Who told you so, dilly dilly, Who told you so? ‘Twas my own heart, dilly dilly, That told me so.
ouch is one of the most intimate, romantic ways to be close to someone else. The Town knows this very well -- the Town wants everyone to be as close as possible.
Perhaps that's why this bonding is so...aggressive.
Because you're in for quite the shock on this otherwise peaceful day when you brush against the next person on your path.
Maybe you're going out of your way to touch people. Maybe you've got a terrible urge to just see what's lurking in someone's heart. Maybe you trip over a conveniently placed rock -- whatever the cause, you're getting an up close and personal look into someone else's heart.
Welcome to Awash's eighteenth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event!
If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!
Pyra has returned to the quiet, peaceful bamboo forest and the stone path. Her arms are empty, no longer holding the unfortunate thing that is left. The wind blows through the trees and it feels so warm, so bright. ]
〖 Welcome back!
Did you enjoy your journey to "your" future? Immortality is wonderful! Please continue your hard efforts. Though, there is very little that can be changed now! ( ･ὢ･ )
But looking to the future is nice! Very nice! It allows one to reflect on their past and present actions. Congratulations.
Unfortunately, no points were able to be gathered. We apologize for this inconvenience and reward 10 more points. Your current points are now 120!
We shall give you a few seconds to get used to the present and the weight of everything "you" have done! 〗
[ Once more cheerful hold music is played and will continue playing for, at least, a short while. ]
She's standing not in some dungeon, but back in the bamboo forest... Shen Qingqiu's body nowhere to be seen. Pyra gasps, looking around her at first as if she might have simply dropped him out of surprise or fright, but no--
That's right, it was just a "glimpse" of the future. So, so... there really could be more time? To prevent something like that from happening? ]
[ The hold music chases after her as she sprints down the path.
But it eventually fades away to hear voices. They seem to be carried by the wind. Yet each word turns the weather colder, so cold that she feels as though she is running through an ice storm.
But what words are they? Pyra's own. Telling him how kind he is, how generous, and how good a person that he seems to be.
A pop-up box appears in front of her but this time it doesn't seem like it is the System. ]
〖 Wrong. Wrong. It's all wrong. I did everything wrong. I wasn't able to do anything. I wasn't able to return anything. What I returned, what will be returned... 〗
[ The words hover for a little while before the screen breaks, fractures in the center, and vanishes. ]
[ Another box appears but with a cheerful chime. ]
〖 You've run very far from the start. Where are you going? The System is here to help and would like to assist you in what you are attempting to do. (≧∇≦)b 〗
Where is-- [ "Shen Qingqiu", is what she's about to say. But she's going to guess that this System or whatever it is is going to tell her that she is him, or as he is supposed to be.
So instead: ] ....Bring me to my disciple from before.
Indeed, within Shen Qingqiu's heart is all the wrongs that he has done to people rather than any of the good, he can only think of these things about himself -- and so the System brings her to his disciple.
Luo Binghe is not the adult she met but a teenager. His forehead is glowing bright red and he looks terrified of her as he stumbles back. The ground around them has splinted and fractured, underneath the broken earth is the Endless Abyss. ]
〖 Congratulations! We have found a place for you to gather points, too!
Luo Binghe is a half-demon. If he is not sent down to the Endless Abyss, punishments will be swift and without mercy.〗
[ It cheerfully repeats itself from the rules of before. ]
〖 What an easy win! The only choice before you is to betray your disciple and push him into the dark Abyss!
Your future has already been sealed. Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said three times. ｡^‿^｡〗
System or no system, she is not one to cause more harm, or at least try not to. And when someone looks as scared in front of her as Luo Binghe does-- even when just minutes ago she had seen the merciless way his older self treated Shen Qingqiu-- she can't help but want to reach out to him even if "punishment" is promised in return.
She doesn't know why the ground is cracking beneath their feet, who made it crack beneath their feet, or what it will take to get it to stop, but she knows that it looks dangerous enough.
Pyra reaches out to him, and if she can grab onto his hand, she'll pull him to her. ] --Hurry, we have to leave! It's dangerous here!
[ She doesn't know what she appears like to Luo Binghe right now, if he sees blood from where she-- or rather, Shen Qingqiu-- no longer has an arm. But to her, what lies below her skin and the illusion of a body is a matrix of... light and energy coursing within its cavity instead of where bones and blood might actually be.
...It still hurts, of course. That's how she was built, and the moment it's cleaved off she staggers to the side, crying out. ]
[ This system is something that is... wants her to follow a script. But she refuses to-- she doesn't want to follow it.
So she straightens. Straightens and smiles at him. ]
C--c'mon--....Luo Binghe, [ She says between pained, short breaths. ] It's dangerous here. [ She repeats, forcing herself take a step towards him. ] And... I don't want to see you hurt.
[ There is hope in his eyes as he reaches out to take her hand, but also tears. Of course, there would be tears. The hope in her words turns to upset. ]
Is this because of me?
[ The ground quakes beneath their feet and it seems -- the earth gives way as he falls but still holds onto her hand. Of course, he would.
More cheerful chimes beep. This time, it does not cleave her arm off, but rather has her start to lose sensation in her hand. So that the grip holding onto Luo Binghe's hand is weakening slowly, slowly. ]
〖 Punishment complete. There is only one option. 〗
[ Because this is his heart and the phantoms of everything does not want "him" to succeed. He's a villain. He's evil. He couldn't do anything but save himself instead of save someone he cared about, isn't that right? It's very right.
