deercountry | Neither ever, nor never

Entry tags:

Neither ever, nor never

Who: Midoriya and: Luz, Ruby, Todoroki, Lance, Riz, Snow White, Makoto Kino + YOU? Plot with me here
What: October, including event stuff. Ugly crying. Making friends with Cloverfield lol. Black Parade. Corpse shadow Loneliness thing. Learning to cook with a bear.
When: October
Where: Black Parade. Farther Shores. Cellar Door. Grocery market.

Content Warnings: My Hero Academia spoilers, grieving behavior, intoxicating craving for meat (thanks Beastars), intoxication due to this month's vileblood effects, minimizing one's own feelings.
Cloverfield's event effects, which can include: psychological-based curse, feelings of intense loneliness, mental health.
Mention of: capital punishment, child abuse, underground drug war, harvesting of human flesh and blood without consent.

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Back home regular practice had been a part of her normal schedule, both karate and judo. Which only helped with the regular fights that she got in standing up to bullies and jerks, as well as the monsters and enemies that she encountered since reawakening as Sailor Jupiter.

Midoriya had mentioned that he was training to become a hero, and she admired him a little for that. She wondered though how serious he was about it and if it was something that he should do. After all, she'd been injured pretty bad numerous times fighting, and had even died fighting her enemies on more than one occasion. Luckily either way a little bit of sparring wouldn't hurt and if nothing else would give him some way to defend himself.

Makoto showed up just wearing a pair of dark slacks and a t-shirt with a jacket. She was a few minutes late, but not enough for it to really be noticeable. Usagi hadn't been home and Atsushi was sleeping so she had to leave a note telling them where she'd be.

"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting. What you looking at?"

"Not at all!"

He got the distinct feeling he'd overdressed, but... too late now. He smiled awkwardly, a stark contrast to the cool, confident person he was looking at. He felt slightly embarrassed to be caught being a nerd reading his nerd stuff. On the page was what looked like someone in full armor decorated with mufflers doing a roundhouse kick. (He first learned how to kick from his classmate, Iida.) His drawing was... crude, but passable.

"My notes. I write down anything that might be useful." He closed it and stood up.

"Nice to meet you in person. I usually go by my hero name Deku online, but you can call me Midoriya too." He'd taken to calling deerNet the internet; it was the closest thing he had here to it.

"That's a pretty good idea. I have a friend that probably wishes the rest of us would do something like that, especially when it's time to study."

Ami had been the only of the Senshi to not arrive in Deerington or Trench yet since Makoto had been there. Each day she missed the studious girl, though Makoto also wouldn't wish the things that happened here on anyone. Offering a small nod and bow as he reintroduced himself, Makoto put out a small peace sign.

"You can just call me Makoto. It's nice to meet you too."

After all with Usagi's stories more people knew her given name than her family name anyways. So he'd already picked out a name and everything, she guessed he was pretty serious about the hero thing then. It was kind of encouraging.

"So where did you come up with Deku?"

He bowed.

"O-OK, Makoto-san." He'll do his best to remember to use her given name... Goodness, it was Asui--well, Tsuyu all over again. The polite Midoriya was used to calling his classmates by their last names, except for Bakugou, who he'd known for years.

He figured she might ask. It was a weird hero name for sure, and he wasn't used to explaining why. But he gave a steady smile.

"I didn't, not really. It was an old insult actually, from when I was a kid. But when I started high school, a new friend of mine said it was like, 'You can do it!'* It completely changed the meaning for me. She made me look at it differently. So, when it was time for us to pick our hero names, it had to be that."

He felt a wave of homesickness, and his throat threatened to tighten up on him. Harder to put into words was how much he missed Uraraka.

"Ah--Actually, here she is."

He opened his notebook to a page with someone in a bodysuit and helmet. There were some incomplete notes on martial arts stances and grips at the bottom.

"My notes from home didn't come with me. I've had to recreate them. This journal was in my backpack when I arrived, so I started filling it."

*deku: useless, lit. "puppet"
dekiru: to be able (to do)

She wouldn't object to him calling her Kino if he was more comfortable with it, she had just gotten accustomed to how many people here didn't really use family names or honorifics. She'd even gotten into the habit of dropping them a lot.

At the explanation of the name, she sympathized a bit. Kids were pretty cruel, and while no one really picked on Makoto they did avoid and shun her, talked about her behind her back about rumors of her being kicked out of her previous school for fighting.

"Sounds like a pretty good friend. Was she the one teaching you how to fight too?"

Makoto glanced at the pictures and the notes, well he knew at least a little bit. She could probably help him out and at least help him replace the notes that he had before.

[[OOC: speaking of delays and being slow, I'm going to be gone for about a week and a half. But would love to continue backtagging this if you'd like. Makoto would be surprisingly strong, and he might occasionally see sparks, but for the most part, she'll just be a pretty normal girl sparring.]]

As for Midoriya, he just lets people call him whatever.

He smiled warmly. He had largely moved past his bad years, and Uraraka had helped him do it. "She's my classmate, but we all learn from each other too. I'm hoping to do the same thing and continue my training here."

Alright, if he was honest, he stole moves from multiple classmates, and teachers, and Pro Heroes... Starting from rock bottom put him in a position of having to grab any experience he could. He put his notebook away. Reminiscing was nice, and a little bittersweet, but he was conscious of taking up someone else's time.

"My Quirk is super-strength, so I've mostly been a close-range fighter. Is that your specialty too?"

