seasonsgreetings | Test Drive Meme #3

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Test Drive Meme #3

Test Drive Meme #3
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Arrival

Part 1

You arrive in an unknown space, dressed in white clothes (player choice what kind of clothes, as long as they cover everything). Whatever was happening to you before no longer happens. It's like everything was put on a pause and you were transferred away from the situation without you realizing it happened.

The space that you find yourself in is one of these four options:

An empty landscape filled with snow and ice, almost like a blank canvas.
A field with cherry blossom trees and spring flowers.
A sunny beach near an ocean that seems never ending.
A quiet forest with falling autumn leaves.

All of the spaces seem to continue endlessly. No matter where or how far you walk it almost seems like you're not moving at all. There are no animals here - just those who happened to wake up there at the same time, in the same place. Everyone is wearing the same kind of plain, white clothes.

Despite the possible rollercoaster of emotions you might be feeling, the place somehow feels familiar. Like somehow you belong there.

And it looks like you're not alone.

Part 2

After half an hour has passed the surroundings change as everyone is teleported into a room with all the other new arrivals, no matter what space they woke up in. It's a large place with plenty of seats to sit in and beverages to enjoy. Medical attention is offered to those who need it and the doctors here are very prepared for any challenging situations.

Here, in this room, everyone gets an answer to where they are and why. A hologram of a man appears at the center of the room, waiting to be heard. He brings a message on behalf of the leaders of Ellipsa.

The Message [ Click to Expand ]

Hello, my name is Olwen. I'm one of the leaders of Ellipsa as it currently is. I'm also one of the four who summoned you here.

Our world is in trouble and we need your help. I apologize for tearing you away from your world and forcing you to come here but I hope you understand. The magic we used doesn't let us ask in advance, nor does it let us choose who we bring here.

This world is composed of four Seasonal Segments. All of them represent one of the seasons. They were the places we used to get our resources from, but now they're dangerous places no one should go into unless they have the power to fight back. All of them have their own sets of powerful monsters and natural catastrophes.

We used to have plenty of people here who could control the powers of the four Seasons. We called them Seasonal Power Holders. Unfortunately, due to a tragedy you can read about later, we lost almost all of them. Now only four of us remain and the world is in chaos. We have done our best to protect the world, but we need more power holders to do that.

That's where you come in.

All of you have been assigned to one of the seasons. Whatever space you were in just now is what season you represent. You will learn different skills based on the season and those skills are going to help you save this world.

These powers don't interfere with your own natural powers. They use a new energy that has formed inside of you. It's harmless to your health, but it's vital to your seasonal powers. Your own powers should still work, even if the dark energy outside the city might interfere with them.

Unfortunately bringing you here wasn't as simple as it sounds. We couldn't do anything about how to keep you anchored to this world other than making a simple spell that helps with it. That is, you need to touch someone else who is not from this world ideally at least once a day. It will help you stay in control of your powers and boost your magical energy. If you don't, the consequences aren't very good. But as long as you hold someone's hand or give someone a handshake, you should be fine.

That's all I have to say about the situation. The staff of the Research Center will give you more information about housing and other necessary things. I will, however, promise that you will be sent home once the situation becomes better. That's the least we can do.

The hologram can be viewed in private in a separate room later, should someone wish to look at it again. For now, the staff of the Research Center hands everyone their new smartphones with their small flower lucky charms (the flower is anything the player decides). They're also told that the building next door is where everyone can find a room assigned to them with some of their belongings there and possibly even any animal companions. Those concerned about their mount-sizes companions are welcomed to the stables downstairs to see if their friends are there. The mounts are allowed to stay there until you find a place more suitable for them.

In the Arrival's hall there are also several stands with information pamphlets.

First type of stand is for the local Guilds and about the benefits or joining one.

Second type of stands is for the Welcoming Committee that aim to show otherworlders what the world is like and help guide people in the beginning of the journey and helps in getting settled into the new world. They even have people to help if you're unfamiliar with the new phones.

Third type of the stands is for The In Touch Support Group that is led by the Otherwordly Ambassador, Kamisato Ayato. The pamphlets have contact information for businesses looking to help Otherworlders. They also focus more on the lore of the World and what they have discovered so far, as well as a guide on what to think about when preparing to venture out to the Segments.

Once you get your smartphone and necessary information, you're urged to go out and find your apartment. After that whatever you want to do is up to you.

