he used to willingly share. "You can keep your future. You can keep your throne. You can keep whatever it is I gave you back when I was stupid enough to think you loved me as anything more than a plaything, because that's all you'll ever get from me. You'll have to pry anything else from my cold, dead hands." He pulls his hand away, and moves to back up, but he's stopped by a force gripping at the back of his neck.

Hisashi is holding Sorahiko in place by the back of his neck, and dons that smug little smirk of his while he presses his forehead to Sorahiko's. He looks like the cat that caught the canary, and Sorahiko feels like the rat that just stepped into the trap.

"You don't mean that." It's almost a whisper, Hisashi's low voice given just barely enough volume that Sorahiko's pretty sure he can only hear it because of how close they are right now. He says it with a lilting amusement, like it's merely a tease.

"I think you'll find that I very much do." He makes no move to escape. That would be admitting defeat, that would be inviting Hisashi to show off just how much stronger he is than Sorahiko, thereby confirming just how trapped he really is. He'll pretend that he's got a little power here, just for a moment.

Hisashi huffs quietly in amusement, not even enough force in it to really call it a laugh. He leans forward just slightly, just enough to close the distance between them, and murmurs, "Do you?" against Sorahiko's lips before finally kissing him.

Sorahiko's immediate instinct is to respond in kind, but he resists the urge. Instead, he shoves at Hisashi's chest to try to push him away, but of course he doesn't give. Hisashi pulls away, anyway, and levels him with a dispassionate stare. Suddenly, there's the horrible sensation of something crawling on the back of his neck, and a glowing coming from where he knows Hisashi's hand still is, and he knows.

There's a strange, pulsing kind of pain that feels its way out from that point on the back of his neck where he knows the hole in Hisashi's hand is. It's accompanied by a cold crawling, like icy insects burrowing their way under his skin, and all that Sorahiko can think is "There's no way he's giving me the right quirk back."

He discovers that he's right soon after, when his heart stutters in his chest and his lungs start having trouble pulling in air. Hisashi lets go and backs away a few steps, leaving Sorahiko to pathetically brace himself against the nearest wall as his knees start going weak and spots begin to appear in front of his eyes. He hadn't felt anything like this after Pinball had been stolen from him, no way that he would've even known if he hadn't seen it happen with his own eyes, so he'd bet that whatever this is, it must be some kind of mutation or transformation quirk, something that's fucking with his circulatory and respiratory systems. Could even be a particularly involved emitter quirk, but real speculation is escaping him when all that he can really focus on is Hisashi leaning down mockingly, grabbing his chin to force him to keep looking into Hisashi's eyes as he sits flat on his ass and struggles to fucking breathe.

"What if I gave you something in return, hmm? I'll be keeping Pinball for now, so I'll always have a part of you with me, but... you did manage to survive this long outside, by my side. There are dangers out there and their weapons are only getting stronger, that quirk is multiplying its power stores exponentially with that Seventh... but I do love you, dear. I want to trust you, truly I do, so I'll need you to adapt. I'll need you to pass this little test of mine, then we'll see about bringing you out of here. If you prove yourself adept enough, that is."

So that's what all of this is about. Hisashi's growing paranoid about the power of that One for All, and he's feeling the need to keep Sorahiko locked away for fear of those heroes finding him and arresting him- though, more likely, they'd kill him. Hisashi knows that. Sorahiko won't pretend to sympathize, but he kind of understands. Still, that doesn't keep him from growling with as much force as he can muster, "The hell did you do to me?"

Hisashi chuckles, mostly to himself, before he answers. "I gave you a quirk, of course. It doesn't match yours, not quite, so it won't be easy for you to acclimate to. There will likely be side effects, long-term effects, inconveniences in every way, but if you can overcome them, if you can come back with that same old fighting spirit you've always had, I'll make sure it doesn't take its toll. I need you to be more than your quirk, Sora. I need you to be better than that." Hisashi's almost pleading, now, and Sorahiko would hit him if he could get enough oxygen in his useless lungs to muster the strength for it.

"The name of the damn thing would be nice."

"It's called Air Jet. It's going to restructure your circulatory system and your respiratory system, mostly in your legs. It allows the user to push air out through holes in the bottoms of their feet, so I'll give you a few days to let that happen. I would stay with you, but you've made it abundantly clear that you don't want me here. Once the physical changes have finished, I'll be waiting. I'll be waiting for your perseverance, Sora, because we both want you out of this vault. You're not sickly like my brother was, but the world is changing too quickly, powers are growing too much for me to just... leave you to remain outside, not without even seeing if you can hold your own. Adapting to a quirk like this was difficult even for me, someone whose quirk was designed for it, so you overcoming it will ease my fears. It will assure me that you truly don't need to be protected like this, and that's all I really want."

Sorahiko nearly spits in his face. Hisashi's maddened rambles are insulting to listen to, at best, and the only reason he doesn't start protesting this in every way that he can is the barely-concealed bags under Hisashi's eyes that he's just now noticing. Hisashi is... clearly unwell. He'll just let that rant slide, for now.

Instead of spitting, like he desperately wants to, Sorahiko begrudgingly asks, "Carry me to bed before you go?" He doesn't think he's standing up again for a while in this state, and it'll be one last gesture of affection before Sorahiko permanently rejects him out of hand.

Hisashi smiles softly, and picks him up bridal-style, the same as he did on their wedding day. While he carries him to the bed, Sorahiko looks up at the skylight and plans.

Air Jet isn't Pinball. It never will be Pinball. There will be side effects, it'll take a toll on his body, but he honestly doubts that he'll ever get that quirk back. As far as he's concerned, it's gone forever, because as much as Hisashi had pretended like that whole rambling rant was honest, it wasn't. Sorahiko knows that he doesn't intend on letting him out of this vault within this lifetime.

Air Jet was given to him because it would physically disable him for a while, so Hisashi's probably banking on that time to wear him down into compliance with the vault. Air Jet is also the perfect quirk for escape, so long as he can master it before Hisashi decides to either switch it out or leave him quirkless entirely.

Hisashi lays him down on the bed, and looks down at him for a moment before swooping down for one more attempt at a kiss. Sorahiko reciprocates this time, but keeps a hand on Hisashi's chest. It's a softer kiss than usual, probably partly because he's already having trouble catching his breath after only a moment, and because, at least on his part, it feels like a goodbye. It is a goodbye.

When Hisashi breaks away and leaves, it feels... final. A good kind of final, maybe. Sorahiko knows he'll miss the whole 'criminal' thing, because there's no way he'll be able to return to the underground after this, but maybe the straight and narrow won't be so bad. He won't be risking another bank vault, at least, and most people with decent heads on their shoulders won't try and cross him even after he's out.

He stares up at the skylight, and watches the color fade to a burnt orange of sunset. In a few days, he'll be out there, he promises himself. He'll be out there with a new life.

[lostacelonnie]

It sure is the new year & somehow im still tired and way busier than i would like. So uh. Sorry this took me a bit to get to. The first time i read your response i thought you'd said you were watching bocchi which confused me because you had already. But im glad you are enjoying bofuri. She's such a chaotic disaster character. Ohh i think i feel you on that my brother in law & i have like. Opposing autism vibes & coexisting with him when we share apace is exhausting. I hope school is going well for you! Yeah like. Honestly sometimes ill chat with people at a theater but mostly just. Please do not. Im just there for a film. Love the communal effort to just. Understand your teacher what a time that must be. My parents did teach to cook a bit. I learned spaghetti & a basic taco recipe from them. But i learned a lot from there so i had a bit of a spring board to go off. I hope you have a fun time learning to cook stuff i enjoy it immensely. Even with all the dishes it can make. Honestly schools are just. Weird if anything. Liminal space adjacent but in a way neither good or bad. Im sad i missed getting to pull her i want ruan mei but due to bad storms my internet was out, which also contributed to late response, for the last days of her banner. So i have to save for her re run. I am so normal about her & stelle(lying). I finally finished the argenti quest but had to level & gear himeko & welt. Got kafka on my console account from her banner & it gave me e1 bailu when i hoped for clara. Ohh so its like a character growth/change type thing. As the story progresses & they change they gain new herscherr forms. I think if my understanding is right. Or right as it can be for something not fully explained? I miss manaria & the gang already. Can only tide myself over with other villainess shows til it returns. Or i read more. Dungeon meshi at least has an airing anime adaptation now which means i can see my favorite fail girl marcille in animation. I will remember that & look to the community for help as needed if i pick noita up thank you for the tip. I too want himeko to be fine & alive so i sympathize with the hi3 fans. I dont remember if she's getting off on penacony or not if thats been said. But penacony definitely has some characters i want. Oh okay damn i always wondered about her floating. So thats one mystery solved. Wait seele has just. Basically a good dog aura? Oh so kiana mei & bronya have the most extensive lore? What about uh. Durandal? I feel like ive seen that particular polish phrase before whats it mean?

