TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 7

[avalonmods]

✨ Greet new players on the OOC intro while apps are processed HERE! ✨

{ QUICK NAV } Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary ⚔️️ Top-Levels Only ⚔️️ A ⦿ Soaking in Your Arrival KERPLUNK, SPLASH! Regardless of what you were in the middle of, you and your familiar have been magically pulled into the world of Avalon just above the Bay's waters. After a brief plunge into the Bay, the rush of water filling your ears and soaking up into every creak and crevice of your body, you may need to cough to clear your airways when you rise above the surface. It's still chilly, but not enough that you can't manage on your own. The Lady of the Lake is swimming around under the water, helping to rescue any wayward travelers who look like they're struggling in the water. This month's helpers are giant pillow jellies, a species of jellyfish that is capable of ballooning itself at the surface to create bouncy pads for characters to hop across to the shore, should they choose or not be able to swim. They come in a variety of bioluminescent colors, but do not seem to be very talkative even to animal magic users. Those who try may find themselves being ignored, even if they hear the jellies talking amongst themselves about this and that. If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. The shores themselves are littered with new arrivals complaining their way up a staircase carved into the walls of the White Cliffs. There is no railing, so be careful, but if you do fall, be prepared for a mysterious sand hand to reach out of the side of the cliffs to catch you. The hand will pat you atop the head twice before retreating back into the wall. This is the Cliff Beast; despite the name, he is quite friendly. *Reminder: Your character's familiar may or may not be with your character in their initial plunge. If the familiar isn't partial to water, it may meet your character on the beach or sit atop their head while they swim. Or if they are, they might splash about and swim alongside your character. Familiars have different personalities and body specs and we leave those up to the players. B ⦿ The Caravan to Camelot Once everyone is wrangled up to the top of the White Cliffs, the handsome owner of the Rent-a-Ride, Archimedes, will distribute smart phones and a pair of special ear buds (the supplier was out of the regular ones) and tell them to "Check the Shit Box." The "Shit Box" refers to wardrobe more formally known as the Wardrobe of Finding, a hammerspace-like wardrobe that opens to each person's items and pets when the person touches the handle. It was recently enchanted by Merlin to prevent people from having to fish their waterlogged possessions and pets out of the water with them. From there, Archimedes directs everyone to settle in groups into modernized carriages pulled by horses and gives them a basic explanation of why and how they've been brought to Avalon: The rest of the universe is frozen in time and your character has been brought here by a familiar that was able to bond with them. They'll have to learn magic to help save their own world from destruction, but first they've got to get them to Camelot. It is here that you have the first opportunity to decide who they will be in their new home. You'll have about an hour to wander around here, meet and greet, and pet the horses before it's time to go. These carriages use fae technology that combats weight, so your character will be able to get in regardless of whether they're light as a feather or weigh two tons. The carts have air conditioning when it's hot, heating when it's cold, and a mystical shield to protect from bugs. There is also a mini-bar that pops out of the console with nip bottles. Characters can use their smartphones to connect to Camelot's internet service, avalononline (AOL), to chat with other characters, watch dumb videos, learn about the world, contact Camelot Support (they'll answer any questions they can for you, from how to use a smart phone to where to find quests and resources to learn more about your magic). Be careful if you decide to use your phones while in the caravan-- if you don't use those earbuds and start forcing everyone to listen to your nonsense, Archimedes may make you walk. C ⦿ The Red Spring The journey from the White Cliffs to the City of Camelot is a long one, and the first evening you arrive you'll end up spending at the Red Spring, a booming resort town. Because of the volume of new arrivals and vacationers, inn rooms are assigned two-to-a-room. The rooms have two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and a few free movies. If you don't want to relax in the room, try taking a dip in the spring for another chance to meet your fellow travelers. