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 Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:18 pm
Getting out of the apartment to walk Táotáo had sort of helped Líanlí clear his head? But only sort of. Had time travel been possible, he would’ve yeeted himself back several hours and simply listened to Hayden when he should’ve. “Turn that off, why don’t you,” Hayden had told him over breakfast, with a gentle swat to the temple. “What good are you doing yourself by giving them all more clicks?”
The old clip of Zhìháo that Tiktok had made off with had felt so important to keep tabs on, though. Only running Táotáo out for her afternoon walk had gotten Líanlí to stop watching it, flaying his nerves over and over again with the same video of himself—no, of the person he used to be—emotionally eviscerating himself to share about a fight he’d had with his father, all brought up to his emotional surface thanks to the then-most recent episode of Glee. Different flavors of edit had cropped up and done nothing to help Líanlí feel less (potentially) exposed, less at risk of discovery.
But nobody had connected some chubby, overly emotional teenager from nearly twelve years ago with independent composer Líanlí Huáng. In the back of his mind, a nasty little voice insisted on clarifying “At least, they haven’t done that YET”—but ambling through Some Park Or Other Maybe North End? But Who Could Keep Track Of All The Parks in Destiny City, Líanlí tried valiantly to ignore that sentiment.
Whatever would happen in the future, he’d deal with it then. Right now, though, as Líanlí ******** off from the path to traipse across the grass, a whoosh! swooped out of nowhere and knocked him down. Force from something huge jumping to the ground? Okay, maybe, but any other number of potential weird explanations also existed. Destiny City’s capacity for weirdness knew no limits.
Violently shaken back to the present moment, Líanlí groaned. Above him, an unearthly, bone-chiller hissing sound rattled like death. Looking, not looking, he might live to regret his choices either way, so better to at least know what Destiny City nonsense had found him tonight.
On the ground, sat eight enormous, black legs with protuberant joints, clearly strong despite their spindly appearance. Although their bulbous black body hung low before him, they kept it from completely touching the dirt and the grass. As the monster-thing got its bearings, swishing itself around, Líanlí clocked the red splotch on its backside, looking like a skull and crossbones. Because the idea of an enormous black widow really needed to be worse: at the spot where the head should have connected, this monster had a glowing red spot, looking almost like an amulet. Above that, there rose a long, black neck. Smooth, rounded scales glistened beneath the moonlight and the streetlamps. Even in profile, the long fangs and forked tongue looked plenty nasty.
“Huàshétiānzú,” Líanlí groaned—and instantly regretted doing so.
The monster’s head snapped toward him. Its body lurched and legs skittered, turning in the same direction. Oh, <********>
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:28 pm
Fang liked patrolling. It felt like hunting, in a way. Though instead of a delicious meal at the end of it, he saved a life by driving away the enemy. In a way, it was like… Guarding the weak. The whole planet couldn't be his Pack, no, but it definitely had become part of his responsibility from the moment he landed on Earth and got trapped here.
(He didn't know for certain if he was trapped or not, but he didn't want to attempt to find out and get trapped the other way.)
This time—this time, it would be like an actual hunt. A youma prowled the streets tonight, and he snarled under his breath when he saw it. He began to track it… and then, a civilian appeared and the youma pounced on him.
Calculating the abrupt change in plans, he simply launched himself at it without any of his usual grace, knocking the thing partially off its feet, and bit violently into its shoulder.
Unfortunately, it gained its bearings far too quickly for his liking and lashed out with its long neck, nearly severing Fang in half with those fangs if not for his quick roll off it and underneath it. Thank goodness it didn't have as many eyes as a normal spider. Maybe that would confuse it for a bit, at least. He looked around for the civilian, hoping the human had enough sense to book it.
His wisp burbled, frightened by the fight, but also made more angry burbling noises, wanting to join, somehow, which made him give it a quick pat.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:29 pm
Maybe Líanlí had made an error in assuming that he could complain about the spider-snake in Mandarin and get away with it. Did spider-snakes even speak Mandarin? Maybe they did! What did he know? Nothing, obviously! He was ignorant, like the cabbage!
