Video | UN: hijikata | Irregular Quest: Keep a Man out of the Sun for a Day

[mayoninofukucho]

[It's after dinnertime on another rainy evening when a new video pops up on AOL. Hijikata has never posted anything on the network before (beyond responses to other people), so he's not exactly a familiar face... but those who do know him may be surprised by the changes to his outfit and the large black wings on his back. He looks a lot more composed than usual and gives the camera a slow blink before starting to speak.]

My name is Arashi. I am the familiar of Hijikata-san, whose body I am inhabiting by means of familiar fusion to bring you this message. I am afraid that I find myself in need of some assistance.

[He seems to be in a hotel room, and attentive listeners may be able to catch the occasional high-pitched little noise in the background, as if there were guinea pigs or other small pets running around. Arashi keeps a straight face.]

It has come to my attention that Hijikata-san has been struggling to reverse the impact of the wishes that were made about two months ago. I cannot maintain the familiar fusion state for very long, so I seek the support of anyone willing and able to keep him away from the sunlight for a day.

[What the reclusive crow tengu isn't telling the viewers: due to the heavy rains he decided to check on his bond partner, only to find his hotel room full of mayonnaise mascots. When the flooding began Hijikata had fetched them in a panic from the smallholding farm the owners of which had been letting him keep them in an enclosure, and their presence immediately made it clear to Arashi that he never fixed his messed-up magic. Hijikata had just finished preparing a familiar fusion essence in his room for later use in an emergency, and ultimately it was used much sooner as a result of the ensuing fight.]

Please come to Room 306 at the main inn if you are interested. I cannot offer gold, but I am able to train users of wind magic and help awaken it for novice users of elemental magic, or otherwise I can offer some rare items.

Just as a warning, there are some... creatures here.

[The mayonnaise mascots are harmless, but kind of creepy looking in his opinion. They are unnatural, wholly unnatural. The sooner they disappear the better.]


(OOC: This is open for anyone, no dibs (after all we've got time loops happening around here!). Villains and pranksters are also welcome (after all Arashi is such an absent familiar that he wouldn't be able to tell who Hijikata's friends are, or if he has any at all). If you'd like to plot anything specific out I have my CR meme post here!)

Comments

[scension]

[Sagi blinks. Why the sudden reversal? He's loath to even think the thought, but that seems... suspicious.]

Uh, I really don't mind going... I can write down what you need, if you're worried.

[He'll even fish his phone out of his pocket and make a blank memo for it right here, right now. It's becoming something of an ingrained habit, the way writing his field notes and travel diary entries used to be.]

That way we can get you food for tomorrow, too.

[His familiar continues to just sit there, unblinking. Presently, the sickly orange exposed muscles along its arms pulse as it shifts its weight, propping itself up ever so slightly taller. It would be a pretty impressive feat to still have much of an appetite after watching it for long.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Nooo!! This is too creepy; he doesn't want to be alone with it!]

I don't want to put you through the hassle of going alone in this shitty weather! Let's order in! Okay? Let's order pizza! It'll be my treat! Or anything else if you don't like pizza! I'm not really hungry anymore, seriously!

[Actually now that his initial fury over Arashi's betrayal had worn off the exhaustion of the familiar fusion is really hitting him... he turns his head away to try and stifle a drawn-out yawn.]

Nnnn... say, how late is it, anyway?

[It's probably "just" somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 PM, but the tiredness is already creeping into his bones.]

[scension]

[Okay, well, Sagi didn't get his phone out for nothing. He glances down.] It says... 10:14.

[But he has to stifle a yawn of his own as he says it. Dang, it's contagious. He's normally fine at this hour.

Once again his lack of foresight is catching up to him, this time in the form of a slow realisation that he didn't plan where he's going to sleep if he's supposed to watch Hijikata until tomorrow evening. The bed is obviously out, and his familiar takes up a decent amount of the floor space that the watchful mascots aren't already occupying; he doesn't like letting it breathe down his neck while he sleeps if he can help it, either. ...Eh, whatever. A chair is fine for one night.]

Alright. If you're sure, I'll just go in the morning.

[In other words, stranding Hijikata in this room with a horrible monster for a while remains on the agenda. Hey, it's still for his own good! Everything is fine.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[If nothing else the armchair may be comfortable-ish... or, if Sagi sleeps curled up, they can share the bed after all, seeing how Hijikata will definitely stay at the top end. Or he can make a nest out of towels and blankets on the floor. The possibilities are manifold!]

