Quest Mingle: August-September

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Quest Mingle: August-September
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Quest Plotting!

• These quests are valid from start of August until end of September.
• Characters don't need to be a member of the guild to do quests and anyone can do any segment's quest! The quests are just marked this way to show where the quests are taking place.
• City Location Details | Segment Location details
• Remember to keep distances (times are calculated as walking times) in mind when planning what quests to do when. You have two full months, so there's no rush!
• For some of the monsters, additional details can be found from the Beastiary.
• Rewards are for one completion of the Quest, but characters can do it multiple times to earn more money from them, as the problems do repeat.

• Please see the guild page for permanent quests.

🚨 Emergency Quest 🚨

Going Gorgon

A massive monster has been spotted in the Jungle of Judgement (Summer Segment). It has been feeding on the native fauna and even people! It looks like a giant snake lady with wings. Some have identified it's name to be "Gorgon". We can't have this monster feeding on everything that comes even close to the area of the Jungle its at, so we need people to take care of it! We will pay 2000 Moon Coins for your efforts of somehow solving this problem - may it be destroying the monster or just getting it leave!

OOC: This is a player made quest that won't last for two months. More information on it in this post. To suggest a quest, please leave a comment on the Player Suggestions page.

Log for the Gorgon Quest is here!

City Quests

Even in your city... quests! [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Blind Cooking	Local TV channel is looking for participants for a new type of reality cooking show. In the show one person is blindfolded and the other is giving them instructions. This is very much a trust building exercise for the participants, as well as entertaining for the viewers. Of course, any and all injuries will be healed by a team of specialists on set.	Upon entering the set the producers will do a spell that will determine how well the two people know each other. The closer they are the less likely they'll be allowed to work together. The goal is to find people who barely know each other to take a leap of faith in cooking. Of course the spell can be fooled by keeping your thoughts neutral about the other person while it's being cast.	500 Moon Coins, a free self made meal
Emotional Art	Amberfall artists have set up giant blank canvases all over the districts (even in Frostreign) with plenty of different painting tools (brushes, spray cans etc). The task is to paint with your positive emotions and make pictures that radiate with positive energy. The tools and canvases are all magical so trying to enforce negative emotions into the paintings will lead to the paint disappearing once it's been on the canvas for a while. These works of art are meant to uplift the spirits of the citizens and just let people have fun with painting.	Characters may learn an instant spell for cleaning their clothes from paint (and only paint) while they're participating in this quest or can be provided with overalls. Occasionally the paintings will be changed to a new blank canvas to give people more room to paint, but the "finished" canvases can be found from various places in the city.	100 Moon Coins, a watercolor set, watercolor paper
On a Magic Carpet Ride	The Research Center is always looking for fun new ways to travel. Now they are looking for people to test out the newest ones. It's a magic carpet meant to be ridden by two people. One of them powers up the carpet by singing (anything goes, even songs thought up on a whim) and the other steers the carpet. The test drivers are asked to complete a course where they need to pick certain items throughout the city and then return back to the Research Center.	You are free to come up with simple items (fruit, special tokens, stamps - anything that won't be too heavy to carry) for the course. If the character in charge of singing stops, the carpet will gently float down to the ground (or whatever is beneath it) until singing continues again.	700 Moon Coins
Pipe Express	Mysterious turquoise pipes have appeared all around the city. Some natives have entered them out of curiosity and ended up in a completely different place. Turns out they're warp pipes, a new way of fast travel! However, some of the warp pipes have an extra challenge that will take them to either a grassy terrain where you get chased by small dinosaurs that breathe fire or a pool with fish called Toe Nibblers. Some have even found just a room with a bunch of gold coins! Please help us label all of the pipes and where they might lead.	Fire Breathing Dinosaurs are the size of a house cat and can look like various different dinosaur species. Toe Nibblers are various fresh water fish that nibble on people's toes and aren't generally very dangerous. There's 1/10 pipe chance to end up in either of the enemy pipes and there's 1/50 chance to drop into a room full of gold coins.	300 Moon Coins
Undercovered CW: Gang Activity	After the opening of the Underground Mall, there has been an increase in criminal activity and shady people, especially in the center district. The police are very understaffed, so we're asking otherworlders to go undercover and infiltrate these crime groups (but only those on the surface). Any information provided is important and will help towards making the city a safe place to be in.	You're free to come up with different motivations, reasons and plans the minor crime groups may have and use the local Law Enforcement to bring them down with the help of your character. Some groups will hand out simple flower pins (imagine small, like hair accessories) to characters out of trust towards them.	2000 Moon Coins, possible flower pin

