#anyway this is why a lot of my devastated wailing is going to be reserved for dariax. and dorian. and cyrus.

[sparring-spirals]

Still emotional about Fy'ra Rai and Opal, actually. Thought dump time bc i. dont have the energy to cut this down effectively.

Because at that point in the episode, Opal is doomed. Not in the fun little "oh things are getting worse ;)" kind of way we'd been experiencing leading up to the fight, or even IN the fight. At that point in the fight, Cyrus is dead. Dorian and Dariax have their minds twisted, bodies clambering away from the fight. Morrighan has felt, firsthand, just how far gone Opal is, holes in her mind, her friend broken. The heartbreaking sentence of. "You can always come back." understands that she is gone already. She's lost already. Opal has forgotten Ted. Opal has forgotten herself.

So at that point in the fight, we know Opal is doomed. Us as the audience, the cast, the characters. Aabria is running through each of the other crownkeepers and it is more of a goodbye than a round of combat. Defying the Spider Queen invites death, with zero hesitation- Cyrus's body as physical evidence of that. The terms were very clearly set: You leave Opal, you let her be lost. Or you die. (Leaving Opal anyway).

and Fy'ra Rai then. Grasps the crown, understands intimately that she can break it off and it will kill Opal. (I will free you, if you want me to. We would lose you but you would not be taken). And asks, what do you want me to do. What do you want.

and Opal says, I want you to leave. (I want you to live.) and Fy'ra Rai functionally says. No. Sorry. That's not one of the options.

If you wanted to go. I will do that (your blood on my hands). If you want me to stay, I will. But I'm not going to leave you.

There was the point where Fy'ra Rai broke into the communication and I felt my insides sink because. Look. Lets be real, Aabria had already demonstrated the stakes here. The gesture would not be rewarded for the gesture alone. The Spider Queen's terms were: You leave Opal. Or you die.

And Fy'ra Rai said: no.

I don't think I'm overstepping to assume that if Fy'ra Rai had failed the intimidation check, she would have died. This entire thing hits me so hard because I think Anjali knew that too. I think Fy'ra Rai knew that too. Yes, Fy'ra Rai convinced a Betrayer God to negotiate. She carved a third option out of a non-negotiable situation. She knew what would happen if she failed and did it anyway, with no fear, no regret, no waver in her resolve. She had lost enough sisters. She wasn't going to lose anymore, no matter the personal cost. That's part of why it succeeded, I'm sure, but.

Just. Fuck me. The amount of resolve. The amount of love. The amount of conviction. "I am. A protector." You know your friend- your sister- is doomed. So no more negotiating away from that. You step to her side and you grasp her hand and say- doom me with her.

And in some, sideways way, this saves you both, at least for a little while.

Because this story is a tragedy. This ending is a sad one. We know this already. But think about- Opal, under Lolth's bidding, alone in the dark. Think about Fy'ra Rai, alive, intimately aware that she had failed to protect yet another sister.

And think about what we got, instead: the two of them, in deep darkness, danger encroaching- holding hands. Someone they love at their side. A champion. And her champion.

This is still a sad story. But it's not the same one. Fy'ra Rai stared down a Betrayer God and made her change her mind. She stared down a Betrayer God, and her love and conviction changed the nature of the story. It shouldn't have been able to. But she did.

Fy'ra Rai chose to doom 2 people instead of one, and the sheer strength of her love and will managed to save them both, at least for a little while. Isn't it funny how that works? Isn't it devastating? Isn't it. fucking incredible?

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 58: An Exam Cometh!

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

Earlier chapters can be found here

There was a somewhat somber mood in the classroom as 1-A settled in Tuesday morning.  The funeral yesterday had been the cap to a long week that stretched back to the Nomu attacks and had been a roller coaster for many of them ever since.  But things looked to Isamu like they were finally getting back to normal.  The class was back together again and even if they weren’t all up to their usual selves, they were getting there.  Even Shinso had been in a slightly cheerier mood last night, joining him and Midoriya for a few rounds of Smash Fighters 3000 in Midoriya’s room.

The room fell into a hushed silence as Aizawa entered.  They knew by this point not to screw around once he was there.  Well, most of them did.  He was pretty sure Mineta and Sero hadn’t gotten the same message as everybody else.  

Aizawa stood at his podium for a moment before speaking.  “Only three seconds to quiet down.  An improvement.”   His eyes swept the room and his face relaxed a fraction of a centimeter.  “I know your Internship experiences were harrowing, but I’ve also had the opportunity to review the feedback your mentors provided, and you all acquitted yourselves well, even in the face of some concerns over discipline.”   There was a glance reserved for Mineta and Sero again at that.

“However, that does not change the fact that your final exams will be in two weeks.  Your subject exams will be the Monday through Thursday of that week, with the practical Heroics exam on Friday.”

That wasn’t a surprise, really.  The dates for final exams had been in the syllabus on the first day of class.  But that seemed like both yesterday and a lifetime ago.  There was the phrase “time flies when you’re having fun”, but had the term really been fun? It seemed like much of it had been long moments of calm split by absolute and total panic.

Then again, in the time since that first day, he’d made friends, won the Sports Festival, interned with Deku, seen a monster, gotten a girlfriend…

Yeah, okay, there was some fun there.

