121 Posts
0 EP
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Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 6, 2018 20:27:14 GMT -4
“Rimediaru.”
Falling off his lips, bitter aftertaste to the soda in his grip. He remembers in English, though it was spoken in Japanese.
“You did well on the practical exam, but you have a poor track record. A history of truancy, delinquency. You seem capable, but your history leaves us with doubts.”
Glass and plastic frames fall from the recruiter’s face, fold and rest passive at his side along with the papers he’s read.
“Contingency,” he continues. “We’re willing to admit you into a remedial program. You’ll be admitted to General Studies, and if you perform well, we can consider admitting you to the hero course proper. That’s the best we can offer.”
A silver ticket as good as gold.
The base reads like a carnival to him, ocean of concrete with attractions tall and wide like waves. Quirkers fighting in cages, combat training with paintball. “Professional experience,” he’d been told by an advisor, for a profession he didn’t want. Too real, the military, too in sync with reality – no heroes or villains, only soldiers, only tools.
Walking lazy on the border – gaze loose and glazed, a performer asleep in the front row. Attractions repel and leave him loose in the aether.
“Oi, bozu.”
Spoken as if repeated, as if Robin’s just now hearing him – he turns, cocked eyebrow, and catches the man’s gaze. Military dress for the JSDF, kind eyes and calloused palms. Kanji on the breast that he can’t quite read.
A finger rises to point toward Robin’s face – first his own, then the man’s, who quickly turns it to point to his side and pat the seat next to him. He blinks, shuts his eyes and opens them and punctuates with a sigh, subtle and unspoken and unpronounced. And he walks, sidles through men and women and children until he’s at the man’s side, at the man’s mercy.
“Ryouta Hideaki.”
The briefest moment where he catches the man’s gaze and drops it just as quick.
“Engell Robin.”
“It’s good to see foreigners here. Are you a student?”
“Uh, yes. I’m glad we’re working together too.” Stock phrases lifted from textbooks, from anime.
“And you’re a quirker.”
“Sou desu.”
A shared silence – soda is drained and replaced in his bag, where a hand hovers, debates and declines to grab another for fear of insulting Ryouta.
“Engeru-kun, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”
“It’s-” Delay as he processes, thoughts and words and feelings all data that bottleneck a response, “I want to be a hero, and working in tandem with the JSDF is key to ensuring-”
Laughter, loud and premature to the punchline of a nonexistant joke – Ryouta chortles and bends and wipes his eyes and pats the boy’s back. “And I thought Americans were candid! No, no, that’s not why you’re here.”
And Robin flinches and squints and stares with a cocked jaw and tongue in his cheek – and before he can bite back, before he can defend:
“Engeru-kun, you’re walking around like you’re not here. Physically present and mentally gone; I see a slack step and slacked gaze, and those heroic words don’t match up. I don’t really like polite answers – You know what? Walk with me, I want to see something.”
Standing, walking, barely checking to see if Robin follows. The boy almost doesn’t – insulted and indignant and prone to quit, he nearly stays seated as he stands, nearly walks away as he follows. But he’s prodded and convinced and finally realizes that an attraction at this carnival has snared him, caught and trapped like a wounded animal with wounded pride.
And so he follows Ryouta into a cage.
“Try to hit me,” the man announces before he’s even in stance.
And he stares, wide eyes, slacked jaw.
「 TRY TO HIT ME」 Slowly, in English.
“No, I understood, I’m just – doushite?”
“If you don’t swing, I’ll come for you. We’re just sparring, no one will be hurt. You don’t need to hesitate.”
And he hesitates, waits and lingers with shaking legs and eyes and trepidation in his core, trepidation that ripples and rattles skin and bones and the padding beneath.
And he steps away as Ryouta’s hand comes down, hops and stumbles into the man’s foot where he falls, is caught and flipped – ground falls from under and rises, twirls until it’s gone, until he only sees sun.
“You hesitate. Go ahead. Use your quirk if you want.”
The man backs off, gives space to rise and breathe and think, and Robin takes it, lifts himself to his feet and brushes off his shirt and swallows the slight to his pride. The next time Ryouta closes in, the boy burns bright – skin tints from pale to pink and warps the air with the heat from an oven.
He’ll burn though!
He still steps back, read by Ryouta, grabbed by Ryouta. Calloused palms grip him, squeeze him, catch hold and fight against heat and blisters to lift the boy up and over and slam him back first into the mat below.
Fighting, biting, he’s lost his breath, his sight, blinded by sun and heaving on ground – skin cools, fades from pink to pale. Hand clutches his chest with the promise of air.
Invisible man, disembodied words, haunting music wafting by on the air itself – blinded by sun, calloused by heat, that melody his one sensation.
