I wonder if you care
I wonder if you still remember
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams - In Your Wildest Dreams by The Moody Blues
Mara stood over her oh-so-sad go bag and regretted not bringing at least her favorite nightgown. She'd begged Kyoka for a pair of training shorts, and another classmate who introduced herself as Momo provided that and a pile of clothes that she'd said didn't fit. She was taller by a few inches, and didn't weigh as much, but it was better than trying to find a mall that wasn't under siege.
Mara unpinned her synthetic dreads, rolling them carefully and tucking them away. Japan was too much of a mess to care how adorable she looked. She unwound and shook out the rest of the bubblegum pink braids and folded them together into one fat braid that hung down her back nearly to her waist.
She undressed, giving her Black Butler shirt a sniff before tossing the clothes she'd been wearing for nearly a full day into the corner. She was betting there was some kind of laundry service here in the dorms. Her bra, she shook out and hung on the doorknob before turning to the pile of donated clothes. She found a pair of soft terry shorts and a worn UA Athletics branded t-shirt. Though a little tight, they were clean and Mara was exhausted by the day. She slipped into a bed made up with a thick coverlet and smooth sheets, drifting into sleep immediately.
The dream she had wasn't out of the ordinary. Her dad on a windy Halloween when she was eighteen. He was about to be killed by a drunk driver. Mara knew what was next: Dad telling her how important the drugs were. Telling her that she was too dangerous without the mind-numbing effect of the Prozac. She'd hated it, so she'd stopped taking them to go trick-or-treating with her friends. To celebrate her birthday like a normal teen.
Except now there was a man with shoulder-length ebon locks and a sad look in his eyes standing by her father. He was just watching, but dream-Mara had stopped arguing and was staring with incredulity at the interloper. Dad continued like nothing else had happened, but Mara pulled off her long white wig. His eyes flicked over her outfit, a long purple gown with slits up both legs trimmed in gold lace.
"I haven't seen that one in a long time." His voice was nearly flat, but there was a hint of laughter in it.
Mara blushed, "I love Ah! My Goddess. Tiff says I look like Urd. Well, with the wig and sky-high hooker heels." She frowned, and her head tilted like the angle might help her think. "You shouldn't be here. My father is going to die tonight."
"Is that what's happening?" His brows rose as he looked at Dad lecturing the empty air. "Are you going to kill him?"
"No." Mara shook her head and swallowed a lump of sadness. It was an old pain. "A drunk driver is going to roar through here in a minute or two. I learned some very valuable lessons tonight."
"Then you're right. I shouldn't be here." His hands rested in deep pockets, but in the way of dreams, his hair never wavered in the wind that tossed Mara's dark blue, heavily crimped hair.
Mara nodded. "I get it." She sighed dramatically, "When I connect too strongly with my quirk there's some psychic backlash. I must have used something heavy on you." She looked at the ground sheepishly, "I'm sorry. You're probably having a dream with me in it. I hope it's a lot nicer than this one."
"You sound like you're unsure. You don't know what happened?"
"Not really." Mara gestured at herself. "When I wake I will remember this dream. But this is me at eighteen, always. I learned how to 'twist' someone in a fundamental way a year or two ago. When I have dreams… at first they're normal. Then something weird will happen. Like you staring at me."
"I don't really feel anything but curiosity. I feel like I should be more angry."
Mara laughed. "It's still my dream. I don't want you to be mad at me, so you aren't."
A car engine gunned, and Shota watched as Mara turned away. Her father was murdered by someone who wouldn't even remember leaving the party he had attended. The cold October night changed, Halloween decorations and gaily flickering jack-o-lanterns remained, but now just a cutely costumed girl and a somber man remained of humanity.
"Is that what happened to your father?"
"Yeah. He was pronounced dead at the scene. After the funeral, I moved to Los Angeles, then Seattle as I learned how to hone my powers into something heroic. I never touched another drug. I don't even drink." She eyed Shota. "I don't know what we're still doing here. Usually when my normal dream ends, all parts of it fade."
"You also seem to know more than you did moments ago. Is it possible you don't want me to leave, so I haven't?" He smiled then, a quick flash of teeth.
