#c : oc {wen xun}

[multeasers]

@xunque // continued from here

‘Simply don’t have a father anymore,’ huh?

It’s not so fair when she was just badmouthing the guy, but something in the way the stranger says that makes her feel a little bad. She can’t really relate to having a dad—well, a blood-related one, at least—but it seems like the stranger really did care for him in some way. There’s a part of her that screams Boo, he left you, don’t worry about him anymore! and another that says You didn’t deserve to lose him.

She voices neither of these thoughts. There’s other things to talk about—things that she actually knows about. “It was nice for awhile, yeah. I liked it there; probably would’a lived there forever, too, which is crazy to think about because I’d never lived forever anywhere before!”

Not that she should say any of that, but it all tumbles out of her without her permission. She’s both annoyed and dismissive of it; just saying that much wasn’t giving anything away to this guy. It’ll all be fine.

“Supposin’ you’re okay ain’t the same as bein’ okay, though.” She continues on with the conversation, leaving the discussion of the old not-home-but-home behind. She’s not trying to accuse him of anything, but something in her gut tells her...

“You’re all this way from home without your family, and that ain’t okay, yanno, so you can just say that. I won’t judge ya; kinda can’t, but that ain’t the point.”

(Another brief memory of Daozhang comes back to her—he’d been talking about her to someone and had mentioned she was sometimes mature by nature. She hadn’t really gotten what he meant back then, but she thinks she understands him a bit better now. Hopefully she understands.)

“But you’re also smilin’ and laughin’ and seem happy, so I guess you can be okay, too...” Urgh, it seemed like a lot to keep track of, suddenly; she knows the nuance of things, know that sometimes things can look one way but really be another, but that doesn’t change it from being stupid-difficult.

And, ultimately, it’s not even really her business. She probably shouldn’t read too much into it—not by this point, anyway. He’s done nothing to deserve the full intensity of her bein’ nervous and cagey with’im, so she can start pulling things back a bit by now.

The mention of lunch is also really exciting.

“You brought stuff to eat?” She tilts her head, confused; had he planned a picnic, somehow? Where was he keeping anything, and how? “If there’s enough for me, then...but how d’ya have anything at all?”

[multeasers]

A-Qing is quickly coming to terms with the fact that she may be lost.

She’s been walking for several days, and not once has she found anything she had ever seen before. She hasn’t even seen a town yet, which she finds odd; of course, she’s got no way of knowing just how far away from everything she’d even been to begin with, but surely she wasn’t that far from other people! She would surely come up on something... Right?

She sighs, leaning back against the boulder she’s currently sitting on; she’d managed to come up along a riverbank, at least, and along the sides there were several large rocks, enough for her to sit and rest for a bit. She’d at first considered straight up sitting in the river, but then she’d have to wait for her clothes to dry, which would be too much of a hassle, so she’d only walked in up to her calves before sitting down. Her pole’s not far, resting beside her at the top of the rock, but she’s got one hand laid over it just in case she has to grab at it quick. Or in case the wind knocks it over; whichever happens first.

Her sigh turns into a groan as she pulls herself back into a sitting position; she’s so bored, she really is! How is it that she hasn’t come up on anyone or any place yet?! Surely she isn’t alone in the world!

And she isn’t, for while it’s not like she actually believed she was, she gets immediate proof that she’s not alone when she hears grass rustle nearby; she stiffens, her grip on her pole immediately tightening.

She just hopes that whatever the cause of the noise is, it isn’t a big animal.

@xunque 

[multeasers]

xunque​:

Suddenly, for some reason, being the one being questioned makes Wen Xun laugh again; a warm, genuine thing that makes his eyes close. It’s curious, as when he lived alone, he always looked rather stern and studious, but now that he’s out in the real world, he feels like his face benefits from smiling most of all.

He appreciates the young maiden’s quick addendum to only answer what he’s comfortable with, and he files it away for later as a future approach to grilling someone with questions. It also provides him with some comfort, knowing she surely can’t think too lowly of him if she’s sticking around and attempting to make conversation. 