Regardless, Líanlí gasped at the sudden advent of another person, flinging himself at the spider-snake like nobody’s business. Trying to remember how to stand up, Líanlí watched the spider-snake rear back, getting swept up in the fight with the other guy—also with his wolfy-looking ears and tail, because that was happening now, apparently. Clearly, the wolf-man was one of the magical weirdos who ran around Destiny City, getting into s**t, like the guy with the white flowers in North End Park and the guy with the drapey purple sleeves and unnecessary pumps who Líanlí often spotted hanging out around Scandals.
Watching the snake maw lunge toward the wolf-man, Líanlí gasped again. His legs still felt like jello beneath him, unwilling to let him stand, much less run. But grabbing at his chest like a delicate lady in dire need of a mint julep before she fainted herself to death, Líanlí felt something……different.
Was it………an ascot?
He didn’t own any ascots. When he’d left his apartment, he’d only had multiple layers of Jacket tossed on over a beat-up old concert tee, a relic from the time he and Hayden had snagged tickets to see The Mountain Goats and road-tripped up to Brooklyn for it. But when Líanlí looked down now, he found a fluffy ascot and a fine, high-collared shirt of deep maroon (so expensive-looking that he surely would’ve remembered buying it). Indeed, his whole outfit had changed—and there, sitting in the loose folds of his new, lilac skirt, sat a folding fan.
Trembling slightly, he picked it up.… Silk and bamboo, like the antiques that Zhìháo’s rancid b***h grandmother back in Boston kept locked in a safe-box in the attic.… Unlike all of them, the fan didn’t spew dust everywhere when he snapped it open, and oh, the landscape depicted on it……
Crack! Whump!
Watching one of the nearby trees topple over, walloped by the spider-snake as it missed another strike on the wolf-guy, Líanlí suddenly recalled how to use his legs and sprang up off the ground.… Was he still Líanlí? Did something else awaken in him, now? He still felt something that he recognized as Himself, but he’d think about it later.
Pretty silk folding fan in hand, he looked around for the wolf-guy, then rushed to join him. Something about him felt different now too, or maybe Líanlí simply hadn’t noticed it before. But the wolf-guy radiated a sense of warmth that made Líanlí feel like they needed to stick together.
Twirling his fan, Líanlí fell in beside his new wolf-comrade. “Fight these things often, friend?”
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:30 pm
Fang snarled at the youma again, longing to rip it to shreds. It was only when the man he'd been protecting came to his side as a Knight that he even remembered he had magic to try to use on the damn thing. So focused he'd been on the hunting aspect that he'd forgotten who he was again. Someone who could help more than what he'd been able to do on his homeworld.
"Very," Fang said, annoyance clear in his tone. "Stay back. Double slash!"
With the call of his attack, two large and ghostly wolf claws burst from his hands as he swiped at the air, wrenching some of the legs from the youma. In a moment, it had tilted onto its legless side, the other half clawing uselessly at the air as it hissed angrily.
"Die already," Fang told it in the same annoyed tone from before, wrinkling his nose at it.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:31 pm
Under other circumstances, Líanlí might have applauded. The wolf-guy’s attack hit true, not only mauling the spider-snake but also knocking it over.… Knocking it over and drawing Líanlí’s eye back to the glowing red spot, where the currently flailing, scaly neck met with the twitching, mangled body.
As he looked at that glowing red spot, an idea flared up in Líanlí’s head. He snapped his fan closed. Took a few steps forward. Lined up the shot—and lobbed the fan toward the big shiny target that who-or-whatever made this giant atrocity had so conveniently pasted on the thing, practically screaming HEY! LOOK!! PLEASE ATTACK ME RIGHT IN THIS SPECIFIC SPOT!!!
Much like the wolf-guy’s attack, Líanlí’s throw struck true. His fan flipped over around itself like a gymnast back-flipping through a floor program, and the blunt bamboo end part of it whacked the monster right in its glowing weak spot. With practically anticlimactic levels of non-fanfare, the monster twitched one last time, then dissolved into dust, leaving Líanlí’s fan to drop into the grass.
