Sagi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scension) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
isleofavalon2021-05-08 12:58 am
scension) wrote in isleofavalon2021-05-08 12:58 am
2. [open]
🧙 WHO: Sagi and anyone
⚔️️ WHAT: May catch-all log
🕒 WHEN: Early to mid May
🗺️ WHERE: Camelot before and after the minotaur attack, see prompts
⚠️ WARNINGS: Bodily fluids & emeto mentions in prompt E (minotaur TDM prompt)
[A: political campaigns // around Camelot]
[With the vote on Celliwig drawing closer by the day, the concerned citizens of Camelot draw close to the city's sidewalks and green areas in order to convince any remaining fence-sitters that their idea of diplomacy is best. Some have pamphlets, some have presentations, some have snacks, some have free pens... Only one of them, currently, has Sagi's attention.
This isn't by choice. He kept it to himself while the Cereus de Anima's doppelgangers were running rampant, but ever since the atmosphere in Camelot City turned political, Sagi's usually relentless good mood has had a little trouble covering for him. Whenever he was out and about for errands or menial fetch quests, which is most of the time, he's done his best to avoid one campaign's volunteers and handouts in particular. Unfortunately for him, today that campaign has hit upon what appears to be a winning idea: a free field trip to the mountains, far more scenic than their competitors' free field trips, with the perk of keeping whatever valuable crystals you happen to dig up in exchange for your support. As a small group of pro-war campaigners goes over the details, handily illustrated by a light magic enhanced slideshow, Sagi is stuck on the sidewalk behind the enthusiastic onlookers.
At first, he listens intently along with the rest of them. The slight frown on his face makes his opinion pretty obvious, but he has better things to do than pick a fight in the middle of the street. That said, the obstructed pavement is preventing him from doing most of them, and the slideshow keeps meandering off topic into historical trivia about Elphame with stick figure illustrations... After a while, his frown sours into more of an annoyed pout.]
...I bet we could just run up and take their screen. How about it, Marno?
[He can probably be forgiven for thinking a few uncharitable thoughts in his frustration. The problem is, he said that one aloud, and not even in a whisper. If the campaigners here were just a little less loudly eager to recruit more people for their upcoming mining trip, they might have heard him from the front of the crowd. If you were just passing through, maybe you overheard him, too.
A couple of bystanders are already shooting sidelong looks at him. Who the heck just up and steals a screen? But he ignores them, staring fixedly past the campaigners at the screen in question as if he expects it to answer.]
[B: assistance quest - Holo, Goodbye]
The one under there... That has to be the strongest.
[The riverbank at this part of the northwestern river is muddy from recent rains. While the surface of the water shimmers beautifully, most of the remaining shining stones appear to be just under the surface, requiring a little wading to get at. While they may not need to worry about the uncertain footing as much as would-be quest-goers, the fae congregating around the river are giving the mud a wide berth anyway - instead, fairies and sprites of all shapes and sizes hover over the water in a gossamer cloud, laughing and chattering. It doesn't look like they intend to go anywhere anytime soon, and the sun is fast sinking through the sky behind them.
Sagi is standing on the bank, sizing them up. He hiked all the way out here without any plan for the return journey other than trekking back the way he came; the quest itself was almost an excuse for heading out of town, getting away from further murmurs of war. But because of that, he really needs to pick up the brightest holographic stone he can find if he's to deliver it before the magic wears off. If he didn't learn that the hard way in his home world, he sure has picked it up now that questing is his main source of income. That stone, the shiniest stone, the only one that matters... is a few paces out from the sodden riverbank, surrounded on all sides by a particularly noisy gaggle of sprites. The next step looks as obvious as it is annoying.]
...It's a shame to interrupt them. They look like they're having a good time.
[But interrupt them he will, unless someone gives him a better idea in the time it takes him to remove his vambraces and roll up his sleeves. They don't seem hostile, after all. He's sure they'll understand.]
