[Aella Pavlina]

Aella kicked the door to the rooftop of the dormitories and stomped inside, huffing and puffing over the latest string of profanities regarding her efforts at school. "Stupid fucking test with it's stupid fucking answers!" She said to herself silently, her foot smashing down on the ground while the UAU student paced around for a moment or so. After all the hours of studying and doing example problems, the best that the girl could come out with was a B marking! Meanwhile, her not so dear older sibling could have aced that in no time flat. Aella roared in frustration and threw a nearby rock at the gate, causing a loud metal sound to echo across the cool night air. It didn't really damage it any, but she continued her outburst by kicking anything she could. A personal favorite was the dorm buildings AC unit on top, which had a rather pleasant sound of her foot connecting with the hollow interior. After switching targets to the wall and just all around letting everything out in a fit of rage, she slunked back down and just existed, having spent most of her energy for the time being.

She was hoping to stay hidden, but somebody else out in the world must have caught wind of her location. Aella watched as a towering woman would begin to wander closer to the school building. She didn't recognize her, but it was plainly obvious that she was a pro hero. Her attire looked pretty royal and even the girl couldn't help but stare for a moment before the giant woman would carefully step over buildings and the like until she was directly in front of the building, looking down at her. She hated being talked down to like she was some fucking kindergartener, but the lady did have a point. Maybe it would do her some good to vent to somebody else for a change.

"I studied hard for a unit exam. I spent hours on every topic, every material, every finite little detail and when I get my grade back, it's fucking awful! I did everything I was supposed to do and it still wasn't enough." Aella huffed, looking up at her one person audience while remaining seated on the ground and crossing her arms over her chest. "Now I have to go and be told that I'm "not working hard enough" and "lagging behind" somebody I can't ever live up to." She spat out, leaning backwards while the two of them had began this little conversation on the roof.

"I hate it. I hate being compared to her every single second of my god damn life."

@niteshade

[Aella Pavlina]

"Yeah, well, sorry my problems aren't as relatable as not stepping on a building." Aella retorted, though less annoyed. Venting had helped ease some of the pressure from her shoulders and the younger girl almost seemed to be a bit nicer now. The UAU student watched as the other woman would demonstrate her ability to control the size of her body before her. It was nice, although Aella couldn't say that seeing less of that giant form was unwanted. She had that royal sense that seemed appealing to her. Although it was mainly that little arrogant streak that the girl possessed. She joined her at the edge of the build while Aella played with the braid by her hair some, slowly informing this stranger of her problems and pointing out a hang out of her own. The girl made a mental note to check that out later and maybe snoop around.

"She's my sister. Iphigenia." Aella began with a huff, "When she was born, she was the golden child of the family. Perfect marks in every class. She even got personally approached to be in the UAU. Then I was born and those same demands were placed on me. I loved hanging out with her and wanted to be just like her when I grew up, but when the grades started mattering, I couldn't do it." She was silent for a moment, looking at the rock beside her, the same one that had smacked into the gate from before. Out of habit, Aella used her quirk as the rock would begin to slowly levitate around the both of them in a perfect circle.

"I remember that one night when our mother mentioned that I wasn't taking my studies serious. At a time when I was spending hours upon hours just trying to stay in AP courses. I ended up screaming so loud that the neighbors thought something happened. Then I just...spent all of my time in my room crying. It took me a while until I started to learn how the world worked. That's when I wanted to destroy her in everything. Grades, hero ranking, I want to crush her until she's the one in my shadow."

@niteshade

[Aella Pavlina]

Aella snickered to herself at Sunadokei's retort about not stepping on anything that she didn't intend to to really stomp into oblivion. It was a pretty scary thought to be a civilian and being saved by a villain only to be stepped on by a Top Ten Hero. Some people might even think of that as a pretty good thing. The woman did seem to have known her older sister as she repeated her name incredulously. Aella nodded her head at the pro hero as she took a moment to think to herself. The reveal that Iphi had known this giant woman took her by surprise. She really knows how to get around with people.

"Yeah, that's my sister." Aella said, and rolled her eyes at the noise. "I'm surprised she ever brings me up."

