[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

You know, it's a fantastic thing that his mother did not teach him to curse. Sure, his father's side of the family curse like sailors more often than not, but he would never dishonor his mother by uttering a single swear! That would be rude in any situation, even in a life-or-death fight! Opponents deserve respect just as much as his peers, after all, and if he wouldn't say it to one of his friends, then he certainly wouldn't say it to one of his enemies! No curses, none!

... But crap isn't really a curse word and, because of that, he's free to say it as many times as he wants to while absolutely hoofing it down the hallway.

He's late. He's late for a class, and there's absolutely nothing he can do to remedy the situation. Traffic got in the way of his run to school - and, of course, by traffic he means a villain attack - but the blame is still on Pallas himself for not trying to find an easier way around. Then again, can he really be blamed for watching the fight? It was awesome! Some guy punched another guy so hard he swears he saw a sound-effect get written out in the air! No, no, he can still be blamed for that. Pallas shakes his head, smacking his own cheeks with his palms. Focus! Obviously he's still to blame! He should've been more alert!

But the fight was so cool...!

Electricity crackles around him. The shockwaves from his sprint are shaking the glass windows nearby, and he's sure that every full classroom he passes can feel his stride with ease. Even without his Quirk, it'd be hard to ignore an eight foot tall person booking it down a hallway.

The point is, he's late. He's late for a class that's right down the hall. It's something to do with villains, he thinks, or ethics? He didn't get a good look at the schedule! He just knows that it's supposed to be in session right now! That's why he's running with his attention solely on the half-charred piece of paper held tight between his hands, with all the classes and schedule dates and-

...

"Eh?" Pallas blinks while sprinting. The class isn't until tomorrow? But he swore that it was-

Before he can continue that path of thought, he just barely registers the sound of a door ahead of him opening.

Pallas is eight feet tall, and well over three hundred pounds. He cannot stop on a dime. Still, he tries. He digs his heels into the ground, stumbling and staggering and letting go of his paper in the middle of his mad dash.

"Move, move, move, move, can't stop easily, I'm sorry in advance-!" One foot trips over the other, and he goes down.

The question is if the person he spotted got out of the way.

Please don't tell me I've crushed someone on my second day.

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

What a massive headache.

On top of training until she was sore yesterday, her mind had been a lot more active than usual lately. Memories flashing before her eyes at breakneck speed. Elias's, Freja's, both memories they shared that were clear as day and cryptic ones she was just now seeing for the first time. What could any of it mean? She felt a twinge of pain in her wrist as she went to open the door into the hallway. If only she had a proper quirk, a fancy and useful one, then maybe she wouldn't have to train so hard to keep up with everyone else.

She sighed as she pushed the door handle down. That pain was in her good bat-swinging arm too. She couldn't afford to go and get injured and fall even further behind everyone. She had already gotten into enough troubles with villains, vigilantes and what have you, being a student at UAU was stressful! Now, at the very least, what she needed to do was not get into any kind of trouble, so that she could garner some good favor with the school.

So, no injuries, no trouble, just a normal stroll through the school's halls. What could be so hard about that? Still a bit groggy, Freja looked up, confused, as she thought she heard someone shouting. No wait- he was coming right towards her! Like a horned freight train of pure muscle. ''W-Wait!!'' She called out, quickly realizing that he wasn't some villain who had snuck into the school and was trying to squish her, but rather someone who might have been going a tad too fast. In the split second that she had to act, she chose to dive out of the way at the last second. Thank goodness she had been honing her reflexes!! Best case scenario, it was a happy little accident and this tall scary guy wasn't going to snap her like a KitKat. Worst case scenario, she was totally facing a villain on school grounds, somehow??? Thankfully, she was holding her bat in the other hand and once she was sure she hadn't been squished, she was quick to point it at him.

''Wh-Who are you?!'' She curled up with her back against the wall, she didn't even have time to stand up. ''How are you so tall?'' She blurted out, panicking, as if she was accusing him of hogging all the height to himself.

