paradigmish | a post for psl/etc things

[He lets her go, and floats a couple of feet away. He doesn't stray far, though; he's not angry, but now he's curious, which is arguably worse.]

How do you know? [He makes a complicated gesture with his hand, half submerged in the heat, and several spears shaped out of water coalesce behind him, like a halo.] I should want to try. Just a little bit. You would not miss it.

[ She lets him go easily, fingers slipping through his hair and tail gently uncoiling so she can turn around and watch-- his movements, the spears. ]

You are not the first to try~ and you won't be the last.

[ She moves back, and up, cloven hooves easily scaling the rock ledge even backwards. Her gaze is still soft, but there's a condescending, pitying edge to the squinting smile. ]

I hear the immortals of the Xianzhou meet a cursed, suffering end. Indeed retribution for shunning the Merciful gifts and seeking ever greater heights. I am different. You, too, should have been different. It's a shame one of Long's favored could have fallen so far.

You suffer too, don't you~? Does your beloved suffer~? Do you think my heart, ever beating, would not poison them?

[He'd not made the connection, now he does: her vitality has the same poisonous grace as his own. That was the one line he did not cross; Jing Yuan's suffering was Dan Feng's alone, and he was willing to do anything, including kill a god, to ensure that.]

I want him to stay. Not like - not like - [He blinks up at her.] I can use you still. For one more person. [Because he still had Yingxing's corpse in cryostorage.] He's human, but he'll understand.

Will he? I don't think so.

[ Her expression goes significantly sour, at that; disgusted, lips twisted in a grimace. Her eyes cold, as she steps out of the bath entirely. ]

They can never understand. Short-life, long-life-- all humans are the same, in the end. You will not be praised for this act. He will curse you, and detest you, and his life will end all the same. He will not receive the gift. He is not worthy.

No human will ever again be born of my heart. That time is long over.

[All of the spears drop into the water, and Dan Feng immediately crowds against the edge of the pool, right where she'd climbed out before.]

He's different! He will love me, I know it, he was just- he was just led astray when he rejected me! Not all of them are the same!

[well he did kill millions of them but the point is,]

[ She levels him with a pitying sort of look, gentling. Then she turns to look out over the pool and up, into sky through the ceiling gap. ]

... The grateful few who are different are not enough to turn the tide of the ones who are not. Once, I thought-- 'even one will be enough.' But they cannot take to the gifts as I can. Nor as you.

It isn't worth it, Dan Heng.

[He lays his head on the ledge, and squishes his cheek against the rock, like a petulant toddler.]

I just want him. I killed everyone else already. [He chews on the inside of his cheek.] If you don't give me your heart I will kill everyone here too.

[ boy...

She huffs, kneeling near the edge to look at him. ]

I already killed most everyone~ you know. So it doesn't matter to me whether you finish the job...

[He blinks up at her owlishly.]

So it's true? They say that the Kirin's blood was still warm on the ground when the kingdom descended on them, trying to take their bleeding, punctured heart. That's where the hot springs came from.

[His face scrunches up.] Am I swimming in your blood? That's very unsanitary.

[ A huff, and a smile. ]

That part's a myth. Or a ghost story~... The springs were here long before the kingdom.

[ Weren't they? She trails off a moment, unfocused, trying to remember. Those things were so far back, now. ]

... I rose them, when the people begged me. It was so cold, and they were suffering...

Does that not make you their protector? Then why did you...

[ This breeds real anger, her fur bristling and her face a tight smile. There's a tremor in her soft voice, barely restrained. ]

They sought more than I could freely give, and more than could sustain them, and more than I could protect them from. They used my affections against me, and forgot my ways, and thought me a placid beast because of my love for them. So I reminded them. They killed me, took everything from me and my kin, and I repaid tenfold, as I have always done.

There was no saving this place. There never was. The core of this world rots; the corruption leaches into every living thing, even now. Perhaps it contributed to their lust for greater heights, but I will never know. It does not speak to me in words I can understand, and has no sway over me. I can only watch its progeny spread, wandering the wastes.

I sit and wait for the last warmth of this moon to finally peter out and with it-- I hope-- my unyielding lifespan.

a post for psl/etc things

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