#v:proto

[notbirdnorplane]

@bloodyfixation

Have some Proto!Verse vibes, friend! Know you like your Togachako content. :3

Beta togachako

[notbirdnorplane]

- - closed starter for @auditioheros // Proto!Katsuki - -

Katsuki laughed openly and fully, taking enjoyment from his company of the day. Jirou hadn't always been easy to get along with, but Katsuki was just the right balance between stubborn and friendly to pull a friendship off. One of the first since his enrollment to UA, as a matter of fact!

"I'm just sayin', I'll always be a drummer, but the theremin is really underrepresented in modern media! Most of the mainstream bands I hear just digitally mix things to sound like a theremin. Analog's always gonna be where it's at for me."

[notbirdnorplane]

- - closed starter for @auditioheros // Proto!Katsuki - -

"Never said you couldn't?" Katsuki blinked, uncertain what he might have said or done to warrant such a response. "What's goin' on, Kyo?" Rather than letting her walk away, he swerved around her and stopped straight into the pathway. No walking away, no ignoring the issue.

"Talk to me. What's on your mind?" He could rarely understand people. Their expressions eluded him, their tones and words confusing. But he felt that he knew Kyoka rather well by now. She was sarcastic (which often went over his head), she was fiercely independent, and she was selective about who she chose to befriend. "Just be direct with me."

[notbirdnorplane]

It all began many generations ago in Qing Qing City with the birth of an extraordinary baby that radiated light. After that, reports of people with superpowers began popping up all over the globe. The cause of these “Quirks” was unclear, and time passed. The old structures of society crumbled, giving way before the new. Chaos ran rampant in the streets, and people and governments alike began to adapt to fiction becoming their reality. A new profession emerged in these times as citizens rose up to help those in need: the Hero was born. At first, it was only 1% of the populous. Then 2%...4%...16%...now, roughly 80% of people possess these uncanny abilities. The once-extraordinary became the norm.

However, not all circumstances are fair; men are not created equal; society and humanity are not without flaw.

Among the masses, there were still those without power, the Quirkless. They were often stigmatized and abused by their powerful peers. Certain doors were closed to them the moment they were born, be it to a career path, or even certain schools. The tide had changed.

Laws adjusted how they could, but people were still unsure how to deal with Quirks, leaving only vaguely-enforced policies and rules. How could one ban something that was genetically part of another human being? What was considered a genuine crime committed via one’s Quirk, and how could that even be proven without witnessing it firsthand?

Things have become stable out of a desire for normality and peace, but issues bubble just beneath the surface. Social and political movements rally for their causes. Criminals who criminally abuse their Quirks for personal gain become branded Villains and wreak havoc and chaos amid the peace, and professionally licensed Heroes stand against them, protecting and serving the public. The vanguard between the two are the unofficial Heroes, the Vigilantes, dealing their own brand of justice in a world ill-suited to them or simply because they lack the proper licensing.

This was the Age of the Superhuman. The Age of Inequality.

Small flashes and pops, like firecrackers. That’s how it appeared to the crowd of youngsters as a small child unlocked his Quirk. Though most of them, the teacher included, couldn’t help but gush and adulate the phenomenon, the child in question just looked on at the new aspect of himself with curious red eyes, mouth slightly agape.

“Wow! That’s so cool, Kacchan!” “Nobody else has a Quirk like that!”

The words of praise fell on deaf ears. Young Katsuki Bakugo’s mind was bubbling with all different sorts of thoughts as he took in the new sensation. “This is my Quirk?” he quietly asked.

“Yep! It’s the perfect kind of Quirk for a Hero to have, don’t you think, Katsuki-chan?” the caregiver asked.

“Yamikumo!” Katsuki, as he had with the rest of the kids, wholeheartedly dismissed her as background noise. The smile he wore shinned with joy as he scampered over to his friend. “Look! Look! I’ve finally got my Quirk!”

“Wow! That’s amazing, Kacchan!” The friend’s purple-hued eyes glistened excitedly. He was a child of roughly the same size as the other, though unlike Katsuki who had expressively spikey hair and clear skin, this one had wildly messy, dark hair that matched his eye color and freckles that adorned his cheeks. “I can’t wait to get mine!”

