[ Hawks laughs at that. ] Yeah, I could have fun on a floating island. [ He definitely could reach it, but he'd be just as interested in seeing who else could. He's nosy like that. ]
I like Fukuoka Tower and my agency the best probably, but I don't need my agency here for any particular reason. [ It would just encourage him to work more. He polishes off the last chicken wing and adds the cleaned bones back into the container. ]
I don't really like my apartment, but I do like my huge shower. Maybe I can just upgrade my bathroom or something. Lots of space to get my feathers all clean.
( An agency without its people sounds a little strange to Alex; but it's why she'd never ask for her HQ. There's no lingering desire to miss familiar faces more than she's already been doing. )
I wonder if the bots here can help with that or not. Get you set up with a full walk in shower and multiple nozzles... or else we can make you a really big, curtained off bird-bath.
( Lips twitching, she ends up giving him a wink. Giant bath-tubs aren't bad ideas in general, but what she remembers from Japanese bathing is a little more involved than what's more common on the mainland. )
You got through the chicken fast. How big of a portion is what you really need? I was guessing blind this time around.
[ Hawks laughs easily, he can't remember the last time he splashed around in a bath. Not for the purpose of cleaning at least, and not with all of his feathers, but it does feel nice to have a soak. ]
That would be way too big to fit in any apartment I think, but having a shower big enough to stretch out one wing at a time to get them all wet would be nicer than cleaning them detached. I can live with less but... [ But it's nicer. Easier. Feels better. ]
This is probably fine for now, but I'll eat again later. [ He's quick to assure her. ] I fly a lot and burn a lot of calories.
( She says this while tapping her mostly empty thermos. Alex seems to realize what she's doing a moment later, picking it up and quirking an eyebrow at Hawks. )
Any more tea?
( Big actions, big metabolism. Alex smiles, shaking her head, because she really can understand. She eats more than anyone would expect, and now she suspects part of what that happens is living in her heart. That's... some other day's Alex problem. )
If only you could tolerate what goes into them, you'd be the best cake tester anyone could ask for.
I don't think I've ever been to a public bathhouse. [ Honestly the list of things he hasn't done is pretty long and extensive, but this is pretty innocuous as far as things go. ]
No thank you on the tea, but as for cake, I can probably get away with eating a slice but that'd definitely be my limit for the day.
You know, I'm not sure. [ Hawks chuckles. ] They might have some around my house, but I'm not home all that much and I probably wouldn't have considered it anyway. I do have a very nice shower.
[ He might consider it now, not that that helps, but maybe sometime he'll get the chance, just to say he did it. ]
I haven't eaten a lot of cake. [ It's not something he gets for himself but he hums thoughtfully. ] Oh, we were at this gala that had some kind of white cake with strawberries and whipped cream, that was really good.
... my spelling was truly unique last tag hahaha thank you for your forebearance
When you put it that way... now I want to know what makes a shower 'very nice' for a guy with a wingspan like yours.
( She is imagining the equivalent of a walk in closet only a shower. She's pretty sure people have those. Waterfall showerheads and all! )
Okay, done! Next cake I make will have strawberries and vanilla with whipped cream on top. Do you remember if the cake was super puffed up and airy kind of fluffy, or more like bread levels of fluffy?
If I can stretch out one wing to full size, I'm happy because I can do them one at a time. I have three showerheads. But finding a space that's like twelve or thirteen feet is pretty hard. I prefer that, but I can also detach my feathers if I have to, which is what I'm doing now.
[ He smiled, really he can get by without it, he knows he's spoiled in his Commission apartment. The world's not naturally made for heteromorphs.]
Oh you're spoiling me now. [ No one has ever offered to cook for him before, much less twice. Honestly the chicken wings are the best gift he's ever been given. ]
Ugh, but you said that's painful. We have got to find a better solution.
( He might consider it negligible, but Alex has never enjoyed knowing her friends are in pain. Especially over ordinary things. When she'd been learning how much pain Caleb had been hiding... or when she'd learned how to help mitigate the pain of Zayne's Evol acting up and hurting him, she couldn't stay silent and do nothing. It's just not who she is.
Ergo, Hawks is unceremoniously being co-opted into a "accessibility problem solving" program in her head. )
Hah! Who's spoiling who? I happen to like baking, though I don't always get it right the first try. But let me think, fluffy... sounds like either sponge cake or angel cake. With strawberries? Both would be good...
( Tapping her chin as she continues the mental debate over which kind of cake it likely had been. )
( Nope, sorry, she's on this crusade, no one needs to be in extra pain when they don't need to. Even if it's a minor irritation! (This is a small problem. Small problems are the ones that are easier to address.) )
There should still be something better.
( She says, partly grousing, pouring herself the rest of the tea. )
Oh, those kinds of parties. I'm the worst at those, I just want to live at the refreshments table the whole time.
[ He could shed feathers at anytime. He doesn't need them all to fly, and most of the time caught in combat, he doesn't need them all then either - but he doesn't. Hawks is pretty attached to his wings as they are, they're literally a part of him, so he appreciates her consideration in a way he can't really express. ]
Don't worry if there's not, but thanks for thinking about it.
