Text | UN: Anonymous

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata was just having the time of his life on the Island of Dreams, playing with a whole bunch of cute mayonnaise mascots, when a little bird (literally or not... who knows) told him that back in Camelot his ghost subordinates are being hunted and trapped by dark web denizens. Shit!! Why does this happen the one time his burner phone is out of commission?!

After a quick panicked brainstorming session he decides to take to AOL, totally anonymous this time, just in case. He'll keep it short and sweet.]

How do you find ghosts that have been sealed in containers and hidden?

[If only there were something like a more specialised Wayfinder spell for this exact situation! Wait, didn't the traders sell a pendulum that can detect items? Ugh, why didn't he buy it?! But really, who could know that something like this would happen? Now he can only hope that Avalon's netizens have some good ideas for him.]

Comments

text | [thearchitect]

[emet_sulk]

Seek out the lingering traces of another Death mage's work. That or simply break every jar that is somewhere it does not belong. Most are amateurishly hidden.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata doesn't recognise the username as Emet-Selch's, so he feels less embarrassed admitting how stumped he feels at his advice than he otherwise would.]

How do I recognise the traces? I have death magic, but I never paid attention to anything like that.

[That last part is a little comforting, though... and wait, doesn't it hold an implication?]

Have you been looking for the jars as well?

[emet_sulk]

Symbols seem to be rather common ways of sealing the jars. I was seeking out spirits with another but I am beginning to suspect that the quest-giver has been grossly misunderstanding the actions of these wayward souls. So, I have turned my attentions to breaking them out instead.

[mayoninofukucho]

Thank you for that! I arrived at the same conclusion.

[Not like he actually needed to conclude anything anymore once he was presented with the dark web quest, but details! He'd like to ask this helpful person to speak with the ghosts directly in order to gauge how many of them are still unaccounted for, but seeing how they must also be a death mage chances are they've already been doing that, and such a question might give away Hijikata's affiliation with the ghosts to less well-meaning readers of this thread.]

Will you need back-up? I plan to join the search ASAP. Or are you still with your quest partner?

[emet_sulk]

We have parted ways for now. Some help would not go amiss.

[mayoninofukucho]

Where will I be able to find you?

[He should consider a disguise, probably... but then again the ghost trappers can imagine that he'll be searching for his subordinates, so its main use would be to shield anyone helping him from getting on the dark web's radar an his ally.]

[emet_sulk]

I will head back to the main square. Look for a man with a streak of white in brown hair.

Text => In Person

[mayoninofukucho]

Will do. Until soon, and be wary.

[Some dark web jackass better not beat him to it! A brunet with a white streak though, huh... that immediately brings Emet-Selch to Hijikata's mind. Still, he probably isn't the only person on Avalon who fits that description.

One Hijikata arrives at the appointment scene, though, face shaded by the hood of his coat, he immediately spots the other man, and it takes a weight of his chest. This is too fortunate! He approaches him, raising a hand in greeting, and keeps his voice low as he addresses him, eyes glinting around to ensure that nobody is observing them from their immediate surroundings at least.]

Emet-Selch! We just spoke on the network. I'm glad it's you.

[emet_sulk]

[ He turns at the sound of that familiar voice, visible surprise flashing briefly across his face. That the anonymous poster should turn out to be Hijikata himself is a pleasant surprise. ]

Ah... So there is more to this situation than meets the eye.

[ He keeps his voice at a similarly low volume. ]

What is truly going on here?

[ Since they last spoke, his hair has been growing noticeably longer, approaching his shoulders. Having been expecting a stranger, his hood had been down, but now he draws it back up to shadow his face. He doesn't seem terribly bothered by the cold despite wearing only the one coat. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata is a bit surprised to see that Emet-Selch has been letting his hair grow out, but why not? It's not like he's a soldier (and even then back in Edo the men are allowed to keep their hair long if they tie it up in ponytails or manbuns chonmage). At the question his expression turns grim under his hood.]

They're after my subordinates. Looks like we've been getting under the criminal rabble's skin, so of course I want to get my men and women back and double down.

[emet_sulk]

Your subordinates... The spirits themselves?

[ That would explain the deliberate manner of their patrol around the streets. He had thought they looked unusually focused but the ones whom he had surprised and forced into jars did not have much time to explain themselves. ]

I must apologise then. I set upon quite a few of them with my former companion, thinking them hostile.

