isleofavalon | [closed] stone sour

Entry tags:

my hero academia: eijiro kirishima

[closed] stone sour

🧙 WHO: Kirishima, Ururaka, Yaoyorozu
⚔️️ WHAT: Assistance Mission May; "Holo, Goodbye"
🕒 WHEN: May
🗺️ WHERE: Starting up the holo river
⚠️ WARNINGS: Musings on death and mortality that'd be unexpected for teenagers, I'd guess?

"Head up to the river just north-west of Camelot's farmland. This time of year, the river will sparkle with holographic shine. Prismatic rainbows dance across the surface of the water, and fairies of all kinds enjoy drinking and celebrating. This comes from a special spirit that goes around purifying stones that gather natural energy throughout the year. The spirit spends most of the year in Elphame and the Mountains, so it only spends one week a year near Camelot City. Unfortunately, my grandmother is ailing this year and is unable to come. I have to take care of her. If you could get one of the holographic rocks and bring it to us before the holo wears off so she can see them one last time, we'll be eternally grateful."

Altogether they'd been cordial. Hero training had taught them phrases to say during a crisis, but this was different. They - the teens and pro heroes of Tomorrow in their world - were supposed to be the people who preserved life as much as they could, worked with emergencies in progress, were supposed to be reassuring. Their client this mission was not... not to be reassured. What was happening now was a long time coming, not a sudden trauma. She seemed so certain of her grandmother's end to the point comforting otherwise seemed so silly.

And so when Kirishima meets his allies outside of the little home they've visited, he feels a bit shaken. It feels wrong to smile. He clears his throat instead.

"So um... it seems pretty straight-forward?" Kirishima ventures, awkwardly inching a hand up towards his nape to rub. "Any tricks or, um, enchantments you two know of?"

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Momo, understanding the heavy tone behind Kirishima's question, nods thoughtfully.

"Time seems to be the key element here. The faster we can return with the stone, the more time we'll have before the holographic enchantment wears off."

She reaches around to her bookshelf belt and pulls out her Yaoyorictionary. It's the one part of her hero costume that she still makes sure to have with her when she's out on a quest. She's added several pages of notes on various spells, magical techniques, and alchemical formulas.

"I have a recipe for a spell that will help prevent us from getting lost... And another one that will allow my familiar to possess me, and greatly increase my magic potential output. Maybe I could then use wind magic to hasten our speed? Though... I will need to rest for quite a while after. That one might be best saved for an emergency."

Likewise, Ochako is a bit guarded when she meets her friends and allies to strategize the best way to go about this - time is of the essence here, and they don't have much of it to stand around. She does manage a small smile, but it doesn't last long, and doesn't quite reach her eyes, either. This sort of thing is...quite heavy, indeed. A very bittersweet sort of mission that she's not really sure she's fully prepared for, at least emotionally. Loss is...normal. It's part of life, but it's never easy, no matter what one takes to prepare for it.

Clearing her throat, Ochako doesn't quite manage to hide the quiver in her voice, as she makes a point of inputting what she brings to the table here as well, in terms of time management.

"The spell about not getting lost sounds great, Momo-chan, but hold off on the one with your familiar... I can fly us up and over most things with my kinetic magic, and if you can use your elemental to create a tailwind, we should make sort pretty good time. Also, Aludra-san might be willing to carry us on her back, but I'm not sure..." Ochako rubs her arm a little bit, looking away with a frown. "She's really finicky even letting me ride her most of the time..."

Some people could get offended with how clinical Yaoyorozu seems to address the situation by simply taking out her book and strategizing. Kirishima can't be less than grateful; he feels raw with the recent interaction and interview, but he appreciates time is of the essence and that is what his classmate is serving. Hearing the little quiver in Ururaka's voice makes him feel justified and stronger all at once, makes him feel like it's ok to be a bit emotional so long as he can still buckle down.

"Nee-chan can be a shield in case we come across anything that'd be in our way." Kirishima speaks of his own familiar, large as a horse and impervious to damage outside of what could be done to stone, ignorant of pain entirely. Knowing both the girls actually have names for their familiars is a little bit of a blow to someone who can only call his Big Sis, but she hasn't seemed to mind so far. If she had, he has to suppose, she'd have told him her name somehow.

"It sounds like the plan is Yaoyorozu will guide us to the stone with her recipe and Uruaka is gonna fly us. And I'll call on my familiar if we need a ride or a distraction. Nee-chan can carry any and all of us if we need a ride, but she's slow and I'd rather we keep Nee-chan as the defense while we take Aludra-san away. Does that sound about right?"

His komainu familiar is only stone and magic, Kirishima thinks. She's both stronger and can more easily survive being broken apart compared to the girls' familiars.

