seasonsrpg | February-March catch all

[Hijikata snorts at that first remark, but he really can't blame Shang Qinghua (who was probably similarly impressed with the Frozen-, Unfrozen-, and Half-Frozen Lake he pointed out respectively referenced along the way), and he takes the cat food reminder in stride.]

I had that pair of little dinosaurs on the last word, but those only ate meat... the pokémon I've got now would probably eat bone meal if I mixed it into some other slop.

[Pet Owner of the Year, right here! The docking process makes the airship sway a little, but it's nothing compared to the blizzard they only managed to circumnavigate halfway on the first day of the journey.]

Make sure you've got all your stuff before we disembark. They'll keep anything you forget, but it'd suck if it were something you need in battle.

Well now I'm jealous. I was mad into dinosaurs as a kid. Raptors were my favorites, probably because I'd just moved out of my wolf everything phase.

[Well, it was good for plants, right? Shang Qinghua didn't know what kind of Pokémon his new friend had, but it probably wouldn't hurt. Calcium if nothing else.

Double checks his sleeves, shiny new bag of holding, and sword. Yep, that's all of it.]

Don't think I left anything. And sword and talismans are definitely accounted for.

[Shang Qinghua truly is full of surprises. Somehow, Hijikata never would have expected a cultivator to have had a wolf- and dinosaur phase! He really is different from the other ones he's met. As for the pokémon, it's an Emboar which he raised up from a Tepig in record speed, and Shang Qinghua may just get to meet it if Hijikata decides that they need its help at any point!

The disembarkment goes smoothly, and the old lady living in the station shows up to greet everyone. Predictably, she isn't content with just taking the delivieries off the travellers' hands but rather invites them into her home for tea and biscuits. Despite having come for the snow sharks, Hijikata isn't disinclined to a nice warm cup.]

We can't say no to that, huh? Thank you, ma'am.

[He can be polite!! Little do he and Shang Qinghua know that the combination of what they brought along and what the old lady already has at home will give them a whole other world of trouble...]

[Well, no other cultivator's done what he's done, so it's not a huge surprise to Shang Qinghua. And ha, better keep that Pokémon away from his king. Really doubts they'd get along.

When they got to the old lady's place, he had to resist the urge to kick Hijikata when he agreed tot he treats. Come on bro, weird little old lady living in the middle of nowhere offering you food? That never turned out well! Doesn't he read?! But no. And now Shang Qinghua has to agree too to keep from being rude. Even if his smile was a little strained.]

That'd be lovely, thank you.

[He accepted the tea they were given but didn't drink it, trying not to be obvious about the way he was eyeballing their host as the new ingredients were added.

And then the demon appeared.]

...I fucking knew it.

[What does the king have against fire pigs!! But with that not being an actual topic now, Hijikata actually does feel some mild regret over accepting the old lady's invitation even before things go completely south, and that's because of her spirit cats. He doesn't like ghosts!! Or, well, he doesn't dislike all ghosts, but... it's complicated!

Of course, that concern is swiftly forgotten when a whole-ass demon bursts forth from the combined ingredients.]

You've got to be shitting me!!

[As the old lady flees and hectically waves for her guests to follow her, the ghosts cats hiss and screech at the hellish newcomer, but it ignores them in favour of pursuing the humans. It's on!]

[Less pigs, more fire.

And the ghosts cats aren't the worst, because he's seen weirder pets, but surely they should have been some kind of red flag?!

And Shang Qinghua feels absolutely no guilt about dropping his tea on the rug in order to grab his sword, giving the demon a smack with the sheath even before as he ducked with a yelp.]

Why didn't anyone tell me there were more demons here?!

[Honestly, what should be red flags in most worlds is kind of just normal in many of these worlds that pull people in from across the multiverse, so Hijikata's gotten desensitised to a lot!!

The demon responds to that smack with a nasty growl and a swipe of its large claw - good thing Shang Qinghua is good at ducking and running! Hijikata pulls him along with him, out of the old lady's home (the lady in question, surprisingly fast on her old legs, must already have hidden away somewhere).]

It's not from here, that's why! At least I don't think it is!

[It's goddamn cold back out on the airship station landing deck, but the demon apparently intends to warm the place up, summoning a dozen or so floating fireballs as soon as it exits the cramped indoors (honestly, isn't it considerate that it didn't reduce the old lady's home to ashes?).]

Shit. Are you fireproof?

[The demon doesn't wait for Shang Qinghua's answer before it starts its assault, forcing Hijikata to intercept the fireballs with a firewall of his own. Now it's really hot in the makeshift arena!]

You can exorcise it, right?!

[Or are they going to have to make it kill collaboration?]

