defendure | Noctium Inbox

[ It's about time he got out of the house and into the world. Even if it's not a world he's fond of, at least that feeling is normal and familiar. The exhaustion from lack of manna had been more-or-less resolved (with some fine print), and his post-battle pains are nowhere near as constant and inescapable, meaning Tomura is well enough to be antsy about having nothing to do.

He hasn't had nothing to do in at least a year, and even before that he had a purpose—a purpose that feels like it's very much been lost in this place, and if not lost then... distanced. Still indistinct and far down the road.

In any case, seeing "Noctium" for himself is far from a purpose, but at least it's something to do. Most of the must-know areas within the city have already been explored, so this time the place he goes is off the beaten path. Sort of. Well-known enough on the network for being an occasional training spot for emeralds, which was the detail that drew Tomura's attention. He hasn't done much at all with these new powers he's supposed to have developed here, and while growing plants isn't particularly interesting to him, he sees the practicality in mastering a new ability—especially with the number of quirks he lost to New Order.

He heads to the outskirts of the city, into an area where packed dirt begins to replace paved roads and wild grass takes over from chrome plazas. It's plenty green, enough to see why emeralds would practice here; the weird part is that he could almost be looking at a park from his "home" world. Shouldn't alien vegetation be more alien? Isekai bullshit.

He takes the largest trail, if only because he's only here to get a feel for the place. Maybe see if anyone is doing anything interesting with their powers. The nice part is: someone is. The shitty part: it's someone he recognizes. Ugh—another one.

Tomura stops in his tracks, and just... lingers for a second. It would pain him to turn around and leave just because there's a hero here—especially since he doesn't have any reason to be avoiding heroes in this world—but what else is there to do? One For All can't be stolen involuntarily, and for all he knows, trying to use All For One would knock him into next fucking month—so fighting's out of the picture for now. He sure as hell isn't going to walk up and say a friendly hello though—he'll take a brawl over that any day, thanks. ]

[ Training is habitual and soothing for Izuku these days. His Quirk, his gemstone - he uses all of it in methodical turn, although his Emerald powers occasionally get more use at times. He uses One For All often enough, but the manna drain of multiple Quirks isn't anything to sneeze at.

It's not quite danger sense, but more the seismic sense he's been developing here, that gets him to turn.

He hasn't seen Shigaraki in almost a year now by one set of memories. In the other...

Well. Izuku doesn't tense up. Doesn't look away, although he does feel better knowing he's surrounded by greenery. ]

Hi. [ An awkward wave. ]

[ Only one trail in or out, otherwise it's trees and brambles on most sides. No inconspicuous way to make an exit and avoid conversation. In the time he contemplates this, it's too late anyway—the boy straightens up and turns, obviously aware of his presence. If Tomura wants to attack, make an early move to catch the "gembonded" heroes off-guard, then it's now or never.

But he doesn't move from his spot. Call it being careful of (or still recovering from) the manna drain of using his Quirks, or call it having other things on his mind, or call it not seeing the benefit of going after Midoriya in this world—either way, Tomura keeps his distance. Not that it adds any particular warmth to his reception of Midoriya.

He heaves an annoyed sigh. ]

Ever since I got here the lot of you have been spawning incessantly.

[ If he could get more than a few blocks away from the house without running into one of them... ]

Um, to be fair, I've been here a pretty long time. Well not this exact spot today, but just in this area in general?

[ He's not trying to be an aggressive daisy or anything, and mostly looks embarrassed about it.

He's a little worried about this, but Izuku won't attack if he isn't attacked. ]

Ummm, but I guess there are a lot of us.

[ "A long time." Like Bakugou had said at one point—almost a year, was it? And Tomura just has to swallow that information as true, part of the natural order of things in "this world." What a fucked up set of rules. ]

Don't tell me a space-time distortion brought all of you brats, [ he drawls sarcastically.

Of course, Tomura is aware of the presence of some other hero trainees by now; he's referring to the vague, nebulous impression he has of the rest of Midoriya's classmates, who are mostly indistinct blobs in his mind. ]

Um, no. There's only like four of us here.

[ He's assuming Shigaraki means teenage classmates, yeah...the adult pro heroes probably can't be called "brats".

Izuku rubs at his throat, fingers going down just over his gem. It's nervous habit. ]

Erm, but...I think everyone is pretty agreed on not continuing anything from back home here. I mean...so, er. I guess that makes it awkward, but, if you need any notes or information on things here I don't mind helping.

[ If there's four, that means there's only one he hasn't met. What are the odds of running into three-quarters of the UA students present already? Gotta be a cosmic joke. ]

Who agreed?

[ He's skeptical that Dabi would agree to such a thing, which would mean only the heroes made that agreement.

And the offer of help is dismissed for now; it would be more unexpected if the little Todoroki hadn't already proposed it (and been rejected). With Dabi already doing his time here, Tomura has enough information at his fingertips to refuse to resort to a hero. ]

Well, no one has seriously tried to murder anyone else.

[ Successfully, anyway. Izuku isn't even sure that works here, so his tone is more mild than anything. He doesn't consider Dabi trying to murder him in a dream really relevant or important. ]

It's a bit pointless at the moment as is?

[ His eyes narrow with a doubtful look. Knowing what he knows, he hardly believes Dabi half-assed a fight with his younger brother, and whatever the case it did go badly enough for both parties to sustain some pretty hefty injuries. ]

You mean "succeeded"? Trying isn't an obstacle for us, and I haven't confirmed how pointless it would be to make a move here.

