633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on Apr 24, 2018 12:37:52 GMT -4
The venue was on fire. Not literally, but with everyone screaming and the actual pyrotechnics that were going off on stage it felt just the same. It was a popular hard rock band and it showed in both audio volume and crowd attendance.
In the middle of it, making his way to the pit was Darren, who had no right to be in a bar at his age but had the connections to show for. He was a regular to concerts in a way few people were, as his dad was the tour manager for about everyone with a recognizable name in rock’n’ roll, and he had been apologizing to Darren for his birth essentially being an accident with an unending stream of free concert tickets, and to his mother with a regular child support check.
Darren didn’t mind not seeing his father a lot, because this was really fucking cool. It seemed the arrangement worked for everyone.
What was even cooler though is that he also had a permanent backstage pass. Everyone who might stop a concertgoer from accessing the promised land that is the backstage was one of his father’s guys, probably saw him grow up and was on a first name basis with him. Being a VIP for free at essentially every rock concert happening in Tokyo and regularly hanging out with rockstars more than made up for not seeing his dad a lot, he figured, completely oblivious to the fact that he grew up to be a delinquent.
Right now, though, Darren was making his way into the pit, and a hard rock pit was a hard place to make your may into. It was essentially a stormy human sea. He liked it a lot because it was kind of like a massive each man for his own wrestling match with electric guitar blaring overhead. What was not to like?
As he made his way to the front, the human sea only became more agitated until he reached what he called the line of no return. Simply put, the mass of people made it impossible to go any further, and the only way one could possibly get behind that line is by being there before the line even came into being.
To his surprise, he found that he was shoulder to shoulder with a girl about his age. He was impressed that she was able to stand so close to the line of no return, as the squeezing was intense there and it required a strong elbow game to just keep standing. Obviously, it wasn’t her first concert. He smiled a wide smile at her with a devil hand sign, the international greeting of rock n' roll around the world. Not that he had any other forms of communication available, with the speakers still blaring appropriately loud hard rock that a stormy sea of mostly bearded people undulated in rhythm with.
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on Apr 24, 2018 14:00:36 GMT -4
There really was not much of a difference between a mosh pit and a brawl. Both involved bodies wildly flailing, arms and legs all over the place as they were thrown in every possible direction. Hayley had been in her fair share of mosh pits and her fair share of brawls. She knew how to handle herself and keep up, despite being much younger and many, many pounds lighter than a lot of the beer-bellied, bushy-bearded concert goers.
This was where she belonged. This kind of adrenaline rush was what nourished her. The thrill of the danger, the blaring of the electric guitar, these were the things she lived for. If only rock music would start blasting when she fought crooks while out on patrol. It did in her head, but that was not quite the same.
She sensed a shift in the pit, and suddenly there was another guy near her, a guy who to her surprise looked around a similar age, pretty buff with a scruffy sort-of Mohawk haircut. He spotted her too and flashed her a grin and the devil horns, which she recognised as the universal greeting of rock and metal fans as taught to the world by Ronnie James Dio. Riding high on adrenaline, kickass music and just having one hell of a good time, she raised them back immediately.
“Fuck yeah, dude!” she called even though she knew he was unlikely to hear. “Splinterfist is the shit!”
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on Apr 24, 2018 14:56:32 GMT -4
The girl screamed something back at him that he didn’t need to understand. They were at a rock concert, so she was obviously saying something along the lines of “fuck yeah, this is awesome” or “i want the guitarist/singer to have my babies”.
The young delinquent came in late, though, and there was only 20 minutes of very loud music left to blast. He liked Splinterfist, but not enough to stand in line for them. Unlike most people, he wasn’t here for the band. He was here to see his dad and give him the news that he was going to UA. He wasn’t sure how his old man would take it.
