Michael had been very focused on popping as many balloons as he could reach. There was almost a sick catharsis in destroying so many things that looked like his head, but as the contest continued, Michael found himself having to duck and dodge from stray shots and misfires at him. This was slowing him down a bit as he tried to actively avoid being near others to prevent being in the crossfire.

However, in his attempt to move away from the more crowded areas, Michael ended up coming face to latex with a cute cat-bug person. They looked confused as they took in Michael's appearance. Michael could empathize since this was not the simple exhibition he believed it would be when he signed up. Michael was completely oblivious to the near carnage that could have befallen him had they not stopped their locked on pursuit. They asked a clarifying question that likely had saved Michael's head.

"Oh! Uh, no! I know its confusing but I'm not actually one of the targets..." Michael understood that he kind of looked like he was the boss of this competition and therefore would be worth a lot of points. So he did his best to correct that. "This just happens to be my face... I'm Michael. Zero points won to take me out." Michael chuckled trying to bring some levity to this awkward situation.





Notes & Tags: Mafdet Khepri,

TLDR: After a long break, I'm back to have Michael introduce himself to Khepri and point out he isn't worth any points to pop

Despite Jun attempting to dissuade Yoko's tipsy temptations to drink, Yoko was adamant about her friend having a good time and cut loose. Ironically scolding their senpai for speaking for him, only to indirectly speak for him herself. The benign peer pressure to join in the frivolities was starting to get to him. So if just to take that pressure off of him, Michael rose the cup to his mouth. He made the motions as if drinking, but as the uninitiated would think, the liquid just pressed against his seemingly solid balloon head. He had only pantomimed drinking the liquor but didn't actually drink.

However, in the attempt to fake it, Michael was accidentally bumped by another party going from behind. The startling sudden contact and concern for the other's safety, Michael drank from the cup. It was not clear how, as it looked no different than when he was just faking it, only now the cup was empty.

Michael coughed harshly from the burning taste of the alcohol stinging his esophagus on the way down, but through the coughing, Michael turned to the person that bumped him. With a hoarse voice from the liquor he swallow, Michael let out a raspy, "Are... you... okay...?"

To attempt to sooth his throat, Michael reached out to the table for what he thought was a cup of water and drank it, only to start coughing even harder as he swallowed the cup of pure vodka. It was almost more impressive how badly he had failed in not drinking alcohol than the mysterious way he physically was able to do so.





Notes & Tags:Samaritan ,Takanashi Misaki ,Masao Ando ,Ylva Riis ,Freja Helt ,Kei Hada ,Mafdet Khepri ,junsuina ,𝕐 + 𝕐 ,𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 ,Sumi Okita ,

TLDR: Michael fails to not drink alcohol... twice...

Michael had been signed up for many of the events, activities and student run booths. While some of them Michael had been requested to participate in he had signed up or volunteered for most of them, especially the competitions. He didn't really like the competitive side to it, especially when things like the Armor Wars event from a few months ago had proved dangerous, but he saw most of them were pretty much just games. Fun with balloons, races, and the one he was participating in today: Capture the Flag.

Michael had been looking forward to this event because he innocently believed that there wasn't going to be much cause for violence. It would let him capitalize on speed, reach and avoidance, three factors that he focused in to keep out of conflict. And all the more fun, he was a part of a team, a cooperative game of capture the flag sounded like a perfect opportunity to make some new friends.

Michael was thrilled that his teammate seemed to be as friendly and outgoing as he was. "Hi, Takanashi-senpai! I'm Michael! I've been going by Samaritan lately, but these are just some games, so Michael is fine." Michael was embarrassed by the idea of being called by his hero name when he wasn't doing anything heroic. He was happy to call her by her hero name, but Michael was still struggling with feeling like a hero after some less than ideal interactions with mentors that felt his pacifistic manners were going to hinder more than help him. He was still trying to disprove them but he felt he had to train much more before he could prove a hero to himself.

Soundwave's energy was intoxicating, such a bright and bubbly personality all projecting such confidence. She seemed exactly the demeanor for a hero that Michael wanted to be. A brave and sure face that was ready to stand up to any challenge and make everyone else feel safe. Michael was exceptionally envious of her smile. It was something that he likely would never be able to pull of, but he hoped to some day be seen in such an inspiring light. "Let's focus in on one flag for now. If we try to snatch up all of them, it only makes it more likely to antagonize the other teams. We can win this without needing to create conflict." Michael said emphatically, his own friendly nature spurred on by her confidence.

