Any of Shoto Todoroki's classmates would describe him as quiet, reserved even. It wasn't that he was antisocial, exactly. Ever since the Sports Festival, he'd taken to eating his meals with Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka rather than alone, as he had before. The last few months had involved building stronger bonds with many of his classmates, something he was starting to realize more and more was a skill that would prove useful as a pro hero. Still, he was always one to listen, rather than talk, and he preferred spending at least a good part of his day on his own.
But as the first week of the interschool exchange program ended, Shoto was beginning to see that even he could be called social, in comparison to others, and quiet had its limits. He was spending the Sunday in the dorm common room, alternating between studying and reading for pleasure. His assigned partner, on the other hand, was just watching him. Silently.
Of course, Shoto knew he couldn't really blame Cassandra Wayne for that last part. He'd been pulled over by Mr. Grayson the first day to have a private talk about Cassandra. Her Quirk was what allowed her to be the best hand-to-hand fighter in Titans history, but it was also the reason why her communication skills were so difficult. He didn't know the whole story, but apparently the language center of her brain was trained on body language, and learning any other languages is incredibly difficult for her.
So for the last week, she'd mostly just watched him as they spent time together, which was whenever she wasn't spending time with her best friend, Stephanie Brown. Well, that and training. Since Shoto had won their fight, she'd been spending a lot of time training as well. Whether she was upset with the loss or it was just normal for her, Shoto didn't really know. Reading other people was already hard for him, so someone who didn't spend a lot of time talking was basically an enigma to him.
He looked over at her, pulling his attention away from the physics textbook he'd been studying. As it was a casual sort of day, she was wearing a WayneTech t-shirt, probably given to her by her adoptive father, and a pair of shorts. Her short black hair framed her face well, and Shoto couldn't help thinking how, well, normal she looked like this. Put her in a school uniform, and she could walk down the streets of the city without drawing an eye. But there was something else to her as well. The way she looked at him, held herself...it was like she was an outside observer, someone behind a wall of glass looking at something particularly interesting.
Then, Shoto saw something he hadn't noticed before: a scar on her arm, almost hidden by the short sleeves of her t-shirt. It was an oblong shape, raised and puckered. She saw him see it, and tilted her head, a sign from her that she was curious about what he was looking at. Feeling a little awkward, Shoto pointed to the same spot on his own arm and asked, "This scar, where did you get it?" He'd been told that, even if she didn't really understand the words he was saying, it was a good idea to verbalize to her anyway. It was good for her to get the input, and when people spoke their body language tended to tell her what they meant anyway.
[CASSANDRA WAYNE/ORPHAN! HER QUIRK: BODY LANGUAGE! SHE CAN READ PEOPLE'S BODY LANGUAGE LIKE I READ A BOOK! IN EVERYDAY LIFE THAT MEANS SHE CAN ALMOST READ MINDS, BUT IN A FIGHT IT MEANS SHE KNOWS HER OPPONENT'S NEXT MOVES, WHERE THEY'RE WEAK, AND WHERE THEY'RE STRONG! TOO BAD IT MEANS LEARNING ANY NORMAL LANGUAGE, INCLUDING SIGN LANGUAGE, IS HARDER THAN KIRISHIMA'S ABS!]
It seemed like what he'd heard was correct, because she considered the scar for a few seconds before looking at Shoto and miming a gun firing with one hand. Shoto's stomach twisted, feeling suddenly squeamish at the thought of being shot, especially if it had been long enough ago to be scarred. But who had shot her? The question must have shown, and with no way to mime the answer, Cassandra told him, "Father, training," her voice almost raspy with disuse. Hearing that made the bottom fall out of Shoto's stomach. His father was terrible, but he'd never done anything like that to him. Then, she pointed at Shoto's discolored skin, around his eye. "Who?"
It was something Shoto didn't talk about, ever. But, he had to consider the fact that Cassandra has just shared something that must have been traumatic for her. Looking around to double check they were alone, he told her, his voice low, "My...mother. She poured boiling water on my face, when I was young." Shoto felt like a monster for even saying that, and had to immediately follow it with, "It wasn't her fault! My father...he'd taken a toll on both of us, and it broke her. She's still trying to get better, I don't...I try not to hold it against her." To his surprise, Cassandra reached out with a calloused hand to touch his own, a clear attempt at comfort, her black eyes on his blue ones. Unsure how much it would translate to body language, he hesitantly told her, "I'm going to see her in the hospital in a few weeks. If you'd like...you can come with me." She nodded her head, and unsure of how to feel about any of this, Shoto went back to studying.