[C: training grounds]
[Magic practice and keeping the rust off his swordplay are yet more decent excuses for Sagi to get away from where the campaigns are happening. He ends up traipsing to the training grounds more often around this month, sometimes at odd hours.
On this occasion, he's brought his familiar with him - the same monstrous horned demon creature he's posted about on AOL before, all pulsing flesh and wriggling tentacles. What he doesn't appear to have brought this time is his sword. Loitering in the corner of an open sparring space with only his phone in hand, he looks almost too casual for his own garish fantasy fashion sense, let alone the eldritch creature waiting patiently beside him.
There is a reason for this. He doesn't just do things for no reason, even if the reason is sometimes "the voice in my head thought it was a good idea" or "it looked like it might taste interesting". He's been wary of this machine for too long. He can dislike the circumstances he's been forced into without completely wasting the chances he has to do some good with them, or at least to understand them. There's no contradiction there.]
Okay, here we go.
[He taps something on the phone's screen, brandishes the phone at his familiar like some kind of talisman - and his familiar vanishes. In its place is an unremarkable rabbit, much like the domestic rabbits that were a common sight in Camelot around the spring equinox. Unremarkable, that is, apart from being about six feet from nose to tail; coincidentally, the same size as the tentacle monster it just replaced. The illusion flickers after maybe half a minute, creating an unsettling vision of tentacles and glowing eyes half-emerging from the rabbit's sides and back before the magic dissipates altogether.]
Hey, it worked! [He beams.] Next, try walking around me.
[The gargantuan rabbit rematerialises on top of his familiar. It bounds a few paces away, its movement maybe surprisingly convincing. Again, the illusion fades before long, but Sagi presses something else on the phone when the monster's horns and tentacles re-emerge - now it's a horse, shrunk down to the same scale as the giant rabbit. It flickers immediately, and now it's a rabbit again. Now it's an oversized striking dummy like the ones elsewhere in the training grounds. Now it's a person of normal height, short brown hair, probably a girl -
The last image vanishes near instantly. Sagi's optimistic mood from just a minute ago seems to have disappeared along with it. He averts his eyes from both his monstrous familiar and his phone for a moment; his expression is fleetingly, uncharacteristically angry. The monster itself settles back down on its haunches, staring at him in silence.
Would this be a good time to go up to him and grill him on why he even felt the need to come to the training grounds for this? Maybe, maybe not.]
[D: post minotaur attack // around Camelot]
[Simon the Minotaur's attack on Camelot does not come as a relief to Sagi. You would have to be pretty vindictive to see it as a self-inflicted knock against the insistent pro-war faction in town, rather than the needless destruction it is. Still, he can't deny that he tends to feel more focused when comprehensible crises are happening one after the other, when he has people to assist and no time to overthink anything in front of him. He can lend injured people a shoulder or an ear, he can do heavy lifting, he can deploy his magic like a flashlight inside ruined buildings - he's helping. He has something to do.
At one point, the heavy lifting takes the form of a crate of water bottles. The dramatic irony that these may have been better saved for the water contamination incident later on might occur to him once it actually happens, but it's unlikely. For now, all he knows is that someone asked him to help distribute them among the rescue workers, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone other than him overexert themselves after such a stressful day.
If you look even slightly tired or grouchy as you pass by the crate in the middle of this street, he won't be shy about taking a bottle out and waving you over.] Hey, do you want one of these?
[E: purification ritual // lowertown]
[It might have been hard to imagine that the smell in the lowertown could get worse after you venture into the lowertown and acclimatise, but as you approach the little decorative fountain in this equally little deserted plaza, the stink feels almost like a solid curtain draped through the air. This is, apparently, the point. When Sagi volunteered for the water purification rituals earlier, someone offhandedly mentioned that it might work more efficiently at points where contaminated water is already gathered, as long as the ritual itself goes well. With or without evidence, that was all the instruction he needed. He's determined not to mess up this one.