Up in the front row, he saw Izumi raise her hand.  Once Aizwa gave her permission to speak, she asked, “Will you be telling us any details of the exam, Sensei?” she asked.

A good question, and Isamu sat up a little straighter in his seat to listen.  Regular final exams would be difficult enough—they weren’t kidding when they said U.A. was academically rigorous!—but he couldn’t imagine what the Heroics exam would be like.

And then something happened that sent a chill up Isamu’s spine.  Aizawa… smiled.  It wasn’t a normal person’s smile, but a rictus grin, and it looked deeply unsettling on his face.  It was the smile of someone about to deliver a devastating smackdown onto a foe and take utter delight in doing it.  A shrill scream split the air.  It was Sero.

“Dude,” Sato said, “what was that?”

“He’s smiling!” Sero wailed. “We’re doomed!  Dooooomed!”

“I’m too young to die!” Kaminari wailed.

“I’m too hot to die!” Mineta shrieked, joining in the wailing.

Even Midoriya, in the front row, seemed afraid.  “Oh no, oh no, oh no, not good!”

Isamu felt his own heartbeat quicken, but he took a look to the opposite end of the row to decide what was the most appropriate reaction.  Kirishima-Bakugo looked deadly serious, as opposed to her usual pissed off. And even she seemed slightly ill at ease at the prospects hidden behind that smile.

“Funny you should ask, Todoroki,” Aizawa said.  “You all did an impressive job working together during the Sports Festival.  I don’t know which one of you came up with it, but it was impressive tactical thinking.  And since you all like working together, the teachers decided to change up some of the conditions of the Heroics exam.”

There was a mad glint in their teacher’s eyes now.  “Either you all pass… or no one does.”

***

That night, Class 1-A gathered in the Common Room.  As usual, Isamu sat on one of the couches with Shinso, Izumi, and Sora Iida.   Midoriya and Tokoyami were at the front of their room, with a whiteboard.  One of the other couches was occupied by Sero, Sato, Ojiro, and Tensei Iida. A third couch was occupied by Aoyama, Koda, Shoji, with Aoyama looking rather small compared to his two classmates. Mineta and Kaminari had pulled up chairs, while Kirishima-Bakugo stood behind the couch Isamu and the others were on, together with the class, but apart as always.

Most of them were chatting away, while Midoriya and Tokoyami, the Class Representatives (Yeah, that was definitely not a job he wanted.) tried to get everyone’s attention, unsuccessfully.  “Hey!” Shinso shouted, putting just a little something into his voice to make it echo and pierce the noise.   “Toshi and Asuka are trying to talk!”

That got everyone to quiet down.

“Sorry Mom and Dad,” Sero said.   That got a laugh out of several people, until Kirishima-Bakugo moved to behind him and gave him a smack upside the head.

“Thank you, Shota,” Asuka said.   Frog-Shadow was out again, sitting on her shoulder.  “So we’ve got two things to discuss.  The first is the formation of study groups for the subject area final exams. Math, Science, Literature, History, Science, and English.”

“We’re hoping to have someone who’s doing well in each class lead some study sessions or make themselves available to answer questions,” Midoriya said.  

“We’re all going to die,” Ojiro wailed.

“Kimmie, it’s not that bad,” Sato tried to reassure her.

“This is just going to tank my grades, Kenta!”

“They couldn’t be any worse than mine, Kimmie,” Sero said, grinning.  

She punched him in the arm. “That’s not something to be proud of, Takuma!”

“Hey, leave him alone,” Kaminari said.  “He’s the only person who’s grades are worse than mine!”

“See,” Sero said, “when it comes to being the worse, I’m the best!”

Both of the Iida twins thrust their hands into the air.   “We volunteer for science and math!” Sora Iida said.  

Midoriya flushed a little at that.  “Ah, actually, Sora, I was thinking maybe not you?  Not that you aren’t smart!  But, ah, you’re both a lot smarter than most of us. I don’t know if you could dumb it down?”

The hands went down. “That is… acceptable,” Sora said.

“We would not wish to hinder anyone’s progress,” Tensei agreed.  “And we do have additional Support Class projects to complete.”

Reluctantly, Isamu put his hand up.  “I can probably handle science,” he said.  “It was mostly physics this term.  I’m good at that.”  He had to be, thanks to his Quirk.  Knowing how much force to apply and where it was going to send him flying and how much he needed to break at a certain speed was vital.

“Excellent, thank you,” Tokoyami said.  She handed her marker to Frog-Shadow, who looked at it curiously.   “If you’d write that down?”

“Why me?”

“Because you asked to be more involved,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, right!” Frog-Shadow bubbled, before flying off to write his name down.

Mineta stuck a hand in the air.  “I can take English,” she said.  “Vocab and translations, anyway.  Grammar’s still a little weird.”

“I guess that works,” Midoriya said, though he didn’t look like he believed it.  “Just… be on your best behavior, okay?”

“When am I not?”

“If that’s your best behavior, Horse-Girl, I’d hate to see you worst,” Kirishima-Bakugo growled.

“Allow me to provide what Mineta cannot,” Aoyama said.  He looked pretty smug about it.  Of course, everyone knew that he and Mineta didn’t get along. He was probably relishing an opportunity to show her up in something.  “I am reasonably trilingual, after all, n'est-ce pas?”