Winter Segment

Lights, Snow, Quests [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Invisible Maze	Throughout the Winter Segment, invisible walls have appeared. These walls form a maze and occasionally one finds themselves stuck in an invisible dead-end. They're very hazardous and make traveling in the Segment difficult. We ask that you find whatever is causing this maze to exist.	Passing through the maze will lead to finding an invisible Mime Monster (a bipedal, masked ermine creature). Once the characters reach the Mime Monster it will turn visible and attack. All its attacks are invisible but you can predict what they are by participating in a game of pantomime. The Mime Monster doesn't need to be killed if you show it a pantomime it can't solve.	400 Moon Coins
Just Around the Riverbend	The rivers and lakes of the Winter Segment are flooding due to giant monstrous Snow Beavers making dams all over the place. These beavers are the size of human teenagers and their coat looks like powder snow. You don't have to kill the beavers, just get rid of their damn dams!	Snow Beavers usually travel in groups of four and make dams on any watery surfaces. The dams are strengthened with ice, but shouldn't be too hard to destroy; it's just that there's a lot of them and the Snow Beavers will try to bite anyone who attacks the dams.	600 Moon Coins
Snowed Out	The Summer Districts want to make ice and snow sculptures in the city to cool the areas a little bit. To accomplish this, special snow and ice need to be delivered from the Winter Segment. Any snow and ice that glitters like the northern lights under sunlight will be perfect for the task as it won't melt. Bring as much of it back as possible.	Sleds and other means of transport are provided for the task. Snowmobiles can be rented to pull sleds easily through the snow.	200 Moon Coins
Yet We Must Fight	A group of Giant Yetis have emerged from the forests of the Winter Segment, looking to destroy anything in their paths. They have weapons made out of wood that they use to hit opponents with. They've been making steady progress towards the City Barrier, attracted by the masses of people inside it. We believe the barrier will hold, but the natives would likely get spooked if they saw them banging on the barrier so chasing them away is important.	The Giant Yeti max height is 6 metres / 20 feet. They don't have any other abilities other than their size and their wooden weapons. Killing them is optional, they just need to be chased out. Usually by fire.	900 Moon Coins

Spring Segment

Breezing through quests [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Cats Need Catnip Badly	Local animal shelters have run out of cat- (and other creature-) nip due to not being able to visit the Creature-Nip Meadow regularly for the past two months (due to a certain quest). Now they want to fill their storage with as much of the herbs as possible.	Eating or otherwise ingesting the various herbs in the Meadow may turn people into the creatures they're meant for (cat nip -> cat). At the least they will make the person act like said animal for a few hours.	200 Moon Coins
Farming Life	The Research Center has provided barrier stones. These stones can be used to protect farming plots where you can grow various vegetables and herbs. The barriers don't protect them from normal animals, but they do protect them from various natural disasters and monsters. Place these barrier stones around the various abandoned farming plots and maybe get into farming yourself!	The barrier stones only cover plots of 5 x 5 kilometres / 3 x 3 miles. There can be multiple next to each other. Various vegetable and herb seeds are also provided by the quest givers.	200 Moon Coins, fresh vegetables/herbs later
Movie Inspirations	A movie producer needs references for a fight scene and wants people to defeat local Spring monsters in the flashiest way possible and get it on camera. Camera provided, of course, with enough film for four different takes.	Any Spring Segment monsters in particular will do the trick (even slimes). Cameraman safety is not guaranteed during the quest and they may have to tend to themselves.	100 Moon Coins per clip
Panda Picking Season	It's the time of the year when Giant Pandas tend to feast on the Bamboo Labyrinth in large parties. This is a necessary cycle to keep the labyrinth in good shape. However, the panda babies tend to run off. Please protect them and bring them back to their parents. The grateful mama pandas will give characters golden bamboo shoots they find from the ground as a reward.	Golden Bamboo Shoots are a special type of bamboo that will upgrade the Spring Power Holder powers when added to regular food. If a non-spring holder eats it they will just feel a lot lighter for a few days. It also tastes delicious. Please refrain from taking the baby pandas away from their parents. If you must adopt a panda, adopt the whole family at least!	Golden Bamboo Shoots