HI HELLO its been 20 years which im SO FUCKING SORRY about...... my life has decided to just Not give me a break recently. and understandable akdfkgjksj i should really continue watching it but ah.... so busy. and Tired all the time. actually got to skip school today bc i was so sleep deprived i thought i was sick but then i slept for another 4 hours and i feel so much better now. should be studying [have 8 exams coming up until the end of february.......] but i also Need to chill for a bit. agghhh. and oh understandable!! it really is just like that sometimes. school, as i said, is. psychologically torturing me but im actually not in that much pain so yeah!! and thanks also. i hope my teachers let us catch a break soon. at least ive recently picked up baking to destress so at least im not about to become the joker. and REAL LIKE i also dont mind talking with people in public places from time to time but i usually just wanna mind my own business. and yeah its SO funny but also im surprised how nice all my classmates are about helping others. like. if we had to cooperate to create a message with my old classmates everyone would just instantly start making fun of each other for not knowing something. OOOH COOL....... when i have more time i should learn to make some spanish dishes. went to gran canaria with my mom recently and god ive missed their cuisine SO much. god yeah schools are like another dimension to me ngl. they work based on different rules then the rest of the world. AND AUUGHGH PAIN...... good luck with getting her on future reruns tho!!! same with being Totally Normal. and hey congrats on all that!!! i also ended up doing argentis quest and luckily didnt have time with fighting him thanks to clara who makes it extremely easy. generally shes always carrying me. finally got to trailblaze lvl 65 and i only have my clara team at lvl 80 rn so i should probs work on kafka etc but i hate grinding mats...... hell on earth. oh well. and yeah more or less!!! tho it also depends on the person and circumstances, as some people will get new authorities, some will kind of. get closer to their current one? and some people might even give up their herrscher authorities with time. but yeah honkai loves to retcon itself so its kinda blurry sometimes. I MISS EVERYONE TOOOOOO and i started watching reborn as a villainess some time ago but ah. didnt have time to continue. i ALSO started watching dunmesh and ALSO didnt have time to catch up with it but im SO excited for it bc ive only watched 3 eps but love it already. if you ever Do pick up the game then good luck!! its as brutal as it is fun to play. himeko protection squad forever....... i should finish penacony when i get the time and motivation. wasnt too interested in any chars at first but acheron stole my heart....... so would sparkle if she wasnt so Racist for no reason. yes seele Does have a good doggy aura SHDKFJKS even The Great Herrscher Of Sentience cant say no to her. shes so sweet and i love her. and yeah basically!!!! since theyre effectively all the protags, even if kiana is the "main" one. AND I WILL VERY EXCITEDLY TELL YOU LITERALLY ALL DURANDAL LORE AS I KNOW IT BY HEART BUT ALSO LITERALLY DONT HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO WRITE IT ALL DOWN RIGHT NOW SO ILL TRY TO GET THAT DONE BY YOUR NEXT MESSAGE. so well both have time to write our respective stuff. and oh polska gurom is a misspelled version of polska górą [since its pronounced almost the same] which more or less means poland on top. its used ironically most of the time and i LOVE saying it

[fluffyferalkacchan]

Kacchan & Deku: Win to Save and Save to Win - A circular path of parallels (part 2.1)

I mentioned it in part 1, but Bakugou and Midoriya's character development relies heavily on them working on their basics flaws but also on removing their own internal shackles. Only after doing so, would they be able to properly become the hero they thrived to be.

In addition to the Win to Save and Save to Win transition they need to go through.

Midoriya must also work on mastering his quirk so that he could use it without hurting himself, and he must get rid of his shackles that is his admiration and idolization of All Might.

Bakugou on the other hand must also work on not acting on his own, in other words cooperating with people, and he must get rid of his shackles which is the huge Deku-complex he's got.

This post is going to showcase how Midoriya's and Bakugou's progress were nearly always mirrored and paralleled throughout the different big arcs.

Actually this post got way longer than I expected and I reached the 10 pictures/video/gifs per posts limit pretty quickly, so this part will only go until the Stain arc.

(more under the cut)

USJ

The USJ arc is where we see Midoriya and Bakugou taking their very first step from their respective starting lines (albeit a very small and almost accidental one).

In the first part of the USJ attack, Midoriya and Bakugou are thrown into a situation where they are outnumbered and surrounded by enemies.

Midoriya quickly comes to the conclusion that if they wanted to go and save the others, they'd have no choice but to fight and win. What is interesting to note is that Midoriya thought that in order to win this he needed to act like Bakugou, which of course led to the goldmine moment where he was leaping from the side of the ship yelling "DIE" to the villains.

This is also the first time we see Midoriya actively trying not to hurt himself with the "egg in the microwave" image, instead of just trying to minimize the damage to one small area like he did during the quirk assessment test. Well he didn't really succeed there but at least he's trying.

Bakugou on the other hands is seen working with Kirishima in order to defeat the villains. There were no real teamwork or cooperating moves worth speaking of there, as they were basically both doing their own thing independently. But what I think is worth noting is that moment where we saw them fighting back to back. I don't think at that point in time Bakugou truly trusted Kirishima completely with his back, it's a little too soon for that. But it was more probably something along the lines of "I acknowledge that if you got into UA then it must be for a reason, so better not mess up".

This is also the first time we see that Bakugou isn't just blindly trying to fight people who pissed him off, but he also have quite a rational and strategic mind.

As an aside, I think it is very telling that Midoriya's next move plan was to go help Aizawa, while Bakugou's was to go fight Kurogiri. It was two very diametral mentality and strategy that nevertheless led both of them to the very same place. (Story of their lives amiright?)

Speaking of them being in the same place... What we witness next is their first success...even if it's an accidental one.

Accidental quirk use success | Accidental saving success.

He had intended to smash Shigaraki and his punch just happened to be intercepted by a Nomu with a shock absorption quirk, so it was purely accidental. But this was still the very first time Midoriya used his quirk against someone else and didn't break his bones or hurt himself in anyway.

On the other hand, we've got Bakugou who blasted in and neutralized Kurogiri and he 'just so happened' to save Midoriya who had been recklessly rushing toward the villain. It might not have been completely intentional (though that's debatable) but this is the very first time we see Bakugou intercepting an attack for someone else.

Sports Festival

The sports festival arc is touch and go in term of characters growth for both Midoriya and Bakugou. But, what I think is really interesting with this arc (which is one of my favorite btw) is that the narrative - directly or indirectly - rewards/punishes them for their growth/regression.

Successful use of his quirk against Todoroki | Successful Cooperation against Monoma

This is the very first time Midoriya is purposely using his quirk against another human being, in a friendly-fighting/training context and he doesn't break his bones in the process. This successful use of OfA allowed him to one up Todoroki and to steal his headband (reward).

But as Midoriya himself noted "It hurts, but it's not broken", because using the quirk this way still hurts him in some way, it cannot be considered a full success. Plus, Midoriya wasn't really fully trying to control his quirk since "It's not going to touch [Todoroki] either way". And so Midoriya fails to get the headband he was truly aiming for (punishment).

On the other hand, we see Bakugou fully cooperating with his teammates for the very first time. It's not some half-assed attempt or anything but a fully thought-of quirk combo that allows him to literally blast his way through Monoma's defenses and get his and several other headbands (reward).

But, Bakugou only started to truly cooperate with his teammates at the very end. The rest of the times, he was seen jumping and attacking without really warning his own teammates. And so, Bakugou fails to get the first place position he was aiming for (punishment).

Successful hit against Todoroki | Successfully staying rational against Uraraka

So I mentioned above that Midoriya's use of OfA against Todoroki during the cavalry battle wasn't 100% successful because since he had no intention of touching/hitting Todoroki he didn't really bother to fully control his quirk. This is not the case here. In the Midoriya vs. Todoroki we see him truly hitting someone else. This is the first time his "egg in the microwave" imagery worked. And I guess that if Midoriya had not been recklessly breaking every single fingers of his, it might even not have hurt his arm. But well since he's a self-sacrificing dumbass who tried to punch someone with broken fingers *shrug*

As for Bakugou... I mentioned before that he has this huge, huge, Deku-complex. (It's this weird mixture of superiority and inferiority complex which atomically burst out whenever anything Deku-related is in proximity... so yeah. Deku-complex).

And here comes Uraraka, who was part of the Deku-Uravity combo winning against him in the training battle, who is Deku's friend, whose fighting strategy could be quite similar to Deku's at times. And as a reminder Bakugou went against her fully expecting that Deku might have given her some kind of secret strategy against him, so he went in fully expecting a Deku-proxy. (Which by the way is totally untrue 'cause Uraraka is a badass strategy queen who needs no Deku to think her battle for her thank you very much)

But regardless of all the deku-factor, Bakugou fought against Uraraka without underestimated her and being super focused from the beginning to the end. And more importantly he was 100% rational and had full control on his temper.

Midoriya vs. Todoroki | Bakugou vs. Todoroki

Okay so we can all agree that breaking and double-breaking one own fingers (and arm) in order to prove a point isn't really the epitome of self-care. So I don't think I need to comment on Midoriya's failure to control OfA here.

About Bakugou though... So of course Bakugou is pissed because he didn't manage to get the indisputable win he wanted, but raging and getting handsy at unconscious opponent like this? It's the first (and I think only time?) we see him so irrational and out of control with rage at someone who isn't Deku. But is it really unrelated to Deku though?

Bakugou was already pissed that at the beginning of the Sports Festival that Todoroki would recognize Deku as a threat and not Bakugou. Then the fact that Todoroki willingly used his fire against Deku despite his previous resolve not to use it, translated into Bakugou's mind as Todoroki recognizing Deku's strength. (Which as we know isn't really what it was about, but that's how Bakugou is interpreting it.) Bakugou even explicitly asked something along the lines of " Am I not strong enough to make you use it?" at Todoroki during the fight.

So his train of thought was probably something like this:

Half-and-half refused to use his fire quirk > Deku somehow managed to make the bastard use it > Deku is strong enough to force him to use it > the bastard won't use it against me > I am not strong enough to make him do it > Deku managed to do something I couldn't > I lost against Deku again

And well... is that really so surprising that his Deku-complex exploded after that? So yeah huge failure to control himself and deal appropriately with his complex Deku-related emotions here.

One of the reasons I absolutely love the Sports festival arc is the way the Bakugou-Todoroki and Midoriya-Todoroki dynamics really reflect the Win to Save and Save to Win situation.

Midoriya went into that fight fully intending on making Todoroki use his fire side in order to save him from his clearly traumatic issues (and if he managed to win the fight while doing so, it would be an amazing bonus).

On the other hand, Bakugou went into that fight fully intending on making Todoroki use is fire side in order to win against him (and if it somehow managed to save the half-and-half from his issues, well who the fuck cares).

They had the same task in mind, but they tried to solve it from two diametrically different directions of the spectrum. Why is why their results were diametrically different too.

Midoriya managed to reach and "save" Todoroki but he failed to win the fight, while Bakugou managed to win the fight but failed to "save" Todoroki and by extension failed to get his undisputed win.

Internship

During the internship/Stain arc, both Midoriya and Bakugou are confronted with a mentor figure who points out their flaws.

