Chapter 14

"Don't hug me Uraraka, I'm scared."

Having changed her clothes to more fun attire. Alarice barely managed to catch up to the party of teens. Consisting of Uraraka, Tsuyu, Midoriya, Tokoyami, and Iida. Letting out a sigh of relief upon catching up to them. She'd exchanged her greetings and that was fine with her, quiet nods when it came to Tokoyami. A little surprised that they had joined but didn't voice it.

"So what's with the flowers?" Midoriya asked, noticing that she had flowers in her braid still. Something Alarice had been careful to leave in when she had changed.

"This little girl, Eri gave them to me." Alarice answered with a smile. Though she wasn't sure it was okay with the surprised look he gave her. Then the tiny sparkle that said it was fine.

"You got to meet Eri? How is she doing?" Midoriya asked.

"Yeah, she kinda met me actually, and uh... she seemed like a kid? She was cute kid." Alarice offered with a nervous shrug. Midoriya seemed satisfied with that answer, though she couldn't help but continue "I also met this boy, Mirio, at the same time... and got to try out that new modification for my suit."

Alarice couldn't help the heat in her cheeks at being the pseudo center of attention. "I heard you got a modification made, what kind did have added?" Uraraka asked, curious as to what that meant.

"Yeah, I mean, that wasn't what I was testing, I was actually just... thinkin about my approach-ability, since I've got such a scary face. I just kind of met them by accident I guess, and she wanted to ride so I ended up carrying both of them. " Alarice answered, flushing a little, but not only a little. "I guess everyone else has probably met them since Aizawa-Sensei is her foster dad."

There was a pause and then at least one snort, before there was laughter and a giggle. Todoroki gave nothing at this comment, and she was pretty sure the snort came from Tokoyami. "What? He said he was her 'caretaker', that's a foster parent." Alarice argued, a little confused about the reaction.

There was a little hand wave from Uraraka who was more willing than the rest to answer that. "You aren't wrong, I just hadn't thought of it like that."

"Same, you usually see her with Mirio." Asui added, a gentle smile on her face too. "You asked Aizawa-sensei if he was her foster dad didn't you?"

"I did. Then he just stared at me, and then admitted he was her caretaker, which is a foster dad! " Alarice answered. Slightly prepared for the further giggles, as her classmates tried to picture their stern, sleeping bag toting, always rational teacher as a 'parent'. He was a Hero who had more than proved his dedication to such a role, but seeing him as a Dad however, was still un-imaginable to his students.

Midoriya with a silly smile still on his face decided to clarify a little. "He is technically her caretaker, but the school itself is kind of her home."

"oooh. Why's that?" Alarice asked, curious as to why an entire school would be the kid's home. Midoriya paused, thinking about how to answer that question.

"She's just in a complicated situation." Uraraka answered for him. Alarice didn't pry, just nodded.

"Well, she seems like a sweet kid." Alarice said, fiddling with one of the flowers in her braid, and letting the subject drop. Drifting back to talk to Tokoyami a bit, since they didn't often talk at all, both being pretty silent and dark-clad hero students.

Walking to the little traveling carnival was a brief affair, and it wasn't very big either. Though its crowning pride seemed to be a beautiful and tall Ferris wheel. The crowd was decent sized and the sound cheery and welcoming.

Alarice was quiet, not sure what to do in this type of crowd of people, more suited for the dark and heavy beats of dance floors than chipper crowds of parents and kids. Most of the little stalls looked like games of some kind or another, with prizes of various varieties, and a few were definitely food and drink stalls. She kept quiet around the group, observing the area around them.

"So what do we do first?" one of the teens asked, since they wanted to largely stay together as a group. Their little group walking further in and examining the various things around them they could do.

"How about a ride first? They've got Teacups." Uraraka suggested, gesturing over to the giant people sized teacups, that spun in their locations and also around a platform. Alarice looked both confused, and childishly amused. Uraraka noticed how out of place Alarice looked, like..

"Stone have you never been to Carnival before?" Midoriya called her out on it first, causing the dark haired teen's ears to turn pink. She grabbed her hair before it be could picked up by a sudden gust of wind before she answered.

"I've seen them... but I never went to one." Alarice sounded like she admitting to some great terrible thing by having never been to one carnival before. She stopped her classmates before they could say anything else. "Its not that weird."

"Its my second time at a place like this, Stone, the teacups are something to be experienced." Tokoyami spoke up, Stone noticing Iida's suddenly stiff face that seemed like a concentrated amount of conflict about the ride. Or was it about what Tokoyami had said? "There's a disc inside and you spin it, which makes your vessel spin faster on its own."

"oh."

"It can be quite intense. It is also quite fun." He added, as the group had clearly decided that they were going to start with Teacups. A basic, simple ride. Two person to a cup, with Tsuyu and Uraraka in one, Midoriya and Iida in another, and Alarice and Tokoyami in the last.

Alarice hadn't expected it to become a competitive spinning event. Sort of. There were three cups to a larger disk, so all of the students were on a 'plate' of their own. Iida and Midoriya were almost horrified as the girls and Tokoyami and Stone were intensely spinning themselves. Making a lot of noise as they did so, it was hard to tell whose squeaking was coming from which cup or even which person.

