|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 11:20 am
 Did I Lose my Mind?
I lashed out at Kiran and Sakn. Kiran took the anger I had stored up in me after Yowai told me I was being selfish and immature. She told me I was hurting everyone and needed to stop doing these things. I couldn't accept that, and like the child she had claimed I was, I took it out on Kiran. We fought, and although I won, that is a pretty bitter victory. I really did like him. We got along well. I wonder if I could make it up to him somehow... I don't really know how to deal with what I've done. I hope that sometime soon I'll have the courage and the energy to fix the mistakes I've made. Or at least try. Is Kiran the type of Lunarian to hold a grudge? I don't think that he is; nothing like Cais.
Cais I fought out of love for Jianyu, and I have no regrets in that sense. He deserved it. Too bad I probably just perpetuated his idea that Legion are scum and violent. I guess I created even more of an enemy, that way. These things are bound to happen, though, and I can't regret every single thing I've done.
Sakn, I miss Sakn so much. Every time I look at Hime-san, I remember our fight, our triumph, sharing the winnings. I remember how Hime-san immediately took to harassing Sakn, as if he could smell the dislike on him. Sakn's passionate if kind of wild way of fighting was endearing. He never gave up, even when he was incredibly hurt. And yet that ... thing took him over. I still don't really understand it, and he's not around to explain, but what he was that day was not my good friend. I hope that Xiu has managed to snap some sense into him, or work it out. Sakn and Xiu are cute, I wish I had met Xiu in other circumstances. At least Xiu punished me for how I'd hurt Sakn; I can't say I'm very good at fighting Soul Conduits. I should really learn how to do that.
Every Soul Conduit seems to fight differently, though. I can't wrap my mind around it. Yowai helped me train in a physical sense, but it's not like Chishio had any insight into the other side of battling, the magic side. Every battle I fight in seems like an exercise in adding another element to my list of weaknesses. I need to deal with this magic thing, before it comes back to bite me.
Until then, how can I even begin to apologize to the ones I care for? Even if I can admit it here, in person it's pretty difficult to say as much. I just don't behave like that around the others. I even started to avoid Jianyu for a long time... That hurt a lot. I guess I needed to make myself take some distance, some space to observe. To understand what I was doing.
I don't know how much has changed, but at least I can admit I was wrong, now. Why did I think that was a good idea, at the time? I was rash, young and afraid. I am still learning. Perpetually.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:11 am
Mr. Princess Has a New Favourite
I met Sarangerel when I was still a student. It has taken me a long time to write this entry, so I'm going to be a bit rusty. I have to include some of the jot notes I wrote. It's kind of a patchwork job; I really should keep better track of my first meetings. I seem to be slacking off in that department lately! I guess so much happened so fast as soon as I entered the Academy that certain hobbies suffered.
In any case, Hime-san is still fond of her and only her. No one else. He kept getting me in trouble by attacking strangers, but when he ran into her... she just treated him kindly. And he took to her. In fact, for a while, it seemed as though he was going to refuse to come home with me. Little fluffy traitor.
Her full name is Sarangerel Odtsetseg. She told me to call her Sara, because it's easier. It makes sense. She is a very, very pretty Mongolian, with teal hair so dark it's like slick oil, and eyes so bright they look like jewels. She was so kind. I think that was the feature in her I noticed most. A little uncomfortable with physical contact, but even gentle about that, too. I think that she might be the one to watch over me when I'm at my craziest. She is so soothing, too. Not that she can stop me when I'm excited about something, but... a good influence. She doesn't facilitate my bad traits. She balances me out. I like that, and I like being around her.
Plus she can babysit Mr.Princess when he has thrown his tenth mango at my head. That break will be much appreciated. For some reason he listens to her... she mentioned something about having animals back home, maybe? She's not from around here. I'm just happy she's on the same side as I am; I would hate to lose someone like her to the war. Basically, she's soft where I'm harsh, and easy-going when I'm all over the place. She's smart, though, and that's one of the reasons I like her so much.
Sarangerel:
- Keeps calling me 'neg-yue' and I can't figure out what that means. She won't tell me!
- Sweet, good with Mr. Princess (stupid monkey)
- Smarter than she may seem; she's quiet, but she's also perceptive.
- Probably going to try her best to keep me out of trouble
- An ally for the future?
- Best-dressed Legion member I've seen in my life
- I'm kind of hungry right now
Only one thing left... time to get her drunk! Would she tell me more about herself, if she was drunk, or still remain a little secretive? She seems so soft in my mind. I call her sweetpea, because of that.
There is one thing I know, and that is she may be important to me one day, and I want to keep her safe until then. She doesn't seem like much of a fighter, and things can get rough for Lunarians as sweet as Sara. Maybe she's not all sweet..? In any case, I don't want to risk it. I can't let another Lunarian die because of my failings... Sara, wherever you are, don't get hit by an arrow, okay?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Face your demons generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
3!
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:30 am
What the Hell was That?! -
Noble Win It was sunny out, the perfect day. Perhaps it was just her impression, but it seemed to be much warmer out lately. Much nicer. Yue Lao knelt next to a lake and played idly with some small stones, flicking them in with her thumb. The ripples disturbed her reflection. She tilted her head as her mirror image spread outward and returned. She looked tired, didn't she? Not as tired as Chishio, though. It was just that the battles were having an effect on her, and it wasn't necessarily the best result. In fact, it was bordering on exhaustion. So she had used her time off to retreat into the hills and explore a little. Not too far out, and not for a long time. In fact, she didn't plan to sleep here, just make the journey, spend the day, and return home. Her pack was nearby; she didn't trust any location enough to let her supplies out of her sight for long. Or at all.
There was a rustling in the trees behind her, in fact. She closed her eyes, and the image of Iseul being struck with the arrow filled her with dread. She would not let something like that happen again. It was already bad enough Iseul had died for that mistake. Hime-san was not with her on this trip, because Yue Lao was worried he would get eaten by bears or something. He wasn't the brightest Golden Lion Tamarin, after all. But he was hers, and she loved him. In any case, he would just have eaten all her food and made her carry him the whole way there. Stupid monkey. Fluffy nuissance.
Still, whoever thought they could sneak up on her was sorely mistaken. Yue Lao waited moments later, moving slowly, unwinding her meteor hammer from around her shoulder. She gripped its cord in her hands and rose. She turned to face whoever it was in the trees. They had, by this point, moved towards her. Their bow was drawn. It was a male archer, and she smiled at first, thinking of Jianyu. This was clearly a Noble fighter, though. She sighed and began to swing her meteor hammer, building up momentum. She didn't attack him, but stepped away from the water and waited for his arrow to fly. When it did, she launched her meteor hammer up and stopped the arrow in its tracks. Not a big deal. Nothing like that was, now that she had undergone so many target practice rounds with painful mistakes. Even teacups hurt when they were flying at you. That was another hard lesson she had to learn, once.
