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Post by cmd1095 on Jan 30, 2024 1:12:29 GMT
Serena was having a decidedly... boring day. After persistent nagging from everyone who cared about her, she'd finally taken a day off from everything. No training allowed, no working either, she also wasn't allowed to just sit in her room and sulk. She'd been told in no uncertain terms that she was to go out into town and enjoy herself for a day.
Problem was... she had NO idea what to do. She'd already hit up a few sweet shops and indulged her sweet tooth, hit up a bookstore to peruse the romance novels, and strolled through a park to appreciate nature or whatever... and it was still only 3:00... Some might say her lack of having a clue of what to do with herself when she wasn't working herself into the ground was a sign she should probably take more days off and all that... but that poignant observation was dulled by the fact that she was bored out of her mind now and just wanted to go home... if nothing else she could boot up some video games at home... but she was pretty sure none of her loved ones were gonna buy that excuse.
Serena sighed and sat down on a bench, scrolling through her phone to at least try and kill some time. She'd head back in a few hours, make up some story about how much fun she'd had and how rejuvenated and refreshed she was, and then people would get off her back and she could go back to her training, studying, and working routines.
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Post by notdomino on Feb 2, 2024 20:08:33 GMT
A remarkably familiar tune passed by. It trailed off as the person humming it walked off into the distance. Actually, it was coming back. If Serena listened, it was her most recent cover of a song. This person wasn't passing her, but rather trailing her and keeping a proffessional stalker's level of distance. They were a few people behind, and the humming never got any louder or quieter. The person was well hidden amongst the crowd, and would shift behind someone anytime Serena looked back.
By the time Serena sat down on the bench, the hum finally ceased, and breaching the crowd of people, a woman appeared. She was in all black, and was surprisingly noticeable once she decided to sit next to Serena. The woman turned to look at Serena as if analyzing before propping her sunglasses on the top of her head. This would also sweep some of her black hair back like a headband and give Serena a clear look at who'd been messing with her. "Hey, hero! Or should I say idol?" She smiled big at the girl. It was none other than the aloof and noir gyal herself, Sugawara. "Give your sister some shuga." A play on her nickname, she held her arms out wide and would go to embrace the girl whether she wanted a hug or not.
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Post by cmd1095 on Feb 3, 2024 2:00:10 GMT
Serena had been getting stalked by her songs all day, there it was again... it wasn't even one of her originals! Was her music really spreading this rapidly? If she'd known she was going to rocket to stardom this fast before she was ready for it she'd never have let herself be convinced to do all this! But then the music abruptly stopped, and Serena soon realized why she'd been unable to escape the song all day, as a woman sat down next to her. Was she a fan? A stalker? It was too early in her career for stalkers right? God she hoped so that was something she really didn't want to deal wi...SUGAWARA?
"Sis!? Damn I must be getting soft if I couldn't catch you even once all day." Serena said, chiding herself a bit... Shuga was a master of this stuff though, even when Serena had been on the streets she couldn't always catch the woman and back then her senses had been on high alert 24/7. Still she had to admonish herself a little bit for not picking up on the fact she was being followed sooner, that could've been a death sentence if it wasn't Suga....
As Shuga went in for the hug, she might be surprised to see that Serena didn't actually pull away. Back in the day Serena was notoriously touch-averse, but now she simply returned the hug enthusiastically.
"I haven't seen you in ages, even before I got off the streets it had been a while. I'm glad to see you're still alive and kicking" Serena said, her previous boredom evaporated by the excitement of meeting an old friend again as a big grin spread across her face
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Post by notdomino on Feb 12, 2024 5:55:19 GMT
"Maybe... or maybe you're just living differently." It had to be true. Serena didn't necessarily have to go to sleep with one eye open, or perpetually look over her shoulder like they did back in the day. It proved itself more when Shuga felt herself being hugged back. She smiled big at the girl, before quickly shifting her shades back over her eyes. She couldn't break her coolness for too long. "Alive and kicking? Me?" She chuckled. Back in those days, Serena knew her to be a detective. It was bit more drastic now. "I'm an informant now.So I'm more likely to croak now than ever before." She'd peek over her shades with a thumbs up. This wasn't something to brag about... Still, she nodded to herself.
