TDM: AUGUST 2023

[citycenter]

TEST DRIVE MEME

A TRAIN COMES INTO THE STATION. You wake up on a train. Your phone is buzzing. It's in your pocket, in your hand, on the seat next to you. It's a normal phone, and you're on a normal train car. One of the lights flickers, a little further down. The world is very quiet. It feels like you're right where you're meant to be. On the phone's surface is a white screen and the words— WELCOME TO THE CITY. BEGIN ORIENTATION? ▶ YES ▶ NO Please take a moment to complete your orientation. Once you're finished, the subway doors slide open to let you out onto the train platform. To your right, the platform continues on and eventually ends; to the left is a set of stairs that will lead you up into the station itself. The platform is quiet, clean, empty—there's no one else around, and the only sounds you can hear are your own footsteps, your own breaths, and the occasional faraway sound of a creaking pipe or rush of air. The train you disembarked will stay there as long as you do, its doors still open, until you finally decide to venture up into this new locale. As you make your way up the stairs to your left, you find yourself in the belly of City Hall station. The station is large, a sprawling underground mini-metropolis of corridors and storefronts. Here, you may find others like you, freshly-arrived city residents from other realms (or even your own). There is also a subway map, which will give you an idea of the layout of the neighborhood, and ticketing machines, which can currently only be used to buy tickets to a handful of stations located on lines 1, 2, and 9. If you're hungry or in need of any kind of supplies, there are plenty of storefronts inside the subway station as well—snack stands, convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, a pharmacy, and a variety of empty shops that may or may not have ever been in use. Everything is unlocked, and you can take whatever you need. Characters may stay on the train platform indefinitely, and may re-board and re-disembark from the subway as many times as they like, but the train will not depart nor will the doors close. Once they go up the stairs into the train station, they may hear the train doors closing and the train departing. Another train will not arrive, no matter how long the character waits. Only once they come up the stairs into the station itself may characters encounter their fellow newly-arrived residents and take advantage of what the city has to offer. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD. The station is located in the city center. It has three major exits that lead to areas of interest in the district, but there are several other smaller exits that lead in other directions around the neighborhood. You are welcome to use any of them, but may find the north, southwest, and east exits to be the most welcoming. TO THE NORTH The northern entrance to the station leads up into the sunlight and puts you out in a brickwork plaza. There's a modest building in front of you, three or four stories of stone with a welcoming facade. There's a sign above the entryway—it says City Hall. You may be tempted to explore, if you're interested in learning more about the city and how it functions, but prepare to find yourself disappointed—the folders in the records rooms are full of empty, blank sheets of paper, and the logbooks and balance sheets are similarly devoid of information. Immediately to the southwest of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information kiosk. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk. The main feature of the tourist center is the interactive kiosk installed dead in the center, right in the middle of a few rows of uncomfortable chairs that fill the small room. It's noticeably in the way of any would-be foot traffic through the tourist center, and something about the technology seems a little more modern than the computer behind the desk or the landline phone on the wall. The kiosk is a tall silver rectangle, about average adult height, and the upper half is a screen welcoming visitors to touch it to activate the kiosk. If you were to touch it, the screen would come to life with simple dialogue inviting visitors to ask it their questions. However, residents should note that the kiosk is only programmed to assist with exploration within the available areas of the city. It may not be able to answer every question, and tampering with the kiosk may result in unreliable or inaccurate answers! TO THE SOUTHWEST The western exit of the station takes you up into a city park, lush and green with a very light fog still hanging about the trees. There are lampposts on the walkways and benches where you could rest, and plenty of flora, although you can neither see nor hear any signs of animal life. You walk the paths that meander idly through the verdant grass and you feel a sense of peace, some of your unease about this place easing into a pleasant calm. The air smells fresh, like it's recently rained, and you'll find the grass ever so slightly damp should you decide to take a seat. As you make your way deeper into the park, the trees grow denser and the smell of soil and plant life grows stronger. This is the older part of the park, very nearly a forest, with ivy climbing the trunks of the trees and plants and shrubs growing riotously around their bases. As you turn a corner, you find yourself first in the statue garden, although the statues are harder to see now, choked as they are with ivy. There are many statues, some partially obscured, some fully—very few of them still stand free of the vines and clinging roots. (It doesn't feel quite as peaceful here.) If a statue's face looks a little bit familiar, you may not want to look at it too long. Continue down the path and you will find yourself in a graveyard, one that seems centuries old. Most of the headstones are worn away by time and covered in moss, rendering them impossible to read. The few that are free of moss are blank, or bear only suggestions of names too faint to be understood. (Was that the name of—no, it couldn't have been. Could it?) Many of the headstones stand at an angle or are toppled over completely, having been subjected to either strong winds or the roots of the trees that grow up from some of the graves, spreading branches toward the sky. TO THE EAST The final exit of the station, to the east, puts you out on a quiet surface street. Are you hungry? Or are you paralyzed by choice? There are plenty of restaurants, offering options of almost any food you can imagine. You could try a convenience store—it's well stocked, and the items there seem free for the taking. How about a restaurant? There's no one to take your order, but when you look in the kitchen, there's something on the stove, and it's just what you've been craving. Imagine that. A few blocks down, you come in through the lobby of a tall building and find yourself in a corporate office. The fluorescent lights are steady and unforgiving, and the cubicles and offices are empty. There are a few pieces of paper on desks, a