▶ TDM .011

[prismods]

plays hard to get

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ There and Back Again
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

 A  Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

 B  As a Remooning gift from the Lunar Scientia Headquarters, the dedicated team from the Amphoria Room has released their latest perfected technology: Amphoria Pods. These VR Pods, which can fit up to four people at a time, have been set up in the gaming hub within Level 1’s PrismaPlace. They allow users to upload sceneries of their world in order to create a realistic holographic landscape of their homes that others can access and play around with, granting everyone the means to relive past memories with their loved ones as well as interact with the bestiary of other worlds. The pods also use the same technology that enhanced the popular virtual game, League Match Action Online (LmaO), which means you’re liable to feel the chill of cold environments, the burning heat from boiling water, the hard slap of your ex-lover, or the biting sting of a stray wasp. All who use the Amphoria Pods for the first time this year will also receive a small amount of Chroma in case things get too real.

▶ God Save Us from the Queen
Level 1, PrismaPlace and Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

The first month of the year is packed with two of the most important winter events this season: Queen Elara’s birthday and the League Match Action Online (LmaO) PVP semi-finals. It just so happens that the Queen of Lunatia is also a huge LmaO fan. Coincidence? Definitely not! LmaO players and royal family fans alike can meet her at PrismaPlace, where she will be appearing in cosplay of her favorite hero, Ah-Kari, while holding a body pillow of Commander GareBear. You, too, can get an autograph or selfie with the birthday girl if you’re willing to fall in line! Her bodyguards will also be in LmaO cosplay, keeping the crowd under control during the long wait.

Queen Elara

Good day to you all! This may come as a surprise to our guests the Moonblessed, but I am a normal person despite my exalted position. Please do not think of me today as Queen Elara. Instead... my name is Ah-Kari, sorceress of the crystal! With my soul fan blades, through the darkness, I shall slice all who dare hurt my commander in twain!

But when she is not meeting and greeting...

Queen Elara

My comrades, we're going to make history today. We're going for a new record. Perhaps the highest kill counts or the fastest clear for this map — it matters not. We’ve practiced day and night for this tournament, so let us show everyone that we’re not to be taken lightly! Also, the livestream is going in the royal archive, so make your successors proud!!

... she will be furiously grinding her character and training her skills in LmaO in the hopes of qualifying for the finals. Spectators will see her bring her own team full of hapless palace attendants who are there to either serve as her practice match partners or provide support to the one-woman army that is Queen Elara.

PrismaPlace is packed with giant crowds, many of them also in cosplay. While the semi-finals are taking place, new and old LmaO players alike can participate in the game’s current campaign: players who form teams get an improved chance of spawning unique monsters as well as winning rare items and skins in those prized lootboxes! Teams can also try to clear the event’s story together, featuring an aerial battle fought on griffin-back, which is heavily inspired by the popular Lunatian epic, The Battle of Abraxas, a colorful and complex story about the conflict between two families fighting over the fictional land of griffins, Abraxas.

 A  Progression in the event requires acquiring a griffin mount and getting it ready for battle. You can lure a wild one to yourself with a special veggie pie on a fishing pole. Should the griffin reject the lure, your character will be caught in a wind gaol and can only break out with the help of other players. Should you succeed, raising the griffin is a tedious task that involves players training alongside their respective griffins, running laps with them, taking them to hunt monsters, and feeding them properly. Depending on their diet, the food you give them will affect the color of its plumage and their battle stats.

Or you can skip the hard work and simply moonlace with your teammates through all the progression bars and required materials to save time. Once finished, you’ll be able to battle one another through the thunderous aerial domain of Abraxas. Clearing the event will net you an event-exclusive skin inspired by the royal family’s shining celestial robes and a weapon skin of a body pillow with your favorite character, so do your best!

 B  In celebration of Queen Elara’s birthday, the office of the royal household is hosting a modest tea party in the Greatmoon Groves. Swiffy bots that are normally programmed to remind visitors to keep the groves clean are now playing a birthday jingle on repeat. For people who prefer to be away from the blinding neon lights and the thumping techno music of PrismaPlace, this is the ideal escape. Unlimited tea and cookies are being served!

The tea is a soft-colored lilac concoction made from Ehrysian tea leaves that are known to cause a huge spike of alertness and is popular to Moon Knights and office workers with long night shifts as well as gamers for those all-night grinding sessions. The assorted cookies have either Ah-Kari or Commander GareBear printed on them. In case it isn't obvious yet, both are the birthday girl’s favorite LmaO characters.

