escordvi | [semi-open] 💣 they're gonna clean up your looks

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[semi-open] 💣 they're gonna clean up your looks

Who: The PLUS ULTRA! crew & friends.
Status: Semi-open.
Where: The Mighty Explosion God Ship Bomb!! ship that is docked in Eltrut or Elah. Or the small cottage the crew owns in Elah.
What: A catch-all mingle log for March for the PLUS ULTRA! crew and any friends happening by. Some Manta Board quest prompts have been included too.
Warnings: Tba.

⛵ Like the rest of the ships around the docks lately, the explosion of sea slugs has taken over the hero's ship as well. It's covered in what seems like hundreds of playful and colourful sea slugs. They are all over the deck, climbing up the mast and leaving strings of sticky slime all over the place. The slugs will either need to be removed somehow or killed. And the sea slug slime mopped up...

If crewmates and friends are looking for partners to go harvesting underwater pineapples with the ship can also be found in Eltrut waters where the special pineapples can be found. Go swimming or diving to collect as many underwater pineapples for the ship stores as possible.

🌼 If not on the ship, the crew can sometimes be found at their small cottage on the paladin's leviathan, Elah. The cottage is small but happens to be well kept despite four very unruly and busy teenagers living inside it. They have a small garden growing outside as well as various plants and pots all over the terrace.

And they seem to be preparing to build some kind of new addition to the cottage soon too as there is a pile of stone and wood stacked up outside. And an apple-shaped sheep keeps walking around too. Baaah.

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[... Oh kami, this boy is a massive dork. Watching Izuku try to mimic the Anything Goes stance he takes got a smirk out of the martial artist. It's a lot cooler when he does it, it looks goofy on Izuku.]

Of course I can? I've been training all my life in martial arts. It'd be more surprising if I couldn't.

[Since Izuku asked nicely, he might as well give the nerd a pointer or too.]

Tell me Izuku. What's the most important thing someone's got to keep in mind when it comes to fighting?

[He totally looks like a goofy massive dork but at least he tries to make the stance! He's half decent at keeping his balance and he mocks a punch.

Then he glances at Ranma.]

Ahh... To respect your opponent and never underestimate the situation?

[That's one of the most important things he keeps in mind, anyway.]

But against a wall... I would assume your breathing.

[He made a face at that. Yeah, it was a rhetorical question, but he was hoping for a better answer that those. They weren't bad. They just weren't good either. Cause it's Izuku, he'll let him down easy.]

Those are pretty important, but not what I'm thinking.

[Ranma walked back some, hands relaxed at his side.]

Control. That's one of the most important tools a combatant can have in their arsenal. Take me for example. Not to brag or anything... [But he will anyway as he jabbed a thumb in the direction of the wall.]

That wall? I've broken bigger and stronger things than that. But strength, speed and anything else? They're useless, downright detrimental if you don't know how to control it. If I couldn't be able to gauge and limit my strength, I could break things just by bumping up against them, or shatter people's bones if I try touching them. People think martial arts is all about the physical training. They're wrong. It comes with mental and spiritual exercises that any good martial artist worth his salt undergo.

[With all the mental comments and occasional vocal of Izuku being a dork, Ranma is one himself when it comes to fighting and martial arts.]

[His answer is a very lawfully good, goody-two-shoes answer. Yep.

Ranma's explanation has Izuku nodding quietly. He's a little nervous here because control is one of Izuku's biggest issues. He takes a notebook out from somewhere and starts to jot down a few of the things that Ranma says.]

I'm aware that there is more to combat and physical strength then just raw sheer power. It's being able to find a balance between the mind and body and heart that can be ah... A little tricky for me sometimes.

[He looks up at Ranma from his notes.]

How do you ... keep control of yourself? Say in ... an emotional situation? What do you then? How do you break "the wall" like that?

[Lucky for Izuku, he's got a chaotically good fighter to teach him the ropes. Just be glad it isn't Ranma's father here. It makes 'clean-up-a-bunch-of-trash-off-a-beach' look like child's play.

Oh? That's an interesting habit. Someone takes notes, hm? Hopefully Izuku doesn't mind if Ranma tried to peak over to see what all's written down. But regardless, he took a careful study over Izuku's frame, scratching his chin.]

From what I've got to guess, you've only been fighting for yay-amount of years, around one or two? Give or take? [He waved his hand in a 'yay-nay' motion, since he isn't sure.] I've had all my life to learn how to hone in on how to control myself and keep a cool head. All it takes is concentration and clearing one's mind. Meditation's a good start, even if it's a bit boring at first.

[As much of a dunce he can be, if there's anything Ranma knows the inner workings of, it's fighting. If someone's genuinely asking how to improve their fighting prowess, he's not about to turn away someone he's cool with.]

Although if there's a situation that's so bad I need to make sure I don't get so emotional, I've got a technique that lets me drain my emotions and emit cold ki off my body. Long as I maintain it, I can't feel anything.

[... Of course, not everything he says might be useful to Izuku or anyone else.]