few folders left in organizers, but everything is perfectly blank. Despite how empty and quiet the office is, it nonetheless gives you the feeling that just a few minutes ago, this place was bustling with workers going about their daily business. You enter another building and find yourself in the lobby of an apartment complex—finally, a place to rest. The first door you try opens easily into a completely empty living room, freshly vacuumed but without a single piece of furniture. It's a nice apartment, quiet, but with a little too much echo for your taste, maybe. Still, and perhaps oddly, you have no trouble envisioning what life here would be like. The second door you open leads to an apartment that feels lived-in. Why does it feel lived-in? It's fully furnished with items that seem to go together perfectly, true, but the feeling is more than that—the room feels like someone was just here, maybe standing right in the kitchen only moments before you swung the door open. The air is a perfectly comfortable temperature, and it somehow smells like home despite that you've never once set foot here before. The refrigerator is stocked, and the cabinets are full of spices and flatware and kitchen utensils. As you look around the living room, you find that there are pictures in frames on the walls and some of the flat surfaces—a seascape, a field, a shot of a city park bench. In each of the photos there's something just slightly wrong with the angle, as though the photographer were aiming for a subject that can no longer be seen. Characters are welcome to explore the district around the City Hall subway station to their heart's content. The City Hall building itself contains several floors of offices and file rooms, but none of them contain any particularly interesting information. Nonetheless, characters may wish to team up with other newcomers and try to find some hints about the nature of the city. They can also spend a while in the park, the statue garden, or the graveyard. In the blocks surrounding the station there are plenty of options for food and housing, as well as office buildings, storefronts, and alleyways to look around. There are no workers in any of the buildings, and there does not seem to be an honor system for payment, nor any consequences for taking food from the stores or setting up camp in an apartment or office building. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM. Have you ever visited the ice cream parlor located in District 2? It's a pretty quirky little joint! When you walk in, what you'll likely notice first is the colors. Everything is bright, almost oversaturated—the pink of the leather seats, the teal of the walls, the red of the menu sign hanging over the counter. By all rights it seems like these colors shouldn't go together, but somehow they do, or maybe that's just because being in an ice cream parlor puts you in a good mood. It smells like waffle cones, and overhead, there's music pumping through the speakers at just the right volume, providing some nice background noise to your decision-making process. Wait, music? There's a jukebox at the far end of the shop, which seems to be where the music is being chosen. As you head over, the song comes to an end and the jukebox machinery shuffles through its options before landing on a new one. The song sounds sort of familiar, doesn't it? And the longer you listen, the more the lyrics really seem to speak to you. It costs money to pick your own song, so if you happen to have some coins on you—or if you're really, really determined—you can choose the next round of tunes. When you're done at the jukebox, you can go check out the serving area of the shop. Behind the counter you can see milkshake mixers and waffle cone makers; there are ice cream cakes in the freezers that line the wall; and when you approach the main counter you can see the tubs of ice cream in almost any flavor you can imagine. Pick a flavor, whichever one's your favorite! Do you want it in a cone or in a bowl? There are regular cones and waffle cones, and all kinds of toppings—sprinkles, syrups, gummy candy, mini marshmallows. Decorate your ice cream however you want, the sky's the limit when it comes to choices! You can even come back for seconds if you want, or thirds. Who's going to say anything about it, after all? But the more of your ice cream you eat, the more you start to feel… strange. Maybe you're starting to get angry, or sad, or giddy—maybe you feel romantic, or feel like you want to tell a secret to a stranger, and you're not really sure why. You also can't quite seem to stop eating your ice cream, and the more you eat, the less worried you feel about whatever's happening to your emotions. After all, why be concerned about that when you have something so delicious in front of you? Flavor Effect Strawberry You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and tell them a hidden truth about yourself Rocky Road You find yourself compelled to seek out strangers and convince them of some egregious lie Vanilla You are overwhelmed by a sense of total calm, and can only speak in aphorisms and platitudes Rainbow Sherbert You are overwhelmed by amorous feelings towards whoever is near you and try to cuddle or kiss them Chocolate You feel suddenly morose about something in your past and cannot stop crying until someone consoles you Bubblegum You become uncontrollably giggly and giddy, and can only speak in rhyme Caramel Ribbon You become angry and perhaps even violent, trying to attack anyone who comes near Mint Chocolate Chip You suddenly have a common but exaggerated phobia (for example, a fear of heights where the step down off the curb is too much) When characters first enter the ice cream parlor, they may notice that there's music playing overhead! That's from the jukebox, and the lyrics of the song may sound like they're particularly apt for a character's circumstances. Players are welcome to choose their own jukebox songs for their characters—it doesn't need to have appeared in canon, but characters from modern times are welcome to recognize the music being played. (Players can also feel free not to pick a real song at all, and instead just describe the overall sound of the song and content of the lyrics!) This is an ice cream parlor, so of course there's also ice cream to be had. Characters can serve themselves whatever flavor combination they want, but shortly thereafter will find themselves suffering certain emotional effects depending on what flavors they chose. These emotional effects, shown above, will last for roughly an hour before slowly dissipating, and their intensity depends on how much ice cream the character ate and whether they were able to recognize what was happening and stop eating. Not every flavor has an emotional effect, so players can also choose to have their character eat a normal scoop and go about their day. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WILDCARD. The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back. If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations. JUMP TO TOP ↑

