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 Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:55 pm
Whisteria hadn't regretted her decision to follow Elik back to this place. He was her only family now and she wished to be nearby. The difficulty in coming here lay in facing him, the one had taken Illisia. Elik said this god still looked very much like his mother and that would be hard for her to bear. It would be like looking at a ghost and was something far more tangible than the little shrine like graves that were in Darnassus. Shortly after she knew Elik and Adi would be safe she had stolen away into the gardens and hadn't stopped until she was well into the forest beyond.
Currently she lay at a river's edge, sandals off and skirt hauled up somewhat, feet dangling in the water. The sound and feel of the water calmed her down, leaving her in a light half sleep.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:40 pm
 The party was tommorow, the final touches on his gift were being made, his hakama was done and had been masterfully crafted... and his nerves were starting to run wild. Would it all go well ? Would everything go as planned ? Would he be able to be the lover Glyph deserved, most important of all ?
Thankfully, there were plenty of rivers he could follow to soothe his nerves. Unfortunately, the river he had chosen meant that Whisteria would have a run in with her ghost much sooner than she likely had planned.
As it was, it was Xun Jiang that spotted her first, and long, pointed ears were standing straight in alert. What the in the name of the Twin Crown ?!
WHISTERIA ????
It couldn't be, and yet it was. He would recognize her among million, given how close Illisia and her sister-in-law had been. And there she was, in the last place he expected her to be, and she had given her an entierely inadequate explaination in hope to spare her some of the pain, and his failure to make Elik sit and listen to know that his mother was not dead but that she was him, and that he was her, did leave him bleak at the idea of starting this dance again.
Therefore, the dragon submerged, hoping for a quiet escape. Unfortunately, having been frozen in place as long as he had just done would probably make that difficult.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:49 pm
The druidess stirred when another noise joined the gentle flow of the river. It wouldn't have bothered her normally but whatever it was didn't sound small. She sat up, peering out into the water and it was obvious enough that something lingered there. She drew her legs up onto the bank, but didn't take her eyes off the creature, whatever it may be.
Clearly Xun wasn't going to get away so easy as he'd hoped.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:06 pm
It would become obvious, with the attention Whisteria was now giving to the form underwater, that it was humanoid, if... strange. Through the pale lavender skin might make her wonder...
He was moving away, but he knew he couldn't stay underwater long. He had already used dragon form twice today, and now found, with a pang of panic, that scales refused to come forth.
This was bad. He could not breathe underwater like this, obviously, so had no other choice but to call defeat and surface to breathe a few paces uphill.
Maybe if he was quick enough, she wouldn't get a good look at him ?
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:25 pm
It seemed the creature under the water wasn't really a creature at all. Someone rather than something.
"Who are you?" She wondered, not realizing spoken aloud.
When the figure darted off upriver she decided to go after it. The druidess dove into the river, shifting to a form more suited to the aquatic environment. It allowed her to breathe underwater and swim a good deal faster. It might be enough to catch up to Xun.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:46 pm
Well crap. Of course Whisteria could shapeshift, and of course he couldn't. He did reach for Illisia's abilities to shapeshift, blindly, but of course he couldn't do that.
Ti Lung in his own element he was, but the fact was that in this half-mortal form, well, the cards weren't stacked at his advantage - and try as he might, Whisteria would inevitably catch up.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:55 pm
It was still a bit of a merry chase before she caught up to and eventually passed him, wheeling around and releasing the shapeshift. Which left her staring at someone who indeed just look quite like Illisia. Silver eyes went wide and she no doubt inhaled a bit of water before before finally breaking the surface.
"You...you're him aren't you?" She coughed and sputtered. If he was who she thought he was, no doubt he would understand.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:06 pm
Well, it was useless to try to escape further - it looked like he was going to have to deal with this, no matter if he wanted it or not.
More pressing, however, was Whisteria's coughing, and he remained silent until she stopped - until it was obvious that she had swallowed water and nothing more.
"Seems that I am infamous already." The voice was clearly male - low and flowing like a river, in it's own way. The rest of him was clearly still female, made painfully evident by wet clothing, and he looked none too bothered by it.
