FamishedPants

♦ A New Era ♦ - A My Hero Academia RP

Toru Ayanokoji

costume

Toru's costume also has a cute little smiley-face mask. It's main feature is that certain areas are actually detachable, such as the spaces around his elbows and shoulders, his wrists, his legs, and of course his neck.

Gender
Boi
Age
16
Height
5 feet, 10 inches
Weight
160lbs

Personality
From the very moment he was born, it was decided that Ayanokoji Toru would come to be a prankster. This is his defining trait and he could almost entirely be summed up as such. He enjoys having a good laugh at other's expense and does not mind losing a limb or two over it. He displays an unnatural fondness for puns and jokes in general, and can be a fairly amiable person when he's not screwing with others. Breaking into mindless rants, acting the part of a fool, feigning actual injury... yes, in the pursuit of entertainment, he is fairly proactive.

Toru can be rather lazy when doing anything he doesn't consider 'fun'. He'd much rather do the bare-minimum and have more time to screw around, something that may upset others who see effort and hard work as a positive trait. He also seems rather... distant from other people, even when acting pleasant around them. He does not take relationships very seriously, and thusly does has yet to have an actual one. Aside from his parents, he's never really 'cared' about another individual enough to warrant them being called 'friend'. He's not likely to get too upset at other people due to not giving them any power over him in the first place, but this also means he's not actually that good with deep situations or sympathizing with people. He's not had a friend, hasn't pursued any romantic relationships, and is quite stiff when he's not allowed to joke around. Still, there's at least an inner desire to change this. If he was beyond forming relationships, he wouldn't have found it so easy to jump into the defense of another like he did. It's clear he's in need of some emotional development, but aren't all teens?

As far as fighting goes, Toru is completely willing to sustain damage in order to win a fight, though this should surprise nobody. He prefers to use a bat in a fight, but if disarmed (in both ways) he'll even swing around his own limbs as weapons, creepily enough. He is not particularly bloodthirsty or the sort, but he also does not care much for a 'fair fight' and will abuse what he can to win. If he needs to throw himself at a foe until they tire out, then so be it. He may need to work on actual skill in a fight, as he currently is more likely to outsustain an opponent in a fist fight than to beat them through skill.

Background
Ayanokoji Toru was born into this world via the union of two very loving parents, who'd wanted nothing more than to create a big, happy family. It would not be an overstatement to say that they so very much looked forward to holding the baby right after it was born, hearing it's cute little heartbeat, and listening to its adorable little wails. Such was the blessing provided to all parents, after all. Of course, this was not to be, as an infant Toru was born without a heartbeat and was motionless. Quite frankly, there weren't any signs of life. Immediately, the staff at the hospital tried their best to figure out what happened or if they could revive the poor young child, only to find him start laughing when his parents began to despair.

It would seem that Toru was always the little shit.

Toru grew up rather popular, yet also quite strange. Even if they had some physical differences because of their Quirks, just about everybody needed to breathe or blink. Or they had a heart that beat. Toru was not like that, however. These sort of unconcious things were not a part of him, initially. He spent much time dedicated to teaching himself these things, in order to appear more humanlike. And once he had finished? He moved on to the best part about his power, objectively: pranking others.

It was this application of his powers that allowed him to truly feel a 'heartbeat'. Nothing else quite gave him an actual thrill of that magnitude. He started rather small, but as he grew and grew, so did his willingness to abuse his Quirk for the sake of terrifying others. Halloween became his favorite holiday, for obvious reasons. And be it puns or dismemeberment, Toru couldn't help himself and let loose at every available opportunity.

It was for this reason that he initially decided he was going to join the entertainment industry. His powers would especially be suited there. Could he be a star in a zombie flick? A comedian? These were possibilities that he considered for quite some time. Yet, they all lost out to one particular moment in his life. He was involved in a typical scenario where a villain took the store he was in hostage. Toru never considered himself brave or selfless, but like his affinity for screwing with people, Toru found the action of putting himself in danger just as natural when things went south, and he took a mortal blow for a woman and her small child. The villain approached the woman and child, cackling at his apparent victory and meaned to finish off the mother and her child, when Toru suddenly sprang back to life and launched a surprise attack, knocking the villain out. And the thrill he got when doing so was perhaps even better than what he got when subjecting people to ridiculous pranks.

