ange "the definition of chuunibyou" ushiromiya (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
entreats) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2022-12-07 09:20 pm
entreats) wrote in deercountry2022-12-07 09:20 pm
(closed) december catchall
Who: Ange (entreats), Chizuru (tealeafs), Daniel (miyagimagic) and various others.
What: December shenanigans.
When: During all of December.
Where: Locations vary.
Content Warnings: Bullying, (mild) violence, will edit to add more later.
( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
queeningsquare, i'm always open to new ideas and threads! )
entreats), Chizuru (tealeafs), Daniel (miyagimagic) and various others.What: December shenanigans.
When: During all of December.
Where: Locations vary.
Content Warnings: Bullying, (mild) violence, will edit to add more later.
( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at
no subject
But here Mob is - already able to say such a thing at his age, even younger than the Daniel who's standing over here, fighting for his life. Mob can be pretty mature, Daniel realises, or perhaps just perceptive of other people's feelings.
It makes him feel like he ought to be honest about that question in return, even though it's a little harder to talk about. (It's good for Mob to know too, he thinks. That even people who are grownups now dealt with that in the past. That it can be normal.) Daniel exhales, a hand touching the wedding ring on his other hand as he thinks, and then finally speaks.
"Not for what he did to me." Not in this case, anyway. That didn't come until later, until another awful situation unfolded after this one. "But I did blame myself for being scared."
no subject
"How um- how did you stop blaming yourself for that?" he finds himself asking. His eyes keep sliding back to the fight, even knowing it's going to end well. "I mean, I think it's braver to do something even if you're scared to but sometimes..."
(96%, 97%)
"It's easy to be scared for a long time after it's over. It feels kind of," he struggles for a moment with the word, settling on one that makes him a little uncomfortable for how honest it is, "pathetic."
no subject
And instead he just looks at Mob. There's something about that question that just fully grabs Daniel's attention, or maybe it's the way the boy adds that word at the end there.
Pathetic.
That is what it feels like, isn't it? The moment Terry Silver wandered into his dojo, thirty years later, and Daniel realised that he hadn't gotten rid of his fear at all in all that time, that he was in ways still that teenager. (Pathetic.)
"Shigeo.."
There's something so soft in Daniel's gaze. Worried, even. The other may not be outright saying anything here, but he sure is implying something that threatens to break the man's heart. Enough to forget about the literal fight to the death going on down there.
".. have you been really scared before? What happened..?"
1/2
(It feels like how someone would handle a normal kid.)
He looks to his hand. What happened? Some of it couldn't be helped and worked out for the best anyway. Some of it didn't even happen, really, no matter how it felt. It's hard to decide which he means and Mob isn't sure if that's because none of it really mattered as much as it felt or because there's too much to choose from. Neither answer feels good to think about, and normally he'd try to let it go but-
There's thumping and sounds of pain coming from the stage, the crowd's faces tight. If he looks up he knows he'll see Daniel only a few years older than him and bloodied, the weight of a girl's life in his hands, watched by everyone because he's the one targeted. Maybe because he's the only one with the power to do so.
Mob glances to Daniel, the sensei he knows, and his chest tightens again with that feeling from before. He finally starts to recognize it, the same sort of feeling he got as Serizawa spoke on that staircase, talking about his fear of himself and his power, how trapped he was.
(98%, 99%)
Just the thought that Daniel, the young man before them and the man who survived him into adulthood, could really-
2/2! also shonen typical kids in violent fights cw (tagged the wrong comment sorry...
100%
There isn't much in this place that Mob can even interact with. Nothing floats besides his hair, maybe Daniel's as well. No one in the crowd reacts to the glow of his powers seeping out across everything, the floor doesn't crack and the wind doesn't pick up. It'd be a relief if Mob even fully noticed what was happening, which he doesn't really. All he really feels is a deep empathy that his his usual placid expression twisting into a more genuine look, subdued but sad around the edges, tired. Sympathetic as the violence still happens behind them.
His powers can still interact with Daniel though, and they curl around the man as Mob quietly says, "Sometimes. Sometimes people won't listen. They just want to fight-"
A memory flashes through Daniel's mind-
A blond boy, hair oddly sheared down to the top of his skull, his hands at Mob's neck. The classroom around is wrecked, walls fallen, rubble around, and the boy is squeezing hard. Tears bead at Mob's eyes as he tries to breath, spit down the corner of his mouth, the messy reality of the crushing grip stopping him from breathing.
