PC WITH YIN YU

[wowcool]

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WEEK 2 TUESDAY lets backdate this

[wowcool]

[Hey, Yin Yu. Did you think your days of running away from Anaido would last forever? Too bad. They end today.]

[Because just when you least expect it, here comes a brilliant detective, jumping out of the bushes, grinning like a loon.]

Yin Yu! I have something for youuuuu!

[shixiong]

[ yin yu is so good at running away from people, especially very loud ones that know a concerning amount of information about him and his life. he has spent the time since they've gotten off the bus avoiding anaido as much as physically possible, so him jumping literally out of the bushes is finally how he gets caught. yin yu jumps almost a foot, leaping backwards to put distance between them like a startled animal. ]

-- Master Anaido? [ ?? ??? ?????? fuck he's caught. at least his mask is on his face now so anaido can't see his facial expression, which is somewhere along the lines of "oh shit". let him process. ] You. What?

[ oh gods. ]

[wowcool]

Hahaha!

[And before Yin Yu can even complain, he whips out something from seemingly out of nowhere, placing it on the other's head.]

[Its a flower crown interlaid with purple flowers.]

There you go. You look good!

[shixiong]

[ ??????????????????????????????????????????????????

its this.

very slowly, he reaches up to touch his hand to it. ]

I. ...thank you?

[wowcool]

...

[His cheerful look softens.]

...I'm not mad at you, you know.

[shixiong]

[ HOW MANY LOOPS ARE YOU GOING TO THROW HIM FOR TODAY

this is normally the point in the conversation where yin yu would cut and run, but anaido's surprise tactic worked brilliantly, and he's struck again as he stands, fingers still in the flowers, stunned.

eventually, his hand drops, and he looks away, obviously so even with his face hidden. ] ...Is that so? That's very kind of you, sir.

[ it's an automatic response, the stiff and polite mannerism of a servant: you can almost hear the "i don't know why." really, yin yu hasn't forgiven himself for what happened-- and probably never will. ]

[wowcool]

I never was. I'm sorry if it came off that way. When you avoided me, I was unsure why, and then I realized why...

[He shakes his head.]

You know, if you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have gotten to know Wen Ning. So...I'm grateful to you, actually.

[shixiong]

[ ha... that is an interesting take on that. yin yu doesn't laugh, but he's a little incredulous. ]

You know how strange it sounds that you're grateful to me for killing him? [ he's just checking. anaido's point does make sense but that doesn't mean it's not absurd.

it's mostly rhetorical, though, so. he stops himself, knowing he sounds impolite, and shakes his head to stop himself. ] ....I understand what you're saying.

[wowcool]

I'm a brilliant detective whose role means survival doesn't matter. He is a dead man walking the earth. He and I have differing views on death than most people, haha.

[But its true. If they hadn't died, they wouldn't have been drawn to each other like they did.]

So, I don't want you to beat yourself up or anything. I am not mad, and never will be. I just felt that...you could do more for him than me. As far as what you offered. I still feel that way, a little.

[shixiong]

[ that is fair enough. it's not like his own views aren't a little skewed, either - few people would have thought "reincarnation" upon the realization that they had murdered someone and not of their own volition, but here yin yu was. ]

With all due respect, sir, those two things are beyond comparison. There's nothing I could do to make up for what I did.

[ a little more bitterly than normal, but, it's already out. yin yu shoves it down, feeling the urge to scrub at his face but ignoring it, for the time being. ] ...Alright. [ he says, eventually, clearly still skittish, clearly still uncomfortable but maybe like 10% less than he was before? who knows. ] Then--that's fine. Thank you for telling me.

[wowcool]

...

[He grins, suddenly, and then reaches forward, grabbing Yin Yu's hands and clasping them tight.]

How about you make up for it by being my friend? You have to repay it somehow, right?

[shixiong]

[ IF YOU COULD SEE THE PANIC ON HIS FACE. the minute the word "friend" and "repay" comes out of his mouth he knows he's boned ]

I--I suppose. [ shrinking..... but not saying no..... ]

[wowcool]

Good!

[He shakes their hands, three times. BULLYING INTO FRIENDSHIP]

I'm so happy! Lets go hang out...as friends!

w3 post execution !