He decided right there that perhaps he should try out the hero business. Maybe he'd get a kick out of it?

Quirk

Undeath

The easiest way to explain Toru's quirk is that he is a zombie, at least that's what most people think of when they see him in action. There is a bit more to it, however.

Toru's quirk is a mutant-type that allows him to recover from almost any injury he could physically sustain, so long as there's a piece of him to regenerate from. He can shrug off impalement, broken bones and missing limbs, will never bleed out, and can survive decapitation. He, naturally, has a pain tolerance well above the norm. He also has never been 'sick' before, leading one to believe he's immune to disease. And, on top of this, he has almost limitless endurance and is very physically strong for his age and size. He seems to have control over his body in ways that others do not. This is a regenerative Quirk that allows him to either grow back pieces of himself or even reattach them if he desires, but don't expect any "cloning" shenanigans as there can only ever be one Toru.

His quirk does, of course, have some weaknesses. While he might seem like he'll never run out of stamina, his healing ability does slow down considerably over time, particularly when he's forced to constantly regenerate. Additionally, if his head (brain) is destroyed, he's able to come back, but the full recovery period for that is a few days, so he's vulnerable to being finished off, if a foe so desires. He can come back from considerable damage, but he is not any more durable than the average person, so taking him down is far from impossible, and he can be trapped fairly easy, as while he is pretty strong, anybody with a physical quirk will have not have much problems.

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

Zachary Ackerson

---

It was unfortunate that another murder had plagued the Infinites, especially so close to that last, trainwreck of a Night of Carnage. Murdering someone was an unforgivable action, but doing so at this point in time somehow made it worse in Zach's eyes. What sort of selfish bastard would do such a thing? This was 3 times that somebody had killed another. It was safe to say this would continue, even were they to survive this trial. They needed to find a way out of this situation before there were no Infinites left! This world needed a future!

Thankfully, it seemed like some others were being proactive in their approach. Going by what was discussed, it was most likely that the poison used was not the fast-acting type but the kind that took a few hours before taking effect. Naturally, people began stating their alibis, but strangely it seemed as though quite a bit of people visited Mercy before the party. Of course, Zach knew this beforehand since he'd been there with Jez. But most interesting of the discussion so far was Thomas' questioning of Alice. Presumably, the point was to confirm that while Mercy did know about the wound on her hand, she wasn't aware it was poison. That much was kinda obvious though. Mercy would have to be of a horrible character to not inform others about this, as that simply put everybody else in danger. Oddly, the mention of a pencil tip did remind Zachary of something that may be of note to the case, but he wasn't sure if he should potentially bring up something that may digress from the current topic. He figured he'd hold onto that information until later.

"Yes, that's correct." Zachary acknowledged Jezebel's recounting of their alibi for the 3:00pm-4:00pm timeframe. But Zachary assured himself that would be the last time she needed to speak for him this trial. He'd admit that the feeling of having someone get his back was a great one, but in order to improve as a person and to fulfill his desire to make his relationship with her one in which she benefits, Zachary needed to assert himself.

There would be no more politicians calling him cuck.

Still... "I can't say I was looking for anything of the sort, but I'm afraid I did not see anything that was out of the norm while we were with Mercy." the fact he could've missed something important weighed on him and he'd spoke as if he was upset at himself for not seeing anything.

Fire Emblem: The Eternal War [ENDED]

Sorry about disappearing (thankfully I'm not in the RP so it doesn't really affect much), I decided to prioritize posting in other RPs and then my birthday happened and now I'm potentially going to cause my computer to explode by upgrading it.

If my PC decides NOT to explode, then I'll try getting an OC up within the next couple of days.

Lunacy of Love: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Shade?

"It's all over."