Sometimes, Karen Beecher considered the idea that she'd done something to piss off a deity. If this had been a few years earlier, she wouldn't have entertained the notion, but it was harder to be an out-and-out atheist these days with when she had a classmate who was the product of a union between a god and a human. Not just any god either, but Zeus. From what little she knew of Greek Mythology, it shouldn't have really been surprising, considering just how many mythical heroes were his offspring.
But back to the cursed by fate thing. First, she'd been put on a team, not as a leader, but having to work under an underachiever who she felt was holding her and everyone else back from their true potential. Then, she went and got a crush on a big dopey doofus who seemed completely ignorant to the fact that she wanted to go out with him. And to top it all off, she'd been teamed up with a mute.
Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. Koji Koda wasn't really quiet because he had no choice, it was more due to his crippling shyness. The weird looking guy wasn't the worst partner she could have been saddled with, Karen supposed, but she still couldn't resist the urge to whip him into shape. Which is why, on their day off, she and he were together in a training room, after she'd taken the time to gather some animals he had a harder time using his Quirk on. Mostly bugs. She wanted him to train his Quirk more, so he could use it over a larger distance and on more targets at once. After all, it was a pretty useful Quirk, and if there was one thing Karen hated, it was untapped potential. "Try it again!" she shouted at him, annoyed at how boots-shakingly terrified he was of the tiny animals, even from half a room away.
"G-go away!" he tried yelling at them, but it wasn't working, the centipedes and millipedes she'd collected stayed where they were. Then he tried shouting a few more things, but they still refused to obey. Karen was frustrated, why wasn't this working? It would be easier if she could just talk back and forth with the guy, but he usually could only talk to animals, and hadn't said more than two words to her directly over the last week. Then, inspiration struck, and Karen activated her Quirk, her training clothes shrinking with her body.
[KAREN BEECHER/BUMBLEBEE! HER QUIRK: BEESHIFTING! SHE CAN SHRINK HER BODY TO SIX INCHES TALL, AND WHILE SHE'S THAT SMALL SHE'S ABLE TO FLY WITH HER BUG WINGS AND SHOOT PAINFUL STINGER BLASTS FROM HER HANDS!]
Once she was in her smaller form, Karen flew across the room until she was hovering near Koda's face, and surprised him by shouting, "Hey, Koda!" Startled, he turned to see her. Her hero costume was black and yellow striped, for her bee aesthetic, and she made sure to wear her long, curly dark hair in buns to keep it out of the way while flying and fighting. "What's the issue, man? Why are these bugs so hard for you to talk to? If you could work with them, they'd be one of the most useful allies in the field!"
He looked like he knew that, then, to her surprise, he actually replied to her. "They're just...so scary!" The teen hero was actually shivering with fear as he spoke, his eyes locked on the bugs. "I can talk to all animals, and I love most of them! But bugs...they just terrify me. With their skeletons outside their bodies, and all those legs..." Karen didn't really get it, but she was happy to see her guess was correct: when she was beeshifted, he was able to talk to her. Probably because he thought she was less intimidating this way, but that was out of ignorance. After all, he hadn't had the misfortune to be stung by her yet.
Rubbing her nose with one hand, Karen tried to think of how to help him get past this. "Listen, Koda, try...try pretending they're not bugs. Picture that you're talking to mice or something instead." Karen could not understand how anyone would think that bugs were worse than mice, but different strokes for different folks, she supposed. He took the advice to heart though, and after closing his eyes and trying a few times, he was better able to use his Quirk on the creepy crawlies. It made Karen smile, seeing someone push through their limits like that. It was what she considered the most important part of being a hero. Which was why Virgil was such an infuriating team leader, no matter the results he got the team. But that was an argument to rehash with him later. For now, she wanted to congratulate Koda on the progress...before she pushed him to do better the next day, anyway.