In any case, she was not surprised or afraid in the least. Things like this were just meant to happen to a fighter like her. Except if she had learned anything by now it should have been that when she was totally unafraid was when she should worry. Like with Shin Mu. Why did all these Nobles seem so unthreatening? Xiu, Shin Mu, and now this Lunarian, though she couldn't know that at first. He looked surprised and afraid at first. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and swung the meteor hammer in a wide ark, hooking around his ankles. She tugged at them with one violent jerk and watched as he hit the ground. He had thrown his quiver off to avoid crushing it, and he sat up, ready to put another arrow in the quiver, though she had clearly hurt his ribs. He was wincing with pain. Yue swung the meteor hammer up above her head. Might as well make this fight quick; she needed to rest if she ever wanted to survive.
That was not about to happen. The arrow he put into his bow looked like it didn't even have a tip. She didn't mind it any, and since it had no tip, didn't do a damn thing as he let it fly. Except halfway through its ark, Yue glimpsed metal shining in the sun. Her eyes narrowed and she used the meteor hammer to deflect it in a hurry. It nearly hit her because of her carelessness. It was a point much like her meteor hammer, small and spiked all over. She frowned. Something like that could never fly, and why hadn't she seen it when it was cocked?
"What's your business with me?" she called across to him, shaking her head so that her earrings jingled and her braid swung to the side, "Unless I've done something to provoke you, I can't see why you would make it a habit of attacking strangers. Oh wait, this is the war, and such slimy tactics are alright." Yue grimaced at her opponent. He seemed to only get more frantic, scrambling to his feet. He really didn't look very brave...
He cocked another arrow. This time, it had a point, but when he let it fly it was flaming. Yue swore under her breath and rolled for her pack, minding her meteor hammer. She swung it onto her back and darted to the side. Good thing it was a light pack... still, Yue would have to train with heavier weights, if this was going to be a regular problem. Dear Emperor, the things she could not forsee. And when the arrow hit the dry, fragrant grass it went up in flames immediately. Not only that, but the archer put his bow away and stood with his hands clasped in front of him. His index fingers were placed together, and he exhaled heavily on them, as if blowing a tiny flame off the tips. The fire spread around to circle Yue Lao and her opponent. There was nowhere to go, and the heat was sweltering.
"You'll kill us both, Noble lord," Yue sneered sarcastically. She liked the heat, but this was one tinged with the threat of death. It looked like he was controlling the fire... Once he was done with that, he picked his bow back up, and aimed another shot at her. In the flicker of the fire, she was too busy trying not to catch fire to notice the particular of this arrow. It didn't seem to be anything special, at first, but as she looked away for just an instant the arrow changed its shape again. It became long, metallic all over, and for some reason threaded back to its owner. Kind of like a grappling hook, but it was only the arrow tip and a long, flexible metal shaft. A wire. It plunged into her shoulder, and she gasped in pain, dropping the meteor hammer's rope from one hand. Useless. Without both hands, it was useless. She dropped the remaining side and dug into her coat for her tekko. She slipped them onto her knuckles on her still-useful hand and was about to approach the stranger when he did it for her: he pulled on the cord of the grappling arrow just like she'd swept his feet out from under him, and she screamed in pain. The grappling hook was lodged against her shoulder, and there was no way in hell that thing was coming out. She did the only thing she could think of: she grabbed hold of the wire and yanked. Even if he had the advantage, and she was injured, she was still far stronger. So she pulled him down, and tore the wire from his hand. She used it like a thin whip, attacking him with it mercilessly. He raised one hand, briefly, and tugged the fire closer towards her. The edge of her pants began to catch fire, and she swore again.
"If you want to die here, so be it," Yue Lao said. He reached out one injured, bloody hand and grabbed her by the ankle, taking her down with surprise. The fire was so close it nearly burned her hair. She howled with frustration, the arrow being thrust a little out of her back by the impact with the ground. Yue Lao was not happy, and she seemed far less herself, far more animal in her terror and rage. The pain was overwhelming, unlike anything she'd felt before. And then the wire began to expaind inside her, and twist around, circling towards her neck like a metal snake. Terrified, Yue Lao launched one good kick at her assailant's head. The fire went down as soon as she did so, and she rolled to her feet on her good shoulder, taking the pack and her meteor hammer with her and hopping over the now-low flames.
She only made it into the woods, hiding behind some overgrowth she had prepared just in case she was attacked and needed to hide, before she began to pass out from the pain. She removed some smelling salts from her pack, waved them under her own nose and used the new alertness to drink a strengthening tea she had brought with her and rub some foul-smelling balm on her burns. The arrow she tugged at lightly, but it was fixed firmly in her shoulder. Instead, using the tea's new strength to help her move, she began her trudging walk home. Maybe a half hour in, however, she sat down to rest near the edge of the woods and passed right out. Emperor forbid her enemies were still nearby...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:53 pm
I Remember... Lately I've been feeling a little down. Even after shedding most of the guilt, and coming to terms with all the things I faced when I was a student, I still feel like I'm lacking direction. I need new ingredients, I need to master this magic, and I need to become more fierce. Stronger. These are all new changes I am still working towards. There are things from my past I miss, too. So today, I think I am going to be a bit nostalgic.
I miss that night in the garden, when Jianyu called me Stargazer. I miss how close we were then, even though he was so upset. I miss finally seeing him wake after his fever had subsided, the anxiety I felt evaporating. I miss being close to him like that. I miss making him try all my new alcohols (the bad as well as the good). I miss that fight we had with grapes, and I wish we'd managed to make more wine out of it. Though I did salvage some, and it's fermenting as I write. It's going to take a lot longer than one journal entry to be ready, though. So one day I figure I'll get to uncork it, and remember how happy we were that night. I was very happy.
I must still be happy, aren't I? It's just that everyone I care for seems to have disappeared lately. I'm doing okay, hanging out with Sara, and she's becoming very important to me. Except she keeps stopping me from getting into trouble! I miss Sakn's fighting style, and how passionate he was even if I managed to beat him. We need more rematches! I miss Kiran and eavesdropping; what we fought over will maybe someday bring us to a better place. A stronger friendship.
There are some I don't miss, though. Shin Mu made me uncomfortable, and her magic hurt like hell. I want a rematch someday, so that I can show her what I have learned about Soul Conduits, but I don't think I want to see her anytime soon. I also don't miss Cais; he insulted someone I loved, and had to be beaten for that. Not that I could have forseen success or defeat; I pretty much wandered into that fight with blind passion. Good thing it turned out okay.
If those are the only two I don't miss, though, I feel pretty lucky. The Lunarians I love far outweigh the ones I don't get along with.
Mostly, I miss you. And I am running out of ways to say it. It would be better if I started saying "Come home," wouldn't it? Maybe then I'd be less pathetic when you're gone for so long. But these are secrets, which I will keep even from myself. Still secrets. I guess even though I learned all about my selfish darker side, I still haven't learned to let go of these protective layers. Not yet, anyway. Maybe you could-- The words here are scribbled out, blotted; illegible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Face your demons generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
2!
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:37 pm
Mirrored Combat -
Draw The magic that archer had fought with was so dangerous, and it was not the first time Yue had been felled by magic-users. Shin Mu was a soul conduit, and her music had hurt Yue to the point that she was unable to mount a proper defence against Shin Mu's magic. But Shin Mu had been a Soul Conduit; this latest Lunarian was a fighter, just like she must be, though he was an archer. Yue thought bitterly about how that had been her saving grace. It was only due to his limited strength she was able to knock him out so easily and limp off with her wounds. In short, she had been in a lot of danger, and she needed to up her game to compete with her magical opponents.