Summer Segment

Get your hottest quests here [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
All These Mummies CW: Mummies, Skeletons, Mind Control	Areas near the Deserter's Desert have recently seen an increased amount of Mummies. They have certainly appeared from out of nowhere (or from sand, we suppose). They're a menace... but not in a fatal way. Instead they're trying to wrap bandages around people to turn them into them. The bandages do have a 1/50 chance to actually make someone completely act like a mummy (walking in a trance, wrapping bandages around people) that can be canceled by taking the bandages off. They should be dealt with as soon as possible.	The mummies are otherwise mostly harmless, but the Research Center would appreciate if someone captured a few of them so they could study them! Actual mummies have skeletons underneath all the bandages but nothing else. If they're stripped off their bandages they will comically cover their genital area and run away.	300 Moon Coins
It's Raining ... Fire CW: Burns	The Summer Segment is a place where it rarely rains outside the Rain Jungle, and when it does rain it can be something other than your regular water. Like fire. Recently observational team has noticed fire raining down from the skies. The source seems to be Wyverns circling in the skies (their scales, when falling, turn into fire). Put out the fires before they spread too far and dodge the unpleasant rain.	The Wyverns can be fought, but they're danger level 10 and even killing one is a very, very hard task, especially since they're cloaked in Dark Energy most of the time.	400 Moon Coins
Pirates of the Great Lake	Mysterious ships have made an appearance on the Great Ocean Lake: ghost ships and pirate octopi ships. They're disturbing all life on the lake, throwing explosive and other things into it. The Research Center has provided ships that can be taken to the waters and some pirate outfits to fit the theme (optional). Destroy the enemy ships and restore peace to the lake!	Ghost Ships are ships that don't seem to have any members onboard (or they can only be seen by the Winter holders). Pirate Octopi are octopi with eyepatches (and some even have mechanical tentacles in place of normal ones). The ships rarely fight each other but they don't consider each other allies either.	700 Moon Coins
❗High Risk Quest❗ La Va Land CW: Burns	New creatures are emerging from the Lava-Ridden Land. Monsters made completely out of lava and rocks and are slowly making their way towards the segment and burning their way through everything. They're especially headed for the airship station, though we are unsure if they'll be able to cross the Forever Fall, but we don't want to risk them actually passing through it. Defeat them, however it takes or chase them back beyond the barrier.	Lava Monsters are extremely dangerous and will burn anything they touch. They're closely shaped like slime and other blobs, making hard to tear apart as they will just reform themselves. Their weak point is the lava core, lodged deep inside their bodies. Breaking the core means the lava creature will dissolve.	8000 Moon Coins

Autumn Segment

Maple scented Quests [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Leaf Me Alone	Majority of the autumn leaves have turned magical and have started to cause people to fall into a state of sleep whenever they hit someone. Luckily, most people have fallen asleep on the safe zones, but there are those who did not. Be careful not to get hit by the leaves and try to get rid of them instead, all while saving the people sleeping in wrong places. As long as a leaf remains on someone they will either sleep or feel very drowsy and the more leaves they have on them the more potent the effect is.	The effect is less effective through clothes, but will still make one feel sleepy/yawn a lot. With enough layers of clothes the characters will be able to collect the leaves for extra potent sleeping potions. However it's not recommended to eat the leaves as they are, as it might lead to a comatose state instead.	300 Moon Coins
Migrating Foes	Over the course of several weeks, some (Spring) slime and (Winter) Gem Biters have made their way to the Autumn Segment and are now eating special mushrooms near the Mushroom Sanctuary (but not inside it). These mushrooms grow them in size and now we're dealing with human-sized foes. Slime are still relatively harmless, though now they can cover someone in their slime drool, but Gem Biter bites may actually be dangerous. Fight these creatures and either destroy them or bring them back to their original habitats (the effects of the mushroom will fade with time).	Eating a mushroom will make someone grow triple their current size (clothes will transform with them). The effect will fade in a day. Used in potions this mushroom will help with plant growth.	400 Moon Coins
Silent Streams	In the woods, near the Silent Mountains, people will find they lose their voices. In fact, all the sounds disappear. However, it's also the place where you can find one of the purest of water sources, needed for a special potion. The quest is simple: obtain the spring water and bring it back, but be careful of the dangers you cannot hear.	While the area around the spring is relatively safe, sometimes Spirit Animals wander around, attracted by the emotions of those in the area. They will only attack if there are too many different emotions in the area at the same time. There are also actual bears and wolves wandering the woods, but they rarely come too close to the Silent Zone.	100 Moon Coins per water container
❗High Risk Quest ❗ Rest in Pieces CW: murder, drowning	Lately people have died or gone missing near the Abandoned Graveyard. A new type of Kelpie specie has emerged from the Flooded Woods: the Ghoul Kelpie (or Ghoulpie). It can't enter the protected area, but it will haunt people right outside of to either immediately feast on them or take them with them back to the woods to drown them. They're extremely aggressive and attack anyone on sight. They need to dealt with as soon as possible to bring peace back to the area.	Ghoul Kelpies have a sticky fur that anything sticks to. Their teeth are sharp and venomous and their mane turns into vines that poison or stun their opponents. Their weakness is that the more dry they get, the more vulnerable they are to attacks so they occasionally need to retreat back to water.	8000 Moon Coins

NSFW Quests
DO NOT use the Quest Mingle for these quests and instead play them on other posts! This questboard is only unlockable by characters that are 16 or older.

