The Effortless Wiles of Summer!

[uastaff]

Who: YOU
What: Opening Day Log, so a big ass mingle
Where: All over Japan
When: July - August

Summer–Like the Sun in the sky, the temperatures are high to match. When one walks into the world to be a contributing member of society, it feels more or less like you’re breathing through a wet towel. Through the crowds or up your empty town roads–no matter where you are, dense air weighs on the neck and you’re unable to differentiate the water in the atmosphere from the sweat on your skin. Lately it’s been feeling like that sort of day nearly every day with the embers of sunlight scattered across the clouds, unrelenting in sharing their heat. It’s beautiful in a naturally obnoxious way.

But summer is summer! Many people love this time of year and others loathe it, but the weather undeniably can affect a person in different ways. Some people simply can’t take the heat while others revel in it, or indifference stands just enough to get someone through the day - but when it negatively affects moods and raises pressure, anger can go to the head much easier in the fires of July—Assuming those fires haven’t been drenched by the might of the annual typhoon season that passes through the country. Search & Rescue heroes might be pretty busy this time of year.

Students may be getting ready to take it easy for their summer vacation toward the end of July, but many Heroics students are preparing to intern with professional heroes during this time. It’s a golden opportunity to get out into the field and understand the day-to-day life of professionals, whether wild enough to find itself in the news or just a quiet day among the citizens–every aspect must be understood with no illusions. In this case, intense heat always brings an increase in crime. It could be as simple as a minor argument disturbing the public or a real brawl taking out entire structures–order must stand over chaos! Take notes, kids!

Even without interns under your belt, a pro-hero is always on the clock. July is a busy festival season all over Japan, which, in tandem with the weather, could make a pretty nasty cocktail for disaster if left unchecked. Sometimes, however, many festivals pass without incident and thanks to the heroes and their Symbol of Peace, criminals should probably think twice. Who knows who can pop up, after all...

[ Welcome to/back to Plus Ultra! First and foremost, allow me to link the opening game CR Meme. That may seem weird, but if people want to pre-establish a relationship with anyone else, then this is the place to make some plans (more below). Since this AU is less about being dropped into the world and more about already existing in it and growing from there, this could be a helpful start.

I’ve made this mingle log for July-August because the timing is actually rather awkward if we go by actual Japanese calendars for schools, so it’s to help the student characters more than anything. Last week of July until Aug 25~31 is the summer break for most students and then it’s back to school.

Most pro heroes tend to know others in the market, but anyone can embrace the concept of being “up and coming” as well. This log will be vague to get people started with exploring the world and if you have ANY QUESTIONS, please reply to the FAQ so I can leave it for others to see as well. Enjoy!! ]

Comments

[oozora]

Hiro nods and gets into lifting position. Rubbing his clammy hands on his pants, he grasps the bar tightly, getting a feel for the textured metal.

"Okay, One--"

Well, to Hiro's credit, the bar actually raises up, but the poor boy is struggling to get his arms straightened out for a full lift.

[shark_girl]

Ok, this was definitely going to be starting at the 'wet noodle level.' Tess quickly adjusted her expectations and made sure her hands were in position. "Alright, that's it. Push it, see if you can get fully extended. If you can do that, we're going to go for two or three." If he could hit that, it would serve as a strength training level.

[oozora]

Taking deep breaths, Hiro manages to do one full lift.

"One!" He gasps.

It would be a moment he would be proud of if his arms didn't give out while trying to lower the bar gently.

[shark_girl]

"Alright, good!" she said loudly, grinning down at him with those rows of shark fangs and a beaming smile that met pitch-black eyes. "Let's see if you can do two. Don't worry if it strains. Come on, let's see you get two up there!"

If not, she was pretty sure forty was a good starting point.

[oozora]

Spurred on by her support, Hiro took a deep breath. This is only his starting point to becoming someone who can be a hero. Now is not the time to half-ass anything, it's time to rise up and give it his all! Senshiman never gave up when it became tough!

With a bit of a battle cry, he pushes the bar up again.

"Two!"

[shark_girl]

"We've got a winner!" she said with a bright, obvious grin. She was keeping her hands a little more than an inch under the bar, calling out as she spurred at him, seeing if she could get him to hit a third. Even if he couldn't, this was where they wanted to be. "Alright, come on. You can do it. Let's get one more out of you. Push it, push it!"

She'd missed doing this. Heroes were usually so built that they didn't really 'train,' not the way most folks did.

[oozora]

Hiro grinned with her. Even if he was lifting way less than she was, he could see that she seemed to be having fun with this. Trying not to immediately drop the bar again, he attempts to lower it in steps, only really fumbling that once. Sweat runs down his brow at this. It was definitely more difficult for him to control the downward movement than it was to push up, which was utterly fascinating to learn.