Having just fought someone whose fire element was particularly fierce, and knowing her soul likely burned with the fire of a dragon, she thought that naturally she would learn to wield it. However, it would be a stretch for her, as she had no magical background. Yue Lao was not one to admit defeat so easily. She knew of a temple which could teach her the magic she desired. It was a place where magic was coveted, unlike the temple where she had studied to learn her weapon's movements. The latter believed in purification of the spirit through physical exertion, thus making it the perfect place to learn about the meteor hammer.
They could not help her with this task. She had to look elsewhere. They pointed her in the direction of a temple which had roughly been translated as "Lotus spirit over mirror" to her. It was not in a language which she spoke or understood, so that was the clearest the monks had been able to communicate. They told her that the path was long, that she would get lost many times, and yet it was not a far way away. This had eventually come to mean that while the temple was within the city, the guardian was an illusionist, and so it would be impossible for her to gain easy access. He could make her walk forever, if he wanted her to.
Yue Lao had prepared as best she could. She even had offerings for the temple's stone guardians. She tied the presents to their statues as soon as she arrived. By the time she looked up, there was a young man sitting on the top of the gate. He had white hair, as though he was far older than he should be; unless it was natural. Yue Lao could not tell. His skin seemed youthful, but his eyes looked very tired. There were creases at the corners, and deep shadows. They appeared to be developing cataracts. Yue Lao stood at the base of the gate squinting up at him, thinking all of this.
He just smiled down at her. "You want to get in, yes?"
"Sounds right," she replied, adjusting her meteor hammer around her shoulder, "you won't let me in that easily though, will you?"
"Not if you expect me to be difficult, yes," he agreed. At least, she thought he was agreeing, but she wasn't really sure. The way he talked was too reminiscent of her own riddles. Why could gate guardians not be more straightforward? The ones she fought for the war were; you hit them, they went down. It was the reinforcements that proved a problem.
This seemingly youthful Lunarian was clearly alone. He sat cross-legged, and drummed his fingers against the stone gate's frame, which he sat on. There was a particularly unattractive gargoyle face sticking out as the gate's major adornment, directly below him. "So what does that mean?" Yue asked, unwinding her meteor hammer and removing the leather covers. One foot shifted out so that she was braced firmly on the stonework, cradling her meteor hammer in both hands.
"Seems like you already have an idea," he said, smiling, "Yes, you do! But you do not have a full idea, I think, yes." He shook his head at her and leaned his hands against his hips. He took out a necklace of wooden beads and began to run his fingers along them methodically. One bead, then the next. Pause. One bead, then the next. "Would you say you have looked at your reflection often? Would you say you have watched yourself fight? From the outside, yes?" he asked, still smiling. It was unnerving.
"Not recently, no," she said. Who would watch themselves fight?... It wasn't as though she fought near a giant body of water or reflective surface all the time. And even if she had fought near lakes, she was certainly not paying attention to her own reflection.
"Good! I will test your resilience, your self-awareness, and your worthiness!" He clapped his hands, the sound resonating through the courtyard.
"You didn't even ask me what I was here to learn," Yue grumbled.
"Fire-elemental magic, of course; what else? You are a fiery woman, yes? You burn with passion, yes? But compassion, I do not know!" The guardian wiggled his toes. He was not wearing his sandals. Those, in fact, seemed to hang midair next to him. He didn't tell her what was going on, just concentrated on the beads again, his youthful voice chanting a mantra of his temple. Suddenly, there was an overlap to his voice: it was as if a much older man was speaking with him, as if a woman joined in; the woman's voice...it was as if Yue herself chanted the mantra. Yue Lao covered her mouth. It was certainly not her speaking, but it sounded like her, convincingly so. Was the power of this guardian merely to mess with her mind, make her doubt herself?
The gate was opening, and Yue took a step forward at first, as if she was going to enter it that easily. Then, her sense of danger kicked in, and she took a step back as a meteor hammer came crashing down to the stones beneath her feet. It flew back to its owner, as if elastic, and she held her breath as what seemed like a second Yue Lao stepped through the gates. They closed behind her. She seemed a little pale, and it was as if she was flickering in and out of existence; every so often, she would become hazy. Yue Lao slacked off a little in her defense, and in that time, the other Yue Lao gained momentum with her meteor hammer.
Almost slow to the draw, Yue raised her meteor hammer just in time to deflect the blow, darting back. She spun her hammer in a circle, which slowly widened, gaining speed, until she let it fly at her clone. It missed. She allowed it to hit the ground lightly, but swept it back towards her, aiming to throw the other Yue Lao off balance. It did, and as she was about to yell up at the guardian to stop whatever the hell he was chanting, other Yue flipped back to her feet.
The real Yue Lao (or she thought she was, at least; it was getting very confusing) smiled tentatively at the false Yue, who smiled back in equal measure. She ran her tongue over her teeth, pursed her lips and prepared another attack. The mirror-yue blocked it perfectly. Every blow exchanged was merely blocked and shifted.
Mirror-Yue attempted to sweep Yue's feet out from under her with the hammer's cord, but Yue leapt up in time. Yue Lao spun her hammer upwards, and plunged it from the sky, as if preparing to knock mirror-Yue out from the heavens. Mirror-Yue did something rather brave: she stood in place, and built up momentum with her own meteor hammer until she could deflect the blow away from her. No big feat. And yet stones were cracked all over.
The battle was not painful. It dragged on for a long time, until the sun set, and Yue discarded her meteor hammer in frustration. She was sweating and worn out. She took her tekko out of her sash and slipped them on her knuckles, remembering her last painful usage of them when an arrow had pierced her shoulder. She ran in, yelling her war cry at the top of her lungs, and swept a series of fast, light punches at the Mirror-Yue's chest. Mirror-Yue merely stepped back and fended each one off with her forearms, using Yue's own momentum to deflect the blows.
Mirror-Yue tucked its calf in and lashed out, aiming to hook Yue Lao's knees from behind and bring her down. Having done the same to many others, she was prepared, and spun to respond to the kick with her own foot.
For hours, until Yue was completely exhausted, she fought Mirror-Yue. She collapsed on the stones, as her other self did, and the guardian smiled down on them, his mantra fading into the distance.
"It is not so easy to fight your own self, is it, yes?" He asked, folding his legs back under himself. He grabbed onto the back of the gate.
"I guess not," Yue panted, still recovering. They hadn't landed a single blow, either one of them. All that effort for nothing.
"This magic is not for you, fiery Yue Lao. There is another kind you will learn. Think of what you know best, do not try to learn unrelated skills, yes? You need focus. Clarity. Be focused, Yue Lao!" The Guardian advised her, and dropped off the gate, holding on with one hand until she saw even those fingers relinquish their hold.
Shadow-Yue had vanished, and Yue Lao lay there for a while, trying to figure out what the Guardian had meant. .