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

For a second, the only thing on his mind is the pure relief of not crushing someone. Not that he's ever crushed someone before - obviously he's never done that - but there have been close calls. Getting to excited in school, running around playgrounds, even his daily run to school tends to put a bit of a chance that he'll just run someone right on over! Thankfully, nothing yet - including right now!

The first thing out of his mouth is a massive sigh of relief. He's landed on his stomach and, as such, he rolls over to sit on the ground proper. He flattens his palms against the floor, takes a deep breath, and finds himself staring right down the edge of a bat that's pointed right at him. Aw, jeez, and the person holding the bat doesn't seem very happy with him. Understandable, all things considered!

"Eh?" He blinks, then tilts his head to the side slightly. "Oh! Uh, hi!" He stands slowly, keeping a firm eye on the bat. He has his immediate doubts that this person will just go swinging right for the noggin', but you can never be too safe when dealing with people who are on edge! "Hi, hi, please lower the bat! I'm Pallas, and I'm tall mostly 'cause of genetics on my mom's side, er-" He looks away from them, then to the nearby classroom door.

Well, this is the hero building, He thinks. So that means...

"Oh! You're another hero student, I take it?" Pallas asks, completely shifting gears away from the near collision to their apparently shared department. "Sorry for almost flattening you, but hey! On the bright side, your reflexes are stellar! And that bat is definitely intimidating - how hard can you swing it?"

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

He just fell right on his stomach and his first move was to sigh in relief? Didn't that fall hurt him at all? It certainly looked painful to her, crashing into the floor at such high speeds. Whoever she was dealing with, he took reckless to the next level. ''Pallas?'' She lowered the bat, just a bit as she pondered his name. Didn't ring any bells. No, even if it did she was sure she would remember having heard about Pallas given the fact that he was quite hard to miss.

''I- what?'' She blinked her eyes, using her bat as support to get back up to her feet. To think that she once felt tall when she first came to Japan. Those were some wild genetics all right! ''Yeah, Freja Helt, first year.'' She was a bit apprehensive when introducing herself, she always was given the bullying she had experienced in the first couple of weeks of her time at school. Turned out a lot of students didn't like having a quirkless classmate on the hero course. Then again, all it took was a brief look at him, but she had a good feeling. Pallas wasn't the kind of person who would just bully someone over the little things. If anything, he was complimenting her right now!

''Thank you.. You think?'' She looked down at her BassBall Bat, also known as BBB. She wished she had an enthusiastic or cool response, but all she could really do was shrug and look back up at him. ''About as hard as my arms will allow.'' She wouldn't be surprised if he was tough, given the fall he had just tanked, but she couldn't help but be a little concerned. ''Are you okay? That looked like it hurt.'' She nodded towards the floor. ''Wait. What were you in a hurry for?'' She glanced at the door she just came out of. It wasn't like anything huge was happening at school today, or rather, not anything she knew of anyway.

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

They say his name, and he immediately echoes it back with a confident nod. "That's right! The one and only Pallas Maekawa, at your beck an' call!" He flashes a bright grin, brushing a bit of his hair back. Some pieces of it are standing upright again, static beginning to cling to his clothing and skin alike as his excitement levels start to rise. A new person, and one who uses a sick baseball bat too? That's even better than a regular normal person!

"Freja! It's nice to meet you! Sorry again for almost running you over." He gives a quick and apologetic bow, laughing as he straightens his posture. "We're in the same boat, though! You're in your first year, and so am I! I think." He pauses, tapping his chin. Yeah, first year sounds about right. He did just enroll, after all. A bit older than some, but still a first year! He nods confidently to himself. "Yep, definitely a first year."

Though, some part of him does worry now that his height and all might give the impression of someone who's managed to sneak their way through a few years of education already to others... Thankfully, the way he handles himself usually squashes that assumption right out the gate.

Oh, his eyes practically sparkle when her attention shifts to the bat. "Absolutely I think so!" He steps forward a little harder than he means to, causing a little bit of a rumble across the floor. "The craftsmanship on it is top notch! I'm more of a club-swinging guy myself, but I guess those fighting styles ought to be pretty similar, right?" He mimes holding a bat and giving it a swing. "Just a bat is more of a straight hit, and clubs are more of an arc!" He motions in the same way that he tends to swing his club: starting low, but ending high.