"Damnit!" The blond is all but shrieking. Hanazawa, trembling even in his iron grip. "Use them! Use your psychic powers!"
His grip tightens and Mob's eyes nearly roll back in his head, face growing vivid red. "No-" he gasps out, the veins beginning to pop in his eyes with the effort of it. "I can't use them... against people!"
It takes an agonizing amount of effort to lift his fist and try to throw it into Hanazawa's face. It makes no real impact, plopping against Hanazawa's skin like a gentle pat. Hanazawa's face almost goes horrified at how ineffectual it was, his wrathful tone slipping to something more desperate, shaking and cracking.
"What the hell was that? Just how much are you going to keep rejecting me? Hey, Kageyama, didn't you say you started working out? That means no matter how hard you try, that's all you got."
Mob tries again, another fist that plops helplessly against Hanazawa's cheek as the blond's voice nearly gets tearful, pleading, hands still stubbornly at Mob's throat.
"People can't change that easily. Just give it up. Use your psychic powers. Otherwise I'm going to..."
Mob's eyes roll back into his head, vision darkening at the edges. He's not going to, he can't use his powers here, he needs to change, he-
The memory snaps away, happening in an instant in Daniel's mind. Mob's still speaking. "-Or they want to hurt."
A quicker one. A man in an alley, lip ringed and scarred face. A boy, Ritsu, too the side, face scuffed and nose bleeding. It would be terrible to become an adult like this-
"Cry," the man says, hands exuding energy, curling into fists that he sends directly to Mob's face.
The memory is a little disjointed, as though Mob's focus was wavering. He's punched, he's grabbed, he's kneed in the stomach so hard he goes flying up. It hurts in a way he's never felt before and has trouble processing. He lands hard on the ground, the man is talking in an amused tone, Ritsu is yelling for him.
"Stand up," the man says as he grabs the front of his shirt, pulling Mob up and raising his fist. "You want to protect your little brother, right?"
In all the oddness of this memory and the power it's possible Ritsu's face switches with people Daniel's tried to protect over the years, like the girl on the stage. The man punches through Mob's barrier and right into his face. It gets hazy again, just violence, being kicked and punched, blood running from his mouth and nose. Imposed again against violence Daniel might have known, even mixing with this memory. Ritsu keeps yelling until his voice cracks with tears.
Again the memory in a memory snaps, Mob staring at his hands again, seemingly unaware. Another set of memories get ready to flare but Mob swallows them down, his aura sparking with the effort. "I never wanted to fight anyone, sensei. But people keep wanting me to. It's- I know it's okay to run away, but when the fight is over it should be done, shouldn't it? Sometimes it doesn't feel that way."
And he looks at Daniel then, expression one of grasping at the hope Daniel really does understand all of this, that's so hard to put to words for him.
no subject
It's the sort of thing Daniel imagines most people don't go through. That it was something about him, even if he never understood what about him it was. But to know that there's someone else going through it, a kid, even younger than he was, seeing Mob so hurt in those memories..
Daniel's stomach twists, and he suddenly feels almost violently nauseous. He reaches out, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders. His eyes sting just the tiniest bit, his breath feels shaky in his chest. Briefly Daniel wonders if this is how mister Miyagi ever felt - but if he did, then he sure seemed capable of handling it better than Daniel feels in this moment.
"I know," he says, his voice soft, almost drowned out by the sound of the fight still going on in the distance and the noises of the crowd.
Daniel sucks in a breath, forcing himself to grow a little more steady before he speaks on, making sure his voice doesn't shake.
"You can't change a thing about other people. If they want a fight, then they're going to get it, and they won't let a thing stop them. But.. what matters is that whenever something like that threatens to happen here too, you can call for help."
Even with the fight still going on - Daniel just looks at Mob right now. Right in the boy's eyes, like feeling that conveying this message here is more important than anything right now, even more important than the memory they have found themselves in.
