I haven't noticed anything different. Come to think of it, I don't think any of us have actually failed a quest before... the quest post only mentioned rewards. I suppose it's not farfetched to assume we'd get punished if we didn't do as we're supposed to, though.
[Damian is waiting on a street in Bluo near the harbor, hands clasped at the small of his back. He looks entirely too military to be thirteen, and yet, here he is.
Beside him, sitting on haunches in an almost similar fashion, is Ace, the German Shepherd. Ace's tail wags just slightly at the sight of an approaching Izuku, but the dog makes no move to stand or bark. Ace seems relatively friendly, though; aside from the tail, Ace's ears are up, and his tongue is out.
Watching Izuku approach, Damian doesn't give any kind of nod or wave of greeting. It's clear, regardless, that he's looking and aware of Izuku. He's waiting.]
Hey. [He glances besides him, relaxing his arms slowly.] This is Ace, my father's dog. [Ace is a good, happy boy. Carefully, he sniffs Izuku's hand to get a familiar smell on the boy, but then the tail begins wagging, and--
--like a good boy, indeed, he lifts one paw up and puts it gingerly into Izuku's offered palm, as if he thought Izuku had "wanted a paw" because the hand was given to him.]
[Izuku practically sparkles when Ace places his paw in his hand. What a good dog!!]
It's nice to meet you, Ace!! [He'll even shake his hand (paw???), like this is a formal introduction.] Oh! Damian-kun, I have something for you. [Somewhat reluctantly, Izuku lets go of Ace and reaches into his backpack to pull out something he's wrapped in cloth--it's a still-warm cooked potato, stuffed with a mix of onions and corn, whenever Damian unwraps it.] You said you were hungry.
[Honestly, Damian now feels he can trust Izuku more than before. He believes in the perception and intuition of animals, and if Ace finds Izuku alright, then Izuku must not be a bad person. Hm.
The rummaging and retrieval gets Ace to stand, alert, though not in a bad way. The dog pauses in breathing, listening instead, and then he sticks his nose out to sniff at the warm potato as it's passed over.] No, Ace. Sit. [Sitting does nothing. Ace is still tall enough to continue to try to sniff at the cloth with ease.
Damian takes it, but seems... surprised. Not by the potato, not by the delicious smell. By the generosity. His stomach gives a loud, angry growl, and Damian has the decency to look a little embarrassed.] Let's go.
This way. [He immediately 180s.] Ace, come. [The dog is already following. Damian has food.]
[He gives Ace a little ruffle between the ears before straightening up and slinging his backpack over his shoulder again.] Ah, if I'd known you had a friend with you, I would've brought something else to give him, too.
[Izuku didn't miss the way the dog had been ready to investigate the food bundle!] So, where are we going, anyway? You said you were working on something?
It's fine. My Father and I have been feeding him. [Ace will probably just get a piece of the potato anyway regardless.] To the boathouse.
[Damian isn't lying. He leads Izuku down along the harbor out toward the docks. Ace follows, lagging just enough behind to "herd" Izuku and Damian along together, like the working dog he is. He wants to make sure everyone arrives and no one follows without anyone being alerted.
At one of the docks, a makeshift raft has been tied off, and a long stick lays along the edge. Damian pauses there to hand the potato back off to Izuku.] Hold this. [Taking up the stick, he steps over onto the raft with a shocking amount of elegant balance. Both feet are apart, leveling the weight.] Ace. [Since the dog is worse about it, Damian allows Ace to go first in getting on board.
But Damian has him lie down along the middle, and then he nods at the other end.] You can get on. You won't fall.
[He makes a noise of surprise.] You moved to one of the boathouses, Damian-kun? [Well, at least it's easy to remember where it is!]
You mean you won't let me fall?
[Izuku grins at him before stepping carefully onto the raft. Though he's not as graceful as Damian might be, his training definitely helps him keep from tipping the raft too much in one direction.]
[Damian makes a small and soft, disgruntled noise under his breath.] I won't let you fall. [It's said with a kind of Robin-sounding authority. Unlike Bruce, he sometimes had trouble splitting Robin and Damian because... well, he acts the same in the suit and out of the suit. Usually.
With Ace and his own balanced weight, Izuku actually doesn't have a hard time getting on. It doesn't disrupt the raft very much, and when all three of them are there, the raft is leveled appropriately. He and Izuku actually aren't very far apart in height in weight. It works out.
