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zukuthehero · 5 years ago

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Chapter Five- Decisions Decisions

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Aizawa POV

I sighed, picking at my bandages. So many bandages.

It could’ve been worse, according to the doctors I’d narrowly avoided damage to my quirk factor when I’d been smashed down. It was a very close thing.

I was, frankly, relieved, I’d gained a small scar under my eye, but it was much better than not being able to use my quirk.

Besides, I’d rather get hurt a thousand times than allow a single one of my student’s to be harmed.

I sighed, I won’t let this happen again. My poor students, they weren’t supposed to deal with this yet. They were kids. I hate that they’ve already had to face the pain of losing a classmate.

My mind flashed to the loss I suffered when I was in school before shaking my head.

Not now. I can’t get lost in memories right now.

I need to get ready to go teach class.

“Knock Knock.”

I looked up to see All Might in his shrunken form standing at the door.

“Yagi,” I grumbled. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thought I’d stop by to check on you. Classes are starting up again and all.”

I scowled, “I’m fine thanks.”

I grabbed my shirt and struggled for a moment to pull it on. I’d been half way through dressing when the number one hero had shown up unannounced.

“Here, let me help.”

I jerked when All Might took the shirt.

“I don’t need the help, I’m just getting ready.”

“You looked like you were struggling a bit, just let me help you put it on.”

I glared up at Yagi (stupid tall hero even shrunken), “I’m fine.”

All Might ignored me, helping me pull my shirt on despite my scowl and grumbles.

I ignored how I might have definitely needed the help, “I didn’t need the help.”

“Right, uh, sorry for bothering you. I’m sure the students were worried, so I just wanted to be able to tell them that you’re alright.”

My eye twitched, “I’ll be telling them myself when I go in to teach them.”

All Might stared for a moment, “You’re not going in.”

“Yes I am. I have students to teach.”

“No, you’re not, you’re injured! Your whole face is wrapped in bandages! And so are your arms, Aizawa you’re in no state to teach.”

“It looks worse than it is, my arms are nearly healed and so is my face. Recover Girl was able to heal a lot of the damage. In a few days, maybe a week, I’ll be able to take off the bandages.”

All Might frowned, “Still, you should rest until you can take them off. Better safe than sorry.”

“I’ve never missed a day of teaching and I’m not starting now. You can shove it Yagi.”

I grabbed my bag, “Is there any new info on the attack?”

All Might scowled, “Not much, all the villains are still missing, and no new info was found on the Nomu. But don’t change the subject! You shouldn’t be going in today! I’m covering your class.”

“You’re injured too so you hardly get to talk, and you’re definitely not covering my class. I’m going in.”

I glared at All Might, who glared right back before sighing.

“I’m not gonna be able to stop you, am I?”

“Nope. Bye.”

I headed for the door.

“Fine. At least promise to take it easy. It won’t do anyone any good for you to delay your recovery because you’re stubborn.

I rolled my eyes, “Yes fine, I’ll be careful, happy Al- Yagi?”

“Satisfied,” He sighed.

“Great, I’m heading to class.”

All Might shook his head. “I’ll drive you,” he grumbled resigned.

Izuku POV

I walked through the halls of school, heading to my classroom.

‘Maybe if I focus more on kicking? I should still learn about pressure points and the like, it’ll take a lot of practice to get accurate, maybe add something as a weapon for just in case? Weapons can really give you the edge you need in a fight against a superior opponent, of course that’s assuming that I can get good enough with my weapon or it’d just hinder my progress. Of course, I have practiced some with a bo staff, but not nearly enough to be considered proficient, I’ll have to practice more again. Plus working on my new style for One for- er, I should probably also think of it as Enhancement, better safe than sorry, especially since I have the bad habit of mumbling.’

I shook my head as I realized I was in front of my classroom’s door.

“Right,” I mumbled, “Class now.”

I carefully released the power of One for All I’d been holding in my hands.

It barely hurt to hold it there now, and I’d been experimenting in spreading it up my arms. If I spread it out more than it hurts even less, but it was also harder to hold there. It’d take more practice to get it right.

For now though, I opened the door to the class.

The other students looked up immediately.

First thing I noticed was how subdued the room was, no one was really talking.

Tsu shot me a careful look and I flashed her a small, nervous, smile.

