It hadn't taken very long for Ochaco Uraraka to realize that her assigned partner was absent from class, again. It hadn't been exactly a regular occurrence since the American students had come to the school, and it had never been two days in a row, but this also hadn't been the first time. Before, she hadn't done anything about it. After all, she was just supposed to accompany the girl on trips outside of campus, which she had yet to take even a single time. They hadn't really bonded, partially because she hadn't opened up to Ochaco at all.

Still, by lunch time, she couldn't keep quiet about it any longer. Turning to look at Iida, she asked, "Raven hasn't been in class at all today, again. I'm actually kind of worried about her. Do you think I should check on her?" The UA and Titans students had lunch at different times, so it was just Ochaco, Iida, Deku, Tsuyu and Todoroki eating together that day.

As was expected, their class representative rushed into answering first. "That depends! Have you tried contacting her through text messages?" The question came with the weird hand gestures that were what Ochaco expected from Iida, and she nodded her head to confirm. "And she hadn't responded?"

"She hasn't even seen them." That was odd in and of itself. While Raven hadn't exactly been talkative in-person, she usually responded to Ochaco's texts pretty promptly. They weren't exactly friendly responses, but they were polite. Between that and the absence, Ochaco was torn between worrying for a teenage girl she barely knew and being afraid of coming off as a weirdo and disturbing her privacy.

Now it was time for Deku to offer his thoughts. Looking like he had a pretty good understanding of how she was feeling, he offered, "In that case, I think checking on her is a good idea. Maybe just knock on her door, ask if she needs anything? Or wants to talk?" Ochaco immediately imagined that scenario, and knew it would likely lead to being on the receiving end of Raven's famous acerbic wit, but it was still the best idea she had. So, once she was done with her food, Ochaco left the main UA building and went to the dorm built for Titans students, climbed up to the sixth floor, and knocked on Raven's door.

There was no response, even with Ochaco pressing her ear to the door. Starting to feel genuinely tense about the situation, Ochaco asked, trying to not sound as scared as she felt, "Hey, Raven? It's Ochaco. Just checking in on you. Are you okay?" Again, there was no reply. With a shaky hand, she reached out and tried the doorknob, and found it unlocked. Holding her breath, she opened the door and entered Raven's domain.

It wasn't the first time she'd gone in, and it was the same atmosphere as before, a sense of dark and the occult that reminded her of Tokoyami's room more than anything else. She'd painted the walls and ceiling black, there were no sources of artificial lights aside from candles, and a bookshelf stood near the far wall, its shelves aching from the weight of the thick tomes stacked onto its wood.

Of course, the thing that really caught Ochaco's eyes was Raven herself. The pale skinned, black-haired girl was floating in the air, in a meditative position, eyes closed and repeating something so quiet that Ochaco couldn't make out even a single syllable. Under her was a symbol, drawn in chalk in the dark wood paneling, surrounded by a circle. On the circle's edges were black candles, somehow burning black flames that ate light rather than giving it out. It was the same hue of darkness that surrounded Raven's body, an aura of magic. She was dressed in extremely casual clothes, a beige sweatshirt and dark blue sweatpants, and the bright red of the jewel inset into her forehead stood out clearly.

[RAVEN ROTH/RAVEN! THIS BIRDLY BEAUTY DOESN'T HAVE A QUIRK, PARTIALLY BECAUSE SHE'S ONLY HALF-HUMAN! BUT UNLIKE SOME OF HER CLASSMATE'S, THAT OTHER HALF ISN'T ALIEN, ISN'T DIVINE, IT'S DEMONIC! RAVEN'S POPPA WAS A GENUINE INTERDIMENSIONAL RED-SKINNED BEING OF PURE EVIL, AND THAT BLOODLINE MEANS RAVEN'S GOT MAJOR MOJO! SHE CAN FLY, LEVITATE OBJECTS WITH HER MIND, AND READ THE EMOTIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE!]

Okay, now Ochaco really felt like she was interrupting. She honestly didn't know how long she was standing there, watching an actual witch doing...well...clearly something magical. When it finally occurred to her to try and quietly sneak out of the room without Raven noticing, one of the girl in question's eyes opened and locked onto Ochaco. "Uraraka." Her voice, like always, came out so flatly that Ochacho felt like it would take an archeology team working for weeks to find any evidence of emotion in it. Still, without being able to actually hear and displeasure, Ochaco still felt like Raven was mad at her, and winced as she opened the other eye, and her aura dissipated at the same time the candles all simultaneously went out.

While Raven slowly fell back to the ground, extending her legs to land standing up, seemingly unconcerned with her assigned partner seeing her in such casual wear, very different from the leotard and cloak she normally wore, Ochaco rushed out, "Oh, sorry! I was just, kinda worried, since you were absent again...do you want me to share my notes with you? I mean, for the classes we share."

"I appreciate your concern," Raven replied immediately, her voice betraying no hint to how true that actually was. "Gar takes notes for me for days like today." There was no explanation of what 'days like today' were, but Ochaco must have registered her surprise about Garfield Logan, who had always struck her as silly to say the least, taking notes for her, hints of an actual frown played at the ends of Raven's lips. "He's smarter than most people give him credit. He takes excellent notes."