[ Regardless of the gems' official stance on impacts to their "home" world and how much faith Tomura places in that official stance, he has an inkling that it'll be better to keep the heroes on their toes—wouldn't want them to get it in their heads that this is a safe place to try and get any closer to Tomura and his (currently) lone ally for whatever reason. It may even occur to a few people on Midoriya's side that it might not be pointless to try a fight or some intel-gathering. ]

No, not really. There are definitely ways that he could have succeeded, but he didn't take those.

[ Or maybe Izuku's just a touch more tactically minded, which probably isn't a surprise - he's given to analytics by nature, even if he's pretty emotional, too. He scratches the back of his neck, sighing. ]

Anyway, anything that happens here doesn't effect the timeline back home. We've had enough people come from different points in time and leave and come back and so on to have empirical evidence of that. So...continuing on a fight that won't even stay concluded doesn't seem like a great use of anyone's time.

Then he's learned the outcome of holding back.

[ He can't attest to Dabi's efforts in that fight and whether or not they were "enough," only the results. If the heroes are willing to let injuries on their own side be water under the bridge—well, that's their call. Maybe the certainty that this place doesn't affect their "home" world has something to do with that, in which case... ]

That depends on whether you'll stay out of our way here.

[ Not that he's set on destroying this planet, but plenty of the hero brats have shown they're more than happy to interfere with his (and Dabi's) life in general. ]

Understand there's nothing to hold me back if you decide not to mind your own business.

That really kind of depends on what "in your way" means. I don't think many people here, even outside of us, would condone murder for example? But I don't have any intent on interfering with anyone trying to live their lives so long as they're not causing harm to others.

[ He can't just promise to stay in his lane if, say, "staying out of the way" means letting anyone do that...but he also doesn't think there would be much point to it for the villains here.

Well...maybe for Dabi, to fuck with his father, but Izuku knows there are plenty of people in Noctium more powerful than anyone from their world. He wouldn't recommend that course of action. ]

[ Tomura would be peeved to admit he has no concrete plans at the moment, so no one is imminently in danger of being murdered. Having plans isn't the only thing that could get him to act though; the world—and this place especially—is unpredictable, and he'll respond accordingly to anything that comes his way, ethics of the majority be damned. ]

The way we want to live our lives is never going to fall within the neat little boxes you people have built. There's no point in pretending like it'll work out because we're on a different planet.

[ Just like it doesn't change the values of heroes, it can't touch the desires of villains either. ]

I think you're misunderstanding me a bit here. Life doesn't fall into neat little boxes, but...what matters most to me is always just going to be helping people who need it. And I think being on another planet does kind of make things different - this isn't the society that failed you. It's full of completely unrelated people who might think differently or might think similarly, you know? Maybe some of the things you want are possible here - maybe some aren't. But, it isn't something you'll really know until you try.

[ There's a small shrug. There are things that are true in Noctium that wouldn't be elsewhere - and maybe that's just a different sort of freedom that some of them can recognize and some of them can't. ]

[ Is he misunderstanding? In Tomura's mind, there is no misunderstanding; he thinks there's no hope for the amicable coexistence Midoriya and some of the others dream about. The best thing they could offer to the other side is to stay out of each other's way—an impossibility because there isn't a middle ground in their philosophies. ]

A different world doesn't change me—nor you. Isn't that what you lot have been blabbering about this whole time? You still have your values, you still want to do this and that, just like in the other place. We're the same, in that respect. You live life your way, and I'll live mine.

Ah...I owe a lot to someone who wouldn't really want me to stand idly by, is all. So...annoying or not, I still want to try to understand you for their sake, and my own.

[ Izuku shrugs, not specifying who he means. ]

[ The omission doesn't particularly catch Tomura's attention—for all he knows, Midoriya could be referring to a general philosophy imparted by his mentors. More puzzling is the insistence to "try to understand." Does the kid really think he'll be able to understand? What could he understand in the first place? ]

It wouldn't change anything, even if you could.

[ Especially if Midoriya's earlier statements about this world and theirs were truthful. ]

If you learned everything about me, would you step aside? [ He doesn't think so. ]

I don't think it's as unimportant as that. There are...people who need to know. I'm only one of them.

[ He can't stand aside, but that isn't the part that matters. ]

[ As though anyone's needs has made Tomura reconsider. He scoffs. ]

No one needs to know anything else about me. What I've already told you isn't enough?

[ He hasn't even told his own allies about himself in very many words, and at least they listen to what he does have to say—about heroes who hurt their families, about the society that leaves everything to those heroes. Midoriya must at least remember those words, doesn't he? Oh well—if the brat is from "before" that time, Tomura isn't feeling generous enough to repeat himself.

The conversation is at an endpoint. He turns on his heels to follow the trail back out of the woods, stopping briefly as he remembers something. ]

Tell your dumbass friends to stay away too.

I'm not in charge of them though?

[ Izuku has zero control over what his classmates do. The only one he could maybe get to do something would be Katsuki, and that's...more personal than it isn't. It's not like he's Iida, who could probably whip them all into some kind of shape, or Aizawa, who could order them off. ]

Consider it for their sake.

[ Sure, it's so the villains can be left in peace without anyone trying to "make connections," but they are much more willing to fuck shit up over an annoyance. ]

Still...I'm not in charge of them. They make their own decisions, and they can handle themselves.

[ Izuku trusts that much. Besides, he's not about to try to curtail his friends' personal freedom just because it might be dangerous for them. ]

[ Tomura stops, shrugs. ]

What ends up happening makes no difference to me.

[ If there ends up being a fight or worse... he'll just call it practice. ]

[ Well, he can't argue with that...Izuku will let Shigaraki go at that point, holding his tongue. ]

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sorry for the slow, prepping for/going on a trip soon!

it's OK I'm still in recovery and can manage like one thread some days

definitely feel the one thread thing atm

I've revived but dw notifs this weekend did NOT help

no worries!! i still have things going on T_T

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