The music stopped and the venue emptied, even though a fair amount of mostly bearded dude with tattoos, jewelry and mean looks to boast remained, making the two underage attendees stand out more and more. Minors weren’t supposed to be in a bar, but rock’n’roll has no frontier now does it? Whatever the case was, Darren wasn’t about to stand around and let a bouncer question his lack of facial pilosity, so he fucked off backstage.
On the way here though, he noticed that he wasn’t the first underage concertgoer to have the idea, as a familiar face was about to be rejected by Don. Don was one of his father’s guy, and just as he was about to tell the teenage girl it was a no can do, he shifted his attention to the blonde kid he recognized.
“Fuck me, that’s Darren! You’ve grown again, you little son of a bitch! Here to see the boss?”
“Hey Don. Sure am,” he smiled. He walked up to the door, standing next to the girl again. Don looked at her, had the look he always had on his face when he was thinking of something that should be simple, looked back at Darren.
“She's with you?” Darren gave her a look. She gave one back. He couldn’t say no to someone who was able to convey such an impressive amount of begging in a single look. He nodded at the roadie who let the pair in, gave Darren and the girl a knowing look that he thought was slick but in truth was very obvious.
They only had to walk a few steps to the backstage room. It looked like you would expect it to look. Instruments, amps and stage props in the corner. In the middle, a table with a lot of half-finished beer bottles, whiskey, vodka and tequila. A few illegal substances as well. Around the table were the band members with an assortment of instruments and groupies on their laps and Darren’s father. He was sitting in a chair with his back to the entrance from where the two teenagers poured in the room.
“Hey guys, hey dad, how the fuck is everyone?” |
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on Apr 24, 2018 15:30:57 GMT -4
“You can’t come in here.”
Crap. Ass. Tits. Hayley had hoped not to be caught if she moved backstage fast enough and like she had a reason to be there, but this brute of a security guard apparently had an eagle-eye Quirk. Still, she was never one to go down without a fight, so she simply fixed him with an iron glare and braced herself – but suddenly the guard was not looking at her.
She had definitely not expected to see the guy from the mosh pit again. Even less she expected him to be on familiar terms with the guard. Fuck, maybe this was her chance. The guard asked if she was with him and she shot him the most ‘pretty please’ look a scrappy fourteen-year-old girl like herself could manage.
Somehow, it worked. Hayley was honestly left dumbfounded. She had no idea why this guy would defend her like that, or why he was apparently a big deal backstage – was he actually part of the road crew or something? – but she shrugged and went with it.
All these thoughts took a backseat as she emerged into the room where holy shit Splinterfist. She spotted lead singer Rex Gunderson straight away and her heart began to beat ten times faster. And next to him was the lead guitarist, Joey Danger! She clasped her hands to her mouth to help hold in her fangirl scream, which squeezed out as more of a fangirl squeak. Even the fact they had not noticed her, being too pre-occupied with the groupies slobbering all over them, did nothing to deter her excitement. This felt like a dream.
By some miracle she managed to look away from Splinterfist for five seconds as she heard her apparent new best friend greet a man in the room she did not recognise. Oh, so his dad was part of the tour crew. That made sense.
“Uh, thanks for this,” Hayley managed to spit out.
She looked back at Splinterfist again just in case they had finally noticed her. Her nerves were eating her up and she knew it showed even though she did not want it to.
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on Apr 24, 2018 20:31:09 GMT -4
The band was slower to turn their heads and realize what was going on than Darren's father, who had kept sober for the last few hours organizing the concert while the members of Splinterfist had already started indulging on stage. He still had a beer in his hand when he embraced his son and asked him how he’d been. The young delinquent was then greeted by the band members who just remembered Hank had a son.
Hank Duster was a tour manager for most of the big rock bands, and as such knew most of them personally, and as such most of them knew of Darren, and a fair bit met him before. So there he was exchanging fist-bumps and accolades with Splinterfist while the girl whose name he didn’t even know was sitting there starstruck. She thanked him -- the least she could do, he thought -- and he said not to mention it.