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:42 pm
Work Harder! "It's about channeling your ki," the old master said.
"What the hell is ki?"
And that was largely how Yue Lao's training session had gone.
I do not understand how to channel ki, or what it is, or where it comes from. All I know is that it's keeping me from learning the damn weapon projection magic, and I will triumph over it! Oh, right, I only started learning this in the first place because the temple guardian told me to concentrate. I also did not know what that means, and everyone seems to be very difficult to understand, lately. Maybe I'm losing my touch?
So it came down to figuring out what I was best at. That wasn't difficult. Fighting, brewing, being annoying. Obviously I don't want to learn magic for being annoying, as that is already an art I have perfected. Brewing, well, I suppose that could help someone on the battlefield, but it's not for me. So that left fighting. How could I work with what I already had? A meteor hammer, my backup tekko, my fighting. I use a bone-breaking style of pressure point fighting. There are weak spots in the Lunarian body, and it's about a series of strikes to those spots in order to shatter the bone. Dangerous, painful, and it will stop my enemies in their tracks.
But it doesn't need magic, because what I want to focus on is my meteor hammer. And I had already seen the magic used in that previous fight; the Noble fighter who turned his arrow into a metal grappling hook of sorts, piercing my shoulder and tugging me in. That kind of power is dangerous and fascinating. And I miss being able to pummel someone without killing them; the meteor hammer I use now is pretty much fatal. The monkey fist was just really painful. I should know, I hit myself with it more than once. So essentially, I've been trying to learn weapon projection magic which changes the shape of my meteor hammer. With this, I can turn it into a grappling hook, or a netted end, or a lassoo; I can turn it into any number of things. Even blades, if I so desire. That power and convenience would be amazing.
And my current masters say it would suit my personality. Always changing, always moving forward, never taking one true form. I guess they're kind of crazy, but probably right. Except I'm having trouble understanding how magic works, because I've never had to learn it before. It's so complicated, because it's too simple. Fighting, sure, I understand: the places on someone's body where they will snap easiest, or the way in which to swing my Meteor Hammer to snare someone's ankles. Easy. Channeling ki to influence the shape of my weapon? Not easy.
So far I have channeled it to form a fake chicken, a stick and... what was the third thing? I can't even remember, but it was not useful. It turns out that if I'm concentrating on anything other than the object I want to manifest, it will manifest as that, instead. I'm a little bit worried it's going to start turning into the faces of Lunarians I miss or love. That would be creepy beyond belief. Imagine attacking someone with a spiky ball that looked like their own face?... Maybe I'll remember that for later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:44 pm
Letting Go The past is becoming lighter, and easier to bear. The more friends I make, the more I fight, the less I remember why I am fighting. Except I feel the reasons: I feel that I have to protect the ones I love, and for some reason or another, this is the side we are on. To protect the peace, and the Emperor. I don't need the chaos of the nobles in revolution, none of my family members do, so this is where we stand.
It took me a long time, and a lot of fighting within myself, to reach this point. But after the kite race, I know that I have so many good friends. I have Lunarians I love, ones I care for. I don't need to miss ones who aren't here any more. I hope that stays true. I just want to keep moving forward, without affording the past so much attention.
Bataar is going to take the brunt of my new hobbies, now. After stamp-collecting, I'll be trying beetle-fighting... what after that, though? I should go ask someone what they think. Maybe others have interesting hobbies I can appropriate, like Kiran's eavesdropping off the rooftops. If I know one thing it's that dancing will be last on my list of hobbies to try. Okay, second-last; singing takes that esteemed position. Even tea ceremonies would be more enjoyable than trying to learn how to sing.
All it comes down to is I'm made to brew alcohol, I'm good at fighting, and those are the things I love to do. Adding anything extra on seems ridiculous. And I'm not really interested in gardening that much; I just make whatever I need to make basic food and I'm only really interested in grapes or other fruits for wine. Chichi seems to have a problem with that, all of a sudden. Maybe she had one of her rare fights with Yowai? They do fight, occasionally, and I think this time Chichi is angry at how often I go to work for Yowai, how late at night I do so. It doesn't bother me, anyway. I just sleep in. Another thing Chichi dislikes, really. Maybe Chichi is just frustrated by things. I think she wants another child, to be honest, but how they can accomplish that is beyond me. The only thing I'm sure of is that they'll be okay, because they've been through everything together. They have a love that isn't youthful or vigorous; it's beautiful how much they care for each other.
I may not have that, and I may never have that, but I have Lunarians that make me happy. I have Sara. Sakn will be home soon, I'm sure. Kiran and I are still friends, despite our alliances. Maybe we can even win Mei back somehow... And I'll always have Hime-san. So I think even though I'm not someone who should ever fall in love again, things can turn out okay. I just need to make sure I always move forward, no matter what is miring me down. Even if that's the past, and the sweet memories I shared with someone. Everything changes. Someone once told me that didn't have to be a bad thing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Face your demons generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
3!
|
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:48 am
I Hate You -
Noble Win
It was sweltering hot in the courtyard, and Yue Lao could hardly see where she was going in the heat. Everything rippled. She had recently finished the first portion of her training and as a result wished to return to the temple where she had tried to learn fire elemental magic, only to be turned away at the gate by a fickle guardian and a shadow version of her own self. Once winter rolled around, wouldn't learning fire magic be worth it? Not even a possibility if she couldn't get into the temple, though. Now that she had learned more about herself and weapon projection magic, Yue planned a visit back to the guardian, and that was what had brought her to this place in the heat. She wanted to prove she deserved more of a chance than she got.
The guardian of the gate was, again, sitting on the gate's frame, cross-legged. There was no stone gargoyle face when she looked at first, but the second time around it seemed to appear out of nowhere. Perhaps she hadn't been looking right in the heat...? He smiled down at her as she approached. "Hello, Yue Lao," he addressed her.
"Hey, Guard. Isn't it even hotter up there? The sun must be frying your brain." Yue walked closer and stood beneath the gate, looking up, squinting against the sun. She shifted her feet back and forth. Even through her heavy callouses, she was a little in pain over the sheer temperature of the ground. This time Hime-san wasn't with her, either; he was at home, lying in the shade to keep cool, she suspected.
"No, why would it be any hotter for me up here? Ah, Yue Lao, you are here for other reasons than small talk over my health and well-being, yes? Go ahead, make your appeal," the Guardian offered her, shifting onto his stomach to dangle over the gate.
”I don’t have an appeal, I just came to fight my way in,” Yue told him, grinning.
“Did you, Yue Lao? You will never succeed, but I appreciate your effort,” the Guardian told her. He clasped his hands firmly, watching Yue Lao without moving further.
Yue took in a deep breath, concentrating her ki. She now understood what ki was, and was relatively good at this process, but it wasn’t like she had mastered a slew of weapons. More like one in particular that would serve her well today. She concentrated on shifting the shape of her weapon, until it stretched and narrowed and became a spiked hook. Yue planned to try and pull the Guardian from his perch: she swung it above her head, getting used to the new momentum, and launched it towards the guardian. He did not even move. He did not need to. The hook bounced off of the gargoyle’s head, the one above which the guardian sat, and cleaved off a portion of the rock.
