August Adventures

[mayoninofukucho]

WHO: Hijikata and ✨YOU✨
WHAT: A ceremony, some research, TDM prompts, and a stymied attempt at stopping the animal mage hunt!
WHEN: Throughout August
WHERE: Celliwig, Lake Avalon, Underwater Town, Castle, Camelot City
WARNINGS: NSFW-ish content in prompt 3B (Hijikata takes a little too well to his temporary tentacles!)



1) Badge of Honour

[Hijikata doesn't feel like he deserves a special reward for his contribution during the battle in the Hall of Mirrors last month. Everybody fought equally hard, and without the healers exhausting their magic reserves there might well have been numerous casualties. But it seems like the Celliwigians are primarily concerned with the Pure of Heart and Brave of Soul Mirror, and since the death mages exorcised it they're the ones getting the honours. He doesn't want to make Camelot appear ungrateful, so he makes sure to show up for the event and be on his best behaviour.

After the ceremony (and several subsequent interactions with grateful locals) he's covered in black-and-white confetti, looking like he walked under blooming apple trees with his dark hair and uniform, and holding a bouquet of strange, glass-like flowers that are also black and white. It's not often that he receives flowers... in fact he can't remember the last time at all. Regardless, he can't help but feel like he's being given overly much credit here, so if he spots any other outworlder nearby he'll make a beeline towards them.]

This place and these people will never cease to confuse me.


2) Research Excursion (for sighsheavily)

[As discussed with Cecelia Hijikata prepared a totem to transport them both to the archivist's abode in the Forest of the Fisherking. Finding themselves inside the overgrown train wagon after walking through the smoke in the vicinity of her office in Camelot makes Hijikata let out a satisfied sigh.]

This sure is an improvement from the overnight trek across the Silent Shore! Now I just hope they oiled that goddamn elevator. It was so slow last time!


3) Lake it or not...

A ⦿ Elphame Expedition

[Hijikata is concerned about several things: King Arthur's state of health - no one is allowed to see him, but at least he's in a stable condition, if the court's official statements are to be believed -, the grim murders that have started to take place in Camelot every other night, and now the resulting mandrake problem. Since there's nothing he can do for the king, and discouraging people from pulling up the mandrakes is useless, given what hefty prices the locals are willing to pay for them, he focuses on the murder investigation.

Ultimately he puts even that on hold, though, to participate in the expedition to Elphame. Every potential lead so far turned out to be a dead end, and if he stayed behind he'd drive himself nuts by making up all kinds of scenarios of what dangers may await the volunteers out on the water. The lake is dangerous enough in the vicinity of Camelot, who knows what they may encounter out there? So along he goes. It's going to be a pretty exciting ride even if there are no incidents, seeing how they're braced to spend several days on their mounts, provisions strapped to their backs or trailing behind in (hopefully) watertight containers... but it'll also be an opportunity for plenty of small talk with his riding partner, which will hopefully distract him from fretting over what's going to happen in Camelot in his absence now (yeah, he'll overthink things no matter what, apparently).]

I'm honestly not sure if it's a good idea to head out there without King Arthur. If I were calling the shots we'd have waited for him to recover! Queen Elphame probably won't be happy to just have a bunch of citizens turning up... but on the other hand we also can't just sit around while he's out of commission.

B ⦿ Fresh Water (NSFW-ish towards the end!)

[Okay, so much for that!! Hijikata was just as aghast as everybody else when that enormous lightning centipede crashed into the umibouzu (he already felt the hair in the back of his neck stand up when he saw the former, but the later outright made his heart skip several beats - why is this place full of monsters?!). He yelled some instructions, but then one of the massive lightning-infused storm waves swept over him, his co-rider and their mount, and everything went black.

When he wakes up a very patient mermaid nurse fills him in on how her people saved the drowning land-dwellers by pulling them into their cursed underwater town, then leaves him to stare at his new octopus bottom. His tentacles are a grey-greenish colour, and they're giving him a boatload of flashbacks he really didn't need right now. He blinks those away, though, and gets up to check on everyone else.

It takes him a couple of hours to ensure that everyone is accounted for - no bodies were found anywhere in the vicinity, so anyone not in the village presumably managed to escape on the aquatic mounts -, then he finally takes a brief break. This whole time he's been acutely aware of the strange feeling of the floor under his tentacles... feeling it in so many places instead of just two feet is just weird. He can't help but feel curious... sure, they all need to leave as soon as possible, but how long can it take? 10, 20, 30 minutes? It won't make a difference. He deserves some stress relief, damn it. But he really needs to be discreet about it. He slithers around in a more quiet part of the building the outworlders are staying in, looking for a remote restroom. Yeah, this is kind of low, but look, he's only a man. If you see him glancing about himself all shadily as he slides about if a shifty manner... just ignore that.]