By the end neither of the four could stand completely straight or walk a straight line so they found themselves on a bench. Tokoyami seemed amused but it was impossible to tell for sure with that avian face of his. Alarice was flushed but laughing, full smile with teeth while Iida gave a gentle scolding as class president that they didn't need to compete with spinning Teacups! Tsuyu and Uraraka were also hiding mischievous grins, clearly just as pleased with themselves.

"Games. We should definitely do Games next." Alarice said with a big breath, sitting up on the bench.

"Indeed, with this much competitive energy, some games of strength and skill would be beneficial." Tokoyami added on , Tsuyu nodded in agreement.

"They have quite a lot of games here, ribbit." Tsuyu looked about them, from the bench, neither of the 4 intense teacup spinners were standing up just yet. "Where could we start were all of us could play?"

"Archery range?" one of them offered.

"There's also ball tossing..." Midoriya started, and then followed with "but that's kind of the same thing isn't it... just one is with bows and the other with balls..."

As he began to mumble more and Alarice slumped further into the bench, looking around and enjoying this time to be lazy and silly, she noticed a tallish structure, in a spot for a booth, and man shouting challenges for people to try to their strength. She noticed the prizes too. "What about that game?"

"Ah the classic strong-man Challenge! An Excellent choice for us!" Iida commented, ready to lead the group, though Alarice noticed that Midoriya was also now paying attention to what was on display at the booth, Plush dolls: Of Heros.

Alarice and Midoriya, were almost the first two over to it.

"A group of teenagers come to try their hand at the test of strength huh? Which one of you is going first then? Hmm? Only a Token per play!" The man was small but thick and held the special hammer in his hands as He stood proudly by his machine. "How about you!"

He pointed aggressively at Iida who nodded suddenly very serious. Handing over one Token and taking the Hammer from him. Alarice Stone watched him, as they gave Iida enough room to swing safely, as Iida slammed the hammer down hard on the cushioned pad, and the little weight jumping right up into the air but coming just short of the bell. "ahhhh too bad, but good swing young man!" cried the stall runner. "What of you, my Avian Fellow? Can you best this big boy here?"

Tokoyami was only a little hesitant, it was more Iida who seemed bothered by being referred to as a 'big boy'. Tokoyami traded coin for Hammer as well and took a good swing, also, coming just shy of the bell. Now the kids were getting suspicious. "Alright alright, which one of you -"

"Me!" Alarice cut the man off.

"Alright young lady, if that's what you want." He said, almost as if it was a joke, though Stone noted he put that joke away when she took off her long sleeved sweater. The shirt beneath wasn't short sleeved, rather the sleeves were comfortably tight over her muscled arms. "Never-mind, see if you can knock these boys out of the water." He gave her the Hammer and she looked over at the row of obnoxiously cute plush dolls on the prize rack. She took her swing, bringing the hammer down as hard as she could.

The Bell rang.

"Congratulations, young Lady w-" "The Present Mic one."

Alarice felt her whole face start to burn up, and she knew she hadn't moved from her position, still even holding the hammer in her hands. The short man just chuckled at her, getting her the prize and handing over the ridiculous looking plush doll to her. Alarice knew her face was all red but this was the first time she'd even seen a Present Mic Plush and it was hers. She had to grab her hair after an extreme gust of wind nearly sent it slapping into Tokoyami's face when she he gave her back her sweater. A few flowers were lost from the braid on top of it.

Midoriya's enthusiasm was not unlike her own, and like her, his determination to get his own plush, a certain all might one, carried his swing to the bell. Though Stone noted, he was a lot more polite about asking for his Prize then she'd been. After Midoriya, Uraraka took a swing, coming just shy of it as Iida and Tokoyami had, and Tsuyu managed to hit the bell too, claiming a little cute frog plush she intended to give to her siblings.

The Teens hit a few more booths of games, Tokoyami managing to trounce them in the ring toss game, when Alarice realized something vital was missing from her pocket. Not wanting to disrupt their competition between each other, she quietly set off for the the lost 'n' found. If she couldn't find her wallet then, she'd have to tell them. Without her wallet, she didn't have her ID for UA, and that meant she couldn't get back onto the grounds.

Part way into describing her admittedly bland wallet there was a soft tap on her shoulder.

"I think this is yours?" A young woman with red around her eyes offered the dark leather wallet back to Alarice.

"Yes! It is! Thank you for finding it!" Alarice knew she was louder than she had intended to be when she responded, but she was simply to excited to know it was back in her hands and safe. "where was it?"

"Oh it was just on the ground in front of one of the stalls, I'm glad I could return it to you. I'm Mar-" Before the red-around eyes woman could finish talking, her compatriot had caught site of the doll under Alarice's arm, and began laughing. She glared at her companion but the other took a good while to stop laughing. Alarice was very unsure of what to do, would be okay if she just walked away this point and didn't say anything else?

