( yeah, if you were the number one hero in the country, you would get used to people reacting like this, wouldn't you?
shinsou doesn't really want to embarrass himself, ending up like just another gawking fanboy. he does what he can to recompose himself, even if it it is a bit of a lost cause to make a pajamas-wearing schoolboy look anything less like a vulnerable liability in a situation like this. he at the very least doesn't want to be a burden. )
...Yes, sir.
( he isn't really sure how?? it's just a matter of time before his head starts to feel weird again, and he isn't sure endeavor being there will change that. but maybe by force of will he will keep himself from getting super out of it as time slowed down again.
he's not going to argue. anyone in distress would count them lucky to have endeavor wanting to make sure they didn't get into trouble. ) What - would the protocol be, in a situation like this?
( he'd mostly learned urban scenarios from aizawa-sensei, considering where the school was. weird, alien wilderness like this? not so much. )
( he'd already been attended to, so he's not in as sorry of a state as he'd been in when he had first arrived here. one of the gems had disappeared, promising to find him at the very least a jacket and shoes before they started to transition toward transferring them planetside. it was more consideration than he had expected; he's grateful, though he's realizing now that that gem will now have to hunt him down through the scores of other new arrivals, given that he's moved... oops. maybe it's best, then, to stay in one spot...?
he'd said what he'd said out of a baseline instinct toward brazen honesty — shinsou always seems surprised when something he says or does draws sympathy or compassion, like he still has trouble believing someone who either knew him or didn't would spare a second thought. noticing this now, he flusters, reflexively deflecting. ) But, it's not that bad, really! ( a soft, slightly nervous laugh. ) I've been worse off from training...
( and it's not even that aizawa-sensei was as harsh with him as he was with other members of his class, but shinsou was just so unforgiving to himself, so he tended to work too hard —
at guanshan's response, his expression grows slack, then his eyes widen, and he can't help but exclaim, ) Three - three years?( three years... he would be graduated from school, if not close to it. is he really going to be away from home for all of that time? he's so caught up in the idea of being lost in space through the rest of his high school years that he has to come stumbling back to grasp the rest of what he was saying — that he'd not only been away from home that long, but that this wasn't even the first situation he'd been drawn into, and that one hadn't even been all that dissimilar from this?
it's a lot to process in one moment. the cogs and gears are visibly turning behind his eyes, fallen under the shadow of a knit brow.
after that moment: ) Is that some sort of... space thing? Using... ( "touchy magic energy"? he trails off, quiet for a moment... but not before continuing, almost absent-mindedly, ) Well, I guess it is renewable.
( he grows quiet, then his shoulders round; he's embarrassed, complexion flushed, and he clears his throat. )
Mn. [ another acquiescing grunt. there's nothing Guanshan hates more than pity when someone finds him down and out, and yet it comes back to him time and time again when the shoe is on the other foot (or isn't, in this case). does that make him soft? weak? a hypocrite. an annoying thought he brushes away, too tired for the introspection. weak foot forward, once again. ]
[ it's a lot to digest. this guy's already overloaded with information and all this must do is make it clear how little he must know. Guanshan, too, honest to a fault. it's not like anyone needs more reminders of just how thorn-ridden simply living can be. ]
[ a shrug to the question, politely ignoring the silent gloam that creeps over them as Shinsou undoubtedly spirals into a tangent related to the "touchy" part of the arrangement. Guanshan remembers being there too — embarrassed, nervous, frustrated. he remembers the humiliating event it all led up to, too — and then the aftermath. no one ever talks about the aftermath. ]
[ his mouth threatens to twitch up into something fond and nostalgic, but he schools it back down with a furrowing of his brows. ]
Want some advice? [ a beat — ] For that part.
[ you know........ that part. losing one's virginity only seems like a big deal in the moment, but then most people don't make the mistakes Guanshan does, either. ]
( it just doesn't feel — right. heroes aren't meant to be pitied, and shinsou has been training too tirelessly and rigorously for the last few months to be faced with such concern just for being a little less equipped in an ordeal they had all just gone through. it didn't matter if he hurt or ached, if he was exhausted, if he was overwhelmed, if he was starving, all because he had to embody someone that others could look to for help or guidance when they felt the same.
sure, he's still a student, but if he doesn't get into that mindset soon, it might come slower to him later when it really mattered.
he doesn't think poorly about guanshan for it. if anything, it lets shinsou know he's more conscientious than his terseness might suggest. he relaxes in gradual increments, something that's only possible because the other guy's presence feels completely (and purposefully, even) nonjudgmental.
does he want advice. well, if given another minute or two to think about it, he probably would have asked for some himself. he breathes a sigh through his nose, resting back as best as he can against the bench. he nods. ) Any you can offer... Yeah. I'd appreciate it.
[ he nods right along with him; not at least thinking about it would make him an asshole, and while he might be sometimes, Shinsou's not garnered his ire. rather the opposite, he seems smart and, more importantly, taking life's hard knocks right on the chin. the ways in which Guanshan doles out respect are few and far between, but fortitude is high up there. ]
[ contemplative silence draws out as he stays with the emotions of nostalgia, allowing himself to follow the invisible tendril straight to fondness and embarrassment, a jarring contrast to the humiliation and self-loathing (and ultimately, thankfully, payoff) he'd felt at the time. hindsight's 20/20. looking back now, he knows what worked and what didn't. ]
Trust first. [ before lust and attraction, force and necessity, before carefully curated research and led-astray social conventions and expectations, Guanshan knows this: ] Trust whoever it is to protect you.
[ that kind of trust. not just with secrets and vulnerabilities, but someone with a sentinel's temper who will still care after the deed. protective people are the ones Guanshan knows as the most loyal and least likely to fuck you over in the end. never mind the choice to give advice on who instead of any other how where when nouns that says plenty about him as a person; aren't most people beyond understanding this baseline? ]
( shinsou's expression clears in a moment of faint surprise, though it takes only a moment for it to resolve once more into his typical stoicism. the answer simply wasn't really one he had expected in that moment, from this stranger — but even as he inwardly remarks on this, he scolds himself, thinking that he of all people should know better than to make baseless assumptions. it might be something woven into the fabric of human nature, sure, but it's one shinsou's felt the abrasion of more often than most; that rawness makes him more mindful, but it's neither universal or perfect.
he watches him for a moment, and then he first responds in a way somewhat uncharacteristic for him: he smiles, and for shinsou it's always a faint and fledgling sort of thing when genuine, as if either unpracticed or unconfident (though usually it is a mixture of the two). he hums, thoughtful; the fingers of his left hand fidget with a bandage on the right that was beginning to fray. )
Okay. I'll keep that in mind.
