[CHIRP ♪♪]

Everyone in the room started laughing. It was two whole people, but the people at home watching the recording were laughing, too. Generations from now, Gabriel’s great-great-grandchildren would point and laugh at Elijah as he foamed himself in the face with his very own finger. This wasn’t a prank. This was an exhibition. And the first thing Elijah did was show… he was a comedic mastermind!

“You’ve been working on jokes!” Gabe barely gets out through his laughter. “I get it now. I understand your type of humor.” He wipes a tear from his eye before looking back to the camera. “You get all that? Yeah? Okay, good.”

Gabriel turned back to Elijah.

“I’ll walk you through it,” Gabe said. “Just promise not to vaporize me with your quirk or whatever.”

Gabriel clears his through and pulls out a diagram from a shelf underneath the counter. The one, the only, the instruction manual. With this Elijah would understand everything. But sometimes doing was better than seeing. After handing him this forbidden scroll, he’d move around the limb a bit and give him the crash course on having a prosthetic.

“You do this for the knives.” He did a thing. “This to detach.” He did another thing.” This to reattach.” He undid the thing he had just done. “This for the grappling hook.” Yet another, new thing. “And I guess you figured out the foam, huh?”

A pause.

“Do you love it?”

---

Elijah

[Elijah]

Aaaand there it was. The laughter. Which was fair all things considered; even Elijah could tell it wasn't a prank pulled on him by an inventor rigging his appendage with traps. He simply triggered a feature at the wrong time.

He supposed he should be glad he didn't deploy the knives instead.

Wiping the foam off his face with his real hand, Elijah just tossed the substance to the floor with a sigh. Someone will take care of it later. "Quirkless, so you'll be fine. Unless you secretly equipped my arm with a laser." He formed his metal thumb and index finger in the shape of a gun. Pointed it at Gabe, then his colleagues. A hum escaped him when nothing happened. "I guess not. A shame."

He was attentive with the demonstration, at least more relaxed once he realized the man wasn't scheming against him. Not enough to say he loved the prosthetic though. He's not nearly open enough to admit such a thing. "It's good. Thank you."

With his arm obtained and lessons learned, Elijah focused on the other notable things in the room: the other student and their camera. "Why are you filming this anyway?"

CHIRP ♪♪

[CHIRP ♪♪]

Quirkless?

How interesting…

If that were the case, he would need to supplement more than a missing arm to compensate. The new era of heroism was predicated on quirks. And if you didn’t have a quirk, it was like missing… an arm. More importantly, this wasn’t the first time that Elijah had encountered this question — more than that, a hurdle that he’d have to jump over for the rest of his life.

Behind that composure, Hawthorne. The thought passed his mind before he had a chance to think. Who are you?

“Well, you see the reason I’m filming this is because…” Gabriel’s face went serious. A shadow cast over his face as he looked down, pushing up his glasses before raising his eyes to meet Elijah’s. “This is the first time I’ve made something for someone else!”

A big, goofy smile and a thumbs up.

“I thought it’d be worthwhile to note my first act of altruism!” And the fact he’s a nosy bastard who looks into people when he shouldn’t. “More to come if you ever need a tune-up, by the by.” A wink.

With that, his job was done. All that was left was for Elijah to leave so he could review the footage over and over and over again. But, of course, the intrusive thoughts always won, didn’t they?

“Before you go…” Nevermind. Too dark. Play it off, play it off. “Can I get an autograph?”

He pulled out the schematic he drew three days ago and offered it to Elijah. Good. He won’t suspect a thing.

---

Elijah

[Elijah]

It was easy being Quirkless.

Well, that was a lie. Being Quirkless was a complicated affair, especially in heroism. You have to push yourself harder just to keep up with your peers. You have to be more alert because you wouldn't survive getting incinerated, frozen, crushed. Doubt will always be thrown your way. Many will think you're not capable of succeeding in life as a hero.

But there's also less questions. No one would ask how your Quirk worked. No one would try to figure out its limitations, applications, how to improve it. As soon as you say that you don't have some unnatural ability unique to you, they never dig further when it comes to it. That was the best outcome for Elijah.

The less attempts people made to convince him his Quirk was anything but useless, the better.

He furrowed his brow as he waited, trying to predict Gabe's reason. A second big reveal perhaps? Maybe he's making a documentary? He hadn't known him for long but the seriousness felt uncharacteristic.

Then the admittance made him blink. "First? Surprising, you seem the helpful type." Who else would fix and even improve a prosthetic for free but the altruistic? Elijah had nothing to offer in return. Nothing he was aware of at least.

Other than the autograph Gabe apparently wanted. Confusion evident on his face, he took the blueprint from him. "Sure I guess." Pen in his left hand, he scrawled his signature, surprisingly elaborate for his demeanour. E. Hawthorne. He offered the sheet back. "If that's all, I'll take my leave."

CHIRP ♪♪

[CHIRP ♪♪]

Oh, he’s a lefty!

With the autograph now officially his, he would forever bury his true question. Would you cut off your second arm for another prosthetic? It was the easiest way to double his power output. Considering how guarded Elijah was, he wouldn’t blab about those kinds of things yet. And while Gabriel could pry into his mind, it’d put a weird, unnecessary tension on their now budding relationship.

“Nope, that’s all!” Gabriel waved goodbye. “Take care, Hawthorne.”

He immediately turned to his cameraman. He would hand over the autograph and give him specific instructions.

“Laminate this and bring it directly to the set. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” There was more work to be done. Now that his school project had finished, he could use the rest of the set for a personal project. Atop that, he had some footage to review. Let’s get to the bottom of this so-called Hawthorne.

---

Elijah

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

Was it standup comedy or letdown comedy? Opinions differ.

Loved the dynamic, wonderful thread you two!

+2500  EXP!!

Chirp ♪♪ 0 // 2500

Elijah 0 // 2500

tag: CHIRP ♪♪, Elijah