[DMC]Xi-Wang Zhào/Eternal Kiuchi of Gorgons

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

February 16, 2018

He knew it wasn’t good to dwell on things and let them eat at you, it did nothing but cause stress over something you couldn’t do anything about. Xi-Wang had never been the sort to allow himself to stress out, and worry, over various things, he didn’t like stress. But he couldn’t help it tonight, he hadn’t been able to help it much since the confrontation with Caleb.

The other had said he hadn’t paid attention to things going on in their life, and maybe he hadn’t, but he had done his best, at least he thought he had, in being attentive. It just seemed that Caleb kept giving him the cold shoulder or walking away from him when he tried to talk to him and that was just about small things. He hadn’t known anything big was going on in the others life, aside from school and robotics, but had there been? It was like the other hadn’t wanted to talk to him and he had to start the conversations, not something he was good at, if anything were to really be said.

Shifting on the bed he now called his own, though in reality it didn’t really feel like his own, he drew the plushie he had to his chest and pressed his nose down into it’s white and black material.

Lifting his head slowly, after some moments of silence, the dark eyed teen stood slowly after unfolding his legs and sliding them over the edge of the bed. Moving across the room and down the hall, drifting with as much silence as he could, Xi-wang took the time to glance about the new place he was staying. He didn’t want to call it home, because it wasn’t, he’d already made that mistake once before. He knew he was safe here, at least he was nearly certain of it, he just….what if he messed up again and ruined this like he’d ruined that?

As the guilt mounted, as if he didn’t have enough of it already, the teen made his way to the coat closet in order to grab one of his coats. Slipping it on he went to get his shoes and head out for a walk, and maybe some food. His wallet was replaced by the front door with his plushie on the way out. Really he wasn’t hungry, though it was late at night and he hadn’t eaten much all day, but he knew he had to eat. Just...what was open at almost midnight?

A small frown tilted his lips doward as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and headed out to see if he couldn’t find something...anything, he wasn’t particular. Eating right now felt like a chore, and one he didn't want to do. He’d rather just sleep and not wake up unless he absolutely had to. But that wasn’t something he could do, he wouldn’t be allowed to just wallow about Nischal’s place.

In a way that was good though, that Nischal and Jason wouldn’t let him fall into his own feelings and drown. They cared, and he appreciated it very much, but he still couldn’t help how he felt and shake it off so easily; even if he wished he could.

The walk he took was long, longer than he intended, but he did happen upon a convenience store and headed inside to find some sort of cheap food he could eat.

It was a cheap bowl of ramen he bought, the sort you poured boiling water into and let it sit for three minutes before mixing and eating. It wasn’t the healthiest thing, he knew that, but it would have to do. He could make that when he got back, it wouldn’t have him making much noise, and then he could curl back up in bed...or play a game then bed. He just didn’t want to leave his room till the weekend was over and he had to.

Thinking about what he had to deal with next week, for school, and wondering if he should just spend more time powered up he headed himself back home. Plastic bag hanging from his left arm as he listlessly headed back to Nischal and Jason’s home, maybe one day he could call it home too.

Word count: 706

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

February 15, 2018 (Back dating to this date)

Skipping classes wasn’t something he’d normally do - ever and yet that’s just what he did the day after Valentine’s. He sent e-mails to his professors and explained that he had to suddenly move, lying about an issue with the water in his apartment, and that he was moving in with two friends and couldn’t make it to classes. Ending each e-mail with a request for a copy of notes, if they could provide them otherwise he’d ask a classmate, as well as any homework and what chapter they would be discussing in class that day.

With the e-mails sent and Nischal and Jason out he sent about unpacking his things. He had two and a half bags of things to unpack, and he knew it was going to take time. It wasn’t that he had a lot of things, he didn’t, but it was just going to take a long time for him to get through everything.

The first bad he started to unpack, sitting on the floor of the bedroom, was the one with his bedding, pillows, and clothing. Going through the top most items in the bag he started to pull out and unfold his clothing as he went to hang things, and refold them and put them into the dresser in the room.

Slowly he unpacked things and put them away, at the same time he was making a pile of clothing to wash..as soon as he found the washer and dryer. As the clothing pile was made other things were set up, slowly filling the room with his things, for a planned second load of wash. He wanted to get his things clean before he put them all away. He had grabbed everything, including his dirty laundry, when he’d left and now he needed to tend to his things.

Moving around the room, always returning to his seat on the floor and the bag of soft things, Xi-Wang managed to slowly unpack the whole bag including his laptop which wound up on top of the dresser where it would remain. A few pictures, which he’d also bundled up carefully in his bedding, were set up by his bed. Most of them of his mother and his younger self back when things were better - happy.

When the first bag was empty, and slipped under his bed, he went to gather up the first pile and clothing and hunt down the washer and dryer. Really hoping it wasn’t somewhere else in the building it took some time but he was happy to find both things and with the necessary products nearby so he could set up a load of wash for himself. Maybe while he let his things wash he should do some cleaning, make himself useful and show his gratitude.

While going to get himself a glass of water, with some ice, he made up his mind to clean up around the place as best he could while continuing to unpack his things. It wasn’t too hard, though it took a bit of time, to locate cleaning products but once he did he set to work filling a bucket with water and cleaning product so it was diluted enough. That done, and a mop in hand, he set about cleaning up the kitchen floor. It was best to get this done first so he had time to open windows and air out the smell of bleach, it was a smell he had never liked and even in small amounts found far from pleasing.

It was with the kitchen floor drying, as well as one of the bathrooms that he’d clean, and the windows open that the front door opened and peeking around from down the hall he spotted what looked like a maid. A maid who seemed rather confused and he hurried out to find out about her, as he hadn’t been told about her the evening before when he’d arrived. So he was as surprised by her arrival as she seemed to be about someone already here and cleaning.

With much confusion, and him wanting to help but realizing it was her job, he did relent and let her get to cleaning while telling her what he’d done. With that whole thing out of the way he had less to do...and that he didn’t like right now. He needed to be doing something, even if it was sleeping.

Instead he found himself finishing his unpacking his things. Speakers to go with his laptop, since it was a gaming one and he didn’t like to wear a gaming headset though he had a cheap one, he had a small collection of dvd’s that were stacked on top of the dresser, as there was nowhere else to put them, at least not in this room. The supplies he had for himself, shampoo, soap, and other things went into the bathroom but it still seemed so...empty. The bedroom, looking into it from the private bathroom seemed empty also. He owed so little and made such a small impact on wherever he lived...it was easy to pack up all traces of himself and just move, vanish.

Wrapping his arms about himself he went to check on the wash, as if it would be done by now, and and he figured...it wasn’t done. His things were unpacked though and he had nothing to do, aside from wait the last twenty minutes before the load of wash was done and ready to be moved to the dryer and he could put in another load of wash.

Waiting though wasn’t something he wanted to do, he couldn’t sleep with his things in the wash, he’d never get them moved to the dryer and someone else would wind up doing it for him, so he needed to keep busy and keep awake. That was why he went to take a peek in the kitchen. A small pad of paper in hand as well as a pen he went about jotting things down before deciding to put some of his own money to use and get some groceries. Letting the maid know, since he didn’t have keys someone would need to let him in, he hurried out after confirming how much longer she’d be here.

The trip to the store wasn’t too bad, it was normal, it didn’t remind him of the change in his life. As he grabbed various items he checked everything, dates and freshness, before heading for the check out. He’d make dinner, and hope it was ok to do so and that it was well liked, he owed the two for taking him in. He had work today though so he’d make dinner early and leave it packed, and labeled, for the others who were likely to get home after he’d left.

When he did return he was lucky, he’d cut it a bit close time wise, as the maid left not even ten minutes after he’d returned. He was moving his wash to the dryer and tossing in another wash load as she left, saying goodbye to him as she did so, and minutes later he was in the kitchen getting together what he’d bought and gathering what they already had in the kitchen.

Remembering that Jason didn’t like spicy food he was planning on two different ideas for food, something spicy and something not, both ideas were Chinese but that was because it was what
He was comfortable cooking and he didn’t want to risk messing up in some way and making poor food for the two, he didn’t care about messing up his own meal.

Cleaning rice was easy, he’d learned how to do that as a child from his mother, and soon the rice cooker was working on that while Xi-Wang cut up chillies and went about butchering meat and preparing the chicken for cooking. He had hot oil to prepare, for dipping, and other things to get ready including stock for two different soups that he’d made. He was giving options, especially knowing the tastes of Nischal and Jason, he didn’t want to leave Jason with little to eat or where something else needed to be made or bought for him. It would be wrong to only offer up food to Nischal. And he knew the darker haired male could handle heat so thought it might be nice to make something with some heat to it for him, plus to be honest he liked spicy food himself.

As he worked, wanting to get things done quickly before he had to leave for work, he made sure to keep things clean and clean up whatever messes he made along the way, he wouldn’t leave them any messes or any signs of what he’d been up to aside from the smells from the cooked food and the tupperwares filled with food stacked and labeled in the fridge. A note was on the rice cooker, something he’d brought with himself as he’d bought his own when he’d left his mother's home, letting the two know that rice was in the cooker already done and waiting for them both.

It was all done and in time for him to eat quickly, and pack a bit more, so he could grab a shower and change for work and hurry out the door. He was sure someone would be home when he got out of work so he didn’t have to worry about his lack of a key. He’d be fine...he just hoped they’d like the dinner he’d made for them both.