“And I can take History,” Izumi volunteered.

“Great!” Midoriya said. “Now we’re getting somewhere…”

***

Eventually, they came back around to the subject of the Heroics final exam.  Midoriya cleared his throat and looked a little red from embarrassment.   “So, this is probably my fault, guys.  The whole Sports Festival thing was my plan.  Sorry I got us into this mess….”

“Oh, bullshit,” Kirishima-Bakugo said, causing all eyes to fall on her and Isamu to jump.  “Maybe you threw some gas on the fire, Toshi, but you have to know Aizawa was planning something like this.  Him and his “logical ruses.’”   She crossed her arms and nodded, as if that explained everything.

“She does have a point, Toshi,” Izumi said.

“She does?” Midoriya asked, surprised.  Then he looked over at Kirishima-Bakugo, who was glaring at him.  “She does!”

“You couldn’t have known,” Isamu said.  “And it was a good plan.  I don’t know if I’d have won if you hadn’t gotten us that far.” If he’d had to race and fight at the same time, without Mineta watching his back (making innuendos the whole way), he doubted he would have done half as well.  

But it wasn’t surprising that Midoriya thought it was his fault.  The guy always seemed to fall into a pattern of trying to take care of all of them, which meant he was just as likely to try and shoulder all the blame.

“None of us blame you, Toshi,” Tokoyami insisted.  

“Besides,” Isamu offered, “I talked to Kana over in 1-B…”

He was interrupted by Ojiro. “Did you hear that?  He’s using her first name now!  Squeeee!  They’re getting closer!”

Okay, he was going to pretend he didn’t hear that.  He really didn’t need to end up the topic of conversation on her web show.  “As I was saying, I was talking to Kana and she says Super-Ball told 1-B the same thing.  Only not as scary as Aizawa was.  They’re pass or fail as a group too.  She said Super-Ball said it was about building up their teamwork skills.”

“My friend, Mizuno, from 1-C said much the same thing,” Koda said.  “Battle-Fist also emphasized the need for better teamwork.”

“Looks like you sparked a revolution, Midoriya,” Sero said, only to be silenced by a smack from Ojiro.

“Okay,” Midoriya said, nodding, taking a couple breaths to steady himself.  “So sounds like it was something they were going to do anyway. Not my fault.  Good.  Then if the Heroics exam is going to be a pass/fail for everyone, we’re going to need a plan.”

“How are we going to do that?” Shoji asked.  “We don’t know what form the exam will take.”

Midoriya nodded again, now in his element when a plan was required.  “We don’t,” he agreed.  “But we do know, whatever it is, it’s going to require us to work together and it’s going to be bigger than anything we’ve had tossed at us before now.  That’s the only reasonable extrapolation of the pass/fail condition.”

“So that means,” he went on, “we need to train like we’ve never trained before.  Until anybody here can work with anybody else.

“Right now,” Toshi finished, “it doesn’t matter who your best friend is.”   He looked over at Sero, Ojiro, and Sato.   “It doesn’t matter who you don’t get along with.” This look was given to Aoyama and Mineta.  “Or how mad everyone might make you.”  A look went out to Kirishima-Bakugo.

“Right now, we’re all in this together.  We’re Class 1-A and we need to come together.”

Shinso let out a cheer and a clap.   Even Isamu had to admit, he felt pretty inspired.

“Fancy speech, Toshi,” Kirishima-Bakugo said.  “But you got a real plan to back it up?”

Midoriya looked a bit deflated at that.  “Not entirely,” he admitted.  “But Asuka and I were going to discuss some likely scenarios.  If you want to help, you’re more than welcome.”

“Damn straight, I will. I’m not letting any of you pull me down with you.  We’re gonna pass even if I have to kick your asses every inch of the way.”

Midoriya’s confidence returned.  Even Isamu knew this was just her way.  “Well, you heard her, people.  We’re going to pass!”

Somehow, this became a rallying cry.

“We’re going to pass!   PLUS UTLRA!”

***

Izumi’s room always reminded Chihiro of the fact that while she was extremely well off, Izumi’s family was so rich it practically made the word useless.  There was a four poster bed, an ornate oak desk, wood paneling added to all the walls… even the desk lamp looked like it cost way more than things like that should.  “Don’t touch anything,” she warned Mika.

Mika shot her a dirty look. “I’m not a child, Chi.”

“You’re not always graceful, Mika.  Like a bull in a china shop.”

“That’s hurtful.  And possibly racist”

Chihiro facepalmed at that.   “I’d like to apologize for her in advance,” she said.

“Please, do not worry about it,” Izumi said, standing as they entered.  “May I offer you tea and sweets?”   She indicated the tea tray and plate she had already laid out.

After she and Mika had accepted Izumi’s offering, all three took seats.   “So what’s up?” Chihiro asked.   Izumi asking to talk to her was one thing; they were good friends.  But other than when she was around, Mika and Izumi didn’t usually have too much to do with one another.

“I need your help,”

Okay, add that to the list of things she never thought she’d hear.  “I’m guessing not with homework or anything?” Chihiro said.   “Because that’s definitely not me.”   Izumi was way towards the front of the class anyway.   So was Mika, for that matter.   She belatedly realized she was the dumbest person in the room.   On the other hand, she might still win the medal for most common sense.