“Hey Midoriya, how are you doing?”

I looked over at Kirishima, “I’m alright I guess. You?”

He offered me a wane smile, “Alright. Wasn’t injured at all like you were. It was super manly how you fought.”

I nodded nervously, “Th-Thanks.”

I quickly moved to my seat, slinking past Kacchan and sliding into my chair, putting my bag at my feet.

Ashido, Uraraka, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu weren’t in the room yet. I hope they’re alright.

I carefully didn’t look back at the other empty seat. The weight of it settling in my stomach.

I started fiddling with one of the new pens my dad got me. Twisting the lid around and slowly pulling the pen apart.

Uraraka was the next to arrive, Ashido right behind her. Both nodded to the students, Uraraka looking over at me worriedly.

I offered her another nervous smile and started putting the pen back together again.

I really like these pens, lots of parts, good to fiddle with without making noise.

Kacchan usually got annoyed and destroyed them after a few days though.

Yaoyorozu was next, pausing to look over the class, a small frown on her face.

“Um, I brought a snack for everyone. I know things have been hard and thought that maybe we could all enjoy a nice treat?”

She looked nervous, hovering at the front with a box in her hands.

“That sounds great,” Ashido said brightly, her smile slightly forced, “I’ll help you pass them out.”

A flash of relief crossed Yaoyorozu’s face before she nodded, “That would be wonderful. I’m unsure if anyone has any allergies so I made sure that they are all vegetarian and nut free. There are chocolate, vanilla, and green tea mochi, you can pick your favorite of them.”

The students brightened a bit with this new addition, and Jiro arrived in time to pick out a green tea mochi for herself.

I took a chocolate one and watched Tsu take a vanilla one.

We shared another look, both of us offering each other a reassuring smile.

I felt a bit better, the class would come together. We wouldn’t lose anyone else.

And that was the scene that Aizawa arrived too.

The students nibbling on their mochi, sitting quietly, a few students talking quietly amongst themselves.

I straightened when I saw Aizawa at the door.

“Aizawa-sensei!” I said in surprise.

I’m glad Aizawa-sensei is alright, but he’s still covered in bandages.

I blinked when I noticed All Might (in his hero form) standing at the door.

“Ah, just making sure your teacher made it safely to your class!” He posed with a big thumbs up and his eternal smile in place. “Well, places to be. Behave young heroes!”

All Might left quickly.

Aizawa sighed, “All right class.”

“Should you be here!?” Ashido asked worriedly, “You’re covered in bandages!”

“I’m perfectly fine. Nearly fully healed. Now then. We still have important things to discuss.”

The class went quiet, for once without the need for Aizawa-sensei to use his quirk. I leaned forward to hear, this seems important.

“First things first, all of you will be having an appointment with Hound Dog. A schedule has been set up and you’ll be informed of when your appointment is privately. Whatever you discuss with him will be strictly between you and him. You have no need to worry about anyone else hearing about it.”

The other students murmured, some sounded hesitant but I looked over at Tsu, remembering our conversation before Recovery Girl had interrupted.

Yeah, we kinda need this appointment.

“Next, I regret to inform you that the majority of the villains captured in the USJ attack have escaped.”

“WHAT!?” Kaminari cried, his eyes wide.

“The warp villain managed to retrieve most of them, though the Nomu is still in holding.”

The students murmured again, this time in fear. They thought they were safe, but the villains had escaped!?

This wasn’t good, my stomach twisted, how did this happen?

“Which leads me to my next subject. The Sports Festival.”

I frowned, how did those connect?

Aizawa studied the class, “It has not been decided if we will hold the Sports Festival this year.”

“What? Why?” asked Hagakure.

“Think about it,” I said, understanding now. “We were just attacked by villains, one with a warp quirk who’s capabilities are unknown. The villains captured have all escaped, it’s unknown if they have other’s with more powerful quirks, and if they have anyone else like Nomu. The Sports Festival would be a prime target for them.”

“Oh no,” murmured Ashido, “That’s not good. Shouldn’t we cancel it then?”

Aizawa was watching quietly.

I frowned, “Well, that depends, the Sports Festival is usually filled with Pro heroes looking for new interns and checking out the new talent. So, on one hand it’s a prime target, but on the other it’s also the worst place for a group of villains to be. It’s likely that we’ll have multiple of the top ten at least in the area, so attacking then would be basically asking to get caught. It really just depends on what their goals might be if they decided to attack. If they succeeded…”

“We don’t care Deku.”