“Just me, yes. Other people lived there at some point, like my father, but… Not anymore. I’m afraid I can’t really say why, since I don’t know for sure myself.” Tugging on his sleeve a bit, his smile begins to wane again at the memory of his home. “Something bad happened. I was spared whatever it was thanks to being behind a barrier.”

That is really the only thing he can truly thank the barrier for. Even if it had been to keep him safe all along, it’s always been a reminder that he was a prisoner.

“I wish I knew more, but I haven’t come across anyone else until now, and it doesn’t seem to me like you’d know the answer, either,” he concludes, not to be impolite, but simply to state the facts.

He watches her tap the pole and decides to take a seat on the grass. Perhaps if he shows he’s not a threat, she’ll calm down a bit? Unless she is calm, and this is just something she likes to do… Well, either way. He’s a bit tired, there’s no harm in sitting.

“Yi City? What’s that like?” He tilts his head. Someplace far? Had she run away from it, much like he had, or was she just exploring to explore? “Ah, only tell me if you want.”

Nice save!

She’s a bit shocked to hear him laughing in response to her questions; at first, she almost feels the need to get defensive, because why in the world would he be laughing? It’s not like she’d said anything particularly funny, not that she could think of, so was he laughing at her? But that would make no sense, as he had been kind to her this entire time. While it was possible he could be that way as a means to an end, she doesn’t get the impression that he is that type of person. It’s, really only, that thought alone that makes her able to ignore her main instinct.

He really does smile so much, though. She can’t help but to note to herself, and it makes her wonder why as she hears his answer of “just me”. If he’s been on his own for so long, wouldn’t he be sad? Besides Daozhang and Xue Yang, she’d never lived or known anyone else for a long time, so it’s not like she wasn’t used to being on her own, but it still made her sad, sometimes! He really is such an odd person! 

Refraining from making her thoughts obvious, however, she repeats after him once again, “‘Not anymore’... So that means your father just left you behind on a mountain? That’s just stupid; I’d be trying to find him to give him a piece of my mind, if I were you!”

It’s a reaction that she has before she can think better of it—and it really is such a bad habit of hers, she needs to get it under control—but she, again, can’t help it. She may have never had parents of her own, but she’d seen plenty of them around, whether they be good or bad or just there. He seems like a decent person, so surely he’d have been a decent kid—why would his father have abandoned him? And he hadn’t even mentioned a mom, which also has her curious; did she abandon him too? What was with some people?!

At noticing the fact that his mood has again fallen, however, watching as he tugs at his sleeve, she pushes her own feelings about the situation down and switches up her approach. She knows what it’s like to not want to talk about something, so she won’t make him; she won’t even bring the barrier he mentions after that up! Instead, she takes no offense at all to his follow up statement and agrees with him.

“I really wouldn’t.” And she can’t, as it isn’t even a lie, because being dead really has that effect on someone! “But if you’re okay, then that’s what matters most. That’s what Daozhang would say, at least.”

Not that the stranger would know, but that wasn’t the point. Surely such words were comforting, right? And if they aren’t, it doesn’t quite matter, as she’s got bigger things to worry about, anyway; she doesn’t immediately know how to respond to the other’s last questions. It hadn’t really been the best, once she’d died, but that was neither here nor there. It’s not like she could talk about that, though, either, for fear of scaring him off or him asking too deep into it. Which really just made things even more complicated, but he’s also giving her the option to back out of talking about it...

It’s not like she doesn’t have good things to say, though, so she could say something—

“It was nice, when I was there. ’s not a very big city, but there were other towns and all close by, so it was okay. The people there were kind enough, most of the time, too, so... Yeah. Nice.”

—just not a whole lot.

[multeasers]

xunque​:

Wen Xun tilts his head at the mention of him feeling bad. He doesn’t mean to, doesn’t want to mar this first interaction he’s had with someone else by seeming like a downer! He smiles at the girl to try and show that he isn’t particularly hung up about it, but rather making an observation. Yes, it sucks that the area is devoid of people, mostly, but they’ve met now, so it’s alright, right?

His smile does falter when first, she refuses to take his hand, which he moves to hold to his chest instead, and second, when she murmurs that his help wasn’t needed. Has he offended her? He doesn’t want to be disliked already! Why is this so hard?? Well, he can only get better with practice, right? He shouldn’t be so hard on himself.