"Ha! As if a fall could hurt me!" There's another belly-deep laugh from Pallas. "Nah, nah. I'm fine! I've taken way harder crashes. I was in a rush 'cause I, uh." He pauses, then nods to where his schedule has fallen onto the floor nearby. "I misread my schedule. I thought I had a class in that room today, but it's actually tomorrow instead. I didn't want to be too late for it." He snorts, adding, "I was practicing my apologies for the professor in my head while I was running here from my place."

Quick as a whip, his attention snaps back to the bat - or, more specifically, how Freja noted her swinging strength. "Well, hey! I'd love to see you swing it sometime! Maybe we could bounce ideas off each other-" He stops himself, pauses, notes how his hair has started to actively pull away from his shoulders and float upwards, and takes a deep breath. His hair lowers only slightly. "If you want, anyways! I don't wanna, you know, be all..." He makes a vague gesture with his hands. "Up in your face about it, I guess? Is that okay?"

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

''Pallas Maekawa..'' She repeated, blinking her eyes as she looked up at his hair and could swear it was standing on end a bit, and was that electricity? ''No, no, it's okay.'' She lowered the bat even more, realizing that she probably wasn't in as much danger as she had initially thought. ''You think?'' She smirked, the more time she spent with him she was starting to find his energy and whole vibe pretty endearing. Certainly not as scary as he was charging at her. ''Great!'' She let out a half chuckle, giving him a thumbs up.

She flinched when he stepped forward, if only because she wasn't expecting that rumble. ''Oh really? Maybe I can learn something from you.'' She smiled, then looked at her bat again. ''Uh, sorry for pointing this at you by the way. I kind of panicked when you came running.'' She shrugged. She was relieved he wasn't actually hurt, she could never tell with hero student types. A lot of them were good at faking not being in pain, including her. ''Oh. Yeah don't worry, nothing interesting is happening here today.'' She waved her hand in front of her face dismissively.

''Uh-'' He was so energetic, she could barely keep up. He would get along well with her roommate Emilia, that's for sure. ''It's totally okay! I'm always looking to improve, so bouncing ideas sound perfect actually. I was going to head to the PE grounds later today actually. You wanna join me?'' She quickly tried to salvage it. He was excitable and eager to befriend her and she wasn't weirded out by it at all. If anything, she was horrible at making friends and couldn't let such a golden opportunity slip through her fingers.

''By the way I've been meaning to ask..'' She pointed at her own hair while referring to his. ''Your hair is pretty alive isn't it? I see sparks on you too, is that your quirk in action?''

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

The moment she says that she could learn from him, all other thoughts go out the window. They're no longer important, not in the slightest. What's important now is the fact that someone actually thinks they could learn from him - just like a real hero! Oh, he's excited. His hair's floating again. Some of it is touching the ceiling. He barely even notices, bouncing slightly as she talks.

"I'd be honored to work with you!" He grins ear to ear. Part of him is thankful that his mutation didn't give him a tail, otherwise he's sure that it'd be wagging hard enough to split the air itself. He pauses for a second, head tilting when she mentions being panicked, but another laugh immediately comes out. "Yeah, that's my tactic for scaring off villains! I just run at 'em real fast, and they're like, 'aaah!'" He's exaggerating clearly, an attempt to tease and raise the good vibes of the encounter even more. Say what you will about him, but he certainly has a knack for pumping out positivity.

"Going to the grounds would be wicked! I have no idea where they are!" He's enthusiastic, even when admitting his own bit of dumbassery. There are a lot of grounds as far as he's concerned; training grounds, regular grounds, paved-over grounds (though he thinks roads is an easier way to say that mouthful)... But hey, what would a new friendship be if it didn't require a bit of a tour, right? Or, well, a correction of directions.

"Eh? My-" He pauses, looking up at his own hair. "Aw, jeez." He starts trying to pull his hair down, taking a few deep breaths alongside the motions to cause it to sink back down. "Sssoooooort of. My Quirk gives me a lot of electricity and a lot of punching power, so when I get excited, my hair stands up like that." He snorts. "I've tried everything to hold it down, but it looks cooler when it's like that, right? Like some old shonen power-up form or somethin'." He pauses, and a brilliant question comes to mind.