[ Yet talking about those kinds of events makes him sigh in exasperation and fatigue even though he hasn't been to one in awhile. ]
Yeah, it's all about networking and charming people to give donations to charities and that kind of thing. I'm expected to mingle which is pretty much what I do. They're like all the side things I do, I find it gets in the way of me doing my actual job.
[ He's used to it, so being paraded around is nothing, but that's not why he wanted to be a hero. ]
( It just makes sense to her. Besides, if they're not watching out for each other even in things like shower sizes (which Alex does realize isn't usually a concern, but when it is?), they're neglecting the important parts of friendship and teamwork.
Which is apparently a little bit of overinvestment, but more importantly, caring that everyone's taken care of. )
If I have to figure out bathroom design on my own... okay, that'd probably be a disaster. But I'll definitely find out what I can.
( His sigh prompts her into a small snort of her own, draining the rest of her tea. There's a whole mood in that one sound alone. )
[ He chuckles. ] Don't feel bad, any renovation I'd try to do would also be a disaster since I don't even know where to start. [ It has been a long long time since he got close to trying and that didn't even count. ]
My PR team loves me, yep. [ Hawks grins, unrepentant. ] It'd be a problem if they didn't.
So we'd both be better built for the deconstruction part instead of the reconstruction, huh?
( Something about that amuses her, and she laughs lightly, shaking her head. Admittedly, it's on brand for her. )
To some teams, I imagine it might just be work. Liking or hating your subject can be pretty unrelated. Not that we have many people with a PR team just for having Evols back home, but we also don't do heroes. Only in fiction.
[ Hawks chuckles at that. ] Surprisingly, no. I don't have much in the way of collateral damage typically, destructive force isn't really my thing. I probably could break something if I wanted to. [ He's strong enough, but in terms of his world he's small and built for speed rather than strength. ] Maybe I could be the idea guy, or the guy who gets coffee. I'd be good at that.
[ Just call him the Hawks delivery service! ]
We have fiction about heroes too, it's hard not to when the whole world runs on the premise. There are some heroes whose PR teams must hate them. Endeavor's got a real sour attitude pretty much all the time. I took my public relations instructions seriously.
Edited (Hit the wrong button on my phone lol) 2025-08-28 06:58 (UTC)
Oooh, you can be the go-for! ( But she smiles, shaking her head. Unfortunately I can be destructive if I'm not careful. Shouldn't be a worry here.
( She hopes. Her heart's been feeling fine since she arrived. It should be fine. Most all the time, she's okay, and when she'd been investigating with Zayne, there were outside reasons why she'd struggled. )
Mmm, we're supposed to with the Hunter's Association too. Not that we have as much bad public outcry when things are looking well. The problem is anything there's a problem. People get scared. They want answers, and someone to blame. Sometimes we're just the easiest target.
( And it turns into demands to do better, to do more, even if there's no logical or logistical way to do that. They're already deployed all over the city and surrounding regions. With people being turned into Wanderers through horrible science... no point dwelling. That's back home. She's here right now. )
For the most part, for my life so far, everything has been good. It's just now that things are getting tense, there's a lot of unrest, and things are going to be bad in the future. I just know it. [ His quirk does not give him premonition, but he's a smart cookie. He can see the writing on the wall. ]
Mistakes were made, before I was born, and they're still being made. It's going to come back to bite us, and yeah, the public is not going to be that helpful. All the same. I want to protect them.
[ He's annoyingly heroic, to a fault. ] I'm sure this kind of thing happened in the past too but I...don't know a lot of history. Wasn't important enough to be taught to me.
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I like Fukuoka Tower and my agency the best probably, but I don't need my agency here for any particular reason. [ It would just encourage him to work more. He polishes off the last chicken wing and adds the cleaned bones back into the container. ]
I don't really like my apartment, but I do like my huge shower. Maybe I can just upgrade my bathroom or something. Lots of space to get my feathers all clean.
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I wonder if the bots here can help with that or not. Get you set up with a full walk in shower and multiple nozzles... or else we can make you a really big, curtained off bird-bath.
( Lips twitching, she ends up giving him a wink. Giant bath-tubs aren't bad ideas in general, but what she remembers from Japanese bathing is a little more involved than what's more common on the mainland. )
You got through the chicken fast. How big of a portion is what you really need? I was guessing blind this time around.
no subject
That would be way too big to fit in any apartment I think, but having a shower big enough to stretch out one wing at a time to get them all wet would be nicer than cleaning them detached. I can live with less but... [ But it's nicer. Easier. Feels better. ]
This is probably fine for now, but I'll eat again later. [ He's quick to assure her. ] I fly a lot and burn a lot of calories.
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( She says this while tapping her mostly empty thermos. Alex seems to realize what she's doing a moment later, picking it up and quirking an eyebrow at Hawks. )
Any more tea?