"Mm," Momo agrees. "It sounds like we'd be faster traveling by air, or with Aludra-san, if she'll allow us to ride her." Momo has seen how slow Kirishima's familiar can be. And while she was very impressive and obviously quite strong... Speed was not her strong suit. And Ochako's familiar is impressive in her own right, though Momo could get the sense through the way Ochako talked about Aludra, that it was best to approach the giant wolf from a position of careful respect.

For a moment, Momo allows herself to frown and wonder, once again, why everyone else got such strong familiars, while she was saddled with a mischievous imp like Choki, who wasn't helpful or useful at all, and only cared about cutting people's hair when they weren't looking.

But, that's neither here nor there. Momo pulls up the page of her book that has the Wayfinder spell, and begins reciting the incantation. She's tested it out once before, but she still wouldn't say she's practiced at it. It takes her a minute or so to cast, but once she finishes the recitation, a bright white line of light issues forth from the book, in the direction of the river. Momo smiles, glad that she got the spell right on the first try, and nods to her friends.

"Let's go."

Much like Kirishima, Ochako is glad to not have to dwell on the emotional aspect of this quest for too long. It's been a trying couple of weeks for her mentally and emotionally, so just diving right into the 'work' is a good enough distraction. She does steal a quick glance to Kirishima, offering him a reassuring and kindly smile before they all begin to strategize and go over their options. And perhaps because this mission is so time-sensitive, and just sensitive in general, Ochako really wants to do her best. She wants to get this done not just quickly, but expertly. And the strangest thing is, that desire is born from a fiery want to do good, not the feeling of obligation, of needing to, because she's a hero. No, she wants this to go smoothly and perfectly because she wants a mother and grandmother's final moments to be spent as peacefully and happily as possible.

She takes in a deep and steadying breath, listening to everyone speak, nodding her head here and there or offering an acknowledging hum.

"Flying would be easiest, but I don't know the distance from here to where we need to be. Depending on how far, we may need to take rest stops here and there so I don't exhaust myself during flight... At that point, it may be easiest to call Aludra-san and Nee-chan to carry us so they're doing most of the walking, then we can switch off again. I know, at the least, my familiar will follow us, and she'll come the moment I call for her. She's a bit, ehh...much, b-but she's very loyal. If we're in danger, she'll protect us just like Nee-Chan will, or get us all away."

Ochako does care about her familiar, and it's clear that Aludra does for her, too, and her friends, but the dire wolf still has to be handled rather delicately. She has been, Ochako has noticed, a bit more agreeable recently...a-after Ochako got attacked by those spiders. More protective, too. She was probably worried.

"Right. Everyone ready?" Ochako holds up her hands, looking from Momo to Kirishima slowly. "I'll try not to take us too high, if you two get nervous."

Kirishima gives a thumbs-up and cuts a smile, though there's a bit of a forced nature to it. "We got this! Go for it, Ururaka!"

The last time he remembers flying - really flying as opposed to being yeeted like what happened during the joint training - was in Kamino ward, sailing away from the League with Bakugou in tow. The only thing he'd been afraid of then was not succeeding and, well, the same mostly holds true now. It'd be a lie to say falling without his Quirk doesn't scare him, but he's more afraid of failing. And besides, Ochako would never drop them.

He trusts Yaoyorozu's abilities as well. What she's done has always looked like magic to him anyway and this compass is just another extension of that. He's a really lucky guy. Maybe at some point, he hopes, he'll be able to be just as useful.

While Momo is also reminded of their rescue attempt in Kamino, she herself has never been flying like this, having stayed on the ground with Todoroki. But she agrees, traveling by air will be the fastest way to get there, and she trusts Ochako completely to carry them in one piece.

She nods, smiling. "Let's do it! I believe in you!"

Ochako would never let either of her two friends fall, it's true. Even if her concentration breaks, she would push herself past any limit to make absolutely sure they remained safe and never hit the ground hard enough to really harm themselves. Smiling at the faith they have in her, though it's also a bit strained as well, she nods and gives each of them a light tap with one hand, the pinkish glow of her fingertips signaling the activation of her magic. It really is so much easier if she just totally mimics her quirk.

As the two begin to float up, Ochako uses the magic on herself as well, and she joins her friends in the air as they breach the treetops, perhaps a good thirty or so feet in the air. Looking from Momo to Kirishima, to gauge their expressions, Ochako nods.

"Everyone okay? We can start moving at any time, but let me know if you get uncomfortable, okay?" And with their heading via means of Momo's compass, Ochako directs their flight that way.

It's frankly a bit jarring to be so ungrounded and Kirishima doesn't know how Ochako just did this back at home all the time. Fortunately, he's got a strong stomach and hadn't eaten too big of a breakfast that morning. After a swallow, he gives Ururaka a thumbs-up.

"All good!" He'll be damned if he holds up anything.