4) Taking a Breather

[Somehow Hijikata managed to get himself sorted out (whether he made it out of the cursed area in the lake in time or had to ask the Lady of the Lake for help... again... who knows). That said he got back to Camelot just in time to be hit by the animal spell instead (was it cast around this time, or earlier with a long-lasting echo effect - again, who knows?). When he finds himself with cattle ears (his own, no extra pair), two horns and a long tail he doesn't so much as bat an eye. At this point he'll simply take anything this cursed month throws at him in stride.

He attends the open house day at the castle primarily to help guard King Arthur's wing, because with so many people on the premises who's to say that there may not be some assassination attempts? But the guards send him away, assuring him that they're experienced warriors and mages and insisting that he should leave it to them and enjoy himself with the other guests. So he ends up wandering around, feeling a little unsure of what he should really do with himself.

Should he try some new food (yes, he'll drown it in mayonnaise no matter what)? Or enjoy a relaxing bath? Taking the opportunity to do some more research in the library would be the most responsible thing to do, really... but maybe a break in the gardens would do him good. Then again there's a bazaar to explore; who knows what treasures might be found there? He flicks his bull ears and snorts, feeling totally overwhelmed.]

The king really spoils us rotten, even from the sickbed.


5) Animal Mage Hunt (Quest)

[Okay, this is a shitshow. If Hijikata finds out which deviant posted that quest they'll wish they had never been born (no hypocrisy to be found here, none). As if to add insult to injury his horse won't let him mount it anymore, so he finds himself arguing with it in public, clearly in need of help from an animal mage, who are unlikely to feel safe identifying themselves in this current atmosphere... but then again Hijikata is a knight, recognisable as such by his emblem (three mayonnaise bottle caps swirling around each other in a circle, true to style).]

What's your problem, Black Star?! I'm not dirty or anything, and I didn't gain any weight either!


[OOC: If you'd like any additional prompts please feel free to hit me up on my plotting post! Also here are Hijikata's permissions.]

Comments

Continued from above!

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata certainly did have an easier time adapting, used as he is to tackling whatever is thrown at him and his men back home (which can range from "escort the shogun on his outing" to "deal with the monstrous alien that has taken over the space terminal"). Sure, he only had minor experience in using magic on Prismatica before, but he feels no need to comprehend all the underlying functions - if it works it works.]

I'm not saying you'd stop at that, but I feel like you're going to need more time to research and connect all the dots than we can afford. Look, if you need any ghosts expelled, call me or another death mage, just like I'll call a cognitive mage if I need to know what happened at a crime scene, or a siphoner if I need a curse broken.

[He stands up and starts photographing relevant pages in his big death magic tome with his phone, apparently having reached his concentration limit for the time being.]

I guess what I'm trying to say is: don't wreck your head so hard when there are other heads around.

[sighsheavily]

[she tilts her head slightly.] I'm a non-combatant, ser. And this is work that needs doing, or it stays as dust upon these shelves, unused and untested, yes? This frees up those more capable of doing the laundry list of tasks that need doing, and eventually having them done better should there be a breakthrough in all of this.

[you know.

LIKE EXPLODING CORPSES.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[If she really finds a way to explode corpses he may just complain about that... though it'll depend on how many more zombie problems and the like he encounters in the meantime.]

Well, alright, if you really want to wrap your head around the fundamentals I'm not going to keep you from it. I'll be tackling the laundry list in the meantime.

...

Do you have any idea of what exactly the plan is to get Excalibur back? I mean, it's not like it'll magically fly back here once we've got enough magic amassed, right?

[sighsheavily]

Exactly? No. No, not in the slightest. I'm not privy to such schemes. [and she's a touch bitter about it, even if she can't blame the locals for mistrusting foreigners.

...foreigners they'll gladly exploit for their magical consumption. engh.

the more things change, the more stays the same.]

Excalibur itself is quite complicated, given its echoing presence in multiple realms anyway.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata is used to that kind of thing from Prismatica, at least... only outworlders were able to generate chroma there, the energy that gradually restored the crystallised planet back to life, so they were strongly encouraged and incentivised to produce as much of it as possible. Avalon, while not quite as generous, is at least giving them a free hotel room with complementary breakfast, so he isn't going to complain.]

That doesn't really inspire confidence, does it? But I guess on that front research is really all we can do, unless someone actually in the know deigns to entrust us with their knowledge at some point.

[sighsheavily]

Research and speculation, unfortunately yes. There's a slim chance guessing close enough is proof of one's worthiness of the truth itself, but I'm not about to hold my breath on that one. [politics being what they are.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[He exhales wearily, then closes his book and sits back down after making sure he properly captured everything he wanted.]

I feel like we're not one step further... but at least I understood a few new things about death magic today, that's as good as it gets for now, I suppose.

