[ What a fun three hours and five minutes we all have had. Three hours in the pod is what she deserves for the three hours of execution that you put us through.
Between one moment and the next, where He Xuan is settled with his cheek propped on his fist, he doesn't realize what's happened while he's just - waiting. Not until he hears the movement, sitting upright abruptly and locking eyes on her where she's trying to get out. It's an immediate reaction after that, him getting up to his feet and going to get the pod opened.
Of course she's panicked, considering the last thing she was facing. But he reaches out, grabbing her face. ]
Stop it. You're fine. [ That could stand to be more snappish than it even remotely is, you know, He Xuan. ]
[He's not entirely wrong. She doesn't hurt or anything - which is, perhaps, strange. She can remember being in a lot of pain.
She can't really turn her head to look around, since he's grabbed her face, but she is able to look right at him. She searches his face for a few long moments, comes to the conclusion that she probably is okay. That he's handled it, like he always does when she gets in over her head.
Her eyes well up with tears (of relief, this time), and she reaches out to hold onto him.
(Her yaoihand is still here and I'm really sorry about that.)]
[ Readers at home, I want you to know it took me four tries to actually read all of this tag after seeing yaoi hands.
He Xuan gets bumped in the process of her reaching out to grab on, but he decides to just ignore it and instead rubs his thumbs over her cheeks with a heavy sigh. It might be a little relief, it might be a little exasperation, but he starts to school himself back into his act as best he can. That reticence of his is still markedly absent, though, so he can't quite compartmentalize everything all the way. ]
Because you survived, I think the goal was met. He was crushed by the room you were in. No one's seen him, as far as I know.
[ Because he hasn't left the room. ]
If he somehow managed to make it out, there were enough of us ready to finish the job.
That helps. It doesn't quite make her feel any less off-balance than she did before, but it's still something of a relief, to know that no one has seen the murderbot since then. It lines up with what had happened to Beau.
Her normal hand grips his robes a little more tightly.]
...I was already planning to kill him next week, so this... it makes things easier.
Well, he can't say that he's surprised, really. He huffs out a low noise, not quite amused but just a go figures more than anything else. Just thinking about how she struggled against HK-47, about the fact that he was so much faster and stronger, had to be incapacitated by someone with a boon from Pride...
Just thinking about the real, genuine terror he felt when watching her walk into that goddamn door, and wondering if she would walk back out again. ]
Stupid. [ Stop calling her stupid??? At least she can hear it this time. ] Were you planning to do that on your own, Qingxuan?
He had a list of people he was planning to kill. Was I supposed to just leave him to it?
[The moment he'd told her of that list - of the fact that he had real, solid plans to kill people, and wasn't just making idle threats - there was no way she could turn a blind eye to it. She's never been good at looking the other way just to make her own life easier.
...notably, she doesn't answer the question of whether or not she'd have attempted it alone.]
You didn't answer my question, which means you're dodging it, which means you're stupid.
[ He gives her a little jostle, where he's holding her by the face. To say that He Xuan has complicated feelings for Shi Qingxuan would be an understatement, especially after how the past three hours and fifteen minutes have gone, faced with watching this person who took his good fortune at risk of death after being effectively brutalized. He can still see her gimpy leg, her bad arm, the ones she used to get around the capitol alongside the dirty beggars.
He can still see HK-47 flinging her around like a ragdoll, and he doesn't dare question why that affects him so much when he's cared so very little about the dead that have been claimed by this place, has cared so very little for other people in hundreds upon hundreds of years. ]
[She gives a little squeak when he jostles her, and there's a brief instant where fear clouds her expression - the pressure of his hands on either side of her face is unfortunately similar to what she can remember of the way it had felt when HK-47 had gripped her by the head and pulled her up.
Ming-xiong wouldn't hurt me, she thinks, and the fear starts to bleed out of her, but she brings her normal hand up to one of his wrists and give sit a gentle tug. Please let go.]
