defendure | Noctium Inbox

...Well, March. [ It is a weird question, and it's why Izuku focuses in on that rather than anything else that was said. Because it's a weird question, and Shinsou isn't the sort of person who asks weird questions without a good reason. And the only reason to ask that question would be... ]

...What month was it for you? [ He's smart, so he understands the implications. He can't say he understands the science precisely, but then, they've been pulled in from a variety of worlds to this one. Space-time not behaving like you'd expect is actually probably what one SHOULD expect. ]

( his response to the answer is at first a slow blink; aizawa-sensei had already mentioned that all might was from a time earlier than them, so he knew it was a possibility, but... it's still a little shocking, when faced with it first-hand. )

...I was studying for second semester final exams, right before I came here. So, late December. A few weeks after the joint training exercise.

( he lays the menu down on the table, not really able to think about something like that right now. he rests his elbows on the surface, left fist in his right hand. he's like that for a moment; his expression is deeply worried. )

Midoriya... What's going to happen in three months?

Um.

[ That's it, for a moment. That intelligent, haphazard "um". He's not trying to put Shinsou off - although he'll have to leave out the parts about One For All for now (...because he hasn't yet made the decision to tell everyone, since he hasn't seen the fallout of everything happening) - but it's more that so much has happened in three months. There's just a lot to go through, okay?

So he's trying to figure out how to summarize. ]

So, there was this thing called the Meta Liberation Army which was...villains who wanted free Quirk use. They kind of combined with the League of Villains and they're now the Paranormal Liberation Front. And a lot of U.A. students were assigned to evacuate civilians out of the line of destruction. Is what...I was just doing.

[ THAT'S THE BEST HE CAN SUMMARIZE, while leaving out a lot but this way Shinsou can sort of get the shape of it and ask questions or not as he pleases. ]

( he gives him the, "um," and he gives him time to think. shinsou is patient. he can tell that, whatever it is, it's a lot to try to coherently wrap up for someone who is completely uninitiated. shinsou gets the feeling that he might end up regretting asking — how many cautionary tales are there of people foolishly seeking knowledge of the future, only to have it ruin them in the present?

but seeing midoriya as he is now... it feels almost impossible not to ask.

he listens raptly. there's a lot here that doesn't really mean anything to him, and it wouldn't without some time to process. he's heard of the league of villains, after everything that happened in kamino, but — meta liberation army? paranormal liberation front? a world of free quirk use... it's a philosophical can of worms he's not really willing to crack open when sitting out in front of a diner.

after a moment, he breathes out a long, slow sigh. he nods. if the hero course students were mobilized for this — he doubts he would've been involved. his transfer wasn't finalized, after all.

he puts his forearms on the table and leans forward, brows knit together. another moment passes, and he asks, tone low, ) Are you okay? ( there's a beat. ) ...I'm not talking about the bandages.

( a wide-scale disaster which would require even students to be mobilized in order to assist with evacuation... it would have been huge. )

I'm... [ Good question? Izuku frowns, then shrugs. ] I'm in one piece. I'm more worried about everyone else, you know? I don't really know how everyone was doing. I got split off from the main group, and then the fight I was a part of was pretty confusing...I'm not even sure if everyone I was with is doing okay.

[ Back home.

Apparently Aizawa is just dandy here, he supposes? ]

If anything happened... [ How "okay" he is hinges on that. And he hasn't yet seen or heard about the aftermath that will wear him down. ]

( yeah. he would be worried too, if he had left something like that behind. it sounds like it had been chaos — something wide enough to affect the entire city. he knows that time will probably make it easier to put out of mind, and it will certainly give opportunity to process, but... it's going to be a heavy burden to carry until then.

somehow, shinsou thinks that talking through some of it might help him. maybe. even though he really doesn't know what to say. what kind of thing do you say to something like this? )

Unfortunately... ( maybe this isn't the best thing to start with... maybe he's not great at comforting people. ) There's no way to know here. Not unless - someone from further in the "future" shows up to tell you, I guess.

( since that's kind of what's happening for shinsou right now. he sighs. )

I know there's no use in saying, "don't worry about it," but... don't beat yourself up over it, at the very least.

Yeah, there's...not a lot to be done about it right now.

[ He can't exactly rip a portal open back home and go check on everyone (or if he can he doesn't have the slightest idea how to start). The best thing to do is try to work on things from this side... ]

...beyond I guess trying to get home? But you'd have said if we had a plan there.

( shinsou hums his assent, gaze downcast. he's had weeks to come to terms with his complete powerlessness in this situation. worse still, he can't imagine the gems would be actively incentivized to help in getting them back where they came from — they were needed here, for whatever reason, so he gets caught between wondering if they should try to investigate their own way back home or play along until their aid is no longer required.

though he's not even sure if a discrete endpoint like that even exists.

he hesitates in his reply; cautious with what he perceives as bad news. ) ...Kind of, but it's vague. We were apparently brought here by this - well, they call it a new god, so the thought is that it can send us back. But — ( he reaches up to rub the back of his neck, grumbling. ) — it doesn't seem like it's going to be as easy as asking. So until we get more information about all of that, we're pretty much stuck.

Ah... [ That is, in fact, bad news. But if Izuku remembers more than Shinsou... ] But since I don't remember you disappearing at home, it should be okay...?

[ Just to...reconfirm that. Because surely otherwise he'd...know? ]

Oh. Right.

( he hadn't thought about that, though now that it's brought up, he does vaguely remember aizawa-sensei bringing up something like that. he had been a month or so ahead of him, when he'd disappeared, and he hadn't remembered that either. he breathes out a sigh. )

I've been worried about how long we ended up being trapped here. A few months is - whatever, but what if it's years?

( would they even remember what happened here? would they be older when they got put back home? or not, and they just felt older? any answer has its own troubling implications. )

...I'm not sure. I get the feeling that if we think too hard about it, we'll just be stressing ourselves out, though.

[ Which, don't get me wrong, Izuku is totally going to do! But he doesn't want Shinsou to. ]

( he exhales a long, slow sigh, and then nods summarily. )

Yeah.

( basically all shinsou does is stress himself out! but, yeah. he agrees.

he pauses for a moment, looking down at where he rests his hands on the table. then at the table, and the menus, and the situation he had invited them to. oh, right. he looks back up to izuku. )

You've got to be hungry, right? Here. Just let me know what you want. I'll go get it.

( though, really, he is presently just trying to keep how much the guy moves around to a minimum, considering the state he's in... )

[ And that's what happens...Izuku probably asks for something simple like water, or maybe some sort of roll, and Shinsou is a good soul who is willing to get it...case closed? ]

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we can probably wrap this one up here i think?

we can!