It can never be stressed enough that Silhouette, by her very nature, is a selfish and uncaring individual. She was the kind of person who never really even flinched the first time she took a life. She always had an objective-based mindset that made her a rather efficient killing-machine. It is also why she never had any actual friends. The closest she ever came before becoming a 'she' was "preferred employers", but that simply wasn't the same. The only exception to this was currently Vermillion Veronica, but that was a relationship far too complicated to dub "Friendship". It was, however, much closer to that strange, foreign concept, than anything else had been. But perhaps it was more?

Not even Silhouette knew.

What she did know, however, was that she was not one to do things that could be labeled "selfless" without some ulterior motive. If she saved a life, it was only because she desired to use it to some end. If she gave somebody something, it was solely because she'd benefit in some way. Her protection of Mariette was also one such case. Because she was with this ship of infighting waiting to happen, she'd benefit most backing up another member. She was not used to using her fists as her main way of fighting. Sil owned experience in some martial arts, sure, but they were typically complementary to her knife, not a primary means of eliminating her foes. Lending Mariette her support during conflicts allowed her to "take it easy" in a way.

Or, well, it was supposed to.

Sil understood that something about the blood on her was off, her eyes told her as much. That the blood was a weapon in and of itself was quite obvious to Silhouette, so she continued fighting while keeping it in mind, waiting until the moment Caroline would attempt to use the blood against her. The really unfortunate part about all of this was that Silhouette's selfishness was the entire reason she suffered a swift, decisive loss. Believing that the blood would be used to attack her in some way (her guess would be that it'd form a bladed weapon to attack her arm or throat with), she was left rather perplexed when she suddenly felt a tug upon her arm and a subsequent crash -- into one of her own allies! This clever use of the blood had surprised Sil long enough to prevent her from placing the blood itself into Stasis, and immediately she found herself restrained and unable to continue the fight.

Had she originally simply removed the threat of the blood, then perhaps all this may have been avoided. But Caroline seemed, at least in this short interaction, quite prone to temper tantrums. Sil's very presence as a support to Mariette had caused her to get upset, so she figured if a supposed 'sneak attack' the girl SHOULD have attempted was to be thwarted in a cocky manner, that perhaps that might fuel her ire. And an enraged foe was often easier to predict and outmaneuver than a calm one. But regardless of her justification, in the end it was her own fault she wound up defeated. She took her enemy too lightly and paid for it. It was up to Mariette and the other girl to see this fight through.

...

...

...

The ensuing fight did... not actually last that long. It seemed Caroline's bane had eventually been figured out and used against her. "Love" was apparently it. Quite a pathetic bane for a rather vicious foe, but in this magical world, nothing was as it seemed. Sil was released from her bloodied prison and immediately stood up, gazing rather longingly at the sight of the incapacitated Caroline. It would seem this is where she was to be discarded as a sacrifice to someone's deity. What a gruesome end. And... what an... anticlimactic one, too.

But she's so very strong!

A voice in her head stated. It was her own, but Sil did not feel as though she owned it. No, she knew what this was. The damned black coin's wicked perversion. It didn't matter if Caroline was strong or how the battle went, so long as Sil was alive and she could continue her mission, that was all that mattered. This voice. This no-good, horrible voice in the back of her head, calling for action in a situation that does not necessitate it was contradictory to her very nature!

It would be a shame to allow her to end so... quickly. Not without a proper taste! Such a foe should be savored, not thrown away!

Shade's hand fell to her side and she squeezed it into a fist, so much that it began to hurt. This was serious. Sil knew that if she allowed herself to summon ChronoRend, then this dark, violent side of hers would thrust her into a fight she need not be in. That was unacceptable! Her cover would be blown and she'd not have a way back home!

Veronica did mention an alternative means of leaving this place...

While that was true, there was no way Sil would allow herself to willingly be thrust in such a position. At the moment, taking that way out was admitting defeat and failing the objective. Even if she had a potential ride home, the true Sil did not want to take it. Not unless she had to. She could not allow this corruptions influence on her being to increase more than it had. Falling for its excuses to go berserk... it could only harm her. So what if Caroline died? She was admittedly powerful, but also an obstacle. Sil was smart enough to know that allowing such an enemy to escape would only bite her in the ass later.

