Fate/Hate Boner, Part... I Lost Track

[mayoninofukucho]

WHO: Hijikata and OPEN
WHAT: Hijikata tries to deal with his spectacular fuck-up!
WHEN: August 1st (a couple of days after Medusa first turned into Gorgon)
WHERE: Sunwaning and/or Solarpeak
WARNINGS: Unwarranted Manpain (OK no, he'll try to take responsibility!!)

[OOC: This is yet another little chapter of the ongoing drama between Hijikata, Medusa, and Ozymandias (and their friends and affiliates, and innocent bystanders too)!

Associated posts (for anyone who would like to follow along at home):

OOC Plotting
Hijikata starting the whole shitshow by siccing Medusa on Ozymandias
Ozymandias live-shaming a consequently petrified Hijikata
Quest: Going Gorgon

This installment is mostly for people who want their characters to give him a talking-to in person, but rest assured that he's got the pet-shaming sign on him, and further additions are being retroactively added!]


[When Hijikata regained consciousness he was at home, not at the Secret Getaway, and in front of him was his mentee Shoto, caught between concern and relief... not his suddenly tall-as-a-house, winged and snake-bodied Servant Medusa.

Naturally the most important items ("Why am I here", "What date is it", "How did you get me unpetrified") were addressed first, and all the answers - that Shoto took him home from Solarpeak after Ozymandias brought him there, that a couple of days elapsed between now and when he last saw Medusa, that Shoto sacrificed White Amaryllis, the sword forged out of his admiration for his mentor - drove it home more and more deeply that he made a colossal, terrible mistake.

Hijikata wanted to stay with Shoto, somehow make up for his sacrifice, reassure him, answer his many questions... but he simply couldn't leave Medusa alone out there in that state. So he made up a convincing lie (another thing to feel bad about later, because damn it, why does this boy put so much trust in him), promising to be back very soon, and set out - not to where he said he'd go, but towards the Summer Guild's headquarters.

Shoto-kun said she's in the Jungle of Judgement. I just need to teleport to the Temple of Life, and then--!

And then what?, a voice in his head asks. Medusa - no, Gorgon - is draining his mana. All of it. He felt her suck it all up like a giant maelstrom when she first transformed out there, and he can still feel it now, despite the distance between them. The remaining two Command Seals on the back of his hand - the third smudged and blackened, as if it was burned up - are testament to their bond still existing. Shit. Rider...

He stops, trying to form some kind of plan, but it comes back down to just: I'm her Master, I need to help her. But how can he do that now when he can't even summon enough of a fireball to light a cigarette anymore? Maybe he can undo this with another Command Spell..? He stares at the red triple tomoe (now just a double tomoe, really). Won't this only make it worse..? But this is my duty, isn't it?

(If anybody notices his weird behaviour... please stop this man. He's done enough!)]

Comments

[kerontribution]

Human.

[When Oryou sees Hijitaka, she zips to directly in front of him, floating at a height where they're at eye level with each other so he can get a really good view of her narrowed pupils.

She Is Mad.]

Where are you going?

[mayoninofukucho]

Oryou!

[He sounds... relieved?!]

Oryou, I've got to help Medusa. She got too much energy from my Command Seal and turned huge!

[And lost her mind, I think. And before that happened, she was in serious distress because she didn't want to do what I made her do. (But he doesn't say those things.)]

[kerontribution]

[He can get to be relieved for just a moment before Oryou punches him in the face. And she's not holding back, either.]

You betrayed her. The best thing you can do for her now is stay far away.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Okay, yeah, Oryou packs a punch. Hijikata is usually good at keeping his balance after being hit, but this time he flat-out lands on his ass on the pavement. The bruise almost immediately starts forming, too (though it'll only change colours later).]

But-- she needs help!! Also I didn't-- I didn't think I was betraying her, I thought I was helping her!

[kerontribution]

Oryou told you Command Spells can make Servants do things they don't want to do. Maybe someone should take control of your body and make you fight your friend and see how you feel about it.

After her own fight with the Gorgon

[sangreine]

[ Saya's on her way to the Guilds as well, just a pit stop after a very hard -- equally matched -- fight with the Gorgon. She's spattered with blood but the skin beneath her torn clothes is long healed over. Thank goodness for her magic resistance, or she'd be a statue out in the jungle herself. ]

[ Spotting Hijikata, she's overwhelmed with irritation and anger. Whether he's trying to help (and she's sure he is) is irrelevant, really. He's no match for his Servant as she currently is, and in fact he might make things substantially worse. ]

[ There's a blur of movement and suddenly Saya is blocking his way. She looks most unhappy... which is like facing off with a hungry lion that's about to pounce at you. ]

Don't.

[mayoninofukucho]

[He visibly gets a bit startled when Saya shows up so suddenly and covered in blood, and barely relaxes when she doesn't attack him (look, after the doppelgänger encounter he half-expected it to be that sort of thing again!)]

