isleofavalon | You gotta live better than you were though

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You gotta live better than you were though

🧙 WHO: Gokudera and YOU
⚔️️ WHAT: August catch-all! OTA
🕒 WHEN: August
🗺️ WHERE: New Camelot (predominantly)
⚠️ WARNINGS: Language, violence, drugs, mentions of past trauma: self-immolation, slavery

I. Healing Circle After Party

Despite most of his friends helping him, Gokudera has felt very alone since he learned of Yamamoto's absence. It's not the first time he's lost someone he's cared about. He's not being loud about his heartbreak and has seen on the network that others have lost some people important to them as well. But how often do you lose six different versions of your same friend/rival from home?

Gokudera feels a bit numb, and the strangulation he faced before is healed, but... still, there's pain. It feels like it never goes away, and on his own self-reflection, he realizes it's because he's focusing on it. He needs to use his head before his collar gets rid of it, and he can't problem-solve when it feels like his heart aches more now than it ever has before.

He collects yarrow and lemon balm, enjoying the smell and seeming almost to meditate while he gathers herbs. Once he's done, he's looking about for someone to sit with. There is no visible injury on the young man, and whatever he's going through, he doesn't want to talk about it. He'd rather just get on with the meditative healing.

Even burning the herbs seems somewhat traumatic, and so he closes his eyes and takes a steady breath, wondering why and how he suddenly became so wary of flames. The first thing he will share is fear and pain, a sinking feeling starting from the fingers and winding up the muscle of arms and causing a slight bit of panic. Sorry for sharing, but at least no one has to listen to him talk about why an explosives expert is scared of fire, right?

II. Crystal Mushroom

Gokudera gets on the quest board regularly (it's how he makes most of his money, in fact). Some manual labor feels nice, and he enjoys getting his hands dirty, literally, if only to focus on something he feels he has control over. Cleaning is one thing.

Taking care of a drug-dealer's source is another.

But still, work he can do. Gokudera's out to find Wendy, and he's dressed the part of the mafioso he is. The teen's donned a suit and he's come with the intent to threaten with dynamite, or explain that Wendy might find herself with some bad luck. If anyone stops him on his way to find her, he'll be honest.

He's going to beat up some drug-dealer. That's all they need to know. Gonna take out some aggression. Want to supervise? Help him? Hold him back? Talk him out of it?

III. Don't Treep, Man

Gokudera can be found repairing fences, looking out for fairy nests in the farm land, and helping to clean up the orchards. He has no green magic, but it's moments like these that he wish he did. The boy's very eager to be close to real, live trees. Too many years trapped in worlds where everything was either a hologram, or irradiated has him grateful to sit on fertile soil while he takes a hammer to a fence. The sun might be beating down on him a little too hard, burning at his skin, and he may appreciate someone helping him out. The fairies in the area seem to be enjoying his company, though, and are a fun distraction.]

I don't suppose any of you have tips for staying cool?

[The faeries, of course, don't respond, but just keep on gathering blades of grass and taking them back to their nest. Gokudera offers one a nail, looks it over, and then gets up to go make a sort of laundry line by pushing two into the dirt by their nest, tying a string about them, and then leaving a few sweets.]

Don't let the ants get to them, now...

[Few people have seen how tender the boy is towards the fae, and despite what he's been through, he continues to offer gifts, smiles, and any help he can.]

IV. Animal Mage Hunt - Platina Faun

[It's been... an odd couple weeks, and now, for some reason, he's woken up without his normal lower half. Gokudera's not keen on leaving the house, but he has to attend classes, has to escort the Tenth to them. His current transformation is making going out in public especially difficult. He can't wear pants, because he can't fit them past his new set of legs, and his pet leopard keeps looking at him oddly, so he can't stay inside, either. Gokudera can be found napping by the training grounds, eager to spar with anyone who wants a new challenge, or he can be found moving about the forest, foraging for food and stones.

He's keeping to himself, but can also be found walking about the streets of New Camelot, just... trying to run errands as if his cloven footsteps weren't loudly announcing his new features. His bigger concern is whether or not he'll change back. If he does, hopefully it will be in the privacy of his own home, where being without pants is at least acceptable.

Oh well, at least the little stubby horns popping out through his silver hair are cute.]

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Do you usually just learn as you go?

[Sounds dangerous. Gokudera needs to plot, plan, overthink, and strategize. Not to say he's rigid or can't adapt in the moment, but he's also very very meticulous.

He moves to pick up his bag and his familiar, cleverly disguised as a toy, pops his head out of his bag. Gokudera pokes at him, and the creature wobbles and extends its head further out, neck just... growing. Illusions are weird. His familiar is even weirder.]

Pretty much! That's been my life for the past, uh... three and a half years, I guess.

[ From day one, really, of her life in Chaldea. It's pretty wild to learn that magic was a real thing, not just stuff to be used in movies and manga.

When she sees the familiar appear, she doesn't think anything about it at first, but when it starts growing like that, she blinks a few times--one can almost see the neurons firing in her brain--before she just holds a hand out, tentatively. It's the way one might offer their hand to a dog for sniffing. ]

...Hi? Who's this?