It is all set up for him to fail. For her to fail. And perhaps, this truth is slowly becoming more obvious. ]
[ It's in that moment that she believes she knows what Shen Qingqiu believes of his fate: that he is helpless, that he is subject to this future, that there is no way to to undo what has been done, to right the wrongs or attempt to repent for his transgressions-- or to even deign to ask for the privilege of forgiveness, much less ask for help from others to change what has already been dealt.
"There is only one option."
Shut up. ╭∩╮（＾ｖ＾）
That is a literal slap of her her (numb) hand flying through the prompt that appears before her, courtesy of Mythra, dismissing the very idea of this future herself as if it is a malleable thing to tamper with, a tool, a toy, her blade like a weaver's edge, a tantalizing taste of the "to be" in any tenaciously stated sentence, tempering with the pursuit of a truth that one might find in the terrible future.
--But they are only words, the loom remains lonely and lacking; they are only dismissive words directed towards some system she doesn't know is an actual program she might interfere or reset herself, not actual coding. Instead they are words meant for him, for Shen Qingqiu, or-- rather, whoever is posing as Shen Qingqiu in this moment-- as the System has suggested--, whether that be herself or the man she has met thus far. Either way, she rejects it outright despite the implied consequences: a hard 0 in the face of affirmative 1s.
Regardless if her words reach him, there is one thing she wishes to show him, or try to; one thing that she knows might help him, something she has learned to cherish and grow through her own interactions with others here: hope. A very strong hope that cannot be found in her own world, but through the bonds and inspiration founded and raised by meeting with those of different worlds and their unimaginable, incredible, uncanny circumstances. She knows they have not known each other long, so perhaps it is to drastic to suggest to Shen Qingqiu that he might change the future, or his past, or whatever it is he needs to change to ensure his future happiness outright.....
But for now, a compromise can be made against his belief that his future is set-- ]
--Luo Binghe...! [ She wills every nerve, every fiber of her her muscles that still remains directly below the superficial skin of her body's facade to contract, to throw for, to reach for the disciple before her who still stares at her in a complex amalgam of fear and despair and-- and the nascent budding of hate-- to take a hold of him and bring him to her, to grasp him and pull him to her, to embrace him and tuck his head into her shoulder. This poor young man-- no, this poor, poor child, so young, so innocent, so vulnerable, believing in a master that he has loved and trusted up into this point.... ] ...It will be alright.
[ She closes her eyes as the ground erupts around them in a fury.
Her compromise is thus: to not push him only into the Eternal Abyss, but to fall with him. Perhaps it's better this way, so that they might be together. Or perhaps not. She doesn't actually know, she doesn't have the full story; but she wants to believe, and she wants to bring that hope she has learned from others from across the worlds here to Shen Qingqiu. It exists, she wants him to see that it does, that it-- ]
It will be alright.... [ She tells him again, softly.
[ The confusion appears on the box! Also, equally surprised to see such a rude emoji chosen. All words on the boxes stop as soon as she begins to fall with him, to hold him close as they fall.
Around them, yes, the earth erupts and darkness surrounds them as they descend. Yet in that darkness, multiple pop-up boxes suddenly come to surround her -- blaring obnoxious alarms all the while. ]
〖 What about your other disciples? What about the Peak? What about the other Peak Lords? 〗
[ Indeed, the System does not like this loophole and is attempting to have her regret her decision by pointing out the mistake of it out. But it seems to understand the futility of attempting to have her feel guilt. Not when Luo Binghe holds close to her, not when he cries on her and his shoulders shudder, not when he is able to feel a little bit of hope.
Softly, with tears upsetting his words, he whispers: ]
Shizun didn't want to do it.
[ She does not crash into the ground. She does not reach the Endless Abyss with Luo Binghe either. Not really, anyway. Merely, she was falling head first into black nothing, but now she is standing on unseen ground surrounded by black nothing. ]
〖 Hidden scenario open. You have located where Shen Qingqiu is. Congratulations. 〗
[ Rather than fanfare and bright chimes, somehow the text and the voice -- though computerized and without emotion -- sound very upset. ]
〖 Shen Qingqiu is unrepentant, lying, manipulative, two-faced and scum. 〗
[ There is an explosion of more pop-up boxes to fill the black nothingness that just have the word "SCUM" on it. ]
〖 The only option is to kill him. Sally forth and kill the villain so others may have a happy ending! 〗
[ A bright chime as the "scum" pop-ups disappear. ]
〖 He did not choose what you chose. He did not make any grand decisions. He only ever hurt everyone around him and lied about it while smiling ELEGANTLY at the pain of others. He is irredeemable.
Sally forth and kill the villain. Or else, others will end up suffering. 〗
[ The pop-up fades and it is as the System told her, Shen Qingqiu is here. He walks through the darkness to stand before her. An unseen light illuminating them both. He looks far more tired than he ever has when he is before her. His smile is self-deprecating before he kneels in front of her. ]
You got hurt because of me. [ So he says as he looks to her arm. What the fuck? He supposes that explains how she was able to recover so quickly in the castle, but he isn't able to say much after that.
A soft ping. ]
〖 Due to your punishments, the System will help you. The villain will die on your command. (•‿•) 〗
[ Annoying-- these pop-up boxes are annoying. Do they ever go away? If this area has manifested because of Shen Qingqiu, is this what he has to deal with himself day in and day out? Mythra abhors it.
So what does Pyra do but continue to hold onto Luo Binghe as closely as she can despite-- or rather, because of the System's protests to abandon him.