Any Moonblessed looking for extra income is welcome to be royal attendants for the day; the hours are paid by Demichroma. They must be properly dressed up as maids or butlers (outfits provided by the royal household) as they serve tables.

▶ Say Cheese
Level 3, Caihong | top

Meanwhile, Caihong is in the midst of Remooning festivities in celebration of the new year, and merriment usually lasts a fortnight, filled with fireworks in the sky. Upon entering the district, beautiful Prismals with rat ears and tails greet you with a Happy Remooning and eagerly tug you along to join in.

Those welcomed will receive a pack of multi-colored sparklers, mooncakes topped with cheese, and a glowing drink called Champagne Supernova, poured in a thin glass in your hand. If you are over eighteen, the rat Prismals will ask if you prefer your drink with a kick. If you say yes, then they will add flavorful ice that causes extreme intoxication and might leave you to be susceptible to all levels of suggestion. Saying no (or if you’re under 18) will simply leave it as a sweet drink.

 A  One of the party games being played by the locals is called Lucky Tail, which is basically pinning the tail on the holographic rat stand-in — with a twist, it must be played with a partner! Another participant will blindfold you, spin you around, then push you forward. The stand-in is located at the end of unsteady elevated platforms forming a maze, filled to the brim with distracting objects underneath. They’re long, they’re thick, and they’re vibrating furiously in an attempt to knock you off the platforms.

Your partner must guide you by voice to successfully navigate through the maze! The game is rigged with various mechanisms, so stepping on specific platforms will activate a number of traps against you or your partner: machines that may tickle, drop colorful slime, or cause the platform to repetitively spin, and who knows what else?

Should you manage to get through the obstacle course and pin the tail successfully, you and your partner will win copious amounts of Demichroma, courtesy of Buwan from Buwan’s Stop.

 B  Another attraction is a fun magic glamour booth known for its face or body swap features. The booth staff, clad in their festive rat paraphernalia, will encourage you and your friends to take aesthetic shots using an illusion generator. The effects last an hour. Photographed images can be instantly uploaded and shared in Prismagram. New year, new you! Why not take the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion in a unique fashion? It’s all in good humor.

There are two buttons to press: (A) CUSTOM or (B) RANDOM. Pressing A will allow participants to customize their desired effects. Pressing B will cause the illusion magic to randomly rearrange participants in questionable positions, new outfits (or lack thereof), and you may even come out of the booth looking like your best friend or your worst rival. The possibilities are endless!

▶ Questions
If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!
▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

Comments

slams into this so fast

[likethelight]

[ Allen's first thought is that crap, he messed up, someone else already lives here and is going to think he's an intruder. In his state he just must not have been paying enough attention—also with everything already being so foreign to him, it's just plain hard to tell.

Allen's second thought when he hears the other man speak up is very quickly followed by his third. That speak of the devil and he walks in, because he bears an uncanny sort of similarity to the dour swordsman Allen's familiar with at first glance (though he quickly realizes it of course is not him or some fever delusion of Kanda, as Kanda's face would never have an expression that... not-pinched). And that "Kanda?"

"You know Kanda?"

This man speaks like he knows exactly who he's talking about. Which is why Allen—

(should run. he very nearly has a heart attack in that moment where every muscle screams that he should bolt and run)

—does jump up then. Nearly stumbling over himself in his haste to rise to his feet and rush forward even as the other man attempts to brush past that very important bombshell.

And Allen's very much wearing the most atrocious pair of boots that have long seen better days, seeing that they're half held together with strips of cloth. Apologies. Please forgive his distracted European fugitive nature. He's a bit of a mess. ]

Wait, please...! [ Don't just brush past that. And stranger or no, at the offered hand Allen clasps it with both his own. One hand human and pale, one hand armor-plated and blood red save for the golden crystalline cross that's embedded on the back (he lost his gloves long before). Not to shake, but in urgent plea. Also unthinkingly and too distracted for a moment to pay it any mind.

It can't be Kanda-Kanda. But what are the chances and why would this man seem familiar with someone who, as far as Allen is concerned, has an incredibly unique sort of name. ]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude—but what do you mean "do you know Kanda"...? [ Because logically illogically that would mean...

It would mean, when Allen thought he felt someone grab his foot when he fell through the gate... someone that surely had to have been Kanda as he'd heard him yell after him...