“Yeah!” Katsuki cheered on his friend, closing his hands and extinguishing the small explosions. “Then, we can go on adventures and stuff like real Heroes! We’ll save all sorts of people!”

The two kids seemed to be having a wonderful time bonding, though some of the other kids that had been ignored sulked off with a dejected look to their expressions and demeanor. “Katsuki-chan,” implored the lady with a pleading tone and smile, “wouldn’t you like to share more with everyone else? You get to see Mikumo-chan every day after all.”

Katsuki looked to the teacher with bright curiosity, smiling to her as he did with Yamikumo. “Why would I wanna do that? It’s not like they’re my best friend, Omoi-sensei.” Inwardly, Katsuki was a bit miffed that their time together was being interrupted.

The other children were all a mix of emotions at those hurtful words. Some of the rejects were on the verge of tears, and others looked like they wanted to create an angry outburst. The onlookers were silent, unsure where to stand at the moment. One of their classmates was going against a teacher after all.

At first, Omoi seemed taken aback, but the young instructor quickly regained her composure. “But they still care about you. And only showing Akatani isn’t fair, is it?” She looked over to some of the students who had left to sulk. “Besides, Rei-chan got her Quirk recently, right? And Kenjiro-chan too! Everyone got to see.”

Katsuki turned his head the same direction as his instructor. Despite the yellow bunny name tags each student wore, their names didn’t feel familiar to him. One of them got a Quirk recently? He had a rather carefree expression on his face as he returned to smiling at Omoi. “Really? That’s cool. I’m still waiting on Yamikumo to get his, then we’re gonna have our own Agency!”

“Kacchan…” Mikumo Akatani, or as Katsuki called him, Yamikumo, looked between his friend and their sensei with a worried expression, to which, Katsuki glanced over to him with the same friendly smile he’d been wearing for everyone. “Maybe you should go ahead and show Rei-chan and Ken-chan…”

Katsuki pondered over this for a few brief moments by looking up to the ceiling, then shook his head in denial as his gaze returned to Mikumo. If at all possible, his smile only seemed to brighten. “Nah. It’s my Quirk, and I’ll celebrate with you.”

Omoi looked like she wanted to say something, but only sighed in defeat. “I thought I’d be used to this by now…” she muttered to herself. “You really do go to the beat of your own drum, Katsuki-chan.” She stood up from her crouching position with a gentle smile. “Just make sure to share with the others if they ask to see, okay?”

“Okay~!” Katsuki gave her a thumbs-up. Most of the children seemed satisfied with that answer, and those that weren’t went back to playing with their other friends, leaving Katsuki and Mikumo to themselves.

“You don’t have to do that, Kacchan.” Mikumo smiled a little, appreciative of his friend, but seeming somewhat upset he’d been a source of conflict. “You can just come over today and show me.”

“But your mom’s taking you to the doctor today, right?” Katsuki’s smile dimmed into his casual smile as he grabbed a ball off the floor. “It sucks, but I gotta wait. We’ll do it some other time.”

“Yeah. Mom says I might have a Quirk that doesn’t need me to do anything, and the doctor will know for sure.” Mikumo brightened up a bit as they changed topics.

“Oh yeah? That doesn’t happen too often! Maybe it’s even cooler than your mom’s.”

“Akatani!” called Omoi, garnering both Katsuki’s and Mikumo’s attention. Yamikumo’s mother was standing in the open doorway, smiling to her son. “Your mom’s here for you. Gather your things so you can head home, please.”

Mikumo smiled, nodding to teacher and parent before returning to Katsuki. “See you tomorrow, Kacchan!”

Though the tomorrow they envisioned wasn’t the tomorrow they received.

“Did’ja hear? Akatani doesn’t have one,” one of the kids commented. Like the day before, the small ones had gathered into a crowd around another of their classmates. However, the energy in the room felt very differently than yesterday. The aura was a mixture of pity and vindictive spite, a veritable fog of negativity.