Their first obstacle seemed rather easy to slip up at. So when Misaki suggested a marching song, Michael knew she was on the right track. The only problem was, Michael couldn't think of any off the top of his head at that moment. He for some reason could only think of Beatles songs, likely thanks to his father's influence. Still enough of them had easy enough to follow beats... so...

"Do you know Come Together by the Beatles?" Michael asked as they got into position. To help establish the beat, he went ahead and started to sing the first line. "Here come old flat-top, he come grooving up slowly, he got ju-ju eyeball, he one holy roller, he got hair down to his knee, got to be a joker, he just do what he please." The funky old English band song had a steady 4/4 time signature. Michael didn't think to be embarrassed about his odd choice for a marching tune, he couldn't think of more obvious songs at the moment and the steady cadence of it would do the job.








Notes & Tags:Takanashi Misaki ,

TLDR: Michael is happy to meet Misaki, inspired by her bright and confident nature. Michael starts to sing "Come Together" by the Beatles for their marching song.

Michael was having a great conversation meeting Freja and Sumi, two more of his senpai. He wasn't quite sure what they meant by wielding a bat, perhaps they were on the UAU baseball team. However before he could get clarification or take them up on the opportunity to work on his quirk with them, a scarecrow cat girl dashed in between the three of them to spout a pair of rapid fire questions and their answers. It wasn't until she had darted away and was doing the same thing to 2 other people that Michael realized: "OH! Those were jokes!" They were quite funny and cute, but it had been so abrupt that it took too long a moment to realize they were jokes. He began laughing as it actually sank in.

"Excuse me, I want to go hear some more." Michael said to his senpais and was about to follow after the the straw cat, when suddenly a cold and familiar voice froze him in place with an icy 'You'. "Oh hello Riis-senpai! Masao-senpai! It's nice to see you two here!" Michael said with all the friendliness of someone who hadn't been demeaned by Ylva. Once again he had been blindsided by interaction. Only this time it wasn't by adorable quirk-fire jokes but by a surprise costume judging. Michael blinked heavily behind his balloon face, the only thing that hid his confusion. The awkward part of being asked to chose between whom had the better costume... was that Michael couldn't even tell they were in costumes. It seemed both of them had decided to wear Halloween costumes that were nearly identical to the vibe as their hero gear and Michael couldn't really tell the difference.

It was only made more awkward when another guest Michael didn't recognize in a dinosaur costume came over to give a more theatrical spin on the contest, making it feel like there were actual stakes now.

"Uhh..." Michael didn't want to be rude or mean, but he also had no objectively clear factor that would make one of their costumes better than the other. "Well, you both managed to match your personal theming really well!" Michael pointed out the first compliment he could give honestly to them both. "I think.. you both look equally pretty!" Michael said trying to not favor one over the other when he had nothing more valid to cling to for judging them. He gave them a casual double thumbs up, unsure of what else to say...

Michael was desperate for an excuse to get out from under the spotlight of judging someone's appearance, so he desperately looked for something to draw him away until this whole thing blew over.





Notes & Tags:Takanashi Misaki ,Masao Ando ,Ylva Riis ,Freja Helt ,Kei Hada ,Mafdet Khepri ,junsuina ,𝕐 + 𝕐 ,Samaritan ,𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 ,Sumi Okita ,

TLDR: While talking with Sumi and Freja, he didnt realize that Khepri had told jokes at them until she was already gone. He then got roped in to judge if Ylva or Masao had the better costume despite feeling that there was nothing intrinsically better between one and the other. So he awkwardly said both were pretty and tried to find an excuse to hide until this argument was over.

Michael was disappointed, but not really surprised by Kei's response. It was a lot to ask someone to throw a match like this. After all Masao was right. They weren't here to win, they were here to impress the audience. These would be the people counting on them to rescue them or stand up against injustice. They were their future employers, partners, rivals. This fight wasn't meant to showcase a bunch of people hitting each other, but showcase the heroes they were going to become. Michael didn't know anything about Kei's dynamic with Ylva so he assumed this was the reason why he couldn't give up.