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly when drunk. It is known to relieve stress, improve energy levels, and mildly accelerate healing. It may be a little chilly when you get out though, so make sure you don't slip rushing back indoors when you get out! The springs are also home to a large training grounds just outside town limits, where there are teachers who will teach basic magic safety and help you discover what kind of magic you have together with other new arrivals. Try target practice, obstacle courses, meditation circles, and other ways to try to figure out just what you can do... if you didn't already have an accidental discovery on the ride there. After the new arrivals come in, they'll find that this month they came in on the middle of a rather tumultuous time... people are arguing and debating about a future decision to be made. King Arthur recently tried to negotiate with Celliwig's people to open the doors to Camelot, but they refused, and the people have been left with a decision: 1. attempt long-distance, slow wooing of Queen Elphame via the Elphame Traders of the next couple of months, 2. attempt to prove a balanced and deeper understanding of the need for both pure and impure hearts by suggesting an acceptance of trials from Celliwig, or 3. band together under Camelot's flag to invade Celliwig. Celliwig is a place of communication between Elphame and Camelot that bypasses the need for weeks of dangerous, often fatal travel, so the choice is very important in regards to how Camelot both presents itself to the fae people in the future. To that end, people with strong beliefs about particular choices have arranged gatherings to draw people in to hear their perspectives on what the choice should be. A ⦿ Honey Over Vinegar A wide variety of people have sided with this group, including the Elphame Traders, as cutting Celliwig off from them would mean a much harder journey each month to the city of Camelot. (Though commerce always does find a way.) This group is hosting a Tree-Picking Tournament! Of course, the trees to be picked are out in the farmlands, and members of the lobbying group will be giving people free one-use Farm Totems to get to the tournament. The trees in this grove are a little different than normal trees, however. For one, they don't bear fruit. This is Camelot's cookie orchard, composed of special fairy tree hybrids that grow a variety of sweet treats on their branches instead of fruits. There are your usual chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, but also little puff-like wedding cookies on bushes or checkboard cookies blossoming out of stems instead of flowers. There are even some trees that have clusters of miniature French macarons! The best part, at the end when you turn in your cookies for the count and get your participation prize (and bonus pamphlet about how slow and steady wins the race), you can totally keep and eat them, so be careful not to drop them! How you get them down from the tree is up to you, of course. Try some magic, or maybe just some regular old tree-shaking will do the trick.. just be careful you don't accidentally knock down any wasp nests. Those stings will hurt bad! B ⦿ A Balanced Approach The party of people who want to try to woo Celliwig over to smooth things over see this little political gathering with cookie-based bribery and quickly fashion their own event to make sure the fanfare isn't all for just the one idea. To gather people in to hear their side of the story, this group has decided to host a bug catching contest! Head out into those flower fields between Camelot and the Red Springs that are now thriving thanks to April's plentiful rains. Whether you use a net or figure out how to use your magic to get the bugs, it's how many you catch, not what kinds you catch that count-- so make it fast and make it plentiful! And at the end of the day, what you choose to do with your captured bugs is up to you. Crush them or free them, keep them or eat them, whatever it is you want to do... ultimately, all moral choices are valid, right? So let's go along with what Celliwig wants! Don't forget that May is the season of the frog, however, and you'll be in competition with a variety of sentient and wise members of the Frog Tribe, a group of bipedal frogs who live in the southernmost part of the lake and come up to the flowerfields to stick their tongues out for some delicious bug treats. They have no problem sticking their tongues right into your captured bug nest, hopping on heads to steal your catches, and do all kinds of crazy interferences like snipping belts and tonguing ankles to trip people. You may want someone to watch your back for this event, lest you get done in by a hopper. C ⦿ A Show of Strength The more war-hungry citizens of Camelot seek to go to war. This whole issue will be over if Celliwig itself isn't the one in charge of communication and it's just made