Month: March 2022

Profile: Angelo Kaneki

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Lolita Angelo

Name: Angelo Kaneki
Gender: Transgender Male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 16
Birthday: October 1st
Ethnicity: Half-Japanese, Half-White (Italian)
Nationality: Italian
Species: Human
Sexuality: Asexual

Family: Angelo’s father is a Japanese fashion designer and his mother is an Italian model.They are loving if a little bit busy and with high expectations.

and non Lolita Angelo in linked picrews.

Strengths: Distance fighting. Can use powers for ease of motion. Friendly. Chatty.
Weaknesses: Vain. Obsessed with maintaining his appearance. Obsessed with control. 

Appearance and Style: When dressed down, Angelo is a wasian teen that can manage to look androgynous, with short and very straight black hair, a slightly olive skin tone, and a scrawny frame. However, he is rarely dressed down. Most of the time Angelo wears sweet lolita style, effeminate and pastel and usually with blonde wigs curled into ringlets, though he does have a few other wigs. He actually is of decent height, being about 5’8. His skin and teeth are practically flawless. He regularly gets his nails done. He is determined to keep his weight at no more than 110 lbs. 

Superhero Data

Supranym: Venti
Status: Alive. Active

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Wind control

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application

Class: 1
Power Category: Energy Projector
Roommate: Kayla

Backstory

Angelo lived a fairly normal if privileged life. He has spent most of his life in Italy, attending private schools and living in slightly luxurious circumstances. His life got a little less charmed when he came out as trans and started puberty blockers. He faced a lot of bullying which only got worse when he wore dresses despite “insisting he was a boy”. His parents were supportive but still too absent to notice anything wrong. They only noticed when he started to gain a little weight because he became less active. They made some passive aggressive comments which led to his development of an ED. Because his grades and physical skills were always average he placed a lot of self worth on his appearance and his parents’ mindless comments only made it worse.

Angelo developed his powers when some bullies threw his things up in a tall tree and he climbed up to get it. He ended up falling and his powers activated, saving him from getting hurt.

Misc Information

  • Angelo has a pet chinchilla named Cookie
  • Ever since he came out, his mother has referred to him as “her darling boy”
  • Angelo in and out of lolita is so different many cannot recognize him until he speaks
  • Angelo needs to wear glasses but usually wears contacts when in lolita
  • Angelo is a big proscratinator when it comes to school work
  • Angelo has done modeling before
  • Angelo has a really popular Instagram but refuses all brand deals
  • Angelo grew up in Italy but has spent a decent amount of time in Japan as well
  • Can speak Japanese, Italian, and English fluently, his accent in all languages is Italian

A New Home: Chapter 2.4 (Ryland)

~ Nerathul ~ Leave a comment

After seeing the class breakdown Nathan waved his hand at Ryland to get his attention then signed excitedly, “Same class!”

“Awesome,” Ryland grinned, they followed people going on with the tour. When they reached closer to the dorm, worms began slithering in his guts. 

“I’m a little anxious about living with so many people…” He said vocally, not knowing the proper signs. 

“I have a lot of siblings so I’m used to it!” He signed with big wild hands as he did when excited, “it’s probably too much to hope we’ll be roommates.”

“I hope so too,” Ryland signed “nobody here knows we’re trans…” 

He’d done his research, Ravenhold was very strongly pro-trans students, but having to live with strangers? Sharing bedrooms and bathroom space? That was more mortifying than any villain Ryland could think of. 

“Well, it probably won’t be a problem. I read that superheroes are disproportionately queer.”  Nathan joked, a big grin on his face.

Ryland snickered. “Still it’d be nice to be… seen as normal?”

Nathan shrugged, “Normal never really was a priority of mine or an achievable goal.”

It made sense, Nathan was Deaf, Asian, and trans, he couldn’t exactly blend in with “proper” WASP society… 

Ryland looked around, the class he’d been assigned to was quite unusual; multiple paramorphs, even a Tzari. What was normal to superheroes anyway? 

They reached the house and people poured in, the two of them found the kitchen and snatched some pizza that had been left on the counter for the students. Ryland looked around and found rooming arrangements, drawing Nathan’s attention to it.

Hands full of pizza Nathan gave a pout studying the board, soon followed by Ryland. They hadn’t roomed together… 

“Awww, I’m with Kiyoshi? Sounds Japanese?” He shrugged, Nathan’s roommate was far stranger, “What kind of name is Danalar?”

Nathan finished one of the slices and finger spelled with his free hand; “t-z-a-r-i.”

Ryland’s gaze wandered and there he (or she? Ryland wasn’t sure how to determine Tzari sex) was, standing with the others at the kitchen counter, Danalar was tall like all of his species, dressed like a human and speaking fluent English. Danalar had strong chiseled features similar to a human, but the tusk and cat-like ears gave the illusion away. 

“They’re kind of handsome for an alien,” Ryland said. 

“Tzaries are hot.” Nathan signed extremely matter-of-factly before wiping the grease on his hands off on his jeans. 

Ryland gave him a punch to the arm lightly, “What about Svar?”

“Venusians are very much non-monogamous, why would I be even if I was dating Svar. Which I’m not. Yet.” Nathan’s hand movements were sharp and pointed but his face was animated with an eye roll, pursed lips, and finally an eyebrow wiggle

“Slow down,” Ryland joked. Nathan repeated himself vocally, as quiet as he could, being Deaf he wasn’t exactly capable of gauging volume.

“Yet?” Ryland shook his head, he didn’t entirely understand Nathan’s attraction, Svar was a great person but he was a giant blue alien lizard, how would one even be intimate with them? 

At Ryland’s feet, Callie was practically vibrating, so many people, so long spent being a good girl. He nudged his friend toward the back of the house and they went out through the backyard’s patio door.

Ryland unleashed Callie and she immediately sprinted around the yard a half dozen times yipping with excitement. She had a lot of energy to burn off…

As Ryland sat down on the deck’s stairs, Nathan found a stick. He whistled and grabbed Callie’s attention, wiggling it around before tossing it. Callie ran after it at maximum speed.

Nathan sat down, “Wish Svar and the girls were in this class too.”

“Me too, at least it’s just us, I don’t sense any other meteor children in our class.”

Nathan nodded, Callie brought back the stick and he threw it again.

Ryland closed his eyes, the Meteor shards were linked together and he could feel their presence. He could sense all the ones on campus and even in the city around it.

“I can feel a few more around campus.”

Nathan nodded, “Hopefully they are just like us.”

“I’m glad to have you with me.” Ryland put a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. 

Nathan smiled before Callie jumped on him, shoving the stick at his face, demanding he throw it again.

“Callie!” Ryland laughed, “We’re having a heart-to-heart you silly spoiled puppy.”

Nathan laughed and took the stick, giving Callie a fake-out throw so she went running while the stick was still in his hand. Callie went all over looking at every corner of the yard for the missing stick.

“I’ve always got your back.” Nathan offered a fist for a fistbump.

Ryland returns it. “Should probably unpack soon?”

Nathan shrugs, “probably.”

Ryland gets up and calls Callie, “Come here, girl.” 

She came back sad and confused, where had the stick gone? Nathan chuckled at her reaction and gave it to her to chew on. Immediately she became excited again.