“Not homework,” Izumi assured her.  “The matter is more personal.”

“Is this about a guy? Or a girl?” Mika asked.  “Because I was ninety-nine percent sure you didn’t go for that.”

Startled at her friend’s abruptness, Chihiro smacked her upside the head with one of her Cords.  “Don’t be crude.”

Izumi, fortunately, took it all in stride.  “You are correct that I do not “go for that.’”

Huh.   Chihiro had always known that Izumi hadn’t displayed much interest in anyone, but given that her other best friend was interested in everyone, she’d figured it was just less interest, not none.  How had she been that clueless?

“So what do you need?” Chihiro asked.  

Izumi closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath.  When she opened them, she looked as serious as Chihiro had ever seen her.  “I need to find my grandfather.”

“What happened?” Mika asked. “Was there a big tax scandal?  Is Grandpa Yaoyorozu hiding out from the feds in the tropics?”

“No,” Izumi said.  “Not him.  My grandfather on my father’s side.”

“Endeavor?” Chihiro asked. “Why?”   A thought occurred to her, something that had come up during her Internship with Aunt Momo. “Wait, does this have anything to do with Plague?”

Next to her, Mika had pulled out her phone, but right now, her friend’s rudeness wasn’t her biggest concern.

Izumi’s eyes went wide. “How do you know that name?”

“Daddy called Aunt Momo. Said you’d found out about somebody with that name.”

Izumi took another moment to collect her thoughts.  "What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room."

"Izumi, you're scaring me."  Her friend was never this intense.  Whatever it was, this all had to be deadly serious.

Izumi locked eyes with her. "Promise me, Chihiro."

Chihiro was worried now, but kept eye contact. "Okay. I promise."

"Do you remember when I was sick?"

That did very little to narrow it down.  Izumi had had plenty of health issues over the years.  Chihiro had visited her in the hospital countless times.  "You're going to need to specify, Izumi. You've been sick a lot."

"The time I was very sick.  The time that really started it all."

Oh yeah.  That one.  Chihiro looked at the floor.  "I remember."

Izumi sighed.  "During my internship, Uncle Denki let it slip that there was possibly something more... complicated behind it."

Daddy was in on whatever this was?  "Complicated? How?"

"Complicated, as it was the implied that it was a villain, this “Plague,” who got me sick."

“Okay,” Chihiro said, her head spinning as she tried to make sense of it.  Nervously, she tapped the ends of her Cords together.  “Okay, did you talk to your parents about this?”

Izumi shook her head. "I did not. After the Nomu attacks, Mother and Father...they wanted to pull me from the school.  I exhausted myself.  Again."

Of course they did. She knew it was ongoing drama with Izumi and her parents.

Before she could speak, Izumi held up her hand. "I managed to talk them down. For now. Part of me suspects that at the next big incident, the next time I falter, they'll try again. That's why I didn't ask them. I couldn't. I didn't want to bring up the pain they went through again."

Izumi pointed to a plush rabbit on her bed, one which looked fairly new.  “I am certain he visited me in the hospital.  Things are… becoming complicated.”

Izumi inhaled deeply before continuing. "I've been thinking a lot since then. I've been remembering things. Things I thought I forgot. I want to find out what happened to me, but I can't go to my parents. I can't go to anyone, not your father, not Uncle Deku, no one, because they'll go to my parents. I know I can count on you to keep my secrets, both of you.

“I cannot burden Katsumi with this.  She has enough to carry right now without carrying me as well.  You don't have to help if you don't want to get in trouble-"

“Found him,” Mika said, looking up from her phone.

“…How the hell did you do that?” Chihiro asked.  It could not possibly have been that easy.

“Daddy never changes his login ID or password for anything,” Mika said.  “I just used one of the databases available to Heroes to look up an address.  It’s not even that far.”

Chihiro just stared.  “Every time I think I’ve got you figured out…”

Izumi looked equally startled, worried, and pleased.  “Thank you, Mineta,” she said, quietly.

Mika shrugged.  “Hey, what’re friends for?”

***

Normally, Toshi did his morning jog with Katsumi, sometimes joined by Kana Tetsutetsu.  He’d also occasionally convinced Haimawari to join them, though that was fairly rare.  But this morning, he was alone.   Katsumi had begged off for wanting to focus on weight training instead and Tetsutetsu was apparently busy with some emergency in her dorm, according to her text.

Which was fine.  He could be alone with his thoughts.   Like the thought that he didn’t have idea one what they were getting into with the exam and it would definitely be his fault if they all failed, bringing shame upon the Midoriya name and leading to Sora dumping him and Katsumi killing him.

Well.  That had escalated quickly.

“Mi… Midoriya!” The sound of his name drew him out of his panic.  It came with labored breathing and he came to a stop, turning and seeing Shiro Monoma, dressed in workout clothes, running up behind him.  Monoma’s not out of shape, but it’s a wiry build, more suited to agility and gymnastics, than Toshi’s more muscular one.  

