January catch-all

[youwillbeunequaled]

Who: Tonbokiri and others
What: Quests and events through January
When: Dates in the starter, please!
Where: All through Chroma
Warning: None, but possibly violence warnings in the demon fighting threads

A note that I prefer "prose", but I will follow with whichever style.
Please put the date in the starting comment subject.

Comments

1/5

[messianic]

Minato originally sends a message, making sure that Tonbokiri is up for chasing down some demons--and when he gets an affirmative, here he'll wait for Tonbokiri at the edge of the woods.

After all, this seems like a great chance to both show Tonbokiri what he can do, and to practice keeping his own skills sharp, both things that are very, very important.

So he'll wait, hands tucked into his pockets and tapping the ground with the tip of his shoe idly as he does so.

No worries! Thank you ;;

[youwillbeunequaled]

Admittedly, those are two of the main reasons that he is accepting of this venture with Arisato-dono.

'Demons in the forest' invariably brings Tonbokiri's mind back to that impossibly powerful one they'd found... but these demons are from a quest. Surely they will be different. But he comes no less prepared for a serious fight, dressed in his full armour underneath his winter cloak.

Tonbokiri lifts a gauntleted hand in greeting when Arisato comes in sight.

"Good day, Arisato-dono. Let us work well together today!" Inviting the boy with a gesture to walk with him into the forest he adds, "I hope you were not waiting long in this cold." At least it's sunny and not snowing, but it is quite cold.

[messianic]

It's quite cold, and Minato still hates the cold--which is why he's contentedly bundled up in the big green hoodie this place gifted him with one month. Thank goodness.

His hands are shoved in the front pocket of it even now, so he just offers a small smile in return.

"No, it wasn't long at all, don't worry. Good to see you, Tonbokiri-san--are you ready to see what this quest consists of?"

Minato's pretty curious to see exactly what this quest consists of, really; he wants to know what to expect when people inevitably want to fling themselves into danger.

[youwillbeunequaled]

"Yes, ready for anything." He pumps one arm in a bracing gesture, giving Arisato a quick grin before turning his attention back to the forest.

"The quest only said to 'defeat the dastardly demons', correct? No doubt whatever demon we encounter will be strong, but perhaps clever as well." He puts one hand squarely on Arisato's back, patting firmly. "I will be relying on you. All the parts of you."

An allusion to his power of 'Personas'. Depending on what they encounter, it might very well be good to have someone so versatile.

"And, your cleverness. The quests often seem to be related to fairy tales and folk tales, after all. I have been reading books from the library, but I fear my knowledge is still limited."

[messianic]

He sure does hope that Tonbokiri isn't putting too much faith in him here... Minato wants to make him proud, of course, but he seems to have such a high opinion of him, when to himself... Minato will always just be pretty average at best.

"I'll do my best..." He shakes his head. He doesn't doubt his Personas and what he can do with them, but the woods can be tricky. Still, there's no point in being pessimistic yet, right?

"I'm sure if we put our heads together, we can figure out anything this place throws at us."

1/7

[organfarm]

As much as Jion's great at focusing during tense situations, when he spaces out, he spaces out hard. So he's totally not watching where he's talking as he makes his way down the street, mumbling to himself a little under his breath -- and walking smack-dab into Tonbokiri as he rounds a corner.

"Oh. Oh, uh, sorry!" God, Tonbokiri's chest is like a rock wall; his nose stings a little from whacking right into it, and he rubs at it. "I, um, was thinking about stuff. Guess I shoulda watched where I was going."

[youwillbeunequaled]

Tonbokiri has a moment of warning as he senses someone directly in front of him as he turns the corner, but can't evade in time. Jion isn't a small guy himself, either, and he gives a small grunt of surprise as they collide.

"I'm sorry as well, Jion-dono. Are you all right?" He tilts his head, looking anxiously at the man's nose.

"That must have been some topic on your mind, though, to have been thinking upon it so deeply."

[organfarm]

"I'm fine, no worries!" He gives a slightly embarrassed laugh, rubbing at his face. "It's nothing that important, I was just thinking about quests, I guess. Kinda running through them in my head, wondering if I could do any of them ..."

The pieces seem to click together in his head even as he says it, a look of realization slowly crossing his features, and Jion perks up the next moment.

"Um, actually! Tonbokiri, are you busy right now?"

[youwillbeunequaled]

He shakes his head to indicate no, he's not busy, then smiles warmly. Quests, is it? They are actually very important, Jion-dono.

