Riddles and Riots

.:Start of Something Strange:.

          Golden cowbells chimed, wealthy salespeople rhymed, and heavy coin purses jingled with hearty cheers after a large purchase. The bountiful city bustled with a hundred different species, both rich and poor, from humans to magic users to mutants of all kinds. Orcs made trade with the Tieflings, clever witches argued with wise wizards, Dwarves and Elves butt heads over valuable treasures. All is as a famous trade center should be.
"What about this one, Kiri?" Mina held up a white satin cloth with blue tiger stripes.
Kirishima looked up from a scarlet cloth stretched on an unbalanced table. "It's-"
"-No, you're right, blue is definitely not your color. You've got red and orange written all over you." She flicked his spiky hair and quickly folded the fabric, throwing it aside without realizing it fell off the table. The Elven store owner glared at her but she was blissfully unaware.
He lingered a while longer, watching Mina purchase more than she needed for much more than it would have cost anywhere else. Seeing the glow on her face reminded him of Uraraka when they went shopping for clothes.
"You just got really mopey all of a sudden." She snapped him out of his thoughts as they walked down the busy street. "You ok?"
He flashed a smile, "Oh, ya, I was just thinking."
She stared at him. "It's ok to miss her, y'know."
       He winced; she always guessed it fast. "I'll be fine! It's only been two days, I'm just being childish about it."
"No, you're not. I was sad like two minutes after leaving my friends to come on this journey!" She walked backwards in front of him, sticking out her lip. "Don't be so mean to yourself or I'll scold you in front of the team again!"
He couldn't help but giggle. She lashed out like a snake, squishing his cheeks with a serious smirk. "Yes, that right there is what I want to see! Show those spiky teeth and make everyone else catch that contagious smile! Even Kacchan's gotta cave eventually!"
Speak of the devil, a loud crash and a demonic laugh came from a nearby tavern. Drunkards tumbled from the batwing doors, one of them with his pants on fire, fleeing from their very angry maniac of a captain. He gripped a broken beer bottle in one hand as his other sizzled with magic. A bruise swelled on his cheek and his nose was bleeding.
"THA'S RIGHT! RUN, FUCKIN' COWARDS! YOU'RE NOTHIN' C'MPARED T'THE MIGHTY KING DRAGON SLAYER!" He lost his footing and fell face first onto the street.
"Bakugo!" They rushed to his side. He struggled to regain balance so Mina crouched to lift him.
"Lem'me go!" He tore himself free and fell on his butt. He tried to throw the bottle at her but ended up dropping it on his own head.
She groaned exasperatedly, though anyone could tell she was biting back laughter. "Idiot, you're such a mess! It's not even three o'clock! You should have at least saved it for the nighttime!"
It made both of them jump when he threw his head back and started laughing. "Hah! Don' tell me what to do, pinky! I don' need any of your help!" He grabbed a nearby post, hauling himself to his feet. "M'not weak, dumb bastards! Look, I killed him," he pointed at a man covered in soot, who was very much not dead, standing guard at the doors of the tavern. "I, wait, no, I k-" he hiccuped, "-killed a fuckin' dragon for fucks sake!" He suddenly glared at Kirishima and grabbed his vest, growling, "Many times!"
"Hahaha I'm sure it won't be the last hahaha!" Kirishima waved his arms nervously. Bakugo let go, throwing his head back again for another hearty laugh.
"NEVER, YA BUNCHA SLUTS!"
"Ok, as hilarious as this is, let's go find Kami and get Stupid here back to camp before he actually kills someone." Mina shoved her bag of clothes in Kirishima's hands and grabbed Bakugo's arm, slinging it over her shoulder despite his protests. After a minute he gave up and walked beside her, still cursing and laughing.
Kirishima followed, fully aware of all the eyes on them. His hand slipped into his pocket, comforted when he found the potion pendant Uraraka gave him. He wished he could just drink it all and make his whole body disappear.

A couple hours later, when the sun dipped close to the horizon, the four finally made it back to the camp hidden in the nearby forest. Sero looked up from feeding the horses and smiled.