Feeling a little cornered, Ochaco took a few steps back, and with each step back Raven took one forward, driving her towards the door. "Oh, well, uh, is there anything you want me to tell your teachers?" Ochaco was glad she wasn't stumbling over her feet as much as she was stumbling over her words, otherwise she would have tripped.

Just as Ochaco walked out the door and into the hall, Raven told her, "They already know. Please don't come in my room without my permission again." Then the door slammed shut, and Ochaco was left walking back to school, feeling like she'd done something really bad to Raven. Clearly, she wanted her privacy respected, and now Ochaco knew she just could have talked to Mr. Grayson, instead of making a fool out of herself. Still, Ochaco couldn't help thinking back to Raven, floating with crossed legs in mid-air, and wonder what she had to do that involved missing class...

Perhaps his perception was a tad bit biased, but Joseph Wilson didn't find anything in the world so relaxing as painting. That was why, for the first time since the two schools came together, he and his assigned partner Tsuyu Asui were spending some time together, as he painted a portrait of her in her hero costume. It had been her idea to try and bond, since she had spent the last two weeks busy with her team leader's training, which only got more strenuous as the next day of combat training came closer. Somehow, Asui had managed to talk a day off out of the explosive hothead.

They were out, on the grounds, with Asui posing and Joseph starting his sketch, from which the eventual portrait would be painted. Their lack of time together thus far had also been partially his fault, as for obvious reasons he wasn't the most sociable person in his class. It was a half an hour into their time together, with the base of her figure on the paper, when she asked her first question of him. "So, are you able to hear people talk? Or are you just really good at reading lips?"

It was a common question he got, and with an easy smile Joseph pulled out his communication sketchpad and wrote his answer to show her. "I'm mute, but I can still hear. I actually really love listening to classical music, so losing my hearing would be quite the loss." He was well aware a lot of abled people saw someone not talking and immediately inferred they couldn't hear as well, so Joseph always tried to be gentle in that correction, when he could.

Joseph barely had time to get back to sketching when Asui asked him something else. "Were you born mute? Or did something happen to you?" The question made Joseph silently laugh to himself. He'd heard that Asui was quite the blunt person, but this was a refreshing change of pace from how many people he knew just stared, and danced around things they were afraid he might find alarming.

"My vocal chords were severed beyond repair. I would prefer not to discuss the matter in more detail." The scar from the injury marred Joseph's otherwise pale, slender neck. A lot of people, especially girls, called him "pretty", with his well-maintained curly brown hair and a dress sense that made most people think of the 1980's, with bright colors like sky blue and purple. Joseph wasn't one to shy away from his disability, he did like to steer clear of the cause. When one's father was a master assassin and supervillain, whose work was the direct cause of a life-altering injury, it wasn't something one liked to reflect too much on, let alone casually share with others. Sometimes, Joseph wished Orphan was more literate, he'd love to discuss their shared trauma, if she'd be okay with that.

From there, Asui was a little more quiet, and Joseph was able to finish his basic sketch of her body, and start working on the scenery. She was sitting under a tree, surrounded by grass, the wall of a nearby dorm building behind them. Joseph thought it made for an interesting, rustic visual that matched the Frog Hero quite well. Just as he'd finished the rough outlines and was ready to start sharpening the detail, Asui asked, "So, with your quirk, how exactly are you planning to be a hero?"

[JOSEPH WILSON/JERICHO! HIS QUIRK: WINDOW TO THE SOUL! WHENEVER HE MAKES EYE CONTACT WITH SOMEONE ELSE, HE CAN LEAVE HIS BODY TO POSSESS THERE'S! FOR THE NEXT TEN MINUTES, HE CAN CONTROL THEIR BODY PERFECTLY, EVEN USE THEIR QUIRK! TOO BAD IT REQUIRES EYE CONTACT WITH BOTH EYES, FOR HIM AND THE OTHER PERSON, AND HE CAN'T READ THEIR MIND WHILE HE'S IN THERE!]

Once again, Joseph couldn't help but chuckle without sound. "Well," he started writing. "I can handle myself pretty well when I need to. But in terms of my Quirk, I do need to be careful." Ever since Quirks that involved mind control, possession, or other sorts of ways to bend free will became prevalent, the law had needed to be clarified with it, especially with heroes. "So long as I don't cause a villain or civilian to come to undue harm, I can possess them. With other heroes, so long as they're willing, I'm also able to possess them, without that restriction. Why do you ask?"

"Ribbit," Asui croaked, and Joseph gave her some time to think of a response while he worked more on his art. "There was this classmate at our Sports Festival, who fought Izuku. He got pretty far, especially for someone in General Studies. Izuku told us all later, he has a mind control Quirk, and has a tough time trying to be a hero, because our school system isn't really made to support people like him. I just wondered if you had a similar issue."

Thanks to his father's harsh training, Joseph had never doubted his abilities to enter Titans based on his physical acumen alone. But he definitely ran into roadblocks, his Quirk wasn't traditionally heroic by any means. He'd been told, by friends, that there were some people at his school who whispered about their fears of him becoming a villain like his father. How dangerous he'd be with the Quirk. Still, Joseph was happy to do his best and let other people think what they would. Still, this other student sounded interesting, and he got his name from Asui afterwards. Maybe, on a free day, he'd reach out to this Shinso to see if he truly was someone who could relate to him.