Now she was drawing the attention of Hank, and the half-interest of the bassist and guitarist while the others were indulging in groupies, mind-altering substances or both. He’d made the remark to himself that this very situation -- groupies sitting on men's laps backstage -- was exactly what led to his conception countless times, as it wasn’t the first time his precious father-son time involved hanging out backstage with rockstars and his dad. Not that he complained.
It was, however, the first time Darren ever brought a girl, which prompted his father to ask who the young lady was. It was clear this situation that his son took so casually was a dream come true for the girl. Fuck, he really is my son, thought the middle-aged band manager, using his backstage connections to get girls. Nice one, dude. It hit Hank that is was exactly how Darren had been conceived.
Yes, Darren’s father had the questionable morality that came with hanging out with rockstars for a living. It didn’t cross his mind that his son was simply being nice to a fellow rock lover that happened to be of the fairer sex.
In his defense, he wasn’t completely wrong to assume so. Darren was very much like his father in many respects.
The young man simply smiled and said: “She’s, uh, a classmate,” and smiled a big smile. “Her name is…” He turned his head to look at her. “What’s your name?”
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on Apr 25, 2018 12:36:30 GMT -4
They were looking at her – well, only sort of looking, but it was still looking. Hayley was shaking so much from excitement she could have rattled her body apart. Shit, what did she say without making a complete fool of herself? She had to say something; she would likely never be this close to Splinterfist again. Her mouth opened and closed uselessly like a fish as she failed to find words. Embarrassed, she looked away from them and down at their table. The table littered with pills.
Ah. Somehow she doubted those were just antidepressants. Well, they were rockstars. As much as Hayley herself did not approve, she knew well the list of rock and metal bands who did not spend most of their lives doped to the gills was a thin one.
She turned her attention back to her rescuer – Darren, that was the name the guard had said – and his father when she heard his father ask who she was. Once again Darren covered for even though he did not have to. She was really beginning to wonder why he was doing all this for her.
“I’m, uh, I’m Hayley,” she answered at his question.
Her mind suddenly went to her own father. Marcus Reid had been the opposite of this guy’s father; he would never have sat idly by while substance abusers merrily abused away in the same room. Being one of the first Quirkers to call himself a hero, he had been fiercely dedicated to stamping out crime wherever it had reared its head. Those pills would have been down the toilet and the band members forced to reveal the names of their dealers within seconds of him entering the room. No one had been too rich and famous for justice in Beetle Battler’s eyes.
Thinking about her father made her heart sink in sadness. It was that path of heroism that had brought him to his end. She missed him so much, every day, a yawning chasm of emptiness inside her where his love had been. Her sudden sadness showed in her face a little as she stopped excitedly shaking and her mouth turned down.
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on Apr 26, 2018 16:50:56 GMT -4
They were classmates, but Darren didn’t knew her name. It didn’t sound very convincing to Hank, but he just mentally shrugged and let it go. As evidenced by the kind of place he was meeting his son in, he has a very loose style of parenting.
Darren was just happy to thrown off the questions. He was the kind of man who would go to such lengths just so he wouldn’t have to admit he was just being nice for once.
Hank recentered his attention on his son and the pair failed to notice the change of mood in Hayley. Darren was already forgetting her name. He was terrible with names. He invited them to sit, told the guitarist to scoot over and he did, freeing two spaces on the couch if they squeezed a little. Darren took the seat at the far end of the couch, knowing the girl would prefer the seat between him and the guitarist. When he showed her the seat with a smile, he noticed she looked kind of down and had an inquiring look on his face, but he didn’t poke her further. He barely knew the girl, after all.
He gave his father the news that he was going to the new hero school next year. It raised interest looks from everybody, since there was a national dialogue about it. It was kind of a military program for teenagers, after all.
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on Apr 28, 2018 13:31:14 GMT -4
Hayley caught Darren’s inquiring look. Damn it, she was letting too much weakness show. Any weakness showing was too much. That, and she absolutely did not want to discuss her father with a complete stranger, especially not in front of other strangers.