“What’s up, Monoma?” he asked.  Monoma hadn’t done anything antagonistic yet, which was a good sign.  In fact, Toshi couldn’t remember seeing him at all during the past week, or even hearing him, which was even stranger.  He didn’t have the same extreme dislike for the other boy that Katsumi did, but he would hardly say they were on friendly terms, even though they were neighbors.  Honestly, he mostly did his best to ignore Monoma’s jabs at the class.

“I need to talk to you about the exam,” Monoma said.  

“I don’t know what they’re going to do any more than you do,” Toshi told him.  “I can make a few educated guesses though, based on our Heroics classes and all though.  Happy to talk, if you want.”

He stole a glance at his watch.  “Can we run though?  I want to get this in before classes and my heart rate’s already dropping.”

Monoma looked rather pained by the prospect, but nodded.  “Okay.”

Since he wasn’t completely unfeeling, Toshi did tone his run down to something slightly less than his usual, letting Monoma keep up.  “So like I said, I don’t really know, but I can guess.  Got to be something large scale, if they’re going to be able to score all of us on it.  And that means something with a lot of different moving parts.  Probably Villains to fight, people to rescue, maybe something to find like a bomb…”

Monoma was, to his credit, keeping up with Toshi, though he looked like he was pushing himself a bit to do it.  “That’s… good thinking…,” he said, between breaths.  “But not what I wanted to ask about.”

“Then what?” Toshi asked.

“I need to know,” Monoma said, with such seriousness that it took Toshi aback for a moment.  “how you got… everyone to work… together.”  

Toshi took pity on him and slowed down a little more.  “Everyone. Teamwork from the get go.  How do you get them to follow you like that?  How did you get all those different personalities to work together like that?”

Shiro’s voice turned bitter. “I try and I try to make everyone better.  I want them to succeed, I really do.  But no one listens to me.  I can’t… Hardly any of my class made it through the final round.  And I got lucky as it was.  I’m worried about them and the final exam.”

“Them?” Toshi asked. His phrasing there was odd. “Them,” he’d said.  Not “us”.

Monoma frowned.  “I had hoped to keep this a secret.  Almost no one knows about this.  But I’m leaving once this term is over.   I’m not cut out for this.   But with how the exam is going to work…  I can’t cost them their futures just because mine’s going to be something else.”

Toshi couldn’t keep the surprise off his face, but fortunately, Monoma wasn’t looking at him to see it. “You’re…” he began.  He actually came to a stop.  Running was a good way to lose himself, and he needed all his wits now.

“I am,” Monoma said, finishing the thought for him.  He bent half off, breathing hard.  He righted himself after a few breaths.  “Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

Now Toshi frowned, but he nodded.  “Not my place to do that.  But I think it’s a mistake.”

Monoma shook his head. “It’s not.  But what about my class?  And what about the exam?”  There was a moment of silence, and then, “Please.  I can’t let failure be my entire legacy here.”

If he lived long enough to become the new Number One Hero, Toshi never would have thought he’d have heard Monoma talk like this.  Usually, the blond boy was full of bravado and confidence, always trying to prove his class’s superiority over 1-A.   And to be fair, 1-A contained the children of a large number of highly ranked Heroes, something that few of Class 1-B could claim.  None of their parents were low ranked, but there was a certain degree of disparity there.  And a much larger portion of Class 1-B had no Hero parents at all.

“Okay, the first thing you have to remember,” Toshi told him, “is that we’re almost all childhood friends.  Some of us more than others and in some different combinations… but we grew up together.  Our parents are close and they passed that onto us.  Trust’s easy that way.”

Given that his parent’s Class A had gone through hell together over three years in a way that their contemporary Class B hadn’t, it was easy to see where stronger bonds might have been forged.  

Monoma nodded.  “My father’s class drifted more during the years. Kana is the only one I was anything close to growing up, along with Mika and Akaya.”

“The other big thing is… Look.  My dad’s the Number One Hero.  I wanted to do the best I could, but the Sports Festival was never about winning for me.”   And sure, he’d managed to share third place with Kocho.  He was proud of his accomplishments, and he’d gone in intending to give it his all, but it hadn’t been his main goal.  Toshi would have been just as happy not to have placed, if it meant other of his friends did.

“So I went in it from the start doing it for them.  And they knew that, so they went along with it.  It wasn’t even about beating your class or anybody else in the race; I just wanted to make sure everybody had the best chance they could.  Somebody like Ojiro or Sato would have had a real hard time doing that in the obstacle course.  So I asked everybody to take a step back now so that they could all have something later.”

It hadn’t quite been as easy as he made it sound.  Convincing Aoyama had been one of the most difficult parts, but the promise of future glories had eventually been enough.

Monoma looked as though he’d been punched.   “…Shit.” His expression devolved further, becoming truly miserable.  “During the Sports Festival, I was so concerned with… things turning out a certain way, I pushed for flare and making a splash.  And not all of them even made it past the Obstacle Course.  Maybe I really do drag them down.  Maybe she was right.”

Toshi frowned.  This was turning pretty dark on him.  And he wasn’t sure who “she” was.  “Look,” he said.  “You want what’s best for them.  That’s admirable.  But if you go so hard on trying to show somebody up, then that’s all you’re going to see.  That’s what Endeavor did for a long time, and you know what happened to him.”

Monoma sighed, then nodded. “Then I am more certain than ever I’ve made the right choice.  But at least I know what I can do for them to help everyone else pass.  Thank you, Midoriya.”