Part 3

The building next door is where everyone can find their new apartments. As you enter, you're told by a friendly native that for the first two months you can live anywhere rent-free and five meals a day are paid for you. After that they get a monthly payment that helps with some of their living expenses, but otherwise they have to have a job to support themselves.

All of the apartments are comfortable, two bedroom apartments with all necessary utilities. They are also completely soundproof. Sometimes the magic system, however, does glitch and you might find yourself rooming with a stranger. This is not the intention and the staff will immediately prepare you your own room if you ask them. But maybe having a roommate isn't all that bad?

Party in the Underground

Part 1

The center of Nightwake never sleeps and there's always something happening, but today there's a lot of excitement in the air all around the center and every district! Locals and those who want to help them (for 100 Moon Coins or a gift card of their choosing), are walking to everyone to offer colorful fliers along with free vending machine tokens. There's also colorful advertisement on billboards and posters everywhere around the city advertising all sorts of things like items, clothes, drinks and more.

Local businesses, stores and restaurants are also going pretty crazy with their celebrations of anyone walking in being their 50th, 100th or whatever customer of the day and the prize among other things are gift cards and more free vending machine tokens but they aren't even for that same shop or restaurant? They also offer people to spin all kinds of different prize wheels, spin roulettes, buying a certain amount of things from them, and taking part in eating and drinking competitions for a surprise prize. Someone even put these surprise prizes into the Gacha Restaurant's randomizer, so for a week, you can choose it as a total surprise there too. (The surprises can be even more vending machine tokens and silly things like cute keychains or a 5-in-1 avocado tool as some examples.)

You can't find any of these shops, restaurants and other places, that they are advertising, in the whole city. The locals, posters and billboards will tell you where you can find them. There's a new entrance in every district, where locals welcome everyone to the grand opening of the Underground Mall!

Some may even drop into a sudden hole in the ground on their way and fall (or slide) somewhere far away. Don't worry, there will be very soft and huge pillows for landing in your destination.

Part 2

The Underground Mall's upper floors give the vibe of a joyous mall with several restaurants and shops you won't see on the surface. The mall is definitely a must visit place for those who appreciate different fashion and exciting food choices. The party from the surface continues down here with various sales around the area. A good day for shopping!

For those who like games, there's a futuristic VR Arcade for you! This Arcade focuses on games that are played with VR goggles on. Even your regular DDR machine will now take you to dance in different environments and feel like you're dancing for your life or for an actual audience.

There are all sorts of vending machines lined up in their own, huge corner. You can find the usual ones with all sorts of different snacks, food and drinks, but there are also some with cake, cookies, mayonnaise, cream, flowers, engagement rings and other less usual but normal things. Nothing here is randomized, unless you choose the random option from the machine, otherwise you get exactly what you want. So pick your favorites or try something new, that sounds more or less good! You can find a machine that turns moon coins on your phone into vending machine tokens (or you can pay straight with your phone).

And, yes, you can find vending machines full of snacks and drinks all around the area too.

Then there's also an area for ufo catchers with all kinds of prizes like pokemon plushies and lots of other plushies, items themed to different season, plushies and other items themed to any fauna and flora from all around Ellipsa, puzzles, food themed items etc etc.

Moving inside the mall is done by escalators and elevators, but there are also regular stairs for those who prefer them.

The fastest way of traveling from floor to floor in the mall is by quick teleport nodes. You choose a floor you want to go to from the list of choices, much like an elevator and then you're transported into that floor's node within seconds. Unfortunately, they're still working out on the bugs in the system, so you may end up in the wrong place - including places that aren't on the list of choices.

Part 3

There's also a Poké Ball Vending Machine, so anyone who recognizes poké balls may have some idea what they could get here. The vending machine somehow has enough balls for everyone in Ellipsa but everyone can only buy one ball! The balls don't have names in them and no one can see through them, so even those, who know Pokémon will NOT know what they'll be getting from this vending machine as it is entirely randomized!

Are you ready to get your first Pokémon? What about being ready to see how you two get along? Everyone, who plays this vending machine, gets either a Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Eevee, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie, Rowlet, Litten, Poplio, Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble, Spirigatito, Fuecoco or Quaxly.

(And yes, ICly it is entirely randomized but OOCly you can decide which one you want your character to get... Of course you can rng the result too. More about Pokémon guidelines in the OOC Tips of this TDM.)

