Hijikata Toshirou (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mayoninofukucho) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
isleofavalon2022-01-07 11:50 pm
mayoninofukucho) wrote in isleofavalon2022-01-07 11:50 pm
Entry tags:
January Adventures (Open/Closed)
WHO: Hijikata and some friends and maybe YOU?
WHAT: Gathering baking ingredients, escorting baby aurora bears, and questing all over the place!
WHEN: Throughout the first half of January
WHERE: Forest of the Felled, Edge of the Dusklight Woods, Township near the Lands of Rot, Camelot City
WARNINGS: Violence (partly with potential enemy NPC death, but we can avoid that if you prefer) for most of the quests!
1) Frosty Forest Camp - Ingredient Hunt for the The Great Avalon Bake-Off 2022
[After celebrating the winter solstice in Nicnevin Hijikata welcomed the new year in Camelot, watching the castle's fireworks at midnight with his ghostly subordinates. It seems like Elphame will remain open for travellers, and he's tentatively glad for it, after all they went through much trouble to politically court the fae queen. His muted enthusiasm picks up when he realises that a camp has been set up at the edge of the Forest of the Felled as a halfway station of sorts. Finally he and the ghosts won't be the only ones out here!
When a store of well-preserved ingredients is found and a baking contest announced he decides to join in. Sure, the judges of Celliwig's cooking competition were unimpressed with his cooking, but this is baking! So he can be found wandering around to gather ingredients. He meant to use his two hen-sized compsognathuses like truffle pigs, but the dinosaurs aren't enjoying the cold and screamed at him until he picked them up and started carrying them in his arms.]
You two are really useless, you know that? What do I even feed your greedy mouths for?
2) They Grow up so Fast
[Colourful eggs showed up all over the place in Camelot and Elphame, just as seemingly out of season as the fruits growing in the snow in the Forest of the Felled. But not enough with that: the eggs had little legs they ran around on, and anyone who got in contact with them was "imprinted" with a protective parental instinct.
Was Hijikata lucky enough to dodge that bullet, or did he end up as an egg parent (possibly even for the same egg as you)? Or is he accompanying the current expedition in his function as a knight? Well, either way, he's here, because after the eggs hatched into little glowing teddy bears it quickly became clear that they're not fit to live among people.]
I hope they'll be fine out here and not come back once they've grown huge... where are their real parents, anyway? What kind of lousy procreation method is this to just lay eggs and have random people do all the hard work of rearing them?
[To be fair, it worked out well enough for the bears! (OOC: Please press A for Camelot and B for Elphame!)]
3) Quests
A ⦿ Gravestone-Faced (foritsmypower)
[When Hijikata asked Shoto if he wanted to be his squire the boy stood so proudly, it filled his own chest with pride too. The ceremony later on was small and simple (and yes, there was some paperwork to be done), but all of that was just a formality to him. This is different from his relationship with his subordinates in the Shinsengumi or Yuureisengumi, and he still needs to find his footing as a mentor figure, but he trusts that they'll work together just as well now as they already did before Shoto's squiring.
The new year has only just begun, but already a serious threat appears to be haunting the edge of the Dusklight Woods: a strange creature seemingly made of leaves and mud and covered in a ragged cloak and wooden mask. The bodies that were sighted speak for themselves, and Elphame, where the monster escaped from the underground prison, provided further information: as soon as it reads a person's emotions on their face it's able to turn their greatest weaknesses against them and, once they're mentally broken, pull their soul out of their body.]
Well, Shoto, let's put on our best pokerfaces.
B ⦿ Knight Quest
[Hijikata takes his position as a knight pretty seriously. At the time of his knighting there were only a couple of other outworlders with the title (though more had come and gone before him), and while he's glad to see that the ranks have filled considerably since then it doesn't mean that he can slack off! Despite not being anybody's Vice-Commander here he can't help but feel like he needs to set an example. So he doesn't hesitate to accept the special task and set out towards the occupied township near the Lands of Rot.
Given the distance he used an archivist's totem for himself, his pedigree horse Black Star, and whoever is accompanying him (knight or non-knight), so it didn't take the group long to make it to their destination. Having left the horse(s?) behind some cover a good distance away he and his partner are currently observing the orc bandits from a secure location (or, perhaps, from under a dark magic cloak or a light magic glamour).]
Looks like there aren't all that many of them, at least not right now.
[He's confident in his battle skills and apparently plans to apply brute force... if his partner is on board with that, great! But if not they may want to curb his latent bloodlust a little.]