What about silk looks like it should be fireproof?! Half the time I work in a palace made of fucking ice!

[He was the expert when it came to running and ducking! Shang Qinghua scrambled to keep up with the other man and avoid being pulled off his feet. He dug into his sleeves for blank talisman paper, having to forgo ink and biting a finger to quickly draw out a quick spell before throwing it at the demon.

It did the trick, but unfortunately the trick wasn't actually banishing it. Instead, the demon paused and wavered, like it'd gotten dizzy and lost sight of its prey. Also known as them. But it was already sniffing for them in a heartbeat.]

That's not going to last long. Can you keep it distracted while I seal it?

[Okay, so that's a "no" on the fireproof front! Honestly, what was he expecting from a winter power holder... but you never know, cultivators are full of surprises! And speaking of which, that talisman paper is something Hijikata hasn't seen before. He observes its effect with interest, then nods sharply in response to the question.]

Yeah! Leave it to me!

[He brandishes his sword, pointing it at the demon as it seems to refocus on them. (He has half a mind to summon some lightning, too, given that fire is unlikely to be effective, but out of consideration for his questmate decides for forego that. He's ready to play on hard mode!)]

Hey, asshole!! No one invited you here, so how about you go back to hell?

[The provocation, blatant as it is, does its job, and the demon roars at him as it spreads its large leathery wings, simultaneously summoning a weapon of its own: A military flail with a heavy-looking spiked metal ball attached to the handle by a likewise metal chain.]

Oh, great.

[Sure enough, it swings at him and, not intending to test just how much his invisible Aura shield can withstand, he deflects the weapon's course using telekinesis. The spiked ball hits the demon in the shoulder, and it hows in pain and fury before stepping forward for a faster and heftier strike.]

[Really should look into some fireproofing spells for his clothes. Could probably stitch them into Mobei's too. It'd be good to have, especially if Linguang-Jun ever showed up (unlikely, but sometimes his luck was just that shitty). Also good for dealing with fire throwing demons like this guy!

Ducking down to try and keep himself as invisible as possible, Shang Qinghua drew up a batch of talisman papers, reminding himself to start keeping pens on him. And see if they could be used to channel qi. Because he didn't exactly have time to stop and grind ink when a surprise demon popped up to eat them.]

Try to keep it in the same spot, okay? I need to surround it!

[Which was why this kind of seal was usually done with more than one cultivator, but needs are!]

Got it!

[Has he really got it? Honestly, he isn't entirely sure, but he'll do his best! If nothing else, the demon doesn't seem to have understood his telekinesis use yet, given that it attempts to hit him with the chain weapon again, only to achieve the same result as before. This time, Hijikata hits it in the horn and forehead... and that infuriates the demon so much that it dismisses the flail and simply lunges at the samurai.]

Shit--

[So much for keeping it in one place! He has trouble evading a series of swings, more staggering than running as he attempts to stay in the invisible circle Shang Qinghua seems to need for his sealing technique to work. A strike of his sword leaves a nasty gash in the demon's palm, and it roars as it throws itself at him in a full-body lunge that he barely manages to evade - at the cost of falling on his ass.

He sends a brief glance as Shang Qinghua as he hurriedly gets back up - he better not have seen that! -, only to have to parry another claw swing with his sword, drawing more blood from the demon. The necessity to keep the battle within a small radius makes it difficult to keep any distance between himself and the hellbeast, and it's getting harder and harder to avoid being slammed to the ground by its claws. Hurry up, Mister Cultivator--!]

[Patience is a virtue~

Shang Qinghua scrambled around to place the papers, jerking with alarm when the fighting pair got a bit too close to his mostly formed circle. Shoving the talismans under his arm, he drew his sword and flung it towards them.

Instead of just smacking into one of them or falling to the ground, the spiritual blade floated and moved on its own to swing at the demon.]

Get ready to jump back when I say!

[The sword stabbed into the demon's foot as it tried to lung again, pinning it to the deck. And Shang Qinghua slammed the last talisman into place with a shout.]

And back!

[Being backed up by a sword that fights on its own is pretty nifty! Hijikata has half a mind to summon some fire swords to add to that number, little effect as the element would have, when Shang Qinghua gives the signal.

He darts away from his adversary at record speed. The last thing he needs is ending up getting sealed together with it! That arguably would be even worse than being stuck halfway in a magical door.]

[That's why spirit swords are awesome.

As soon as his friend was out of range, he shoved qi into the talismans to activate them, the circle lighting up bit by bit (like a damn loading circle, his brain helpfully noted) as Shang Qinghua watched the demon tensely to make sure it didn't get out at the last second. Snarling with rage at being caught, the demon thrashed against the sword pinning it, trying to strike out or grab the blade, but being repelled each time.]