I can stop this! I deserve a rematch, I deserve the kill, not her!

It likely wasn't too long before Caroline would be dealt wtih. But it didn't matter. She didn't care. It was better for Sil this way. Caroline's death was one less obstacle for the group to have to deal with. There was no benefit in protecting her. And even if there was, Mariette was in the way. She certainly wouldn't be happy with that, neither would the rest of the ship, she'd imagine.

But Mariette is overconfident. She thinks her portals can see everything. But she's much too slow. She has no way to respond if I utilize my true power. In a moment, I could strike her down. I T W O U L D B E S O E A S Y

So overconfident this nagging voice was. But... well, wasn't it onto something? Shade wasn't at a distance from Mariette that prevented her from getting the first strike in utilizing her Time Manipulation. She had the advantage. Going off of what she had pondered earlier, this was her ideal scenario for this fight. In that case...mothing could stop her. She was certain of this. Mariette may have been keeping an eye out for potential backstabs, but this did not matter. Her inability to understand what Sil was capable of prevented her from formulating countermeasures, making her nothing more than a rabbit in the face of a lion -- there was simply no chance for her. She was prey.

Yes... she is nothing more... than easy prey...

Shade turned and took a step towards Mariette. She was silent as can be, even though Sil knew against this particular woman, that it didn't matter because she had exception awareness courtesy of her portals. For Sil, those were easy to keep track of. Mariette would find that Shade's right hand was not in clear view of any of her portals, Shade was walking towards her and keeping it in such a way that none had a direct line of sight on it.

Another step. And another. They were rather slow, deliberate steps. Like a predator stalking its prey. There wasn't very much distance at all between them, what with Shade acting as a shield for Mariette earlier. Any distance they had gained during the fight had soon disappeared.

And eventually, she reached the point where, if Mariette was going to strike first in anticipation of betrayal, it'd be now or never, and... then Shade's right hand came out into the open, with nothing in it. She wasn't armed with anything, it was no different than it had been. She stopped and gawked at the sight of Caroline's imminent fate for a few seconds, then sniffed and looked down at herself.

"Eww~!" she groaned. "My poor outfit is covered! How gross! Why can't this world cater less to metalheads and more to cute, stylish idols like myself? Haaa. I'm not a part of BabyMetal, I don't like this one bit!" she complained rather comically. She took a moment to settle herself down and then sighed. "We may have won that fight, but at what cost? Too much effort and now I'm dirty and I don't feel as cute. Blegh."

Fire Emblem: The Eternal War [ENDED]

No wincest kingdoms?! Psh! haven't you ever watched Oreimo? As long as she's cute, marrying your sister is perfectly fine! Oh, wait, I really liked Kuroneko and that show had a godawful ending and now I'm angry.

So I was sorta kinda reading things (I don't want to pretend I'm fully caught up on everything) and I noticed that players are not allowed to come from Varjo? Is this an absolute no-no? The kind of OC I was thinking about creating would make the most sense coming from there. Although I guess it isn't the most important thing.

Fire Emblem: The Eternal War [ENDED]

Allow me to leave a message her indicating a potential interest in joining. I haven't read anything at all so if this is dead or closed, forgive me.

I'll probably look through sometime tomorrow or the day after.

Bad End: The After-Story [Comedy that Pretends to be PvP]

I'm interested XD

Danganronpa: Tower of Carnage (Finished!)

Zachary Ackerson

Jezebel Volcov

"Zachary Ackerson: Wordsmith."

---

[@Everybodyintheroleplay]

---

One of limited amount of pleasantries that came about being trapped here with the rest of the Infinites was that, despite what their status might be on the outside, nobody was truly a celebrity in this death game. This led to a sort of 'peace' between everybody that some might not be able to get outside. That's not to say everybody was cooperative and happy with each other, but there were no annoying fans to bug someone. Well, Zachary at least. But just like anything valuable, you don't really know its true worth until it was gone. This applied to particularly to Zachary, who had pretty much been greeted by anybody who saw him up and about the day after he suffered his injury. The most common response was surprise. Behind that came concern and, typically, some chiding because he wasn't in bed, resting his broken self. And finally, some claimed they had thought him to be dead. This was all much more attention than he was used to, and the fact that Noel had taken interest in him at all was a bit concerning. Yet even then, the most important thing of note during all of this was that out of all these Infinites, none of them were named "Jezebel".