Welcome to Our Dark Side

The third part of the TDM is under this details cut as it has Content Warnings, including Cursed things, Organized Crime, Illegal Activities, Monster Forms/Body Horror, Attempted Murder, Experimenting on People

The Third Part of the TDM [ Click to Expand ]

Part 1

The lowest levels of the mall are only accessible by random quick teleport nodes around the mall (if you know you know is the motto with these). You can run into them on accident (they're usually hidden, but with so much traffic, the hiding place becomes visible) and they sometimes immediately just teleport people without any warning. The arrival can be in various places. A random shady hallway, in the middle of the floor, in a shady establishment and so on.

Anything that seems shady can be found from these floors. Even the local diners here are very weird and likely have illegal things on the menu. Clothing stores sell all kinds of clothes fit for thieves and assassins and the amount of weapons shops here is twice the amount than on the surface. Rumor has it there are also people trying to summon the devil somewhere around here, but that's still just a rumor.

One of the teleport node locations can take you to the front of a cursed vending machine corner. At first they look like ordinary vending machines, but upon closer inspection one may notice they are anything but ordinary.

The food vending machines are full of different "eatable" bugs with half-hearted warnings that they may or may not be poisonous (they didn't really check before putting them in the packaging), Mystery Food boxes (includes some very suspicious foods that don't look edible, but are actually alright in taste? But may contain some side effects like growing mushrooms out of your hair if you eat the mushroom ones), ones that is labeled Energy Drinks but all of them look more like creepy potions (they provide energy but at the cost of poisoning someone for 24 hours) and hyper realistic cakes that look like various body parts (the cake part is intentionally written in small print).

Other vending machines have various shark eggs (hatching them will provide a magical shark with little hands and legs that invades the first watery surface it finds and bites whoever comes too close - it does not belong as a pet, but one may try to tame one), Mystery Boxes (with anything from highly cursed jewelry to books that suck your soul if written into) and Cheat Slips (it's said these slips will let you master a skill immediately, but all it does is cause one's powers to go berserk for 2 hours).

Part 2

The lowest levels are also a place for a large Casino. While they do exist on the surface, this one is a little different.

The Casino (named just that, "The Casino") is divided into four different sections; All of them are dominated by an organized crime group. This is the only area of the underground they work together in peace and sometimes come to relax. They don't cause trouble for each other here, but they definitely can try to cause trouble for everyone who is visiting the place.

Losing in this Casino can mean being taken to the back rooms by whichever group's area you ended up losing in. They will offer to let you go if you can pay off your debt you made in the Casino, but they have other options of compensation.

Name: Diamonds
Game Area: Card Games (Poker, Black Jack, Craps)
Compensation: They will send characters on a criminal quest to either steal or sabotage something or even smuggle a (cursed) item into important places.

Name: Spades
Game Area: Roulette
Compensation: They will attempt to kill the character that lost in the quietness of the backrooms.

Name: Clubs
Game Area: Pool, Darts
Compensation: They will just make characters clean their casino area.

Name: Hearts
Game Area: Slot Games
Compensation: They will drag characters into experiments in a different facility.

You may also end up taken to the back rooms for getting caught cheating, although it may also end up in a congratulatory meeting for an impressive sleight of hand instead or an invitation to join one of the groups. How would you feel about a life of crime?

Part 3

Those caught in Hearts Group's Experiments will be subjected to series of tests. Mostly they're to check the characters' physical condition before proceeding. Once the tests are concluded, the character will be given a medicine (either via shot or a pill). This medicine will not show any signs of working for a while and characters are let go afterwards.

The same medicine can, however, later be consumed by anyone else in various foods and drinks (free samples, some restaurants, even some grocery store items), even in the higher levels of the Mall. The experiments were the final test before distributing the medicine secretly to the public. So your character may accidentally end up getting the medicine in other ways.

What are the medicine? Monster Form activators. They will awaken a monster form inside a character that will trigger under one of the (player) selected conditions: strong emotional reaction, full moon, near death situation or bleeding.

The form can be returned from by calming down and focusing on their sense of self, but there's a chance to go berserk, making this difficult. If characters go berserk, their powers will be a lot stronger, but they won't know who's a friend and who's a foe. Their form may also be a lot scarier than it normally is. They will likely only want to cause destruction around them or want to feed on humans.

