Jo/Spiral - Hero Ver. - Self Ship with Yandere!Dabi

Jo, aka Spiral, the Braids hero. Named for the way she keeps her braids coiled up at the ends, with additional irony if she has a mental breakdown or some such. Her twin braids are typically kept around 8-10 ft long in this AU, unless burned or otherwise damaged. Since this whole thing with Dabi started, she's gotten her braids chemically treated to be more fire resistant. It helps… somewhat.

Dabi finds her to be an unwelcome distraction at first, but ends up realizing his obsession with her makes him want to break her spirit almost as much as he wants to break Endeavor, but perhaps in a different, more casual sort of way... she's fun to mess with, yknow?

A relatively recent hero, not really well known. A sidekick, part of Endeavor's agency despite her quirk not really being suited for it; she was and is determined to become one of the best, so she somehow managed to achieve a place there through sheer stubbornness (and hard work), but it is challenging all the same. She doesn't know why Dabi keeps seeking her out, but she's willing to try to fight on his level, if nothing else to protect others from him when he decides to pick a fight. She knows her quirk is unsuited for going up against him, but if he's going to attack her anyway, she wants to do as much damage control as she can manage.

Dabi thinks she should pay more attention to him. His obsession with her skews more yandere... but what will he do to her, in the end? She's just so adorable, surrounded by his flames... she'd be so *cute* to burn... but not yet...

She... barely... can manage to survive fights with him for the most part, mostly through frantic dodging and maneuvering using her braids to pull herself and others to higher ground to avoid his flames, as well as launching various hard objects toward the flame user... but she can't help a nagging feeling that she is still basically losing, and this bothers her more than she would admit… he's clearly toying with her, regardless of how well she can hold her own against him (Why, again? He has to be going easy on her for some reason... otherwise, she'd absolutely be dead by now), and she doesn't know what his endgame is. She doesn't know what he wants, and that scares her more than any amount of blue flames coming at her... not to mention, his smug attitude really pisses her off. But she is stubborn, and, so far, refuses to let him get to her emotionally- or at least, refuses to show the strain it causes... for now. She focuses on keeping his focus on her- her collateral damage record had been a matter of pride for her as an emergent hero, even if it's all messed up now.

At the very least, she can save others, keep them from getting hurt by putting herself at risk instead... but somehow, there is always someone she fails to save... and even Endeavor is noticing this, and his disapproval makes her stresses even more fraught with anxiety over losing the place she worked so hard to reach...

(Dabi wants her to see that being a Pro Hero is, ultimately, a useless endeavor... and maybe, he wants to destroy the idea that such a hero is worth looking up to in the first place... heroes can fail, and Jo getting trouble from Endeavor and others for losing to him is just another fun lil way to destroy those good impressions.)

Even so, what with her starting to develop serious sleep issues and Dabi picking fights with her, she truly is starting to feel burned out (pun not intended but still fun! :D ) with hero work and life in general. She'll push through it, she always does, but she is running into limits, especially as an autistic person masking, and it worries her. Plus Ultra is supposed to mean Going Beyond forever and always, right? She doesn't want to stop improving. Her current life situation is rather overwhelming, honestly. The crazed villain she keeps having to deal with absolutely plays a big part in that. But at the same time, the chaos of the fight itself would be almost welcome as a distraction from her other stresses if it wasn't so fraught with tension and confusion (particularly the why is he so obsessed with her part) and trying to, yknow, stay alive.

Growing up she had a more carefree attitude and was actually a bit of a brat. When hero studies started to get more serious, she focused on learning and achieving rather than fun, which means she hasn't really had much of an outlet that wasn't just work harder, do better. She was lucky enough to grow up in environments that respected and were often supportive of her being neurodivergent, though as she entered her adult years she tried to push more of that side of her away for the purposes of masking and making sure she could do what needed to be done. Needless to say, this only made her more stressed in the long run, but her stubbornness meant that she couldn't let go of the focus on molding herself into what she thought she wanted, was supposed to, be.

She hates the feeling of being burned, though, which is ironic given her current circumstances and profession.

Jo/Spiral - Hero Ver. - Self Ship with Yandere!Dabi

Jo, aka Spiral, the Braids hero. Named for the way she keeps her braids coiled up at the ends, with additional irony if she has a mental breakdown or some such. Her twin braids are typically kept around 8-10 ft long in this AU, unless burned or otherwise damaged. Since this whole thing with Dabi started, she's gotten her braids chemically treated to be more fire resistant. It helps… somewhat.

