etrayalogs | OPERATION: YOUTHFUL DISOBEDIENCE

He gestures to himself, adding: "Fabian."

Apparently he doesn't have the energy for a full, fancy introduction the way Fabian usually likes to make them. So just his name will have to do. And right after mentioning said name, he's already moving on to--

"And I imagine the beings in charge of this place must have been doing that, right? I tried to show the different mission description I got to other people who were similarly affected by the plushies as you, but they could not read it. I can't imagine why they would put us through something like that." Sure, technically he can. He's pretty sure that if he would have asked about it, he would have been given the default explanation they all got when they first showed up here.

Something about proving the worth of their worlds or whatever. But-- through that? It feels like nonsense. Manipulation, even.

"Do you know what it feels like when total strangers and even your own friends don't believe you for an entire month? When they all assume you are crazy or dangerous? It's not exactly fun."

"I'm glad I got to meet you properly Fabian-kun. I'm sorry. I just think they like to watch us struggle. Something about judging our worlds based on us. I try not to think about it too much. No matter what, I gotta help people where I can. It was the same back home when, uh, a whole mob was ready to send me away into danger."

His shoulders rise a little. He hates being stared at by a crowd, but a crowd yelling at him? The worst. He was picked on as a kid. The stakes just get higher the older someone gets.

"I was prepared to go anyway. I still had a job to finish. But my friends... one in particular... they spoke up for me."

The corners of his lips turn up a little. "Things can always turn around. I understand now why my friend destroyed the toy, even if I felt without hope at the time."

.. so someone else did destroy it, huh?

Damn.

Not that Fabian isn't glad that Izuku could be helped before things really got out of hand, but it does kind of make him feel pathetic. He really had tried to destroy the toy too, after all, but he couldn't even get near it. And yet someone else managed to destroy it. Is Fabian that bad at this whole thing when he's just by himself, rather than having his party there to back him up?

Izuku may be smiling a little bit, but Fabian's body language seems to move in the opposite direction. His shoulders slump a little - kind of awkwardly, or more just like he looks bummed.

"Well, good thing that you got help."

It doesn't sound like he doesn't mean the words, but for some reason he also definitely looks like he's sulking as he says it. And not just a little bit. Being subtle is not exactly Fabian's expertise.

His mouth twists a little. Don't feel bad, and don't begrudge him his good fortune!

"Hey, it was because it was someone close to me. They were literally close, and I was as unguarded as I could be. It didn't stand a chance, really. I'm still grateful you tried to help me. Not many people would have bothered. It was very brave."

There's that small sweet smile again. He's not going to blame Fabian for failing in his mission. He's trained One For All very hard, so it stands to reason that he would reap the fruits of his training and escape. Bakugo also had the edge of being someone Midoriya trusted implicitly and absolutely. He's come a long way to earn it.

"How do you know Riz-kun?"

Edited 2024-10-08 09:55 (UTC)

God, he's getting a full on participation trophy here from the other, isn't he. Somehow that feels even more insulting. Fabian doesn't get mad over it, since it's pretty clear from Izuku's entire attitude about it that he's not doing any of this on purpose, but.. god, does it ever make him feel even more upset when he's already had an upset streak for months.

But it's fine. He can push it down. Isn't that what he had been doing for months back home too? No one wants to be an audience for your upset, so you just push it down and keep going.

It's what Fabian does in this moment too. He can think about all these bad feelings later. For now there's a question to focus on, something that's a lot easier than facing all these complicated emotions.

"He hasn't told you?"

Granted, it's not always super relevant here, but Fabian doesn't imagine any of them are very secretive about it either. Maybe it just never came up.

"We come from the same world. Back at our school we are divided into adventuring parties of six people, so we learn how to work together and don't take anything that's too much for a single person on by ourselves." .. granted, that was a lesson Fabian had to learn the hard way, but Izuku doesn't have to know that! "So we've been doing stuff like this mission together for well over two years now."

