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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 20, 2023 3:17:44 GMT
Eberly stares down at the phone in his hands, looking at the map to double check he's going the right direction. He could never understand why the phones always have to be so tiny, he sometimes presses two buttons at once because his hands are so much larger than it. Alas it's one of the many realities of being a man as large as Eberly. He often finds himself craning his neck in trains or having to duck under some smaller buildings' doorways. Things seem to be a bit shorter in Japan than back home, and he was big even there!
Eberly chuckles. Ultimately it's a minor thing and the fact that he is even mentally complaining about it is testament to how well things are going for him that he doesn't have more important things to ruminate on. Well, besides his current goal for today. He had traveled quite some distance to find the headquarters of a humanitarian aid branch in the form of a string of organized orphanages headed by one of the countries' top heroes. It seems like a truly worthy cause, so he decided to see if he could pitch in himself.
He turns a corner, looking up from his phone. Sure enough, there it is. The main building. Well no point in dallying, eh? He walks on up to the front door and enters.
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 23, 2023 20:29:01 GMT
The exterior of the property was surrounded by a wall outfitted with some pretty high tech security for those who knew what to look for. The Bear Den's HQ also doubled as one of its many orphanages, so even more than most hero headquarters security was tight. Most of the security measures were obfuscated or concealed though, if you didn't know better it would seem just like a high wall and gatehouse and not a security barrier with more money sunk into it than some prison complexes. If security on the inside were anything like this, the kids at this orphanage were some of the safest people in Japan... that was probably why nobody had ever attempted attacking the orphanage to get at Momma Bear herself
Approaching the gatehouse, Eberly wouldn't be able to just waltz right in, but a face would appear on a screen when the doorbell was rung. A small bunny rabbit mutant sitting at a desk scrutinized him through the camera.
"Well hello there big guy, I don't recognize you at all. If you're a prospective foster parent you're supposed to schedule a visit online first. the bunny said. Eberly might recognize her as the Bear Den's mascot hero, Dusty, who was probably one of the most well known figures in the agency apart from Momma Bear or her daughter Black Bear... just on account of being famously cute and mascot-like. Her manner of speaking didn't scream cute at all though, seems that was just for the cameras
"same goes for if you've got business with Momma too, we're very busy here we can't just have randos from the streets waltzing in without appointments unless it's an emergency." Dusty continued, clearly not recognizing Eberly as a pro hero due to him being rather new. She wasn't trying to be rude... but also wasn't exactly trying that hard to be polite either.
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 23, 2023 21:41:12 GMT
Eberly blinks as a cute bunny girl pops up on a sceen. Well isn't that just adorable? He keeps such comments to himself though as he listens to her. He pays no heed to any curtness as he replies with a grin and a wave. "Hello to you too, ma'am! Sadly I'm not here to adopt a poor kiddo," He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his hero license, showing it to the camera. "Name's Eberly, and I actually came to volunteer, in whatever way I can," He explains.
He shrugs. "If that also needs an online application then I'll go look into that. I can tell this place is pretty keen on security— Which I totally approve of by the way!"
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 23, 2023 21:49:15 GMT
"Hm, a hero volunteer huh? Well there are some days I would turn you away, buuuuut you did catch us on an abnormally slow day so I guess I can let you in. Put your finger on the scanner and scan the hero license please I'll scan you into the system for the day. Momma herself is usually pretty busy but I'll let her know you're here and see if she can't meet up with you for a bit." Dusty said "just be wary of some of the kids, they're an excitable lot and not shy about swarming new 'uncles' so be ready for that if they spot you."
Once Eberly did the security check and was granted clearance, the gate would slide open, revealing the grounds of the orphanage with all their play and training ground equipment, kids milling about either in classes or just playing, the main building would be straight ahead
"You can head over to the main desk, someone will be down to meet you soon, best of luck making it through the playground" Dusty said, then the screen turned off
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 23, 2023 22:20:14 GMT
Eberly complies, scanning his finger and the hero license as instructed. When Dusty warns him about the children Eberly chuckles. "Hah! Not the worst problem to have, eh?" He remarks. He's well aware of how overbearing children can be, he just can't help but love the sight of laughing, smiling children... Especially under the circumstances these ones are.
He follows through the gates and begins strolling his way across the playground. To kids who look at him he smiles back, and he fully prepares himself for requests to sit on his shoulders or be lifted high into the air. Children love to piggyback on tall people.
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 23, 2023 22:27:15 GMT
Eberly was just about to get tackled, a child running at him and hurling himself through the air while shapeshifting into a bear cub, definitely too much weight for a regular human to catch... only for that child to be snatched out of the air by Momma Bear herself
"You have GOT to stop doing that to everyone who looks big! Not everyone who is big has super strength to catch you!" Cahya scolded, then looked over to Eberly "Dusty sent a message that we had a big visitor and I knew this rascal was out here so I came running. Glad I made it in time"
Cahya put the bear cub down, who wandered off to go pout, then smiled at Eberly and carried on like the whole interaction hadn't just happened "anyhow, I hear you're looking to volunteer! I appreciate it, we can always use an extra set of hands around here."
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 23, 2023 22:35:56 GMT
Eberly notices a kid running at him, and quite quickly his eyebrows raise as the kid transforms into a bear cub. Oh dear. He braces for impact but is surprised as a lady easily snatches the cub out of the air, following it with a bit of scolding. Apparently this kid has a habit of this. Eberly chuckles. "Heh, if it isn't the main lady herself. Thanks for the save, I'm only regular strong," He remarks humorously.
