Izuku "Deku" Midoriya (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heroondecku) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
expiationlogs2023-04-12 10:00 pm
heroondecku) wrote in expiationlogs2023-04-12 10:00 pm
[Open Log]
Who: Izuku and you (OPEN)
Where: Around Aldrip
What: April catch-all - Izuku's trying to get on his feet and handle the disappearances (only one is working out for him)
Warnings: Nothing immediate, but Izuku's not in a great headspace at the moment so I'll warn if/when a thread starts digging into that.
1) Old (Fitness) Habits
[Izuku is very, very bad at sitting around doing nothing when there is something wrong. Too easy to get trapped in thinking about what-ifs and worst-cases, of ways he could help if he was just smarter or stronger or better. Not really being able to personally do anything about it at the moment just makes it even worse.
So he falls back on the one thing he can do to prepare for the moment he gets an opportunity to finally do something useful: hone One For All's vessel.
...it's exercise. He's throwing himself into exercise.
He can't really properly recreate his usual routine - no weights or other exercise equipment readily at hand makes that hard to do - but he's already got practice in a fairly decent replacement. Namely, he spends a good chunk of his day helping with manual labor around Aldrip. No OFA, just pure, raw muscle power. It's no Dagoba Beach, but the principle is the same, embracing the heroic spirit inherent in unglamorous volunteer work while doing many different physically demanding tasks that require working different sets of muscles to do properly. He doesn't even ask for or expect payment for any of it, though he can be made to accept rewards of money or food with enough persistence, and he knows better than to turn down hydration when it's offered during or after the work.
If there's none to be had, or at least nothing he can do without using his Quirk or that doesn't require specific knowledge or skills he lacks, he spends the time doing regular exercise instead. Most of it he does in his room at the inn (so any attempt to drop by may result in sweaty teen boy, sorry about that) but he does also develop a jogging route around town, and can be found running it in the mornings almost every day. You're welcome to join him.]
2) Out and About
[Of course, Izuku can't work out constantly. Overworking does more harm than good and, as he learned the hard way, could easily result in him putting himself in danger of passing out in the middle of a task. But he still can't just sit around doing nothing during his rest periods. So when he's not doing fitness volunteer labor, he can very likely be found doing ordinary odd jobs and random acts of kindness. Lending people a hand with their laundry, offering to help someone he spots sweeping or cleaning, getting things down from rooftops or out of trees, even being a comforting presence for an upset child; if he sees it needing doing, he's going to at least try to help out. He won't force it on anyone who doesn't want it, though. That'd be rude.
Izuku won't turn down offers to help out with his helping out either, unless it's genuinely unnecessarily. That would also be rude. Feel free to meddle in his meddling!]
3) Knowledge is Power
[When there's nothing else to do, or bad weather gets in the way of his usual (very outdoors-focused) daily plans, Izuku's almost guaranteed to be at the library. He's an analyzer, a tactician, a planner - he knows the importance of learning everything you can about whatever situation you end up in, and there's no better place to start than with what Expiation's populace records about their own home.
Also he just...really likes learning new things. He's most likely to be found reading up on books or computer entries of local history and folklore, but there's even odds he can be found flipping through cookbooks, or looking up something that someone he knows is passionate about, or trying to book-learn a foundation for some new skill that would broaden his options for fitness labor. He, uh, may also be making a mild nuisance of himself; he's not particularly loud when he gets to mumbling his thoughts aloud to himself, but he does go on for a while once he gets going. Sometimes a long while.
...man, he really misses his notebooks.]
Where: Around Aldrip
What: April catch-all - Izuku's trying to get on his feet and handle the disappearances (only one is working out for him)
Warnings: Nothing immediate, but Izuku's not in a great headspace at the moment so I'll warn if/when a thread starts digging into that.
1) Old (Fitness) Habits
[Izuku is very, very bad at sitting around doing nothing when there is something wrong. Too easy to get trapped in thinking about what-ifs and worst-cases, of ways he could help if he was just smarter or stronger or better. Not really being able to personally do anything about it at the moment just makes it even worse.
So he falls back on the one thing he can do to prepare for the moment he gets an opportunity to finally do something useful: hone One For All's vessel.
...it's exercise. He's throwing himself into exercise.
He can't really properly recreate his usual routine - no weights or other exercise equipment readily at hand makes that hard to do - but he's already got practice in a fairly decent replacement. Namely, he spends a good chunk of his day helping with manual labor around Aldrip. No OFA, just pure, raw muscle power. It's no Dagoba Beach, but the principle is the same, embracing the heroic spirit inherent in unglamorous volunteer work while doing many different physically demanding tasks that require working different sets of muscles to do properly. He doesn't even ask for or expect payment for any of it, though he can be made to accept rewards of money or food with enough persistence, and he knows better than to turn down hydration when it's offered during or after the work.
If there's none to be had, or at least nothing he can do without using his Quirk or that doesn't require specific knowledge or skills he lacks, he spends the time doing regular exercise instead. Most of it he does in his room at the inn (so any attempt to drop by may result in sweaty teen boy, sorry about that) but he does also develop a jogging route around town, and can be found running it in the mornings almost every day. You're welcome to join him.]
2) Out and About
[Of course, Izuku can't work out constantly. Overworking does more harm than good and, as he learned the hard way, could easily result in him putting himself in danger of passing out in the middle of a task. But he still can't just sit around doing nothing during his rest periods. So when he's not doing fitness volunteer labor, he can very likely be found doing ordinary odd jobs and random acts of kindness. Lending people a hand with their laundry, offering to help someone he spots sweeping or cleaning, getting things down from rooftops or out of trees, even being a comforting presence for an upset child; if he sees it needing doing, he's going to at least try to help out. He won't force it on anyone who doesn't want it, though. That'd be rude.