“It’s nothing,” she grumbled.
She did her best to push all thoughts of her father out of her mind. Now was not the time, she told herself. As much as she really did miss him – no, stop thinking about it!
After a moment she sat down where indicated and did her best to hold in her excitement, which felt like trying to contain an explosion. She was sat with Splinterfist. A day ago this situation would have been a pipe dream. Come on, say something –
Her thoughts suddenly screeched to a halt as she heard Darren tell his father he was going to Yuuei. She whipped around to face him with widened eyes and an open mouth.
“Wait, what?” she loudly cried. “You’re going there?”
Way to potentially blow her cover, but she did not care. Of course she had heard of Yuuei; who had not? It was that fancy new ‘hero school’ that was supposed to create the first generation of ‘professional heroes’, or something along those lines. Her fingers dug into her knees. A ‘Pro Hero’ – what was that, really? Her father had been a hero, and he had not needed a school to become one. She did not need a school to be one. And yet this Darren guy apparently thought he needed it...
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on May 1, 2018 13:22:45 GMT -4
Darren's announcement raised the expected reaction, in that he was suddenly the center of attention, even for the superfan who was sitting next to the guitarist.
She asked him if he was really going there. He was no mentalist, but he could read on her startled expression that she had something to do with UA, or UA had something to do with her, or both.
“I am, yeah, starting this year. Why, you're in here too?”
Darren's father was confused. Were they classmates already or where they gonna be classmates? He chuckled to himself when he realized his boy was bullshitting his father, just as he did when he was younger. The question of "why" was on his mind, as he knew his son as a concert going delinquent, but he figured he'd ask when the teenagers weren't engaged in conversation.
The bassist told him “that's really cool, man” and told him to come see him when he'd have a few war stories under his belt. He was the one who wrote the lyrics for the band. Darren smiled and said “sure”.
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on May 2, 2018 18:03:12 GMT -4
Hayley’s eyes narrowed a little when he asked her if she were attending Yuuei and she glanced away at her feet. “No, I’m not. But I don’t need it, anyway.”
Something she found herself saying more and more as of late. Well, she did not. She was a hero now, thanks to the training of her father, who himself had not needed a school to become a great hero.
There she went thinking about her father again. She pushed away those thoughts as best she could and tried to focus on the situation at hand.
Wait…
She had come backstage with this guy…
At a hard rock concert…
To a place where guys had girls slathering all over them…
Her face turned redder than an apple. Did he think – was he expecting? No way. She was many things, but she had just met this guy, and no guy had ever looked at her in this way before so she had no idea how to handle this, and yes he was cute and had muscles but oh God.
Suddenly the fact one of her favourite bands was sat next her meant very little. She shot onto her feet, not even looking at him straight. “Uh, look, this was really nice of you to do and all and thanks and everything, but uh, I should get home before my aunt freaks out.”
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on May 9, 2018 18:44:39 GMT -4
She don’t need it? Now Darren was squinting his eyes at the girl. It was a weird way to say you’re not going to the first hero school in existence. What was even more suspicious was that she seemed lost in thought for a moment and then suddenly rose up and blurted an excuse to get out.
Darren was squinting very much now. He thought for a second, but then shrugged and gave up. He decided he didn’t care enough to seriously poke at a girl that may just be overwhelmed about meeting her favorite band.
“Guess you’re not supposed to be here in the first place ain’t you? I better see you out then, we don’t all have shitty fathers who meet their son in a concert backstage”, Darren said with a smile at his old man that made it unclear if he was entirely kidding or not about his expressed resentment.
He didn’t look like he gave much of a fuck.
“Hey now, that’s not nice.” “Look at the table in front of you.” The table was littered with a diverse assortment of colorful drugs of all shapes and sizes. “Fair enough. We meet tomorrow for breakfast, right?” “Right”, finished the delinquent. After going through a complicated unspoken ritual of handshakes and back pats with the band -- one of them hollered at Hayley to come backstage anytime when she’s a little older in a gracious display of taste and manners -- the delinquent led the young rock fan out of the backroom and out of the venue.