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xiaohei | the legend of luo xiaohei

[hasten]

CAT 1. MEOW

( to the furthest reaches of the city’s explorable extents, there is no sign of life but for those that have arrived by way of train. there are no birds roosting in the trees or the eaves, no rats scurrying through the sewers—there aren’t even ants to march along the pavement or flies to buzz around garbage bins.

so… why is there a small black cat here in the train station?

it slinks up the steps from the platform below, enormous eyes narrowed in feline suspicion. its every move is fluid and cautious, largely keeping to the camouflaging shadows whenever it can… though there comes a time when it must cross more visibly across the main floor of the concourse before it can make its way toward the city street exit. it’s then that it’s easiest to catch sight of the cat, and it’s then that he realizes he’s been spotted.

crap!

he stops. his oddly long tail languidly curls around his body, and as it does so… is it holding something in it? but then the tail whips to the side, and the item (a cell phone) goes skittering across the tiles and into a nearby abandoned storefront with the faint clattering of plastic.

xiaohei decides to try to distract from that by looking up to his new company with wide, staring eyes. ) Miaaw! ( he puts all he can into the ‘innocent and cute’ act, hoping it will distract from him getting rid of the phone.

because he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s a spirit. certainly not when he doesn’t know what’s going on! )

CAT 2. TREAT

( sunlight streams through the windows of the ice cream shop; it’s a warm day, and the pastel interior of the parlor is matched by a sweet-sounding song which plays on the jukebox. xiaohei sits on the top of the glass case housing the tubs of ice cream, inspecting them with eager interest. he has been investigating the city tirelessly, but… it’s tiring and hot work, and just because he's a spirit doesn't mean he doesn't get hungry! the nature of this city allowing him to just take whatever he wants when he needs it is convenient, but… he has to admit. it’s not nearly as fun when there isn’t someone to steal from. the danger and the thrill of the chase is a vital part of that!

oh, well. his long tail snakes out and grabs an ice cream cone. he ducks into the case and picks out a flavor at random, holding the cone in his paws as he fills it with scoops of ice cream. it would probably melt pretty quickly outside, so he hops onto the counter of the bar and begins to happily indulge in the sweet treat, the cone held in the coil of his tail.

the bell over the door jingles as someone walks in. the black cat’s head whips around to stare at the newcomer, eyes wide and unblinking.

then, without breaking that eye contact, he takes another lick from the ice cream. he then meows, but, bizarrely, you can understand it in your head: )

Do you want one?