"Ah, our intrepid adventurers finally return! Did you get the stuff, Kami?"
"I sure did, my good man!" He tipped his new blue tricorn hat with a giant black and white feather, tossing him a bag of seasonings.
Sero caught it and cheered, "Yesssss! No more bland meat!" then ran toward the stew that boiled over a fire. He zipped past Mina, who still carried Bakugo, now completely clonked out. "What's with him?"
"Exactly what Iida warned us not to let him do." Mina had no sympathy and dumped him over a log.
          "He got drunk? And didn't bring any back for me?!" Sero clutched his heart with a look of hurt.
          Mina slapped the back of his head and giggled, "No, not you, too! I only have the patience to deal with one hungovered idiot- unless I'm the one hungover!"
          They laughed as she sat beside the fire, watching him spice the stew.
          "You've turned into a total mom, Mina." The raven haired mage chuckled. "Not in a bad way. I thought you were crazy at first, but you're pretty cool to hang around with!"
          "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me!" She faked a tear and flicked it at him.
          As soon as the stew was ready, the four grabbed their bowls and surrounded the fire, leaving some for Bakugo when he woke. Kirishima didn't have the heart to leave him in the dirt, so he had Sero help him move the prince on top of a blanket near the fire.
          He took only one bite of stew when Kaminari said his name.
          "So, Kiri, where do you come from again?"
          He bit the wooden spoon a little too forcefully.
          "Ooh, I really wanna know, too!" Mina raised her hand, utensil still in mouth. She pulled it out with a pop, purring at the flavor.
          He chewed slowly, wracking his brain for any excuse. "Um...I'm from...the North..?" He struggled to swallow.
          "Oh, right! I remember Uraraka said you were from the same village as her." Sero hummed. "I wonder what witch villages are like. Are they mostly female?"
          "Wait if you're from a witch village then why aren't you a warlock?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow and stuck out his lip.
          "Uh, well-"
          "Good gods, Kaminari! You can't just ask someone why they're not a warlock!" Mina hit him over the head with her spoon.
          "Well sorry for having questions nobody else has the balls to ask!"
          "It's ok, guys!" Kirishima tried to calm them, "There's nothing really to it! I just ended up a mage by luck!"
          They glowered at each other, but were otherwise content with the answer.
          "Alright, fine. What about you, Mina?" Kaminari narrowed his eyes as hers widened. "Where do you come from?"
          She, too, struggled to swallow her food. "Oh, you know, around. Don't really have a set place I came from, just kind of, I don't know, found myself in places."
          There was something dark underlining her words. It went quiet for a long while as everyone just stared at her, until her eyes shut and she set the warm bowl on her lap. Her fingers tapped anxiously on the wood.
          "Look, sometimes nobody wants a psychotic pink demon child running around melting everything. Even orphanages didn't like me very much. Eventually I did get a home but...it didn't really work out. Anyway." She looked back up, and to her shock, Sero and Kirishima gave her the biggest, saddest frowns she'd ever seen. Kaminari had tears in his eyes.
          "Awwww Mina I'm so sorry I didn't mean to make you say all that!" The blond threw himself on top of her, apologizing again and again. She rubbed his head to reassure him.
          "Well, you can always share a little about yourself to make it less awkward." She sighed and Kaminari bounced back to his seat.
          "Right, of course! I guess my family was, well, kinda rich- nothing like dukes or counts or anything, but for my town we were pretty wealthy from my parent's wood carving business. We sold all kinds of stuff, from regular old lumber to the finest musical instruments. Speaking of which-" he reached behind him into his brown travel pack, pulling out a small lute. He adjusted the strings and strummed. "Look what I bought!"
          "What! I didn't know you could play!" Mina leaned forward at the beautiful sound.
          "Well, when you have no siblings and your parents work all the time, you tend to pick up a few things to keep you busy." He winked. "The lute was always my favorite."