( he's silent another moment, looking out over the crush of myriad newcomers and the array of gems that were seemingly doing their best to accommodate them. it's not an uneasy silence; he seems pensive, but not as off-balance as he had been several minutes ago. then, seemingly dredged from his thoughts: ) And do what you can to protect them, I'd guess?
( because if that was the case, they would be trusting you to do so. )
( he's aware it's not a pleasant experience. to enforce his control over someone's mind and basically relegate them to a backseat driver in their own body... it was incredibly powerful, and he agreed with his mentor that he believed it had a lot of merit as a quirk for a hero, but it was also something that shinsou knows he must use with care. he's lived his whole life being told that it's the sort of quirk people would assume a villain might have. the only way he feels he can buffer that assumption is to to show more self-control with it than a villain ever would.
his teacher nods his head, and shinsou feels relieved. he hadn't had any reason to believe it wasn't working, but it's good to have confirmation. )
Yeah. It did. ( and that's a good point. he's so used to people being aware of the rules and limitations of his quirk... it gives him an upper-hand here, though certainly one he hopes he won't have to use.
he nods. it makes sense, but it's still nice to have the official go-ahead from his instructor. it's not like he would get in trouble with the heroes association here, but... shinsou would rather be cautious. ) Okay. Hopefully I won't have to, though.
( he's quiet for a moment, thoughtful; his gaze has fallen, but he looks back up to aizawa with lucidity in his eyes, a sort of serious-beyond-his-years conviction that's very characteristic of him. ) Sensei... I know it's probably a bit odd to ask, given the situation, but... regardless of what the situation is, after they take us wherever we're going, can we keep training? I, um - wouldn't want to continue to fall behind, just because of this.
( that, and he thinks without a shred of normalcy in his life after all of this, he might go crazy. )
[ There's that seriousness that was so characteristic of Shinsou, it gave him a maturity well beyond that of many of Shouta's other students. It's probably an innate part of him, but Shouta has no doubt some of it is a product of being born with a more challenging quirk. He was the same back then, after all. People like them just have to be taking things seriously at all times or they become forced to watch their dream end (whether from failing to accomplish it, or dying). ]
We'll settle your basic needs first. [ Food, clothes, some actual shoes, shelter and manna ... ] Training will do nothing for you if you aren't taking care of your body.
[ Of course, this advice only applies to other people, not Shouta himself. ] After that ... You can use my capturing weapon.
( his complexion flushes, and he feels a little silly to have requested something like that out of the blue, when he didn't even have proper clothes to wear, when he hadn't eaten an actual meal in what felt like almost twenty-four hours, when they really had no idea where they were going or what their living situation was going to be like... but that's just how odd one's priorities get, striving for a goal like his — like the one aizawa must have trained tirelessly for, when he was shinsou's age.
though, man, he's not going to be able to handle it if his teacher attempts to talk through anything about the whole "manna" situation with him. he'll get so embarrassed, he'll catch flame. it will lead to spontaneous human combustion.
he nods, composure for the most part regained. regardless of whether or not his priorities are in the right place, it's a relief to him. shinsou will always be the one pushing himself the hardest. ) ...Thank you. ( a beat. he shifts his weight from one foot to another. ) Um, sensei... Do you know if they have any food around here? ( the gems had looked him over with regards to medical attention, but that... so far he hasn't seen anything. he'd felt violently nauseous when in the crater, but now that's just been replaced with a light-headed kind of hunger. )
[ Even if he spontaneously combusts, Shouta will probably check that off his list of things Shinsou needs, sorry. A necessary conversation that is on its way. ]
I see some people eating from packed rations. I'll go find you some decent clothes, too. Or shoes, at least ... [ No matter how much of a minimalist he might be, he's not going to let Shinsou continue walking around barefoot. Shouta reaches into the pocket compartments of his jumpsuit and takes out a packet of Lychee-flavoured vitamin jelly. ]
This'll fill you up in the meantime. It's the stuff I usually drink on the job. [ While he's doing that he keeps an eye out for any food and supplies he can get for Shinsou. There does seem to be a spare pair of new slippers and a coat in the pile of supplies they're giving out to people. ]
( no, sensei, please... he already knows about the birds and the bees... he knows about safe sex... he doesn't need this particular lesson from you, he'll die. )
There was a gem who was helping when I first arrived... She said that she was going to go find some for me. I haven't seen her again, though, but - maybe you could try to find her?
( after all of the information they had given him, he had ended up wandering away from the area that she had left him, so he had probably flustered her even more. he feels bad about that... maybe they should go back to the place he had been before? this train of thought is interrupted by aizawa retrieving a plastic package of something out of one of the pockets on his outfit. )
Oh. ( he accepts it, looking at it closer. vitamin jelly...? lychee flavor... ) Thank you. ( it's easy enough to get into; he tears open the tab and lifts it to his mouth to take a sip, thinking about how few people probably think about how heroes must adapt to be able to eat and drink on the job.
he does follow his teacher's line of sight to the jacket and slippers available in a large collection of supplies. neither of them look particularly hardy — the kind of things you give out to someone here typically is only meant to survive the disaster zone and not too long after. but a beggar certainly can't be choosey. ) Hm... Those look like they could work.
