Greetings always followed by sweet goodbyes [Open]

[justbeingknife]

Who: Majima Gorō and OPEN
When: June!
Where: Everywhere!
What: Giant chickens, runework, plus quests and basically a monthly catch-all.
Warnings: Violence in the sunbear fight thread. Salty language, maybe.


A: I'll call you Nugget

[ Whoever had said 'don't go borrowing trouble' had been a smart guy, a wise man indeed, but the thing about being told you could potentially learn to transform yourself into a totally rad magic animal was that Majima wanted to do it immediately. So it was a quiet day in the Haven, sure -- up until, with a brilliant burst of magical fireworks, a giant, six-foot tall feathery menace descended upon one of the courtyards, stalking through the garden. ]

Fuck.

[ Someone get an adult. ]

B: Runetchers

[ Majima looked up when the shop door opened. It was a slow day, which meant he'd been making progress with the pile of scrolls and other orders for enchanted items. It also meant that his fingers were cramped, and a little distraction couldn't hurt. ]

Hi there, welcome to Runetchers.

[ He stood, gave the potential customer a little bow in a show of impeccable good manners. ]

Are you lookin' for anything in particular?

Research Required (For Justine)

Oh, I... yeah. Is there any way we could skip that part?

[ Apparently, no one had told Majima that this particular research was going to require Bonding. Hey, don't get him wrong -- connections were important, and so was emotional support? But getting himself magically attached to someone when he still hadn't made peace with the idea of sticking around long-term didn't really strike him as the best of ideas.

...especially since he wasn't sure if he wanted to get un- magically attached. He looked around for a friendly face, wondering how the hell he was going to bullshit his way out of this one. ]

Pastoral Pursuit (For Iramaat)

Hey, uh. For what it's worth, I'm sorry about your ears.

[ Look, maybe while they were wandering out into the woods looking for some stray sheep was not the best time to bring this up? But hey, Iramaat's ears had been kind of cool, and she knew how to nab foxes, and Majima knew if he'd had to give up one of his favorite features, he'd be pretty pissed about it.

With no outward signs of change, it was fairly obvious what side of the monster-witch coin that Majima had ended up on. He climbed over a fallen tree trunk, careful not to stave in its soft trunk. ]

Wildcard

Feel free to hit me up via Tetradecimal or PM for plotting!

Comments

b. runetchers.

[ipseite]

No, I—

( turning a small circle to better take in the store that she's come into, she pauses upon a glimmer of recognition and her sentence becomes an entirely different one: )

We've met, I think?

( it occurs to her a moment after saying it that she's not certain they exchanged names in the doing, and has a brief moment of excruciating embarrassment that she crushes and sets aside. a great deal happened very quickly, and small lapses are surely forgivable.

she lifts a finger, a loose gesture to encompass the shop— ) I am most interested in runes.

[justbeingknife]

Madame de Lamorraine, if I'm not mistaken?

[ Having a head for names came with his last job, and the skill had stood him in good stead since he'd showed up at the Looking Glass House. ]

They're useful, for certain. Buy somethin' from a craftsman, and ya know you have a tool that will work the way you're expecting.

[ Which was not always something that could be said for other forms of magic, sadly. ]

[ipseite]

Yes—and you are...apprenticing to this craftsman?

( probably 'apprenticing to this craftsman' is not his name, but she is very interested in this prospective profession—likely to purchase something, if only because it's good manners to do so after taking up the time of a tradesman, but more interested in how the sausage is made than eating it, so to speak.

and it is a good pitch, she thinks. one hopes the product meets the expectations it raises, but well, there is only one way to find that out. )

[justbeingknife]

That's right. Unfortunately, they're out at the moment, gathering materials.

[ And boy, did they get particular around here about materials, but he supposed cultivating relationships with suppliers and other business partners was no different here than anywhere. ]

If you're interested in a particular area of enchantment, I'm passably familiar with our inventory...?

A

[long_live_the_queen]

[That's quite the impressive chicken.

But, also, why is there a chicken.

The gardens outside the abandoned mansion Kaede supposed she (and...others?) lived in now were still in a state of neglected disarray, but Kaede had at least wanted to fix a little of that and wanted to get it right first. So she'd been tending to a small corner, tucked away mostly out of sight of the main house; the plot had just a few daylilies and marigolds, gifts from the gardening class. And some of the rows were crooked, but that was background information to a whole ass rooster that had appeared over the wall.