It doesn't matter if who she's holding onto is a virtual stranger; this young man is weeping in her arms, frightened about how his world must have been completely upended in the span of minutes. She can sympathize with him, of having the sureness and stability of being among those one cares about, only to have everything go up in flames and lose it all the next second. She wants to be there for him-- and, she hopes, by being there for Luo Binghe in this critical, tumultuous moment also means that she is proving she can be there for Shen Qingqiu as well. ]
[ ...But then she's no longer holding onto Luo Binghe, there is no longer the threat of the abyss consuming her, and the disciple's last words to her are but a mere whisper on the outskirts of the void that now envelopes her. The weightlessness of falling slows and shifts, and then she feels her center of gravity completely flip, and suddenly she's upright and standing within a pitch black matrix of nothingness....
Pyra only is able to draw half a breath to regain her bearings, looking down at her empty hand where she had once been holding onto a scared young half-demon in hollow shock. Yet another prompt appears to her again. Grasping onto her injured arm, she frowns as more begin to manifest adding one set of insults after the other, all repeating one word in the end: scum, scum, scum... ]
[ When he finally stands before her, just how he appears is enough to make her forget about her own pain and confusion. Hope fills her at first, her eyes lighting up brightly as she sees him at last. She can hardly believe it. He's-- here, and he's whole, not bloodied, not broken; he has his arms, his legs-- and his tongue, his eyes.... Yet look how exhausted he seems. How harrowed, how defeated, how lost...
This is much, much worse than seeing only his torso hanging within that dungeon. Pyra's brow knits as she brings her remaining hand to cover her mouth as a gasp escapes her when he kneels. Her fingers remain there, also covering her bottom lip as it trembles. ] Shen Qingqiu....
[ The system is calling him a liar, an unrepentant and manipulative man, a two-faced and irredeemable villain; scum, scum, scum repeated like a holy mantra attempting to dispel the evil that is present. But she cannot reconcile those descriptions with the one she sees before her. Kneeling before her, as if he's already given up, awaiting her judgement-- like it is her right to give.
There are a couple different things she can do right now, she believes. She could try to take him herself and carry him to-- somewhere, she doesn't know, but anywhere but here, even if all that surrounds them is a void. She could try to pat him upon the head to reassure him. She could call him a fool for believing anything that this System is saying. She could call him weak for succumbing to it.
Instead, she drops to her knees to be on his level before she simply throws her one remaining arm over his shoulder to bring him to her. This embrace is tighter than how she had held Luo Binghe; this one is much more desperate, as if he might vanish at any point. ] --No.
[ She repeats again, this time more firmly despite the shuddering breath that accompanies it. ] What... What did I say before? [ She manages to whisper as she holds him, forcing a little bit of a smile. She won't be letting go, not yet, because frankly put the man looks as if he's in need of a hug-- that he has been in need of one for a very, very long time. ]
[ Even as he says so, his voice is soft and breaking. He does not fight against the hug; his shoulders drop as his exhaustion seems to all but radiate off of him now. Not like it was not before. He blinks, and feels like he may start crying, but he tells himself it is because she's crying for him. ]
You don't understand. [ How can you still see me as a saint? Really? Is your brain filled with water? There is little venom in his thoughts. There is little fight left in him to have any anger about misunderstandings. ] Luo Binghe suffered even before he came to me. Everything has been constantly unfair for him. He was always brought to ruin by everyone around him.
Yet he finally had a master that was kind to him. He finally had a chance to believe that the world would not be so heartless and thoughtless to him and his suffering ... to the suffering of others. [ Indeed, no matter what his disciple held onto his optimism and hope that as soon as he became a high-grade cultivator that he could save others. He breathes out, sounding ruined in such a breath. ]
I betrayed his trust and that hope in the world. Don't you understand? [ He implores her to see the truth of everything. ] Whatever sins that he does... they are my sins. Whatever he does now, it is my own fault. If I was going to be cruel at the end, if I was going to cast him away, I should have just cast him away from the start.
[ He repeats what the older Binghe said. Yes, if he was just going to be cruel, he should have never been kind. ]
And more than that... acting friendly with everyone... saying I will return color... all those things... when I have caused only trouble for everyone around me! You can't just remain blind to these things forever. You'll only end up hurt. [ His gaze shifts to her arm. ]
[ It is as if he's trying to convince her that he deserves this, but no matter what reasons he or this System gives, she still cannot see it, cannot accept it, cannot believe that this is the sort of fate to which he must surrender. ] Shen Qingqiu, the only way you've hurt me here... is by saying these things about yourself. But even for that, I forgive you... because I understand.
[ Her hand falls from his cheek, fingers curling back towards her, withdrawing her touch, her warmth from him as she looks over him, distraught... but not undetermined. Perhaps it's not a matter of trying to convince him that he is deserving of life and living and all the potential happiness that comes with the opportunity, perhaps whatever she says here will be dismissed by him in return, or blocked by yet another pop-up screen. But perhaps....
She draws a breath.
In the future, there will be only one who would ever dare say to her you can't rewrite the act now, it's too late. ] I think... I understand now. [ And indeed she would prove them wrong. ]
Remember when I told you about that sword? [ The sword that can predict and change the future. A pause, a soft smile, and then her hand goes to the side of his face again, cupping him gently and turning his head upward so that he might look at her. Her eyes are misted over, but they are filled and shining with as much hope as there are tears. She wants him to listen. ] Someone like you... doesn't need such a thing.