“No, you run. The kind of person you are, is the person who runs.”
Eclipse, black on bright white in the shape of God’s hand reaching down.
“So know that. And fight it.”
He’s helped up, lifted without his own power. Ryouta waves, leaves, gifts him with words that curse and heal.
“If you weren’t lying about wanting to be a hero, I’ll expect you to try harder. Stop running away, and start running forward. We’re counting on you, Engeru-kun. All of us.”
And he stares, and waits, and wanders. And finds himself at a training dummy, a passive listener for heavy words and heavy thoughts on his mind, on his chest.
“Do I even want to be a hero?” He finally mumbles.
WORD COUNT: 1017 NOTES: I hope this isn't overstepping the bounds of what I can do with an NPC. |
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
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Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 7, 2018 14:21:43 GMT -4
(sorry this will be so short by comparison)
At the base another day, Yumi was wondering if there was even anything left she could do. She'd put her cosplay in the wash for today, and thanks to that she wasn't earning the usual followers she'd had her other days here. She still got an odd glance here or there, as even her normal wardrobe wasn't all that conservative, having gone with a rather curve hugging tank top, a black jacket that she left open and thus display her cleavage pretty well, and some cargo shorts that let her have plenty of pocket space.
Wandering around the combat area she'd briefly considered entering the paintball areas again, Yumi pulled back from a certain path as some people came out, wondering what the fuss was about since they seemed oddly uneasy, even for the base where tensions could be kinda high between the wrong people. Definitely curious, the red head poked her nose around the corner, spotting someone she felt she'd seen around UA in the room alone, stepping over and raising a hand, tempted to make herself known by gently tapping his back, but she heard his words first, and gave a soft smile as she quietly spoke herself.
"heh...seems I'm not the only one asking that question..." She'd pick up her smile at the boy if they turned to meet her eyes. "You're from UA right? Or am I just imagining things?"
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121 Posts
0 EP
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Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 7, 2018 16:09:30 GMT -4
Flinching, hopping and glancing back, surprise in his eyes that dies quickly and fades back to static. His body turns, two steps that let him face her with torso askew – facing her almost in profile, a three-fourths pose, as if in conversation with his guard up. Fidgeting hands in the pockets of his shorts, sweat highlighting his neck and darkening his shirt in the Japanese summer.
“Sometimes I wonder.” Eyes to the padded floor for just a moment before glancing back to face her, tethered to her eyes after a brief trip along her wardrobe. “Ah, sorry. Yeah, I’m from Yuuei. I don’t think we’ve met.”
Japanese is enunciated and practiced, conversational only in textbooks and filled with cliches. Stoic expression melts, fades to something stubborn and sheepish and tinted red before that tether breaks, lets his eyes drift casually to the side.
“’I’m not the only one asking that question,’ huh?” Repeated, verbatim. “I guess you overheard me.”
Brief and vague regrets flashing, for speaking in Japanese instead of English, for speaking anything at all. But among those flashes is something larger, a flash of realization. Gaze retethers, latches to her eyes though the childish tint remains.
“Wait, you’re from Yuuei too in that case, right? And here I thought everyone else had it figured out.”
This whole time, his stance hasn’t shifted – fidgeting hands ready to hide, an angled torso ready to leave.
WORD COUNT: 235 NOTES: It's all good - long drawn out posts aren't something I like to do unless there are things actually happening in them. |
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 9, 2018 6:47:13 GMT -4
Yumi offered a weak smile as she rested her hands behind her back, looking up and down the boy and glad her assumptions had been right. She was never good with remembering names, sometimes needing reminders of her own classmates despite the fact she was the class president and should have probably needed knowledge of them off by heart. She noticed that the other student's japanese was...well it was good but for her, it was easy to pick up when it mightn't have been someone's first tongue, what with her mother being american. She was tempted to try her luck and speak english, but it'd be a bit awkward if she was wrong, even if english was so common.
"Nah I ain't got it figured out at all!~" She smirked despite the kind of downer topic they were on, chuckling a little into her palm and shaking her head. She tended not to tell people up front about her situation and her loose desires to be or not be a hero, but given the topic had already been brought up, hey, why not try and offer some reassurance, convince the boy he wasn't alone in his desires? "See er...I mean...I might wanna be a hero now? And even then I'm not too sure but-" She shrugged before continuing. "When I first joined UA I just wanted to learn what my quirk could do, learn to control it, either suppress it or make it useful, but...yeah. Not everyone's got it sorted on the hero front, especially not me..."
She snapped to attention as she realized she hadn't introduced herself yet, offering her hand across with a soft smile. "Oh, Yumi by the way, hero course class 1 C president.~"
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121 Posts
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16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 9, 2018 13:42:29 GMT -4
“Oh, sumimasen.”