Dabi finds her to be an unwelcome distraction at first, but ends up realizing his obsession with her makes him want to break her spirit almost as much as he wants to break Endeavor, but perhaps in a different, more casual sort of way... she's fun to mess with, yknow?

A relatively recent hero, not really well known. A sidekick, part of Endeavor's agency despite her quirk not really being suited for it; she was and is determined to become one of the best, so she somehow managed to achieve a place there through sheer stubbornness (and hard work), but it is challenging all the same. She doesn't know why Dabi keeps seeking her out, but she's willing to try to fight on his level, if nothing else to protect others from him when he decides to pick a fight. She knows her quirk is unsuited for going up against him, but if he's going to attack her anyway, she wants to do as much damage control as she can manage.

Dabi thinks she should pay more attention to him. His obsession with her skews more yandere... but what will he do to her, in the end? She's just so adorable, surrounded by his flames... she'd be so *cute* to burn... but not yet...

She... barely... can manage to survive fights with him for the most part, mostly through frantic dodging and maneuvering using her braids to pull herself and others to higher ground to avoid his flames, as well as launching various hard objects toward the flame user... but she can't help a nagging feeling that she is still basically losing, and this bothers her more than she would admit… he's clearly toying with her, regardless of how well she can hold her own against him (Why, again? He has to be going easy on her for some reason... otherwise, she'd absolutely be dead by now), and she doesn't know what his endgame is. She doesn't know what he wants, and that scares her more than any amount of blue flames coming at her... not to mention, his smug attitude really pisses her off. But she is stubborn, and, so far, refuses to let him get to her emotionally- or at least, refuses to show the strain it causes... for now. She focuses on keeping his focus on her- her collateral damage record had been a matter of pride for her as an emergent hero, even if it's all messed up now.

At the very least, she can save others, keep them from getting hurt by putting herself at risk instead... but somehow, there is always someone she fails to save... and even Endeavor is noticing this, and his disapproval makes her stresses even more fraught with anxiety over losing the place she worked so hard to reach...

(Dabi wants her to see that being a Pro Hero is, ultimately, a useless endeavor... and maybe, he wants to destroy the idea that such a hero is worth looking up to in the first place... heroes can fail, and Jo getting trouble from Endeavor and others for losing to him is just another fun lil way to destroy those good impressions.)

Even so, what with her starting to develop serious sleep issues and Dabi picking fights with her, she truly is starting to feel burned out (pun not intended but still fun! :D ) with hero work and life in general. She'll push through it, she always does, but she is running into limits, especially as an autistic person masking, and it worries her. Plus Ultra is supposed to mean Going Beyond forever and always, right? She doesn't want to stop improving. Her current life situation is rather overwhelming, honestly. The crazed villain she keeps having to deal with absolutely plays a big part in that. But at the same time, the chaos of the fight itself would be almost welcome as a distraction from her other stresses if it wasn't so fraught with tension and confusion (particularly the why is he so obsessed with her part) and trying to, yknow, stay alive.

Growing up she had a more carefree attitude and was actually a bit of a brat. When hero studies started to get more serious, she focused on learning and achieving rather than fun, which means she hasn't really had much of an outlet that wasn't just work harder, do better. She was lucky enough to grow up in environments that respected and were often supportive of her being neurodivergent, though as she entered her adult years she tried to push more of that side of her away for the purposes of masking and making sure she could do what needed to be done. Needless to say, this only made her more stressed in the long run, but her stubbornness meant that she couldn't let go of the focus on molding herself into what she thought she wanted, was supposed to, be.

She hates the feeling of being burned, though, which is ironic given her current circumstances and profession.

Quirk - Prehensile Braids

Jo's quirk is Prehensile Braids. She has twin braids that she can move like individual limbs, though technically she can unravel them and control the strands of hair separately as well. Braids are flammable, but they grow fast and she has been getting her hair chemically treated to withstand more heat ever since she set her sights on joining Endeavor's Hero Agency.

Endeavor Hero Agency

Jo forces herself to be the best she can be, and even though many would say her quirk isn't suited to Endeavor's agency, she worked incredibly hard to be able to join it as a sidekick knowing it is one of the most prestigious Hero Agencies out there- that, and she was aware it would be a high-pressure environment and she always wants to prove herself by working hard to overcome her limitations. Rather than settle for something more "fitting" to her quirk, she Goes Beyond her limitations... except, actually, it just means she is constantly on edge and stressed out. Her margin of error is very low, and she is starting to get burned out for this and other reasons, but she'll pull through... right?

