I'm a lover, not a fighter

[bakudan_bambino]

🧙 WHO: Gokudera Hayato, Naomi Kimishima, Midoriya, Ochako, Emet-Selch, Tsuna, and close CR (basically anyone who spoke to Gokudera about this)
⚔️️ WHAT: Gokudera's collar-removal procedure!
🕒 WHEN: Early November!
🗺️ WHERE: Dr. Kimishima's Clinic
⚠️ WARNINGS: Language, blood, mentions of decapitation (I'll update if there's anything else going on)



The Day Before

Anyone looking to reach out to Gokudera before his procedure can contact him through his IC inbox or in here to wish him luck or... offer any possible last words for him if they suspect he may need them.

Gokudera's pretty certain he isn't going to die, doesn't want to, and will openly say as much with a smile in order to make himself and anyone he talks to feel better. He will spend the day before the procedure keeping to himself, trying not to alert anyone of any possible upset. He'll seem ruminative and fairly aloof and avoidant when it comes to feelings unless anyone calls him on his bullshit.

For those looking to simply talk to him about this, now would be their best chance. Gokudera has only really informed his boss of everything, and even his best friends aren't contacted. Sorry, but he's trying to keep the worrying for everyone to a minimum.

Maybe he needs to be distracted before the big day! Be the one to distract or offer a kind word! Or... not!


The Day of...

The only people allowed to be in the room of the procedure are Emet-Selch, Dr. Kimishima, Midoriya, Ochako, and Gokudera (obviously). There are people Gokudera would like to see directly after, to announce the successful removal of his collar, or if things turn out badly, would like them to know about his death. In an effort to keep the clinic free of a crowd of close friends, that lobby may only be occupied by Tsuna (or Midoriya as well if he can't get his nerves straight). The preparation for this is probably going to take longer than the procedure itself. This is the time for high nerves and lots of anxious sweating about everything.


The Procedure

Here's the plan:

- Ochako uses kinetic magic to keep the collar in place
- Gokudera uses the Mini potion to shrink himself
- Gokudera falls/shrinks out of the collar's range
- Ochako then uses her magic to move the collar into a lock-box (gotta keep other necks, fingers, wrists or whatever safe from the collar)

There's a lot that COULD go wrong but to anyone who knows Gokudera or what he's been through... this is going to go smooth because it's about time something went well for him.


The Freedom! AKA: Gokudera Independence Day (I'll see myself out)

Gokudera is roughly four inches tall and will stay that way for a few hours. He's FREE! Finally! Consider you get a text message saying the procedure was a success! He'll be celebrating later but hasn't actually planned anything out.

If you didn't get a text from him, you could have gotten a text from anyone involved. Maybe you even got sent a picture of a tiny!Gokudera with no collar around his neck. Blow his phone up with congratulation texts! Show up at the clinic (Naomi may not like that), but hey it's good news! React however you want! Just have fun!


Celebration???

Are we throwing a party? Is there something I forgot? Have a blast and I don't care how your character found out. We have fun here.

Comments

[floatsaway]

W-Wel...at least hit me or something!!

[Because Ochako definitely is thinking of those big ol' smashy punches. She can take a beating, yes, but a bop like that might actually knock her out of commission completely, so yeah. Please be gentle if she needs to be woken up, though with the excitement and adrenaline coursing through Ochako, it may not be necessary (for now, that mental exhaustion is definitely going to catch up to her quickly).

As they settle, Ochako sips her milkshake for more sugary energy and swirls the plastic cup a little bit.]

One like this? Yeah, it'll be my first... Usually a shower with so much activity doesn't happen much around our area, or when it does, the best viewing time is when it's daylight in Musutafu. I only ever really saw one good shower, and that was when I was, uhh...I think eight? Maybe nine. It was summer, and my mama and papa were visiting our relatives in the countryside. I took a nap on the car ride there, so I wasn't sleepy, and got to see the shower from the back seat. It was sooo pretty...

Ehehe, I think that's when I started to really want a telescope of my own. [Though it never happened, and probably never will. A really good telescope is crazy expensive, several hundred thousand yen, and with her family's finances being what they are...it's just a pipe dream.]

[fullgauntlet]

[A really good telescope, huh. Izuku files that away quietly as they settle down in their spot. Sitting side by side and shoulder to shoulder Izuku takes a second to inhale the cool night air and look up at the stars that are twinkling. With everything finished and Gokudera being okay it feels like such a relief to just breathe in the cold night air. Letting it nip his lungs. He takes another sip of his milkshake before he answers.]

I've lived in Musutafu my whole life but I never thought to look at the stars or try to find meteor showers. Even if it was hard to see anything through the normal city pollution, I wish I tried.

[It makes him miss home, that same little ache that the both of them have. Wonder and worry mixing together as usual.]

I'm glad I'm going to get the chance to see this one for the first time with you, Uraraka-san.

[He smiles...!!]

