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)
avalononline2021-04-08 01:35 pm
mayoninofukucho) wrote in avalononline2021-04-08 01:35 pm
Video | UN: hijikata | Irregular Quest: Keep a Man out of the Sun for a Day
[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!)
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!)
no subject
Right. She just had to try and be nice about them. Not call them kinda creepy and ugly. That'd probably hurt Hijikata's feelings.]
...Sure. Alright, if you're ready, let's get going. I've got snacks, so we should be good.
no subject
So... about that dream, or memory, or whatever it was that we shared back during the spring equinox... I never got to tell you I'm sorry you had to go through that. All kids complain about school, but I think your experience really takes the cake.
tw fatal injury description
Wait you- you remember that? I thought I was like... just having seriously weird dreams where you showed up at my school.
[So if that wasn't just a dream then... Well, she had death's head hawkmoth tattoos on her legs, and a few fireflies along her neckline- all of which were covering up the scars where the spears of Gungnir had run her through.]
You saw all of it, huh?
no subject
[To be fair, his memories of his life in Mukuto's world are missing some significant chunks, but that's by design. They're already at the park's entrance now, but he doesn't steer towards the nearest bench inside. It's probably going to be a heavy conversation, so he wants to find one in a somewhat more remote corner.]
I only remember as far as we got in the dream, though. What happened afterwards? Did you guys get out? Or are you still dealing with that back home? Who got you out of those spears' way in my stead, actually?
no subject
[Junko followed him, looking around for somewhere more secluded to talk- and then he started asking questions. Already, she found herself shivering, and she started to rub her arms to warm them up.
Not that it would actually help.]
...I don't know. But- I know Makoto didn't kill Sayaka. Bad as it all looked I know he didn't.
He wouldn't do that, whatever Monokuma pushed him with.
[She believed in Makoto, at least. She had hope in him.
...and deep down still had feelings for him.
But that didn't answer the other question of who'd saved her in Hijikata's place. Of how she'd gotten out of that death trap. She couldn't meet his eyes as she tried to work out how to tell him the truth: That she'd died.]
...
no subject
[Despite only having been a visitor to Mukuro's world he's still stuck in the habit of calling his male classmates by their family name. He notices that she's cold, so he takes off his uniform jacket and hangs it over her shoulders.]
You haven't yet found out who did it, then? Honestly, the most suspect person was that Mukuro Ikusaba girl whose student profile we found. No one had seen her at all since enrolling at Hope's Peak, and the title alone... 'Ultimate Despair'. She's got to be the puppet master behind Monokuma - unless there are more unknown parties involved.
[His expression hardens a little. To think that some homicidal student would set up an entire school to murder her classmates one by one and force the others through rigged trials... at least for the moment his focus has moved away from the question of who saved Mukuro in reality, but he's likely to pick it back up before long.]
no subject
[Oh, that was his jacket... Mukuro pulled it a little more around her shoulders to keep warm- but strangely, she suddenly felt a lot colder.
Mukuro Ikusaba.
She's got to be the puppet master behind Monokuma.
...
But she couldn't say she wasn't involved. And- and it wouldn't be in keeping with her act to deny it, would it? As she replied, she kept her eyes on the ground, not quite seeing it with the way her head spun.]
...Yeah. Probably.
It was- it was probably all for Mukuro's despair, I guess.
no subject
[That's when he notices that Mukuro isn't looking to be doing so well.]
Are you okay? Hey, Junko?
[He puts a hand on her shoulder, and whether she flinches or wobbles or shivers, he realises that he must have pushed her into some kind of trauma reaction, so he softens his voice.]
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... there's a bench over there; let's sit down.
[He'll steady her if she'll let him, or even carry her if her legs should give out.]
no subject
If I had gotten my hands on her in our dream.
...Mukuro knew she could fight him. If it came down to her against Hijikata, she'd probably be able to fend him off, but one thing was for certain- she couldn't let him know the truth. About her. About Junko. About the Mastermind.
It was as her mind was racing through how she could combat him that his hand touched her shoulder- and she flinched, stance stiffening as her combat instincts kicked in.
When he spoke again, though, the haze started to clear out of her vision again.]
H-huh...yeah. Let's.
