[you'd think by now she would have just started holing herself up in her cabin to avoid broadcasting her spoilery memories everywhere, but no... a girl's gotta eat, and frankly, there's still so much they don't know about this camp that they really can't afford to spend time hiding away.
so here she is, and her paths cross with nie huaisang at some point during the day.]
Oh, hello, Sect Leader Nie—
[she doesn't get much further than that before they're both mugged by his memory, though.]
[he starts to greet her with a little smile, but- yeah, then they both get mugged by his memory! cool! he loves it. (he does not.) nie huaisang goes still, eyes widening slightly at the familiar sensation, before they're both pulled in, and the perspective shifts.]
[everything has been coming to a head, lately. the chief cultivator, jin guangyao, has finally (through your own efforts) been pinned as your brother's murderer. the pieces of his body have all been located and rejoined, save for the most important one-- you've been entrusted with the care of your brother's headless body, kept sealed to contain the resentful energy driving it mindlessly toward revenge.
you can understand the feeling. maybe you're a little jealous of how easy it must be to think of nothing else.
but the thing is, they don't know about you, not really. they expect you to sit and wait where it's safe. to watch over him. they don't understand how much you know, and they don't understand how far you're willing to go for your brother's sake. they-- and most importantly, jin guangyao-- would never believe you had the capability to find out where that head had been hidden, to take it for yourself.
and you know exactly where to send your brother, once your work is finished... once you're done sewing his head back into place on his neck, stitch by painstaking stitch, no matter if your thumb is pricked or your eyes sting and blur, if your cheeks are wet, no matter how sickening the thrum of resentful energy around him might be.
guangyao took him apart. you will finish putting him back together, and you will give him exactly what both of you desire most.
you'll take your vengeance, satisfy his desire to kill his murderer, and then perhaps both of you will find some semblance of peace, if peace exists for you at all anymore.
there's a saying, you consider as you work. "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
you think that the man who murdered your brother has been sorely mistaken about which of those creatures he is.]
[--and then it's over, as suddenly as it came on. huaisang stumbles back, his eyes stinging slightly, a hand pressed to his chest as he sucks in a breath... but he has no idea what to say. his tongue can't work quite fast enough to spin an answer so immediately after seeing that again, and he's left at a loss, watching her uncertainly.]
unexpected. definitely unexpected. flayn knows by now that there is always more to people than what you see on the surface, but this—? she had never for a moment thought that one of nie huaisang's memories would have been quite so...
intense isn't exactly the right word, but it's the closest she can manage.
as the memory fades out, and they find themselves back at the camp, she takes a step toward him as he stumbles back. her hand reaches out as if to steady him, but she hesitates - the expression on his face seems uncertain. would her hand be unwelcome...?]
[he's- not sure he wants to take it. huaisang looks at her hand uncertainly, and settles for folding his arms, just sort of clinging to himself instead.]
Miss Flayn-- I...
[he shakes his head slightly. what does he even say after she's seen that? the way she reaches out rather than recoiling says something, he thinks, but it's still... hard for him to trust too much in the wake of something like this.]
I'm sorry. That must be- unpleasant to see, unexpectedly.
[—but would being lonely be the better alternative, this week? Flayn doesn't have the chance to think about it much, because before she can even finish her sentence, they're pulled into another memory - and this time, it's her own.
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fishingforcompliments) wrote2020-06-26 04:33 pm
w3, monday
so here she is, and her paths cross with nie huaisang at some point during the day.]
Oh, hello, Sect Leader Nie—
[she doesn't get much further than that before they're both mugged by his memory, though.]
no subject
[he starts to greet her with a little smile, but- yeah, then they both get mugged by his memory! cool! he loves it. (he does not.) nie huaisang goes still, eyes widening slightly at the familiar sensation, before they're both pulled in, and the perspective shifts.]
