[ open ] Every day, I'll fight to be....

[apshot]

🧙 WHO: Bakugou Katsuki + OPEN
⚔️️ WHAT: Quests, TDM Prompts, Catch-All
🕒 WHEN: October!
🗺️ WHERE: Various
⚠️ WARNINGS: TBD - but count on Baku's mouth



( Not Quite A Puppy Parade )

[ Bakugou isn't interested in getting a pet. It's not that he isn't responsible enough for one or that he wouldn't do a good job. Katsuki just doesn't think that his personality really works for a furry ( or scaly ) companion. He doesn't want the responsibility. Now that doesn't mean that once he sees one of those winged hamsters run by, he isn't curious.

So initially he's out there trying to track down the critters ( because um that can't be sanitary? ). Ruby, his phoenix, is actually pretty great at helping find them. She flies about the area, giving Katsuki a signal when she catches one.

Though there's going to be one problem. For the most part, he can keep anything from approaching him or getting too friendly. Katsuki doesn't have the best personality. However that doesn't seem to work with the capybara! Maybe Bakugou has something that they are interested in, but either way... The capybara are surrounding Bakugou trying to bump up against him. They want to make friends and he looks like he's about ready to lose his mind! ]


( River Rapid Rumba )

[ Given the opportunity to get out of the city? Bakugou's going to take it. It's getting a little too crowded for him. Honestly that's no one's fault, really, but he doesn't like feeling smothered. There's just a little too many people around for him and instead of just letting lose, he's going to put that energy into something different.

Though the naiads are not what he had thought. Rather, he's standing there. Blinking. ]

You're saying I have to what?

[ How the fuck does one make friends with a naiad!? There's no way in hell he is seducing one! No fucking way! ]


( Pumpkin Mayhem )

GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!

[ Because there's definitely a pumpkin flying overhead. Breathing fire down upon anyone that is in its path. Some kid thought that it would be fun to decorate the thing like a dragon. Now Katsuki is trying to chase it down before it actually burns something down.

But that's not the only problem here. The kid made several of them. It's an entire patch of pumpkin dragons! A flying fire hazard! ]

MOVE!


( Don't Lose Your Head )

[ As someone who aspires to be a professional hero, the moment that Bakugou had heard about people needing protection from losing their heads - literally - he had packed up some stuff and left. People can say what they want about his personality, but he isn't going to sit around while those that are just trying to help and pay respects be terrorized.

So count on Bakugou tackling people to the ground as the Horsemen attempt to liberate heads from shoulders. Or maybe it's Bakugou that needs saving as he gets distracting trying to fight/get people to safety. ]


( Wildcard )

[ Or just throw me something and I'll respond. Not really picky and I welcome all! If you'd like to plot something, just hit me up at jardaan

Comments

[apshot]

[ Don't fucking grit your teeth at him. It's not like Bakugou really shows interest in other peoples' shit. And besides! You fucking asked for it! ]

So you're telling me that your purpose would've been fulfilled? That you wouldn't have had anything else to fucking offer...

[ That's what he's getting out of it. ]

Peacing out while people still need leadership to put their lives back together and make sense of the new reality that they were just given.

[ Or that... ]

[emet_sulk]

Do I look like the sort of man who could lead others?!

[ The bitter irony of uttering that does not escape him. Before, he would have had thirteen others to consult with. Thirteen differing perspectives beyond his own. How is one man supposed to trust their own judgement, especially when that judgement has so often led others astray? ]

I would not disappear so quickly. No, I would remain until they could govern themselves, make a record of our past mistakes so that they cannot be repeated. And then...and then I would depart.

[apshot]

[ Technically speaking, it would be all Thirteen again, right? Not just him? ]

Old man. You were doing it before. Don't spout bullshit.

[ Katsuki had meant as the Thirteen. Not alone. ]

Anyway. Is that really what you think your ultimate purpose would be? Is that what you set out to do when you took over? Or is it that you just feel so damn guilty?