[In the shadows of the trees nearby, the glint of her Hellhound's eyes gleamed as she emerged, going to settle by the bench the two were headed toward- evidently the familiar sensed her pact-bound's distress.]
no subject
Sorry I pushed the matter. I just wanted to know how it went for you and the others. What's the last thing you remember past where we got in the dream?
[Leave it to him to just change the angle of the pressure on her... alas, he doesn't know.]
tw fatal injury description
Then there was that question. How- how was she even supposed to answer that?
Mukuro took a deep breath. She had to be honest with him, at least about this, even if she couldn't meet his eyes as she spoke.]
...The last thing I remember from home, was- um. Impact. The moment of impact.
When Monokuma summoned Gungnir.
[She moved her top a little off one of her shoulders- the magical firefly tattoos moved across her skin, giving a very faint glow in the darkness.
But a closer look would show that it was partially concealing a scar. One of the many she'd received from her execution.]
no subject
...
No one saved you.
[To say that it hits him hard would be an understatement. It feels like a proper punch in the gut to know that back on her homeworld she didn't live past that moment they experienced together. After a few seconds of denial he feels anger sets in, but he doesn't let it show. Damn that Monokuma and the mastermind behind him! To kill her in such a way purely for rebelling against being forced into a murder game... he wants to take revenge for her, but threats of violence against her murderer won't give her any comfort now. He stays quiet for a long while before he decides on what he wants to say instead. His voice sounds slightly pressed, like he's holding back his emotions.]
Did I ever tell you that I've been through this whole spiel before? Getting transported to another world along with a whole bunch of other people from all across the multiverse?
no subject
...next thing I know I got dumped in the bay- I was covered in blood, but the wounds were all healed up like this.
[She took a deep breath, moving her top back into place and adjusting her tie. Mukuro hated looking at the scars for too long, and still found herself flinching whenever she caught sight of them in the mirror.
There was something...off in Hijikata's voice when he spoke next, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was.]
...Huh? You've done this before?
no subject
Yeah. I got transported to a world called Prismatica, a little over a year ago... though it feels like it's been much longer. We off-worlders were pulled there by the dying world itself, apparently, because only we were able to create the special biological energy that could purity the planet. Most of it was uninhabitable, covered in crystals and poisonous fog and whatnot.
[He looks up at the frozen stars. Prismatica's sun is unlikely to be among the ones they can see from here, but who knows?]
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that there were people like you there, people who arrived on Prismatica after dying in their own worlds. In the end, when we managed to restore the planet and find a way home, those people were allowed to stay. No one was forced to go back home. I hope that whenever we restore the flow of time here the same choice is given to everyone who's dead back home, or who doesn't want to return for any other reason.
no subject
[That was something she'd not considered at all. After the worlds were saved and time started flowing again...what would happen to her? Mukuro had been so focused on her mission that she'd never given much of a thought to her future.
Fenrir looked up at her pact-bound, whilst Mukuro stroked her back, seemingly losing herself in thought. And after a long while, she finally muttered: ]
...Yeah. I- can't go back, can I? I've known that for a while.
It's just so surreal, you know?
no subject
[They've all been thrown for a massive loop by being brought here, for better or worse. But the dead people getting another chance at life is, by all means, an upside. He takes a deep drag of his cigarette.]
You know how people will sometimes be pulled back to their homeworlds at random, right? That happened on Prismatica too. They'd just get pulled back to the same time and place they were taken from, with no memories of the experience, like a damn alien abduction.
[Well, technically it probably qualifies as one, even if it wasn't the Prismals orchestrating it but rather their world.]
Once we got a proper way back home we could leave while retaining our memories, and they also gave us a means of returning to Prismatica.
[He pulls a crystal on a simple necklace out from under his shirt.]
It's useless right now, but I used it many times before to visit those who had to stay behind.
[His first love from back home, innocent and frail, whom he always put on a pedestal until it was too late, and the first woman he could accept because she was like him, a soldier with blood on her hands. He wants to see both of them again, and it's a huge motivator for him to work hard on restoring the flow of time - besides his own frozen homeworld and everyone he cares for there, of course.]
If things take a similar course here, then I promise I'll come back to visit you too.
no subject
[An alien abduction... she could practically imagine Hiro in the back of her mind ranting that it was all an alien conspiracy! All of it! And those aliens stole his lunch too!