directly between Elphame and Camelot, rather than having a mediator who refuses to mediate. They believe that a show of strength is the only way to solve this problem, and as such, they'll be demonstrating that the greatest rewards come from strength by organizing an expedition to a cave at the base of the Ash Mountains. Taking a path squarely between the Dusklight Woods and the edge of the Lands of Rot to the base of the Ash Mountains, this expedition will lead into a cave known as the Giant Cave. It's a pretty on-the-nose name, since it really is a big cave. One of the cool things about this cave is that it's filled with geodes. Those who have enough strength can use provided pickaxes and drills to dig up their own crystals and gold, both great for jewelry and enchanting. In particular, there is a large amount of: • Rose quartz: dark mages can make their love spells much more powerful and healers can use this to enhance spells that soothe anxieties and self-doubt • Amethyst: siphoners increase the potency of counter-curses and light mages will find this stone makes their hard light shields stronger than ever • Agate: strengthen cognitive abilities like post-cognition for a clearer picture of what happened by enhancing perception, and death mages will find they're able to extend their possession times by about 30 minutes by using an agate to stablize their aura • Moonstones: will increase navigation as a traveler's protection for kinetic users-- no longer will you risk tripping over a rock while going at enhanced speeds, or can be traded to fairies to potentially bring down a steep price to something more reasonable • Black tourmaline: a crystal that shields from opposition/negativity-- for technomancers and elementalists, this means that technology is more likely to side with them over another technomancer, or elementalists will find that when using opposing elements, theirs will come out stronger-- like water vs fire, electric vs rock, etc. • Hematite: can soothe blood, leaving it a good tool to enhance animal and blood magic-- animals may trust you more readily by having a calming effect on them, and blood mages may find that they heal more readily after using their abilities • Boji stone: alchemists will find that this is a good stabilizer for for particularly volatile potion combinations, and the properties of this stone leaves green mages to sense new types of plants they haven't yet encountered in passing, even if they're not looking at them It's not particularly a contest in this case-- you can keep and use what you want, and this show of strength has given you more power than ever, so why not consider the same concept for how to deal with our unneighborly neighbors in Celliwig? It may be sweaty business, but surely hitting some rocks will show you the value of strength! With the surprisingly tame day in the Giant Cave, one would think that the Ash Mountains were something of a safe place. No one really bothered the travelers, but that's because no one had been home at the time. as it turns out, the Giant Cave is home to a giant... douchebag of a minotaur. Not a giant, despite the name. His name is Simon and he doesn't like to share, and now that a bunch of people have gone and taken his rocks (he didn't even know there were crystals inside, nor does he do anything with them). Now he has to take his revenge, regardless of not knowing who actually took the crystals that were never really his to begin with, they just happened to be in rocks near where he sleeps. A ⦿ A Stone's Throw from Revenge The minotaur is a very instinctive creature, and his instincts say that the people of Camelot, the nearest settlement, are the ones who need to be punished for this. He uses his superhuman strength to drag huge rocks and boulders all the way to the north-east edge of Camelot, seemingly for no reason, until he's got practically a wall built. At which point he starts picking them up, spinning, and then vaulting the rocks into Camelot's buildings. You may find yourself inside of one of those buildings and scrambling to check if everyone and yourself is okay, or perhaps you're rushing out to stop the minotaur from throwing another. Either way, it's a sudden attack and you're going to have to act fast. Trying to attack the minotaur will be difficult, since it has superhman strength and durability, sharp horns atop its head, and can smell you coming from a mile away. Get creative, and stop the minotaur before it's too late! B ⦿ There's Safety in Numbers Once the minotaur's attacks stop, it flees to recover its wounds, promising it will come back to destroy Camelot once and for all. It's a time for reprieve and to help clean up the damage. Use your magic to help clean up broken buildings and structures, or heal and help others who were injured in the sudden, mostly unprovoked attack. Many of the uninjured citizens