[emet_sulk]

[ He laughs bitterly. ]

Again, I ask: what exactly are you trying to propose I do then? [ he snaps. ] You have been extremely resistant to my death this whole time. One would think you enjoy seeing an old man waste away. I'll die at a moment of my choosing and not a moment sooner or later.

[ He stares at his hands, despondent. ]

Your lives are so brief you can't even begin to imagine the weight of twelve thousand years of solitude. No. I will follow my friend home and see what awaits me there. If I cannot, then I will see him and all the others off before I die.

[apshot]

[ He rubs at his face with something like a growl passing his lips. One of frustration as he clenches his jaw. Again, it's the same thing here too. Bakugou's been told what type of person he looks like or seems like but not actually is. That's his problem and he knows this but it still pisses him off to no end. ]

You wanna know what I'm trying to fucking drive at?

[ Finally he moves the creatures around with purpose - which actually proves that he could have at any point and actually had been just keeping them relaxed. Bakugou stands up and wouldn't you know it... He's grabbing that old man by the arm and if he has to use a bit of wind magic to help haul him up and off then he will. But he's showing no respect by dragging this ancient mage along and back to the volunteers. The native ones.

That's when he releases him and points to each individual. There are three there working to try to pass off all of the homeless critters. ]

That one wants to open a bakery so their shitty grandmother's recipe won't die with him. The other one is also studying magic so that she can be at the top of her class. Now the other asshole there wants to become a knight.

[ Don't ask him how he knows all of this. For as loud as Bakugou is, people just don't tend to notice him when he's around. Not until he opens his mouth. Even so, he turns to Emet Selch, arms crossed over his chest. ]

They all have their own personal dreams that have nothing to do with giving back to the city or the community as a whole. They're fulfilling that role by volunteering without giving up what they want. So the point, old man, is how the fuck is what you're babbling about it for you? That's all you want? I ain't asking about the asshole that's Emet Selch. I'm asking about the asshole that wasn't Emet Slech. What did that guy want out of life? What did he want to do?

[ Scoffing. ]

Or are you telling me that a punk of sixteen years can have a more meaningful and fulfilled life than some jerk of tens of thousands of years or whatever? Fuck that twelve thousand years of whatever noise. You're choosing to live that way when you damn well don't have to. That's what I'm "proposing" you do.

[emet_sulk]

[ Ordinarily this old man would refuse to budge. Ordinarily, he wouldn't let something as trifling as a bit of wind move him. But it shoves him to his feet and he ends up stumbling after Bakugou with a scowl.

The three men and women the boy singles out notice their approach. They spare a smile but soon return to their work whilst Emet-Selch's frustration and ire deepens.

So what if they have dreams, he wants to shout. Yes, he had dreams once too. Aspirations, even. Then his world had come crumbling down and he had to abandon it all, forsake personal pleasure for endless duty. Even now, as they work to avert the calamities their worlds face, he acts out of obligation rather than for the joy of it. ]

Boy... In twelve thousand years, I have mastered all the mundane skills I desire to master. I even toured the entire star, beheld every single one of its reflections in their glory. There is nothing left for me.

[apshot]

[ Yeah he doesn't... Really buy all of that. Not really. Not that there's "nothing left." There's always something. Shit changes over time. Even in twelve thousand years nothing has stayed the same. Rivers become canyons. Undersea volcanoes islands. One civilization falls and another rises.

He climbs mountains, Bakugou does. Doesn't matter how many times he's climbed the same one, it's not the same. The view is actually different and the surface isn't always the same.

But if that's how the old man wants to see it? Well whatever. What a waste of talent. A waste of space. ]

Then don't ask my opinion. Or maybe you're doing that hoping someone can change your mind so go off and find that person because it's sure as hell not me.

[emet_sulk]

[ Wrenching his hand out of their grasp (or trying to at any rate), he snaps back bitterly: ]

If such a person existed, do you not think I would have found them by now?