I flushed, “Um yeah… sorry…”

“Thank you for Shutting Up now nerd. Honestly.” Kacchan huffed in front of me.

I sunk down in his seat. I didn’t mean to ramble

“That’s exactly right Midoriya, thank you for explaining.”

I peaked up to see my teacher nodding at me, a small smile curling his lips.

“The Sports Festival has a risk, however small, but the school has decided it isn’t appropriate for us to decide. Thus, we are leaving it up to you. You were the class attacked and the class affected by the attack. You are the one’s who lost a classmate.”

The class went silent.

He sighed, “Regardless of what you decide, I’ll be putting you through training from hell.”

I blinked.

“I won’t let something like that happen again. I was supposed to keep you safe and yet you all lost a classmate in that attack. I’m going to train you until you drop so that never happens again.”

I swallowed, that sounded intense but… but I need that training.

“You have till the end of the day to decide. Just let us know. You can vote for the Festival to happen even if you don’t participate, or you can vote for it to be cancelled entirely. You can decide to have the Festival and for you to participate as well. Whatever makes you all most comfortable.”

He studied all of the students, “I’ll let you have the rest of homeroom to decide.”

With that Aizawa-sensei pulled out his yellow sleeping bag and sat against the wall.

I watched as the class started talking.

“Do we have to participate, like, I don’t care if others want to but I don’t really want to myself.”

“This is scary! What if they attack again?”

“Is it safe for us? I don’t know if I want to.”

“Come on! It’s manliness! We can do it, those villains won’t get us down!”

“Maybe we could do it to honor Mineta?”

“I’m scared, it’s scary, what if they come back.”

“We could all wear something purple? To honor him.”

“Honestly I hated him already but you’re right, he didn’t deserve to die, we should try and honor him somehow.”

I frowned as their voices blended together.

It really does depend on what the villains might want, honestly if they’re trying to hurt us attacking and not attacking both have advantages and disadvantages.

“What do you think Deku?”

I looked up at Uraraka.

“Oh um… I don’t know.”

“Do you think they’ll attack again?”

“Well- uh- it- it depends. It’s all ab- all about what their goals are. Uh, if they’re trying to hurt us then attacking them would give them an immediate base to harm us and with their warper they might be able to escape if they plan carefully. On the other hand, if they’re willing to wait then they could use the Festival to get info on us and our quirks then attack us at a later date, one at a time or in a group ag….again…”

I trailed off, realizing everyone else had gone quiet and was staring at me. “Um…”

“That’s… scary Deku.”

“Wow, I didn’t even think of that.”

“That’s really scary Midoriya!”

“I- I mean,” I hesitated. “Their target was originally All Might, but like, they’re villains. So, they might decide that we’re trouble and target us later to get rid of us before we’re a real threat. Or they might just want to show that we couldn’t beat them. Or maybe they want revenge. Or they could try recruitment. It all depends on their goals…”

“So… do you think we should have the Festival?”

All the students were staring at me.

“I- I don’t- I don’t know,” I whispered, sinking down. “It…” I took a deep breath. “I- I think- I want to participate. I…. I don’t want to be afraid. But I also don’t think… I don’t think we should show off the real power of our quirks.”

“So what?” Kirishima asked, “Limit ourselves?”

“Um, I guess? I would also be a good exercise I guess. To limit what skills we demonstrate, it means we’ll have to be better in other ways to make up for it.”

“Hmm, that’s a good idea!” Ashido chirped. “And we could totally do like, purple nail polish or something to honor Mineta too. We’ll fight for him! Remind the villains why we’re gonna be heroes!”

“So, does everyone agree then?” Iida chopped his hands, “Let’s take a vote. If you want the Festival to occur raise your hand.”

It was slow but everyone eventually raised their hands. Izuku one of the last.

“Alright, it’s unanimous. Aizawa-sensei!”

He lifted his head, “Yeah?”

“We have decided. The Sports Festival will go on!”

“Yay. I’ll tell the other teachers.” He yawned. “You all… get your books out. English is about to start.”

++++++++++++++++++++

I stretched as the others started gathering their things.

