[PALACE GAME - LAN WANGJI RUN]

[laughitoff]

Everything is red. You are dying, somewhere far beyond pain, the very essence of yourself going to pieces. You’re shattering so badly you don’t know if you’ll ever find all of yourself again, if you’ll ever put yourself back together. There are teeth on you, ripping, tearing, devouring. There are teeth inside you, carving their way out, and those are worse.

This is a memory, happening at a remove. It is not yours. This is not happening now.

Everything is grey. You wake up in a prison cell, eyes wide, the ceiling flat and blank and unfamiliar above you. For a moment you simply think, no. You think, Please, wasn’t it over? Wasn’t it enough? You consider closing your eyes again and refusing to get up, until oblivion reclaims you. Even if you’re no longer dying, everything hurts.

This is a memory, happening at a remove. It is not yours. This is not happening now.

What is happening, then?

You–

–sit up.

Comments

[laughitoff]

[The terrain is not familiar.

The heavy, nearly crushing pressure of the huli jing's presence also makes itself felt once he steps outside the circle. The three ghosts converge upon him.]

[strikingchords]

[CAN HE TELL ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT THEIR NATURE AS THEY APPROACH? he's not not prepared to jump the hell back in there if these feel like high-level spirits he can't deal with alone, as the huli jing could be considered. very on guard in here!]

[laughitoff]

[They feel like the huli jing, part and parcel of that presence, and they are getting up in his space very quickly.]

[strikingchords]

[the way there are three of them and how they're choosing to manifest is extremely interesting but not interesting enough to immediately get himself subject to whatever it is they want to do about him; he's hitting them with his sword glare, more as an experiment to see if it does anything to slow them down than anything else, and hopping back into the circle for the moment to observe them from inside]

Greetings.

[laughitoff]

[It does actually slow them down, dispersing them briefly where it slices across their forms. They reform quickly, though, and are now crowded up against the very edge of the circle, staring at him.]

hello little cultivator

[strikingchords]

[raises his eyebrows at them]

Huli Jing.

[he's going to continue keeping an eye on them while having this conversation, but in addition to that, he's going to see if he can find two random rocks of near-equal size and shape on the ground.]

[laughitoff]

[It takes a little hunting around, but he can find the rocks! Rocks are not in short supply here.]

why don't YOU come back out here and give us a meal?

[strikingchords]

[politely, kneeling down to collect those rocks.]

Would consider, were you willing to consider my suggestion.

You have not offered cooperation.

[laughitoff]

we gain NOTHING from cooperation. it is unappealing.

[strikingchords]

[dryly, focusing on the rocks in front of him]

Being eaten likewise lacks appeal.

[he's distracted for a moment by his goal for those stones, which I regret to say is:

- holding the first in his left hand and focusing as intently as he can on causing a reaction based on "I want to see as clear an example as possible of the general effect of this 'Orthodoxy' ability"
- holding the second in his right hand and focusing as intently as he can on causing a reaction based on "I want to see as clear an example as possible of the general effect of this 'Heresy' ability" also
- actually he's going to find a third similar rock and see what happens if he tries to do both at once also]

[laughitoff]

perhaps we would COOPERATE for a while if you fed yourself to us

[Orthodoxy makes the first rock glow faintly gold and look more like an Idealized Rock.

Heresy makes the second rock crumble.

There is new knowledge in him, as soon he activates both circles: The rules are different in a Palace, but these two kinds of powers are not meant to mix, back home. They are not compatible. Heresy damages the wellsprings of Orthodoxy. You can use them at the same time, but not without going mad, eventually.

He already knew this, but it's a grim reminder of #weiwuxianproblems in general.

Also the third rock crumbles, but stays held together by a golden glow as long as he's keeping both powers active.]

[strikingchords]

...

Was this the bargain Wei Ying made?

[soft. he's staring at the rocks.

he'll retrieve a piece of paper out of his sleeve, after another moment]

[laughitoff]

...

he gave us REVENGE, and he made himself OURS.

[strikingchords]

[still soft]

The dead cannot master the living.

He forgets, at times.

[he's going to write, at the top of the paper, Why is Wei Ying fading?, mark off a space for an answer, write "What does Wei Ying need to heal? underneath, mark off a space for that answer, and then focus Orthodoxy on it as strongly as he can manage, thinking about an ideal paper that will "provide helpful and relevant written guidance on the answers to these questions"

he has experience with this one]

[laughitoff]

[Why is Wei Ying fading?
The monster is taking over. Wei Ying has no knowledge of why.

What does Wei Ying need to heal?
Someone must gather the Treasures, open the door, and heal him, in whatever way is available to them.

The handwriting matches his own.]

[strikingchords]

["What are the Treasures?"

"How were they lost?"]

[laughitoff]

[What are the Treasures?
The blade of Orthodoxy and the seal of Heresy.

How were they lost?
Carelessness, foolishness, death.]

[strikingchords]

[...

one more:

"Are these answers based on Wei Ying's own understanding?"]

[laughitoff]

[Are these answers based on Wei Ying's own understanding?
Yes.

His Orthodoxy-bearing hand hurts deeply.]

[strikingchords]

[oh cool, interesting insight into how this works. he's going to take out another piece of paper, write "Lan Zhan scorns Wei Ying's failures" on it, and use Heresy to fucking destroy it. smears his hand through whatever crumbled ash is left, nuking it from memory

then he'll writes on the bottom of the first paper:

"Wei Ying is only human. A fate earned is not a fate deserved.
If all his efforts were foolish, would be proud to be called fool.

I wish him here.
I will find him."

then he will draw an array on the paper and concentrate very hard on using both Orthodoxy and his cultivation to send that whole Q&A to Wei Wuxian's shadow, wherever it is behind its door; he is expecting this to work like a sending talisman, so the goal he's envisioning is the paper catching on fire and crumbling in his hand, hopefully for its words to appear elsewhere.

he won't know if it was successful, of course, but he can hope.]

[laughitoff]

[The use of Heresy works as intended, and the pain in his Orthodoxy-bearing hand lessens.

The paper catches on fire and crumbles in his hand.

The Orthodoxy-bearing hand hurts deeply, again.]

[strikingchords]

[ow! that's fine for the moment though. he'll stand, picking the Ideal Rock up to weigh in his hand as he does. hmm.

is the collective huli jing still hanging around?]

[laughitoff]

[They're watching him greedily.]

[strikingchords]

...

[attaches a small bit of his own spiritual energy to the rock and tosses it out of the entrance to the cave, to see if anything outside stirs that he can see from here]

[laughitoff]

[There's the faintest ripple in the outdoor scenery, but it's one of the ghosts that eats the rock. Just unhinges its patchwork jaw and swallows it straight down.]