thelegion | [Video] in his cocoon stage

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[Video] in his cocoon stage

[A rather tired looking face rose up into a video feed, surrounded by a soft yellow mass. It looked as if his head had been shoved into a Coney Island cutout--but, the cutout was absent of anything but plush yellow fabric. He shifted slightly, sniffing with what clearly looked to be disinterest.]

It sounds like you've all had a good run, so far. Despite that, I hope no one thinks they're beyond a little tutoring and critique.

[He seemed to retreat a bit into the yellow fabric.]

My name is Aizawa Shouta and I'm a Professional Hero. If you need advice or even a good place to hone your skills while you're not currently on a mission--I'm in my biome and I've had it fitted for the sake of physical and strategic training.

[The entire time, he struggled desperately to emote and yet--nothing happened.]

Alright, that seems good enough to get the point across. Talk to me.

[--Without a hint of dramatic flair, Aizawa's feed cut.]

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[Tadashi rubs his chin thoughtfully.]

I'm not an expert in child psychology, but I've dabbled in it enough to know that children are generally a lot more adaptable than adults. But I might not be old enough that my brain's lost all of its plasticity, so hey, patience and crossed fingers might be enough to see some improvement.

[He resettles his baseball cap and grins in relief.]

Thanks, I really appreciate your willingness to help. I'd like to be able to not worry about lighting things on fire by accident, you know?

Fire manipulation? Well, I can certainly see why your particular ability could be problematic.

[From what he gathered, Tadashi was well educated enough. Dropping biological theory in the middle of a casual conversation would be a little on the tough side for anyone not more familiar with the topic--

That or Tadashi just read a lot of science articles.

He supposed he'd give the man a little credit.]

But, I'll warn you now--I'm probably going to put you through a few scary ringers since you're an adult. These things tend to require a sort of visceral, instinctive approach.

Fire manipulation in theory; 'fire generation' so far in practice.

[He raises his right arm to display the sleek technological gauntlet on his forearm to the camera.]

Brainiac 5 built this for me when I got here because I kept lighting the bed on fire every time I woke up from medical sedation. [A wry smile twists his mouth.] I'm guessing the first thing you're going to do is to take it off me, so I'll bring a fire extinguisher and my breathing techniques.

[He lowers his arm, then raises it again to rub the back of his neck. Also again. Clearly a nervous habit.]

Do you want to know the circumstances of the psychological block? I'd assume they're relevant, but you're the expert here.

Fire is an extremely primal force. It's likely triggering base instincts in you and, at the same time, confusing you. Usually with quirks or powers that 'transmute' substances in some capacity, your chemical balances shift to make things happen. I can't explain the precise science but from what I'm used to you could explain these things with simple chemistry and biology.

[He said 'simple', but the complex reactions that would come up as a result of stress could make a whole stream of chemicals to screw with someone's power. He shrugged.

Looking over Tadashi, Erashead thought things over. Endeavor could have taught the young man better, but that man wasn't suited as an educator at all. That man literally wreathed himself in flames constantly, protecting himself with chemicals in his body that prevented any damage. He would probably have plenty of advice for handling the psychological aspect of things even if he wouldn't be able to do so politely and respectfully.]

But, no, your hand-piece is going to stay on. I'm just going to find some matches and lighters for you to practice with.

Dr. Gym'll said something similar, which is why Dr. Ry'kerr and I have been doing talk-therapy alone instead of also trying to manage it with medication. Trying to alter my brain's biochemical reactions wouldn't help because even if my powers weren't influencing the chemical shifts, they'd burn off the medication unless I was taking enough to effectively make me a drooling zombie.

[Tadashi huffs out a breath, clearly aggravated.]

I'm not sure what the Time Trapper was thinking, sticking me with fire powers. Literally anything else would have made more sense.

[He looks relieved to hear that Aizawa isn't going to take his gauntlet away immediately.]

That sounds doable.

[Aizawa was no pharmacist but even he knew the negative side-effects medication could have on one's emotions.