The Spice [ Click to Expand ]

Quest Name	Description	OOC Notes	Rewards
Sex on Air	A new airship is looking for workers for their opening months. The airship cruise that circles around the districts and segments is meant for pleasure and pleasure only. Employees will dress up in sexy lingerie and serve customers drinks, food and entertainment. It's much like a sexy host club on air. There is also a chance of trying their new spell: actually having sex while floating in the air. Just make sure not to fall behind the airship or you may be in trouble.	Of course anyone is allowed to just be a customer of the airship - or why not both, with occasionally doing work and occasionally being served. The Airship leaves evening second evening from the Nightwake Central station and returns after two days. Think of it as a luxurious cruise.	900 Moon Coins per cruise
Shibari Lessons	Due to the last month's Freezing Heart incident, local sex shops have opened up workshops around the Underground Mall. They are teaching characters magical shibari. Every knot tied around someone will represent an emotional or physical block they have. Once all knots are in place a spell is cast on them that will relieve them of their burdens for some time (depends on the person, how fast they will grow these burdens back in their minds/bodies). May also cause arousal to doing this with a partner you know and trust might be a good idea.	The spell doesn't completely erase the burdens, it's merely meant to bring temporary relief and pleasure. The spell is a customized for every person, but it has to include the words "release you from your burdens", but otherwise it can be worded however the one doing the spell wants (for ex. "With my love and care towards you, I release you from your burdens"). The spell has to be one full sentence, but it can't just be "I release you from your burdens".	Shibari Spell, Shibari Rope

code bases by tricklet

Comments

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren is always fairly willing to use his titan powers to do whatever he can with them, whether that's rebuilding things with titan crystal or smashing dams or stepping on wizards that one time (it wasn't entirely his idea, shhh). Might as well use it for something other than genocide! But Hijikata is right, transforming in the city risks destruction. ]

Huh…snow that doesn't melt. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this place has all kinds of weird magic shit.

[ So did Folkmore though, so he's gotten surprisingly used to that.

He hasn't really had fun with snow at all since he was very young, and he barely remembers it. He mostly sees snow as an annoyance. ]

You have snow sculpture experience?

[ He might be teasing but with his flat tone it's hard to tell. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Please tell him that wizard-stepping story at the campfire, Eren! Hijikata totally takes the question at face value, offering a vague nod in response.]

I'm not a master snow sculptor or anything, but I think I'm pretty decent. Maybe we can set up camp early, then I can show you while there's still daylight.

[It's not the time for that yet, though. He looks across the snowy landscape... everything appears a glittery white under the sun.]

I'll be honest, I've got no idea where to find that special snow. We could go towards the Half-Frozen Lake or else towards the Unfrozen Lake. I sure hope we don't have to travel all the way to the Frozen Lake.

[Granted, he doesn't mind camping with Eren for a few nights. He likes his company.]

Do you want to turn into a titan and see if there's any deposit in the vicinity? It should shimmer green and purple, with maybe a few other colours in the mix.

[dreamsofwings]

[ There's a lot about Hijikata that Eren doesn't know. Like what his world was really like, what his hobbies are, all of that. They tend to meet for quests. Hijikata is good at being curious and Eren is good at quietly being a lunatic who can't set himself right in time. He does like Hijikata a lot (A+ would bang again), but Eren is so drawn in to himself that he rarely learns much about other people.

He should fix that, he thinks. ]

I think I might have…made a snowman. As a kid.

[ The memories get so hazy from then; there's too many other memories in his head, past/present/future.

He looks off across the horizon. As a titan he can't talk, but he'll be warmer! So there's that. ]

I don't wanna go to the Frozen Lake either. Maybe Half-Frozen since I'm not sure how much special snow would be near the Unfrozen one…

[ He's just musing out loud. ]

I think you just like seeing me turn into a titan.

[ He's teasing. ]

But I can, yeah. Purple and green…weird.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata generally doesn't feel like his world or life are all that interesting. Sure, occasionally he encounters people from other Earths who are farther ahead in history than him and learned about the Shinsengumi at school or whatnot, and they tend to be excited to meet a historical figure, but he can never help but feel like his particular Earth is more chaotic and filthy than most!

There still are beautiful memories, too, like those of the festivals and the simple, familiar things... a cup of sake under the cherry trees, the relaxing steam of an onsen, a good simple meal at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Maybe he can tell Eren about those things - and the best part is that Ellipsa will allow him to share them all with him. But Eren will likely have to for ask his stories (much as he'll have to ask to be banged again, or at least signal his interest somehow, because Hijikata is chronically unable to make the first move, even if he really like the other person... and he really likes Eren).]