Come on, come on...

[When the circle completed, everything happened fast, and the cultivator yelped as the demon summoned up one more fireball to fling at him before vanishing with a shriek. Leaving him to quickly have to pat out his sleeve.]

Really? You were already being banished! That was just rude! Some demons, bro.

I could've put it out!

[He can make fire harmless or call it away from its spot, after all! But with that not being necessary, he overlooks the now empty sealing site with satisfaction.]

Nice work. So where'd it disappear to? All the demons and spectres you guys exorcise have to end up somewhere, right? - Oh, and if you didn't know already, winter power holders can learn repair magic.

[So if Shang Qinghua puts his mind to it, his sleeve will be like new before long!]

I got it! Not the first time I've been on fire, no worries.

[Which is probably a worrying statement, but ah, thus is life. Shang Qinghua poked at his sleeve, watching the fibers kind of un-burn and knit themselves back together.]

Okay, that's cool. Wish I'd had that one back home. Would have saved so much work. Especially if I could have taught my students.

[Clothing fixed, he stepped into the empty circle to pry his sword out of the wood.]

And, ah, that's a good question. But I've never seen a demon banished with that set-up ever show up again, so I don't think we need to worry about it.

[That is concerning!! But at this point, Hijikata isn't entirely surprised. Shang Qinghua seems to have a penchant for getting into messy situations. On the upside, he already has the repair magic down! That's actually impressive. Hijikata usually leverages his winter-aligned mentee and (capital-S) Servant for that, but don't think he'll hold back from asking his newest questmate if he's ever the nearest person at hand!

He's happy enough with the demon being gone, its new location being secondary... but he frowns when he sees the old lady returning from wherever she's been hiding out. He stands tall and puts his hands on his hips.]

Ma'am, I'm afraid we'll have to charge you a hazard allowance for this stunt! That thing could've reduced the whole station to ashes!

[Of course, the woman immediately starts wringing her hands over only having such meagre savings, apologising profuselyin between, and offers some rare potion ingredients instead.]

I don't really brew potions... do you, Shang Qinghua?

[He's head of logistics for a very large cultivation sect. Of course he practiced a repair spell first thing upon finding out what winter users could do! Wants to see if he can make the fix buildings thing work on qi for when he goes home!

Shang Qinghua pondered the question.]

I don't do a lot, but if you have something for cooling or fireproofing, I could accept that. And a recipe! One that doesn't summon demons. I have enough of those in my daily life already.

[Oh, she has just the thing for him! Before she rummages through her stockpiles of ingredients, she makes them all some tea... a meagre appeasement, but it works; Hijikata at least pipes down with his complaints. As she chatters about her recipes to Shang Qinghua, the samurai exhales and mutters under his breath.]

Of course the guilds aren't going to pay us extra for this either... we better find a big shark so we can at least pocket that reward.

[In front of the client, Shang Qinghua kept his response to a small snort. Of course they wouldn't pay extra. If there'd been a danger clause, it'd have been written in the briefing. No danger clause, so anything that happened was their problem.

Scratching down the recipe, he hurried through the cup of tea and all but pushed his mission partner out the door as soon as he had the promised potion ingredients tucked away. Before anything else could happen.]

In the future, how about we don't hang around after finishing deliveries to weird old ladies?

[Hijikata lights himself a cigarette as soon as they're out of the door. The old lady waves after them among more expressions of gratitude, regret over the incident, and well-wishes for the shark hunt, but he only raises a hand to give a half-assed wave in return without so much as turning back around.]

Deal. Better yet, next time we just dump the stuff at the door and leave.

[Without even knocking before running, because who knows if the old lady - whichever one - won't be lurking right behind the door!]

Ah, tempting as that is you risk them claiming it wasn't delivered.

[Trade and logistics is what this guy does. He's too familiar with the shenanigans that can happen.]

But no reason to go inside! I say a policy of not passing the threshold is an excellent one.

Good point. Getting bad quest feedback is about the last thing I need! No more stepping inside from now on, then.

[Some tea and getting their ear talked off really isn't worth the risk of another home-made disaster!]

Exactly. We faced the same kind of bullshit sometimes back at the sect too. Disciple fails to get a delivery receipt, customer tries to say it never arrived and refuses to pay. Ha! Not on my watch.

So! Where are these sharks?

[Hijikata snorts. It's the same shit everywhere, isn't it? At the question, he surveys the area, then points at the undisturbed white expanse at the bottom of the rocky outcropping that serves as the base for the airship station.]

They can only live in dense fields of snow from what I gathered, so let's try our luck over there.

[However this will go, it can't be a bigger shitshow than the accidental demon summoning! (~~Famous last words...~~)]

February-March catch all

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