[Taka Yasashi]

TAKAYASASHI

Yasashi stood in the training ground with the other students. His arms crossed behind his back and his eyes straight forward. He'd been raised like a soldier his entire life. A few of his classmates glanced at him. With his massive height, severe features, and piercing white-blue eyes. He was a scary looking guy. He did his best to ignore them as the instructor called out names.

..."Taka Yasashi! Olivia Favager!"...

When he finished calling out the list of random names the instructor cleared his throat, "For those of you who I called out as a pair, you will be working together today during this training excersize! Familiarize yourself with one another's quirks and rescue the dummy civilian by the end of the period."

"You'll find a pile of tokens next to me, take one, it'll have the address of the building your course is in. Take it and go! Good luck!"

Yasashi whipped his head around, nerves already sinking in. He'd never worked with anyone like this before. His mother had hammered solo training into him for years, but his first task as a student was going to be working with someone? It was exciting and terrifying. Now he just needed to figure out who Olivia Favager was...

wordsOlivia Favager

?

[Olivia Favager]

How she had made it this far was… honestly a mystery, to Olivia. She had barely scraped by in the aptitude test, much to the chagrin of her partner, and was now enrolled in the Heroics Program with a focus in Rescue, and… gosh, would the feeling of being out-of-her-depth ever go away? Olivia lingered in the throngs of students on the training grounds, a steadying hand fluttering near her sternum. Well, she was here now, and… maybe classes would be better than the aptitude test. No, no, she would do better. Olivia breathed a sigh of determination, patting her cheeks with her hands.

Thoughts hummed around her ears like gnats, entertaining every topic under the sun. Some louder and more strident like bells, others the low hum of a cello. In the cacophony of others’ rich inner worlds Olivia almost missed her own name– and she had certainly missed her partner’s name.

Oh, zut, she thought in frustration, as the teacher finished giving their directions. She and her unknown partner would be responsible for rescuing their own dummy by the end of the class, at a random address they’d receive on a token. Nerves rippled through the crowd as classmates made connections with teammates and gathered their tokens. Pale green eyes swept the crowd, looking for someone who seemed to lack a partner.

Olivia Favager…

A low voice that creaked like wood pulled at Olivia’s consciousness, and her eyes fixed on an absolute mountain of a man in the midst of fairly-average-height classmates. Blond hair, tanned, sheepish-looking. The thought had come from his direction, and he did look rather lost. The blonde lilted through the throng of students, eyes seeking open spots in the crowd until she was a polite distance away from the man. Then she gave a friendly wave at him.

“Good morrow to you, sir~” she said brightly, keeping her hand aloft, “Are you to be working with one Olivia Favager, perhaps? For I am her, and I am… in search of… my… Uh, partner! Yes, my partner.”

Over the din of thoughts, now fading as some of the classmates departed, Olivia’s greeting was appropriately pitched– but in the silence of a normal person’s hearing range, it may have been a touch too loud– and certainly more enthusiastic than most greetings at this hour would be. Olivia let her hand fall, smoothing her palms against the front of her shirt.

She was wearing their P.E. class uniform, which was rather neatly-pressed, almost uncannily clean. Her hair had been wrangled into a smart bun at the crown of her head, and her usual spray of cherry blossoms rested atop her head like a laurel. Whether or not the boy confirmed her suspicions as to his identity, Olivia would charge ahead in her introductions undeterred.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Olivia proclaimed with a bow that felt humorously grand, “And I am eager to do business with you! Come, let’s get our token!”

And again, brimming with such delight at the task ahead, Olivia would rise and turn to retrieve their token without pausing to see if the lad was, in fact, following her.

[Taka Yasashi]

TAKAYASASHI

Yasashi rubbed the side of his head, looking around. He wasn't sure where to even begin. There were so many- oh, everyone was pairing up rather quickly. Was he the only one that didn't know everyone's name? He scratched his head, blinking a few times, process of elimination then? He turned his head just in time for a tiny hand to wave up at him from just beneath his field of view. He blinked and looked down.

"Sir?" He blanched, his expression falling as the first thing she did was make him feel old. Was it because of how big he was? She moved on quickly though, introducing herself as Olivia. He cleared his throat and smiled brightly, doing his best to set aside the faux pas as it probably wasn't intended. Most folks around here were just eccentric.

He held out a shovel-sized hand, "Taka Yasashi!" He said, keeping his tone jolly. That jolly tone had always annoyed his mother, not serious enough for hero work or for his quirk, so he'd embraced it. "That's what the man said! Wait... business?" He looked at her confused as she offered an adorably grand bow and moved off to get their token. He quickly followed her.

T7

That put them nearly on the opposite side of the grid-based cityscape. He squinted at the map behind the teacher who leveled him with a stare.

"Yasashi. Use your damn quirk today, not asking again," The teacher rumbled before turning to answer questions from other students.

Yasashi swallowed and scratched the back of his neck, before turning a beaming smile towards Olivia. "I move pretty fast! How about I get us over there, huh?" He offered, crouching down to let her hop onto his back.

wordsOlivia Favager

?

[Olivia Favager]

Olivia watched the color drain from the boy’s face as she called him “sir”, and her smile similarly faltered as she wondered where her faux-pas had been. Perhaps he didn’t identify as a boy, and she’d accidentally misgendered him? What a terrible foot to get off on!

“Oh, I’m so sorry-!” she began to squeak, waving her hands as if to dispel the honorific from the air. His thoughts quickly discredited her assumption, and brought the apology to a hasty end. It wasn’t a matter of gender, but of age. He worried that she’d perceived him as older, thus warranting a “sir”.

“Oh~” Olivia hummed to herself, touching a hand to her chin. Perhaps a “young sir” would be more appropriate. It wasn’t that she thought he was old, just… everyone was “sir” or “madam” to her. It was the way of a noble person or a knight, after all! She’d watched so many Japanese period pieces just to get the linguistics right, too… She’d have to be more careful!

The boy recovered quickly enough, extending a hand towards her. His greeting shook Olivia from her reverie, and there was a momentary, awkward pause before Olivia realized the boy’s hand and returned the handshake with a dainty grasp.

It was a brief exchange before Olivia brandished the coin, upon which the symbols “T7” were emblazoned.

What did that mean? She followed Yasashi’s gaze towards the map, and was interrupted from her reading by the teacher’s critique of her partner’s methods. Olivia glanced sidelong at her partner, who after a sheepish scratch at his neck, turned towards Olivia again, offering to carry her towards the location. It gave… early twenty-first century vampire-movie vibes, with the beautiful heroine clinging to the back of her equally-beautiful vampire love-interest as they traversed the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

"How very kind! Thank you, young sir!" Olivia said brightly, trying to dispel the fangirl-ish thoughts from her mind with the flap of a hand. Having not received a piggyback ride in easily a decade, she was at a loss on the best way to clamber into position– so she more or less crawled onto Yasashi’s back, wrapping her arms around his tree-trunk of a neck. He was broad enough in the chest that she couldn't really wrap her legs around his middle. Hopefully her arms wouldn't give-out halfway to their zone.

"Do you not like to use your quirk, Taka-san?" she asked, her tone light and conversational, "Because, if it makes you uncomfortable, I am certain that we can figure out alternatives! My quirk is quite useless, unfortunately, so I have become quite adept at completing tasks without it."