Monster	Description	Powers
Alraune	Plant monsters with a humanoid shape. They may have changes as simple as flowers growing in their hair or have complex body modifications such as roots for legs and long vines as hands.	Pollen with status effects like sleep/poison/paralysis, control over plants, poisonous kisses, etc
Gargoyle	Monstrous humanoid winged creatures with horns on their head and stony hides.	Super strength, tough skin, flight
Harpy	Human-bird hybrids. Anything part can be replaced with bird bodyparts, although the most common configuration is arms turned to wings and legs into talons.	Flight, sonic scream, hypnotizing voice, ability to whip up whirlwinds
Kelpie	Aquatic horses with a man made of seaweed and algae, covered in a sticky fur that makes it nearly impossible to get off if one is to ride them. Some may get a fish tail when underwater, although when out of water they have legs like any horse.	Water breathing, illusions
Lich	Undead humanoids, they may look skeletal or simply corpselike.	Raising the dead (into zombies/skeletons), necrotic touch
Manticore	Beastlike creatures with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion or dragon. They vary greatly, some sporting horns on their heads, or resembling a Chimera or Sphinx.	Super strength, flight if wings.
Minotaur	Animalistic monsters with the head of a bull and the body of a human, although some variations exist in which there are different animal heads. Some sport hooves and a tail in place of legs.	Super strength, overall size, super defense.
Taur	This refers to any number of creatures with a humanoid upper body and a lower body that resembles a non-anthropomorphic animal in the same sort of style as a centaur. This category includes things like Arachne and Naga, and other variations of such monsters.	Varies depending on animal the taur is based on
Werecreatures	Monstrous, bipedal animals, the transformation of which is often (but not always) triggered by the full moon. Common variants are wolves and bears, although they can be about any animal. The Pooka would be one of the variations in the werecreature category.	Depends on the animal the form is based on, but usually super strong/fast etc

This effect can either be permanent or temporary, depending on how the players want it. Temporary can be up to just one transformation under the conditions or several.

OOC TIPS

- Ask your questions related to the TDM here.

- The TDM is available only to friends of the mods and their friends. If you want to play in the TDM, please leave a note here to inform us who invited you over. We will get to you as soon as possible.

- Test Drive is open for current characters to make a top level as well. New characters can add TDM (or "New" or anything else) on their subject line to indicate they're new!

- Current characters cannot access the starting area again to meet new arrivals. They can, however, be at the Research Center when the newbies are teleported in.

- The TDM is game canon so anything in the TDM can happen for your character(s) in the game as well.

- Remember to add Content Warnings wherever needed!

- Smut is not allowed on the TDM. You can play situations leading to it, but if the thread is turning into smut, please move it to a private space such a post in your character's journal, or a locked post in the game's log community if you decide to app!

- Pokémon Guidelines:
• Anything mindblowing crazy that the pokedex has to offer for any of the evolutions doesn't carry over to Seasons. They're closer to anime variants where people can get flamethrower at their face and live (we still do not recommend getting a flamethrower at face)
• Pokémon gain experience points much slower, even if they battle one another.
• You may be able to find a vending machine with weird stones mixed in for stone evolutions. Strange.
• All start at level 5.
• More Pokémon may appear later in the game but for now it's just the ones mentioned.
• More on all the available Pokémon here!

- Check Locations: City to find more areas to explore inside the city. Every place in the districts are open. The Underground Mall has been added to the locations page at the very end of it.

- Similarly, Locations: Segments is useful for outdoors adventures. You can find monsters to encounter on Beastiary.

- Minor NPCs page has been updated with the criminal organizations.

- FAQ has information on characters' smartphones as well as general things about the world that might be handy.

- Feel free to check and use out Questboard for additional prompts.

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"No. He wasn't. Um...someone uh let him out? I guess. Of the Underworld? Monkey King said he shouldn't have been out and that someone gave him the scroll. And he hid the scroll in Monkey King's treasure trove. And I found it and opened it yeah. Everything else happened. Someone wanted it all to happen? I don't know who or why...but I think Monkey King is looking into that. And we'll take care of it whenever that comes up or something."

MK was paying attention. There were so many unanswered questions. Maybe whoever did all this could tell them why...and maybe tell MK the truth about himself. He wasn't sure why he thought that but if Master Subodhi didn't know, maybe the one behind it all did?

"Sooooo...wanna go inside now? We can have some tea and food and uh...I don't know. You can show me your lab? I heard you have a lab here."

Red Son was still feeling shellshocked, trying to wrap his head around the information MK presented, and what his logic was.