Ryland touched her for attention. “Follow.”

Callie picked her stick up, and followed them.

Nathan stretched and followed after Ryland, jogging around him so he could get in front of him to sign, “if our roommates end up sucking, maybe we can just force them to let us have a room together.“

“That could be fun,” Ryland said, he found his bags and brought them upstairs, finding their rooms. “At least we’re neighbors?”

Nathan nods happily with a smile and opens the door to his room

Ryland went into his, waving goodbye to Nathan for now. Ryland came in, looking at the room. It wasn’t so small, at least for two people. A pair of storage beds, dressers, small desks, and two closets. 

There was a single duffel bag hanging on the bedpost of the other bed, but no sign of the owner. Ryland took out Callie’s bed and bowls from his bag, filling them for her. That done he climbed in his bed and collapsed face first into the pillow. The texture grated against his sensitive skin, but he didn’t move. He wanted to pass out and wake up three months earlier before all of this had happened…

Callie suddenly went from eating to jumping and barking excitedly. “What is it, girl?” Ryland asked, not moving an inch.

He heard her jump onto the other bed, claws scratching against the bed cover. Ryland finally decided to move. 

He turned around, “What is—” he stopped when he saw what had caught her attention; a cat boy was now on the other bed, curled up in the corner to stay away from her. “When did you get here?” Ryland asked, confused. The door hadn’t opened. Callie meanwhile was trying to jump into his bed.

“Always here.” The cat boy said, anxiously, eyeing Callie, “I was always here.”

“You were?” Ryland asked. But how?

Was that Kiyoshi? He looked Japanese-ish, it was a little hard to tell, his face had markings like a Siamese cat.

Callie finally managed to make it onto the bed, she stopped just shy of Kiyoshi and panted with excitement. 

Kiyoshi disappeared for a second and reappeared, invisibility? “Yeah uh, what does it want?” He pointed at Callie.

Callie made pathetic little begging noises, unused to not being spoiled with love.

“She just wants scratches,” Ryland answered, sitting up on the bed.

Kiyoshi cautiously put his hand on her head and curled his fingers to scratch the very top of her head. Callie leaned into the scratches, making some happy noises.

“She’s harmless, just a bit of a slut,” Ryland joked, Callie would ask scratches of strangers, having no fear whatsoever of them. “I’m Ryland.”

Kiyoshi flinched a bit and then muttered; “I’m Kiyoshi.”

“Nice to meet you, I guess,” Ryland said, “Callie, come here girl, stop bothering him.” She came back quickly, Ryland picked her up and gave her some scratches. 

Kiyoshi sighed in relief, “it’s nice to meet you too.”

Rylands lay back down, emotionally and physically exhausted. “So you turn invisible?”

Kiyoshi nodded, “and teleport.”

“Cool,” Ryland said, he raised his left hand where a bright red gem was embedded, “I’m a meteor child, I kind of slow or speed down time.”

“Cool,” Kiyoshi said, nodding again. He uncurled a little and stretched his cat-like legs out. 

Silence settled between them, it was awkward and Ryland did not have any energy left to socialize with a stranger. He took out his phone and sent a text to his friends, asking them how they were settling in.

Svar was first to answer, “Svar has found a friend-reptile!” Attached was a picture of a human boy with his bottom half replaced by a snake’s tail. 

Ryland smirked and put the phone down. Kiyoshi’s stomach growling incredibly loudly drew his attention. He blinked. “Was that you?”

Kiyoshi’s face grew a little red, “sorry.”

“There’s pizza downstairs,” Ryland said, “People have probably moved on by now.” 

Kiyoshi nodded and disappeared, the indent in the bed going away. About a minute later he came back through the door with two slices of pepperoni pizza in his hand, biting one of them.

“How far can you teleport?” Ryland asked.

Kiyoshi shrugged, then swallowed the bite in his mouth, “not very far.”

Ryland nodded, “right.”

Kiyoshi finished the pizza and wiped his fingers off on the seat of his jeans before going to rifle through his duffle bag, he pulled out some sweats and a Coke.

“I think I’ll get ready for bed,” Ryland said, grabbing pajamas from his own bag. He would unpack in the morning. 

Kiyoshi was already changing his clothes, he had no hesitation in getting undressed. What Ryland saw slightly worried him, Kiyoshi was almost deathly thin, ribs and bones exposed, with a stylized-S on his hip branded into his flesh like cattle…

Ryland frowned but didn’t say anything, slipping out of the room. He took out his phone and googled S-brand, S-tattoo, bringing him onto a page about human trafficking… What Ryland read horrified him; Kiyoshi had been a modern-day slave of an organization known as the Syndicate. 

Ryland read more about them; a global criminal enterprise, the largest in history. They dealt in drugs, weapons, human trafficking, but also chimeras… Humans forcibly mutated into half-animal hybrids often as exotic sex slaves…

Ryland wanted to throw up… Was that what Kiyoshi had gone through? The website spoke of chimeras used in illegal bloodsports, but Kiyoshi was so small…

Ryland closed his phone, he knew enough, more than he had wanted to… He went to shower and change, trying to push away the horrible image in his mind. When he came back to his room, he looked back at Kiyoshi, curled up on his bed. 

“Going to bed,” Ryland mumbled.

“Goodnight.” Kiyoshi’s voice, slightly muffled by his pillow, responded.

“Goodnight,” Ryland answered, his mind still heavy with questions and horror.

A New Home: Chapter 2.3 (Michelle)

~ Nerathul ~ Leave a comment

When the students were brought to their house Michelle desperately needed space, after more than ten hours of transit first by plane and then by bus next to Freyja she was all out of spoons.

As people piled into the kitchen to enjoy pizza left for them Michelle quickly explored the house, getting the lay of the land. The first floor had a kitchen, dining room, two living rooms, an exercise room, and a study room. At the back she found a patio door leading to a large wooden deck beyond which was a large garden with a pool.

She went out, badly needing to stretch her legs and wings. 

A few people joined her, a pair of young boys sitting on the deck and throwing sticks to a small dog, while a pair of older students had somehow clambered onto the roof and were smoking. 

Michelle looked at them. There wasn’t a door she could see, how had they gotten there? Maybe they could fly. 

Fly… Michelle had never gotten to fly, in all the confusion and danger, it had fallen to the wayside. She looked up at the sky, the sun was slowly setting over America, she could do it. How hard could flying be?

She stretched her wings out, letting them unfold completely, each over two-meters in length. 

She went running, picking up speed, letting her wings beat at first slowly, but then faster, when she felt ready she leaped! 

…and landed face first into the dirt.  

“Are you okay?” Michelle blinked, a pudgy white teen with short purple hair had come to her side, kneeling down. 

“Ja,” Michelle got up, dusting herself off. Why didn’t it work? 

“I’m Avery,” they spoke with a soft Canadian accent, “Are you german? Your thoughts are in— Sorry, I can’t help but overhear them…” They winced visibly.

“You can read minds?” Michelle asked. “That’s so cool!”

They blinked. “You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be?” It was Michelle’s turn to be confused it seemed.

“People usually get mad,” Avery said.

“But you can’t help it?”