[ It won't be by her power, no. He doesn't need to have some sort of extraordinary, reality warping ability, he doesn't need a god's divine artifact, he-- ] That power to change your destiny... it's been here the entire time. [ How silly she had been to tell him of it before. ] That's how strong you are... you just haven't realized it yourself. And if you don't believe it, then... there will be those that will help you open your eyes.
[ A pause, then, and she appears to have come up with some sort of idea. ] ...System. [ She calls out again, hoping that it might listen as well, but her eyes do not leave his. ] I have one more request, before we continue. [ She doesn't wait for its acknowledgement. ]
Show me, Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu of Qing Jing Peak,.... [ Her firm tone then melts into something softer. ] ...my family. [ If he has actual blood-relatives as an immortal, she doesn't know. But she means it more in the symbolic sense; he had referred to the others on the mountain as sect brothers and sisters, those who are within his same generation. ] Show me every single person who cares for me. [ No doubt his disciples, no doubt many people here in Chroma, herself included... and if the tears and anguish in Luo Binghe's eyes, the way he held onto her as they fell into the Abyss was any indication at all-- he must be there, too.
But she doesn't stop there. ]
Show me every single person who wishes me to live. [ In some twisted sense, she's sure that the older Luo Binghe will be among these people, too... But she also wonders if the System will manifest a phantom of Shen Qingqiu himself as well among them, revealing his own desire to live. Either way-- ]
Show me who will fight alongside me so that that I will live, if I do not have the strength. Show me those who wish for me to be happy. Show me the ones who forgive me and still accept me even though I have done wrong.
Show me all of those who would help me rewrite the future.
[ His head feels heavy but he's able to lift it, able to look up to see her face. He feels his lips press together into a thin line because he has to also see her so close to tears once more, because of him.
No, that is a selfish way of viewing it -- it's because her heart is filled with so much love for the world, for every world, that she cannot help but give a little to his own misery. Her heart is moved by those in pain, and he can't deny that he is in pain. Her tears are filled with goodwill, and upset for those who cannot hope to see such mercy and grace in their own futures.
He breathes in as she asks the System to show her -- nothing. His hand reach out, his chest feeling more and more like it is constricting, as he takes her hands in his own. ]
It's me. I'm the System.
[ Perhaps, she knew that. Perhaps, she knew that and wanted to tell him that how he saw himself; how he understood his own actions were wrong. His eyes close, feeling something shudder violently inside. Like it is about ready to break. ]
The way to escape my heart is to name me a villain, Pyra. That is the only way to leave. [ What else could it be? Didn't it say it so clearly? Every piece of it showing what scum that he is -- he would choose his life over the life of someone that relied upon him; he would choose his life over the lives of his sect brothers and sisters. ]
You're right that someone like me does not need a sword that can alter his destiny. The destiny of someone who steps on others is ... it's one that will be shaped by good people who can stop them. [ A soft smile, warm and forgiving. ] So... you have to stop me.
[ She watches as her one hand is taken into his, and oh how she wishes she had her other to hold onto his as well. Her gaze travels up his arm and then to his face once more, seeing his forgiving smile... and she can't help but think it's the most terrifying look she's ever seen on him. How can he accept his fate like this?
There is another way... there is always another way. There is always hope. Does she really have to actually tell him this? She doesn't think so, because she's certain that he would be able to tell the same to someone else if they were is despair. He would say that same thing to her, if she revealed everything about herself to him. So why-- ]
No--
[ Pyra's shoulders shudder as she looks down. ] I-- I refuse...! [ Ah, there are tears falling from her cheeks and onto his hands that hold her one. ] I refuse to name you as the villain-- to kill you.
[ She refuses to name him as the villain, she refuses to call him anything she doesn't see as unjustified or undeserving. This heart has shown her a couple of different things, how he will push his disciple into the Abyss, then later suffer at the hands of Luo Binghe, and how apparently he had lied about doing so and deceived many people. But she knows him-- or believes she does-- and all she sees of the man before her is defeat and regret. ] Is that what you see yourself as? Evil? [ A derisive breath is choked out between a sob. ]
The System--... you... you've never shown me anything here that makes you come off as vile, much less unrepentant. [ If anything he's been nothing but remorseful! ] You've never made it seem as if you're taking pleasure from committing something heinous. You aren't laughing as the world burns. [ She bites her bottom lip, then whispering, ] You aren't... you aren't destroying it.
[ But even for them, she never believes that they deserve death. Because she has seen them, known them, and still... And still she would try to find a way to see that they would live.
She raises her gaze, tearful, to meet his. If she had her other hand, it would go to his cheek again. If she had her other hand, it would probably also go to the top of his head to pat it. If she had her other hand, it would move to be about his shoulders, so that she could pull him into a hug, to pat him on his back.
He belongs here, too, in this world. He belongs here happy and healthy and safe. ]
How could I say you are evil... when you are one of those many reasons why I love this world?
[ His resolve keeps him steadfast; he doesn't share in her tears this time. He can't. The minute that he starts crying, he knows that he has lost in some way. Instead, he stares at her with a composed, even stare. A villain can only look at the leading lady's tears and not even offer a sympathetic sniffle, after all.
Shen Qingqiu makes the same small joke to himself as he did in the castle, before he lifts his hands to wipe away her tears. Because she can't do so herself. It isn't necessarily what he meant to ruin her arm and cause sensation to leave her other; he had wanted to stop her from choosing the wrong choices and reaching out. He didn't realize that his heart would translate that order into what it did, but well, it's the heart of scum.