“What? No way; that’s so weird!” muttered one of the others with a vaguely concealed snicker. “I heard it’s called being ‘Quirkless’.” “Poor Akatani-chan…” “That’s what he gets for letting Katsuki-chan run his mouth.”

The subject of interest himself was sitting on the floor, nearly hidden beneath one of the tables placed in the room. His purple bangs weren’t enough to hide the tears nearing the edge of his eyes.

“Hey!” It wasn’t shouted, but it was said with a sort of authority. The sea of munchkins parted for the speaker. Katsuki walked through, and while he was smiling, it wasn’t nearly as happily as the day before. It was a sad smile, like one might have while seeing the sun covered by an oncoming storm. “You guys shouldn’t bother Yamikumo anymore if you’re not being nice.” All the while, his little hand was raised, followed by the firecracker-like explosions. “And if you don’t like me, you can just talk to me instead.”

To most, this all sounded like a threat. It was enough to scare them back into their own activities, especially once saved by Omoi’s call for them to disperse and continue playing. With them gone, Katsuki closed his hand and plopped down beside his friend. There was an uncomfortable silence that settled in while the sounds of the others just background noise between the two as each tried to think of something to say. Mikumo was the first to speak up.

“You don’t have to hang around me anymore if you don’t wanna, Kacchan.” For such a youngling, his tone was steeped in sadness and despair. “We can’t be Heroes together anymore.”

That quickly wiped Katsuki’s smile off his face, replacing it with a curiously concerned expression. “Like that made us friends?” It was posed more as a rhetorical question, but was said with such conviction that it could be taken more as a statement.

Mikumo looked up from the floor and to Katsuki. “B-But, I’m Quirkless…and everyone else—”

“As if that made us friends,” Katsuki reiterated almost dismissively as his smile returned. “Besides, I think you can still be a Hero. Like…a smarty that brings down the bad guys with traps and tools!”

The purple one looked a little more hopeful as he smiled and wiped his eyes. Where the others might’ve gotten more hurt or angry at this point, it actually cheered the tike up. “You mean that? We’re still friends? And you really think I can be a Hero too?”

A vigorous, affirmative nod was given by Katsuki. “Yeah, of course! Anyone can do it if they try!”

Nearly a decade passed in the blink of an eye, and April came marching in the same as always. The new school year was greeted with the cherry blossoms right beside the school gate. Meanwhile, inside, the third-years of Aldera Junior High were already in preparation for their graduation.

“You guys are all third-years now, so it’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures!” It seemed like a rather ordinary lecture within the classroom, with the teacher trying to guide his students. “Normally, I’d hand out these future career forms…” He picked up the stack of papers, flouncing it about as he walked around his desk…before tossing them into the waste bin with grandiose enthusiasm. “But I assume you all want to be Heroes!”

The class burst into excitement, each youthful teenager eager to show off their Quirk and prove to their teacher that they were ready to become Heroes. All save for two individuals, one of which quietly looked down to his desk, the other of which would soon speak his mind.

“Sensei! Don’t lump me in with these guys!” The classroom suddenly turned in near-unison to the voice. “There’s just not enough room for all of us where I’m going.”

A dull roar of grumbles ensued towards their classmate, every single one is dissidence against the speaker.

“You think you’re better than us, Katsuki?!” “Get over yourself, man!”

Katsuki had grown quite well into his teenage years. While his hair and the way he smiled were still the same, he was lither and more muscular than before, taller too. He’d likely take on these traits even more as he got older. Instead of the standard-issue blazer for the school uniform, Katsuki instead wore a light-brown sweater jacket. It almost looked handmade.

The teacher dug through some of the papers on his desk, eventually finding the one he was looking for. “Ah, right…you’re aiming to go to U.A. High, right Bakugo?” He asked this quite casually, though it sent a shudder through the student body.

“That national school?! But only the top twenty percent of the written exam move on to the practical! Even then, only around forty people will get in!”

“That’s barely one-percent!”

“Your chances might as well be none!”