He had intentionally not spoken to her the day he awoke.

But today was a new day! Today, he woke up determined to greet Jezebel with an abundance of life he could not show the day before, not stinky, bloody, or drowsy! And, of course, today would be the day he apologized for being an idiot and making her worry. To cause her distress was something he couldn't stand, and even though he knew how dangerous the Carnage Sisters could be, he still valued his pride over his sanity and chose to attempt to rescue Krista. Had it just been him getting injured, then that wouldn't be the biggest issue. He would learn to adapt to his injury eventually. But lives were lost and as one of the people who went along with a plan as reckless as theirs, Zachary was partially responsible for the casualties sustained and the worry and grief that affected others because of their loss. Had he not participated in the last trial, Zachary might've taken this news a lot worse than he did now. After all, he'd been a wreck during the trial at the mere thought he'd been indirectly responsible for supplying the killer with a weapon. Zachary understood he had been of very little help during an important moment due to how he acted. He realized that panicking or blaming himself for stuff he could not help would only make him a detriment, and he could not be such to others, especially Jezebel. Not when she'd been so kind to him. And so, Zach focused on apologizing to Jezebel, for she was the only one he owed an apology to that was still breathing.

It was probably just an hour after the announcements and Zachary had made sure to devour some eggs and, of course, he had his coffee. There was no stopping him now. They were going to meet. He was going to say things. They were going to converse! That is... if she was in her room. It was the place he started to look for her after he finished eating, and he hadn't seen her on the way there. The one-eyed Infinite knocked on the door to the Tricker's room, hoping for a response.

“Hello? Jezebel, are you alive?” he asked.

No answer, not right away at least. But Zachary could hear someone moving around inside of Jezebel's room. The creek of something getting off the hospital bed, weight being shifted from foot to foot across a tile floor. Whoever this was, they weren't moving especially fast. The noise briefly stopped right at the door. Zachary could hear a sigh, and then the door swung open. While Jezebel's makeup covered most of her face, it didn't hide her eyes. They were glassy, and a little red. But they were looking directly at him. Her lower lip quivered, but she made no sudden movements, or attempt to speak.

Zachary couldn't hide his confusion at her state and in response to her silence, was silent for a few moments as well. But then his brain chose to start functioning again and he panicked, despite moments earlier thinking he had to be above that. "J-Jez, what's wrong?! Are you alright?" he worriedly asked. His expression had changed from a determined one to a flustered one in a span of time people might not have thought possible.

Jezebel leaned up against the side of the door with her elbow. “Like, what do you think?” She flashed a bright smile. “Am totally the best!” She folded her arms behind her back. “I'm totally free of pain, totally have both my eyes, and totally feel...” She closed her mouth and tipped her head. “How would you feel if we had to trade places right now?”

"Trade places? I don't know how I'd feel. Being a girl and all would be---" The Infinite caught himself before he continued that sentence, realizing he was taking that just a tad bit too literally. Taking a step back, he coughed into his hand. "Erm, I mean I would be worried sick." he confessed, trying to hide the embarrassment from showing on his face.

"Anyways, I came here to show you that I'm... well, mostly alright -- I could be worse. And to apologize."

Jezebel pushed off the edge of the door and folded her arms. “You totally look plenty sorry already, trust me.” the clown gave Zachary a sideways glance. “So like, why did you wait a full day to come see me?”

Zach's hand fell on the familiar place as he struggled to keep direct eye contact. "That's... well," the truth was, quite frankly, a bit childish and embarrassing. As pleased with him as Jezebel looked, however, he figured he couldn't exactly keep quiet. "... I was in less of a good shape yesterday, is the thing."

