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As of yet, he had avoided being owned; he wanted no part in the violence, even less this frivolous sort. There may be no injuries, there may be no blood, but the pain was real enough and who did something like that? How sick could you be?
Enki gave the receptionists an angry glare as he stormed into the lobby. He wasn't sure why he was here, exactly. Some would maybe have said it was because it was one of the places unrestricted to the 'discards', but what did he care? The forests were free to walk through, for example. He didn't really mind the discard position; there was more than enough to eat, and most of thse desserts he neither cared for, nor could have, anyway. And his weapon, he knew, weren't very strong. That his weapon actually looked like a weapon made his insides curl up on themselves; he'd have been much happier with something that did not look like an actual weapon.
Standing some way past the now-closed doors behind him, Enki scowled and scratched his neck. Why had he wandered into here, anyway? There was something... If he had been home, he'd have said it felt like when he was getting closer to the king after having been in Hourai for a few days, but that couldn't be it, because the king wasn't here. Couldn't be here. He'd even take Shōryū's precense! Anything! And he really wished that strange, faint elated sensation would go away.
Enki gave the receptionists an angry glare as he stormed into the lobby. He wasn't sure why he was here, exactly. Some would maybe have said it was because it was one of the places unrestricted to the 'discards', but what did he care? The forests were free to walk through, for example. He didn't really mind the discard position; there was more than enough to eat, and most of thse desserts he neither cared for, nor could have, anyway. And his weapon, he knew, weren't very strong. That his weapon actually looked like a weapon made his insides curl up on themselves; he'd have been much happier with something that did not look like an actual weapon.
Standing some way past the now-closed doors behind him, Enki scowled and scratched his neck. Why had he wandered into here, anyway? There was something... If he had been home, he'd have said it felt like when he was getting closer to the king after having been in Hourai for a few days, but that couldn't be it, because the king wasn't here. Couldn't be here. He'd even take Shōryū's precense! Anything! And he really wished that strange, faint elated sensation would go away.
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But he digressed. This was, as previously mentioned, a perfectly ridiculous situation, and that was precisely why he was sporting a smirk wide enough to make his other half yell at him for a year for even thinking of enjoying it.
He made his excuses to the few children he'd met on the train and went on ahead, striding into the lobby with infuriating casualness. Best to determine where he was, before he made any decisive moves.
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So when the door opened again, Enki paid it no mind. Until he was stabbed in the skull by warmth that could mean only one thing, and his whole body quivering with joy.
What.
That...
Really?
Enki whirled around, and for a second, he was confused. That was---
"Shōryū--!" His shout had begun in annoyance, because what was he thinking smirking like that in a situation like this! It ended in a strangled gasp as the knowledge suffused him.
Of course.
How could he have forgotten? Shōryū was the king. It was so painfully obvious, and they had taken that from him. Enki slammed to his knees where he was, heedless of the whispers around (wouldn't have been able to heed them even if he'd had some sort of choice in the matter), going from a kneel into a full prostrate kneel.
Only for the king.
"What are you doing, you idiot!"
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That was highly convenient. So convenient as to be suspicious, but he couldn't deny he was glad to see the small kirin. He made his way past the other new arrivals, unnecessarily amused at their confusion and their whispers, and knelt down in front of Enki.
"Did you get yourself caught again? How careless of you." It was a rather blithe dismissal of his question, but when he had no real idea of what he was doing, he couldn't exactly answer anyway.
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Honestly, he was standing (or kneeling, in this case) right here before Enki, and he talked about how careless he was?
"No wonder I walked over here..." The mutter trailed away as Enki straightened more and gave Shōryū a once-over, while interlacing his fingers behind his head.
"I never thought I'd be quite so happy to see your insufferable face, Shōryū, but you really ought to know better," Enki chided his king, because really, he oughtn't be here too. Because even if En could do well without the two of them for a while, the ministers couldn't do all the work for too long.
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"Anyone would think you'd missed me," he shifted onto one foot, so he could lift the kirin back onto his feet. "And that would be Fuukan, if you please."
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"I have no idea what you're talking about, Fuukan." Was this really necessary? But he'd do as Shōryū wished. But, of course, it wouldn't do to simply leave it at that.
"Why would I be missing some drifter drunk off the street? Maybe I should go ask the king to put you to work in the horse stables." Contrary to his words, though, Enki was holding fast to the cloth of Shōryū's robe as they gained an upright and on-their-feet position.
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His voice, however, didn't change one jot.
"You're too kind, Taiho, but he wouldn't want a layabout like me near his horses."
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"No, I suppose he wouldn't. But maybe I can convince him to let you into my service, considering he's always reminding me what a benevolent and just creature I am." Enki's face then smoothed out from its sharp grin into something more serious.
They couldn't talk much out here, but Shōryū needed some idea of the situation, because who knew how long it would be until that introduction was run.
"Our hosts aren't as benevolent as I am, though. You should perhaps at least pretend to not be useless, Fuukan... Or at least not as useless as you usually are. I won't ask the impossible." One eyebrow rose higher on his forehead, but there was still a shade of seriousness left.
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With a grunt, Enki stepped away and looked out over the lobby, turning around so he could see if Gaara was here, yet; while Enki wasn't sure he appreciated the view of him as 'fragile', the Kazekage had done quite a lot for him, and his... Enki's thought ground to a halt. His what? That was only Shōryū behind him.
