Stg_cookie_99

Premise of TBHX: “faith” turns people into super heroes, i.e. if people believe that someone can fly, then that person gains the ability to fly. Conversely, heroes lose their powers if people stop believing in them. The trust that people place in heroes is measured and collected as data, and the heroes are ranked according to the public's faith in them. (from the wiki.)

In the first episode, this famous hero known as Nice kills himself in front of this Normal Guy called Lin Ling, who is then forced to become Nice, gaining his powers (and some personality traits) because people believe that he is Nice. So his hair and eye colour changes to be Nice's and he now suffers from perfectionsim. The only person who cares about the Original Nice's death seems to be his "best friend"/ (fake) "nemesis".

Premise of this AU: Kakavasha taking the place of Aventurine of Strategems after watching aventurine die. He is found out by Madame Bonajade (the Miss J of this AU) who forces him to become Aventurine.

Like in the show, Kakavasha begins to gain the characteristics of Aventurine, namely his blonder hair (K had "dirty blond" hair) and his unique magenta-blue heterochromia. Honestly loved this concept becuase its very much body horror, like you slowly becoming someone else, forced to take their mannerisms but now you can't ever take of the mask. Here, Aventurine was known to be in his HSR boss form (his face usually being masked during a fight but during press conferences he unmasks) so he looked a bit monstruous, had the impractical heels and unimaginable swag. Kakavasha becomes taller, his posture changes to a cocky gambler's and he develops claws that don't go away.

Aventurine was ofc known to be the Stoneheart's gambler, with people believing that he had divine luck and that he would always win. At first, Kakavasha is hesitant at going all in with his life and body, but soon he is also warped, in a way, by the public's trust in him. Soon the mask of being an insane gambler becomes part of Kakavasha (just like what happened to the original Aventurine). Like even when he's off the clock he can't shake his new-found gambling addiction. When he fights, he makes bets with his enemies especailly when he has a 1% chance of winning. He smiles in the same fabricated manner as the original, even when he's alone. His hands also begin to shake when he makes a risky gamble in battle (for this one, he doesn't know that Aven did the same thing).

OG! Aven was known to be Topaz's boyfriend, turns out they were fake dating for publicity. Like in the show, her powers also become connected to Aventurine because the general public very much shipped them and believed that they were stronger together, so they both get a power up when together (kinda like the anniversary business event LMAO). Topaz doesn't particularly care for OG Aven's death. The show had a bit of a messy love tangle and I want to make it worse: Topaz lowkey loving Madame Bonajade (even though she hates being forced to become Aven's gf, maybe she also believes that Jade is doing genuine good and so her suffering is just for the greater good. Maybe she trusts Jade more than she should. Maybe she feels indebted to Jade because Jade saved her by making her into a hero.)

Sidenote on names: in HSR, Jade only calls Topaz by her real name to invoke trust, whilst she calls Aven only by that name in order to distance Aven to his younger self. In this AU, she sometimes calls Topaz Jelena, but OG! Aventurine's actual name is lost, and soon Kakavasha's original identity is lost too.

AND HERE COMES DR. RATIO WITH ---- IS HE CRYING??

You know how in Crown of the Mundane and Divine, Ratio is initially portrayed as harsh and antagonistic (and does not care about being seen as such), whereas Ruan Mei is portrayed as trustworthy/sweet? Well in this AU, Ratio is a professor by day and a "villain" at night. Ratio was OG Aven's only true confidant (until Aven started to pull away, bit by bit) and is very much in love with him. Ratio wanted to be support Aven by the sidelines until he was like: what if I become Aven's "Nemesis" so that I can draw him away from actual danger and let him rest for a bit. (lowkey has that double indemnity feel to it lol, with both of them fooling people) Aven and Jade know and this solution seemed to raise Aven's spirits until,, well,,

Ratio immediately knows that Kakavasha is not Aven. When he is told that Aven killed himself he withdraws from his confrontation with Kakavasha immediately and is destroyed by how Aven never told him that he was suicidal and never went to him for help and support.

Ratio's "villain" persona has his plaster head and everything. He is a professor with a bad rep, leading the public (who know him as a villain) and his students (only know civillian side) to believe that he has a "stone face" (public literally, students think he shows little emotion). As a bit of body horror for my beloved doctor, maybe his face slowly loses its capacity to show emotion (and only news of Aven's death breaks it, as he was never as emotionless as others believed). Maybe it becomes literal.

Extra note on OG Aven: maybe his status as the last Sigonian was capitalised by Jade, with her creating a tragic underdog tale with Aven being the sole survivor and oh wow look at his beauty and divine luck!! There's a plotline that this rando knows that OG Aven and Kakavasha are not the same, so maybe he tries to trick Kakavasha into describing some Sigonian traditions, customs, culture etc and Kakavasha genuinely does not know. The real kicker? OG Aven also wouldn't know MUCH because the Sigonians were wiped out when he was young and he's been living as Aventurine of Strategems for so long that he can't quite recall much about his people.

A plothole i was suddenly aware of: yh nobody would believe that Aven was in love with Topaz, like look at his boss form!! Literal drag queen getup!! Hes defo gay af!!! Also Ratio only knew Aven AFTER he became a hero, and also does not know Aven's real name.

Ok but fr, even though Kakavasha IS Aventurine in HSR, how would this AU work when they are different people?? Well I kinda wanted to portray Aventurine more as a mask rather than an actual person in this AU, with the cockiness, flamboyance, gambling etc, so uh please have mercy even if this AU doesn't make 100% sense. It's very vibes based and spontaneous.

So if this hasn't convinced you to watch To Be Hero X then may I tempt you with some doomed yaoi? Also its genuinely STUNNING. OMFG.