Word count: 1,596

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

February 28, 2018

The plan had originally been for him to sneak into his mother’s friday night, assuming she would be out for dinner with her partner, but that had fallen through. He’d gotten tied up with other things.

Last night had not gone as he’d planned, but plans weren’t always meant to be, so he wasn’t really that upset. Tonight though he slipped through one mirror and out another with ease. His mother's bathroom was as he remembered it. The same products lined the counter top as he stepped down from the white countertop on slippered feet, his feet making little to now sound, Kiuchi went to peek around into the bedroom to make sure no one was there.

The bedroom was a large room with a king size bed pressed to the back wall, it was done in dark red and black bedding, the wooden furniture which filled the room was made of a dark wood of some sort and was solid. He’d hit his head, or walked into, things in this room more than once so knew how solid the pieces were. There were a few new things though...really new. Picture frames, golden in color, were on the dresser and both bedside tables. Some frames were gone, ones he’d grown up seeing, while there were new ones with new pictures.

Stepping across the pale cream carpet, he remembered as a child how it was so plush under his bare feet, the senshi of gorgon’s went to investigate. Bending down to look at the pictures contained within the frames on the dresser he paused, feeling his stomach drop and his chest tighten. His mother was in them, as he expected, as was her wife but there was someone else and it wasn’t himself. A small dark haired girl was in the pictures - each of them. She was smiling, laughing, a few teeth missing and clearly happy with his mother and the evil witch is mother had married.

Who she was he didn’t know but he didn’t like the feeling these pictures gave him, not one bit. They looked like a family...like how he should have looked with them but never could, because his own mother hated him and her wife...she hated him more. He hadn’t hated her...not at first. He’d been happy for his mother, as any child would be, but when his mothers dislike for him started to get worse, and her girlfriend proved to hate him right from the get go, his hopes of a family had been dashed.

For a moment, while looking at the pictures, he wanted to grab each picture filled frame and smash them. How come some strange girl got what should have been his? Instead he shook his head, fingers shaking he set a picture down he hadn’t even realized he’d picked up. Careful to not make a sound, and to make sure it was in the right place, he went to see if he couldn’t find what he was looking for. He didn’t want to stay here, this was already turning out badly for him.

Silent as he could he started to go through the dresser draws, looking under everything inside, he moved on to checking under the bed and then in the closet. Top and bottom of the closet were checked for anything. The desk was checked and the bedside tables were checked, as both had a small pull out draw, and still nothing.

It was when inspecting the bedside tables that he found his answer on the the little girl, or at least part of it, as a banner was in the background of one of the pictures saying ‘Welcome Home’ while in another picture there was a banner proclaiming it to be a girl. The it was obvious - it was her. Had his mother...adopted and not told him? Had she really brought in some new child, a sister for him, and not told him?

Never mind the fact the process took months, almost a year, to complete but why? Why had they brought another child into this home and why didn’t he know? Was he being replaced? Thrown out, without them saying a word to him, or what? What was going on? Feeling his breaths turn uneven, as he took in gasping breaths of air, he felt himself sink to the floor shaking as he sat there staring at the taunting pictures. This little unknown, to him, girl was going to get the family he should have had...that he’d always wanted. Maybe he hadn’t wanted that family with the she witch but he had wanted a family...he had wanted his mother back.

Biting down on his bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood, he stood slowly after several more quivering breaths were taken. If he couldn’t have his mother he was going to find those papers! He was going to find out who his father was! He’d find out who his other parent was and find them, somehow, and have the family his mother had denied him whilst simultaneously shoving him away after years of it just being them and only them.

Wiping at his eyes, having realized how wet they felt, he moved on swiftly to make sure no one was in the house as he went from room to room checking places for the papers. He was sure she had them, incase they were ever needed for anything, he just needed to find them. Every time he’d tried to look in the past he’d been cut short and had never searched the house like he did now. With a need, greater than ever before, to find the papers which would help him he continued to raid the house in search of them.

The little girls room was even checked, he wasn’t going to leave anything unsearched, as he tried to hold back the tears as he took in all the toys, books, and the obvious love and care put into making her room and filling it with all manner of things a child could want. While moving about the room he couldn’t help but wonder why his mothers wife had never loved him, had never given him a chance. Why had his mother taken her over him, her own son? What had he done so wrong then….because he had to have done something wrong - right? Why else would a stranger hate him...he had to have done something wrong when they’d met, or shortly after it.

Was that why they didn’t want him to know he now had an adopted sister? Because he’d done something wrong and was a bad person? He didn’t know what else to think, didn’t know any other reason for this.

Hurrying through the search of the room, not wanting to linger in here too long, he hurried off downstairs to check on things there.

The living room and the office were checked, the office especially, and it was in the office he found a picture of the adoption certificate - a copy. So it was official...he had an adopted sister. From the name listed for the girl he knew she was Chinese as well. Choking on laughter he shook his head and took a moment to sit in his mother’s chair. For someone who hated China, and her culture, so much he was shocked she would adopted from there. But then again….

“She’s a girl...China isn’t big on baby girls...so saving her from the same world she blames for her life.” For her marriage to a man, for having to be a traditional wife, for having a son. She was saving this girl from everything she’d run from...wasn’t she. That was, at the moment, the only way he could make sense of these things. He’d always figured the problem was males, when it came to his mother, and that had caused her hate for China and for his father and himself...had his mother influenced her girlfriend before he’d had the chance to meet her? Was it the opposite of how he’d always thought it was, where she had influenced his mother to hate him?

The idea was...not a pleasant one. His mother had made sure he couldn’t have a family, or at least not a loving one where he was wanted. She had sabotaged it from the start…

The very idea, the discovery of this, was devastating and he would cry about it but later...later. He needed those papers - he needed them so much right now. He also needed to leave here...this wasn’t his home, though it hadn’t ever really been, it felt so cold here and unwelcoming.

Sweeping through the downstairs the kitchen was the last place he looked and that was where he found what he was looking for. He’d never checked the back of a cabinet, low down to the ground, all the way in the back to find these papers. But there they were...in a bag all tied up and in a black folder as if to keep them from ever being seen.

Sitting down about to really look over things, and take pictures with his cell phone, he heard the front door being unlocked. Cursing to himself he got up and hurried for the nearest mirror, the cabinet closed on his way to the mirror he knew was right down the hall. Thankfully he didn’t need to pass by the door or anywhere that they could see him. Into the mirror he went, bag of papers in hand, and back into Naschal and Jason’s home he wound up. Breathing hard, from the rush of adrenaline and emotions, he crashed onto his bed as soon as he powered down. The bag of papers at his side.

He’d go through them...in a few minutes. He had to, he’d finally found them...he couldn’t believe it. He just...he just needed to catch his breath.

Rolling over after some minutes, he didn’t have a clue how long, Xi-Wang came to sit up on his bed and grabbing for the bag he opened it again and pulled out the folder of paperwork. Inside was everything and right on top was the small red, passport like in form, marriage certificate.

Opening that first, slowly, he held his breath as he opened it and finally got to see what his father had looked like. He was handsome, that was his first thought, he didn’t have hard or square like features but a sort of...more pleasant look - something softer. A round face and his eyes...one looked a little bit bigger than the other, maybe one eye was a double eyelid and the other a single? Or one just had a bit of a fold but wasn’t a double eyelid? He wasn’t sure but it was interesting. There also seemed to be a mark in his left eyebrow, like a scar there might make. Overall he wasn’t bad looking at all.

His mother was pretty as well, and though she was smiling she didn’t seem happy...not like he’d seen her around her wife. Not like she was in those pictures he’d seen earlier...or even when he’d been a child growing up, back when he’d still been her little panda.

After moments spent staring at his parents, both of them for the first time, he let his dark eyes move over to their names. So his mother's last name, before marriage, had been Yáo...so elegant, judging by the character used. His father had the same last name he did, no surprise there, and the first name. “Kai….Zhào Kai…” The name felt different on his tongue but not uncomfortable. It felt..right somehow.

Moving though the paperwork he found that indeed his mother was from the Hunan province, as he’d been told his mother likely was, but his father was from Beijing instead.That was a bit unexpected, though really he wasn’t sure what he expected.

There were also papers for a change of name, for his mother, and hee could only assume it was part of her hiding and making sure they weren't found. The name on the paperwork was what he’d always known his mother's name to be, rather than the marriage certificate and the name printed there. If she was trying to hide though, and she had gone through a lot to hide from his father, why have his father on his birth certificate and let him have his father's last name? Was it incase anything happened to her? Some safety net for him? It was the only thing he could think of...some little bit of good that his mother had let slip in her need to escape her husband and hide his child away from him. He saw no other reason for it as he sat, comfortably with a plushie in his lap, pondering why else she could have let that go.

It wasn’t like her though...it really wasn’t.

It was there though...his father's name and where his father was from and for now he ignored the divorce papers, he was too happy with what he’d found, hoping that maybe it would help him find his father and the rest of his family. The hope was there, he couldn’t help but hope, as he got up and went to make a copy of the papers because he’d need to return the originals, unfortunately, he couldn’t let his mother ever find out that they’d gone missing...as much as he wished he could.

Although…..did he really need to return all the papers? Her change of name and the divorce papers sure...but why his birth certificate, social security card, and why his parents marriage certificate? The first two were about him, and his, and the third thing his mother certainly didn’t care about.

