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 Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2024 5:01 pm
Lanting wasn't sure how he felt, returning to his Wonder with Corvina. It felt a little risky--surely this was a place where Corvina had a lot of trauma, considering it was where he'd been repeatedly rejected, and where Zhiheng had snapped his horns. But...Lanting also didn't want to go alone.
He thought, a lot, about that first visit, where he'd been trapped for an entire week. He hated how it had made him feel--helpless, scared, and so, so lonely. And sure, he'd been fine the second time, but that was still......frightening. And if he had Corvina there, they had a backup escape method, surely.
Not that he'd voiced those fears. It felt like it would cast a pall over the whole thing, or cast another pall--the point was, it would be deeply inauspicious, or whatever.
"I just want to look around the library some," he said, as they arrived in that lovely courtyard--already looking a little bit better, with the stone pathways seeming to have set themselves back into place and the pond waters looking less...grungy. Not clean yet, but distinctly less grungy. "See if there's anything interesting in there hat I can, you know, actually read? You're free to look around as much as you like, too."
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Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2024 8:42 am
If Lanting wasn’t sure how to feel about going to his Wonder after whatever had happened to the Code—the whole situation that Lanting had somewhat explained but that Corvina had only followed so much—then that made one of them. Or at least it would have done if Corvina had had any indication that Lanting might not have felt perfectly at ease with visiting his place of power. As it stood, that thought didn’t even cross Corvina’s mind because why would it have done?
Sure, Corvina didn’t exactly itch to return to his own place of power, but that was different. Thanks to his vile, treacherous, Murikabushian mother—and more so, to his own foolish desire for her to be better than his father had been, for her to love him—Corvina’s home-world was overrun with Chaos. Worse, the simple fact that other senshi in similar positions had managed to cleanse their own worlds did not necessarily mean that Corvina would be so lucky. Maybe his own world was doomed to stay broken, forever ruined, condemned to an eternity of being mired in Chaos thanks to Corvina’s own failures as its senshi.
Much nicer to focus on Lanting the Wonder, really.
Even looking around at the relative ruin it had fallen into in the thousand years or so between Corvina killing Zhiheng and Shuangxu rising as the new Lanting of Ida, Corvina felt much more at peace (as close to such feelings as he ever got, anyway) than he would have felt on his own planet. At first, he stuck close to Lanting, following the paths through the courtyard, but……oh, the gardens distracted Corvina quite effectively. He lingered by one, heart wrenching in his chest and eyes faintly starting to itch over what time had done to Lanting’s poor gardens. All of these plants had once been healthy, some of the most beautiful in the universe (outside of those on Corvina’s own world; the greenery at Lanting had been some of the only specimens that could rival Corvinate horticulture).
Briefly snapping out of that reverie at the sound of Lanting’s voice, Corvina broke away from the one garden……but that only meant moving toward another plot of garden for Corvina to sulk at.
“I wouldn’t know what’s back there or not. Never saw inside the library back then,” he said with a soft sigh, but without complaining about the past situations (most of which he’d personally caused). “The whole complex of Lanting was supposed to be for scholars, and my people’s reputation worked against us in that regard. I would’ve liked to see the inside, but……” Corvina shrugged, making a throaty little sound to echo the gesture. “Didn’t want to disrespect Lanting the Wonder. Zhiheng never told me how much it meant to him, not directly? But his dedication made it clear.”
Truly, Zhiheng hadn’t needed to say it, to put words on how important his Wonder had been to him. Not really. Knights who didn’t love and care for their Wonders hardly deserved to be called Knights at all, and anybody with eyes could have seen Zhiheng’s dedication to his calling.
Someday, when the Orchid Pavilion of Lanting was restored to its proper glory, the same would be true of Shuangxu. As Corvina crouched by this patch of garden, gingerly nudging at the dead flowers on a plant that likely hadn’t seen better days for some time before it had perished, his heart ached for what had been lost. But even more, he ached for the thought that anyone else who visited might have held the state of things at Lanting against Shuangxu, might have judged him unfairly or deemed him an unfit Knight just because things at Lanting were not how they had once been……as though the passing of a thousand years could ever have been Shuangxu’s fault.