The ritual itself... might be a big if. Despite the red scarf Sagi has acquired somewhere to use as a makeshift mask, what's visible of his face looks decidedly nauseated even before the fountain comes into view. He grits his teeth, turns a corner - and has to stop in his tracks as a renewed wave of the stench slams into him, gagging loudly, a hand flying to his covered mouth.]
S... Sorry. Okay. [For a small mercy, gagging is as far as it goes for now. He straightens up quickly, keen to put that aside.] I've got the instructions here...
[On his well-thumbed phone screen, which rearranges itself to display them in response to his voice. Yeah, the particular magic skillset he's been saddled with might not naturally lend itself to a ritual like this, compared to other magic types. But here he is, and so are you, one way or another.]
Want to go over them again? Or can we just get this over with?
[wildcard]
[Give me anything, I'll roll with it! I have a general plotting comment for May, or you can hit me up at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
blitzente.]
⚔️️ WHAT: May catch-all log
🕒 WHEN: Early to mid May
🗺️ WHERE: Camelot before and after the minotaur attack, see prompts
⚠️ WARNINGS: Bodily fluids & emeto mentions in prompt E (minotaur TDM prompt)
[A: political campaigns // around Camelot]
[With the vote on Celliwig drawing closer by the day, the concerned citizens of Camelot draw close to the city's sidewalks and green areas in order to convince any remaining fence-sitters that their idea of diplomacy is best. Some have pamphlets, some have presentations, some have snacks, some have free pens... Only one of them, currently, has Sagi's attention.
This isn't by choice. He kept it to himself while the Cereus de Anima's doppelgangers were running rampant, but ever since the atmosphere in Camelot City turned political, Sagi's usually relentless good mood has had a little trouble covering for him. Whenever he was out and about for errands or menial fetch quests, which is most of the time, he's done his best to avoid one campaign's volunteers and handouts in particular. Unfortunately for him, today that campaign has hit upon what appears to be a winning idea: a free field trip to the mountains, far more scenic than their competitors' free field trips, with the perk of keeping whatever valuable crystals you happen to dig up in exchange for your support. As a small group of pro-war campaigners goes over the details, handily illustrated by a light magic enhanced slideshow, Sagi is stuck on the sidewalk behind the enthusiastic onlookers.
At first, he listens intently along with the rest of them. The slight frown on his face makes his opinion pretty obvious, but he has better things to do than pick a fight in the middle of the street. That said, the obstructed pavement is preventing him from doing most of them, and the slideshow keeps meandering off topic into historical trivia about Elphame with stick figure illustrations... After a while, his frown sours into more of an annoyed pout.]
...I bet we could just run up and take their screen. How about it, Marno?
[He can probably be forgiven for thinking a few uncharitable thoughts in his frustration. The problem is, he said that one aloud, and not even in a whisper. If the campaigners here were just a little less loudly eager to recruit more people for their upcoming mining trip, they might have heard him from the front of the crowd. If you were just passing through, maybe you overheard him, too.
A couple of bystanders are already shooting sidelong looks at him. Who the heck just up and steals a screen? But he ignores them, staring fixedly past the campaigners at the screen in question as if he expects it to answer.]
[B: assistance quest - Holo, Goodbye]
The one under there... That has to be the strongest.
[The riverbank at this part of the northwestern river is muddy from recent rains. While the surface of the water shimmers beautifully, most of the remaining shining stones appear to be just under the surface, requiring a little wading to get at. While they may not need to worry about the uncertain footing as much as would-be quest-goers, the fae congregating around the river are giving the mud a wide berth anyway - instead, fairies and sprites of all shapes and sizes hover over the water in a gossamer cloud, laughing and chattering. It doesn't look like they intend to go anywhere anytime soon, and the sun is fast sinking through the sky behind them.