His mind made up he split up the papers and put the three things he was keeping on his desk. The other papers went back into the folder and were tied up inside the bag. He’d return them as soon as he could...maybe late tonight when everyone was bound to be asleep. The sooner the better really.

The bagged papers were set onto his desk as well and he went to change into some more comfortable clothing before shuffling his way down the hall, plushie still in his arms, to the kitchen intent upon finding something to eat and getting himself a drink. He still couldn’t believe everything…

“I’m a brother...to a little girl who likely doesn’t even know about me…” He was sure of it. Neither woman would have told that little girl about him, it was obvious neither of them wanted him or even cared about him. “At least she’s safe from their hate.” She was a just that - a she. She wasn’t a him...wasn’t a boy. She would be loved by those two in a way he had never been….and yeah he was jealous - really jealous. If his eyes could turn green, with jealousy, they’d be as green as the green his magic was. And it wasn’t her fault though...it was the two older womens fault.

Grabbing some food, and moving to reheat it, a bottle was taken from the fridge and cracked open so he could take a drink as he waited for the food to reheat, cold food was one thing he disliked almost as much as he disliked oily or greasy food.

When the food was warm enough he headed back to his room. He needed to eat...and let everything sink in fully, like it had been trying to do back at his mother's. He needed a good cry, he really did.

Word count: 2,629

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

March 1, 2018

It wasn’t anger, it really wasn’t, it was more that he was hurting and he needed to do something. He couldn’t help it - he was human. Most people wouldn’t figure it was something he would do, and it really normally wasn’t, but right now it was. Maybe he should have waited till he was in a better emotional, and mental, state but he didn’t. Why should he anyway? He was allowed to be hurt and allowed to act on it, it wasn’t hurting anyone. He was, as far as he figured it, the only one hurt here.

He knew it was immature, even as he sat in the room he was staying in and wrote the letter. The pen moving across the page as he scratched out his Chinese as best he could. He was working on it and this wasn’t so bad, he still needed to improve and learn more but it was good. Once it was written he folded it up, wrote something on it again, and headed off after leaving a note for Nischal and Jason.

His mother had a habit, one of many, of going to the same grocery store on the same day and around the same time. It was her weekly shopping trip and he was certain she hadn’t broken the habit - why would she?

It was knowing this , and deciding to pick up a few things at the store, that had Xi-Wang going to the grocery store at around nine at night on a Sunday evening.Using public transportation, the letter for her tucked into the pocket of his hoodie, Xi-Wang made good time in getting to the store and once he’d finished the walk from the bus stop to the grocery store he grabbed himself a cart and headed inside.

Taking his time, in the hopes he’d spot her, he managed to browse each isle in the store as he picked up a few things here and there. He was stalling, for good reason, and it wasn’t until he’d spotted his mother looking over the produce that he struck.

Her cart was a good bit away, unattended, and leaving his own cart he moved over as silently as he could and left his note settled right on top of her purse before slipping back to his cart. He didn’t stay in the area to watch her get the letter or read it, he was nervous over how she’d react, but it was done and he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Instead of sticking around he went to pick up the last two or three, it became three when he spotted something else, items that he wanted. Really he had no idea what to expect from his mother, though he knew she wouldn’t make a scene in public, he wasn’t got nothing...absolutely nothing from her. Was she that upset? All he’d done was called her out on what she’d hidden from him and asked why...asked what he’d done to deserve this treatment - had he not been a good son. He had a right to question it, and to let her know that he knew she was keeping such things from him - her only child.

She could call him whatever she like, and he knew she likely had in the past even if he’d never heard it, but he was still her child. She may have adopted a little girl but they were not a part of her like he was...so why should she not tell him this.

It hurt though...she did “nothing.” the word was whispered into the air around him, a whisper filled with so much emotion. Why had she done nothing? Even if she had made a public scene he would have accepted it better than this.

As he spotted her continuing her shopping, as if nothing had happened, he went to the self check out and handled paying for the three bags of groceries as he waited and hoped, really hoped, for something to happen. When nothing did, and he was done ringing up everything and paying for it all, he had no reason to remain lingering and so left - defeated.

She had won...and he hated it.

Word count: 703

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

March 10, 2018 (Back dating a few days.)

His mother had won...but only at the supermarket. It seemed he might have won the war while she had only won a single battle. Xi-Wang wasn’t expecting the phone call as he lay under his blankets watching, and listening, to the rain fall outside. A plushie held to his chest as he kept his eyes focused on his window.

His homework, assigned earlier in the day during his classes, was already on his desk completed. He hadn’t wanted his homework to lay waiting long, not when anything could happen and keep him from finishing it on time. It was best, in his opinion, to get it done as soon as possible.

When his phone rang he was tempted to ignore it, let it continue to ring till the person on the other end got the hint. However, that wasn’t in Xi-Wang’s nature and so one hand slipped out from under his bedding in order to reach out and grasp his phone. Tilting it so he could see who it was from he was surprised to see the caller id telling him it was his mother.

Why was she calling him? Deciding it was best to answer and find out, how else was he going to find out? He brought the phone to his ear as he hit the answer call button and greeted her. He was sure his note, written in Chinese, had annoyed her and still being upset with her he decided to continue with his course of action and greeted her in Chinese as well.

As expected his mother didn’t return the gesture, favoring speaking to him in English. She didn’t ask how he was, as much as he expected it he was still bothered by it, and cut right to the chase. She was not pleased with his letter, it was embarrassing and what if people had seen, what if someone had taken it and read it instead of her. Not only that but how did he know about her little girl?

Moving to placate his mother, and lie, he told her that he’d made sure no one would take it. He’d made sure no one was around and he’d watched from a distance. As for knowing about her daughter...that was harder for him to answer. Not that much harder though. Deciding to tell her that he’d run into someone they both knew and had heard from them, he didn’t say who or where, he claimed he didn’t want to pull the person into this mess between them, choosing not to label this mess between himself and his mother, he made sure he sounded like doing so would bring harm to this person as he would be going against some request they’d made of him.

He knew his mother would ask around, she was too curious about this and too upset, but he knew she’d find no one willing to admit to such a thing especially since no one had told him a thing. She’d just have to deal with it, like he’d dealt with her treatment for years.

When he finally decided to question her he started with asking about her, or rather why he didn’t know. It was, as his letter said, something she’d been working on when he’d still been living at home at least partially. So why keep the secret, it was a big thing to keep from him.

What he wasn’t expecting was the answer she gave him, he had no reason to expect it, and it hurt somewhere deep down. It shattered something...hurt in a way he didn’t think she could any longer. To know his own mother thought so little of him...and just because he was male. She didn’t want him around her precious daughter because all men were potential rapists, including him, and her daughter was not related to him and he was male. She wouldn’t have a male in hr house or have him knowing of her, who knows what he would do.

The very idea of hurting someone - of doing that. It was sickening...and his mother thought him capable of such. Lip trembling he spoke softly, his Chinese broken and choked on, as he tried to tell her that she had raised him well - he wasn’t like that. He knew it was a plea which would fall on deaf ears, and he wasn’t even sure what he wanted from his mother, but the words tumbled out anyway. How could she think like that of him. Was there anything he could do right in her eyes? Was there never any hope for him having a relationship with her? All because of something he couldn’t help - could never help.

Accepting why she would not tell him, what else could he do? He let her continue on for some minutes before telling her that he would be a good son and would not come near her family, he understood, and he would honor her silent request of him. He would keep his distance and wished her and her family well, he wished her daughter a good life and good fortunes.

Breath shaking as he hung up he let his phone just remain there, pressed to his ear, as he trembled and shook with silent sobs.

That was it then….she really didn’t want him...and never had.

Slowly he brought his phone away from his ear and went to set it on the bedside table. Still shaking, and holding his plushie closer, he sat up and slipped out of bed. His feet sliding into his slippers. He couldn’t find it in himself to sleep now, though it wasn’t bed time anyway, and instead headed for the kitchen.

All he had right now were those in the dark mirror court...and a few pieces of paper to tell him who his family was. At least...at least he had a roof over his head and friends - family...a place to sleep and stay. He’d survive...he always had - right?

Word count: 1,003

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

March 11, 2018

Mirrorspace was still a place which made him nervous, how could it not? But nothing had happened since last year and it was their home, it had even given them a place to really make into their own home. He knew it could always throw something dangerous at them again, it was something like a friend who might without warning turn on you, but he couldn’t let that stop him from coming here. This was where he belonged...it was the only place dark mirror senshi could call their own. They were bound to the Earth unlike the senshi who served the white moon, and even knights, and they did not have whatever it was that the Negaverse had. They, the dark mirror senshi, only had what lay beyond the reflective surface of a mirror - any mirror.

He had seen mirrorscape, and he did plan to visit there, but wasn’t going into mirrorscape just for that. He had once, or maybe more than once, said that he wanted to explore the mirrorspace and see if he could help his court by learning more about the realm they had to themselves. He meant it then and he still did. He just...hadn’t gone any real exploring on his own till recently, and thus far he’d discovered nothing.

He had however, with Avior’s help, claimed a small plot of land for himself but he had yet to do anything with it. He knew he could, he’d seen Avior’s island floating amongst the sea of stars, which were really broken shards of mirror. He just...the sehi of Gorgon’s wanted to have a plan and for it to be perfect. He didn’t want to make it something he would later want to tear down or tear apart, in order to redesign it. This was a precious gift, as far as he saw it, and he wanted to treat it as such...just on the off chance that somehow messing up would upset mirrorspace itself. He was, at this point, fairly certain there was a fair amount of intelligence to mirrorspace and perhaps something of a personality as well. He didn’t want to see how much though.