C ⦿ Beta Testing (fortroubadamsel)
[It sounded like such a nice and thoughtful Camelotian tradition: pass on the stone, and you and whoever you pass it on to will have good luck in this new year. The kindly woman clearly just wanted to cheer Hijikata up, having seen him struggle with a bunch of thorny cuttings for an elderly man with an overgrown garden. He doesn't even notice that the stone absorbs the traces of blood it gets in contact with as he's distracted by the sight of Maribelle.]
Maribelle! - Thanks again, Madam! - Maribelle, wait!
[He leaves the stranger and tries to flag the little noblewoman down. He wants to thank her for the warm gloves she gifted him for Christmas! That was completely unexpected, and while he already sent her his 'Mirror Mirror' in return he still feels like he owes her an expression of his gratitude in person. And what better way to do that than include her in the lucky stone custom? (Later on he'll file that under "thoughts moments before disaster".)]
D ⦿ Roast Pork (fortroubadamsel)
[Hijikata has been on the dark web's radar for a while now, and ever since last month's hunt for his ghostly subordinates tensions have been higher than before. The Yuureisengumi constantly finds itself missing at least one or two members, and the resources needed to find and rescue them are always sorely missed elsewhere. Hijikata thinks of running another recruitment campaign, but the new year starts off with such a bang on the dark web that that'll have to wait.
When he sees the ridiculously sadistic quest involving a giant hogweed potion that, sneaked into the private Jack Rabbit's club's champagne fountain, will cause everyone who ingested it to burn to a crisp in the sunlight, he simply can't abide it... despite his lasting predicament of still being trapped in Maribelle's body.
He contacts the quest-giver through his burner phone, and once arrangements are made he soon receives the fatal potion in a post box in Camelot City which he rented specifically for this undertaking. Before long the would-be murder weapon is safely in the hands of Camelot's native law enforcement (he conducted a covert collection with them, just in case), but he isn't satisfied with just that. He wants to get a hold of the madman who cooked up this entire horrible plot!
This is why he, after sneaking into the club and pretending to be a new server lost on the way to the dressing room, uses his phone to invite the mysterious quest-giver to come watch the "pork roast" show. He allows himself a narrow-eyed smirk as he sees the inappropriately cheerful text message response. So far, so good! Now if only he didn't feel so exposed in this goddamn bunny suit, and if only he could walk in these high heels... and if only he knew that the dalmation stone enchantment that made him and Maribelle swap bodies is about to run out in 3, 2, 1--]
[OOC: If you'd like any additional prompts (egg-raising adventures, body-swapped run-ins, etc.) please feel free to hit me up on my plotting post! Also here are Hijikata's permissions.]
WHAT: Gathering baking ingredients, escorting baby aurora bears, and questing all over the place!
WHEN: Throughout the first half of January
WHERE: Forest of the Felled, Edge of the Dusklight Woods, Township near the Lands of Rot, Camelot City
WARNINGS: Violence (partly with potential enemy NPC death, but we can avoid that if you prefer) for most of the quests!
1) Frosty Forest Camp - Ingredient Hunt for the The Great Avalon Bake-Off 2022
[After celebrating the winter solstice in Nicnevin Hijikata welcomed the new year in Camelot, watching the castle's fireworks at midnight with his ghostly subordinates. It seems like Elphame will remain open for travellers, and he's tentatively glad for it, after all they went through much trouble to politically court the fae queen. His muted enthusiasm picks up when he realises that a camp has been set up at the edge of the Forest of the Felled as a halfway station of sorts. Finally he and the ghosts won't be the only ones out here!
When a store of well-preserved ingredients is found and a baking contest announced he decides to join in. Sure, the judges of Celliwig's cooking competition were unimpressed with his cooking, but this is baking! So he can be found wandering around to gather ingredients. He meant to use his two hen-sized compsognathuses like truffle pigs, but the dinosaurs aren't enjoying the cold and screamed at him until he picked them up and started carrying them in his arms.]
You two are really useless, you know that? What do I even feed your greedy mouths for?
2) They Grow up so Fast
[Colourful eggs showed up all over the place in Camelot and Elphame, just as seemingly out of season as the fruits growing in the snow in the Forest of the Felled. But not enough with that: the eggs had little legs they ran around on, and anyone who got in contact with them was "imprinted" with a protective parental instinct.
Was Hijikata lucky enough to dodge that bullet, or did he end up as an egg parent (possibly even for the same egg as you)? Or is he accompanying the current expedition in his function as a knight? Well, either way, he's here, because after the eggs hatched into little glowing teddy bears it quickly became clear that they're not fit to live among people.]
I hope they'll be fine out here and not come back once they've grown huge... where are their real parents, anyway? What kind of lousy procreation method is this to just lay eggs and have random people do all the hard work of rearing them?