Avery shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to them.”

“That’s dumb.”

Avery giggled, “Thanks, I guess. You didn’t tell me your name.”

“Michelle Weiss.”

“Are you German then?”

“Ja, from Munich.”

“I’m from Edmonton, Canada.”

 Michelle smiled, “I’ve heard Canadians are very nice,” she joked.

“Psychic’s confession? We’re polite, we can be real dicks inside, we just prefer to smile and apologize.”

“Noted.”

“So, what were you doing?”

“Trying to fly, I just got my wings.”

“Oh, that is so cool,” Avery looked to the sky, “Flying must be nice.”

“Reading minds would be nice, I wouldn’t read people wrong again, know what they mean when they say things.” 

Avery laughed, “Can I ask something?”

“Of course,”

“Well, it’s direct, but are you autistic?”

Michelle blinked, she hadn’t expected the question, or being clocked so quickly. She nodded. 

“It’s just, your thoughts, they’re different from other people,”

“Different?”

“They’re windows, we’re Linux?”

“We’re?”

“I never met another autistic person before,” Avery confessed, “Well outside of those awful therapies I had to attend as a kid…”

“I’m sorry,” Michelle answered. 

Avery ran a finger in the dirt, tracing circles, “I should go back inside,” they mumbled, “But I’ll see you around?”

“Of course,” Michelle smiled.

Avery got up and Michelle watched them leave. They were strange but friendly, there was a certain loneliness in them that Michelle recognized well… 

“Good luck flying!” Avery said from the door.

Michelle waved them goodnight and turned back to the yard. Flying… 

Michelle took a deep breath. If at first she didn’t succeed, she had to try again. 

She took another running start, beat her wings… And fell down again. She tried again, and again, the only thing improving was her landings. 

What was she missing? Why couldn’t she fly? She kicked a rock in frustration, it was dumb, Valkyra had made it seem so easy. 

She contemplated giving up, but then the people on the roof shouted; “You can do it, pretty angel!” The boy said, “Fly little bird!” the other answered. 

Her mom’s voice came to her. “Giving up is not an option, if it doesn’t work, try something different.”

She tried a different strategy; she climbed one of the yard’s trees, a big and mighty oak, stood on top of a large branch and jumped off, her wings beating furiously. 

Once more she crashed on the ground. 

A few weeks ago a fall like that could’ve hurt, but now she was a Valkyrie she barely felt it. 

“Gottverdammt!” She screamed. 

It was then she noticed Freyja was standing there. 

“The fuck are you doing?” Freyja asked in their native German.

“I’m trying to Fly, why isn’t it working?”

She laughed, “Michelle, you’re six-foot three and two-hundred pounds of muscles, these tiny wings can’t lift you off the ground with just muscle movement.”

“But Mom—”

“You don’t get to call her mom,” Freyja snapped.

“Valkyra could fly.”

“Yes, that’s because she was trained,” Freyja came behind her, “You need to use the wing’s magic to carry you.”

“Magic… But how?”

Freyja sighed, “Your wings are more than just bones, muscles and feather, they are a physical link to all of the Nine Worlds,” she said, “Njord blessed us with the winds of the nine worlds, close your eyes.”

She did. Freyja went behind her and gently unfolded her wings, “Feel the worlds in your mind; the eternal frost of Niflheim, the raging fires of Muspelheim, feel how the wings connect to your body, your spine is Yggdrasil, the world tree.” She spoke softly, “Climb out of the depths…”

Michelle could feel a buzzing pass through her, she could feel something above, no beyond. 

“Good, you can feel it, that is magic, the power of another reality. Now, bring it to bear, let it out of your body and into the world. Let the winds of Njord carry you into the air, visualize it.”

Michelle did as she was asked, and great powerful winds appeared, filling her wings. 

“Now, fly.”

Michelle beat her wings and she took to the sky, light as a feather, a great wind carrying her upward. “I did it!”

“Congrats,” Freyja said in English without a hint of enthusiasm. “Alright, come down now.”

But Michelle had other plans, she beat her wings and flew around the yard, letting the winds carry her like a kite. She felt weightless, like floating in the ocean but lighter even. Flying was the best thing!  

The people on the rooftop applauded and whooped. 

“Knew you could do it!” They said cheering. 

She grinned and waved at them. 

All she had to do now was land. It couldn’t be that hard, right? She aimed at the ground and beat her wings. She tried to right herself but her feet skid on the ground, she lost balance and slipped, falling down on her belly again.

“We’ll practice landings.” Freyja sighed. “Alright, you’ve had your fun.”

Michelle got back on her feet, still grinning from ear to ear. “I flew!”

“You did, now let’s get in and unpack, jet lag is kicking my ass and I don’t want you barging in late because we have to share a room.”

Michelle didn’t argue, she went in and grabbed some cold leftover pizza from the kitchen and her baggage, going upstairs to find their shared dorm room.

A New Home: Chapter 2.2 (Riley)

~ Nerathul ~ Leave a comment

Riley was the first of their class to make it onto the house, hurrying inside with quick bouncy strides and a big smile on their face. They found their way into the kitchen where a dozen boxes of pizzas of various kinds were stacked, to which Riley added their cookie collection. 

“My cookies!” Teddy complained. 

“There’s enough for everyone!” Riley said, patting their friend’s head and feeding him his favorite, slightly burned snickerdoodles.

A white kid with long champagne blonde hair in a braid followed soon after, his face covered in colorful band-aids. “We got pizza,” he says “Oh, man that is beyond cool!”

Riley grinned at him and pointed to the Tupperware full of snickerdoodles they just brought out at him, “Wanna cookie? I baked them myself yesterday!”

“Ab-so-lu-tly!” Axel answered with a grin, “I’m Axel! Strongest hero you’ll ever meet.”

Riley giggled, “I’m Riley! It’s nice to meet you!”

A tall Indian boy with coppery-skin, dark hair came in next. His face bore makeup; black mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick. He was wearing a dog collar and a mesh shirt under a black tee.

“Did I hear cookies? Nice.” He said, “I’m Ethan…” then his eyes fell onto Teddy. “You have a weird naked monkey-cat thing on your shoulder, is that normal?”

Riley’s eyes went wide and they leaned forward excitedly. If they weren’t still holding the snickerdoodles they might have grabbed Ethan’s hands, “You can see Teddy?!”

Teddy hissed at Ethan, “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“What monkey?” Axel said looking back at the two, unable to see Teddy. “Your eyes okay?”

“There’s an imp on the kid’s shoulder, it’s invisible to most people,” said a black girl coming in, she had Amazonian stature, over six feet in height, but what drew Riley’s eye was the pregnant swelling of her belly.

“Ugh, imagine wasting your time making a pact with an imp of all things,” Another voice said, that of a posh Englishman. Riley looked around for it, and saw a weird thing in the reflection of the stainless steel fridge;  a cartoonishly deformed and slender English gentleman with a hat and bugs crawling along his skin.

“What do you have against imps, huh!?” Teddy hissed. Riley picked him up off their shoulder and hold him in their arms. 

“Shut up Jack,” Ethan muttered under his breath. So the bug-man was definitely with him.