Quite a bit bigger than that, really. But its appearance was so sudden that Kaede started back, kicking over a bag of soil as she stood. Her horns were longer than when she'd met Majima last;--almost twice as long, with a little antlerlike fork starting on the left one. And her posture was still hunched over, but that might just have been because Kaede was Alarmed yet undecided if she wanted to be defensive or to run off yet.]

What was that?

[Did...it just talk? Or was she just imagining its squawk sounding like a word?]

[justbeingknife]

[ Was is possible for a chicken to break into a cold sweat? Because that sure was how Majima felt at the moment, registering Kaede's face before her horns. ]

Uh...

B-kawk.

[ When in doubt, do an incredibly terribly job of pretending to be a normal chicken, right? Goddamn, when was this spell going to run out? Maybe he should just come clean.

Or maybe he'd just kind of... guiltily make pecking motions at the ground. Sorry to disturb... ]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Okay, it was...sort of acting like a chicken? Kaede had still never seen an Actual Legitimate Chicken in person, just an irritable cockatrice. Was this another of the magic animals running around, too? This...whatever it was seemed nervous, though. Which also seemed silly, given Kaede was quite a bit smaller than it even without the feathers.

It pecked at the ground near where she had planted some of the flowers, and Kaede made up her mind finally. With a scowl she started forwards, raising her claw-tipped hands.]

Hey, don't knock those over.

[She's going to shove the chicken.]

excuse me what the cluck

[interlucere]

[ Why is there a chicken in their courtyard? Why is there a chicken easily a head taller than her in their courtyard? Walking through the gate with grocery parcels in her arms, she stares up at this fowl creature, blinking owlishly as her brain attempts to catch up. Should she be running in terror right now? She should probably be running in terror right now. And yet... ]

...Ah, are you lost?

[ Look, after walking through some weird magic mirror into a land of magic and monsters, acting surprised every time something weird happens gets tiring after a while. But this definitely ranks top 10 weirdest things she's seen this month. ]

[justbeingknife]

Uh, literally or figuratively?

[ Great, a wise chicken. Majima fluffed out his tail, but it was completely involuntarily because a minute ago, he hadn't even had a tail. ]

Just my cluck. I don't suppose ya know a good counterspell?

[interlucere]

[ The giant chicken is talking, and while Lux would love nothing more than to compliment Majima on a stellar pun, the fact that she can understand him supercedes that. ]

Ah... Both?

[ Wait. A counterspell? Is this thing human? Pausing, Lux frowns. ]

I've never tried transmutation. [ Would that be the proper term? She's not sure. ] But I'm sure someone at the Coven could help.

[wylderrant]

I've had a bit of time to get over the loss.

[ Iramaat sighs, perhaps a bit dramatically. ]

I did love them. Do love them. But I suppose it can't be helped and I certainly can't lie around all day and mope.

[ Although she absolutely would if she thought it would get her the attention she wanted. Instead, she's out here, being active and trying to be as forthright as she can. She hopes over the tree trunk and gives him a sly look. ]

I suppose you haven't had any changes...?

[justbeingknife]

Physically speakin'? Sorry to disappoint.

If anything, I'm weaker here.

[ Which Majima wasn't happy about, to be honest. Look, everyone had off days. But when you were used to being able to hit dudes into midair 270s and tank small-arms fire, it was disconcerting to... not be able to do that. ]

Been trying to figure out how to best use the magic around here to get back to where I used to be.

[ So, doubling down on that enchantment study, basically. Why did he have to get stuck with the powers that required studying? Not that it wasn't nice being able to snap his fingers and turn on the lights. ]

And is it just me, or do we end up retrievin' a lot of animals?

[wylderrant]

I understand that. I'm not... weaker, I don't think-

[ Her skills haven't been dulled, although she isn't quite at her physical peak anymore. ]

They've definitely stripped away some of my power, though. Or the journey here has. It's odd.

[ She wrinkles her nose with a frown. ]

...maybe they just like animals? This is, what, the second time? Maybe they should build better fences or something.

Research Required

[ishisstrength]

Need a hand?

[Justine's voice is light and warm as she steps next to Majima's side. She'd been hoping to see him again after spending the afternoon exploring the city together.