( he tries to approach close enough to ask, but there's a sizable crush of refugees around the supplies, and the gems attending there seem frazzled by them. seeing this, shinsou hangs back, seemingly unwilling to add to the tumult. )
( ooc: sorry for the delay! rl slowed me down for a while in there )
( in this state, shinsou is dutiful. the magic overrides many of his body's reactions to this noxious atmosphere; he ignores his pains and discomforts to carry out the orders, but it doesn't mean that they disappear. for a while, it's pretty excruciating. he might not be blurring around the place anymore, the physical contact removing that as a factor, but neither of them are in great shape.
though it's certainly arguable that shinsou is in better shape. the crystallization is appearing on him in patches, but not in a way that inhibits his movement much yet. but the thing is — if this guy had simply asked for help, he probably would have done just what he was doing now, and it would have been a conscious, willing choice. it would have been the right, heroic thing to do.
stuck as he is, it just makes shinsou seethe. is this some sort of cosmic justice? he fears it might be, but he's tried to use his quirk as judiciously as possible —
they do make it to higher ground. it takes time, with the state they're both in. shinsou can find no purchase on his own mind in all of this time, the ensorcelled command fairly perfect when he is actively carrying it out. but when they get to their destination, on a plateau of elevated land in a place where they can most likely get found (if they are going to get found), he slows to a halt and goes inert, commands having run out.
and then shinsou starts to wrest some control back. his eyes blink in a pattern that's a little less uniform, and his brow furrows ever-so-slightly. )
[The entire time, Jamil's mind is racing around with contingencies. His own body was beginning to fail him but he refused to let him mind do the same. The second he lets himself think of nothing, that might be the state he's stuck in. It's not feasible, though, it's not sustainable, and nothing he's doing right now is sustainable.]
[They make it to the high ground. Jamil tilts his head up. The toxic gases from the planet's surface have formed some sort of atmosphere. Still, there were a few stars here and there. None of the patterns were familiar. None of them moved like the lights of human transit. As much as there is victory in making it this far, there's also the despair of knowing that their rescue was now entirely out of their hands.]
[His free hand flies up to his mouth as another fit of coughing starts and when he feels the heat against his hand all he can think is shit.]
[Instinctively, like he's done before, he angles his head away from his clothes and the person he was using to hold himself up. One cough, one trail of flame, two cough, three-]
[And suddenly there will be nothing for Shinsou's brain to struggle against. For a moment, Jamil's consciousness goes entirely dark, and even as the world comes back into focus he knows he now has to deal with his actions. Snake Whisper was entirely complete and he'd need to repeat the whole exchange of eye contact again to even try and reapply it.]
( he's vaguely aware of what's happening, but he doesn't have a command to turn his head or watch, so he can't tell for certain. but with the sudden blares of light and the sound, he has to assume that the guy is... coughing flame? he would wonder if that was his quirk, but certainly that would be whatever spell he's currently under. unable to look up to the sky, he tries to focus on the senses he still has to him — unfortunately, nothing seems out of the ordinary for this place. the endless, blasted landscape of stone and crystal. the caustic air. thin, sick-seeming clouds hanging overhead.
he's in pain in various places throughout his body, and it's getting more and more difficult to breathe. assuming any of this is even real — are they going to die down here? doing so while in the thrall of someone else's brainwash quirk seems like a uniquely cruel twist of fate for him.
but then suddenly: the control is gone. it's like he had been struggling against sleep paralysis the whole walk up here, but now he's suddenly awake. he sways, then solidifies his composure, turning to the stranger with an angry expression furrowing his brow and drawing the line of his mouth into a jagged slash. almost without thinking, shinsou reaches out, attempting to grab a fist-full of the stranger's shirt and collar, confrontational but also holding him upright, since he had needed so much of his support even getting up here. an alarm sounds in the back of his head — the trigger. how had he gotten the quirk to even work? his eyes. there had been something about his eyes, the way he had spoken... on a hunch, shinsou squeezes his eyes shut.
there's a part of him that wants to take a swing at the guy. a youthful part, an angry part. but that's not the action a hero would take. they were all in a desperate situation... if it meant life or death, would he have done the same thing?
...well, no, which is why, after a moment of grit teeth, shinsou grates in an aggravated tone, ) If you wanted me to help you, you should have just asked.
[Center yourself, focus, a mantra of things coming through his head as he knows he's going to have to say something. He's going to need to slot a proper lie into place. In a situation like this, he could convince someone that a gap in their memory was simply a gap. He's confidence of that, even with his throat burning and his energy fading.]
[When tugged by the clothes, some part of his brain forgets all that- it's a threat, he wants to respond, but with an arm and a leg out of commission-]
[An impact doesn't come. Jamil stares, wide-eyed, at Shinsou with his eyes closed. He was aware, even in that state? Ah, as if this day couldn't get any worse. He feels the fire flicking in his gut again. It's a fire that wants to lash out and say,]
[Because it's annoying to ask! Because I needed you to, whether you wanted to or not! It was for both our benefit and you could have been none the wiser!]
... I don't... understand. [he says from beneath a curled upper lip]
I did ask you. [a lie punctuated with a cough where Shinsou might be able to feel the flick of a flame]
C- Can you set me down? I'd rather not burn my savior's face.
( perhaps it was shinsou's quirk that defended him against what jamil was able to do — a brain so innately cognizant of how it captured and controlled others that it recognized when the same was being done to it. it's possible there were still gaps and pieces in their trek here that were fuzzy around the edges, full of repetition that his memory didn't find necessary to record. but the moment when it happened, the commands, how they had come here... shinsou remembers that much, and now he wrangles with how to deal with someone who has a quirk so similar to his own — and none of the qualms he has in how it is used.
the furrow between his brow deepens at the obvious lie, and his lips part slightly to reveal bared teeth in a tch. despite how frustrated and angry he is, he does what the guy asks, setting him down so he could continue to cough fire away from his general direction — if that's what he ended up deciding to do.
shinsou is aware that he could brainwash this guy at any point in this conversation, but... what would that solve? it's not like he has any better idea than to stand up here, and this guy is almost to the point of not being able to move. he refrains, though he does growl, ) I know you didn't. It was - something with what you said, with your eyes... Is that your quirk?
( he looks down at the ensemble, then he looks up to the stranger. if she felt like she liked the look of this more than he did... maybe he should talk to the gem about getting her set up in these or something like these instead of him? a sale's a sale, right? though the tailor would probably see that more as an opportunity for two sales... )
I don't care very much about the color, but, yeah, not being able to move well is going to be a problem for me. ( maybe not in day-to-day life, but if he actually needed to do something to help someone or to defend himself? a hero has to be prepared for that kind of thing.
he nods, thoughtful. he's thinking it seems like a stretch, to find shorts in a place like this, but maybe that's what they were having to custom-make for her. )
True... And if they're so interested in us, like they seem to be, maybe we could convince them to make more clothing like what we're used to. It could, um... start a new fashion craze, or something.