...did it mean Kanda had fallen through to here as well? ]

You don't mean— [ it's so foreign on his tongue, Kanda's full name, but he has to be sure ] Yu Kanda... he's here? [ The way he asks, it could almost be like could he dare to hope that?, or...

Just as easily, it could also be dread. ]

bowls right the heck over--

[inuko]

[ The boots have his metaphorical hackles raising, his thoughts about how clean he keeps his floor flashing through his mind. He's about ready to say something about taking those off please while giving him a stink eye, but then his hand's being clasped and the moonlacing flows and more importantly than either, he's saying please.

Shino's brow furrows, and he brings his other hand up to likewise clasp Allen's clasped hands. It's not coincidental: he figures it's hard for most people when they first get here, with the moonlacing and all, but he's also curious. What's with the red, armour plating? That cross? Not the same as the one around his neck, hanging from its chain, but cross symbolism isn't big in Lunatia, and people's physical traits are of passing interest to him anyway.

(On the other hand, he wouldn't think much of passing visual similarities between himself and Kanda. Not unless someone pointed them out; it's not something he'd think about. A handful of months free of one of his curses hasn't really set his mental image of himself to his proper age. Lingering impressions are of what he was at thirteen, only... taller.) ]

He is, and has been for a few months. If we're talking about the same guy. A little taller than I am, dark hair, dark eyes?

[ That's a painfully generic description, but followed with: ]

Likes to frown?

[ Shino pulls an approximation of Kanda's resting look, which is, frankly, not far off from some people he knows. He may also be fudging it with the "a little taller": Shino's 171 centimeters if that, but he dreams of an eighteen year old growth spurt. It could happen!

The conflicting way of asking doesn't escape him, but he has no context for understanding it. Is the gross boot wearing guy a friend of Kanda's? Coworker? Family member? (Adoptive families are complex things, and all of his most important people back home.) His head tilts to the side, considering, waiting for an answer. Conspicuously or not, he doesn't let go of their presently mutual clasped hands, figuring it's easier to let that slide. No one's hurt from a little extra moonlacing, and the Chroma is good for body and wallet, weird as that ends up being. ]

[likethelight]

[ Shino, he will be so apologetic about the boots a million times over and (try to) never do it again. Maybe he'll even stop being a frugal miser of a bum and get new shoes. In all honesty, he's being a lot ruder and more brazen than he would normally, but there's an urgency in this.

Because at the very least, it was supposed to be just him here.

But he's taken slightly aback. Both that this other man has just confirmed it is Kanda, probably, except he's been here that long when Allen just saw him?, and at the slight jolt when his hands are clasped in return. That's strange, it's warmer than it should be... A gesture he'd almost be comforted by if he weren't so anxious.

(He's nice though, this person. Only someone who's kind would even bother to be as gentle as he is with someone who just barged into their home, accidentally or not. That's what his instincts say. "Trust" might be going too far, but... at least more than anyone else he's spoken with so far, maybe he can trust him a little.)

He blinks and shakes his head for a moment, like he's trying to clear it. ]

That's exactly how he is... [ "Likes to frown" indeed, and a small, petty part of Allen is glad he doesn't have to confirm any height nonsense. He's a very respectable 174cm 17 year old boy who's still growing himself and Kanda is still a full hand's width taller than him. Oversized idiot.

But he's trying to think that though that, expression flickering in an increasingly cagey manner. ]

I don't understand though, I just saw him earlier, before I woke up... there. He couldn't have been here that long.

[ "Moon" sounds weird to say and gives him the jeebies, although he can barely care about that right now. This is.. rather unsettling. And his gaze flicks down to their hands, then back to the other man's face. Quickly, like a nervous twitch.

Bluntly, though without really expecting any answer: ]

What kind of place is this...?

[inuko]

[ They will continue to grow, thanks for askng, universe, and they will be taller. So it is written, so it will be!

(Hope does bloom eternal.)

He's been in this position, the out of place, out of time, out of answers side of things... but he hasn't been the one who had to hear someone he knew (cared about? didn't care about? he can't quite tell with how this guy's acting, and he doesn't bother guessing) was here, when he so recently remembers seeing them elsewhere. He lets the words flow, waiting for anything to respond to, simply holding hands he gives a slight, reassuring squeeze to with that flick of a glance. More a learned behaviour here, because it's helped enough people, and helped him out before too.

