avalaughs | lore dump time

Magic & Familiar Meme!

inspired and built on the familiar meme by AL✨

Tell us about your character's familiar and magic!!!
Skip any questions as applicable.

Copy & paste below!

Character Name: Canon: Familiar Name: Species: Why did you pick this familiar for your character?: Explain its significance (if any!) Special features: Powers/charm point/anything else worth mentioning How do they communicate?: And can/do they speak with anyone other than your character Personality: Relationship with your character: are they close? Do they get along, or is there friction? Visuals: images! Magic Magic Types: Why did you pick these types for your character?: How does your character cast their magic? What does it look like/are they flashy or subtle/do they use a mana focus (wand, etc) of any sort How does your character feel about their magic?: What magic and familiar would your character choose for themselves?: If different from what they got! Anything else?:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Character
Name: Toshirou (or Toshiro or Toushiro or Toushirou) Hijikata (I went with Toshirou because the historical person's name is transcribed as Toshizō/Toshizou)
Canon: Gintama

Familiar
Name: Arashi
Species: Crow Tengu
Why did you pick this familiar for your character?: Gintama has a youkai merchandise line in which Hijikata is a crow tengu! This idea spawned a whole AU in the fandom; there's a lot of really nice fanart. I thought making his familiar fusion look like that would be a neat tie-in/reference.
Special features: Wind Magic
How do they communicate?: Arashi can talk just like a person (in Japanese, but I reckon it'll get magically translated into any other language like everyone else's speech).
Personality: He is serious, aloof, reserved, and easily flustered.
Relationship with your character: He only checked on Hijikata immediately after his arrival and during the flood last month, and Hijikata only calls for Arashi when he sincerely is in a pinch and needs air support. Arashi isn't impressed with humans as a whole; meanwhile Hijikata feels a little ditched/snubbed, all the more when he sees other off-worlders with cute, loyal, affectionate familiars. Their relationship recently worsened when Arashi enlisted the help of others to resolve the ~~magic constipation~~ wish-gone-wrong condition Hijikata was waffling to resolve on his own, but ultimately Hijikata understands that Arashi acted out of concern.
Visuals: This classic depiction honestly captures it pretty well! Arashi is quite tall too, about 180 cm (190 cm with his stilt-like wooden shoes).

Magic
Magic Types: Elemental (Fire) & Death
Why did you pick these types for your character?: Hijikata is a Prismatica CRAU. On Prismatica off-worlders were "blessed" by one of three moons (Sanguis, Cordis, and Iris) and accordingly given access to one type of elemental magic. As a Sanguis Hijikata received fire magic. I thought it would be nice to give him something he's already familiar with. Sadly he hasn't bothered to experiment with any other elements besides so far (the fire lights his cigarettes, what more does he need?). As for the death magic, I gave him that because he's terribly afraid of ghosts in his canon, which already made him lose his head a few times back on Prismatica, so now I want him to finally be forced to have some character development in that regard!
How does your character cast their magic? Hijikata just summons fire in his hands - a flick of the fingers for a small flame, typical firebender motions for bigger summons - and throws them like missiles. Since he hasn't mastered wind magic yet (despite Arashi's attempts to instruct him) he can neither change the course of his attacks nor extend their life span by fueling them. His death magic is completely passive at the moment; he's only just learning to interact with ghosts without having a near-heart-attack. Even if he learns possession spells down the line it's unlikely that he'll use them to personally possess someone; he's not comfortable with the idea of leaving his body.
How does your character feel about their magic?: He's content with his elemental magic, but loathes his death magic (though he's become a bit more humble about it after gaining some better insight into what a spirit's existence really entails and how lost and detached they can feel).
What magic and familiar would your character choose for themselves?: He'd much rather have just about any other type than death magic, even blood magic!
Anything else?: If anyone would like to interact with Arashi I'll gladly bring him out, just hit me up!

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