archishellago | Test Drive Meme #001

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test drive meme

Test Drive Meme #001

KHU IODUAN; TEST DRIVE MEME #001

I. THE VERDANT SENTRY - Attention, New Recruits!

It's clear that all of the city's law enforcement is handled by the various branches of the Sentry: from Mounted Division handling street patrol, to the Aerial Corps provided airborne support for tactical and rescue operations, to the Nautical Branch undertaking regular sea patrols as the first line of defense along the archipelago's borders. But everyone interested in joining up has to go through their basic training program, and that starts today with a general skills assessment. There's quite a mix of attendees today, spread across nearly every race represented in Aifaran and including other Dreamfolk, but whatever the recruiter is saying is getting lost in the two chatty Igheeri who seem to think they're too good to listen to the standard welcome speech... time to interrupt by signaling the person in charge? Take care of it yourself? Gripe about it to the person in line beside you?

II. KIRIN RODEO - Place Your Bets!

At the end of every month, the Mounted Division of the Sentry holds their skills competition. When they're not on the field, their steeds are often the subject of much admiration from children and more than a few adults. Astride many breeds of kirin, some lithe and fleet, some stockier and stronger, these off-duty officers demonstrate their control and bond over the notoriously strong-willed and intelligent creatures with complicated maneuvers. There's a surprisingly in-depth system for betting on one's favourite to win the various matches, and just about everyone's willing to explain the odds to newcomers. There's only one rule: all proceeds go to funding of the city's charities. (Bragging rights on winning are still yours to keep.) Two bells ring loudly over the crowd - last call for wagers!

III. WE HAVE REGULATIONS ABOUT THIS - Munga on the Loose!

Munga are ill-tempered, rat-sized spiky lizards with a gift for camouflage, and whose venom in their spines and teeth is also highly hallucinogenic. And... they're on the loose. Fortunately, keeping them is highly regulated, and pretty much everyone in Aifaran knows about them, but loose Munga are uncommon enough that the reaction is more likely to be startled flailing at a hint of spines and skittering. Today someone's exotic pet has slipped out of their hands, and it's trailing a harness and lead as it zigzags away, prickling and hissing and going for the ankles. It's given a wide berth, except by those who don't notice until it's too late or those too preoccupied by something else. Hopefully the proper authorities have been notified to catch and return the creature, but maybe someone helpful can keep it from getting too far away?

IV. A SURPRISE WINDFALL - Officer, This Isn't Mine...

There was a loud thud as someone tosses a heavy bag from the window of a dilapidated building. Five seconds later there’s smoke pouring out the windows and your holding what seems to be someone else’s luggage. Opening it, you find carefully wrapped bricks of some very illegal drugs, and someone down the side alley is pointing at you and yelling. A mounted Sentry officer is giving you a rather peculiar look as well while he calls in the fire brigade. And among the people fleeing the building, there are five Kin’nal looking at you, wide-eyed, as it suddenly dawns on them that they messed up. Take your new prize and split before reinforcements arrive? Try to explain the mistake? Take note that the building is still on fire?

V. INTO THE UNKNOWN - Watch Your Back Out There

The sea patrol discovered the new irregularity a few days ago, reporting that it looks like a series of tall and jagged stone towers rising up from the ocean. It's incomplete as these planar-shunted locations often are, as if something massive had taken a bite of some mysterious city and then spat it whole into the seas of Konryu. Having been chosen as part of the exploration team, you've been working your way through the complicated labyrinth of stone tunnels and dead ends, searching for what the Opara engineers had enthusiastically described as a potential new power source. "Trace the green glowing power lines," was their (sort of helpful) instruction. However the lean, dark and toothy thing you've just glimpsed should probably be a more pressing concern... warn others? Take it on yourself? Pray it hasn't spotted you?

VI. WILDCARD - Because You're Not The Boss Of Me

Anything else that doesn't fit the above prompts is welcome, just keep it within the game setting please!