Something about Midoriya's sweetness just rubs some people (Bakugo...) the wrong way. It's too close to pitying, even if Midoriya doesn't mean it that way. He wants to protect others so badly he forgets that someone already feeling bad about themselves won't respond well. Something nags at the back of his mind, but without much outward sign from Fabian, Midoriya is in the dark.

"He didn't know I met you, and what happened was kind of embarrassing--for me, not for you," he adds quickly. "So I never thought to bring it up with him."

Midoriya is tight knit with his class in school. Class A has been forged in fire. Midoriya believes they have saved him in more ways than one.

"Adventuring? It sounds like a Hero team-up." He brightens a bit. His special interest! "My class gets assigned in groups, but eventually we'll choose our own when we're Pros. Or we have impromptu ones during emergencies. I'm still in training. So... this mission, has your team encountered a... weird American town like this before?"

He doubts the US exists in Fabian's world, but this is what it looks like to Midoriya.

The fact you have to clarify that it was embarrassing for you makes it sound mighty suspicious, Midoriya!!

But Fabian is willing to drop it. He wants to drop it. He really doesn't want to think too much about their previous encounter, or he'll just start feeling bad all over again. And that isn't a feeling that will make him very productive right now, so he's actively opting to ignore it and focus on the other's question. Which is - thankfully - entirely unrelated to any of it.

"You will have to define what parts of this place you would consider 'weird American' specifically."

Considering Fabian has.. no idea what the United States are.. Obviously he could name some weird things about this place, but who knows if those would be weird to Midoriya too! There are some parts of this town that do remind him of Elmville, after all.

Midoriya knows what it's like to be embarrassing, he's trying to mitigate any embarrassment! Not awkward at all! How is it that Midoriya, world's biggest dork, could make someone who seems otherwise charming and sociable embarrassed.

He waves his palms a little. "Well—not that Americans are weird, everyone's weird to someone else. But regardless of the design of the town, it's weird no matter what. No town is like this, in America or Japan. Uh, those are countries in my world.

"So anyway—the task lists, curfew, surveillance, robots, and whatever's making those weird noises at night... Those are unusual. Stuff out of science fiction or horror stories. Don't you find it strange?"

"Most of that is weird, yeah-- Or maybe I'd rather say bad." It's not like it's totally impossible, after all. Fabian is pretty sure people back home could do that sort of thing if they'd want to, especially with magic being possible in his world.. But that does mean he can agree it sucks. "I mean, what kind of place doesn't let people go out at night? That's insane! Papa always taught me that the only good law is the law of the blade!"

.. A totally normal thing to say.

You know what, Izuku, maybe Fabian is not the best pick when it comes to finding someone to ask about what's normal and what isn't, especially when he sounds so serious about it.

"The robots are the least strange part though. We do have those where I come from. I mean-- Our school's ex-vice-principal was one."

"Swords are cool and all," —Who doesn't like a cool sword?-- "but determining your life and the lives of others by the blade is, uh, frowned upon. There's no reason someone with more might should use it as an excuse to beat someone down."

With great power comes great responsibility. All Might taught him that his power was for saving people. Whereas All Might became a symbol of peace as a byproduct of winning fights against villains, he believes that Izuku could become a true symbol of peace through his unwavering need to save others.

"I go to school to learn how to save people. We have bots too, but they're just training bots and they don't run our lives."

Izuku, you are so lucky that you are talking to Fabian right now, rather than to Fabian's dad. Because the latter would never let that first remark go, while Fabian seems more or less alright with it. He does believe in it to some extent, but he also isn't going to argue for it the way his dad does.

He thinks the way his dad speaks about it is pretty embarrassing anyway..

So rather than speaking up about that, Fabian says: "Well, yeah. That is what our school is about too-- more or less, I suppose."

Not everyone uses the lessons there to actually save people, after all. Even though he and his friends do.

"And I think vice-principal Grix was likely programmed to do normal things as well, but-- well, I am sure Aguefort programmed Grix. It was bound to go wrong just because of that."