And while Shōryū was special, in his own, annoying way, he wasn't the king and so wouldn't--- He was forgetting something. Tingle in his fingers where he'd just been grabbing the hoh, and the light behind him seemed slighly stronger than in the rest of the hall.
"Sh--Fuukan---" Enki wasn't sure what he'd been about to say, because he'd lost his train of thought due to the distraction earlier and turned back to Shōryū. And was nearly blinded by that special presence that was Shōryū/the king's, and no one else's.
Enki almost went down to his knees again, only stopped by grabbing onto Shōryū's hoh (he'd need to change, considering it really was too 'dressed up' for this place. At least if he wanted to blend in). As it was, his knees buckled and almost touched the floor.
"I--- They made me..!" Enki hissed, hands fisting in Shōryū hoh as he finally made the connection between "they took the memory of who I chose as king of En" to what was going on.
...
Was it too late to keep it from Shōryū?
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"How impolite of them," he murmured, giving the attendants at the other end of the hall an appraising look. "Allow me to spare you the trouble."
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"Just wait until you find out what memories they've taken from you!" Enki snapped, and then snapped his mouth closed, because Shōryū wasn't stupid, and while he'd obviosuly thought 'they' had simply made Enki kneel, Enki had now, against his resolve, managed to reveal that wasn't it.
Because, unfortunately, Shōryū just wasn't the idiot Enki sometimes would prefer his king to be. Because calling someone an idiot didn't make them so.
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The king hummed to himself, a low, thoughtful sound, and shifted his grip to let Enki settle himself more comfortably. He wasn't a table, but he'd do. The robes were ample padding. That done, he set off for the desks at a reasonably sedate pace. "What would they gain from that, I wonder."
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But then, Enki remembered not all kirin and king pairs were as matched as they were.
"To fight," Enki spat, bile rising up in his throat again. He'd observed two battles; the first one to see how they worked, the second only accidentally.
"There will be an introduction, later, for the new ones... or for people who're just stupid." Enki couldn't help it, really, but having to consider the battles were unsettling him, and he had to make up for that somehow.
"But, simply... They've taken memories, and somehow allow a select few to draw weapons from the chests of the others. The weapons inflict pain but no real injuries. Those able to draw weapons are supposed to fight each other." Enki said, face drawn and voice sharp, and a glare at nothing in particular thrown out in front of him.
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"What an elaborate prison. Have you been amusing them, then? Or have you been misbehaving enough that I'm here to secure your cooperation?" The king was, after all, the only being in existence who could order their kirin to fight. It made sense that he would make the best hostage. "It must be a powerful spell, if you haven't called your shirei."
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"Don't you dare," Enki hissed, because he could see the meaning behind that. But, unfortunately, of course Shōryū would 'dare' to order him to fight.
"I wasn't chosen this round." He hoped he'd never be, but what would the odds be of that? "And if you're the one they brought in to secure any future cooperation... They don't know much, do they?" Enki said with his nose in the air, but it was all hot air. Because Shōryū was exactly the person they'd want to bring in...
Then he swallowed and grabbed the ponytail Shōryū's hair was in, needlessly tugging on it, and a bit too harshly, perhaps.
"I can't. There's... Nothing. They must have sealed my horn, but I feel nothing."
Frankly, even if it was exceedingly annoying to have the revelation each time he'd look back at Shōryū, at least it was there. Something that hadn't been taken away.
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He twitched again as his hair was yanked on. He let the tug pull his head back, and watched the parade of emotions across Enki's face with half-closed eyes.
"Nothing?" Well then. He reached up to Enki's forehead, and deliberately placed the palm of his hand against where his horn would be. The touch was solid enough to be uncomfortable, but light enough that the hand could be shoved or slapped away without Enki losing his balance. He would have warned him, but that yank had hurt a little.
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aghf-Why such a jerk, Shōryū? 8D
He shoved the huge hand off his forehead and then planted his fist onto the top of Shōryū's head.
"What the--! You---! Idiot!" Enki had been shouting, but now took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. His forehead tingled uncomfortably, and a chill was still clinging to his spine.
"What was that even supposed to prove?" Enki leaned down to hiss, using the hand he'd earlier slapped away to steady his awkward tilt.
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Shōryū ducked away from any follow-up blows, though he kept his hand up as a support. If Enki fell off after that, he'd probably set about making his king's life a total misery with a zeal reserved for wronged women and this particular tiny kirin. "A seal isn't permanent," he finished, when it was safe again. The idea that someone would remove Enki's horn had been, for a few seconds, a horrible possibility.
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"You. Are a horrible example of royalty. Have no respect for Heaven's creatures at all! Perhaps I should try and return you. Claim you're faulty." That said (and quietly enough no one else would have heard, because if he didn't want to shout out who he was here, Enki would do his best), Enki sat up straight again on his perch.
And yes, a seal wasn't permanent. Enki had been clinging to that thought for the two past weeks, hoping that was what it was. And also clinging to the hope that he wouldn't get chosen to be a Player, because while there was a way for him to participate and not fight, this simply meant someone else would get injured instead.
That was just not acceptable.