Applications • Reservations • Taken List • Game Navigation

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II.
Watching the race about to start with a small frown lodged firmly between his eyebrows and narrowed eyes, Rokuta knew he should try to think of them as youjuu if anything comparable at all. It might help him feel less... unsettled, about it.

They looked nothing like kirin as far as he was concerned, but the name was there and while there were two horns instead of one... Shifting where he sat perched cross-legged on the edge of a low wall instead of in a proper seat, Rokuta planted elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.

Anyone passing by close enough at the right time might hear a muttered 'it's just not right' as the boy glowered from his seat.

III.

"Watch it!"

Congratulations, you were just shoved aside by a blond kid just in time to not step on the escaped lizard... or get scratched by the spines. Rokuta doesn't pay much attention to whoever he just shouldered aside at first - instead he squats down just in time to sweep that weird-looking creature up in his hands, muttering quietly to it.

It keeps hissing, but there's no attempts at biting or scratching.

"Sorry 'bout that, but you could've stepped on it," he finally says, looking up.

VI.
[Or hit me with whatever! I can switch format, too.]

"What's not right?"

X didn't really have the same concept of personal space as a lot of the people here. He'd already been yelled at for that, in fact, when he passed too close to a woman with wings and the feathers inadvertently wrapped around his face when she turned around. He was trying to be more mindful of it, but old habits died hard, and the kirin were too impressive not to be completely distracting. He was nearly brushing the boy's knee when he overheard the mutter.

He looked over at the field, then back again. "Gambling? Or is it the harnesses?"

The harnesses bothered him. But he'd figured there was something about the kirin he didn't know. If someone else was also bothered...

Glancing sideways, as much at the brush of a body against his knee as the question, Rokuta snorted and shook his head - a little awkwardly, since he was still resting his chin in his hands.

"It's their money," he said with a shrug, even if there was a trace of... annoyance? in his tone. He'd care if they were being foolish with it and loosing more than they could to take care of themselves or their families. He'd care if they were idiots, but as it was... "They're riding on kirin."

He still couldn't believe it. The whole scene, especially as the current race started and the creatures and their riders shot off down the track, sent a ghostly impression of pressure down his back. He barely resisted the urge to shrug his shoulders.

"The harnesses might just be the sort of tackle they need to use, but..." Another nearly viciously disapproving little frown. The kirin didn't look mistreated, but was racing them in the animals' best interest?

So not the harnesses. Just the riding. X took a step back and sat on the low wall a short, carefully calculated distance away, in deference to that personal space which seemed to be the cultural norm in the city.

"I'm new here," he confessed. "So it sounds like we're in the same boat. What bothers you about riding them? It looks like something they do a lot here."

Staring at the race, Rokuta grimaced. How did you explain that it was a very personal reaction and he'd only barely consider allowing Shoryu on his back, in the case of an emergency? Without actually saying any of that?

"Where I'm from, you don't ride kirin," he muttered, shaking his head, "they don't look like that, so I guess technically they're not the same, but it still doesn't feel right."

Really didn't feel right, but these kirin seemed to be closer to... normal beasts. It still felt like it was about him, though. Pursing his lips, he glanced sideways up at the man.

"What about the harnesses is it you don't like?" They honestly looked fine to him, as much as he was willing to be okay with this at all.

X smiled sadly. "Well, where I'm from, the only people who use harnesses are..." He gestured around at the cheering crowd. "... not like this. They're the kind of people who also use chains. And whips."

He didn't sound casual about it, but he also didn't sound as passionate about changing it as he used to. He sounded tired, really. He didn't blame individual people anymore, but that didn't make any of it more palatable.

He pulled himself back to the present and took a deep, steadying breath. "At least here, they care about the animals' well-being, so I'm trying not to cause problems. What about you? You don't like the idea of riding?"

Grunting softly in response, Rokuta cocks his head. Not really surprised at the answer, more displeased. But not all animals can be ridden with just a saddle and a bridle of some sort... at least there seemed to be no whips or anything else such in presence.