Using the stick, Damian plunges it into the water and pushes them across toward one of the boathouses. For now, the outside hasn't been refurbished at all. It's fine. Damian is more concerned with fixing the interior, the hull, everything else keeping it floating, workable, livable.
At the stairs, he lets Ace gallop off first before he turns the raft in a circle so Izuku is closer and can exit easily. Ace waits for them by the door. Damian follows finally, tying the raft to the house and settling the stick by the railings.] It's not finished.
But it's where I'm staying now when I'm not with Father.
[Inside the boathouse is still simple and minimalistic. Damian hasn't decorated a lot, not when he's busy fixing, altering. Most of the work has been patches, the floor, support in the walls and doorways. Everything else is how it was found.
There's a small set of bowls for Ace. One is full of water.] You can put the potato there. [Off from the kitchen is a tiny island with two stools, and Izuku is free to place the food down.
Oh. Right. He should probably...] Father is going to stay in a cottage. He... [Damian seems unsure of how to explain. Ace noses under his arm, and Damian slides his hand back over the dog's head, petting before Ace decides to move on and sniff out Izuku, following Izuku around like a guardian.]
My father isn't the only one here. [He looks up.] His fiancée is here, too.
[The potato goes onto the island while Izuku sits right down on the ground to give Ace some more attention, petting him along the ears gently.]
Really? [He looks up in surprise.] So that's three of you all together, then. I guess it makes sense that your father would want to stay with his fiancee, though.
Four. [He doesn't necessarily sound rude in his correction, but it may come across that way to some people. Unintentional know it all.
Finally, he decides to have at the potato. He hasn't collected any kind of silverware just yet, so he instead pulls something from inside the layered clothes which resembles a kind of shuriken. Except... it's shaped like the silhouette of a bat. He uses it to split the potato in half.] Me, my father, his fiancée, and his friend and associate.
That isn't including Alfred Pennyworth, my cat, and my father's dog, Ace. [He pauses to nod toward the German Shepherd that is currently being spoiled by Izuku's attention.] Do you want part of this?
Four? [Izuku glances up thoughtfully.] That's almost as many as we have. [Then, his expression flickers with something pained.] Had. [Izuku corrects himself softly.]
Ah, no thanks. [Damian's question seems to snap Izuku out of his thoughts, and he shakes his head. That's all for you Damian-kun. I already had something to eat before coming out here.
[Damian doesn't seem convinced, or perhaps he seems suspicious, but he takes the decline and continues on. The potato gets split in half. One piece is scraped of the stuffing, and then it's put on the floor. Ace happily abandons his new friend Izuku in favor of the potato.
The other half is patiently eaten by Damian a little bit at a time, mostly with his fingers. It's... so good...] What do you mean "had"?
[Abandoned for half of a potato... top 10 anime betrayals. Izuku hops back to his feet when Ace pads off to eat his food, leaning back against the island instead.]
We lost two of our classmates recently. Yaoyorozu-san and Iida-kun. They're not the first ones to disappear from the town, though. It's happened before--if you've seen some struck out hex codes on the forum, that's what it means.
[Slowly, Damian's face softens into a kind of perplexed, cautious sort of expression. The disappearances. Someone else told him people disappear along with all of their things.] But they're not taken somewhere. Like the forest.
[It isn't a question.] The items they have also disappear. Someone else told me something similar. About people just vanishing.
The best case scenario is a tear opened again and they were sucked inside. That it returned them home. The worst case scenario is the town consumed them.
[That's so morbid, Damian. Izuku gives a little shudder at that last one.]
My friend and I were talking about it before. We think the way back is through the forest... maybe #FFFFFF, if he's the one who brought us here, sent them back because he thinks they've served their purpose already.
I know it's... wishful thinking. [He doesn't want to jump to the worst conclusion, when two of his friends are among the missing, after all.] But we have some reason for thinking that way.
Based on the theme of this place, I think going through the forest is the way back, too. Or, at least, the way to some answers. [Hm. How is Izuku so smart!! Damian is use to having to herd brawny idiots! Izuku just keeps stunning him.] Fairytales and folktales.
A magical forest the hero has to venture through to get to a goal. It's full of trials and tribulations.
I know others have already went into the forest to search, but I'm going to explore myself in the future.
That's what I figured, too. The town's surrounded by the forest, except the part in Bluo that's by the water. [Izuku's smile twists slightly.] If you're going to go to explore, don't take a lot of people with you. I tried to organize a group trip during the first couple weeks to see if we could map the place out, but the forest really didn't like that.