[To be fair, it worked out well enough for the bears! (OOC: Please press A for Camelot and B for Elphame!)]
3) Quests
A ⦿ Gravestone-Faced (for
itsmypower) [When Hijikata asked Shoto if he wanted to be his squire the boy stood so proudly, it filled his own chest with pride too. The ceremony later on was small and simple (and yes, there was some paperwork to be done), but all of that was just a formality to him. This is different from his relationship with his subordinates in the Shinsengumi or Yuureisengumi, and he still needs to find his footing as a mentor figure, but he trusts that they'll work together just as well now as they already did before Shoto's squiring.
The new year has only just begun, but already a serious threat appears to be haunting the edge of the Dusklight Woods: a strange creature seemingly made of leaves and mud and covered in a ragged cloak and wooden mask. The bodies that were sighted speak for themselves, and Elphame, where the monster escaped from the underground prison, provided further information: as soon as it reads a person's emotions on their face it's able to turn their greatest weaknesses against them and, once they're mentally broken, pull their soul out of their body.]
Well, Shoto, let's put on our best pokerfaces.
B ⦿ Knight Quest
[Hijikata takes his position as a knight pretty seriously. At the time of his knighting there were only a couple of other outworlders with the title (though more had come and gone before him), and while he's glad to see that the ranks have filled considerably since then it doesn't mean that he can slack off! Despite not being anybody's Vice-Commander here he can't help but feel like he needs to set an example. So he doesn't hesitate to accept the special task and set out towards the occupied township near the Lands of Rot.
Given the distance he used an archivist's totem for himself, his pedigree horse Black Star, and whoever is accompanying him (knight or non-knight), so it didn't take the group long to make it to their destination. Having left the horse(s?) behind some cover a good distance away he and his partner are currently observing the orc bandits from a secure location (or, perhaps, from under a dark magic cloak or a light magic glamour).]
Looks like there aren't all that many of them, at least not right now.
[He's confident in his battle skills and apparently plans to apply brute force... if his partner is on board with that, great! But if not they may want to curb his latent bloodlust a little.]
C ⦿ Beta Testing (for
troubadamsel) [It sounded like such a nice and thoughtful Camelotian tradition: pass on the stone, and you and whoever you pass it on to will have good luck in this new year. The kindly woman clearly just wanted to cheer Hijikata up, having seen him struggle with a bunch of thorny cuttings for an elderly man with an overgrown garden. He doesn't even notice that the stone absorbs the traces of blood it gets in contact with as he's distracted by the sight of Maribelle.]
Maribelle! - Thanks again, Madam! - Maribelle, wait!
[He leaves the stranger and tries to flag the little noblewoman down. He wants to thank her for the warm gloves she gifted him for Christmas! That was completely unexpected, and while he already sent her his 'Mirror Mirror' in return he still feels like he owes her an expression of his gratitude in person. And what better way to do that than include her in the lucky stone custom? (Later on he'll file that under "thoughts moments before disaster".)]
D ⦿ Roast Pork (for
troubadamsel) [Hijikata has been on the dark web's radar for a while now, and ever since last month's hunt for his ghostly subordinates tensions have been higher than before. The Yuureisengumi constantly finds itself missing at least one or two members, and the resources needed to find and rescue them are always sorely missed elsewhere. Hijikata thinks of running another recruitment campaign, but the new year starts off with such a bang on the dark web that that'll have to wait.
When he sees the ridiculously sadistic quest involving a giant hogweed potion that, sneaked into the private Jack Rabbit's club's champagne fountain, will cause everyone who ingested it to burn to a crisp in the sunlight, he simply can't abide it... despite his lasting predicament of still being trapped in Maribelle's body.
He contacts the quest-giver through his burner phone, and once arrangements are made he soon receives the fatal potion in a post box in Camelot City which he rented specifically for this undertaking. Before long the would-be murder weapon is safely in the hands of Camelot's native law enforcement (he conducted a covert collection with them, just in case), but he isn't satisfied with just that. He wants to get a hold of the madman who cooked up this entire horrible plot!
This is why he, after sneaking into the club and pretending to be a new server lost on the way to the dressing room, uses his phone to invite the mysterious quest-giver to come watch the "pork roast" show. He allows himself a narrow-eyed smirk as he sees the inappropriately cheerful text message response. So far, so good! Now if only he didn't feel so exposed in this goddamn bunny suit, and if only he could walk in these high heels... and if only he knew that the dalmation stone enchantment that made him and Maribelle swap bodies is about to run out in 3, 2, 1--]
[OOC: If you'd like any additional prompts (egg-raising adventures, body-swapped run-ins, etc.) please feel free to hit me up on my plotting post! Also here are Hijikata's permissions.]