His face brightens. A fellow not-normal-school! Maybe they can swap tips or complain about homework (he secretly misses it).

"Ooh, is school where you learned how to use a sword?" Normal. "Do you have Quirk—uh, meta powers in your world? And wait, are you saying a robot is your vice-principal?"

He has so many questions. New hyperfixation discovered.

There's a nod. It's kind of difficult to tell at first as to which question that's an answer - one of them? two of them? all of them? - but considering the thing Fabian speaks up about, it seems like it was an answer to all of them except for the one he bothers to talk about.

"Well, I'm not fully sure what you mean when you say Quirk." He imagines it's probably Izuku's powers, like the ones he showed before, back when he was defending that stuffed toy from Fabian like it was a battle of life and death. "But magic exists in our world, yes."

That has to be similar enough, right. Meta powers.. are probably just some sort of special power.. Even if it's not like magic is all that 'special' back in Spyre.

"I am a fighter and a bard," he starts. There's a slight pause, almost as if to gauge the other's reaction, before Fabian adds: "If that tells you anything."

He's met people who had no idea what that meant, weirdly enough.

Where Izuku comes from, a nod can simply be an indication that someone is listening. Pretty vague, Fabian!

"Not magic, but... sure. You can think of it like that. Most people are born with one, but they're all different. And... bard? Do you like music? One of my classmates loves music, she's really good at it."

He beams at him. In Izuku's opinion, that's very cool. Fabian isn't being as shy about it as Jirou was, but Izuku did catch that slight pause...

"Not making music," he specifies.

Not that he seems offended by the assumption. Really, those types of bards also tend to be the more common ones where he comes from. (Of course Fabian doesn't realize what the meaning of the word is in another world entirely where D&D classes don't exist in the same way they do in his own..)

"I dance. It's not all that difficult to incorporate into sword fighting once you get the hang of it. And it often makes you too fast and nimble for your enemies to hit you as easily, or you can draw the focus on yourself and away from your allies."

Sorry, Izuku. Fabian is a bit of a strategy nerd deep down. It's not usually something he talks about - he tends to put it into practice more - but it's also just not often that someone actually asks him about it like this!

"Oh! Another classmate of mine dances too! In my world we just call them dancers. She said that it helps her dodge. She has some of the best reflexes. She even taught me some moves. Visualization, awareness of space, and execution, it really helped me out. I miss her."

This dork doesn't seem like a nimble dancer, and it's likely he needed all the help he could get. He beams as he pulls out a notebook (from where?) and sidles closer to show Fabian. He's usually shy about showing his notebook since he got made fun of for being a nerd, but here is a fellow nerd!

"Let's see what I wrote... She told me not to flail around but move deliberately. Visualize where I want to be, and put more lock into it! I think what you do is really cool, Fabian-kun."

...

Wait, what's with the notebook? Something about it actually reminds Fabian - in turn - of a nerd he knows. Someone who might also have written stuff like this down in a notebook. And he also happens to be very green..

Though there's no time to comment on it. Because that last comment completely silences any other thought in Fabian's mind. He stares over at Izuku with wide eyes for a moment, like he didn't expect the sudden compliment after all the (very accidental) negging Izuku did before.

"You think I am really cool?" There's a slight pause, and as if he sudden realized something, Fabian is quick to add: "I mean-- Of course what I do is very cool! I am the most popular person in my school, you know! That's why I am maximum legend!"

As he says those last two words, he's gesturing at his 'very' 'cool' neck tattoo. Which is those two exact words in a golden font, all the way across.

"Oh—wow—you, uh, got it tattoed on your neck..." That sure is a lot of commitment.

And wow Fabian, Izuku was complimenting the whole time! Nevermind that it was ill-timed and awkward... Izuku is not the greatest at conversation. He's had people blow up at him before, sometimes literally. And if Fabian is used to being popular, all the more chance of Izuku being awkward... (Any resemblance to real or imaginary green nerds is entirely coincidental.)