As Monoma left, Toshi wasn’t certain at all that he’d said the right things there.  It certainly didn’t seem like a victory.

***

In the teacher’s lounge, Aizawa looked over the finalized draft of the Heroics practical exam. Talking All Might into it had been difficult, but worth it.  He’d staked his job and reputation on it, but he believed the results would be worth it.

His students, all the students, were talented.  But even with recent events, what they needed was a stark dose of reality to push them further along their paths.

He looked at the profiles spread out in front of him.  The people he’d found would be just the ones to do it.

[andallhisausterenhost]

After Action Report: Abate the Edge of Traitors

After going to all the effort* to write a fluffy intro to this battle, I then have had zero interest in writing a fluffy after action report. I think the problem is taking unpainted miniatures - it’s a bit hard to get worked up or invested in the death of Senor Greyskin and his trusty sidekick, Lady Dull Metallic, when I could instead get really into the clash of arms between, say, Brother-Veteran Hitoshi, warrior of the Mantis Warriors, and Matthias the Vicious, the dread serial killer of Nužudymas, cultist of Qyn Kraugeriškas, pirate-slave of Malachi the Surly, ya know?

It doesn’t help that @littlemangsofwar​ has some of the worst luck in recorded history.

My writer’s block is especially frustrating when Mangs puts a great deal of effort into his lists. Task Force Vengeance is fully named, from Librarian Cassiel down to the Land Raider Redeemer Purity Rolling.** I need to step up my game, both in terms of painting and in terms of, you know, writing. Things.

Anyway, this clash was really fun on paper. Mangs’s Dark Angels list is pretty mechanised, featuring a Nephillim Jetfighter (Caliban’s Wrath), a Predator, Razorback, a Rhino, scouts, a pack of Deathwing as well as officers. It’s not the most optimized list for 8th edition Dark Angels, as they actually really want to stand very still and get free re-rolls, but it is cool as hell to look at.

The Ravenwing were just here to scout the battlefield, then peeled away for another, more important mission elsewhere (he didn’t actually include them in the list! A mistake we’ve all made.).

I had a really bizarre list, swelled with unpainted units to try and match @littlemangsofwar​‘s cool Dark Angels. In the centre of the board, I massed my marines in cover, as well as some slightly forward scouts (including the new snipers and the Crusaders, who took up stances around an old console in the ruins). I had some attack bikes waiting in reserve, hidden behind buildings. On the right flank, the Radical Inquisitor took up position in his commandeered Razorback, behind a Tactical squad and some... uh... ash-camouflaged Assault Marines.

The blocks are actually a Daemonhost containing a warp spirit of Order, which I have some very cool ideas on, but they can wait until I paint more of the Inquisitor’s band of acolytes. The new Blackstone Fortress actually has a bunch of models that I was planning on converting for his gang, so that is going to be very hard to resist.***

I also had two squads of Ratlings, led by a Squat commander and accompanied by an Astropath, part of the Inquisitor’s extended retinue. The Mantis Warriors marching into battle accompanied by xenos, a daemonhost, and semi-humans! Not a great look, but they were here to fight the Dark Angels, who themselves have a less than savoury reputation.

We played a variation of Cleanse and Capture, which I’ll drop below the cut. Essentially it was the same scenario but we each had some bonus Tactical Objectives we wanted to achieve to give the thing a bit of flavour.

The objective markers were intended to represent archaeological sites that may contain information on + + + REDACTED BY INQUISITORIAL EDIT 7532/ω + + + which obviously the Dark Angels also sought.

I know I just wrote a lot of words about the scenario, but I’m afraid that I’m not up for a prolonged blow-by-blow of the game, so here are some highlights:

Despite a tremendous amount of possible mortal wound output from my three squads of snipers (two Ratling and one Mantis), I only killed about three Tactical marines from them all game. Of course, Ratling squads are only 45 points, so it’s still not a bad choice.

Early in the game, my attack bike with a multi-melta swung out and nearly one-shotted the Predator Silencer. In anger at this, @littlemangsofwar fired nearly his whole bloody army at the little bikers, only finally killing them with a plasma rifleman who then died in the explosion. What heroes.

There he is, tucked behind that barricade there.

The advanced (and second-most recently painted) sniper scouts that were holding the objective in the ruins were brutally cut down in a single round by a combination of Redeemer flamers and a Dark Angels Tactical Squad. Said squad would then hole up in that ruin for the rest of the game, sniper fire plinking off their power armour and holding my Assault Marines at bay.

The Inquisitor and his minions did very little. I’ll admit that I strongly dislike their rules in the Index - they get almost no character and kind of encourage the worst kind of spam. Take lots with plasma guns! Each one man unit is an Elite choice! And you can’t have cool models with twin swords or twin pistols actually count as those weapons! Lame.

Purity Rolling gets assaulted by the Mantis Warriors officer cadre.

In a pitched fight that goes to show why tanks don’t like urban battlefields, Purity Rolling got swarmed by my entire HQ and my teleporting Terminator Squad and got chipped to death. I was very lucky, getting off that 9″ charge, and it did come down to the power sword of the Sergeant, but it was still brutal.