“Your aim leaves something to be desired, Yue Lao,” the Guardian told her, smiling, though his eyes were cold. She muttered under her breath. Getting used to the new properties of each weapon was difficult. Although she had been using ki to manipulate the weapon’s movements for quite some time without realizing it, this one was much more of an active struggle and she was not about to give up anytime soon.
”Give me a bit to get used to this heat,” she retorted, wiping the back of her hand against her forehead to remove some of its sweat as she reeled the meteor hammer back in. Small pieces of stone tumbled down from the broken gargoyle every now and again. ”It’s not like you ever do anything, esteemed guardian,” Yue said. She was a little short-tempered already, given the heat, and this was not going well.
She took aim at the Guardian again, but instead of letting her attack him, he raised his fingers and drew them towards his palm: all the broken stones in the yard rose. The shards waited in the air, and Yue had the sinking suspicion that they would not be used peacefully. As she let the meteor hammer fly again, the shards seemed to develop ghost-copies of themselves, and the originals returned to reassemble the gargoyle’s face. That looked better, at least; back to what it was supposed to be. The Guardian held his hand up.
Each ghost shard which Yue’s meteor hammer passed through shot towards and through her, piercing her with nonphysical pain. Because they were spirit shards, they left no physical mark nor damage, but the pain she was put through was excruciating. By the tenth shard, she was on her knees, the meteor hammer clattering to the ground. Damn magic users. No matter how many she learned how to thwart, each user had a different style. How could she begin to combat every one? Especially ghost-magic? She would have to learn how to dodge better, perhaps.
None of these thoughts were even remotely organized in her mind. They were swallowed by a vortex of pain, every limb of her body stinging. She collapsed onto her back and lay there in the sun, barely able to turn and shield her face from the heat. A pool of blood formed underneath her, shadowy and intangible.
“Be more wary of your opponents, Yue Lao. If I had not chosen to fight with magic, you would have died on this day,” the Guardian told her, smiling. For some reason, he was not somber; he felt good that Yue had learned a valuable lesson.
She would live, of course. The pain would not fade for a long, long time, however. It would be as though every limb had been pierced by hundreds of arrows. Relaxing his hand and shifting position on the gate, he patted the gargoyle’s head affectionately and watched Yue lie there, without lifting a finger.
The worst of the pain was around Yue Lao’s stomach and chest. Breathing hurt. However, she did not lie there for long. ”What makes you able to decide whether or not I’m ready to fight? Why are you so qualified to keep me from being strong? I’ll fight you until I die to earn this right, and I’ll do it with pride,” Yue said, gritting her teeth against the agony. She dragged her meteor hammer towards her very, very slowly, and used it to prop herself up, eventually getting to her feet. She spat at the ground. The ghost blood spread. She dripped it, waded in it, and her face was covered in it. She looked as though she had been swimming in the darkness, and it had clung to her.
She readied her meteor hammer, using what was left of her ki to shift it into a grappling hook, and instead of aiming for the guardian, she looped it over the wall, and tugged to set it into place. She approached the wall walking, very slow, one arm shaking while her eyes were barely open. Her feet dragged. Although the wounds were not bleeding physically even now, the blood smeared across the courtyard. After she had left it for long enough, the oldest of the shadow blood would disappear, fading out of existence.
“Careful you don’t bleed out, Yue Lao,” the Guardian chastised her, amused with himself and by her own determination. “If you die, who will keep me company? Did you know that you can die from pain alone?”
”Someone else, maybe. But not me. I won’t die from your damn magic,” she retorted, her face pinched with pain. Her breathing was shallow and ragged. One of her legs nearly gave out, and she supported the new weight with her arms, holding onto the grappling rope.
Eventually, after what felt like years of walking, Yue made it to the wall. It wasn’t smooth; there were places for her toes to dig into the stones so that she could work on rising up the wall. She did so, one fist over the next. The Guardian did not move a finger to stop her. He watched her with a mix of curiosity, pride and affection: she should have fallen where she stood, and not rose for at least hours. Sometimes days. But there was something determined about her, even through her own pain.
Her mind was starting to hesitate. The meteor hammer, without her concentration, was blurring between hook and spiked ball, its true form becoming revealed bit by bit. Finally, the hook began to slide, and halfway up the wall, Yue Lao started to lose her balance. During those next few seconds, she blacked out, the meteor hammer collapsed back into its first form, and she began to plunge to the ground. It was the guardian who caught her, and laid her back down on the stones gently before returning to his post in a flash. He had coiled her meteor hammer up and set it next to her, for when she woke.
“If you have so much spirit, perhaps next time you’ll provide more of a challenge,” he said, watching her lie there, knocked out utterly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:52 am
I Have No Idea What I'm Doing There is no good way to start this. I'm not sure what to say, or where to begin at all. Okay, well... let me try this from the beginning. Not really the beginning, more like a week ago. Jianyu arrived at my door, suddenly, to ask me if I'd walk with him. He walked me to the Cherry Tree Hill, the same place I saw him last, and that was where he became completely surprising.
Qian Jianyu asked me if I would marry him. At first, I was pretty torn up; I didn't know how to say yes the way that I wanted to. It was sudden, we'd never dated, but... on the other hand, it was not abrupt. Just unexpected. I loved him all that time, wrote about him without naming him, missed him whether or not I had seen him recently. I wanted him to be a part of my life again, an integral part like he had been. And instead of just getting a best friend back, I have a future husband.
My mothers were surprised, in part, but Yowai figured it was right. They gave him a dragon ring that used to belong to my father. Jianyu gave me a ring he had gotten, when we were up on the hill. And he kissed me for the first time. It wasn't just okay, it was beyond amazing. I could hardly stand after that day. It was a pretty long and exhausting day, because following that, we told my mothers, then Jianyu's parents. Ehuang gifted us their summer home for after the wedding. I've never even seen a summer home before. Jianyu apologized for its modesty, but it was amazing. I'm used to sleeping in the rafters above our home, which has only one floor, four rooms. One of the rooms is a bathing room, even. So the summer home is more than I ever could have asked for.
Not that I'm sure I'm comfortable sleeping on a bed, yet. Ever since I was little I've slept in my pile of blankets up on that rafter platform. I feel safe and comfortable. But I guess... how could I feel anything but safe and comfortable, sleeping beside Jianyu? He's a captain, a good one, and I trust him. I believe in him. Most of all, I love him.
Sara and Huang-Fu know, but apart from that, I haven't really told anyone. Not that I've seen very many outside of our families and those two, exactly; everything is so busy. It's getting colder and colder, and I definitely don't want to try and marry Jianyu in the winter. I'll just be shivering and balled up somewhere, refusing to move. I'd have to go through the ceremony in a big furry blanket. Like a snowbeast.
Anyway. There are more important things. Like the fact that my very best friend will always be my very best friend, now. He promised forever, and I can do the same. Someone like me, promising forever; who could have guessed...?