"What's your Quirk, if you don't mind me asking? You strike me as a... pyro-person! A fire person! Am I right?"

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

''Really? Honored?'' She smiled, sounding a bit unsure. Silver lining, he definitely didn't know her as the useless quirkless girl already, so that was a big plus for her. ''That's a good tactic!'' She chuckled, ''I'm not gonna say I understand villains, but I at least understand the fear they might feel seeing you charge at them.'' She joked. ''N-Not that I wish any of that on you, actually facing off against villains is somehow scarier than it sounds.'' As a person who tended to be very introverted and moody, she was immediately appreciating Pallas' infectious good vibes. For a moment she even forgot the soreness in her wrist.

''You don't? Did no one give you a tour of the school?'' Or maybe he just forgot. She wouldn't put it past him, she had gotten a comprehensive tour of campus and still got lost constantly. It was no use when the place was so big, getting lost was an inevitability, but given enough time surely they would start to get used to their new surroundings. ''That's so cool.'' She said, fascinated by the aesthetics of his quirk. She could only imagine what receiving a quirk powered-up hit from someone with his amount of muscles would feel like. ''Are the horns part of it too?'' She pointed up at his head. ''You know, now that you mention it, it does look very anime.'' She giggled.

What he guessed next about her quirk actually surprised her. ''Since we don't have class, how about I show you around campus?'' She smiled as she started walking and motioned for him to follow. ''You're sort of half right! I used to have a fire quirk years ago, but it's gone now.'' She took a deep breath and looked up at him. ''I'm basically quirkless.'' She shrugged. ''What I'm really interested to know is why did you guess fire? Did we somehow meet years ago? Or maybe part of your quirk is that you're some kind of esper and you read my mind.'' She teased.

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

See, it's really hard to manage his excitement when his new friend is saying all sorts of exciting things. Like, really hard, in fact. His hair is just starting to settle down when she mentions villains, and it's right back up again, practically sticking to the ceiling now.

"Extremely honored!" He nods confidently, though his attention is immediately snatched up by the note about villains. He might not be the brightest star in the solar system, but he knows an implication when he hears one, and that one is rich with a story to be told! "Ooh, have you faced off against one before? I haven't yet, but I'm looking forward to it!" He flexes one arm, patting his bicep with his other hand. "I'm built for fighting, y'know! An' lead the way, you strike me as a good guide." Ah, another bit of a tease.

"Ehh, I got a tour, but it was really boring." He deflates, letting his arms hang by his sides as he starts to follow her. "They kept talking about the history of the place, and that's great! I like history as much as the next guy. But I'm not here for a history lesson, y'know? Here to learn about other stuff! Like how to do cool flips or something." He shrugs. There's a certain degree of casualness with that idea; his focus is clearly on learning the more active roles of heroism... which spells trouble, considering one of his classes seems to deal with ethics more than anything else. He brushes that thought aside.

"My horns are a part of it, yeah!" He grins again, reaching up to pat the amber rods. "Don't do much for fighting, though. One time I was sparring with my old man, and he basically took a hold of 'em like you would to a bulls and just yanked me around for a little bit. It was really fun! Now that looked real anime-like! Swear I saw someone do something similar in some manga." He snorts, though the mental image does make his cheeks darken slightly. Training with his father will always be a fond memory, of course, and one he's eager to share! It's just... well, no one wants to admit they got beat in a fight. As happy as he seems to be to recount it, there's still that expected embarrassment just below the surface.

When she says Quirkless, he blinks, then that smile returns just as bright as ever.

"I guessed 'cause you radiate the energy of a flame! My mom used to say that anyone who can get out of a Maekawa's way has a real bright wildfire roaring inside of 'em, and since you got out of the way, obviously that means you do, too. Or did. Maybe you still do. Iunno." He shrugs again. "You just strike me as the sorta person who'd look real natural blasting fire at people..." His words trail, and he glances at the bat. "... Whhiiiiich might not be impossible, if you know how to aim projectiles with that thing." Oh no. An idea is forming. Oh god. Oh no. Someone stop him.