That's not true.

[He says it with a smile, but damn, there's so much sadness attached to everything to do with titans now. On the same day as he last saw Eren, at the very eventful beach party, he learned more about his homeworld and the origin of the titans than he probably ever should have (but it's his own fault for keeping on asking, both Hange and Levi). Ultimately, though, his view is the same as Eren's: Given that he has the titan shifter ability already, they may as well make use of it and help this world with its size and strength.]

If you don't want to, I can grow wings and scout from the air instead. I'd get cold, though.

[Since he has to transform his arms he has to halfway undress for his wings to be usable (maybe he should invest in a sleeveless top for occasions like this).]

And those are the colours of the northern lights. Have you never seen them?

[Perhaps there'll be an opportunity for that while they're out here!]

[dreamsofwings]

[ It's hard to have a conversation (read: impossible) as a titan, but they'll have some time in between. He can manage about three transformations in a day before he needs to recharge, so he doesn't use them lightly, but he knows his limits. If they needed to spend a night out here they could but that would be cold and annoying. ]

I don't want you to get too cold. I don't mind being a titan. Sometimes it's the only useful thing I can do.

[ And sometimes he causes untold amounts of destruction and death! Whatever! He's not planning to do that at all in Ellipsa either way. ]

Northern lights. The lights in the north of this place are different than other places?

[ He has no frame of reference here so he's completely misunderstanding what northern lights are. Do they have them where he came from? Probably, but he doesn't remember it from Armin's book, so how would he know about it? ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata doesn't expect that Eren will need to stay a titan for longer than a tag or two a few minutes, given how far he can see at that height. If there's no special snow around this area at all, they can travel farther into the Segment with both of them in human form! After all it might be a bit cumbersome even for titan Eren to carry all the sleigh containers at once. As for spending the night, Eren would be surprised at how comfortable Hijikata's temperature-controlled Luxury Tent™ is! But of course the sooner they can complete the mission the better.

"I don't want you to get cold"... Eren really is so endearing. Hijikata will never not feel joy at his blunt kindness, that's how used he is to being around jackasses who express even positive feelings with crass rudeness. Little does he know how much energy the titan transformation takes out of Eren each time (it always looks so effortless and immediate!), else he'd have volunteered to fly up right away!]

It's not the light overall, but a special weather phenomenon. It only shows up at night, then you can see those colours in the sky, like huge veils. It only happens in cold areas.

[The cold may be less important than the northern location, but he's a samurai, not a meteorologist!]

And Eren, being a titan is never the only useful thing you can do. If you couldn't transform, we'd just search by sleigh. Four eyes always see more than two.

[Don't reduce yourself to your usefulness as a titan shifter!! Hijikata will have none of that!]

[dreamsofwings]

[ That sounds even more confusing to Eren. Huge veils of colour in the sky? Sounds fake. He doesn't really think Hijikata is making it up or anything but it's hard to picture.

So he just accepts it and imagines they won't get to see it, since it's not night. Have to settle for weird colour snow.

He shrugs. ]

It's okay if it's the only thing I can do. I'm strong. I can fight. I can just fight harder as a titan. It's been that way for years.

[ If he ever had some kind of a complex about it, he's (mostly) over it now. He knows he's a monster at heart, though Hijikata seems to think better of him than that. ]

I'll look. Stand back.

[ This time he's not dramatic about it. He doesn't have to bite his hand to do this anymore, so he usually doesn't unless he's showing off or in dire straits. Instead, he cuts his hand with the knife on his belt. He puts the knife away before he lets the transformation trigger, lightning sparking, titan forming around him.

Time to stomp around to find weird snow! ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Well, he can't really argue with that. It's strange to himself how fussy and concerned he gets over Eren... his subordinates back home would describe him as a harsh taskmaster, and even with Mukuro and Jean he'll roughhouse around - not with Shoto, though. Shoto is too earnest for that. Maybe the protective feelings he has for Eren are similar to (but not the same as) the ones he has for Shoto..?

He pushes that idle musing aside in favour of focusing on the mission, driving the sleigh along at a respectful distance to Eren. Seeing his titan form walking through the winter landscape reminds him again of what Levi told him. In the end Hijikata didn't ask whether Eren lived through the titan apocalype that killed most humans on their planet - he didn't want to know, couldn't even tell what would have been the more merciful outcome for someone who already went through so much suffering. Stop thinking about this shit, he chastises himself. It doesn't matter. He's here now, and so are the others.