Teddy shouted a string of insults at Jack, but Riley ignored the demons’ fighting, turning their back to Jack’s reflection so that Teddy was blocked from his view.

“Please ignore Jack,” Ethan asked.

“I am soooo confused,” Axel says.

The pregnant girl leaned against the counter, she looked rather pale and sweaty “Please tell me there’s some sprite in the fridge before I puke.” 

“If there’s not I got some!” Riley offered, pulling a sprite out of hell.”I’ve only ever met one other person who could see Teddy and now two in one day!”

The girl took it, “It’s piss warm.”

Riley pouted, took the Sprite back and it back through the portal, “well excuse hell for being hot.”

Next to come in was a Tzari, a race of tall aliens that are sometimes described as ‘space orcs’. Riley had never seen one so close. He wore human clothing; cargo pants and a t-shirt. He went to the fridge and took out soda.

“You wanted a drink of Sprites?” He said.

She gives him a look, “What a tusky gentleman, what’s your name handsome?”

“I am Danalar, son of Neetarin of Clan Vinek,” He offers a deep bow.

“Polite, helpful, and handsome? I like that.” the girl said, grinning and looking the Tzari up and down with hungry eyes. “I’m Freyja.”

“It is quite the honor to meet you, miss Freyja.” Danalar smiled.

“Okay, I am so uber-mega confused now.” Axel said, shaking his head, “We’ve got invisible monkeys, an alien, a pregnant chick, and inter-dimensional cookies…” Riley was about to try to comfort him when his expression changed to a grin. “This year is gonna be so AWESOME!”

A bipedal white wolf turned their head inside the kitchen, wearing a pretty flowered sundress. “What’s that about dimensional cookies?- Oo peanut butter!”  She took a peanut butter cookie and throws it into her mouth whole.

“Hell sprites and cookies,” Axel took a snickerdoodle, “Well tell the demon bakers they’re f-n good!” he said before looking at the newcomer “And now we have furries!” Axel said, “Even better!”

“Well I’m the demon baker I guess. I tried to get Teddy to help me once but he ruined that batch… way too much salt… and now he won’t try again.” 

“You got yelled at! I’m not going to be the reason you get fucking yelled at!” Teddy said, somewhat defensively. Riley gave him a loving squeeze and he scrambled back out of their arms to perch on their shoulders once more.

“You made these?” Kayla asked, taking another peanut butter cookie, “pretty good but what’s this about demons?”

“I got a demon on my shoulder. Some people can see it, some can’t.” Riley answers with a shrug. 

“This place is nuts,” Axel says, “Love it, speaking of nuts I’m allergic. Nuts are the only thing that can defeat the mighty Blademaster.” Riley felt a thrill of panic at the word ‘allergic’ and mentally ran through what they saw Axel eat.

“Blademaster?” Ethan says.

“Don’t you have a cape name?” Axel asks back.

“No?” is all Ethan answered to Axel’s question. “Am I supposed to?”

“Every hero needs a name, you haven’t thought about it at all?” Axel asked. 

“This wasn’t exactly planned,” Ethan answered.

Riley tapped on Axel’s shoulder, getting his attention again. “Well steer clear of those, those, those, those AND those. The rest should be nut-free.” Riley pointed at a few separate containers, relieved that they knew Axel hadn’t already tried to eat one.

Axel looked at the snickerdoodles, eyes narrowing. “I was playing Russian cookie roulette here, wasn’t I?” He covered his face with his palm, Riley gently patted his shoulder.

“Yes… you really shouldn’t eat random baked goods. If I wasn’t concerned about cross-contamination when making them then you’d probably be having a reaction.”

“Oh, boys playing heroes,” Freya said mockingly. 

Kayla cocked her head to the side while looking at Freya, “Ain’t ‘playing heroes’ what we’re here for?”

“Do any of you have any training?” Freya asks. 

“I do, I’ve been training for years!” Axel said. 

“Real training.” She corrects, “With an actual teacher, learning how to fight.”

Axel went quiet. 

“I trained with Tohu-wa-Bohu for a bit!” Riley said cheerfully. Tohu-wa-Bohu was one of the Legion bigshots, just like Riley he could connect to hell! 

“I am a trained Armored, all Tzari are trained for battle,” Danalar said, as he took some cheese pizza. 

A pretty person in a pastel pink lolita style dress with a cupcake pattern walked in. Despite their Asian features, their hair was blonde with no dark roots and coiled in beautiful, doll-like ringlets.

“Yo,” Axel says to the newcomer. “There’s pizza and magic demon cookies.”

“Hi! I’m Angelo!” they smile at Axel, clocking him rather quickly as the most normal in the room.

“Want a cookie? I made them myself?” Riley offered.

“Sure.” Angelo looked carefully through the Tupperware and grabbed a sugar cookie. Their gaze went to the pizza with a frown, “so greasy…” he muttered, shaking his head.

“Do they have coffee in this place?” Danalar asked, looking around and finding instant coffee. He plugged in an electric kettle.

 “Sir, would indulging in coffee be wise at this time?” The staff on Danalar’s back had come to life and was now speaking.

“Talking stick!” Axel said, “That’s new.”

“Am I known for my wisdom, Bardiche?” Danalar answered by putting Bardiche off his shoulder and leaning it against the kitchen counter.

“My data on this subject is insufficient to come to a conclusion.”

“Can I touch you, Mr. Bardiche stick?” Axel asks. 

“This is a strange request, sir.” The AI answered.

“Oooo alien tech.” Kayla also came over to Danalar. Poking Bardiche without asking for permission. “Sweeeeet.”

“Hey! I asked first,” Axel pouted.

“Sir, please do not touch me without permission,” Bardiche says. “Sir, please assist me with these rogues.” 

“I’m not a sir.” Kayla pouted.

“Bardiche does not understand the difference between males and females,” Danalar explains, “He is very young,”

“What is the individual addressed as if not a Sir?” Bardiche asked

“A Miss I guess?” Kayla’s tail wagged with excitement as she spoke with Bardiche

“I think that’s a lady,” Axel whispered to Bardiche.

“Analyzing data,” Bardiche declared. “Honorifics of Madam, Lady, Miss, Mrs and have been found. Please input appropriate honorifics?”

“Miss works for me!” Kayla answers cheerfully

Angelo leaned in towards Ethan and asked, “This is… weird right?”

Ethan looked at Angelo. “I mean I have an evil bug demon living in my head, I don’t know what’s weird anymore.”

“Bug demon?” Angelo shivered in horror, “sounds terrible. I hate bugs”

“Same, unfortunately,” Ethan said, “I’m Ethan,” he offered a hand to shake.

Angelo shook his hand, “Angelo!”

Everyone took the chance to re-introduce themselves to those who hadn’t yet caught their name.

Axel’s attention is drawn away from Bardiche. “Okay, names are cool and all, but have y’all picked your cape names?”

“You try to find something cool themed around bugs and disease.” Ethan joked.

“I’m not here to be a superhero, I’m just the hanger-on,” Freya said.

“Hanger-on to what?” Riley asked

“I’m sure you’ve seen my sister, can’t miss the wings,” Freya says, “No idea where she went.”

“That is the worst attitude, come on!” Axel said, “You have got to have something to show.”