Gran Torino: You're stiff! And there's discord within your mind. [...] The way you used One For All in the cavalry battle and the tournament... You should already have realized it. But your admiration for All Might and your sense of duty are like shackles. You're thinking One For All is more special than it is.

Best Jeanist: I watched you at the sports festival. You were able to freely manipulate a Quirk with high potential, and had a good grasp of application as well. [...] However, you have a fatal flaw. You believe yourself to be the strongest, and you try to put in into practice not caring how that looks... you have a ferocious nature.

Here, their shackles are textually - and almost textually in Bakugou's case - laid out to them. (Best Jeanist has no way of knowing about the whole Deku thing so he went to address a tangential problem: Bakugou's "ferocious nature").

By the way, I think it's very interesting that Gran Torino chose to make his point by beating the shit out of/fighting Midoriya, while Best Jeanist chose to restrain and lecture Bakugou on "hero nature and moral". It really emphasizes on what they think their "mentees" currently lack.

And so thanks to Gran Torino nudging him into the right direction (and Midoriya's obsession with everything Kacchan), Midoriya manages to come up with Full Cowling, which is like one of his first major breakthrough in term of quirk mastery and fighting style. His All Might-shaped shackles is still very much there and he is still at a stage where he is imitating other's (Kacchan's, the incarnation of flexibility and versatility as far as he is concerned) rather than truly having his own yet, but it's a very huge progress in the right direction.

And it shows Bakugou had listened to BJ's previous words... Even if he was missing the point by a whole a mile, seeing as what BJ meant by 'deal with them properly' was to calm the kids down but well, at least Bakugou is trying. *shrug*u did manage to internalize some things that Best Jeanist tried to teach him.

"Your hero name is supposed to inspire hope. You do not yet see the world in that context. Once you return to my agency next year, I will hear your name out."

This is what Best Jeanist told Bakugou in a flashback (chapter 293) and I think this is when Bakugou started to seriously think about what a hero -and by extension the hero name - should mean to the public and civilians. Bakugou took Best Jeanist to heart which is why he wanted BJ to be the first one to know about his Hero Name once he found it.

Another sign of Bakugou listening, was a anime only scene in S2E19, where BJ told him that patrolling was important because it gave "the public peace of mind" and it built "a sense of trust between those who protect and those who are being protected". And right after that Bakugou is called out by three kids.

Kid A: Oh, I've seen him on TV before!

Bakugou, exasperatedly thinking: Is this going to be about the sports festival again?

Kid A: He was caught by a villain and looked like he was about to cry, right?

Bakugou, yelling: What did you just say?!!!

Cue kids crying.

BJ: Did you already forget what I taught you? Deal with them properly.

Bakugou, to the kids: Listen here, I wasn't caught by the villain back then, I was thinking about how to defeat him. It wasn't that I lost. I'm the man who'll become the number one hero! There's no reason for kids like you to worry about me --

*Kids crying harder*

Okay so, on the surface layer it seems as if Bakugou has not learned anything at all and is unable or unwilling to change. And true, he didn't manage to calm down the kids and even made the situation worse, but he was trying in his own way.

According to what the kids were saying, Bakugou was remembered and depicted as a "victim", someone in "need of protection" which is the opposite image of what he is trying to instill: a "hero", someone "protecting others". (And let's not forget that for Bakugou, the very essence of a hero is someone who always wins.)

How can they "trust" Bakugou to protect them if they still see him as someone who needs to be rescued? So in his own way Bakugou was trying to reassure those kids and reaffirmed his identity as a future "hero", so that they'll be able to trust him to protect them properly.

And it shows Bakugou had listenned to BJ's previous words... Even if he was missing the point by a whole a mile, seeing as what BJ meant by 'deal with them properly' was to calm the kids down but well, at least Bakugou is trying. *shrug*

The "coming back to normal hair when angry" thing is 100% a comical effect... but like 85% of Bakugou's seemingly comical behavior shows a more emotional and vulnerable aspect of him if analyzed seriously, so I'm taking the "comical effect" with a grain of salt.

Anyway what is interesting is that Bakugou's hair got stuck that way even if he'd tried washing it after the internship and the only way for it to go back to normal is for Bakugou to be super pissed off. But if it changed back, then it stayed that way. So we can deduce from that, that whenever it exploded back to "normal", BJ would have needed to tame it back again.

And I don't know how many times BJ needed to do that, but if I had to bet, I'd say not as many as we might imagine. Because Bakugou said that his hair "got used to it" which meant he spent more time with his hair "tamed" than spiky. Which meant that apart from the kid scenes from ep19, Bakugou probably didn't have a lot of "ferocious moments" and mostly tried to hold his temper like BJ instructed him to.

Anyway....

Like I said above, i'm going to stop here, because I reached the pictures per post limit. OTL

So yeah tldr: Midoriya externalizes while Bakugou internalizes, both of them are showing growth and development but they still have a long way to go.

Part 2.2 will be about how their progresses are faring while directly confronted with their respective shackles (spoiler alert: not well) during the final exam and then it will (hopefully) go until the Deku vs Kacchan 2 where they'll finally manage to remove their shackles.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 209: Proud Dads, Determined Rivals, and a Prison Interlude

Previously on BnHA: Team BakuJirouSatouSero scored a flawless 4-0 victory against Team TokaBondoAwaKama. Here’s how it went down: (1) Bakugou protected Jirou and everyone watching was like “holy shit did Bakugou just protect Jirou??” and his classmates were like “YES THAT JUST HAPPENED”; (2) Awase welded Bakugou to some columns with his quirk; (3) Satou used his own quirk to smash Bakugou free; (4) Jirou stunned Awase with her quirk and Sero tied him up; (5) Bakugou blasted Bondo and Satou restrained him afterward; (6) everyone watching was like “SO BAKUGOU DOES TEAMWORK NOW?!” and again his classmates were like “YES”; (7) Bakugou flung Kamakiri into a wall, which looked like it hurt, sorry Kamakiri; (8) we learned that Bakugou had given some extra grenades to his teammates and they’d used them to blow up a bunch of Tokage’s amputated body parts, forcing her to regenerate and use up her stamina; and finally, (9) the depleted Tokage flew right into Bakugou and he took her out with a (Point-Blank) Stun Grenade attack. Basically it was just Bakugou is Awesome: The Chapter. If I didn’t know any better I’d think I had fantasized this whole fucking thing you guys. THAT’S MY BOYYYY.

Today on BnHA: Aizawa gives his team a thumbs up and Kaminari is all “WOW KACCHAN YOU REALLY CAN BE NOT-A-JERK IF YOU TRY HUH” and All Might is all “chills, Young Bakugou. LITERAL CHILLS” and that last bit makes Bakugou get all shy and embarrassed and it’s super fucking cute. Then he bumps into Deku and Deku is all “wow that was awesome” and Bakugou is all “you can’t beat me” and Deku is all “nah I can” and it goes on like this for a page and then Bakugou leaves and then All Might is all “I ship it.” Over on class B’s side, Monoma and his team begin to strategize for their upcoming battle. Everyone agrees that their first priority should be to take out Deku because You Just Don’t Fuck With Deku. The 5th set begins, and it’s honestly too many names to squish together, I’m gonna be real with y’all, but anyway so Deku’s side also has Mina, Ochako, and Mineta though. And their plan is to have Deku be a decoy and draw out Team B’s most troublesome members (i.e. Shinsou). As things get started, All Might gets a call from Gran Torino. We then cut to Tartarus of all places, where Prisoner #1541, better known as All for One, is squirming around and making the guards nervous. Turns out AFO is excited because apparently he can “hear his little brother’s voice.” Um. Okay.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 224, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

haHA!

THAT’S HOW WE DOOOOOOOOOO

oh man. that was such a rush. how could anyone possibly not enjoy that. I think even Aizawa was probably pumping his fist a couple of times and then trying to play it off like he didn’t care lol

poor Vlad King

I wonder how this will change people’s strategies going up against Bakugou in the future. the kid whose own classmates once worried that he wouldn’t accept being rescued even when his life was literally on the line just pulled off some of the smoothest fucking teamwork I’ve ever seen. I mean that shit was seamless. and “cooperation” was this kid’s one and only weak stat before; moving forward it’s getting harder and harder to imagine how anyone could possibly beat him

and lest I not give the others the credit they deserve, they were outstanding as well. Satou with the clutch save and then later helping to apprehend Bondo! Sero who made expert use of his quirk to get the others in position and to capture Awase! and then being the one to figure out Tokage’s weakness and exploit it! and last but most definitely not least my girl Jirou, who kept the others advised of class B’s movements throughout and was the one to actually KO Awase before Sero tied him up!

basically they all did so gooood. even Aizawa can’t possibly find anything to chew them out for can he? lol I’m so proud of my babies

HAHA!!

HE GAVE THEM A THUMBS UP! HE’S ALMOST SMILING! OH MY GOD THAT MEANS THEY DID AMAZING. AND HE EVEN FOUND A WAY TO WORK IN SOME EXTRA COMPLIMENTS FOR PROBLEM CHILD #2 OVER THERE. AWW

meanwhile poor Vlad can’t find much to say either because let’s be real there’s no way his kids were ever gonna win that one

“based on past data” wow you guys I wonder if I’m ever going to stop being over the moon about this lol

but I mean, that’s exactly why I’m so psyched! it’s that slow burn character development! this was done so, so painstakingly, and little by little all the groundwork was put in until we finally reached the payoff. and that’s why it’s so satisfying. it’s because this is the side of Bakugou that I’ve been waiting for from the very start. this is him finally achieving the potential he has always had. it took so much patience and it was so, so worth it. so yeah. fuck it. I’m gonna keep being giddy about it

poor Tokage is apologizing to her teammates and she looks really worn out and I feel bad :( poor girl

but Awase is all “if someone with moves like his turns into a ‘goody two-shoes’, they have no holes to exploit” and oh my god lol. that’s what I’m saying, though. lol everyone is so fucked now :DDDD “well fuck us, if Bakugou’s not even going to be an asshole anymore then we might as well roll over and die now”

OH MY GOD

NEW FAVORITE PANEL ALERT

LET’S ANALYZE EVERYTHING!!! LET’S FUCKING DO IT!!