Wait, he thinks, Did she just introduce herself with her first name alone?
She’s casual, he decides, loose and unconcerned and carefree – an aberration in the Japanese culture. Someone who lives in Japan, but is not of Japan, exiled and freed of its norms.
I guess quirkers are outcasts wherever you go. Maybe UA really is on the border of things.
Back to reality, words forming on a briefly stunned face. “Uh, I’m Robin,” following her form, “General Studies’ resident wallflower,” following her humor with the briefest tug on his lips. Hesitating - one hand lifts and pauses and finally reaches out to take the one she's offered, loose and uncommitted before he lets go.
He cocks an eyebrow, quirks the corner of his lips into an incredulous half-smile as he readjusts his stance, fidgets his hands and shuffles his feet to face her more directly. “You seem really excited for someone basically coasting on good thoughts and doubt. I’m kind of envious.”
But in her words, her testimony especially as it comes to her quirk, she speaks something that strikes close to his heart.
“But no,” glancing away for only a second, “I get it. Having a quirk you want to hide, that you want to warp and twist into something else. Something...”
Words that flow free until they’re stopped and plugged. Sighing, reaching up a hand from his pocket and scratching his neck.
“Eeeh-to, gomen. That is to say, uh… Well, I empathize. Do you mind if I ask you your quirk?”
She’ll ask him his, of course, but he’s skilled enough, the boy reasons, talented enough with its features to pass it off as something much more mundane, something much more able-to-be-shared.
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 9, 2018 19:32:38 GMT -4
Yumi caught the non-english non-japanese words but for the life of her she had no ideas what they were meant to be. She didn't find it too easy to recognize languages outside of the two she actually spoke, and even harder to learn them. She only knew english because one of her parents used it when she was a child and it became second nature to her, trying to learn something like german or spanish at her age now was near impossible for her to manage. She took the loose hand shake and listened to the boy speak.
"Robin huh?" She started, arms crossing under her chest with a simple yet warm smile. "Nice name. Cute name for a cutie patootie.~" She teased, sticking her tongue out playfully as she kept up the Yumi playfulness she was known for around school and majorly around her own class. She wondered what he meant by warping his own quirk, but at the question of what hers was, she gently patted her hip, physically reminding herself she hadn't brought her duffle bag with her hero suit in it with her to the base today...though...maybe that was a good thing. She was only wearing cheap clothes today, so it wasn't gonna be a bother for her to show what her quirk REALLY was.
"Er...ya know I could explain my quirk, but anyone can do that...you mind stepping back?" She waited for him to do so, adding 'little more' and 'almost there' till he was far enough away to be out of her shortest range, gently rolling her neck around as she loosened up. "Here so...my quirk is generating electricity...a friend of mine invented a suit that can harness it and help me be more effective...but usually...if I get upset...too angry...or too scared...its like this."
Loosening up her arms, double checking Robin was a safe distance, she clutched her hands into tight fists, threw her body forward, and bent her knees, trying to tense her muscles while making herself slightly 'smaller' to send the shock streams a lesser distance, the electrical streams burning through her clothes as her ponytail whipped up and down like a live wire, and her clothes began to burn against her electrified, neon blue skin. Sooner rather than later, she took a deep breath and her burning energy faded away, rearing her head back a little dizzy from the exertion, but otherwise smiling, her shorts only faintly scorched, while her tanktop had developed a midrift and a scorch hole that showed a bit of the red bra under her clothes.
"Y-yeah so...h-having a 'shock bomb' isn't easy to grow up with...u-used to just generate static but...it got stronger as i grew up...and now if im not careful people can't even get near me...heh." She smiled a little and shrugged, not needing to ask Robin's quirk, because she didn't want him to feel pressured to share as she added. "But hey, that's my quirk for ya.~ See why i needed to learn to control it?"
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121 Posts
0 EP
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Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 9, 2018 20:12:50 GMT -4
Backing away just like she asks, welcoming the chance to hide reddening cheeks behind distance, pursed lips, and narrowed eyes, like a kid eating something sour. “Cutie patootie?”
It’s a show, that indignation – against his will, something rises and is stifled in his heart.
Am I cute? He wonders, although coming from a girl like Yumi it’s not a compliment he wants to throw away.
You really are unique, huh?
And then she explodes – live wire hot and flailing, bright blue rainbows that arc everywhere and out, instant and sudden. Fleeting, strobing light that paints harsh lines and shadow from every direction, an artist with a wandering perspective, like a cubist painting.
In a delinquent’s heart, the nerd he’s buried beats and claws at the dirt to the rhythm of his pulse, climbs from his chest to his head to shine bright in dark blue eyes like the reflected arc bolts in front of him.