If anyone thought to accuse Shuangxu of anything like that, Corvina would personally ensure that their heads did not long stay attached to their bodies. People like that didn’t deserve such kindnesses as being suffered to live.
Glancing over to Shuangxu-Lanting, Corvina added, “I can stay out here if you don’t think I’d be any help. My Idan was mostly conversational when I got any practice with it, and I said things I didn’t mean all the time just by messing up the grammar or the vocabulary. Don’t know if I could even pretend to read any of the texts kept safe here anymore.…… Wouldn’t want to insult A-Xu’s Wonder? If it would be an insult?”
Any attempts he could’ve offered felt very likely to embarrass Corvina more than his struggles with learning his way around how written language looked in twenty-first century English. But he hadn’t made up his mind about whether or not Shuangxu actually had a Certain Particular Interest in humiliating him. Better not to risk tripping into that well if he did, Corvina thought. The Orchid Pavilion was a sacred place; it didn’t need to be sullied by Corvina unduly tempting its Knight in such a manner.
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Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2024 1:58 am
Lanting's expression softened, as soon as Corvina mentioned being denied entry because of his people's reputation. "That's not right," he said, because it felt like ti was becoming more and more of A Thing for him to challenge some tragic assumption of Corvina's on the regular. "That you sohuld have been shut out just because of your people's reputation. Anyone can learn."
He squeezed his cane between his hands, pulling it up against his chest and exhaling.
"I want you with me. It's my library now, and I say anyone who wants to come in and learn can come in and learn." He didn't even really feel like he needed to make any caveats about being careful or not damaging things--Corvina wouldn't, obviously. He seemed to have a lot of reverence for Lanting, maybe more than Shuangxu did. "And even if you can't read it very well, maybe you can at least tell me what things are? Libraries are usually organized, so if we can at least figure out what subjects are where, that'd be more than I knew before I got here."
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Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2024 1:57 pm
Corvina nodded, pushing himself back up to standing instead of kneeling to look more closely at what remained of the gardens. If A-Xu wanted him to come, then Corvina would go wherever A-Xu asked. “I can’t promise to know everything about what they are,” he said, turning toward the library. “My younger cousin was an Ida Knight, too. Got most of my exposure to Idan culture through Yushi. Not that he lied or anything—I don’t honestly think he was capable of it, that’s how bad he was at lying—but it was still secondhand knowledge, and he struggled to speak up sometimes, especially about that.”
Huffing softly, Corvina shrugged. “The negativity wasn’t one-sided against Corvinates. Thought a lot of it was stupid, personally. Ida and Corvina are both Koronis asteroids. It was better for us to be allies, to stand together in case Queen Serenity couldn’t bring herself to bother with two worlds in the further reaches of the Silver Millennium’s influence. Still, some of my people looked down on the Idan people for favoring the healing arts over the life of a warrior, and they treated Yushi like he’d done something wrong by accepting his Knighthood.…… Idiots. Jealous of him for earning something that none of them were considered for.”
That said, though, he nodded to Lanting again, externally ready to approach the library (and internally quivering about the idea more than Corvina wanted to admit).
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Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2024 2:27 am
Every time he got some little bit of information about Corvina's past, Lanting treasured it. This was new--a cousin, one who Corvina was clearly fond of. Who'd shared a planetary affiliation with the Knight he'd loved. "Your cousin sounds sweet," he said. "Maybe he's reincarnated. It would be nice to find him again." For Corvina, and a little bit for himself, because he would love to connect with other Ida Knights.
He nodded along at Corvina's explanation pushing the door open, though he didn't exactly look pleased. "Those kinds of animosities usually go two ways, yeah," he said. "Weird, messy culture clashes. But it doesn't have to be like that now. Maybe we can find Princess Ida, and the two of you can talk?"
That would be nice.
The library itself looked mostly well-kept. Whatever had happened her,e it hadn't touched this place, except for the inches of dust that had settles everywhere.