At least the giantess was right about one thing: her goal was climbing the most insurmountable odds there were to exist. Overcoming a pro hero being so young was unheard of, and she would need to train for years if Aella wanted even a hint of progress to her goal. The woman spoke about her hero company as the student listened. It was pretty interesting to specialize in villain combat and not have the resources to find them, but such was the drawback in specialization. Aella remained respectful of her, nodding her head along with the explanation. "It sounds like a nice company. Always helpful to have somebody to show up and beat the bad guys down." She refrained from mentioning her sister any and wouldn't bat an eye at her new friend already knowing her name. No doubt Iphi had already told her that. She laughed a little at her jest, another rare occurrence for the RBF student. [b"Yeah, that's me."[/b]

The girl extended her hand to shake the one offered to her. There was a lot of strength behind her grip though. Aella bit her lip to keep from showing weakness in front of her. "It's nice to meet you, Sunadokei-san. I've seen your name around. Sometimes I see you as well." It was pretty hard to miss somebody whose quirk made them the size of a kaiju at times, but Aella imagined it made battling villains a hell of a lot easier since she was able to just stomp on them. But then Sunadokei began to talk about her own experiences. Aella leaned in and began to listen to her experiences about not being good enough for her father. It was within Aella's ballpark, and she did have some amount of pity for this woman for her troubles. She just remained quiet and never broke eye contact, save for the rock that continued to orbit around them every so often. The crux of her story had been that she did exactly as the girl had done. Worked herself to the bone and focused on her goals. But Aella furrowed her brows in confusion. Something didn't make sense.

"So are you gunna tell me that this is a bad decision? That the path I'm on is filled with destruction or something?" Aella asked, looking over at Sunadokei with a confused glance. "You went through the same thing I did and things turned out fine for you. You're a Top 10 Hero and beat your dad in everything. Sounds like a happy ending to me."

@niteshade

[Aella Pavlina]

"Oh." Aella was a little surprised about that fact. Iphi brought her up a lot? She frowned to herself for a moment, trying to work out why the hell Iphi would be mentioning her to one of the Top 10 heroes. Probably to just shit talk her for all of her hard work. That's probably why Sunadokei was here. Just to give her pity. While she gave her a little run down about ASTA, Aella did pay attention to the body suit portion. How it worked seemed simple enough. A body suit that could grow and shrink and not expose a lot of skin. Not that Aella would have thought it would be a bad thing. But before her mind could wander further down that road and let those youthful thoughts flow, she arched an eyebrow at the explanation. "So it's made out of synthetic hair? Does your hair have special properties or something?" Aella went went to poke or prod at it, if Sunadokei would allow, but would fall back and et her continue.

"I've seen you mainly on ads and billboards. When you're as tall as some of the kaiju movies, it's kind of hard not to notice you." She smirked, then recalling one such product she could recall seeing everywhere. Hell, Iphi had once brought a bottle home one day as a present for their mother. "That one perfume, the one that's blue and came out like a couple of Christmas seasons ago. I forget the name, but that was the first time I saw you. I said I wanted to be as cool and pretty as you and Iphi and mom laughed, said I already was."

Sunadokei's answer to her former question did come as a surprise though. It threw Aella off guard as she'd refuse to take a side on whether or not the UAU student should continue down the path of working her hardest to dismantle everything her sister had done solely because of her own spiteful reasons. Even her snipe about her being better than her father wasn't correct. She was lacking behind in mostly everything he had done when she was his age. The hero's world was one of sacrifice, that was for certain. Yet Aella, much like Iphi, had found herself drawn to it like a mother to a flame. But now, was it because she wanted to do it or because Iphi had done it? Aella remained silent, brooding over her own thoughts. She hated being uncertain like this as her patience was already pretty low. As she finished, the two sat in silence with one another, with Aella just playing with her braid some as she set her hands down on the railing, opening her mouth to speak.

"Y'know, you kind of suck at these one-on-one talks. No offense." Aella commented, though would let out a sigh. "But I get what you mean, I guess. When I was ten and Iphi came home, I used to dream about us being on a superhero team together. Mom made us little capes and everything. I wore that thing all over the place and followed her to school before getting caught. I just..." More silence. Aella frowned slamming her hands down on the railing. "I hate thinking like this all the time. I'd fry my own brain if I could, just to stop comparing myself to everyone. When that's all you know, there's no stopping it. Why I just want to throw everybody who keeps comparing me to her into a wall. Maybe that's why I came here. To have a chance that I could get my brains splattered against the sidewalk so I wouldn't have to think about them ever again."

Another pang of silence came. Aella appeared vulnerable now, with all of her defenses down as she was venting to this woman. She looked at Sunadokei again, her nails scratching against the concrete as she idled. "What does Iphi say...about me?"

