I Ask for Nothing, I Can Get By [OPEN]

[koukai_kirai]

Who: Hijikata and you!
When: July 26th-28th
Where: The Near Shore - Kamakura, Kyoto. (Open to Wild Card options, too!)
What: Hijikata runs himself ragged using his power to bless his faithful; Hijikata tries and possibly fails to take a little care of himself, too (by which I mean he gets drunk and nostalgic at the Gion Festival and that could be either good or bad); catchall for wildcards.

[I. - The Near Shore - Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura - July 26th-27th, any time during the day]

[The hydrangeas in the valleys are past their peak, but Kamakura is flush with tourists, all the same.]

[It's not a city Hijikata got to know in his life, but as a god, he's been making an effort to visit as many of his shrines as he can manage (a bit of a tall order for Hachiman of all gods, honestly -- he does have twenty-five thousand of them, and this is one of the biggest ones.)]

[It's a little bit bizarre to watch the worshipers at a distance. Plenty of them are just swinging by one of the big local landmarks since they happen to be in town, looking for an interesting picture or feeling like they probably ought to see such a famous place or something.]

[Others make their way more purposefully to the offering box where he's taken up hanging around invisibly right off the bat. Some of them are just the sort to do things properly, but most of them have something to say to him.]

[Help me find the strength to leave him.]

[I can't fail this test. They'll be so disappointed.]

[Please, let my child grow up strong and healthy.]

[Unseen and invisible, eyes full of a tired sort of compassion, Hachiman stands at his own altar and listens. And when he hears someone asking for the right things -- help me protect him, help me do the right thing, help me stand fast -- he reaches out to them with his power, giving them what he can.]

[He grants his followers resolve, strengthens the best of what's already inside them. To the new parents presenting infants at the shrine for the first time, he focuses on their desire to teach and protect and help their children to grow. To faltering students, he grants focus and motivation. To those facing greater struggles, he calls on the courage that carried them far enough to reach his doorstep, on their love for the things they have to survive for, on the righteousness that can move them past their fears.]

[He pours the strength of his own heart into them, and leaves the rest in their hands.]

[Periodically, he has to take a break, all but collapsing onto a bench in the shade for a few minutes at a time, gulping down bottles of water from a nearby vending machine. It's never for long, though.]

[His people need him. And he's not in the habit of giving any less than his all for the ones who believe in him.]

[II. - The Near Shore - The Kamo River, Kyoto - July 28th, afternoon or early evening]

[After a couple of days of using his power as much as he can manage, even Hijikata knows he ought to take a break.]

[There's reason to believe that this isn't really the way he should be going about it, honestly. Kyoto is a city full of memories for him, and the Gion Festival, stretching all through July, is tied up with a lot of those, too.]

[But he can't just ignore every place he's got memories of, can he? And he can't quite resist the siren call of the familiar traces of his old Japan, from time to time.]

[He veers away from the hustle and bustle of the festival's main drag, but stays near enough to hear it -- the cheering, the bells and the flutes and the drums, the distant rush of too many voices all blurred together. He wanders past one of his smaller shrines, picks up some sake that someone left him, and takes it to the riverbank with him.]

[By the time the sky gets dark and the fireworks start, he's had enough to get a distant look in his eyes, a small smile on his lips that looks outright painful up close.]

[III. - Wild Card!]

[OOC: If you've got something else you'd like to play out with Hijikata, I'd love to hear it! Hit me up at cognitiveleague, PM me, or run it by me OOC on this post, and I'd be happy to work something out and use this post as a catch-all.]

Comments

[koukai_kirai]

Leo?

[He wasn't exactly expecting him here, on the Near Shore. It isn't as if his company's ever been unpleasant, though, so Hijikata makes the effort to stand back up and give him a lazy little half-bow in greeting.]

What are you doing out here? Sightseeing?

[brynwieldr]

...In a word. I'm bored and Aymeric is busy with other things.

[And maybe he's looking for something to get him.]

Are you alright? It seems like every time we run into each other out here, you're not well.

[koukai_kirai]

I'm perfectly well.

[Or at the very least not emotionally torturing himself the way he sometimes ends up doing on the Near Shore!]

Just overworked myself a little. I'll be good as new once I catch my breath.

[brynwieldr]

You look half-dead.

[Tact? What's that?]

[koukai_kirai]

In fairness, that is only half as dead as I have any right to.

[That's a little dark to joke about in front of, say, Souji, but Leo? Eh, Leo's probably fine.]

[brynwieldr]

Very well, you look more dead than you should.

[He can smartass right back!]

What are you doing?

[koukai_kirai]

[Mutual smartassery is the highest form of friendship, he's pretty sure. He shrugs, going for his tin of cigarettes since no one can notice him long enough to scold him about smoking at the shrine anyway.]

This shrine's one of mine. I'm checking in on it.

[brynwieldr]

Are you answering prayers? Alone?

[koukai_kirai]

Not dangerous ones.

[It's not like he's off fighting ayakashi without his shinki, or running all over town doing errands to make people's lives more convenient!]

I'm just... helping them answer their own.

[brynwieldr]

[Leo pauses for a moment, mostly for effect.]

You're working yourself into a second grave, and Souji is going to be extremely unhappy, isn't he?

[koukai_kirai]

Souji nags whenever I'm busy with work. He wouldn't know what to do with himself all day otherwise.

[...He says, as if he's complaining about it.]

[brynwieldr]

Probably the same thing you'd do if you didn't have work to do.

[Namely: fret and be bored.]

You should probably stop, though. You really don't look well.

[koukai_kirai]

I'm taking a break, aren't I?

[You know, collapsing on this bench here, hydrating and everything!]

[brynwieldr]

Yes, like I take a break after hours of studying and right before Camilla or Elise come in and tell me to take an actual break and take my books away.

[koukai_kirai]

If I didn't manage to work myself to death as a human, I'm probably not about to now.

[Probably.]

[He hasn't even worked himself to the point of fainting or anything yet! See, totally respecting his limits.]

[brynwieldr]

You know, I think technically dying in the line of duty counts as working yourself to death.

[Leo no.]

[koukai_kirai]

That's only true semantically. I didn't exhaust myself to death.

[That bullet would have killed him no matter how regularly he was sleeping and eating!]

[brynwieldr]

I'm just saying.

[Leo stop.]

How long have you been out here?

[koukai_kirai]

Today?

[Ah, shit. That deflection might actually have made things worse...]

[brynwieldr]

[Congratulations, Hijikata. You finally get to see why people fear Leo!

He isn't glaring, but it sure feels like he is.]

How many days have you been doing this, Hijikata?

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata would probably be far more intimidated if he weren't precisely the same sort of terrifying half the time himself.]

...Tch.

Just since yesterday.

[At least if they're talking about doing it continuously all day.]

[brynwieldr]

All forty-eight hours?

[koukai_kirai]

I slept. No one visits the shrine at night, anyway.

[brynwieldr]

[Leo sighs]

And I thought Aymeric and I were bad about overwork. You should stop for the day, Hijikata.

[koukai_kirai]

I'll rest a few more minutes.

[That's a pretty decent concession, for him. Hell, with most people, he'd probably get defiant and try to get back to work even faster.]