( ooc note: I will randomize an ice cream flavor, unless there is a preference! please note that for rainbow sherbert, he will only be expressing cat-like affections [rubbing against legs, etc.], and for caramel ribbon, he might attack! if you wish to opt out of any, please feel free to let me know! )

CAT 3. WILDCARD

( feel free to find him investigating anywhere else in the city! )

1

[icanfixer]

[ to lose hope is unforgivable, too, and so each day don quixote returns to train station, to see if her friend and ally will be there (it's better if he doesn't isn't it? with how the city had treated him, how it treats everyone--) and






is that a cat. don quixote looks so visibly shocked by the fact there's an actual animal here that she can't speak, her eyes skittering after the cell phone briefly (did it find it? steal it?) before returning to the little guy. would sinclair be mad if she brought home a stray. no, he'd be charmed by its large, dark eyes. the rather long tail. the adorable meow. he would sigh, but he would understand.

don quixote drops to the ground and stares at xiaohei. sparkling. hook line and sinker, little buddy. ]

... Hello, gatito~. Are thee not a most adorable little fellow? Have thee an owner? Art thou lost? Would thee like something to eat? I have-- I have jerky upon my person, but I do not know if that would interest thee!

[ let her-- in her laying position let her-- there, a stick of beef jerky, she's carefully unwrapping it and holding it out. by the wing.......... a cat.......... wow............ ]

[hasten]

( really, he’s used to this sort of response from humans. xiaobai and her family had always been a little more reserved, but all he has to do is think back to when she had brought him along to that anime convention… what an exhausting ordeal that had been, even held separate from those other spirits trying to take the Heavenly Pearl away from him at the same time. and he hadn’t even been trying to capture their attention like he does now…!

his eyes may look wide and guileless, but he is wary. he doesn’t think of humans what he used to, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t cautious around them—

xiaohei doesn’t respond in any way until don quixote mentions something to eat. he blinks, and his gaze sharpens in intensity. yes… going through his stomach is still a short-cut to earning at least a modicum of trust from him—it’s how xiaobai and her mother had first calmed him down, after all.

he lowers himself into a crouching position as well, watching as she unwraps the piece of jerky. she extends it, slowly, and he responds by batting out a right paw, swatting at the jerky to see if she would drop it so he could snatch it for himself.

does he want the food? yes. but he’s not really willing to eat it from her hand. and he had just barely resisted the impulse to snatch it from her with his tail… )

[icanfixer]

[ oh, she sees. she understands. once he bats at the jerky, she gets the idea and reaches out a little farther from herself to set it down, scooting backwards for good measure as she kicks her feet in the air. ]

It has been a long while since I had seen any sort of animal, little one, so thou must forgive mine excitement. There is not a one here, see, and so thou'rt quite the curiosity. Was the train to thy liking? It must have been fun for one of thy size!

[ she's speaking low and soft, but her trembling tone does give away just how excited she is. oooohoohhh kitty. ]

[hasten]

( he retrieves his paw and watches almost expectantly; as soon as she sets the jerky down, his paw once again reaches out lightning-fast and pulls it closer to himself. from there, he pins the stick of jerky between his two front paws, gnawing on it happily. if don listens very closely, she can hear a soft, low purring…

sure, it’s just dried meat, but it’s also delicious. it reminds him of when he had first sat around fengxi’s fire, listening to them talk and laugh—tianhu had offered him a piece of roasted meat, and he’d thought he’d never tasted anything more delicious. that, or when he and wuxian had eaten that feast at the restaurant near the coast. yes, it’s just a piece of jerky, but it brings him warm memories.