Ah. It's Larry.

[The creature look up, then at that hand, then opens its mouth and a few marbles as big as its head roll out and into Ritsuka's palm. Gokudera clicks his tongue and grabs the creature up, offering it to her to hold. Larry looks very lazy, webbed paws and long tail hanging over Gokudera's fingers.]

[ ...it's cute...

She hesitates for a second, trying to figure out the best places to put her hands, then takes the little guy. Oh no. Oh no?? ]

Larry, huh...? Did you name him, or did he decide it?

I named him. He can't speak.

[Larry looks up at the girl with its big watery eyes, blinking one, then the other before it spits up a few more marbles, most of them clear, but some with swirls of color. Gifts~! It flaps about in the marbles slowly gathering in her cupped palms, and then lets out a little gargling noise.]

It's just short of Lariosauro. [He's not that creative, ok?]

He's really cute...!

[ Ritsuka sounds genuinely delighted by this, lifting Larry and his little marble presents up to get a better look. You don't have to be fluffy or fuzzy to be cute, in her opinion.

Her next comment is directed to him: ]

Thank you, they're very pretty.

He's usually much bigger...

[Larry lets out more gargling noises and keeps slapping his little webbed paws in delight at her approval. Most people think the presents are gross!

Gokudera digs about in his bag, then walks up with a small drawstring pouch for her.]

You can keep them in here. They'll turn to bubble barriers around whatever you throw them at.

Larry.

[The creature looks over at him.]

Be honest.

[Larry gives a nod, then hops off those hands to splat right onto the ground and grow, stopping when he's nearly the size of a horse, his webbed paws (similar to sea lion fins), drag and he wobbles before looking up and bumping his large scaly head to the girl's shoulder.]

--Oh. Hi.

[ She's a little surprised--who wouldn't be, after that?--but not alarmed, taking the bag to pour the marbles into the bag before reaching to pet Larry's muzzle again. ]

Bubble barriers, huh? I don't really get how magic works in this place, honestly. The one guy who told me anything at all was just kind of cranky about everything. [ For a variety of reasons, all of them probably personal. ] But that sounds useful.

[ Especially for her. She keeps petting Larry, almost meditative. ]

About magic? You can hang onto them. Who knows when they may come in handy.

[Larry nudges her as if giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but its with his head. Then, he's sliding and wiggling much like a seal against the earth before stopping next to Gokudera. The boy motions with his hand to shoo the creature off, and it slowly starts to turn invisible except for a pair of black, glossy eyes.

The boy approaches her and looks at the apple he'd given her.]

Did you just want to explore the forest? Was there anything you were looking for here? We can search until the sun starts to go down or something...

Most of the magic I know is kind of--...

[ She shrugs a little, as eloquently as she can. You don't need to be a worldhopper or part of some secret organization to know there's usually a divide between someone who can use magic, and those who can't. If those marbles each function as an independent spell, that's not too different from what Ritsuka herself used back home. ]

--Anyway. I was just kind of hoping to get an idea of what it's like, here. I know you were just lecturing me, but... I still think there's gotta be a way to forage here. Or I guess hunt, but I'm gonna have to get someone to show me how. Maybe Beowulf?

[Gokudera looks miffed at her trailing off and grinds his teeth a little while tapping a hoof.]

Of course there’s a way to forage here. Maybe just be careful or something, I don’t care. Do what you want.

[He turns as if to walk back to the city.]

Just don’t come crying to me if you get sick or cursed.

[ Whoa, tough crowd.

She doesn't say it, but she blinks at his back, head cocked. This isn't exactly what a tsundere is, is it? Just being polite doesn't make someone "dere." But prickly people are the same no matter where you go... ]

I won't...? It's not your responsibility, so I wouldn't do that to you.

[Gokudera's not going to explain himself or anything for his prickly attitude. It is what it is. They're in a forest and he's trying to be helpful but also wonder why he bothered at all. Probably because she wasn't rude or annoying. But now... what? Should he stay with her and forage for... food? He has food at home!]

So you gonna stay here and forage, or are you going back to the inn?

[What if she gets stuck in the forest? Lost? He would never heard the end of it if he just... brought someone to the Brocéliande and left them there. Gokudera looks bored.]

I'm gonna forage. You don't have to stay.

[ She says it lightly, without concern. If he's the sort to bristle and flex his spines like some metaphorical hedgehog, Ritsuka's approach has always been lighter. The past few years have taught her a lot about where to hold on and where to let go, and it's never been in her nature to for anything. And she has no responsibility to him, in the same way he has none for her; it's not like one of her Servants--or like Kadoc, who'd died(? it's still questionable to her what happened there) under her watch.

She's good at rolling with things, no matter what they are. ]

Thanks a lot for showing me the way here, Gokudera-san. I promise if I become a ghost, I won't haunt you.