Slipping past the surface of the mirror, one of many scattered about the city, Kiuchi started his walk around on slippered feet. A notebook was held, open, in hand and a pen was held in his right hand. He was planning to take notes on anything he might find in mirrorspace - if he found anything. He was hoping to find something, he really did want to, and yet somehow he didn’t think he would be so lucky.

It wasn’t that he was being pessimistic, although it did seem like it, it was just that he’d not had luck so far in finding anything. Though maybe he should, after several failures, figure he would find something simply based on odds.

Moving down corridors and hallways, opening doors as he went, he seemed to be finding nothing but empty rooms. They all seemed empty and it wasn’t until he had reached a particularly long hallway, doors on both sides, that anything different seemed to happen. It was one of the last doors, on his left, that yielded a table and high back chair. It wasn’t something he’d thought of, not something he thought he needed even subconsciously, but seeing it had him coming over to write about it. His notebook placed on the tables top as he wrote down about the find. However small a find it was it was something, so it got mentioned.

While writing in his notebook, it wasn’t much to put down but it was something, the super senshi failed to notice the walls closing in on him. Silent as it was he did notice, when he looked up, that the room was smaller and it was still shrinking. Panic started to set in, rather quickly, as he stood there turning in circles as he watched the walls creep in on him and the table and chair seemed to vanish. Had mirrorspace somehow tricked him? Lured him into a room so it could deal with him in some silent way? He was sure if he screamed no one would hear him, was anyone else even here? Forgetting about the communicator he had the dark haired teen, without thinking, and just wanting something to hit the wall with pulled out the little pastel trinket he’d found up in space.

It was small and slender, like some sort of wand or rod, and the colors clashed with his uniform but right now he didn’t think much as he threw his hand out, item clutched tight in his hand, and it hit the wall that was so close to him he was lucky he wasn’t claustrophobic or he’d have lost it by now. What he didn’t expect, and how could he expect it, was the wall shattering. It wasn’t just the one wall though it was all four walls shattering and leaving shards all around.

“Oh god…” Breathing heavily he slumped to the ground shaking. It wasn’t until some moments later, when he’d gotten his breathing back to normal, that he watched a sliver of wall shard be absorbed into the item he’d been holding. Somehow a piece of lodged itself into the item and had just been absorbed. What this meant he didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure if it was good or not, it was something to write down though and tell Remarque about, as soon as he could.

He could feel something from the item now though. It had an aura...a feel? It wasn’t what he’d call white moon or chaos or dark mirror...not knight or anything else. But there was something to it...a power, though it wasn’t much, it was there just slightly. A low, barely there, presence that felt...nice.

Climbing to his feet the dark haired male went to grab his notebook and pen, somewhere along the way he’d dropped them, and scooping them up he hurried out of the room and back the way he’d come.

Once he reached the place where’d come in it was a simple matter of mirrorwalking himself back to the mirror he’d stepped into earlier in the evening. Once he stepped out he was able to power down and hurry off, heading for Nischal and Jason’s. It was late, at least it felt it, so he’d talk to Jett at work the next day.

Word count: 1,081

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

June 23, 2018

Kiuchi had only been to the mirrorscape twice but the last time he’d made a hot spring, and promptly fallen right into it, this time he was armed with a recently found green crystal. On his last trip to mirrorspace, two weeks ago, he’d found it in a room down one of the many hallways. He’d been peeking around, wondering if mirrorspace might provide him something different, though not deadly, in order to entertain him. It hadn’t really provided him much aside from the crystal.

He hadn’t gone right to mirrorscape then, though he had wanted to, he wanted to see if another crystal turned up the next time he visited...so he could do more than one thing. He didn’t want to go to his little island just for one thing - to break a single crystal.

As he made his way towards the throne room and the mirror which would take him to the mirrorscape something shiny grabbed his attention. It wasn’t something big and if it wasn’t for how white mirrorspace was it wouldn’t have been noticeable really, it really wasn’t that big and it was several feet away. But mirrorspace was devoid of color and so the single bit of color stood out with ease, like a paint splatter on a blank canvas.

Walking over to it, his slippered feet moving with some amount of haste, he bent to scoop up the precious item which lay there tucked into a corner of the room innocently.

Pale blue.

It was pale blue like the first one he’d ever found. He had an idea of what it could do, thankfully, so when he headed into the mirror, arriving at the citadel they had, he was confident that he could do something with the two crystals in his hand. It wouldn’t be a lot, at least he didn’t think so, but he could do something...something wonderful - or so he hoped.

The ground was boring...just white. He was hoping green meant earth, since red meant heat or fire and pale blue was water. If it was earth than he was hoping for grass, anything to cover up the white.

It was another mirror trip, which he was used to ,that brought him to his little island floating in the sea of mirrorshards and other similar, yet dissimilar, islands. “Ok...time to try this out….” He whispered into the vast darkness or the mirrorscape. Moving across the white ground, towards the hot spring he’d created, the dark mirror senshi moved to set the green stone on the ground. That done he brought his foot down onto it as hard as he could, shattering it, he watched as a thin layer of grass exploded outward from the stones remains and covered the island as far as he could tell. “Pretty….” Though it was thin - it would do. It was grass and that pleased him.

The pale blue one was broken next and what burst forth from it’s dusty, glittering, remains he wasn’t expecting. It was a cool mist which hung low on the ground and slowly rose to nearly his knees. It was chilly but not too chilly, though give it time and he was sure it would be the cause of a chill. “I like this….” He didn’t expect it but he wasn’t upset with it at all - it looked good. But as he moved around, trying to be mindful of the thin grass, Kiuchi wanted to see how far it covered. He didn’t see the same amount of white as before, anywhere at all, but he was curious and wanted to know for sure how much it covered. What he didn’t expect was his foot to kick something..a rock? “I didn’t...how?” He couldn’t have created a rock - right? But as he bent to pick up the stone he noted it looked different - very different. It wasn't a normal rock but it also didn’t look like the crystals he’d just broken or like the red one he’d broken weeks back in order to make the hot spring.

“So what….?” Questioning the air he tilted his head, holding it gently in his hands, he stood back up and moved over towards the spring he had and sat himself down, enjoy the warmth the spring produced.

“It’s pretty…” And it didn’t look harmful...but just incase...he leaned down to ilck it before biting at it to see if it broke like a starseed. With nothing happening, and figuring it as harmless as the crystals he’d already used here, the super senshi took the time to sniff at it, having already caught a very soft but pleasant scent from the stone.

It was floral to be sure...but why? Setting the stone on the ground, giving a foot or two between it and the hot spring, the super senshi managed to crack it open with his foot after several failed attempts. It wasn’t that he was weak, he was a super senshi, it was that he was still seated on the ground and trying to break it open with his foot somehow. It was an odd angle which left him with little power to put towards breaking the crystal. He did break it however, it pays to keep trying, and the tree which came up from it wasn’t too tall but it was impressive to say the least.

Slender, but strong, branches hung down to the ground, sweeping over the grass gently, as little pink flowers glowed softly. The smell that the crystal had left off remained, filling the small area with the floral scent, it was pretty - beautiful.

The tree was small, perhaps it would grow in time? For now though it wasn’t higher than his hip but it was something - it was a start. As he sat there gently stroking his fingers along the draping branches he leaned into nuzzle and sniff at the flowers gently. Their gentle glow, no unnoticed by Kiuchi, was mostly ignored as he found himself lying down to rest. He’d return home soon and tell Nischal and jason about it, he’d tell others as well. Maybe he’d find more of these special crystals and he could share them with others then? Or did others already have them?

The two dark mirror senshi he lived with hadn’t mentioned finding any such crystal so maybe he was just lucky?

That was the last thought before he did drift off to sleep, curled up near his tree while the heat from the hot spring kept him from getting a chill.

Word count: 1,094

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

July 09, 2018

He’d sat on the information reading it over and over again, memorizing it. It was like he was trying to learn all about a person from sheets of paper, and some grainy pictures. He was trying to imagine the person they described...to create them in his mind and figure out how they’d react to everything. He was creating a dream...a fiction in his own head. He was making what he wanted, based on what he memorized.

After over a week of sitting on the information, even falling asleep with it on his bed where he’d been reading it, Xi-Wang was ready to make the call.

His fingers, his whole body in fact, shook with nerves as he dialed the number on the paper. He didn’t need to double check it, he knew it by heart, and he waited for someone to pick up - he hoped someone would pick up. He knew the number for foreign and unfamiliar to the one he was calling...but he hoped they’d answer.

When the dial tone ended and a voice was speaking, in Chinese, asking who was calling he responded quickly. His Chinese was a bit stilted, as he stumbled over things due to his own nerves, but he asked the male on the other end about his mother. He wanted to be sure that this was in fact the man he was looking for, had dreamed and fantasized about since he was little.

Asking if the man knew his mother, using her maiden name and her married name, he brought up where she was from. Asking then, once the man on the other end confirmed he knew her, he asked about the divorce and mentioned where it had happened and when. Asking if that was him - had he been the former husband.