[shixiong]

[ it's still very cold out.

having finished out the trial, a walk in the cold air is a good way to clear your head. his own feelings on nie huaisang are complicated after this week, and he's still grappling with the loss of three islanders, too.

he spots anaido out near the bonfire, and it seems like he's not actually going to come out. there's still a rise of anxiety, but it's quelled, and slowly, eventually, he comes over.

he sits far from anaido, though, on the opposite side... and doesn't say anything.



well, he didn't run????? ]

[wowcool]

[It still is rather cold. With the help of C3PO earlier this week, he got some extra clothing to put on so he wouldn't freeze. That was a nice thing to do, he thinks. C3PO always looked out for everyone.]

[When he sees Yin Yu, he raises his head, staring at him, and when he sits down, he stares into the fire again for a moment. His face seems blank.]

[And then finally, he speaks.]

I know it's a silly question, but...are you feeling alright, friend?

[shixiong]

[ that's... fine. the quiet as ever suits him more than anything else, and yin yu folds his hands where he's settled, looking down into the flames, himself.

when anaido speaks, it seems to surprise him. it's not readable, because his mask is hiding his face, currently, but it takes him a moment to answer. partially because he's awkward, but partially because he needs to think over the answer, too. ]

...Are you? [ HE DIDNT ANSWER? ]

[wowcool]

[He shrugs at that, heaving a sigh.]

...I would usually say "I'm alright", but. Not really, no.

[A shake of the head.]

We solved it, but...we still have no answers.

[shixiong]

[ yeah. that hits the nail right on the head. ]

Sect Leader Nie will tell us nothing. He is not the type of person to share an answer, no matter how much we try to get more details of the night out of him. Whether he committed one killing, or five is something we will never know unless we manage to catch someone else.

[ and it's too late for that. ]

[wowcool]

...But why? Why keep it secret? What's the motive?

[Would he put more people in danger if he said something?]

It just makes things all the more harder for us.

[shixiong]

I don't know. [ he shakes his head, a little frustrated. not with anaido, but with nie huaisang. mister i don't know... ]

Sect Leaders are often like this. I don't think he cared much for anyone but his own. [ politicians, often cutthroat ones. it reminds him of the heavens. people who have little kind to say the moment you turn your back. ]

...It isn't much of a victory.

[wowcool]

I see. I can...understand that, somehow.

[He shakes his head falling silent for a long moment. To guess at things would just lead them nowhere, without definite answers.]

...Yin Yu. I think you mentioned a master, before. What is he like?

[shixiong]

[ it's a distraction as much as any; the question throws him for a loop, restarts his thinking.

he's quiet for a moment, deciding how to answer, too. ] Chengzhu is... very powerful. To many, he is something of a terror, the scourge of the Heavens; he is what is known as a 'calamity'. He is the master of the Ghost City where I reside.

[ lots to unpack there! ]

[wowcool]

...Sounds like a powerful man, indeed.

[Sure, a lot to unpack. But he wants to know something more.]

What is he like to you, though?

[shixiong]

...Chengzhu is someone who saved my life. [ yin yu says, with a little more finality, this time. ] Not only that, but he gave me a purpose, when I had none.

[ that was hundreds of years ago, but it was exactly what yin yu needed, and it is something he will remember for the rest of his life, however short or long it may be. he's usually not one for many words, but... hua cheng is someone who is complicated to explain. good job anaido you unlocked conversation ] He is... capricious, and suiting of many of his reputations and terrors, but... the thing that I know the most about my lord and master is that perhaps he is more neutral than the world has painted him. He is the Ghost King Crimson Rain Sought Flower, but he is also the master of Ghost City, which takes in wayward demons, spirits, and ghosts and protects them so they can have somewhere to belong even when their families have forgotten them.

Chengzhu is a person who is devoted wholly to the ideals of someone else, and the kindness of that person's ways is probably the reason that I am able to sit here, today. He is the type of person who will go to fabulous lengths to protect the person most important to him, to make him feel comfortable, to give him kindnesses that others refused him, to take vengeance in the name of that person who was wronged.

[ yin yu looks at his hands, for a moment. fully covered, anaido wouldn't be able to see it, but yin yu knows that his cursed shackle is there, a burnt mark that weighs heavily on him every time he looks down. ]

...I am tied to Chengzhu because I am his right hand, yes, but it is not obligation that holds me at his side, anymore. It is gratitude, and... the things that I do for him are not against my own code.

[wowcool]

[It's one of the rare times he's heard Yin Yu talk this much, and that just gives more weight to how much Yin Yu cares for the man. Anaido listens well, as he always does, and then nods.]

Sounds like a complicated man.

[A man who stands in the middle, determined to fight for his own ideals.]

What does he see you as, though? You may not see yourself as his right hand man, but...do you think you're still that to him?