Izuku won't turn down offers to help out with his helping out either, unless it's genuinely unnecessarily. That would also be rude. Feel free to meddle in his meddling!]
3) Knowledge is Power
[When there's nothing else to do, or bad weather gets in the way of his usual (very outdoors-focused) daily plans, Izuku's almost guaranteed to be at the library. He's an analyzer, a tactician, a planner - he knows the importance of learning everything you can about whatever situation you end up in, and there's no better place to start than with what Expiation's populace records about their own home.
Also he just...really likes learning new things. He's most likely to be found reading up on books or computer entries of local history and folklore, but there's even odds he can be found flipping through cookbooks, or looking up something that someone he knows is passionate about, or trying to book-learn a foundation for some new skill that would broaden his options for fitness labor. He, uh, may also be making a mild nuisance of himself; he's not particularly loud when he gets to mumbling his thoughts aloud to himself, but he does go on for a while once he gets going. Sometimes a long while.
...man, he really misses his notebooks.]
3!
It's with a thick encyclopedia in her arms that she spots Deku muttering to himself at one of the tables and brightens, taking off one eof her headphones and letting it drop to her chest. That's right, she has something for him! This is the perfect opportunity to give it to him!
But she doesn't want to interrupt. So she takes her book and scoots into a seat beside him to start reading, waiting for a break in his personal monologue to speak up.
no subject
And even a cursory glance at that hand will be more than enough for her to notice his plethora of scars. They run from his fingers up much of his forearm, though his hand and wrist have it the worst.
The mumbling (and phantom notetaking) go on for a good few minutes, but he does eventually lean back in his seat and lapse into silence, hand to his mouth. Now's your chance, girl! Quick, before he starts up again!]
no subject
Ah, wait, he's paused for a second! She leans forward and waves a hand in front of his eyes.]
Midoriya-kun! Aldrip to Midoriya-kun!!
no subject
Sh-Shiomi! [He blinks, and just stares at her for a moment while his brain furiously works to unjam and then shift its gears.] When did you get here?
[Surely he would have noticed that, right? Right???]
no subject
[She'll leave it up to him to decide if that's a long time or a short time. She giggles a little at his reaction, resting her chin in her hand and beaming up at him. It must be nice to be able to focus that hard on something, huh?]
You seemed pretty focused. What were you working on?
no subject
I'm so sorry, I didn't even notice...
[He feels so bad. She clearly wanted to talk to him and he just (accidentally) ignored her! Absolutely embarrassing. Not even the surprise at Shiomi actually being curious about what he was doing is enough to override it.]
Nothing important, really. Just trying to work out a fitness routine. Or, well, changes to one. [He shakes his head - it really is nothing important, he can hash the adjustments out more later.] What was it you wanted, though?
no subject
[She waves a hand, not at all offended. It was kind of cute, just how focused he really was, but she perks up at the mention of a fitness routine.]
Oh, yeah? I should probably do something like that... [Waking up in the morning is so hard though, she'd rather just sleep... no, she can't think like that. Getting up and exercising would be a good thing, probably? Especially since they can't train in Tartarus.
Anyway, she'll come back to that. For now, she digs into her bag and produces a small, pocket-sized notebook and pen. The notebook itself has what looks like a handmade cloth cover with a simple green pattern on it.]
Ta-da! A present! It's not much, but...
[Notebook club has to stick together!]
no subject
[Sometimes they're important! And he's good at not completely losing a train of thought once he's been mulling away at it, even if he has to put it aside to deal with something else for a bit. Besides, having his hyperfocus broken so someone can talk to him is a lot more pleasant than...other options he's experienced...
He smiles a bit at her reaction - obviously he'd be happy to help her figure something out. If nothing else, it might be nice to have a regular jogging partner; it's not quite the same thing as training with his friends and classmates, but it's still always nicer to do with others than alone. But it's clearly not what she came here for, so he waits patiently instead of jumping right into the first topic to come up.
And-
Oh. Oh.
He looks back and forth between her face and the pocket notebook (a notebook! and pen! just for him?) and his eyes are almost immediately glassy with unshed tears. Oh, he wasn't expecting something like this. He would never have imagined anyone would seek him out just to give him a present.
He reaches out to take the gifts timidly, as though afraid he's somehow misunderstanding the whole situation. Which, honestly, a tiny part of him probably is. He's still not entirely used to things like this.]
You -- [His voice wavers a bit, and he presses his other hand to his mouth as he takes a steadying breath.] You didn't have to...
[He has not blinked since she revealed the notebook and pen, because if he makes one wrong move he will start to cry and he does not want to give Shiomi the wrong idea. Nothing is wrong! He's just a crybaby! He swears!]
no subject
[She lowers her voice a little bit, partially because it's a library, partially because she doesn't want to overwhelm him with the sudden influx of emotion in the face of what's clearly affecting him deeply. To her, it only seemed natural to give him a present when she'd spotted the notebook in the back of a stationary store, just like it had only seemed natural to sew a basic cover to protect it. But just because something is normal for her doesn't mean it's normal for everyone, and based on his reaction, it's obvious that it means a lot more to him than it did to her.
So she smiles and nods in confirmation, dialing back her own energy just a little.]
I saw it and thought of you. You don't have to worry about getting me something in return or anything. It just makes me happy to give things to my friends.
[And while they might not have talked all that often, she does consider him a friend. Then again, she considers half the town to be her friends, and a lot of them she's only spoken to once or twice.]