he doesn’t look back up to don until she mentions that there aren’t any animals around. now… xiaohei isn’t technically an animal, but that’s certainly peculiar. he looks up from his snack, round eyes curious.

they flicker to the stairs leading down to the train platform as she mentions it. )

Mrow…

( by his faintly reproachful tone, it sounds like he hadn’t really enjoyed his time on the train. mostly because he’d been trapped on it until he actually payed attention to the phone that had been next to him on the seat. in his defense, he usually can’t read very well—how was he supposed to know he’d be able to understand what it said!

he continues nibbling on the jerky, seemingly mollified. he looks less likely to bolt at any moment. his eyes return to stare at her. )

Maow? ( he wonders how she knew he’d arrived on a train… )

2.

[limbical]

[Look, he was just curious about there being a new place to check out. Ice cream! Jukebox! Whatever! So Daan had been keen to just glance inside and do some new investigating, and there is a cat.]

...

[And the cat somehow manages to speak to him. In his mind.]

...

[Now, Daan is not a man who is easily horrified, but there is a bit of sweat forming on his brow as he gazes at the cat. Then he holds up his hands.]

Nope. I'm not fucking doing this.

[hasten]

( oh.

now, xiaohei had only given up his efforts to disguise himself as a normal cat because he’d learned rather quickly there were no normal cats here in this world. there also didn’t seem to be a spirit club hall anywhere that he could find. so, on one hand, his efforts to blend in were rather moot, and on the other, there wasn’t anyone that would interfere if he revealed himself to humans. so that’s why he’d done so rather quickly to daan as he walked through the door.

but now… he’s thinking he should re-think that.

his feline eyes half-lid into an expression that looks somewhat… unimpressed. he replies with a quick mrow, )

Come on. I can’t really be the strangest thing you’ve run into…

( he takes a few more pensive licks of the bright pink ice cream—strawberry, sweet and summery. it makes him wish xiaobai was here to share it with him. )

Or… maybe I am. But, if that’s the case, it could be much, much worse!

[limbical]

You're right, you aren't. But let's just say I'm... terrible with animals. Or animal-looking beings. Whatever the hell you are.

[Now, one might go gee, at least the cat's polite, but that's the thing. Most of the time, those kinds of beings are, and he isn't keen to trust someone so friendly with that kind of look.

It's nothing personal. Not really. To Daan's credit, at least he's reconsidering.]

I've had bad experiences with cats.

[To put it mildly.]

1

[chokuto]

[Having noticed almost immediately the lack of animal life in this place, Sasuke's keen eyes pick up the slight, darting movement of that dark shape through the station interior. He can even hear its feet, a gentle tap-tap pattern over the concrete — quick, rapid, and evidently eager to escape attention. The curl of the tail, the triangle ears...

A cat. Of course.

Someone with his level of skill is able to track the feline with ease through the concourse, briefly stung with nostalgia that doesn't fade even as he ruthlessly ignores it. Around a corner, near the station exit, and his stalking is caught; the cat whips something from its tail and meows up at him. To him, the behavior feels sneaky, but he can't explain anything deeper than that. An intelligent animal isn't anything out of the ordinary to a shinobi.]

That was yours, wasn't it? [Sasuke nods toward the closed storefront, voice calm. He keeps a cautious distance, more so not to spook the cat, and kneels down. His left sleeve hangs noticeably loose and empty.] You shouldn't be so careless with your belongings.

[hasten]

( well… perhaps it had been a little too hopeful to think that he could have gotten rid of the phone without anyone noticing. especially those with particularly sharp eyes.

there’s something about his eyes that gives xiaohei pause. a difference. it’s not necessarily that he senses any sort of spirit power—not with his head feeling like someone’s stuffed cotton balls into his ears—but, rather, it’s the way that he looks at him. that he holds himself. a normal human will look at xiaohei and see a cute kitten; depending on how they feel about cats, they will either be indifferent or coo and cluck and try to get his attention. but this stranger addresses him directly—like a spirit might. or how wuxian had.

he knows. or… at the very least, he knows enough to know he isn’t a normal cat.

as soon as he realizes this, he drops the act, eyes narrowing somewhat as he studies the stranger, noting the loose way his left sleeve hangs from his shoulders.

he meows. ) Who are you?

