[Open] Something You Remember

[tantailizing]

🧙 WHO: Zidane Tribal and you!
⚔️️ WHAT: Catch-all Log
🕒 WHEN: Throughout September (until the Event)
🗺️ WHERE: Throughout Avalon (mainly Camelot)
⚠️ WARNINGS: Hot Knights Quest is 16+ in-character. Also branding, tattooing, and consensual submission for a prompt carried over from the TDM as well.

I. Hot Knights

Ha! So there were Strip Clubs in Avalon! And from the looks of it, that asshole from last month made even less sense.

But that was then, this was now; and right now, Zidane peered around. He had plenty of years acting like he'd be interested in this sort of thing, buying another drink, watching the bartender make it, all while making note of some more reluctant staff among others - who were almost equally as eagle-eyed and looking around like him.

Oh good, a challenge.

Now the next question: was he the only one here on this quest?

II. Jailbreak

Drinking, breaking into a random house, and throwing a rager that resulted in a few people dying? Sounded normal to him, but he supposed the 'breaking and entering' part might bother some people... and also some people dying, but drunk people make poor decisions.

Princess Yanira sounded alright to him! Which was exactly why Zidane was more than willing to take up this new quest from the Dark Web.

And the fastest way to do it was to end up in jail first - which was way too easy, like damn, they had too many rules. Raising his eyebrow as the guard walked away, if that's how they wanted to do it.

Alright, time to break out and find Yanira.

III. Through Pain and Caring

They needed volunteers to be branded for these tattoos - plain and simple reason for him going through with it. He was ready for it to hurt, but oh dear gods did it remind him why a Firaga or flare spell sucked to be hit by. Still, lying on the slab, his body only tensed as the egg cracked and oozed.

The next few days sucked, but he could tolerate it.

The weirder part of course came after.

"Eh? You're my caretaker?" Of course that would have to come up, but Zidane shrugged. "Okay."

[OOC: Open to interactions with others bearing tattoos, of course. Will take one person to actually give Zidane said tattooing, but open to caretakers otherwise as this is a meld of prompts B and C from the TDM.]

IV. House Hunters

He had considered doing this last month, but things come up - hunters came up.

Point was, he was ready to leave the Inn and give renting an actual house a try, but two immediate problems:

1. He hadn't exactly lived in a house before old hideout not withstanding.


2. What did someone even look for in a house here?

He had a list, he had addresses, and now all that was left was... figuring out what was worth it by Camelot standards he guessed. He'll need some help...

V. Wildcard

[OOC: Not interested in any of the listed prompts? Consider hitting me up at demidemonLove and we can plot another!]

Comments

ii

[theleadingman]

He had deliberated for some time before committing to this particular task— the casual mention of manslaughter being among Yanira's charges had given him pause, but he's no stranger to casualties, given his own participation in certain tumultuous events in Ivalice. Prison, he's found over the years, isn't quite the effective tool that many governing bodies hope it will be, and he's yet to find one that can hold him for any length of time.

Getting caught and thrown behind bars in order to break out from the inside, however, was not on his list of things to do. Instead, a few moments after the previous guard had turned and left, Zidane will see a new one take his place— who, despite the uniform and the hat pulled down over his eyes, may just seem a bit familiar.

He almost passes by Zidane's cell entirely before taking two steps back to look him over, tipping the guard hat he had helped himself to upwards to better reveal his face.

"Looks like you've been keeping busy. Actually, I can't say I'm terribly surprised to run into you here— I thought it might catch your interest, as well."

After all, they both know a fellow scoundrel when they see one.

[tantailizing]

Zidane wasn't much paying attention to the changing of the guard as much as he was reaching into the cuff of his gloves and taking out the key he needed to escape. Still, when he heard a voice speaking to him, he looks up. Oh, if it ain't that other thieving type from Celliwig.

"Heeey. Yeah, it did." He can't lie about that one as he opens his cell and steps out. "Like, sure, I can always track down bounty hunters like last month, but I haven't had an actual good job since bringing back a captain and his ships."

Putting the key back into his glove, he grins. "Well, now that we're both here, how about we get Her Highness out?"

[theleadingman]

Well, well— two very different approaches, perhaps, but equally effective. They'd both seen fit to tackle this place from within, albeit from different angles.

