|| Glimpse of the Past | @h-toga asked: " STRAINED "
a scene from my muse’s past in which they interact with someone they have a difficult relationship with
Cracked boots hit the pavement, stride wide to clear the illuminated halos from the streetlamps overhead with panicked momentum as flickering red and blue lights began to grow dimmer the greater the distance grew between their source and the hooded runner. Almost caught. Their mind raced with all the ways things had gone on this nightly run and what exactly went wrong, but shortly after coming to terms with the outcome did they find relief in their success.
The heavy door slamming shut jolted the teenager awake, fallen asleep on the couch having waited up this long into the night for the return of her mother. Her scowl seemed permanent these days, eyes wiped free from the stinging dryness as she looked at the older woman still catching her breath.
"Where did you go?" Kasumi's tone was dead and straightforward, not at all concerned about Ren's wellbeing in the slightest in this moment.
Ren didn't seem disheartened at her daughter's tone, instead swinging her backpack around to the front to start unloading the goods she had swiped--canned and dry goods, bruised fruits and vegetables, some beauty products. Kasumi's eyes watched as each item was set out on the dining table, jaw clenching as the anger built up slowly. When everything was all said and done, Ren beamed at the teen with a glint in her eyes.
"Look! I managed to get all of this! We'll be set for another we--"
"How reckless can you be?!"
The air shifted in that moment as both stayed quiet, the dark house eerily quiet. The question only made Ren's movements more frantic, a twitch to her as she prepared to defend herself once again this week.
"Why can't you just be happy? I got us food for at least a week, maybe two, and this is how you respond? I'm doing this for us! For you!" Ren shouted, her hands flying up in the air with her words as she gestured back and forth from the stolen goods to Kasumi.
"We need money, mom! This food will mean nothing if we don't have a house to store or cook it in! We can't keeping living this way. One of us will be caught eventually and then what? We're just suppose to continue like nothing happened?" Kasumi shouted back, desperation leaking in her voice as she tried to get the woman to understand the depths of their predicament. Ever since Ryoto had passed, Kasumi did what she could to keep her and her mother afloat, but this lifestyle was wearing thin on her due to how careless Ren was starting to become. Despite following the same path, Kasumi was a lot more careful and was making connections to aid in her survival for the long run. She wasn't about to get caught and lose everything because her mother couldn't pull herself together.
Without another word, Kasumi retreated to her room to compose herself, leaving Ren to mutter amongst herself as she sorted everything to be put away. There had to be an escape, a way to free herself from her mother's shadow to make a life of her own. With the portion of money she had been saving from her job over the last year, she felt it was enough to at least get some shabby apartment somewhere in the city. Perhaps tomorrow she'd go hunting for that escape.
incoming transmission ... :: from @h-toga / toga himiko
"Your laugh is so… I missed it."
meme || accepting!
Ochako glances behind her at the familiar voice. Hearing it, the trail off and looking up to connect her gaze with Toga's leaves Ochako's eyes wide. It is as though the world suddenly is in colour for the first time—the guilt over what had happened eating away at her until everything changed to grey.
Now, she can see the way the autumn leaves grow from green to red. She can see the sky flushing a pale blue and the sun's rays casting upon them both in gold, the colour that so reminds Ochako of Toga's eyes. And it leaves her speechless, unable to form a coherent sentence. Ochako can feel something wet pricking at the corners of her eyes but she doesn't care.
She is suddenly running, warm brown eyes unable to be anywhere except for Toga. Her hands stretch out and curl around the girl, pulling her close. She tries not to wail, but she does.
❝ Himiko-chan! ❞ she cries, pulling away to look at the person she had once seen as an enemy, had begun to consider a friend. She swears she had seen the blonde slip away and yet here she was, physically in front of Ochako, and she can't help but be confused, excitement and completely bewildered all at once.
❝ But how? ❞
The guilt that had befallen her at the loss of Toga, someone she thought now to be as close to her as Asui, stood in front of her as though no time had passed at all.
❝ DUDE WAS A reckless idiot about it, but he wasn't wrong. the hero system is just a vehicle for mindless fucking idol worship — it's bullshit. it's just politics with a shiny label. ❞
she taps her cigarette, watching ash fall past the window. bitterness seeps into the stony expression on their face as they weather a flash of memory: all might with his sparkling grin, slinging an arm around the shoulders of a man who laughs with him. they take pictures together, they seek each other out, they talk and talk about the other man's plans for a better future.
all might has no idea what lurks beneath masks on masks on masks — a layer of lies so thick it has wound back around into genuine benevolence. the protective, misanthropic part of seph tells her that if he knew, he wouldn't care. she cannot think of the alternative: that he would have done something about it, that he would have listened and taken her side and protected them from further harm. that possibility hurts far too much.
