towerofanimus | [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

"Of course," he replied, automatically. The boy came from another world entirely, but he was undeniably similar in many ways that counted. Whilst that didn't magically improve the kirin's ability to socialise, it at least prompted an introduction in the first person. "I am Keiki."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Keiki!" Ven said with a smile, his posture relaxing once more and the Keyblade disappearing from his hand in a flash of light.

"My name's Ventus, but everyone just calls me Ven. "

Another quality kirins universally possessed: they were infinitely trusting of pure souls. It made Ven highly suitable for the request Keiki had been mulling over. He trotted back to stand in front of him, trying his best not to appear intimidating. "If it is not too much of an inconvenience, could you show me some of this tower? I will of course need to change, first."

"Sure, no problem!" Ven said, eagerly agreeing to the request. Granted he didn't know everything about the tower, but he at least knew enough to give a basic tour. Except for the new floors that had apparently appeared, but hey, it was a good opportunity to explore them at least.

"Change...?" Did Keiki have clothes or something? "Uh, sure, go ahead. I can wait!"

"Very well. One moment, please."

Quadrupeds were slightly less suited to stairs than they would like, you see. Keiki had by this time worked out a suitable way of maintaining privacy during a change: he retreated to the room's far corner, and four demons emerged from the floor and walls to screen him from view. The fifth, a feathered, winged humanoid, paused to collect a set of robes from Keiki's trunk and smile at Ven before joining the others.

A shift in the air later, and the top of a man's head was visible above the shapes of his shirei. Dressing would take a few minutes more.

Ven blinked in confusion as he watched Keiki retreat. Of course this time he opted to not peek into the room when he probably wasn't supposed to. Another blink when he saw the winged creature smile, and he gave a small wave and an unsure smile in return. He should probably figure out what those things were about while he was at it.

He waited around in the hallway a bit, and when he saw the top of a human head appear he jumped slightly. "What the--?!" OK seriously that was kind of cool but what was this thing?!

And soon enough Keiki was dressed and presentable. His shirei dutifully melted back into his shadow and he strode back over to Ven, tugging his sleeves straight.

"My apologies for my impropriety. I did not want to take longer than was necessary."

"How did you do that?!" Was Ven's immediate response when he saw Keiki walk back over, a mix of shock and amazement. It was obviously the same...being, person, whatever, so what had just happened? Did he have access to some kind of special magic or something? And you thought Keiki needed more tact.

Ven at least had the excuse of being a child. Keiki looked down at him with vague bemusement, and mulled that fact over briefly. No doubt Youko would have had something biting to say about it.

"It is an ability possessed by all kirin. Shall we go? I will answer any questions you have on the way."

"A kirin...?" Another question was predictably on Ven's lips, but then Keiki brought up the fact that yeah they should probably get going.

"Oh, right! Come on! They just put in an elevator, so we can start on the first floor and work our way back up," He stated. grinning again and motioning for Keiki to follow him to aforementioned elevator.

When they had entered the elevator, Keiki dutifully following Ven into the odd machine with no small amount of faith, he continued the conversation.

Or rather, the Q&A. With a foreign-born queen, he was at least used to explaining the basics.

"A kirin is a creature of mercy born to serve the will of Heaven. The shape I was using before is my true form. Do you not have something similar?"

"Whoah.." He didn't even understand most of that, but it sounded pretty impressive to him. Ven looked like he was in thought, but then looked at Keiki again with curiosity.

"Huh? No, I've been this way my whole life." He was 99% certain this was the truth. "I've never even heard of this 'Heaven' person before." Although they sounded quite nice, if a bit authoritative.

Deep within layers of emotional repression, Keiki choked.

"I- Heaven is not-" he stopped again, at a loss. It was something so fundamental to a kirin that he wasn't sure he could even try to explain it. After a few moments of bewildered silence, he settled for, "I see."

Ven blinked when Keiki seemed to be baffled. He frowned a bit when the silence settled, stepping off of the elevator when they arrived at the first floor.

"Is something wrong? I just never learned about that stuff when I was growing up," he admitted sheepishly.

"Anyway, this place has the kitchen," Ven began, motioning to the general vicinity that was the first floor cafeteria. "This is where all the food comes from. Although you have to eat oatmeal for your first meal for some reason. It's really weird."

"Nothing is wrong," it wasn't really a lie. If he didn't know about it, then it was likely his world simply didn't require such knowledge.

That or his education was horribly lacking, but Keiki would never be so impolite as to suggest that. At the oatmeal comment, however, he blinked. "They give no reason?"

Ven wasn't entirely sure he believed Keiki, buuuuttt, maybe it was best not to pester him about it. Although he did feel a bit bad about now knowing what Keiki was talking about now.

"Nope. Except that you can't eat anything else until you eat the oatmeal first. Otherwise you just throw it up," He added nonchalantly. Beautiful mental image there, isn't it.

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

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aaaa sorry m_ _m

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