I chomp down happily on yet another of the thick steaks I asked for, cooked to the perfect point between rare and medium and seasoned amazingly~! I'm really glad I didn't have to eat the guy at the desk who wanted to refuse letting us eat here because of something as stupid as having a bunch of blood on us. It's not like it's the blood of anyone important, and the only blood on my Hoard is their own after their battle! Thankfully his manager had some sense and told him not to bother us. Then again, the annoying person would have made a good appetizer before the feast. So, you know, compromises or whatever.
After washing the bite down with a cup of soda I look at the first people I added to my Hoard. Well, first I have to move the piles of plates and bowls to the table next to us, but when their slack-jawed faces appear from behind the dishes I give them a big smile. No idea why they flinch though, maybe that was their first time facing someone that strong and they're still a bit shaken? "So, I'm guessing that the three of you have questions?"
Shinso gives me a bland look. "Nope, we're good. Definitely not wondering about the fact that everything pointed to you being dead, but you've evidently been alive. Nor are we wondering about the scales, wings, strength, and cannibalism." He takes a sip of his own drink, making a loud popping sound when he releases the straw. "Nope, not curious whatsoever."
I shrug. "Oh, ok then." Since they are clearly not curious I go back to eating, ignoring the strangled noise that comes out of Shinso's throat with another bite, vanishing another quarter of my steak into my stomach. Himiko sighs and rubs small circles on her temple.
"Izumi, that was sarcasm." Her voice is tired, to which I attribute to her lengthy explanation to me and the other three about how when she throws her knives at all of us she isn't seriously trying to hurt us, it's just how she deals with frustrating situations. Which is perfectly understandable, just like sarcasm!
"I'm aware," I admit, rolling my eyes at their disbelieving looks. Rude. "I had an information broker under my protection back when I first Awakened as a dragon, so I got pretty good at knowing what is and isn't sarcasm. It took a few months, but I did it!" I beam proudly at them.
"So wise," Jiro drawls, "clearly you are the most intelligent person at the table."
I blush at the compliment, forcing the rest of the steak into my mouth to avoid saying anything embarrassing. Heh, it's nice to know how highly they think of me even though we've only barely met each other again. Hell, we've barely even gotten past the greetings!
"-haven't seen what happens when someone does, and I don't want to." It takes a bit to get my face back under control and by the time I do I realize that Himiko has been telling the other three something. Meanwhile Mei is focused on trying to build something with the cleared plates, bowls, and utensils, muttering under her breath about how: "I'll show them intelligence…" She's always so competitive~.
"What were you talking about?" I ask curiously, getting a bright smile from my blonde.
"Oh, just telling them about how you being the strongest and prettiest one here means that you are clearly the most respectable!"
If it was possible, I'm sure my face would be combusting due to how hot the blush overtaking it is. As it is I do have to tamp down on the urge to let a puff of flame leak from my lips. "Hehe, aww you…"
Whoops, my wings popped out. While I work on trying to calm myself again, Himiko turns back to the other three and raises an eyebrow with a 'what did I tell you' sort of expression. But that speaks for itself considering that I am rather powerful and beautiful~. And in modern society strength determines respectability, so that does make perfect sense. Especially since I'm a dragon and therefore much stronger than humans~. Hehehe~.
I'm pulled out of my appreciation for my property by Kodai tapping me on the head with the flat part of a food knife that she used her quirk on, turning to look at her while she shrinks it back to normal. Without needing to push her fingertips together!
I clap my hands together, causing everyone to jump in their chairs. Except Mei, of course. I choose to ignore her muttering about her 'utensil launching baby' as she fiddles with some stuff. She deserves to have fun. "You've kept up with the training I wrote down for you!"
"Of course we have," Kodai says with a dip of her head. "You're our friend, and your ideas have helped us grow our quirks to a level we wouldn't have achieved otherwise."
I send an expectant look at the other two, getting an eye roll from Jiro and a sigh from Shinso. "No shit, Green. We've literally had years to figure things out, and most of the stuff you wrote has been more or less accurate. At the very least it's pointed us in the right direction."
"As long as I get a response I can take control now," the tired looking boy says. "I don't have to word it as a question anymore, which makes it a lot harder for people to resist it." I keep my expectant expression on and am rewarded with another sigh. "Yes, I can alter memories. Short term only though, the last hour or so."
"Yes!" I pump my arm, ignoring how uncomfortable the admission seems to make him. Quirks are nothing to be ashamed of! "I knew there had to be a reason it was called 'Brainwash' instead of 'Mind Control'! If it was just a case of the quirk councilor being lazy then I would have had to roast them!" I give him a curious look. "What have you been doing to keep the activation requirements of your quirk hidden?"
He blinks at me for a moment before smirking. "I've been making people think I can control them when they become confused. As long as I do or say something random before taking control they have no idea. Especially if I delay taking control for a bit."
I laugh at that, catching sight of someone at the front desk that I didn't think I would be seeing so soon, making my smile widen into a sharp-toothed grin. I half-stand and wave my hand wildly to draw their attention, laughing again when they immediately notice me and blanch hard enough that they very nearly fall to the floor. "Hawks! Come join us and meet my Hoard!"
The red-winged newbie shoots a look over his shoulder for some reason before slowly making his way over, his feathers puffed up a bit. It makes his wings look really soft, I wonder if he'd be upset if I asked to pet them? Probably not, I'm pretty sure we're friends. We've flown together a couple times, at least.
I pull him down into the seat Mei vacated on my left - probably to get stuff for her newest baby - before waving at our personal waiter. "Give us a few plates of wings! Herb, barbecue, and lemon!" The man looks between me and Hawks for a moment before rushing to the cooking area to give our order. The staff here are so good at their jobs! I should make sure the DAB knows to leave them a big tip.