“KACCHAN” IS ALIVE AND WELL, I SEE!

BUT RIGHT AWAY HE COMPLIMENTS JIROU AS WELL BECAUSE KAMINARI IS HERE DOING HIS PART IN THIS THE YEAR TWENTY BI-TEEN

WELL DUH, SHE’S A HERO KAMINARI!!!

“A DELINQUENT PICKING UP A BUNCH OF STRAY CATS” SDFLAKSDFKJL WHAT AN AMAZING SIMILE. SERO YOU CAN COME SIT BY ME

and last but not least, there isn’t so much as a blink in regards to the “Kacchan.” this seriously is going to be his new hero name. this has gone from “I sure would love it if...” to “I’m actually starting to become increasingly sure of this” to “I would put solid money on it and would be amazed at this point if it doesn’t end up happening.” honestly I just want it to happen already lol

(ETA: yeah I might lose that bet lol. I still would love this because Parallels, but those Ground Zero feels from 223 have me rethinking my entire life ngl. btw that turned out to be “ground zero” spelled out in katakana though, not 爆心地/bakushinchi, so who knows. still kinda up in the air here.)

-- oh my fucking god you guys!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ;______;

let’s analyze everything again omgggggg

look at Kacchan’s face. look at how he’s ignoring the others behind him entirely. his focus is entirely on All Might here. just waiting for his response. trying his best not to show how important it actually is to him

and All Might’s exceedingly proud face, and that praise. “CHILLS, YOUNG BAKUGOU. YOU GAVE ME FUCKING CHILLS” lmaoooo

AND THEN KACCHAN’S ULTIMATE TSUNDERE RESPONSE!!!

HE HAD TO TURN AWAY IMMEDIATELY SO THAT ALL MIGHT WOULDN’T SEE IF HE BLEW IT AND FUCKING BLUSHED OR SOMETHING

THE LEFT HAND MOVING UP TO HIS EAR! you’re telling me this kid, Bakugou fucking Katsuki, THE COCKIEST BOY WHO EVER LIVED, actually felt self-conscious to the point where he had to turn away and was all “whatever it’s not a big deal” and rubbing at his ear and avoiding eye contact with fucking everyone because he was so fucking happy that he made All Might proud, and no one can ever know!!!! QUICK, SAY SOMETHING COOL! “...YOU PROBABLY JUST CAUGHT A COLD OR SOMETHING.” NAILED IT!! SO SMOOTH KACCHAN

oh my god you guys this moment is seriously everything to me though. I’m so fucking happy for him. and he is so fucking cute jesus christ I want to pinch his adorable embarrassed cheeks ffff

OH HELLO

“REFLEX” I LOVE THAT THEY HAD TO CLARIFY IT. BECAUSE HE’S NOT THAT MEAN ANYMORE AND WE JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNOW

but he was so wrapped up in the praise he just got from his hero that when Deku startled him he got so flustered and he just automatically slipped back into what he knows. “nuuu leave me aloneeee.” HE’S NOT EVEN IN YOUR WAY THOUGH

SDFLKASHLDKFJ

PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, BNHA FUCKING DARES YOU NOT TO SHIP THESE IDIOTS. YEAH GO ON. JUST TRY IT

DSKAFDSHLFKHAWOIFHWOKFHSLK

lol unlike with All Might, Kacchan knows exactly how to respond to Deku’s praise by this point

but they’ve seriously come such a long way as well. look at how Katsuki’s response acknowledges Deku’s strength even as he keeps the rivalry alive and well. “you’ll never be able to catch up.” acknowledging Deku as the threat he is, the one who pushes him to keep improving

and then Deku’s confident response, slipping right into a rapport with him. no stammering or hesitation. just his own cocky little grin. he’s fucking living for this. being rivals with Kacchan! don’t mind him it’s just everything he ever wanted that’s all

lol so now Katsuki’s telling him to shut up and that he’ll never be able to surpass him!

and Deku’s all

I stan two (2) idiot rivalboys who are just starting to heal their relationship after so long and let me tell you guys it is an absolute and utter pleasure to see it go down and I am here for it and will be here for it as it continues to progress and as Katsuki continues to learn how to be Less Of A Jerk and make amends for his Past Bullshit and the two of them continue to establish this rivalry and then start to take their next steps toward the final stage, the endgame if you will, which is being partners who actually trust one another. oh my god. and I can’t fucking believe we’re finally within sight of that now though and oh my fucking god you guys

what are you thinking All Miiiiiiiight. I just explained to you all of my ten zillion thoughts on this so now you give me one of yours!

asldfkjalsfdjoi

OH SO YOU WERE SHIPPING THEM TOO HUH

ffffffff I’m telling you, every time he looks at the two of them together he sees their future selves, working together and trusting one another and relying on one another and together being the greatest heroes the world has ever known. All Might is the original BakuDeku shipper. he loves them so much and he’s so proud of them

and look at the word he uses there. friend. once again seeing through all of their fronting and other nonsense to the core of what they really are. and “friend” is not a word you could use to describe what Katsuki is to Izuku until very recently, but he’s absolutely right. we saw that earlier today when Katsuki saw them talking and came over and asked if anything had happened with OFA and then listened and reassured Izuku. that wasn’t rivalry, there -- that was care and concern (very brusquely offered but still). we are officially entering a whole new stage of this thing you guys, and fucking bring it on

also Deku’s face though. like, he was trying to keep that Rival Smirk in place, but look at the Actual Grin fighting to work its way out and him being so excited because it’s Kacchan and it’s what he’s wanted for so long ffff

ANYWAY. so we’re finally going to move on from the BakuDeku part of this chapter now though so say farewell

(ETA: oh my god this one section of this recap analyzing three fucking pages was longer than some of my other recaps in their entirety. sorry, guys; I see a pair of rivals and I lose all self control.)

All Might is adding “other than that potty mouth of his” which is Classic All Might, and meanwhile Shinsou is watching the two of them (All Might and Deku) with an indecipherable expression, oh my

anyway so now we turn to our other resident cocky blond

“not half bad” from Monoma in reference to Katsuki is like a fucking Michelin star holy shit

now Tokage is coming up to him dejected and apologizing and saying that it’s mathematically impossible for class B to win now

well that is true but they can still tie though. honestly I have no idea how this last fight will go now

wow Monoma

that accelerated from insightful to pompous so quickly I don’t think anyone even had time to strap themselves in

“everyone is a supporting character in someone else’s life, and the main character in their own” fucking what lmao

I mean, he’s not wrong though. unless you’re Deku. then you’re just The Main Character. surprise! a good way to tell if you’re actually the main character in everyone’s lives and not just your own is if you get attacked by villains in every single arc btw

so Kakashi Girl is asking what is Monoma’s plan anyway

did they not come up with one yet?? they had all that time! the most time out of anyone!

Shouda says they should adapt a strategy similar to Tokage’s team

sure, if you also want to get beat 4-0 in a record five minutes

so he says they should stick together and keep themselves concealed and that there are no merits in challenging the other team to hand-to-hand combat

whatever you say. I only know two of you guys’ quirks here. I personally would be looking to take advantage of the Monoma-borrows-Shinsou’s-quirk strategy to take them by surprise, which is only going to work once but damned if it won’t be really fun to watch though

absolutely. he’s the Bakugou of their team, for sure. but if you thought Kacchan’s team had good teamwork, you ain’t seen nothing yet though

and also don’t forget that my girl Uraraka “gon’ fuck your shit UP” Ochako is also on this team! anyone wants to underestimate her, it’s at their own risk

apparently class B has been doing their research and keeping up with the times, because they’re aware that Deku’s style has come a long long way from the days of the sports festival. they even know about his new long-distance attacks! wow

also they describe him as “Bakugou’s equal or maybe even greater” in terms of both mobility and power, which is excellent. this series keeps giving me what I want

so Shinsou agrees that they need to take out Deku first “no matter the cost.” but he’s bringing up the fact that Deku is able to escape from his brainwashing

oooooh

ehhhh but I kinda feel like that’s a waste of the potential that Monoma-with-Shinsou’s-quirk has, and I don’t get how doubling down would do anything other than just make things more complicated. and also, won’t Deku’s team be on the lookout for Shinsou’s quirk now? idk just seems like a lot of things that could go wrong here. this fight is going to be so interesting

Monoma looks thoughtful and says that it’s possible “things won’t go as planned for me either”

but he says that either way they need to stop Deku from roaming free or they have no chance. “I’m counting on you, Shinsou”

so now the teachers are gathered and saying that this is the last round, which we already know. “I wonder how Shinsou will fare?”

I know Aizawa is actually way more invested in this than he’s letting on, so I’m officially rooting for class B here despite my best boy and best girl Izuku and Ochako being on the class A team. sorry guys. but I just want your new brother to do well so he can be accepted into your class and get to be your brother full time!

I highly doubt that they will! so now we’ll see whether or not he can adapt!

oh shit I forgot Mineta was on this team. hey team B I’m giving you guys a freebie. you can just come pick him up now

anyway so on their side they are of course worried the most about Shinsou. though Ochako’s reminding them that they should be worried about everyone!

lol that started out as what seemed to be a pep talk, but then turned into more of a “there’s actually way more ways we could lose than just that!” type of thing lmao

and what is this now

did you guys spend all your time practicing this instead of coming up with some actual strategies. we fucking know what you can do you boobs

lmaoooooo

what are you talking about!? honestly you could probably combine your quirks and still pull out a win even without Deku if you tried. Mina what happened to all that creativity you were overflowing with during the Band AU arc??

