PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Nic
N/A
quirk GOOD VIBRATIONS
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N/A
alias Heartstrings
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Post by Chihiro Takenaka on Apr 12, 2019 17:06:35 GMT
This was her first time inside of U.A. Academy. Being from a rival school, she’d never been expected to be called upon to help one of their students, but after the situation was explained to her, it made perfect sense. The move to Musufatu wasn’t yielding her the exact results she wanted, but they were results nonetheless. Her name was getting out there! She was becoming better known for her support skills, both in and out of costume!
That was how she arrived in the classroom she was currently in. It was smaller, meant for tutoring and in the general courses hall. She’d been led in by some of the other staff. She left her canvas bag on one of the long general use tables. It was filled to the brim with various books, ranging from elementary text books to fairytales. Some were even borrowed books from the U.A. curriculum, gained at her request for today’s language lesson.
Chihiro was actually out of costume. She wasn’t a teacher here of the hero courses here, so it felt silly to arrive in costume. Instead she wore a long wine-red skirt with black boots and turtleneck, all finished off with what she felt was a very smart looking tan jacket. Was she trying to leave a bookish impression on her tutoring student? Yes! Yes, she was!
After opening the curtain so light would come in – even if her student couldn’t see, as she’d been told he could not, it would likely still be encouraging to feel the warm sun shining in – she’d hear the door open. And, then, grinning, she’d address him in English.
"Good afternoon, Mister Callaghan! It's nice to meet you! I'm Chihiro Takenaka, your Japanese tutor! Let me know if you have any questions before we get started on today’s lesson.”
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ges
N/A
quirk RESONANCE
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N/A
alias Pulse
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Post by Dara Callaghan on Apr 12, 2019 18:03:09 GMT
 It was apparently the first time that Miss Takenaka had been inside U.A, but in fairness it wasn't like Dara had that much more experience than her. He had only come to this country recently, and had been a member of 1-A for an even shorter amount of time. He still felt very much like an outsider, even if he passed the same tests that everyone else. It was hard to ignore that feeling of being foreign, if not unwanted. It was a lifelong companion, as constant and ever-present as his shadow. Even at home it was there, treated as a special case rather than being treated like his siblings. His brat sister had noticed that and had taken exception to it as much as he had, only she seemed to hold him accountable. Perhaps that was why he liked her from the moment that he sensed her. Someone else who seemed like they were in the wrong place, a square peg in a round hole. Perhaps it was simply that it was nice to know that he wasn't the only strange one, Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris as an old favourite of Dara's said - Misery loves company. Whatever the case, as she walked into the classroom, he turned his attention to her as if he was able to see her walk to her seat despite the truth of the matter. From what he could sense, she seemed to have gone out of her way to look like some sort of frumpy librarian. He couldn't tell the colour of her dress so for all he knew it could be starch white linen like something out of the Handmaid's Tale. All he knew was that it was far more prim and proper than the typical outfits the heroes wore in these halls. That said, as potentially rude as these inner thoughts could be seen as, his attitude immediately brightened when he heard her speak in his native tongue. Finally, a buoy in this sea of foreignness. He couldn't remember the last time he had spoken English outside of his house. A small, earnest smile spread across his face, lighting it up drastically. "I'm ready whenever you are, Miss. "In truth he did have questions, but between training and researching potential hero companies for future apprenticeships he didn't have the most amount of time and wanted to minimise the chances of having to stay after the scheduled time. |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Nic
N/A
quirk GOOD VIBRATIONS
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N/A
alias Heartstrings
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Post by Chihiro Takenaka on Apr 13, 2019 3:57:29 GMT
She smiled in turn, more natural reflex than an attempt to let him see she was mirroring him. She sat at the table, getting books out of her bag. “I’m glad to hear. I’m not sure if you know English Braille, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that it isn’t universal.” She found the book she was looking for, opening it to a certain page. It was textured – a Japanese Braille dictionary with printed words right beside the raised bumps. “Truthfully, I wouldn’t be able to help you as much with Braille...”
She crossed her legs, looking off to the side as she tried to determine how to tactfully put it. “As a graduate of a hero academy, I know what you have probably recently learned; the teachers are given a high degree of freedom in how they teach hero courses. Your educators, even for traditional subjects, are likely...”
She brought her hand to her mouth, squinting off to the side still as she tried desperately to figure out a way to respectfully explain that she sincerely doubted most retired heroes were actually qualified to be real teachers. Their experience was vital, yes, to budding heroes, but she didn’t trust half of her co-workers to go teaching high schoolers math. It wasn’t that she thought they were stupid, but it was that knowing something and being able to teach someone else were two very different things.
“… not what one would expect, even in the Japanese sense. So, in order to help you, who is coming from a different school system, adapt to a deviation from even the local system, I would like to first, help you learn the Nippon Decimal System.” She frowned. “Even though U.A. is a hero school, it has high standards. I’m sure that, since you are well studied enough to have entered, you’re familial with the Dewey Decimal System. Our system is quite similar to it, with a few key differences.”
