#sorry if this post is choppy and incoherent but I give up

[jackdaniel69nice]

I would LOVE to hear about your thoughts on shinso (his relationship with tokoyami or just about him:) )

Shinso and tokoyami are very similar and seem like they would get along. The only issue is that shinso (much like monama) will bring up sensitive subjects to try to get under someone’s skin and make them react.

Tokoyami and dark shadow have a telepathic connection which means they technically have a minor psychic ability. Tokoyami has specifically trained his mind to be able to resist dark shadow taking control of his body. I don’t doubt any attempt shinso would make to brainwash tokoyami would be sensed by him and negated, even if tokoyami would verbally respond to him. This “immunity” to his power would startle shinso and make him obsessed with knowing how tokoyami does it. Tokoyami says it takes carful training of the mind, usually with mental imaging, his quirk has always worked on others because they have no defenses. Shinso’s brainwashing is like a spy, trying to sneak into another’s mind when their guard is down, but he needs to learn other tactics to get into different minds. Dark shadow uses brute strength to take over, when tokoyami feels emotional it makes cracks in the wall and dark shadow can tear the whole thing down (if they want). Shinso would need to employ the same tactic by making his opponent emotional he could find a way in and take them over.

Tokoyami warns shinso never to try to enter his mind in his usual cryptic manner “Sometimes when one stares into the abyss they will see something they can’t take back”. Shinso of course doesn’t head this warning and tries to brainwash him during an exercise by bringing up Tokoyami’s past mistakes. Toko doesn’t fall for it until he starts insulting dark shadow directly and saying they are an uncontrollable, villainous quirk. Tokoyami slips up and when shinso slips into his mind dark shadow slips into his.

Dark Shadow is very protective of people they care about, especially tokoyami. They are like the guard dog to Tokoyami’s mind, a sacred place, NO ONE is allowed to enter without THEIR permission. Usually tokoyami can negate their instinctual response to kill anyone that enters their territory…but the second he becomes brainwashed by shinso his mind goes blank. Now shadow has no reins holding them back, and they are ANGRY. Shinso feels pain in his head like something is trying to claw it apart from the inside, all he can see is writhing darkness. Luckily there is a physical distance between shinso and dark shadow so he isn’t instantly dead but dark shadow does attack his prone form. The attack breaks his ribs and knocks him unconscious before tokoyami regains control from dark shadow breaking the brainwashing. Tokoyami is devastated that he let shinso’s words affect him and lost control, he should be better than this, has he allowed his safety from being surrounded by kind people to weaken his heart? This cannot stand, he needs to be better, stronger. He surprisingly gets in little trouble with Aizawa, by his own words, “shinso needs to understand the consequences of his recklessness” :/ “Not every villain he meets will react the way he thinks, he is not always going to be the one in control” his only punishment is to help shinso train.

Shinso is physically fine after seeing recovery girl but definitely a bit rattled from losing the mental battle to dark shadow so easily. It’s definitely a wake up call to understand there are higher power people in this world that can take him out. He apologizes for saying those things to tokoyami and tokoyami apologizes for losing control. Shinso said it was kinda scary but still cool and he respects him more now. Tokoyami thinks this guy is crazy (this is the start of a friendship). Dark shadow does not show face.

Of course after this training exercise tokoyami is distraught. He might withdraw from his friends for a awhile but of course they pull him right back. He tries to focus on the fact that progress is not linear and accidents will still happens. He trains with shinso with mental exercises like meditation and visualization. They also start to talk more because of this. Shinso gets a little nosy about Tokoyami’s life (we both have villainous quirks right?) and tokoyami will shut down his questions by saying something cryptic, or straight up lying. Shinso thinks his brooding nature is fun and wants to unravel his mysteries. Dark Shadow tends to stay away when shinso is in the room. Until it’s night time of course.

Dark shadow is most active (and aggressive) at night. It’s true tokoyami stays up late with shadow but only so much for training and to help them get their energy out. While tokoyami sleeps shadow is restless. Dark shadow has a hard time relaxing, they are a bit paranoid due to all the things they have been through. They roam the halls checking on people like “patrolling” to make sure everyone is safe. Shinso is an insomniac and also will be up all night. This infuriates dark shadow to some degree. At first when shinso would try to leave his room dark shadow would threaten him to return and stay there. Shinso listened at first (because a truly pissed of dark shadow will frighten even the unshakable to their core) but eventually he said fuck it if I want 2am coffee I’m gonna get it. Dark Shadow’s issues with shinso stem from many things some of the most prominent are his “obvious” disregard for other peoples feelings. They thinks shinso is just some villain playing as a hero because he is just looking for power and will hurt other people to get it. It’s not necessarily his quirk that they hate, but his character, he has no morals. Once again dark shadow is actually just projecting their own insecurities onto someone else. They are worried that they are actually some megalomaniac and they will hurt people without care. They are upset because they have taken control over tokoyami before and thinking about shinso brainwashing people makes them feel guilty. They can also empathize because as much as dark shadow has taken control from tokoyami, tokoyami has taken control over them, they know what it feels like to be under someone’s thumb and trapped.