“What do you mean?”

"I mean I couldn't really stand up straight and I wasn't too clean, either." he admitted. "And.." Zach thought for a minute. "Well, it's not important".

“Yea well.” Jezebel swiftly opened her arms and closed Zachary in a bear hug. “You're such a noid.” Her voice was cracking. “You look grody to the max!.”

"A noid?" Zachary was a bit surprised by the sudden, intense hug he received. He didn't care much for physical contact with others, but if it was Jezebel, then he supposed that it was okay. She really did like hugging him, for some reason.

"That's a bit of a rude thing to say though," he tried smiling, finally relaxing. "I did my best to tidy up. I’m sorry I had you worried."

“You're still Baldwin material, don't worry.” she chuckled. “So like, am I going to have to worry about you running off to save a betty come next night of carnage and junk?”

"No, you won't. I mean I knew it was pretty dangerous before, but after that time... I can't trust that it'll go any better. We can't use those kinds of means against the Carnage Sisters." he said somewhat sadly. Admitting defeat against them was painful. He didn't like it one bit. But he had to be realistic. They would be crazy to try something similar.

Jezebel closed her eyes. “I know that was hard to say, so thank you.” her eyes opened back up with a broad grin. “The others will want to do something like this in the future, but it's important that we stay out of it.” her grin broadened until she looked like a pumpkin lantern. “Now let's quit moping around and have some fun already!”

---

Jezebel, Zachary, Denis, and Braden were seated around the table blocking the zen garden. “Faith totally knows how to help stage a party, fer sure. The concert is pretty bitchin' too!” She stabbed some finger food with a toothpick and ate it. “But we totally shouldn't tell her so. She's got too much pride as is.” Jezebel giggled.

"Does she?" Zachary inquired rather curiously. Faith was one of few infinites he hadn't yet spoken to. Though she did seem a bit weird, so that might've been a reason. "I can't argue about the performance though. You couldn't pay to get this kind of entertainment."

”Hey, pretty lady!” Denis waved to Braden's doll. The two of them weren't getting anywhere, but seemed to be enjoying the party.

Jezebel scooched closer to Zachary “Hey, are you alright?” She was still smiling. “I don't think I've seen you smile once all day.”

“Huh? Oh…” Zachary sighed and found himself staring at the table. “I’m just not exactly happy with the results earlier.”

“Well, you didn't expect everything to stay the same right? I knew you were going to need to adjust fer shur” Jezebel placed a hand on Zachary's shoulder.

"I knew that there'd be issues. I knew that, but it's still irritating." Zach confessed.

“If it makes you feel any better, I so came to this hospital to get my eyes checked out. You'd think they'd cure my eyesight before dropping me in a killing game. But nope. They were all 'psych! As if!” and put me in here just like this.” Jezebel looked across the dance floor. “I think my limit is like, twenty, maybe thirty feet? Beyond that, things start to look all grody.”

Moving his eye from the table the Jez, Zach couldn't hide his surprise. "Is that true? I hadn't even noticed, I'm sorry." Even if he had just lost an eye, that one eye could still see well. It made judging distance a daunting task, sure, but it would be much worse if he couldn't see too far like Jez. Now I feel like an ass. Looking rather serious to the woman beside him, Zach sighed.

"Well, damn. I can't say I feel any better after that, no. Try again?" and allowed himself a wry smile.

”Let's dance, pretty lady!” Denis took the arm on Braden's doll and got up to dance. Jezebel watched them walk away from the table. Before turning back towards Zachary.

“Maybe we'll have better luck dancing?” she shot the archer a grin.

“...no, definitely not.” he suddenly got serious. Did she think he’d ever done such a crazy thing like moving his body in a way that was considered beautiful? Ha, what a crazy lady! “The last time I danced was in a different life, I’m sure. I cannot absolutely definitely impossibly cannot.”

