isleofavalon | It's a bad time to be an animal mage

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It's a bad time to be an animal mage

🧙 WHO: Jean Kirstein & You
⚔️️ WHAT: August Catch all, with quests and such
🕒 WHEN: August
🗺️ WHERE: Around Camelot
⚠️ WARNINGS: they be trying to kill animal mages and the boy is one

A: Invasive Species (Quest)

Jean has a knife and a sword with him for the quest just in case there is a need to fight, but he's really hoping he could just resolve this without fighting any of the crab monsters. He's not sure what anyone else (or anyone he might be doing this quest with) has in mind, but he will try his best to be as peaceful as possible and negotiate.

"There sure is a lot of woodland creatures about..." he says as they approach the place the crabs have last been seen. "Didn't they say we get extra if we get them to go back, too?"

B: Horse jokes gone too far

When Jean woke up this morning he was met with a surprise he definitely didn't appreciate. Its been a good while since anyone has called him horse face (aside from a random knight at the trials a few months back) and now he was literally stuck with light brown horse ears sprouting from his head. He's an animal mage so he thought maybe this was just a "I sleep transformed" thing and nothing else... but he couldn't make them disappear.

He has opted to buy a big enough fedora to hide them but occasionally the ears kept popping the fedora back up and he needed to hold it down.

"Stupid ears, stop causing me so much trouble", he cursed and continued on his way.

C: You're an animal mage, eh? Die

When you practice animal magic enough in public, people will know you're one of them and in this case it's... a problem. Jean is currently on the run from some very angry or just money greedy people trying to eliminate him.

"I'm a victim too, you idiots!" he yells as he goes, his fedora long forgotten somewhere. "Do you really think I would make these ears for myself?!"

They don't actually listen. Great. Thanks a lot. Jean runs some more until he notices a vending machine and runs towards it. No, he didn't suddenly start craving a soda. He's about to use his newly learned spell, Wire Writhe. The spell draws all the wires out of the vending machine and wraps them around his pursuers.

"Have fun figuring a way out of that one, jerks!"

And then it's time to go before more people show up, but he might just bump into someone when he's looking behind his back.

D-1: But you can't fly

While Jean kept low profile due to the hunt, he couldn't just stay away and protect himself. He's using his green Survey Corps cape to hide his face and features. He rarely uses it in public these days, so it's not obvious that its him, at least. If he saw someone in trouble he would interfere and help the other escape while drawing the angry pursuers after him before transforming into a bird and flying away.

Usually this worked, but one time someone had a bow and arrows. Just before he has time to transform, he's hit in his shoulder, making transformation into a bird an impossible idea since who is going to fly with just one wing.

Instead, he has to fight the people to get away now. He quickly closes the wound with healing magic after taking the arrow out and runs towards the person with the bow and arrow first to stop him from targeting the guy who ran away earlier. Luckily, he always carries his knife to make the battle easier on him but when it actually gets a chance to slash the attacker in a spot that would potentially injure him fatally he stops.

He's killed before. He had made the resolution to fight and even kill to protect himself and his friends. It had been such a long time ago that he had lost the resolve to do that. Peaceful times had truly made him blind. After such a long time living in a situation that didn't always threaten his life he couldn't bring himself to kill anyone anymore.

The hesitation was enough time for the guy to kick Jean away and he landed straight on the previous injured shoulder, making his knife fly away from him as well. Shit...!

D-2: Exhaustion

One way or another, Jean is safe again after his close encounter. He's in hiding, his shoulder still aching. While he could treat it mostly, the arrow had hit pretty deep so he needed someone with a lot more experience with healing. Too bad he couldn't just fly away and find one... so he was resting and hiding for now, using his healing magic to give himself energy.

E: Wildcard

Hit me up in PM's or

sasageyo to plot something else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Keith was coming from the other direction, having just used a wall of flame to block a prospective assassin. At the exact same time as Jean, he glanced back over his shoulder to see if said assassin had gotten through and was following and-

CRASH!