And, finally, she smiled again. “So, I want my first lesson to be helping you be able to help yourself. If you’re able to navigate the library, then I’ll feel certain you can study fine on your own!”
With the implication being, fine regardless of whether or not your teachers are qualified to be teaching Japanese speaking students – nevermind any of you who don’t speak Japanese as your first language. She had this nightmare-fantasy that one of his teachers would start spouting slang in the middle of the lesson and a non-native like him who likely only knew formal words would be lost.
Horrifying.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ges
N/A
quirk RESONANCE
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N/A
alias Pulse
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Post by Dara Callaghan on Apr 14, 2019 18:28:24 GMT
... Wait, what was she saying? Okay, right from the off there seemed to be some confusion. He had gone to a regular Secondary school, he wasn't a graduate from a Hero Academy. Hero Academies, as far as he was aware, was akin to an A-levels Programme back home. He had been admitted onto the course because he passed exams and his grades were high enough, there was no preeducation in the field to speak of. He didn't want to interrupt someone straight at the beginning of lessons, but pretty much everything that she said either confused him or made him wonder just how aware she was of the fact that he was blind. She claimed to know, but she was still talking about the dewey decimal system. This was despite the fact that more and more companies were refusing to print in braile nowadays, considering posting electronic made things more widely available and easier to use since you could just listen to it. Eventually, when a break in her torrent of speech came, he cleared his throat a little awkwardly before interjecting himself. Considering there was nobody else in the class, he felt there was no point in raising hands, but she might be traditional - who knew? It wasn't like any of the actual teachers here were normal. "Miss Takenaka?" he asked, as if waiting for an unspoken permission to talk. It seemed he still had his manners, as confused as he was by the situation. "I think you must be confused - I didn't graduate a Hero Academy. We're IN a Hero Academy. I went to Villiers, and I have GCSEs. This is my first formal piece of Hero Training that I've done in my life. Everything before now was a hobby. Also... why would I know the dewey decimal system? You realise I can't read, right? I cannot see, that means I cannot read. And they don't print the Dewey in Braile, I can tell you that much. Everything is handled on the internet nowadays. Now if you want me to tell you how to code, I can give you a basics on that, but that's about my limit as far as information systems go.Sorry if that disappoints you.." |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Nic
N/A
quirk GOOD VIBRATIONS
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N/A
alias Heartstrings
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Post by Chihiro Takenaka on Apr 14, 2019 20:07:37 GMT
She listened. Then, she cocked her head, confused on why he was explaining himself to her. She knew he was currently a student and that he couldn't read printed books--… Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. DING DING DING DING!!Immediately swapping back to Japanese out of shock, Chihiro clapped her hands together to pull a torso-bent bow. “My sincerest apologies!” Then, catching herself, she switched back into English. “Callaghan-san—er, Mister Callaghan, I owe you an apology for that confusing wording! When I was referring to a graduate, I meant myself! I was trying to empathize with you. That was an unnecessary statement and only caused you confusion! Please, forget that it was ever said!” How embarrassing. She'd tried to relate to him, but the connection had been far from made. As for his second concern, she frowned. “My apologies, again. From what I understood U.A. Academy still used chalk boards and the teachers I’d spoken with still used books as resources. Even Japanese Braille books are still organized by the Nippon Decimal system, so, considering the former...”If Chihiro had a backbone with anything beyond her staunch pro-reform attitudes and her desire to help others, she might have argued with him. She might have told him that the teachers here might present text not easily available online. She might have reminded him he, who was still learning Japanese, would have to search Japanese education and information sites for information he was still learning; he would have to use knowledge he was still acquiring to get knowledge he had yet to acquire. She might have brought up her own independent studying, how it was implied physically interacting with even written material improved retention of such. She might have told him that not being able to use the same resources as his peers might put him at a disadvantage for studying. But, Chihiro was kind of a piss bellied coward when it came to confrontation, so she let it go and decided she should focus, instead, on making sure he would be able to understand fully anything any teacher said, because some phantom told her that there was definitely, probably, at least one teacher within this school who didn't particularly put effort into trying to make themselves understood. So, she breathed in deeply to recenter herself and spoke, once again her native tongue of Japanese: “When I speak with informal words, do you continue to understand the meaning of my words?” A pause. “I’m usin’ casual speech an’ slang, you got it?” Having been raised to be a prime and proper little lady, it was kind of killing her to use such sloppy, choppy language. It was probably blatantly obvious by her tone that she didn’t normally speak so improperly, anyways. |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ges
N/A
quirk RESONANCE
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N/A
alias Pulse
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Post by Dara Callaghan on Apr 14, 2019 21:43:36 GMT