Sagi is standing on the bank, sizing them up. He hiked all the way out here without any plan for the return journey other than trekking back the way he came; the quest itself was almost an excuse for heading out of town, getting away from further murmurs of war. But because of that, he really needs to pick up the brightest holographic stone he can find if he's to deliver it before the magic wears off. If he didn't learn that the hard way in his home world, he sure has picked it up now that questing is his main source of income. That stone, the shiniest stone, the only one that matters... is a few paces out from the sodden riverbank, surrounded on all sides by a particularly noisy gaggle of sprites. The next step looks as obvious as it is annoying.]
...It's a shame to interrupt them. They look like they're having a good time.
[But interrupt them he will, unless someone gives him a better idea in the time it takes him to remove his vambraces and roll up his sleeves. They don't seem hostile, after all. He's sure they'll understand.]
[C: training grounds]
[Magic practice and keeping the rust off his swordplay are yet more decent excuses for Sagi to get away from where the campaigns are happening. He ends up traipsing to the training grounds more often around this month, sometimes at odd hours.
On this occasion, he's brought his familiar with him - the same monstrous horned demon creature he's posted about on AOL before, all pulsing flesh and wriggling tentacles. What he doesn't appear to have brought this time is his sword. Loitering in the corner of an open sparring space with only his phone in hand, he looks almost too casual for his own garish fantasy fashion sense, let alone the eldritch creature waiting patiently beside him.
There is a reason for this. He doesn't just do things for no reason, even if the reason is sometimes "the voice in my head thought it was a good idea" or "it looked like it might taste interesting". He's been wary of this machine for too long. He can dislike the circumstances he's been forced into without completely wasting the chances he has to do some good with them, or at least to understand them. There's no contradiction there.]
Okay, here we go.
[He taps something on the phone's screen, brandishes the phone at his familiar like some kind of talisman - and his familiar vanishes. In its place is an unremarkable rabbit, much like the domestic rabbits that were a common sight in Camelot around the spring equinox. Unremarkable, that is, apart from being about six feet from nose to tail; coincidentally, the same size as the tentacle monster it just replaced. The illusion flickers after maybe half a minute, creating an unsettling vision of tentacles and glowing eyes half-emerging from the rabbit's sides and back before the magic dissipates altogether.]
Hey, it worked! [He beams.] Next, try walking around me.
[The gargantuan rabbit rematerialises on top of his familiar. It bounds a few paces away, its movement maybe surprisingly convincing. Again, the illusion fades before long, but Sagi presses something else on the phone when the monster's horns and tentacles re-emerge - now it's a horse, shrunk down to the same scale as the giant rabbit. It flickers immediately, and now it's a rabbit again. Now it's an oversized striking dummy like the ones elsewhere in the training grounds. Now it's a person of normal height, short brown hair, probably a girl -
The last image vanishes near instantly. Sagi's optimistic mood from just a minute ago seems to have disappeared along with it. He averts his eyes from both his monstrous familiar and his phone for a moment; his expression is fleetingly, uncharacteristically angry. The monster itself settles back down on its haunches, staring at him in silence.
Would this be a good time to go up to him and grill him on why he even felt the need to come to the training grounds for this? Maybe, maybe not.]
[D: post minotaur attack // around Camelot]
[Simon the Minotaur's attack on Camelot does not come as a relief to Sagi. You would have to be pretty vindictive to see it as a self-inflicted knock against the insistent pro-war faction in town, rather than the needless destruction it is. Still, he can't deny that he tends to feel more focused when comprehensible crises are happening one after the other, when he has people to assist and no time to overthink anything in front of him. He can lend injured people a shoulder or an ear, he can do heavy lifting, he can deploy his magic like a flashlight inside ruined buildings - he's helping. He has something to do.
At one point, the heavy lifting takes the form of a crate of water bottles. The dramatic irony that these may have been better saved for the water contamination incident later on might occur to him once it actually happens, but it's unlikely. For now, all he knows is that someone asked him to help distribute them among the rescue workers, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone other than him overexert themselves after such a stressful day.