Yeah... going in the morning sounds good.

[He wants to keep arguing as to why Sagi definitely shouldn't go alone (without sounding desperate about it), but he's seriously crashing all of a sudden. Within mere moments he's all slack and relaxed, head hanging down as he sleeps sitting up. His muscles will probably complain after a long night in this position, but at the very least Sagi is relieved of his samurai-sitting duty for now.

Hijikata will actually end up sleeping long past noon the next day, having overworked himself relentlessly in the previous days, despite being tied to the headboard - so Sagi may find himself woken up by the small hands of some mayonnaise mascots around noontime (if he doesn't wake up earlier on his own). They poke and prod him, make little "uhyoo" sounds, point at the small hotel room fridge, and hold up their plush and plastic egg toys. Feed them, Sagi!]

[scension]

[It's fortunate that Hijikata is out like a light so quickly, or else Sagi would probably have kept him awake. Without anyone else to watch or talk to, he has a habit of thinking aloud in a stage whisper to fill the silence, so he ends up intermittently mumbling to himself well into the night. At one point he raids the bathroom and makes an impromptu bedroll out of a few clean towels instead of staying in the armchair, having decided after a lengthy semi-internal debate that a fake bed is better than no bed. His familiar simply sprawls onto the floor beside Hijikata's own bed after a while and dozes off there, like some sort of oversized, malformed dog.

Since he took so long to settle down, it might come as no surprise that Sagi sleeps in late as well. It has to be at least noon when, finally, he stirs from uneasy dreams to the unfamiliar sensation of several tiny hands tugging at his fingers.]

Hm...? Not another baby bird? You know Mom says to leave them in the woods...

["Uhyoo," replies one of the mascots, a sound Sagi associates with neither the younger orphanage kids nor the various wild animals they used to try to bring home. That and the prodding of the other mascots' little hands are incongruous enough to startle him awake at long last. He jolts straight into an upright sitting position, bleary-eyed, and looks down.]

You... Were there this many of you last night?? [Because they sure as heck weren't all this close to his face! Unable to think of any better ways to rectify this on the spot, he promptly swats at the closest of them with the back of his hand, as hard as he can. Sorry, little guy.] Go away!

[mayoninofukucho]

[There's a full dozen of Mayorins, and they all wants eggs. When Sagi swats the nearest one it falls on its back and flounders around, emitting high-pitched whines as some others come to its aid. Hijikata is miraculously still sleeping through this, but then he also slept through Sagi's quiet mumbling last night.

The suspect-looking little creatures keep piling up their toy eggs in front of Sagi and waving their arms with increasing urgency, pointing at the fridge and patting their bellies. Sagi can either knock them all over and leave them struggling to get back up, wake up properly and see if he can figure out what the hell their deal is, or wake up Hijikata, who's cutting a pretty pitiful figure in his slumped position at the head of the bed. Since when did this become a multiple choice text adventure?]

[scension]

Ugh, what are they saying...?

[Sagi isn't mean-spirited enough to slap all of the Mayorins away after that helpless little display. He briefly entertains the notion of waking his familiar up to terrorise them into silence, but that would be even meaner. At that point, he's... out of ideas. He rubs his eyes and frowns down at the heap of toy eggs beside him, but nothing is clicking. He certainly doesn't recall Hijikata's comment about Mayorin food from last night yet, what with everything else that happened around it.

However, by happy coincidence, he does have a multiple-choice dialogue box living in his head! How useful for this exact situation. It's the same entity he was muttering to all night, the one he's always talking to when he seems to be thinking aloud.]

Marno, are you awake? If we wake Hijikata up, he might know what they want, but... I'm not sure.

[Let him sleep, says the taciturn voice only he can hear.]

...Yeah. He looks like he needed the rest.

[But that means he's still on his own, unless his stage whispering is loud enough this time to rouse Hijikata anyway. Okay, time to... just try harder, he supposes. With a small sigh, he stands up and dusts himself off, then looks down at the huddled mascots again.]

Um... sorry for hitting you. [This is so damn surreal.] What do you all want with the fridge? Do you want to go inside?

[Would he be any quicker on the uptake if he wasn't still half-asleep and mildly annoyed? It's debatable.]