[ Oh yes, he has tried wandering. He has tried seeking out a taste of that adventure one of his old friends used to crave. He tried making friends, falling in love, living a life outside of the duty to which he had been chained. But all of it had served as a stark reminder of how different he is to the rest. Having to lie about his longevity, wear a mortal skin, endure the passage of time as it stole away sight, hearing, strength in the blink of an eye...

He has tried befriending those he meets. But the relationships had all felt shallow and none filled the void. Irreparable arguments, betrayal, waning mutual interests - rare was the friendship which lasted a mortal lifetime.

He wishes he had been the one sundered. Perhaps he would find joy in the world then, in ignorance and oblivion. Perhaps he would see the beauty in the landscapes of the world, beholding them with fresh eyes every turn of the age. There is no joy in knowing of aught else.

A small laugh bubbles past his lips, tinged with hysteria. Loud enough to draw sidelong looks from those nearby. ]

I wish I was mortal. I wish I could die as easily as you all do. I wish I could throw myself off the White Cliffs knowing that the last thing I would ever see would be that blue sky and the sea of a thousand souls drifting by...!

[apshot]

It's either that or you're looking for justification or validation for your bullshit. And if you're still out here seeking it, then you're not confident in your choices and your outlook in life.

[ Maybe it's all of that. Hell, Bakugou doesn't know. He's not going to ever, again, pretend to know how complicated emotions must get after 12,000 years. Shit, his own are complicated with just 16-17 years.

But also, despite the shit that the both of them get into with one another? This guy keeps coming back. He keeps asking questions. Keeps digging and Bakugou keeps digging right back. They get into verbal spats and just -

Well how does one interpret any of that? Does he think that Katsuki even remotely has a chance to show him something different? Or is it because he is something different than wherever the ancient asshole is from. The slightly unhinged laughter doesn't unnerve Katsuki. Not on the outside. The blonde is looking at other peoples' reactions, but this is honestly kind of pathetic. Seriously. ]

Is that the real reason why you hate 'em so much? Because we an die easily and you can't? From the sounds of it? It is that easy for you. Since you're not gonna ever achieve your original purpose then why not?

[emet_sulk]

[ He's never had someone not try and stop him from committing suicide. That alone is enough to stun him into silence. He stares down at the boy and their defiant gaze and finds himself wondering, briefly, if he should just put his money where his mouth is (so to speak) and end his life here.

But...then he would have to find some way to put his body out of reach of those who would revive him, the same way he had revived Hythlodaeus. No, he would never be allowed to rest so long as others had a say in it. ]

There are several here who would refuse to let me pass on peacefully. To die I would have to do nothing less than tie stones to my feet and drown in the deepest part of the ocean - and even then, I would not put it past the one with animal magic to change their form and come after my corpse. And then with it, they would simply trade one soul for another and resurrect me regardless of my wishes.

So no, I cannot die. No matter how much I desire to.

[apshot]

That only works if he knows that you've done that in the first place. Or figure out how to cut a deal with the Fae so that the soul swapping isn't possible.

[ Though he hadn't been talking about this place. More like back wherever the old man belonged. ]

So yeah, you pretty much can. If you really desired to. Someone who is really determined wouldn't give up on the idea. So I bet you're not entirely sold on it.

[emet_sulk]

[ Emet-Selch clenches his jaw, feeling familiar irritation well up in his breast. The irritation of knowing that there is a morsel of truth to someone's words that he refuses to acknowledge. Petty and contrary person that he is, he snaps back without thinking: ]

Fine... Fine! I'll commit then, shall I? And my world shall be better off with the architect of its great calamities dead for good.

[ Turning on his heel, he strides off. Those last few words leave an angry, bitter aftertaste on his tongue. The boy does have a point after all - if he truly wanted to die, he could find a way. So why doesn't he? ]