[Okay yeah, he can't just leave her here! Sure, she seems to know a bit about forests, but she couldn't even find the forest to begin with! He can't in good conscious leave her here by herself. Even if she can take care of herself.]

Why would you become a ghost? That's... I'm not leaving you alone here. Even if I get bored.

[Maybe he can just follow her around? See if he can learn something from her? Maybe find some cool rocks to add to the little collection he started after meeting a different girl in the woods.]

It was just a joke. I'll be fine.

[ She's a little bit sheepish about it. A little! At this point in her life, she's not really frightened of ghosts, beyond maybe the instinctive cold chill when first encountering one. Sometimes she needs the reminder that not everyone is as used to it as she is. ]

I'm really really hard to kill. Even a fairy forest is gonna have a hard time with that.

[Gokudera has never met a ghost. He gives an acknowledging little hum before approaching her and waiting for her to take the lead in this foraging expedition. He isn't going to smoke, because for some reason, every cigarette he's put in his mouth has suffered some restless chewing. Thank you, odd sudden goat traits.

He plucks a piece of grass and starts to chew on that, needing to soothe the habit of having something in his mouth.]

Have you died before?

...Not really.

[ She has the feeling, on a deep instinctive level, that it might have happened--but she has nothing to back up that impression. It's just the sense that if not for some twist of fate, she would be. ]

But I guess you could say I'm used to dealing with the dead? In a way. Honestly, I don't really get how it works. Where I worked, the senior staff took care of most of that. I was mostly--...

[ What is a good way to describe her role? "Master" and "Servant" are pretty loaded words outside of this specific context, and she's not sure how well she could explain it. Where's Mash when she needs her? Or hell, even Kadoc--at least he'd spent more time training for this position. ]

A manager? Ish? It's hard to explain.

Well let's not make it happen. Something like that should be avoided.

[Hmph! He cares, but totally isn't going to say it. Let him stand watch and keep guard for her and that will imply enough.]

What kind of world were you in...?

[Oh he'll work towards asking outright. Having been a slave before in one of the other worlds he was spirited away to before Avalon, he's got some experience talking on the subject, even if it isn't an easy one.]

Even if it's hard to explain, I know a lot of people from different worlds. I've been to many, as well. It's not like it will weird me out or anything.

It's...

[ There's a pause as she weighs the words. Now would be a great time for Mash to show up--but no, Ritsuka's on her own here. She huffs, moving to lean her back against a tree, tipping her head up. ]

It's--not that different from here, from what I've heard. Not, uh, the whole magic city part of it, but the whole--... in danger, existence threatened, that kind of thing? We're on round two of that.

Except we didn't get any outside help. There's magic involved, and there's a staff to support me working, but on the field, there's just me.

[ Not that long ago, she'd been hopeful and excited for the possibility of actual teammates, and that had gone exactly awful. How would Kadoc describe it from his end? She has no idea. ]

[Gokudera feels the same way about Reborn-san from his own world explaining things. He'd help the Tenth out, too. Still, the bomber is patient enough watching her and waiting for the answer to his question.]

Your home world was like that?

[In peril, he means. He's surprised. The future of his world he'd traveled to meant that the mafia world was in peril, but not something as large a scale as Avalon's demand for the off-worlders.]

By outside help, what do you mean?

[ Sometimes you just need your Exposition Friend around, but unfortunately, they're both on their own here. ]

Yeah. Twice over. The first time was... Doctor Roman and Da Vinci called it the Incineration, since--I guess it kind of was that? Someone was basically trying to forcibly convert the whole world and its history to magical energy. [ You need a lot, when you want to essentially restart the world. ] And just when we got all of that under control...

[ She shrugs. It is what it is. She's tired, but she's not giving up. In the end, the thing Ritsuka wants most is to live--and she's protective of the world that is (was?) hers. She lives there, come on! ]

I guess you could say I'm technically a summoner? Or I was. Not that I was great at magic to begin with or anything. Da Vinci and the staff did all the setup work; I was just kind of the focal point.

I still don't think I understand.

[Gokudera really has no idea what she's talking about. Incineration? Her world was set on fire? But... it wasn't? It was... being converted into energy? They got it under control? How? Stop the person trying to forcibly convert everything to magic...?

And is he supposed to know who this Doctor Roman and Da Vinci are?]

Focal point? Like... a spokesperson?

[ She huffs a little, not quite a laugh. ]

I warned you. I don't get a lot of how it works, either.

[ At least no one outside of her immediate circle would know the name Romani Archaman, so there'd be no worrying about explaining him, but she's going to gamble that Leonardo Da Vinci would be a little more recognizable, even in a place so full of a mishmash of worlds and people. ]

A spokesperson, though--kind of, yeah? I was the only person left who could actually do summoning, so... even though I didn't really have any training, or any real skills... I was kind of stuck having to do a lot of the work.

Ah well, then tell me about something you understand very well, then.

[Then at least it's not going to be a conversation where they both circle something and neither gets very far. This conversation was supposed to sort of set up a basis of understanding, but they're just hitting walls. It's all but a waste of time.]

Summoning what?

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