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]

[ ... ]

...As long as I can remember—since I have been this way.

[ Since he has become a ghost king, he means.

He Xuan turns his head slightly when the other makes a quiet suggestion for them to sit. In this place, he has little places or opportunities to hide, and honestly, he's very...tired. He sees no point in resisting, and so he will sit down. ]

[feralheart]

[ M-21 heaves a near-silent sigh and settles himself down beside He Xuan with a flop. The warmth of the sand doesn't linger this late, but the peace of a summer night and the steady sound of the waves settles over him anyway. He has no idea if it has the same effect on the man beside him. ]

Long time, then. [ Since He Xuan hasn't made any bones about how old he is. M-21 rests his chin on his knee and looks out at the water rather than staring over at He Xuan. Easier to talk like this, he's pretty sure. ] That's how it happened?

[esurientabyss]

[ The sounds of the waves in the middle of the summer night do not move him at this time. It is the way the night hangs above and seems to make contact with the ocean.

As if they are far less impressive than either such things. He feels numb, cold.

He Xuan wonders at the futility of being here. ]

...How I took my revenge, you mean? Yes and no.

[ The nightmare contains embellishments that were not present at the time originally. Even in the nightmare he thinks things may have been a bit more...neater. There was an audience that did not stalk others who may have come upon the scene. Just a few people who hid in the shrubbery and whatnot.

People praised his actions when he died. In his hometown, there is a bloody festival where they reenact what he did, over and over again... ]

[feralheart]

[ He Xuan really isn't the type to answer more than he's asked, ever. But M-21 isn't in the mood to feel properly sardonic about it. And after all, he's the same way himself. ]

Those weird watchers or whatever. Those were part of the nightmare.

[ That's what makes sense to him, anyway. And the distorted landscapes, all of that. Unless that's really like where He Xuan is from.

He glances sidelong at him again, quietly measuring. "Since I have been this way"... He can't picture what He Xuan was like before. Was he happy, once? He must have been. People naturally were, he thinks. ]

...You don't regret it. [ A guess, again. If it were him... he doesn't think he would. ] But you still dream about it.

[esurientabyss]

...At the time, there were only a few humans who witnessed it.

But nothing supernatural. [ ...No. That's not true. He forces out: ] Except the Reverend of Empty Words.

[ Of all the misfortune that has sprung itself right onto He Xuan, he can't ever say he was from such a twisted landscape. Not truly. But he will nod when the other states that he doesn't regret it, because that deduction is correct. ]

I dream about it likely because it's the last day I was human.

[ It was a turning point for him. ]

[feralheart]

[ M-21 glances over a little sharply, only half surprised. Maybe as much to hear He Xuan say it aloud as anything else. It makes a kind of sense, even if the immortals he knows aren't all that different from humans, when it comes down to it.

So the family He Xuan lost were human, too. ]

You're like me.

[ Maybe in a tiny way. But just like with Ellis, that spark of recognition kindles a sense of kinship in him. ]

What changed you? Was it that "Reverend of Empty Words"?

[esurientabyss]

[ He Xuan supposes he had never told M-21 he was human originally. Though before this, he hadn't seen the need to. Such things were unnecessary.

Up until now, there were a lot of things unnecessary to him. But, there is something about what the other man states that gathers his immediate attention. Enough for him to ask: ]

...What do you mean?

[ Pause. ]

Yes, it was. This Reverend of Empty Words was sent upon me by another who switched my fate. It is a creature that is able to turn your fears into reality, and bring misfortune to those you know.

[feralheart]

That we used to be human. And that we lost family. ...That they were taken from us.

[ His when he was no longer human, and He Xuan before he lost his humanity. Maybe it's not so alike. But M-21 thinks he can understand a little.

His brow furrows as he follows that explanation. He'd been expecting a transformation more like his own, or like an experiment turning a human infected. Not that He Xuan had been — what the hell can he call it other than haunted? ]

So everything that happened... was because someone sent a monster after you?

[esurientabyss]

[ He Xuan doesn't say anything to that at first. The nightmare is enough of an indicative of his mood tonight, and it's not a good one. But, he's filing away that piece of information, something to come back to. ]

That's right.

The creature fed upon my fears, cursed anyone who was close to me to death, and then at the end, tried to consume my soul, but failed.

[ ...He Xuan hesitates here and leaves it at that for a moment. He's not going to say that now he and this creature are now one and the same because M-21 sure as hell doesn't need to know that. He is not hiding so much with his real self out here, but the last thing he wants is to run around saying this willy-nilly.

But it is at times like these he can't even begin to fathom why a goddess would bring a ghost king here. He could just ruin everything overnight before she'd be able to kill him. ]

A wretched god did that to me. And there are those in the Heavenly Court who knew, but didn't care. Not until I made sure to rip his head straight off of that god's shoulders.

[feralheart]

[ M-21 takes a quiet moment to just picture that. What it would mean to be shadowed by something like that, watch it take everyone close to him away. Like his own fears about the Union tracking him, multiplied tenfold. If the people around him really couldn't protect themselves from that...

He shifts just a little, enough to lean his shoulder briefly against He Xuan's. Neither of them are exactly touchy people, and the summer night is warm. Even so. ]

People. Gods. There's always plenty like that. They wouldn't care if it wasn't their problem. The people they step on to get what they want are just tools to them.

[ Maybe he should be more bothered about the decapitation thing, which he doesn't think is a figure of speech. But, honestly? It sounds deserved. ]

That reverend thing is gone. And the god, too. So now you're...

[ "Safe"? He kind of doubts that was something He Xuan had worried about in a long time. It explains a lot about the way he is, honestly. ]

[esurientabyss]

[ In fact, He Xuan intensely dislikes being touched. Though, he lets some people do it anyway, so maybe he doesn't exactly loathe it.

The most that he does is simply glance over with an annoyed Look, but then gaze forward. As M-21 speaks, he listens, though at the rest, he doesn't say much of anything either, because quite frankly, he agrees. It's only at the next part he tenses. ]

Don't. [ ... ] It's not gone.

[ He Xuan rises back to his feet; one of these days he's going to learn to relax for more than five seconds. Though maybe not after a nightmare like that at the very beginning of the month. ]

But it's not a problem anymore. I'm heading back. You should do the same.

[ He thinks? M-21 said they were similar, in not being human. But it doesn't mean he can forego sleep. Still, he begins to make his way back to his farm. ]

[feralheart]

[ M-21 pushes himself to his feet and shakes himself off. Hearing a little more about He Xuan's past put the nightmare in context, at least. Whether it actually settled him down any...

He looks at the way He Xuan holds himself, unreadable as usual. If he's tired from all that, it's still impossible to tell. But M-21 isn't someone who likes being prodded when he's feeling vulnerable either. So he just gives He Xuan a nod, though he calls after him: ]

Hey. If you can't sleep, come by whenever. I got some good food recently. I'll make it for you.

[ He Xuan can stop in on his own terms or not, whenever. If he wants to save face doing so, M-21's instant ramen stash is a sacrifice he'll make for a friend. ]