towerofanimus | [first kingdom] a monstrous new arrival. (open)

Entry tags:

[first kingdom] a monstrous new arrival. (open)

Characters: Keiki and YOU
Setting: Dormitory second floor.
Format: ANY
Summary: oh there's a ~~unicorn~~ kirin in the tower.

welp.

wait why is it on a bed. Why did it just summon creepy demons from its trunk.
Warnings: pissy emotionally-atrophied kirin.

As far as kirins went, Keiki was hardly inexperienced at being kidnapped and contained for various nefarious purposes. Kirin were good for that. Easy to compel, easier to contain, and generally very agreeable to coercion. To a point. For being one of the youngest kirin alive, Keiki had had his fair share of illness and containment.

So when he found himself lying paralysed on a bed, hooves tearing small holes in the sheets beneath him, his reaction was a good deal more subdued than one might expect from his kind. He sat, calmly, thinking over his options and which government officials might have enough reason to take the Taiho hostage, until he could move. That was somewhat of a surprise, but he scrambled up and down onto the floor with what grace he could muster whilst tangled in sheets and bedding.

Hmph, was his first impression of the room. Not decorated much, and his bed was only one of several, all with signs of occupation. Kaiko.

The small chest at the end of his bed - his? He supposed it would do - juddered under the force of the demons contained within it, and it didn't take long to open it and release the five shadows. Angered and scared by their imprisonment away from Keiki, no matter how short the time, the dark, indistinct forms swirled around him and the room itself.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So it did speak, Romeo didn't enter the room because the shadows were scary but he managed to smile. "Hello," he said again, "Did you just wake up?" He guessed because the horse was in a room and Romeo had never seen him before.

"I did," Keiki agreed. He couldn't help the tense lilt in his 'voice', it was more difficult to maintain decorum when in his original form. Human vocal chords had their advantages. "Might I ask where this is?"

Romeo smiled again and then his smile dropped. He never liked being the one to break the news. "You should have a note sir," he frowned, "That's if horses can read sir, I could read it for you. All it says is that the world has ended..." He pauses just a moment before quickly adding, "But we don't think that's true sir! We think some bad people have kidnapped us but we don't know who. Oh your not a horse are you sir you've got a horn," he finally has noticed, "you're a magical creature! Like from a story book!"

Lots of things in this tower seemed to come from story books and Romeo wasn't really surprised any more.

He frowned - as far as a kirin could - and glanced over to the table beside the bed. There was indeed a note there, but he could hardly shift and read it with the boy in the room. Instead, he indicated it with a mental word for Kaiko to retrieve.

It is as he says, was her report, as the humanoid shadow covered the table's surface and a single, furred blue hand reached out to hold the paper aloft.

Impossible, Keiki shook his head, mane flying this way and that. If Kei had fallen, I would feel it.

Romeo shuffled out of the room a little bit more as the blue hand help up the paper. This was a little too scary. The magical horse didn't say anything for a long time and Romeo shuffled his feet.

"My apologies," Keiki finally noticed Romeo's movement. The boy reminded him of Taiki, just a little. He wished, briefly, that he could be in his other form to deal with this. "I take it you have never encountered a kirin, nor a nyokai."

Romeo blinked at the appology and then shook his head, "Kirin? Nyokai?" Romeo had no idea what those words meant.

"I am a kirin." An advantage of this form was being able to look away without causing offence. As he spoke, he opened the trunk again with his nose, and examined the contents with a critical eye. Clothing, presumably from his own wardrobes. A large scroll he could check later. "A nyokai is..." How to explain. He lifted his head. "Kaiko."

The hand rose from the table again, followed by the entirety (http://12kingdoms.wikia.com/wiki/File:Kaiko_nyokai.png) of his nyokai. Fully formed in the physical world, Kaiko bowed to the kirin, and smiled faintly at the boy.

"Oh," so magical horned horses were called Kirin, that made sense. Romeo's eyes widened and he stepped firmly out of the room as the creature appeared. "Oh," this time his voice was quieter, "Pleased to meet you miss Nyokai." He tried to keep his spirits up though part of him wanted to run away.