@niteshade

[Aella Pavlina]

Aella smirked a little at the comment of being hard to miss. In a world where there were a hundred people who could grab one's attention with supernatural power, the ability to adjust your size was certainly noticeable for people on the street. "I thought so. I'm surprised you're still single. I would have thought any guy would be head over heels for you." Men were...y'know, men. So one managing to land themselves a date with somebody as notable as Sunadokei seemed like winning the lottery. or maybe that was just their mother, always the traditional one. She leaned forward on the banister some while listening to the pro hero.

It felt nice though. Somebody who had gone through the very same experience she had. It felt like kindred souls in a way, two who had shared such quintessential life events that it shaped their very being. Aella felt bad for her. Sunadokei's father seemed to possess a silver tongue. Out of what she had been told so far, he wanted her to follow in his footsteps and could talk his way into making her do it. Was it abuse? Maybe, in a way. But to her, she really didn't know what to make of it. Sunadokei seemed to be enjoying her work, so it wasn't like she was miserable. Any hero in the Top 10 wasn't going to be feeling under the weather about their lives. Must have been nice. Aella often wondered if she could reach such levels, though her self doubt was what held her back.

Sunadokei clawing at the side of the building did unnerve the student, scooting back a little as chunks broke off. Her tone was way more serious than she had been before. "Okay-I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Aella's down wall had been broken down, scared of the incoming little talking to from Sunadokei. Her head swiveled to the view atop the UAU dorm room building as she spoke of opportunities. Her lips pursed together while the yelling session continued. A look of confliction was present on her face. "Yeah but, you know where you-" she opened her mouth to respond back, though held off from completing that sentence. At the hug from the woman, Aella froze What was she supposed to do? Her brain flickered through options while she slowly went to hug the woman's back lightly. Iphi was right, as per usual, though Aella wasn't ever going to admit that. She just hugged Sunadokei a little harder and grit her teeth while venting again.

"You make it sound easier than it is. You're a Top 10 Hero and had friends, support, everything. Everyone here's out for themselves. Nobody would want to hang with out with me anyway, and I'm way too busy working on school stuff. And I don't worry too much, I just want to be prepared about what happening. She's wrong about me. I'm not some kid she can just keep on babying around."

@niteshade

[Aella Pavlina]

Shit, that was a good point. Pro Heroes on the date scene were a crutch. No wonder Titan was so against the idea, alongside presumably countless others. It must have gotten lonely though, just relying on only yourself in the business. Loved ones were just a token to be used against you. It made the girl conflicted more than ever, though not out of the business yet. She'd just not have to get attached to people. Easy to do. But as they shared a hug, the girl huffed in frustration. That edgy and gruff exterior had been discarded, leaving only an angry and uncertain child in its wake. The other woman's hand through her hair felt nice, almost comforting in a way. It was like she was telling her that things would turn out alright, in her own blunt and openly honest way. It was what Aella was slowly coming to like about Sunadokei.

But she was shocked to see the woman pull out a business card with her contact information on it. Her hands held onto the hardened slip of paper while those golden eyes tried their best not to show weakness. Sunadokei's words had affected her and she despised how vulnerable it felt to lower her shield. To show genuine care and respect for somebody she didn't even know. Aella said nothing as she finished as her form shook. It took her a bit before she replied, "Thanks…" with a chest full of hurt. She hesitated but hugged Sunadokei once more, squeezing with all of her might that she could manage. Her head rested against the pro hero's as she did her best to hide the tears coming from her eyes.

"Does it ever get any easier?" Aella asked, her mouth unruffled as she kept her gaze darkened in the curls of Sunadokei's hair. Her breathing and hushed tone gave her thoughts away. "I want it to go back to how it used to be. When Iphi and I were just happy together, no worries about the future or anything. Just us against the world. Why couldn't things stay simple like that? And what if I never go Plus Ultra like you? What if I turn into a villain and hurt everyone I care about? I don't want to be like this. I want to be me…but I don't know who I even am…" She eventually let go of the older woman again before sniffling and wiping her eyes. Still exposed and just reduced to being a starry eyed teen that was on the verge of questioning herself at every turn. Aella remained quiet, frowning as she looked back at the city. She wiped her eyes and slowly, very slowly…

"And for the record, you're way cooler than your Dad to me."

The wall was back up.

@niteshade