(ETA: thankfully she’s still got it! lol watch your back Mineta)

and anyway, since you do have Deku though, this team is basically Bakugou’s Team 2.0. the possibilities are endless! you guys are so fucking versatile! stop getting down on yourselves! where is the leadership?? the last group only just showed everyone how much of a difference that shit makes. Deku where are you

oh there you are

would that really work? I know if it was me on team B and I saw Deku off on his own I’d be like “okay great, let’s stay as far the fuck away from him as possible and go after the others while they’re undefended”

oh apparently he told them all about his weird quirk mishap earlier because Mina’s asking him how he’s doing now

but he says he’s feeling fine, same as always

and he thinks that after watching the 4th set, they’ll be on their guard against him though. yeah exactly

Mineta’s asking if he’s going to be all right because they’re relying on him

oh y’all know I’m living for this calm heroic confidence

this right here. is exactly the type of hero I want Deku to be. oh my god I’m so fucking proud of my boys in this arc, though

SHUT UP MINETA

STEADFAST DEKU IS THE BEST DEKU. GO GET YOURSELF CAPTURED BY SHINSOU ALREADY IF YOU’RE GONNA BE LIKE THAT

so now Deku’s flexing his hand and he says nothing feels off

sdlfkhalsdkflj

“after he lit a fire under me like that” oh my god. and this is why their rivalry is my favorite fucking part of the series. just look at how they push each other. Kacchan just gave the performance of a lifetime after reluctantly learning the true meaning of Christmas from the boy he formerly thought of as a pebble in his shoe. and now Deku is here calmly telling everyone they’re definitely going to win, and thinking determined thoughts after getting all fired up after that talk with his best friend. CAN I CALL THEM THAT YET? NO? I’M BEING TOLD I JUMPED THE GUN EXTREMELY BY A WHOLE LOT? ARE YOU SURE? OKAY SORRY I JUST GOT EXCITED MY BAD. BUT GIVE IT A LITTLE MORE TIME THOUGH?

anyways so Vlad is all “BEGIN!” and there are two big panels of the teams getting all set to go!

oh shit and now All Might’s phone is ringing unexpectedly

lol @ Midnight telling him to shut that thing off. All Might that’s so rude

oh shit it’s Gran! that was fast. oh my god now they can talk about Deku’s weird quirk bullshit yessssssssss

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ISN’T THIS TARTARUS?!?!

ASDFKLHLKJL

jesus christ. if you have upwards of 1500 extremely dangerous high security prisoners, then maybe just maybe you might want to go ahead and refer to them by their fucking names just for simplicity’s sake. “which one is 1541 again?” like is it good or bad that he moved? these are circumstances where even a split second of having to go through your mental filing system to recall who’s who might end up being disastrous if things go wrong

anyways don’t mind me, just nitpicking really stupid things instead of getting on with the story. okay so who is that. is it AFO??

so the guard is mumbling that it would be nice if they could hurry up with “the decision and execution” of 1541’s sentence. “at this rate we won’t be able to last”

wow. so it must be AFO, right? if they’re just letting him move around all the time, they really are screwed. what, were those gun turrets just for show? he’ll be out of there in a blink of an eye once he finally feels like it

and now we’re cutting to the cells and I’m preeeeetty sure this is AFO talking with Stain here

Chaplin sounds like some redpill prick if you ask me

also I’m not quite sure but did they just confirm that Chaplin is Gigantomachia’s true identity?

I just went and checked JBox’s translation and they made it seem like Giganto is Chaplin’s subordinate. which can’t be right because we know he’s AFO’s. serves me right for trying to verify something with JBox. I’ll just check Caleb Cook’s twitter after this and see what his thoughts are

-- wait hold up. now it looks like the guards talking. maybe JBox was right after all

(ETA: okay I wasn’t able to check Viz’s version to verify, but I think this is actually the guards talking and the correct translation should be “he’s his direct subordinate,” with him being All for One. the original Japanese line was “直系の部下だ” which basically means “he is [their] direct subordinate” without actually clarifying whose subordinate they are, so it’s a bit confusing when you don’t know who’s talking. anyways!!)

anyway so they’re saying that AFO has tons of other followers still in hiding and that it’s not just the league. and that they have to be careful not to provoke them

eh, I’d say it’s worth the risk. these other villains ain’t shit compared to AFO and we all know it. but if you leave him alive, and he gets out and regains his strength and retakes his place at the head of them all, then we’re talking about an all-out war potentially

which is actually where I’m thinking the series might be headed though. at least for the final arc. so I guess we’ll see

um whoa

seriously?? you too?? oh shit what the hell is even going on

anyways so that’s the end. oh my god. the series is getting so good again. it’s actually been really good since the Endeavorhawks arc honestly. like we’re almost back at full steam again. big things are coming, we’re heading toward another huge arc, I can feel it, and I can’t wait

[firevvhiskey]

ALYCIA DEBNAM-CAREY? No, that’s actually EMMELINE VANCE from the MARAUDERS ERA. You know, the child of ROSALYN VANCE (NEÉ ROWLE) and OLIVER VANCE? Only 25 years old, this SLYTHERIN alumni works as a UNSPEAKABLE and is sided with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. SHE identifies as a CIS WOMAN and is a PUREBLOOD who is known to be MELANCHOLIC, SELF-BLAMING, and SARCASTIC but also ASSIDUOUS, AMBITIOUS, and DEDICATED.

LINKS: pinterest, stats

HEADCANONS

has an absurd sweet tooth and can be bribed to do a number of things with red velvet cake

is probably 80% coffee at this point, and that’s being very forgiving

can’t properly deal with her emotions, pretends they don’t exist most of the time

has a tendency to drink more than she should

she’s an only child who grew up spending more time than necessary with her grandmother. as a result, emmeline learned to play piano and knit at an early age

spends the majority of her free time with her nose in a book

can’t keep plants alive to save her own life. when she was given the chance to drop herbology, she did it in a heartbeat

she’s technical as fuck when it comes to spells and believes things should be done by the book

QUESTION AND ANSWER

How does your character behave around people they like?

Emmeline is more relaxed around those she likes. Though she isn’t the most easy-going person in the world, she is more inclined to make jokes, laugh, and not stress as much as she normally does.

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

As a rule, Emmeline is very hesitant to trust others. However, once you have her trust, there are very few things you could do to lose it and have her suspect you of something terrible.

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

Words are typically Emmeline’s go-to in a confrontational situation. There have been many instances where she’s eventually just walked away from someone rather than allow things to progress. In extreme instances, hexes and jinxes have been thrown, but as far as she can remember, there has never been anything more than a slap.

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

It was a very strained relationship, if it could be called a relationship at all. She knew very little about the man he was in his later years, and what she knew of his formative years had only been the result of stories her Gran told her over the years.

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

Though it generally tends to vary from person to person, she would probably tell you that she admires ambition more often than not.

What does your character like in other people?

There are a host of things she likes in others, but the first few that come to mind are: the ability to learn from their mistakes, forgiveness, a desire to learn in general, whether or not they are capable of growing as a person, honesty. Compassion for other people.

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

A bit of both. Just because her first attempt didn’t work the way she wanted it to, doesn’t mean she’ll abandon it in its entirety. With each failed attempt, an adjustment is made. It’s only once she has exhausted every possible method that she can think of that she will move on to a different one.

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

Saying “I love you” is one of, if not the most, difficult things for Emmeline to do. She has a problem letting herself love other people; there is a constant fear of abandonment, of not being enough, of disappointing them. She struggles to let those she truly cares for know just how much they mean to her. If she can say it to you, then there’s no chance it’s meaningless. She doesn’t have it in her to force something of that magnitude and not mean it. The only person Emmeline has never struggled with those words over is her Gran. The woman who spent so much of her life trying to instill certain values into her granddaughter. The person who raised Emmeline, who wanted nothing but the best for her. The one person Emmeline always thought would be her only constant, the only person she would be willing to die to protect. When she wasn’t in school or working, Emmeline tried to make it a priority to tell the older woman how much she loved her and appreciated all that she had done over the years.

BEFORE THE TIME CLASH

( parental death tw ) 

Emmeline Vance was born an only child to a family of long-standing ministry officials. Not only her parents, but her grandfathers on both sides, as well as their fathers before them and so on, had worked those same old offices. However, unlike Emmeline’s grandparents, Oliver and Rosalyn Vance née Rowle had never truly considered children. They had always been more concerned with work than family. When the Vance’s learned of the pregnancy, they were shocked. What would become of Rosalyn’s career? Surely she couldn’t be expected to give up all that she had worked so hard to achieve. Luckily Oliver’s mother and Emmeline’s paternal grandmother, Constance, was quick to offer her services. Thus, it was decided. Once Emmeline was of a certain age and her mother had been cleared to return to work, Emmeline would stay with her grandparents.

As a child, Emmeline could almost always be found in one of two places: her grandfather’s study or in front of the fireplace. Regardless of where she was, a stack of books could always be found nearby. That habit continued well into her years at Hogwarts. The Slytherin often spent her evenings tucked away in the library before rounds, books and parchment forming a barricade between herself and the rest of the student body. If you asked Emmeline’s classmates how best to describe the brunette, there could be a number of answers. Top among that list were likely to have been quiet, studious, bookworm; a stereotypical Ravenclaw in the eyes of most, hardly a student fit for the house of the cunning and sly. If you had asked her, however, she’d have told you the views she held on one’s ambition placed her precisely where she ought to have been.

After her fifth year, Emmeline had begun tailoring her studies to that of a ministry official. The older she got, the more she seemed to narrow down what it was she wanted to be, though that didn’t stop her changing her mind every few months. Over the next year she had gone from Auror to Magical Law Enforcement to International Magical Cooperation. More or less, her interests had remained the same, but making a final choice proved to be a difficult task for someone who normally was very decisive. It wasn’t until her sixth year that a decision had been made, after an event that shook her to her core had left her wishing she could forget it ever happened.

At the age of sixteen and only days before her birthday, Emmeline lost her parents. Frequently they had spoken out in favor of the Pureblood supremacy propaganda. She couldn’t protect her parents, couldn’t stop people taking their lives because they viewed so few as equals when a minority in their world did, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t prevent more dying needlessly. As the war loomed ever closer, there was no more time to be wasted. Emmeline needed to decide whether she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her parents, or forge her own path away from the family name and all they have stood for, speaking out against the injustices of their world.