"Well i'm sorry about that, I was just going to say my name was Mar, and I'm glad I was able to get you back your wallet." Mar finished, still glaring at the other who was still smirking but finally had managed to stop laughing. "This is Gale, who is going to apologize for laughing at you."

Gale didn't seem all that keen to do so, she wiped at her face. "yeah yeah, sorry for laughing, that's just the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. That guy is ridiculously vain, any one can clock that guy as a dude who only cares about himself a mile away. Even manages to make school announcements about himself."

"Gale!"

"What, am I wrong?" Gale said with a shoulder shrug, even daring to look at Alarice as if she was at all going to back her up. "Like, he's totally that guy who only has to take care of the kids cuz it'll look bad for him as a hero if he doesn't, right?"

"No." Alarice said, cutting Mar off form chastising the other again. "He's not that way at all. He's a good person, He takes care of the people around him."

"Oh god of course. The doll, it all makes sense now!" Gale commented, acting as if nauseated. "Should have Known, only a delusional fan would defend such a joke of a Hero. Kid grow up, hero's like that are only heros for the freedom of using their quirk for attention."

Alarice didn't say anything to that, just glaring harder at Gale, eyebrows lowering. In her Peripheral visions he noted that the young man at the counter of lost and found didn't look all that comfortable with what was transpiring either.

"So, kid, what did he ever do for you, that makes you so protective?"

"That's none of your business."

"Alright, whatever. " Gale said with a shoulder shrug. "Good luck with Idolizing a complete asshole, kid." Gale's arm was grabbed by Mar. "right right, Sorry. "

"I apologize for my friend, she's not very tactful." Mar said with a glare for Gale. "Please, have a good day in spite of her... ? "

"Ariel." Alarice said coldly. "Bye."

Alarice turned on her heel, and headed quickly back to her friends, Tucking the plush doll a little further under her sweater and arm so that she wouldn't get stopped again just to be mocked for the stupid toy. Shoving feelings and memories from home back down as fast as possible. She was mostly successful when she heard her name being called.

"Stone! There you are!" Iida called, waving at her as the group and Alarice met together. "Where did you go? You don't have to pull a vanishing act all the time you know, especially when we're out and around as a group."

Alarice found the mild scolding tolerable compared to the earlier interaction. "Sorry, I had lost my wallet so I went back, some one found it though." She held up her lost wallet, and realizing she hadn't even checked to see if everything was all there, opened it. Her eyes widened and she let out a irritated sigh. "My ID is gone."

"What?!" Iida exclaimed, "Do you think maybe some one took it?"

"Maybe it fell out too." Uraraka commented trying to be reasonable. "But its not impossible?"

"I hope it just fell out... I don't even know where the people who gave it to me went now." Alarice said, looking both scared and crestfallen all at the same time. "Well... we can solve that when we get back to UA, I'm sure."

"Yeah.." Uraraka said quietly as Alarice sighed again, and put the wallet away again. "One more ride then?"

"They only have the two others.. " Asui stated plainly, gesturing to their options being a Merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel. "How about the Ferris wheel, when we get off, we can check and see if any one turned in the ID specifically."

"That's a good idea, not like I know where it fell out in the first place..." Alarice said with a big shrug. Following behind her classmates to the giant Ferris wheel. The girls all took one basket, and the boys were in another together. As they went around it was nice to see Musutafu.. or well, part of it, from the top. She hadn't actually spent that much time in the citiy that the Academy was nestled in. Then again, she hadn't even come here for tourism to begin with.

The Ferris wheel ride over, the kids headed back to the school grounds. Alarice waiting a bit outside the gate with Midoriya while the other kids went in ahead, to let the school know Alarice had lost her ID. Which was an awkward affair of hound-dog coming out and giving her a huge sniff of his own. Before confirming that she indeed, smelled like Alarice Stone, and was walked in.

She dropped a text to her father following, and another to Prometheus, including a picture of said ridiculous plush she had won. Though as she got up to her dorm, the teasing which she knew better than to let get to her, did.

She flopped onto her bed, another of the few flowers that remained flew out of her hair. Landing limp and sad on her Pillow next to her. She put her little plush to the side of her, and looked up at the retro poster of Present Mic, his first appearance that had been heavily used in merchandise. Then the rest of the few bits of merch she owned, the headphones, an old t-shirt, now a small cute plush. It was nice for her to be able to see it in proper light, not hoarded away where some one else couldn't see them.

"You're not an asshole, right?" Alarice said to the air around her. Drumming her fingers on her phone's signed case. "You didn't just stay with me cuz it would look bad if you didn't, right?"

A poster couldn't answer, so she was alone with her thoughts. Why did the idea that he only did what he did to keep up an image hurt her? It wasn't even that unusual with Heros, it was very common. Sunshine was like that a lot too. Sunshine wasn't like her mom or anything, she just did what was expected of her. As she ruminated on these thoughts, tears escaped at the idea she might mean nothing to her favorite hero too. If all his concern after her injury post his show, had only been like how Sunshine took care of her, what difference did it make? Sunshine was like that too.

Stone must have been more tired than she thought, since she didn't remember when she fell asleep on her bed.