You don't even know what I'm doing!

[sangreine]

[ She huffs, half scoff and half sarcastic chuckle. ]

Is it heading out to the Jungle of Judgment to try making a worse mess than you already made?

[ She gestures at herself and the bloody mess she is. ] Who do you think did this to me? You'll be dead in three seconds, and then once she recovers her senses she'll have the death of her Master on her conscience along with everything else.

Absolutely not. You'll have to go through me. [ And they both know he couldn't manage that on his best day, which this does not look to be. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[That revelation does take him aback.]

You fought my Rider? Is-- is she--

[He breaks off. Of course she's not okay. He lifts his hand to show his remaining Command Seals.]

Brute force won't help. I can use up one of these to tell her to go back to normal!

[sangreine]

[ Saya can see that he's feeling horrible and frantic, so she softens ever so slightly. ]

You can't go out there half-cocked and just hope you manage to use one of those before something awful happens. If going out there is the right call then you need a better plan than "get her" and you need some help.

...I understand that you're probably feeling desperate to fix your mistakes, but I've lived the nightmare she's going through. If you're going to lay yourself on the chopping block, you'd better be able to tell her later that you did it with as little risk to yourself and others as you possibly could.

[triompheduhimbo]

--Annnd where do you think you're going, huh?

[ That would be Napoleon's hand on Hijikata's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. ]

Good to see you're not a statue anymore.

[ It is sincerely said, but it's also not nearly as jovial as his tone usually gets, missing that cheerfulness he usually had. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

Napoleon...

[As always, Napoleon's presence calms Hijikata down, but this time it also makes the guilt in his chest feel as heavy as a millstone. By causing Medusa to go berserk like that he hurt him, too, didn't he? Napoleon has been such a good friend to her, someone she could rely on completely whenever Hijikata was indisposed. Someone welcoming, someone warm-hearted...

All the stubbornness and determination that he still very fiercely upheld underneath his distress and worry simply crumbles away.]

Napoleon, what do I do? I'm so sorry! I've got to be able to help her somehow!

[triompheduhimbo]

[ ...It's hard to stay mad at a guy who looks that broken up.

Not that Napoleon was especially mad at him. Upset at the situation? Oh yeah. Worried about Medusa? Absolutely. But the anger was over all short lived compared to worrying about his fellow Servant. Hijikata made a dumb mistake and didn't really think through the consequences, but he also didn't know them. Medusa didn't exactly advertise what had happened to her... ]

It's not me you got to apologize to, mon ami. But...

[ A deep, deep sigh. ]

Honestly, the best thing you can do for her is to stay safe here.

[ How to explain this...? ]

--Do you remember what you saw in my other 'self's Memory? That Giant made of Fire?

[mayoninofukucho]

Yes. I remember.

[That giant was huge. It looked undefeatable, yet... somehow, Napoleon managed. Hijikata's stomach is upset from how distressed he feels, so he tries to just focus on what Napoleon is saying. He needs to keep it together.]

[triompheduhimbo]

...Medusa's turned into something... not quite as strong, but similar. Something devastating to Servants, let alone humans. She may not be what she was when the Maître-- my Master at Chaldea-- fought her during one of his sorties, but she's still nothing to take lightly.

[ Fingertips lightly turned Hijikata around to look at him. That serious expression remaining. ]

--We Servants are human in a lot of ways, but Command Spells-- or Seals-- are one of the ways we're not. We gotta obey them no matter what we want in the moment. When the Command given is something both Master and Servant want? We can make miracles happen. But they can also be used to over take a Servant's will. We can't resist em, not without a lot of pain, and only for so long. ...They can even force us to kill ourselves if our Master chooses to.

[ So he hoped Hijikata could understand exactly what had happened there. ]

... All that, plus... you're probably totally drained of mana right now, oui?

[pyramidsmash]

I see you've been brought back... but where do you think you're going in your condition?

[It's your favorite person! Just what you needed, right? He seems calm, at least, but he's very much angry with Hijikata. He was preparing for a trip to the Jungle to face Medusa, but decided to check if Hijikata was finally around. Lucky he did.]

If you're thinking about going after her, you're solely mistaken. You won't do any good against her.

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata's temper flares up as always when he sees Ozymandias, but this time his feelings are a lot more confused than before this whole incident started. This entire time they've been like oil and water, but given what happened, Hijikata now has to grapple with his opinion of the pharao and inhowfar it's been justified.

Ozymandias is an arrogant king with a massive ego, but does he really look down on those he chooses as his concubines? It's not only the fact that Medusa didn't want to fight him - not out of hesitance or insecurity, but with an unexpected vehemence, as Hijikata only realised seconds before her transformation -, but also the fact that he brough him, petrified as he was, to safety when he could easily have broken him in retaliation for what he did. Shoto, too, spoke of him with respect - granted, Shoto is a polite and respectful boy on the whole, but it seemed like he... appreciated what Ozymandias did.