[Ranma is more than welcome to look over at Izuku's notes. He's taken perfect diction of what Ranma was saying including a few notes of his own.]

Ah, yes. Just a few years... I had to catch up to my classmates for school so I did a lot of my own personal training with my mentor over the course of one summer.

[Which honestly should show how fast Izuku improves because he's pretty strong despite that. But he is a rather raw fighter. He relies on his pure strength- a lot. He could use a little more grace.]

I'd like to say I'm well aware of my body. But I've never thought about anything like meditation or clearing my mind. Sometimes... it's hard for me to focus when I get upset.

[Izuku does his usual stance and poses a punch and then a kick.]

Could you teach me?

[Nodding his head along to what Izuku was telling him. Impressive... He and Izuku are a lot more like than he initially thought. Both of them are quick on the uptake when it comes to training and getting stronger. The difference being is that Izuku relies a lot more on brute strength, while Ranma had been trained in being an allrounder and a jack-of-all-trade in terms of fighting.]

What, help you meditate? I don't mind giving a few pointers.

[... He's completely forgotten that he was supposed to be helping Izuku with the wall.]

First step is to find a calm and safe place. Is here good enough, or do we need to go somewhere else.

[Yeah, they're just standing here with a giant round hole in the wall of the cottage. They'll get back to that eventually.

He nods eagerly.]

Calm and safe place... Well, nothing is safer than the cottage right now? Or should we find a serene waterfall to stand under like in the movies?

[This should be fine!]

[It isn't a normal day in Ranma's life if there isn't a hole in the wall near him. He shook his head with a soft titter.]

Tsk tsk. Simple, innocent Izuku. The stuff they show in the movies is amateur hour. The way I did it had me sit on a giant block of ice buck-naked under a raging waterfall while Pop threw boulders at me to make me concentrate.

[Said with a sagely smile while placing his hand on Izuku's shoulder.]

... That's a little advanced for you, and I don't think there's many waterfalls here to begin with. Plus I'd rather not deal with my curse. So here works.

[He starts sitting down criss-cross applesauce, motioning for Izuku to do the same.]

Wh-What...? Saotome-kun. What ...?

[WHAT IS YOUR LIFE]

Alright, I'm fine with trying it here. And not doing... any of that.

[He moves to sit across from Ranma and mimics his pose.]

[Everyone has their own means of getting stronger. Some eat the hair of an all-powerful superhero to get their powers. Others go through grueling training from birth in a series of exercises and trials that violate at least 15 kinds of conventions.]

Works for me.

[Mainly because he doesn't know if he'll be able to find large enough boulders to chuck at the green bean in such a short amount of time.]

First step, close your eyes and block out any outside distractions. Follow your breathing and build a rhythm to keep track of.

[In comparison they do have some pretty messed up backstories, don't they. Woof.]

Right. I'll try my best...

[Izuku closes his eyes and tries to do just that. He tries to calm himself down enough and not pay attention to anything outside of what he's doing. But ... That's a little difficult because Izuku's brain runs a million miles a minute all the time. How does someone with brain-hyperspeed stop braining?]

Ah... Saotome-kun?

[That's the price to pay when being a shounen protag.

No response. Not from the other teen, no. The only sounds present in Izuku's ear is the breezing winds and the chirps of nearby birds. He'd be forgiven for thinking Ranma up and left...

... But should he open his eyes, he'll see Ranma's still there, meditating...

... upside down. On his head.

Why are you like this Ranma?]

Eh?!

[Upside down?! Izuku stares... Now he really can't focus on his meditation.]

S-Saotome-kun? How are you doing that...?

[Those must be some serious neck muscles.]

Doing what?

[He asked, eyes still close, body still defying physics by staying like he is.]

You're meditating... Upside down. On your head. Does that make it more effective?

[Oh. That.]

Forces me to maintain focus. Not for beginners.

[Whoa...]

That's incredible. You must have trained for a long time to do that without hurting your neck.

[Shrug... Or, well, tries to do something close to one while doing the lotus position upside down.]

Took me a long time to do it, but I finally managed to get it by the time I was three. Lot of my training toughened me up so I can be strong enough to handle the really serious stuff.

[What the heck was Izuku doing when he was three years old? ... Following Katsuki around like a lost puppy. When he could have been getting those sick gains...]

That's it, Saotome-kun. I'm going to make it my new goal to be able to meditate on my head just like you can by the end of the summer.

[Izuku...? Why?]

[...]

Sorry to disappoint ya, but it'd probably take you a lot longer than just the end of the summer. Plus the training I went to be able to is a little...

[Flashbacks to him as a child, in the lotus position upside down, being sit on by his father while holding two boulders over him. And then crushed underneath all that weight.]

... out of your league...

Eh? Are you sure? I mean... I was able to catch up to years of training over one summer before...

[Then again he was a little wary about Ranma's idea of training before-]

Maybe by the end of the year then?

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[semi-open] 💣 they're gonna clean up your looks

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