"You can call me, or anyone in Miyagi-do." It's not like Daniel is totally blind to how fond Robby seems of the boy, basically protective of him already. "And then we'll come, and we'll help you avoid the fight, or fight with you. Even when that feeling is scary or overwhelming, you will never have to deal with it alone here, okay?"
Maybe that's all he can promise, since it's not like he can take the feeling or the dangerous circumstances magically away from Mob. But Daniel knows that if there's any feeling that comforted him when he was young and dealing with this, or even still at his current age, it's--
"There will always be someone by your side when you need it the most."
It's like the memory proves those words. Maybe neither Daniel nor Mob will notice it at first, but the distinct sound might draw their attention. The sound of something like-- tapping, almost, and if Mob looks over he'll see Daniel's teacher having taken out a tiny hand drum, moving it back and forth to create the sound. More and more people in the crowd start taking them out, doing the same thing, causing the two boys in the middle of the arena to suddenly stop fighting, instead staring at the crowd around them.
no subject
There's a lot he already knew. People can change but he's seen time and time again how difficult it is to change, how you can't force people to and how more often than not they need an ugly wake up call. He knows violence is sometimes impossible to avoid, no matter what you do or try. Yet somehow hearing it said by someone who understands hits differently, a weight crumbling in his chest.
Because if sensei feels the same way, understands how all of this felt, maybe it really isn't a matter of something being wrong with Mob. It's easy to see there's nothing wrong with Daniel, young or older, he's just someone trying his hardest despite what's thrown at him. It's so much easier to see that in others, and how it reflects back on him.
His watering eyes spill far more when Daniel continues though. Not sobs, still somewhat restrained but the tears keep floating up as he rapidly blinks his eyes. Another thing he knew, he was never fully alone before. Reigen showing up at the tower when Mob told him to stay behind, showing up at the 7th division headquarters when Mob didn't even call. Ritsu, Dimple, Hanazawa, the Body Improvement Club, they all showed up at times without him even having to ask.
Then he was alone again here, but he isn't really. When he mentioned being stuck in the forest Robby came running without batting an eye. When he was cold Miss Makima gave him that coldblood gem to keep his hands warm. Sensei made him dinner without even knowing him. He's grasping Mob's shoulders to comfort him in his own upsetting memory.
All he manages is a nod at first, a little, weak sound escaping him, not unlike a sob but more grateful somehow. "I'm grateful," he manages, a little choked. "I'm really, really grateful to you, sensei."
The sound makes him blink, finally glancing away to see the drums going off. Mister Miyagi is starting it, he realizes, and he has to swallow when he realizes it's not at all unlike Master Reigen, just being there, just proving he wasn't alone. Daniel on the stage isn't alone, he's the one forced to handle things but everyone here is on his side.
"You weren't alone," he says quietly at the whole realization.
no subject
What matters is that he just imparts this lesson to Mob. A lesson that feels more important than any other, one that has dragged Daniel through his own darkest times.
"No one ever is," Daniel says, giving Mob's shoulder a reassuring squeeze even after the other has turned to look at the memory in front of them. He doesn't let his grip on the other slip yet, not while Mob is still crying, not while Daniel still wants to reassure the young boy. "Sure, it may feel like it sometimes."
Boy, does Daniel sure know all about that. Even here in the fight with Chozen, or dealing with Johnny back during the school year before - there were plenty of times where it felt like it, and then it got even worse during the entire thing with Terry and Mike afterwards. But mister Miyagi had always been there with him. His mom had cared, Ali had, Kumiko had, Jessica had, and even after mister Miyagi died, he had his family.
He watches as the younger Daniel seems to get the message. That everyone is behind him - and what he has to do here. Using the drum technique on Chozen.
"But you never are alone. I wasn't-- and you aren't either, Shigeo."
Chozen seems mostly downed in the meantime, the younger Daniel grabbing the back of the other boy's head, raising it to look at him, his other hand raised in an attack position.
"Live or die, man?" The younger Daniel asks, the tension hanging in the air in the arena.
no subject
Because the truth was this world was rough, maybe even cruel, but unlike Mogami's world when he reached out people reached back. The pressure of Daniel's hand on his shoulder proves that as much as the words do. As long as people were there he could be stronger than he would have been alone.