[everything has been coming to a head, lately. the chief cultivator, jin guangyao, has finally (through your own efforts) been pinned as your brother's murderer. the pieces of his body have all been located and rejoined, save for the most important one-- you've been entrusted with the care of your brother's headless body, kept sealed to contain the resentful energy driving it mindlessly toward revenge.
you can understand the feeling. maybe you're a little jealous of how easy it must be to think of nothing else.
but the thing is, they don't know about you, not really. they expect you to sit and wait where it's safe. to watch over him. they don't understand how much you know, and they don't understand how far you're willing to go for your brother's sake. they-- and most importantly, jin guangyao-- would never believe you had the capability to find out where that head had been hidden, to take it for yourself.
and you know exactly where to send your brother, once your work is finished... once you're done sewing his head back into place on his neck, stitch by painstaking stitch, no matter if your thumb is pricked or your eyes sting and blur, if your cheeks are wet, no matter how sickening the thrum of resentful energy around him might be.
guangyao took him apart. you will finish putting him back together, and you will give him exactly what both of you desire most.
you'll take your vengeance, satisfy his desire to kill his murderer, and then perhaps both of you will find some semblance of peace, if peace exists for you at all anymore.
there's a saying, you consider as you work. "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
you think that the man who murdered your brother has been sorely mistaken about which of those creatures he is.]
[--and then it's over, as suddenly as it came on. huaisang stumbles back, his eyes stinging slightly, a hand pressed to his chest as he sucks in a breath... but he has no idea what to say. his tongue can't work quite fast enough to spin an answer so immediately after seeing that again, and he's left at a loss, watching her uncertainly.]
no subject
unexpected. definitely unexpected. flayn knows by now that there is always more to people than what you see on the surface, but this—? she had never for a moment thought that one of nie huaisang's memories would have been quite so...
intense isn't exactly the right word, but it's the closest she can manage.
as the memory fades out, and they find themselves back at the camp, she takes a step toward him as he stumbles back. her hand reaches out as if to steady him, but she hesitates - the expression on his face seems uncertain. would her hand be unwelcome...?]
...Sect Leader Nie...?
no subject
Miss Flayn-- I...
[he shakes his head slightly. what does he even say after she's seen that? the way she reaches out rather than recoiling says something, he thinks, but it's still... hard for him to trust too much in the wake of something like this.]
I'm sorry. That must be- unpleasant to see, unexpectedly.
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...it cannot be any more unpleasant than having it shared against your will, just as unexpectedly.
[...]
For a place with such an emphasis on secrets, something truly seems to be fond of baring all of ours, does it not?
no subject
[he frowns at the sky, like he can just. give the residuals themselves a Look, if he tries hard enough.]
no subject
[if it is a residual effect, it's not from there, at least - though that doesn't really help them much]
It is quite the invasion of our privacy. I wish there was some way to stop it from happening.
no subject
[he's much happier going on about this than discussing... anything in that memory, haha. it's fine. he's fine.]
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[—but would being lonely be the better alternative, this week? Flayn doesn't have the chance to think about it much, because before she can even finish her sentence, they're pulled into another memory - and this time, it's her own.
the end of a battle, on a coast - and then the conversation afterwards.
(pretend it's fem byleth though this was just the first video of the scene i found and i'm tired)]
no subject
there's something a little melancholy in his expression, even as he manages a small smile after seeing that.]
Family, is it? The two of you seem quite close.
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[ah. well. she can't really expect him not to comment on what he's seen.]
Ah.. yes. We are.
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but if they're both dealing with this...
nie huaisang sighs, apparently deciding he may as well.]
It's good that you're both able to visit her, at least. That you remember her. I was too young for that, myself.
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[even being too young to remember - it hurts, to not have that person there as you are growing up.]
no subject
[it's different. but it's not lesser, he thinks-- there's absence, but maybe that absence makes other bonds stronger.]
I'm sorry that you know it, as well.
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[...]
If no one did.
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[there's a certain resignation, in that. he's seen enough of it.]
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[unfortunately.]
It is impossible to change the past. One can only move forward and work for a better future.