Event Ten.

[awashmods]

Little Willie, mean as hell, Pushed his sister in a well. Mother said, while drawing water, "My, it's hard to raise a daughter."

t's pretty dark and miserable down in the well. The cavernous area feels much larger than a well should be, bodies milling about in the darkness and knee deep, frigid water. So you're here -- and you're not alone, and the only way out appears to be the thin circle of sunlight from above, the opening of the well. (And elsewhere, in the Town, everyone's waking up to gifts of various usefulness, but hopefully they remember to check the well today even so!) What now? Welcome to Awash's tenth event log, and the intro log for this month, everyone! All new characters have found themselves waking in the well in the middle of the Town. Hopefully they can get a hand out! For more information, please go here! Meanwhile, the current characters have some new gifts. If there are any questions, please ask them here, and have fun! Thank you!

Comments

[inheritance]

[Izuku grows still, fighting not to whip his head back up and look at All Might in shock. After the practical exam... Izuku had guessed this might be the case, but it's one thing to guess and another to have it confirmed.]

That's what Aizawa-sensei said, too. That he didn't notice we were missing. [His voice wavers just a little, but Izuku still avoids All Might's gaze, afraid of what All Might would see in his.]

[smaaaaaash]

[Even without seeing his expression, the fact he won't so much as look at him is telling on its own. But it's also obvious Izuku isn't about to say anything unprompted. So, in a gentle voice:]

Young Midoriya. If there's something on your mind, you can tell me anything.

[inheritance]

[The more uneasy he acts, the more easily All Might will figure out what Izuku's keeping quiet about, Izuku realizes. It's a lot to drop on someone who just got swept into another dimension like All Might did. Besides, as talkative as Izuku can get, this is one time where he's just at a loss for words. How do you tell your mentor (and father figure, if Izuku's honest with himself) that the world knows the secret he's tried so hard to guard?]

It's...the way time works. [Izuku manages to say, trying not to think about how uncomfortable it is to hide something like this from All Might.] It's unsettling to know that no one back home knows what's going on, or that we're even missing.

[smaaaaaash]

That's true. It's frustrating to think you were here all this time, and we didn't know. [If he'd known, he would have dropped everything, stopping at nothing until he got his students back safely. If only anything about their situation were that easy...

On the other hand, it's for the best no one knows All Might is missing, but that's neither here nor there.]

Young Midorya, can you tell me more about your time here?

[inheritance]

Of course! [That answer spills out of him readily enough, relief flooding through him that All Might's not questioning him further on that topic for now.]

You've probably been told about the quests and the color changes already--I've been taking part of those and trying to help restore the color around town if I can. There's still not a lot of information to go on, but I've been trying to keep track of any data I can get, too.

[smaaaaaash]

[All Might still has an inkling Izuku is hiding things from him, but he'll leave that alone for now when quizzing him might just make him dig in his heels even more. They're too alike for their own good, sometimes.]

What kind of data is that? [Nothing as detailed as his hero fanboy notes, he imagines, if information here is really that scarce, but he also knows how resourceful Izuku can be when it comes to collecting information.]

[inheritance]

Mostly the creatures that we've been running into in the forest. We don't always see the same ones over and over, but I've been keeping track of the ones we have encountered before, so people know how to handle them.

[Rambling about data, even if it's not hero data, specifically, is familiar ground, and bit by bit, Izuku seems to relax.]

Patterns, too, in the way that things happen, in case any of it helps us piece together what happened here.

[smaaaaaash]

Ah, yes. That Ichinose fellow offered to send me a summary of what he knows, so you should be able to fill in any gaps he doesn't cover. You've been working with him, haven't you?

[He's curious to know how that's been developing, too, but he won't bombard Izuku with too many questions at once.]

[inheritance]

[The corners of his mouth kick up into a smile when All Might mentions Guren.]

Yeah. You can trust him--he's been here since the beginning, too. [A pause, before Izuku he adds, softly ] He's helped me a lot.

[smaaaaaash]

I'm glad to hear it. I'd be worried if you were here without anyone like him or Aizawa-sensei to count on, but it seems like you've been in good hands.

[He hasn't gotten a bad impression from Guren, either, and he trusts Izuku's judgement on this one.]

[inheritance]

We've been making it work. [Izuku's all too happy to launch into another ramble about the town's inhabitants.] Just about everyone's willing to pitch in and help each other. It's made living here a lot easier than I thought it would be at first.

All Might... [Izuku shifts uneasily now as something occurs to him. It's admittedly nice that there's only so many of them in town, and everyone's become familiar in some way. But then, he remembers how Clark had felt a little cornered into revealing his hero identity because of that, and Izuku can't help but worry when he looks at his teacher now.] There's... not a lot of us here. It might be harder to hide your identity than it is back home.

[Because even if the All Might from his timeline doesn't have to worry about his secret anymore, this All Might still believes he does.]

[smaaaaaash]

That's been on my mind, too. It's only a small town... It's not like the big cities I'm used to, where it's easy to blend in. But...

[He frowns, looking downcast.] Whatever's going on here, I want to help protect the town. If everyone knew the truth, I bet Ichinose would kick me out the defence force in a heartbeat.

[He should be relieved at the heavy weight of being the Symbol of Peace being lifted from his shoulders -- isn't retirement what he's been preparing for all this time? -- but still. Old habits die hard, so he leapt at the chance to join the force.

He looks up again, fixing Izuku with a hard stare.]

Listen, young Midoriya. I won't ask you to lie for me, or do anything that will compromise the trust you've built with your friends here. Just don't tell anyone, okay? Not yet. While I still have power left, I want to use it.

[inheritance]

I don't think Ichinose-sensei would do that. [Despite his protest, Izuku can see why All Might would be wary--he doesn't know any of these people, after all.

Just when Izuku thinks things can't get worse, he hears All Might's request. He bites his tongue, trying not to blurt out that Aizawa, Shouto, and Ochako all already know about his other form, thanks to All For One. It's hard, keeping something as important as this from All Might.

So, with something heavy in his chest, Izuku simply nods.]

I...I won't. I know you want to do as much as you can to help with the time that you have.

[smaaaaaash]

[Maybe Guren wouldn't do that, but All Might has been surrounded by people urging him to retire over the past half a decade. What's to say anyone else here wouldn't treat him the same way, even without knowing the full extent of his circumstances? It's a risk he'd rather not take.]

Thanks, kid. [It's something he'll deal with when the right time comes, even if it means keeping that burden on Izuku. He pats him on the shoulder.] Whatever happens here, we should make the most of the time we have. No villains means more time to focus on you and One for All, so let's do everything we can until we find a way home.