Katsuki threw his head back and let out a cheerful laugh. “You might think so, but I’d daresay anyone could do it if they try! I’ll be the best Hero once I graduate!”

“Well, with that positive note, let’s move on to the next U.A. candidate.” Papers were shuffled as the teacher worked to find another career form. “Akatani, you’re planning on applying too, right?”

Mikumo Akatani’s desk was positioned one down and to the right of Katsuki’s. Up until this point, he’d been keeping to himself, reading what looked to be a textbook over electrical wiring. His hair had become long and unruly, with his purple bangs parted slightly to the side so he could see decently. “…I’ve considered it. Wouldn’t hurt to at least give it a try.”

The class in general gave a snicker at the thought of that. Though most of the opposition wasn’t so direct, and those who approached were either due to concern or in passive aggression.

“Akatani, you can’t be serious. You’re smart, but it’d be dangerous to try without a Quirk.”

“A small fry like you would only get squashed the moment the practical started.”

A short glare from Mikumo promptly shut most of them up, causing them to look away. While he wasn’t a delinquent per se, he had certainly become an errant student of sorts, one that didn’t take bullies lightly. He soon returned his gaze to his book, as though trying to dismiss the conversation. “The Hero Course isn’t the only career path U.A. offers.”

“Ah, a fair point has been made.” The teacher gave a smile of sorts. “They still have the Business, General, and Support Courses, and you can choose a secondary path when you submit your application. You also did very well on the written mock exams. There might be a decent chance for you to get into at least one of those, Akatani.”

With that, the Westminster chime sounded on the speakers for homeroom to end. “Ah, that seems like my cue,” the teacher said, dismissing himself as he gathered up his supplies. “Well, if any of you aren’t planning on trying for a Hero Course, let me know.”

The class day seemed to pass by as usual, with nothing but the basic general studies work for the students. But, pass it did. As Mikumo exited the classroom with his belongings, a familiar arm looped around the Quirkless’s shoulders.

“Hey! Yamikumo!” Katsuki greeted with a smile. It was he who was embracing Mikumo.

“What’re you doing, Katsuki?” Purple eyes quietly drifted over to the friend. “There are easier ways to get my attention.”

“Eh, this was the first to come to mind.” He gave a chuckle, but released Yamikumo so the two could actually walk. “I didn’t have a chance to ask this earlier, but do you need any help dealing with those guys?” Katsuki was referring to the passive-aggressive bullies from their homeroom. “You know I’m always willing to talk to people who give my best bro a hard time, right?”

“I honestly think that’d do more harm than good,” Mikumo answered sullenly, pulling out his phone to check the time. “There’s always gonna be opposition, so I gotta deal with it on my own. Besides, with my position, it’d be simple to correct them. Even if I’m Quirkless, they usually won’t do anything.”

“Oh, that’s right,” commented Katsuki with a chipper grin. “You got elected as the head of the Disciplinary Committee, didn’t ‘cha, Student Council-san?” The last bit was a friendly tease on Katsuki’s part. “Guess that means you’ll be off doing your own thing from now on?”

“Whenever I’m needed to at least.” The phone returned to its proper pocket. “It’s the best thing I can do to help people at the moment.”

The idea had been proposed by several nearby schools towards the end of the previous school year to introduce a Disciplinary Committee to their respective student councils as a means to monitor and protect the student body. Teenagers weren’t best-known for making good decisions, and some had even taken advantage of others via Quirks.

“People probably see me as just a snitch. That’s probably also why they didn’t want the position either.” Mikumo grumbled to himself. “The teachers pretty much just handed it off to me.”

“But still!” Katsuki threw his hand open, palm upwards, as he gestured and spoke. Occasional apple-sized explosions burst from his hand as they walked along. “You get to help decide how things are run! That’s pretty damn cool!”

“Katsuki, you shouldn’t use your Quirk on campus.”

“Hm?” Katsuki blinked cluelessly, closing his hand and extinguishing the bursts. “Oh yeah, that’s a rule, isn’t it? My bad there, Yamikumo.”