So that didn't work. There was an uncomfortable silence as Keiki wondered whether he should be doing anything more to talk to the child, after which he merely called Kaiko back to his shadow and turned away. The situation was frustrating enough without upsetting him.

"Sorry sir! I didn't mean to insult your friend! Did I scare her?" Romeo blinked at the kirin wondering if he had made him angry.

"No," he turned back, vaguely confused. "She was no longer needed, and I need to change."

"Change?" Romeo blinked, the kirin wasnt wearing any clothes so he couldn't mean that.

A nod. At least the boy's hearing was in perfect order. He waited for a moment longer for him to make even an attempt to leave, but only let the silence lengthen.

"It would be improper of me to do so with somebody present," he eventually prompted.

"Oh," maybe he really did mean change his clothes. Romeo smiled and left the room closing the door behind him. He wondered if the kirin wanted him to wait or if it was just a way of getting rid of him.

Well then. As long as the boy - he still didn't have a name, so used was Keiki to being introduced to people formally by a third party - stayed outside, he could be reasonably certain that he wouldn't be disturbed.

Shifting itself took seconds, changing into one of the fresh sets of formal robes about ten minutes longer than that.

"You may enter," he called, in much the same voice sans mental echo. A few adjustments to his collar and sleeves, and he looked moderately acceptable.

Ten minutes was an extremely long time to the child outside. He had sat by the wall and woken Piccolo up from where he sleapt in his pocket. "I guess we can wait here Piccolo, and then you can see the magic horse." He was very board by the time he was called back in.

"Hello si..." Romeo's eyes widened and looked arount, there was a man in the room that had not been there before and the kirin had gone.

That the greeting went unfinished didn't seem to faze Keiki in the slightest. He inclined his head, and took a fresh look at the boy with his new perspective. The boy and the white animal, that was. He frowned at it.

"You spoke of kidnappers?"

"Kidnappers?" Romeo was still blinking in confusion but then he nodded, "Oh yes, bad people stole lots of people from lots of different worlds and we are stuck in this tower, some of the rooms are really scary and we can't escape. Are you the magical horse sir? Is this what you meant by change? How comes you can be a person and a kirin at the same time?"

Keiki took in the stream of questions without blinking. None of the information that preceded them had been particularly motivating. Had he not known in his every cell that Kei still stood, he might even have felt disheartened.

"That is correct; upon reaching maturity, kirin learn to take a human form," A pause. "Kirin are not horses, and, no, I cannot take both forms simultaneously."

"Not horses?" Well he had looked like a horse but Romeo kept quiet, he didn't want to make the stern looking man angry. "What does simultaneously mean sir?"

"'At the same time'."

"Oh," Romeo blinked, "Well of course you can't be a magical not a horse kirin and a man kirin at the same time." That made no sense to Romeo whatsoever. "Can you fly?" Fluttershy could fly though in Romeo's world horses couldn't fly.

Keiki nodded, and attempted to move the conversation back in a useful direction.

"I can. Might I ask what about this tower is 'scary'?"

"You can!" Romeo smiled, "So you are a bit like Fluttershy, though I don't think she can turn into a person. The tower can be a little scary sir, but not too bad, just don't go in the maze!" His face paled, "It's not a good place, I think theres monsters there. Oh and the forest, it's fun to play in but if you see an animal you should run away because they are mean."

"Oh and don't look through the spyglasses on floor five even if you really want to," he takes a breath, "Oh and don't go into floor nine, that's really scary and you will just end up back at the stairs anyways. The space room, I think that is number twelve, is a little bit scary but more sad." He was quiet for a moment as he tried to remember the new floors that had just opened.

"There's one floor that is just darkness, that is scary, just lots of darkness everywhere and the next floor," he goes pale now. "That's a really scary room sir, there's just lots of blood and screaming..." Romeo tended to run up the stairs with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears. "And the study room sir, it seems peaceful at first but theres scary sounds in there if you stay too long."

By the end of this recitation he is pale but he smiles in an attempt to keep his spirits up, "But apart from those the tower is really fun sir! And you will make lots of friends!"

[first kingdom] a monstrous new arrival. (open)

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I need more kirin icons

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icon = inner!keiki

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and now he can lineface 83

oh yay :P

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shortest tag 8D

Re: shortest tag 8D

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