Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you! [OPEN]

[smokydemon]

Characters: Hijikata Toshizou, anyone on the 4423
Content: It's Hijikata's 30th birthday, which is the perfect time for the 4423's crew to engage in their ship pastime of harassing him until he starts throwing things!
Setting: Anywhere on the 4423
Time: Early afternoon of May 5th (so backdated about a week)
Warnings: Grumpiness, cursing, smoking,

Comments

[curry_ramen]

Beat, as a general rule, hated authority. The entire concept of taking orders rubbed against his nature and set him on edge. He was a chaotic creature, pure and simple.

But unlike most authority figures, he liked Hijikata. Maybe it was because the man more often then not listened (even though most of what Beat ever said to him was full of cluelessness and idealism), or maybe because he was just... pretty damn cool. Either way, he liked the guy.

And so, he had to take every chance to pester him.

It wasn't out of any desire to be a pest. The part of him that would grow in to the loose spirited, but wiser man he would become thought of it as almost a test. To make sure someone was worth following by constant testing. He did the same to Isako, to Hiruma, to Kambei.... but mostly it was because it was fun.

And so, that was why he was crusing by on his airboard, curving his course so to cut the man off from his path. He didn't stop, simply looping around him at a lazy pace and getting in his personal space.

"Yoooooo Hijikataaaa!~"

[smokydemon]

...Well. There went his attempt to get down the hall with some degree of stealth.

Hijikata wondered, somewhere deep inside, if he could make a break for it and get back to his room, or someplace else relatively solitary. However, it wasn't a thought he entertained seriously--he had to face things with dignity, no matter what.

So, hiding any misgivings he had about talking to people today, he looked impassively at the young man on his airboard, slowing down only enough to avoid a collision as he walked towards his destination.

"Beat," he acknowledged, lifting his pipe slightly with one hand and breathing out a puff of smoke.

[curry_ramen]

When Hijikata slowed, he did as well, coasting along side rather then looping like a tied junebug. The board made a soothing hum as he moved, swaying slightly so to stay upright while moving so slowly.

"Heard it was yer birthday today, yo!" Rumors had a way of spread on the 4423, that was for sure.

[smokydemon]

Dammit.

He was going to kill whatever idiot acquaintance of his cousin's had leaked that information, just as soon as it was remotely plausible.

Hijikata retained his appearance of calm, taking another drag from his pipe. "Did you, now?" Best not to confirm or deny anything just yet.

[theschmotone]

There was one quiet, relatively undisturbed place below decks, and Dimo had found it. It was another good half hour before his guard shift started, and the Jager was enjoying the break to sit back against a stack of crates and work on the map of Bydan that he was putting together. A small leather caddy contained his pens and inks, and a spare piece of board served as a hard surface on which to fill in the details on the paper. The beginnings of a street could be seen, along with the hardware shop, and the amount of detail that Dimo was putting into the map suggested that he took it to be as much a work of art as a functional chart of the area.

Dimo felt downright smug right now. Much as he was fond of his friends, it was good to have found a peaceful spot where he could just work on this sort of thing and be left alone. He was also a bit surprised that no one else was having the same idea about the spot that he was, though.

[smokydemon]

After his encounter with Beat, Hijikata decided that it was time to find someplace more secluded. So he'd gone far from his room--too obvious-- and far from the strategy room, down and down until he got to the storage areas. Maybe if he just hid out...

But as luck would have it, it just wasn't going to work out that way. The scratch of a pen against parchment alerted him to another presence, and he stopped in his tracks. Maybe he could back out before the Jager noticed he was there...

[theschmotone]

Wait, what was Hijikata doing here? And with an even more irritated look on his face than usual. Dimo looked up at him, mild interest showing in his yellow eyes, and scooted over a little so that there was floor space for the both of them, but not too close together.

"Hyu looks like hyu's trying to find a place to hide," Dimo observed, putting the cork in the bottle of blue ink and switching to the green. "Dis iz a pretty goot vun, und I von't bother hyu if hyu just vants to relax."

[smokydemon]

No luck--of course not. It was his goddamned birthday, after all. Still, Dimo was... more tolerable company than he typically expected anyone to be. Smarter than some of the other Jagers and a good deal of the humans on board. Didn't bother him too much.

He considered briefly, then sat down on the floor, mustering his dignity. It was better than being somewhere more public. "Ship's too damned crowded today," he noted, almost absently, taking his pipe out and filling up the bowl. "I take it you wanted someplace quiet, too..."

[fuhenteki]

Deciding to take his own advice for a change and take it easy for a while, Kambei grew tired of staring at the same four walls of his cabin and decided to take a stroll around the ship. The entire crew seemed busy enough with the usual tasks, each one of them enjoying their long reprieve from the skies above. Unlike some of the others, the old samurai wasn't very anxious to return to the skies for he was enjoying his stay upon the ground.

Venturing outside upon the deck, Kambei was mildly surprised to see the strategist roaming about. This man is even more aloof than he is! Hijikata usually spends most of his time alone and usually out of view of his fellow crew mates. The old samurai could only count a number of times he seen the pipe smoking strategist about and this was one of those rare occasions.

"Feeling sociable?" He asked with a faint smile.

[smokydemon]

The sound of a voice nearly made Hijikata twitch, until he realized who it was. Kambei. Shimada wasn't bad--could keep to his own business, could follow an intelligent conversation, didn't make Hijikata want to gag him and throw him overboard. Talking to Shimada wasn't the end of the world.

Of course, that didn't mean Hijikata would be too pleasant about it.

"Not in particular," he muttered, nodding in greeting to the other samurai. "Just didn't want to be in my quarters right now."

[alastinglight]

He caught a familiar whiff of... something, when he passed. A particular brand of tobacco that he used to smoke himself. Whoever was puffing on it had class. Takausgi had to give them that much, if for anything else.

When he moved to follow the trail, he did so on a whim. He had no idea, of course, what day it was and why it was special - he merely wanted to meet someone who might have at least shared his tastes.

And hopefully, it would be someone he could use.

[smokydemon]

Someone else was there; Hijikata resisted the urge to do something so telling as sigh. Instead, he simply slowed his footsteps, turning enough to glimpse the other person present out of the corner of his eye.

A newcomer? Well, that made them less likely to harass him about the goddamned birthday. Or at all, if he was lucky... which was unlikely. Hijikata was a great many things, but "lucky" had never been on the list.

PIPE-TAN MEETING.

[alastinglight]

Takasugi paused upon realizing that he had been noticed, and dipped his head in greeting.

"I would say that you are an unfamiliar face to me, but that applies to most of the crew, at the moment."

YEEEES. THEY'LL TRY TO MANIPULATE EACH OTHER, TOO. XD

[smokydemon]

So his assumption had been right; he hadn't really doubted it, but there was always the chance, with the amount of time he spent avoiding getting close to most of the crew, that there were some who'd been around a while without him meeting them. He knew they'd taken on some new people fairly recently, but there were enough of them that he couldn't safely guess at who this one was. He dressed well, though. Carried himself well. Gave Hijikata... well, not a favorable first impression, perhaps, but one with dignity, which was better than nothing.

"Yours is unfamiliar to me as well." He inclined his head, not quite a bow, but more than a nod. "Hijikata Toshizou."