Ow... Keith stumbled, barely staying on his feet, but still managed to whip out one of his swords in an automatic defensive move just in case. He was understandably on edge. After a split second, though, he recognized Jean from the beach on mossatee rolling day.

He let out a relieved sigh and sagged, lowering the weapon. As he did, a pair of cat ears slowly shifted from being folded back into his hair in anger and alarm to a more relaxed and upright position.]

Quiznak...

[Jean only has his knife with him, but he does take it out, ready to defend himself... but lowers it when he notices it's Keith instead of anyone out to get him. His horse ears react the same ways Keith's cat ones do.]

Sorry... I guess we're both in the same mess.

[There's some annoyed yelling coming from the guys stuck in wires.]

Should we stick together, just in case or run in different directions?

[There was a lot of annoyed yelling about how Keith had escaped coming from the other direction, too.]

There's probably safety in numbers at this point.

[Keith pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, and then took a deep breath.]

How good are you at turning into birds and flying? I've got an idea.

[So much murderous yelling from both directions...]

I'm really good at those, actually. What's the plan?

[Other than... flying away.]

Right now? Make a distraction and escape...

Unless... you want to fight them.

[Keith would, but he'd already faced like three other would-be attempts on his life today. He kind of wanted a break.]

I can make the equivalent of a smoke screen to cover our tracks, though, and make it hard for them to see us get out of here.

I definitely want to avoid fighting and just get away. So after you make a smokescreen we transform and fly off?

[They just needed to decide on a direction.] Would it be safer to go towards the city or away from it...

[Keith nodded.]

Pretty much. We should head where we can get cover and disappear for a bit. Away from the city has more trees and more birds, so we'll be more likely to blend in for enough time to lose these guys.

I'm sure if we talk with the birds there they will help out, too. Distractions or just letting us hang out for a while...

Yeah... sounds like a plan, then.

[And just in time because the group that had been chasing Keith sounded like they had figured out where he was and was coming their way.]

Ready? On three...

One...

Two...

Three!

[Keith set off a fireball, followed quickly by dousing it in a blast of water, creating a thick cover of steam to interfere with visibility. Then, he shifted into a raven, taking to the air and using the heated steam to help him climb out of the alleyway faster.]

There's a bit of a brief stumble from the cloaked figure, but they look back, glancing at Jean and then back at towards the yelling coming from his pursuers at the vending machines. More people would come alright, but no saying whether they'd be friend or foe at the moment.

But maybe they'd want to help their friends when they find both them and the wire stop moving. He had to grin.

"Let's get outta here."

If there was one thing good about house hunting, it was that he knew where all the empty houses currently were; they could duck inside one for now.

Jean is on high alert, but since the mysterious cloaked figure (who Jean doesn't recognize until he talks, really) doesn't seem to be attacking him he relaxes a little bit.

"I definitely support that idea", Jean says with a sigh. This day has been quite stressing so far, but a friendly face helps a lot.

“I know somewhere we can duck into. Let the chase cool down..”

Zidane continues walking, his eyes darting around. It’s kinda frustrating how all this stuff caused the streets to empty, but those morons don’t even check who’s an animal mage or not.

“Hey, you got any ideas on how to find the guy that made the post?”

"... the post?" Guess who doesn't even know there's a 'Dark Web'. He just knows why he's chased since the pursuers were yelling stuff at him. But it would make sense there was a post announcing a murder fest where normal people couldn't see it.

Clearly the answer is no though.

"... Oh, you didn't see it."

Taking a moment to fish out his phone, Zidane takes a second to go through all the dumb hoops to open up the Dark Web and bring up the post. Once up, he passes his phone over to Jean. "This post. Don't worry, I'm not interested in anything, but making these assholes stop attacking innocent people."

Jean frowns at the post he's reading. The more he reads the post the more annoyed and/or disturbed he looks. Then he hands the phone back to Zidane.