"Spiral"

One might wonder whether a better fitting name for a hero with a braids quirk would be something like "Twist" or even "Coil", depending on if she held them coiled up at the ends or something similar. "Spiral" was initially a bit of a nonserious name; the joke (according to teenage Jo, who was quite a bit more lighthearted at the time) is that she was warned early on that hero work (or even life in general) often involved the risk of one's emotions "spiraling" out of control. Jo opted to choose this name half out of defiance against those who thought she couldn't succeed as an autistic hero, and half out of a certain cynical irony… as well as a warning to herself to make sure she never fell down that route as she got closer to her goal of being a Pro.

Present day Pro Hero Spiral is much stricter with her emotions and herself, with her hero name a constant reminder of the risks of letting go of that grip on her emotions, as well as managing an awareness of that margin of error she needs to function without losing absolute control… but often keeps slim out of both unfortunate circumstantial necessity and the desire to maintain as much productivity as possible.

So far, that margin of error has been enough, but with the stress she feels as a hero and being hassled by Dabi all the damn time, at some point she very well may snap and spiral into crashing and burning, if she isn't halfway at that point already.

Dabi

Dabi is obsessed with Jo for various reasons, some yandere related and some based on her being in Endeavor's Hero Agency in the first place. At some point his prey drive was activated by Jo trying to ignore him, and now he doesn't seem quite able to leave her alone. He doesn't like that she's still trying to be a hero though, let alone fight back when her quirk is so obviously outmatched by his own, so he tries to make a point by killing or burning any civilians Jo is responsible for the safety of, just to prove something to her. It's not clear what, exactly, he wants from her, though.

Endeavor

Endeavor didn't take much notice of Jo until she started becoming a Dabi-magnet. He disapproves, especially due to all the casualties as a result, but doesn't really know what to do about it other than try to assign her to situations where this will be less of an issue. After all, even if Jo wasn't a part of his agency, Dabi would probably still keep attacking her, and then there would be even more chaos involving the pair than there already is.

Please Do:

Battle scenes w/ Jo overwhelmed and exhausted(tho she would try not to show it), worn down, desperate to survive or just highly focused but either way trying to hide her stress with stubbornness/cool professionalism, or pissed off at his taunts/playing with her, but still fighting. Drawing her with Dabi or on her own with all this implied in a PoV sense, or just her losing, cornered, and scared of him but still trying not to show it (bluffing is definitely a thing she would do even if she's scared as hell, but it takes a bit to get to the point where she will actually show emotion over it).

It's ok to just imply the presence of Dabi with hints of blue fire or POV stuff. Interaction with Dabi involving intimidation/threats/him sort-of-flirting, Jo looking determined, implied danger in general, using her braids to fight or move herself. Dabi just showing up to intimidate/threaten/pick fights with her outside of or before it becomes a battle. Jo is tired AF and wants this asshole to stop stalking her.

Interactions with Endeavor as her superior who sort of disapproves of her because for some reason she appears to be a Dabi-magnet, and anything with Dabi involved means a LOT of collateral damage. Feel free to imply said collateral damage.

On the other hand, more positive stuff from her pre-hero days (see picrew ref below) or relaxing on her own on the rare occasion she actually gets to relax, might be a palate cleanser I guess! ^w^ She isn't always moody, and she actually does have a sense of humor when actually getting a break from her stresses, which unfortunately for her doesn't happen often these days.

One other idea is her quirk having been disabled and she's tied up with her own braids (and scared, or furious), that could be fun c: Feel free to involve (temporary) anti quirk bullets for this, but I'd prefer Overhaul/the Shie Hassaikai are not directly involved.

Also, fluffy stuff re: Dabi is an option if you just wanna ignore the yandere backstory stuff and make it cute, I would like that too, I don't mind! Action shots are also fine. You can also draw her younger self (Past self, see ref, around 16-18, NOT SHIPPED WITH DABI) being dorky.

Ask First:

More graphic wounds (small hints of burns and scuffs and scratches along the level of what is shown in the anime in some fight scenes are OK w/o asking tho!), more realistic end or detailed closeups of burn wounds (I feel more comfortable with cartoon and stylized depictions of these).

