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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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?

...

[ This is one of those moments where, if she had no one she knew in this whole city, she probably would have fudged the truth. But they're here, and she's met most of them at this point. They're aware of her. It's not impossible, or even unlikely, that they'll switch to using her name just because their contracts are no longer in place. So in that case-- ]

Okay, so... think of someone famous from history, or mythology. Like Tamamo-no-mae, or someone from the Shinsengumi. They don't even have to really have existed. People just need to have believed, at some point, that they did, and told stories about them.

What I did is summon familiars that are the embodiments of the stories of those people.

Oh! That's much more interesting than being some spokesperson. That isn't even close to what I assumed you meant when you said 'summoning'

[Way way waaaaaay more interesting! Gokudera reaches into his bag and pulls out another apple. He'd meant to take them home, but snacking on one while having a conversation with her isn't so bad, right? He's hungry and he'd eat just about anything at this point.]

It's nothing like video games ever told me it'd be like, that's for sure.

[ Some of the actual shine has worn off at this point--it's less the actual process that is interesting to Ritsuka, and more who might appear in the summoning circle when the process is over. ]

A lot of them treat me like I'm some kind of representative, at first, so it's easier to shortcut and just say that. If my friend Mash were here, she'd be able to explain it a lot better--she's spent her whole life in that system. I just got involved by accident a few years ago. I thought it was just a normal internship, and then--surprise! Magic! For real.

[ How was she supposed to know that the random flyer she'd seen in the subway, and followed up with on a whim, would have led her to this? ]

Oh! There are video games in your world.

[And foraging? That's a fun combination of activities. Gokudera says this like he's taking a note, but is just happy to hear that the world she's from isn't something super old-fashioned.]

A lot of them? The summons? Are there any other people you know from your home world that are in Avalon?

[Gokudera is eating the core of his apple. Waste none!]

Yeah--I guess I'm just from an alternate timeline of this place? Because the last time I went to Camelot, it was a lot worse than this.

[ Frankly, that experience was a lot heavier than just giving a high-level discussion of what she did for a living, before getting dragged in here. She crouches to examine a bush of berries, frowning thoughtfully. ]

I think at this point, there's... over a hundred, for sure, back home. And a few of them are here, though I guess they're not all the same versions I know.

[ She sits back on her heels, looking up at him. ]

Gawain and Gareth, Beowulf, Oda Nobunaga... are any of these ringing a bell?

Worse? How so?

[Gokudera follows, just watching her, enjoying this aspect of the conversation. When she looks up at him, he shifts a bit uncomfortably.]

I've heard of them, and met Nobunaga. It's more like... those ones you have met... do any of them in this place know you?

...It was a pretty bad time.

[ And isn't that an understatement. ]

I guess--imagine if King Arthur had gone mad, and had become convinced that the only way to save humanity was to preserve them in like, permanent suspended animation. But not every person, just... the people that were selected as "pure of heart," or whatever.

So the only way you could get into Camelot was to be selected... and if you didn't pass, then the Knights of the Round Table took care of you.

[ She hunches a little smaller as she says it, awkward. ]

--But, uh. Gawain and Gareth definitely know me. Kipposhi does too. Beowulf too. Med-- Caster and Saber don't, but that's okay.

[ And then there's all that weird stuff about Izou knowing her, but a male version of her, which she can't think about for too long without getting a headache. ]

So... how were people selected? Someone working with that version of King Arthur?

[Gokudera isn't so interested in working for the King, but he also isn't actively against him. It's not like it's the bad version she's mentioning.]

At least there are plenty of people here who know you. I imagine it can be confusing. I've got two people that know me. One knew a different version of me from another world, and the other is my boss, from our home world. There's a pretty big disconnect, though... since I've been away for so long.

Mm, more like--you know how King Arthur has Excalibur, right? The fabled sword of victory, that kind of thing? If you look at the other stories, he also had a lance, Rhongomyniad.

I don't know how similar it is to the situation here, but... in my world, Rhongomyniad is apparently this big deal? Something about like, one of the things that pins the human world in place and everything. It's a divine weapon, and it definitely worked like one.

[ She tips her head further back for a moment, looking up at the canopy overhead, considering. ]

But there are definitely people here that I know, and they only know me by reputation. So I guess it's the opposite of that first guy you mentioned. It's weird, isn't it?

It is.

[Gokudera wonders why he hasn't heard anyone else mention the lance, Rhongomyniad in this world.]

Do you know if he has such a weapon in Avalon?

No idea. But if he's really and actually King Arthur, he should at least recognize the name if you bring it up to him.

...Though, uh, I don't actually know how you'd manage that? Do you just, I dunno, walk up to him like, "hi, I've got some questions to ask"?

[ She doesn't actually know how kings in their courts work. Most of her knowledge comes from movies and dramas (which always seem to kind of handwave those details), or else outlier-type circumstances. ]

I've seen people talk to him on the network before. Felt like a network press conference.

[So Gokudera isn't going to just text him at random or anything like that. Even if the King did respond, Gokudera would trip all over himself. It's going to be something that will require careful consideration before he brings it up.]

I guess the same thing'd happen if you saw the Prime Minister show up online...

[ That's not even something she's really considered. She's seen politicians posting on social media plenty of times, either to shill opinions or in an attempt to appear approachable. Is it really unthinkable for the king of a magically-technical kingdom to do the same thing? ]

In my experience, that seems like something you'd be better off asking a Merlin, rather than their Arthur...

Exactly.

[A nod. She gets it, and he appreciates that.]

But isn't it Arthur's weapon?

Yeah, but who was the one who set up Excalibur for him in the first place? That was definitely Merlin, wasn't it?

'Cause in the end, just because you're the one who uses the magical weapon doesn't mean you're the one who got it. Maybe if you went on a big quest or something, but even then, you'd want to consult your local magician, right?

[ Her logic feels pretty sound to her, at least. ]

I'm not sure, honestly...

[Because he's never read the exact story. Partially not wanting to break the fourth wall on this one, but also because he's not read much that couldn't be applied to his every day life. Sure, reading The Once and Future King might help him out, but... he hasn't.]

I'd want to understand my weapon the most before I ever use it for anything.

[But maybe that's just him.]

You gotta live better than you were though

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