Well, he understood that bit at least. As she explained herself, his face quickly reddened up - something that was immediately obvious considering how pale his cheeks were. His hometown was almost always smothered by clouds, so even being active left him as pale as a vampire and made blushes so cutely overt. "U-uh, sorry. I guess I'm an idiot..." he mumbled, a bad habit he had picked up. It was part of why he struggled socially, and something he would badly need to improve on were he to become a Pro hero as he dreamed. Ironic. Both the student and the teacher seemed to not enjoy conflict. He had more backbone than her, he was willing to give it back as well as he got it, but when he had been the one to make the mistake he couldn't help but feel cowed. "Some teachers don't seem to realise I'm blind, yeah. Either that or they don't really care (I'm really not sure if one is better than the other)" he murmured out of the corner of his mouth. Spite or stupidity, which WAS worse in the end? "But they love to talk, constantly to the point of inanity. So it's not like I'm ever losing out. I'm not even sure if some of them CAN write, I hear them write so little and talk so much." he paused, before adding as a joke, "I don't think even one of them has a teaching degree." She spoke, and as she did so he thanked the lord that his mother had stressed the importance of slang as a language teacher. He didn't get every word, but from context clues and the rest of the sentence he could just about get what she said. He paused for a moment before responding. "uhhh... Hey mista - I am mad scientist! It so cool! Sonofabatch." He then proceeded to shoot fingerguns at her. "I got it." |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Nic
N/A
quirk GOOD VIBRATIONS
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N/A
alias Heartstrings
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Post by Chihiro Takenaka on Apr 19, 2019 1:07:22 GMT
She couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy that he’d also gotten embarrassed. “Mister Callaghan, please don’t say that. You’re not an idiot. This is just why clear communication is so important,” she said in English. However, her sympathy gave way to…
Hm. Well, truth be told, it took probably more than most people were capable of to get Chihiro angry. She’d long ago, during her studies, resigned herself to understanding that anger was simply an emotional response that wasn’t at all to indulge in beyond being genuine to one’s own emotions. She no more permitted herself to lash out in anger than she did to wallow in misery. Crying was deemed a fine response to her mostly because she was prone to it by nature, but also because it didn’t hurt anyone else for her to relief stress or express anxieties through it. Anger, however, could be an ugly emotion. She never allowed herself to act on anger.
But what Dara was absently muttering stroke a chord of righteous indignation within her. It wavered, only slightly, when he made his joking near curse. Her eyes bulged and clear shock was written on her face; he’d be able to easily tell since her mouth gaped and her brows arched upwards. “Mister Callaghan!” she chided, barely able to keep her composure enough to not reflexively switch to Japanese. “Y-You are a student of the utmost prestigious hero academy in Japan! Please, conduct yourself in a manner becoming of someone like that! U.A. Academy students should always be shining beacons, symbols of justice, and model citizens! S-Such indecent language…! From your promising, outstanding self…! It’s unbecoming!”
(Chihiro did not watch anime, so the reference was lost on her.)
Quietly, Chihiro was reminded of the nice boy Isamu Suzuki. How heroic and kind he had been, so very well behaved and patient despite the situation! He certainly wouldn’t cuss, she thought, probably being one hundred percent wrong.
Then, in Japanese: “… Oh, right, where was I?” She swapped back to English before continuing. “You have the basics down and your studying methods are different from what I expected. So, I’ll ask you, directly: how do you normally take notes? My advice will depend heavily on that.”
…
…
…
Oh, was someone waiting on her to explode in anger at the U.A. staff? Nope! Chihiro really, sincerely does not let herself succumb to lashing out! Tears are fine, anger is not. That isn’t to say she isn’t quietly mulling over in her head her brief, passing experience with Japanese laws about accommodating students with disabilities and exceptional requirements. The hero courses were nearly freed fully from most burdens surrounded academic expectations, but the clear, casual dissatisfaction with it all that Dara spoke with ignited a low ember within Chihiro.
There were simply too many students who would not graduate, for a variety of reasons. Among them, some would eventually be unable to maintain being a professional hero in lieu of more sustainable career paths. Knowing how to fight, even very skillfully and strategically, could not be the full breadth’s of one’s education. Chihiro, socially minded as she was, could not stand by with the implication that some student at this prestigious school might be getting less than the worth of their blood, sweat, and tears. She’d make sure U.A. was providing adequate non-hero education resources to their hero students if she had to dig up every law on the books, contact every advocate she’d ever read and met with, and overcame her deep infatuation with being comfortably in the background to raise a public stink.
Though, she was quite mild mannered and her first step after this would be to contact administration about perhaps hiring a real, trained professional to help Dara. While she was certainly happy to help, she had no qualifications beyond being one of the more bookish support heroes around with an appropriately teacher-ish personality. It wasn’t as if the incredibly well funded school was strapped for cash, either, so she was going to kindly ask what the absolute hell was going on.
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