Really, why was he surprised? ]
Aren't I destroying it? [ This is the big confession of the villain; he doesn't like the idea that he's being given the chance a redemption arc. ]
I am merely part of the world, aren't I? There isn't any reason to love me because I am in it. [ Pyra, don't use such backwards logic, okay? ] Consider me just background to the great many other things that make the world beautiful and worthwhile.
[ His shoulders drop. Maybe not even background to it. ] Didn't I show you my vile self? It is because of me that he will end up hurting so many people. That disciple of mine ... he really was an unloved child. Yet he held onto a single hope in his heart that someone could love him even as he was.
[ He breathes in, out. ] I took that hope and ground it down to dust. He's fallen into the Endless Abyss and there he'll decide to change. He'll decide to burn and ruin, because he was hurt ... is hurting. [ He shakes his head. ] But he'll find those that will love him, that will adore him. This teacher is only happy that he won't feel so unloved anymore.
[ Look, okay? Look. ] ... he should not have had to suffer in order to get there. [ Firmly: ] Please tell the System to kill the villain before you. You can't keep believing in someone ... in someone like Shen Qingqiu.
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ouch is one of the most intimate, romantic ways to be close to someone else. The Town knows this very well -- the Town wants everyone to be as close as possible.
no subject
Pyra has returned to the quiet, peaceful bamboo forest and the stone path. Her arms are empty, no longer holding the unfortunate thing that is left. The wind blows through the trees and it feels so warm, so bright. ]
〖 Welcome back!
Did you enjoy your journey to "your" future? Immortality is wonderful! Please continue your hard efforts. Though, there is very little that can be changed now! ( ･ὢ･ )
But looking to the future is nice! Very nice! It allows one to reflect on their past and present actions. Congratulations.
Unfortunately, no points were able to be gathered. We apologize for this inconvenience and reward 10 more points. Your current points are now 120!
We shall give you a few seconds to get used to the present and the weight of everything "you" have done! 〗
[ Once more cheerful hold music is played and will continue playing for, at least, a short while. ]
1/3
no subject
She's standing not in some dungeon, but back in the bamboo forest... Shen Qingqiu's body nowhere to be seen. Pyra gasps, looking around her at first as if she might have simply dropped him out of surprise or fright, but no--
That's right, it was just a "glimpse" of the future. So, so... there really could be more time? To prevent something like that from happening? ]
no subject
1/2
But it eventually fades away to hear voices. They seem to be carried by the wind. Yet each word turns the weather colder, so cold that she feels as though she is running through an ice storm.
But what words are they? Pyra's own. Telling him how kind he is, how generous, and how good a person that he seems to be.
A pop-up box appears in front of her but this time it doesn't seem like it is the System. ]
〖 Wrong. Wrong. It's all wrong. I did everything wrong. I wasn't able to do anything. I wasn't able to return anything. What I returned, what will be returned... 〗
[ The words hover for a little while before the screen breaks, fractures in the center, and vanishes. ]
no subject
〖 You've run very far from the start. Where are you going? The System is here to help and would like to assist you in what you are attempting to do. (≧∇≦)b 〗
no subject
Where is-- [ "Shen Qingqiu", is what she's about to say. But she's going to guess that this System or whatever it is is going to tell her that she is him, or as he is supposed to be.
So instead: ] ....Bring me to my disciple from before.
no subject
[ Does it understand?
The scene changes.
Indeed, within Shen Qingqiu's heart is all the wrongs that he has done to people rather than any of the good, he can only think of these things about himself -- and so the System brings her to his disciple.
Luo Binghe is not the adult she met but a teenager. His forehead is glowing bright red and he looks terrified of her as he stumbles back. The ground around them has splinted and fractured, underneath the broken earth is the Endless Abyss. ]
〖 Congratulations! We have found a place for you to gather points, too!
Luo Binghe is a half-demon. If he is not sent down to the Endless Abyss, punishments will be swift and without mercy.〗
[ It cheerfully repeats itself from the rules of before. ]
〖 What an easy win! The only choice before you is to betray your disciple and push him into the dark Abyss!
Your future has already been sealed. Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said three times. ｡^‿^｡〗
no subject
System or no system, she is not one to cause more harm, or at least try not to. And when someone looks as scared in front of her as Luo Binghe does-- even when just minutes ago she had seen the merciless way his older self treated Shen Qingqiu-- she can't help but want to reach out to him even if "punishment" is promised in return.
She doesn't know why the ground is cracking beneath their feet, who made it crack beneath their feet, or what it will take to get it to stop, but she knows that it looks dangerous enough.
Pyra reaches out to him, and if she can grab onto his hand, she'll pull him to her. ] --Hurry, we have to leave! It's dangerous here!
no subject
Warning sirens and the pop-up box appears with red font. ]
〖 Punishment complete. Loss of 60 points. There is only one option. There is only one option. There is only one. 〗
[ Luo Binghe turns pale at seeing the arm. He stands but the look of terror does not leave him. ]
Shizun, what happened?! [ He steps forward, panic obvious as he is not certain what he can do. ] Shizun, why did--?
〖 Please complete the task, or more punishment will be given. (◣_◢) 〗
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...It still hurts, of course. That's how she was built, and the moment it's cleaved off she staggers to the side, crying out. ]
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So she straightens. Straightens and smiles at him. ]
C--c'mon--....Luo Binghe, [ She says between pained, short breaths. ] It's dangerous here. [ She repeats, forcing herself take a step towards him. ] And... I don't want to see you hurt.