The trees flicker by and Kirishima just pretends this is like one of those rollercoasters at the amusement parks where you're strapped in and held in a flying position to simulate a flying hero's Quirk. It definitely helps. He presses his arms alongside his body and puts his legs together like he's becoming a human missile. After a moment, the joy of flying and the speed outruns the fear of death and Eijiro is simply enjoying himself as they all go along. He allows one of his hands to reach out and gently skim the treetops, grinning with the simple pleasure the texture brings despite the slight sting. Depending on how long Ochako can hold this for them, they may well soon break upon the iridescent marvel of the river that is their destination.

Momo gives Ochako an encouraging nod, and off they go! She has some experience in being airborne from practicing with her wind magic, but it's a very different feeling than the weightlessness of Ochako's technique. She keeps her mind focused on the path ahead as they follow the beam of light from the Wayfinder spell towards their target. Momo glances over and sees the careful way Kirishima is holding his body, and decides to streamline her legs together the same way, keeping her open spellbook held close to her chest.

After a few minutes in the air, Momo sees a shining light in the distance, flickering on the horizon. She gasps, excited, and points it out to her friends. "There, look! Do you see it?"

It's not exactly difficult to see that Kirishima is a bit more nervous than Momo is, thus Ochako sticks closer to him just to give him so peace of mind and maybe a bit of comfort as well. It must be so difficult for him...he's always been a rock-solid person (literally and figuratively) with his quirk, that not having it now must be rough. Ochako herself still struggles with the loss of her quirk as well, even with the kinetic magic mimicking it a lot, too. Kirishima doesn't...really have that, though, does he? She smiles at him from their position in the air, it getting softer the more he relaxes and actually starts to enjoy himself.

Honestly, flying for the first time wasn't easy for her, either. It was scary being up in the air without knowing how to get down, getting sick after, and floating things up only for them to come crashing down and break minutes later when she lost her focus or got sick. Ochako really hated her quirk at first, before she got to really learning about it and mastering it. After that, being in the air just felt so....freeing.

"I see it!! I can try to make us go faster toward it, but that'll exhaust me more and...we may need to ride the rest of the way."

And because they've been going for a little bit now...she's definitely feeling the twist and knot of her stomach acting up. Even at a slower pace like this. Really moving them quicker's going to take more effort, and she's going to get sicker faster, too.

"I-I think I could get us...m-maybe halfway? But I'd really be pushing it, and, um...I'd have to drop our altitude, too, to compensate. Unless I create a tailwind, but, um...that might only get us so far..." Splitting her magic like that is going to be literally the worst, especially when her elemental is actually harder to control and wears her out more than the kinetic, hilariously enough. Ochako's the other way around - her primary is worse than her secondary magic in terms of, erm...fuel consumption.

All the other times Kirishima has flown before now, he'd been pretty confident he could survive a fall thanks to his Quirk. Not so much now. Feeling Ochako drifting near him does make him perk up further and put on a wider grin, half because it's her but also partially because he doesn't want her to worry about him, which he rightly suspects she is.

"Let's ride the rest of the way! We should figure out how quick the rides go now, right? Instead of when we might really need 'em?" Kirishima calls out after Ochako voices her options. Her hesitation between the options is making him get that she's deciding on whether or not to push herself. As much as they need to be speedy right now... he doesn't want her to push herself like this, where finding out how far she can go may result in them falling a long way. They can mess around with that later!

"What do you think, Yaoyorozu?"

Momo thinks for a moment about suggesting that she could create the tailwind, to save Ochako from overexerting herself, but... she's not certain she could manage to split her concentration on both that and the Wayfinder spell at the same time. In the end, she thinks about it strategically and shakes her head.

"Kirisima-san is right. We should budget our energy for the trip back. It's more important that we return expediently, before the holo-magic wears off of the rocks. We can take our time getting there. Riding is the best option."

She rotates in the air and gives Ochako her best, most reassuring smile. "Thank you for getting us this far, Uraraka-san!"

She is worried about her two friends, but also about getting the mission completed swiftly. Still, Ochako's number one priority will always be to keep people safe, so she agrees as well - they not push on more than she can manage, and continue their travels riding on the backs of their familiar instead.

"Alright, you're both right. I'm going to bring us down now, let me just find a safe clearing near the intended path..." And it's not too difficult to find, thankfully. Just a place where the treeline isn't so dense, and Ochako makes her descent first, then brings down Momo and Kirishima after, slowly. Once they're only a few feet from the ground, she releases them by tapping her fingers together and-- "Release."

It just works better that way. Helps her focus. "Ehehe, I'm sorry I couldn't get us farther, but I still have a lot to learn even with this magic, I guess. But I'm glad to be of use for this much. Let me call Aludra-san now."

And hope to god she lets anyone ride her, let alone two new people.

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[closed] stone sour

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it's short... but at least it's a tag...

length =/= quality, you two are dears ♥♥

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