A-anyway... one of my friends said he managed to get home for a couple days, but ended up back here, in the forest without even remembering that he went in there to begin with. If we take that into account, along with how the forest is determined to keep us here, then ..it's more likely the forest is our way out, instead of the harbor.
[He adds a second later--] But we shouldn't rule water travel out completely either.
[Damian didn't have a great time with the water when he first got here. RIP.]
Ugh. I keep trying to tell everyone that going into the forest with a bunch of people is dangerous and stupid. They all think I'm an idiot. [Apparently he hasn't had a great time with people subverting back to the fact he's thirteen either.] Three is pushing it. Two might be best.
But going alone keeps others out of trouble period.
[He's feeling more ramped up because the potato is good, and now he isn't as hangry as he had been initially.] Wait--
With two people you'll have someone to watch your back, though. [Izuku says thoughtfully. He gets it, wanting to keep others from danger, he really does. He also knows that Shouto and Uraraka--not to mention Guren--would kill him if he tried to tackle anything on his own.]
When were you planning on going into the forest? [It's...an offer to come along, if Damian wants to take him up on it.]
Oh, yeah. It's Keith-kun. I'll give you his hex code if you want to talk to him about it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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No...there wasn't anything in my room when I got back. Then again, I did fail, so I'm not supposed to get anything in the first place.
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Short, dark hair. Blue eyes. 186 centimeters in height. Answers to Bruce.
You could have received a punishment.
I'll meet in you in Bluo. I've been working on something.
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I haven't noticed anything different. Come to think of it, I don't think any of us have actually failed a quest before... the quest post only mentioned rewards. I suppose it's not farfetched to assume we'd get punished if we didn't do as we're supposed to, though.
Okay, I'll see you in Bluo!
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Beside him, sitting on haunches in an almost similar fashion, is Ace, the German Shepherd. Ace's tail wags just slightly at the sight of an approaching Izuku, but the dog makes no move to stand or bark. Ace seems relatively friendly, though; aside from the tail, Ace's ears are up, and his tongue is out.
Watching Izuku approach, Damian doesn't give any kind of nod or wave of greeting. It's clear, regardless, that he's looking and aware of Izuku. He's waiting.]
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And he's distracted by the dog anyway.]
Who's this? [With a grin, Izuku holds his hand out for Ace to sniff, if he wants to.]
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--like a good boy, indeed, he lifts one paw up and puts it gingerly into Izuku's offered palm, as if he thought Izuku had "wanted a paw" because the hand was given to him.]
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It's nice to meet you, Ace!! [He'll even shake his hand (paw???), like this is a formal introduction.] Oh! Damian-kun, I have something for you. [Somewhat reluctantly, Izuku lets go of Ace and reaches into his backpack to pull out something he's wrapped in cloth--it's a still-warm cooked potato, stuffed with a mix of onions and corn, whenever Damian unwraps it.] You said you were hungry.
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The rummaging and retrieval gets Ace to stand, alert, though not in a bad way. The dog pauses in breathing, listening instead, and then he sticks his nose out to sniff at the warm potato as it's passed over.] No, Ace. Sit. [Sitting does nothing. Ace is still tall enough to continue to try to sniff at the cloth with ease.
Damian takes it, but seems... surprised. Not by the potato, not by the delicious smell. By the generosity. His stomach gives a loud, angry growl, and Damian has the decency to look a little embarrassed.] Let's go.
This way. [He immediately 180s.] Ace, come. [The dog is already following. Damian has food.]
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[Izuku didn't miss the way the dog had been ready to investigate the food bundle!] So, where are we going, anyway? You said you were working on something?
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[Damian isn't lying. He leads Izuku down along the harbor out toward the docks. Ace follows, lagging just enough behind to "herd" Izuku and Damian along together, like the working dog he is. He wants to make sure everyone arrives and no one follows without anyone being alerted.
At one of the docks, a makeshift raft has been tied off, and a long stick lays along the edge. Damian pauses there to hand the potato back off to Izuku.] Hold this. [Taking up the stick, he steps over onto the raft with a shocking amount of elegant balance. Both feet are apart, leveling the weight.] Ace. [Since the dog is worse about it, Damian allows Ace to go first in getting on board.
But Damian has him lie down along the middle, and then he nods at the other end.] You can get on. You won't fall.
[Shouldn't fall.]