"Gotta say, Serene-rene, I'm proud of ya." She pressed her fingers together to make a heart. "You're a whole hero student. Or should I say up and coming idol?" She laughed. It was nice to know Serena could turn out this way. Hosu's slums was a horrifying place, and many of their other "sisters" didn't make it out. It was why she dove deeper into her work, and even started handling business on her own from time to time. "I just got in town and wanted to say hi." She mentioned, though she'd already been around for a week or so. She actually got in contact with a third year student and offered a job... Serena didn't need to know this, so why mention it? Shuga's protection sometimes meant being lied to... To her, there was a status quo that needed to be kept, while she did her deeds under the radar.
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Post by cmd1095 on Feb 12, 2024 16:28:22 GMT
"The fact I'm an up and coming idol hasn't really sunk in yet" Serena said sheepishly "I learned I actually have a good singing voice last year, and a girl I saved has this audio manipulation quirk and makes music, so I wrote a love song for my girlfriend with her help, and then she badgered me into writing even more songs and doing covers... I figured it'd take some time before I gained any sort of following but... it's only been like half a year and suddenly I'm an idol"
Serena shook her head in bewilderment, every time she looked back at the sequence of events that got her here, it was wild. Everything had happened so fast, from singing karoke one time to being a rising star in the music industry. It was overwhelming and she still didn't know what to actually do with this development from here.
"but being a hero student is the main focus either way. I have a lot to atone for from back then" Serena said, putting those thoughts aside for a bit "and we both know there's still plenty of little girls like me living in slums who the mainstream media and heroes don't give a shit about. Someone has to save them. If I can do that, I figure the harm I caused by surviving all this time will have been justified"
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Post by notdomino on Feb 15, 2024 8:25:14 GMT
"Media... yeah." Shuga narrowed her eyes at the girl. The media and people for that matter were getting a bit sour when it came to heroes in the news. The last thing she wanted was for Serena to fall victim to a media attack... Being a Idol and a hero meant double exposure. How the media had been treating heroes... Heroes were more than a promise and more than their ideals. They were people. Of all of the things, Serena had been through, being a hero was probably the healthiest choice, but at the same time -"As long as you give yourself time for just you, I'm going to support the idol AND the hero, you." An affirming sentiment with the easy cost of Serena promising she maintains self-care. She had been apart from her for so long, but that ALWAYS was a worry of hers'.
Shuga leaned back in her seat and breathed in slowly, taking the moment in. Just talking to her sister felt nice. Memories came back, some of them extremely hard. Behind those dark shades, her eyes well a bit. How far they both came was a blessing. "You're so grown up now, I just might cry."
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Post by cmd1095 on Feb 15, 2024 22:47:06 GMT
Serena sighed "Not you too, everyone has been nagging me about that! Take time for yourself they say, take time off, go spend a day doing nothing but relaxing. I'm FINE damnit!" she said, her tone getting more agitated the more she spoke "the things I do are important, I have less training with my quirk than most of my classmates cause I discovered it late, less education too... so I gotta work extra hard to keep pace. And this idol thing, if I become famous enough as both an idol and hero I can use that fame and wealth to try and shine a light on the conditions in the slums, so less people grow up like I did. It's IMPORTANT damnit. I have to do this stuff, because nobody else will! And if I don't make the most of this life I've been given then...!"
Serena trailed off, leaving off the end. Not saying how she felt she didn't deserve this life she had now, keeping quiet about how she was still haunted by her inner demons even now, guilt over her past actions eating away at her every night... not admitting that she knew if she slowed down too much it would all catch up. She knew, deep down, that her lifestyle wasn't healthy... but she also felt that didn't matter.
"I can't just sit around doing nothing when I KNOW there's so many kids just like me still suffering. Nobody deserves to grow up like I did, and I refuse to waste time pampering myself when every second I'm not making progress is another second another person like me is trapped in that damn place" Serena said "I don't get why everyone keeps insisting I do anyway, especially you, you know how bad things are and how much they need to change."