( he doesn’t know where he is, and he doesn’t know how the train plays into this, but with how empty this space seems… his only thought is that this is a spiritual space. would that make this stranger its owner? )

i would die for xiaohei

[chokuto]

[There is something at play here, Sasuke can tell as much, however he might not know the deeper mechanism — not a ninneko or a summoning, both first thoughts discarded as soon as that voice fills his mind. The meow offsets it strangely; it surprises him, shown only on his face in a slight raise of brows.]

Uchiha Sasuke.

[It seems enough to be honest, even as he expects unrecognition at the offering of his name. Truthfully, Sasuke's behavior here is not ordinary; he is not treating this creature as he would another person. There's a softer quality to his voice, and he is less guarded in posture where he remains crouched, perhaps foolishly — but he does not think so.]

I don't intend any harm. I arrived here only a few hours ago, the same as others I've seen and spoken to. I find myself changed, and many of my belongings are missing, but otherwise I don't know anything about this place. Do you?

1

[catmemes]

[ There's another cat in the train station. For a second it sparks a deep-seated impulse that feel almost like territorialism, but that fizzles pretty quickly once Kai registers just how small the newcomer is. No points for guessing that it isn't exactly a normal cat either, even if he couldn't feel the faint brush of the spiritual from where he's perched.

He watches the other cat moving almost absently, eyes narrowing when he registers the phone curled into its...tail? Huh. That's clever, Kai had to figure out how to get thumbs to work a phone.

It's only when the other cat comes to a startled-looking stop and flings that phone away that Kai hops down from the counter he's been curled on and paces over. ]

Yo.

[ He comes to a stop a little ways away and sits back on his haunches, tail curled around his body. The newcommer seems nervous enough as it is, and Kai can respect it. ]

Just got here?

[hasten]

( xiaohei’s wide eyes blink, startled by the appearance of the other cat. shocked.

but no. not just another cat—not like huangshou. if he had sensed that this cat was anything like xiaohuang, he would probably already be running in the other direction…

but he’s not. he can’t sense it a well as he feel like he should have been able to. ever since he woke up on the train, his head has felt foggy, his spiritual senses dulled. but even with that being the case, he can tell just as readily as kai can that the other cat is no ordinary cat even before he speaks to him. there is a deeply-ingrained instinct in xiaohei that similarly wants to bristle along his spine and fluff out his tail—or to transform, to become larger than this other cat and roar and show him he won’t be intimidated.

but—he greets him, sits, and asks a question. it… it would be rude to act in the way he’d been thinking, so he shakes his head to dislodge the impulses. )

Hi.

( he shifts his paws underneath himself. he looks a little nervous, but also eager. he has maybe three dozen questions, and he isn’t sure which ones to ask first. maybe he should answer the one he’d been asked first…

he nods, his eyes darting towards the stairs to the train platform. ) Mhm. From down there. The train brought me here. But this… This place isn’t Longyou. I can tell.

[catmemes]

Longyou?

[ Not anything he recognizes, so that at least answers one question. It's not really too much of a surprise, even through his limited sense he can tell that the other cat doesn't quite feel like another youkai. Similar but not. It makes him tilt his head in slight curiosity, but he stays firmly where he is. ]

No. I don't think anyone's figured out where we are yet. It's just the place we're all stuck in.

[ Congratulations, Xiaohei, that means you too. It's not exactly the most comforting way to break the news, but Kai is still working on the whole reasonable emotional responses thing. It's a process. ]

wildcard

[dissonyance]

[ he would be an absolute fool if he were to ignore the only place where public knowledge might be found--- city hall. that he also hoped to be mostly quick and easily unnoticed also was a part of his movements, sticking to shadows and using his dark garbed aesthetic to do some of the heavy work. surely no one would follow him here, right? where most seem to be enticed by unsecured shops and the things inside them, there was no appeal to leaks. no. what he seeks above all things are facts. cold, harsh truths.

so there he is. inside the building. as he walks past desks, he occasionally picks up a book and rifles through it, only to be greeted with the same thing each time. nothing. no words. blank, and most importantly, clean pages. where a normal being might think it as being odd, leaks finds it insulting. who would just leave empty books around? do they think it's funny? is this a joke???

it's by the tenth empty book that he's had enough. with a growl, he slams it on the ground. ]

Useless. Utterly useless.