He nods once in response to Zidane's suggestion, hand resting over the ring of keys at his belt. Apparently, he won't be needing those just yet, but they're sure to come in handy whenever they find where Yanira is being kept.

"I see no reason not to work together while we're both here— so long as the reward is evenly split," he points out, smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. He's not settling for less than half, if he has to share.

[tantailizing]

“Hey, fine with me as long as we complete this to get paid at all.” Since he does the odd jobs around Camelot, he’s not starving for cash.

Looking around, Zidane hums. “So much for snagging that uniform. Think you could get another guard this way?”

They’ve probably already alerted someone, but hey, if a second disguise could get them a little more time sneaking around, that’s fine. Once the Princess was out, she didn’t read like she would be quiet once they started escaping.

iv!

[starshower]

[And who better to help than one Tifa Lockhart? While she's never hunted for a house of her own before, and has yet to leave the Inn to find a place for herself, she helped Aerith find hers, and she likes to think she's got a pretty good eye for those sorts of things. She tried to look out for what she thought would suit Aerith, and she was going to do the same for Zidane.

So she's at his side as they wander into the neighbourhood of the first house on his list. It isn't the greatest one she's seen around here, and there's plenty to be desired compared to what she's already seen, but... no harm in looking, right?

A dog barks from a yard across the street as they pass, and Tifa leans in to check over his list.]

Uhh... Wasn't it supposed to be just down this road?

[Are they a little lost...?]

[tantailizing]

[He appreciates the help! Really, any is welcome.]

[Still, where they were currently, even Zidane has to raise an eyebrow. He doesn't mind the location, but glancing around, he tilts his head.]

Yeah, we should've reached it already. Maybe this list isn't as updated as advertised.

[Nah, he's pretty good with directions once given. Looking at the list again, looking up, he briefly looks back towards the house with the dog, and then turns his eye on the list again.]

[starshower]

Or maybe the address is wrong.

[Because she's pretty good at directions too, but a part of her is already prepared to turn around and lead him out of the neighbourhood so they can find someplace else. It doesn't give her the same feeling that Aerith's did when they first arrived in the area, but she'd already been looking for some time before Tifa joined her. This, on the other hand, is the first.

She leans even closer to take a look at the paper again, and—snatches it from his fingers to lift it up at eye level, and she comes to a stop.]

Yeah. Wrong address.

[Tifa compares the photo in the ad to the house across from them, almost identical. She's pretty sure this is it, but she's already looking unimpressed by the ad alone.]

[tantailizing]

[He's pretty confused. It's not like this area was much worse than Treno, and heck, that could be a good thing for him. Getting in with any of the local thieves, helping fix the place up... and if they had a problem, deal with it and take over himself.]

[While he's thinking, Tifa's taken the paper.]

Huh? But isn't that the house?

v. wildcard

[fullgauntlet]

[He's not actually sure how he got dragged off by Zidane once again. It seems these two just have a way of teaming up for all sorts of things, being quests or otherwise. He considers Zidane a friend, of course, but he's still not sure how he got dragged out today.

Maybe he needs it anyway. He's getting himself cooped up a lot lately reading too many books.]

Where are we going, Zidane-san?

[Was there something about a new place to get a drink or something??]

[tantailizing]

Out! You need it!

[Ever since Izuku's gotten back, he'd been acting... different. Well, he knew why he was, but if he didn't do something about it, he'd end up doing what he did 'best'. And at his age? Yeah, not happening.]

[Aha, there's the bar.]

Here we are!

[fullgauntlet]

[Wait a minute.]

Zidane-san, this is a bar!

[He frowns with that goody-two-shoe frown!]

W-we-we're underaged!

[tantailizing]

No we're not!

[Also, what does it mean to be underage? Hahaha...]

Look, it'll just be one beer... or a shot. Something to help you relax a little!

II

[impostorsyndrome]

As far as the Dark Web goes, this month's offerings aren't that bad—though maybe that's the influence of the past few months talking there. Kadoc is not a squeamish person when it comes to the underbelly of society, but he does have pretty firm limits. Things like killing as many Animal Mages as possible lie far, far beyond them. But this? This one's pretty whatever. The party this princess had been jailed for had resulted in some deaths, but Kadoc, too, has resulted in some deaths in his time, and they apparently still want him here helping to save the world. He didn't even get a party out of all that shit back home.