Her talking about him volunteering incites a bright smile. "Of course! When I inquired about other volunteer work while networking with the Japanese Red Cross this place was one of the highest recommended," He holds out a hand to shake. "Name's Eberly Maurer. It's an honour,"
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 23, 2023 22:59:44 GMT
"Eberly Maurer... I feel like I've heard that name at least once before..." Cahya said, scratching her head and thinking over it for a few minutes "gah it's just not coming to me! Sorry, it's hard to keep track of every hero, even ones that I've heard about before. Got a lot on my plate. Regardless it's always a pleasure to meet another hero, especially one who works for humanitarian causes alongside the Red Cross. We're in contact with them often when relief efforts need to happen, not surprised they sent you my way."
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 23, 2023 23:09:30 GMT
Eberly shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, I'm new to Japan so I haven't had the chance to get my name out there yet," He assures. "I was decently well-known in my home country so it's entirely possible you might've heard my name in passing from another Swiss person at one point,"
He shrugs with a smile. "I figured there are few ways to better represent my country than to be closely involved with the local Red Cross,"
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 23, 2023 23:34:07 GMT
"You're quite right about that, and I'm sure both I and the Red Cross appreciate the help" Cahya said "so what sort of work were you hoping to do here? We try our best to let volunteers pick how they want to help, and we usually can use the assistance in just about every field so it usually works out"
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 23, 2023 23:50:01 GMT
"Well..." He says, motioning to himself. "I'm a big lad so manual labour is always on the table. As a hero I can also help if emergency situations call for it... Though I am at my best when I have my equipment and armour," He notes.
He looks around at the various kids playing with a smile. "I have nothing against watching over kiddos as well. If I had gone into a career path that wasn't so intensive I'd probably have settled down and been a father by now," He shakes his head. "Not to say I have any regrets. The way I see it by saving lives I'm sort of like a father to the masses,"
He taps his fingers. "Other than that I'm probably not the best for doing paperwork or other managerial duties," He perks up. "Oh! Also if anything ever breaks you can call me up. My quirk lets me fix most objects so long as they aren't really complex like a computer or something," He scratches behind his head. "Or if the broken thing is an entire building. I tried that once and I had to spend the next few weeks in recovery after knocking myself into a coma,"
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 24, 2023 0:05:32 GMT
"An entire buil... OH THAT'S where I recognize your name from! You're the Mason! I remember that incident now. Impressive thing you did there" Cahya said, Eberly's explanation and the context clues of him being Swiss jogging her memory just enough "I remember thinking that your quirk would be really handy to have around at the time, but the incident was from abroad so I ended up forgetting about it for the most part.
Cahya clapped her hands together excitedly, now that she knew the quirk Eberly had she knew EXACTLY where she needed him. "Still I'm glad to have you here now, we go through so much equipment here. With so many kids learning to use and control their quirks we're lucky if we get through a day without a few hundred dollars in damaged equipment... some days are way worse. We can afford to replace or repair it of course, we budget for that... but it's a huge money sink that slows down expanding our operation to new parts of the country." she explained "I don't want to take advantage but if you could help repair some of the pricier items it'd give us a lot of breathing room in the budget."
Cahya nodded towards one of the buildings "we also provide self defense and physical training for those who want to learn to handle themselves in an emergency, or those who aspire towards heroism. We can always use guest teachers there, and watching over the younger kids is always helpful too, don't want you to ONLY be on repair duty." she added
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 24, 2023 0:33:41 GMT
Eberly chuckles bashfully. "Ehehe, yeah that situation did end up posted all over the internet and the nickname stuck,"
He nods along as she explains how useful his quirk would end up being. "Well I'd be glad to put my quirk to good use. Plus practicing it means I'll be able to fix up even more things before tiring out... Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to replicate the building restoration without passing out," He says with a grin.
"Oh one important thing though. My quirk has a two hour time window where it can be used. The place I live is a fourty minute train ride from here, so if something breaks don't waste any time. I can't do anything for things that broke last night or even this morning," He explains. He chuckles. "Hehe, the tight time window is the main reason why I'm a hero rather than a repairman or a plumber or something,"
"Also I'd be glad to help teach kids. I'm probably better off teaching general fitness rather than combat skills though. While I can scuffle my style of fighting wouldn't really work for most people,"
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Post by cmd1095 on Apr 24, 2023 0:44:56 GMT
Cahya's face sunk at the mention of the time limit. "Dang, so much for tackling the backlog, still I'll be sure to call you if anything expensive breaks down like..."
A teenager came running up to Cahya mid sentance "Momma, Maxie broke a bunch of the strength training gear again and now none of the rest of us can use it."
Cahya's eye visibly twitched in irritation but her smile didn't fade as she turned to the teenager "Thanks for letting me know, you can go tell Maxie to report to my office, and I'll be right there to get the training room in working order again soon" she said sweetly, ushering the kid on their way before putting her face in her hands for a moment and letting out a deep exasperated sigh "I swear that one will be the death of me. She does this at least once a week! That girl needs to learn to control her quirk or so help me..."
Cahya let the moment pass, then turned to Eberly again "SO, about those repairs" she said sheepishly "how's a room full of expensive strength training machinery sound?"
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Post by giantfiredog on Apr 24, 2023 1:22:52 GMT
Ahhh there it is, Murphy rearing his sly little head. Eberly is very familiar with the tendency of the world to bring things up at both convenient and inconvenient times. In response to Cahya's sheepishness Eberly laughs. "Hahaha! Welp, you weren't kidding about the consistency," He cracks his knuckles with a grin. "Looks like it's time for ol' Eberly to prove himself, eh?"
He nods to her. "Lead the way, boss,"
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