If you look even slightly tired or grouchy as you pass by the crate in the middle of this street, he won't be shy about taking a bottle out and waving you over.] Hey, do you want one of these?
[E: purification ritual // lowertown]
[It might have been hard to imagine that the smell in the lowertown could get worse after you venture into the lowertown and acclimatise, but as you approach the little decorative fountain in this equally little deserted plaza, the stink feels almost like a solid curtain draped through the air. This is, apparently, the point. When Sagi volunteered for the water purification rituals earlier, someone offhandedly mentioned that it might work more efficiently at points where contaminated water is already gathered, as long as the ritual itself goes well. With or without evidence, that was all the instruction he needed. He's determined not to mess up this one.
The ritual itself... might be a big if. Despite the red scarf Sagi has acquired somewhere to use as a makeshift mask, what's visible of his face looks decidedly nauseated even before the fountain comes into view. He grits his teeth, turns a corner - and has to stop in his tracks as a renewed wave of the stench slams into him, gagging loudly, a hand flying to his covered mouth.]
S... Sorry. Okay. [For a small mercy, gagging is as far as it goes for now. He straightens up quickly, keen to put that aside.] I've got the instructions here...
[On his well-thumbed phone screen, which rearranges itself to display them in response to his voice. Yeah, the particular magic skillset he's been saddled with might not naturally lend itself to a ritual like this, compared to other magic types. But here he is, and so are you, one way or another.]
Want to go over them again? Or can we just get this over with?
[wildcard]
[Give me anything, I'll roll with it! I have a general plotting comment for May, or you can hit me up at
no subject
no subject
Ugh. Healing.
I don't do healing. I do war. Not this "lead an army to fight a minotaur," but "lead an army from the front to fight another army." [A beat.] And I don't mean against the faeries either, I voted against that nonsense.
[DRAMATIC FLOP BACK DOWN.]
[Blows on his tea a little! He's still alive, see?] Tokugawa Ieyasu does healing. If he was here, I'd leave it to him, but--
[Huff. And closes his eyes for a little bit.] It's not like I can just ignore people if there's something I can do, right? [But this is why he prefers leading from the front. When they both agree to go back to camp for the night, he can just CRASH. Aftermath is annoying!]
What's your magic? [Opens just one eye!]
no subject
Um, light magic. It doesn't lend itself to situations like this the way healing would... But you're right. We do what we can.
[He can agree there, much like he can agree with the vote. He isn't going to go off half-cocked on some guy he found on the floor.]
Although... if you keep doing that, you're going to spill your tea.
[That.]
no subject
Ahhhhh I'll be fine. [... Dunks the cookie again and noms.]
[And sits back up.] Ugh. I should ask Kitsuno and Mitsuhide if they get headaches from magic too. The caffeine helps... maybe that's Mitsuhide's trick.
no subject
[He reaches into the satchel around his waist and pulls out a tiny blister pack of painkillers, which he holds out. Who knows what's in them - it's entirely possible the healer who recommended them to him was ripping him off - but it doesn't occur to him not to offer, no matter how difficult he's finding it to get a read on this guy.] Do you want one?
no subject
[Sparkle eyes!]
[Waits. Thinks it over.]
[TAKES THE CHANCE And gulps them down. And finally gets up just to bow!] Thank you. I'm in your debt. [Formal sort of Roman gladiator gesture with his right fist over his heart and chest, because he watched some gladiator movies before shit got real. And he's very very chuuni.]
It must be something about people with light magic. You're all really cool! [That, he picked up from other people.]
no subject
You don't need to salute or anything. [Is that what it was? It sure looked more like a salute than any other gesture coming to Sagi's mind.] I just hope it helps.
[And that it wasn't one of those medicines that make you sick if you take them all at once, jeez. After he was given instructions to take one at a time, it didn't occur to him to check; he learned his lesson about that particular intrusive thought when he was a little kid.]