Class had been interesting. The teachers were giving us today off before intense training started. I was excited.

I managed to ask Aizawa-sensei to talk to him after class so I’d be staying behind until he returned from the teacher’s lounge.

Everyone was hovering awkwardly now.

I get it, none of us really want to be the first to leave our safe place. None of them had left to eat lunch, staying in here the whole time.

It felt safer to stick together, but now we’d be separating, heading home.

I don’t like it.

Todoroki was the first to head to the door and opened it, only to pause at the large group of students at the door.

“What do you extras want?” Kacchan snapped.

“You can’t call everyone you don’t know extras!” Iida cried.

“I’m just here to check out the competition.” A purple haired boy said, leering at us.

Everyone tucked closer together.

“You all think you’re so special?”

“Look at them,

“Gosh, your Class 1-A. The big strong class that fought the villains. HA, don’t make me laugh, our class could’ve done it easily, you all are pretty pathetic huh.” The blond boy was laughing and pointing at us.

I felt myself snap.

“What did you say,” I snarled.

Everyone turned to look at me but for once I didn’t care.

“How dare you. How dare-“ I breathed hard. “One of our classmates died. A student died and you’re mocking their death? Did you see him die? Did you stand there and move to slow and realize far too late to do anything as the student died, right in front of you? Did you watch it like Tsu did!?”

They stepped back, eyeing me warily.

I felt energized, angry, the air seemed to crackle.

“Aizawa-sensei fought over three dozen villains at once! And he was winning till the villains leader got involved too! His quirk can disintegrate anything. One touch and Mineta was dead. One touch and our teacher’s arm was crumbling. How dare you dismiss his death. How dare you mock our teacher’s pain.”

I stalked forward.

“You know nothing. We don’t think we’re special, we were terrified. We were split up, two to three students versus a dozen villains each. It was terrifying. We all almost died and it’s nothing short of a miracle that most everyone made it out with minor injuries.”

I stopped in front of the crowd.

“All Might himself was injured by the creature the villains brought along. Two teachers fell to the two main villains, and the final creature was able to go toe to toe with All Might for nearly ten minutes. You think it’s funny? You think it’s alright to mock us?”

I choked back the tears threatening to fall.

“We had a class- We had a classmate die.” I was breathing hard, “We had a classmate die and you’re telling us you could do better? Don’t ever speak to me or my class ever again. You’re horrible. It’s not something to joke about and-“ I angrily wiped the tears away, “And you suck for saying that. Go away. We don’t want you hear.”

The purple haired one looked guilty, the blond haired one shifted nervously.

I turned away, seeing Tsu crying too. I swiped the tears again.

Uraraka quickly came forward to hug me, “Oh Deku, I’m so sorry.”

“Dud you were sparking,” muttered Kirishima.

What?

The other classmates hurried forward to comfort both of us.

“You heard him,” Jiro snapped, “Go away.”

Aizawa POV

“You heard him, Go away.”

I frowned, staring at the large crowd.

“What happened here.”

The students took one look at me and scrambled away.

“Aizawa-sensei!”

I turned to look at Yaoyorozu, “What happened?”

“They said they came to check out the competition. But then they started to make comments about how we were pathetic and how they could’ve done better…”

My eyes narrowed. I’ll have to get a list from Nedzu, those students will be punished.

I stepped inside and paused when I saw Asui and Midoriya.

Oh no, those asshole kids said that stuff with those two here? The ones who saw Mineta die!? Not good.

“Midoriya, Asui, with me.”

I moved out of the class, ushering the two kids along. These poor kids.

“are you two alright?”

I crouched in front of them.

“I’m okay Aizawa-sensei- Ribbet- It was just a little upsetting.” She sniffed slightly, looking away.

“It’s okay to not be okay,” I murmured.

“Ribbet- I know, I just… I’m okay.”

I stared intently.

“Alright, your appointment with Hound Dog is tomorrow during the first free period. I’ll walk you to it.”

She nodded, “Can I go?”

I nodded, reluctant to let her leave when she’s upset but… I can’t keep her here.

She quickly left, leaving me with problem child.

I turned to him now.

“Hey problem child. Are you okay.”

He looked at me with a tear stained face and nodded.

“I’m okay,” He whispered.

Well that was less convincing then Asui.

“Problem child?”