[She nods, gesturing with her hands in vague agreement.]
The reception I’ve been getting in some places has been kind of lukewarm, but these guys need us, right? We’re like heroes in their time of need. That means all eyes are on us.
[Isn’t that a little dramatic? Maybe, but she didn’t miss the reverence with which the gems at the sky station spoke of gembonds, and it’s clear the officials here are serious about encouraging synchrony. Regardless of the attitudes of some of the locals, the gembonded are important, and that means people notice them. Which, she’s sure, is why this enterprising business has decided to be so accommodating in providing its wares to the new arrivals.]
What kind of thing do you do, usually, that you need to move around for? I’m guessing you’re not used to being the center of attention.
[None of his requests for the tailor had included any fashion requests, and he just said he didn’t care about colour. Appearance is important if you work in front of a crowd.
Plus… he doesn’t really seem cut out for it, personality-wise.]
( it's something that immediately makes him suspicious. if they took what the gems had told them on that space station at face value, they should have been treated universally well here, but in many instances his reception had been a downright chilly one. there's something that they're not being told, and shinsou doesn't like being manipulated into that sort of position. things were changing, sure — they'd been able to come into this shop, after all — but it just makes him wonder what had changed and why, and if it was contingent on anything that might at some point cease being a factor. )
If that's the case, they have a weird definition of "hero." ( shinsou smiles fleetingly at this, thinking how dramatically different his own world would be if heroes were... okay, no, he doesn't really want to think about that. it's just too odd. far easier to attribute it to an alien planet. )
Well... ( wow, hitting the nail right on the head, huh? there are some heroes more accustomed to being in the center of attention. all might had made his life out of being a symbol anyone could look to, and some of the foremost students of the hero track at UA — midoriya, bakugou, todoroki, though there were others — either had quirks or personalities (or both) that kept them in the spotlight. shinsou... doesn't really have either. but that suits him just fine. aizawa-sensei had made it work for himself, so he would do the same. ) No, I'm not, not usually. But, it's funny that you mentioned it, but back home I was in school - well, about to transfer into the hero course at my school. If I have to fight a villain or rescue someone, I need to be able to move easily...
( he doesn't even really have an outfit yet, like the other hero course students have. he had just been using his support items and the gym uniform. with the fashion he's seen in this city, he's not sure there's much overlap in what these tailors usually make and hero outfits... )
My quirk doesn't require anything specific from what I wear, but running, jumping, fighting — I'd need to be able to do those kinds of things.
You were attending a school… in order to become a hero?
[She furrows her brows, perplexed by this assertion. Considering how rare and costly colleges are in her world, and how unpopular the life of an adventuring hero is, she can’t imagine most people with the money to attend school would be wasting it on a course like that. Heroes are, as far as she is aware, born from a combination of circumstance, necessity, and in many cases greed—but only an exceptional person could actually become one.
Her curiosity is, however, thoroughly piqued by the idea.]
What kind of things do you learn in a hero course? Team-building? Monster-slaying techniques?
[Obviously any aspiring hero would dream of slaying a dragon one day, so there’s got to be at least some lessons on dragons, if only for the prestige. That’s probably what you emphasize in your advertising when you’re trying to draw in new students, even if most of them will never actually meet a dragon.]
( there's no saying whether or not his hair is dyed... it is a mystery. )
Mmm... yeah, kind of. ( "mutation" is language used in conjunction with quirks, certainly, but it didn't describe all of them. it's been generations since they started showing up in humanity, first at random, but then passed down through family lines. a mutation was typically a quirk that either didn't resemble that of a person's parents or a unique combination of the two. ) It's... going to sound goofy when I say it, but they're like - superpowers, I guess. Though a lot of them can be pretty mundane... Most people have one now, so that's why they had to find another word for it.
( they weren't really "superpowers" when 80% of the population had them, after all. )
If none of this sounds familiar to you, then - yeah. It's been hundreds of years since quirks started showing up, so if something like that had never happened... ( he drifts off, thoughtful, not even really able to picture what a world like that would look like. he would certainly be a drastically different person, if he hadn't been born with his quirk. and there wouldn't be any heroes, so he would probably have a different dream...
he blinks, his eyes refocusing on her. ) Hm? Yeah. Saitama Prefecture, actually... Um, are you from Japan as well?
( he would think so, but he doesn't want to assume?? though, since she asked, it seemed likely?? how different would her version of japan be if it was a quirkless society? )
[ it's almost the opposite of the fate of mages, then. they've vanished from the world, becoming reclusive and rare; what he describes is like a world where magic has become completely integrated with normal society. although the comparison isn't quite right, because it sounds like a "quirk" is like... like only having access to one spell, but not having to pay the price for it. she knows what superpowers are, of course. that is what they sound like, and it's not a silly comparison to make at all. it's just easier to think of as a real thing if she uses her own experience as the mirror. ]
I see... It's hard for me to imagine. [ she hesitates a few moments, and then she adds, halting and uncertain: ] There is something a little bit like that in the world I'm from, but it's rare, and most people don't know anything about it.
[ generally, it's not something she should talk about. but it doesn't really matter here if she tells someone she's a mage, does it? they're on an alien planet, surrounded by all kinds of things that could be called magic. there are definitely aspects of it that she'd rather keep to herself, and certainly she won't tell people that she's a sleigh beggy, but it isn't the same as it is back home. she's not strange in this place — or rather, she's not the only strange one.
even so, it does make her feel a little more at ease to meet someone with a culture in common. ]
Ah — yeah, I am. Actually, I'm also from Saitama Prefecture. My relatives worked in Tokyo, so... [ she shrugs. it's a popular place to live, when you have to commute to work every day. she was passed around to a few different prefectures after her parents were gone, but the last family was in Saitama and she spent the longest there; it's easiest to say that's where she's from. ] I've been living in England for a while now, though. In the countryside.