That meant going through the bar, which after concerts went back to being a pub that wasn’t quite dodgey but almost, with the appropriate collection of inebriated characters who eyed the 14 years old girl in a way that probably wasn’t very confortable at all. Darren sighed. His shoulders were slouched and his hands in his pockets. He had an expression on his face was equal parts tiredness and disdain. He didn’t think much of the kind of people who went to this kind of bar with this kind of frequency, or people in general for that matter.
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on May 11, 2018 9:18:11 GMT -4
“You don’t need to come with –”
Hayley gave up with an exasperated sigh as quickly as her defiance had risen. “Whatever.”
She wanted to keep insisting she was fine alone, but she wanted to get out of there a hell of a lot more, so she reluctantly allowed Darren to accompany her away from the band and out through the bar. Her cheeks were still tinged with pink and she could not bear to look at him. Had he truly wanted to do any of that? Or was he just being kind to a fellow teenage rock fan? She did not know, and it certainly was not something she could ask about.
Unfortunately, her refusal to look at Darren meant she caught many of the sleazy gazes from the bar’s unsavoury patrons. These, coupled with the one comment from the band-member made her skin crawl right off her body. God, she really did get herself into some dodgy situations even when she was not out fighting crime as Vespa the Vigilante. Speaking of, somehow she felt like Vespa would be paying a visit to this bar to knock heads together in the future. Now that the concert was over and she saw the bar in its true grimy, seedy state of disarray, it was just that kind of place.
“You wanna go?” she snarled at one of the sleazes, raising a hand to expose the hexagonal hole embedded in the back of it. “’Cause my friends here might have something to say about it!”
Her queen hornet crawled out followed by several smaller drones. In that moment she did not care if she was potentially exposing her vigilante identity by revealing her Quirk: she just wanted them to look the fuck away.
Which only resulted in several of their faces twisting with hatred and them advancing towards her and Darren.
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on May 13, 2018 1:05:53 GMT -4
Hold on just a second, thought Darren. He knew this was a seedy bar, but they were getting a little too many sideways and not-so-sideways looks for comfort. Shit, now I remember why i like this bar. He got in a few fights with some of the gentlemen patronizing the bar, and they had been patronizing it enough that they thought they’d get their revenge on the little shit.
Any hopes for a peaceful resolution -- not that he was really gunning for one -- ended when Hayley snarled at one of them. Darren couldn’t help but let out a little whistle when he heard that. The girl had a pair on her. And then bees crawled out of her hand.
Hayley didn’t have to worry about being a target of Darren anymore. The potential accidents would send a chill down any man’s spine.
Anyway, Darren couldn’t help to be impressed by the pair this girl definitely had on her to pick a fight in a bar when she couldn’t be older than fifteen with nothing but bees for protection. Rock chicks were crazy. He smiled and got his hands out of his pockets. “Sure you don’t want me to come with now?”
Now a few of them were advancing towards the pair. One of the more courageous ones jumped on Darren. His right hand flew like it was pulled by an invisible string and landed square on the dude’s jaw. A perfect counter. The dude was counting stars now. The other dudes eagerly jumped in after him and it soon devolved into a general brawl, most of them fighting each other rather than Darren and Hayley, but with still a fair few coming their way.
The gig was over, so Darren’s father was not responsible for anything that might happen after the concert, which meant Darren could let loose as he wished. The Australian tour manager and the band were too high and in too soundproof a room to even realize a fight was going on above, and even then it was a common occurence.
In the meantime, Darren was joyously throwing lefts and rights while ducking hits with the jerking, unnatural-looking erratic movements that characterized the usage of his quirk.
|
|
93 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
15 Years
Female
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Hayley Reid on May 13, 2018 9:50:36 GMT -4
‘Crazy’ Hayley most certainly was.