[ She won't give up! ]
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Is this because of me?
[ The ground quakes beneath their feet and it seems -- the earth gives way as he falls but still holds onto her hand. Of course, he would.
More cheerful chimes beep. This time, it does not cleave her arm off, but rather has her start to lose sensation in her hand. So that the grip holding onto Luo Binghe's hand is weakening slowly, slowly. ]
〖 Punishment complete. There is only one option. 〗
[ Because this is his heart and the phantoms of everything does not want "him" to succeed. He's a villain. He's evil. He couldn't do anything but save himself instead of save someone he cared about, isn't that right? It's very right.
It is all set up for him to fail. For her to fail. And perhaps, this truth is slowly becoming more obvious. ]
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"There is only one option."
Shut up. ╭∩╮（＾ｖ＾）
That is a literal slap of her her (numb) hand flying through the prompt that appears before her, courtesy of Mythra, dismissing the very idea of this future herself as if it is a malleable thing to tamper with, a tool, a toy, her blade like a weaver's edge, a tantalizing taste of the "to be" in any tenaciously stated sentence, tempering with the pursuit of a truth that one might find in the terrible future.
--But they are only words, the loom remains lonely and lacking; they are only dismissive words directed towards some system she doesn't know is an actual program she might interfere or reset herself, not actual coding. Instead they are words meant for him, for Shen Qingqiu, or-- rather, whoever is posing as Shen Qingqiu in this moment-- as the System has suggested--, whether that be herself or the man she has met thus far. Either way, she rejects it outright despite the implied consequences: a hard 0 in the face of affirmative 1s.
Regardless if her words reach him, there is one thing she wishes to show him, or try to; one thing that she knows might help him, something she has learned to cherish and grow through her own interactions with others here: hope. A very strong hope that cannot be found in her own world, but through the bonds and inspiration founded and raised by meeting with those of different worlds and their unimaginable, incredible, uncanny circumstances. She knows they have not known each other long, so perhaps it is to drastic to suggest to Shen Qingqiu that he might change the future, or his past, or whatever it is he needs to change to ensure his future happiness outright.....
But for now, a compromise can be made against his belief that his future is set-- ]
--Luo Binghe...! [ She wills every nerve, every fiber of her her muscles that still remains directly below the superficial skin of her body's facade to contract, to throw for, to reach for the disciple before her who still stares at her in a complex amalgam of fear and despair and-- and the nascent budding of hate-- to take a hold of him and bring him to her, to grasp him and pull him to her, to embrace him and tuck his head into her shoulder. This poor young man-- no, this poor, poor child, so young, so innocent, so vulnerable, believing in a master that he has loved and trusted up into this point.... ] ...It will be alright.
[ She closes her eyes as the ground erupts around them in a fury.
Her compromise is thus: to not push him only into the Eternal Abyss, but to fall with him. Perhaps it's better this way, so that they might be together. Or perhaps not. She doesn't actually know, she doesn't have the full story; but she wants to believe, and she wants to bring that hope she has learned from others from across the worlds here to Shen Qingqiu. It exists, she wants him to see that it does, that it-- ]
It will be alright.... [ She tells him again, softly.
And then, finally, more surely than before: ]
It will be.
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[ The confusion appears on the box! Also, equally surprised to see such a rude emoji chosen. All words on the boxes stop as soon as she begins to fall with him, to hold him close as they fall.
Around them, yes, the earth erupts and darkness surrounds them as they descend. Yet in that darkness, multiple pop-up boxes suddenly come to surround her -- blaring obnoxious alarms all the while. ]
〖 What about your other disciples? What about the Peak? What about the other Peak Lords? 〗
[ Indeed, the System does not like this loophole and is attempting to have her regret her decision by pointing out the mistake of it out. But it seems to understand the futility of attempting to have her feel guilt. Not when Luo Binghe holds close to her, not when he cries on her and his shoulders shudder, not when he is able to feel a little bit of hope.
Softly, with tears upsetting his words, he whispers: ]
Shizun didn't want to do it.
[ She does not crash into the ground. She does not reach the Endless Abyss with Luo Binghe either. Not really, anyway. Merely, she was falling head first into black nothing, but now she is standing on unseen ground surrounded by black nothing. ]
〖 Hidden scenario open. You have located where Shen Qingqiu is. Congratulations. 〗
[ Rather than fanfare and bright chimes, somehow the text and the voice -- though computerized and without emotion -- sound very upset. ]
〖 Shen Qingqiu is unrepentant, lying, manipulative, two-faced and scum. 〗
[ There is an explosion of more pop-up boxes to fill the black nothingness that just have the word "SCUM" on it. ]
〖 The only option is to kill him. Sally forth and kill the villain so others may have a happy ending! 〗
[ A bright chime as the "scum" pop-ups disappear. ]
〖 He did not choose what you chose. He did not make any grand decisions. He only ever hurt everyone around him and lied about it while smiling ELEGANTLY at the pain of others. He is irredeemable.
Sally forth and kill the villain. Or else, others will end up suffering. 〗
[ The pop-up fades and it is as the System told her, Shen Qingqiu is here. He walks through the darkness to stand before her. An unseen light illuminating them both. He looks far more tired than he ever has when he is before her. His smile is self-deprecating before he kneels in front of her. ]
You got hurt because of me. [ So he says as he looks to her arm. What the fuck? He supposes that explains how she was able to recover so quickly in the castle, but he isn't able to say much after that.