( comic books and the historical mythos of the superhero also exists in his world — if such a basis hadn't already existed before the creation of hero society, certainly it might have found a different pattern to model itself after. but coming from a world where he understands the fictional concept of a "superpower" and knows well how it contrasts with how quirks have manifested throughout their world... maybe that's why it feels so hackneyed and embarrassing to describe it like that.
shinsou is unhurried; it seems to him like she's considering saying something or not, so he waits, and it's... interesting, and just as unclear as he had been a moments ago, what she means. ) That's... Hm. ( he ponders for a moment, trying to figure out a way to word how he's interpreting her description. ) Like... a secret underground, or...?
( before heroes had been integrated into society in laws and licenses and culture, they had existed in a similar way, operating as vigilantes in the shadows and out of the public eye. it's the only thing that he can think of from his own frame of reference that makes sense. )
What - seriously? ( he seems genuinely shocked at this, and the thought of being from the same exact prefecture but from different worlds is a crazy one, even if it is most likely home to millions on any version of earth out there. but the happenstance of sharing where he was from with someone not even from "his" world is pretty amazing. ) England, huh... You must have already adjusted to one culture shock, then. ( he smiles; a genuine one, and whenever it is genuine, it always looks a little shaky, as if fledgling. ) I only went to school in a different part of the city... This is my first time "traveling" like this.
Sort of like a secret underground... maybe. It's, um... [ she makes some vague handwaving gestures, trying to think of how to explain it. ] You know, it's a kind of... It's like... [ she gives up and sighs: ] Magic.
[ as soon as the word is out of her mouth, she finds herself worrying that she was wrong. that being in this place won't be enough — that she'll still be thought of as strange, even here, where everything is unfamiliar. but maybe people will think that about her regardless, just because of being the way that she is. there's nothing she can do for it, though. it's not as if she could pretend to be normal forever. ]
A lot of people can't see it. It's not like we're not allowed to tell people about it, but if we do, it can get... complicated, for a lot of reasons. There aren't many mages left, anyway, and they usually keep to themselves.
[ given the ones she's met, she thinks that they probably still kept to themselves even when there were more of them. maybe it's cultural, or just in their nature. ]
I only found out about all of it when I went to England, so... in a way, it was two culture shocks at once.
[ she seems exhausted just remembering it, but she means it in good humour, and she meets his smile with one of her own, small and private. ]
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ɴᴏᴄᴛɪᴜᴍ ᴛᴅᴍ #1
—endeavor
( yeah, if you were the number one hero in the country, you would get used to people reacting like this, wouldn't you?
shinsou doesn't really want to embarrass himself, ending up like just another gawking fanboy. he does what he can to recompose himself, even if it it is a bit of a lost cause to make a pajamas-wearing schoolboy look anything less like a vulnerable liability in a situation like this. he at the very least doesn't want to be a burden. )
...Yes, sir.
( he isn't really sure how?? it's just a matter of time before his head starts to feel weird again, and he isn't sure endeavor being there will change that. but maybe by force of will he will keep himself from getting super out of it as time slowed down again.
he's not going to argue. anyone in distress would count them lucky to have endeavor wanting to make sure they didn't get into trouble. ) What - would the protocol be, in a situation like this?
( he'd mostly learned urban scenarios from aizawa-sensei, considering where the school was. weird, alien wilderness like this? not so much. )
—mgs
( he'd already been attended to, so he's not in as sorry of a state as he'd been in when he had first arrived here. one of the gems had disappeared, promising to find him at the very least a jacket and shoes before they started to transition toward transferring them planetside. it was more consideration than he had expected; he's grateful, though he's realizing now that that gem will now have to hunt him down through the scores of other new arrivals, given that he's moved... oops. maybe it's best, then, to stay in one spot...?
he'd said what he'd said out of a baseline instinct toward brazen honesty — shinsou always seems surprised when something he says or does draws sympathy or compassion, like he still has trouble believing someone who either knew him or didn't would spare a second thought. noticing this now, he flusters, reflexively deflecting. ) But, it's not that bad, really! ( a soft, slightly nervous laugh. ) I've been worse off from training...
( and it's not even that aizawa-sensei was as harsh with him as he was with other members of his class, but shinsou was just so unforgiving to himself, so he tended to work too hard —
at guanshan's response, his expression grows slack, then his eyes widen, and he can't help but exclaim, ) Three - three years? ( three years... he would be graduated from school, if not close to it. is he really going to be away from home for all of that time? he's so caught up in the idea of being lost in space through the rest of his high school years that he has to come stumbling back to grasp the rest of what he was saying — that he'd not only been away from home that long, but that this wasn't even the first situation he'd been drawn into, and that one hadn't even been all that dissimilar from this?
it's a lot to process in one moment. the cogs and gears are visibly turning behind his eyes, fallen under the shadow of a knit brow.
after that moment: ) Is that some sort of... space thing? Using... ( "touchy magic energy"? he trails off, quiet for a moment... but not before continuing, almost absent-mindedly, ) Well, I guess it is renewable.
( he grows quiet, then his shoulders round; he's embarrassed, complexion flushed, and he clears his throat. )
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[ it's a lot to digest. this guy's already overloaded with information and all this must do is make it clear how little he must know. Guanshan, too, honest to a fault. it's not like anyone needs more reminders of just how thorn-ridden simply living can be. ]
[ a shrug to the question, politely ignoring the silent gloam that creeps over them as Shinsou undoubtedly spirals into a tangent related to the "touchy" part of the arrangement. Guanshan remembers being there too — embarrassed, nervous, frustrated. he remembers the humiliating event it all led up to, too — and then the aftermath. no one ever talks about the aftermath. ]
[ his mouth threatens to twitch up into something fond and nostalgic, but he schools it back down with a furrowing of his brows. ]
Want some advice? [ a beat — ] For that part.
[ you know........ that part. losing one's virginity only seems like a big deal in the moment, but then most people don't make the mistakes Guanshan does, either. ]
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sure, he's still a student, but if he doesn't get into that mindset soon, it might come slower to him later when it really mattered.
he doesn't think poorly about guanshan for it. if anything, it lets shinsou know he's more conscientious than his terseness might suggest. he relaxes in gradual increments, something that's only possible because the other guy's presence feels completely (and purposefully, even) nonjudgmental.
does he want advice. well, if given another minute or two to think about it, he probably would have asked for some himself. he breathes a sigh through his nose, resting back as best as he can against the bench. he nods. ) Any you can offer... Yeah. I'd appreciate it.
