[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]

[- a narrow alley mouth
- a broad tree in one of the town squares
- a kite hovering over another of the docks
- the gatehouse by the open town gate
- a stall selling toy swords]

[strikingchords]

[he'll go for the alley.]

[laughitoff]

[The banner, marked THE DISCOVERY, leads him into a filthy little dead-end alleyway. There's not much in here except for a little shrine(?) built against the inside wall. It's mostly just...junk, shiny broken trash objects and interesting little rocks that a child might pick up. There's a perfect slice of melon placed dead center, though, like a pride-of-place offering.]

[strikingchords]

[...

he will take an interesting little rock :X

he'll touch the melon, also]

[laughitoff]

[You are dirty and hungry, small enough not to attract too much ire for stealing yet, but also not big or strong enough to defend yourself or what food you can get from the stray dogs that wander around the town. You've gone two days without now, your stomach a roaring pit to replace the angry throb of the bite on your leg now that it's begun to fade (oh, and won't that be a sign of your potential for strong cultivation later, that you can heal such a wound so fast at your age?)

It's the leg that keeps you from running, when the tall man in violet exclaims at the sight of your face. "Please, don't be scared," he says, and you stare at him, because he's not the first adult you think has wanted to grab you but he's definitely the first one to ask about it first. His voice is...kind. Calm. "Do you recognize the name Cangse Sanren, little one?"

You're surprised enough by your mother's name to nod, though you still crowd further under the shelter where he found you when he offers you his hand. His brow creases a little in thought.

There's a stand selling melon nearby, and he buys two sticks of the fruit, summer-sweet and fresh. You can see he hasn't poisoned it or played any trick with it, and he's kept it in your view the whole time, so you accept one of the skewers when he offers it.

You eat it together. It's one of the best things you've ever tasted.



In the memory's wake, a ghost of Jiang Fengmian has appeared in the alley mouth, still and unmoving. Blood trickles from his mouth; there are many wounds through his chest and stomach.

He might have to walk through him to get back outside...?]

[strikingchords]

[oh my goddddddddd



uses his last Orthodoxy to restore him, the same as the others...]

Sect Leader.

I would restore the blade Suibian, if you will help.

[laughitoff]

[He looks disquieted in a kind sort of way, but gives him the last piece.]

Here. My thanks.

[strikingchords]

[shakes his head]

No need.

[he'll take his leave, take another long look around the area, and head back into the main cavern.]

[FINAL WRAP-UP]

[laughitoff]

[Please go here to sort out the rest of your character's run in this heart!]