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Post by notdomino on Feb 22, 2024 4:52:18 GMT
"Anyone who's fine wouldn't react like that... Taking care of your body and mental health is a basic of being an adult. You should because you NEED to." Shuga folded her arms in disappointment. Seemingly the woman's entire mood dropped. She'd pulled her shades up like a headband once more. They needed proper eye contact, " Nothing ever becomes good of the people who are overzealous in hero work. They all end up dead. SO, unless you in the business of dying, or being strung out on your last limb, I suggest you figure it out sis." She wasn't going to hold any punches just because it was Serena. Maybe the idol stuff was making her delusional, but everyone was asking her to do the same thing, purely out of concern.
While Shuga hadn't been around, if others were telling her the same thing, it meant Serena's growth was only one-dimensional. She knew exactly how much missing persons meant to Serena, hell, her own blood sisters were missing persons as well. They did need help, and thousands of other missing persons as well. This was all the more reason Serena needed to take care of herself. "Taking care of your body and mind is a fundamental part of training, or did you goofy teachers skip over that lesson?"
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Post by cmd1095 on Feb 22, 2024 5:19:23 GMT
Serena let out a long sigh and rubbed her temples as her temper flaring up and dying down just left her feeling drained "Keeping busy IS me taking care of my mind. So long as I'm being productive or spending time with people everything is fine. It's when I slow down that I get stressed out, like today. As for taking care of my body, I do still get a full night's sleep most nights... ok more 50/50 odds on that I lose track of time a lot but I do SCHEDULE time for a full night's sleep" she said "but it's fine, I'm physically healthy, and I'm keeping the mental health stable, I haven't had a panic attack in months! I only got upset because I've been getting nagged about it so much."
Serena forced a smile, leaving out the fact that her mental health began to fall apart the moment she stopped packing her schedule. She wasn't lying about the panic attacks, her mental health had improved by orders of magnitude, and some of the things on her schedule were healthy activities if it weren't for the overpacked schedule bit... but she knew deep down the past weeks had been unhealthy... and even deeper down she knew why she was diving so deep into productivity as an escape. "Look I get that people are worried about me, that's why I agreed to take today off and just hang around town, but I really don't feel like being alone with my thoughts lately and keeping busy avoids that. I'll be fine, always have been, you think a busy schedule is gonna be what kills me after the shit I've survived? This is nothing compared to back then." she said "I'm pretty sure my total hours worked each week is lower, and I'm doing it while properly nourished now, so there's nothing to worry about."
Again technically true statements, her life now compared to her street days WAS easier... but only because the bar was so low for that it was buried in the dirt.
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Post by notdomino on Feb 22, 2024 5:37:58 GMT
The vigilante shook her head at Serena. "Heard..." Sugawara would kill the conversation then and there. Serena was stubborn. The only thing that was going to teach her was life itself, if not the wise instructions of Shuga-sama. If the band-aid fix of a tight schedule was good enough, why would she run herself ragged trying to reason with a brick wall.
Shuga feinted switching the subject. "Who's your hero agency head? You're working with someone at this point, I'm sure."
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Post by cmd1095 on Feb 22, 2024 6:10:56 GMT
Serena was glad for the change in subject, the last thing she needed was more talking about her schedule
"recently joined up with the Bear Den, primarily working the Hosu Branch under Black Bear, but I help the main branch too, it's been good to make an actual dent in the Hosu slums though" Serena said "not a large dent yet, but we're getting there."
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Post by notdomino on Mar 5, 2024 6:59:06 GMT
She tilted her head. Time sure moved fast didn't it...? "Errr, I thought you were in Nocturne's team." A dumbfounded expression sat on her face, at least until her sunglasses fell over her eyes and returned her back to cooool~. "I really should pay more attention to hero stuff. It's all egotistical trash to me anyways. My nose stays to the grinder, and trying to take criminals down." Being honest wouldn't hurt here. It was a bit strange. Nocturne's agency suited her personality more.
They could table the mental health convo for another day, but this seemed just as important. She really should have checked in earlier!
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Post by cmd1095 on Mar 7, 2024 22:01:23 GMT
"I was in Nocturne's agency for my first year... but we had a falling out after that recent incident" Serena said "plus my goals have changed a bit. I thought a lot about my time on the streets, what I needed back then. People like you, mom, and Noc take a bunch of criminals down, but that never did me any good. The place I was a prisoner of is gone now, that bastard who ran it behind bars hopefully for good, as well as a lot of my tormentors... not all, but many... but the scars remain... and not just the physical ones"
Serena clenched her hands together, Shuga having been one of a handful of people to see how bad the scarring was on them beneath her gloves. A level of scarring only possible because of healing quirks. Her back might've been badly scarred, but it was always the hands and wrists she dwelled on most, and the ones she rubbed when her emotions ran high.