He looked away, “I’m- I’m okay.”

I frowned at him.

He shook his head.

“Um, anyways, I was wondering if you could help me with my training plan? I’ve uh, I’ve got an outline but wanted some help figuring it out and…”

I blinked, “A training plan? Problem child, you still can’t use your quirk without hurting yourself.”

He flushed, “Well… I’ve started to figure it out. See!”

He held out his hands, brow furrowed in concentration for a second, then his hands started sparking, until they were almost glowing green.

My eyes widened, was that was his quirk looked like?

“I renamed it cause Super Power doesn’t really fit anymore. I’m calling it Enhancement now. Cause I think it was an overall enhancement, for my mind too. And I was always using the mind part before but it wasn’t noticeable because, well, I just looked smart. But then when I did a lot of intense training and that villain attack happened, it let my quirk unlock? The physical enhancement. I misunderstood how it worked at the time, but I understand better now.”

“When did your quirk evolve then?”

“Um… a little bit before the entrance exam.”

I stared.

“Pardon?”

“It was just a little before the entrance exam.”

“How much did you get to practice it before the exam?”

He shifted, “Um… none?”

My eye twitched, “And why, did you not inform me of this?”

He blinked, “Was it important?”

I let out a slow breath and calmed myself as he flinched back.

“It is, in fact, important. The training regime is planned under the assumption that you’ve had years to figure out your quirk. If you’ve only had, what, a week? Then it’s not going to help you.”

I turned away, “No wonder it’s hurting you. You just got it! You have no idea how to control it!”

“I’m getting better!” he cried, “I worked on it all weekend and now I can hold it up to my elbows. The more I spread it out the less damage it should do to my body.”

I frowned, turning back to him, “That doesn’t make it better. It means you need a specialized training program.”

He flushed.

I sighed, “That’s not a bad thing. I just wish you’d told me.” I frowned again. “And we should get you a special class for your mental enhancement.”

He blinked, “What?”

“That’s something to hone. I’ll talk to Nedzu, he’ll probably set up a test to figure out what to do about it.”

He nodded slowly, “Okay…”

I crouched in front of him again, “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll help you with your training. We’ll get you set up to learn how to control your quirk properly. You’ll need to meet a quirk counselor too. Or have you talked to one about the change in your quirk?”

He shifted, “I- I was diagnosed as quirkless previously. I’ve never seen a quirk counselor.”

I stared some more. This kid…

“Alright, I’ll set up everything you need.”

I shook my head, this is a wreck, who’s taking care of this kid?

He perked up, “Really? It’s not too much? I can figure out my quirk, it’s okay, really!”

I shook my head, “I know multiple quirk counselors, and if worst comes to worst I have a license too. Don’t worry problem child, it’s no trouble.”

I ruffled his hair, my kids need a lot of help.

…

I MEAN MY STUDENTS.

Anyways.

“You should head home and get some rest. Tomorrow will be intense. Your appointment with Hound Dog is tomorrow. Oh yeah, and Naomasa, the police man, needs to get your statement still. The breakout delayed him. If you want someone with you let me know.”

He blinked and nodded, shifting slightly, “okay.”

“Go on problem child, get home safely.”

“Okay Aizawa-sensei! Stay safe!”

He turned and hurried out, much happier than when he came in.

Now to go talk to the other teachers, and Nedzu. Oh boy how fun.

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docandprof · 4 years ago

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In Which I Review Literature

Say hey!

You delay, I delay – we all delay! Sorry it’s been so long, but fortunately we’ve been keeping up lately, so you have an idea of what I’ve been up to! I very much enjoyed reading your post, and I believe I have a few things to respond to, but I’ll begin with the easiest one – booze! Old fashioned and whiskey sour. What else could you need? Pro tip, make your own syrups. It’s just sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio. I recommend just doing a ½ a cup, since I don’t use that much in a short amount of time.