Mikumo gave a tiny wry smile. “Next time, I’ll have to correct you. Anyway, I gotta head to the faculty office. You should head home on your own today.”

[notbirdnorplane]

Her hand in his, Katsuki did his best to continue on with his rescue. His hand gripped onto hers while he assessed the door. "Might be loud, but I'll get us down. Hang on tight!" Without a further word for confirmation, Katsuki swiftly looped her arms around his neck. His hands now freed, he pressed his palms straight against the locked door.

D-DON!

The pair of explosions sent the locked door rocketing off its hinges, saving them from the confines of the stalled car. Then came their exit: those same hands locked behind him like rocket boosters. A few sparks, and they were flying out just as easily as the door! Their descent was speedy, his explosions serving to boost their angles and ease the descent once they were close enough to ground.

"There!" Katsuki was quite proud of himself. There'd been few instances to practice rescuing someone with his Quirk, so he saw this as good experience while on the job! "Safe on the ground! I'm gonna figure out what caused all this and see if I can help more people."

At the mention of his intervention, her eyes snapped open, and quickly turned in Katsuki's direction. She doesn't know them. What if they made things worse? A hero was what they needed. There was plenty to spare; Japan was overrun with them. She wanted to tell him not to interfere. He was a civilian, and a teenage one at that, just like her.

His attempt to soothe her made her feel reassured. She pursed her lips into a thin line, her attempt to smile at him. If he could be brave so could she. She was a hero course student after all, admitted to one of the best schools in Japan with a bright future ahead of her.

Despite the continuous rapid thud in her chest, a pale and timid hand extends to take his. She swallowed, and her body began to loosen up, becoming less stiff. She would trust him—and herself—to make it off this ridiculous Ferris wheel. "How will we get down? My quirk is useless here."

[notbirdnorplane]

“ why can’t you be honest with me? with yourself? “ (💣)

- - Sacred Romantic Moments // accepting - -

The crimson eyes flickered, shifting away from Amano's gaze. Katsuki wasn't one to avoid contact with the people he cared about, but he had a shit poker face. Whatever the situation, his facial expression revealed everything. He couldn't answer for a solid minute, fidgeting with the hem of his sweater and shuffling between his feet. How could he be honest with either of them? When he was honest with people, they tended to push him away, to call him a pest and annoyance. And then he'd lose the people he called 'friends'. Slowly, he began to raise his hands to sign.

His hesitance at first made it difficult for it to be legible, but he eventually steeled himself enough to settle on the words. [I'm scared,] he admitted. [I don't want to chase you off or act...weird. I like spending time with you, and I don't want that to end because of something I do.]

It was the most vulnerable Katsuki had made himself in a long while. If he played this wrong, he would lose a friend. Once he was done talking, he slipped his hands back into his pockets and worked up his nerve to look back to Amano. The ball was in her field now.

[notbirdnorplane]

"You think?" Katsuki looked Jirou up and down, assessing her height in comparison to his 5'8". "Well, you'd never hit your head on a cabinet door, for a start!" he decided optimistically. "And you'll never have to duck beneath a door or worry that you won't fit on a roller coaster!"

His grin was as bright as the sun, his tone full of joy where Jirou's might have come off as cynical or sassy. "Besides, you're pretty awesome as-is, Kyo!"

❝  i see nothing charming about being short, okay? i'm 5'1", it brings me no benefit. i can hide in a kitchen cabinet... that's about it. ❞

open.

[notbirdnorplane]

Katsuki blinked in response, confused by her answer. "No, huh?" Had he simply spaced out so much that he hadn't noticed the stranger enter with him? It wouldn't have been the first time. He leaned towards the window, unphased by the height.

"Well, either way, something's up." The alignment wasn't right for any of the cars to be perched at the top, making it a very odd position to be stuck in. "I'm gonna go down there and figure out what's going on."

His crimson eyes shifted back over to her, still trying to deduce what the expression was. It took noticing the white-knuckled grip on her hands to put it together: she was scared. Katsuki's smile returned, bright and welcoming as a morning sunrise. "Hey, you're gonna be okay. I won't let anything bad happen to the people here, including you."