“That’s so cool...”
Mumbled, a little piece that slips and escapes.
A real quirk, the words come to his mind. Genuine superpowers, the kind in manga and anime.
And he’s transfixed, locked from the moment she starts until the moment she ends. And he’s smiling, just enough for a bitter taste to play on his tongue, just enough to remind himself of his own quirk. Speaking of cute...
“’Learn to control it,’ no kidding. You’d burn through a whole wardrobe without it.” It seems like the politest way to address it, he thinks, uncertain if the girl would be embarrassed. Approaching as he speaks, one casual foot in front of the other. “Uh, speaking of, I have a spare shirt in my bag if you need it. I’m not a stranger to burning through clothes with my quirk.”
And Ryouta plays back in his head, tells him to fight and push forward and live, and his gaze drops from her eyes to her torso to her hips to his hand, low and loose in front of him – flexing fingers, watching tendons press taut against skin.
Watching his hand twitch with every beat of his heart.
Hesitating. She hasn’t asked, but maybe, he thinks.
Maybe I can be on that level too.
“So, uh, did you not want to see mine?"
Still tiptoeing through the conversation, careful not to commit.
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 10, 2018 13:56:40 GMT -4
"Oh pssssh, think nothing of that. Its why I buy cheap shit, unless I specifically get something electro proofed of course!~" She pointed a thumb to the hints of her bra showing through her tanktop, the fabric clearly not even singed from what little could be seen, and even her normal clothes were a lot less ruined than they normally where, so she couldn't complain, and honestly hearing Robin offer a shirt made her chuckle, given the amount of times she'd ruined her clothes infront of her classmates and not one of them had offered to lend her their clothes.
"I appreciate the offer but I certainly don't need it. I mean my entire class has seen me in a worse state, far worse, not gonna bother me if one other person at school does." She wasn't counting for the numerous strangers she'd have to pass on her way home, but even if she did she wouldn't really care. She absolutely loved feeling free and comfortable, so it wasn't like this was gonna stop her even for a second. "Seriously though, sweet of you to even offer.~ Got class mates who see me as a prez and even they don't offer.~"
At the offer of showing their own quirk, or the question that hinted to a similar result, she smirked a little and rolled her shoulders back with a smirk. "I mean, if you wanna show me your quirk i'd definitely enjoy the demonstration, but I wouldn't want you feeling pressured to show me or anything. I mean, you're not sure you want to be a hero, so I wouldn't wanna force you to show a quirk you might not be proud of? But hey! I'm game to see if you're game to show!~ Need something maybe? I know some quirks need like, a bottle of water to help it along and stuff."
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121 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 10, 2018 17:13:58 GMT -4
“Okay, but I’m not the only one who’s going to see - ”
And he stops, freezes and lets his arms fall limp, shuts his eyes and laughs, breathy and candid through his nose. And he realizes she probably wouldn’t even care.
“Suit yourself then. I’m kind of jealous of how confident you are, to be honest...” Words starting strong and trailing, fading to a mumbled and muted English, one he hopes she doesn’t hear.
Her words start flowing, and as she’s speaking the bag on his shoulders slides down and off an arm, unzips with the help of the other. A candy bar, a tiny wafer covered in chocolate that he breaks open and eats whole.
“What kind of man would I be if I let someone else show off their quirk and their underwear without trying to see how I square up? And besides,” glancing away for a moment, counting the stitches in the wall of the tent, “you said you weren’t sure either, even with a quirk like yours. It’s not really pressure, and I worked hard on my quirk so it’s not really pride either, it’s just - ”
Words are flat, not quite forced. Wrapper crinkled and creased in his palm as a fist squeezes shut and opens again – melted plastic in his hand like the vibrant center of a blooming flower.
“Well, you kind of caught me in a weird mood, I guess. Maybe I do want to show off for once – who knows.”
The tent is spacious if boring – empty save for the two of them and the training dummies to the side, many of plastic or another artificial material, some few of wood. Robin’ s eyes glancing, saccadic dance that settles on the closest target. He rolls his shoulders, sheds his bag. Flexes a palm, closed then open.
“My quirk is pretty simple.”
Reaching up and forward, gripping and squeezing the dummy’s face.
Straining, focus.
She can see him tense, the muscles in sequence – tendons in his palms squeeze taut and pull his forearm with it, his bicep and shoulder in sequence all the way to his feet. Eyes shut, tongue dry - temperature’s rising in the tent, hotter than the sun outside – a space heater set to max and trapped under a kotatsu. A body hot and red like molten steel, weak enough to be forged.
A plastic face warping, charring under his palm.