[ and with that same unhindered temper, he stomps on it with a heel. ]

If anything had lived here before, they probably died to their own stupidity.

[ speaking out loud like there couldn't possibly be anyone (or anything) nearby. he's chiding himself. this is what idiots do.

his tail flicks, his ears flit. an annoyed cat. ]

[hasten]

( xiaohei has been tailing the stranger since before he entered city hall.

he slinks among the desks, keeping to the shadows under and in-between them. he uses the small walls of the cubicles to his advantage, keeping himself hidden and unseen. and whenever he feels like it might get a little too close… he vanishes. he opens up a portal beneath his feet and deposits himself a short distance away, out of sight and out of mind, completely expert in this effort which overlaps perfectly with his talents.

he also has a heishu keeping an eye on the stranger from a different angle, just in case. he’s found he can only summon one of them, which is concerning to him, but… at least that power isn’t completely gone. he had accepted losing that power that fengxi had taken from him, but to lose the heishu… that would be very lonely.

the large rooms are silent but for the sounds of footsteps, the gentle swishing of clothing, the sound of pages being flipped through and books being placed down. whatever he’s looking for, he’s not finding it. xiaohei wouldn’t have even tried. even though he can (bizarrely enough) understand what’s written on his phone, he has never really been taught to read, so it’s not in his instinct to try.

this time, he doesn’t just set the book down. he throws it to the floor, missing his heishu, hiding beneath a nearby chair, by a few feet. the clone blinks its wide eyes (xiaohei can feel the thrill of its surprise) and hops away. xiaohei inches closer, deeply hidden in the shadow beneath a desk, between two eyes fixating on the irritated flick of the stranger’s cat-like tail. his cat-like ears, so similar to xiaohei’s, even when he’s in his human form.

he doesn’t reveal himself yet, but he meows, asking telepathically: ) Are you a cat spirit?

[dissonyance]

[ imagine catching someone at the worst time--- a foreign voice echoing in his head. it's unwelcome and forces leaks to narrow his eyes and glare in every direction that he can--- slowly. methodically. scanning for whatever or whoever has entered his thoughts unannounced and unwanted. his tail goes still, his ears pinning back, and he squeezes his hands into fists. ]

I am no spirit.

[ well, at least... he's pretty sure. would he know if he was dead? maybe. maybe he is. maybe this is the worst kind of post-life destination. for all that leaks knows, and for every life he's extinguished, his own has never been a thought. last ribika standing. ]

But a spirit would know a spirit best, would you not agree? Come closer and take a better look.

1

[faststance]

[ Oh. There are animals.

Kneeling down, he holds his hand out. His eyebrows furrow before he opens his mouth: ]

Miaaw. Miaaw?

[ It certainly does sound like the large, thuggish-looking man is meowing at a small black cat. He pauses, rolling his eyes up, as he realizes his error and tries again: ]

Pss, pss, pss.

[ Curling his fingers a few times, he attempts to entice the creature to come closer to him. His chin lifts before he starts digging around his pockets to try to find some meat or food to help with the process. ]

Pss, pss.... here, kitty...

[hasten]

( it's actually (sadly) untrue — there aren't animals in this city, and xiaohei isn't even really an animal. he is shaped like a cat, sure, but he is a spirit before anything else.

he tends to draw the attention of humans, so that's nothing new, but... that he's so big and tough-looking... it's actually a little funny. especially when the guy starts meowing at him. xiaohei can't help but tilt his head almost comically to the side, wide-eyed in a sort of, "is this guy for real?" kind of way before he readjusts his tack and starts trying to attract his attention in a little more common way.

ah, yes. the classic "pspspspsps."

xiaohei is of two minds. he doesn't really want to get closer to someone he doesn't know, but would it challenge his "disguise" as a totally normal cat if he didn't?

he isn't quite sure. so in the end he ends up striking a middle ground: he inches closer, but not very close, yellow eyes wide for whatever the man might do next. he seemed to be trying to find something in his pockets.......... was it food......... )

[faststance]

[ Lifting his head, he looks around - it seems like there is no one around. Clearing his throat, he tries meowing yet again. This time he wraps some otherworldly power around the noise rather than just having it be noise. ]

(Hello, kitty. Are you all right?)