Again it was confirmed and Xi-Wang was smiling, even as he felt his eyes getting moist. Oh god...this was him. Biting down on his bottom lip, even as the man asked why he was asking such personal things, he took a moment before telling him who he was. <”I’m Zhào Xi-Wang…..her son - you’re son.”> Waiting for the words to sink, shaking as he waited, he felt sick and he curled in on himself as he sat on his bed.

It didn’t take long, or at least it didn’t feel like it took long, for his father to respond. His father asking if it was true, that he was his son. <”It is...I found documents mother had hidden. I had someone find you. I’ve...I’ve dreamed of this...of finding you. I-I hoped I wouldn’t be too late in finding you.”> He choked on his words, felt the tears leak out and trail down his cheeks.

When the man responded that he had thought he’d never hear from his first child - his oldest child, Xi-Wang couldn’t help but laugh softly. <”I’m glad I can do this then - that we can talk. I never thought I’d find you.”>

When his father asked about the documents and how he’d had to find them Xi-Wang explained that it was a bit complicated, and would take some time, he didn’t want to cost his father a lot of money on a phone call. Suggesting they talk about something else, anything else, Xi-Wang was agreeing in moments to his father's suggestion of skype. He had an account and his father did as well and thought it best that way to talk….his father also mentioned wanting to see his son - wanting to lay his eyes on his eldest child.

After grabbing his laptop and turning it on he started up Skype and giving his name, over the phone, to his father he accepted the call Hanging up his cell phone he turned on the camera to his laptop and watched as his father's dark eyes took in his appearance. Bowing and greeting him with a smile Xi-Wang was happy to see the man.

<”I’m happy I can finally see you. Now I can explain things...without worrying about our phone bills.”> Because that was one thing he didn’t want to do - give his father a huge phone bill. He also didn’t want one himself, it would not be easy to pay off.

It took time to explain about his mother...to explain how she had all sorts of documents, anything he could have used to find him, hidden away. He explained how he’d looked whenever he could, off and on, for years but had never looked in the place they’d been. When his father commented on his struggled with Chinese, on pronouncing some words, he was bowing his head low in apology.

<”Along with hiding documents, to hide her past, mother stopped teaching me Chinese, stopped cooking Chinese, stopped everything Chinese when I was young. I couldn’t not go out on my own, I was too young, so I was only recently able to go out to Chinese restaurants on my own...and I asked the old grandmothers to teach me….I was ashamed to explain to them that my own mother would not - that she was ashamed of being Chinese and would deny me my heritage….but they coddled me and taught me. I’m learning more in university now.”> More tears had come, gently trailing down his cheeks, as he sniffled. He was forever grateful to the grandmothers who had taught him, he still spoke to many of them, but he had been shy and very ashamed to ask them for such help. It felt personal...and it felt like something he shouldn’t be asking strangers for. That he should know it on his own….but he hadn’t.

It seemed his words, his own emotions, had gotten to his father who was teary eyed and when his father started speaking to someone else, someone he couldn’t hear, he heard his father use the term mother and then son. He watched as an old women seemed to come shuffling quickly into the frame. She was small, from what he could tell, and rather round but not in an unpleasant way. She had her hair, which was a steel sort of color, in a loose bun with strands loose and ghosting about her soft features.

Letting her look him over, as she seemed to be doing just that, he watched as a hand came up to cover her open mouth and tears sprang to her eyes. A loud cry from her and she was getting louder while proclaiming she had her grandson and she had never thought she’d see him. She thought the witch, apparently his grandmother didn’t like his mother, would never let him talk to them.

That was when he spoke up, gently. <”She didn’t...I don’t live with mother. I haven’t in a while….I had to move out. She hated me…..nothing I did was right - even though my grades were perfect and I did everything she asked. I tried to be a good son but I was never good enough. I-I had to leave.”> He knew talking to his family would get into the past, into his past and how he’d grown up, but he was willing to do it. He wanted to be close to his family.

So when his grandmother asked about his mother, his father mentioning hide documents and how he’d had to have someone track him down, Xi-Wang had to explain to a very concerned and demanding grandmother. He explained about his mother, as much as he could while leaving out the wife. He just said she was remarried and used the term partner or spouse. Xi-Wang didn’t want to know what they thought of lesbians or gays...he was afraid. He didn’t want to kill this dream come true...not yet. He wanted to hold this precious moment a bit longer...to have it untainted just a bit longer.

He didn’t know if it would be tainted, maybe it wouldn’t be, but he didn’t want to risk it.

<”My first friend...Jett...he paid for a motel for me for a while and hired me, without any questions asked. So I had a job and a place to stay. I got to drop out of the military school if I wanted to...but I was graduating soon so I stayed there. I didn’t live in a motel long...because it’s not a home...how could it be a place to live? They’re just places to stay for a little while. A female friend, who I’d just met, let me stay with her. I stayed on her couch for a while…. She was good to me. We’re still close friends.”> He could see his grandmother becoming more emotional as he mentioned his living situation...and how he’d bounced about, living in in a motel. He wasn’t surprised. She seemed the caring sort...very caring and soft - like himself.

<“I-I was dating someone then...I-I think it moved too fast and we’d only just started dating when I moved in with them.”> Shaking his head he managed a watery smile, while moving his fingers through his dark hair.

<”When it ended and I was asked to leave by the end of the week...I left that night. I had to call another friend to pick me up...and he offered to let me move in with him and his roommate. I had nowhere to go so I accepted. I didn’t want to go back to a motel or to my other friends home, I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me or realize I’d failed...that I was a failure. I’ve been living with these two friends since - I’m happy. It’s become home for me.”> It wasn’t just a house but it was a home. He was happy here - very happy. He enjoyed living with Nischal and Jason, even if sometimes he worried about being a third wheel...or that he might inconvenience them at times. He knew he’d always worry about those sorts of things, it was just how he was.


<”I never turned in my key….to her home.”> He didn’t want to use the term mother, she hadn’t been his mother in years...not truly in the normal sense of the word. She’d given birth to him, yes, and she had spent a few years raising him...but it seemed that was simply out of obligation...not because she was or wanted to be his mother. It was a duty thing...something else which made her hate him.

<”I went in while she and her spouse were at work. They adopted a child together...a daughter….with an American name….but Chinese by looks.”> In his opinion it was his mother's way of having what she wanted...a girl and someone she could raise as she wanted….someone who wasn’t hers and she didn’t feel some sort of obligation to when it was just them. This was a girl, like she wanted, and she could raise them to be just what she wanted...a mini version of herself and her spouse.

<”I guess she replaced me with what she really wanted. A little girl she could turn into what she really wanted.” > Thinking about what he went to say next he took his time. He’d heard the word, and read it on Chinese websites. It wasn’t something he’d learned from the older woman who taught him Chinese here in Destiny City. <”She is shengmu. It is the best way I can describe her...and her wife is baizuo also.”> The terms were not ones he’d ever said before but he’d known of them for a while, he had seen them online enough times. <”She is ashamed of being Chinese…..ashamed I am and ashamed I am male….she is going to raise her daughter to be like her and her wife.”> He didn’t mention how his mother, and her spouse, had raised him at least not yet. It was something he might mention but not yet.

What he heard, aside from his father's words acknowledging he’d heard what Xi-Wang had said, and his grandmother complaining about what a woman his mother had been, was a younger female voice. A female voice who soon had an owner...a teenage owner who was laughing and commenting on the terms he’d used. She knew them, who didn’t? But she felt bad for him, as she was saying as much, for him having to live with such. She was also asking about her...and what it had been like.

<”I can explain later. It might upset grandmother too much. You are...my half sister?”> He questioned softly, smiling brightly when she nodded her head. Once she had introduced himself he’d done the same.

It wasn’t so bad, not like he’d worried about, by the time he finally hung up the skype call. Time had passed, a lot of time, but it hadn’t felt like a lot of time had passed. A lot had been spoken about, with him at one point talking about what he was doing in university now as well as showing off his grades - his father wanted to know. His half sister had sent him personal contact information...so they could get to know each other, after all they were half siblings. It felt nice...nice to be wanted and for people to show concern and care for him.

His grandmother had decided, since he mentioned cooking, that she was sending him proper recipes...ones she had made for years for the family - things he’d never experienced.

For the first time in years, many years, it felt like he actually had a proper family even if there was no mother involved in it. It felt proper and it felt good - it felt right.

The one thing he’d never mentioned though was that he was gay. He didn’t want to risk things - risk this new thing he had just gotten for himself.

Moving to put his laptop back on his desk, and charge it, he grabbed a plushie of his and headed out of his room. He hadn’t realized it before, too caught up in everything, but he was hungry and thirsty as well.

Word count: 2,371

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

August 7, 2018

Kit had told him he was going to be going away but he hadn’t said when, or where he was going, Xi-Wang didn’t think it would be soon though. He was, perhaps naively, expecting Kit to tell him before he left….maybe even visit or spend some time together before he left. But nothing was said much less done so far, so he had no reason to worry when he powered up inside his bathroom and headed into the mirror.

He had wanted to visit Kit, wanted to see him before the time came where he’d leave, in order to spend as much time with the other as he could. He knew, and understood, that Kit didn’t do relationships...didn’t think he was meant for them. He knew what the other thought, Kit had told him several times, and Xi-Wang accepted it. He accepted that what they had was friends with benefits, although he disliked using that title for it, but that didn’t stop him from having feelings for the other. It wasn’t something which could be controlled, sadly, but he’d never told Kit as he knew how the other felt on the matter of dating. It was something the Chinese teen kept to himself while hoping that maybe, in the distant future, they might date...or have something more.