"No," Rokuta huffed, shaking his head, "nothing wrong with riding. There's lot of animals used that way, and as long as people take care of 'em, it's fine."

The kirin and their riders come charging past for the second lap, and he unfolds slightly from his position, kicking his feet.

"But like I said, you don't ride kirin where I'm from."

Not riding in general, but just the kirin. X glanced over; they were certainly very unique-looking, even for a place like... this place. And when you entered new worlds, he could imagine needing time to separate which species were sentient and which just couldn't communicate traditionally.

But that didn't sound like the problem.

"Are they sentient," he asked, "where you're from? Or are they sacred?" A short pause. "Or both?"

He couldn't disguise the little twitch at the questions, staring hard at the ongoing race and finally shrugged, raising his arms to lace his hands together at the back of his head with an almost completely sincere nonchalance.

"Both, yeah." It was a little startling he'd guessed his issues with what was going on so quickly, but he knew some of the myths of Over There, and kirin were special enough there... so if he knew something like that, it wasn't so odd he'd guess. "Even Emperors are only rarely allowed on their backs."

Nevermind tall idiots like his own would be too tall for anything but carting him around while riding the wind, which he could very well use the proper kijuu for instead.

X could tell he'd hit the mark even before the reply came. He couldn't help looking a little repulsed himself; harnessing a sentient person was bad enough, but adding divinity to the mix was... not a very smart choice, for whoever made that decision.

When he looked at the kirin racing again, it was with a fresh and more discerning eye. He knew the animals here were different from any of their worlds, but then again, he didn't know for sure his companion hadn't grown up just outside Aifaran. Maybe something really was wrong.

A short distance away over the fence, one of the kirin gave their caretaker an affectionate nudge.

"They seem happy," X noted. But now he sounded almost like he was trying to convince himself as well.

Rokuta sighed, a grimace on his face. He wasn't wrong; everything he'd seen so far implied they were well cared for and while he didn't like the idea of racing animals just for sport repeatedly like this, he couldn't tell if it was doing them any injury.

He'd been close enough to the stables they used in conjunction with the races to pick up on the noises, concentrating, and no, they were all... okay, if nothing else. A few of them seemed more whiny about having to work at all, but that wasn't ill-treatment.

"It looks like they're fine. They're not..." a gesture down at the race track and the kirin bursting down it to various cheers and cries and a grunt as he shook his head, "either of those things. They're animals, not divine beasts. I'm just not used to the name being attached to something else."

And at least the betting and the winnings from those went to charities - that was good, but Rokuta didn't much like it that it came from racing like this. If they wanted a race, why not have the people race?

I'm just not used to the name being attached to something else. That was a clue, wasn't it? That was a clue to where they were, how they got there, and why. If a species had the same name, that said something about the languages...

Whatever it was, it could wait. X watched the kirin silently for a while, letting the cheers of the crowd wash over him.

"Tell you what," he said abruptly. "For now, I'll trust that they know what they're doing. They've been here a lot longer than I have. But I'll keep an eye on it, and try to be one of the first to say something if anything looks like it'll go wrong. Will you join me?"

Unfortunately, if he'd ask about that, Rokuta wouldn't be able to help. Even if this place didn't come with handy translation, he would have been able to understand everybody here, native or not, either way.

Looking up with a surprised little blink, Rokuta frowned up at the man. Glancing sideways down towards the racetrack and then back up, a small smile softened the surprisingly sharp features.

"Sure. It's why I haven't left yet," he said with a little twitch of his head, "having more than one set of eyes would be useful."

It was nice, having someone offer that, even if this wasn't needed. Maybe they weren't uncomfortable over the exact same things, but the most important ones seemed the same. His discomfort over these creatures being called 'kirin' and being used as they were was... something completely personal, and thoroughly aside the point of how they were treated or how racing treated them.