“I can punch your fucking face,” Freya answered, “Break your nose.” 

“See, that’s a start,” Axel grins, “you can surely try.”

 “Hey, no violence guys!” Riley scolded, getting another round of pizza. They had already had too much, but they couldn’t stop. Hopefully, everyone would get all the pizza they wanted.

“Hey, I wouldn’t touch a pregnant chick that’s just unheroic,” Axel defended himself, “She is welcome to try to punch me.”

“Well right now I’m more likely to throw up on you,” Freya said, only half-joking. 

Danalar finished making his coffee. “Well, then this is quite a strange group. Would anyone like some coffee?”

“Wait,” Ethan says, “Isn’t coffee a narcotic for Tzari?”

“Indeed it is,” Danalar says, “What of it?”

“Lucky bastard,” Freya joked, “wish I could have a drink.” Riley looked down at her pregnant belly when she said that.

“Drinking and drugs the night before the first day of school? I like partying but even that seems too much for me.” Kayla said.

“You’re pregnant, you can’t drink!” Axel says. 

“Mind your own fucking business kid.” Freya snapped. She gets up. “I better find Michelle and lie down.” 

Danalar chugged his cup of coffee and grabbed Bardiche. “I must attend to certain personal businesses as well.”

“Guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow then?” Kayla said, more interested in getting more pizza now.

“Unless I get kidnapped, you never know,” Freya says.

“So boring,” Axel said, turning to the people remaining, “So you got bug powers, what do y’all have?”

“Well, you already saw the portals! That’s the main thing I can do.” Riley answered, wiping pizza grease off their lips with the back of their hand.

“I’m a hypertech! And I gave myself this beautiful body, amazing right?” Kayla flexed, her ears wiggling and tail wagging.

“So you are a total furry?” Axel raised his eyebrows at  Kayla.

“Yep! A furry through and through!” Kayla answered, pride in her voice. 

“And you?” He asked Angelo.

“Wind powers.” Angelo sends a breeze Axel’s way, tousling his hair.

 “Oooh, nice breeze.Thanks, girl.”

“I’m a boy.” Angelo corrected patiently, moving aside his white sweater to show a little heart-shaped pin with he/him written on it in cursive.

“Oh, well thanks, dude?”

“That’s an interesting choice of outfit,” Ethan says to Angelo. “Do you always dress like this?”

Angelo smiles, “Yeah pretty much. I have a few more classic lolita style dresses, some Ouji style outfits, and some casual lazy outfits that are more masc.”

Axel looked back at Kayla. “Okay, for curiosity’s sake on a scale of 1-10 how soft is that fur?”

“20. I made a special shampoo formula to make sure it’s the softest it can be. You can touch it.” Kayla offered an arm.

Axel took the offer. “Ah, man, I want a blanket made of that.”

Kayla scratched her throat with a claw as she thought about it, “I might be able to engineer that.”

While the others talked, Riley finished off their sixth piece of pizza while Teddy began to look concerned.

“Awesome,” Axel grinned. “Oh, I just realized I haven’t shown off my power yet!”

Axel put out his arms and a selection of swords, polearms, axes appeared out of thin air floating above the ground. “Ta-da!” He twirled a finger and the weapons started to slowly spin.

“Weapons? Doesn’t fighting with them get kinda bloody?” Riley asked with a frown.

Axel made a motion with his arms and the swords were replaced with batons and other non-cutting weapons. “I’m very versatile.”

Riley still frowned with their brow furrowed, “I guess that’s better?”

“Can you summon any kind of weapon?” Kayla asked, touching one of the weapons with a finger.

“Any I’ve touched,” Axel said, “But I’ve been working on expanding my arsenal.” he waved his hand off and the weapons disappeared.

“Fascinating,” Kayla said.

Riley throws their now empty plate away in the trash can and yawns, their stomach aching,”I need to go find my room and unpack a bit. See you guys tomorrow!” 

Riley hopped out of the room, only to catch Axel’s words. 

“See you later cookie-girl-boy-person?” He said, “I better pack my stuff and get my jogging done.” 

“Person! And it’s Riley.” Riley pokes their head back in to say

“Righto!” Axel says, making finger guns, “to the bedrooms!”

Ethan got up following Riley, “Well it was nice.” He grabs his bag, “better go see who my roomie is.” 

“That Axel kid is annoying, we should curse him with disease,” Jack said, making Riley frown again.

“We are not doing that.” Ethan sighed. “I hope there’s some place far away from mirrors,”

Angelo finished the single sugar cookie he took and headed out as well, “see you tomorrow!”

While the others checked their room numbers and grabbed their bags left at the bottom of the staircase, Riley slipped off to a bathroom. “Riley…” Teddy started to say something but Riley didn’t stop to listen, as they stuck a finger down their throat.

A New Home: Chapter 2.1 (Avery)

~ Nerathul ~ 1 Comment

As Avery was listening to the Raven’s welcome speech they felt a presence in their mind. “Hello?” They thought, “Is someone there?” 

A perky and cheerful male voice answered,  “A friend! You’re only the second person to talk directly to me with their inner voice!”

“Are you psychic too?” Avery asked, “I’ve never met another psychic!”

“Yes! I’m 1-Z but you can call me Onez!” His voice exploded with excitement.

“Uh, hi? I’m Avery,” They answered looking around trying to find him, “Who are you? I mean in the crowd?”

Following the connection,  Avery’s eyes ended up on a strange-looking kid with giant golden wings who was looking directly at them. The kid waved a weird talon-like hand, “I’m waving do you see me?!”

“I think… are you a… bird?” They asked, their words a little awkward, not wanting to offend.

“I’m like a griffin!” Onez tried to worm his way through the crowd towards Avery but knocked a few people with his wings, making them wince.

Avery waved at him, “Uh, hi?” they said out loud.

“Hi!” He responded out loud, finally getting to them as people who had been hit by the wings were glaring at him, he turned to the nearest one and sheepishly said, “sorry.”

“Are you alright?”

Onez tilted his head and looked at Avery quizzically, in his head he said “why wouldn’t I be?”

“You kind of bumped into a few people,” Avery says, trying not to stare at the griffin boy, they’d never seen a paramorph in person before, they didn’t want to be rude.

“Well it’s crowded and I got big wings. It’s hard not to bump into some people!”

Avery snickered, “I can imagine… I’m Avery… I said that already, didn’t I?”

“And I’m Onez and I said that already too.” Onez smiled brightly and offered his bird-foot-hand thing for a shake.

Avery took it, “Are you a paramorph?”

“Not exactly… I was kinda made like this.”

“Oh…” Avery frowned, Made? Not born, not transformed but made? “That doesn’t seem good.”

Onez just looks at them a little confused.

“It’s nothing,” Avery said

Onez smiled again

“So… are you excited to be here?” Avery asked. 

“Yes! I wanna make friends with all sorts of people and do all sorts of things!”

Avery smirked, “Kind of the same, my dad… he never really let me do things, meet people…”

Onez lion tail swished, “I was only ever let out for missions… still managed to make a friend! Sniper! but…” Onez trailed off and his prior enthusiasm disappeared, Avery could feel… shame? Self-hatred? 

“Missions?” Avery asked, immediately worried.