She was no stranger to slugfests such as this. An all out, life or death brawl was what the vigilante Vespa would call ‘an average Sunday night’. So, not a hint of fear showed as she leapt straight into the fray with a maniacal grin that swallowed her ears. It was even disturbing to some of the patrons if the way they hesitated was any indication.
Crowd control was where her Quirk excelled, so she commanded her swarm to keep the nearest men back and leave them wide open for her fists and feet. She dealt wicked blows to the haplessly flailing patrons, aiming mainly for their most sensitive spots. In seconds she had them on the ground rolling around and gripping their groins.
“Eat shit!” she triumphantly roared.
She was too hyped up on adrenaline to really think about it, but she was fortunate the patrons were too drunk and drugged to try aiming for her swarm’s queen, otherwise she would have been up shit creek without a paddle. As she was, however, she looked to Darren. She could tell right away he too was no stranger to these situations from the way he was handling it. Kindred spirits? She dismissed this and sent her swam over to help him with the few thugs that remained by keeping them at bay with their savage stings.
|
|
|
|
633 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
Male
"Kinetic Activity"
Student-Rank Quirk:
|
Post by Daimon Darren on May 14, 2018 16:52:55 GMT -4
Not only could that crazy rock chick walk the talk but she could walk it well and more importantly she could punch it well. In addition to having, you know, a fucking swarm of bees that came out of her hands. And she looked like she liked it too.
Darren, for himself, was still happily punching people. He dodged a hook by sliding back on his shoes with an activation of Kinetic Jutsu and it looked like it was on rails. With another activation, it was his fist that now looked like it was on rails and the rails were headed straight towards some 35 years old punk’s anarchy face tattoo. The tattoo was located on his left cheek, and soon Darren’s knuckles were as well.
Despite how many dudes they dropped, however, a lot of people were still alive and kicking and punching, and the young delinquent spied the bartender on the phone. That meant cops and that meant cops soon, and he figured getting caught in a bar might just get him kicked out of UA before the opening ceremony, which would be kind of amazing in its own right but not exactly what Darren wished for right now. He was tired of the life of a lowly delinquent and wanted to see what the fights were like in the heroics scene.
Quickly devising a dastardly plan to get them out of here, he grabbed Hayley’s arm as she was about to punch a dude. He only gave her a “Cops coming, we’re out” for an explanation before he used the full power of his quirk to leap across the room, dragging the girl along with him. It was a shallow leap, only a few centimeters from the ground, but by aiming right between two dudes he cleared them both out the way so they landed quite close to the exit. It was much faster than fighting their way here, and bumping the two dudes slowed them nice enough.
There was one last problem, and this problem had taken the form of a huge cliché with a thick handlebar mustache conveniently placed in front of the entrance. His hands had turned into boulders from the wrist down. Not everyone had a cool quirk like instantaneous momentum or beeing a fucking beehive.
Still, those were boulders at the end of these arms and swinging those around someone’s head would probably qualify as “pretty damn fucking dangerous”. The thought drew a sick smile on Darren’s face. Right now, he very clearly displayed a fondness for the violence that was about to occur. Without a word, he stepped forward, his body language making it clear that he was taking point and that she could support him with some bees or whatever.
The swing came and it was a horizontal haymaker from a big ass boulder aimed straight for his head. With quirks and alcohol in the equation, bars fights could get significantly deadlier with the right combination of quirks. Most people would be scared shitless in this situation, but Darren just let the rush of adrenaline command him to use a half power downwards activation.
He dodged the hook by ducking like the gravity suddenly got ten times higher for himself. With his opponent’s side now exposed, he drove a nasty quirk-powered blow to the big guy’s liver. It looked less like he was punching and more like his fist was going there of its own accord. With the momentum of own swing and the pain of a liver blow settling, he was wide open to a bit of spicy stinging action, Darren figured. |
|