❝ tell you the truth, i don't think he went far enough. ❞ it makes sense coming from the mouth of hellhound, the villain who kills indiscriminately — heroes, villains, bystanders — and without mercy.
to the public's knowledge.
❝ whatever. it mobilized who it was always gonna mobilize. his vision succeeded. like usual, all it took was martyring him. ❞
Of course she was! She had been trying to get this hero down for days! But he managed to slip through her fingers twice and what's more: He also managed to snatch her backpack filled with money while he escaped last time! And while, the hero was dealt with, neither was it by Ochako's hand nor did she get her loot back.
The former heroine glared at Toga. "He was mine! I had everything under control!" she growled before turning away and crossing her arms. "I wanted to drop him and watch him crack open like an egg but no, he's just got a scratch and bled out in front of our feet." Maybe it was better she did things alone again?
Deep breaths, in and out. He's trying to ground himself with the sound of Toga's voice and the soft weight of her hand on as he sits on the ground, knees hugged to his chest as if he could pull into himself and disappear. Jin's shaking, but he's trying so hard to keep it together, keep himself together, for her.
He's more embarrassed than anything, that he'd probably ruined their time out because he'd broken like this. In between opposing murmurers insisting both that he's fine, and that he feels like he's suffocating, Jin is also trying to apologize.
"I'm sorry Toga...This is all your fault! Shut up, leave me alone!" Despite what he all but demands, he moves one of the hands he had tangled in his hair, to cling to Toga's arm.
He wasn't sure he'd ever technically spoke about how bad he can get, when it came to his slight eisoptrophobia, because since being with the League, it hadn't been extreme enough where he felt the need to even burden them with yet another problem. But all it takes is a mental falter and a glimpse of his reflection, flash of a memory and he's shaking
He won't look though; he keeps his eyes tightly closed. focus. focus.
@h-toga
" I am so happy that I am alive at the same time as you ! "
accepting.
Scarlet eyes would flick in her direction upon hearing Toga’s enthusiasm, a neutral frown stuck across cracked and warped lips. A scowl, as he normally held; he didn’t reserve a spot for many other expressions... save for a crooked smile he’d give before coloring the drab concrete of the backstreets with gore.
His little group had really turned into something more hadn’t it ? Friends ? Allies ? There was a feeling of solace he found among them. A sense of belonging. Something society would have never given him a chance at. And with him, he was sure the feeling was mutual. Outcasts of society scraping by as the privileged step over them like mere trash on the ground. They had truly become a close knit family.
Everything he did, it was for them in the end.
Because they deserved whatever good was left.
H i m ? ...
He exhales a sharp sigh as he distracts himself from his thoughts, full attention now on Toga rather stuck than in his head of muddied thoughts. He relaxes shoulders and slouches forward.
“ I guess you can call it luck then. “ his voice still holds a cold sting as they rasp against his throat like rusted nails, the victim of a dry mouth... but that was something he’d lived with most of his life. All thanks to his quirk.
“ --- It’s not everyday you find yourself on the same level as a king. “
“Ah, Miss Himiko Toga. Tomura’s friend.’’ The ancient kingpin gave a polite bow in greeting. ‘‘It’s quite a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, young lady. I must say, my young ward speaks highly of you.’‘
All For One lightly adjusted his suit jacket as he spoke. ‘‘It’s rare to make such an impression on the lad. I must thank you for keeping an eye on him. You know how stubborn he is.”
@h-toga liked for a Villain!Ochako starter || Accepting!
“Careful! We’ve still got no clue what her Quirk is!”
“Who was that girl?”
“A villain. She was nuts.”
Ochako heeded not the warning of her classmates, leaving them only with those departing words before giving chase to said villain. Her arms and legs were bloodied from the confrontation, but she couldn’t imagine Himiko had fared much better being thrown around. A necessary evil, if they were ever going to maintain their cover.
Truthfully, even running after the other girl was dangerous as far as her cover was concerned, but she couldn’t help herself. These hero students were far more prepared to handle this threat than they’d anticipated, and . . . and she didn’t want to see Himiko hurt because of it.