“Whoa,” he said, feeling not even a fraction as cool as Keanu Reeves probably would have been, had he been present to stare at the same empty space that had once contained a monster and let slip that single word. With a quick jerk of his head, Líanlí shook himself back around and went to pick up the fan.
“Hey,” he said, looking up to his wolf-comrade with a small smile. “Appreciate you jumping in with the rescue like you did tonight. May I trade names and buy you dinner to say ‘thanks, handsome magical stranger’ more properly?”
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:32 pm
Fang snorted in satisfaction when the youma finally dusted, giving the new Page a serious nod—he'd done very well, hitting it the way he did. It deserved praise. But before Fang could open his mouth, the Page hit him with his own words, and Fang blinked in shock, rearing back slightly.
Handsome.
Now that he understood more of the cultural meaning around words like that, his face erupted into a blush, traitorous tail wagging behind him and giving him away.
"Ahh…n-name F-Fang," he mumbled, staring at the man's boots.
It was then that he understood the desires he felt about Zac, as well. Because his next thought came to him—Want Zac to call me handsome—and he blushed even deeper. Was that really…? Because while some of his initial questions had been answered on that Reddit thing that lovely guy told him about, he hadn't quite understood, until now, just what all those words really meant.
It frightened, bamboozled, and enticed him all at once, and he didn't know how to make any sense of it. After getting some answers, only more questions appeared. But… he could shove that down. He needed to help the new Page.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:32 pm
………Well, that hadn’t been the reaction that Líanlí had expected? With all the shocked face-making and the rerk-ing back? To him, it was just……? The most obvious personal compliment that he could’ve given, at the moment? He’d seen Fang work, yes, but he didn’t know how much of that was luck vs. skill, or how much Fang would have done otherwise, and until he got to know Fang better……? Sure, he’d admit that it was a superficial compliment, but that didn’t make it less genuine.
But—well, pointing out the reaction probably wouldn’t help Fang calm down, so……Líanlí just nodded and gave him a warm smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, Fang. I’m, uh……” He trailed off, blinking first at Fang, then down at the grass, then at the fan in his hands. Without the monster around, distracting him and keeping him from truly thinking clearly, several earlier questions swarmed back into his mind. Was he still Líanlí? These were not Líanlí’s clothes. But he still felt like himself. Like someone who he recognized as himself. He felt himself in ways that he certainly did not feel anymore about Zhìháo because why would he, because Zhìháo was gone and it was better that way. But he didn’t know that Líanlí felt like the exact right name for which robe of Himself he’d slipped into for now.
Words bubbled on his tongue like Pop Rocks. Churned around his chest like Colonial reenactment actors making butter for a big yellow schoolbus full of children. Everything felt electric, vibrant, ablaze with possibility, and finally, he took a deep breath—
“Kāifēng,” he said, still blinking at his fan. Easing it open, he peered down at the landscape painted on the silk: a field full of ominous black trees, with a lovely looking river and a tall black tower in the center that screamed How dare you accuse me of overcompensating for anything!!! Another deep breath. Some trembling with the sheer muchness of it all. But he looked back up to Fang and went on, “I—I was going to say my usual name, but…? That one just came to me, and……? I think it might be my name, too? ……Kāifēng of Saturn.”
He held up the fan, tilting his head to peer at it some more. “I feel like……maybe this place might be called ‘Kāifēng,’ too?”
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:33 pm
The moment finally passed and Fang relaxed, infernal tail finally ceasing the wagging. Sometimes, he didn't like the way all his emotions were on display. Especially when navigating this new landscape of emotions. But he preferred honesty over inhonesty at all times, so he supposed he had to "suck it up", as they said on Earth.
"Kāifēng," he said with a happy chirp. "Yes, power name and normal name. It… who we are. What we protect."
He moved closer to peer at the fan, making a curious grunt sort of noise. "Pretty. Scary, too. Kāifēng should be proud. His place to protect is good."