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[ contemplative silence draws out as he stays with the emotions of nostalgia, allowing himself to follow the invisible tendril straight to fondness and embarrassment, a jarring contrast to the humiliation and self-loathing (and ultimately, thankfully, payoff) he'd felt at the time. hindsight's 20/20. looking back now, he knows what worked and what didn't. ]
Trust first. [ before lust and attraction, force and necessity, before carefully curated research and led-astray social conventions and expectations, Guanshan knows this: ] Trust whoever it is to protect you.
[ that kind of trust. not just with secrets and vulnerabilities, but someone with a sentinel's temper who will still care after the deed. protective people are the ones Guanshan knows as the most loyal and least likely to fuck you over in the end. never mind the choice to give advice on who instead of any other how where when nouns that says plenty about him as a person; aren't most people beyond understanding this baseline? ]
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he watches him for a moment, and then he first responds in a way somewhat uncharacteristic for him: he smiles, and for shinsou it's always a faint and fledgling sort of thing when genuine, as if either unpracticed or unconfident (though usually it is a mixture of the two). he hums, thoughtful; the fingers of his left hand fidget with a bandage on the right that was beginning to fray. )
Okay. I'll keep that in mind.
( he's silent another moment, looking out over the crush of myriad newcomers and the array of gems that were seemingly doing their best to accommodate them. it's not an uneasy silence; he seems pensive, but not as off-balance as he had been several minutes ago. then, seemingly dredged from his thoughts: ) And do what you can to protect them, I'd guess?
( because if that was the case, they would be trusting you to do so. )
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—aizawa
( he's aware it's not a pleasant experience. to enforce his control over someone's mind and basically relegate them to a backseat driver in their own body... it was incredibly powerful, and he agreed with his mentor that he believed it had a lot of merit as a quirk for a hero, but it was also something that shinsou knows he must use with care. he's lived his whole life being told that it's the sort of quirk people would assume a villain might have. the only way he feels he can buffer that assumption is to to show more self-control with it than a villain ever would.
his teacher nods his head, and shinsou feels relieved. he hadn't had any reason to believe it wasn't working, but it's good to have confirmation. )
Yeah. It did. ( and that's a good point. he's so used to people being aware of the rules and limitations of his quirk... it gives him an upper-hand here, though certainly one he hopes he won't have to use.
he nods. it makes sense, but it's still nice to have the official go-ahead from his instructor. it's not like he would get in trouble with the heroes association here, but... shinsou would rather be cautious. ) Okay. Hopefully I won't have to, though.
( he's quiet for a moment, thoughtful; his gaze has fallen, but he looks back up to aizawa with lucidity in his eyes, a sort of serious-beyond-his-years conviction that's very characteristic of him. ) Sensei... I know it's probably a bit odd to ask, given the situation, but... regardless of what the situation is, after they take us wherever we're going, can we keep training? I, um - wouldn't want to continue to fall behind, just because of this.
( that, and he thinks without a shred of normalcy in his life after all of this, he might go crazy. )
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We'll settle your basic needs first. [ Food, clothes, some actual shoes, shelter and manna ... ] Training will do nothing for you if you aren't taking care of your body.
[ Of course, this advice only applies to other people, not Shouta himself. ] After that ... You can use my capturing weapon.
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( his complexion flushes, and he feels a little silly to have requested something like that out of the blue, when he didn't even have proper clothes to wear, when he hadn't eaten an actual meal in what felt like almost twenty-four hours, when they really had no idea where they were going or what their living situation was going to be like... but that's just how odd one's priorities get, striving for a goal like his — like the one aizawa must have trained tirelessly for, when he was shinsou's age.
though, man, he's not going to be able to handle it if his teacher attempts to talk through anything about the whole "manna" situation with him. he'll get so embarrassed, he'll catch flame. it will lead to spontaneous human combustion.
he nods, composure for the most part regained. regardless of whether or not his priorities are in the right place, it's a relief to him. shinsou will always be the one pushing himself the hardest. ) ...Thank you. ( a beat. he shifts his weight from one foot to another. ) Um, sensei... Do you know if they have any food around here? ( the gems had looked him over with regards to medical attention, but that... so far he hasn't seen anything. he'd felt violently nauseous when in the crater, but now that's just been replaced with a light-headed kind of hunger. )
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I see some people eating from packed rations. I'll go find you some decent clothes, too. Or shoes, at least ... [ No matter how much of a minimalist he might be, he's not going to let Shinsou continue walking around barefoot. Shouta reaches into the pocket compartments of his jumpsuit and takes out a packet of Lychee-flavoured vitamin jelly. ]
This'll fill you up in the meantime. It's the stuff I usually drink on the job. [ While he's doing that he keeps an eye out for any food and supplies he can get for Shinsou. There does seem to be a spare pair of new slippers and a coat in the pile of supplies they're giving out to people. ]
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There was a gem who was helping when I first arrived... She said that she was going to go find some for me. I haven't seen her again, though, but - maybe you could try to find her?
( after all of the information they had given him, he had ended up wandering away from the area that she had left him, so he had probably flustered her even more. he feels bad about that... maybe they should go back to the place he had been before? this train of thought is interrupted by aizawa retrieving a plastic package of something out of one of the pockets on his outfit. )
Oh. ( he accepts it, looking at it closer. vitamin jelly...? lychee flavor... ) Thank you. ( it's easy enough to get into; he tears open the tab and lifts it to his mouth to take a sip, thinking about how few people probably think about how heroes must adapt to be able to eat and drink on the job.
he does follow his teacher's line of sight to the jacket and slippers available in a large collection of supplies. neither of them look particularly hardy — the kind of things you give out to someone here typically is only meant to survive the disaster zone and not too long after. but a beggar certainly can't be choosey. ) Hm... Those look like they could work.
