He did it. He actually did it.

Much like with the thrown kukri, Elijah was able to land a hit, feeling the impact travel through his arm to his shoulder. More direct this time. He was improving.

Not improved however was his reaction time once he came out of his melded state. If Lone Wolf followed through with smacking the freshman with his gun, he probably would've been down for the count. He was fragile like that; meant for quick dispatches, not prolonged fights.

Only his eyes shifted from the weapon to the man holding it. "I already failed this exercise. As you surmised, I would've been dead had you been using real bullets. I saw no point in continuing as I was when nothing would've come from it."

Slowly, Elijah rose. Put some distance between himself and the instructor with two steps back before tucking his hands in his pockets. "I did hit you though. You now have information to give me as part of the deal."

lonewolf

Elijah couldn't even bring the bar to his face.

Honks in the air, followed by the flaps of several wings as the wildlife in the area escaped while the predator was focused on its target. That being the boy who tensed at the cry, looking up to confirm that, yes, it was just as he thought.

His father seemed to have heard it too. "What the hell was that?"

The freshman couldn't respond in the moment. Not when his life was in danger. Instead he dove to the side, dodging the mass of beaks that was sure to devour him if he sat on that rock for a second longer. Which, by the way, he had a hard time coping with the fact the thing had multiple heads.

He knew one thing though. Once he was safely out of the way, he steadied the phone on his ear as he uttered the word his dad was surely dreading to hear. "Goose."

A groan of someone who dealt with one before entered his ear. "Ah, fuck. You know what to do."

Elijah nodded, then remembered he was still on the phone and his father couldn't see him. "Mm." He hung up. Sliding the phone in his pocket, he kept his attention on the bird, waiting for its next move as he remembered the rules of dealing with aggressive waterfowl.

Rule 1. Never turn away from a goose.

Goose

The more Elijah listened to her explanation of the appendage, the more perplexed he became. He could understand the inconvenience of carrying around a full arm that would just break easily due to its plant-like nature but... Once the screen was turned away from him, he looked to her with brows furrowed in confusion. "Why does it need my DNA? I assumed the arm would be attached to my shoulder through a brace of some kind?"

His eyes focused on the display again as a demonstration of the arm was shown. Grown straight from a container, just as he imagined. He tilted his head when that didn't answer his question. "I still don't understand why samples need to be taken from me to create this thing. It's not like I have anything that would promote this growth."

Sumi Okita

Elijah raised his brow, minute yet it made his surprise evident. "So you do have a Quirk. Ironic given you're criticizing me for not revealing mine." Was he using it now even? He actually didn't know. The freshman squinted. "What's yours then if it doesn't do much?"

Standing up, he looked down at his clothes as the hero continued on. Splotches of paint were everywhere, mostly on his torso with some on his legs, and he could feel the bruises forming under every one of them. He sniffed. "Part of training is to learn how not to die though, Quirkless or not. Getting hit as often as I have means I need to be faster." He stared harder at the paint he was covered with before looking up. "But yeah. I understand using everything you have to stay alive."

A sign escaped him as he took his fighting stance, pressing his foot harder on the ground than usual. "So fine. I'm ready."

lonewolf

[attr="class","likedo"]

[attr="class","likedo"]

Elijah was used to the cadence of the monitors by now. Their steady beeping that proved that the other occupant of the room was clinging to life. It was about the only thing he could hear if there were no sounds from the people walking outside or on his phone from the videos he watched. So when that beeping picked up its pace, it prompted the boy to glance at the cover beside him.

As expected, the medical staff came in at any sign of change in someone's condition. While most of them tended to Emilia, one walked up to him as if he were an afterthought; someone they had to check only because it was protocol. Yes, he was fine. No, nothing had changed. Could he leave? The nurse shook their head. Not yet I'm afraid.

He closed his eyes. How inconvenient.

Elijah opened them again once the last of the voices had fled and they were alone, with one vital difference. The beeping, while calmed from its frantic state, still went at a faster pace than what he listened to the past few days.

Then there was a voice he hadn't heard since the disaster.

He kept silent as Emilia cried, turning away from the partition to give the student some privacy in the only way he knew how. The awkwardness came back; he wasn't allowed to leave, but he couldn't just, what, play something on his phone to drown out the sobs?

Well. He could. If anything, it would signal to her the fact that she wasn't the only one in the room without acknowledging how he'd heard her crying.

Before Elijah could act on that decision however, Freja came into their room. Impressive timing on her part really, what with her roommate having just woken up and all. "Hello," he said simply. He eyed her as she walked in, nodding in thanks to the apples before she situated herself beside Emilia's bed. "I'm coming back. The only reason I'm still here is because the doctors wouldn't let me leave."

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have let her sit yet since the curtain was still in the way. Oh well. At least it wouldn't block his voice. "Could you pull back the partition? I see little point in speaking through it."

Emilia Hall Freja Helt