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

Okay, maybe it was just because she was predisposed to finding tall people a little scary, but she was really surprised at not only how enthusiastic he was, but also his level of politeness. Honored to work with a fellow first year? She felt like she was getting the star treatment here! ''Yeah, a few by now..'' She smiled awkwardly. She wasn't exactly proud of it, but there was nothing she could really do to change the past. ''Look,'' she pulled the top of her shirt aside to reveal a scar across her upper shoulder. ''There was this guy wielding a ton of knives.'' She grinned, hoping that her somewhat grim battle trophy scar could help keep the vibes good and mood light. ''You certainly look it, You've got the muscles and everything! You should work out with Emi sometime.'' She smiled, and couldn't help but feel a little proud at being called a good guide even though the tour was just beginning.

''So it wasn't just me!'' She giggled, ''I knew it, the tour really was boring.'' She smiled up at him, getting swept up in the excitement as she raised her fist a bit. ''Cool flips and sick tricks!'' Freja was impartial, she was neither clever nor strong, she just kind of was. However, oftentimes the disparity between her and her classmates were a lot more obvious on the field when quirks were being fired and activated all over the place and she was just there with her bat and nothing else. ''Oh yeah? So you've been training for a long time?'' They all came from different backgrounds, Freja was a couple years older than most first years so she was used to being the odd one out. Then again, seeing as Pallas here was built like a brickhouse, it wasn't so strange to think that he came from a family of giants who probably trained like crazy... He really was looking more and more like a shonen protagonist wasn't he? ''Did you think up a hero name for when you get out there?'' She smiled.

''I-I do??'' She couldn't help but blush a bit, Pallas probably didn't know, how could he, they had just met and she hadn't told him anything about her complicated past. What he said about her radiating the energy of a flame, it was the biggest compliment she had ever received. ''I see!'' She chuckled, ''I have old videos of it somewhere from back when I still had a quirk.'' She gave Pallas a confused look, then looked down at her bat, then back up at him. ''Aim... Projectiles? Hardly, I've tried it before but I always mess it up in the heat of the moment.'' The absolute irony of wielding weapons resembling baseball bats when she had never played proper baseball before.

''Up first, we have the cafeteria! You probably already know about this one, but did you know they'll accommodate you if you have a special diet?'' She held an index finger up. ''You pretty much have full control over your own meals. Obviously I don't have any strict diet plans, but I do eat a lot of protein to try and gain some muscles.''

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

His eyes sparkle when she shows the scar. There's a real sense of not just awe, but respect radiating off of him; he's not gawking, not moving too close or invading her space, but he's still paying careful attention to every bit of detail she gives about the encounter. A man with a lot of knives? Bah! How cowardly! One knife ought to be enough for most people - unless it was a Quirk, maybe? There's a small conflict rising up in his gut for a second; is it rude to ask for more information on it? Would that be pressing too much? Or would it be bringing back bad memories? He brushes those thoughts to the side, focusing back on what Freja is saying.

"Incredible..." Pallas whistles. "Ah, you're making me all the more eager to get out there now!" He grins, his hair sticking up again. Damnit. He knows he should be a little calmer, if only to keep his appearance more well-maintaned, but he can't help it. Hearing about villains and flips and Quirks just gets him all sorts of pumped up! "You bet I am! Every Maekawa is built for a fight! We're a rough-and-tumble family for a reason!" He pauses, then adds - "Ooh, who's Emi? Guessin' they're pretty built!"

His shoulders sag again, and there's that overexaggerated boredom. "It was horrible, right? The good news is!" He catches her excitement and returns it with his own, immediately perking right back up. "We've got flips and tricks, yeah! Oh! I ought to show you some of the cool flips my dad can do sometime - I can't do 'em myself, too big for flips, but he rocks 'em! Real action-movie sorta guy!" There's that proudness again. Man, this guy just has a well of energy it seems, and he's nowhere near the bottom of it yet. The note about him training makes him nod, a few small sparks flickering off from his horns harmlessly. "Yeah! I've been training for... Whooo, well, since I was a little kid! Doing cool stuff basically runs in my blood!"