will be going around town and providing drinks, towels, and cups of noodles to those who are helping out. Because of the impending threat of the minotaur's return, it's recommended that otherworlder's use the (Recipe) Buddy System spell. The way they explain it, it's a spell designed to alert your buddy if you're in danger and lasts about an hour. The way it actually works is you must be touching your buddy in any way at all times for the next hour. Unfortunately, it seems like the volunteers sharing the recipe may have missed that it was created in a kindergarten class, not for adults. C ⦿ Gross Thankfully, the Buddy System wears off before the Minotaur is back for round two. When the Minotaur returns, the castle has since gathered forces to the edge of town to defend it from another attack. It's unclear where the Minotaur went to get healed, but whoever he went to apparently had some advice, however, and the instinctive minotaur gave into a different instinct for part two of his revenge. Rather than go right back to his pile of rocks, he instead travels the day to get to the southernmost part of Camelot and barrels into town unopposed, as most of the troupes are where they had thought he would come from again. After all, minotaurs are not known to be big thinkers. Instead of violently destroying this time, however, the minotaur instead heads straight to lowertown's well-- and takes a pee in it. It turns out, not only does he have a giant-- ahem, but he is a giant dick as well. Now the entire lowertown has to be evacuated due to contaminated water up to other areas of Camelot. Many people who live there are relocated to live in extra castle rooms. After all, Minotaur Urine is known to be incredibly potent and stinky. Mages who are able to handle the smell are asked to come help perform a ritual of water purification for the lowertown's water system. This ritual involves multiple groups of people performing synchronic magic, a magic type that requires you to be in perfect sync with your partner. Draw a special ritual circle with four candles at equidistant points. Chant a spell in sync with your partner, and blow a special powder made of ground jasper, charcoal, and rosemary into the center of the circle. It will be drawn into the candles' flames and with enough people doing this, all impurities will be removed from the lowertown's water and dissipate into the atmosphere. KEY POINTS New arrivals drop into the lake and have to climb up a cliff to the Rent a Ride, where they are given their device and some headphones and can retrieve their personal materials. They travel to Camelot, which is a multiple day journey, so they stop at the Red Springs along the way and stay at an inn there. There is a vote pending for Camelot and each side of the issue is trying to engage otherworlders to their side of the vote. The slow/steady approach is hosting a cookie harvesting tournament from a grove of cookie trees, the middleground group is hosting a bug-catching contest, and the group that wants war is hosting a mining expedition. The mining expedition aggros an asshole of a minotaur, who throws rocks at Camelot. Driven away, the townspeople try to help by distributing a spell called "Buddy System" which binds two people together, not realizing it was intended for kindergarteners. (Oops.) The minotaur returns and pees in the lowertown's water, so a ritual of water purification must be performed because it's gross and stinky. The minotaur is still at large. **** The above key points are a new feature we're going to start including on TDMs and Events. Since it's new, the format is still fluid, so please let us know if you have any feedback for this section here. It should just include brief summaries of each prompt to make parsing information easier and more accessible. The original prompts should still be read and referred to for complete information and details. **** MOD NOTES: • All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, but this post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads, but should not top-level comment on this post. • If your application is accepted, you may accept TDM threads as game canon as long as both players consent. Characters may begin threading as soon as their journal is accepted to the communities. • A poll will go up a little later this week regarding the mentioned voting, which should be answered ICly by each character you play. The poll will remain open through the 15th so that newly accepted characters may also vote if they choose to. •If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt. • The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM, but contain seasonal tweaks for flavor. All other prompts will change monthly. • Questions about this TDM's content? Comment here! If you have a question about the game at-large, please head over to the FAQ.