[sighsheavily]

[it's the closing of the book, not that tired exhale, that bids her lift her head once more and look over.

whether he's used to the long hours or not, study this long without any in-betweens is hard on a body. even hers, stubborn though she may be!]

...Then let us take our leave, mm? I trust you've already catalogued what you wish to study further in your own time.

[mayoninofukucho]

Are you sure? If you need more time I don't mind. But otherwise maybe we can come back sometime soon.

[Unless, of course, she'd rather buy herself an archivist's totem later in the month when the traders return and come and go at her leisure - but despite their lengthy debate about hypothetical scenarios Hijikata remains interested in her perspective on things. Sure, they may struggle to understand each other's point of view again in the future, but he wouldn't mind an ongoing study buddy arrangement.]

[sighsheavily]

[she sits up straighter, drawing her shoulders up in a slow stretch.

in her exhale:] Research requires breaks...as much as diligence. And unless something dire happens, gods forbid, we do have time.

So. Yes. Let us see to this again, after some time to digest what's been found and attend to other duties has passed.

[mayoninofukucho]

That sounds like a plan.

[He starts gathering his things, the notes to stow away in his bag and the books to return to their shelves. Before long he'll be ready to take the elevator back up with Cecelia (setting off the token in the archives would probably get them banned, he assumes).]

Come to think, death magic is hard to practice in some ways... exorcisms usually happen rather ad-hoc.

[sighsheavily]

Mm...

[after adjusting the shawl around her shoulders, she folds her arms and leans against the elevator wall and considers that.]

Do any of the texts speak of restrictions to humanoid entities? Or would anything that can be alive be communed with? Plants, insects, animals...

[mayoninofukucho]

I've seen ghosts of animals and plants, but I could never communicate with those. I guess it'd take an animal- or green- and death magic combination for that. But they're not really harming anyone, so I'd rather leave them be.

[God, he really developed a protective stance towards ghosts, didn't he... it's absolutely wild, considering how scared he used to be of them until just a short time ago.]

[sighsheavily]

[well that just sounds inefficient! another point against this whole structure from where she stands.]

Mm. Unless you find yourself a recipe for a revivification potion, I have fewer suggestions. Necromancy was never one of my closer subjects of study.

[beat.]

Nor exorcism.

[there. happy?]

[mayoninofukucho]

[His little grin shows that her addendum prevented him from issuing another complaint. Once he inevitably starts dipping his toes into necromancy she'll have every right to call him out...]

Just message me whenever you want to go next. My schedule gets pretty chaotic, so "every other Thursday" probably won't work out. Oh, and if you need a swordsman escort or whatnot the same applies. I guess we're both officially working under King Arthur, so..!

[Why is he so unusually forthcoming? Maybe he really misses his comrades more than he lets on... the other knights don't seem to have thrown themselves into the job the same way he has for the most part, so is he getting desperate looking for affiliates, maybe? Or perhaps he just doesn't trust Cecelia to not get herself killed if she ventures into dangerous territory in search of more knowledge. That's also a possibility.]

[sighsheavily]

[her eyebrow quirks.

you guys are getting paid??]

And what will I owe as recompense for any ad hoc services, mm?

[mayoninofukucho]

[He wishes he got paid! No, all the perks of knighthood lie in the honour and the glory (and a few businesses giving them discounts). Hijikata had the idea in his head that the knighted outworlders would be more organised, a proper group of like-minded protectors, so the reality put a bit of a damper on his enthusiasm (not that he let it keep him down for long).]

Knowing that I'm serving the common goal is all the reward I need.

[He's clearly laying it on thick now, and his smirk shows that he's being tongue-in-cheek.]

Unless it's a quest, then I'll take half the payment.

[sighsheavily]

[her mouth quirks just faintly - as much as she's keen to give outwardly.]

Duly noted. [the timing is such that their departing elevator ride is vastly shorter than the arrival - that just seems to be by design.

as the doors open:] You are...agreeable to cooperate with, I think. So I will keep this in mind, yes.

[mayoninofukucho]

I'm taking that as a compliment.

[He steps out of the elevator with her, and the darkness outside shows how long they studied down in the archives. Just a few lanterns inside the waggon, circled by moths, provide some light for them.]

Do you need fire for the totem? Oh wait, no, you have your own.

[She did bring the totem, right? If it were anyone else Hijikata would half expect this to be the point where the excursion goes south, but Cecelia seems better organised than most people.]

[sighsheavily]

[of course she has the totem! it was like her one job. Cecelia rummages in her satchel as they get some space away from the entryway, procuring said totem and holding it up to be seen.

once he gives some notion he's ready, her hand glows and the totem ignites. she tosses it ahead of them and lets the smoke billow.

time to go.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[This went so wonderfully smoothly compared to the mayhem Hijikata is used to... sure, they didn't find the solution to all their problems, but progress is progress!]