mayoninofukucho: (Ready to go!)
Hijikata Toshirou ([personal profile] mayoninofukucho) wrote in [community profile] ellipsanet2023-03-18 10:30 pm

Video | Isekai Veteran Tips #1 (Blue Flash Quest)

[CW: Death on Livestream (but he'll be OK!)]


[While Ellipsa has been good to the otherworlders so far, it's still been a rough adjustment for Hijikata, and for one reason only: Nobody got power-nerfed!! Back in Edo, Lunatia, and Camelot he was considered a fearsome powerhouse of a swordsman, but here in Nightwake City... not so much.

He decides, however, to not let this break his stride, all the less once he takes notice of the 'Blue Flash' quest. At first the situation doesn't really ring a bell, but some research brings up previous similar incidents that saw people disappear in the same area, and the few blurry photos of the mysterious blue lights make a lightbulb go on in his head. He knows what these are!!

And so, a few days later, a stream goes live on the network. Despite the late hour and the creepy location (why does the airship station have to be in between the border to the cold Winter Segment, the Abandoned Mansion, and the Great Tree of Death?!) he looks confident as his phone floats in front of him (he got better at levitating things recently, and this way he'll have his hands free!).]


This is Hijikata, reporting in from the Autumn Segment. Some of you may have seen the 'Blue Flash' quest on the quest board. I'm here to confirm what happened.

[He wanders towards the dark forest behind him, still talking into the phone.]

I'm a bit of a veteran at being sent to other worlds, so I'm familiar with some creatures most of you may not have encountered before. When I looked into the case I noticed that the "blue flashes" can really only be one thing: will'o'wisps.

[As if on cue a couple of pale blue, flame-like wisps come into view, playfully circling around each other, and he makes the phone float past him to properly capture them.]

They're harmless fae beings that lead lost people out of the forest... ideally. I have an inkling that these might be spectral will'o'wisps. They're the corrupted version, if you will, and can create illusions to lure people to their doom. That's probably what happened to the missing individuals.

[The two wisps suddenly chase away into the distance, truly looking like mere blurs in the darkness. Another one, though, floats out from between the trees, so Hijikata heads towards it while keeping on talking into the phone.]

I'll confirm what kind they are! Even if it does throw an illusion at me, I'll be fine. I've seen it all by now.

[In the background the wisp moves towards him... and then a much larger thing made of the same pale blue flames bursts out from between the bushes, comes at him like a massive cannonball, opens enormous flaming maws before Hijikata even manages to turn towards it, and-- there's a tumble of night sky, trees, and then darkness as the phone lands on its face on the ground. A few moments later there'll be some clatter as the wisp spits out his swords and the other non-organic stuff, and then silence.

He sure got to the bottom of this!]



1) Who Can Do This Better?

[Hijikata can't take any calls right now, but he'll respond to messages and comments in 3 day's (in-game) time... and since that's a long while to wait, please feel free to tag out! Maybe based on this super professional research some better-prepared teams can assemble (Hijikata won't want to join, thank you very much)!]

2) Summer Flower Yard

[Anyone who knows that Hijikata is a summer power holder and wants to either congratulate him on solving the case (really?!) or is simply curious to see if the Flower Yards work as designed can of course stop by there. A blue iris will have popped up in the yard, emitting a strong cigarette smell. It'll spend a while budding, but on the 3rd day it'll bloom!]
blazeoflife: (this is a bad idea)

un: Hermes text

[personal profile] blazeoflife 2023-03-20 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ Huh? Who was this text message from, Spam?--

--Oh, shit, it was that dude that got chomped. Junpei shuddered from the memory, but...

Hijikata, huh? Whataname. He'd actually kinda forgot it in his shock about what even happened to the guy.

Replying back-- ]


Well thats a relief dude. You got all your parts still?

You alright...?


