I. [Another war torn country, this one under siege, another occasion for Xie Lian to try to help without going too much while not dwelling on his own trauma.
Helping civilians in war times is always grueling work, and this is no exception. Food is scarce, but Xie Lian doesn't hesitate to give his share away whenever needed - nothing he cooked himself, these people don't need the added grief. he doesn't technically need the food and ignoring hunger pangs is mostly second nature to him.
And while he can understand the soldiers' feelings at times, having led several armies and been part of more himself, he also won't allow for the people to be brutalized for no reason.
Maybe it's because the child reminded him of Banyue. He just knows that the moment he saw the guard throw his arm back, his body moved on his own, and the fist landed straight in his face, and he stumbled backwards a bit - although not as much as you'd expect given the force of the blow and that clearly seems to puzzle the guard who is looking from his fist and flexing his fingers and trying to understand why he feels like he punched a stone wall to the lithe, teenager-looking man in the white robe wiping the blood from his nose.]
Even if you're angry you can't go around and hit children like that. You could have seriously hurt her.
[The soldier starts yelling at Xie Lian instead, who is keeping himself between the man and his former target and looking relatively unfazed, and that only seems to enrage the man more and he starts waving his spear..., and Xie Lian holds up his arm so that he won't take a spear to the face and the shaft of the weapon just.... breaks clean off.]
... Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to do that.
[II.]
[The mourners have left, and so have the embalmers. Xie Lian did try to participate in their rituals, but apparently his stories of misery were too much even for people living in the middle of a siege and they packed up very quickly. The corpse was taken away too, but something is remaining.
Xie Lian is staring at the ghost.]
You should move on too. Everyone will take care of the rest. There's nothing to be gained from remaining here.
[WATSON ON DUTY]
[Xie Lian has herd talks of the murders - it would be hard not to. It's the one thing that has everyone scared stiff, mostly because the possibility of a killer in the midst of the crows is even more of an immediate danger that a siege. The victims are a bit scattered in type but the white string really seems to bind them together, figuratively. Yet Xie Lian also hasn't really been able to feel anything overly strange here - well compared to Serthica at leas. There's definitely something going on with the ghosts, but if there's an actual gate to hell here, it also isn't exactly surprising. Still, so far, Xie Lian hasn't seen anything that seems to indicate anything other than a possible human predator, unfortunately a very real possibility in times such as these.
So all there is to do is keep his ears and eyes open and try to appease people when he can.]
I am sure the guards will find who it is soon.
'Well they haven't so far! Fat lot of good they do anyway, King Deimar doesn't give a rat's ass about us down here ! The only guards we can rely on are the ones Prince Haiva sent down, and there ain't enough of them to protect all of us! I don't care what them lords arranged among themselves, Haiva should have been King! he knows how to treat the people properly!'
.... Uh, are you sure you should be saying this so loudly?
[LAKES, MINES, MAYHEM]
[Xie Lian isn't quite sure how he ended up on reconnaissance duty but he doesn't mind. He has a sword now. He doesn't need a sword, but it makes things easier.
Even the mines feel vaguely familiar, like Tonglu mountain and its caves, but the ways are convoluted, following ore paths rather than anything originally made for human evacuation. And also...
Xie Lian holds out an arm to stop whoever is following him.]
We're not alone here. And whatever is out there is not alive anymore.
Xie Lian
I.
[Another war torn country, this one under siege, another occasion for Xie Lian to try to help without going too much while not dwelling on his own trauma.
Helping civilians in war times is always grueling work, and this is no exception. Food is scarce, but Xie Lian doesn't hesitate to give his share away whenever needed - nothing he cooked himself, these people don't need the added grief. he doesn't technically need the food and ignoring hunger pangs is mostly second nature to him.
And while he can understand the soldiers' feelings at times, having led several armies and been part of more himself, he also won't allow for the people to be brutalized for no reason.
Maybe it's because the child reminded him of Banyue. He just knows that the moment he saw the guard throw his arm back, his body moved on his own, and the fist landed straight in his face, and he stumbled backwards a bit - although not as much as you'd expect given the force of the blow and that clearly seems to puzzle the guard who is looking from his fist and flexing his fingers and trying to understand why he feels like he punched a stone wall to the lithe, teenager-looking man in the white robe wiping the blood from his nose.]
Even if you're angry you can't go around and hit children like that. You could have seriously hurt her.
[The soldier starts yelling at Xie Lian instead, who is keeping himself between the man and his former target and looking relatively unfazed, and that only seems to enrage the man more and he starts waving his spear..., and Xie Lian holds up his arm so that he won't take a spear to the face and the shaft of the weapon just.... breaks clean off.]
... Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to do that.
[II.]
[The mourners have left, and so have the embalmers. Xie Lian did try to participate in their rituals, but apparently his stories of misery were too much even for people living in the middle of a siege and they packed up very quickly. The corpse was taken away too, but something is remaining.
Xie Lian is staring at the ghost.]
You should move on too. Everyone will take care of the rest. There's nothing to be gained from remaining here.
[WATSON ON DUTY]
[Xie Lian has herd talks of the murders - it would be hard not to. It's the one thing that has everyone scared stiff, mostly because the possibility of a killer in the midst of the crows is even more of an immediate danger that a siege. The victims are a bit scattered in type but the white string really seems to bind them together, figuratively. Yet Xie Lian also hasn't really been able to feel anything overly strange here - well compared to Serthica at leas. There's definitely something going on with the ghosts, but if there's an actual gate to hell here, it also isn't exactly surprising. Still, so far, Xie Lian hasn't seen anything that seems to indicate anything other than a possible human predator, unfortunately a very real possibility in times such as these.
So all there is to do is keep his ears and eyes open and try to appease people when he can.]
I am sure the guards will find who it is soon.
'Well they haven't so far! Fat lot of good they do anyway, King Deimar doesn't give a rat's ass about us down here ! The only guards we can rely on are the ones Prince Haiva sent down, and there ain't enough of them to protect all of us! I don't care what them lords arranged among themselves, Haiva should have been King! he knows how to treat the people properly!'
.... Uh, are you sure you should be saying this so loudly?
[LAKES, MINES, MAYHEM]
[Xie Lian isn't quite sure how he ended up on reconnaissance duty but he doesn't mind. He has a sword now. He doesn't need a sword, but it makes things easier.
Even the mines feel vaguely familiar, like Tonglu mountain and its caves, but the ways are convoluted, following ore paths rather than anything originally made for human evacuation. And also...
Xie Lian holds out an arm to stop whoever is following him.]
We're not alone here. And whatever is out there is not alive anymore.