「Some Like It Hot」 Announced and softly spoken in English while he’s focused, through streams of evaporated sweat and the threads on his shoulder just on the verge of smoldering.
Gasping, tearing his hand away from the dummy and waving it in the air, gripping his palm with his back turned, like he’d been burned – wincing with a token effort to hide it until he’s recovered enough to face her again, resting hands on his hips and what he probably thinks is a cool expression on his face.
“Uh, my sister’s name for it. It’s an old movie, apparently, from the ‘50s – Uh, the 1950s that is. Basically, I can make a lot of heat for a lot of calories. That’s all.”
And scratching a cheek.
“Not nearly as flashy as yours, admittedly.”
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 16, 2018 12:20:42 GMT -4
Yumi smirked a little at the comments about her showing off her underwear, rolling her eyes to it rather than showing any sense of embarrassment. She was too used to the side effect of her quirk, and even just used to being so intimate she’d probably strip just to cuddle more comfortably with a friend, but that was her own business for now. What she focused on was the quirk of her schoolmate, crossing her arms as she offered him her full attention, her eyes widening as immediately, with the room around them hotting up, she felt a relation to Maxi, only in reverse of course. The endothermic qualities of her friend from 1 A compared to the exothermic qualities of Robin before her was an easy relation to make and a faintly amusing one as she admired what he could do.
The way he announced his quirk in English confirmed some earlier suspitions though, leaving her with a cheeky giggle of her own as she made sure to make a note of that going forward. When the quirk died down, she gave a gentle applaud and stepped forward again, smirking about it too, finding it quite impressive how much heat he could produce.
“Nice one there Robin! Definitely got something going for ya. Pretty similar to one of Class 1 A’s students if you’re questioning if your quirk is what has hero potential. She cheekily rested a hand on her hip though, starting to speak in English to see if it was more than just the name he could use. 「Why’d you put the name in English though? Might throw off any Japanese fans you earn when they can’t understand what their hero is saying.~」
She smirked a little, hoping she’d get a response back in English and she wasn’t left being the one misunderstood. Whatever the answer though, she was oddly feeling a little competitive, taking some steps back and cracking her knuckles as Darren’s influence crawled through her, letting out a slow breath. “Really though, it is impressive…and if you put yourself to it and get something out of the hero course, you can go from that…to something like THIS!”
Clenching her fists, she through her head forward and clenched her teeth, her hair-tie instantly burning away and her hair flowing freely as it rose towards the ceiling. Her quirk before had been impressive, but this was certainly something more, her electrical power burning the air itself and vaporizing the rest of her clothes that weren’t electro proof, leaving her in a sports bra and spats, her shoes the only things thick enough to even remotely survive, but even they were worse for wear, the laces on her boots snapping in multiple places, and some of the thicker material fusing together in a way that’d make them a bitch to get out of later, though still majorly functionable. Robin would even find his hair standing on end even at his safe distance.
“What ya think?~” She reared back and spread her arms to display herself with confidence. “Ain’t learned much control, but I’ve certainly learned how to make it stronger since I started the course!~”
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121 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 16, 2018 20:51:55 GMT -4
「Because I’m American.」A faint smile tugs at his lips as he scratches a cheek. 「Plus, Japanese people use English for style all the time, c’mon. I’ve seen enough anime to know that. I’m just surprised you’re as fluent as you are.」
His English is more fluid, natural and casual compared to the Japanese he’d studied and never spoken before moving. She can hear inflection in his voice, the barest hint of emotion as he slowly loses his guard. Hesitating – he pauses, wants to ask her more and debates speaking the words, but the pause is long enough for her to take back the conversation.
And she upstages him, plays up his quirk and then immediately outshines it – he hears it, sees it, can smell and taste it as lightning arcs and ionizes the air around. Strobing blue light synced in time with zaps and cracks – it strikes from her body to the edge of his feet, like a jagged rainbow that shines for only a moment.
And her clothes...
If she had wanted to fluster him, it worked. His composed persona is stripped, burns and falls away in time with her clothes until she stops and turns and throws her arms out wide. Eyes are wide and still tethered to her, but they wander and flit and try to find a compromise between her eyes and her skin and her chest and hips and legs, try to hide where they want to look even as a bright red face tells her everything.
‘It’s an amazing quirk,’ he thinks with the blood left in his head. ‘Strong and flashy – perfect to match her personality. Loud enough and bright enough to end most fights before they begin.’
‘If I’d been born with something like that instead, things might’ve been a lot different.’
「Man, you really are confident, huh? It’s hard to think you have doubts at all.」Mumbled in English before he swallows hard and picks up, louder and bolder and speaking in Japanese. “It’s amazing, honestly. One of the ideal quirks you see on TV from vigilantes. Right out of a manga. And if it’s not even as strong as it could be yet, like if you can control it and direct it, then that’s even more incredible.”