( he tries to approach close enough to ask, but there's a sizable crush of refugees around the supplies, and the gems attending there seem frazzled by them. seeing this, shinsou hangs back, seemingly unwilling to add to the tumult. )
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—jamil
( ooc: sorry for the delay! rl slowed me down for a while in there )
( in this state, shinsou is dutiful. the magic overrides many of his body's reactions to this noxious atmosphere; he ignores his pains and discomforts to carry out the orders, but it doesn't mean that they disappear. for a while, it's pretty excruciating. he might not be blurring around the place anymore, the physical contact removing that as a factor, but neither of them are in great shape.
though it's certainly arguable that shinsou is in better shape. the crystallization is appearing on him in patches, but not in a way that inhibits his movement much yet. but the thing is — if this guy had simply asked for help, he probably would have done just what he was doing now, and it would have been a conscious, willing choice. it would have been the right, heroic thing to do.
stuck as he is, it just makes shinsou seethe. is this some sort of cosmic justice? he fears it might be, but he's tried to use his quirk as judiciously as possible —
they do make it to higher ground. it takes time, with the state they're both in. shinsou can find no purchase on his own mind in all of this time, the ensorcelled command fairly perfect when he is actively carrying it out. but when they get to their destination, on a plateau of elevated land in a place where they can most likely get found (if they are going to get found), he slows to a halt and goes inert, commands having run out.
and then shinsou starts to wrest some control back. his eyes blink in a pattern that's a little less uniform, and his brow furrows ever-so-slightly. )
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[They make it to the high ground. Jamil tilts his head up. The toxic gases from the planet's surface have formed some sort of atmosphere. Still, there were a few stars here and there. None of the patterns were familiar. None of them moved like the lights of human transit. As much as there is victory in making it this far, there's also the despair of knowing that their rescue was now entirely out of their hands.]
[His free hand flies up to his mouth as another fit of coughing starts and when he feels the heat against his hand all he can think is shit.]
[Instinctively, like he's done before, he angles his head away from his clothes and the person he was using to hold himself up. One cough, one trail of flame, two cough, three-]
[And suddenly there will be nothing for Shinsou's brain to struggle against. For a moment, Jamil's consciousness goes entirely dark, and even as the world comes back into focus he knows he now has to deal with his actions. Snake Whisper was entirely complete and he'd need to repeat the whole exchange of eye contact again to even try and reapply it.]
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he's in pain in various places throughout his body, and it's getting more and more difficult to breathe. assuming any of this is even real — are they going to die down here? doing so while in the thrall of someone else's brainwash quirk seems like a uniquely cruel twist of fate for him.
but then suddenly: the control is gone. it's like he had been struggling against sleep paralysis the whole walk up here, but now he's suddenly awake. he sways, then solidifies his composure, turning to the stranger with an angry expression furrowing his brow and drawing the line of his mouth into a jagged slash. almost without thinking, shinsou reaches out, attempting to grab a fist-full of the stranger's shirt and collar, confrontational but also holding him upright, since he had needed so much of his support even getting up here. an alarm sounds in the back of his head — the trigger. how had he gotten the quirk to even work? his eyes. there had been something about his eyes, the way he had spoken... on a hunch, shinsou squeezes his eyes shut.
there's a part of him that wants to take a swing at the guy. a youthful part, an angry part. but that's not the action a hero would take. they were all in a desperate situation... if it meant life or death, would he have done the same thing?
...well, no, which is why, after a moment of grit teeth, shinsou grates in an aggravated tone, ) If you wanted me to help you, you should have just asked.
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[When tugged by the clothes, some part of his brain forgets all that- it's a threat, he wants to respond, but with an arm and a leg out of commission-]
[An impact doesn't come. Jamil stares, wide-eyed, at Shinsou with his eyes closed. He was aware, even in that state? Ah, as if this day couldn't get any worse. He feels the fire flicking in his gut again. It's a fire that wants to lash out and say,]
[Because it's annoying to ask! Because I needed you to, whether you wanted to or not! It was for both our benefit and you could have been none the wiser!]
... I don't... understand. [he says from beneath a curled upper lip]
I did ask you. [a lie punctuated with a cough where Shinsou might be able to feel the flick of a flame]
C- Can you set me down? I'd rather not burn my savior's face.
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the furrow between his brow deepens at the obvious lie, and his lips part slightly to reveal bared teeth in a tch. despite how frustrated and angry he is, he does what the guy asks, setting him down so he could continue to cough fire away from his general direction — if that's what he ended up deciding to do.
shinsou is aware that he could brainwash this guy at any point in this conversation, but... what would that solve? it's not like he has any better idea than to stand up here, and this guy is almost to the point of not being able to move. he refrains, though he does growl, ) I know you didn't. It was - something with what you said, with your eyes... Is that your quirk?
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—nyskie
( he looks down at the ensemble, then he looks up to the stranger. if she felt like she liked the look of this more than he did... maybe he should talk to the gem about getting her set up in these or something like these instead of him? a sale's a sale, right? though the tailor would probably see that more as an opportunity for two sales... )
I don't care very much about the color, but, yeah, not being able to move well is going to be a problem for me. ( maybe not in day-to-day life, but if he actually needed to do something to help someone or to defend himself? a hero has to be prepared for that kind of thing.
he nods, thoughtful. he's thinking it seems like a stretch, to find shorts in a place like this, but maybe that's what they were having to custom-make for her. )
True... And if they're so interested in us, like they seem to be, maybe we could convince them to make more clothing like what we're used to. It could, um... start a new fashion craze, or something.
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[She nods, gesturing with her hands in vague agreement.]
The reception I’ve been getting in some places has been kind of lukewarm, but these guys need us, right? We’re like heroes in their time of need. That means all eyes are on us.
[Isn’t that a little dramatic? Maybe, but she didn’t miss the reverence with which the gems at the sky station spoke of gembonds, and it’s clear the officials here are serious about encouraging synchrony. Regardless of the attitudes of some of the locals, the gembonded are important, and that means people notice them. Which, she’s sure, is why this enterprising business has decided to be so accommodating in providing its wares to the new arrivals.]
What kind of thing do you do, usually, that you need to move around for? I’m guessing you’re not used to being the center of attention.
[None of his requests for the tailor had included any fashion requests, and he just said he didn’t care about colour. Appearance is important if you work in front of a crowd.
Plus… he doesn’t really seem cut out for it, personality-wise.]
