TEST DRIVE MEME #7

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you not with mirthful revelry, this time around dear friends. There is a seriousness in the air, though the food is still hearty and the imps still mischievous. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket! Be mindful, though -- the monarchs are watching and cross court communication should be done with the utmost secrecy.

Comments

[depicted]

[Before the accident can happen, a hand catches Enkidu by the shoulder.]

Be careful there. [He sounds more amused than chiding.] You wouldn't want the earth you're so admiring to greet you with too much affection.

[rougher]

It means no harm to me, I am very sure.

[it's a rather strange thing to say, isn't it? that's what he chooses to focus on, the casual touch seeming not out of place in the slightest to him. perhaps the man had mistaken him for a friend, or was just simply a person who liked to touch. neither were things that Enkidu took any offense to.]

[depicted]

[The voice. An unconscious smile slips onto Dorian's lips, his eyes turn to the boy's face. That voice. He has heard that voice. He has dreamed that he loves that voice more than any other, lived for it, delighted in each of its utterances. He has dreamed that its wordless singing made a world complete

He has dreamed that this voice went away, and all sound was only cacophony.

Dorian's eyes sting. He draws back from Enkidu, fingers flinching inwards.

He knows that voice so well.] You . . .

[Like a dying thing, he reaches for Enkidu's wrist.]

Let me hear your voice again.

[rougher]

... are you all right?

[it's clear like a bell, almost feminine; a sound unlike any other, but unnerving in that way. like the voice of something made to resemble a human, but made too pure, too perfect to be real.

Enkidu himself doesn't flinch at the touch, despite this boy's strange behavior. he has witnessed stranger behavior humans, in the years he lived among them. he isn't one to frighten so easily.]

[depicted]

I know you.

[Dorian draws back. He shakes his head, quick, covers his face with his hand. And he breathes again.]

I—sorry. I was overwhelmed. It was a strong memory, and I never forget a voice or face.

[rougher]

You may know me, but I do not know you.

[and that, to him, is entirely strange and new. how can he know someone he's never met before? in a land he's never set foot it? the boy seems rather sure of it, though, and it seems unkind to question it.]

[depicted]

Of course not. You wouldn't. Ah—[With that hand, Dorian brushes the curls back from his forehead. And that spell of concealment Waver taught him falls away, revealing a red marking on the back of his hand.]

I'm Dorian Gray. I know you from Gilgamesh's dreaming.

[rougher]

[that symbol, the mark of a Master. Enkidu finds himself reaching for the boys hand, grasping it gently with his own as he examines the mark. so it is not the first time a Servant has come to this place; that much is certain ... and the Servant who was summoned before him ...]

Gilgamesh ... is he really here?

[depicted]

[Dorian lets Enkidu take his hand, and he finds the touch reassuring. Familiar. As if he had felt it so many times before. Dorian closes his eyes and exhales, trying to free himself from someone else's feelings.]

He is. For more than a year, he has been.

[If Enkidu knows the mark, then he may guess how Dorian came to know Enkidu through dreams. Even if he does not, Dorian doesn't think to explain. It always feels strange to call Gilgamesh his Servant.]

I could call him for you. But I have a feeling he'll find you quickly enough.

[rougher]

[it is a tempting offer, for being parted from Gilgamesh for even a moment when he could be with him, instead, is a difficult pill for Enkidu to swallow. however, he is not so enraptured with the promise of reunion to (yet) entirely leave his senses behind.]

A year? A grail war has been waged here for over a year?

[such a thing seems impossible; especially with the state of place he's wandered into. a long war between heroes of old would certainly result in more war-torn land than this, which he has seen no evidence of ... yet, anyway.]

[depicted]

Not a grail war, I don't think we have a Grail around here. My impression is that all the Servants here have been pulled out from it.

[He honestly never asked any of them, but there are enough about. That Enkidu references it tells Dorian this: the clay man is not from his legend. A legendary Enkidu wouldn't have any more reason to know the fight for the Holy Grail than a Sumerian king. If Enkidu knows about the war, then he must be here as a Servant too.]

[rougher]

There are more than Gilgamesh? And they've found Masters here?

[it is a strange thing to consider. his status as a Servant gives him natural knowledge of the logistics and rules of his place in Grail War, but outside of that ... what would be the purpose of heroic spirits, set loose on Earth as it is now? or this place, for that matter?]