[ Maybe a bit invasive, but I mean... you did make everyone watch your death by accident, and Junpei... maybe had some experience of coming back from the dead, a little. Couldn't help be curious of what it felt like... ]
blazeoflife: (It's hard to explain...)

un: Hermes voice

[personal profile] blazeoflife 2023-03-20 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, you okay?

[ Girls voices sounding like that always made Junpei sort of... put effort in calming himself down. Deep breath-- ]

--I-... it seems like it. Someone's already got video of a flower showing up in one of the yards.
blazeoflife: (Pretty please?)

[personal profile] blazeoflife 2023-03-20 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Is there an rpg maker game with you getting vored as a like, a plot device? I can't remember-- ]

Yeah... if anything, even with this, I'm glad you're out of there.

[ A beat. ]

Uh... Thanks for talking with me. I'm Junpei Iori, from Tatsumi Port in Japan. Anything like that ring a bell...?

[ It had been weirdly distracting in a good way, even with all this. Stuff. ]
abnormalizes: neutral (she's all right she's all right)

[personal profile] abnormalizes 2023-03-20 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[That's ZENO, but I don't actually play from that one! Yet.]

No, sorry. I'm Evangeline, from L Corp's Safety Team.

[When there's only one city, giving the name of the Wing you work for will substitute.]
scattershot: (✶ dangerous words)

[personal profile] scattershot 2023-03-21 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
[No, it's not pleasant.

[It makes her think - unaccountably - of desert sand under a rippling, too-bright sky. Which is ridiculous, frankly. There's next to no commonalities at all.]


The will-o'-wisps of my own world are certainly far from it. They make particular sport of leading travelers into chasms, in snowstorms...

[Honestly, this particular fool really should have known better, given that he claimed to have encountered such creatures before. And yet - that really doesn't change a thing, does it? It only means that he should have known better. Not that everyone can be expected to.]

I can only hope, for the sake of his friends as much as anything, that our--

[No, actually, Alisaie isn't feeling terribly charitable right now.]

--our captors were telling the truth about the Flower Yards.

[Not that she's exactly that happy about the idea of any creature being reborn from a chrysalis, either.]
tsunotaro: (m65)

[personal profile] tsunotaro 2023-03-21 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods. He knows well enough how the smaller fae tend to be. Dangerous. SIGHS.]

....... Far be it for me to defend the behavior, but it is unfortunately in their nature. Briar Valley, my nation, is one where men and fairy try to live in harmony. It is not always easy, although I have come far to try to understand men better, and maybe foster better relations in the future.

[He has NOT learned enough about men yet. Maybe in 100 years...]

In any case, I came from a place where people came back to life from death, but they would be temporarily overcome by a terrible beast...

We may wish to inspect the Flower Yards to be sure this is not the case here.
romeras: (ꕥ running like water)

Re: un: Hermes voice

[personal profile] romeras 2023-03-21 11:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Deep breaths.

[After all she's seen, after all she's done, Ayah really should be better at keeping her cool. And yet - well, there's a part of her that doesn't even want to be, if it means seeing death and not turning a hair.]


In the yards? A - didn't they say something about that? I-it's all true, then?

[Flowers. It had sounded impossible. So much so she hadn't even paid it much heed: simply hoped, that it would never come up.]

I'll be okay. I'm being - this isn't the first awful thing - I'm sorry.
scattershot: (✶ most unworthy)

text; un: carmine

[personal profile] scattershot 2023-03-21 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
I'm very glad to hear from you again. How do you feel? I hope your experience has not marked you too terribly.

I have been looking into the "Blue Flash" disappearances myself, and regrettably I cannot say that I have any advantages on you, where it comes to whether or not there is a simple and reliable way to neutralize the threat of these creatures. For now all I can counsel is caution, and suggest that nobody venture after them alone.
scattershot: (✶ exponential entropy)

[personal profile] scattershot 2023-03-21 12:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mayhap in a hundred years she will, too. Even to another person, people do persist in being quite confounding.]

