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

[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.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Proooobably. ]

Yeah, I can talk. Just doin' a little transmutation practice, is all.

[ Well, if nothing else, he had a set of magnificent tailfeathers. The rest of his feathers seemed to be smoothing down a bit, a process Majima helped by combing his beak over his wing. ]

Didn't think anyone else was gonna be here this time of day.

[fieryimpulse]

Giant...chicken...transformation?

[Oh come on what?]

This was your first thought?

[Listen, she's seen weirder.]

[justbeingknife]

Wanted to see feather or not I could do it.

[ was that judginess he detected, look the chicken was descended from the noble jungle fowl, king of all it surveyed probably. ]

And it worked, didn't it? Even stayed a respectable size.

[ Wait, the giant part of the giant chicken thing was on purpose? Yes, just not the... chicken part... ]

[fieryimpulse]

Yeah. An oversized cock is better than a miniature, for sure.

[CHANDRA.

Listen, you set her up for this Majima.]

...Can you cast spells like that, too?

[justbeingknife]

Ma'am, I'm appalled you're takin' this opportunity to make cock jokes. Wattle I do if some kid and their mom amble by?

[ But hell, he was curious. So he flapped his wings, there was a poof of wispy smoke, and then... blue and white blooms had exploded up around the garden, releasing fluff like dandelions into the air.

Not... quite what he'd intended, but he couldn't say he'd do much better as a human. ]

[fieryimpulse]

I'm appalled you're calling me a ma'am. That' repre-Hensible.

[Stop this.

The flowers bursting up around them makes her laugh though.]

And I'm impressed. What's your name, when you're not feathery?

[justbeingknife]

Well, if you wanna cry fowl, I'm going to need a real name. Mine's Majima.

[ Although he was going to stay a chicken for now? Spoilers: he wasn't actually sure he could get back to normal. At least... not without waiting for the clock to run out on the original spell. ]

[fieryimpulse]

I'm Chandra. It's eggciting to meet you, Majima.

[Stop. This.]

Are you a mage back home too?

[justbeingknife]

[ Never. ]

[ The chicken, if it was even possible, snorted. ]

Peck no. I fought with my fists.

[ And, you know. Whatever weapons were at hand. Improvised or otherwise. ]

Out here, though, it's like I gotta relearn everythin'. Maybe you know what I'm talking about?

[fieryimpulse]

Oh I know alright. I ran afowl of the rules of this world, for sure.

[Heh...]

I'm a pyromancer, but here, I can barely make a spark.

[justbeingknife]

Alright, just wait one damn peck. You tellin' me I'm going to have to listen to cracks about hot wings?

[ Pyromancy, that was some Firestarter shit, right? What a coincidence that Majima was also

slightly interested

in fire magic. ]

You, uh... get tested? For magic, I mean.

[fieryimpulse]

Could be. Rotisserie isn't off the menu yet.

[Whoops.]

And yeah?

[She waggles her fingers, generating a few small pops and sparkles.]

Relearning it all is a clucking bitch, but I'll get there.

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima poofed out his feathers like a grumpy hen. ]

Hmph. Better practice that firestartin', then, because ya couldn't cook a normal-sized chicken with that kinda spark.

[ In fact, as he opened a wing, it drooped... and then sort of ran down towards the ground from the flight feathers, almost like it was... dripping? Or flowing, maybe. ]

The fuck?

[fieryimpulse]

Whoa!

[Alright, Chandra skips back...]

Is the spell running out of power? Geez, don't tell me you're melting.

[justbeingknife]

Alright, I won't tell ya.

[ ohhhhh boy, and now his tail was going, like so much melting wax. ]

...doesn't change the situation, though. Okay, I admit it. This is freakin' me out, is this normal?

[fieryimpulse]

I don't...know?

[She makes a face, worry and uncertainty evident in her shaking tone.]

I don't do transformative magic.

damn I lost this one

[justbeingknife]

[ Did Majima seem a little freaked out? Because he was, especially as he sank suddenly towards the ground, chickeny feet buckling underneath him into a pool of inky quicksand-like substance.

He reached out with a wing, but the feathers were oozing off of him with rapidity now, breaking away from the human forearm underneath. Majima shut his eyes for a moment as the beak and comb melted off of him, revealing the face of a man with one eye and hair as dark as the feathers.

He coughed (maybe some of the stuff had gotten into his lungs), reaching for a fistful of grass on the ground to try and pull himself out of the mass. ]

S'ok

[fieryimpulse]

Oh hells.

[Chandra steps back as the disgusting display continues, trying to not look too queasy at the sudden shift in biology.

It's gross, for real, but when it's over she's nice enough to offer a hand up. She's wearing gloves for a reason.]

You're alright. A little goopy, but alright...

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima reached for her hand, braced himself with the other, and pulled himself out of the mass. As soon as he separated from it, it seemed to blow apart and vanish.

Magic, man......

The one lucky thing about this was that he was still wearing clothes, so. Small favors, he supposed. ]

Thanks.

[ He said, after a brief secondary fit of coughing gave him the space to gasp for sweet, sweet air. ]

Okay, I don't think that was supposed to happen.

[fieryimpulse]

No. Probably not. But you're out, and a little coughing is hardly the end of the world.

[Seriously, it's not a big deal at all, as far as she's concerned.]

Any other aches and pains?

[justbeingknife]

Just whatever's left of my dignity.

[ He ran his fingers through the glossy black of his hair, but hey. At least he had all his fingers and toes. Probably. ]

Thanks. That definitely ain't happen when the instructor did it.

[fieryimpulse]

They probably have more experience.

[She shrugs.]

I don't. I knew a guy that could turn into a dragon, he taught me the spell, but I never tried it. Maybe now I know why.

[justbeingknife]

A dragon, huh? That'd be interestin'.

[ He brushed off a couple blades of grass. ]

Anyway, I wanted to try flyin'. I mean, when ya think witches, ya think broomsticks, and all... but that sounds kinda goofy.