"Oh, I sohuld have brought a cleaning cloth," Lanting huffed. "But I didn't think of it." Because he was an idiot, but if he said that out loud, Corvina would get upset.
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Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2024 2:18 pm
“It would be nice for him to be reincarnated,” Corvina said without thinking about it because he didn’t need to think about it. He had thought, many times over the years, about whether or not his friends and Yushi would get a second chance at life when so many things about their first lives had been so thoroughly unfair to them. Had Corvina not been kept alive, he would have been reincarnated with them, but as it stood.……
“Life wasn’t fair to Yushi,” he said. “My father liked him decently, but only insofar as Yushi did whatever the King demanded of him. Which he usually did, out of gratitude he felt that he owed the man. The King had no obligation to acknowledge his sister’s b*****d, but he did for Yushi, so……” Corvina shrugged, trailing off. “Getting appointed to his knighthood was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.… He would have liked A-Xu. He liked Zhiheng, too.… He liked basically anyone who didn’t treat him like garbage, really.”
Following Lanting into the library proper left Corvina feeling a little bit breathless. So many eons, he’d dreamed of what was inside here, and……well. Maybe it wasn’t what Lanting had been in its prime, but neither was anything else in the universe (probably). Shelves full of books that looked neatly ordered and like they were probably well cared for, under all the dust. It was easy to imagine the symposia that might have been held here, or the myriad students from all across the universe who might have come here in search of knowledge.
It was easy to imagine Zhiheng—or perhaps A-Xu, these days—receiving Princess Ida and letting her see the places on his Wonder that Corvina had distinctly not been allowed to access.
“You’ll bring one next time,” Corvina said, frowning at the way Lanting said that he should have brought a cleaning cloth and wondering if he should have read into the tone there. “Wonders are magical places. It makes sense that A-Xu might not have considered the possibility of dust. Might have thought that there wouldn’t be any.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2024 8:56 pm
There was something...oddly nice about the knowledge that Corvina's sweet cousin had liked Zhiheng. Like a peek at the possibility of something more than an arrogant, cruel man existing under the surface.
"I hope he is reincarnated, then," he said, "and that he's having a better life, this time around." It would be what he deserved, Lanting thought, someone as sweet as that. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find him again."
He huffed, tugging up his sleeve over his palm and reaching out to brush dust off the nearest scroll. "I will bring one next time, don't let me forget," he said, like it was at all Corvina's responsibility--though if he was honest, he did trusty that Corvina would probably remind him. "But I knew it was dirty, from when I got--" he stopped. Swallowed. "....When I got stuck here. So I should have remembered."
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Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2024 1:57 pm
Corvina nodded, because he also hoped that they could run into Yushi, if he was reincarnated. He nodded again, but more seriously, when Lanting gave him the duty of making sure that they didn’t forget to bring cleaning supplies next time. Back on Earth, Corvina was learning his way around the tools that humans used for cleaning—a somewhat difficult task when his ability to read the bottles so many of them came in was……rickety. Not something he had been actively working on.
Maybe he needed to work on it more. Cleaning cloths would help around the library, but what if they found something that required more intense work? From the sound of things, Lanting was going to take it to heart if he felt that he wasn’t doing his best as a Knight, even if he didn’t need to judge himself so harshly. Better if Corvina could put more work into reading better so that he could take care of things around here and (hopefully) prevent Lanting from worrying too much. As much as it made sense to care about his Wonder, he was already the best Knight and would soon prove that to everyone.
In the meantime, Corvina cautiously orbited some of the shelves, looking at the different books but not touching the contents of the shelves. Even though Lanting had welcomed him in, Corvina didn’t know that he was actually allowed to touch anything. What if he did something wrong and damaged whatever it was he found? Yet, temptation overwhelmed Corvina when something out of place caught his eye: a space between one of the books and the end of the shelf, big enough for one of Corvina’s hands to wriggle between.
His fingers touched down on something coarse and sturdy. When he brought it out, he stared down at a scroll.