[depicted]

I believe most of them have. [He goes over those he knows mentally—] Two Lancers, a pair of Berserkers, a Rider, and a Saber, so far as I am aware. And yourself and Gilgamesh, of course. At the least, one of the Berserkers has a Master, but I imagine the rest of them have sought out one as well.

[To explain why:] They've all been here at least a year now. From the impression other Servants given me, that's a long time for your kind to go without any Master.

[He will not, cannot forget the ravenous violence as Gilgamesh's hunger for mana reached a peak.]

[rougher]

That is a very long time, yes.

[not to mention a very long list of Servants ... obviously pulled from different wars, with so many overlapping classes. it's a little daunting to imagine what kind of Grail war it would be between all melee classes.

(also, guiltily, a little exciting).]

Have you been Gilgamesh's Master for that long?

[depicted]

[Enkidu don't go picking a fight with every Servant just because you want to play Super Smash Heroes Melee—

It's strangely difficult to get a read on Enkidu. Even as he watches him behind clear blue eyes—there's something. Something Dorian can't quite grasp.

And yet something intimately familiar at second-hand, although it feels as if his own experience.]

We contracted about half a year ago. It's gone surprisingly well: I haven't woken up in bed to find my Command Spells cut off even once.

[rougher]

[i have very refined tastes and those tastes just happen to be fighting everybody.]

Was that ever a concern?

[it certainly concerns him, frowning when he hears it. surely Gilgamesh has not become so ill behaved in his absence that he'd threaten someone who agreed to enter into a contract with him.

well, no, actually. that does sound like something he'd threaten, if not do, should his mood become foul enough.]

[depicted]

[perhaps a bottle of fine wine with that?]

Not from him, that doesn't particularly seem his style. But there is no guarantee on Gilgamesh's behaviour. I knew that from the start and was reminded of it repeatedly by third parties.

[Dorian turns his hand, splays out the fingers to better frame the spells on the canvas on his skin. His woodwind voice speaks in careless notes, unconcerned with the heavy consequence at present.

I haven't intentionally angered him, but I won't be anything other than myself just to appease him, either. If he one day decides to turn on me . . . Well. I'll be more disappointed than surprised. That's how it is between us.

[rougher]

If that happens, I will not allow him to harm you.

[in Enkidu's mind, it is better than trying to deny the possibility all together. Gilgamesh is his first and only friend, but he has never seen him as anything less than what he is. and at his worst, that happens to be a rather bloodthirsty and petulant child.]

[depicted]

[And there, Dorian's eyes widen. Then a quick drawing of the brows: he can't quite believe it. An incredulous smile makes it onto his lips—]

Would you really?

[rougher]

[his tone is even, face almost grave as he speaks. it is not a task he savors, but has accepted it as his own from the moment he gained sentience.]

I know better than any how capricious he can be. It is my duty as his friend to put a stop to his more regrettable actions.

[not to mention for the entirety of their lives he was the only one, with the exception of deities, even capable of such a feat.]

[depicted]

I appreciate that.

[Honest, there, all the more so from the quiet surprise in his gratitude. Enkidu does not look like a man who could wrestle Gilgamesh to submission, but Dorian knows the truth of who and what he is, knows it from the memories themselves. So he smiles.]

Do you need help with anything settling in? [The smile turns wry as he adds,] The least I can do for my inevitable future saviour.

[rougher]

[he pauses when he hears the offer, considering for a moment before he speaks again, a little sheepish.]

I must admit, I was somewhat distracted when I arrived. I have not been paying due attentions to my surroundings ... would you mind guiding me around the area?

[translation: i was too busy being a mudnerd to watch where i was going]

[depicted]

[Dorian lights up, and in that moment, he fully becomes himself: the voice of a low viola, drawing out over every not pleasantly, and animation and life of presence that is overfull. He is a soulless thing, a Master strangely devoid (almost completely) of mana, but he is in the void of himself overbrimming, and that speaks out in all his eagerness of experience now.]

Ooh, if we must, but there are far more interesting places to tour. If you're to stay with Gilgamesh, you'll be shipped off to Leathann in a short amount of time. Parrais is better for art, and Treun, Leathann, and the Cothromach are better for markets. Better to just skip Caer Scima and enjoy elsewhere.