She glances at the quest that Majima is interested in and genuinely considers helping him. It'd be a way to pay him back, after all, he's done so much for her. Even if he doesn't realize it.] If you don't mind bonding to me. [She looks up at him, her smile nerve wavering.]

It can be temporary.

[She doesn't mind.]

[justbeingknife]

We just keep runnin' into each other, don't we?

[ The question was part amused, and a little bewildered. But if there was anyone whose face Majima was happy to see right now, it was Justine's. ]

I... yeah, okay.

[ For good or ill, he sort of... trusted her? Trusted that she wouldn't somehow turn this around on him, use it to try and extract something he didn't want to give. ]

It's not that I'd mind all that much, anyway, y'know? It's just... you let someone get close, it's easy to get burned. General principle, and all that.

[ One of the witches was holding out a silvery goblet; Majima took it. And, after a moment's hesitation, offered Justine his hand. ]

[ishisstrength]

[Her smile softens as her gaze shifts from the board to the ornate silver cup.]

I know. [Understanding laces through her voice as she lightly slips her hand in his.] I don't trust people Majima. I... never have. I couldn't afford it but- [Her dark eyes lifted to meet his.] I can trust you. Even if it's only for a little while.

[Her heart is fluttering like a caged bird in her chest. She's made her choice but she can't help but be a little nervous about it. Justine's never done something like this before and it's... it's a step forward. Hopefully it turns out for the best and not the worst.]

a. you'd make a good fried chicken, majima

[topslug]

[ Most people, upon seeing a giant rooster descend into their courtyard, might be thinking 'what the hell' or 'that's a really big chicken.' Yako being Yako, the first thing that pops into her mind is: that's a lot of meat.

Which may or may not explain the slightly feral look on her face as she approaches, fingers raised and half-curled as she tries to figure out the best way to grab and disable it might be. It doesn't look like any of the monsters she's seen so far -- for one thing, it's completely not wearing clothes at all! -- so it's not sentient, right?! ]

Heeey Mr. Rooster. Are you lost or something? Come over here and let me have a look at you...

this is the real nightmare

[justbeingknife]

[ The chicken looked at Yako, and in that one brief moment, it could be said that he reevaluated his life choices. Majima raised a scaly dinosaur-descendant claw-and-drumstick, as if to pre-fend off this new menace.

Look

no

don't resort to cannibalism, Yako. Which... this probably counted as? Maybe. ]

[topslug]

[ Look it's not cannibalism if you don't know it's a person! Unfortunately for Majima, when he raises that leg, Yako only sees it as her chance to get this bird off balance ... as well as a vivid picture of how much of a meal she can get out of him.

With a frankly frightening amount of speed and vigor, she lunges for Majima, already practictally drooling. Come to mama, chicken boy! ]

A - And they say chocobo are giant chickens...

[actuallyadork]

[Sorry, Majima, but the first thing that Cloud thinks upon seeing giant chicken is "cockatrice". Even when the other talks, Cloud has his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Is this really an enemy, or...]

.....

[How is he supposed to respond to a potential thing to kill saying fuck.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Wow, don't think he didn't see that sword hand, he didn't even have a snake tail!! Probably. ]

Hey, don't look at me like that. Did I say anythin' about your hair?

[ Look, the poultry jokes wrote themselves. Either way, Majima was feeling a little judged here. Look at Cloud, with his fancy weapon and not being a giant chicken. ]

[actuallyadork]

[Waaaaaaait he knows that voice!]

Majima?

[This is getting really weird.] Why are you a cockatrice?

chicken attack

[fieryimpulse]

[Chandra was just minding her own business, training in the courtyard, running through a series of martial exercises with a spear, trying to keep herself in shape and keep Gideon's training fresh in her mind. She was content, more or less, until that gigantic hellbeast arrived, descending from on high...]

Eternities, what the cluck is that?!

[She rushes towards him, spear in hand. Shit-eating grin on her face.]

Don't tell me you called this thing...

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima fluffed all his feathers out at once at the sight of the woman with her spear, a reflexive gesture with wings spread like an angry goose.

He looked ridiculous. ]

Back off with the kebab stick, lady! I ain't doin' anything illegal.

[ Just minding his own chickeny business, thank you... ]

[fieryimpulse]

[He probably sounded ridiculous too.

Chandra spins the spear up into a less aggressive posture, eyes widening slightly.]

...You can talk? What the hell?

[Still wearing that shit-eating grin. She thinks this is probably an accident.]