Comments

[markedfordeath]

"What sort of elaboration would you like?" there was a teasing air to get tone. Still she reached to the holster at her hip and withdrew the pistol.

It was an intricate design of wood and brass with a long barrel. Her left hip felt naked without Stern hanging there, but the gunner distracted herself from that thought by easily twirling the gun around her finger before the grip fell comfortably into the palm of her hand. "To think, you haven't even brought me a drink and you're wanting to know all my secrets." A moment later it was returned to the holster at her hip.

"You seem to be quite keen when it comes to gun design," she mentioned off-handedly. Elza's attention dropped back to his weapon. "I haven't heard of your weapon smith, but you seem proud of his work. I'd like to see a demonstration."

[konpeito_aji]

"I am. He is my left-hand man, and the best sharpshooter I've ever seen."

He holds up the Tanegashima for her to examine more closely, his other hand resting on the katana hilt out of habit. "In Japan, it was the weapon we used to make our armies able to withstand the stronger trained cavalry and samurai. And warrior monks." He is damn proud of it.

"There are too few gunners here for my tastes, and just as few archers. Especially with claims of war being on the horizon."

[markedfordeath]

None of this was making any sense to Elza. She was certain to have heard of these men after hearing of such high praise of his skills.

She didn't make a move to touch the gun. The gunner had too much respect and too little trust to do such a thing. She did, however, pass an appraising eye over the weapon. The fact that his hand went on the katana didn't escape her notice either. It was an interesting but crude design and one she never seen before even within the history of the Guild. Her eyes strayed to the matchlock mechanism. "Tanegashima is a gun of interesting design," Elza offered. "I can't say I've ever seen one like that."

Japan? She hadn't heard of that nation, but the thought that a country would weaponise those samurai annoyances sounded outrageous. Unless there was a small populace? "What type of lands are this Japan to have such widespread technologies available?"

She gave a slight disinterested shrug of her shoulders and said, "War is just a fact of sentient life. I'm sure there will be a rune bearer that appears to right the balance of war." That kid with the Bright Shield rune should have been kicking around somewhere. Even Elza had to admit that boy had an allure to him that could just draw people in. It kept Clive in his service much like that previous kid had in the Scarlet Moon Empire's fall.

[konpeito_aji]

He holstered it back next to the katana, once he was sure she was done her examination. Widespread technologies...? "This isn't Japan, this is Avalon. And the Kingdom and city of Camelot. A foreign world entirely. Japan is where I'm from. A tiny bucket filled with fighting crabs most of who can't dream of leaving the false safety of the bucket." SIGH. Listen, he has a massive love/hate relationship with Japan and its people and the future -- well no, the future from his time he just loves. Dream accomplished, problems fixed (mostly!) etc.

"Rune bearer?" A head shake. "If there are any like that here, their magic wouldn't work here anyway. Part of being on Avalon. Did you meet your familiar yet?"

[markedfordeath]

"Politics can be a nuisance at times," Elza said while she thought over his words. She may have to ask for a demonstration in the future. Right now though she had to figure out just what was going on. Avalon. It was another name that she didn't recognise. Knowledge of other worlds wasn't entirely obscure, but those that had access to them weren't generally human in nature and were linked to those that bear the True Runes. She hadn't remembered the distinctive chime of the roune activating though prior to being dumped in the water.

"What's a familiar?" There was no point in her hiding her lack of knowledge regarding that. She was just starting to come to terms that somehow she may not be in her lands anymore. The thought of leaving her business once again unfinished brought an inward struggle of emotions all fighting together but she kept a tight lid on them.

The gunner kept her thoughts distracted by the question of if Sturm would work here if magic did not. Oh she wished to take hold of the long rifle and try but that was something she'd do when on her own as it was knowledge she didn't want any others to know.

[konpeito_aji]

"Always," he groaned in exasperation. Politics is even worse than war. Somehow.

"Seriously?" Nobunaga glanced around for any signs of a creature that could qualify as a familiar. He hesitated and brought his hand up. For a moment he debated trying to lie and pretend his falcon was his familiar, but he's a terrible liar, on account of never needing to in his own world. "Most everyone else has a cute and cuddly one. I have a monster demon, called an oni. His name is Kimon. I'm only summoning for demonstrative purposes, try not to be too alarmed."

And snap!

The ogre demon comes tromping into view, the club bloody as always. (Not skyscraper tall, only a bit bigger than Nobunaga, but not exactly friendly looking.)

"Kitsuno and Rose have phoenixes, Mitsuhide and a pair of twins from the future have kitsunes, a couple of people have sheep. One person has a very tiny winged horse about the size of a cat or small dog." Nobunaga shrugged. "Kimon was the first thing I saw when I reached shore. I'm a little surprised you haven't seen yours yet. Want me to ask Kimon to look around? It's how all the magic here functions. There's no magic in worlds like mine, but the familiars act as conduits and keep people alive. Some of them talk and are smarter than their counterparts."

[markedfordeath]

The exasperated groan did pull forth a slight chuckle from Elza. Given what he had informed her of, she was certain he'd had his fair share in dealing with it? Thankfully her transgressions had forced an opt-out option for herself... Until now if she had been brought to this world for some war she had no part of.

Elza shrugged at his surprise and at first she was thinking he was referencing some form of pet or mount. It could have just been this world's term for what they'd call something for all she knew.

Her hand subtly twitched at her side out of instinct from years of training when that creature appeared out of nowhere. It was more from the sudden appearance rather than what it appeared like. Eyes trained on the oni, Elza peered curiously at the beast. There were some large odd creatures where she was from, but she'd never been keen enough to get too close to them.