The hero name makes him stop for a second, thinking.

"Mmh, well, my family has this name that we pass down, but I'm not allowed to have it yet. I gotta get a bunch of approval from people first, and get a few pieces of gear from them. Real traditional folks." He nods sagely. "So until then, I'm just gonna use the hero name Pallas! - er, with an exclamation point at the end." Now it's his turn to blush a little. "I, er. Y'know, if hero names have an exclamation mark, then people gotta be excited when they say them. So, whenever someone says my name, they'll have to be a little excited! Or happy! Something like that." He rubs the back of his neck. "I thought it sounded cool, anyways."

Ah, but she asks if she really does radiate the power of a flame, and that embarrassment is immediately thrown aside in favor of immediate confidence and approval. "You bet you do!" He grins, nodding along as she mentions her videos and projectiles. "Oooh, if you're comfortable with it, I'd like to see those videos sometime! As for the projectiles..." He motions swinging a bat again while they walk. "What if you hit something that combusted on impact, like a spicy baseball? I could help you with your aim and keeping cool during the heat of the moment, if you want!" He makes another motion as though swinging his club. "I don't know how good I'd be at giving you a hand with it, but I could definitely see about making those spicy baseballs for you. Blacksmithing may as well be my middle name!"

He nods along again as she goes into detail about the cafeteria and... oohhh boy his stomach is rumbling a little. "Huuuh. I might have to get a snack there. Oh!" He perks up at the mention of building muscle. "I know a great diet for building muscles and keeping your weight up! If you want, I can give it to you and show you a few recepies for it." He puffs out his chest a bit, proud of himself. "I'm something of a chef too. Only ever burned one meal in my life!"

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

She wasn’t quite sure if she was sending the right signal when he seemed excited about her scar. She knew her fellow hero course students could be an eclectic bunch, but really who got all excited about the idea of fighting villains so soon?? “I-I mean it’s very scary!” She was trying her best to salvage it, but she wasn’t exactly good at telling people off. “I could have died! I didn’t, b-but I could’ve!” Squaring off against a villain was nothing like the sparring matches with your teacher, or at school. A fight with a villain was a fight for your life… Pallas knew that, right?

“I see! Do you have siblings too? It must be wild to be from a fighting family. Mine is pretty ordinary, I don’t even think I’ve ever seen my mom use her quirk.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “She’s one of my roommates, Emilia, she’s a first year too and she’s got muscles just like you.” To top it off, wasn’t Emi from a military family? Her and Pallas would have so much in common!

“It waaaas, sometimes the guide spoke really fast too. I couldn’t follow their Japanese at all.” The pain of picking Japanese up later in life and being unprepared for fast speaking dialects. “Oh yeah? Flips are really hard to pull off, so I don’t blame you. Your dad sounds pretty tough.” What he said next got a good, healthy chuckle out of her. “I should’ve guessed with a name as cool as yours. I don’t mean to pry, but does your electricity ever get in the way? Like have you zapped a television before?”

“Now that you mention it. The exclamation point really does give it that oomph it wouldn’t have otherwise.” Just like she suspected, it sounded rough being from a family like that, with so many expectations. By comparison, her own just wished her good luck, told her to have fun in Japan and texted and called to check in on her every month. “Sure,” she smiled, “they’re just old phone videos.” She blinked her eyes at him. “Yeah?? I’m more nervous about missing the projectiles and getting combustioned myself- wait a minute, you’re a smith too??” Look at Mr Multi talent over here!'' She was lucky he was so nice and wasn’t a bully, otherwise he’d have plenty of skills to gloat with. “We can stop for a quick snack.” She raises a thumbs up. “Really?? You would? That sounds great! There’s so many guides when you search online, but it’s impossible for me to tell the good from the bad.” She looked at him surprised, “only one? Which meal was that?”

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

It's official: He has now fully given up on not getting excited. Danger from a villain fight? Oh, he's living for it! The more she talks about her experience, the more visibly hyped he becomes.