It came as a surprise to very few, perhaps even none at all, when she followed in the footsteps of her parents - becoming a Ministry worker herself. She started her work there with the Obliviators, doing what she could to keep her community safe. However, the task soon lost her interest, as wasn’t so uncommon, and she began to look into other options within the Ministry. With her tendency to withdraw and keep things to herself, it was only fitting that she joined the ranks of the Unspeakables, a profession that forbade her speaking of what she did with others. That suited her just fine.

[jisungjuice]

Last Night

harry x neville x draco

~

Harry woke up and frowned to himself. The light in the room was soft, unlike the usual harsh sunlight that usully entered his room at this time. Well, at least he guessed that it was around midday. The curtains in covering the windows were pin-ish and rather thick, but he could tell that the sun was shinning brighlty on the other side.

He had no ide where he was, so he tried to remember somehting from the previous night, but the memories were foggy. There had been a party, that much wasclear, but from what he remembered the place had looked nothing like this room. The walls were lined with old fashiones flowery wallpaper, the furniture looked even older than the one at Grimmauld’s place, and he was now realizing that he was lying on top of a fat comforter that matched the curtains perfectly. It also smelled of old books.

He sat up slowly, his head pounding and his vision blurring slightly at the movement. He cursed internally and vowed to never let Seamus mix his drinks ever again. He should have known the man was not apt to do that from watching him try to do potions over the years.

Harry looked around trying to find some clues that would tell him whose room this was. The mirror in font of the bed showed him sporting one of the worst cases of messy hair he had ever seen on himself, and also his glasses were askew and digging painfully into the bridge of his nose, he now realized. Whoever put him to bed forgot to take them off him, so that ruled out Hermione and Ron. The rest of the room was just was as outdated, with golden-framed pictures of flowers and ducks, lace covers on the bedside table and dresser, a fluffy brown carpet that stretched all over the-

Harry jumped, his heart beating so wildly it felt like it would leave his chest. There was someone sleeping on a small matress right next to the bed. The comforter Harry was sitting on draped over the sleeping form of the person, and Harry would have missed it if he hadn’t been inspecting the room so meticulously. He let his heart calm down before leaning over the edge of the bed, trying to see who might be so peacefully still under there. It took him less than a second to match the fancy shoes and ruffled blond hair to Draco.

Thinking of Draco stirred something inside him that he thought might have something to do with the night before, but he wasn’t sure. He just knew it made his knees feel weak.

The door opened suddenly and Harry had no more time to think about the implications of that feeling.

Neville peered inside the room slowly, and caught Harry’s eyes. “Oh, hey,” he whispered, opening the door fully and stepping into the room. 

Fuck. Harry felt it again. Even though he wasn’t standing, he felt his whole legs go strangely limp, and his heart was racing again.

“Hi,” he smiled at Neville, who smiled back. He wanted to instantly ask questions about last night and about his whereabouts, but Neville seemed so calm that it didn’t seem appropiate.

Neville walked over, looking at Draco.”He looks cold. I should have brought another blanket.”

Harry cocked his head to the side. “So you brought us here?”

Neville chuckled quietly. “Blimey, you don’t remember anything, do you?” Harry shook his head. “Yeah, this was my Gran’s room before she met that American wizard and moved to Florida.” He sat on the bed. Harry wanted to get closer to him, but his legs didn’t feel like cooperating. 

“That makes sense,” Harry said. “Hope I wasn’t an awful drunk to handle. Though, if I can barely remember we were at a party, I doubt I was good company.”

Draco stirred, but then he was still again. “You weren’t so bad, actually.” Neville smiled warmly, like he usually did. “But there was this thing...Well, maybe we should wait for Draco to wake up.”

Harry’s chest went tight with anticipation and nerves. “Can’t you tell me now? I’m sure that if I made a fool of myself he’s going to remember. Possibly for eternity.”

Neville didn’t laugh, but he looked slightly aprehensive, and his cheeks reddened a bit. The last few years had been so good on Neville; he was like a new man. A new, tall and nicely built man. Harry noticed his mouth was very dry. 

“You and Draco...” Neville said. Harry’s heart was caught on his throat now, his mind whirling with possibilities. Perhaps his subconscious had finally betrayed him and he displayed his attraction to Draco somehow. Fuck. Fuck. He would never let Harry forget about it. “Kissed me.”

Harry was sure his brain stopped functioning. He could see bleak images of Neville and Draco, but struggled tomake sense of them. “I...we...uh,” he attempted to make his thoughts coherent, but clearly failed. “What?”

“I was about to go home when you and Draco caught up to me. You both said you fancied me and then you...” Neville shrugged,looking embarrassed but not upset. “Kissed me. You first, then Draco. He was angry about that.”

Harry’s mind was still a blank space, he could merely look at Neville and blink.

Neville looked down at his hands. “So clearly you were very drunk. I apparated you both here and put you to bed. Sorry I didn’t take off your glasses, by the way.”

Slowly, Harry’s brain began to work again, and he tried to find the right words to explain to Neville how sorry he was without it sounding like what he had admitted was wrong because he very clearly did fancy Neville and didn’t want him to think he was just pissed out of his mind, but he also wasn’t sure if he should admit it now that he was sober. He was suddenly nauseous.

“For fuck’s sake.”

The voice was muffled and angry, and it could have only come from Draco. Neville and Harry looked down. 

Draco pushed the comforter away form his face and stared up at them. His usual sneer was a lot less theatening when his hair was all over the place and his shirt on backwards for some reason. “This is when you’re supposed to say something, Potter.”

“Good morning, Draco,” Neville said. “Were you too cold last night?”

Draco got to his feet surprisingly fast for someone who was presumably just as hungover as Harry. He groaned in frustration. “Stop being so nice!” He told Neville. “Potter and I were complete pricks last night!”

“I don’t remember anything!” Harry said to Malfoy. Then he turned to Neville. “But it sounds like I should apologize.”

“You were both very nice about it, actually.” Neville looked from Draco to Harry and back. “As soon as I told you you were too drunk you both agreed and let me apparate you here.”

Out of nowhere, a whirlwind of memories invaded Harry’s mind. He saw the party, the people, the drinks. He saw Neville dancing. He saw Draco come up to him and start talking about Neville. More drinks. He saw Draco again, this time really close and dancing in front of him. Hands on his hips, on his back, on his neck. He saw Neville leaving. Draco talking. Running out of the club and into the street. Neville. His face flushed. Draco’s voice speaking Harry’s truths.

Lips and sweet cocktails and overflowing emotion.

“This was your idea!” Harry pointed at Draco. Draco’s face reddened, but he didn’t deny it. Clearly, he remembered a lot more than Harry did. “But, it might as well have been mine.” He would normally jump at any opportunity to blame Draco for something, but not when Neville’s feelings were involved. “I’m really sorry, Nev. I shouldn’t have jumped on you like that. It’s not okay.”

Draco sighed. “I’m sorry too. Even if it was mostly Potter’s fault.” Harry glared at him. “I’m very sorry.”

Neville nodded, a small smile on his lips. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it.”

As if on cue, both Harry and Draco got closer to Neville. Harry found the strenght to scoot on the bed and sit next to him and Draco stood in front of them. 

“I can’t speak for Harry again,” Draco said, his eyes shifting to Harry for a split second. When he used his first name instead of ‘Potter’, you knew he was being serious. “But I meant every word. Even if I shouldn’t have been so sloshed when saying them.”

“I was being truthful too,” Harry admitted, his knees slightly shaky. “The alcohol was just a very good excuse to finally do something about it.”

Draco nodded. “You shouldn’t have been so nice to us. You should have let us pass out on the streets.”

Neville scoffed but smiled. “I would never do that.”

Harry knew that. Neville was the sweetest person he knew, even though Draco was showing that he could be surprisingly mellow under the right circumstances. “How can we make it up to you?” Harry asked.

“You could cook him breakfast,” Draco suggested. “I’m starving.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you buy us brunch at that fancy Muggle place downtown?”

“Because, Potter-” Malfoy began in a condescending tone, but Neville interrupted him by clearing his throat.

“You could kiss.”

The thick silence that settled in the room made Harry feel like they could all hear his rapidly beating heart. Neville’s face was flushed but he was bravely looking at them. It reminded Harry of last night, but without any firewhiskey left in his system, he was very aware of the effect it was having on him. Neville looking both shy and confident at the same time made Harry feel things.

“Wh-what?” Draco asked, his voice rough.

“You seemed to really want to at the club last night. You were all over each other. But you never did.”

Harry and Draco looked at each other. He wondered if Draco remembered any of it.

“Then I left because looking at you two made me a little sad, even though it was difficult to look away,” Neville continued, sounding breathless. “But then you were outside with me and you both got to see the other kiss me.” Harry really wished he remembered it better because the blurry image in his mind was already incredible. Maybe it’d come back to him later. “It’s only fair I get to see you.”

Neville’s words made something warm and heavy spread through Harry’s entire body, like melted honey heating his entire skin from the inside out. Draco seemed just as affected, looking at Neville as if he couldn’t believe his words. Unbelievable as it was, he had definitely said them. He had suggested Harry and Draco should kiss, while he watched.

Harry didn’t know if he should ask Draco for his permission, because it was definitely okay with Harry. His fingertips had been itching with the need to feel Draco’s skin the second Neville had spoken.

Slowly, Draco turned to look at Harry. His chest was heaving, his eyes wide, his mouth agape. He licked his lips.

Harry looked at Neville one last time to make sure this wasn’t a joke or a misunderstanding of some kind, but Neville looked even more eager then Draco, is possible, holding his breath as his hands curled around the edge of the comforter.

Harry waited no more.

He reached up and grabbed Draco by the collar of his inside-out shirt. He pulled him down while also rising slightly off the bed himself and stopped just an inch short of Draco's lips. He wanted to be present this time, remember every second of anticipation, every hot exhale over his lips before finally closing the distance and feeling Draco shake above him. Neville shifted in his seat, and Harry could just imagine how beautiful he looked as he watched them. Harry had never seen Neville turned on, but just the thought of it set his insides ablaze, and he had to struggle with himself not to open his eyes and glance at Neville.