"I am at your service. What do you have in mind?"

[organfarm]

"Awesome! Um, then! You -- actually, no wait, hold on a sec. Don't go anywhere, okay."

He gives Tonbokiri the two-hands-out gesture for 'stay right there' before trotting a short ways off towards a nearby tree. And snaps off a little branch, giving it a small wave to see how it feels in his hand. Then trots back.

"Okay, um. Have you read Cinderella before, by any chance?"

1/7

[awamori]

Ryuu have only been participating in a small, very small number of quests for a few reasons. Now that he's been granted the power to be a fairy godmother, he's not entirely sure what he should do with it. He nearly walked passed Tonbokiri when he stopped to greet him and walked over to him.

"Hi Tonbokiri-san! I hope this doesn't sound strange, but have you received any magic?"

[youwillbeunequaled]

He smiles brightly and returns the greeting, before tilting his head slightly at the question.

"Not yet. I have not done the quest to 'exchange powers'. Ah, but if you decide to try being a fairy godmother, you can perform some small magic with a wand. --And perhaps a dress." Still unsure whether the dress is really a requirement or not, for all Asano's insistence. But best mention it.

[awamori]

Ryuu hummed as he thought over Tonbokiri's words. In many of the stories he's read fairy godmothers do have a dress and a wand. Is that something someone needs to be a fairy godmother?

"Hmm, I don't have a dress or a wand. Do you think there are some here? Maybe it's possible to grant wishes without them. I have the power to grant wishes, but I don't know what I can do with it. Is there anyone that might need a wish granted? Do you need one Tonbokiri-san?"

[youwillbeunequaled]

Tonbokiri smiles- Tsunashi-dono seems so earnest yet flustered about this, so he tries to reassure him.

“You can certainly try without a wand or dress. I do not mind being a trial run for you! In fact, you are an excellent person to ask for this wish, because you are from Japan as well and will understand.

“Tsunashi-dono, my wish is for osechi*.”

The time that is ‘New Years’ is, at their best guess, past already, but it still doesn’t feel like a proper start to the year without enjoying those special New Years foods.
And, he did promise Maya-dono that he would get some for them to share if the chance presented itself. So, here is his chance.

[awamori]

Ryuu knew he could count on Tonbokiri-san to help! Oh, that's something he'd like to eat again too. He missed his mom's cooking and care packages each day. Well, it would be a good start for the new year. Even if he wasn't aware about what day it was. It was still hard to tell time in this place.

"Okay! Let's see, I guess I'll just concentrate and wish for osechi." Ryuu thought hard about osechi, putting the image in his mind, holding his hands out in case it landed in his palms. When he felt something in his hands, he opened his eyes and cheered. It worked!

"Here you go! I can't believe it worked!"

Wait, he remembered how this place could be sometimes.

"Wait, Tonbokiri-san you should check it first to make sure there's nothing weird about it."

Ryuu hoped nothing too bad would happen with his wish.

1/7?

[good_ideas]

Shiho wasn't exactly invested in the argument itself, but she had been raised by someone who would definitely have given anyone and everyone a fair chance.

That's why she follows his instructions and ends up outside of a house in Flavo.

Well..... this will probably be fine. Worse comes to worse, she has her tranquilizer darts in her pocket. Knocking on the door, she takes a small step back to wait for him to open the door.]

Sounds good!

[youwillbeunequaled]

Although he's not met her formally in person yet, of course this could only be the Sannomiya-dono to whom he'd been speaking with on the forum. So he opens the door wide as he welcomes her with a modest smile.

"Sannomiya-dono, I am Tonbokiri. Please, come in and let us sit at the table. May I offer to serve you maccha?"

He shows the way to the living room with its modest furnishings, that, at Maribelle's insistence, have all been restored to be considerably more comfortable. Over the blazing hearth hangs the painting that she'd wished for, lending a further sense of sophistication to the old room. (As all the buildings in Chroma are old, after all.)

[good_ideas]

Shiho would be the first to tell him that she could so easily have been an axe murderer. But this is probably not the time or the place for jokes. Especially when he seems... nice.

Her own expression does relax somewhat but she's not the type to smile at anyone without a reason (or unless she was planning evil). Especially when she touches the wall to find out that Maribelle has been here too. Anyone Maribelle accepts is probably a good person. Maybe.

"Just Sannomiya-san is fine."

Much as she enjoyed being called -dono. "Maccha sounds good, thank you."