“Yeah,” Onez answered quietly

“Onez… Did you work for bad people?” Avery asked.

Onez nodded, “I think so? That’s what people tell me… and they did make me… hurt Sniper so… probably bad… very bad.” A sense of panic filled Onez, which then filtered into Avery, he was afraid of judgment…

“I’m sorry…” Avery said, tearing up, they weren’t sure if it was theirs or Onez’s emotions they were feeling, but they were strong. “Can I give you a hug?”

Onez nodded.

Avery gave him a hug, and for a moment a powerful mental loop occurred, a painful burst of feedback like when a microphone held to a speaker shook them both, but Avery held him tightly until it passed.

“You don’t have to do any of that anymore,” Avery thought, or was it Onez? Physical contact made it hard to tell who is who anymore, thoughts becoming tangled into one.

Onez wrapped both arms and wings around Avery, careful to not scratch them with his talons, “I don’t like hurting people,” was Onez’s quiet mental response

“Nobody does, at least not good people and I can feel you’re good people Onez.”

Onez’s —and by extension Avery’s— thoughts became happy again, warm and fuzzy and he squeezed Avery tighter.

“He’s really soft!” Avery thought, surprised at the feeling of feathers brushing against their skin. 

Onez’s ruffled his wings a little happily, “I take good care of my wings!” He telepathically answered quite proudly 

“I can see that,” Avery said, laughing, “You’re kind of strange, but I guess so am I.”

The Raven started calling up people by name, and students were assigned to one of five classes.

“Oh, darn it, hope we’re in the same class?” 

“Yeah me too!”

When the teacher called Avery to class one, they went along turning to Onez, “See you soon?”

“Yeah! Even if we are in different classes I’ll come find you some time!”

“Alright!” Avery waved goodbye, leaving with a big smile on their face.

As Onez was called to class four Avery’s heart sank a little, another name soon came up: Sorensen Thor, Avery’s other friend! At least these two were together?

So Avery sent a message to Onez. “I’m sad we aren’t together, but you’re with another friend of mine!” they try to send a picture of Thor, “He’s really nice, tell him Avery says hi? Oh and ignore Bastard, he’s a bastard.”

“I will! So… What’s a bastard?”

“You’ll regrettably see.” They said before shifting their focus, “Thor?” Avery tried to communicate, “Can you hear me?” 

“Whoa, where even are you?” Bastard’s voice came through as well, “The freak is back! Where is the freak?!”

“Shut up Bastard,” Avery answered, annoyed to hear it again, “About twenty meters behind you?”

“Still don’t see you… too many people…”

“It’s okay, so you see the big bird-griffin person?” Avery asks

“It’s kinda hard to miss them.”

“Well, his name is Onez and he’s really sweet, can you try to watch over him for me?”

“Sure thing!” Thor answered, bringing a smile to Avery’s face. 

“Great another freak and this one is such a garish yellow color.” Bastard whined.

“Where the fuck did you even learn the word garish?” 

Avery tried to focus and sent Thor the sensation of a hug. “Psychic hugs!”

Thor’s thoughts got a tad flustered for a sec. Ragnarok made a retching nose in their head.

Thor’s thoughts devolved into a petty argument with his resident Bastard, and Avery cut off contact, a headache beginning to form once more. 

Avery giggles, drawing attention for a second. So maybe they weren’t in the same class as them, but Avery had made not one but two friends! Maybe they’d make more soon in their own class?

Previous

Chapter 2.0: A New Home

~ Nerathul ~ 2 Comments

Just shy of a hundred students assembled at the gates, a group of porters came and claimed everyone’s baggage. Most had come by bus, but a handful had come on their own or accompanied by parents. 

As students from the parole bus stepped off, under the glares of regular students, a security guard unlocked their collars. 

The gate of Ravenhold, an elaborate wrought ironwork with the academy’s logo, swung open and a man came out in full costume; it was the Raven himself, dressed in his dark armor and cape, his face hidden behind a raven mask. 

Whispers coursed through the crowd, for many it was their first time seeing a famous superhero in the flesh. 

“Students, if I may have your attention” He spoke, his voice naturally booming, and quickly the voices quieted. “Let me welcome you to Ravenhold academy. I know you’ve come from far and wide to be here and the journey’s been long and tiring so I won’t hold you for long.”

He came forward and paced before the mass of assembled new students, like a drill sergeant inspecting the troops.

“Each of you has been selected by the Legion; because we think that you’re worthy, that you have the heart to be a hero, because you want to make the world a better place or because you needed a second chance to become better. Whatever the reason, Ravenhold welcomes you. Over the next four years, we’ll make heroes out of you, it’ll be hard, it’ll be dangerous, but I know you will persevere.”

A half dozen other men came forward and one of them handed a tablet to the Raven. “When I call your name, you will go to your assigned guide.”

The Raven began listing off names from a list and those called joined their respective groups, divided into five classes of students, each sixteen pupils big. 

“Please follow your guides, they will show you around.”

And so they did, passing through the gates into the academy ground. At the heart of it was the administration and classroom building, a large multi-storied brick building, to its right was the gymnasium and training center, and to its left was the recreation center. They passed between two buildings and toward the back of the grounds, a large manicured park was behind the classroom building and to its sides was the dorms building. 

At the heart of the park was a large memorial, dedicated to those students and graduates who had made the greatest sacrifices.

And soon enough the students found themselves led to their dorms.

“Classes start tomorrow at nine, rest up and enjoy tonight, you’ll find your schedules, uniforms, and welcome package in your dorms.” Their guide said.

And so the groups broke up, each heading to their new home.

Previous

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Profile: Thor Sørensen

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Thor in Baydew’s Avatar Maker

Name: Thor Sørensen
Gender: Cisgender male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 17
Birthday: February 25th
Ethnicity: Scandinavian
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Bisexual

Family: Thor’s father is a scholar of Norse mythology and Viking history, his mother is a hypertech scientist working on secret projects for the government. Between researching and writing papers, his father homeschools him, his mother is often not home. He is an only child.

Strengths: Open minded, nice, honest
Weaknesses: Lazy, a tad bad with hygiene, not super bright, a little weak willed and easily convinced

Appearance and Style: Thor is a rather typical teenage boy, tall and gangly, with long, slightly greasy, blond hair and bright blue eyes. His skin is a little bad and has some acne on his face. A bit of a sparse beard starting on his chin. His left eye has black sclera and black markings around it.

Superhero Data

Supranym: ???
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Imbued/magic
Abilities: Can use Bastard to create an armor around him. That armor can also spike out to cause damage. Stronger and faster than the average human as well.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application/Special Circumstance

Class: 4
Power Category: Brick
Roommate: Charles

Backstory

Thor’s childhood was happy if a tad lonely. His family was quite well off due to his mother’s work. So well off that his father retired as a professor only a few short years after he achieved his professor ship, which happened to be a few short years after Thor was born. Thor’s parents had him slightly later in life. His father is already past middle age now. His father was never strict growing up, as a father or as a teacher. Thor was home schooled in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness of the Northeastern states and grew up rather far from other kids, most of his outside interaction being online. His mother wasn’t around much and felt much more like a distant relative that popped in once in a while.