Jo actually breaking down and crying or otherwise getting incredibly overwhelmed by her circumstances. She will break at some point, this is basically a given.

Inclusion of OCs as hero colleagues or enemies in interactions- I'm pretty open with this but keep in mind Jo's focus is on dealing with Dabi and he's sort of become her whole life at this point, so making connections has fallen on the backburner for now. I may consider non BNHA but still hero-themed AUs, but her focus really is on Dabi so idk.

Maybe her getting the upper hand for once and (non-fatally..?) choking Dabi with her braids or something-

Please Avoid:

Interactions with other canon characters besides: [Dabi/Endeavor/other pro heroes or sidekicks/the League of Villains pre-Deika City fight]. Anything to do with All For One or the Liberation Army/PLF stuff, since I'm not sure how that would go with her involved plotwise, but feel free to ask about it to brainstorm ideas if you want!

Please Do:

Battle scenes w/ Jo overwhelmed and exhausted(tho she would try not to show it), worn down, desperate to survive or just highly focused but either way trying to hide her stress with stubbornness/cool professionalism, or pissed off at his taunts/playing with her, but still fighting. Drawing her with Dabi or on her own with all this implied in a PoV sense, or just her losing, cornered, and scared of him but still trying not to show it (bluffing is definitely a thing she would do even if she's scared as hell, but it takes a bit to get to the point where she will actually show emotion over it).

It's ok to just imply the presence of Dabi with hints of blue fire or POV stuff. Interaction with Dabi involving intimidation/threats/him sort-of-flirting, Jo looking determined, implied danger in general, using her braids to fight or move herself. Dabi just showing up to intimidate/threaten/pick fights with her outside of or before it becomes a battle. Jo is tired AF and wants this asshole to stop stalking her.

Interactions with Endeavor as her superior who sort of disapproves of her because for some reason she appears to be a Dabi-magnet, and anything with Dabi involved means a LOT of collateral damage. Feel free to imply said collateral damage.

On the other hand, more positive stuff from her pre-hero days (see picrew ref below) or relaxing on her own on the rare occasion she actually gets to relax, might be a palate cleanser I guess! ^w^ She isn't always moody, and she actually does have a sense of humor when actually getting a break from her stresses, which unfortunately for her doesn't happen often these days.

One other idea is her quirk having been disabled and she's tied up with her own braids (and scared, or furious), that could be fun c: Feel free to involve (temporary) anti quirk bullets for this, but I'd prefer Overhaul/the Shie Hassaikai are not directly involved.

Also, fluffy stuff re: Dabi is an option if you just wanna ignore the yandere backstory stuff and make it cute, I would like that too, I don't mind! Action shots are also fine. You can also draw her younger self (Past self, see ref, around 16-18, NOT SHIPPED WITH DABI) being dorky.

Actual sexual NSFW stuff (feel free to ask for details of what might work, since I do have stuff in mind, including noncon and dubcon as well as other BDSM sort of stuff), more creepy yandere sadism and burn wounds/torture or her kidnapped, bound and trapped (caged? c: ). Or maybe in bondage-type situations sexually, kept as Dabi's pet hero and hating it the whole time (or secretly liking it? Mind break is absolutely a possibility here-).

Ask First:

More graphic wounds (small hints of burns and scuffs and scratches along the level of what is shown in the anime in some fight scenes are OK w/o asking tho!), more realistic end or detailed closeups of burn wounds (I feel more comfortable with cartoon and stylized depictions of these).

Jo actually breaking down and crying or otherwise getting incredibly overwhelmed by her circumstances. She will break at some point, this is basically a given.

Inclusion of OCs as hero colleagues or enemies in interactions- I'm pretty open with this but keep in mind Jo's focus is on dealing with Dabi and he's sort of become her whole life at this point, so making connections has fallen on the backburner for now. I may consider non BNHA but still hero-themed AUs, but her focus really is on Dabi so idk.

Maybe her getting the upper hand for once and (non-fatally..?) choking Dabi with her braids or something-- and maybe he likes it--

Please Avoid:

Interactions with other canon characters besides: [Dabi/Endeavor/other pro heroes or sidekicks/the League of Villains pre-Deika City fight]. Anything to do with All For One or the Liberation Army/PLF stuff, since I'm not sure how that would go with her involved plotwise, but feel free to ask about it to brainstorm ideas if you want!