Achlian Ajax's Room

[Moon Hound Hati]

Located on the ground floor of the dorm building, Achlian's room is one of the larger ones in order to compensate for his large figure. Naturally, this means the bed and other furniture are also appropriately sized to fit his stature. There are knick-knacks of all kinds to be found lining the walls and shelves, all souvenirs he had collected over the years.

[Moon Hound Hati]

Achlian led the trio of trouble-making sisters into his room, closing the large door behind them once all of them had filed in. “Just sit wherever,” he told them as he gestured towards the main area. There was a large bed, but also a round coffee table in front of it with some cushion seats placed around it. Moving to the tiny kitchen area his room had, he pulled out the smoothy maker, some fruit, and ice. “Any preferences for the flavor?”

[JennyDK]

The trio of demons walk into the spacious room, looking over it curiously for now, taking in how it is set up and what sort of stuff might be here."Thanks for the invitation. I would like banana","watermelon for me" and "coconut is my favourite" are the answers given to Achlian from the sisters who then proceed to sit down: one onto the bed and two others pick a cushion instead."What do you usually do outside of class?", one of them then asks, wondering genuinely.

[Moon Hound Hati]

"Watermelon? Coconut? You girls are lucky I got both in stock!" the minotaur man replied with a soft laugh as he fished requested ingredients out of the fridge. The banana was no trouble, but the watermelon he had to split and coconut had to be cracked.

"I usually go hunting for souvenirs," he told them as he prepared to make the banana smoothy first. Once all three drinks had been prepared, he brought them over on a platter, handing each order to the right girl. If he had been paying less attention he'd probably have mixed them up. 

"What about you three? I hear you like pulling pranks, but are there any other hobbies?" he asked as he sat down next to the one sister who was seated on the bed. 

[JennyDK]

All three sisters grab their respective drinks, looking them over for a brief second before starting to drink from them. Their expressions seems to convey that they are pleased with the outcome. They break from the beverages finally, to give a reply back to him, though one of them has a question to ask before going into that part."Souvenirs? Like those tacky things you find in gift shops?", she says with a bit of a snicker.

Of course, they intend to answer him as well."While pulling pranks is the funniest thing ever, I still enjoy other stuff like keeping fit with fitness", "Well sure, with your flab, haha! Ohh..well...I like to paint a lot" and "Neeeeerd alert! No..the real fun is in playing guitar!", they answer partially to him and to each other.

[Moon Hound Hati]

The bullheaded student couldn’t help but laugh at Claire’s words when she asked if his souvenirs were the tacky sort. “By the forefathers, no!” he replied, still chuckling as he pointed at the ornamented spear hanging on the wall the bed stood against. “I’ve traveled around some in this world. This spear, for example, I got when I got lo--errr, I mean traveled deep into a tropical rainforest the humans call the Amazon. I met a tribe there that, I was later told, was one of the last to have never been in contact with modern human society.”

He paused briefly, grinning sheepishly, flashing his large, white teeth as he scratched the back of his head. “They thought I was some sort of god when we crossed paths, so they gave me this spear.” He choose to omit the fact that the tribe also attempted to sacrifice one of their people in bloody fashion as a tribute to him, but he managed to steer them off that path, despite not speaking their language, and later managed to sneak away under the cover of darkness. It certainly had been an adventure.

The trio then went on to list their own hobbies, with each one seeming to have some of their own. Makes sense, he thought to himself. Just because they looked identical, didn’t mean they were the same on the inside. It was probably easy to forget something like that. For Achlian it was just a little bit different. Minotaurs live in relative isolation, often feared and shunned, even by their own kind, so he’d come to see as each encounter, each meeting of a new person, as something more unique and worth celebrating - compared to a lot of other people, probably. As such, he was trying his best to remember which sister was which.

“Fitness, huh? I like that too. We could try being workout buddies… If you’re interested and looking for one, that is,” he suggested to Jessica, flexing one of his large, muscular arms to playfully reinforce the notion that he also worked out. It was one of those things that, while enjoyable in its own ways, was more fun with at least one friend.

[JennyDK]

The sisters are all quiet as he goes on to tell his tale about that particular item. Calling them souvenirs does seem a bit off the mark, but they cannot think of a better term, at least at the moment. Even if they could, they would hardly bother much to really make a deal of it beyond what was already remarked by Claire a moment ago."I see. Yeah, humans can be a bit weird and such, especially those who live in more remote places and with odd beliefs", Jessica comments finally once he is through with talking.