Something was going to have to be done about him eventually. [...] I'd have taken time to find a way to do it safely, I was coming up with a plan...
He Xuan lets out a soft tsk, letting the tug drop that hand away from her face. The other stays there for a beat, two, three longer before he moves it down to cup her elbow, giving a tug to encourage her to step out of the pod properly. Whether she's gone colt-legged or not, he's going to guide her out. ]
Don't do those kinds of things by yourself. [ Which is as good as saying come to me, but he would never admit to it. ] You're not a martial god, and he was damaged by a power given to one of Pride's participants when you were stuck in there. Think of what would have happened, if you confronted him alone, even with a plan.
[Out of the pod she comes. She's unsteady on her feet - not from drink, but she also seems to be buckling under some kind of... pressure? Her brow furrows a little at it, but she holds onto his arm and squares her shoulders.]
What could have happened. [...she's not that useless, is he? He's talking like it's a given that she would have died.] I know what would have happened if he'd been left to pursue anyone on his list. They'd be dead.
[She shakes her head.]
I can't... I wouldn't want someone to get hurt or die because I wasn't willing to try and stop him. That would have been my fault as much as his, if I just let him do whatever he wanted because I was scared.
Then you go to people, Qingxuan. [ He doesn't snap, or raise his voice, but he's obviously agitated by the idea of her targeting a murderous mechanization that he'd spoken to, after the vote. That they all knew was a killer, but they had all been so focused on the evidence pointing towards Beau that it hadn't mattered - except his vote hadn't been because he thought she was guilty.
It'd been because he knew that it would make everyone upset. That Molly would grieve the result.
They really should've voted for the robot from the get-go. ]
Not - because I think you're not capable. Don't look at me like that. [ He hates that he knows her so well. ] But we're mortal, here, for whatever that means for us. Use what you do have here, even if that includes me. For once, you have my express permission to do that - especially if you're going to try to take out someone dangerous like that.
[Why are they arguing, oh my god. This is probably part of why their conversation on Monday starts off a little awkwardly, even leaving aside what they regained.
Anyway, Qingxuan is frowning.]
Why do you think I'm here? [She jabs a finger at his chest.] I told you, it's because I don't want you or His Highness to get hurt by that monster. So why would I involve you in an attempt like that when someone might vote for you at the trial for it? I won't stand for it! I'm not going to let something bad happen to you because of me!
[Even though it already has.
But she doesn't know about that. She's never known about that.]
[ She never has known about that, has she? The truth hasn't come out. But a few weeks of this - act, he hasn't decided how he wants to approach that truth. Hasn't decided what he's owed, or what needs to be done, when it comes to him and this Shi that he's been saddled with.
He stares her down, thinks of her wide-eyed fear at the sight of him and Shi Wudu while she - he was strung up in chains, divinity gone, a plan hundreds of years in the making finally coming to fruition. And for what? Finally, some retribution? Some bloodstained justice? Shi Wudu's head rests on a mantle, now, a trophy before four urns whose spirits had long since passed on while he was wallowing in rage and misery.
His grip tightens for a moment on her arm, but it's hard to say whether it's intentional or instinctual, if it's meant to support her. ]
Dream on. [ They're words he's said to her an innumerable amount of times in their shared history, but He Xuan does well to keep it from becoming scathing. His time in the Heavens didn't go unnoticed because he couldn't act, after all. He learned all the right things to say, how to say them, when to say them, just to skate under the radar. ] I know why you're here. But so am I, and I'm already entrenched in this the same as you are. The same as all these people are. Throwing yourself blindly into trusting them is a surefire way of getting yourself killed, but we all realized the risks of keeping HK-47 here too little, too late.
An entire room of people watched you get thrown around, Qingxuan, and they cared about it. They cared about you. Don't be an idiot.