Mara's costuming changed, her hair washing to pink, loose and flowing with soft waves. Her dress became a trendy handkerchief dress with a lace-up neckline which was loose enough to show the upper curve of her breasts. She smiled, and Shota's clothes changed to a simple pair of black slacks, with the toes of boots poking under them. A cozy cardigan snugged his upper body over a white dress shirt unbuttoned to mid chest.
"Maybe I don't."
As the dream lost cohesion, Mara stirred slightly in bed but didn't wake. Usually the dream of her father's death would have woken her with tears in her eyes, but tonight she slumbered on. Peaceful images of a man with hair and eyes the color of a raven's wing. Salt-laden winds stealing the need to speak as they rode the Bainbridge Ferry. The warmth of a hand as he tucked his fingers into hers.
She woke feeling more well-rested than she had in quite some time. Her eyes remained closed as the details of the first dream came back. It was the very first psychic exercise she'd ever learned, recalling her dreams. She felt a pang of sadness, the same as she always did when she relived her dad's death. Then her eyes popped open.
"Shota." She spoke to no one, but her voice was low and breathless. She sighed, lifting her eyes to heaven as she recalled the end of the dream. Her cheeks heated as she recalled the patchy bits of some kind of imaginary date. Don't be stupid, she reminded herself harshly. She was not here for some romantic tangle she didn't have time for with a man she didn't even know.
Mara leapt out of the slim bed, and searched through the pile of clothes. She needed at least a modesty shirt for the common room. It was full of young boys, after all. She found a sweatshirt with a small stain on the shoulder. Perfect. She pulled it on and ignoring all the propriety she'd been taught, ran to the elevator in her bare feet.
The smells of cooking lured her to the kitchen and the large tables. A striking blonde woman with amazingly bright cherry-red eyes sat at one of the tables and laughed with a plump woman with lovely green hair that made Mara feel homesick. Her mother's hair had been almost the same shade.
She crept closer to them, "Hi! Uh, do you guys speak English?"
A mild-looking man in glasses and dark brown eyes shared a smile with the blonde woman before he turned toward me, "Good morning! We do, yes, please sit." He juggled his plates before sliding one in front of the woman Mara now assumed was his wife.
"I'm Bakugo Mitsuki." The blonde announced in sure tones. "This is my husband, Masaru. Our son is making breakfast." She paused, "YOU HEAR THAT KATSUKI!? BRING THIS NICE WOMAN A PLATE!"
"Damn it!" A boy's voice growled from the same direction as the food scents. "DON'T EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF THE HEROES, HAG!"
"You're sure he's your son?" Mara giggled and Mitsuki inclined her head with a wide grin. "I'm Mara by the way. I'm a hero from the States."
The plump green haired woman spoke a stream of Japanese, which Masaru interpreted, "This is Midoriya Inko. She's happy to meet you."
Mara nodded at her, and spoke one of the three phrases she'd learned, "Ohayou gozaimasu." She laughed, "I'm sure I butchered that."
Inko smiled, "Good morning." It was unsure, but Mara reached a hand across the table and the woman squeezed it.
A teen came out of the kitchen area with a bowl and a precariously placed piece of toast, "I'm Bakugo Katsuki. If you're looking for a partner, I'm available."
"I have to stay here today with Kapu." Mara smiled at the boy, but was gifted a narrow-eyed frown instead. "But I know I'm free to help with evacuations and villain capture starting tomorrow according to what my agency told me."
Kyoka slid into the open seat next to her, "Good morning, Mara. Is it okay to call you that?"
"It's my name." Mara nudged the teen with her shoulder. "Are you hanging out with us again today?"
Katsuki slammed into a seat by his father and Kyoka shot him a short look, "Yeah. Kapu? Uh, you called him Kahui?"
Mara rolled her eyes, "Safest just to call him Kapu."
"Thanks. He's really scary, you know?"
"I do, but he's also a sweetheart deep down." Mara lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Real, real deep."
Kyoka giggled and Katsuki snorted, making Mara laugh again. This is exactly what she needed, some laughs. She looked at the girl closer, noting her earlobes had little jacks like her earbuds did. It was definitely time for a little quirk roundtable.
"I suppose I should make a real introduction." A couple more kids wandered in, and they all started to gather with looks ranging from bland acceptance on a boy that was possibly the cutest thing she'd ever seen with bi-colored eyes and hair, to bouncy, energetic curiosity on an adorable girl whose brown hair and matching eyes would go unremarked if she wasn't so obviously upbeat.