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( it's something that immediately makes him suspicious. if they took what the gems had told them on that space station at face value, they should have been treated universally well here, but in many instances his reception had been a downright chilly one. there's something that they're not being told, and shinsou doesn't like being manipulated into that sort of position. things were changing, sure — they'd been able to come into this shop, after all — but it just makes him wonder what had changed and why, and if it was contingent on anything that might at some point cease being a factor. )
If that's the case, they have a weird definition of "hero." ( shinsou smiles fleetingly at this, thinking how dramatically different his own world would be if heroes were... okay, no, he doesn't really want to think about that. it's just too odd. far easier to attribute it to an alien planet. )
Well... ( wow, hitting the nail right on the head, huh? there are some heroes more accustomed to being in the center of attention. all might had made his life out of being a symbol anyone could look to, and some of the foremost students of the hero track at UA — midoriya, bakugou, todoroki, though there were others — either had quirks or personalities (or both) that kept them in the spotlight. shinsou... doesn't really have either. but that suits him just fine. aizawa-sensei had made it work for himself, so he would do the same. ) No, I'm not, not usually. But, it's funny that you mentioned it, but back home I was in school - well, about to transfer into the hero course at my school. If I have to fight a villain or rescue someone, I need to be able to move easily...
( he doesn't even really have an outfit yet, like the other hero course students have. he had just been using his support items and the gym uniform. with the fashion he's seen in this city, he's not sure there's much overlap in what these tailors usually make and hero outfits... )
My quirk doesn't require anything specific from what I wear, but running, jumping, fighting — I'd need to be able to do those kinds of things.
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[She furrows her brows, perplexed by this assertion. Considering how rare and costly colleges are in her world, and how unpopular the life of an adventuring hero is, she can’t imagine most people with the money to attend school would be wasting it on a course like that. Heroes are, as far as she is aware, born from a combination of circumstance, necessity, and in many cases greed—but only an exceptional person could actually become one.
Her curiosity is, however, thoroughly piqued by the idea.]
What kind of things do you learn in a hero course? Team-building? Monster-slaying techniques?
[Obviously any aspiring hero would dream of slaying a dragon one day, so there’s got to be at least some lessons on dragons, if only for the prestige. That’s probably what you emphasize in your advertising when you’re trying to draw in new students, even if most of them will never actually meet a dragon.]
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i think this will wrap this one up for me 😄
—chise
( there's no saying whether or not his hair is dyed... it is a mystery. )
Mmm... yeah, kind of. ( "mutation" is language used in conjunction with quirks, certainly, but it didn't describe all of them. it's been generations since they started showing up in humanity, first at random, but then passed down through family lines. a mutation was typically a quirk that either didn't resemble that of a person's parents or a unique combination of the two. ) It's... going to sound goofy when I say it, but they're like - superpowers, I guess. Though a lot of them can be pretty mundane... Most people have one now, so that's why they had to find another word for it.
( they weren't really "superpowers" when 80% of the population had them, after all. )
If none of this sounds familiar to you, then - yeah. It's been hundreds of years since quirks started showing up, so if something like that had never happened... ( he drifts off, thoughtful, not even really able to picture what a world like that would look like. he would certainly be a drastically different person, if he hadn't been born with his quirk. and there wouldn't be any heroes, so he would probably have a different dream...
he blinks, his eyes refocusing on her. ) Hm? Yeah. Saitama Prefecture, actually... Um, are you from Japan as well?
( he would think so, but he doesn't want to assume?? though, since she asked, it seemed likely?? how different would her version of japan be if it was a quirkless society? )
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I see... It's hard for me to imagine. [ she hesitates a few moments, and then she adds, halting and uncertain: ] There is something a little bit like that in the world I'm from, but it's rare, and most people don't know anything about it.
[ generally, it's not something she should talk about. but it doesn't really matter here if she tells someone she's a mage, does it? they're on an alien planet, surrounded by all kinds of things that could be called magic. there are definitely aspects of it that she'd rather keep to herself, and certainly she won't tell people that she's a sleigh beggy, but it isn't the same as it is back home. she's not strange in this place — or rather, she's not the only strange one.
even so, it does make her feel a little more at ease to meet someone with a culture in common. ]
Ah — yeah, I am. Actually, I'm also from Saitama Prefecture. My relatives worked in Tokyo, so... [ she shrugs. it's a popular place to live, when you have to commute to work every day. she was passed around to a few different prefectures after her parents were gone, but the last family was in Saitama and she spent the longest there; it's easiest to say that's where she's from. ] I've been living in England for a while now, though. In the countryside.
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shinsou is unhurried; it seems to him like she's considering saying something or not, so he waits, and it's... interesting, and just as unclear as he had been a moments ago, what she means. ) That's... Hm. ( he ponders for a moment, trying to figure out a way to word how he's interpreting her description. ) Like... a secret underground, or...?
( before heroes had been integrated into society in laws and licenses and culture, they had existed in a similar way, operating as vigilantes in the shadows and out of the public eye. it's the only thing that he can think of from his own frame of reference that makes sense. )
What - seriously? ( he seems genuinely shocked at this, and the thought of being from the same exact prefecture but from different worlds is a crazy one, even if it is most likely home to millions on any version of earth out there. but the happenstance of sharing where he was from with someone not even from "his" world is pretty amazing. ) England, huh... You must have already adjusted to one culture shock, then. ( he smiles; a genuine one, and whenever it is genuine, it always looks a little shaky, as if fledgling. ) I only went to school in a different part of the city... This is my first time "traveling" like this.
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[ as soon as the word is out of her mouth, she finds herself worrying that she was wrong. that being in this place won't be enough — that she'll still be thought of as strange, even here, where everything is unfamiliar. but maybe people will think that about her regardless, just because of being the way that she is. there's nothing she can do for it, though. it's not as if she could pretend to be normal forever. ]
A lot of people can't see it. It's not like we're not allowed to tell people about it, but if we do, it can get... complicated, for a lot of reasons. There aren't many mages left, anyway, and they usually keep to themselves.
[ given the ones she's met, she thinks that they probably still kept to themselves even when there were more of them. maybe it's cultural, or just in their nature. ]
I only found out about all of it when I went to England, so... in a way, it was two culture shocks at once.
[ she seems exhausted just remembering it, but she means it in good humour, and she meets his smile with one of her own, small and private. ]
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