If Eren ends up spotting that colourfully shimmering snow, he'll follow his lead! But if he turns back into a human after a while, they'll just need to drive deeper into the wilderness.]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren would be surprised to learn that Hijikata is a hardass to his subordinates, but he's only really seen him be nice. He got the barest taste of it when they had sex in the meadow, but he has no idea what Hijikata is like as a commander. (And Hijikata has no idea Eren is a true monster, but you know.)

Eren walks for awhile, aware of Hijikata and the sleigh following. He hasn't spent a huge amount of time walking through snow as a titan. Some, sure, but usually it's mostly temperate, sometimes rain. He doesn't like the winter segment all that much (especially now), even though as a titan he doesn't get cold. The titan body can convey feeling sort of, but it's so muted and far away, detached from his actual sense of feeling. Not being cold works fine for him, though; he's in no hurry to turn back until he finds what they're looking for.

But after awhile, it starts to seem pointless, like he's not going to find what they're looking for. Does purple snow even exist?

But then he does see it, there in a clearing, sparkling in a way he could not begin to describe. He turns to look for Hijikata, then pulls himself partially out of the titan's nape. He doesn't let the transformation go entirely, just comes out enough so that he can shout down to the ground. ]

I found it! It's…pretty, actually.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Honestly, Hijikata is a bit of a disaster at having sex. He wants to treat his partner well above all else, but if he gets challenged in any way, he can't help but accept the challenge! In the streets, meanwhile, it's the opposite - being rough and authoritative with others is his default, and he gets taken off guard by unexpected kindness. Eren, apparently, managed to get sorted into his 'fragile, handle with care' catergory by simply being decent and a victim of unspeakable horrors.

When Eren stops and... does that, he frets for a moment. He's never seen this happen before and assumed that titan shifters could only exit their titan body when they dissolve it! But when he realises that Eren is still well-anchored and the titan body won't just collapse or anything, he quickly gets over it and calls back up.]

Great! Can you load it into the containers?

[It'll save them a lot of shoveling, after all! If there's any special snow left over afterwards, he'll build something out of it with Eren, but if there isn't, they can just use the regular snow. It won't melt out here no matter what, after all.]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren doesn't consider himself decent, but his self-perception is warped by a future he purposefully ran away from. Still, he's glad that Hijikata likes him. He's oblivious to Levi's dislike of cops in general and has only had a good time with Hijikata so far.

Even from up so high, he thinks Hijikata seems a little worried? But that passes and he hears the answer. ]

Yeah, I got it.

[ He slides back into the titan, the nape closing behind him and the body coming back to "life." He spends the next however long scooping weird snow into the containers. There's only the smallest bit left, but he leaves it. They have enough, after all.

The snow out here doesn't really melt, but some of it steams as the titan body dissolves. All the steam the titan itself releases is scalding hot; Eren stays far enough away that Hijikata isn't in danger from it.

Then he makes his way back over to Hijikata, titan marks still on his face. Those always take awhile to disappear, even after all the years he's been doing this. ]

There's a little left over there.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Even now, Hijikata still tends to underestimate just how hot titans (and especially their steam) can be. But luckily Eren is looking out for him, and Hijikata lets him work undisturbed.

Once Eren is back to normal, Hijikata has to practically fight down the urge to put a hand on his cheek in a sympathetic gesture. The marks left behind make him look even sadder than usual! Instead he offers something he took out of his backpack while Eren was busy with the snow: A potion bottle.]

I let you do all the work, so let me give you a reward, alright? This is a 'Feel Invincible' potion. It'll create a protective barrier around you for two hours.

[Because clearly Eren, of all people, needs that... what's more, Hijikata isn't remembering that he didn't buy the potion from Riki's Rewards but rather from Better, Stronger, Cheaper. It will create a barrier protecting the user from physical damage, but the barrier is so glittery that it makes the person look like they were put through Blingee.]

Best keep it on you in case you ever need it, be it for yourself or someone else. Now let's make a snow sculpture!

[He already has a great motif in mind: A man-sized mayonnaise bottle.]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren just looks at the potion for a second. Feel invincible? Really? It's not like he can be permanently hurt (as far as he knows). But then, Folkmore had taken his power away before. That hasn't really happened in Ellipsa, but it doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

In the end he takes it. Anyway, it would be rude to say no, right? ]

Thanks.

[ He puts that away in his bag for later. ]

How exactly do you make something with snow?

[mayoninofukucho]

[If Eren ends up passing the potion to some hapless civilians in the middle of the next disaster, Hijikata won't mind. He just wanted to thank him for hangling all the grunt work! Logical as it is to use Eren's titan body for arduous physical labour, he deserves a little thank you. (Hijikata definitely isn't at a loss for how else to express his fondness for him or anything.)]