Klaus moved quite reflexively when a child tried to push pass him after the sound of skittering legs. He'd spotted the Munga on an abandoned lead and was about to offer his help when the boy caught it.

"That would be terrible," Klaus agreed, kneeling down to make sure the boy and his pet were unharmed. Klaus was practically a giant and was generally aware of what was under his feet out of sheer habit, but that didn't mean he was always 100% on the ball. "I'm glad you alerted me. Is everything alright then?"

Peering at the rat-sized lizard in his hands with a critical frown, Rokuta shrugged and stood up.

"Looks like it. Everyone else managed to keep out of the way," he said with, maybe, a little little grin on his face - considering the flailing and near jumping some people had done, he was pretty sure this lizard-creature was probably at least a little dangerous, but it'd calmed down reasonably in his hands. Hissing something about being tricked out of a treat, but he paid no attention to that other than stroking around the spines.

"See anyone who looks like they're looking for... whatever this is?" The guy was tall, and Rokuta had no compunctions about using that, so he glanced up at Klaus and hopefully also made it clear it wasn't his. Not that he might mind having one, but he wouldn't take someone else's pet for that.

It definitely startles her but the shove doesn't convince her to move at all. Aside from the force that nudges her off her path slightly--and away from stepping on the tiny critter underfoot--she is otherwise unperturbed. She blinks at the creature in the boy's hand.

"I see. Is it your pet?" Although as she asks that she's skeptical that's correct. The lizard is putting up quite a fuss

Away from stepping on it or maybe getter scratched by those hallucinogenic spines, not that Rokuta knows of the dangers - probably just as well, since he handles it with firm annoyance. Maybe why it hisses and the tail keeps whipping but it otherwise doesn't attempt to do much of anything.

"Nah," Rokuta says with a shake of his head, standing up and looking around, "spotted it get away down the street. Didn't see who lost it..." Which is far more annoying than catching it for its owner, because now he needs to stand around here until they come find him.

"No accounting for taste, I guess." Cause man, is this one ugly little lizard.

Elizabeth had been having quite a good time watching the various matches, clapping along with the crowd when she noticed a young boy sitting and looking unamused by the happenings. Mildly concerned, or at least wanting to make sure he was doing all right, she approached with a friendly smile, pointing at the spot on the wall next to him. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Glancing up at the young woman who'd approached him, Rokuta shrugged and gestured with an elbow to all the free space beside him. "Not like I own the wall."

This wasn't En after all, and indeed, anything he owned even there was merely theoretical, too, so, well. He certainly didn't own anything at all here, Even less a stretch of wall he'd chosen both because it was at some distance from the race track but would still give him a place to keep an eye on things. He simply just couldn't walk away, even if that would make things a lot easier.

"You'd see better if you were closer, though." In fact, he was pretty sure she had been closer to the tracks, though her spot had already been overtaken by the shifting crown. With that thought, he shot her a sideways little frown, head cocked.

"I don't own it either," Elizabeth quipped, taking up a space near him, but not too close. "So long as we're both willing to share, it should work out well."

She laughed a little, her gaze going back to the track. "That's fine, I didn't make any bets on the animals this time. Besides, I think we'll hear who wins regardless, right?"

"Yeah." Nose scrunching at the thought, Rokuta shrugged. They definitely would, and he still couldn't feel comfortable with this, despite that all that betting and the races were for charity. That was good, but why not use their own damn legs instead?

Of course that wouldn't stop the kirin being used for riding, but...

"At least it's for a good cause," he muttered after a moment, still frowning. He'd get used to it soon, probably, but it was inevitable that he twitched when he heard 'kirin' being said.

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Test Drive Meme #001

Enki/Rokuta | The 12 Kingdoms

X | Original | II!

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III

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omg 12 kingdoms <3 | III

:D people who know it

Enki!! omg yessssss - II

:D

I used to play Youko a million years ago

ohh nice. C: I get the urge to play this bratty child every now and then...