A soft ping. ]
〖 Due to your punishments, the System will help you. The villain will die on your command. (•‿•) 〗
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So what does Pyra do but continue to hold onto Luo Binghe as closely as she can despite-- or rather, because of the System's protests to abandon him.
It doesn't matter if who she's holding onto is a virtual stranger; this young man is weeping in her arms, frightened about how his world must have been completely upended in the span of minutes. She can sympathize with him, of having the sureness and stability of being among those one cares about, only to have everything go up in flames and lose it all the next second. She wants to be there for him-- and, she hopes, by being there for Luo Binghe in this critical, tumultuous moment also means that she is proving she can be there for Shen Qingqiu as well. ]
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Pyra only is able to draw half a breath to regain her bearings, looking down at her empty hand where she had once been holding onto a scared young half-demon in hollow shock. Yet another prompt appears to her again. Grasping onto her injured arm, she frowns as more begin to manifest adding one set of insults after the other, all repeating one word in the end: scum, scum, scum... ]
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This is much, much worse than seeing only his torso hanging within that dungeon. Pyra's brow knits as she brings her remaining hand to cover her mouth as a gasp escapes her when he kneels. Her fingers remain there, also covering her bottom lip as it trembles. ] Shen Qingqiu....
[ The system is calling him a liar, an unrepentant and manipulative man, a two-faced and irredeemable villain; scum, scum, scum repeated like a holy mantra attempting to dispel the evil that is present. But she cannot reconcile those descriptions with the one she sees before her. Kneeling before her, as if he's already given up, awaiting her judgement-- like it is her right to give.
And then:
The villain will die on your command. (•‿•) ]
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[ Absolutely not.
There are a couple different things she can do right now, she believes. She could try to take him herself and carry him to-- somewhere, she doesn't know, but anywhere but here, even if all that surrounds them is a void. She could try to pat him upon the head to reassure him. She could call him a fool for believing anything that this System is saying. She could call him weak for succumbing to it.
Instead, she drops to her knees to be on his level before she simply throws her one remaining arm over his shoulder to bring him to her. This embrace is tighter than how she had held Luo Binghe; this one is much more desperate, as if he might vanish at any point. ] --No.
[ She repeats again, this time more firmly despite the shuddering breath that accompanies it. ] What... What did I say before? [ She manages to whisper as she holds him, forcing a little bit of a smile. She won't be letting go, not yet, because frankly put the man looks as if he's in need of a hug-- that he has been in need of one for a very, very long time. ]
This expression doesn't suit you.
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[ Even as he says so, his voice is soft and breaking. He does not fight against the hug; his shoulders drop as his exhaustion seems to all but radiate off of him now. Not like it was not before. He blinks, and feels like he may start crying, but he tells himself it is because she's crying for him. ]
You don't understand. [ How can you still see me as a saint? Really? Is your brain filled with water? There is little venom in his thoughts. There is little fight left in him to have any anger about misunderstandings. ] Luo Binghe suffered even before he came to me. Everything has been constantly unfair for him. He was always brought to ruin by everyone around him.
Yet he finally had a master that was kind to him. He finally had a chance to believe that the world would not be so heartless and thoughtless to him and his suffering ... to the suffering of others. [ Indeed, no matter what his disciple held onto his optimism and hope that as soon as he became a high-grade cultivator that he could save others. He breathes out, sounding ruined in such a breath. ]
I betrayed his trust and that hope in the world. Don't you understand? [ He implores her to see the truth of everything. ] Whatever sins that he does... they are my sins. Whatever he does now, it is my own fault. If I was going to be cruel at the end, if I was going to cast him away, I should have just cast him away from the start.
[ He repeats what the older Binghe said. Yes, if he was just going to be cruel, he should have never been kind. ]
And more than that... acting friendly with everyone... saying I will return color... all those things... when I have caused only trouble for everyone around me! You can't just remain blind to these things forever. You'll only end up hurt. [ His gaze shifts to her arm. ]
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[ Her hand falls from his cheek, fingers curling back towards her, withdrawing her touch, her warmth from him as she looks over him, distraught... but not undetermined. Perhaps it's not a matter of trying to convince him that he is deserving of life and living and all the potential happiness that comes with the opportunity, perhaps whatever she says here will be dismissed by him in return, or blocked by yet another pop-up screen. But perhaps....
She draws a breath.
In the future, there will be only one who would ever dare say to her you can't rewrite the act now, it's too late. ] I think... I understand now. [ And indeed she would prove them wrong. ]
Remember when I told you about that sword? [ The sword that can predict and change the future. A pause, a soft smile, and then her hand goes to the side of his face again, cupping him gently and turning his head upward so that he might look at her. Her eyes are misted over, but they are filled and shining with as much hope as there are tears. She wants him to listen. ] Someone like you... doesn't need such a thing.
[ It won't be by her power, no. He doesn't need to have some sort of extraordinary, reality warping ability, he doesn't need a god's divine artifact, he-- ] That power to change your destiny... it's been here the entire time. [ How silly she had been to tell him of it before. ] That's how strong you are... you just haven't realized it yourself. And if you don't believe it, then... there will be those that will help you open your eyes.