It's strange to hear. For so much of her life, her brother had warned her - no one else would look out for them, not really. She'd depended on him, and he'd depended on her, and... that was it. She hadn't been happy living like that, exactly; even in the heavens, it had stuck with her. "Spreading merits works faster than speaking by a hundred times," she'd told Xie Lian, upon having returned to the heavens after "rescuing" the Earthmaster from Hua Cheng's clutches.
There are few people she can rely on to care, without getting something in return. She thinks, maybe, that Xie Lian is one of them. Her brother is, too.
But the man in front of her now, he was the first in the heavens, other than her brother, to even come close to caring without being paid for it in some way. She'd always wanted to rely on other people; he'd proven to her that it was possible to, despite what her brother had said.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Between one moment and the next, where He Xuan is settled with his cheek propped on his fist, he doesn't realize what's happened while he's just - waiting. Not until he hears the movement, sitting upright abruptly and locking eyes on her where she's trying to get out. It's an immediate reaction after that, him getting up to his feet and going to get the pod opened.
Of course she's panicked, considering the last thing she was facing. But he reaches out, grabbing her face. ]
Stop it. You're fine. [ That could stand to be more snappish than it even remotely is, you know, He Xuan. ]
no subject
She can't really turn her head to look around, since he's grabbed her face, but she is able to look right at him. She searches his face for a few long moments, comes to the conclusion that she probably is okay. That he's handled it, like he always does when she gets in over her head.
Her eyes well up with tears (of relief, this time), and she reaches out to hold onto him.
(Her yaoihand is still here and I'm really sorry about that.)]
It's over? He's not going to hurt anyone else?
no subject
He Xuan gets bumped in the process of her reaching out to grab on, but he decides to just ignore it and instead rubs his thumbs over her cheeks with a heavy sigh. It might be a little relief, it might be a little exasperation, but he starts to school himself back into his act as best he can. That reticence of his is still markedly absent, though, so he can't quite compartmentalize everything all the way. ]
Because you survived, I think the goal was met. He was crushed by the room you were in. No one's seen him, as far as I know.
[ Because he hasn't left the room. ]
If he somehow managed to make it out, there were enough of us ready to finish the job.
no subject
[He's gone. Good.
That helps. It doesn't quite make her feel any less off-balance than she did before, but it's still something of a relief, to know that no one has seen the murderbot since then. It lines up with what had happened to Beau.
Her normal hand grips his robes a little more tightly.]
...I was already planning to kill him next week, so this... it makes things easier.
no subject
Well, he can't say that he's surprised, really. He huffs out a low noise, not quite amused but just a go figures more than anything else. Just thinking about how she struggled against HK-47, about the fact that he was so much faster and stronger, had to be incapacitated by someone with a boon from Pride...
Just thinking about the real, genuine terror he felt when watching her walk into that goddamn door, and wondering if she would walk back out again. ]
Stupid. [ Stop calling her stupid??? At least she can hear it this time. ] Were you planning to do that on your own, Qingxuan?
no subject
He had a list of people he was planning to kill. Was I supposed to just leave him to it?
[The moment he'd told her of that list - of the fact that he had real, solid plans to kill people, and wasn't just making idle threats - there was no way she could turn a blind eye to it. She's never been good at looking the other way just to make her own life easier.
...notably, she doesn't answer the question of whether or not she'd have attempted it alone.]
no subject
[ He gives her a little jostle, where he's holding her by the face. To say that He Xuan has complicated feelings for Shi Qingxuan would be an understatement, especially after how the past three hours and fifteen minutes have gone, faced with watching this person who took his good fortune at risk of death after being effectively brutalized. He can still see her gimpy leg, her bad arm, the ones she used to get around the capitol alongside the dirty beggars.
He can still see HK-47 flinging her around like a ragdoll, and he doesn't dare question why that affects him so much when he's cared so very little about the dead that have been claimed by this place, has cared so very little for other people in hundreds upon hundreds of years. ]
no subject
Ming-xiong wouldn't hurt me, she thinks, and the fear starts to bleed out of her, but she brings her normal hand up to one of his wrists and give sit a gentle tug. Please let go.]