One day, Thor’s mother and some of her coworkers went to her personal lab, the place she spent all her time when she was home, bringing with them one of the subjects they were studying. The subject was thought to have died in its containment and she wanted to use new equipment she was experimenting with at home to understand what happened. Thor had, as usual, snuck into her lab to watch her work.

The subject was only playing dead.

It took the chance to slip out of its containment once it was a decent distance from the government facility. Unfortunately for the subject, it had been too altered and destabilized from the frequent experiments conducted on it that it could not exist outside of a body or its specialized containment. It needed to possess someone. It consistently failed to penetrate the minds of the scientists, but the normal teenage boy snooping around in the shadows was easy pickings. It managed to possess him easily but was unable to fully take him over. And so Thor and Bastard’s unwilling partnership began.

Misc Information

  • Bastard is a demon that has been altered heavily by scientists both hypertech and not, whether he can truly still be called a demon is unknown
  • Bastard refers to himself as Ragnarak but no one else will call him that
  • Thor likes to drink and his parents don’t mind him doing so
  • Thor worships his namesake god but in a sorta … lazy way
  • Thor likes online video games like battle royales and mmorpgs
  • Thor wears contact lenses, glassses at night

Profile: Mitch Garcia

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Mitch in Kaz’s Softboi Maker

Name: Mitch Garcia
Gender: Cisgender Male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 17
Birthday: May 30th
Ethnicity: Mexican
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Gay

Family: A cape kid with two hero parents and a hero older sister. His father died to the villain Origin and his mother and sister died in the Tzari invasion.

Strengths: Friendly, confident, resilient, charming smile, good at cooking, good at close/ hand to hand combat
Weaknesses: Cocky, masochistic, doesn’t like thinking for himself

Appearance and Style: Mitch is tall and leanly muscular with tan skin, light brown eyes, and curly, slightly shaggy, brown hair. He always wears a black leather choker around his neck. Wears a lot of ripped jeans with worn t-shirts and cool jackets. Has dimples when he smiles and smiles a lot. Quite a few scars from brawls and testing the limits of his powers.

Superhero Data

Supranym: Cache
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Can absorb the force of blows and redirect it.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application

Class: 4
Power Category: Scrapper
Roommate: Deryn

Backstory

Mitch had a fairly happy childhood and was a popular leader amongst the cape kids. He could be a naughty prankster at times but was ultimately a good kid. When his father died, he withdrew into himself a little bit, stopped leading the cape kids around and started following instead. And when his mother and sister died, he nearly disappeared from the cape kid circle entirely.

It was then that he met Credence.

Credence was a friend of his older sister and a Ravenhold dropout who had fought in the Tzari war. Credence also lost his hero uncle and civilian parents during Origin’s reign of terror, almost losing his life to the villain himself. Credence watched many friends die in the Tzari war as well. The two comforted each other in their grief, rage, and loneliness, eventually getting together romantically. As they became more deeply entwined in each other’s life Credence’s deeper rage began to infect Mitch.

Credence couldn’t stand what superhero society and Ravenhold did to the two of them. Misleading people with the pageantry of heroes vs villains, leaving them utterly unprepared for threats like Origin or the Tzari invaders. And when Ravenhold turned around only a few years after the Tzari slaughtered their students and graduates and accepted one into the academy, Credence convinced Mitch to apply to Ravenhold and prepare to take it down from the inside. Mitch’s anger with Ravenhold and hero society had caused him to withdraw completely from his group of cape kid friends, but now he will reconnect at Ravenhold.

Misc Information

  • Credence is 23
  • Mitch and Credence have a doberman named Diablo
  • Mitch “claims big brother rights” with many cape kids, this seems to just be the right to nag them or bully them a little
  • Mitch is a physically affectionate guy and touches people a lot
  • Mitch cannot sing, AT ALL, do not let him try
  • Mitch calls Credence corazón, Credence calls Mitch puppy
  • Mitch is good at cooking but terrible at baking cause he believes in ‘measuring with your heart’ which usually steers him wrong in baking
  • Mitch is a big romantic

Profile: Sirius Burns

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Sirius in Kaz’s Softboi Maker

Name: Sirius Burns
Gender: Male (Intersex)
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 16
Birthday: July 5th
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Pansexual

Family: Abusive single mother(deceased). Currently lives with his father, stepmother, and two younger half sisters, Isabella and Dorothy. Isabella is 11 and Dorothy is 7. His father really wants to make it up to Sirius and take care of him from now on. His wife wants to help Sirius too but is more wary of him and doesn’t want him alone with the girls. Or alone in the house…. Or alone outside where he can cause problems…

Strengths: Good brawler. Open-minded. Believes strongly in fairness.
Weaknesses: Masochist. Doesn’t trust others. Reckless. Feels guilty inside.

Appearance and Style: Short, scrawny white boy with shoulder length, wavy black hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes. Two beauty marks under his left eye. He has a lot of piercings. His clothes tend to be tight, black or red, and full of holes. He has a lot of cigarette burns on his abdomen and arms. His teeth are yellowed from smoking. He is intersex, leading to some breast tissue development, he wears a binder most days but is too lazy to once and a while.   

Superhero Data

Supranym: Torch
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Create and control fire

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Parole

Class: 1
Power Category: Energy projector
Roommate: Mari

Backstory

For most of Sirius’s childhood he was raised by an abusive single mother. She would beat him and even put out her cigarettes on his body. One day, when he was 12 she was preparing to put out a cigarette in his eye and as he watched the glowing red come closer to his eyeball he suddenly awakened to his powers. Everything around him burned to ashes, the cigarette, the dirty one room apartment covered in trash, and his mother. Following that he was put into foster care and quickly became known as a problem child. He would get into fights, even using his powers against other teenagers. He would sleep around with almost anyone. And he would set fire after fire after fire just to see the world burn. He bounced between foster homes, mental health institutions, and juvenile correction facilities for years. A few months prior to the beginning of the story his biological father was found and learned of his existence. He took him into his middle class suburban home with his wife and two young daughters. Sirius’s issues were far from solved and he continued his behaviors of starting fights, sleeping around, and setting fires, though he did take being a big brother seriously and started looking after his little sisters.

One day, like any other day, he set fire to an empty abandoned building. It was not the first building Sirius burned. But unfortunately it wasn’t truly empty. A pair of little kids were playing inside. Sirius didn’t know at all, only learning later when he was watching the news at home that a little girl had perished in the fire and that her brother was severely burned and in danger of losing his life as well. 

Without a word to his family, Sirius left immediately and turned himself in. He went back to juvie but this time he was offered the chance to attend Ravenhold and make something of himself. At first he planned to refuse, but when he thought of the girl and of his sisters he decided that maybe it would be the only way to repent by saving lives in the future.

