( open ) 001

[harimaya]

Who ⬤ Hizen & you
What ⬤ Catchall for March. Open prompts in main post for substories. Closed starters in comments.
When ⬤ All of march!
Where ⬤ See prompts.
Content Warnings ⬤ TBA

SUBSTORY: WELCOME TO THE NIGHT PARADE (I)

("Outta the way, outta the way!"

A group of smaller youkai yell. They might not be big but what they lack in size, they make up for in number in spirit. They push their way through the crowd carrying a portable shrine. It's a diverse group made up of smaller youkai and spirits— little oni, cats walking on hind legs, a one eyed umbrella, something with a face as large as its body, and fish-looking creature that flails across the ground as it makes its way through.

Do you get out of the way? Or do you miss the warning in all of the hustle and bustle?

In the case of the latter, you can expect one of several things to happen…)

A.
(Hizen loudly snaps at you,)

Oi! Pay attention and get out of the way!

(You probably don't want to get caught up with these little guys. Their patience is as little as they are. The shorter the person, the shorter their temper. If you'd like to avoid confrontation, Hizen can suddenly grab your character by the arm and pull the aside. Alternatively, you can just let the crowd crash into you. Maybe he'll help?)

B.
(Or maybe you're helping Hizen with setting up for someone's game stand. Have you noticed that the owner won't actually let either of you help with getting the game part together? Leave that part to them (so they can rig it). You and Hizen can set up the prize wall made up of different masks and toy weapons.

As the little procession goes by, Hizen stops for a moment to stare and mutters,)

The "parade of a hundred demons," huh...

(He sounds like he might know something?)

SUBSTORY: WELCOME TO THE NIGHT PARADE (II)

(It's security detail!

… Or really, it's more like crosswalk duty.

On the night of the parade, you and Hizen will be expected to keep the pedestrians from crossing the street before their turn. Instead, you'll wait for scheduled stops in the parade that will give enough time for people to get to the other side.

Before the parade begins, you'll have to help set up the barrier using cones or barrels or what have you. And the person in charge of overseeing? It's a long-necked woman that keeps looking over your shoulder and telling you the barriers are too close or too far from the street. The crosswalk openings are too narrow or too wide. She keeps picking at everything you're doing! Is this your first night parade? Do you have any idea what you're doing? She asks for help and she gets sent a bunch of fresh lost souls who have no idea what they're doing!

She doesn't even have the courtesy to say this behind your back. She's right there with her long neck, complaining right in your ear. Or Hizen's ear.

And he looks like he's going to snap. )

SUBSTORY: LOOK AT THIS SWEET JACKET

(The first step to any assignment is gathering information. It's time to get to find the bridge in question and meet the client. Hizen checks the writing on one of the columns at the end of the bridge and looks over to you,)

This is it. (This is the bridge.)Looks pretty normal.

(He's unimpressed. But because timing is comedic, as soon as he finishes speaking, a man gets tossed back across the bridge, rolls like a ball, and stops right in front of them.)

...

(Hizen looks down and... looks away. He sure is going to make you take care of the talking first)

WILDCARD.

❀ Hizen is in the Shuten Clan.
❀ If you have another idea for a prompt or would like to plot anything out, let me know
❀ You can check out my intro comment for some ideas, too.
❀ contact; eski | discord: eski#9874 | PM

Comments

[breweries]

[ oh, boy. that catches his attention, and one knows better than to pique a western wizard's interest. ]

Not all of us are human here, so it would not make a difference if you decide to confirm or deny that. If anything, it is even more reassuring that there are more of us here.

[harimaya]

(tiny shuten boy might be more than he appears)

"More of us?"

(Instead of "more of them?" Catching onto the same clues Shylock had.)

[breweries]

Mhm. Why don't you guess who I am while I try to put up more decorations for our stand here?

[ thankfully he hasn't lost All of his magic, but it really sucks that he can't do his more potent stuff without his pipe. either way, he twirls a hand and some party streamers magically fly up and flimsily attach themselves underneath the stall's sign.

it's lopsided, so let shylock reach up and adjust it by hand again. there we go. ]

[harimaya]

(Of course, he should have known better than to assume he was working with an ordinary human. In this place, the chances were high that every person he met was more than they appeared whether in their true forms or not.