Something was going to have to be done about him eventually. [...] I'd have taken time to find a way to do it safely, I was coming up with a plan...
no subject
Ming-xiong wouldn't hurt her.
He Xuan lets out a soft tsk, letting the tug drop that hand away from her face. The other stays there for a beat, two, three longer before he moves it down to cup her elbow, giving a tug to encourage her to step out of the pod properly. Whether she's gone colt-legged or not, he's going to guide her out. ]
Don't do those kinds of things by yourself. [ Which is as good as saying come to me, but he would never admit to it. ] You're not a martial god, and he was damaged by a power given to one of Pride's participants when you were stuck in there. Think of what would have happened, if you confronted him alone, even with a plan.
no subject
What could have happened. [...she's not that useless, is he? He's talking like it's a given that she would have died.] I know what would have happened if he'd been left to pursue anyone on his list. They'd be dead.
[She shakes her head.]
I can't... I wouldn't want someone to get hurt or die because I wasn't willing to try and stop him. That would have been my fault as much as his, if I just let him do whatever he wanted because I was scared.
no subject
It'd been because he knew that it would make everyone upset. That Molly would grieve the result.
They really should've voted for the robot from the get-go. ]
Not - because I think you're not capable. Don't look at me like that. [ He hates that he knows her so well. ] But we're mortal, here, for whatever that means for us. Use what you do have here, even if that includes me. For once, you have my express permission to do that - especially if you're going to try to take out someone dangerous like that.
no subject
[Why are they arguing, oh my god. This is probably part of why their conversation on Monday starts off a little awkwardly, even leaving aside what they regained.
Anyway, Qingxuan is frowning.]
Why do you think I'm here? [She jabs a finger at his chest.] I told you, it's because I don't want you or His Highness to get hurt by that monster. So why would I involve you in an attempt like that when someone might vote for you at the trial for it? I won't stand for it! I'm not going to let something bad happen to you because of me!
[Even though it already has.
But she doesn't know about that. She's never known about that.]
no subject
He stares her down, thinks of her wide-eyed fear at the sight of him and Shi Wudu while she - he was strung up in chains, divinity gone, a plan hundreds of years in the making finally coming to fruition. And for what? Finally, some retribution? Some bloodstained justice? Shi Wudu's head rests on a mantle, now, a trophy before four urns whose spirits had long since passed on while he was wallowing in rage and misery.
His grip tightens for a moment on her arm, but it's hard to say whether it's intentional or instinctual, if it's meant to support her. ]
Dream on. [ They're words he's said to her an innumerable amount of times in their shared history, but He Xuan does well to keep it from becoming scathing. His time in the Heavens didn't go unnoticed because he couldn't act, after all. He learned all the right things to say, how to say them, when to say them, just to skate under the radar. ] I know why you're here. But so am I, and I'm already entrenched in this the same as you are. The same as all these people are. Throwing yourself blindly into trusting them is a surefire way of getting yourself killed, but we all realized the risks of keeping HK-47 here too little, too late.
An entire room of people watched you get thrown around, Qingxuan, and they cared about it. They cared about you. Don't be an idiot.
no subject
It's strange to hear. For so much of her life, her brother had warned her - no one else would look out for them, not really. She'd depended on him, and he'd depended on her, and... that was it. She hadn't been happy living like that, exactly; even in the heavens, it had stuck with her. "Spreading merits works faster than speaking by a hundred times," she'd told Xie Lian, upon having returned to the heavens after "rescuing" the Earthmaster from Hua Cheng's clutches.
There are few people she can rely on to care, without getting something in return. She thinks, maybe, that Xie Lian is one of them. Her brother is, too.
But the man in front of her now, he was the first in the heavens, other than her brother, to even come close to caring without being paid for it in some way. She'd always wanted to rely on other people; he'd proven to her that it was possible to, despite what her brother had said.
So, hearing this from him now...
She lowers her head.]
...I'm sorry.
[How can she do anything but believe him?]