“Lanting,” he said, very seriously and frowning bemusedly down at the thing. “Do you think this might…… Is it something of Zhiheng’s, maybe?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2024 1:42 pm
It felt almost depressing,t hat this library had been left to rot like this. At least the books seemed to be holding up--nothing crumbled when Lanting touched it, at least. And he couldn't help but touch, fingers brushing over dusty spines and delicate scrolls, knowing that none of it was going to be in a language he could comprehend and yet wanting to read it all the more for it.
He unrolled a scroll, partially, taking in the mysterious script on it.
There was so much here. Maybe...maybe if he worked hard, and became a better Knight, he could...
Well, all of that was predicated on working hard, which was something Lanting was very bad at. He sighed, and carefully rerolled the scroll, placing it back on the shelf.
Corvina called for him, though, and that drew his attention. He immediately moved over to look at what Corvina was holding, perking up.
"Oh, maybe it is, that looks......different...." He reached for it, and then paused. "May I?"
It seemed only polite to ask, rather than grabbing it out of Corvina's hands like some kind of overeager rat.
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Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2024 8:36 am
Lanting seemed so pensive about this whole visit, which probably made sense. Being appointed to any Wonder was important and carried great significance. In the past, there had been the Knight Academy to teach people about what it meant to be a Knight and how it all worked. But now, Shuangxu and all the other Knights needed to figure out what this meant for themselves, when everything about Knighthood seemed to go against most of the accepted ideas of how life worked in the twenty-first century.
(Technically, this included New Dunnottar. But as soon as Corvina thought so, he banished such notions from his head, unwilling to extend Dunnottar more grace than was absolutely necessary. And understanding that his life had its difficulties, in Corvina’s mind, counted as more grace than he felt like letting Dunnottar have.)
When Lanting asked for the scroll, Corvina not only handed it over, he also gave Lanting a very soft, earnest expression. “Of course,” he said, brushing two fingertips against the back of Lanting’s hand as he pulled his own back. “Anything important at A-Xu’s Wonder belongs in A-Xu’s hands first and foremost.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 11:58 am
It really did amaze Lanting, sometimes, how sweet Corvina could be. Or, perhaps, simply that apparently other people hadn't seen this side of him for so long. He was always so soft and gentle with Lanting, in a way that felt especially remarkable because Lanting had seen how very not gentle he could be if he wanted.
So when Corvina's fingers brushed over his hand as they traded the scroll, he couldn't help but giggle a little. Schoolgirlish and silly, sure, but....
There had been other boys, before. None of them were like Corvina.
"Thank you," he said, and he carefully unrolled the scroll.
It was....strange. He almost felt as if he understood it--as if, even though he couldn't read the words, he could tell what they meant. Could see the magic they described in his mind's eye--a ball of leaves and petals, blasted from his weapon and bursting on contact with an enemy.
"Oh," he said, and then the scroll glowed gold, and so did his cane, and the scroll vanished. "Oh, it was a spell, I think--I think I can do new magic now."
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2024 3:17 pm
Soft things like Lanting’s laughter…… Kindness like Lanting always seemed intent on showing him…… Corvina’s life had had little room in it for anything like this before. He had always needed to be strong, to be capable, to be resilient in the face of impossible odds. In several very literal ways, Corvina’s continued existence and right to draw breath at all had deeply depended on his ability to fight, his strength, and how well he killed anyone who dared oppose him.
The way Lanting could simply be so soft always left Corvina awestruck, even if only for a moment.
He needed to protect Lanting’s ability to be the way he was, to prevent anyone from stealing that from him.
Watching the scroll start glowing, Corvina tilted his head bemusedly. He frowned as it disappeared into Lanting’s weapon, then hrm’d at Lanting’s idea for what it all meant. “It makes sense,” Corvina said, without actually thinking about whether or not it would have done so to anybody else. “Plenty of scholars came to Lanting the Wonder, could have left something of such power in the library. And perhaps, after so long, the Wonder wanted such power to belong to its Knight.”
Unspoken: it would have wanted that if the Code Piece contained herein knew what was good for it.
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