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You mean you won't let me fall?
[Izuku grins at him before stepping carefully onto the raft. Though he's not as graceful as Damian might be, his training definitely helps him keep from tipping the raft too much in one direction.]
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With Ace and his own balanced weight, Izuku actually doesn't have a hard time getting on. It doesn't disrupt the raft very much, and when all three of them are there, the raft is leveled appropriately. He and Izuku actually aren't very far apart in height in weight. It works out.
Using the stick, Damian plunges it into the water and pushes them across toward one of the boathouses. For now, the outside hasn't been refurbished at all. It's fine. Damian is more concerned with fixing the interior, the hull, everything else keeping it floating, workable, livable.
At the stairs, he lets Ace gallop off first before he turns the raft in a circle so Izuku is closer and can exit easily. Ace waits for them by the door. Damian follows finally, tying the raft to the house and settling the stick by the railings.] It's not finished.
But it's where I'm staying now when I'm not with Father.
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Oh...your dad doesn't live here with you?
[That's sort of surprising. Izuku had assumed Damian was moving to an entirely new place so he could be in the same place as his dad.]
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There's a small set of bowls for Ace. One is full of water.] You can put the potato there. [Off from the kitchen is a tiny island with two stools, and Izuku is free to place the food down.
Oh. Right. He should probably...] Father is going to stay in a cottage. He... [Damian seems unsure of how to explain. Ace noses under his arm, and Damian slides his hand back over the dog's head, petting before Ace decides to move on and sniff out Izuku, following Izuku around like a guardian.]
My father isn't the only one here. [He looks up.] His fiancée is here, too.
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Really? [He looks up in surprise.] So that's three of you all together, then. I guess it makes sense that your father would want to stay with his fiancee, though.
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Finally, he decides to have at the potato. He hasn't collected any kind of silverware just yet, so he instead pulls something from inside the layered clothes which resembles a kind of shuriken. Except... it's shaped like the silhouette of a bat. He uses it to split the potato in half.] Me, my father, his fiancée, and his friend and associate.
That isn't including Alfred Pennyworth, my cat, and my father's dog, Ace. [He pauses to nod toward the German Shepherd that is currently being spoiled by Izuku's attention.] Do you want part of this?
[The potato.]
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Ah, no thanks. [Damian's question seems to snap Izuku out of his thoughts, and he shakes his head. That's all for you Damian-kun. I already had something to eat before coming out here.
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The other half is patiently eaten by Damian a little bit at a time, mostly with his fingers. It's... so good...] What do you mean "had"?
What happened to them?
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We lost two of our classmates recently. Yaoyorozu-san and Iida-kun. They're not the first ones to disappear from the town, though. It's happened before--if you've seen some struck out hex codes on the forum, that's what it means.
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[It isn't a question.] The items they have also disappear. Someone else told me something similar. About people just vanishing.
The best case scenario is a tear opened again and they were sucked inside. That it returned them home. The worst case scenario is the town consumed them.
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[That's so morbid, Damian. Izuku gives a little shudder at that last one.]
My friend and I were talking about it before. We think the way back is through the forest... maybe #FFFFFF, if he's the one who brought us here, sent them back because he thinks they've served their purpose already.
I know it's... wishful thinking. [He doesn't want to jump to the worst conclusion, when two of his friends are among the missing, after all.] But we have some reason for thinking that way.
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A magical forest the hero has to venture through to get to a goal. It's full of trials and tribulations.
I know others have already went into the forest to search, but I'm going to explore myself in the future.
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A-anyway... one of my friends said he managed to get home for a couple days, but ended up back here, in the forest without even remembering that he went in there to begin with. If we take that into account, along with how the forest is determined to keep us here, then ..it's more likely the forest is our way out, instead of the harbor.
[He adds a second later--] But we shouldn't rule water travel out completely either.
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Ugh. I keep trying to tell everyone that going into the forest with a bunch of people is dangerous and stupid. They all think I'm an idiot. [Apparently he hasn't had a great time with people subverting back to the fact he's thirteen either.] Three is pushing it. Two might be best.
But going alone keeps others out of trouble period.
[He's feeling more ramped up because the potato is good, and now he isn't as hangry as he had been initially.] Wait--
You know someone who went home and came back?
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When were you planning on going into the forest? [It's...an offer to come along, if Damian wants to take him up on it.]
Oh, yeah. It's Keith-kun. I'll give you his hex code if you want to talk to him about it.
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