Once he pulled the necklace out, her attention was drawn back to it, watching as it glimmered... before she returned to watching him. He'd come visit her? Even if this world was saved, and he went home again?
Mukuro found herself gripping onto his sleeve.]
If it's possible to do the same here- to go between here and there as much as you want- then...
I'm...I'm gonna hold you to that, okay??
no subject
You have my word.
[Of course there's no telling if everybody's eventual return home will really be a controlled process, if those who are dead back home will really be able to choose... but this one time Hijikata wants to have faith and be optimistic. His cigarette is already turning into a stub, and while the revelations of the last half-hour have been enough to make anyone reel he and Mukuro are also still on a mission - a mission he wants to turn into something that'll be nice for both of them now. He's still pretty damn mad at Arashi, but he doesn't want to make Mukuro's life any more difficult by keeping her worried about his state of affairs.]
How about we get ourselves a bunch of snacks and movies for an impromptu movie night?
[It's been a damn long time since he did anything like that. Back home he and Okita watch some TV series together (it's pretty much the only peaceful activity they do together), but he hasn't actively looked into the local entertainment media much since his arrival. If Mukuro has no obligations the next day they can stay up until way after midnight, and whenever she gets tired he'll see her off, close all his blinds, and sleep until noon. That'll leave him a few last hours to spend with his Mayorins until the sun sets again.]
no subject
Huh? ... Yeah, that sounds like fun, I'd like that.
[Night missions weren't foreign to Mukuro- she could get by staying up into the early hours, and after their talk, she trusted that Hijikata wouldn't break his word and mess up their mission at the eleventh hour.]
no subject
[He extinguishes his cigarette stub in the ashtray next to the bench, then waits for Mukuro to join them as they walk back. He'll leave her his jacket for warmth and look up which rental shops are open nearby.]
What's your favourite genre?
no subject
[She'll rush off to follow him, hoping that the evening would pass by without any other earthshattering revelations to follow them.
And, well, it would probably be the early hours of the morning when Mukuro finally started to doze off on watch.]
no subject
Once she falls asleep just before dawn he turns off the TV and covers her with a blanket (if he carried her over to the bedroom she'd most likely wake up, he figures, even if the bed would be more comfortable). He himself can't sleep, knowing that it's his last night with his precious mayonnaise mascots, so he sits on the floor to keep playing with them, patting their onion-shaped heads and letting them hold his fingers with their tiny hands.
He has plenty of time for reflections now. He knows Arashi has been acting out of concern - if Hijikata allows his local magic to remain repressed it may well result in them both being sent back to Edo, yeah. He understands, really. But why does he have to give up something that makes him happy? Life just isn't fair sometimes.
He keeps the curtains closed, so no daylight will enter the room to wake up Mukuro as the day begins hours later, but eventually Hijikata also drifts off into sleep on the carpet. If she wakes up first, at whichever hour it may be, she'll find him covered in Mayorins, the whole dozen cuddled up against him. They don't sleep, but at least they closed they beady little eyes!]
no subject
When she did finally fall asleep in the armchair...Her dreams weren't entirely peaceful, expression twitching every now and then whilst she slept, but she seemed to curl up in the blanket when it was placed over her.
And soon enough morning came, and she found herself stirring awake. Waking up in a dim room made Mukuro momentarily wonder if she was still in her dorm at Hope's Peak- windows boarded up with sheet metal- but it didn't take her long to remember where she was. In her own room, at least, she didn't close the curtains at all unless she was changing, preferring to rise with the sun- but that would defeat the purpose of her intervention last night, wouldn't it?
Arashi...no sign of that obnoxious bird, either. Seriously, did that guy do anything himself?
After she'd taken a moment to make sure her wig and makeup weren't too awry from sleeping in them, she wandered over to Hijikata and crouched wherever she could find room amongst his Mayorin pile. Jeeze...he really was going to take this hard. Creepy as the things were, she couldn't help but feel bad for him.]
Hey...Hijikata? It's 11-ish now. You probably want to wake up.
[It struck her as she gave his shoulder a little nudge that maybe he'd rather carry on sleeping than watch them disappear before his eyes...well, too late to worry about that now.]