So this is fine, as far as underhanded quests go. Kadoc's experience with being captured and locked up has been very, very brief, so that wasn't the route he trusted himself to go to pull this one off—but luckily, he's a Light mage, and he's been practicing the art of invisibility since he arrived months back. By now, he's good enough at it to trust himself to slip inside the facility and scope the place out, not exactly at his leisure, but at least without needing to dash in and get out before he gets hunted down.

Light magic doesn't do shit for footsteps, but Kadoc's experienced in covering his tracks and being very, very quiet. Still, if Zidane's being quiet himself, he might hear light footfalls approaching slowly anyway, even though there doesn't seem to be anyone there traversing the row of cells . . . until the sound stops right outside his.

Then a voice hisses, out of seemingly thin air,

"You're . . . heh. You're here on a mission, aren't you? Or have you been up to something? I wouldn't've expected it of you."

After all, Zidane had seemed like a fairly on-the-level type of person when they'd met before.

Haha! Happens eventually to us alllll!

[tantailizing]

Zidane's being quiet alright. He's getting an idea of the guard's routes as the footsteps travel up and down the halls, and imagining a basic map of the jail. It wasn't like they covered up his head bringing him in so he had a chance to look around, see other hallways and cells, hear the voices of a few others locked up.

Might be hard to walk passed all of them crime depending, but he'd see about busting a few with lighter crimes out. However, the Princess was the main goal to see out.

So, when an unfamiliar and out of sync set of steps approach, Zidane raises an eyebrow. There's no one there... but there's a slight distortion in the air. Ah, so magic to turn invisible was possible here too! Neat! And he grins.

"Mainly A, but B was involved." Getting up and walking to the cell door, Zidane just pulls it open. Of course, demonstration open, he closes it again. "See? It's all good. I'm just waiting for a guard to come back so I can borrow a uniform."

[impostorsyndrome]

Whoa, not bad. Unseen, Kadoc's eyes widen at the casual display of just swinging the door open and closed like that. How had he done it? Magic? Lockpicking skills? Either way, nice. The air shimmers extra for a moment: he's considering dropping the illusion, because from out here, he can see the hall in either direction and can tell they're alone for the moment. But come to think of it, borrowing a uniform is a good idea—just a moment here—

The shimmer goes still again while he concentrates, and then, after a long pause, Kadoc shifts back into view. He appears to be wearing a guard's uniform himself now. Ta-da! Illusion magic is fantastic!

(Some of the fine details of the uniform are wrong, but he can't do much about that; he didn't have it perfectly memorized on the way in. He'll just have to hope it's close enough until he can tweak it to be more accurate.)

"We may as well work on this together, if that's okay with you. I can pick out someone who's around the right size and lure him down here."

[tantailizing]

When he comes back into view, Zidane grins wider. Hey, he remembers him from the Celliwig trials. Man, that puzzle still sucked just thinking about it, but they'd gotten through. His magic then did not compare to his magic now either - he'd gotten even better, but not that it applied to the mission yet.

"Sure! And with that uniform, you can fix your own. There's a few bits off they might not notice unless they looked closely, but just to be safe."

But Zidane had seen them a few times while memorizing the aforementioned patterns and movements. It might rotate in time so they wanted to get this over with before that change occurred.

V land of rot

[sefirot]

[The 'Land of Rot' is an interesting place. Devoid of all life -- except for the dead wandering around, but that's not really alive is it? Re-animated corpses, skeletons, and other monstrosities all of which remind him of a certain scientist's experiments.

Another reason he does not mind being here among them -- they make good targets to strike down with his blade. Targets no one will really mind if they get sliced up.

The first reason he does not mind being in this area is he's curious to how these things continue on living. There must be some secret behind it all, and as someone who is practically immortal himself, this is something he'd like to become familiar with.

... Not that he wants to become a walking skeleton or anything, that's just weird. Like the one he cuts in half ... that continues to crawl towards him. Such determination. If someone by some random chance of destiny decided by the gods happens to come across him, they'll behold a sight that's best described as absurd. Or perhaps disturbing. Because he's going to continue to cut off pieces of the skeleton until it stops moving. Just to see how long that takes --

And then how long it takes for it to re-animate. He only stops what he's doing if anything dares to approach him, which in this place could be anything from zombies to weird creatures to short blonds from other worlds who just happen to be there as well. In any case, if someone tries to get too close, they get the end of the masamune right in their face. Or in the unfortunate instance of being a zombie, they get skewered.]