The bullman seems to focus on the more physical hobby - whether it is out of pure interest or other reasons, they cannot tell. However, their eyes seem to indicate they have some sort of conversation going on between them just by looks and subtle mimicry alone."I am not sure, really. I do just fine on my own. What sort of exercises do you do, more precisely?", she continues since it was her being asked.

[Moon Hound Hati]

“Yes, they certainly are strange creatures,” the bullman agreed with a nod. As subtle glances and expressions were exchanged briefly between the three sisters once more, he was only left to guess what they were communicating so silently between each other. Having no siblings of his own and having lived in relative solitude prior to coming to the human world, he had no idea what it meant to be that close to another person. Some days he wondered what it would be like and if he would ever experience it, but he usually avoided pondering on it too long, for fear of becoming sad; he didn’t like being sad.

“What sort?” Achlian repeated, tapping his chin as he gazed up at the ceiling in thought for a moment. Chuckling, he gave Jessica his answer with an ever-optimistic smile. “A bit of everything, really. You probably can’t tell, but I like lifting weights-” he chuckled at his own joke, “-but I also do cardio and stamina regularly to mix things up and keep things balanced.”

It dawned on him that she might have misunderstood the motivation behind his suggestion to become workout buddies. “Ah… I’m asking if you’re interested because training is more fun if you have someone to chat to during a workout, even if you’re both doing different exercises or have completely different routines,” he explained to Jessica and her two sisters. “Plus, it’s a lot easier to stay motivated when you have a friend who asks you if you want to go work out, rather than keeping yourself motivated every time.”

He used to have a gym buddy before, but they ended up graduating from the academy last year, so he’d been without one since the start of his third year.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Moon Hound Hati

[JennyDK]

The two other sisters quickly feel a bit left out, so they chat among each other lowly or play with their phones as Jessica seems to be the one spoken to.

The unofficial leader of the triplets continue to listen to him speak about his workout thing."Getting motivated and such is not really that tough for me, but if it can help you, I suppose I could be around for when you do it. I just mainly do cardio and stretches. Just general keeping my body fit and in shape really", she responds back and takes a few more sips of her smoothie. She seems to write down something real fast on her own phone."I usually use the outdoors field for it as I like being outside for it. Lots of fresh air too", she adds.

[Moon Hound Hati]

Achlian nodded his bullhead, appearing to agree with the general sentiment. “Yeah, I prefer working out outdoors too. Don’t like air conditioning.” The air inside got stuffy and stale quickly when the gym was busy. “And it can get pretty crowded at times indoors.” That was a pretty big problem for a big guy like him, who took up a lot of space by default.

[JennyDK]

Despite it seeming like only Jessica telling she liked to work out, the three of them still have the exact same physique, fit and slender body, making it hard to tell them apart on the physical level. Still, whoever may know them very well personally, might catch a slight difference in tone of voice, but it's very minute and extremely easy to miss if not focused on, even if you are aware of it. The drinks slowly vanish as well, as the hanging out session goes on like this, with Giana and Claire mostly focused on other stuff as the topic of working out is not much their thing.

"That makes sense. I just find it really stuffy, crowded and overall just....weird. Out of curiousity: Have you gotten used to having humans around you yet?", she responds, trying to switch topics, especially from seeing her sisters being docile.

"Ohh yeah...they can certainly be.....interesting...especially if you can mess with them, hahaha!", Giana chimes in.

[Moon Hound Hati]

“Humans, huh…?” Pondering a bit, he leaned back against the wall slowly with a soft sigh. Being a minotaur, he was subconsciously always a bit more careful about how he moved indoors, for fear of accidentally causing serious damage to stuff like furniture or even the buildings themselves.

Shaking his head a little, he chuckled. “Can’t say I’m much less or more used to being around them than I am others,” Achlian told the sisters with a slight grin, flashing some of his pearly white teeth. “I grew up and lived mostly isolated before coming to the human world,” he explained simply. “So I’m personally still getting used to being in a group in general.”

Turning to Giana, he asked her, “Yeah, I’ve heard some stories. What would you say is the best prank you’ve pulled so far?”

[JennyDK]

"Hahaha, that makes sense. The three adjusted to them quite well, especially since they are much, much easier to mess around with. Of course, there is still much more to them and it's interesting to study the differences, especially in culture", Jessica goes on, finding the subject rather funny to discuss about.

At the question being asked both Giana and Claire snicker and share a look between each other, which goes on for a few seconds. Then she returns her gaze at the minotaur."Ohhh...hehe...not sure if I have an absolute number one. One of the best is totally Claire and I going into a young guy's head and then acting as the devil and angel of his mind...basically, making him question his every action...well, the least serious ones anyway...", she says and now laughs openly for a bit.