"But you didn't!" He cheers, pumping his fist. "Fighting like that was bound to be dangerous, but you gotta have a little bit of danger to help people! Like firefighters or something - they're always getting into danger! I think it's awesome that you've already had a scrap with a villain!" Pallas nods sagely, as if he's speaking some sort of divine wisdom instead of common sense.

He immediately shakes his head when she brings up siblings. "Nope. No sisters, brothers, nothin'. Just me!" He sounds proud of that, though memory serves that his extended family... well, they were anything but. "As for fighting families, it isn't too wild! Mostly just doing a bunch of training and learning about stuff way ahead of time." He nods again, tapping his chin. "And hey, if your family had you, that's already extraordinary - y'know, 'cause you seem really cool." Ah, having to explain your compliment. That may as well run in his family just as much as heroism.

His eyes sparkle again at the mention of someone with muscles like his. "Oooh, I'd love to meet her then! We could talk about weights, and maybe throw some punches..." Oh no he's thinking of potential friends again. Oh god his hair is floating straight up.

"They spoke too fast, yeah!" Pallas nods enthusiastically. "It was like, boom-boom-boom, done! No way to take all of that in." He crosses his arms and shakes his head, for a moment really managing to pull off a somewhat serious atmosphere... aaaand then it's gone because she brings up his dad and there's the excitement at its peak again. "My dad's awesome! He was a great hero in the countryside for a little bit! But he is kind of tough on stuff, but you have to be, you know?" He clicks his tongue. "If you're not a little hard on people, then they'll never shape up."

There's a beat. He seems to realize what he's said, and the fact that it was actually a semi-somber statement. Jeez. He needs to get past that and fast.

"I've fried way too many TV's." His shoulders slump again. "I've gone through like... twelve phones now. I can't keep myself from getting excited whenever people text me, so I end up frying them." He takes out his phone, which - yep, sparks once, then fizzles out. Seems the electricity he has going right now is a bit too much for the device. "... Aaand that makes thirteen. I think." He snorts, enjoying it more than dreading the eventual replacement process.

His cheeks darken when she brings up his talents. "A-Ah, well, y'know! My dad always says, you know a tool you make way better than a tool you know! Plus it helps since like, y'know, I wanna be able to help everybody. That includes other heroes who might need repairs on the field and a support person might not be around! And I'd definitely help you with a diet, it'd be an honor!"

Oh. She brings up the meal he burned. Ah. That's shame on his expression now.

"... Sugar cookies." He admits like its the worst thing in the world. A war crime, even. "I was trying to bake them for my mom for mother's day, but I got too excited and forgot about the oven. Dad helped me make pancakes for her instead after that."

Freja Helt | tune

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[Freja Helt]

''I suppose you're right.'' She chuckled nervously. How would the school feel about her, a certified troublemaker, telling her classmate all about her rule breaking ventures and getting him excited in the process? ''I see.'' There were many times back when Freja was still Elias, where they had wished they were an only child. Of course they had later come to regret that line of thinking, cursing that they hadn't gotten along better with their twin when they still had the chance. ''Sounds like we had pretty different upbringings. My parents are the super boring office worker types.'' She didn't sound like she was talking down on them. If anything, mundane parents meant a relatively mundane upbringing too. Any trouble Freja ever got themself into was their own doing. She chuckled nervously when he doubled down and called her cool. ''I-I assure you I'm not!'' She blushed a bit, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. She was just about the most uncool student this school was housing. Like seriously, a quirkless hero student? That made everyone else cooler by default simply for having powers! Even Pallas here. She wanted to know more about his quirk without prying. Maybe they could have a sparring match one day?

''Right?'' She smiled, ''that was exactly what I thought. She's from a military family, that's sort of like a fighting family, right?'' She shrugged. ''I know right? That's exactly how it was, and not just because Japanese isn't my first language.'' She huffed, sharing in his pain of being overwhelmed by the first school tour. ''Really? That's so cool!'' The sentiment on being hard on people she could relate to. Not because she was, but her mind wandered back to that time David handed her a knife. Saying that if she wanted to join the gang, she needed to take a life. It sent a chill down her spine. She never did do it, but she could see why in this world they lived in, being hard on others was a necessity.