Draco moved his lips against Harry's and that small movement triggered a waterfall of memories that invaded Harry. He relived the kiss with Neville, messy and rushed but intense; Neville had kissed him back, very briefly but unmistakable.

The memory of Neville combined with the reality of Draco made Harry tremble with emotions. He coaxed Draco's mouth open and deepened the kiss, wanting more of him, and of Neville, and so much of both in a way he had never felt about anyone, let alone two people.

Draco finally touched Harry, grabbing him by the hips as he had done when they danced the night before. Harry had no idea he would like that so much. He pulled Draco closer, harder, and before he knew it they were falling back on the bed.

It should have been enough to make them break the kiss, but if anything Harry wanted to hold onto him even more. Still, he forced himself to slow down the kiss and found that Draco complied easily. He didn't want Neville to feel uncomfortable by taking this too far.

They pulled apart slowly, chests rising and falling together. Draco's weight over him was intoxicating and Harry briefly wondered what it would be like to hsmsve Neville on top of him too.

He had to get rid of that thought before he got too excited.

Draco's pupils were blown, and Harry stared at them, feeling lightheaded.

"Yes. That will do."

Draco and Harry turned to look at Neville. He sat up from the bed, looking flustered but happy.

"Breakfast?"

[elegant-phff]

Seven.Berlin,Seriously?

Prince Harry of Wales September of 2015 Kensington Palace,London

"Wassup,Mate!"Skippy exclaimed approaching me."It's been awhile man!"I said."Of course it has,anyways gimme the drinks,"He yelled.I chuckled and got the beer from the freezer.I placed them on the coffee table and plopped down on the sofa.Skippy then took the seat next to me.

We started playing Call Of Duty when Skippy said,"You know boi,it's been forever since we took a vacation..."I scrunched my nose but didn't take my eyes off the screen and replied,"What are you trying to imply?"Skippy chuckled and said,"You are a single man again!We should go out of country for awhile!"Before I could answer,I got killed in the game."Fuck!"I scoffed and the screen read 'game over'.I turnt to him,''Who else is down for a vacation?"

"Well  Sam,Thomas,Guy and I are confirmed.From the girls Chelsy has confirmed but I don't know about Cressida,"Skippy said.I groaned."Seriously,Chelsy and Cressida?The whole media is going to think I am going back to my exes after my break up with Meghan!"I exclaimed.Skip sighed,"Dude!Who cares what the media thinks?they always have some sort of assumption to make.You gotta enjoy your life."I looked at him,not quite convinced."C'mon man!stop chickening out,this ain't the Harry I know,"Skip smirked.

"Oh yeah?I am chickening out?Count me in,I am booking the jet,"I scoffed."Well then,pack your bags for Berlin,Germany !"Skip yelled excitedly.My eyes widened,"Wait hold up!Berlin,seriously?"

Skippy looked baffled,"Yeah what?" "Dude,do you not remember the Nazi costume fiasco?!"I practically screamed."Chill out!its going to alright,nobody except you is going to associate the two events,"Skip tried to reassure.I ran my hands over my face,"I am keeping your word for it."

One week later

It was early in the morning when we arrived in Berlin.The Press still hadn't found out about this trip so on our way out of the airport we were thankfully not bombarded by the paparazzis.The trip was about a week long.

The first two days of the trip was quite peaceful and fun.We travelled around Berlin like normal tourists,except we were disguised and there were two RPOs following us but in disguise,of course.

Everything was fun.We all were having fun except of me.Throughout the entire trip Cressida was clinched to me.She was the kind of ex who was obviously not over the break up but wouldn't admit it.Unfortunately,she is a part of the group so I have to cooperate with her.

Whenever we were outside she'd wrap her arms around mine which was just uncomfortable.Whenever I'd try to resist her response would be,"Come on Harry,stop being so awkward we are friends!"Like okay I get it we are friends but there are some boundaries.

However,the third day of the trip arrived and it was the day I was looking forward to the most.We were going to one of the best clubs in Berlin.A lot of celebrities come to this club so it's privacy was perfect for me.However,it was pretty rare for public figures to party in Berlin so there are very small chances of you meeting them.

I wore a white button up shirt and a pair of suit pants---a classic.The other boys were wearing similar clothings and the girls were short dresses---once again the classic.But,Cressida once again was trying too hard to get my attention and it was getting too much at this point.Thankfully Sam interrupted Cressida's seductive looks towards me by saying,"You know we are quite lucky,today the club is going to have extra security."

"Why so?"Guy asked."Apparently,some celebrities are here tonight and they don't want to be seen here,"Sam smirked."Oo,scandalous,"I said in a mysterious voice.They all laughed."Literally the same day we are going to the club,there are celebrities.Coincidence?I don't think so,"Chelsy said."Illuminati confirmed!"Thomas exclaimed.The laughter grew louder.

Once we arrived at the club we were escorted in safely.As Sam had some connections and obviously because I was there, we were led to one of the VIP sections of the club.The RPOs were at a safe distance from where the whole squad was sitting

It didn't take us long to get drunk.We were all downing the shots too quickly and soon enough we were completely wasted.The music started blasting through the speakers and we ran to the dance floor which there was only one.

We all were dancing like crazy to JLo.We were too drunk to even care and it got so hot that I had to unbutton a few buttons of my shirt.

The squad's fun was interrupted by another group of people entering the dance floor,who were a little less drunk than us,except for a few people.They were a large group mostly guys and two girls.One of the girl,whose back was faced against from my viewing was giggling like crazy and she was most probably the most drunk among the group.

In our drunken state we found out that they are celebrities.I swear,I thought I knew most of those faces but my brain was too fuzzy.Anyways,we were all dancing to Nicki Minaj's Anaconda and all the four girls (Chelsy,Cressida, and the other two ) started twerking and let me tell you it was a sight for sore eyes.You know what I found out the next moment?The super drunk cute girl was Alex!You know,the Alex that I hit on a long time ago and then she kinda rejected me and then I met her a couple of months ago?Yeah that same Alex.

You know,she is quite an interesting character.Most of the time she looks like this badass bitch who could probably cut you in two (which is mostly true,beware,don't hurt her she is scarlet witch,she'll control your mind and make your life a living hell!) but in reality she is this adorable tiny,dorky girl who is also drop dead gorgeous.She is also pretty stubborn.

Anyways,back to the story(drunk Harry stop getting sidetracked)wow author now you'll accuse me?Just admit it that you aren't able to describe what happens properly because you are sleep deprived(stfu and continue idiot)I'll remind you that my gran could behead you(I will cut you harry if you don't continue)Okay,okay chill out.

Suddenly a 5'6 Alexandra Larsson jumped in front of me and squealed,"OH MY GOD HARRY!" I don't know why,but I found it funny so I giggled."WOAH YOU ARE ALEX!"I said poking her nose,as if to see if she was real or just a illusion of drunk!harry.She was actually real!

"Harry look!I have so many friends!"She exclaimed dragging me towards where all the other people were."Woooooow,you have so many friends,I only have a few,"I pouted.She frowned at my reaction and replied,"No don't say that!you have me!I am like equal to soo many friends!"She stretched her arms trying to emphasis on 'so many.'She put her arms forward to hug me and I accepted the hug.As soon as I did,her grip tightened and she started swinging around.

A slow song had started so we continued to do so for the entirety of the song."What are we doing?"I finally asked."I don't know,"She giggled.I didn't say anything,instead I smiled and continued swinging.

All of a sudden,Thinking about Loud started playing.

For some reason,my eyes couldn't leave Alex's figure.Her eyes were a mix of grey and green---something which I just realised,she bleached her hair blonde,she didn't like maintaining women body stereotypes,so she didn't have a perfect slim hourglass figure.She had a beauty spot on her left cheek and another one on the lower right cheek,her eyelashes were very thick and long.Her lips were very plump,they had a pinkish tint.

My eyes travelled back to her eyes and I could see them staring at my own lips.

Then I did something sober me would have never.

I kissed her

And she kissed me back And all of a sudden I was sober once again but drunk by the taste of her lips.

Authors Note I did it.I couldn't wait any longer.What do you think happens next ?😏

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 164: Life or Death Battle

Previously on BnHA: The internship kids returned to the dorms and were greeted by their worried pals. Iida hemmed and hawed. Momo made some tea. Satou shoved an entire cake into Deku’s mouth. Ochako realized she wanted to save people in addition to earning money to ease her parents’ poverty. Sero and Kirishima showered Kirishima with affectionate concern. Bakugou quietly chilled on the couch pretending not to be worried. Kaminari slid over and called him “Kacchan” like the homeboy he is. It was all amazing. The next morning, Bakugou and Todoroki headed off to their provisional license course. All Might and Present Mic showed up to chaperone them, and we learned from All Might that Kurogiri was indeed captured by Gran Torino and Naomasa, but Giganto escaped after dealing some heavy damage. The group arrived at the training course location, and everyone’s windy fave Yoarashi greeted them along with Camie (the real one!) and fucking Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Seiji). Also Endeavor was there to watch. And he’s going to have a private chat with All Might. Should be lots of fun, this.

Today on BnHA: Our best boys Bakugou, Shouto and Inasa (and Camie) begin the day’s training course. Endeavor cheers Shouto on from the stands and everyone is like “...” but then they notice All Might sitting next to him and they’re like “OH FUCK YEAH, ALL MIGHT.” Gang Orca walks out onto the floor, compares all of the kids to fish feces, and fucking yeets my three faves across the room. He then informs them that they lack heart, and thus he is assigning them a special trial. Enter a group of about 25 screaming elementary schoolers, plus their harried teacher who is constantly on the verge of tears. Baku, Shouto, Camie and Inasa are told that they’ll be in charge of them, and that to pass this test they’ll need to cooperate and move the children’s hearts. This is, of course, a recipe for perfect chaos, and to make things even more entertaining, Mic decides to do play-by-play commentary. Meanwhile, a surprisingly subdued Endeavor asks All Might exactly what it means to be “the Symbol of Peace.”

