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

[sighsheavily]

I can accept a slow descent, [Cecelia adjusts the shawl around her shoulders, following half a step behind him.] so long as the absurd inquisition isn't repeated. Names and purposes are perfectly reasonable, but I didn't appreciate being asked about my shoe size.

5

[markedfordeath]

[Elza was seated outside at a nearby cafe as the yelling filled the air. The steam from the coffee in front of her drifted up to fill the area around her with the pleasant smell of the roasted beans. It was still currently too hot to be drunk, but given she had such a show in front of her the gunner was having a grand time waiting for such a moment.

Sturm, of course, was ever-present and laying neatly against the side of her table.]

Trouble again with your steed?

1

[troubadamsel]

[ Maribelle had been watching, mostly silent observation but she does applaud when appropriate. As he approaches... ]

Does that mean you don't want to hear 'congratulations'?

3 B

[heartlessswordsman]

[At least Hijikata gets to be a thing that can move reasonably well on the ground, Zelgadis is stuck with a fish tail and no goddamn idea how to use it. He's trying to be helpful, but mostly he just gets stuck swimming in a circle or bumping into shit. It's embarrassing as hell, and for now he's just trying to find a place to hide for a bit and maybe practice swimming. Or something. He doesn't know what he's doing.

It's been a few minutes since Hijikata'd slithered off this way, so Zelgadis had missed it and assumes that there's nobody else back here. Unfortunately, he still sucks at swimming. While on his way to just find a dark corner to hide in for a while, he slams ungracefully into the bathroom door with a muffled "dammit".

Sorry bro, hope you weren't busy in there.]

3B - lmk if this works!

[colchismagecraft]

[Caster, too, had found herself suddenly in the possession of an... octopus-like lower half. And after having had Azul teach her how to swim around properly, was now practicing as best she could in a quieter part of the building, if just to salvage her own pride-

But that was when she happened to spot an Octo-Hijikata, wondering around looking altogether very suspicious and shifty.

...What on earth was he doing? And what was with that awkward expression on his face?

It probably wouldn't help Hijikata's mood that without her evil cloak hiding her face- she'd been wearing swimwear before she'd got dragged underwater after all- she was actually a rather attractive woman, despite the scar over her breastbone from her breakdown.

Who also had tentacles.

And was now swimming over to him with a curious smirk.]

Well, don't you look a sorry sight.