Everdale was a place that reminded Todoroki of home in a way, of training exercises and men in skirts, oddly enough. Of women who were reduced into a quirkless shadow of their former selves and yet still had more strength than Todoroki could ever imagine. Would he still try to be a hero if he was suddenly quirkless? What if they'd taken him instead? What if they'd taken him instead of Bakugo? He shook his thoughts from his head as he stomped his boot into the soft dirt, sending his ice high into the sky. If there was one thing everything weird had going for him, it was the emotion. His emotion seemed to make everything better.
It was a shame his father seemed so distant from the world around him. Maybe he'd been trying to get better, with the help of Hawks, but no breath was being held for that man.
He could imagine that Midoriya was disappointed in him. He'd come to train, while Todoroki? Well. He'd run away, hadn't he? The thought sickened him slightly as he listened to the faint cracking of the ice beneath his foot. A subtle shattering. He hoped it was the ice. He almost welcomed the frost against his skin. It was numbing.
Turning and raising a hand as if prepared to attack with fire because he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep sending ice forever. How many walls had he built? He'd lost count. He breathed out, his air a warm puff against the cold before he lifted his hand to brush off his cheek, letting his fingers warm there.
"You shouldn't yell like that at strangers. Someone else might've attacked you." He decided against melting the ice and merely took a step away from it, leveling his gaze on this guy, curious, but you probably couldn't really tell. He didn't look too strange as far as Todoroki knew. Then again, nearly everyone could qualify in some way where he was from. "Who are you?"