Even with his increased speed and strength, there was always the chance that a sparring partner with good reaction times could use that against him. His long-range air blast attacks were still rough around the edges too. He needed to practice more so he could do them faster and without thinking.

"Leaning and supporting each other is an important part of friendship. I count on my friends for a lot and would do anything to help keep them safe."

When it came to Usagi or any of the other girls, Makoto was very much the type to charge into anything headfirst without hesitation. Atsushi of course had joined those that she would do anything for as well, and the circle of those that she considered friends was constantly expanding it seemed. A lot more rapidly here than it had ever at home.

At the mention of super strength and close-range fighting, Makoto nodded her head and started stretching a little.

"Yeah, don't worry about holding back or anything while we're sparring. I'm pretty strong and I don't really feel much. I've been training in martial arts since I was young, and I've never really used a weapon or anything, so hand to hand is what I'm best at."

Though if she used her crystal to call upon the powers of Jupiter she had plenty of other choices as well.

"Me too." It was why he was so torn up about being a world away from his friends.

He already did stretches before she arrived, but he can't help feeling excited and running through a few again.

"I won't go easy," he promised enthusiastically. After she got a feel for where he was at, he was thinking he'd love to learn some new martial arts moves.

"But if you don't feel much, how will you know if you have an injury?"

He didn't care too much about danger to himself. He had hurt himself in the past over and over enough that, even with the help of someone's healing Quirk, he had to be careful about the lasting effects in his arms. It was why he'd switched to mainly kicks. However, he was always more concerned about others, and he didn't want someone to end up in a similar position as himself.

"Things might be numbed a bit but I can still feel the movement and all of that, if there were a serious injury I'd be able to tell by the way it moved. And whether or not it would support any weight."

That and the power of Jupiter had it a point of pointing out any injuries or illness since she'd arrived jolts of electricity that would spread out to protect the injury. She'd shocked more than one person trying to help tend to her injuries before.

"I recover pretty quick too. But don't push yourself too hard either, this is just for a bit of practice, no reason to hurt ourselves especially since this is our first sparring session."

Makoto pulled off her jacket and set it on some nearby rocks to keep it out of the sand.

"Let me know when you're ready."

"Got it," he said brightly. "I'll trust your judgement."

Midoriya was prepared to feel it out a little, maybe stop the sparring to get some pointers, trade tips, etc. There was a time and place for all-out matches, usually just against people in his year, or at work against real villains. Still, he couldn't help but think of the one time his class met an upperclassman who gave a demonstration and wiped the floor with them. Today, he was similarly excited to measure the distance between himself and someone who's been practicing martial arts for years.

UA students didn't usually get the luxury of someone asking if they were ready. They had timed matches against unseen opponents, rescue simulations where they didn't know where the training dummies were, and surprise pit stops to battle earth beasts made by their supervisor. During the set times where they were supposed to do hero training, as long as they were on training grounds, a teacher or classmate could come at them at any moment.

Midoriya walked a respectable distance away from their belongings to prevent damage to them. He took a stance, one leg back, turned to the side to expose less of him, hands loose. He could activate his Quirk like breathing by now, a windy energy crackling around and throughout him. His usual shy smile when speaking to people he doesn't know well is replaced with a confident, eager grin.

"Ready! And thank you!"

Makoto nodded,

"Alright, here I come."

She had a feeling that he'd be waiting for her, and so she charged in pretty quickly. Keeping her steps small, avoiding crossing her legs or getting off balance. It would start simple she threw a punch towards his chest to gauge his reaction.

Since he had just been looking at his notes on her, he couldn't help thinking how cool Uraraka looked when she arched her back to dodge, sidestepped her opponent, grabbed their outstretched arm and back of the neck, and pushed them prone on the ground. How many times he had watched her do it... His reflexes are on par with hers, normal human, but his movements are augmented by his Quirk.

Instead of going for a throw or a kick like he usually might, he thought he might try something similar. He wasn't being graded on this sparring, so he felt free to experiment.

Gunhead Martial Arts!! He doesn't shout it, but thinking it has the same rousing effect.

Alright, so his reflexes were good, as e grabbed her wrist and began to twist his body she recognized the type of move he was going for. Using the attacker's momentum against them was a smart move, especially when they have both the height and weight advantage. Makoto was able to adjust and rather than being slammed to the ground rolled and flipped forward, though she still found her arm twisted and trapped behind her. She twisted it to grab his wrist and pull him closer as she drew up a knee.

"Not bad."

He had obviously trained at least a little in martial arts. A grapple like that was hard to pull off for someone that was just starting.

His eyes widened, but he grinned. His inexperience with a new move showed, but he was thrilled to have tried it.

He hadn't accounted for any proper recommended follow-up moves for this one, and instead had to improvise when his opponent turned the tables. No time to dodge her knee. He blocked it with his shin, but his hold on her was already compromised. She was holding him. (And his shin hurt.)

When he took his first final exam, he had struggled futilely with a teacher's hand holding him, instead of going on the offensive. He was more sure of himself now. Instead of grappling with her hand, he jump kicked towards her side, twisting his hips to give it extra torque. He aimed to use his shin and the inert flat of his armored shoe, not the spring-loaded toes that were for smashing giant opponents or concrete walls.

He was much faster and stronger than he would be without his Quirk, but the windup to his moves was easy to read.

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Neither ever, nor never

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whoops got sick but better late than never

No need to apologize, I've been slow as well. I hope you feel better.

\o/

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ooc: totally!

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