Comments | fightingvirtue: Chapter 11: A parting; a broken oath

fightingvirtue

Chapter 11: A parting; a broken oath

May 07, 2010 20:15

[As the feed clicks on, Ryuubi is kneeling in the center of his new haunt at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, staring at the PCD. He looks frightening, as though in almost the week that has passed since the visitors disappeared, he'd been neither eating nor sleeping properly. His eyes are hollow, face ashen. He grips the device with cracking ( Read more... )

and loneliness kills, three visits to the thatched cottage, true and secret names, event aftermath, half a soul, a twist in the tale

Comments 80

[offline] eatingurshoes May 7 2010, 18:25:32 UTC

[Ling used to come to this hall most every day with Ran Fan, but since she'd disappeared with the visitors he hadn't been quite so keen on it. So it really was a coincidence that when he finally made his way over again, there was someone else there. Someone in mourning.

The Xing prince didn't say anything as Ryuubi stood shouting. He only leaned against one of the pillars in the outermost ring and waited until the other man quieted down.]

[offline] fightingvirtue May 7 2010, 22:01:18 UTC

[It took a while, a good long while. Rybuui's rage was bottomless, flung against the walls of the hall, at the heavens, at the unfortunate people who spoke to him on the network. It was a sad mix of the frightening and pathetic. Once his rage would have moved armies. Here it met nothing but silence.

Finally, hoarse and exhausted, he collapsed to his knees, then back against a pillar opposite Ling, head dropping back and eyes closed and tears flowing freely. He hadn't noticed the other man. The only one he wanted to see was not there, and would not return.]

[offline] eatingurshoes May 8 2010, 03:07:02 UTC

[He hadn't been in the most talkative mood, which had quite a few people looking at him oddly. But this was new. His presence hadn't even been noticed, and the most surprising revelation for Ling was that he preferred it that way. Just watching Ryuubi - a man he barely knew - express that spectrum of passionate, endless emotion offered him his own kathartic feeling of release.

Slowly, quietly, he stood up straight and made his way toward Ryuubi, sitting down on the floor about a foot in front of him. He pulled a few ingredients out of a leather satchel, and soon enough, he had a meaty sandwich in his lap. Then he made another, taking his time with both and not bothering to explain himself.]

[offline] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 08:51:56 UTC

[At last another presence registered. Ryuubi blinked, not bothering to wipe his face, and fixed Ling with a look of wariness, then of resignation. Even if he had any strength left for anger, he could not have sent him away. The throbbing empty place in him reached out for any living face and human voice. Loneliness could kill. Loneliness had killed. Loss had destroyed him too many times.

Ling was not Koumei. He was half a stranger. But he was there right now.

He straightened just a little, not looking so much like an emptied rag doll anymore, though the sandwich got an uneasy look and a shake of the head. It was a shame to turn away kindness, but his gut twisted in protest just at the thought.]

Thank you... I can't.

Thread 16

[video] truedeath02 May 7 2010, 19:18:56 UTC

Ryuubi...?

[video] fightingvirtue May 7 2010, 21:49:54 UTC

No, damn this, I will not hide behind that name now! I am Liu Xuande, and I will have what Liu Xuande was destined to have!

[video] truedeath02 May 8 2010, 01:02:18 UTC

Huh? What are you talking about?

[video] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 07:16:28 UTC

Fool! Don't you - no, of course, you don't. I am the fool, to think that I could have had a new life in a new world. But I still need him, and always will...

Thread 11

[video | private] vedaandme May 7 2010, 19:19:46 UTC

You've lost someone, too...?

[video | private] fightingvirtue May 7 2010, 21:54:50 UTC

I have not lost. They have taken!

[video | private] vedaandme May 8 2010, 01:04:18 UTC

Have they? After all, aren't we the ones who are taken?

[video | private] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 08:53:29 UTC

No! My people are meant to follow me. That is how it always was!

Thread 9

[video] golden_hawke May 7 2010, 20:29:52 UTC

Gen...

[video] fightingvirtue May 7 2010, 21:52:23 UTC

[That voice reaches him through his rage, and he blinks at the device, but in the end is too far gone to react rationally. Instead, he gasps in a breath then breaks down in shuddering tears.]

[video] golden_hawke May 7 2010, 22:46:39 UTC

Gen, where are you? -=he doesn't really explore buildings, and his voice is low, trying to soothe.=-

[video] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 08:55:35 UTC

T-the temple... the Hall of Prayer... [It's hard to talk, much less be articulate.]

Thread 19

[Video] bunny_flower May 8 2010, 09:10:13 UTC

Ryuubi-san !

[The tone is stern, meanign to snap it out of him.]

[Video] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 20:01:09 UTC

Don't speak to me as if to a child! You understand none of this!

[Video] bunny_flower May 8 2010, 21:10:34 UTC

[Unohana's face hardens, a quiet rare thing. In fact no one has probably seen her in that state in all of Adtsringendum or Soul Society, because most people know better and stop before it comes to that point.]

I understand none of this ? Do you think you alone have lost someone you held dear ? Are our feelings somehow less than yours ?

How dare you, Ryuubi-san ... Such selfishness ... I expected better of you.

Re: [Video] fightingvirtue May 8 2010, 21:28:48 UTC

This is not about loss!

[Oh, how he would regret this when he regains his senses. But now, the grief that rules him is far too close to madness.]

I am nothing alone, nothing! A page torn from a book, a pawn cast off the board - a name that means nothing! All the ones that give me meaning are a world away! I've played my part for a hundred lifestimes - the script is written - but the stage is empty!

Thread 12