Feeling connected matters when you feel alone more often than not. It's not a nice part of himself that is pettily jealous on some level that he's still standing here, no one familiar from home. It's unfair, part of him wants to cry, it's not fair, but life isn't, and if he can help clarify some of the mess they're all in, he'll try.

He's not necessarily any good at it, but it's why he's started up with the Moon Knights, and what he's aiming for. Working on Iris and being a welcoming face for a world that doesn't understand what they are, or the collateral consequences for them, only that they're a valuable and limited resource on a dying planet. ]

It's a complicated answer, and there's no definite facts. This place... waking up here and remembering a moment or a person back home... the two aren't directly connected. Time doesn't flow down river. The Kanda you know might remember the same moment you do before you woke up surrounded by crystal, or he might not. He might remember things from earlier, or from later. No one has an answer for why, just theories. Most of them make my head hurt.

[ He admits, frowning for the first time out of his own displeasure over the lack of answers and lack of solutions he can action toward. He can't will himself home, and he's tried. He can't even will anyone here, selfish as that'd be, and he hates admitting to himself that he's tried that too. ]

I don't know how present the three gods tied to the moon are here, they're pretty absentee, but there's a visible influence that might come from them or something trying to pass itself off as them. Being here, we're all... I guess you could say different from who we are back home, and different from the people born here. What we do, what we make as a consequence of, um... [ his eyes drop down to their hands for a moment, then pointedly lift back to look Allen in the face; ] ... contact with each other feeds back into the world and kind of... energizes everything. Including us.

[ He pauses, then shakes his head. ]

Sorry, that's not what you were asking. This place is outside of the time we know, and in a different reality or universe or whatever you want to call it. We're stranded, until we're not. And it sucks, but it's not as bad as it could be, if you do your best to stay level headed and don't give in to the pressure to break down.

[ His smile here is much more tentative, eyes definitely carrying a sort of resignation within them: building friendships is all that's kept him sane over the last few months, and the fact it's a shifting landscape where people leave without warning and it's never their decision... he hates it. And he's envious if it really means those people have gone home. ]

[likethelight]

[ All of that... it doesn't make any sense and yet it actually does to the point where Allen really wishes that it didn't at all. With the Ark, with everything he's been through the last months... it's not to say all of this isn't surreal, but all of that and honestly some pretty big chunks of his life have been full of things that felt surreal and too strange to be true, so what's one more?

This is real. This is actually real and happening. That's finally starting to sink in now, and he hates it.

The explanation of who they are—of what they are and what that means to the state of this world (familiar enough, it pieces together somewhat with what pieces he remembers from what the scientists and Knights on the moon had tried to explain to him) isn't lost on him though. Nor is the pointed look at their hands and um, oh...

A little sheepishly, he lets go finally as he realizes that... might have been kind of gauche. If it had been a little strangely warm to clasp the other's hands even in urgent plea, it also feels a little strangely cool and empty now. It's... weird. Not bad, but weird. ]

I don't really understand, but... I think I do, too. [ Haaah— shit.

He cracks a smile, entirely humorless. It's like all the energy has been drained from him along with the thready sort of panic that had been in his eyes. Though the smile doesn't reach them either. ]

I'm sorry. Here I am, having barged into your home and brought up all sorts of unpleasant things. [ He really is a wreck, isn't he? Being so thoughtless... ]

You've been very gracious, thank you. [ Very understanding. ]

[inuko]

[ What a hollow expression. Shino almost winces, but the loss of the warmth that comes with contact is one he's still conflicted about, even after months. More because he really likes it, less because it's strange. Nowadays it's just one more reminder that he isn't alone. People can't moonlace with themselves: that warmth means being near someone who is, for however long, content to be around him too.

But he's got years of being the bright one, so he smiles again, less awkward, and waves his hand, dismissing the apology. ]

It's fine, it's fine, unexpected company is unexpected, not unwelcome! Though you could take off your shoes.

[ He hooks a thumb back over toward the doorway, where his own shoes are neatly set to the side. Please. Please stop trekking with your unknown gross dirty shoes across his clean floors. ]

Anyway, we all don't know what's going on when we get here, so it's no big deal. If you want to stay for a little at least... I can make tea? Oh, or hot chocolate! I've got milk for that, if you want any—

[ He's now offered the two hot beverages he can make. He knows he sounds hopeful, but on a list of things he regrets, that doesn't even rank. Strangers are only strangers until they're acquaintances, then friends (or in some rare cases, enemies). No one makes a step on that journey without starting down the path.