[Moon Hound Hati]

The large minotaur nodded his head in agreement with Jessica’s words, his nostrils flaring as he uttered a soft laugh. “Yes, for a single species they do seem to have an astonishingly large amount of different cultures, so there’s plenty to learn and experience in this world.”

Achlian then gave a hearty laugh when he heard Giana and Claire’s tricksy tale of pretending to be the devil and angel on a young man’s shoulder, driving him mad. “I hope I never get on the bad side of you girls, then. Your pranks sound terrifying!” He spoke jokingly, of course, grinning widely.

“Anyone want a refill?” he asked as he noted the near drained state of their glasses.

[JennyDK]

"They certainly do and believe some weird stuff, from what I have seen so far. It also seems way too complicated to have leaders for each country...man, no wonder they are having such a hard time getting along. I much prefer our simple structure", Jessica goes on, referering to their own very simple monarchy system back home. Of course, not every monster feel heavily loyal to the queen, but most would at least acknowledge and follow her still. Most often it is the might makes right kind of deal.

"Who knows? You may be in one of them right now...or not", Claire says and smirks widely, teasing Achlian ever so slightly. The last of the sisters, Giana, momentarily stretches her body as she listens to the conversation before also chiming in as well."Do you like pranks?", she asks curiously.

At the inquiry about refills, the trio simply shakes their heads, indicating they have had their fill."Thanks for the refreshment", they collectively respond.

[Moon Hound Hati]

“You’re certainly right. Sometimes it makes me miss life back on my island…” Achlian told Jessica with a nod as he faintly recalled his life before coming to the human world. It was very solitary, but at the same time simple and satisfying. There was something to be said about such a lifestyle, though he certainly did not regret leaving it all behind for now.

“Ohh~ Scary,” he teased back to Claire with a playful wink and a barely contained laugh that came out as a snorted chuckle, instead. “Do I like pranks? Hmm~ I can’t say I feel any particular way about them. It’s quite hard to pull any when you’ve mostly lived alone and look like this.” Gesturing to himself, he emphasized the fact that he belonged to one of the largest races in the school and likely even the human world at present. “They’ll see and hear me coming a mile away, heheh~”

[JennyDK]

"You can still visit whenever you feel homesick. We do that fairly often ourselves. There is nothing holding us back from doing so. What kind of place do you hail from?", Jessica asks, going on to hopefully learn a bit more about the person they are visiting. For them, home is a nice and big mansion somewhere in one of the major cities where monsters of all kinds live, although some are more prone to keep to their own kind, basically.

"Haha, well....the trick is to use things to your advantage, even what you think may be a drawback can actually be a help!", Claire comments back and grows a mildly devious grin on her face."Yeah! You never know unless you give it a try and experiment with things...but of course, it does require having an interesting in messing with others", the last one says and laughs lightly.

[Moon Hound Hati]

Achlian shook his large, bovine head when Jessica suggested he go visit his home. “It’s best if I not. It’s at least two weeks traveling from the nearest portal to the human world,” he went on to explain. “And it’s probably not best to return now to that life of solitude. There is nobody else even remotely near the island that I could converse with... even if they were willing to do so.”

Minotaurs weren’t exactly looked upon fondly where he came from. They were shunned and feared due to a legacy of myth and violence. It’s partly due to this that he came to the human world, to begin with, hoping to find folk that did not judge and fear him simply based on his species.

“Hm~ Is that so? Well, I suppose the art of pranking might not be for me, then,” he told the other two with a toothy grin. There was no innate desire for him to start playing pranks on others, seeing as he had little experience interacting with others, to begin with. He did not judge the girls for being pranksters themselves, though. Everyone needs a hobby and as long as it didn’t end up hurting others, it was fine, right?

[JennyDK]

Jessica is fine with this. She is mostly just a bit curious about things and where he came from."Allright then. Perhaps you can see our home sometime if you wish. I guess we will see", she answers back, thinking it does help to not fully remove one self from ones own "home" so to speak. She and the others vaguely have an idea about the sort of ways minotaurs are seen as, but they have never really looked enough into it, to be aware of the more harsh stereotypes. At least nothing beyond the simple one being "big and brutish types".

Claire and Giana send a look towards each other as he admits to it not being a thing for him. It doesn't even last a second, but does give the impression that they are not sure how to relate to that as their nature so easily tend to get into these things."Fair enough...you can always tell us if you change your mind...your life is not eternal and you may as well enjoy it", one of them answers back.