prismaticrap | ▶ TDM .011

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ There and Back Again
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

A Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

B As a Remooning gift from the Lunar Scientia Headquarters, the dedicated team from the Amphoria Room has released their latest perfected technology: Amphoria Pods. These VR Pods, which can fit up to four people at a time, have been set up in the gaming hub within Level 1’s PrismaPlace. They allow users to upload sceneries of their world in order to create a realistic holographic landscape of their homes that others can access and play around with, granting everyone the means to relive past memories with their loved ones as well as interact with the bestiary of other worlds. The pods also use the same technology that enhanced the popular virtual game, League Match Action Online (LmaO), which means you’re liable to feel the chill of cold environments, the burning heat from boiling water, the hard slap of your ex-lover, or the biting sting of a stray wasp. All who use the Amphoria Pods for the first time this year will also receive a small amount of Chroma in case things get too real.

▶ God Save Us from the Queen
Level 1, PrismaPlace and Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

The first month of the year is packed with two of the most important winter events this season: Queen Elara’s birthday and the League Match Action Online (LmaO) PVP semi-finals. It just so happens that the Queen of Lunatia is also a huge LmaO fan. Coincidence? Definitely not! LmaO players and royal family fans alike can meet her at PrismaPlace, where she will be appearing in cosplay of her favorite hero, Ah-Kari, while holding a body pillow of Commander GareBear. You, too, can get an autograph or selfie with the birthday girl if you’re willing to fall in line! Her bodyguards will also be in LmaO cosplay, keeping the crowd under control during the long wait.

Queen Elara

Good day to you all! This may come as a surprise to our guests the Moonblessed, but I am a normal person despite my exalted position. Please do not think of me today as Queen Elara. Instead... my name is Ah-Kari, sorceress of the crystal! With my soul fan blades, through the darkness, I shall slice all who dare hurt my commander in twain!

But when she is not meeting and greeting...

Queen Elara

My comrades, we're going to make history today. We're going for a new record. Perhaps the highest kill counts or the fastest clear for this map — it matters not. We’ve practiced day and night for this tournament, so let us show everyone that we’re not to be taken lightly! Also, the livestream is going in the royal archive, so make your successors proud!!

... she will be furiously grinding her character and training her skills in LmaO in the hopes of qualifying for the finals. Spectators will see her bring her own team full of hapless palace attendants who are there to either serve as her practice match partners or provide support to the one-woman army that is Queen Elara.

PrismaPlace is packed with giant crowds, many of them also in cosplay. While the semi-finals are taking place, new and old LmaO players alike can participate in the game’s current campaign: players who form teams get an improved chance of spawning unique monsters as well as winning rare items and skins in those prized lootboxes! Teams can also try to clear the event’s story together, featuring an aerial battle fought on griffin-back, which is heavily inspired by the popular Lunatian epic, The Battle of Abraxas, a colorful and complex story about the conflict between two families fighting over the fictional land of griffins, Abraxas.

A Progression in the event requires acquiring a griffin mount and getting it ready for battle. You can lure a wild one to yourself with a special veggie pie on a fishing pole. Should the griffin reject the lure, your character will be caught in a wind gaol and can only break out with the help of other players. Should you succeed, raising the griffin is a tedious task that involves players training alongside their respective griffins, running laps with them, taking them to hunt monsters, and feeding them properly. Depending on their diet, the food you give them will affect the color of its plumage and their battle stats.

Or you can skip the hard work and simply moonlace with your teammates through all the progression bars and required materials to save time. Once finished, you’ll be able to battle one another through the thunderous aerial domain of Abraxas. Clearing the event will net you an event-exclusive skin inspired by the royal family’s shining celestial robes and a weapon skin of a body pillow with your favorite character, so do your best!

B In celebration of Queen Elara’s birthday, the office of the royal household is hosting a modest tea party in the Greatmoon Groves. Swiffy bots that are normally programmed to remind visitors to keep the groves clean are now playing a birthday jingle on repeat. For people who prefer to be away from the blinding neon lights and the thumping techno music of PrismaPlace, this is the ideal escape. Unlimited tea and cookies are being served!

The tea is a soft-colored lilac concoction made from Ehrysian tea leaves that are known to cause a huge spike of alertness and is popular to Moon Knights and office workers with long night shifts as well as gamers for those all-night grinding sessions. The assorted cookies have either Ah-Kari or Commander GareBear printed on them. In case it isn't obvious yet, both are the birthday girl’s favorite LmaO characters.

Any Moonblessed looking for extra income is welcome to be royal attendants for the day; the hours are paid by Demichroma. They must be properly dressed up as maids or butlers (outfits provided by the royal household) as they serve tables.

▶ Say Cheese
Level 3, Caihong | top

Meanwhile, Caihong is in the midst of Remooning festivities in celebration of the new year, and merriment usually lasts a fortnight, filled with fireworks in the sky. Upon entering the district, beautiful Prismals with rat ears and tails greet you with a Happy Remooning and eagerly tug you along to join in.