          "I expect you now to be our full time, unpaid bard. If I don't hear music in the background of everything I do I'll be very upset." She laughed, making the others chuckle.
          "So, how'd you find us?" Sero inquired, closing his eyes to the pleasant musical sounds.
          "Oh, right. My folks are pretty old fashioned. They told me not to come back 'till I found a girl and gave them grandkids." He laughed. "I wish I was kidding."
          Mina nearly spat out her food. "And yet somehow you managed to land yourself in an all-boy minstrel."
          "Hah! What does that make you?"
          "I'm the all powerful, terrifying, will-end-you-instantly boss lady. If you go out of line I'll drown your whole career before it starts."
          Everyone laughed at that. Just then, a groan came from Bakugo, and they turned to watch him climb drunkenly to his feet. He approached the pot of stew with a hand over his sunken eyes.
          "Well, well, well, the drunken sailor has risen from his seabed!" Kaminari strummed the lute again. "You woke up just in time to go to sleep!"
The other blond scrunched his face with the utmost annoyance. "Throw that shit away or I'll use it as kindling." He grabbed a bowl of stew and leaned against a nearby tree.
          "Well, at least mister I-drink-at-noon-and-sleep-at-sundown is back to normal." Mina teased. "Sorry, don't have any potions on me, you'll just have to suffer." He only grunted in response, turning away from the firelight to cool his throbbing head.
          "Guess it's my turn, now." Sero placed his empty bowl beside him and stretched. "Nothing crazy like you guys. Worked under my old man as a carpenter for many years. Decided I wanted to be a knight instead, and when I saw a flier about a tournament held in One For All, I knew I had to give it a shot. Didn't end up becoming a knight, obviously, but traveling with you guys and hunting dragons is just as exhilarating."
          "Awww that's so sweet! We're so happy to have you!" Mina pulled his head into her chest and squeezed. His face went bright red.
          Kirishima took another sip of stew when Kaminari leaned close. "Should we poke the lion?" He whispered.
          "Should we what?"
          "Should we poke the lion." He nodded enthusiastically towards Bakugo, grinning mischievously. "You think we'll get anything good?"
          "I'm not answering any of your shitty questions!" Bakugo snapped, bringing a hand to his temple to massage it.
          "Aw, we all shared our stories, though!" He pouted.
          "Fuck off and clean up your mess. We leave at dawn." He wandered away towards the log he was dropped on, leaning against it to stare at the starry sky.
          "Boo. I suppose we should get some shut-eye, then." He strummed one last time before placing the lute back in his bag.
          "Ya, that sounds like a good plan." Sero yawned then collected the bowls to be washed.
          Kirishima helped unpack the sleeping gear, distracted by the millions of glittering stars drifting endlessly in the black abyss. There'd been a guilty pain in his heart since he lied to the others at the fire pit. It felt wrong and it hurt to always avoid the question, but without Uraraka, there was no other way to ensure his safety. He needed to keep it buried as far down as he possibly could until her return.
          As they settled under their blankets, he noticed Bakugo still hadn't moved, continuing to stare at the sky with only his cape to cover him. Kirishima didn't know much about how to read people, but in his face he thought he saw exhaustion, remorse, and that burning anger that never seemed to die.
          Seeing him alone with his thoughts reminded Kirishima of the hundreds of lonely nights he spent in a dark castle. Some nights he'd cry until he woke, wanting nothing more than for someone to sit beside him and tell him it was going to be ok. He didn't care who it was, the friendly woman, some stranger, Shigaraki, whoever, he was comforted by any sort of gentleness or word- but when the sun rose, it was a different story.
          He hoped he wasn't a hypocrite for admitting, but wished he could comfort Bakugo if he needed it. He didn't want him to feel what he did; he didn't want anyone to hide and feel pain when they couldn't speak their mind. Kirishima wanted to be there for him, and for those who had a hard time telling their own story, like Mina. He wanted to make them smile and know it was going to be ok.
          But most of all, ever since the moment he found out, he wanted to know why the mysterious tamer wanted nothing more than to see him and his species die.