The people handing out tea to the workers cleared out a rest area back there, too. Maybe try there instead of taking a dirt nap.
no subject
no subject
I get what you're saying, but you're not the only healer they have. Plus, the attack came out of almost nowhere. Everyone's tired. People will understand.
no subject
Not that he's all smiles, I mean. He just knows the right thing to say whenever he's treating someone. [ >:T ]
[Pout.] Here's not too bad for like... five minutes, is it?
no subject
no subject
[A beat.] I'm not asking you to be one.
no subject
[He doesn't sound very sorry, but nor does he skip a beat.]
They at least had chairs back there. [A few odd seats and benches, dragged out from buildings that survived without too much damage.] Are you sure you'd rather not?
no subject
[Real question!] I can't get the hang of it.
I will come to the chairs. But you have to show me how to make them more comfortable. Without removing my sword. It might be easier without a table?
[But he does get up! Because if he's asleep in a chair, then the wounded know he's still on the job and watching, just resting. But ready to slice anything dangerous!]
no subject
[But he'll lead the way anyway. This is not a good day for judging people he doesn't know. If his own katana wasn't so easy to stow away, he'd probably have trouble sitting down with it too.
True to his description, a block or so away from where Nobunaga was lying, a small gaggle of Camelot citizens has set up an impromptu drinks stall on the lawn of a relatively intact park. Mismatched stools, chairs and tables are lined up in front of it, though most are occupied; several tired relief workers are simply sitting on the grass as is.]
It's over here. Um, and that's how the chairs work. [He waves a hand vaguely but hopefully in that direction.]
no subject
[Then drags it over to where he thinks an attack is most likely and sets himself up.]
[And sits in the chair backwards (don't worry it's on purpose!)]
[And dozes off half-way asleep, but he'll be taking in most of the surroundings. Dozens of assassination attempts waking you up all the time does things to your sleep cycle!]
Thank you. I didn't catch your name.
no subject
[That part comes automatically. His mom raised him to be polite.]
...See, you know how to use a chair just fine.
[That remark is conscious - he's trying very hard to mean it. Hey, he's seen the ways little kids try to flop all over chairs if you let them. Sitting in one backwards is close enough.]
no subject
[Now HE'S confused!]
[HOW IS THIS RIGHT?!?!?!]
[He glances at the others, total amusement!] I see, so it is everyone else using them improperly. [You are encouraging a monster Sagi!!!]
no subject
They're not wrong, either. The only wrong way to do it is falling off. Or knocking it over. ...I have to admit, it's hard to picture the kind of place that doesn't have chairs.
no subject
We take our shoes off indoors so the floors don't get dirty. And then the cushions can be arranged for various ways for different purposes. European beds are so bouncy! [Laughs and shakes his head.] I don't mind them, but we have futons instead, that you lay out on the floor as well, it's very cozy. Ah, and the buildings are also raised from street level, so it's never so... [Just kind of gestures.] The same as being outside. [A smile!]
I do like the outdoor cafes. I'm told they're really common in Europe. We have them too, but we have more traveling food stalls. Although, maybe that just doesn't exist here because there's less places to go.
no subject
Wow. It's true, Avalon isn't the biggest island in existence, and there's only one. I'm from the sky, so... we have chairs and soft floor mattresses and all, but we had a lot to get used to as well.
no subject
Who drives the airships? Are you a pilot?
no subject
[He'd be able to drive a pod or the smaller kind of mechanical airboat if he had to, but he'd hardly call himself a pilot. For some reason, the steampunk evil empire didn't see fit to train him as one after making a political fugitive of him about three times over.]
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[Eyegleam! He is so worked up about the ideas!]
no subject
[He really doesn't have any handle on the rhyme and reason behind what this guy is going to enthuse about next. It's a little endearing, despite the man's exuberant... everything.]