He watches the streams rise curiously and tries to think of what could explain it. He isn't the most well versed in folklore-- he only knows the most popular stories and the odd tale here or there all he can think of is,)

Some sort of sage...?

(He'll never say this outloud he'd rather die than admit it but Shylock is too attractive to be like most of the mountain witches and hags other stories.)

[breweries]

[ a sage. how intriguing.

and aww, he'd be very flattered to hear that if he were to read minds :) ]

Almost. We do have a sage in our world, but it is merely a title. We could not be any more different.[ they're usually human, for one. ] What do you usually call people who can wield magic?

[harimaya]

(Almost? He frowns and tries again... or rather, he would but,)

You don't look like a priest.

(That's his only other guess.)

Sages or priests, mostly. There used to be diviners but those guys... they're rare.

(Mostly legends in stories by Hizen's point in the future.)

The rest... aren't human.

(The only other beings that can use magic are youkai, spirits, other kami.)

[breweries]

[ it's true, shylock is too sexy to be a priest.

but that IS rather interesting -- priests to shylock are usually humans who scam the heck out of the populace to keep them from trusting wizards, so shylock doesn't know what to feel when being compared to one... ]

That's all right. [ he smiles. ] It only means that this is your first time meeting a bonafide wizard. Congratulations.

[ he'll even clap softly, how nice. ]

[harimaya]

(Just

stares.

Wizard. Sage. Priest. Gods, he feels stupid asking but,)

... What's the difference?

[breweries]

Priests and sages mean differently in my point of view. But you have never met a wizard before, have you? Ones who can perform magic with their hearts. Although I don't seem to have access to most of my abilities at the moment...

[ hence the flimsy levitation magic just now. it's so sad. ]

Now, with that out of the way -- if you're neither of those three, then what are you?

[harimaya]

(The look should make it obvious enough that Hizen has, in fact, never met a wizard before. What's this about performing magic with the heart? Is that something like... the saniwa giving them hearts when they bring them to life? No, that doesn't quite add up.

Really, Hizen is too grounded for this. If he was a more spiritual or fantastic sword, maybe he'd follow more,)

...

(But right now, he looks like he isn't sure how to answer. Or rather, if he should answer. There's Norimune whom he knows from home and is just like him. There are Izo and Ryouma who were able to figure it out after learning his name. It's not special to be a spirit or a youkai here. If anything, it's probably weirder to be an ordinary human, he thinks.

With much hesitation, he finally replies,)

... A spirit.

[breweries]

A spirit.

[ he repeats back, fascinated. shylock does know spirits, but only on a very surface level, so he's not quite an expert on it either. no, what's important is that there are still things that shylock does not know even at his age, and it only makes him excited.

but he does not show it outwardly. he's too sophisticated for that. so he just smiles and gives a little bow. ]

Well, it is nice to meet you, Mr. Spirit. For I too have not encountered a being quite like you.

[harimaya]

(He shifts awkwardly. It's obvious he isn't used to revealing himself to others. The thing that really gets him? That smile he immediately wants to knock off Shylock's face and that stupid bow,)

Knock it off.

(All of that is... unnecessary. He's nobody. He's nothing.)

[breweries]

Hm?

[ he blinks. he was just being polite, though? even so, the smile on his face has not wavered. ]

What do you wish me to call you, then?

[harimaya]

Hizen.

(Just his name. That's it. He's very direct and plain in that sense.)

[breweries]

Mr. Hizen the spirit. And I am Shylock Bennett, a wizard from the West.

[ doesn't necessarily mean like, the west part of earth, but whatever. ]

I meant what I said earlier, but begardless, it is a pleasure to meet you.

[harimaya]

Hizen.

(No titles. No honorifics. Just Hizen.