[youwillbeunequaled]

His eyes widen and he pauses in placing his spear against the wall. "I could not be so casual towards you, especially since we have just met."

He then nods in acknowledgement. "Please wait a moment, and I shall serve you."

He goes across the hall into the kitchen for a moment and returns with a plate of dried apples and some of the tools for a traditional tea ceremony. Placing the apples before her and setting everything else out carefully, he then takes a seat.

"Please forgive me for not being able to perform the ceremony as is proper, but I can at least give you this much."
And for the next few moments he puts his attention into calm, practiced movements of measuring out the powdered tea, whisking it into the hot water, and finally presenting her with the maccha.

He hopes she likes it.

1/10 so we're not backdating *too* far

[averagemedium]

There are always particular quests that catch his attention more than others, and as someone invested in helping out people he knows... of course Ryan had spotted one that seemed like an obvious choice.

Putting it into action, though, is harder. He's been trying to keep an eye out around the house, trying to figure out what wishes his roommate might need someone to grant, but he's been coming up a bit short. There's nothing for it but to just ask, and so the next time they're both in the house together, Ryan catches him at the first moment he doesn't seem too busy.

"Hey-! You're not heading back out again too soon, are you? Anything you need help with around here?"

It's not the sneakiest thing, but he's pretty sure he's found out that doesn't work for him, anyway.

sounds good! o7

[youwillbeunequaled]

It's true that the winter had Tonbokiri a little restless, and that he was going out often. However for the past few nights he hasn't been sleeping at all, thanks to the latest mischief the town is inflecting on them. Yet there are still things that need doing during the day, no matter how sleepy he is becoming.

At Farrow's question, he turns from the window he'd been looking out of with a smile.

"Around here? Nothing that I can think of, but thank you." He glances back outside at the cloudy weather as he continues, "though, I was about to go tend to Mikuniguro. If you would like to come with me, I would enjoy the company."

1/30

[noholdsbard]

It seems that the thorns won’t be going anywhere after all, but for the time being, Tristan’s sort of stopped caring. They’ve all been through a lot in the past few weeks, as it turns out. Thorns or no thorns he knew he needed a break, and so had taken up Tonbokiri’s offer of joining him at the bathhouse.

It would have been a thrilling new experience for him, had he not almost died the last time he’d found himself in here. But all traces of the demons’ invasion are gone for the moment; the waters are clean and the bathhouse clear of any signs of a skirmish. Unfortunately, the place is still riddled with various artwork and statues created by none other than Nero herself, which mostly depict her in varying stages of nudity.

So forgive him if he keeps his gaze downward, into the water, where he can only see the rising steam from the water.

“I don’t suppose I’ve introduced you to her…”

[youwillbeunequaled]

It was indeed some time before he could meet with Archer-dono, for various reasons. (For himself, recovering from a concussion and deep bruising from falling down a cliff. He's fine! But a few bruises are still a reddish-purple as they slowly heal. He wasn't going to ask Maribelle-dono for magical healing of something this minor.)

And ever since the appearance of the strange... unusual... ...art(?), he's felt his comfort at being in the bath somewhat diminish. There is nowhere in particular one can avert their eyes to, except down into the water.

Therefore, he doesn't think much of his companion's downcast gaze. For himself, at least this time he has Archer's company and a flask of sake to occupy his attention.

"Who is that?" he asks, carefully pouring out one small cup of sake for Archer-dono. Handing it to him he adds, "truth be known, there are many people here I have not met at length yet."

[noholdsbard]

It seems that they’ve both been through hell this month, though Tristan betrays little of his own adventures aside from a slight pallor, which a nice soak in a hot bath can cure easily enough.

But he accepts that cup with a murmured thanks, though he doesn’t take a sip just yet.

“Her name is Saber. She is a colleague of mine.” He considers for a moment, gaze settling upon his cup, before adding, “You might have passed her by over the New Year’s. She was one of the hosts of that…party.”

[youwillbeunequaled]

To be fair, Tonbokiri did see Archer at a very low point, with fins instead of legs and badly poisoned. It's not something he'll soon forget. So he is deeply glad to see him looking much better.


Recalling the party and the hosts he'd met in passing, he nods slightly- then gives a start in recognition. He cautiously edges his vision to one of the statues, then quickly back to Archer's face.

"I-- Ahem. I have not met her except that once." And now it will certainly be difficult to make her acquaintance further, having... seen too much.

He'll be busily pouring himself a cup of sake, now.