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 187 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.) 

looks like the kids have changed into their hero costumes and are trudging towards wherever the course will be taking place

aww Inasa is aggressively trying to be friends

LIGHTEN UP GRUMPY GRUMP

also I’m kind of with Inasa on this one. sorry Shouto. I’ve only had cold soba noodles like once but I wasn’t that big a fan. but udon is the shit though

Shouto apparently feels very strongly about this

I honestly can’t tell if he’s just really particular about his food, or if he feels like Inasa is trying to sneak up a metaphor on him and he’s like NOPE, NOT HAPPENING. THIS ZARU SOBA IS NOT GIVING UDON THE TIME OF DAY

oh my god Inasa is literally saying “WE’RE GONNA BECOME BEST BUDS WHETHER YOU LIKE OR NOT”

did you hear that Shouto. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

that means it���s happening. because like. look at him. this big fluffy airbending teddy bear is not going to not let it happen

meanwhile Bakugou is watching and being creeped out. by their attempts at friendship? or something else?

MERAAAAAAAA

I’ve been having a bit of an insomniac phase myself. so I feel ya bro

also they’re in this gym that, surprisingly, actually looks like a normal gym?? although there’s a bunch of playground equipment in one corner which is odd

Mera says that so far they’ve been doing the training course with the ten of them, but today there will be an eleventh person joining them

so is that Camie then?

meanwhile All Might and Mic are entering the spectator area and looking for someplace to sit

Mic wants to sit near the front to see better, but All Might doesn’t want to stand out

well he is pretty famous. and not to mention that Endeavor’s still right there as well and I don’t know if they’ve had their chat yet orz

oh jesus

yep. wouldn’t want to distract anyone. definitely not looking to do that, nope

starting to see why Shouto was angsting so much over that text

so Endeavor is actually screaming encouragement at him, but in his obnoxious Endeavor way

I feel like. he’s actually trying. oddly enough. but he’s just. so terrible. in so many ways

oh snap I forgot all about this

yep. the guy that wouldn’t autograph your book and subsequently changed the course of your life by causing you to withdraw your application from U.A.

oh shit now All Might’s getting recognized too

I hope they cheer the fuck out of All Might and it’s like, who even fucking cares about Endeavor

:D

hee

that’s Bakugou’s dad, you know. ever since chapter 120. and Deku’s dad too, obviously. Shouto he can be your dad too if you want. plenty of All Might to go around, and it’s not like your old man is doing such a bang up job

Shouto is literally saying “hmph” and even Bakugou is staring at him like “what’s this guy’s problem”

Mera’s telling everyone to calm down and pay attention to him again lol

and now real!Camie is properly introducing herself

ahhhh

so that’s the cover story Shiketsu came up with? or is that a story they’re telling the other kids? or does Camie herself genuinely believe this and no one actually knows she was briefly abducted and replaced by Toga?

and um. just to make sure. this is the real Camie though... right?

she’s acting differently enough that I think it is

Seiji is sitting with a Shiketsu teacher in the stands and they’re discussing it!

he says she’s “a complete and utter fool” and the teacher is gently correcting him and saying she’s “just bubbly”

so they did figure it out!

Seiji seems to actually be beating himself up for not realizing that she’d been replaced

(ETA: yeah, so rereading this, I’m getting some definite shipping pings from them now. Seiji’s clearly guilt-stricken about what happened to her, and clearly worried about her still. he didn’t attend any of the previous training sessions, based on Bakugou’s reaction, but he came along to this one now solely because Camie was going. he’s not going to let anything happen to her again. Seiji is, in fact, just a big ol’ softie you guys.)

the teacher is saying they need to make up for the absence of the Symbol of Peace immediately

I guess with this being the first time Shiketsu has been targeted, they’re finally realizing how serious this is too. U.A.’s been mixed up in this for a while, so they already know

heyyyyyy!

LOOK WHO’S BACK

he’s talking some shit about them, oooh

I assume he’s purposely trying to rile them up for whatever reason. probably because at least several of them are only here in the first place because of their poor anger management

everyone is instantly sobering up

lol Seiji

lmao

wow Gang is really laying it into them

ben·thos /’benTHäs/ (noun): the flora and fauna found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a sea, lake, or other body of water

did you just call my son a sea sponge. did you just compare them to fish poop

...

his feet

he just. flung him

is it weird that I really want to make this into an icon

...

is the whole rest of the chapter going to be like this

THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER HUH

this is now my favorite chapter in the history of time. also this is one instance where I’m already sure it’s impossible for the manga to be outdone by the anime. because how could it be. visually this is flawless

oh wait? is that it? just those three? no one else needs extra guidance?

so they’ve already singled out these three in particular as being the ones with the most potential, huh. sorry, Rest of the Kids

he’s chewing out Bakugou for his behavior toward the rescuees, and the other two for their whole starting-a-ridiculous-fight-in-the-middle-of-a-disaster-rescue-scenario

he says the thing they lack most is “heart”, and that they can’t expect to be heroes without it

“do you think that everyone will willingly grasp your hand when you offer it to them?!” oooh I like that. basically these idiots need to learn to be more approachable

“survive this life or death battle” lol oh shit

based on the tone of this chapter so far, I can’t help but wonder if this is going to end up being something comedically tame after all of this dramatic buildup

oh my god. suddenly I’m thinking back to that playground equipment. don’t tell me...

OH MY GOD

TODDLERS

holy shit. I count at least 24 of these tykes. and it looks like at least some of them have already manifested their quirks too oh shit

oh my god

Katsuki please don’t murder the small muppet child. I believe in you. babysit the shit out of these brats. you can do it

why do I suddenly have the feeling that maybe the elementary school just needed a substitute really last-minute and so this somehow ended up happening

now the big bird kid who called the grenades lame is running away crying

Bakugou is being chewed out by the other children and desperately trying to do some crisis management that consists of yelling at the kid to “STOP CRYING DAMMIT”

who the fuck is this

does Monoma have a younger brother we don’t know about

meanwhile three other children have cornered Shouto and are grabbing something on his utility belt and shouting “IT’S A PEEPEE” repeatedly

on the plus side, I can already sense Endeavor’s fight or flight instincts kicking in, and with any luck he’ll be out of there before we even get started

Shouto is patiently explaining that the thing on his belt is not, in fact, a peepee

this approach is not really working out for him

meanwhile still more children have surrounded Inasa and are just. punching him. for absolutely no reason

but Inasa is just taking it, and looking up at Endeavor and thinking “I won’t become like him.” awww

and yet this is not really working out either

you know, I wouldn’t have expected this to be the case, but so far Bakugou is actually managing the best here

Camie’s there too, and she’s asking if she’s supposed to be part of this training as well and what’s up with that

Gang says she’s a special case since she didn’t participate in the real test

she’s exasperated, but says that she likes kids anyway so whatever

and there’s a panel that we’re just going to skip riiiiight on past, thank you very much

suffice to say, the female kindergartners are now ganging up on Camie out of jealousy that their popular male classmate appears to like her

also, forget what I said before about Bakugou faring the best so far

little Billy, that is not a toy. please put down the grenade

these kids make flashback!baby!Kacchan look like a perfect little angel. at least he was cute

Gang somehow has faith in them though

you guys. if Kacchan somehow manages to bond with a bunch of snot-nosed little brats and become their mama I will lose my shit. please please please

(ETA: arguably this is exactly what happened. what a fine arc)

the rest of the class is meanwhile being shuttled along to have some boring lecture

lol Bakugou is despairing loudly

THIS IS THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT YOU NEED, BUSTER. YOU SIT THERE AND YOU TAKE IT

and seriously though, wasn’t he always the leader of his little pack of brats even as a child? can’t he just somehow tap into that little brat energy and take command of this group of kids as well? he does have a weird sort of charisma, and always has. and he’s shown patience and leadership in the past at unexpected times. I really think he can do this if he just puts his mind to it

All Might, Mic, and Endeav are sitting in the spectator section in silence

Endeav and Mic are dotting up a storm lmao

oh my

ARE YOU GOING TO PROVIDE COMMENTARY

-- HE IS OMG

he says an event without commentary has no soul

brother I’m right there with ya. why do you think I even do this. we should go get kicked out of a movie theater together

All Might’s asking if they really need “soul”, and FUCKING DUH THEY DO, ALL MIGHT

oh shit he’s commandeered Mera’s microphone

I can’t believe this man is the fucking U.A. traitor. maybe. admittedly seeming less likely by the minute

anyways, now that Mic is gone, All Might is figuring he might as well get this awkward conversation over with

he says that he doesn’t really know what to say to Endeavor in his current state

Endeav is asking if All Might’s aware that over the past month the crime rate has risen by three percent

hmm. someone sucks at his current job of being number one, huh

oh no

is Endeavor

having character development

...

motherfuc...

shit

okay look. one, dude is basically a rapist, albeit in a manner that’s just barely society-approved. two, he beat his wife and child. and three, he then had his wife committed when she had a breakdown and never bothered to do anything to try to help her (and also, you know, he’s the one who caused said breakdown in the first place)

so just a reminder. that Endeavor. not a nice guy

...but. it’s a story. and if a character actually shows a desire and willingness to try and change... well. I’m not necessarily just going to dismiss it out of hand

but this motherfucker needs to show some remorse, though. otherwise, fuck that

so whatever, Endeavor. let’s see. I have a feeling this is going to be a long, arduous process, and it might not even pan out. but it’s interesting, at the very least. and so in that sense, I’m here for it. hell, I welcome it. after all, we sure as hell didn’t get too much complex character development in the previous arc, Nighteye aside. so this... this is good

BONUS:

lmaoooooo @ “likes beer” oh god. no salary in the world would ever be enough to compensate teachers for everything that they do and all the shit they have to put up with

the fact that she’s a newbie is apparent just at a glance. give her a year or two under her belt and I bet you anything her personality completely changes. teaching is basically baptism by fire. but she will eventually learn to improvise, adapt, and overcome. and she’ll probably be a lot more drunk too lmao