He doesn’t realize his gaze has fallen to the grass beneath his feet until her voice brings him back to the present, at which point he looks at her with a slightly perplexed expression, as if he hadn’t expected her to speak.

“Oh, um. It was nice,” he shrugs, walking over to the water to lean over and dip his hand in. The cool water tickles his fingers, which causes him to smile. “But terribly lonely. It was just me up there, you know? And outside of my house, it’s actually not very nice at all. Lots of jagged rocks and burnt earth.”

He looks himself in the eye as he speaks, his reflection distorted by the rushing stream. “I needed to know what, and who else was out there.”

Feeling entirely too somber, he frowns before straightening himself out and offering her another smile. “And you? Where did you come from?” 

She’s noticed that this stranger tends to smile a lot; she wonders if it’s just a little habit of his. She’s unsure if she should bring it up, however, or even how she would bring it up, so she decides to leave the information alone. It’s best to just leave what she doesn’t know how to ask about alone. What she’s more curious about now, after all, is that fact that, for a moment, his gaze and smile fell all the way down to the ground, which makes her wonder what he’s thinking. Hell, had she offended him? She’d thought she was doing a nice thing, not making him come over to her! Though he does move over to the river, now, so maybe he wouldn’t have minded... Whoops, she thinks to herself, looks like that one was my fault. Damn. 

Well, he ends up answering her question anyway, so it’s probably alright in the end. Hopefully. He’s piqued her interest even more, however, momentarily making her forget her wariness of him, so she decides to focus on that. 

“‘Just you?’ Why was it just you, did no one else live on the mountain? Why was only your house good?” 

She asks these questions before she realizes that she, maybe, should have asked if it was alright to. He looks pretty down, it’s likely he might not want to...

“Er, only answer if you want.” She adds on quickly, shifting on her feet. She takes a moment to tap the ground-end of her pole against the rock behind her—one of her go-to habits when her nerves begin to rise. It was very often, towards the end of her life, that people weren’t always the kindest to her, especially not right off the bat, so she’s a bit unsure how to manage something like this.

“Where did you come from?”

The question makes her a bit uncomfortable; not just because she doesn’t want to explain what her situation is, but because she’s never quite known where she was from to begin with. The question has always been one that unnerves her for this reason. 

Now, however, since she lived there, maybe she’ll just give the name of that place... It wouldn’t be a lie, really, to say it, as she’d lived there longer than anywhere else.

“I came from a place called Yì City.” She replies, shifting on her feet again. It’s not a lie. It’s not. “It’s far from here, I think, I’m really not sure.”

[multeasers]

xunque​:

Wen Xun is left hoping he isn’t giving off the wrong impression. He’s already started off on the wrong foot with this young miss, startling her by letting his emotions get the better of him! It’s so difficult to know what to do when you don’t know anyone, though. He knows basic manners, and how to address his father, but little else! 

As such, his shoulders slump when the young lady in the vibrant green robes informs her he isn’t doing as good a job at reassuring her as he may have hoped. 

“Oh,” he replies, sounding slightly defeated. He perks up quickly, however, when he realizes she’s acknowledging what he’s said. “Yes! That’s it, I’ve been alone this whole time, and…”

Even though his smile has returned, his eyes hold a certain pensiveness. He toys with his sleeve and shakes his head, taking a cautious half-step forward before returning to his spot.

“I think this area is just dead, for lack of a better word.” There are plants and animals, of course, but… “Something must have happened to make everyone leave. At least, that’s my guess. I don’t really know much, you see.”

Not wanting to risk talking her ear off if she isn’t open to entertaining his company, he holds his hand out to her in an act of good will. She might not trust him still, but he hopes she does!

“I’m worried you’ll fall into the river. Won’t you come join me here on the grass?” 

He hopes he’s made it obvious enough that he has no weapons on him. He hasn’t much of anything, really. Just a small pouch of food and another containing a few riches. Once he runs out of both, he’ll need to head back home and think of a better plan of action. He can’t very well take a horse and carriage along, can he…? 