[mayoninofukucho]

[He nods in confirmation of the initial question, and as Emet-Selch confirms once more that he fell for the false "light web" quest he sighs. He really can't hold it against the man, aggravating as it is that the quest poster managed to mislead multiple well-meaning people.]

You couldn't have known better if you don't visit the dark web's QuestBoard. I assume you let the ones you'd captured go already? How many were that, and how many others did you find?

[He wants to get a rough gauge of how many of his 20 subordinates are accounted for. As he speaks he starts walking, automatically steering his steps towards his usual meeting point with the ghosts where they start and end their night patrol. The sooner the two of them leave here the less of a chance anyone else has of spotting and tailing them.]

[emet_sulk]

[ He follows, brow furrowed in thought. ]

I only trapped three. I thought that would be enough of an effort to satisfy the quest conditions.

[ Trust Emet-Selch to do the bare minimum. One COULD say he was trying to be magnanimous and leave ghosts for others to trap. ]

When I went to release them, I only found one in its spot. The other two may have been freed by someone else already.

[ And maybe trapped again elsewhere. ]

Continued from above!

[mayoninofukucho]

[(Continued from here!)

He nods, smiling a little.]

I've worked with my subordinates for long enough to know what they look like in this form. I usually bottle them for transport when we travel between Camelot and the Forest of the Felled by totem.

[It's only a matter of familiarity! As they descend down the ladders he muses on Emet-Selch's shop, which also services spectres.]

Say, what do your ghost customers usually buy from you?

[Perhaps he should recommend Polydegmon's to his men and women!]

[emet_sulk]

...Their initial requests usually involve some manner of poison or other means of revenge against those who wronged them.

[ He is an alchemist after all. ]

As I refuse to create poisons which may kill a man, I instead offer to listen to their life story while I work.

[mayoninofukucho]

[That first part comes as a bit of a surprise, even though it really shouldn't. Ghosts linger for a reason, after all. Emet-Selch's actual service to the spectres is less surprising, given how well-versed he has always seemed in dealing with the dead.]

I'm sure being listened to helps them. At first I thought they could just start self-help groups among their kind, but over time I've noticed that a good number of ghosts seek the company of the living... maybe to not forget what it was like, or simply to get a different point of view, I haven't really asked.

[As they pass by a narrow side street he notices another death magic trace and points it out.]

Isn't this a trail again? Let's go in there!

[emet_sulk]

[ A support group? He muses with some faint humour. He's not sure that would work. The sorts of grudges some spirits hold are not the kind to be dispelled by talking to others who bear similar reasons for clinging to life. Even listening to them does not always appease those who approach him. He can only assume those who leave him do eventually find another mage to fulfil their requests.

He considers responding thus but is immediately distracted by the new trail. Altering his path, he follows it down the street. Another pot? Or perhaps... ]

...Is that a fomor?

[ He means a zombie. The trail seems to lead to it...but perhaps their wayward spirit is simply stuck in a body. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[It's starting to dawn on Hijikata that his remark was pretty naive - after all he knows all to well how vengeful living people can be, and refusing to move on to the afterlife ought to take some pretty serious resistance. It just so happens that up until now he has mostly encountered traumatised ghosts who were unable to accept their deaths or let go of their connections to their loved ones, rather than those bent on vengeance.

At Emet-Selch's question he narrows his eyes, likewise focusing on the person head of them. He doesn't know what a fomor is, but his steps becomes more cautious as he continues to approach, and he puts a hand on the hilt of his death-magic-enchanted sword. He calls out.]

Excuse me? Is everything alright?

[He doesn't bother to introduce them as knights - if it's a corpse or an undead creature that'll be redundant; if it's a living person he can do that in a moment.]

[emet_sulk]

[ The shuffling, unsteady figure halts and slowly turns. Even for a dead body it isn't pretty. Emet-Selch wrinkles his nose in distaste, at both the sight and the smell. ]

We ought to expel it. If it is one of yours trapped in that corpse, they will thank us, I'm sure.

[ He prepares to do just that, although he waits for Hijikata's input. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

Right.

[He hasn't expelled a ghost from a corpse before, so he's not sure if one of his usual exorcism spells will do the trick here, or if that would actually be overkill and banish the ghost entirely. He gladly lets Emet-Selch go ahead.]

What's it doing here?

[Zombies shouldn't be in the city! And if it was a random corpse... well, that shouldn't be left lying around in the backstreets either! If it were a recent victim of an accident or murder he could understand, but this body looks anything but fresh.]