And the next words flow without thought, piped straight from his heart to his lips with a smirk.
“But I’m stronger than I let on before, too.” A thumb rises, uncertain before jamming into his chest with conviction. “I held back because my quirk has a – well, a similar problem, but if we’re going all in, then...”
Do I just want to prove I can keep up?
“Well, like I said. I’m in a weird mood, if you’re willing to see it.”
And assuming she does, he kicks off his shoes, lets his two feet carry him past the scorched plastic dummy and right in front of a wooden one. Rolling his shoulders, flexing his fingers.
“I haven’t – ” he hesitates, “pushed this hard in a while.”
But once again, he braces his legs, spreads his palm and squeezes the dummy’s head. And the temperature rises, sprints past uncomfortable to suffocating. His muscles tensing, pressed tight against the visible skin as he presses his palm flat against its wooden face.
Teeth clenched and visible through grunting lips – He flexes and squeezes and the temperature barrels upward. His clothes smolder, the threads on his shoulders glinting and bursting, rising in smoke, followed by the threads on his back, on his legs. Small patches burn out as if used to extinguish a cigarette before spreading, becoming too big to repair.
Clothes in his bag, he reminds himself. Push harder.
And soon the wood smolders too – smoke rises from his palm in the shape of his hand, leaks through cracks as his hand sinks into the ashed up imprint of himself on the dummy. His hair flutters, lifted by rapidly heated air, rising and mingling and blowing a hot breeze through the room.
I need to know if I can!
And he cries out, stretches and strains.
And inside, he feels himself trip.
He strains his quirk like someone strains their finger, powers up for a flick that never comes while their thumb holds it in place – but a quirk is a part of the body, can be worked and strengthened, or overworked and torn. And his quirk’s thumb slips and tears and falls loose, and the power, the energy and fuel he’s poured into his quirk spills out and over and topples him through a barrier he’d never wanted to reveal.
A blast of burning heat ripples out with him at its center, followed by a hollow cold. He falls, slinks forward onto his knees and butt, and all at once his body starts to change, rapidly. She sees him shrink in his clothes, the tatters that are left, sees his hips grow wide and his shoulders narrow. Dark blue eyes become a bright green, dark black hair lightens, becomes brown and long as it falls from his scalp like a curtain suddenly dropped. His whole body softens, loses angles and gains shape, including his face until the boy is no longer recognizable as a boy.
The process takes seconds. Where he’d been standing now sits someone smaller, someone softer and half a foot shorter. A girl, Yumi would have to guess from a nearly exposed chest and a shirt burned wide open, one that slips over her shoulders and down her arms, a burned strip of sweat-soaked fabric instead of the clothing it once was. Her shorts are similar, but maintain her modesty.
And that girl pants, breathing heavy, exhausted and hurt and dazed – the hole in her gut, an insatiable hunger tells her she’d pushed too hard, didn’t have enough fuel. Arms slump to her sides, rest limp on the concrete ground in a pose she doesn’t even register. Her vision is dim, her eyes unfocused, and she clenches, strains and tries to hold on to consciousness.
“Shit...” Called in an exhausted whisper. Even her voice has shifted, a soft soprano instead of his flat bass.
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 18, 2018 20:01:31 GMT -4
Smirking as she confirmed the origins of her new friend (she decided people would be her friends very early. Heck she could glance at you the right way and suddenly you’re stuck with her considering you as a friend) she smirked a little as they went on to tease about the English usages in anime, and lightly giggled into the back of her palm. 『Well I speak it pretty fluently myself, so if it feels easier for you don’t be afraid to keep using it okay? My Mom’s actually American, so it isn’t gonna hurt me any to try and practice the language I got from her side of the family you know?~』
She gave a light, playful wink at that final set of words, lifting a finger with a stylish flourish, tending to hold cute or dynamic little poses now and then to punctuate words or actions. A bad habit hse’d picked up from watching too many anime and western cartoons, but given how much personality it could lend to her actions she didn’t regret picking it up in the slightest.
In truth, anime and cartoons were exactly why she’d begun to learn English. Her mother, despite her origins, hadn’t spoken it much around the house and only switched to it when Yumi was a child as a means of hiding conversations from her, ones Yumi sadly couldn’t translate even now solely because her memory had processed it as white noise and left her unable to recall the words used in fine enough detail to translate. Still, when anime characters used English to try and make something sound cool, or sometimes even silly, Yumi had begun to pick thing’s up. Using the words ‘giga drill break’ when imitating an old anime she was a fan of was actually what got her mother to start teaching her the language more thoroughly.