All he can think of is a name like that, he has to be from the west which isn't the right idea at all. Ugh, he really has to wrap his head around this "other worlds" thing. He feels like he's losing track of all of the different stories he's heard of though.

He has a feeling Shylock is one of those people though. The type that just gets along with people. That just likes people and there's really no winning with these people so he... sighs tiredly. Fine. He accepts it.)

... A pleasure.

(To meet you too.

Or something.

He really doesn't know what to say. Ugh.)

[breweries]

[ well, it's true that shylock likes people from all walks of life, but how is he going to explain that he's not from... you know. the West west of this world. not his fault his homeland only have five countries named after boring cardinal directions...

nonetheless, his smile is a lot more genuine this time. for a gloomy guy, hizen still manages to respond anyway despite shylock's usual annoyances, and that's someone to applaud for. ]

All right. With our introductions out of the way, shall we wrap this up

[ the stall, that is. it may be a very roundabout way to ask for someone's name, but hey it worked! that was shylock's plan all along. ]

[harimaya]

(Hizen will never realize he was played...

Hizen hadn't even realized they were practically finished. To his credit, he's a hard worker and in all of his focus... he hadn't even noticed how far they'd gotten.)

...?

(Ah, well. With nothing else to do then,)

The owner said they'd pay up.

(With cash? Food? They never said! But now he's looking around because if there's something to be gained, Hizen's going to get it, damnit. He doesn't ask for much. All he asks is for something, tbh.)

[breweries]

In that case, we shall wait until they arrive. Although...

[ he steps back from the stall to observe it from a distance. ]

This is a game stand, is it not? And yet the owner is not letting us handle said games.

[harimaya]

What about it?

(He doesn't look bothered or particularly interested in it. The owner said not to touch the games and Hizen was fine with doing other things.)

We didn't come here to play games.

[breweries]

Not even to test the contraptions? Anything might go wrong at a festival, you know.

[ he walks over to the displays of masks and toys, picks up a bright-colored plastic gun. ]

Unless they said that they'll handle it themselves.

[harimaya]

It's not our job.

(Are they testing it? He's quiet, watching Shylock pick up the gun, and, well, honestly? Hizen doesn't look interested but what else is new. He hardly ever looks interested in anything.)

They probably just want us messing things up.

(Who even knows what's wrong with all of these games? The paper paddles to catch the goldfish are flimsy. The paper hooks for the water balloons become undone more easily. The toy guns are adjusted to shoot off-target. The bottles and targets are weighted so they don't fall over.

Hizen. Doesn't. Care. He isn't really someone who thinks about things like fun. but if Shylock is going to try, Hizen won't stop him.)

[breweries]

Or rather, it's the other way around. They don't want us to mess around too much because they are rigged, you see.

[ he then points the toy gun at hizen, closing his eyes as he tries to aim for the sweet spot. ]

You are from the Shuten clan, aren't you? You all value partying and having fun just as much as the other clans, but you all have a certain type of honor to uphold. If someone else were to find out about this...

[ the sweet spot is hizen's heart and he pulls the trigger. ]

Bang.

[ nothing comes out of the gun but the tiniest puff of air, but you get the point. ]

[harimaya]

(He's following along. No doubt, the games are rigged. Isn't that how things always are? If things were fair, it wouldn't be any fun for the business owner. It's always at the expense of the people but surely, they know that too, right?)

...

(Shylock aims the gun. Hizen watches. He pulls the trigger and all he can think is,

even if it's a toy, I hate guns.)

... Fine. (Appealing to Hizen's sense of honor and loyalty is an effective move. Hizen is a simple spirit; easy to move if the right buttons are pushed. He comes over to get a closer look at the gun,) So we fix it?

(Is that what they do? How? He curses,)

Damnit...

(If that guy was here, he'd probably know. How dare Hell make him wish that guy was here. Even for a second! Terrible. )

[breweries]

[ shylock smiles, and puts the toy back in its proper place. ]

That is up to you. After all, the one who asked us for our services might not give us our payment if they find out. It is quite the dilemma.

But I would rather not spoil other people's fun when the festival starts, wouldn't you?