When the younger Daniel asks that he breathes out. Not concern or a gasp, just... this ended well, Daniel said. And the Daniel beside him understood it all, so when Chozen answers 'Die' so stubbornly Mob doesn't blink to hear Daniel's answering 'Wrong.'
He just glances to Daniel with a small smile on his face, eyes red rimmed and face a little blotchy but undeniably eased. "That was a pretty cool line, sensei."
no subject
"Well, I wasn't really trying to be cool.."
(Though it's a little nice to hear all the same. It's not something he got to hear all that often when he was that age, after all. Mostly because Daniel always has been kind of a dork.)
"I just--" He pauses for a moment, no longer watching Mob. Instead his gaze lingers a little on the scene, on the younger Daniel who stumbles over to embrace the girl who had been threatened earlier, on the way that younger Daniel's gaze crosses his teacher's.
.. he stares at mister Miyagi for another moment, as long as he's still got time before this memory is over. Daniel knows it won't be long.
"I just wanted to show him that there was another way. That forgiveness exists."
It makes him think of something that does make him look at Mob though. "And-- you know, he actually got the message. When I met him again, decades later.. he changed."
Because of what happened here today, Daniel would say if he was the type to adhere any importance to his own actions.
"Sometimes even people who only seem to want to hurt others can change." The world doesn't always have to be so cruel after all, in the end.
no subject
His hair floats back down completely, the last of the power crackle easing. The fallout of this fight is far nicer than the fight, a little breath leaving him when younger Daniel hugs the girl and they're both safe. That the attacker is safe too-
That apparently he learned something. When he looks back to Daniel it's with an obvious ease to hear that outcome, to have that reinforced. People can do terrible things but they can always change. He wished it didn't have to happen so violently so often but it still meant something, to overcome yourself.
"Are you friends now?" he asks, then, "The blond boy, he's my friend now. He's trying to change and has. He helps me a lot." A glance down. "I admire him for that. Changing isn't easy, is it?"
no subject
It's a quick gesture, though, leaving Daniel with some time to think in the face of that question. First about how glad he is to know that Mob wasn't chased by awful people all his life, that he does have enemies turned friends who help him - and how sweet the boy is for admiring them.
.. but also how he sees a mirror in it, and a question, even to himself.
"It isn't. I admire Chozen for that too." That much is easy to say, something Daniel can determine just with his own heart. Especially in the face of his rocky relationship with Johnny, it's admirable just how much Chozen turned himself around entirely.
It's the other part of the question though that leaves him quiet, glancing back at the arena before looking over at Mob.
"And I-- I like to hope we're friends," Daniel settles on.
It's not the sort of thing he'd want to claim without the other guy being here to confirm whether they truly are friends or not. But Daniel-- he'd like to be. It feels like they are.
He huffs, before adding a touch more jokingly: "At the very least we're basically karate cousins, so there's that."
no subject
This is someone who knows a lot, who Mob should listen to. That having a sensei is pretty nice. That he is very, very lucky.
"Karate cousins," Mob muses, a glance over to where the same boy is wallowing in his defeat. It's a little easier to feel a bit bad for him now, he was clearly going through a lot and lashing out. Obviously he wished Daniel didn't have to deal with that but he's intimately, exhaustively familiar with how little there is to be done about it. He and Daniel attracting people who were at their worst, unfortunately.
"I think anyone would be lucky to be your friend, sensei," he decides after a beat, looking back over. "So I hope he is too."
no subject
Is Daniel so sure about whether that compliment is true? Not really. He's never even really had many friends back home in the first place, and then there's the fact he's got plenty of doubts about himself. But there's no way Daniel is going to be cruel enough to dismiss a compliment born out of a student's kindness. So even though it's with a shy yet faint ducking of his head, Daniel accepts it, smiling a bit.
The memory starts to grow dark around the edges, like it's fading. Daniel notices too, which is why he's quick to turn his head back to the boy. Even though there are some things he'd love to cling to in this memory - mister Miyagi's face, more than anything - it would feel bad to not at least get this final thing out before the memory might pop like a soap bubble.
"You're very kind." More than anything, this is the thing Daniel wants to make sure Mob knows. And if there's anything that must have carried the other through such similar difficult moments as Daniel himself has endured, then it's that. "It's your strength. Never forget that."