"He's quite the imposing fellow isn't he?" She stated more than asked. The information all felt foreign to her in some ways, but gaining power... Access to magic through other parties wasn't. They were all puppets to those in power at the end of the day. Would she even want something like that oni, Kimon, connected to her. That thought was unsettling and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out about this 'familiar'.

"I'm more of the solitary kind," Elza offered up with a shrug. Unease bubbled lightly at the pit of her belly thinking about what may happen.

The familiar she did have seemed to know it's bonded well as it kept a watchful distance. If Nobunaga did send his familiar off, Kimon would come across the IronMoon floating out of sight some distance away.

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga shook his head solemnly. "This world doesn't afford people that so easily." He just had to nod, for Kimon to go running off to find her IronMoon, and bring it back to them closer.

"Do you recognize that?" a head tilt. "Rose didn't recognize her phoenix, so it's not always obvious, but in my experience, the familiars do fit the people they care for. They'll keep you from dying. Even if it means fussing you into bed when you're sick with a fever." A beat, and a smirk. "Not me, a few other fools."

[markedfordeath]

His answer was far from what she wanted to hear. Nobunaga's familiar went off and that sinking feeling settled into her stomach as she saw something familiar returning alongside Kimon.

"Yes," was a that she said to his question. The IronMoon. They fit the people they care for. His words ran through her mind while Elza's gaze drifted along the cool grey tones of this so - called familiar of hers. The symbolism didn't go over her head.

Thankfully though his smug words drew the gunner away from her thoughts as the IronMoon hovered silently around the trio - ever-watching with that smile on its face.

"Heh, I suppose that they serve a purpose," Elza said before she shrugged her shoulders and playfully added, "Or act like overbearing parents watching your every move."

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga nodded... and laughed. "Something like that anyway. Kimon is a bit more like my retainers. Which I suppose is only to be expected for the Demon King! WAHAHAHAHA!" Yeah there's definitely an edge to that laugh that says pretty clearly he's exaggerating it for comedic/dramatic effect.

Whatever, his parents were definitely not overbearing. They didn't straight up throw him to the wolves, but Nobunaga wasn't exactly an easy to manage child either, running off to play with guns and such. And his retainers... it's a long story.

So they both have issues. Maybe it's a gun thing.

"You can always find your own way with them. Everyone's different after all."

[markedfordeath]

Nobunaga was... An interesting man. Over the top, but at the same time he gave the appearance of having his emotions bared to all. Would the late mad prince have also been referenced in such a way by those fighting under him? No, from the stories she'd heard and what snippets she'd witnessed this man and the mad prince were hardly the same.

"What makes you this Demon King of Japan?" he looked human enough but she supposed he could have been a demi-human beneath that outfit of his.

1/4

[konpeito_aji]

"Demon King of the 6th Heaven. I hail from Japan." There's... actually a vast distinction, and he wouldn't want to give the wrong impression, despite going around with a nonsensical made up title that sounds grand but basically is just a warning he's an idiot. "Except Japan hasn't completely seen reunification in my time, I was working on that before coming here. There's actually quite a few people from centuries after my time however, and apparently me and my allies did it, so I'm very happy about that."

AS FOR DEMON KING--

You asked the right question! In a way, it's an absurd little test. Only some very very few eccentric, and learned types get the connotations, and all of it is about how other people choose to react. Because those who DO know the full connotations; usually make snap judgements. And it's not that it's NOT meant to cause that; it is! But at the same time, the people who don't intrigue him more. And the people who think it's literal, or even funnier; intimidating make him laugh. A lot.

But you'd be amazed how many people just don't ask! Even knowing he's from a different world than them, and that it could mean anything.

Still, he rubs his left hand on the back of his neck, his right hand still resting across his hip near the gun and sword.

He wants to give the question the respect it deserves instead of a nonsense blow-off answer he would usually entertain someone who hadn't purposely climbed cliffs instead of stairs, and hadn't had the brains enough to ask the right sort of questions! So while he answers, "You become the Demon King by defeating all the idiot demons," it's clear he's going to extrapolate further than that, because that would itself normally be more of a game, more a test to see what kind of idiot he was dealing with! -- Something he didn't need here, because she wasn't one! (A rare thing indeed!)