( Big actions, big metabolism. Alex smiles, shaking her head, because she really can understand. She eats more than anyone would expect, and now she suspects part of what that happens is living in her heart. That's... some other day's Alex problem. )
If only you could tolerate what goes into them, you'd be the best cake tester anyone could ask for.
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No thank you on the tea, but as for cake, I can probably get away with eating a slice but that'd definitely be my limit for the day.
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( Genuinely curious. As far as she knows, they're pretty popular in Japan. Maybe not the same degree as they once were. )
Oooh so we have a one slice limit? Hmm, then tell me, what kind of cake do you enjoy when you brace yourself for eating any?
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[ He might consider it now, not that that helps, but maybe sometime he'll get the chance, just to say he did it. ]
I haven't eaten a lot of cake. [ It's not something he gets for himself but he hums thoughtfully. ] Oh, we were at this gala that had some kind of white cake with strawberries and whipped cream, that was really good.
... my spelling was truly unique last tag hahaha thank you for your forebearance
( She is imagining the equivalent of a walk in closet only a shower. She's pretty sure people have those. Waterfall showerheads and all! )
Okay, done! Next cake I make will have strawberries and vanilla with whipped cream on top. Do you remember if the cake was super puffed up and airy kind of fluffy, or more like bread levels of fluffy?
Haha don't even worry about it
[ He smiled, really he can get by without it, he knows he's spoiled in his Commission apartment. The world's not naturally made for heteromorphs.]
Oh you're spoiling me now. [ No one has ever offered to cook for him before, much less twice. Honestly the chicken wings are the best gift he's ever been given. ]
I remember it being very fluffy and light.
❤︎❤︎❤︎!
( He might consider it negligible, but Alex has never enjoyed knowing her friends are in pain. Especially over ordinary things. When she'd been learning how much pain Caleb had been hiding... or when she'd learned how to help mitigate the pain of Zayne's Evol acting up and hurting him, she couldn't stay silent and do nothing. It's just not who she is.
Ergo, Hawks is unceremoniously being co-opted into a "accessibility problem solving" program in her head. )
Hah! Who's spoiling who? I happen to like baking, though I don't always get it right the first try. But let me think, fluffy... sounds like either sponge cake or angel cake. With strawberries? Both would be good...
( Tapping her chin as she continues the mental debate over which kind of cake it likely had been. )
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[ He really hadn't meant to make it sound so dire. It's not. He barely notices. It's easy to ignore. ]
I'm sorry, I didn't ask. I was kind of busy networking. You barely get to eat at these things, mind you that always have plenty to drink.
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There should still be something better.
( She says, partly grousing, pouring herself the rest of the tea. )
Oh, those kinds of parties. I'm the worst at those, I just want to live at the refreshments table the whole time.
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Don't worry if there's not, but thanks for thinking about it.
[ Yet talking about those kinds of events makes him sigh in exasperation and fatigue even though he hasn't been to one in awhile. ]
Yeah, it's all about networking and charming people to give donations to charities and that kind of thing. I'm expected to mingle which is pretty much what I do. They're like all the side things I do, I find it gets in the way of me doing my actual job.
[ He's used to it, so being paraded around is nothing, but that's not why he wanted to be a hero. ]
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Which is apparently a little bit of overinvestment, but more importantly, caring that everyone's taken care of. )
If I have to figure out bathroom design on my own... okay, that'd probably be a disaster. But I'll definitely find out what I can.
( His sigh prompts her into a small snort of her own, draining the rest of her tea. There's a whole mood in that one sound alone. )
Are you the PR team's darling?
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My PR team loves me, yep. [ Hawks grins, unrepentant. ] It'd be a problem if they didn't.
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( Something about that amuses her, and she laughs lightly, shaking her head. Admittedly, it's on brand for her. )
To some teams, I imagine it might just be work. Liking or hating your subject can be pretty unrelated. Not that we have many people with a PR team just for having Evols back home, but we also don't do heroes. Only in fiction.
no subject
[ Just call him the Hawks delivery service! ]
We have fiction about heroes too, it's hard not to when the whole world runs on the premise. There are some heroes whose PR teams must hate them. Endeavor's got a real sour attitude pretty much all the time. I took my public relations instructions seriously.
no subject
( She hopes. Her heart's been feeling fine since she arrived. It should be fine. Most all the time, she's okay, and when she'd been investigating with Zayne, there were outside reasons why she'd struggled. )
Mmm, we're supposed to with the Hunter's Association too. Not that we have as much bad public outcry when things are looking well. The problem is anything there's a problem. People get scared. They want answers, and someone to blame. Sometimes we're just the easiest target.
( And it turns into demands to do better, to do more, even if there's no logical or logistical way to do that. They're already deployed all over the city and surrounding regions. With people being turned into Wanderers through horrible science... no point dwelling. That's back home. She's here right now. )
no subject
Mistakes were made, before I was born, and they're still being made. It's going to come back to bite us, and yeah, the public is not going to be that helpful. All the same. I want to protect them.
[ He's annoyingly heroic, to a fault. ] I'm sure this kind of thing happened in the past too but I...don't know a lot of history. Wasn't important enough to be taught to me.