Smiling to himself as he made his way through mirrorspace, goal in mind to walk out of Kit’s bathroom mirror and surprise the other, he was shocked to find himself unable to get into the mirror. Instead he smacked right into the mirror and stumbled backward, falling off the countertop and smacking his head into the floor as he landed. The mirror was one that was on the wall above the countertop, and sink, so he’d had to climb up onto the countertop in order to get into the mirror. It was no surprise he fell, given the shock of walking right into a mirror, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. It hurt - a lot.

At least no one was home...he had to clean the back of his head, once he’d powered down, as it was bleeding from the collision with the floor. Once that was done ,and headache medication taken for the sudden onset of a migraine, Xi-Wang headed across town to Kit’s apartment building.

The whole way there he kept to himself, arms wrapped about himself tightly, as he kept cycling the same words through his head - please be home. He didn’t want to think that Kit had left without telling him, without seeing him. He didn’t want to think that but as he reached the apartment building he found that to be the case.

The one who ran the building also happen to live there, as he’d found out only moments after entering and asking someone who lived there if they knew Kit. They had pointed him to the buildings owner and which apartment they lived in. So he had gone to the first floor apartment and asked them about Kit. They’d told him that Kit had left...just up and left rather suddenly.

He wanted to deny it, to say that they were wrong, Kit wouldn’t leave like this...wouldn’t leave without telling him or at least visiting. But Kit had.

The walk home was slow and miserable, he had kept his arms about himself and walked hunched in on himself, the whole way. Arriving at Nischal’s he went to his room and curled up in the computer chair he had. It was something big and comfortable, that he could curl up in, and grabbing the large bunny cushion he had on his desk and drew it into his lap to hug. With that securely in his lap, face snuggled into it for a moment, he went to log into overwatch. He was alone and he needed to occupy himself till Nichasl or Jason, maybe both, got home because he didn’t want to call or text them over something so...small. He didn’t want to both them and whatever they were doing,

He knew he could call, or even text, Rhona or Jett and maybe he should so they knew….but he couldn’t. He just...couldn’t. It felt like too much to say and put into words, at least right now. He’d tell them...just not right now - not yet....later.

Later when it hurt less.

Word count: 733

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

August 13, 2018 (Back dating a few days.)

Seated at his computer chair, plushie in his lap, he stared at the camera situated on top of the screen. Dark eyes kept flicking down towards the screen as he made sure it was placed right, and the picture as clear. Xi-Wang was nervous. He hadn’t talked to his father since the first time, three days ago, and he was nervous which he figured was understandable given how he’d grown up and that he was how old and just meeting his father. He wanted to make a good impression - to be liked...and accepted. He worried, as most would, over being accepted.

But he was pulled away from his worries when the sound of an incoming call came over his speakers. Perking up, eyes wide and alert, he hit the answer button and was almost instantly bowing and greeting his father. Bowing wasn’t something he often did with people, it wasn’t something American’s did when greeting each other, but this was his father who lived in China where it was normal. It was also a sign of respect and this being a new relationship he wanted to show as much respect as he could, to keep this budding relationship on the right track.

Greeting his father, as he righted himself, X-Wang went about inquiring about how his fathers day had gone thus far as well as how had he been doing since they’d last spoken, he was honestly curious. He did hope things had been going well for him - he cared. This was his father...it was a family member who might like him and eventually might even love him - he hoped. He hoped this parent would be for him what his mother hadn’t been for years, not since he was very little.

From asking about how each others day had gone, and the time between their last talk and how, it turned rather quickly and expectedly to his grades and school. What parent didn’t want to know how their child was doing in school after all?

“I’m doing well. I had two exams this week, I studied for both of them, but I haven’t gotten the grade back for one of them. The other I got a 96 percent on so I only got three questions wrong.” he hoped that was good enough, he didn’t want to somehow let this new parent down. This was his only chance to have a parent who cared...one who was proud of him. He wanted to do well and earn something positive from them. His mother never cared, not after he hit a certain age, she just wanted to make sure he didn’t speak over female classmates and didn’t raise his hand till every female in his class, who had their hand up, was dealt with. He often just never raised his hand or spoke in class, it solved the problem altogether.

From the topic of school came the topic of how his teachers were, did he like where he was attending university, and did he know what he was going to go for? Apparently General liberal arts wasn’t acceptable but he simply didn’t know! He hadn’t had any plans really, having a mother with no expectations of him sort of helped there but so did his general laziness.

“I’ll figure out and declare a major by the end of the fall semester - I promise.” He really hoped he could figure something out, he didn’t want to be telling a lie here. Normally he might not care so much, figuring it would be forgotten by the time it came up, but he doubted it would be forgotten about. He didn’t think he’d get away with just saying this, now, and not fulfilling those words later on in. He’d need to figure out a major...soon.

Right now he continued to speak with his father, finding out how the rest of his family was doing, there was a lot to be spoken about between the two of them. From finding out how his sister was doing in school, she was doing well, to how his mother's family was doing. He still couldn’t believe he had such a large family, as he kept finding out about people each time he spoke to his father. From aunts and uncles to cousins and other family members there was always someone new being mentioned...along with some achievement. He felt a bit...lacking but perhaps that was just his lack of self esteem? Either way he didn’t feel like he lived up to everyone else.

Maybe once he learned more about them, got to talking to them each, he’d not think so highly of them...maybe not though - likely not.

As the conversation continued, moving onto other things, he was a bit surprised when the talk ended with his father telling him to be safe - he’d read about the troubles in the city. His father ended with also offering if he ever felt unsafe or wanted to move..he could come to China and live with them; where it was safe. Thanking his father, sincerely, he really meant and the tears in his dark eyes weren’t faked.

His father had done some research and was genuinely concerned for him and his well being in this city, never mind that he was sort of fine as he was part of the danger in the city. He didn’t like to think of himself as such but he knew normal people would see him that way, as some sort of terrorist.

Thank his father for his concern and assuring him that he’d keep it in mind, perhaps he would visit so he could properly meet everyone, he asked his father to thank his grandmother for the recipes he’d sent for her. They were useful, though most he still hadn’t made he had read them all, lovingly going over them each. His father had told them they were her own recipes. So while most foods had a basic way they were made...everyone had some slight twist to it...same here in the US as well. So he was happy to have these, all of them, foods his father had grown up with and foods he’d get to know now.

Word count: 1,039

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

August 13, 2018 (Back dating two weeks.)

Stepping into mirrorspace was the same as usual, the odd feeling of going through a mirror and coming out the other side, the area was all white and rather like an institute if anyone ever cared to ask his opinion. Yeah, there was also that sense of mystery around every corner where anything could happen, like you sort of expected things to happen, but nothing did. It was just boring and white, though it didn’t stop him from being keyed up like something could happen.

“We need someone dressed like Alice in our court.” He commented to himself, seeing as he was alone, as slippered feet brought him down one of the many hallways. He was, as usual, peeking into various rooms as he opened doors. He wasn’t expecting anything but who knows...maybe something would be in one of the rooms - aside from mirrors.

It did seem like it would be all mirrors though, and empty rooms, at least for a while. While moving into another room he found it filled with bookshelves, all empty, a few toppled over and with the shelves removed and littering the floor in some semi artistic manner. Two chairs, great big wooden armchairs, were seated there as waiting for people to seat themselves and stare at the artistic posing of the bookshelves and their respective shelves.

“This place becomes curiouser and curiouser with each trip I make…” Whispering to himself as he moved about the room on slippered feet. Bending here and there to look at things. He was, it seemed, afraid to first to touch anything but soon he was moving to lift the shelves and put them back in place, sliding them into their respect slots on the bookcases.

As he filled the bookcases up he wondered if he could lift them, somehow, or move them back to being upright. It was doubtful, for obvious reasons, he wasn’t exactly built for such a thing. He was tall, yes, but he was slender and rather thin. It was perhaps a good thing his magic was decently strong, or at least kept people from wanting to continue to fight. Most didn’t like being sick and feeling ready to vomit, not to mention most didn’t want to fight while so sick. It was good for him, even if he did dislike using it on people.

While moving the bookcases about he happen upon what no doubt was a crystal, he knew what they looked like by now. They weren’t unfamiliar to him and he was rather happy to find another one, the others he’d found had all been used to great joy.

The crystal this time was yellow rather than any of the others he’d seen previously….this one was interesting. What it could do he hadn’t any idea but it did interest him. Maybe someone was around, if he was lucky, and they’d have a clue.

That in mind he scooped the crystal up and decided to head off in search of anyone. The first place was the mirrorscape...only because why wouldn’t someone be there working on their little floating island? It was something he did, now that he had it.

When he did arrive in mirrorscape he went right to his own little island, hoping to feel someone out here in the vastness of...well...mirrorscape, though it sort of felt and looked like space.

No one was out here though, it was empty of human life, and the vastness was so consuming as he stood there. He felt like he was a small speck in a vast ocean of darkness. It was no surprise when he found another crystal, when he looked away from the ‘sky’. It wasn’t white or blue or even green or yellow. This one was one of those weird softly glowing ones that was pink and green in color, the one which created the beautiful tree he had growing on his little island. This glowing crystal was found amongst the grass, it’s glow causing it to stand out in the near darkened state of mirrorscape.