It's all good! ♡
Calm and unemotional as Shoto's voice sounds, Hijikata starts to understand that he must have terrible fears of loss and bereavement. It's a painful jab for the samurai, because for all his strength and capabilities Shoto is still a teenager. He shouldn't have to feel so desperately responsible for protecting the closest thing to a mentor figure he has in his current life.]
...
[He draws both swords, dips Muramasha's tip in the back of the creature's neck - just a tiny bit, only enough for it to feel the light pressure through its cloth, a mere threat that he won't actually go through with if he can help it -, and holds on to Rei with the other hand, actually ready to use it for a cut that'll chill the enemy to the core at the slightest provocation. The strange being's mask is still pressed to the ground, but he worries that it inferred Shoto's emotions from his words alone, so he wants to send a clear warning: target my squire and I'll kill you. He responds in a calm, unemotional voice.]
I'm not standing here alone. We're on this mission together; we completed it together. Nothing happened to me because you've been with me.
[It's true. Shoto's direct attack gave him an easy opening from the back, the enemy already preoccupied with the ice damage dealt by the boy. They decided the battle for themselves within moments, so why does Shoto still feel like he hasn't done enough?
Hijikata is tense; he's worried that the creature might mentally attack them both simultaneously even without seeing their expressions. He glances towards the open area beyond the trees, and he can see a small group of people running up towards them in the distance. Good. Not much longer now.]
<3
Because you've been with me.
More warmth follows. Soft, blue embers, the younger looking at his friend, his mentor, someone who's occupied every role he's slotted him neatly inside of. The other's calm response rattles him, throws him off because he fears he's a burden. He isn't absorbing his praise at all. Doesn't consider his hand in things as being very much special. He should have grounded it, pinned it. Never enough. Still Endeavor's voice driving him: you have a power greater than any repeating in ears, his thoughts, his heart-space. This very same boy—whose cold once sustained him, subsisting on so much rage it'd nearly consumed him in whole—would bury his ice in anything Hijikata instructs him to. That he's versed in not feeling means he feels too much strongly now. But, if his trusting's this fragile, splinters with doubts from the moment things challenged it, how can he rest on reassurances he wouldn't be killed next? His hypervigilance sharpens him, his worries stemming from past's insistence that his hero's still human.
But the words do relieve him some. How he sounds like another—even, measured, reassuring despite whatever dangers exist still—reaches him further than words alone might. Both his "sensei"; both his examples. Though, he's never walked with Aizawa-san... Listening, stray's shadow trailing in steps just beside him; starstruck wondering while the swordsman's impressed on him. The scape of metal draws eyes again; not yet widening, heartbeat stammering when edge of sword's pressed to monster. As if they've switched places: his precious sensei, for the moment, seeming more threating than anything Hell has to offer, a Kasha.
This is evidence. Every word, every second reminding him, pressing insistent: this man is not All Might.
He's someone else. Not stronger; not rivaling, nor better. Just his hero.
Nothing has happened. Nothing was going to happen. His eyes close briefly.]
Right. [He's right. They're fine.] I'm here.
[A squire trusts his knight. He'll be strong for him, too, now. He's blinking back up.]
We'll... watch each other's backs. [Then, quietly, glancing aside,] I think someone's coming...
no subject
He knows that he isn't a great role model - he smokes like a chimney, curses, drinks, and has a shitty temper, and besides he lacks the empathy and patience to nurture someone who has been hurt in so many ways. He's a violent man and won't hesitate to cut others down, assessing and judging any dangerous situation in a blink and executing whatever action he sees best fit. He's not a gentle guardian, couldn't be one even if he wanted to, yet somehow he holds confidence that it's alright, because he sees the same unwavering determination to do whatever is necessary to protect the defenceless in Shoto's eyes. At his squire's remark he lets his eyes wander to the approaching figures once more.]
About time they got here.
[He smiles at him in silence reassurance of the rest - yes, they'll have each other's back.
Within a minute the delegation from Elphame makes it to where they are and promptly takes the defeated enemy off their hands, putting various spells and seals in place to ensure that no further harm will come from the eerie creature. Once they have thanked the two outworlders and pushed the prisoner into the secure transport cart Hijikata exhales and finally sheathes both swords.]
Very, very good work, Shoto. Let's look after the victims now. I know that the king called for cognitive mages to save those whose souls are still connected to their body, but if any of them need healing from getting cooled out or whatever perhaps you can help with that... and if any of them are lost for this world I'd like to talk to them.
[They may have to split up for a little while, given that Shoto can't see or hear ghosts, but the danger is gone now, and Hijikata wouldn't feel content if they left without seeing if they can still apply themselves here.]