“In front of other Infinites, I would die of embarrassment.” he claimed. “I have two left feet, as well. Hell, I’m just awkward in general…”

Yes, he was adamant that he was not going to dance, even if it was with Jezebel. It was one of those things he thought was silly. Dancing? Pssh, there were cooler things out there. Maybe if he was going to die---

“...well,” he somehow realized there was a very real chance this would be his only chance to dance with someone. Hopefully he died of embarrassment after the fact. “...If you insist, I guess we could?” he let out a soft, nervous laugh and stood up.

“You’re some kinda of dancing genius though, right?”

”They totally called me queen Volcov of the dance!” Denis took the arm on Braden's doll and got up to dance. Jezebel watched them walk away from the table. Before turning back towards Zachary.“Like, the only time I remember I'm Russian-American is when I say my last name. It's so weird!” she stood up and took Zachary's hand. ”Anywho, regardless of how well I dance, I'm still a clown. So like, there's so nothing to worry about.”

As soon as Jezebel got on the dance floor, her footsteps slowed. The clown turned to face Zachary and took hold of his other hand. ”You so don't need to be a ninja to dance, you can just move your feet while holding your hands like this.”

“Pretty lady, blind guy!” Denis ran up to them. “If you're going to dance slow, make sure there's no place for her to go.” Denis placed his hands on their backs and pushed them closer together. “This is better, yes?” the spy didn't wait for a response. He quickly returned to his dancing partner. “This fun, no?” Denis said to Braden's hand.

Jezebel cleared her throat. They were touching more than just hands now. ”Comfy?”

"O///O"

Zachary did not have a verbal response ready for Jezebel, at least not right away. He was overwhelmed by the situation more so than he had been a few days prior, against the Carnage Sisters. In the same way that he could have died at any moment in battle against Nariko, Zachary was desperately trying not to perish due to intense strain on his nervous little heart. The skin on his face, his cheeks in particular, was a brilliant red that nothing short of an actual mask could hide.

He thought he might've made a mistake. Could he get out? Surely there were other things to do before he died. Ones that wouldn't speed up the process, too! He was unused to being so close to another person, and certainly the fact that he liked Jezebel made it a million times worse. With their hands clasped together, their bodies so close, he was wholly incapable of hiding his feelings from showing. That, in turn, made him even more nervous, and the fact he couldn't dance caused him embarrassment. He feared stepping on her toes, looking like a fool, or anything, really. There was too much going on in his head.

"No, I'm Zach." he tried joking to lighten his own mood, but his voice was noticeably higher than it typically was plus it wasn’t even the right color. That added to his embarrassment, of course. By this point, it was difficult for him to keep eye contact with Jez, even as close as they were. He pitifully tried looking everywhere that wasn't her, but eventually failed. "H-how about you?"

Jezebel was completely looking away from Zachary. Her eyes were half closed, and the dancing queen hadn't taken a single step. With a sigh, she closed her eyes. ”This... totally doesn't feel right to me either..” Jezebel took a step back, releasing Zachary's hands as she did so. ”Wanna go to the break room?” She wasn’t smiling.

With a bit of distance between them, Zach could grasp just a tiny bit of himself once more. Not that anybody could tell. "The break room?..." was going along with the idea to dance actually a bad choice? He worried he did something wrong. "I suppose we could." he agreed. He wasn't sure why, but he felt disappointed it had ended so soon.

---

It was a lot quieter in the break room. The music from the party was still audible, but it was a quieter atmosphere. The coffee brewer Jezebel operated was the loudest thing in the room. ”So, is this better?” The clown didn't look away from the coffee pot.

By the time they’d arrived in the break room, Zachary had cooled down. His face was no longer red as a beet, but he wore a troubled expression. He worried he had caused her to call the dance off with how nervous he’d gotten. “I’m sorry.” he apologized after a minute of silence between them. The awkwardness he felt was getting to be unbearable. “...I know I’m a bit of a spaz.”

”It's okay, I totally didn't feel comfortable up there either.” Jezebel turned around. ”That was kind of cool though. Didn't think Krista was bitchin' enough to admit she was carrying a secret like that.” She snorted. ”I mean, it so figures she was a total fake the entire time. But like...” Jezebel sighed. ”Kinda makes me jealous too.”