"Fucking hell, you're the number three hero…" I blink at Jiro for a moment before turning to look at Hawks, whose eyes are taking in the presence of my Hoard. No doubt he's in awe of the collection I've gathered despite not making an active effort to obtain them. But wait, he's ranked number three?
"You're ranked third?" I ask the man in surprise. "But aren't you new? I can clearly remember you panicking after I threw Mei at you."
"So do I!" Said inventor shouts from the table next to ours, interlocking a fork and a spoon together with the fork's prongs before stuffing them into a bowl and pulling a lever made from yet another spoon. She cackles while the strange construction shoots utensils from between two plates at the abandoned booth across from us. "It's why I've been trying to put together some hover shoe babies! My jetpack baby is nice and all, but it's not really useful if someone decides to throw me in the air because they're embarrassed."
I give the girl a blazing smile, smoke leaking from the corners of my mouth. "What exactly would I have had to be embarrassed about back then, Mei? To the best of my memory nothing happened."
My inventor shivers despite there being no reason she should be cold. In fact, if she's cold maybe I should warm her up? She answers before I can offer though, so I suppose I won't make the offer anymore. "Nope! I don't remember anything either! In fact, I don't remember what we were just talking about! Where are we!?" She looks around wildly and I nod. Good.
I tap my chin with a claw. "What were we talking about…?"
"How about how you know the number three hero," Jiro suggests with a lazy drawl with a raised eyebrow, one hand spinning a jack in small but fast circles.
"Oh, that?" I wave my hand dismissively. "I made a volcano and he showed up with a bunch of water-based heroes. After that he treated me to lunch and we had an invigorating race."
Four suspicious looks get directed at him for some reason, prompting him to rapidly wave his hands in front of himself. "No no no! It is not what it sounds like! We showed up to put out the fire she started before we realized it was her who did it, then we grabbed food while I questioned her. After we finished, we raced to stretch our wings! And we had the Water Hose heroes with us up until the race! It's one hundred percent not what you're thinking of!"
I tilt my head at him. "What are they thinking of?" He pointedly looks away, staring at the doors to the kitchen and watching as our waiter carries out three massive platters each holding a different pile of chicken wings. Not getting an answer from him, I turn to the others. They suddenly become just as interested in the food as Hawks is, leaving me only the option to pout at them. It's entirely ineffective though!
"Fine, be like that," I grumble to myself before perking up. "Oh yeah! I need to update your marks! I hold out my hand only to be distracted by the platter of the lemon pepper wings being placed in front of me. I immediately start digging in, making a mental note of Hawks and the others finally getting around to introducing themselves - well, my Hoard introducing themselves since apparently they've all heard of the number three hero - except for Himiko and Mei since they apparently already met the man? When did that happen?
Listening to their explanation, I can only stare blankly at them for a few moments. "I was sleep flying? How did that happen?" I'm pretty sure I've never had any issues when I've slept before. Surely someone would have mentioned it before now, right?
"Endeavor was an idiot," Hawks says matter of factly, causing me to nod.
"Makes sense." I turn back to my food with the mystery solved. After all, with how violent of a hero Endeavor is, it's no surprise that he'd do something stupid in an effort to try and surpass All Might. Him somehow causing me to sleep fly? Sure, why not. Nobody can predict what an idiot will do.
I ignore the deadpan glares everyone other than Mei shoot at me, content to finish off my current platter. A quick glance shows that Hawks has been making steady progress on his own plate of herb and garlic wings. Meanwhile the other five have barely touched their plate of barbecue. "Yoink!" I claim their platter for myself and put it on top of the now empty one, ensuring the ranch that came with them is put to good use.
"Where the hell are you putting it all…?" Himiko wonders aloud with a glare at my stomach.
I pick up a wing to raise in salute. "They go straight to my flames!" I think. Not like I actually know, but it's probably something like that. It's not like I have someone to explain this sort of thing to me.
We take the rest of the time to talk, Hawks slipping away after finishing his platter with the promise of meeting up to fly another day. No idea why he looked worried when he left, or why Jiro's jacks were twitching, but if it was important I'm sure someone would have said something.
After several hours of getting caught up with each others' lives: them telling me about how they're going to go for a hero course in high school and me telling them everything about being a dragon and the perks of it, including the fact that they are part of my Hoard and what it means, I remember that I need to update their marks. They hand them over reluctantly, but it's not like they're going to break or anything, I have excellent control of my flames!
I start with Shinso's, pulling one of the scales off my chest before breathing a small tongue of flame onto the hair pin. It's not hot enough to fully melt it, but it does make it malleable enough for me to manipulate. I don't do much though, simply sliding my scale into the metal and folding the gold over the edges to keep it in place. I lightly brush my scaled fingers along its length, imprinting their pattern across it while it rapidly cools. I nod in satisfaction and put it on the table in front of him to wait until the last of the heat dissipates before moving on to Jiro and Kodai's.
I can't do as much with Jiro's as I did with Shinso's, but I do completely encompass the scale in the gold and press it air tight. Kodai's is the easiest for me to decorate since it just needs to still be able to fit around her wrist. So I decide to get a bit fancier, using my claws to carve the gold so it resembles my tail and putting my scale on the tip. Taking a look at them, I can't help but nod in satisfaction. It feels really good to make things. Especially when it's to show everyone that these people are mine.
I give the trio a lopsided smile while they gape at their marks. "That takes care of that. Do the three of you want me to give you your calling cards now?" The deep flush that overtakes their faces is so funny that I have to laugh.