Brother-Apothecary Jiyuna wimping out and refusing to charge Purity Rolling which is fair enough, really.

@littlemangsofwar kept the pressure on my Devastator Squad, but his fucking appalling dice rolling in this game meant that they lasted most of it. I don’t believe they did anything useful, but they just kept absorbing his fire.

pew pew

Beneath the Devastators, in the same ruins, were a Tactical Squad, which got assaulted by one of the Dark Angels Tacticals. The battle was fairly even, frustratingly, for several battle rounds, despite the assistance of my Brother-Apothecary Jiyun, Lieutenant Khan Nguyen Thi Kim, and the abhuman company commander in service of the Inquistion. The latter had a powerfist! He didn’t hit once!

His brothers cut down around him, Brother-Sergeant Kiraman fights against overwhelming odds.

An absolute beast who would. not. die. This caption refers to Kiraman, and not anyone wearing green, white, or blue. Jerks.

In the centre, my command squad and both units of Terminators kept wailing on one another for several turns. Between adroit use of psychic powers and @littlemangsofwar‘s gross luck, I came out on top, although my First Company warriors were annihilated to a man.

A glorious melee.

Chief Librarian Ahazra Redth channeling the Warp.

On the right flank, there is nothing much to report. Caliban’s Wrath was pretty wrathful, taking out my Inquisitor’s Razorback. Scouts and fire from various other tanks took down most of the acolytes, including the Slann and the exiled Aeldari ranger, but the Inquisitor himself was able to channel the powers of the warp and take out the scouts. The glowing cubic forms of the daemonhost did something between ‘nothing’ and ‘waste time’.

A rhino burns in the distance as Mantis Warriors Tactical Marines advance.

Overall, this game wasn’t as much fun as I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong, @littlemangsofwar is always cool to hang out with, but his luck was just so awful. It’s no fun watching your opponent roll ten dice and get two hits. 

I was using Raven Guard rules for the Mantis Warriors, as I do feel that it’s the best feel for their hit-and-run tactics in the fluff, but it’s also a very strong Chapter Tactic. Certainly light-years better than the terrible ‘you hit harder if you charge out of cover... for some reason’ rules they are reputed to have had two editions ago.

Hopefully, the next time @littlemangsofwar and I have a full game of 40K, our luck will even out. We did have two Kill Team games on Sun 28 Oct, and those went very differently!

I’ll leave you with at atmospheric**** photo of Squad Nakir of the Dark Angels...

Final score: Victory, Mantis Warriors. (Dark Angels withdraw.)

Men of the Match: Attack Bike with multi-melta. Toughness five, four wounds, baby!

Lesson to Remember: Dark Angels infantry get to re-roll ones if they don’t move that turn.

+ + + Thought for the Day: By the manner of their death we shall know them. + + +

Scenario: Maelstrom of War scenario Cleanse and Capture (see p.230 of the rulebook).

Modifications:

Terrain:

As traditional, whoever gets there first places terrain; second-comer can choose deployment side.

Placing objectives:

As I'm picking the scenario, you can choose whether to place the first or second objective. You may also choose which deployment type (p.216) we want to use.

Tactical Objectives:

As written (that is, we generate Tactical Objectives until we hold three), but we start with some at the beginning of the game in addition. Unlike regular TOs, we can't discard these, but they don't count against the maximum of 3 anyway.

You (Dark Angels) will start with 13 Confess! and 14 Seize and Interrogate in addition to rolling up/drawing three more.

I (Space Marines) will start with 12 Honour Your Chapter and I also have a made-up version of the Dark Angels 14 Seize and Interrogate by the Inquisitor (see below) in addition to rolling up/drawing three more.

(special) 14 Seize and Interrogate by the Inquisitor   Score 1 victory point if any enemy CHARACTERS, DEATHWING UNITS, or RAVENWING BLACK KNIGHT UNITS were slain by an INQUISITION unit in the Fight phase of this turn. If your opponent’s Warlord was slain by an INQUISITION unit during the Fight phase of this turn, score D3 victory points instead.

First Turn:

Rather than whoever finishes deployment automatically getting first turn (which can be brutal in this edition), I suggest we go with the system used in the Chapter Approved scenarios:

The players roll off, and the player who finished setting up their army first adds 1 to their result. The winner can choose to take the first or second turn. If they take the first turn, their opponent can roll a D6; on a 6, they manage to seize the initiative, and they get the first turn instead!

Everything else is the same as a standard Cleanse and Capture: Warlord, First Blood, Linebreaker; highest victory points is the winner; 5 turns and then start rolling for extra turns on a 3+; etc etc.

* Literally like five minutes before going to bed. ** A great blend of the sorts of names US soldiers give to their tanks and the 40K hellverse. *** Ratlings!!!!! **** Bad.