He decides to sort all of that out later and focus on the matter at hand for now.]

There's got to be something I can do! What else am I even good for if I can't help her after she became like that because of me?

[pyramidsmash]

[Hijikata would learn soon, the answer to the doubts inside his mind. Ozymandias already has plans on what he can do to finally snap the wrongful opinion of him at least partially apart.]

There's nothing you can do. In the state she's in, she would only kill you and once she comes back to her senses, she would just feel worse for it! Besides, you feel it, don't you? The way she drains your mana even now.

[mayoninofukucho]

Yes.

[He really couldn't deny his complete lack of mana if he tried. He struggles internally for a moment - part of him wants to ask Ozymandias to help Medusa, his own pride be damned, but that'd be just too preposterous, given how this all came about, wouldn't it?]

...

How long will she be like this?

[Not forever, right?]

[pyramidsmash]

[At least he wasn't trying to deny he was losing mana.]

It depends how well we can calm her down from her state. ["We" meaning also him, yes.

His expression turns into absolute determination.]

Trust me this once, but we will do everything we can to bring her back to her senses and bring her home.

... hello!!

[greedyvixen]

[Rin is on her way to actually try to help Medusa with Archer (who's here with her but currently dematerialized / invisible), when they see Hijikata on the way to the same direction too. Oh, oh hell no!! She tells Archer to let her go there, she's going to-- do... Something! She has no idea what she's going to do or say, she'll just see what happens but there's no way in hell she'll let that man anywhere near Rider! Not that she really needs to say any of that to Archer because he knows her and he'd let her go there anyway. Really, he'd fly her down even if she wouldn't know about Rider's Master being there.

The girl lands near him on her feet agilely like a cat from the way how Archer's carrying her and she has never seen this man before but she sure isn't even trying to look all prim and proper this time.

Congratulations, Hijikata, it's rare for Tohsaka to meet someone for the first time and instantly glare at them as much as she's glaring at him right now.]

What the hell do you think you're doing?

[. . . That's one way to say hello, very nice to meet you too from a girl, who still has all of her three Command Seals on the back of her right hand.]

No, let me guess, you're on your way there to "help" by thinking of using one of those for trying to force her to calm down and then if or when that doesn't work, you'd use the other for trying to force her to stop whatever she's doing, right?

[She better be wrong and she's mostly being sarcastic with all of that even if she wouldn't even be surprised by any of that.]

What a great first meeting!! 🔥

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata hasn't looked at the network yet, too frazzled by what Shoto told him, so he hasn't has a chance to brace himself for Rin's ire! He recognises her as Archer's Master nonetheless - being isekai'd together multiple times in a row will do that, even if he isn't sure if her timeline has been as linear as his.

He doesn't get a word in at first as she confronts him, but once he does he blurts out his answer.]

I-- well, maybe the first half! But if the first Command Spell doesn't work, then why should the second!

LOL I'm glad you think so, I think so too!

[greedyvixen]

I obviously would never assume or even think, that you're smart enough to think as far as why wouldn't the third one work if the second one didn't work either, especially if that third one was a direct order to tell her to stop -- actually I don't think you even know how to think at all!

[And forget her even thinking, that he's smart despite how she mentioned that word there too. So, really, thinking back to what she first said to him, she should have said "what the hell are you doing" but whatever! All that world jumping later, though Rin doesn't even remember Avalon, and this is how they meet...]

Who the hell even freed you from being a statue? You should have stayed that way for at least until she's back to normal again too!

♡

[mayoninofukucho]

[Oh man. Hijikata is no stranger to being bullied by kids, some of them even younger than Rin, but she really doesn't pull her punches! He also is no stranger to (and definitely not above) fighting with said kids, but right now he's so gutted, he doesn't have it in him to meet her level of fierceness.]

My mentee unpetrified me. He was worried about me. Please don't hold it against him.

[Wow, look at this humility... Rin is getting as much of an unusual first impression of him as vice versa. Normally he'd be insulting her intelligence back in the pettiest ways, but this time he simply takes that hit! He does feel like a colossal moron, one who caused his Servant and a bunch of other people a lot of grief with his brash and snap-judging decisions.]

w o w i blinked and suddenly it has been forever... i'm so sorry for how late this adjklscjxzshhj

[greedyvixen]

Mentee?

[Who's that? She's mostly talking to herself when she says that. Considering op- No, Rin doesn't have time for that. Oh cute, asking her to please not to hold it against him (narrowing some options right there). Too bad, it doesn't work, Rin still looks really fucking mad.]

Whatever, you can beg all you want but I don't take orders from anyone.

[But she also won't hold it against his mentee, probably. But speaking of Rin and orders...]

But you - you'll go back to wherever the hell you came from and stay the hell away from Medusa! I'm not going to let you go anywhere near her!