She feels a little bad as she watches his shoulders drop, but at the return of his smile, the feeling goes away. It seems she hasn’t hurt his feelings, at least, which she wasn’t going for, as it was. Her head tilts, however, as he admits that he’s been alone; maybe he’s a lot like her and doesn’t have any family. Or maybe something bad had happened to them—that was possible, too. That seems worse than not knowing who they were at all, though, so she pushes the thought from her mind. 

“‘Dead,’” she repeats, softly, after him once again, raising an eyebrow. It’s not the word she would have thought to use, but she can see how it applies. But what could have happened to make it that way? “I guess you’re right.” She continues on, glancing around. “But it’s not like I’d know what happened here, either, since I’m passing through, so don’t feel bad about that.”

If he even does, but since that’s something she also doesn’t know, she feels it’s better to say it than not. An effort is better than nothing, right? She thinks so.

...She still hesitates, though, as the other extends his hand to her. She’s not quite sure if he means it just as a way to invite her down, or if he means to actually help her down. Either way, it’s kind of him, sure, to worry about her falling in, and it’s not that she fears he’ll hurt her, it’s just the fact that she doesn’t know him that makes her pause. Then again, she doesn’t know very many people as it is—she really never did—and maybe, if she at least comes down from the rock, she won’t feel as tense. That made sense, didn’t it?

She takes a second more before she makes the decision to locate her shoes and put them on so she can stand. Even if he means to help her off himself, it’s better to at least come down on her own, she’d think. No need for him to come closer if he doesn’t have to. 

“I wouldn’t have fallen, I was just fine,” she mumbles under her breath despite her thoughts, if only to say something to what he’d said. She’d even caught herself when she nearly fell, so she knows wouldn’t have fallen in, even! This stranger really had little faith in her...

“Why’d you leave that big mountain?” She decides to ask when she’s finally on the grass as well; she’s been curious since he mentioned it, and since she did what he asked, surely she can ask something back. “I’d think living on a mountain was something nice.”

[multeasers]

xunque​:

Oh, goodness, she’s running. Climbing backwards up the rock to put space between them. Even without any experience with the outside world, Wen Xun isn’t an idiot. He knows he’s scared her.

As such, he slows himself to a halt, stopping just a few paces short of the water. He can’t help but keep smiling even as he does this, though. How could he not? He’s finally seeing another living person! He has no trouble realizing she’s smaller than him, maybe she’s a child? In that case, he was meant to be careful with her, right?

Her outfit is such a lovely, vibrant green, she stands out like a sore thumb, and he’s sure that would still be the case were she on the grass. Her eyes are also white— is she blind? Is that why she carries the pole? That can’t be possible, though; she clearly reacted to him running towards her in a way only a seeing person could!

How peculiar!

“My name is Wen Xun,” he replies cheerfully, a slight tilt in his head as he says it. He quickly remembers to bow. “Please don’t be scared! We don’t know each other, I’m simply happy to see another person.”

Still offering her that excited smile, he allows himself to look around, to take in the blue of the sky and the deep, rushing green of the river. There seem to be little orange flowers dotting the grass beneath his feet, and for a moment he thinks of his garden back home. Would the plants be alright if he’s gone? Would the fish?

He shouldn’t stop to think about it. He needs to be able to explore, to put distance between himself and that place.

“I came from that big mountain there,” he points to the distance, “and I just wanted to see the river, really. Do you live around here?”

She does feel a bit better as soon as the other slows his pace, but her shoulders are still raised, and she quickly pulls her pole out from between the rocks—as carefully as she can, of course—so she can hold it closer to herself. As much as she doesn’t actually want to hit this stranger, he at least seems kind enough to take her fright into consideration, she’s not above acting like she will. Mostly because she will if she has to, for any reason. 

...But she finds she may not have to. As soon as the other smiles and bows, she’s left feeling a little awkward. Even with the way she’s being, he’d show her manners? 

Well, as long as he’s not mean, I guess. She thinks to herself, so she takes a moment to get a proper look at him before she bows her head in greeting; she’s not wanting to stand just yet. 

“I knew we didn’t,” she notes, quietly, before she raises her voice a little more. “But just telling people to not be scared doesn’t always help.”