Bending to pick it up he moved towards the other tree he had. The yellow stone pocketed, tucked into his sash next to the wand like item he had, he still needed to find out if it did anything other than look pretty. The one he knew created trees, unless it did something else also, was dropped onto the ground moments before the super senshi sunk to the grass below. A slippered was taken off his foot and was used to smash the crystal, his hand inside the shoe in order to put force behind the hit.

Just like the last time the crystal became little more than dust and than nothing. In its wake a tree grew from the grass covered whiteness that was the ground. The tree grew to the same height as the other one and as leaves grew from the branches so too did the flowers, softly glowing, the smell that filled the air was stronger now that there was a second tree.

Leaning back he sat there, his hands behind himself supporting his weight, he couldn’t help looking up at the two trees that loomed over him. “Pretty….” So pretty, so lovely. The heat which filled the air around him, thanks to the hot spring not more than a few feet from him, left him feeling tired and comfortable. It should be no surprise, and it wasn’t to him, when he laid himself down under the tree and curled up as his eyes closed. He was going to take a nap - he needed it. Yawning he wriggled around a bit to get comfortable and then off he drifted to sleep.

Word count: 954

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

August 28th (Back dating to the 13th.), 2018

Stepping into mirrorspace was something he’d done so many times by now that it didn’t phase him, though he really wished there was some color splashed about so it wasn’t all white. The white was awfully boring and made the place look so vast, like he felt rather tiny in the place and he rarely ever felt tiny. It wasn’t that bad of a feeling right now, he rather enjoyed it even.

Walking, with a bit of a spring in his step, in slippers the teen headed for the throne room. He was intending to head to the mirrorscape and poke about on his floating island. It seemed every few weeks he found crystals and he would admit to looking forward to it - finding crystals. He liked what they did and wanted to see just how many things he could do, provided they weren’t bad things. He wanted to make his bit of an island into something big - something special.

In the throne room, on his way to the golden mirror, he spied something...a bit of color in the vast whiteness. It was tucked away, almost behind the throne, a bit of pale blue like the first one he’d ever found. Ohhh! He knew what this one did...but he had no red one to go with it. He’d wait till he found a red one.

Hurrying his way towards the crystal the dark mirror senshi scooped it up and right into the sash at his waist it went. “Till I find a red one.” And then he’d make another hot spring, because the one wasn’t big enough. He wanted it bigger so more people could come to his little island and enjoy it. It was his wish, right now, for his island to be a place he could invite those he was close to so they could relax. Maybe they could have a picnic of sorts even.

Mmm...yes that was an idea, once he got more grass and such, humming to himself the dark mirror senshi stepped up to the golden mirror and stepped into it with ease. The trip into the mirrorscape was easy and once he arrived he made his way to the area which would bring him to his own tiny island floating out there like some mirror shard, because somehow they all looking like floating shards of mirror.

The grass under his feet was nice, nice enough that he bent to take off his slippers, and carrying them in his left hand he went towards the hot spring and the two trees he had growing there. As he made to lay down and enjoy the view of the flower adorned branches above him he spied something...up in the branches. It was tangled up in them, at least it seemed to be, it was a crystal...the same sort which made the first two trees.

It took time, and some climbing, but he managed to grab the crystal and when he got to the ground he landed on it...right on the crystal and broke it. It wasn’t next to one of the trees but rather right on the tree that it broke, as it was between his back and the trunk of one of the trees. Not knowing what to expect, perhaps a tree to sprout from the first, he was instead treated to the tree growing in height so it was larger and the branches grew longer so they still reached the ground.

“Ohhh...it grew. So I can make them taller…” Was there a limit to how tall they could become? Maybe he could find out, slowly, as he continued to add to the trees he had he could grow some every so often and find out. He didn’t want to focus solely on growing the one or two trees he already had...not when he wanted a small forest of these trees. He would have to use every other, perhaps, crystal for growing the trees so he could have a forest of trees boasting various sizes.

“Mmm, that might work.” At least he thought it would, it did in his imagination. Laying back down, his back still hurting from where it landed on the crystal, he decided on a nap. It was peaceful, and warm, here and his back was likely bruised already as it did hurt enough to indicate a bruise formed...or forming.

“So nice here….can’t wait for more water - so warm.” Yawning between words he settled in to sleep for a bit. It always made him tired being here, not that it was hard for him to become tired. Even now that he divided time between work, school and being a senshi he still liked to sleep whenever he could. He was still good at sleeping.

Word count: 801

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

August 28th, 2018

Mirrorspace as, as it always seemed to be, white and devoid of anything which may stand out. It always seemed so boring for him, was it like this for everyone? Or was there some way to have it be...less boring? Maybe to summon something? Hadn’t Remarque summoned a chair once for him? He couldn’t remember clearly but he was fairly certain of this...it was right after they’d met..when the other had offered him a job and a place to stay, even if it had been a motel.

Who would have thought he’d have moved so many times in his life? He hadn’t thought he’d wind up in a motel, he’d never had a reason to think that, but he had been living in a motel than Rhona’s home and then there had been his boyfriend, at the times, home and now he was settled with Nischal and Jason. He was happy with Nischal and Jason though - very happy. He was, at times, lonely when he watched the two but he was honestly happy for them. Why would he not be? They needed each other, they were good for each other.

But sometimes he just felt like he needed to give them time alone, together, and tonight was one of those nights. Tonight he’d decided to head to mirrorspace on his own and now that he was here he felt the loneliness sink into his bones as a hollow feeling settled in his stomach. He felt just...small, which he normally liked, and he just felt so empty.

Sighing, softly, the dark mirror senshi headed towards the throne room. The doors pushing open with ease for him he stepped into the room. Slippered feet were silent as he made his way to the golden mirror and past it’s surface he walked.

Coming into the mirrorscape was always special to the dark mirror senshi of gorgon’s, it was his little floating paradise in the making. It was a place he’d shown very few and it had changed since then, and it would continue to change. Kiuchi didn’t plan on stopping with building up his island any time soon, this was something special for him. This was an escape...a place to share with those he trusted and those he was close to.

He should show Rhona...he should show her soon.

Walking along the grass, he hoped he could find more green crystals soon, the super senshi settled on the ground by the two trees he had already and took the white and the yellow crystal he had...and smashed one into the other with whatever force he was able to put into it. As the crystals broke, shattered really, there was an explosion of little blinking orbs of golden light. Drifting up from the dust that was left from the broken crystals the lights spread out, drifting about, as they winked in and out like fireflies might do. It was a surprise, an unexpected one, as he reached out towards one that was close. There was no bug...just the small orb of light.

“Light….” It was pretty - very pretty. Giving a happy little sigh he stood and went to follow some of the orbs. Wandering across the grass covered white land, moving towards one orb and than veering off towards another, it was while walking that he tripped over a rock? But he had no rocks here...so how? Looking down he wasn’t surprised, not by now, to see one more of those odd ones which produced the glowing trees.

Grasping it, his hand shooting out like a striking snake, he brought the crystal to his chest close and turned to head back towards the two trees he already had. When he reached the two trees he sunk to the ground and carefully, wanting to place it right, he used a slipper he removed from his foot to break the crystal. Like the other two times a tree shot up from the remains of the crystal. Long branches that swept the ground and a fall of pink, softly glowing, flowers.

“I’ll make a forest of them….but I want to share them…” If he could. He could right? He hadn’t tried...the next one...the next one he’d gift to someone else so another person could enjoy the same thing he did...could find pleasure in the softly glowing trees like he did.

With a third tree softly lighting up his island, and floating baubles of light, the dark mirror senshi leaned himself back into one of the trees and closed his eyes. It was safe here...safe and peaceful. Although he did wish someone else was here..Avior or Crocus maybe or Acubens...Kit would be nice...but Kit was gone...and he’d never gotten to show Kit his little island. The thought of Kit, of the other leaving, had him choking on a breath as his arms came up and wrapped about himself in some form of self comfort.

Why had Kit left and not told him? Where had the other gone to...and how long would he be gone? He knew they had a relationship but really, secretly, he looked it at as something of a relationship.It just hadn’t gotten a title put to it...at least as far as he’d seen it. He knew never to say anything, to question, Kit and seek more from him than what they had. But it was there - right? Or had he just seen, and felt, more than there ever was? More than Kit had felt and thought. Had he been part of why Kit had left? He didn’t know where the thought had come from, or maybe he did, but it was there suddenly and he shivered as he snuggled down further as if cold and in need of warming.

He hoped he wasn’t the reason the other had left, or part of it, Kiuchi really hoped he hadn’t scared someone off or in some way driven them away to parts unknown (at least to himself). Tilting his head downward he got himself comfortable as he tried not to think about it...tried to forget for now. He missed Kit but he had to move on - right? The other would want him to because Kit had cared about him, had helped him after his break up, he couldn’t have driven the other off. Kit would have said something if he’d upset or bothered him, he was sure of it. As he thought about it be slowly became more and more sure of this, that he wasn’t in anyway a part of why Kit had left.

That comforting thought was what put the dark haired senshi to sleep.

Word count: 1,122

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

September 18, 2018

He’d told her to leave, to take her daughter and leave the city - it wasn’t safe. Destiny City wasn’t safe, it hadn’t been in a long time and he doubted it would be anytime soon, and as much as he didn’t have a relationship with his mother it still hurt to push her away whether she knew it was him or not who had told her to leave.