But then he suddenly brightens and he stands a little straighter.

"Hang on, is that like your Hero name? Like a codename? Do you go by that in the field? Mine's Deku."

He is not getting that tattooed on his neck. No thanks.

"Uh.."

It isn't really. After all, there's no need for code names in their world, even though Fabian can imagine at least one of his nerdier friends finding that sort of idea really cool.

He's making a mental note to make sure Riz and Izuku don't talk too much. Who knows what sort of ideas Riz might pick up from this guy.. Way too many ideas that would make Fabian's life way more nerdy and cringe..

But on the other hand, Fabian takes his title very seriously! And he wants Izuku to take it seriously too because of that! So it seems the only way to get the other to that for sure is to claim--

"Sure. It's what people call me back at school." Nailed it. It's not even a lie, so he can say it very convincingly. "Everyone knows that I am maximum legend! You have no idea just how far my reputation reaches!" He's proudly puffing out his chest a little as he says it..

Incredibly humble, I know.

It's too late. Izuku and Riz have spoken and will speak again. The nerd nation will rise.

Students in the Hero course come up with their Hero names while in school. They might change them later, but it's still an important decision. They begin to be recognized by them (and might be stuck with them).

Izuku's eyes grow big and round. People who boast are often not all that, but sometimes there are cases (like Bakugo) where there is truth behind the bluster.

"Are you a top student then? I've only done my first year, but I've come very far, even got my Provisional License early and started working. It's all thanks to everyone who helped me, and I have some of the best teachers there are."

What a goody two shoes. Even his accomplishments must be cut with acknowledgements of those who supported him.

Izuku really is proving that nerd credit more with every single thing he says. Not that a cool and popular student like Fabian is necessarily all for dunking on teachers - he thinks his own teachers are pretty good too, though he would still credit himself more than said teachers for his accomplishments.

It's just what happens when you're raised to think you're the best person ever.

"Of course I am!" He easily answers Izuku's question, even scoffing a little bit. Like the idea of him not being a top student is crazy. "I get top notch grades, I'm the captain of our Bloodrush team, the most popular student at school and my adventure party has saved the world no less than three times already!"

.. Is he--

Is he just ignoring Izuku's own accomplishments? Fabian, boy, surely you can take a moment off from boasting about yourself, my dude.. Give this cute bright-eyed nerd some credit.. But no, Fabian is apparently too busy proudly puffing out his own chest. Like an idiot.

Izuku blinks a little in the wake of this steamroller. How very like Bakugo. Pride cometh before a fall. Izuku thinks being popular is a very subjective thing, and surely Fabian can't be the most popular at every single activity...

"What's Bloodrush...?"

Izuku decides to stick to one question about the thing he might know least about, for his sanity.

In the early days of being in this place Fabian would have found that a simply ridiculous question.

At this point he's kind of used to it though - mostly since it seems like Bloodrush really is something reserved for just his world, and he's kind of getting the hang of having to explain something that feels so obvious to him.

"It's a team sport, of course! You have to get the ball to the other side of the field, and you are allowed to do anything to get it there. And I am amazing at getting it there, mind you."

"Wait, what, anything? Are weapons allowed? Powers?"

Trust a Hero Course student to ask a question like that. It's from experience: The spring sports tournament features standard activities like an obstacle course or a race, but... their Quirks are involved, and sometimes there are combat robots in the mix. Izuku didn't have a good handle on his Quirk back then, so he competed using a combination of wits, grit, and careful release of One For All (injuring himself).

Rather than giving poor Izuku a direct answer, Fabian instead replies with: "What? Are you saying you'd want to play a sport where you can do that?"

It's not like Fabian can tell whether or not the other looks that way because he has experience with it and knows how wild it gets or because he's excited about the idea, really. It's clear that there is some emotion about Izuku as the other speaks, Fabian just really isn't sure of what it is.

OPERATION: YOUTHFUL DISOBEDIENCE

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