Though he did know that emotions influenced chemical balances and vice versa, so--]

I've found that some of the powers given here aren't necessarily directly tied soley to the body like what I'm used to.

[He offered a shrug, expecting that to be a comfort.]

If it's purely psychological, that may even be better. Now, let me ask you a question--are you undergrad or a graduate student?

[Tadashi laughs.]

Yeah, I've been looking into the scientific discoveries of this place's past, and I don't even know if they could be duplicated back home. Some things just seem to be so fundamentally different that it's a wonder that we can physically function in this world without melting into a pile of goo.

[He rubs his chin again.]

On the other hand, the Time Trapper does seem to have altered most of us to give us these powers, so it's possible that we were rebuilt from the ground up during the whole transfer-between-universes process...

[That's a creepy thought. At least Aizawa's question brings him back out of theoreticals to their current conversation.]

Technically I'm a graduate student. SFIT -- er, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, sorry -- has an accelerated program that, well, accelerates students through toward their graduate degrees. I've finished all of my undergraduate work, so I could say that I've got a bachelor's in robotic engineering, but I'm not technically a "graduate" of the program until I finish my master's or doctorate.

[Aizawa had simply accepted the technology of the Legionnaires as inevitable. He had dealt with pretty advanced technology in his life and it had all seemed formless by human standards. It was difficult to understand unless one took advanced degrees in engineering.

He was a professional hero--so, the best he could do was understand relatively simple theories. Anything beyond that and he'd have to drop his work to study. Even so, Aizawa was somewhat knowledgeable of hard sciences. He had to be, at least, to engineer his own tools and work with his costume.]

Ahhh, I see. [He made no comment on the Time Trapper. There was one villain rumored to have been able to grant powers to others but only after stealing them from people who were born with them. He didn't play around with that thought. He should have had a visceral emotional reaction to it but it seemed like a fair concept--in the right hands.]

That explains a few things about you right away. When you tackle projects--how do you begin mapping out theories and how do you advance towards solutions? Do you have one method you prefer or multiple ones?

Tadashi takes a moment to consider how best to word his answer.]

If I'm free to choose my own project, my usual starting point is to pick a problem that needs a solution. For example, I mentioned that my primary focus at school was robotics engineering. My thesis project is the development of Baymax, which is a healthcare companion robot. I wanted to build something that could help people and keep them alive in emergency situations.

[Tadashi has to pause a moment, swallowing to make sure his voice remains steady. He can talk about his parents these days, but it's hard to disagree that he invented Baymax because he wished that someone had invented something like him before the accident. If there had just been someone around to help...

From there, I spend some time brainstorming possible solutions. I like to try and approach the problem from different angles, including both obvious solutions and solutions that are more off-the-wall. From there, it's mostly a matter of hard work and not being discouraged by setbacks. I'm willing to put in the work, even when it just seems like grinding against a brick wall, and setbacks sometimes have a way of leading you to better solutions.

[That was a lot of talking. Better sum it up.]

So I guess that I'd say I have the one method I prefer, but it's pretty flexible in its implementation.

[There were plenty of heroes who used their quirks to further the development of scientific theory and engineering. Aizawa saw good reason for those people to feel pride when it came to the use of their abilities. Really--anyone who put themselves forward in a field with everything they had was worthy of admiration.

Tadashi sounded like a good fellow, at least. Even so, the best of humanity still had its faults. There were geniuses who took long routes to come to simple conclusions from time to time. No matter how admirable someone could be, their reasoning could work against them.]

So, you make an effort to practice orthodox and nontraditional methods equally. [Hard work was something a little more difficult to prove but Aizawa also knew that it was important to give people chances.]

Well, fortunately for you--I prefer tried and true methods until nontraditional approaches become a necessity. That's where the line of my discrimination begins.

You're free to question my practices at any time--in fact, it's encouraged. If you come to understand the reasoning behind an exercise, then you'll probably come a few steps closer to implementing it into your behavior for a positive change in yourself.

That said--hard work will be something of a necessity of a man your age. It'll be harder for you as you already understand.

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[Video] in his cocoon stage

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