An excellent point. We cannot assume that our benefactors have told us all there is to know, about these resurrections - merely all they think that we should know, and mayhap not even that. It seems only too plausible that there should be some price to pay, that isn't merely missing three days' dinners.

You wouldn't happen to know what season claimed this man as their own, I suppose? I don't think he can be Autumn. I have seen naught of him about the guild house.
tsunotaro: (023)

[personal profile] tsunotaro 2023-03-21 12:49 pm (UTC)(link)
.....

[Is he supposed to know people who have the same season as him? Heck. That's a tall order.]

Hmmmmmnnnh... No, I don't know what faction he belongs to, but if you wish to provide backup, I could take us to each of the Flower Yards. It would be a simple matter to teleport to each of them.

Of course, I could go on my own, but I doubt my bodyguard would care much for that.
scattershot: (✶ answer on high)

[personal profile] scattershot 2023-03-21 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, no - I'd be glad to accompany you.

[Accompany a member of the fae to go investigate a man's death, specifically caused by underestimating the fae? No, this doesn't sound like the greatest idea Alisaie has ever had... but it is a chance to at least attempt to get to the bottom of whatever might be happening - or not - in the Yards, and she at least has some awareness of the importance of not turning her back on the man. And the wherewithal to go armed.

[Easy enough to explain why the rapier, at that: who knows what the Yards themselves may be like? From all she's heard they sound benign enough, but in a situation like this Alisaie is more inclined to trust, but verify than wander blithely into the Twelve only know where as if she were taking a stroll in the garden.]


I'm going to assume you're Spring, if you can teleport? Well, presuming he really isn't in either of our factions - and it's as reasonable an assumption as any, to narrow down a search - that leaves the Summer and Winter Yards as the most likely places to start looking. As for which to start in... well, if all else fails, we could always toss a coin.
tsunotaro: (m44)

[personal profile] tsunotaro 2023-03-21 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I have been assigned to Spring, strangely enough.

[If he is a fae of any season, he would be a winter! But maybe that's why he got spring. He's not thinking about it. It also has not crossed his mind in the least that it might seem shady that a fae might ask someone to come along with him after watching another fae simply eat a man. It's FINE because he doesn't intend to do that!

No, he's just a himbo. Sorry, Alisae.]

But I am well-versed in teleportation. I've always been able to do it.

A coin is as good a way to choose as any, although. I would admit first that I cannot say for certain that he is not of Spring.
rustyhonesty: (Sigh)

[personal profile] rustyhonesty 2023-03-21 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[He sighs.]

Don't get me wrong, Hijikata's my friend. Of course I'm upset this happened.

But I'm also angry. At him.
angerintomiracles: By <user name=archangelamy> (Ergh really?)

Text

[personal profile] angerintomiracles 2023-03-22 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh...she felt a tightness in her chest as she saw that message pop up, remembering that gruesome scene of Hijikata's sudden demise. He was alive, if that message was to be believed (was there a way of forging someone's "username"? And what would someone hope to gain from claiming someone was alive who was actually dead in this situation?)

...She was overthinking this. For now, she just let the relief settle the creeping unease inside her.]


Hijikata-san,

What were you thinking? Well, whatever. I'm glad you're not still dead. Thank you for letting me know.

Guessing fire wasn't gonna work on that thing after all in the end? Did someone go retrieve your stuff after?

I'm keeping safe. You should do the same. Let me know if you want me to bring you tea or something.

Ushiromiya Eva
Edited 2023-03-22 22:22 (UTC)
angerintomiracles: By <user name=archangelamy> (Go on...?)

[personal profile] angerintomiracles 2023-03-22 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
It was. Charging in like an idiot like that and acting like he knew everything.

[Eva certainly felt vindicated that Dojima agreed on her assessment of the issue. It should never have come to this to start with! Eva kept her video on for the time being, taking a seat on her bed.]

...You're going to walk back now? It's late, what if more creepy things start crawling out the trees on your way back?

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