Misc Information

  • Sirius had his dad give all the money stowed away in his room to the family of the little boy and girl
  • Sirius plans to give a lot of his money from being a hero to the boy he survived
  • Sirius’s sisters have attempted increasingly elaborate pranks to steal his cigarettes so he stops smoking
  • The death of his mother didn’t use to haunt Sirius, but he has begun to have nightmares about her along with the little girl
  • Sirius doesn’t have a lot of close relationships with people
  • Sirius is a bottom no matter who he is sleeping with
  • Sirius can do parkour
  • Sirius knows every lyric to every Disney princess song and will start singing them for his sisters at the drop of a hat
  • No one else really gets to hear him sing

Arrival: Chapter 1.17 (Kiyoshi)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Kiyoshi rode in the back of the most unheroic looking hatchback Audi driven by the Raven himself, Ian Coleman. On the backseat beside him was the Raven’s adopted daughter Charlie, glaring daggers into the back of Kiyoshi’s head. Kiyoshi kept his eyes firmly pointed out the window for the 15 minute car ride from the Raven’s home to Ravenhold Academy, the school for heroes. Kiyoshi could almost hear Aaron’s excited voice in his head… and the desolate sadness in his voice that always followed. 

The Raven pulled through a gate into an empty parking lot and turned off the car, “Here we are kids, Ravenhold!”

“I’ve been here many, many times dad.” Charlie said, bored.

Kiyoshi froze, his black cat’s tail in his hands as he wringed it nervously. He stared out the front windshield of the car, straight up at the dozen or so large red brick buildings that made up the Ravenhold Academy campus, larger and more grand than anything Kiyoshi had a right to be a part of. He wanted to flee, he itched to turn invisible to teleport away but the more he desired to do so the more his brain filled with the static of the power suppressing collar.

Raven and Charlie both got out of the car, going for the trunk to get their bags. With the car doors left open, the Raven’s voice traveled to Kiyoshi,  “Now, Kiyoshi, I got you the basics of what you’d need; a few uniforms shirts and pants, a few casual outfits, underwear, pajamas, toothbrush, et cetera,” Ian said, “Also what you were taken into custody with.”

Woodenly, Kiyoshi stepped out of the car and took the bag offered to him. “Sorry.” He mutters. The bag is heavy in his arms, way too much to give him for free, he’s done nothing to earn it, he needs to do something to earn it.

“No need to apologize,” The Raven gave him a warm smile, Ian wasn’t what one expected of a hero, he wasn’t buff but had a slender and fit build like an acrobat, he was quite tall, but he had a soft face with short hair and a patchy attempt at a beard. Worse, he wore a sweater and jeans, hiding his physique. 

“I haven’t had the chance to see the class breakup, but maybe you two will be in the same class.”

Kiyoshi hugged the duffle bag in his arms tighter, looking utterly terrified of that possibility. He cast another glance up at the closest Ravenhold Academy building and then immediately looked back down at his bare, cat-like feet. He could still feel Charlie’s glare on him.

The Raven paused, “Try to get along?”

“He’s the one who was stealing from us,” Charlie shot back, annoyed.

“Just things, we have plenty of things, we don’t need them.”

Kiyoshi felt his ears flatten a bit and his shoulders raise, “sorry.” He really didn’t earn this bag in his arms.

“It’s fine,” the Raven took a step closer, “Can you raise your head so I can take that collar off?”

As he waits for Kiyoshi to raise his chin, he asks his daughter, “Do you remember how I became the first Magpie?”

“I’ve heard the story a hundred times.” Though Kiyoshi wasn’t looking at her, he could hear her rolling her eyes. He raised his chin up to give Raven access to his collar. 

“Well, here it is again; I stole from the Raven, lifted his wallet in fact, and he took me under his wing. Stealing doesn’t make someone a bad person.” He explained, reaching for the collar and unlocking it.

“You weren’t his guest.” Charlie answered and Kiyoshi could still feel her heavy, heavy glare. 

Once the collar was off and Kiyoshi’s head cleared of the white noise, he took the opportunity to flee from that glare, turning invisible and almost teleporting away. This wasn’t where he belonged, he really shouldn’t be here. 

“Now, Kiyoshi,” Raven’s voice cuts through Kiyoshi’s thoughts, “If you run off you know this chance will pass by, just wait here with Charlie until the other students arrive, give Ravenhold a chance, give us a chance..”

“Does he deserve it?” Charlie asked, sulking a bit.

“Everyone deserves a second chance, sweetheart.”

Kiyoshi took a deep, steadying breath, thought of the way Aaron looked when he said he would join Ravenhold Academy, and let himself become visible. He hadn’t yet moved an inch.

Like the broken voice box of a toy that has only one line he repeated, “sorry.”

Raven smiled, “Good boy, I need to get in costume for the welcoming speech. It is technically my academy, but I’ll be back soon.”

Charlie walked slowly over to a bench overlooking the gates and sat down. 

Kiyoshi felt his chest and cheeks warm and his lips curl up into a smile at being called, ‘good boy’

After standing for a bit, watching the Raven leave, he jolted out of it, realizing Charlie had walked away. He teleported to her side when he spotted her at the bench.

Charlie wasn’t all that much physically, slightly under five feet tall, a young latina girl with tanned skin, she wore masculine clothing and her dark brown hair was only two inches long or so, but Kiyoshi had seen she packed a lot of fury and strength in such a small body… 

Charlie had taken out some cookies from her backpack, and was eating them absently. When Kiyoshi teleported to her side, her arm moved towards him and he flinched, expecting a hit. When he saw she was just holding out the pack of cookies to him, he gingerly took one. “Sor- thank you.”

Charlie sighed, “Stop apologizing,”

Kiyoshi lowered the cookie he was about to bring to his mouth, “sorry.”

Charlie facepalmed with an audible sound.

“I’m sorry!” Kiyoshi panicked, his hands hovering near Charlie’s face wanting to see if she had hurt herself but scared to touch her with his dirty hands.

“Relax,” She sighed again, “and don’t say sorry.”

Kiyoshi nodded uncertainly and carefully said, “okay.”

“Relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw,” She said, her tone less harsh than usual.

Forcing himself to physically relax was something Kiyoshi was used to, it made things… easier.

“Alright, now breathe in through the nose, but using your belly not your shoulder to draw air in,” Charlie said, “slow and deep, hold it three seconds, then let it out.”

Kiyoshi followed her instructions, breathing along with her. Instructions were easy, there was a clear right and wrong way to do things.

Charlie smiled at him for the first time, “There you go,” she pulled two cans of Dr. Pepper out of her backpack, opening one and handing Kiyoshi the other. 

Kiyoshi took it but didn’t open it, just holding the lukewarm soda in his hands

“You remind me of when I was young,” Charlie mumbled, “Afraid of everything.” 

“There are a lot of things to be afraid of.” Kiyoshi muttered his first full sentence of the day, as he rubbed his thumb along the edge of the can. 

“Then you have to become stronger,” Charlie stated, “So you don’t have to fear them.” 

I want to be a hero but I can do nothing but hurt people. Kiyoshi thought of Aaron’s words, of what he had to prove to him and nodded resolutely.

A few buses started to pull in through the gates, “About time,” Charlie chugged the rest of her drink and tossed it in a garbage bin.

Kiyoshi tucked the unopened can into his bag and zipped it back up.

“Alright, just join the group like we’re meant to be there,” Charlie said, “Dad will do his little speech and then they’ll call classes, so don’t panic.” 

As people poured out of the buses, Charlie melded into the crowd and Kiyoshi followed along behind her, holding on tightly to his resolution.

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