That said, he's already starting to turn away and head toward his kitchen, apparently just that eager for some pretense to keep him around for a little longer. He frankly expects an objection and a "I need to go find Kanda," since most often, when he's managed to connect people to others they know, it's gone something like that. Which is sensible, and it's what he'd do, but a guy can try anyway. Nothing is gained by sitting still and hoping for the world to move for you. ]

[likethelight]

[ To Shino's surprise, that's actually not an immediate objection of Allen's. To be honest, the last he saw Kanda... well, he had been escaping from him with the likely expectation of never seeing him again, oops. And there's a good chance the other would be immensely pissed about that (is immensely pissed, his roaring as he charged to stop him was literally the last thing Allen heard before he woke up here) and Allen is just fine putting off that confrontation until he knows if it's even one he wants to have. Things are more complex than him just needing to be on his own and not around Kanda or anyone else right now... but he's sure going to continue with the avoidance until he's certain he needs to do otherwise.

Also, he's not in the mood to get stabbed.

But he blinks at how quickly the other man brightens and begins to busy himself with the business of being a host. Ah, wow. He...

He seems so happy like this. Did he not have guests much, maybe...?

Though Allen will linger back as he realizes, with that pointed request about his footwear, that he might have made a massive blunder in that department. Also tracks. Quite a few tracks. Oops... ]

You don't have to but either of those is... fine? [ His tone is as much I really don't want to be a bother as much as it's surprise as he struggles with his boots and leg warmers. Yes, thick, knit (toeless, and no he doesn't have socks) leg warmers. ] Hot chocolate, maybe?

[ This is kind of surreal too, although for a different reason... As much as he's still guarded and feels nervous in the situation, there's something, well... genuinely welcoming about it. Which is a rare feeling, these days. Part of fleeting moments on the road when he connected with an especially cheerful innkeep, or when some of the bunny girls at one of his master's old establishments fawned over such an oddly pure young guest. (Okay, that made him slightly uncomfortable.)

But it's almost a little sad, too, in a way he can't quite put his finger on. Something about the situation and how quickly the other brightened at the prospect of company, and that more than anything is why Allen couldn't bring himself to excuse himself. He does kind of owe him for barging in as he did anyway; if his company might help cheer the other he's more than fine with that.

Where else would he go, anyway? ]

[inuko]

[ His shoulders relax a fraction when he doesn't hear, Maybe later, or any version of later, thanks, goodbye. He pulls the milk out, then pulls out a pot, getting it going on the stove. (He has yet to replace the microwave he managed to explode. Who knew you weren't supposed to put certain things in those machines?! He sure didn't!)

He pointedly doesn't say anything about him not leaving, even if he wonders: why not? Unless he's practical enough, or overwhelmed enough, to need processing time. If Kanda disappears in the next hour, seeing him sooner wasn't going to change that, right?

... Right. ]

Hot chocolate it is! Did you want cream? I have peppermint too, but no caramel, if you wanted caramel.

[ He pops back out into the living area, blinking at the... what is he even wearing around his legs? The lack of socks registers a moment after, but the knit accessories have him tilting his head just a bit, trying and failing to understand. ]

No socks?

[ Should he not ask? He does anyway, because it was one of the issues he faced in the first few weeks here. For a guy who'd never gone shopping for clothing once before in his life, it was certainly an eye opening, sparkly experience. (Sparkly because that's what was on sale.) ]

Sit wherever you want, the sofa's comfortable, and the chairs aren't bad.

[ A pause. ]

Are you hungry?

[ Mental inventory of what he has in his cabinets right now, versus what fruits he's shoved into his fridge or set out on the counter. Easy things he doesn't need to cook, considering he's been very slow learning how to do any of that himself. ]

I'm dying because the microwave thing is already something I figured Allen would do, LOL

[likethelight]

[ They're the very latest in Victorian hobo fashion! Don't diss. He doesn't really need socks.... also because with his new lifestyle he wears regular socks out so fast he may as well be burning money or wearing holes anyway...

Allen, however, might... he might, at the offer—at so many offers and invitations so rapid fire he can barely keep them straight...

He might seem a little overwhelmed. And staring at Shino as if not certain he's real or not. Fairy godmother, maybe. Did he actually die, is this heaven? ]

I— [ might faint because that's reminding him how hungry he actually is. Or be moved to tears by how kind that is. ]

I don't really need them, like this... [ Right, the socks. He looks a little sheepish and wiggles his toes. ]

I don't know though. [ Hesitant and looking like he wants to say yes so badly—he doesn't, and it kills him to say that. But it also kills him to feel like he's getting something he hasn't earned, especially when he already technically feels in debt to this person. He's itinerant but he's not a bum, he earns his keep.