Pushing her away, giving that final push, it felt like he was making the hole in his heart bigger. It felt so...final. But he didn’t know if she was still here in the city, had she taken his advice or not? He wanted, no needed, to know what his mother had done. He’d given it several days, as many as he could handle before he had to know, and so here he was standing on the rooftop of the house across the street from his mother's.

To his great sadness and also his happiness he saw a sign - for sale. She was selling so she was taking his advice, was much as he was sure she didn’t like doing what any man told her to do. It didn’t matter if he was well meaning, as he had been, or anything else. It didn’t matter he was still male and she had to have hated that.

Jumping off the rooftop he landed with relative ease, and silence, from there he headed across the street and went to peek into the windows. He was hoping she was still here...that maybe he could power down and knock and ask about ehr moving...to maybe get some final goodbye from his mother...some sort of closure...something he maybe, or not so maybe, needed.

What he found instead was an empty living room and just...every window was empty and there were just simple white cotton curtains and white blinds. She had left without calling him, he hadn’t changed his number, and she was who knows where by now. He doubted he’d ever see or hear from her again.

He knew she didn’t care for him, clearly she didn’t love him, but she was still his mother and even though he was pushing her away it was an act of love….a final act...why couldn’t she be so kind to him? Even if she didn’t love him why couldn’t she still see him as her son? Her only child, by birth. Why couldn’t she give him that simple phone call,he wouldn’t expect or even ask for a visit, to tell him she was leaving...to tell him goodbye. Was it really so hard? Did she hate him that much?

Swallowing thickly, eyes blinking rapidly, he shook his head and turned to head off. She was gone, how far gone he didn’t know, and he wouldn’t see her again - ever. He knew she’d never call him or seek him out and even though he accepted it...it still hurt, it was bound to. She was still his mother and there were still some happy memories. Memories of just the two of them, before the hate showed. Times when they suffered living in a small place with just enough to eat together, where what filled the voids was that love...that love which was so fake but he had been too young to see it.

Now he was older and he knew what he’d had back then had been nothing more than a caricature of a mother who was filled with nothing but flowery words and hugs that felt warm but weren’t. Like a pretty woman who was really a demon, like in legends. His mother was no mother, not to him, and he could stand on his own - he had to. He had his life together, for the most part, he had a family now and he knew their smiles weren’t faked and the affection was honestly warm and given out of love for him as a person. It wasn’t the same, it never would be, but he’d never really had a mother so he didn’t know what he was missing out on now did he?

“I hope she’s happy…” Whispered words as he headed off back towards the brighter lights of the more populated downtown area of the city. That night he’d saved her was the final goodbye and it would suffice, it had to, as the closure to his relationship with her. It was time to move on with both his makeshift family and his newly discovered blood family.

Word count: 758

 

[Sleet Tempest Snape]

November 10, 2018

Xi-Wang was never the best with emotions, always prone to putting other people's feelings above his own, he wasn’t used to thinking of his own feelings first. He wasn’t much for anger and he didn’t seem to have a temper. But he was good at being overly emotional and getting a bit lost in his own feelings. He also could be said to have issues with nostalgia and wanting to connect to a culture that he was removed from, thanks to his mother, for some reason as it wasn’t a way he’d grown up. He’d seen a commercial once that said immigrants, when they came to America, formed close knit groups but their kids seemed to want to drift away and become more integrated...while the next generation wanted to get closer to their roots. He was like that - wanting to connect to his roots. He wanted to discover who he was...or rather who he could have been...what he could have been a part of.

It was what had fueled the years he’d spent searching his mother's former home, from top to bottom, looking for anything that would clue him in to who his father was...where in China his family was from...where he should have grown up.

Now that he had it - had a blood family he was happy. It felt comforting to be able to talk to a half sister, to see her smiling face as she spoke about school and friends, to get recipes from either of his grandmothers and to hear stories of their youth. They were all things he’d missed out on for years, and he blamed his mother for. He enjoyed the conversations with his father, and felt guilty for keeping secrets, he had someone who he could make proud of his academics...unlike his mother who had never seemed to care. She only cared about how he was socially, how he treated everyone in his class and everyone around him. He could have been honors, or better, and he was sure she’d not have cared or even noticed past him telling her.

She was gone now and he was left with the rest of his family, one he was still getting to know, and as he sat himself in his computer chair he answered the skype call from his father.

Yawning as he greeted his father, it was eight in the morning here in Destiny City, Xi-Wang couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his father. The man had likely just gotten home from work, or not that long ago, as he still had his tie on though it was certainly loser than it would be for work. No jacket was on but he still wore a crisp white shirt. Asking how his fathers day had been Xi-Wang answered the same question, though it was more about how his sleep had gone. While he’d have liked to have slept more he couldn’t, not if he wanted to make this call, so he answered simply that his sleep had been short but good.

The short part had his father laughing, and telling him to sleep more - go to sleep earlier. Ducking his head when his father asked what had him staying up late, he knew what his father was really asking, he shook his head. He didn’t have anyone he was dating, he’d told his father that once before, but he wondered if his father just thought him not ready to talk about such a topic so he was keeping a relationship secret from him. That wasn’t the case though, as he was most certainly single. He’d gone through too much to think about dating any time soon...he wasn’t sure he even wanted to...or that he’d ever be up for it again. He was ok with what he’d had with Kit...it was easier, he could do that again. But Kit was gone and he was alone again, aside from his friends and fellow court members.

He still felt alone but it was in a way he hadn’t felt before Caleb. Surrounded by people and yet alone...it was strange and not something he found pleasant in any way.

Brought away from his thoughts, before he could get lost in them, his father was asking him about his latest scores in his classes. “I did well...I still don’t know what I want to major in though…” And he felt bad that he didn’t, like he should know. Most people went into college, or university, knowing what they wanted to do. At least it felt like that. “Let me show you.” Getting up from his seat he went to get the papers from his school bag. Inside his bag were two text books, a load of papers, two notebooks, a small book and his henshin pen incase of emergencies.

Dumping his bags contents out on his bed he didn’t think about the mess he was making, why would he? It was just books and such, all easy to pick up and put back into his bag. What he wasn’t expecting was to hear a harsh intake of breath over his speakers. “Dad?” Turning his dark eyes to his computer's screen he saw his father staring at his bed with wide eyes. “Is something wrong?” Moving closer to his screen, expecting something to be the matter, he was surprised when he heard his father question the henshin pen...but not in the expected way of what was the unusual item. His father instead let slip the one word - senshi. His father knew...but how?

“H-how do you...know?” Hesitating at the end, not sure what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to get into some sort of argument with his father. There could be a few ways of his father knowing about this and he didn’t like the options available, none of them were all that good.

The answer, as was expected, wasn’t good. “N-ngevaerse…” Repeated like a parrot the word passed his lips before he nodded slowly. His father already had moved on though, to something about serving the enemy and that he would fix it if he had to visit Destiny City himself. He wouldn’t have a senshi for a son. Those words, the thought of losing the court which was his family, had him speaking up. “No! You’re wrong.”

His father cut off and staring him looked ready to scold him, something he likely deserved, but he plowed on anyway. He had to protect himself from losing the precious family he had - he had to. “We aren’t order! We serve chaos...just not the same chaos. Dark mirror senshi - not just senshi.” When his father asked what he meant he went to get his henshin pen, from where it lay on his bed, and returned to his chair.

“This...this isn’t for a senshi. I’m not a normal senshi….I’m not - I promise. Please…” Begging as he spoke to his father, hoping for the man to let him speak and explain. “I don’t know if you have them where you are. But we are chaos...just not corrupted senshi. We don’t serve the Negaverse...but we don’t serve order….if I did than I wouldn’t have had one of them try and kill me…” Lowering his head, dark eyes closing for a moment, he shook his head slowly.

“My court...we’re small...but they’re my family. I picked them when I had no one else...and they care about me. I can’t lose them..please father. I don’t want to join the Negaverse...just be ok with me being on the same side - on chaos.” He hoped his father would accept it...would be ok with it. Even if it meant they weren’t on the same exact side it would be good enough, at least he hoped. He now sat there, head bowed, waiting for his father's response as he held his henshin pen close to his chest.

He wasn’t expecting the words he heard, he was expecting some more questions or more issues with him being a senshi. Instead what he got was his father's disbelief, and anger, over the fact someone had tried to kill him. “Y-yeah….we almost never met...or well talked I guess.” Since they had never met; just talked. But it had almost never been. “It was some super senshi...who doesn’t like dark mirror senshi…I almost lost consciousness..and the fall from the tree didn’t help with them choking me.”

His father’s sucked in breath told him he’d upset the older and he had. He had, as he found out over the next few minutes, upset his father because he couldn’t fight and keep himself safe. He almost lost the son he’d never met and he wouldn’t have even known about it. His father wanted him to be safe, insisted he learn self defense or some martial arts, so he could protect himself. His father wanted to learn more about his court, for good reason, but not now. Another day, he’d already given his father a lot of shocks, his father needed to get food and spend some time with his family.

Accepting the elders words with a smile, he understood his father wanting to spend time with his family, he did his best to hide that he was jealous. His half sister got to spend time with his father and vice versa and they all got to spend time together...and he couldn’t. All he could do was talk to them over a screen, there was so much distance between them all. But he was happy now, it was one less secret, as he bid his father a good night before ending the call.

Pushing his chair back he wobbled his way to his bed and cleared off the comforter with a sweep of his hand before climbing under his bedding. He could use some more sleep - a lot more sleep.

Word count: 1,664