| Tora Kiyoshi was walking down the street one day when he happened to notice a small cluster of furs ahead of him. He was rather surprised to note that the group was made up of people he knew existed in several different universes; Jack Black and Jenny Curtis from 2066 in Texas, as well as Florence Ambrose from the planet Jean. Most surprisingly, Florence was riding on a beautiful white horse, whom he later discovered was the famous White Pony. Curious how they all got together, he followed them at a respectful distance for a couple blocks until he saw them enter a new café he had not seen in the district-- in fact, he was pretty sure it hadn't been there the day before. Always eager to try out a new coffee shop, Kiyoshi entered the café and was caught up in a magical world full of hilarious hijinks, wild hyenas, and plenty of good food (though the healthy menu never did get launched, and he regrets his own part in that disaster). | |
| His visits became more frequent, and he even applied to be the manager and soda jerk. Since he had been known, on occasion, to be a big jerk, he figured he was cut out for the job. Though he was frustrated when his application was lost in the mail-- appearantly the postman couldn't find the address-- he visited the café more and more frequently until he reached the point that the new service manager even presented him with a mug bearing his initials. | |
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| Somewhere along the line, Kiyoshi was invited behind the counter and discovered that the illustrious White Pony was not of the excellent health one would assume a Unicorn ought to have. Finally, Kiyoshi found a way for his interest in Asian culture to pay off! Donning a suit of Samurai armor and taking up his Naginata, Kiyoshi offered his services to the Pony, using his training as a Gung-Fu Crane guard, of the secretive order of the tiger, to protect Pony from too many or too harmful of visitors (i.e. Sam Starfall) and to help the poor, overworked Nurse Florence enforce unicorn bedtimes during his recovery. Little did he know he would be doing battle with the fierce killer tree, guarding the house while Pony and Florence went on cruises, and sometimes having to ignore Pony's cries for help when Florence tickled him after he got his alicorn stuck in the ceiling. But Kiyoshi loves his job, and would never dream of complaining. In fact, Kiyoshi is terribly proud of the position, and asked me to share with you some pictures of his armor, which he asked his friend, Itoku-san, to design. | |||
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 | Itoku-san had Kiyoshi wear the armor near where he made it, at Mako Minogue's house in Wolf Valley. First, he checked the fittings and took some photos so Kiyoshi could see how it looked. He also made a picture of the Naginata blade, just so Kiyoshi could show it off and say, "don't mess with the tiger!" Finally, he had Kiyoshi stand out front of Mako's house for the day to see that it was comfortable to wear for long periods. It was, and Kiyoshi brought the armor to the Cafe and took up his guardian duties at Pony's door. |