Also Shino has no idea just what he's getting into with that offer. ]

I really wouldn't want to impose when you've already been so kind—

[ The piercing growl interrupting him would be his stomach. It sounds like he has five. ]

LMAO please have him join the ranks of "oldies who blew up modern appliances"

[inuko]

[ Shino can be overwhelming at times even when he's being more sensitive to other's needs, and right now he's... not being the most. He does slow down some at the trailing off and interrupted statements, cocking his head to the side as the milk heats on the stove.

Really, considering his first comment was more along the lines of are you looking to live here, isn't it obvious he doesn't mind? Who needs a whole bunch of space to themselves? It's not like even when he was a deer jinba he needed two rooms and all the rest.

Still, he also gets why so many look for their own places. More grounding, if you have no one you need to pretend around when on your own.

The scream of a growl from Allen's stomach has both of Shino's eyebrows hiking upward. He almost laughs, can't quite keep the corners of his lips from quirking up, because really? ]

I've only heard growls like that coming from my stomach before. Sit!

[ He waves a hand, turning back to his kitchen and looking for what ready food he has. Given his own eating habits... what he ends up bringing out to the table (gesturing for hobo legwarmers Allen to sit) is an odd assortment of sweet breads, a large bag of popcorn with seaweed and salt flavouring he pours into a similarly large bowl, various fingerfood easy veggies on a plate, and... apples.

... Looking at this, maybe he does need to go shopping... ]

These are just snacks, but it's at least something to start. Have you ever heard of something called "delivery food" before?

[ He's made a few trips to bring all the assorted snacks of various kinds of healthy or unhealthy, a bounce practically in his step. Far more cheerful and energised than when he walked through his own front door. The milk is coming to a gentle boil, so he remains in the kitchen, stirring it and squinting as he watches the bubbles rise. Just about ready... he should pour over the sink, to avoid making much of a mess. ]

[likethelight]

[ Sheepish is as sheepish does. Although Allen might look slightly dejected at his stomach's betrayal, even as he takes the seat as instructed. Even if doing so leaves him feeling rather restless, a knee bouncing slightly as he looks around the room.

Although his eyes widen at Shino brings out an armful of snacks... and then another... and another... Oh. Wow. That's -- that's closer to Allen's idea of "snacks", a mountain like that... more vegetables than he'd choose, but.... ]

Delivery food...? [ Looking up with a blink, he doesn't say it like it's a foreign word, but... kind of? What does the mail or a package have to do with food? Did it go through the mail? That seems gross, it wouldn't be terribly fresh then would it... ]

I'm not sure that I have? [ Or at least he hopes it isn't what it sounds like. But he leans forward a little earnestly as Shino darts back to the kitchen, craning to catch a glimpse of what he's doing. ]

Please, is there something I can help with though? [ He's really hungry and this looks really good and he's staring particularly hard at some of those sweet breads but he isn't so much of a bum as to be an ungrateful guest...! Even if the man seems to have cheered up so much so quickly because of it. ]

/returns from the ether

[inuko]

[ His focus on the stirring of the milk as he determines it's now at the right temperature means his response to anything he asked and heard back on is delayed, until he's lifting a hand and waving it dismissively at Allen--not so helpful, when someone's looking for something to do, and is fidgeting audibly to Shino's ears, but what can he say? Come hover in the kitchen?

... Maybe. What are the kinds of things Hamaji asked him to do to make him useful? ]

Eat something on the table and then come rinse out the mugs?

[ As a question, because he's not sure if that's a useful answer, and the mugs are perfectly clean, but that's beside the point. If Allen pursues that course of action, he'll find them sitting on the counter near where Shino's working, next to a sink with two handles and a spigot. ]

So delivery food, it's the only reason I eat well around here. Get this.

[ He looks up, eyes flashing with a glint of good humour and mischievousness. ]

It's when you can order food from a restaurant or a stall and instead of eating it there, they bring it to you. It's a whole line of jobs people can do around here, it's great!

[ He's not worked a day as a delivery person, but he's glad such a network exists. (Many are bot deliveries, drone deliveries, or straight up "if you own our proprietary hardware, we send the food to you directly on that surface!" but the people side is what he finds the best. ]