This leads to shadow bullying shinso quite a bit but shinso thinks of it as competition and banter. Dark shadow knows how to hit you where it hurts though and will call shinso villainous. Shinso doesn’t have much to say back because he doesn’t know much about dark shadow nor have any opinions about them, to him they are nothing more than a quirk. Even when dark shadow starts genuine conversations about shinso’s motives and his behavior shinso doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t need to explain himself to a mindless creature. So the tension continues until dark shadow loses control again. In their anger at not being taken seriously they attack shinso, as a reflex shinso tries to brainwash them…and it works.

Believe it or not I think shinso could successfully brainwash dark shadow. Shinso doesn’t quite understand dark shadow’s sapience so he has never tried it. While shadow has trained their mind like tokoyami they don’t have the concentration to keep up a mental barrier. Dark shadow is an emotional creature, and their rage is their strength to resist. Unfortunately shinso’s brainwashing works better the more upset you are so dark shadow would fall easily to him. Of course tokoyami would easily break this spell over them like shadow can break it for him. If tokoyami were incapacitated and unable to help it would take some time but dark shadow could possibly break free by attacking shinso mind from the inside once again and wear him down.

When shinso successfully brainwashes them it surprises him. He plays around with shadows body for a bit because he’s never been able to control someone’s quirk before. It makes him feel odd, like guilty almost. He released dark shadow and they are immediately frightened and guilty and run away. Shinso thinks it over and comes to the logical conclusion that dark shadow is more alive than he thought…which carries more connotation than he likes. He might need to apologize or something, ugh emotions -_-

Dark shadow is reclusive when tokoyami awakes and it is startling. He’s more concerned as the day progresses. Dark shadow does participate in training but won’t talk to him. They usually act like this when they have done something wrong but nothing seems amiss so tokoyami is worried someone said something rude to them. He doesn’t notice shinso’s contemplative glances.

After school shinso finally approaches to ask about dark shadow. He had actually asked kaminari about dark shadow and since they are close friends he straighten things out. So shinso apologizes for not realizing but it wasnt even something that occurred to him could be possible for quirks. Dark shadow has had enough. They break down saying he shouldn’t be the one apologizing when they have been nothing but awful to him and they lost control, they were just so angry. They cry a lot and shinso is uncomfortable, he really had no clue any of this was going on and dark shadow was so complex. He says all is forgiven despite being confused and that it would cool if they could “be friends” or whatever (Midoriya got him good). Dark shadow agrees.

Shadow has to have long talks with tokoyami (and hound dog) about how they were feeling but now the three of them are besties forever. They enjoy late night conversations with denki. They probably have similar training together and maybe end up dabbling in a bit of spy work with Hagakure. Jiro and the three of them end up being the emo team of 1-a. Shinso is the only other person in 1-a that ends up having a night time patrol in the future like tokoyami so they end up seeing each other the most as adults. And don’t get me started on a team up with monoma, Shihai, Shinso, and tokoyami.

I wish tokoyami would be someone who is willing to open up more because I want them to have a conversation about how they were treated as villains growing because of their quirks. Unfortunately anything emotional tokoyami talks about with shinso can be used as future canon fodder to brainwash him. Shinso isn’t trying anything like that any time soon after the previous results but tokoyami isn’t taking any chances. It’s more of a silent understanding and solidarity that they are kindred spirits.

I do support the common headcanon that shinso is an orphan; it’s just an interesting matter to deal with to me. His parents weren’t killed they just gave him up after he developed his quirk. While Tokoyami’s parents didn’t abandon him there is a huge divide between them because of dark shadow. So tokoyami understands how it feels to be alone without an adult to guide or support you. Shinso, tokoyami, and shoji should all stay at the dorms over Christmas break and play poker. Eri can join too. Dadzawa has his hands full.

I hope once tokoyami is older he will have built more trust with shinso (because shinso isn’t really bad!! He is nice to his friends!) and they can talk about these things.

(This went a bit more into a story plot than I intended it to but I just wanted to express a scenario that would explore their characters more especially when it comes to their quirks. Brainwashing is so fascinating in its functionality and mixing that with dark shadows ability to take over tokoyami and their telepathic abilities leads to many possibilities for results. Of course the results I think were most plausible are the ones I described. I hope this is satisfactory anon!)

There is manga spoiler under the cut because I want to mention one more thing—>

I already mentioned in Aoyamas post that dark shadow takes out their anger about him leaving on shinso. But to reiterate it, yes dark shadow sees shinso as a “replacement” for Aoyama and they don’t want a replacement. They don’t blame him for Aoyama leaving but they are highly offended that he thinks he can fill yugas place. shinso doesn’t think that at all of course. He doesn’t want to be seen as Aoyamas replacement, in fact it offends him. He has been working hard to get here before Aoyama even decided to leave and wants to be seen only as himself.