[floatsaway]

[Heck. The observatory tower is high up and cool, and for this particular night, the skylights were open wide or simply removed with magic for the best viewing experience. Ochako sets down a few large and plush cushions to rest their heads on, a few mages and attendants walking around and tapping a few large, crystal beacons that pulse with an orange glow once and fill the area with a deep and pleasant heat. Providing blankets for everyone just isn't viable for a single wizard tower, really. And magic is just easier.]

Ehehe, I understand. It's not something a lot of people think about in the big city...and I'm sure you had other things to worry about.

[Ochako sure did... Her life was never really easy growing up poor. She equated her growing love of space to her quirk, but really...maybe it was just fate. Wishing on a star here and there is something people do for a better future, right?]

Hee, me too. I'm really glad you're here, Deku-kun. Always when I really need you, too. [She smiles as well, settling in and looking up at the inky blackness, littered with stars already. It shouldn't be long now... Ochako brushes her hand against Izuku's gently, holding it in her own.] First one you see, you have to make a wish!!

[fullgauntlet]

[He smiles at her and thinks about what sort of things he had to worry about when he was a kid growing up in Musutafu. It wasn't always pleasant especially the days where he wasn't friends with Katsuki but... he thinks for the most part he had a good childhood. His mom worked so hard for them, his father overseas too. He cried sometimes, over little things, about being quirkless... But everything is so changed now.

He rests back with a sigh. Letting himself get lost in the stars sparkling overhead. There's small twinkles and sparks as the shower seems to be starting to sparkle to life.]

A wish...? I have to think about what I'd wish for.

[He tilts his head to look at her. His hand holding hers naturally even if he still gets that little tickle of nervousness in his chest when it happens. He blinks and then looks up at the sky again and wonders...

As a shooting star flies by...!]

Ah- I... wish for the future to work out for all of us.

[Everyone. Even...]

[floatsaway]

[Ochako would actually really like to hear about those things someday. Not to poke or pry, or even to berate Bakugou over his behavior (though she certainly won't be happy about it, for Izuku's sake - who would be, seeing their friend abused like that?), but she's coming to find out that she really doesn't seem to know much about her friends, especially these two. They were childhood friends for a time, Bakugou very pointedly severed that bond at some point, and now... Now they're together again, but romantically? It's a bit odd, and Ochako doesn't get it herself, but that's only because she's missing facts. Her two best friends in this world...some of the remaining few...she wants to be closer to them as well.

Looking up at the vastness of the sky above like this, though her eyes wander back to her friend's calm face, Ochako definitely feels closer to at least him right now. But then again, she always has been, hasn't she? From the first time they met, they just got along right away, and it's only increased more and more from there. Maybe, someday soon, it'll be the same with Bakugou, too.]

Really? I would have though it'd be easy for you, ehehe.

[His dream of becoming the number one hero, of helping others, and just doing what's right for everyone...that's always been what Izuku was all about. Hence why Ochako grins a little and squeezes his hand gently at the wish he makes before she starts to see stars dart swiftly across the sky, one after the other. The first one she sees, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.]

I like yours, and mine is kind of similar, actually. I wish...to grow enough so I can support everyone else's wishes, keep them all smiling and happy. So that we can see that bright future all together...and keep helping people like I was able to today. Eehehe, kind of sappy, huh?

[But that's just how she is. Giving. Ochako gives far more than she actually takes. Her need for money to give to her parents, her need for strength to usher in a bright future for everyone... Ochako's eyes get a little glassy, and she reaches up with her free hand to dab at them a little bit, feigning a yawn to not look too suspicious. Let her be sappy, shoosh.]

[fullgauntlet]

I- I don't think it's sappy.

[Izuku smiles and nods as he looks back up at the stars and finds that their shared dreams are good. They have things they want out of their futures, people they want to help and people they want to see safe. There are things that Izuku has to keep from her and things he's sure she wouldn't understand but it's when their dreams are like this that Izuku feels a little better.

When he thinks of his future. He can see this splotch on it. What will happen with Shigaraki, with One For All, with his relationships, how he wants to see the future...]

I know as a hero I can do my best to make sure that happens. I think we both can. I'm ready for it. No matter what, I'll keep going.

wrapping here!

[floatsaway]

[She turns to Izuku and smiles at his reassurance. Her gaze lingers on his face a moment, even after he's turned to look at the stars again, and Ochako sighs. Her eyes look back to the endless sky above them, the blue-black ocean of night, littered with glittering stars, now streaking across the velvet canvas. Like diamond dust... It's truly beautiful, this meteor shower, now that the height of it is starting, and meteors are dashing across the night one after another. People are gasping and calling out, some pointing up and others holding telescopes or noting things down...

But Ochako just stares, just stares at the sky and lets herself just think about the vastness of that endless sea of stars above. The vastness of the world, and her role in it. The vastness of the unknown, the future, and how she wishes to shape it. It's actually quite easy, a simple word--]

..Together.