[ The spell itself is supposed to make it so he can speak to vermin and other small animals. It is also supposed to have them recognize him as their master. But well, that's up to the creature, honestly. Crows and frogs, for example, refuse to acknowledge his authority but can still understand him.

But that's fine with him since he just wants to talk to them, anyway.

He finishes digging through his pocket to pull out a haphazardly wrapped sandwich. It's somewhat smooshed from how it was being carried, but he thinks it still is good. ]

(Hungry?)

2

[zewu_jun]

[ Lan Xichen is determined not to be defeated by the strangeness of the city. The food and technology is a lot to adjust to, but he's been slowly allowing himself to try more things, despite knowing how inappropriate it would be to live without practiced restraint. After all, he's trying to enhance his abilities. Even if the city has some kind of restriction, when he returns home--which he still believes is possible--he'll already have catching up to do.

But that doesn't mean he can't take a look. This is for knowledge and experience, he insists to himself. When Lan Xichen enters the ice cream parlor, it's with a stride full of determination and energy. One that stops dead when he sees the little black cat on top of the counter, tail wrapped around an ice cream cone and eyes fixed on him. He draws back, hand going for an absent weapon, until he hears the voice. Or thinks he hears one. ]

Ah-?! How did you...?

[ He composes himself, forcing a calm expression back onto his face. ]

Did you get lost here as well?

[hasten]

How did I what?

( the small cat almost comically tilts his head to one side. he then glances to the ice cream held in the coil of his tail, then he looks back into the glass case which houses all of the different cartons of ice cream. he looks back to the stranger. )

There's an ice cream scoop in there. You don't even have to pay!

( not that he would have, even if someone were working here and expected it. it's not that he's evil-natured or wants to hurt anyone or anything. he just thinks stealing things is really fun. and also he's really good at it.

he had spoken affably to the stranger, but xiaohei's eyes are sharp. the surprise is obvious enough, but he had noted the way the man's hand had twitched toward his side — where he might have otherwise had a weapon. he's not attacking him, and he seems like he probably won't? he will try to trust that. but xiaohei is definitely not above throwing the ice cream cone into the stranger's face if he tried something...

the cat nods. ) Yeah... ( said with a disheartened mrow. his eyes grow downcast for a moment. ) No one seems to know where we are, and I can't find anyone I know from home. I'm worried...

( he pauses a moment, then he takes a tiny lick of the ice cream. ) ...But the ice cream helps. A little.

[zewu_jun]

[ For all the beasts Lan Xichen has encountered, he's never met one this small who would talk to him. Usually ridding towns of spiritual creatures was a more of a hunt, with far more threatening opponents than this one little yaoguai. He... actually feels slightly bad listening to the cat. In any case, he doesn't have a sword or anything more than his flute, and at the moment if the worst thing he has done is eat some ice cream, Lan Xichen is sure he can be forgiven for that. He approaches with less wariness and more curiosity, deciding on a smile as he gets near enough to see Xiaohei's sad expression. ]

Apparently you have gotten trapped here as well. Even though you're lost, you shouldn't necessarily take food that doesn't belong to you.

[ Not that it makes any difference now. And the cat can't be blamed for the obvious lack of proper staffing. ]

I am Lan Xichen of Gusu. What do they call you?

treat... good with any flavor c:

[worldexecute]

( angela pauses in the doorway, staring at the cat. yes, a cat. while understanding a multitude of creatures is (or was?) in her wheelhouse back in her library, she hadn't known if it would continue outside of... there...

she also didn't realize cat tails were so prehensile. )

...Yes. Thank you. ( she'll take a seat nearby, glancing at the jukebox for a moment—what a sweet song, if unfamiliar to her—before she turns her attention back to her new cat companion. it's certainly nothing like the musicians of bremen, that's for sure. ) Are you going to try them all?

Treat - no prefernece

[mamamias]

[ Mario doesn't even pause to see a talking cat, or to hear it speak. He's had a penguin get mad at him for bringing home the wrong child, before. A cat can offer him ice cream. This is normal.

Mario shrugs like 'if you're offering'. He approaches, bending a little to be closer to the cat's eye-level. ]

And-a what do you recommend, kitty-cat?