“Is he like…Who?” Unfortunately, Zaya had no idea who Jun was referring to. “I mean, yeah, underneath his jerky-ness, he really does mean well, and he is training to be a hero…Like, he isn’t the most approachable guy…I guess he’s like a hedgehog…Or more accurately, a skunk.” Pausing, the girl realized her analogy probably didn’t make any sense. “Like, everyone wants to avoid skunks and thinks they’re awful, but they’re actually really cute and cuddly if you bond with them; I know some people even keep them as pets.”

Too many videos of pet skunks had gone to her head. Still, hopefully her friend would get the comparison.
Listening to Jun, Zaya couldn’t help but think about if a partner would actually help her in the field. “I mean, I guess he helps charge my power; Doesn’t make me stronger, but potentially would help my endurance, prevent me from running out of juice quicker. That’s just a hypothetical though, maybe its my emotions manipulating my mood…” Stopping, Zaya contemplated if it was wrong to think of her crush as just being a means to an end to help her in battle; Surely that wasn’t what normal couples do.

“Alright, I’ll tell you his name…But you’d better keep it to yourself, alright?” Taking a deep breath, Zaya tapped her fingers together nervously. “Homura; His name is Homura. His quirk is mouth hand things; Kinda creepy to look at at first, but I got used to it. You wouldn’t happen to know him, would you?”

Great, he was also the child of a hero; At least maybe she could have someone to talk to about the burden that came with; If she got to know him. She still wasn’t very keen on telling the whole school who her ‘famous’ dad was, and thankfully he had the brains to not press about it further.
Sugarlumps? Zaya had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, not wanting to humiliate her new friend. What was he, from the 1960s? This guy was unbelievably corny; But it came off as a bit charming, especially when he started wagging his tail like an eager puppy.

“Sure, I don’t mind walking a bit, as long as your place isn’t too far, and as long as I can rest my feet afterwards.” She stated, knowing it’d get her away from Mark and hopefully into the good graces of Jason.
“So… A teacher’s pet huh?” As she started to walk with Jason, she wondered if he realized the unintentional pun, with the animal like quirk and all. “Did you go to like, one of those prep schools? The ones they send you to as like practice before coming to UA?” With her reluctance to join the hero scene she’d never been to a ‘hero high school’, but was still curious as to what they were like; Maybe Jason could provide insight.
“UA is really my first jump into the hero business; The only experience I’ve had with it is some practice with my dad…”

This time Zaya tried harder to stifle her laughter at Jun’s over the top way of proposing to a man; It was like she was a caveman, clubbing her mate over the head as opposed to real courtship.
“I dunno about that approach, seems like you’d be coming on just a bit strong…”

Thankfully, Jun’s revised answer sounded much more rational; At first. It seemed like if she ever did go on this theoretical date, she’d be trapping the poor guy thinking they would just watch an episode of two and locking him in for a whole series.
“That seems a little extreme…But maybe you’ve got the right idea?” Zaya was beginning to ponder if she was actually better at relationships, despite having no actual experience herself. Hell, with how unhinged some of Jun’s answers were, Zaya figured she might just be better at people in general than her.

“I mean, I’m into rock music, maybe I could take a guy out to a music store and just listen to a full album or two with him, see if he shares the same tastes as me?”
It seemed like a better, toned down version of Jun’s answer, so maybe it was a good idea? Then again, with how looney some of Jun’s other ideas were, maybe she should try doing the opposite of what she says.
“Or…What if we did something that neither of us were for sure into? Like…Maybe picking out a movie at random and seeing how we both react to it?”

Aim for the stars, huh? That sounded way too hard; Sticking with C’s felt way easier. Still, Zaya just nodded in agreement with Jun. Who knew, maybe she’d get lucky on her tests and get a slightly higher grade.

The girl’s eyes widened as she listened to Jun’s response; It seemed like not only did Jun not like guys, she had no interest in dating at all, opting to focus all of her efforts on her heroics; It was a fairly noble thought process.
“Uh, I mean yeah, I guess you do have to dedicate time to a relationship. I suppose its understandable to not want one due to time…”

It was Jun’s next comment that made Zaya break out in laughter; It started as a giggle before erupting into a full on howl; Embarrassed but unable to stop, Zaya buried her face in a pillow until she could regain her composure.