[ A pause, then, and she appears to have come up with some sort of idea. ] ...System. [ She calls out again, hoping that it might listen as well, but her eyes do not leave his. ] I have one more request, before we continue. [ She doesn't wait for its acknowledgement. ]
Show me, Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu of Qing Jing Peak,.... [ Her firm tone then melts into something softer. ] ...my family. [ If he has actual blood-relatives as an immortal, she doesn't know. But she means it more in the symbolic sense; he had referred to the others on the mountain as sect brothers and sisters, those who are within his same generation. ] Show me every single person who cares for me. [ No doubt his disciples, no doubt many people here in Chroma, herself included... and if the tears and anguish in Luo Binghe's eyes, the way he held onto her as they fell into the Abyss was any indication at all-- he must be there, too.
But she doesn't stop there. ]
Show me every single person who wishes me to live. [ In some twisted sense, she's sure that the older Luo Binghe will be among these people, too... But she also wonders if the System will manifest a phantom of Shen Qingqiu himself as well among them, revealing his own desire to live. Either way-- ]
Show me who will fight alongside me so that that I will live, if I do not have the strength. Show me those who wish for me to be happy. Show me the ones who forgive me and still accept me even though I have done wrong.
Show me all of those who would help me rewrite the future.
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[ His head feels heavy but he's able to lift it, able to look up to see her face. He feels his lips press together into a thin line because he has to also see her so close to tears once more, because of him.
No, that is a selfish way of viewing it -- it's because her heart is filled with so much love for the world, for every world, that she cannot help but give a little to his own misery. Her heart is moved by those in pain, and he can't deny that he is in pain. Her tears are filled with goodwill, and upset for those who cannot hope to see such mercy and grace in their own futures.
He breathes in as she asks the System to show her -- nothing. His hand reach out, his chest feeling more and more like it is constricting, as he takes her hands in his own. ]
It's me. I'm the System.
[ Perhaps, she knew that. Perhaps, she knew that and wanted to tell him that how he saw himself; how he understood his own actions were wrong. His eyes close, feeling something shudder violently inside. Like it is about ready to break. ]
The way to escape my heart is to name me a villain, Pyra. That is the only way to leave.
[ What else could it be? Didn't it say it so clearly? Every piece of it showing what scum that he is -- he would choose his life over the life of someone that relied upon him; he would choose his life over the lives of his sect brothers and sisters. ]
You're right that someone like me does not need a sword that can alter his destiny. The destiny of someone who steps on others is ... it's one that will be shaped by good people who can stop them. [ A soft smile, warm and forgiving. ] So... you have to stop me.
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There is another way... there is always another way. There is always hope. Does she really have to actually tell him this? She doesn't think so, because she's certain that he would be able to tell the same to someone else if they were is despair. He would say that same thing to her, if she revealed everything about herself to him. So why-- ]
No--
[ Pyra's shoulders shudder as she looks down. ] I-- I refuse...! [ Ah, there are tears falling from her cheeks and onto his hands that hold her one. ] I refuse to name you as the villain-- to kill you.
[ She refuses to name him as the villain, she refuses to call him anything she doesn't see as unjustified or undeserving. This heart has shown her a couple of different things, how he will push his disciple into the Abyss, then later suffer at the hands of Luo Binghe, and how apparently he had lied about doing so and deceived many people. But she knows him-- or believes she does-- and all she sees of the man before her is defeat and regret. ] Is that what you see yourself as? Evil? [ A derisive breath is choked out between a sob. ]
The System--... you... you've never shown me anything here that makes you come off as vile, much less unrepentant. [ If anything he's been nothing but remorseful! ] You've never made it seem as if you're taking pleasure from committing something heinous. You aren't laughing as the world burns. [ She bites her bottom lip, then whispering, ] You aren't... you aren't destroying it.
[ Not how she has ruined parts of it. ]
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She raises her gaze, tearful, to meet his. If she had her other hand, it would go to his cheek again. If she had her other hand, it would probably also go to the top of his head to pat it. If she had her other hand, it would move to be about his shoulders, so that she could pull him into a hug, to pat him on his back.
He belongs here, too, in this world. He belongs here happy and healthy and safe. ]
How could I say you are evil... when you are one of those many reasons why I love this world?
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Shen Qingqiu makes the same small joke to himself as he did in the castle, before he lifts his hands to wipe away her tears. Because she can't do so herself. It isn't necessarily what he meant to ruin her arm and cause sensation to leave her other; he had wanted to stop her from choosing the wrong choices and reaching out. He didn't realize that his heart would translate that order into what it did, but well, it's the heart of scum.
Really, why was he surprised? ]
Aren't I destroying it? [ This is the big confession of the villain; he doesn't like the idea that he's being given the chance a redemption arc. ]
I am merely part of the world, aren't I? There isn't any reason to love me because I am in it. [ Pyra, don't use such backwards logic, okay? ] Consider me just background to the great many other things that make the world beautiful and worthwhile.
[ His shoulders drop. Maybe not even background to it. ] Didn't I show you my vile self? It is because of me that he will end up hurting so many people. That disciple of mine ... he really was an unloved child. Yet he held onto a single hope in his heart that someone could love him even as he was.
[ He breathes in, out. ] I took that hope and ground it down to dust. He's fallen into the Endless Abyss and there he'll decide to change. He'll decide to burn and ruin, because he was hurt ... is hurting. [ He shakes his head. ] But he'll find those that will love him, that will adore him. This teacher is only happy that he won't feel so unloved anymore.
[ Look, okay? Look. ] ... he should not have had to suffer in order to get there. [ Firmly: ] Please tell the System to kill the villain before you. You can't keep believing in someone ... in someone like Shen Qingqiu.
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