I guess I could have. Ever since the first night I met Jianyu, he had a way with me like no one else. He made me honest, and he got to know me for who I am. The one that can get upset, and hurt. Not the invincible Yue. With everyone else, I'm invincible. That's how it has to be. Everything is a joke, so nothing hurts. But that was what caused so much trouble in the first place: Jianyu got into my heart, and I struggled trying to deny it, and trying to keep him out.
In the end, I gave in, and accepted that even though I loved him, I could remain friends with him. Because losing him was far more terrifying than having to accept this love was one-sided. And now he knows that he feels the same, so... I could not be happier. I never pictured being married to anyone, never had a reason. And now it just seems right. It's right. I want to wake up with him every morning. I want to belong to only him. I want to be his partner, in combat and in life; that is why I will continue to train, whenever I can. What's better than one captain? Two!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Face your demons generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
1!
|
Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:53 am
Sweet Triumph -
Legion Win Months of training. Months of back-breaking effort, of wounds and embarrassing accidents. Yue Lao stood in front of the temple gates again, staring up at the ever-present Guardian. With a heavy sigh, she took a step forward, and shifted her meteor hammer on her shoulder. ”Getting married, soon,” she said, looking up at the Guardian. There had been a fight at the Ichi-Koi, and Yue Lao wasn’t sure of herself at that moment, but she had managed to shift her weapon even while injured. And that night, she had realized something: All her training aside, nothing was holding her back. She knew how to wield her weapon, she knew how it felt to her. She understood its movements and fundamentals as well as she understood the own movements of her body.
After that realization, she knew that there was no real reason she should fail to master her new fighting style. Shifting meteor hammer, a technique which she had yet to encounter in any other opponent, would be her mark as a Captain. An undeniable and fierce power, championed by Yue Lao’s passion and confidence in her own abilities. She smiled to herself, closing her eyes briefly. It was Jianyu’s face she saw, concentrating then on calming herself down. She planted her feet firmly on the courtyard stones. ”So we’d better make this quick, and painless—for me, anyway,” she added, with an obnoxious smirk. Beneath that, however, her natural sense of joy and humour glinted. The Guardian replied with a sleepy smile, and draped one arm over the top of the gate.
“I’m enjoying myself too much sun-bathing, Yue, is that not true? So please, please, be my guest; I will bring out your old friend,” he said, wiggling his fingers slowly. The gates opened, and shadow-Yue emerged. Her hair was cut short, far shorter than Yue Lao would ever cut her hair. She shook her head, earrings glinting in the sun and jangling, as she observed the strange and angry set of Shadow-Yue’s jaw.
”She’s no match for me anymore,” Yue told the guardian. She had been afraid. Yue Lao had been afraid, and weak. She had been angry, and vulnerable. She didn’t have to be any of those things, weapon in hand. Fighting was simple. It made sense. Yue slipped her meteor hammer off her shoulder, gripping the cord in both gloved hands. Her scars hurt a little, but nothing unmanageable; the wounds were still fresh, after all, but it was no reason to keep her from fighting.
Almost nothing could keep Yue Lao from fighting. Apart from brewing, it was what she loved to do. She fought with a part of her reserved to battle, a desire to protect her ideals and the safety of her loved ones. So she fought, not begrudgingly, but with excitement. Some had died, yes, and many more would die, even at her hand—but they would not die in vain. To die in battle would be their honour, if nothing else could save them from that. And she would take as many prisoners as possible, rather than outright end a life. In fact, now that she was mastering her meteor hammer, she wondered if she couldn’t spare every life henceforth…
She would try, with shadow Yue. Yue Lao spun one end of her meteor hammer in the air, relaxing the other by her side as a defensive mechanism for later. Shadow Yue approached her. Yue Lao let the hammer fly, its metal oozing into a lasso as it went. Shadow Yue merely grabbed the lasso and tried to yank Yue Lao towards her using it. However, the lasso split around Shadow-Yue’s hand and reformed around her feet; Yue Lao snapped it closed instantly, dragging shadow-Yue towards her across the stones. She released the meteor hammer, one bare foot pressed against Shadow-Yue’s stomach. Shadow Yue grabbed Yue Lao’s ankle with one hand and prepared to crush the bone beneath the skin with an emphatic twist. Yue Lao acted quickly, dropping the defensive side of the meteor hammer to swipe Shadow-Yue’s hand away and then hooking the offensive weight back around. Its shape changed from a rope-like metal cord to a piercing point, stabbing through shadow-Yue’s wrist and then forming a hook at the end, snagging it.
Shadow-Yue now had a heavy metal hook through one wrist. It snaked around, lightning fast transforming into a piercing point again and then a hook as it caught her second wrist. Shadow Yue’s mouth opened as if, silently, she was howling with pain. The eyes never changed their expression, however. Yue Lao grimaced and yanked, pulling her wrists together on the cord, and Shadow-Yue bucked her hips, throwing Yue off balance. The meteor hammer stuck fast, but it tangled Yue up. The defensive end of her hammer fell next to her, and she found herself caught under the cord, which was tethered to Shadow-Yue. In desperation, Yue Lao lost control of the meteor hammer’s shifted form, and the hook transformed back into the metal spiked ball. It fell to the courtyard stones with a cracking thump, creating a broken hole in the middle of a couple stones where it fell. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate again, despite the fact that she was pinned with shadow-Yue’s painful and fast kicks to her ribs. Still not perfected, she thought, with a grimace.
Yue transformed the meteor hammer into a thinner cord again, making the hook and ball slide back into the cord so that she could pull it free and roll back, out of harm’s way. She breathed heavy, nursing a couple bruised ribs. The cut on her stomach was threatening to open again; she needed to be less mobile if she didn’t want to bleed all over her wedding dress soon.
So she built up momentum with the hammer again, and then as shadow-Yue was preparing to block it with her injured wrists, Yue flattened it out so that it formed a thin metal disc: the area of its weight was much greater, forcing Shadow-Yue back to the ground with a groaning sound. There was a faint pop, as though something had broken in the conjuration.
The Guardian watched from the gate, curious. He smiled gently, watching the shadow-creation fight Yue Lao. Now that she was better with her new technique, the copy of her fighting skills was out of date. He would have to remember that, and upgrade it. The problem was, he really needed this shadow version to die before he could recycle the image of Yue Lao and create a stronger version. One which would not fall even to her shifting meteor hammer.
Yue Lao was not going to kill her shadow-self. It was unknowingly that which would keep her from utter destruction at the hands of the temple guardian. He did not think of her life as something expendable, or something precious; no, he did not consider it at all. He thought of her as something unreal, which did not exist in his world or hers. So he could fight her without feeling the least bit guilty. Yue Lao walked over to her shadow self and pressed one foot against the metal disc, crushing harder with her weight. She removed it, reverting the hammer to its original form.
This time, concentrating until sweat beaded off her face as Shadow-Yue stood to her feet, her wrists bleeding the same dark shadowy stuff of Yue’s previous defeat, Yue Lao split the ends of her metal meteor hammer into several metal cords, all returning into the one thick cord she wielded in order to control the hammer. It was as if the ball she normally fought with had simply split apart, as each whip end finished in a metal spike. It was with this Yue lashed out at shadow Yue, controlling it enough that it reformed around Shadow-Yue’s body and kept her immobile, the spikes anchored in shadow-Yue’s back. Yue reeled her in, and held her down, then dragged her over to the gate, pushing it open to return Shadow-Yue into the depths of the temple. She did not try to sneak in herself. The gates would open for her one day, surely. They would, and she would study whatever magic she pleased.