[emet_sulk]

[ The city guard clean up corpses before sunrise. He knows this because-- well, he had been thorough when organising his serial killings last year. So it must be a fresh murder.

He has no interest in solving it however. Justice isn't in his purview.

A line of red snakes down his left arm as he holds it out towards the zombie. Some sort of vine motif, or the stem of a flower, with small, sparse leaves shooting off it. The glowing line pulses briefly then shoots towards the zombie and pierces its back. Not a flesh wound but one that cuts to the soul, separating it from the body.

The body collapses and the soul is set adrift. But is it one of Hijikata's...? ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata watches with interest as Emet-Selch works his magic. It sure is a different school than that which he took his lessons from, but it suits the man! Once the ghost is pulled free Hijikata recognises her straight away and dashes forward as she sways in the air with a faint wail, trying to hide in the shadows.]

Danariel! What happened?!

A man and a woman-- they attacked me and Karim when we found this murdered man! Before we could possess them they-- they trapped me--

[The elf ghost sobs, hiding her face in her hands.]

It was horrible! I felt the cold flesh, the stiff dead limbs... I could barely move. I don't know if they got Karim too; he tried to get help--

It's okay! We got him. They trapped him in a flask.

[He takes out a small tinted bottle and uncorks it.]

Get in here for now so I can keep you out of the light. I'll keep you safe, I promise!

[As she slips into the bottle he sets his jaw in anger. Of course his subordinates know the risks of their work, but doing this to her was beyond cruel... and then, of course, there's the matter of the murder. He looks at the fallen dead body.]

Shit. I hope those bastards didn't just kill this poor sod to lure my patrols in! I don't see his ghost around; do you think he moved on already? Either way, we've got to investigate this!

[They also need to keep looking for his missing subordinates, though. For a moment Hijikata seems torn, then he adds (with some frustration):]

Or the police can do that. I'll call them and tell them what we know.

[emet_sulk]

[ Whilst Hijikata is preoccupied, Emet-Selch crouches to examine the corpse left behind. The limbs are no longer stiff and it's beginning to smell. It's been quite a few hours since they were killed.

Still, it isn't their problem to deal with. He straightens to his full height and inclines his head to the other man. ]

Local law enforcement can handle something as simple as a murder. Only we can find your wayward souls however.

[mayoninofukucho]

["Something as simple as a murder", he says... if he knew what menial tasks the Shinsengumi is made to perform home in Edo sometimes he'd probably be beyond unimpressed. Besides the murders he committed last year were anything but simple! Hijikata doesn't argue, though, because it's true that nobody can take the search for his subordinates off their hands. He sighs, takes out his phone, and calls the police.]

Toshirou Hijikata here, of the knights. Emet-Selch, also of the knights, and myself found a dead body in a side street off Brickmaker Street...

[He provides further information, and before long the nearest mounted policeman arrives on the scene and takes over the situation. As the two of them continue walking Hijikata tries to pry his mind off the crime and focus on the ghost hunt again. Without Emet-Selch's help he'd still be significantly more stumped... the man is seriously talented.]

Say, have you ever considered working with ghosts more closely? Or rather, more actively? I know you sort of function as a therapist for them, and that's important for sure, but...

[But the Yuureisengumi could used support. If Hijikata had something like a Vice-Commander, a living person who can take over when he's indisposed or otherwise engaged and help the ghosts with situations they cannot handle, that would be a huge relief. But he knows that Emet-Selch already has his hands full with his shop, so he should perhaps hope for something more reasonable. He might be able to help them with potions (can vaporised potions boost, protect or otherwise positively affect ghosts... he'll have to research that) or information. If he wants to, that is.]

[emet_sulk]

[ For his part, he keeps quiet and lets Hijikata do the talking, only speaking when directly addressed. Although he had served his sentence for taking so many lives, he doesn't feel as though he belongs amongst these other principled men and women. He would have surrendered the title if the king let him.

Soon enough they are allowed to go on their way. Lost in his own thoughts, he almost doesn't catch Hijikata's question. ]

Working with...? Oh.

[ He hesitates. He is not one for being proactive in things. Not unless he deems it worthwhile. But hasn't he been searching for purpose during his stay? Would it be such a bad thing to involve himself in events? ]

I...suppose I could do more for them. But I have not the time to patrol the streets as you do.