He didn't just mean it, he fully believed in his capacity to save the people stuck here. Fighting and flying and Heroics were his bread and butter. As long as he put his mind to it, nothing was impossible. Noting that his palms might be sweaty to the touch, he quickly wiped them off against his pants before offering one to Amano. "You wanna head down there with me? Bet it's safer down there than up here right now."

Her brain was blank yet overflowing with thoughts, a paradox of how her mind worked. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. Maybe she was asleep and this was a nightmare. Her quirk—called Nightmare—was extremely effective on her. It sometimes caused her to think things were real when it was actually a dream. She bit her lip harder, her way of pinching herself to wake up.

When that didn't work Amano reluctantly opened her eyes. She leaned into her seat, filling any space between her and the gap, trying to make herself smaller as if she could go invisible. From above, she could not hear the going-ons from below. Did they know the ride had stopped working? Were they trying to fix it? Was a hero on their way?

She didn't pay attention to the other in the seat, too worried at the moment to process anyone else. Some hero she will be. It wasn't until they spoke did she realized she was not alone up here.

There was a slight tilt of her head and a frown creased her face. No, she did not climb up here, she entered the cart just like him. It was a weird comment for them to make, but it did distract her for the moment. She instinctively glanced at her forearms at the mention. It was only then did she realized how tightly she held onto the rail and the string of the balloon, but that did not make her loosen her grip. She swallowed and shifted in her seat.

Amano wanted to sign to him or type her response, but that would mean loosening her grip which was not happening. Instead, she franticly shook her head signaling no as a reply.

[notbirdnorplane]

The youth rarely chose to visit an amusement park, especially on his own. It punched his stimulation meter into overdrive, and not in the good way. It was crowded, which added to the WHOOSH and whrrr of the machines that came as part and parcel to the nature of amusement parks. But it happened to be on his walk to his favorite batting cages and today, the Ferris Wheel was calling: a nice, quiet place where he might get an in-flight view of the city without being scolded for "improper Quirk usage".

He could smell the various fare foods in their stalls; sweet cotton candy, the batter of takoyaki in their cups, and perhaps some meaty kebabs? Then there was also the humid, acrid scent of tar and asphalt that had been heated all day in the afternoon sunshine. Each sensation screamed for attention.

His trail was easy to follow, as Katsuki constantly left a whisping tail of smoke from the grape-sized cluster of bursts emitted from his palms. The pops were no louder than a bang snap firework, and the sudden bursts against his skin was soothing. And then there was the cable-knit cardigan he wore over his uniform. He was such a sore thumb that it was a wonder that no security guards stopped him.

As soon as the door shut, the quiet that he'd been longing for finally hit him. Tokyo was a sprawling, bustling hub of life that Katsuki had a love-hate relationship with, and this was a temporary separation. The ascention gifted him with a view over the park, through the neighborhood his batting cages waited, and further out towards the rest of the region. It was perfect...until it wasn't.

The machine stalled with a jerk, rocking the car. A nauseating yank rattled the blonde, along with the feeling of something shifting. His vision cleared swiftly, finding a stranger across the seat from him. What was that expression she was making? Fear? Surprise? He didn't know her well enough to guess what that indeterminate scrawling of her face meant.

"Did'ya climb all the way up here yourself?" The question was bluntly innocent, perhaps naively so. And not at all appropriate to the potential danger below them. "Man, your forearms gotta be strong as hell!" Katsuki exclaimed. Only, it wasn't the same Katsuki who had entered the ride with Amano.

@notbirdnorplane | starter

She's sitting as still as a statue. One hand holds onto the railing for dear life. Red and blue veins start to become visible on her paper-pale hand. In the other hand held a yellow helium balloon; she's also holding onto the string for dear life as if it could steady her. Her heterochromia eyes are dilated, the higher she goes the wider they get.

They're on a Ferris wheel, probably the biggest one in Japan.

She knew it was a poor idea for her, but she didn't want to dampen the mood. Bad idea. There's a pause, not from her, the ride—it stopped moving. That's not supposed to happen…