His family was safe. He would be allowed to be selfish.

MK was blaming himself for what happened.

Azure had been freed. Freed by someone else? But MK thought he was at fault when it was clear there was-

Manipulation.

"Azure wanted my father to join the Brotherhood. They hated mother. They weren't fond of me either," he said. "Azure was going to approach my father. He was always going to hate Mother and I." And that was always going to end badly. "I don't-how do you think any of that is your fault?"

MK swallowed.

"I let Azure trick me into thinking he was my friend, that he cared about me. That he cared about Monkey King. If I had just followed my gut, maybe none of it would have happened. If I hadn't opened the scroll...if I didn't keep messing up...none of it would have happened. Then your family and you wouldn't have been trapped. The Jade Emperor wouldn't have been killed. None of it. I wouldn't know where I came from. I'd just think Pigsy was my dad forever and be happy with that." The last part spilled out so easily now that he just let it all come out.

"And yeah, he raised me but I don't know who or what made me. Or why. And...it just feels like my fault. I know, I'm probably being a moron right now..." He looked away from his friend. Down to the ground at his own shadow. He almost expected it to suddenly have purple eyes and mouth off about how he's being the misery kid again. He really was, wasn't he?

....oh.

He has missed some stuff hasn't he?

What even happened, he was texting Mei literally just a few days ago before he showed up here, and none of this was happening.

He takes a shuddering breath. Everything feels like a rollercoaster. He pushes himself to his feet, unsteady a moment as his hand reaches out to MK's shoulder to stabilize himself.

"We're going inside. I'm going to make some tea. I need to process the good things you've told me, and apparently all the nonsense that I missed," he said and paused. "The Jade Emperor...I assume reality is stabilized if we're at the beach, that makes sense."

Another shakey breath and he pulls out his key to move to the door. "I have no opinions on your intelligence in regards to home yet. I do on you taking strange pills. I need to get some things to scan you, see if its anything terrible. I will have a response to...all of that, but I-"

He shakes his head, rubs at his eyes. MK was clearly hurting. He should say something, offer something. Even a little good thing. Right?

"I'm very happy my family was with yours at the beach," he said. Awkward, stilted, but sincere nonetheless as he opens the door and steps inside.

Yeah, it was a lot to process. So so much. And how do two powerful demons process things when they weren't really the type to talk about their issues?

No idea. MK didn't know how. He went quiet and listened. The shoulder touch made him feel a little better. Not much but a little. A little went a long way though. He wiped his own eyes and a small smile returned to his face. He didn't know what else to say and was almost too tired suddenly to be funny or dumb. Something simple.

"Thanks, Red Son," The noodle boy said quietly as he followed his friend into the house. So they could do scans and have tea and process during all of that in the quiet that would settle in between them. As weird, heavy, and awkward as that might be.

Red Son hums in acknowledgement and leads the way into the house, slipping off his boots and putting on slippers. "White ones are guests, we'll get you slippers later," he said, moving further into the house.

"Living room," he points through the open entranceway to a living room with basic furniture, a couch, coffee table, and bookcase. There is also a scattering of papers, though he's at least tried to minimize that amount now that he wasn't on his own.

"That door is to the basement and my workshop. Do not enter without permission," he said, pointed to another door. "Kitchen." He gestures to the next entranceway. The kitchen would be quite nice, because that was what mattered to him. "First set of doors down the hall is my room and bathroom on the left. Further down is Wukong's room, and I guess your room." He said, gesturing down the hall as he moved into the kitchen. "It was going to be an office, but..." He shrugs. He'll adjust. "We'll need to get funiture tomorrow. Morning. I may be busy in the afternoon." The next test was soon.

He then moves to get the kettle and tea ready. "Oh, I have a young man visit everyday with a meal. He was met to keep me from losing track of days and he's a human who can make something an actual acceptable spice level. If he's shouting, that's him."

MK nodded and made mental notes about where everything was. He could sleep on the couch tonight then in the living room. Since his room was supposed to be an office. Maybe he could help Red Son add a real office later on. He nodded and raised an eyebrow at the workshop part.

"Soooo how do I get permission?" He asked cheekily. He was sure he could say Saya told him to check on Red Son and that would cover permission all the time. Right? MK sat down in the kitchen and watched Red Son. He nodded.

"Got it. Shouting dude with spicy food. You know, I was raised by a chef. I can totally cook you some good spicy food too."