After her little display, the edges of her electro proof fabrics still singing a little with a brief orange glow to them that rapidly began to fade, Yumi held a prideful smirk as she enjoyed the words of praise from her new friend, doing that ‘rub knuckles against chest’ think she’d seen in many a cartoon and if she was honest didn’t fully understand as a gesture. “Oh that’s just some practice and hard work is all. Im still finding it hard to lower my output, but for now, raising it is definitely something too. Just gotta get that refined control down ya know?~” She gave a light wink to punctuate her words once more.
With the English words she lightly rolled her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a similar vibe to the conversation she’d had with Alex in the paintball fields the other day. Her quirk was flashy and perhaps even powerful, but she wanted to learn how to use it without it being so devastating in fact. Sure she could use her suit to control and refine it, but without it, she was still a wild card, and she couldn’t appreciate that about herself, no matter how powerful her outbursts could become or not.
Lifting her eyes, she gave a weak smile. “I have confidence in the things I don’t need confidence in I guess is all. I’m still working on the stuff I need to, and I’ll let ya know when I have enough skill in those areas to show some confidence, but for now, you’ll have to be stuck with me showing off how powerful I’m making my quirk eh?~”
Hearing that Robin also had more to show, Yumi rubbed her hands together and kept her distance, rapidly feeling heat fill the room as the other student of UA began to superheat themselves once more. She wondered if it was an internal process that pushed heat outwards, or if it vibrated molecules in the air. Whatever it was it was certainly impressive how hot they could go without even being on the hero course (they had said they were in the support classes right? She’d have to ask again later to be sure.) and she was eager to see if this was truly the limit.
She could see the determination on his face, and her own eyes widened as she watched him push himself further and further, waiting for the dummy to ignite and just watch it burst into flames. She didn’t realize she’d begun chanting light words of encouragement under her breath, wanting this person to somehow be better then them just to see them succeed and grinning wider and wider the closer they seemed to get as the dummy seemed so close to ignition and-!
“….” Her eyes widened but her irises shrank…what…what was…her hair had been pushed backwards and her body felt a gust of air against it as the sudden burst of heat beyond the barrier Robin had been pushing against pushed a strong gust of air outward from them, but Yumi was far more stunned by the new person suddenly laying on the floor…she was stunned for far too long and as she came to her senses she rushed over and slid onto her knees, trying to lightly stir the…girl…?
Before long, Yumi had put aside her very confused questions for now and lifted the girl in her arms with some strain, managing to take her just outside the room and catching the attention of a soldier who easily carried robin from there, trying to avoid answering questions as to why the both of them were in states of undress. Robin was laid on a med bay bed, briefly examined, and left to rest, Yumi nervously watching over…herrrr…the whole while, her eyes tracing up and down the girl’s body and biting her lip as she resisted the unusual urge to ask things even while Robin couldn’t answer any of them, biting her nails and even pinching herself a little when the thought occurred to very rudely check if everything had changed, but the over-whelming urge to simply look out for Robin till she woke up persisted above everything else.
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121 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 18, 2018 22:36:18 GMT -4
Consciousness dim and bright like a flickering bulb – she catches pieces before fading, Yumi calling and prodding, the jostle of being carried and the heat of the sun.
The utter shame of having fallen before she fades completely.
---
“She’s certainly unconscious,” the nurse confirms, shining a light into an eye he pries open, “but I don’t see any evidence of injury, nothing external, nothing cranial. You said she just fainted, didn’t you?”
And if Yumi confirms, the nurse sighs and scratches his head. “Heat stroke maybe, but she doesn’t seem dehydrated either. Stress if I had to guess, especially if her quirk burned up her clothes like that. Here,” he reaches into the pack at his side, pulls out a cold bottle of water still sweating drops, “if you’re sticking around, tell her to drink this when she wakes up, and don’t let her leave until we’ve taken another look. Alright?”
He turns walks brisk and steady to the privacy flap of their section, where he pauses, faces back with a smile. “And thanks again for bringing her here. She’s lucky to have a friend like you around.”
The flap rises and falls, ruffles as it catches a light breeze blowing through the tent.
---
Robin’s eyes flutter open after some time – she aches, tired and stiff like a bad night of rest. Gaze traces above her, counts stitches and threads of the tent above before they fall to the side.
Instantly a tired expression becomes panic.
She knows this sensation, the feeling of this body – she’s short and light with heavy hair and a heavier chest – smooth skin reacts and shivers with fabric. The shape of her face, her hands, her arms.
And Yumi staring at her side.
The girl jerks awake, wide and terrified and tries to suddenly fling herself into a sitting position before crying out and collapsing back down, wincing while her body recovers. Blanket ruffled and tossed aside, barely covering her legs and revealing the small girl in her loosely fitted clothes with everything loose inside. Her body shakes in a way she knows must be seen – the red painted on her face glows as she feels it.