2/4

[konpeito_aji]

"There are no more demons in Japan," A smirk.

And then a beat, "At least in my timeline. There are other versions of Japan, and people from them, and it's complicated. There's other versions of me too." Does that mean he has to defeat himself someday too? Probably! But not today Satan!

"But in my timeline... there never were any."

3/4 CW: Sengoku Era Japan stuff VIOLENT (not super graphic, just dark!)

[konpeito_aji]

It feels weird to say that out loud, almost raw, after calling himself the Demon King and explaining he had to defeat the other demons to become the Demon King.

Yeah. THIS IS GOING TO GET MORE STUPID SOMEHOW.

"They were monks, and lords, and bandits. Natural disasters, and weather phenomenon, and superstitions that certain people: I'm going to call demons, attributed all those things to being... demons. Say a lord was robbing his own people, stealing their ore and selling it on the black market to an enemy. He might employ mercenaries or ninja and bandits to set fires in the middle of the night, claim the ore was stolen by spirits, demons and so it wasn't his fault." He really had the worst love-hate relationship with Japan. Proud as the dickens of its future, hated to pieces its well... Demons. And being trapped there.

Nobunaga spread his hands with a shrug. "After all, if the ore was spirited away by a demon, what could the lord do, right? People couldn't expect him to expel a demon now, could they?"

There was a very cruel smirk at that, years of clearly seething fighting behind it, Nobunaga's carnelian red eyes burned with a fiery intensity despite how cold they seemed.

He didn't really want to explain how fucked up Japan was to an outsider who hadn't, and mostly likely wouldn't see it for themselves though. It was different with Luis Frois and others who were there in person, if anything, helping Nobunaga see it through their eyes. Or better still, see the potential it still had.

"Which would force me to expose and defeat them and deal with meting out their consequences."

Did he come across as an idiot? He's not saying he's not. But it takes a Demon King to scare all the lesser demons into submission. "That would mean executing them, usually. Becoming the worst demon of Hell so that the other idiot demons continued to have clear warning of the consequence of failure."

There's more!

"Monks and priests might say demons and gods or other spirits were angered, and that's why the crops were bad, or the typhoon destroyed the watch tower. Sometimes they'd even hire bandits, promise to take care of the bandits for the villagers in exchange for a greater fee, and force the villages to continue their racquet. Sacrifice their children. Either as offerings, or as servants to join their monk sect. Again, it would just mean a much bigger demon had to defeat a lesser one and absorb his power, always becoming ever worse; the true demon king."

He hopes it's clear he's only scratching the surface. That it's just this is how much he will tell someone who isn't there to see it for themselves. Because otherwise it's not fair, they have no real means of getting even the context. And again, he wouldn't even bother with this much for most people, because he'd assume it would sail broadly over their heads or so far to the left it was fine to just leave it as meaningless or whatever they made up for themselves that they decided on their own definition, instead of someone else's. But that was the trick, she wasn't asking his definition, she was asking the others', the context.

4/4

[konpeito_aji]

"The Sixth Heaven is a nonsense place," he explained blandly, tonally shifting from the grim-dark seriousness of which he felt was only fair to explain that yes, he would murder and be the worst kind of monster of the world if he wanted to; back to... a relatively fucked up but CHEERFUL smug bastard! The kind of asshole who had no problem cheekily telling gods and priests to their faces: God's not real. Even if he was all for letting the European missionaries continually bribe him with civic projects and candy!

"In Buddhism, they follow Buddha," Derp derp. "He ascended through various levels, and didn't need to defeat the demons, they just cowered from his holiness, and he kept ascending, becoming more and more holy." Nobunaga wonders what would happen if he met Buddha for real. Would he punch him? Get along????? WHO KNOWS? "But the Demon King of 6th heaven knew he couldn't stop Buddha, so he urged him to ascend as quickly as possible and leave the Demon King to his domain so he didn't weaken in power." LISTEN, he knows you will NEVER get how funny this is, but it's fucking hilarious for him!!! It's a kind of you-had-to-live-it-for-decades thing. "The Demon King of Sixth Heaven wants to corrupt everyone to a life of worldly decadence. Things like... enjoying life." See this asshole smirk? Honestly, he's having a blast!