"My name is Mara. Uh, I mean," she thought about how people had been introducing themselves with their family name first. "I'm Twist, Mara. My hero name is Wrest. I'm from Kansas in the United States. I'm sort-of an empath, but instead of just reading your emotional state, I can change it."
"Doesn't that mean you have a lot of regulations on what you're allowed to do?" Ribbit, "Even to a villain?" This was from a young woman with great big eyes and the longest hair Mara'd ever seen.
"It does." Mara nodded, "I had a tough road, but I want to hear about you!" Mara beamed a smile out at the gathered students and adults - that according to her info - were parents to them.
Kyoka quickly translated, then took a breath, "I'm Jiro Kyoka and my hero name is Earphone Jack. I can use these jacks," she pulled on her lobe which obediently stretched, "To plug into either a portable speaker or even the ground or a sheet of metal. I can then send sound out as an attack or I can hear things pretty far away in a support role."
On the kids went, and even some of the parents. Introducing themselves while Kyoka kept a constant stream of interpretation, both ways. She was a remarkably good listener as her Principal had said. We were winding down when Kahui showed up. He circled our group in a red yukata calling attention to him surely as if he'd shouted. His hair was damply curling over his forehead and the top of his ears. He'd obviously found the washrooms first.
"Everyone, this is Kapu. He's Hawaiian and has a healing quirk." Mara smiled at him.
Kahui grunted, "Ohayou."
"Ohh, how does it work?" asked the bubbly Ochaco.
"Tell you when you're older. Mara, get in the tub. I expect to be on rounds in an hour." He glanced at her mostly untouched breakfast bowl. "Is there any more?"
"In the kitchen," Katsuki pointed with a scowl. If the boy were older they would probably be friends.
Mara slurped the rest of the salty broth and stuffed the toast in whole. "It was so nice to meet you," she said around a mouthful of bread. "Where are the washrooms?"
"I was headed there," said a pink girl. Very pink, everything except her alien gold on black eyes and two funky horns that parted the curls on her head like a set of collapsed fins. "I'm Mina! Come on."
She waited patiently for me to toss my bowl in the sink and we rushed off to the washroom. The women's room was like the one she'd shared while living in the dorms in college. Everything was tiled and painted neatly in shades of white. Her eyes swept from the showers to the large inset tubs. There were tubs. Mara thought that she hadn't used one since she was a little girl and her mom would run bubble baths.
"I may need a little help," Mara admitted shyly, "What's the protocol here?"
Mina gave her a big grin as she stripped off her clothes. "First, your hair. Were you planning on washing it?"
"Not really." Mara pulled her thick braid forward with a grin, "I'll hit it with dry shampoo later. It costs a fortune to get it rebraided."
"Do you have something to put it up? I can steal one of Momo's caps, if you need one."
"She gave me these." Mara plucked at her shorts. "Is she like the dorm mom?" She started wrapping her hair into a large ball on top. "A scrunchie will work."
Mina handed one over, and Mara stripped slowly, listening to her. "Momo's from a rich family, and she thinks nothing about sharing anything. Her quirk is creation, she can make anything inorganic. So she always has bathing caps and hair ties in her locker. So if anyone forgets, she's always got a couple of spares." Mina's short curls didn't need to be held up out of the water, and she continued her explanation. "So you just take a quick scrub in the shower and then soak in the tub. If you want. You can always just shower. But don't get in the tub without at least rinsing off first." She shook an admonishing finger at Mara.
Mara laughed at the girl's mock severity until Mina dissolved into giggles too. Yeah. This was just about perfect. Tears pricked Mara's eyes as she remembered her childhood goal of coming to Japan. She hadn't been able to because of her quirk, so she'd discarded that dream like a holey sock. She wondered at the path her life might have taken had society not been so afraid of her.
AN/ I usually remember to convert everything to metric in my stories, but Mara is from Washington State by way of Kansas. So we're going American! Yee-Haw! If you've never used it, Dry-shampoo is exactly what it sounds like. Honestly, a small bottle is pretty cheap in the States, so buy one and hate me for a day! LOL I have always wanted synth-dreads. I went through such a rave phase.
I can't remember if xSteleAliniax did actual work on this chapter, but safest just to say thank you! LOL and my beta who becomes more (redacted) each second, thank you Mosevic.