It's really easy. First of all you make a snowball.

[He gathers some snow, clumps it together, and rolls it on the ground to gradually enlarge it as more snow sticks to it. Before long it's a head-sized snowball! But clearly Hijikata is more ambitious and still keeps going.]

Make one too, okay? Then we can stack and fuse them!

[He estimates that they'll need to stack 4 hopping-ball sized snowballs for a nice stately mayonnaise bottle! If there's not enough of the special snow, he'll strategically use the normal snow for the main body and leave the colourful one for the "coat".

(If he caught his subordinates making a snow sculpture on a mission, he'd come after them with his sword... but since Eren has never built one before, this now takes precedence over the quest itself.)]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren would probably give it to a friend before a stranger because he's…like that…but who knows, maybe he'll try it himself and end up all glittery! As a special treat to his writer.

He watches the snowball process. Okay, sure, he gets that. He's done snowballs before. But then rolling it…huh. Okay. ]

Stack them?

[ Well, he does get to making a snowball. The rolling it into a bigger thing is trickier. It takes him a bit but he ends up with a sort of lopsided snowball. At least it's big enough. ]

Uh…how's that?

[mayoninofukucho]

[Let him glitter!!]

That's fine! It doesn't have to be perfectly round. Keep yours in place now, I'll put mine on top.

[While Eren holds on to the topmost snowball after the one at the bottom has flattened out sufficiently to not roll away, Hijikata fills the gap between both with more snow and gradually smooths everything out until they have something like a thick, short pillar.]

Alright! Let's make two more, and then we can start the fine-tuning.

[They definitely are spending more time on this than on the actual snow collection. While they have to widen their collection area now, having gathered a decent amount of snow from the fluffy top layers, it doesn't take them all that long until the new snowballs, one by one, are likewise merged into the base sculpture. Hijikata takes a step back to scrutinise it.]

It looks good! Now let me fix the shape a little.

[He flattens the sculpture a bit - mayonnaise bottles, after all, aren't perfectly round! -, then starts smoothing it further into the right shape, wide at the bottom and narrowing towards the top, where he adds and merges more snow to create the bottleneck and cap.]

See? It's not hard at all.

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren helps as he can. He's pretty good at following directions when he decides to actually do that. This isn't a situation where he needs to do anything but what he's told; he doesn't have any sort of artistic eye and even if he did, he has no idea what they're making.

After the last bit is on and Hijikata is shaping it, Eren tilts his head a little, trying to figure it out. ]

Okay, but…what is it?

[mayoninofukucho]

A mayonnaise bottle. You remember mayonnaise, right?

[Eren may or may not get a flashback to Hijikata drowning his seafood salad in it back at the beach party. He sure enough also ate it with every meal during their graveyard cleaning expedition, but since he tends to use his Spread Stick on quests it wasn't as visually egregious!]

It's not done yet, though! All the details are still missing. The ridges in the bottlecap, the logo in front...

[How is Eren supposed to have memorised all that small stuff?! Hijikata's passion for mayonnaise is clearly running away with him. But if Eren opts to build something different now that he has the basics down, Hijikata won't object!

Whether they work on the mayonnaise bottle together or split their efforts, by the time the former masterpiece is done the sky above them is turning yellow, already orange in the west... they still have a some time left in the daylight, but before long they should set up camp. If Eren is still busy with a project of his own, Hijikata will offer to take care of the tent and fireplace. Turnabout is fair play!]

[dreamsofwings]

[ In another life, Eren might have laughed at how absurd this is. Instead, he just stares. ]

...yeah, I remember.

[ He leaves Hijikata to perfect his...bottle thing...and plays around with the snow.

He sucks at this but manages to make a little bird after trying like three times and getting frustrated and starting over.

Hijikata sets up the tent and everything and Eren finally joins him. ]

It's a lot of work. Who wants all this snow to make this stuff? What's the point...

[mayoninofukucho]

The point is just to have fun. People enjoy building things. Did you see the sandcastles at the beach party? It's the same principle, only that this snow will also cool people down in the summer districts.

...

Can I put your bird on my mayonnaise bottle?

[If Eren agrees, he's place the little snowbird on top of the snowbottle and use a tiny, brief flame to freeze it in place. Now it can see better! (Hijikata's playful side rarely comes out, but apparently this is one of the times it does.)

As they sit by the campfire to eat, the sun goes down, and while the shy isn't entirely dark yet, a faint glow appears in the north. With a little luck it'll intensify as night falls, and Eren may get to see the real northern lights after all.]

[dreamsofwings]

I saw them, I just didn't see the point then either.