"Knock and wait until I respond," Red Son said, moving around the kitchen to get the water going and pull out some loose leaf tea because he would never just use teabags, he's got pricey taste

But honestly, he's right. Says permission would go far. He could also probably just enter because Red Son likes him despite himself and would just get yelled at versus having all his stuff threatened. But like hell Red Son would admit it.

"We would need to test that. Mortal standards for spicy is usually extremely disappointing, he was a rather pleasant surprise. Not the spiciest, of course, but consistently pleasant," he said. "What kind of tea do you drink that isn't an overly processed mess of a drink?" Never mind he'd drink those drinks too, he will still make complaints.

"Can do!" After three knocks, if you don't answer, he's gonna come into the lab. He just wasn't gonna say that out loud. Such a cheeky noodle boy. His friend wasn't going to become a hermit on his watch.

"Ooooo~ Cooking challenge accepted. Time to make something super spicy so you'll like it. I am so game. I mean, I drink any tea. Sandy usually makes it for me. So I'll drink anything. Whatever you want."

Its fine, he's already made sure the ceiling is fire proof. It was mostly for Saya reasons, but this also works.

And he honestly expects the invasion, but at least he's given warning so he has ever right to complain.

"You might actually manage with some of the peppers they have here. Usually to manage anything like the Inferno, I needed to charge the peppers with magic because anything grown doesn't grow nearly fast enough," Red Son said as he prepared the tea. It was helping. Keeping his hands busy made it a lot easier to process all the things MK had gone on about.

"That makes sense." MK said as he watched Red Son just make tea. It was nice to just take in the details and focus on that instead of his own thoughts. He usually didn't like the silence and even now it made him nervous. His fingers tapped the table rhythmically, just to generate some kind of background noise. When that wasn't enough, he had to think of something to talk about.

"...What season are you?"

Edited (That HTML was so wrong. ) 2023-08-08 13:56 (UTC)

That gets a cause from Red Son. Mostly because, well, MK is one of the people who might catch on that Red Son's season actually means something to him, and he still kind of has a lot of feelings about it.

He still practices with it, because some things neutralize home abilities, and because his mother would never let him hear the end of it if he didn't practice. Regardless of how many feelings he has about it.

"Spring," he said. He twirls a finger in the air, and there is a reason that moves through the kitchen. "Really, you would think it'd be Summer, but I suppose there is some measure against redundancy."

"Spring. Yeah, I could see why you'd get Spring. I got Autumn. Weird, right? I thought I'd be Summer too."

MK watched the things move around the kitchen. Wow. These new powers were cool. He'd need to train with them himself. Visit that Autumn guild and see what he could learn. Always more training to do. Gotta keep control of those new powers.

"Guess the magic stuff that brought us here figures out where we'll fit in. Or maybe where we need to fit in? I don't know. I'm just gonna help save the world, I guess. You know. Normal hero stuff."

"Autumn..." There was certainly something funny in that. His ex-nemesis as the opposite. "Why would you get Summer? Fire is more the Dragon Girl's thing than yours. Strength, metal, things of earth are more fitting."

"Supposedly their process is haphazard. Likely there is keying into some affinity with a void present. Of course I would understand fire easily, but my fire would far outshine what this world does, but air is a close relation. Air is necessary for fire to function and at least I know how it should be used from exposure," Red Son said. "But that is likely in the magic itself. Elements are more intuitive than one may think."

He turns to set down a cup in front of MK. "Really if their process was refined, they would get people who want to go out of their way to help everyone. Or at least are more open to just touching strangers. Really, you're a perfect pick for this place," he said, raising the temperature of the water still on the stove.

"Well, because Monkey King is Summer. And yeah, but like you said, wouldn't that be Red Dumb-ant or whatever?" MK asked with a smile.

"Huh. So like the magic works but also trolls maybe? Or just is random? I mean, that's better than we're destined to be in certain guilds, I guess. I've had enough of destiny for like three lifetimes."

The Monkie Kid took the cup and gently blew on the drink. He sipped it slowly and hummed. It was nice. Still super hot but nice.

"I think I remember the hologram dude saying something about touching people. Like hugs and high fives, right?"

"Redundant in that I have most of the Summer powers. You do not have many actual elemental powers, but you have an affinity for those sort of things," Red Son said. "You're also not a clone of the Monkey King."