And with escape off the table, wide green eyes stare to the girl but can’t meet her eyes.
“Y- Yumi, it’s not-! What, um…! What did you see, exactly?”
And they fall further still, skewed to the side.
“Do you know who I am?”
Her hand travels up, feels for a collar to grip and finds it's not there - instead it plays with her neck, runs to its side and along the front while the other makes certain the cloth clinging to her swelled up chest stays there.
WORD COUNT: 452 NOTES: She's using the masculine "boku" on that last line. |
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1,884 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
18 Years
Female
"x"
Student-Rank Quirk:
U.A Third Year
Played by:
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Post by Yumi Tasukai on Sept 19, 2018 16:00:31 GMT -4
Yumi nodded along to the words of the nurse, not about to question what thse was saying and taking her word for it. The temptation to mention the shift in gender was present but she forced herself not to as Robin had seemed rather flustered and embarrassed by what had happened the brief moment before she’d…he’d…they’d fallen unconscious,. Leaving Yumi feeling like it was best this be kept a secret. The doctor wasn’t a quirk user by the look of things anyway, so it was best she keep it secret since the information would be useless anyway, especially since so many quirks could be so diverse and hard to really quantify or measure in medical process without years of medical history to work off of.+ she wondered if the information could be helpful in any way but all the same she forced herself to bite her tongue for Robin’s sake, taking the water bottle with a nod and looking to the girl with some worry, a slow sigh leaving her lips as she just observed the sleeping figure of her school mate, worry coursing through every inch of her body.
She herself had changed into some spare clothes offered to her by a soldier, an open jacket over her sports bra and military camo pants on her legs, a bit oversized and needing a small belt to keep them up, she looked like a child trying to fit into an older siblings clothes but she still seemed mostly comfortable, though that changed a little as Robin began to stir. She seemed to be taking herself in, and it was honestly a look Yumi was semi-familiar with. She’d lost a lot of weight drastically when she started using her quirk again in her teens, and everyday she’d wake up with a similar gaze in her eyes, the sensation of their body being familiar, yet so unfamiliar at the same time. At the words coming from her lips and the clear worries on her face…
Yumi took a slow breath, trying to calm both of them before she spoke clearly and openly.
“I didn’t see anything you didn’t want me to…and I think that depends on [i[who[/i] you are?”
Yumi didn’t wanna step on any toes and so she tried to keep her words both vague and clear. The intent was that while she had seen everything, if the girl before her wanted her to pretend she hadn’t seen anything, that’s exactly what she’d do. And in turn, she left it open for Robin to say who they were. It definitely seemed like being a girl wasn’t foreign to them, and so was it a different identity? Where they still robin or someone else. Yumi definitely didn’t want to step on any toes with such a sensitive subject there? The tension maybe lingered for a moment before she remembered the cold bottle in her hands, handing it out with a small but weak, worried, caring smile as she waited for Robin to take it.
“Drink the whole thing if you can, doctors orders.”
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121 Posts
0 EP
EXP
Total
16 Years
Uncertain-male?
Student-Rank Quirk:
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Post by Robin Engell on Sept 20, 2018 0:00:31 GMT -4
‘She knows,’ she thinks.
Yumi’s tact and compassion are forgotten, not even grasped as her timid gaze falls from embarrassment to frustration to fear.
「 Shit.」 Spoken plainly and softly in English with her gaze buried in her own lap.
「 Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit… .」
She’s seen, and she knows, and this new life he had planned, where he could leave himself behind and wouldn’t be laughed at, where his quirk is amazing and the tool of a hero instead of a freak – all of those efforts to leave his past behind fall away, patchwork, burned up like the threads in his clothes.
“You know who I am.”
It’s spoken as realization, as statement of fact, resignation and defeat. One small hand clenches and squeezes, pulls tight into a fist and punches the mattress underneath.
「Shit! Shit, shit shit shit!」
And she looks up nearly crying, hiding tears where the whites in her eyes turn red – ready to lash out, ready to defend against ridicule, to fight against the rejection she knows has to come.
And yet all she finds is compassion.
Yumi with a worried glance, a bottle outstretched.
“Drink the whole thing...” She repeats.
She flexes her toes, tests her legs. Pain still in her bones, in her blood, but rapidly shrinking – she’ll run just like she wants to soon. But for now the bottle is tentatively gripped, accepted and twisted open and softly sipped, just enough for parched lips.
Shameful gaze turned down.
“I’m waiting for the punchline, so go ahead and say it. I’m stuck like this for now so you can get all your laughs in.”
WORD COUNT: 277 NOTES: Still using "boku". |
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