In the meantime, she could feel the exhaustion of so many shifts weighing on her. She had been rougher with the shadow-self than she might have in other circumstances, and a Lunarian probably wouldn’t be able to take such obvious strain, but she would have to learn in the future.
What mattered was she was successful. Her opponent was returned to the Guardian, who did not actually have a way of healing his shadow-copies, and since she had not killed it, he could not summon a newer and better one. “What a shame, you are so smart without knowing it, Yue Lao. Is it true, those who cannot fight simply give in and die? Too bad I couldn’t test it on you,” he said, sighing.
Yue Lao looked up at him, arched a brow, and said, ”I think I won this one. Should consider inviting me in, next time.”
With that, and a triumphant smile, Yue Lao made her way back home to tend to her bruises and exhaustion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:25 am
What I Think of When I Think of You Yu. My Fierce Warrior. We don't have a whole lot of time until we're married, now.
Days, right? Time has been passing strangely, for me. When we're apart, I want to be near you. I don't act on it if I can help it, because otherwise I'll become spoiled and needy. It is a completely new feeling for me-- all of it is. I can't begin to thank you enough for giving me something I thought I would never have. For a long time, after fighting my feelings, I Tried to come to terms with what had happened. I was doing okay. Things were leveling out.
But I would have always missed you, some substantial part of me. So I'm relieved and grateful, knowing that you picked me after all. I had a taste of both worlds: of loving without return, and of being loved in return. I can honestly say that I picked the right one. I feel no regret. I'm a little nervous, sure, but not scared like I might have said. I'm not scared. I know that where we are going together is so close, and I could not be happier for it. What I'm nervous about is the great opportunity that we're being given; what if I mess up? What if I ruin this? I'm trying not to give in to such dark and unfounded thoughts.
I'm not the kind to dwell on failure. Instead, I focus on succeeding. When the original method does not work, I find another. But nothing stops me. So if this is my reward for being patient, I'll take it. And I'll be patient always. If you need time, if we take time to perfect, I will give you and us all the time we need. Because I truly believe that you are my partner in all matters. I want to be a part of you like you're a part of me.
Not that I'm ever going to send this letter, but... Yu, I love you more every day we spend together and each day apart. I want to wake up and kiss your bare skin, I want to wake up to see your familiar face. I want to touch the beads in your hair and run my fingers along your tattoos. I want to taste the life in you when we kiss. I want to hear the sound of your breath against me while I sleep on your chest. I want to feel your body curved against mine as we lie together. I want everything with you. I know that might be greedy, but if you could bear it? I know I could return all your kindnesss.
And I am still trying to do so. In terms of the wedding, Yowai and Chichi are very excited. Chichi just finished the dress; she works fast! And she was so gentle that I hardly felt a thing. Minus excruciating boredom.
Sara's going to be a very prominant figure in my wedding, as is Sakn. Finding out he is a half-brother... well. Very new to me. A new idea. It has only been a little bit since I found out, and I'm pretty sure I still grit my teeth when I think of it. Despite that, he's very close to me. I haven't met my father, yet. I guess some part of me always felt that I had no father, and Yowai belonged in that role. Even though she's hardly a father, she is very clearly a second mother to me. I love them both, and I want them to be proud of me. Whoever Sakn's dad is, I'm not about to butt in; I didn't know him, never met him, don't intend to.
But who determines what the child is like? Am I born a certain way, or is it the way that they raised me which makes me who I am? My mother has never once said that I reminded her of my father in any way. He's never been mentioned, or alluded to. It was as if he never existed at all. I'm sure I'll see him one day, because Sakn is so dear to me, but I'll never seek him out. What happens, happens.
Getting married. Huh. It's a lot to live up to. It's a lot to think about. But there is no part of me that feels regret. All I want is to see Jianyu again, and again, and every day of my life. I want to learn his rhythm, and I hope that we have harmony. No matter what, I loved him all this time without reward, so... now that I am so lucky, I will love him with everything that I possess. Bandages, nightmares, picnics, discussions, tea, meals; all of these things can be on the horizon, and a lot else. I'm not sure I've ever felt so unprepared!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Face your demons generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
1!
|
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:27 am
Coming Home - Legion Win Even as a fighter in the war, it becomes far too easy to see the war from the other side. Yue Lao understood that she was no different from the Lunarians she fought. In the half-light, a heavy grass reaching up to her knees, she stood amidst fallen fighters and breathed heavily, her meteor hammer at her side. The night was fast approaching, and she would need to return to camp. Her shoulders hurt, and her leather gloves itched with sweat. One last mission before she was married. One last battle before she was constantly reminded that her husband was out there, fighting similarly. A different style. She had seem Jianyu fight at close range, pushing his crossbow into the stomach of an enemy and pulling the trigger, but it was not the same. Yue Lao was made to fight at any distance. An arrow whistled towards her, her fins twitching in warning, and she raised the closer side of the meteor hammer's weight to deflect it easily. That was the skill she had developed.
So many hours of training, so many battles. Yue Lao was confident in herself, as she had always been. A part of her was distracted, even as she fought, however: there had to be a way to minimize the casualties. They may be her enemies in war, but she had many friends amongst the Nobles. At least she did not have to deal with the pain of loving one. Yue sighed and shook her head, her braid rustling against her back. The fragrant grasses were ruined by the blood which slicked many blades. Every time she moved a foot, she could feel a prone body. She had been ambushed. And she had only killed one of them: the first one to attack, because she had been startled. The others groaned occasionally, but lay still. Yue knew nearly the exact amount of time it took to render someone unconscious rather than kill them. It had taken a few casualties, but she now had it down to a science.
Yue didn't spin her meteor hammer in the sky as an enemy approached. To do so would reveal her location. Instead, she wrapped it around her torso and unleashed it, using the momentum of the sudden directional change to create a punching effect with the spiked ball. Leaving it in its natural form expended far less energy. The wounded Noble fell, but not before half-assedly swiping at her with her blade. Yue was covered in small cuts, but for the most part they were from the grass and Chichi would be able to ease the pain with a salve. Thankfully, most of them were on her calves. She adjusted her meteor hammer, wiped some of the blood off her hands onto her pants, and checked to see that her most recent opponent was still breathing.
She padded through the grass, her feet in simple boots; Yue Lao was typically barefoot for speed, but in environments such as this one she needed some kind of footware. The swampy ground and knife-sharp blades made footing unsteady, and she couldn't afford the distracting pain of a misplaced step. Hence the boots. They were a little stiff from disuse, but wearable. Yue heard something to her left, and ducked, only to see a bird take flight. It was a little strange that some of the wildlife had yet to flee. Her mission had been a simple scouting one, but while she had been away the ground outside the Legion encampment had become swarmed with Nobles. She had already stumbled over a couple dead Legion, and although she had long since been fighting in these kinds of missions and skirmishes, it never got easier to see her friends dead. Yue Lao's skin was itchy and muddy, which made her even more displeased with the state of things.
