palace misc

[laughitoff]

cw for memories: gore, whipping, torture, war crimes, emasculation, cannibalism, lots of undead/ghost/zombie nonsense, lots of body horror, lots of corpses and corpse bits in uncomfortable places

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the second chance (a broad tree in one of the town squares)

[laughitoff]

[There's a low, broad tree in one of the town squares, its branches wide, sturdy and spreading. It's not hard to imagine that under normal circumstances, all sorts of people would climb up and around it, for play or for a lark or for a better view.

A lantern dangles from one of the lower branches by the banner (which reads THE SECOND CHANCE), the flame inside bright even in the full day.]

-

It's night in this memory. You're huddled in a tree in the dark, clinging with all four limbs to the branch you're on. You're trembling with fear, listening for the telltale signs of dogs coming for you.

Instead, you hear your name called. "A-Xian!"

A girl -- a very young Jiang Yanli, if you've met her in Reverie -- approaches, lit by a small lantern she's carrying in one hand. She looks tired and untidy, and it spikes guilt in your heart. Instead of answering her, you huddle even closer to the branch, hoping she won't spot you.

"Is it A-Xian? What are you doing up there? I can see you...you've left your shoe under the tree."

You startle. "My shoe!"

"Please, come down. Let's go back," she coaxes.

You swallow hard, heart still pounding with very real fear. “I... I’m not going down. There are dogs.”

She shakes her head, voice soft and kind and worried. "A-Cheng was making things up; there are no dogs. You don't have anywhere to sit on comfortably up there. Your arms will get sore soon, and you might fall down."

You're a little fool, and you hesitate longer than your arms have strength to hold. She tries to catch you, but you still land hard, wailing as you rolls on the ground and clutches your throbbing leg.

"It's broken!"

She does her best to comfort you. “It’s not broken. It shouldn’t be fractured either. Does it hurt a lot? It’s fine. Don’t move. I’ll carry you back.”

“Are...are the dogs there...?”

“No. If any dogs come, I’ll chase them away for you.” She picks up the shoe you left under the tree. “Why did this fall off? Do they not fit?”

“No, they fit," you sniff. They're too big on you, in fact, but you've been taught not to ask for more than what you're given. No one likes a greedy child, the stallkeepers had said, when you got too forward asking them for leftovers at the end of the day.

She helps put it back on you, checks how much room there is at the toe, and shakes her head a little. "It is a little big, isn't it? I'll fix it for you when we get back.”

You don't know what to do with that. You don't know what to do with someone who offers kindness, and keeps offering it. Where does it stop? At what point are you considered greedy? The thoughts disturb you; you're quiet as she pulls you onto her back.

“A-Xian, no matter what A-Cheng said to you, don’t be bothered by it. He doesn’t have a good temper, so he usually plays at home by himself. Those puppies were his favorites. Father sent them away, and so he’s feeling upset, but he’s actually really happy that somebody’s here to be with him. You ran out here and didn’t come back for a long time...I knew to come find you because he’s worried that something happened to you and went to wake me up.”

Before you can answer, a strange sobbing comes on the wind.

“What was that sound? Did you hear it?”

You point. “I heard it. It came from inside that pit!”

You approach and carefully peer down. There's a small body at the bottom, which sits up when they make noise. It's another boy, his face muddied by the fall, the clear track of tears on his cheeks in the lantern-light. Your heart leaps into your throat.

“... Sister!” Jiang Cheng cries.

Jiang Yanli sighs in relief. “A-Cheng, didn’t I tell you to gather a bigger search party?"

He just shakes his head, distressed.

Jiang Yanli sets you down, then helps her brother out of the pit, dabbing at his bleeding forehead with a handkerchief. “Is there something you didn’t tell A-Xian?” she asks.

He takes the handkerchief from her, pressing it to the cut himself. His voice is low. “... I’m sorry.”

She's the one who carries you both back; you both cling to her, the whole way.

-

[In the memory's wake, a ghostly mongrel dog appears, lying between two of the tree's roots. There's something a bit exaggerated about it--the face too fierce and the teeth too sharp for the rest of it. It's still, unmoving, and see-through.]