[yoosungiib]

I loved the wheelchair canon, thanks! Another one haha, a hc with the RFA (V included) + Saeran where MC had to adopt her little sister/brother (you choose) because they're orphans and MC doesn't want for them to become separated (the younger sibling is younger than/or 8 years old)

I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write

I hope it’s ok that I switched genders of the siblings for each HC; it made things a little easier in personalizing each ones. Reading it, you can change the gender if you want :)

RFA + V and Saeran reacting to MC adopting her younger sister/brother

~~~

★ Yoosung ★

He just finds the whole thing devastating.

“No one should be separated from their family. No one.”

If you are living with Yoosung, he’s more than happy to let your little sister move in.

The only thing he’s concerned about is how small his apartment is, so he invests in buying a house when money isn’t so tight.

He absolutely loves your little sister. She’s a miny you!

She is about 8 years old, reserved and quiet.

Meeting Yoosung, she was really shy and hid behind you, but slowly got comfortable with him and now sees him as her big brother.

He gets a little teary eyed.

♪ Zen ♪

Because he doesn’t get along with his family, it tears him apart to see you getting upset over maybe getting separated from your younger brother.

But Zen is so incredibly supportive during the adoption process.

A bond between the two boys appears almost instantly.

Your little brother really looks up to Zen.

He wants to now be an actor like Zen, and sometimes to your amusement, you’ll catch the little guy trying to mimic Zen’s style and hair.

“Thank you, Zen,” you say one night with a couple tears in his eyes.

Your loving boyfriend smiles, pulling you close and kissing the top of your head. 

He loves this boy as much as you do.

❀ Jaehee ❀

Your family issues were one of the first things you ever told Jaehee.

You trusted her enough to share into your dark past.

Jaehee watched and supported you as you worked to get custody over your little sister so you two wouldn’t be seperated. She was there through all the tears, breakdowns, and other troubles.

Your little sister clung to you for the first few weeks, so Jaehee saw her a lot.

She didn’t to really talk to her properly until one day the little girl approached her while she was working and asked if she needed help.

Baehee’s heart burst!!!!

Jaehee has a very good relationship with your sister.

Days that you can’t, she’ll help get her ready for bed, read her a story, brush her hair or just relax with her.

☂ Jumin ☂

Family is so important to him so of course he is all about you adopting your 5 year old sister.

And he has enough room for the little girl.

And he is more than prepared to buy her any toy or what nots she wants.

“Jumin, please, let’s not spoil her too much.”

“Well then I guess I’ll just have to spoil you.”

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

But anyways, he tries his best to get to know your sister. At first, he comes across a little intimidating but over time she gets used to him and grows to like him.

To your disdain however, she is always asking if you and Jumin do ‘stuff’ and kiss, and Jumin always answers honestly.

“Do you guys kiss?”

“Yes.”

“Do you guys sleep together in bed?”

“Yes. In more ways than on-”

“JUMIN!”

☺ Seven/Saeyoung ☺

Your little brother is in love with Seven.

Why wouldn’t he be? He is funny, energetic, fun and always pulling crazy pranks that have your brother pissing his pants.

Because Seven works a lot, he doesn’t spend that much time with your brother, but when he does he makes sure it’s the best time ever. Don’t worry he makes time for you too huh huh~

Seven likes to teach your brother how to hack and usually gets told off by you and Vanderwood.

He actually tries to make the house more presentable for him.

Vanderwood was SHOOK.

Seven is also very supportive to you in this situation. He’s found you stressed out a couple times or really depressed in thinking about your parents.

He’ll drop everything to comfort you and reassure you that he’s here for you and your brother, and that he isn’t going anywhere.

“Just think of the space station, baby. We’re nearly there. And now we have a ring bearer!”

❆ V ❆

Sweet boy.

Now it’s sweet boys.

He remembers holding you when you cried about your family’s troubles, and how you were so afraid of losing your brother.

He was with you every step of the way in the adoption.

The little boy connected with V almost immediately. The two were both quiet and enjoyed art.

V would sometimes let him in his studio, whether he was taking pictures or painting, and let your little brother sit on his lap.

One of your favorite pictures is of the two asleep on the couch.

Your little brother tucked under his arm while V heald him close.

It made you so happy to see the two getting along.

Your two men!

☻ Saeran/Unknown ☻

Saeran and your little sister took awhile to warm up to each other. In all honesty, she was a little scared by him and he was still dealing with his trauma’s, so he could be heard yelling a lot.

But he also knew you were getting stressed looking after your sister all the time, plus work on your hands, and helping Saeran with his recovery, so Saeran being the wonderful boyfriend he is SWOON arranged a spa day for you

This was the day he and your little sister finally became close. He treasures this day.

While you were gone, Saeran was kinda just keeping an eye out on the girl who was playing with her toys.

But then he heard the soft wails, and poked his head in and saw her curled into a ball on the ground crying her eyes out.

He didn’t know what to do but he couldn’t leave her on the ground crying.

He knelt beside her, not touching her so he didn’t startle her, and gently called her name.

Sniffling, she looked up at him with large doe eyes.

He asked her what was wrong and she told him that she missed mom and dad.

He understood the feeling, and the effect it was having on her. He understood her heartbreak and her troubles. He wanted to comfort her.

So he scooped her up and carefully pulled her into a hug and let her cry.

Afterwards, he took her out for ice cream and you came home to the wonderful surprise of your little sister asleep in his lap while he watched tv.

After that, Saeran and your sister had a very good relationship between eating ice cream all the time and being able to console in each other.

Before bed one night, Saeran pulled you against his chest and kissed your head before asking, “I think I like kids now. We should make her an aunt and have one of our own.”

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

~~~

Check out my masterlist page to see rules for requests!

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