#sofi and i have many headcanons regarding the lin kuei and seidan tech

[seidanguard]

Trust. [ @paindealt​ ]

The icy wind blew through him, chilling his long thin bones. The wind wasn’t even that strong, but it didn’t need to be to make the tall Seidan slightly uncomfortable. The leather he wore under his armor kept him a little warmer, as did his helmet, but not much. Snowflakes gently fell from the sky. They disappeared into the snow-white ponytail topping his helmet. They sizzled away when they reached the golden orbs of light surrounding his hands. He was using his molten qi to keep his hands warm since his gloves had no fingers.

The footsteps he left behind him were gently covered by the falling flakes. The entire mountain trail was silenced by snow.

He would have preferred to have the company of Lord Raiden, or a Shaolin, or a Special Forces officer - somebody to give him credibility. The Lin Kuei had a recent history of run-ins in the past few decades; Seidan cybernetic technology had been stolen, and ninjas had been caught. But the Senate always had them let go for some reason. He had yet to figure out why, but he had full faith in the Senate to make the right decisions. Nonetheless, he came to the Lin Kuei temple with a prejudice against them.  He would have preferred to have the company of a few of his own guards, too.

He didn’t fear for his safety, though, not even a little bit. He just wanted to talk. He did not know much about Kuai Liang other than that he seemed to not be interested in continuing to upgrade the Tekunin, he was one of Earthrealm’s protectors, and he was allied with the Shirai Ryu. Having already earned the Shirai Ryu’s support, Hotaru was fairly certain it would be easy to gain the trust of the Lin Kuei - if they could overlook their recent history, which had nothing to do with the current Grandmaster.

The cold he felt did not show in his body as he ascended to the summit of the mountain, no flags on his back because they would have gotten in the way of travel.

The Lin Kuei temple was in front of him. Blue flags with the passingly familiar insignia fluttered as the wind picked up. The carved doors to this compound were massive and looked like they were frozen shut. Even though he had no physical way in, he was not yet worried.

He held still for a moment, idly looking if there were any tricks or traps. However, he felt chances were quite high that a ninja or other guards would jump out from some hidden spot to demand he identify himself, and would give time for that to happen before making a more active attempt to get in.