Now, on to the heart of the matter (see what I did there?). I am so happy that you’ve found love! It is not an easy thing to come by. I think it’s great that you paused and took some time for reflection too – a hard thing to do in the face of strong emotions! And you had a serious conversation about your future? Sounds like you’re in a real mature, adult relationship! You have found something special if I can believe you 😉 so hang on to her! I have learned with you how challenging long distance can be, so it’s great to hear you making a plan to be together soon. It sounds like it makes a lot of sense to enjoy the Nashville area while you’re young, and like you said it’s not forever. It is a tough situation though when you both have good opportunities in different areas, family to consider, etc. (for reference see my life, page 394). Of course, I’ll still remind you that my area is a great place for hip, young cool people like yourselves to move to 😉. And hey, no hard feelings towards the lady – I know you love me, and the love you and her share is a different kind of love. So I suppose I can share.

So besides being happy about you happiness, what have I been up to? Well, like the true yin to my yang, the peanut butter to my jelly, there must be balance between our circumstances apparently (more to come on destiny and fate later). Things have, in the grand scheme of things, been going just fine! But if you take a magnifier to the last couple weeks I’ve had you’d go AGH! To keep it short, and not fall into a rant, work has been incredibly stressful trying to get a release out (even though I know it’s not super critical) and some staff trouble looming for my Monday morning. That’s kind of the least important, but most prevalent (you know since I’m there 40 hours a week) stressor at the moment. My grandpa is not doing very well. I saw him on Mother’s Day and it was pretty bad. Luckily he got in to the doctor last week and seems to be doing better, but he is 92, so of course I want to keep him around as long as we can, but I am well aware of his age. And just today I found out my youngest aunt who has had health problems for years is not doing super well. Of course family health issues are always worrying, and to top it all off there’s been trouble in paradise, as you are aware. We haven’t had another discussion yet, so I’m still feeling a bit in limbo in our relationship, but I care about her so much and will try to work things out how I can, while still being true to myself and my values. I appreciate you offering your insights the other week, more than you may realize. So, it’s been a difficult time, but there are good days on the horizon! I am excited to move in August, some trips coming up in the summertime, seeing you crazy kook, and of course some sort of return to normal life as the pandemic situation improves.

Now, on to what you’ve really been waiting for – my lit review! So I just finished reading The Lady of the Lake, the final piece of the Ciri and Geralt storyline for the witcher books, and as I usually feel after finishing a series, I am full of emotions! I’ll avoid any direct spoilers for your sake, as I think you know enough about the witcher genre to follow with whatever philosophizing is about to follow. Not surprisingly, the ending was what one might call bittersweet. What I suppose I was more surprised by was to learn that the games are not canon. I had seen so many similarities between the games and the books, that I figured I would get to the end of the novel and see the jumping off point for the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Minor spoiler alert – I did not find that jumping off point. Sapkowski gets into some very interesting ideas weaving different myths and legends together towards the end of the series, which I thought was very neat as a DnD player who thinks planar travel and time travel are super cool. His “realism” or pessimism, depending where you look at things from, I also found a bit refreshing from a lot of modern media, where everything kind of works out for the best. Much like George R.R Martin, Sapkowski was not afraid of being brutal to his characters, and maybe it was easier because even though I am in love with his characters, it always felt like I was an observer, listening to the retelling of a story that was already written, the ink dried, the outcomes already made up, no matter when or how I turned the page. (One of the ways he did this I very much want to take as inspiration for DnD – between each chapter he includes an excerpt from a book that exists in his world; encyclopedias, a book of fairy tales, war records from opposing sides, etc.). So it was almost nihilistic to keep reading, knowing there wouldn’t be a happy ever after, but that didn’t stop me from eating it all up.

Everything has been, everything has happened. And everything has already been written about. ~ Vysogota of Corvo