"I thought a lot about it, and just taking down the bad guys isn't enough. Someone needs to be there to pick up the pieces they leave behind, heal the people they hurt. The Bear Den does that, they take in kids just like me, help them heal, grow, and smile again. Taking down the criminals and villains is key, but I can't just do that for my own sense of vengeance and ignore the little girls like me still out there, hurting." Serena said "I'm going to be for them someone who would've helped me when I was like that. And I can't do that without money and influence. So I'll play the hero system's game, and I'll make sure nobody else ends up like me... not gonna lie though all the media pandering SUCKS"
Serena cracked a smile and changed up her tone at the end to try and push past that moment of vulnerability "like we have a whole chapter on how to do makeup to look good for cameras! Who gives a shit right? But it's part of the process so gotta suck it up."
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Post by notdomino on Mar 14, 2024 10:43:11 GMT
Sugawara looked upon her sister with an annoyed gaze that luckily could be hidden by her thick shades. Oh how she loved her shades... Serena did all that talking just to make a face like that and admit there were underlying things. This was a classical and borderline dire case of being hard headed... The issue with being so strong willed often meant obvious things could be impossible to spot if a person didn't really want to face them. Digressing, Sugawara listened to her experience between the agencies. Hero work sounded overly complicated, especially for a student.
Serena's reasoning was for joining The Bear Den was honorable and commendable, but at the same time... for someone with such an active mind, Nocturne's agency seemed to be a solid fit. Honestly, Shuga was struggling to find the words beyond, "I know it was a tough decision. You're a second year, so the stuff you do now matters more than ever. It reminds me when I was a junior detective in those Hosu slums. Life was so much worse back then, it's important we chose our paths wisely... " She folded her arms, though undoubtedly letting her big sister energy show. "I just want you to do what makes you happiest. I'm going to hack your phone later, so you have my number. I change number quickly, so don't bother saving it. You'll know it's me by the way I text."
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Post by cmd1095 on Jul 25, 2024 21:26:34 GMT
"You sure it's such a good idea to tell a hero you're gonna commit a crime?" Serena teased, cracking a more genuine smile at Suguwara. Obviously she wasn't gonna turn Big Sis in, but there was an element of truth to the tease. It wasn't the best idea to tell a hero about illegal activities regardless of a personal connection with them. Worst case scenario the hero could wind up in trouble too if they kept quiet and it was found out. For something minor like this it was fine, but it was still worth keeping in mind.
A thought occurred to Serena after she said it though... Shuga was in a position to do things Serena couldn't in her new life. Being in contact with her in a hard to trace manner going forward opened some opportunities and could take something off her plate. "I don't mind you doing that though... and now that I think on it, there is something on my plate I could use your help with. I dunno if you heard, but the police and heroes took down that villain bar I was... kept at... and arrested a bunch of the patrons, including many of the ones who "rented" me" she said, her smile fading entirely as this subject stirred up dark memories "but not all of them, there's still several of them out there, maybe still in Hosu, maybe elsewhere. Mom's a detective so I manage to sneak peaks at some intel but I can't legally access much."
Serena glanced to Shuga "but I want to be the one to put those bastards away, or have a hand in it at least. If I send you what I've got, could you keep an eye out for leads for me? You can do a lot of things I can't, and you have access to circles I couldn't get within a mile of anymore. I'd owe you big time, and so would a lot of other people I bet. Somehow I seriously doubt they ceased their "recreational activities" after I got away."
Another pang of guilt from her conscience there, even though she knew it was illogical. She'd seen the crime scene of the bar as she'd gone to face her past. Back when she escaped there was only one cage... there'd been a lot more when she revisited it. Her escape hadn't been the end of that business venture for her captors, the suffering had just been inflicted on others in her stead. Logically, she knew those cages would've been added anyway, her staying wouldn't have spared anyone... but that irrational guilt and self-loathing whispering in her ear constantly said otherwise. Putting the rest of the bar's patrons she knew used this particular service would ease that guilt, at least a little. And she couldn't deny she wanted payback for her own sake too.
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