Even so, despite her saying this, her fear is steadily leaving her. If this stranger would show her basic decency despite her rudeness, then surely she’ll be okay, especially because she can sense no underlying motive behind the kindness at the moment. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, of course, but for now, this stranger is okay to talk to, she feels.

She follows his gesture as he points to the mountain, and she can’t help being a little surprise; the mountain seems like it’s pretty far away, so what was this stranger doing, coming from all the way over there? It was no wonder he looked so tired, anyone would be after walking that distance!

“‘Happy to see another person?’” She repeats after him a little late, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Have you not seen anyone else either? I thought it was a bit weird that I hadn’t run into anyone else, but I just thought maybe I took an unpopular route...”

It’s not an exact answer to his last question, but it should be answer enough, she thinks. Having to admit from implications that she doesn’t even know where she is nerve-wracking enough, she doesn’t want to make it obvious she doesn’t have anywhere to go just yet.

[multeasers]

xunque​:

He’s been venturing more and more, lately. As the Nightless City lay in ruins, he hadn’t enjoyed exploring it so much, finding it hurt his chest and didn’t even provide him with many answers. He’d been able to piece things somewhat together from the writing on the walls, quite literally, but finding concrete records was near impossible. Whatever hadn’t been looted had seemingly gone up in smoke.

A great tragedy had befallen the place, which he hadn’t known to really inhabit, and he could only assume his father, the only family he’d ever known, had been taken down with it.

Why else wouldn’t he have come find his only son?

He wishes his home could be moved with a simple spell. He doesn’t want to lose the only thing he has left, the memory of his parents and the only place he’s ever truly known, but the blue sky is gone now; as are the birds. His house lays perched at the edge of Hell, and so, little by little, he’s been moving away from it.

He sleeps under trees some nights, when his exhaustion becomes too severe. Perhaps he’ll do so tonight! After all, this is the furthest he’s been from home, leaving behind its jagged rocks and twisting pathways. He isn’t sure how he managed it, but whichever path he took had led him to avoid any single populated area. He thought he’d seen a town once, but it was completely empty…

Deciding the best way to find life would be to follow a river, he’d made his way towards a shimmering in the distance, becoming more and more confident as the sound of rushing water reached his ears. Now, as he pushes on through the bushes, he’s finally able to make out the glistening stream himself…

As well as another person!

His heart nearly jumps out of his chest at the sight of her. There’s someone else! The world isn’t dead! Before he can stop himself, he’s letting out a loud hoot of laughter, which is quickly followed by him covering his mouth.

Far from deterred, he practically rushes towards the figure, a wide grin on his face. She looks to have a weapon, was she fishing?

“Miss! Miss! Oh, I can’t believe it!”

If A-Qing thought she was tense at hearing some grass move, she’s tense as all hell as soon as she hears a laugh; even with it being cut off quick, it’s enough that she knows it’s another person that’s coming near her. But who in the world would be out here? She hasn’t seen anyone in a long time!

When the newcomer comes into sight and immediately begins rushing toward her is when she acts purely on instinct. Said instinct if for her to scramble backwards on her rock in absolute fear, though this causes her to near fall over the edge of it; had her pole not gotten caught between the sides of the rock she’s on and the one next to it, giving her enough shock to tighten her grip on it in reflex, she likely would have fallen head-first onto the other and, possibly, into the river. She’s just glad her pole didn’t break with the force of it all.  

“D-Don’t come any closer!” She manages to stammer out, holding her free hand out; she surely looks silly, trying to pull herself back up to sitting with only one arm, but she doesn’t care. If she can’t back away any more, she just has to make sure they don’t come near! “Who are you, do I know you?!”

She phrases it like a demand, and an angry one at that, but as she finally manages to get herself back upright, she takes a look at the stranger and finds she’s never seen him at all; he’s someone unknown, through and through! But why did he sound so happy to see her if that was the case? It makes her wonder if he’s gone a long time without seeing anyone; he looks a little tired. Maybe he’s been traveling for a long time, just like she has. 

“You...” She begins to say what she’s thinking aloud, but she cuts herself off with a click of her jaw. It’s not quite alright for her, a stranger to this stranger, to just point that out and ask about it, right? Besides, he’d still scared her; he has to know it! 

“Where did you come from, what’re you doing here?!”