"Trolls-oh right. The internet term, I assume? I suppose it could be viewed that way. Elemental magic has always been connected to emotions, so it makes sense and assignment speaks to someone in some way. And sometimes that sentence is rude," he said with a shrug, preparing another cup as he let the water get hotter. Cold drinks were fine for him as is, but for a warm drink to be warm to him, it took being scalding hot.

"I also have doubts how much destiny actually exists anyway." It changes by the day, but.

"Correct. Generally you want at least five minutes a day or you start building up a debt," he said. "And there are consequences to forgo it too long. Which I'm sure will never be a problem for you."

"I mean, you're not wrong. I am kind of a touchy guy, huh? And now that I'm here, you won't go without either. I always got a hug or a high five for you!" MK grinned wide and nodded. Even here, Red Son wasn't going to avoid MK's random touching. Mei and him were just touchy people overall.

"I guess so. I mean...turns out I might be made of a rock soooo Earth makes sense with Autumn there." A long sip on the tea to just try and not say anything else.

"You are an extremely touchy guy," Red Son said and paused at the offer. He huffed, looking to the side, and trying to hide the small blush, but he couldn't do much about the flickering embers of his hair. "But...yes, there is that. I am unfortunately not the best at the maintenance." Usually he's only managing because Saya or Kantera is around. Usually Saya. Which means he can go days without quite easily. "I will be more....tolerant of your behavior than usual. So don't be weird about it!"

Wait what.

"Made out of-I thought you were a human?" He asked, looking confused. "Last I checked, humans were very organic about their birth."

MK opened his mouth to say he wouldn't be weird but whoops. That subject change. Right. He did say it earlier but he didn't really explain.

"Yeeeeeah. About that. Um...nope." MK said and took another sip of his team. Aaaaand he's going to leave it at that for a moment. Just hoping Red Son totally dropped the subject.

Red Son waits several beats for MK to go on only for there to be silence.

Ah.

Not going to be that easy then. He supposed it tracks. He's still very new at figuring out how MK works in a 'friendship' sense, but he has noticed that he rarely acknowledges his stress even when called out. So it really is a behavior pattern.

"....do you happen to know if you're are running on a human lifespan, or the lifespan of most things with an abnormal birth?" He asked. It's an important thing to know.

He was kind of assuming he had set himself up for heartbreak in a century when they both passed so it made a difference.

"You know...I don't know. I guess I've been aging like a normal person." MK looked down at his hands. He turned them over, just looking at them. Would he stay like this or was it different? He was different from Monkey King. In a lot of ways.

"I guess I'd have to find the person who made me and ask. But I have no idea who that is or why they even did it. Even Master Subohdi didn't know..."

"Wow. Normal person. Said to someone who was under three feet for decades," Red Son said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Some infancy and child stages are prolonged, sometimes slower aging happens when one enters their prime. It'll probably be....two decades? To really tell if you're aging has slowed."

He picks up his boiling cup of tea, taking a sip. "And the Monkey King?"

"Oh! Sorry! Sorry! I...I meant normal for a human. I..."

There he went, putting his foot in his mouth. He went quiet and sighed. Darn it, MK. He drank the rest of his tea and looked at Red Son.

"Monkey King doesn't know. I don't think. I didn't tell him yet. Didn't really get the chance. Or...I guess I just didn't...tell him. Yet."

"Yes, yes, standard human egocentricism. And they say demons are arrogant," he said with a wave of his hand. Like he wasn't constantly arrogant.

"I would ask him. He is annoyingly perceptive," he said. "Still, good to know for the scans. Hopefully it will be close enough to the baseline to not confuse the results, or else I'll need to see if Wukong has had more luck teaching you to meditate than I had with the Dragon Girl. The magic option takes an hour of you being calm and still." He takes another long sip and sets down his cup.

"I'm going to get my devices. You can make more tea if you want. There is food in the fridge. Don't touch the blood in the cooler," he said like that was a normal thing as he left to go to his workshop.

MK opened his mouth to correct Red Son but stopped himself. He almost admitted he wasn't human. ...He wasn't, was he? He fell quiet and didn't quite pay attention to what Red Son was saying. Then he heard food and blood? What? MK stood up and walked over to the fridge. He opened the door and stared at the food and yep. Blood. There's blood in the fridge.

Why is there blood in the fridge?

Wait. Right. Saya. So this is for her. And that means...Red Son's blood is in the fridge.

He reminded himself to not put anything red in the fridge. Just in case.

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