Smiling encouragingly, he continued with, "But… if promise of food not joke…? Fang is always hungry." At his own words, he gave a sheepish chuckle.
That had been true, once. But a year on Earth, having three meals a day plus snacks, and the surety of food had changed him. Of course, he would always eat when offered food, turning anything down would be a surefire way to tell if he was possessed, but… hunger was not known to him as fiercely as it had once been. He still feared it, immensely so, but he no longer felt the need to eat everything he possibly could any time he was presented with a large amount of food. It was okay to save things for later. It wouldn't spoil by the time Fang felt like he should eat again. Not like how it did on his planet, as Chaos poisoned everything.
Being safe was still so strange, but he thought he was beginning to get used to it.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:33 pm
Kāifēng listened attentively as Fang explained different aspects of how this all worked.… Powered up name and usual name, made sense enough to Kāifēng, like the difference between Jason Todd and Red Hood (save that his superpower wasn’t quite as magical).… And the landscape on his silk folding fan would also be named Kāifēng. It had called to him as its protector.… That idea didn’t make quite as much sense, not to the part of Kāifēng that wanted to introduce Fang to Líanlí and switch back to using that name, but rapid changes in any given situation left a lot of people needing time to adjust.
Besides, what did he know? An ignorant human questioning the wisdom of literal magic sounded perfectly ridiculous.
“Does Fang also have a nice place to protect? Aside from the city, I mean?” Kāifēng smiled warmly, easily adjusting to the pattern of addressing Fang in the third-person instead of the second-person. Didn’t normally do that in English, but it was a regular enough occurrence in Mandarin that it never really bothered Kāifēng. “Either way, definitely not a joke. Appreciate Fang’s help, would like to get him something nice, like a meal. Any place Fang might especially like?”
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:34 pm
Fang's tail began to wag again, slightly, at the way Kāifēng addressed him. He'd gotten so lucky in these last few days with people who adapted their language to his level, rather than not do anything at all, or worse, try to make Fang adapt to their way. Even if he cringed at the idea of going back to his own planet, the idea of calling it a nice place to protect after all the suffering he'd endured. That wasn't Kāifēng's to know for right now.
"Have planet," he confirmed. His tail wagged harder at the confirmation it wasn't a joke. Kāifēng wanted to feed him.
"Anyplace with lots of meat and cheese," he answered brightly, well aware that could be many places. He wasn't very fickle.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 8:35 pm
The idea of Fang having a whole planet that he protected made Kāifēng brighten up—well, more so than the turn in his evening had already brightened him up. Dimly, he realized that discovering this piece of himself didn’t make everything happening with Zhìháo’s old video on Tiktok go away or stop. But it finally felt how Hayden had encouraged him to consider it: like it belonged firmly to the realm of Someone Else’s Problem. Not even in the same way that Líanlí tended to consider Zhìháo a wholly different person from himself, someone who’d died and gone away and everyone was better for that, even though Líanlí himself was Zhìháo……or at least, he had been Zhìháo.
No, the business that had seemed so crucially important when he’d wandered into the park……didn’t really seem to matter anymore. Líanlí had Kāifēng, this new piece of himself that he hadn’t known before. Kāifēng had this place to protect—possibly? it was up on Saturn?—as well as a city full of monsters and innocents who needed protection from them. And all of that……the thought of what all these things truly meant……
It felt like water flowing from an unpolluted spring, like a sunlit meadow thawing out after a long, cold winter, like the new year’s first plum blossoms.
It felt right.
So did brushing aside the way that Fang had left his explanation at Have planet. They’d only just met each other after all, and it was fair if he didn’t want to share everything about himself right away.
Smiling broadly, Kāifēng nodded. “There’s a diner I know a few blocks away,” he confirmed. “They’ve got all kinds of meat and cheese stuff for you to pick from. We can change back to our civvies and you can get whatever you like.”
The red color of Kāifēng’s new top felt perfect for tonight: a good luck color for the luckiest night of Líanlí’s life, so far.
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