Zaya didn’t know a whole lot about dating, but at the very least she knew that it took far more than a kiss to get pregnant. “Yeah, that’s why girls wear lipstick; for protection.” She replied, trying her best but failing to hold back her giggles.
“But really...Let’s say in a hypothetical situation, after your body is already honed and everything, that you meet a guy you like.” The girl continued, finally managing to chase her laughter away. “What would you do to get his attention, or like, let him know that you’re interested? Is there anything special you can think of?”
Despite the fact that Jun was clearly inept about dating, Zaya couldn’t help but ask her for advice. Jun was like a big sister to her, and without any actual siblings to turn to, she was the best source to ask about this sort of thing…Unfortunately.

That first comment only got Mark more riled up; He looked like an animal ready to pounce; Though, as soon as Jack’s words turned to compliments, the urge to rip him to pieces started to fade away; It was still there, but not roaring as loudly as before; Jack was still annoying him, and it was only when he insinuated that the two would get in trouble for fighting that the mud man finally backed down.

“Yeah…Guess it would be pretty bad if I bashed your face in here.” He stated in a tone that had plenty of underlying anger.
“Hey, Zaya;” Now seemingly ignoring Jack entirely, Mark would yell over to Zaya. “I’m starting to get the feeling you don’t like me very much, I get that.”

Zaya just rolled her eyes, not responding. “Hit the nail on the head…” She thought as she continued to listen to him.
“But if you want to be taken seriously in the hero world, you’re going to need to think about being on a team; Just remember that when you decide whether to bother reaching out to me.”
Hearing Mark almost scolding her was odd. Had he just reached a breaking point or something? In any case, it was starting to become more and more obvious that Mark was sent to try and coerce her into following in her fathers footsteps; She was starting to wonder how much of this was what Mark wanted, and how much was just him being pressured by his dad.

“Yeah…I’ll start looking into teams…Just get out of here, ok?” Zaya responded anxiously.
Mark gave the Zaya one last look, before staring Jack right in the eyes; Almost daring him to make a move; Before shifting his body, making his front his back and vice versa, and walking away.

The girl was thankful Mark was finally gone, nervously petting Lapis to try and get her mind off of things.
“Thanks for getting him off my back.” She’d finally speak up. “Our parents are on the same hero team, and I’m guessing his dad sent him to get the both of us to create their successors or something.” Hopefully Jack didn’t know of the Thunderbolts; Mark’s quirk would give away the team if he did.
“But he’s right; I’m going to need to look into teams at some point in the near future.” Petting Lapis more, Zaya would try to coax the strange pet into sitting on her lap. Having to spend a lot of time buddying up with heroes, posing with her team for photoshoots, going out in public a ton…It wasn’t her cup of tea, but if she wanted to actually make good income, it would be a necessity.
Best to get her mind off it. Looking at Jack’s guitar, she figured she’d inquire about it.
“So…You play a lot?”

“Ugh, I know. Like, a hero can get in less trouble for brutally beating a criminal than he would for a cat spitting in his face.”
Zaya would know, too. Her father was a prime example of a PR disaster; Even with a good public relations team the Thunderbolts were well known for having low ratings for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, none of them were stupid enough to be on camera with an animal that may decide it doesn’t care for them.

“Yeah, range attacks might work on me, but I can shoot my lightning pretty far; And sneak attacks work on anyone, so thats kind of an obvious answer.”
It was odd to hear someone actually praise the heroes that don’t get much action in the field; Sure, they had their fans, but she didn’t expect Homura to give them praise. Didn’t boys usually idolize the heroes that were always on the front lines, kicking ass, taking names and all that?

“Yeah, I can probably resist the temptation to call people troglodytes…” A devious smirk came over her face, and she gave a light punch to Homura’s elbow. “Except you, ya caveman.” She’d giggle a bit afterwards, just to indicate that she was just teasing. Before she could do any further teasing, however, a ball of fluff ran past her vision.
“Oh! Cat!” She exclaimed, pointing out the feline; It was an orange tabby, just like the one they were looking for; As soon as it heard Zaya yell, it cocked its head in her direction, before making its way to a nearby alley; Not exactly running, but not going slow either, a sort of powerwalk. The cat didn’t seem scared of them, but it did start to walk faster as Zaya started moving towards it.
“Here, kitty! Come on, I won’t hurt you!” The cat didn’t care about Zaya’s statement of peace, however, and continued to waltz away from her, keeping up just enough of a pace to not be caught.
“Um, uh…What do we do?” Zaya asked, turning around to face Homura. “I mean, if I start to run, it might run too!”