An archer, merely a speck near the camp, caught her attention. She saw the glint of his or her bow in the fading light, and grew defensive. Was it one of her own, or an enemy? She didn't really want to fight a Legion member, if she could help it. Especially since she suspected they may be outnumbered now. Where was her captain? Yue Lao muttered under her breath and tried to regain her sunny disposition. Then laughed internally as she remembered she was in the middle of a battle, one which represented a small fraction of a war. There was little reason to force herself to be happy at that moment. And yet she thought of the home she had to return to, and her future husband... "I just want to go home," she mumbled aloud, sighing. As she approached the archer, she held the two ends of her meteor hammer aloft, ready. It was actually much easier for her to deflect an arrow with her meteor hammer in its natural form than shifted. She recognized his blue hair from even this distance, and her weary face lit up in a smile. That was about when someone crept up behind him, and instinctively, Yue punched the offensive side of her meteor hammer out and hit the assailant, running towards her Legion friend. Fear gripped the pit of her stomach, and she hugged him close to her.
He had no idea what she was so worried about. "Nice shot," he squeezed out, "but I think you're going to kill me, if you keep hugging me. Wouldn't your fiance be jealous?..." He teased, until she let go. She punched him in the side and scowled, though her eyes lit up. She had definitely told the people she fought with about her fiance, at one point or another, even though she was generally pretty tactless and blunt about it. Sometimes it had slipped out in a sigh or a complaint while she was waiting to fight or stretching after a hard day of moving camp.
"Grow up a little, and stop combing your hair weird, then maybe someone will find you attractive," Yue retorted, shoving him. Still, she was relieved he was alright, and felt a pang thinking about how if only she had been skilled like this back then, maybe she could have saved Jianyu the pain... but she wasn't. Back then, she was young. She had to kill, because she had no other choice. Now, she was strong enough that she got to choose most of the time whether they lived or not. Yue produced some heavy cord from one of the tends and bound the Noble's wrists with it, tying and knotting so that it would be impossible to escape. They were bleeding from the rather nasty meteor-hammer wound.
"I'd hate to get hit by one of those things," her companion said. "Good thing you're the only Lunarian I've ever seen handle one of 'em." Yue Lao stared up at him, then winked.
"Too complicated for most," she explained, with a grin. She had trained specially with a monastary in order to learn it, and even then she had used a rope one for her student stage, and hit herself more than once in the face with it. Using the kind she used now left no room for mistakes. A single slip or mis-calculation and she'd be punching herself in the gut with its hard spikes.
It wasn't that she was flawless, but she was certainly formidable. Yue Lao shifted her weight as she prepared to address her colleague again. However, her request for an update was cut short when three Nobles rushed out from the grass, their hands, arms and faces scratched up from the evident ambush process of crawling through the heavy and tall grass blades. Yue stood at her comrade's side, took a few steps away from him and swept one of the attackers out of battle by spinning her meteor hammer cord around his neck and strangling, holding him just long enough that he passed out. Her comrade was dealing with the other two alone, but she wrapped her hammer around her waist and punched it out at the second assailant, preparing to knife it down from above onto the head of the third before he crumpled. Her colleague's dagger was hilt-deep in the side of the Lunarian. Yue slowed her hammer and approached the enemy, checking his pulse. Nothing. Yue closed her eyes and breathed deeply and evenly, inhaling the musty and damp death that filled their camp. Where was her captain? Where were the others?
Her two opponents were still alive, if barely. Most of them would be. She waded her way back into the swamp to start dragging the half-conscious out so that she could find them medical assistance. She'd do what she could to keep any more from dying, even if they were her enemies.
It was dark, by now, and she was surprised to find that two other Legion had joined her in moving the injured bodies into of camp. Although some of the wounded were clearly Noble, they followed Yue's lead without question. She was proud of them, that they understood what she was doing. As she passed by the two of them carrying one heavily wounded, but still alive Noble which she remembered fighting, she thought she heard one of them say: That's my brother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:23 pm
A Letter to Sara The note is scrawled evenly, in a pretty cursive, which means that Yue Lao probably drafted this several times over before finally penning the version which would be sent out.
Dear Sara,
You know I can't go too long without seeing your pretty face, but there's somewhere I have to go. I think that the city has started to get to me, and I'm being deployed soon-- because I don't know when I'll be home, I am doing the only thing I can think of, and leaving early. I will be taking a path through the fields, and eventually heading up into the mountains.
I know this might seem strange, or does anything I do surprise you by now? I need some time to think, and clear my head. It feels like I lost my way, while I was fighting for what I thought was right. And since I have to command others now, I can't slack off any more! Hahaha. Basically, Sara, I'm not sure that I have what it takes to tell others to die for me, and to die for the Emperor-- well, wait, he's dead, right? Nothing makes sense. The tree is gone, and I miss my mothers. My childhood has disappeared, you know?
That carefree student I was when we met, I can't be that girl any more. But I'm still me, right? I love Jianyu with all my heart, and I love you, too-- being deployed is making all of this very real. I need to collect myself, I need to believe that what we're doing is the right thing. I am a fighter, that is what I do, but I have never before wielded a weapon to kill. Do I have to start now, Sara, or can I keep taking prisoners? Is what we do to the prisoners worse than killing them? I don't know, because I am not the one who cares for them afterwards.
It's hard to tell my husband this, that I'm afraid, because I like to be the one who stands up when everyone else is taking a pass. It's hard to tell you, too, I guess-- I like being the happy one. But I know that sometimes you're lost too, right? No one goes their whole lives without losing their way. So I'm going up in the snow, and the cold, to train and meditate. Hime-san is coming with me; he seems to sense that I'm not the same as I was.
But if you see me, you know I'm still going to act the same. I can't really admit in person that I feel like this. To everyone's faces, I'm just the same as I've always been. And I know that I'll make being a captain look like a joke. I'll still act drunk in public, and spin you around every time I see you, and laugh the loudest of anyone in the room. Because that's who I am, right? I'm Yue Lao, the one and only!... I'd better be, or else who am I?
My half-brother is missing, Sara. I don't know where to find him. I miss him. I don't know why I'd find him only to lose him again. I miss Kiran, and even Cais, in my own way. Where did I lose everyone, Sara? But I managed to, somehow, keep hold of you and Jianyu. That is all that keeps me going, some days. Knowing that even if I ruin everything (like I always do!) I won't be alone at the end.
Even if I act like being a captain is a joke... it isn't. Not to me. I know you'll get promoted soon, too, right? And then maybe you'll be afraid just like I am, now. I don't like being afraid. Last time I was afraid, I was afraid of losing what I loved, and I lashed out. This time I won't let it come to that. Sara, I'm going to keep my calm, and I'm going to train.
Maybe in the snow, I'll figure out the truth: is it alright to kill for our cause? Sara, I'll miss you, and I'm going to miss my husband. It'll get cold, Emperor help me, and I do not like the cold at all.
Why didn't I pick a warmer place to contemplate the value of life? Hahaha.
Always your neg-Yue,
Captain Yue Lao
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
