Opening my eyes again in casted darkness... (January Catch-all)

[esurientabyss]

🌊Who: He Xuan, and anyone else.
🌊What: Things happening; they're self-explanatory.
🌊When: January.
🌊Where: Varies.
🌊Warnings: Kidnapping, mentions of suicide & forced induction into harems; involvement of violence/murder. Anything else that may occur will be added or adequately warned for in the thread. TGCF spoilers, but since this already deals with memories, that's a requirement, really.



i. gravitation

[ No matter where He Xuan finds himself, whereas it's on the beach or somewhere else, there seems to be some kind of nonsense afoot. Some...feline nonsense at that.

They're all congregating rudely around him and he is essentially helpless to their attacks (cuddles and piling around his feet.)

He practically glares at anyone who catches him in the midst of this. ]

What?

ii. displacement

[ Ghost kings do not get sick, not really. But it doesn't mean that coughing or sneezing is an impossibility for him.

It just so happens he had grabbed something spicy from a restaurant and for some reason found himself sneezing due to some kind of pepper and now he's in the middle of a lake. Soon enough, he's grumbling, extricating himself from the water. What a waste of food. ]

iii. uncharted waters

[ In addition to those, anyone is free to encounter someone who seems to, for all intents and purposes appear to look like He Xuan, and is essence definitely still him. Yet, his appearance clearly differs in subtle ways. His skin isn't so pale, and his ears are not so sharp and he appears a little lost. Feel free to run into him like this, though he will be scrutinizing most people, and there appears to be a sword at his hip, which his hand is hovering on the hilt of. ]

iv. wildcard

[ Self-explanatory...! Open to things that are also not necessarily the above. ]

If you would like to plot with me, I can be reached on plurk @ leyfi, discord @ seraphkingdhaos#8538 and my plotting comment will be here.

Comments

[esurientabyss]

[ ...It says a lot that He Xuan doesn't know when to spot a joke. But, he's always been like that.

A small pause, and then he addresses the other half of that, then. ]

You may as well. Seeing as part of getting out of here involves being good with a plant on a grand scale.

[ Farming skills... ]

[graftage]

It seems so. I guess this place is up my alley.

[He's actually going to move to sit on the beach, but a good foot away from the other man, respectful of his space.]

Are you having trouble with it? That part of it, I mean.

[esurientabyss]

Fortunate.

[ He watches as the other sits down, and then looks back ahead, at the sea in front of them. ]

...I have someone to help split the work, so it isn't as difficult as it might have been. But, it's still new. I wasn't exactly much of a farmer back home.

[graftage]

Good for you. I'm just on my lonesome over at my little piece of land, but I guess its because of my experience.

[And now a tilt of the head.]

What did you do at home, do you mind me asking?

[esurientabyss]

Then you should do fine.

[ Maybe. It will take awhile to get everything together so things are easier even for one skilled person. ]

I rule over my domain. [ ... ] But I suspect you don't simply farm all the time back home.

[graftage]

Your domain...

[He sounds curious, though there's a little added smile on his face, like he's being reminded of something.]

You got me there. I work for a group of sorts. We travel a lot.

[esurientabyss]

Correct. It covers a certain amount of ocean waters as well.

[ Without a water-affiliated god, technically one could say it may as well be almost all, but He Xuan is not so arrogant. ]

Will your group be in dire straits without you?

[graftage]

Ocean, huh. That's a pretty big domain!

[Again, something seems to alight on his face in his expression, a little twinkle of his eye of amusement.]

Ah. Well. [And a sheepish sort of shrug.] We disbanded not too long ago. I still keep track of the remnants here and there.

[esurientabyss]

It is.

[ Wonder who Steinbeck is thinking of...!

Though, there is a slight pause as the other adds on some bit more. ]

You work for a group and then it disbanded...? As in, others that still remain from the group give you work occasionally?

[graftage]

[(steinbeck voice) don't we all know goths who are associated with the ocean]

Mm, well...its more that I'm in charge now. It's a little weird! But my boss kind of up and disappeared, so...

[esurientabyss]

[ Also insert the 'if i had a nickel' meme, feat. Steinbeck. ]

...There are advantages to being in charge. Or it can be somewhat of a bother, depending.

[ Like having to deal more with a bunch of people. That's annoying.

Oh and probably more paperwork, He Xuan supposes. Right now he doesn't have to, but for normal-people (?) jobs, he assumes that's going to be different. ]

[graftage]

...

[He leans back with a little huff of a sigh, closing his eyes.]

I'll be real with you. It all gets me a little irritated, honestly.

[esurientabyss]

Hm. Having to deal with leading other people?

[ ...Immediately his first thought, yep. ]

[graftage]

Not as much as I thought. No, its just the reasons behind it.

[He makes a bit of a grimace.]

It wasn't like I was planning to. But I felt I had to. Nobody else would.

[esurientabyss]

Hmph. Most people can't be bothered to take any semblance of responsibility when the time comes.

[ But what does it say about Steinbeck that he took the weight on his shoulders?

It just means he has better work ethic. Maybe. ]

[graftage]

That's right. But you know, the way it all went down was not with a whimper, but a bang. I'm not surprised people wanted to wash their hands of everything.

[And yet, he stayed behind.]

[Maybe that was stupid of him.]

My boss...isn't the nicest guy, after all.

[esurientabyss]

A bang. And still, it remained somewhat in tact.

[ Enough for Steinbeck to assemble what is left of it underneath his leadership. ]

For suddenly leaving and disappearing?

[ Or, perhaps, it's a 'in general' thing. ]

[graftage]

It was a surprise to me, too. Felt like wrangling a bunch of cats, though.

[He makes a face.]

It's more than that. He's the type who thinks he has the world all to himself just because of his position in life. He uses money to control others just to grant his own wishes.

[esurientabyss]

[ Sounds like truly a nightmare of feline proportions. ]

How fortunate for scum like him, that he is allowed to persist in the first place.

[ Rich people who have never known a day of struggle and yet using their status to oppress people for selfish reasons...yeah he's not going to hide his opinion of such individuals. ]

[graftage]

You're telling me.

[And for all his initial cheerfulness, there's a real sense of bitterness, as sharp as a knife, that escapes through his words.]

Luck has to run out at some point, though. The bigger you are, the harder you'll fall, right?

[esurientabyss]

Correct. Those who think themselves so invincible after achieving a position of power are much more vulnerable than they believe.

[ He Xuan easily thinks back to the Water Tyrant, who posed as someone so great after the cruelty he exacted for his own selfish reasons.

Despite his power, he fell easily just the same, and became nothing. ]

[graftage]

Hm.

[He's looking over at the other.]

Know someone like that, yourself?

[esurientabyss]

Knew.

He thought himself as the perfect god, though he hadn't gotten to his position without destroying the lives of certain people in the process.

[ He remembers too when that man even turned on his own brother in the end. Truly a worthless piece of trash. ]

[graftage]

Ah, of course.

[Sounds just as expected.]

People like that with big egos let their heads blow up like balloons. Think they can look over the world. I can't stand it.

...What happened to him?

[esurientabyss]

Yes, pure utter scum.

[ There's a small pause. He Xuan doesn't exactly smile, because he isn't the type of person to do those very often, except for the brief sardonic smirk (or perhaps the rare approving one)

But if he was that type of person, he'd be doing one right now. ]

I took care of him before he could achieve his most desired goal.