''Huh?! Really? Because of your quirk?'' She asked incredulously, maybe having a quirk wasn't as sunshine and rainbows as she had imagined. ''That's got to be so expensive.'' She let out a tiny yelp as he took out his phone and it too got toasted. ''Don't they make them durable towards electric quirks?''

She smiled as he launched into talking about his talent. His energy was so infectious that she forgot she used to be terrified of him mere minutes ago. ''I'm pretty sure everyone here will love you for having that quality. Makes a great hero, they say.'' she grinned, ''I appreciate it, I really need to put on some muscles.'' What good was being a weapon fighter if you couldn't hit hard enough to do decent damage to your opponent anyway? ''Sugar cookies?'' She cracked a smile, ''I don't blame you, baking is hard, you have to really follow the recipe to the letter.''

PALLAS!

[PALLAS!]

A HEART, EMBARK, A BEAUTIFUL STAR
SO FAR IT FEELS AMAZING!

"Boring?" Pallas gawks at her when she has the audacity to call office workers boring! He seems to take mocking offense to that, clearly exaggerating his reaction as he straightens his already imposing posture and shakes his head. "How dare you! Office workers are the backbone of society. Their jobs are awesome." Oddly, as much as he's joking about being actually offended by her offhanded note about boring office worker parents, there does actually seem to be some respect there for those who aren't heroes. "Y'know, without office workers, the economy would basically collapse." Alright, now he's just parroting what he heard someone else say once. Respectfully, of course, but still parroting.

"Different upbringings are the best kind." He shifts back to his slightly slouched posture, putting his hands behind his head as he walks. "It's like, if we were all raised by the same people, we'd all be identical, and there's no fun in that. It's like, only a few things in life are supposed to be identical. Like bowling pins, and maybe twins?" He thinks for a second, then mutters, "I guess there are non-identical twins too, but... do they really count as twins...?"

He seems to ask that question not to Freja, but to God. Pallas is not getting an answer from Him. This is for the best.

"I'll spar with her, then! Whenever I meet her." He nods confidently, a few excited sparks mingling around his horns. "Wait - Japanese isn't your first language? You speak it so well!" He grins, clearly all the more impressed by his newest friend. "And yeah! My father was a hero, and his father was a hero, and they all share the same mantle. I was supposed to take it, too, but I've got to get approval first from the extended family. That's a big reason why I'm here, y'know?" He flexes one arm, patting his forearm with his free hand. "I want to make the best possible impression on them when I meet them, that way they know the future is in good hands!"

Pallas thinks for a second about the expensive nature of replacements, then puts his hands back behind his head, shrugging. "Yep, my voltage isn't strong enough to do any real damage, but... it sure does hurt phones. Resistant ones probably exist, but I can't get reliant on that stuff." He gestures to his body. "My electricity's gotta get tamed. If I have something that's resistant, then I won't work on reeling it in as much, and then I could end up shocking someone in the future. Gotta be prepared!" He nods sagely, continuing, "It's expensive, yea', but I work hard for my money, so I don't mind if I have to save up and get a new one. Plus, I barely use phones anyways." He cracks a cocky smile. "I do know how to use one as an improvised weapon, though. It's all in the wrist." That's clearly a joke, given that he chuckles to himself after saying it.

"Aw, shucks, you think they'll like me that much?" He rubs the back of his neck with both hands, a bit more flustered now. "I hope so. Heroes ought to be friends with each other. Can't save everyone if we can't work together." He pauses, then that excitement is right back through the roof. "Hey, putting on muscle is a talent of mine! Don't worry, Freja - I'll put together a perfect diet for ya! You'll be bulked up in no time!" He puts a little spring in his step, but quickly shifts to go back to his normal stride; the few steps he took while excited seemed to have created a small rumble around him.

"Ah, yeah. Baking's even harder when the directions are in a different language." He does not elaborate on that in the moment, fixing his attention on Freja again as their little tour continues.

Freja Helt| tune

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