Still.

One more.

His muscles are strained and are sore, but the thought of only one more set gives him the mental strength to push forward.

"T--Three!"

It's a bit messy on the way up, but he manages to do it.

[shark_girl]

Her fingers moved in and helped him as soon as he hit the top and started to help ease the bar back to the holder as she nodded. "Alright, that's it! Need to rest your arms for a second before the next set!" Because yeah, that's how it went with this. There were always two or three sets on every machine if you wanted to really gain.

She grinned down at him once it was in place and chuckled. "You are going to be sore in the morning if you let me train you, promise."

[oozora]

"S--Second set?"

For a moment, Hiro flashed through all five stages of grief internally.

"But I'm sore already!"

[shark_girl]

"Yup, but don't worry. I'll do a set, and then we'll use another machine that works different muscles. Your arms'll get a rest before we do another round," she promised, winking at him. "And we're probably only going to try for two today. You're still pretty green."

Poor Hiro. She was totally going to work him like adog today.

[oozora]

Oh, poor foolish, naive Hiro. The trusting fool. He gives Tess a look of optimism, eyes sparkling at the prospect of training, not knowing what lay ahead for him.

"Two doesn't sound impressive, but I guess that's two more than I did yesterday." Sweet, dear Hiro contemplated.

[shark_girl]

She motioned for him to follow her as she walked over to the quad machine. If she'd hit the upper body, why not hit the lower body. "Alright, we want to make sure you've stretched first. You stretch those quads yet?"

...did he know what a quad was?

[oozora]

It appears as if he's sweating even more after she asks that.

"I uh, don't think so?"

He doesn't want to tell her that he didn't even stretch before coming in. He is a beginner, after all, but even that should have been the obvious thing to do. Senshiman always stretches before training, how could he forget!

[shark_girl]

"Let's do some stretches first then," she said, trying not to get on his case too much. After all, it could be dangerous not to do that sort of thing. When they got in front of the machine, she pointed down and coughed once. "Alright, follow my lead and try to touch your toes. Don't worry if you can't do it yet. Takes a while to get good and limber."

Touch your toes. Nice and simple, right?

[oozora]

The stretch sounded simple enough. He observed Tess to mimic her actions. Legs straight, torso bent, arms reaching down. Of course, he's not quite as flexible as she is, but he's got some decent flexibility in his young body. The gamer life style hasn't set in completely yet.

"Urk... Is it supposed to hurt a little?"

[shark_girl]

She wasn't having any trouble touching her toes, but she was also pretty well stretched over the years. Athleticism was her meat and bread, so it was something that came naturally.

"Ngh, yeah. Not so much it's a sharp pain, but it should feel like you're stretched and a little uncomfortable?"

[oozora]

Hiro pushed his muscles a little further to test out what kind of pain it was.

"Yeah, just like that." He groans a little, trying to urge his fingers to touch a toe while not toppling over with little success. "Does that mean it's working?"

[shark_girl]

"As long as it doesn't really hurt, but I don't think you can really overdo it this early on," she said, grunting. After all, the body wasn't accustomed to this sort of activity. Most people didn't even know how to overdo it at first.

She switched to pull her arms over her head. "Ok, like this. We're going to stretch all your muscles before you sit on the machine, got it?" And she was going to be downright methodical about it.

[oozora]

Oh, he's seen this stretch before! In anime. But nonetheless, he is able to mimic her stretch fairly well.

"Got it!" He chimed between stretches.

[shark_girl]

She grinned and nodded, moving from one stretch to the next in a fairly steady progression. Never linger on one thing too long. You didn't want to overdo it, after all. "Good, you'll get the idea. You want to do these each time you work out, or you'll regret it the next day so much."

[oozora]

"Training to train, huh?" Hiro quickly wraps his head around it. It's not rocket science or difficult mechanics after all. "I'll remember that!"

[shark_girl]

"Heh, something like that. Think of it as 'getting your body ready to train,'" she explained while the two of them were moving methodically through each of the stretches. "That way you don't pull a muscle. You can do that if you're not careful, after all."

[oozora]

"You can still pull a muscle when stretching though..." Hiro said. It's not a common occurrence but boy is Hiro out of shape and unlucky in the past. It's honestly a miracle he can still move. "Like when you try to grind in a game but you get your ass kicked by beginner monsters."

[shark_girl]

"Yeah, so don't overdo it. Just take it gradually, ok? Maybe we'll just stick to one rep each for these exercises. It's your fist day," she admitted, considering the possibilities and deciding that seemed like a better idea than jumping in full force right from the start.

[oozora]

"Well... I think I can handle two reps?" Hiro asks. "Just to get a feel for it, I don't think one is enough. One tutorial fight isn't enough to get the feel of the rest of the game."