Is this paragraph about the witcher too, you wonder? Why yes, yes it is. And that line is from a character that I was surprised by how much I ended up loving, despite his relatively minor inclusion (note I do not say minor role). In the last few chapters of The Lady of the Lake (which also, go figure, is a frame story – I bet you can put some pieces together), Sapkowski talked a lot about Order, Chaos, Evil, and Progress, which was all interesting and in the bar scene that these conversations took place, I didn’t find myself able to agree with any one character. It was a good reminder that although problems can often seem black and white (especially in the polarized political climate nowadays), many things are not so simple to categorize into right and wrong. Gosh there is just so much I could get into with these books, but to begin wrapping up, I was particularly interested in a short monologue about Destiny from sorceress Philippa Eilhart. I won’t get into it, since I plan to use a lot of the ideas for a certain elven ranger you might know, but it is such an interesting concept to think about, particularly when things happen in our lives beyond our control. Many times people say things like “Everything happens for a reason” and slap it on a picture of a mountain in fancy cursive writing to confront such hardships. My perception is that in this modern era we don’t talk about destiny, but maybe we still believe in it without realizing. Maybe we have to. We’ve explained so much through science and reasoning that one can make an argument against destiny, even some against religion, but I’ve always been someone who has been able to believe in both, despite any contradictions that might arise. Life, love, destiny, the pursuit of happiness – how can we know everything about everything? There will always be something beyond us, above us. It doesn’t explain away tragedies like the sudden loss of a loved one that too many of our friends have experienced recently, but the one thing I (and Sapkowski) think destiny offers us is hope. Maybe this was obvious to you all along, but it’s a realization I’ve only recently come to, and I’m grateful to these books for that, at least, in a time where I feel like so much around me is going wrong, I lean on destiny to remind me that it will be alright. Whether that is a good or bad thing to do, does that really matter? I don’t think so.

Well, having lived up to my title as Professor Souls, I’ll leave you to ponder. Naturally, I recommend you read these books! They’re a bit different in writing style, but I ended up falling in love with it honestly. And if you won’t read, then play Gwent with me! Or don’t. What media have you consumed recently that made you think deeply?

And at long last, you’ve reached the end of this post. The serpent Ouroboros has grasped his own tail, and an ending becomes a beginning.

Thinkin’ hard,

Professor

5.16.21

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ecoorganic · 4 years ago

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St. Louis City SC Reveals Its Name; Now Comes Everything Else

With its branding out of the way, St. Louis City SC moves forward on all other avenues before launching its MLS operation on the field in 2023.

St. Louis’s MLS club has unveiled a logo (there’s an arch and a couple rivers in there if you look carefully), a name (derivative) and colors (unique). Now all that’s left to do between Thursday’s release and the spring of 2023, when the expansion team finally takes the field, is just about everything else.

At least there’s time.

The stadium site, which eventually will be home to a 22,500-seat arena, training complex and team offices, sits just to the northwest of the city’s well-known Union Station and presently is “a massive hole in the ground,” according to St. Louis City SC owner Carolyn Kindle Betz. Workers also found a natural spring, she said. Perhaps that’s a good omen.

The stadium remains on track to open in the summer of 2022. That would’ve been midway through the club’s inaugural MLS season, but last month the league announced a one-year delay impacting three of its four expansion teams. Charlotte FC now will enter in 2022, and St. Louis and Sacramento Republic will join up in 2023. (Austin FC still plans on coming aboard next year).

The extra year “has given us a lot of time to really work with our corporate sponsorship. That announcement came out and they called us to re-engage in those conversations. Our stadium site is on schedule,” Kindle Betz told Sports Illustrated. “It’s a construction project, so who knows? But we’re COVID free, so [when we open] we’ll have a couple months to host watch parties, break in the stadium and see what needs to be [done] so everyone will have that epic first-match experience in March [2023], and that’s very exciting.”

Besides building the stadium and club complex, St. Louis City has to design and fill out its corporate structure and front office; identify and assign roles and appoint a technical staff; figure out what to do about a reserve team and academy; and start marketing season tickets. Kindle Betz was awarded the team last August, and by this spring, there was a sense in MLS circles that St. Louis might be falling behind. Now with an extra year to prepare, the task list doesn’t seem as daunting.

“We’ve really only hired one person,” she said, “and that was Dennis Moore, our chief revenue officer. I think we’re a ways away from [defining a technical and business structure]. So, honestly, it was probably the right time if that decision [on the delay] was going to have to be made, especially in an unknown pandemic. So again, for 10 minutes you’re kind of upset about it. … But after really thinking through it, it was probably a blessing in disguise. It’s allowing us to do things more on our terms as opposed to working on a timeline set by someone else.”

Another executive Kindle Betz considered hiring was long-time U.S. Soccer Federation CEO and secretary general Dan Flynn. He left the USSF last summer, he’s a St. Louis native and he played for the NCAA powerhouse Saint Louis Billikens in the 1970s. It might seem like an ideal fit, but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement—one source said it was a question of how much control Flynn would have—and negotiations ended.