[tantailizing]

Woah! Careful where you swing that!

[When the request came for a few more undead parts, Zidane had volunteered to collect. Not only was it sparing people creeped out by the Land of Rot, but it also gave him a chance to get a better idea of the place - not that his opinion of it improved. He might rank it lower than the Evil Forest.]

[Point was, he didn't expect to encounter anyone here, but having seen the glint of silver hair from a distance, he'd become curious. There was no way, right? Has to be the ghosts playing another dumb prank, but he approached anyway... only to almost get a sword to the face. It still was, but he stared at the point, looked at the wielder, and sighed. Of course it wasn't him.]

[Glancing past him, Zidane notices the zombie behind the silver-haired man slowly bringing itself back together.]

... So, are you still busy with that one, or can I have it?

[sefirot]

[Sephiroth hadn't expected to run into anyone (living) out here either, so his eyes narrow at the voice and the person it's attached to. But at least he can tell the living from the dead and has no reason to end the life of some random stranger.]

If you don't wish to be struck down, then do not stand in the way of my blade.

[Simple as that. But before he can say any more he takes note of the zombie being referred to, glancing between it and the random blond stranger. It's an odd question out of context, but this is also an odd place so he can't really say much.]

I am not in need of it any longer, no. The time it takes them to reassemble seems to vary. Curious.

[That last part wasn't really anymore than commentary to himself. But yes, he can have that one. Sephiroth will just continue his carnage, it's not like there's any shortage of undead evil things here.]

III

[blackabyss]

Hero work was more than just fighting bad guys. Sometimes, hero work also involved taking care of those in need, and this was one such duty that Tokoyami had opted to volunteer for. Some of the people who were brave enough to get the tattoos really needed some care, after all.

He nods as he enters the room, surprised to see the familiar figure lying down on the bed.

"So, you went through with it?" He asks as he sets his backpack down. From within, Dark Shadow peeks up, looking sad.

"That musta hurt!!"

[tantailizing]

"Oh yeah. Hurt like hell and I can't even see what it is..."

Of course Zidane would pout about not seeing a tattoo in order to distract himself from the pain still there. It was still burning and he didn't want to move, but he also didn't want to keep lying around either. He thinks the moist towel helping soothe the burn needed to be changed anyway.

"Mind helping me sit up?"

[blackabyss]

"Of course."

Tokoyami moves to Zidane's side, offering his hand. Whenever Zidane is ready to move, he'll be here to help him move. That moist towel does also look like it needs changing as well, but he can do that once Zidane is settled.

"Your courage is admirable, I will admit. Though tattoos are fascinating, I do not think I would be brave enough to undergo this kind of application of one."

iii - tattooing!

[tempredmental]

[Keith stared at the egg, and then at Zidane, chewing his lip a little.]

You're sure about this, right?

[He'd honestly been thinking of doing it himself. It wasn't the pain that bothered him. It was having the tattoo, but knowing that there was a way to reverse having it made it a little less intimidating.]

[tantailizing]

[Setting aside his shirt and vest, Zidane nodded.]

Yeah, pretty sure. That little part that's not so sure? It's gonna have to sit this out.

[Placing his hands on the slab, he laid down on it, placing his arms under his head. He honestly didn't know where else to put them, but this was more comfortable.]

[tempredmental]

[Okay then. Keith nodded, then turned to get the egg while Zidane was settling on the slab. Using the provided utensils, he gingerly lifted the egg from the flames and brought it back.]

Okay... on three... 1... 2... 3... [He counted it out because he didn't want to shock Zidane with just placing the burning hot egg on his bare back like that. Instead, he wanted him to have some time to prepare and brace himself. He also new he was going to have to cast quickly to crack it open in order to minimize any discomfort. It would honestly be cruel to just let it sit there and just burn.

So, once he had placed the egg, he dropped the tongs and quickly did the needed spell, splitting the shell open, and the oozing ingredients did their thing...]