That guess could be a bad thing, because the only way she could know, well... was Elik, unless she had met another that he or Illisia had known, another who had made an educated guess thanks to the racial features.
"But yes. I am Xun Jiang." He said, simply.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:21 pm
Whisteria stayed silent a while, studying him, her expression mostly unreadable except for the number of emotions that shown in her eyes. Love, hate, fear, but most of all confusion. What was she supposed to feel, faced with him all of a sudden like this? She wasn't prepared for this at all.
"He was right...you do look like her..." It was all she could think to say, but it would confirm his suspicion that she had learned about him from Elik.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:45 pm
Well, there had been a reason he'd wanted to get away, really ! This was incredibly, extremely awkward.
"Such is the way it is. I will continue to look like her for quite some time, I believe, until we change again." He saw no need to hide it - really, if Elik had brought her here, then Whisteria was likely very well aware of what he thought had happened to Illisia. The 'we' slipped it too easily, and he never seemed to notice it.
But it was also a relief, to know that it was likely Elik that brought her here. Having her show up in more... random circumstances would likely have been the sign of a... greater calling, and as hypocritical was it was, Xun Jiang wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with that.
"How long have you been here ?" He asked, quite curious.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:07 pm
An eyebrow raised quizzically at the 'we' but she didn't mention it aloud at first.
"Not long, a day or so maybe?" It was difficult to tell, given the time they left and when they arrived here. The druidess swam to the river bank and pulled herself out of the water, whether it was to put distance between herself and Xun or something simpler she wasn't sure. Clearly she was soaked, but it certainly wasn't the first time such a thing had ever happened. Her garb was crafted mostly from leather so there was little she could do about it either.
"You said 'we' a moment ago...was it on purpose?" Instead of looking at him she looked down the bank, seeking a sign of her sandals and staff, wondering how far they had come while swimming.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:28 pm
Xun Jiang was content to stay right where he was, clearly thinking that Whisteria was trying to get away from him. In a way, he couldn't blame her - even with advance warning, it was still a lot to take in. Hadn't he struggled with it in his own way, when he had been Illisia ?
He'd said... ? Oh, for the Twin Crown's sake... today really wasn't his day. It had been easier when the whole thing had still been fresh, when he had struggled to explain it to Glyph, and failed to explain it to Elik. He really needed to stop flip-flopping and settle on one definition, already.
"It is... rather complicated." Really, would Whisteria understand ? The failure to make Elik understand still rankled, and still hurt, and he was weary.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:42 pm
"Still...I would like to know." You owe me that much...I think. was what the look she gave him said when her gaze finally found his again. It was tempting to give voice to the demand, but who was she to do such a thing, even if the god had once been her sister-in-law. "I would rather know, and take the time to mourn, than be at an impasse."
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:01 pm
Yes, he knew that look well. How many times had both woman gave quite similar looks to each other ? Both of them had been stubborn in their own way, and Illisia's own stubbornness was now coming back to bite him in the a**.
Well, he had no other choice but to deal with it. "Very well." But then he paused, tried to word this in a way that she might be able to understand. He had struggled to understand it as Illisia, the mortal definition of a self being so... limiting.
"First, there was one. Me, trapped in the gem that housed my essence. Then there were two. Me, and Illisia. We had our fair share of trials, but she was strong in the ways that I was weak, and she was weak in the way that I was strong. She was the only one, in All That Is, that matched me so completely. And then... The day came that there was only one again. Me, and Her. Her, and Me. I am Xun Jiang, and I am Illisia." Simple yet complicated, and yet the admission made him feel vulnerable. His jaw was set in a way that was undeniably Illisia, as if he was trying to will her to understand and take it with dignity by sheer force of will.
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:36 pm
Whisteria watched the dragon king as he explained the situation to her. She saw so much of Illisia there that it was difficult to see anyone else, but Xun himself said that would probably change with time. What he spoke of made a lot of sense on some levels and very little on others. "Like finding your soul mate, kind of?" That was something of a wishy washy topic with her, but it seemed to fit what he spoke about.
The part that was difficult to grasp was the last. How could you be someone and yet not really be them? At the very least the outright fear and dislike was gone from her expression and body language.
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