Zachary’s raised eyebrow was a visible indicator that he wasn’t quite sure what the woman was talking about, but he went ahead and asked anyways. “What do you mean? Why would you be jealous of Krista?”

”I'm just saying, she was totally talking about her darkest secret like it was nothing. ” Jezebel took the coffee pot and poured it into two different mugs. ”I mean, I'm not totally buying it, but she chose to say something that could make people think less of her.” She set down the coffee pot and picked up one of the mugs. The coffee was still too hot to drink, so Jezebel just held it in front of herself. ”That's nothing I could ever do. You know? I mean hiding the handbook from all of us was a seriously stupid thing to do, and I'd never have done it in her position. But sharing a personal failure like that? That's totally only something you do with like, lovers and stuff.”

“When you put it like that, that does seem a bit impressive.” Zach agreed, nodding. “I certainly don’t think I could ever go up on stage and blurt out my darkest secret so willingly, and to every infinite here, no less!” Zachary shuddered at the mere thought of it. If he could get out of here alive and nobody learn of his troubled history, then it would be best. At least, not the entirety of the surviving members of their group. “That’s a kind of mental strength I don’t have.” the archer stated. “It’s probably better that way, though.”

”Oh?” Jezebel picked up the second mug and offered it to Zachary. ”Better that way. Like, that’s an interesting choice of words. Mental strength is typically what you wish for, isn’t it?”

As he listened to her speak, Zachary took the mug and proceeded to take a sip. For the briefest of moments, he made an odd face but as soon as it had appeared, it left. He swallowed what little coffee had drank and nodded. “That’s correct. If I was a better person, I wouldn’t need to be stronger in a mental sense... “ he shook his head after trailing off. “...well, I’ve got all the physical strength I need, anyways. Not to brag, but archery requires a fair amount of strength. I’m sure I’m stronger than anybody whose specialization isn’t physical, though I might not look it.” he proudly said. “I have my profession and a bit of running to thank for that. But… well, I admit I’m not the brightest bulb in the bunch, which makes me mostly useless here.” he deflated.

Jezebel couldn't help but chuckle at Zachary's words. “You know I don't talk to infinites much right?” She looked away from Zachary. “I mean like... Before I came to this game and junk, I totally steered clear of everyone. Like, I'd hang around in groups and such, but I never really trusted anyone. I guess that's why I prank people so much. It's just my way of keeping my distance from everyone.” She took a sip of her coffee before turning to face Zachary. “But like, I dunno, I don't feel like I need to keep my distance from you and junk. You're not as smart as some of the other guys here, fer shur. But even some of the noids here make mistakes.” the clown set down her mug and placed her hands on her hips. “I'm so hanging out with you right now because of what's in your heart, not your head. That's why you're the number one Baldwin in my book.”

Taking a long sip, Zach stared at the Infinite Trickster for a moment before responding. “That… makes me very happy to hear, honestly.” Zach seemed to have a blush. “I hope you realize that I feel the same about you. There’s nobody here I trust more, and I really don’t hang out with anybody in general.” he smiled. “Would that make you my number one Betty?”

Jezebel laughed. “You’re going to make me blush!” She set down her coffee mug and stepped out into the center of the floor. “Anyway, like, maybe you’re not much for parties, but if you’re as athletic as you say you are, you can totally dance.” She clapped her hands together. “I do most of my dancing in the shower anyway. It’s just fun to move around. You don’t need anyone to watch you.” She started flicking her heels around “Come on, show me whatcha got!”

“Ah, I suppose…” Zachary, foolish as he was, glanced around the room before realizing they were the only two there. If it was just the two of them, then perhaps he could learn to enjoy dancing. At least with her.

Zachary set down his coffee, stood up, and the two of them began dancing together in the somewhat quiet break room, alone.

♦ A New Era ♦ - A My Hero Academia RP

@liferusher

Hello~!

♦ A New Era ♦ - A My Hero Academia RP

Man, I tear up every single time I watch the Plus Ultra scene. All Might really is inspiring.

Anyways, is this RP closed to newcomers?