"That guys' clearly out of his mind. I'm annoyed at the ritual myself, but I don't want anyone to die because of it."

Taking his phone back, he pockets it again after exiting the browser.

"It'd be hilarious if people weren't getting hurt, but someone's always gotta be a bastard about it. It's not like having animal parts is terrible anyway."

Says the guy born with a tail.

"I guess..." Jean shrugs. "I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't an ongoing joke even this place is taking a part in."

If he had like dog or cat ears he'd be alright with this.

"Eh? An on-going joke?"

What animal did he get and how was it a joke? How did that start? Meanwhile, Zidane will usher Jean into a place he knew was vacant and closed the door, ducking down.

Thank goodness for finding a place to hide. Jean is able to take a deep breathe and relax a little once they've ducked down.

"It's just that there's a guy back home who keeps calling me a 'horse face' because my face is longer than most."

"... Really? Seems normal to me."

Also, seemed like that guy didn't know what a hippo or deer was.

"Sounds like that guy was lazy with insults anyway."

"I mean, I keep calling him suicidal bastard so I'm not really that much better with my insults... but at least it fits him."

... Jean, why? Also, and again, why?

"Why were you calling him a 'suicidal bastard'?"

[ Akira bumps into Jean unexpectedly and happens to witness the horse ears pop the fedora up. ]

Is it the curse or are you happy to see me?

[ He wouldn't be himself if he didn't greet Jean with a stupid line, right. In his case, the curse caused a pair of long, pointy ears to appear on top of his head. That's not all—he's a proud owner of a long, brown tail as well. ]

I had to make a hole in my pants.

[ Does that count as too much information? ]

Haha, very funny. [Jean pulls the fedora back down because he's that annoyed at the horse fate he's gotten.

He looks at Akira's additions. Huh, he has the same sort of pointy ears his familiar has. Not that he's around right now.]

... I didn't need to know that, you know. You could have not said that. [Jean sighs.] At least I only got the ears.

I didn't want you to freak out when you see a hole in my pants.

[ Something is telling Akira that it wouldn't affect Jean that much, but joking around is just his brand. ]

What have you tried to get rid of it? Maybe we can figure something out together.

[ ...Or make it worse. ]

Two heads are better than one. Even if one is a horse head, and one is a cat head.

I wouldn't have looked at your pants, but now I most likely will because you mentioned that.

[Not that it would affect him, honestly, but he just wanted to make a point.]

... I'll ignore the horse head comment. [He says, only a little bitter sounding.] I've transformed back and forth, but nothing has happened. Even to other animals than horses, but the ears have remained either way.

Same here. I think I made a child cry with my two pairs of ears, too.

[ He's not entirely sure if that was the case, but it wouldn't be too surprising either. ]

Should we wait it out? I heard that one of the animal mages might be responsible for this, but it's just a rumor.

I think that might be the safest option, waiting.

[He sighs because waiting isn't his best skill.]

Well, it isn't just normal animal magic... so I suppose someone had the bright idea of performing a drunken ritual if that's the case.

I hope you're not speaking from experience...

[ Akira gives Jean A Look. For some reason, he thinks that Jean is older than he really is... ]

We could hit the books, but I'm not sure if we're going to find anything.

[One girl walks into the situation like she could be just passing by, nothing to see here... But nope, she stops between them and keeps her eyes on the attacker. An archer, huh? How ironic. There's two ways she could go about this - either lie to that archer that the animal mage is hers and he'll have to find someone else to hunt!

...Or she could say something else.]

Oh, you want that guy? You can have him if you want him--

[What?!! Which side is this girl on??! She sounds like she doesn't even care about whatever happens to Jean -- but she's not moving anywhere even after saying that. A beat, maybe another too after those words before Rin smirks arrogantly at the hunter. ]

Over my dead body! Come and get him if you dare to challenge me!

[She sure sounds like she knows what she's doing. Spoiler alert; she'll improvise everything somehow.]