"Like candy!" He loves candy. Fight him. "The monks and priests will always say you can't continue to ascend if you enjoy candy. In fact, if you ascend completely you won't need food, but it takes a long time to get there." His eyeroll made it clear how much it bothered him, and he didn't believe it at all. "So you should probably just give your food to the monks and let them give it to the demons who enjoy that stuff, and then maybe the demons will leave you alone, see?" Catch onto how that racquet worked yet? And maybe why he'd call himself or other hedonistic bastards demons?

Another snort. "I said it sarcastically to one of my more religious enemies, when we were still in negotiations. That I was the Demon King of 6th Heaven. I didn't actually think it would turn into propaganda, but..." He spread his hands and shrugged. "At that point, I went with it. It's not incorrect for those idiots who believe that shit." A head tilt. "Oh, and Uesagi Kenshin. He's another extremely troublesome warlord. His whole childhood he was told he was the reincarnation of Buddha's war side: Bishamonten. So I don't know how much he believes he's the God of War or not, but certainly, that's the propaganda around him." Another shrug and a small smirk. "That's fine isn't it? Befitting the Demon King to have the God of War as an enemy."

Even if he barely remembers Kenshin is technically alive-ish somewhere in his time, being... annoying. He's pretty sure Uesagi is more annoying to those around him than Oda is to even the Oda forces. And truly, that's saying something.

Nobunaga stretches -- and starts walking. Wow! He hasn't spoken that much at once in...... Forever! He blames her being a gunner, and a certain asshole god of war (not Kenshin!) for constantly talking smack about how Nobunaga doesn't know war at all. (Like, sure whatever dude!)

"Come on, the Shit Box usually has stuff from home in it, might have something you want. It's over here."

[markedfordeath]

If Elza were to be honest with herself, she hasn't been expecting such an honest answer. Parts of what he spoke were things she had no level of understanding for. However the gunner listened with a keen ear and found herself reflecting his thoughts. She knew well how 'demonic' the human race could be and some part of her actually found herself aligning with his outlook. Still she let the information sink in while he spoke. You never knew if it ever came in handy in the future.

His unexpected information drop left her quiet in thought while he spoke. Then when he gestured her get to follow, the gunner actually did. Which in itself was unheard of. He was intriging.

"I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to hear that the human race is the same regardless of where we're from," Elza offered while she followed Nobunaga.

She gazed ahead in the direction they were going and gave a little shrug as she let the previous roof drop. "I've got all that I need on me."

Sturm and Mond. No other items was important to her.

[konpeito_aji]

"Curiously enough, even some nonhumans seem much the same way here." A shrug. "I wonder why that is."

A quiet hum in acknowledgement of her words. "You might find something you simply didn't know you wanted then," a smug grin. "That was actually where my falcon, Haguro was. Apparently Mitsuhide's fox was in the box too, surprisingly enough. Magic..." A headshake and a scoffing laugh. "I still can't wrap my head around it!"

[markedfordeath]

That didn't come as a complete surprise to her. She'd knew well what the elves, dwarves and kobold's were like to humans. "The nature of the beast, I suppose."

As Nobunaga spoke of items people had found in this 'Shit Box', the gunner was trying to picture just what this particular box looked like to hold such things. Although if magic was involved, it could just look like a crate on the ground.

"There is much of it where I am from," Elza said after he finished his scoffed laugh. "It has its uses at times but often causes more trouble than what it's worth."

[konpeito_aji]

"Truly? Well, sounds like you'll be right at home here," he grinned back at her.
"That's been my experience with it so far, but at least it's always entertaining."

Sorry for the delay. Been dealing with sicknesses this week

[markedfordeath]

Right at home? The thought had a slight smirk curving on her lips. If only he knew.

"Oh I've no doubt," She murmured in reply. "As I'm certain that you've had some of your own." He did mention coming from a world that didn't have it. Would it become an addiction to those who'd never used it.