[ As usual, Eren and fun aren't exactly a matched set. Maybe he'll eventually figure that out. It's a work in progress after spending so long obsessed with war and, you know, ending the world. ]

Uh…yeah, go ahead.

[ And Hijikata does just that, putting the bird on the bottle. It's so absurd; if Eren had a sense of humour, he'd probably laugh.

Eating around the fire is amicable enough. Eren likes Hijikata's company, or he wouldn't have bothered coming on this mission. Unlike some people, Eren doesn't spend time on missions with people he doesn't get along with.

After awhile, the sky darkens and the lights appear, greens and purples, like nothing Eren has ever seen or imagined. He's seen the Paths in his future memories, and has some idea of the strange blue tree-like lights that exist there, but…even that isn't like this. ]

Wow. That's…amazing.

[ It's an understatement, but he's not good with words and he's not good at just...expressing things. He's gotten better than he was six months ago, at least, and the awe he feels shows on his face instead of him being a blank slate. He stares up at the lights, the glow from them hitting his face, making him look softer than he usually does. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata is glad that the northern lights are so visible tonight. Given that Eren completed the quest so fast, they won't spend another night out here, and who knows how soon they'll end up in the Winter Segment together again? He cleans the dishes and puts them away, wanting to let Eren enjoy the colours in the sky. Eren still isn't smiling, though he does look ... not happy, but... more at peace, perhaps, and more boyish than usual in his wonderment.

As the campfire gradually burns down, the whole sky seems covered in the silent spectacle, and in the far distance they can even see a small herd of sky orcas.]

I reckon we shouldn't sleep too late... you're all charged up, right? Or do you need a boost?

[His jargon may be confusing (he finds it awkward to say "do you need touch energy"!), but his offered hand hopefully translates it sufficiently!]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren doesn't pay too much attention to Hijikata cleaning up at first; he's too enraptured by the lights in the sky. Does anything this beautiful exist at home? He's not sure.

Even if he ends the world (he knows he doesn't, he knows that most of his friends survive), he could never ruin something like this. It's a weird sort of solace, that the world can go on even if he fucks everything up. Not that he'd ever get to see anything like this at home, but maybe someday someone he knows will, if it's there in their sky somewhere. Armin, maybe. Armin deserves it most of all.

He manages to snap out of it when Hijikata comes back. The sky orcas (Eren doesn't know what they're called, since he's never heard of an orca before) are…weird, but cool. This whole thing is amazing.

He glances over at Hijikata, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he absorbs the question. Titan transformation takes more out of him here in Ellipsa thanks to how energy works. He could make it back all right, but…

Well, it's an easy excuse, isn't it?

He reaches out and takes the offered hand. ]

Yeah. I could use some.

[ Eren's hands are always warm except during that terrible freezing disease, thanks to being a titan. He still gets cold, sure, but his internal temperature runs hot. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[He sits back down next to Eren. Holding hands under the northern lights might just be on some people's bucket list (not on his or Eren's, of course, because they don't live for things like this). The energy flow is pleasant as always, and luckily Hijikata is used to Eren's intense body heat by now too, otherwise he might just suspect that he's running a fever.

He glances over at him, glad to see that those sad marks on his face have subsided completely by now. Maybe one day, I'll see you smile. When Eren looks back at him, he gives his hand a squeeze. God, he's acting so out of it... if Jean and Mukuro happened to show up now, out here on the same quest as them, he'd immediately change his demeanour in a panic. Eren gets to see a completely different Hijikata than most others.]

...

It's hard to turn in for the night when the view out here is so nice.

[He said that after turning his eyes back to the sky, because he isn't that cheesy!!]

[dreamsofwings]

[ Eren is aware Hijikata likes him, but he has no idea how much. It's probably better for both of them that way. Though they have a skewed view of each other. Eren has no idea what a dick Hijikata can be and Hijikata has no idea that Eren's problems are largely his own damn fault, or that he's the one who caused/will cause the world to nearly end in their own world. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

Eren isn't self-aware about things like being cheesy most of the time. Even when he is, he tends to just keep going anyway. Like now! He turns Hijikata's hand over in his, lacing their fingers together. He loves to do that with people he cares about, twine his fingers with theirs, as many points of contact as he can, like if he just holds on he could actually keep anyone safe and alive and here.

He knows better, but there's some lingering sentiment in the part of his heart the world didn't manage to break. ]

We don't have to yet.

[ Eren doesn't sleep too much anyway, thanks to nightmares and whatever weird shit just happens in his head all the time. He doesn't care if they don't get much sleep.

He looks from the sky to Hijikata's face. He's not the type to say stupid romantic shit (yet?) but Hijikata is handsome in the glow from the lights. He forgets not to stare too long. ]