[Jean is pretty sure Rin is just another hunter who just happened to see a wounded prey and started a competition over who gets to kill him. Why else would she say something like that...

Or then it was some weird tactic to get the archers' attention, but Jean is skeptical by nature so he's pretty sure it's the first until proven otherwise.

The hunter seems to focus his newly regained bow and arrow at Rin this time, spouting something about even those who help animal mages can end up dead for all he cares.

Wow. That already goes beyong the quest. Either way, now that the hunters' attention is away from him he moves away to grab his knife again.]

[Oh, is she the target now? Well, she's not sure what else she should have been waiting for after saying a line like that but Rin sure looks extremely unimpressed and calm for someone, who's being pointed at by a weapon.]

I said come and get him if you dare to challenge me, the same goes for try to shoot me if you dare.

[No time to watch what Jean is doing, while she waits for the hunter to do something. And when that hunter finally shoots, Rin redirects the arrow away from herself with kinetic magic.]

Do that again and I'll make it come right back at you. You want a better idea? Leave. Now.

[The archer cursed that kinetic mages were problematic, but decides to call it quits because he won't get a hit with an arrow like this.

Jean has managed to recover his knife! ... but he looks at Rin unsure of what she might do next, not letting his guard down.

... might as well ask.]

... so... are you going to finish what he started or did you actually help me despite saying what you did?

[Mukuro had been keeping to herself since the whole Spear of Gungnir incident- but it was as she was making her way to the forge that she noticed traces of blood on the pavement. Not enough for a human to follow, but maybe-

She ducked into the shadows, focusing on mentally calling her familiar to her side. It didn't take long for the shadows to coalesce into the huge Hellhound.]

...Fenrir, girl. I need your help.

Can you follow the trail? What happened here?

[Was this going to be like those bodies she'd been seeing out in the streets? Well, she'd soon find out.

...And soon enough, Jean would find an ominous looking familiar sniffing him out. One that Mukuro had probably called on to help them against the Minotaur during that quest.]

[Jean had closed his eyes for the moment, but then he hear footsteps thinking his hiding place had been found. Maybe the trails of blood had been enough to track him, after all. Jean cringes, starting to get up... but then he notices a familiar he recogized from before.]

Fenrir...? Is Mukuro with you?

[That was a person Fenrir knew- she sniffed his cheek a moment, just to make sure, then headed back to the entrance of the alleyway. It didn't take long, then, for her to lure her pact-bound over to them.]

What the- Jean-

[A twinge of worry passed through her face before she rushed over to his side, expression severe.]

Don't move. Let me check you over.

Hey...

[At least he doesn't look like he's in immediate danger.] I was shot by an arrow, but I managed to close the wound with healing magic. Problem is... it went deeper than I thought.

[...Please say he didn't close the wound with the arrow still inside him.]

So might still be bleeding internally.

Hold on- I've got a healing potion with me. That should stabilise you until we can find help.

[A little bit more checking over, and she'll dig around in her bag for the potion.]

[Of course he took the arrow out first, gosh.]

Probably... I'm still not very good at healing, so I've mostly used it to give myself energy.

[Which in itself is already kinda hard to do.]

I mostly hid myself to wait for a good opportunity to go find help.

[Oh good... well, she'll pull out the healing potion and offer it to him.]

Who attacked you?

[Her eyes had grown cold. If they were anywhere nearby, Mukuro fully intended on going after them once she'd gotten him help.]

[Jean accepts it with a "thanks" and drinks it.]

There are people hunting animal mages because of the animal parts... I got help in running away, but we went out separate ways so I hid myself.

Yeah, I saw that quest...had a couple attack me a couple of days ago but I took them out.

[Hopefully she didn't outright kill them. Hopefully.]

The street's quiet now. I don't think they're still around- but I can try and go after them if you want.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a bad time to be an animal mage

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D2 - Backdated to before her fashion show

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tw murder mention