Still the robotic arm rising up and blasting a torrent of water at Michael had caught him by surprise. The strong stream pushed Michael back and he moved even further back as he jumped back with the water blast. It was a fairly non-damaging attack but it clicked why Ylva had him for a partner. Coupled with her ice quirk, this water could be used to a severe advantage. If Michael wasn't careful he or Masao could get drenched and become a popsicle in no time.

Michael suddenly twisted himself up like a cork screw, while his body's rubbery consistency made water wick off him rather quickly, his clothing were a different manner. He just had some sturdy and stretchy UAU gym clothes. Perhaps this was all the more sign that he needed to have a suit designed for him. Twisting his body, Michael wrung the water out of his clothes like squeezing out a wet towel. But as he untwisted, Michael used the momentum to whip his right hand towards Kei, trying to grab hold of him. If Kei wouldn't leave of their own free will, Michael would need to move him out of the ring. He felt bad that he actively would be fighting against Kei's opportunity to show the crowd what he was made of, oblivious to the fact that by facing off against Kei was doing exactly that.





Notes & Tags: Ylva Riis,Masao Ando,Kei Hada,Samaritan,

TLDR: Michael got blasted with water. Once jumping back enough he twisted himself up to wring out his clothing and then use the momentum from untwisting to stretch one of his hands out to try grabbing Kei.

Michael was thrilled by the warm welcome and even more so that his costume was considered 'Spooky'. Michael had never wanted to be frightening, but it was Halloween, dressing up in a spooky costume was all part of the fun. So he was elated to have met the theme, even if oblivious of the idea that his costume might only be frightening because of the eeriness of a featureless balloon that the mask was rather hauntingly taped down to.

"I'm Michael Faraday, but you can just call me Michael. I'm a first year in the hero course!" Michael said brightly with all the excitement and friendliness of a golden retriever. "It's nice to meet the both of you! I haven't met many of my upperclassmen, so its great to finally have an opportunity to mingle with my senpais."

Michael looked over his hosts and their wonderful costumes. He had actually found his in his parents’ storage. It likely had belonged to his father and had come from England. It had come with an elastic band that was meant to hold the mask against the wearer’s face, but because of Michael’s head shape, it kept sliding around, so he had used tape to keep it in place. Aside from that, it was just a fancy white shirt and slacks and a black velvet cape. Michael was a bit larger than his father, so he had to deflate his body a little bit to fit the clothing better but as long as he didn’t inflate himself any it would be fine. Since joining UAU, Michael had put on a fair deal more bulk in muscles from all the training, so he had been equalizing it all with his quirk and the air flow in his body.





Notes & Tags: Sumi Okita | Freja Helt | Kei Hada | 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

TLDR:

Michael was excited for the party. He had been using much of his free time from classes and training to go for long jogs around Tokyo. Aside from the cardio, this gave him insight of the districts and road ways while also familiarizing himself with the citizens. He would even do civil services whenever he could. Helping people cross the street, carry groceries, find a lost pet; Michael had been integrating himself among the public with a helpful and friendly demeanor. Tonight was no exception.

Looking for the chance to get to better know his schoolmates, Michael was all too happy when he found out about a Halloween happening out on a yacht. Michael wasn't old enough to legally drink alcohol, which suited him well. He didn't really want to imbibe anyways. But he was all to happy to enjoy the party and give a sober help to anyone that might need it.

Michael arrived at the dock, promptly at the indicated time for arrival. He likely would show up earlier than most which would allow him to figure out where everything was on the ship. Being able to point out the nearest bathroom seemed to him just about as valuable to know as where the life jackets were. And if he was early enough perhaps he could even help the wait-staff with any last minute party chores.

Michael decided to dress in a Phantom of the Opera style costume. The half-face mask was taped down to his featureless balloon head to assure it did not fall off. Michael made his way onto the yacht giddy with the hope a fun night and the prospect of making more hero friends.





Notes & Tags: Sumi Okita

TLDR: Michael arrived right on time in a Phantom of the Opera costume (mask taped onto his balloon head) so he could help with any last minute set up and to learn the lay out of the yacht to be as helpful as possible.