“I think after having a year under our belt to see how this works, we learned quite a bit,” Kindle Betz said regarding Flynn. “Obviously, Dan is a wonderful man and he’s done great things for the sport of soccer. It’s just that the ownership group had a different philosophy about how to run a club, and so I think it was just better to mutually agree to part ways. He’s still very supportive of us.”

From a technical perspective, St. Louis City is still a long way away from hiring a coach or signing players.

“I think what we would really like to do is bring a chief sporting officer on board and kind of work with them on their vision. You don’t have a vision, hire somebody and say, ‘Here’s our vision make it work,’” Kindle Betz said. “Having that extra year actually helps us because it gives us more time to make sure that we have the right fit.”

The club intends to build an academy system “that is the best in the region,” she said, but it doesn’t currently have a plan to work with Saint Louis FC, the city’s USL Championship team that launched in 2015. Saint Louis FC owner Jim Kavanaugh is a minority investor in the new MLS club.

According to the USL, Saint Louis FC has until the end of this month to commit to playing in 2021 because U.S. Soccer’s sanctioning deadline is in September. If it bows out, there conceivably could be no pro soccer in St. Louis for two years. The franchise rights theoretically could be moved or sold.

“We’ve never had an official formal relation with Saint Louis FC, not to say that we’re not very appreciative of all of their efforts, their supporters group, players, coaches, fans, staff—everything they’ve done for the sport,” Kindle Betz said. “Any kind of decision has to really be made by Saint Louis FC management and ownership over there.”

So for now, St. Louis City is a hole in the ground, a name and a logo. That’s not nothing, however. Both took a lot of work to put together (the previous stadium effort in St. Louis failed under different prospective ownership), and they’re now the foundational building blocks of a club that has more than two years to put everything else in place.

Regarding the name, St. Louis City, Kindle Betz said she hopes it’s something that’ll bring the community together while providing her hometown with the international presence it deserves. City was among the most popular of the approximately 6,000 submissions and suggestions the club received, and in the end it beat out United, Gateway and Stars among “the four names that kind of kept coming back up,” she said.

United is suggested in every poll in every market by fans who think every soccer team should be called that, while Stars was the name of St. Louis’s only other recent top-tier outdoor team, the NASL outfit that played in 1967-77.

Gateway would’ve been the most original and locally relevant choice, but for Kindle Betz that would’ve been a bug rather than a feature.

“You wouldn’t understand Gateway, necessarily, if you don’t live in this region,” she said, adding that the term could be misappropriated and used in phrases like “gateway drug.”

“We want to be an internationally recognized club and Gateway wouldn’t have done it. But City will,” she said.

As for the bright and distinctive pinkish-red that dominates the new badge, the hue is an homage both to Kindle Betz’s favorite color, pink, and the red of the St. Louis city flag. While the vast majority of MLS clubs try to be as bland and indistinguishable as possible in their uniform choices, Kindle Betz insisted, “I didn’t fight for this color to not wear it on the field.”

Kindle Betz said she hopes the upcoming year will bring about the same sort of robust community and commercial engagement encouraged by the naming process.

“I think we definitely have to have some name rights and some founding partnerships solidified so we have some time to really build up the excitement around those,” she said. “We need to really work on getting our season tickets sold and evolving that plan. We need to get our supporters group ready, get them involved in the community, help them start thinking about our mascots and our nicknames. I would say the next year is more engagement on every level. So corporate, fans, supporters, youth engagement, starting to think about what we want our academy system to look like,” she said. “[Next year] will be more people focused than product focused.”

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ecoorganic · 4 years ago

Text

St. Louis City SC Reveals Its Name; Now Comes Everything Else

With its branding out of the way, St. Louis City SC moves forward on all other avenues before launching its MLS operation on the field in 2023.

At least there’s time.

From a technical perspective, St. Louis City is still a long way away from hiring a coach or signing players.

Gateway would’ve been the most original and locally relevant choice, but for Kindle Betz that would’ve been a bug rather than a feature.

“You wouldn’t understand Gateway, necessarily, if you don’t live in this region,” she said, adding that the term could be misappropriated and used in phrases like “gateway drug.”

“We want to be an internationally recognized club and Gateway wouldn’t have done it. But City will,” she said.

Kindle Betz said she hopes the upcoming year will bring about the same sort of robust community and commercial engagement encouraged by the naming process.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/3kILMCd

#Blogger

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