Those welcomed will receive a pack of multi-colored sparklers, mooncakes topped with cheese, and a glowing drink called Champagne Supernova, poured in a thin glass in your hand. If you are over eighteen, the rat Prismals will ask if you prefer your drink with a kick. If you say yes, then they will add flavorful ice that causes extreme intoxication and might leave you to be susceptible to all levels of suggestion. Saying no (or if you’re under 18) will simply leave it as a sweet drink.

A One of the party games being played by the locals is called Lucky Tail, which is basically pinning the tail on the holographic rat stand-in — with a twist, it must be played with a partner! Another participant will blindfold you, spin you around, then push you forward. The stand-in is located at the end of unsteady elevated platforms forming a maze, filled to the brim with distracting objects underneath. They’re long, they’re thick, and they’re vibrating furiously in an attempt to knock you off the platforms.

Your partner must guide you by voice to successfully navigate through the maze! The game is rigged with various mechanisms, so stepping on specific platforms will activate a number of traps against you or your partner: machines that may tickle, drop colorful slime, or cause the platform to repetitively spin, and who knows what else?

Should you manage to get through the obstacle course and pin the tail successfully, you and your partner will win copious amounts of Demichroma, courtesy of Buwan from Buwan’s Stop.

B Another attraction is a fun magic glamour booth known for its face or body swap features. The booth staff, clad in their festive rat paraphernalia, will encourage you and your friends to take aesthetic shots using an illusion generator. The effects last an hour. Photographed images can be instantly uploaded and shared in Prismagram. New year, new you! Why not take the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion in a unique fashion? It’s all in good humor.

There are two buttons to press: (A) CUSTOM or (B) RANDOM. Pressing A will allow participants to customize their desired effects. Pressing B will cause the illusion magic to randomly rearrange participants in questionable positions, new outfits (or lack thereof), and you may even come out of the booth looking like your best friend or your worst rival. The possibilities are endless!

▶ Questions
If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!
▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why?

[ Her surprise registers as an accusation, stinging sharply where it strikes. What he returns is open puzzlement, unguarded and plain. There is none of his later anger, his resentment, only a pale echo of the long shadows which will someday eclipse all the light he has within.

He thinks to their last meeting, but then thinks to all that's yet to unfold. A rejection, or worse? He doesn't know what to begin to say. ]

...have I wronged you in some way, Lady Wen...?

What?

( and puzzlement meets puzzlement, as sincerely as she's able, squinted eyes slowly growing suspicious. the fact that wen qing is sister to the man who killed jiang cheng's brother-in-law will be no sooner forgotten than her burning alive for that sin. she knows the public blames her just as much for the death — she knows that jiang cheng should, too.

it would be better if he did, because at least the heat would be taken off wei wuxian. )

What are you saying — you forgot what A-Ning did? I should believe that?

[ Their mutual confusion only grows, Jiang Cheng going so far as to shake his head in incomprehension. ]

Your brother...? I apologize, but the last I heard of him you were searching for his whereabouts.

[ There's a troubled knit to his brow that deepens with each word, taking a half step forward and reaching out for her only to think better of it. Biting his lip, he ducks his head and withdraws. ]

Did something more happen? If I've done anything to offend you or dishonor your family, I, Jiang Wanyin, beg your forgiveness.

[ Stepping back to give her space, he offers her a low bow. ]

( for as confusing as it is, and for as initially insulted as wen qing was, it becomes obvious early on that jiang cheng is not playing some kind of game with her. not that she'd expect that much from him, but she's generally suspicious of anyone who plays dumber than they are. no, jiang cheng isn't lying. he just — hasn't experienced all the ways a bad situation can get worse.

she can't bare to hear him apologize — not for this. maybe if he wanted to take blame for the wen sect massacre, or wen qing's own death ... but he should apologize for any of it, really.

darting a hand out, wen qing holds his wrist as if to push his bow out of it's perfect form, lightly shaking her head. )

It's not you who should apologize. You understand? The one who should beg for forgiveness is me.

( it takes a second, lingering and slow, before she releases his wrist, gaze flickering from one of his eyes to the other. )

My family has wronged yours — or we will, soon enough. For that crime, we will pay an ultimate price. That's the last thing I can remember.

...your family has wronged mine, but— [ He's thinking of Lotus Pier, of the violence and civil unrest that has followed, and though he has no sympathy for the Wen blood being shed, he considers Wen Qing and by extension Wen Ning apart from that. ] You and your brother have only helped us. I don't remember... much of our time at Yiling, but I know I was unkind to you when you did not deserve it.

[ He pauses, eyebrows drawing together deeply, swallowing against a too-tight throat. ]

Were... were you harmed? I— ...I always hoped you would come to me.

Jiang Cheng —

( she drops that small measure of formality in accident, eyebrows loosely knitted as she pleads him to stop. it's too horrible to stay out loud, too fresh a wound to peel back any healing skin that's covering up the cruelties her brother had accidentally reaped on them. she can still feel the fire curving up her neck, the scent of burning flesh in the air.

she shuts her eyes, a sharp shake to her head. were you harmed?

not really. dying beside her brother was the best gift life had ever truly given her. )

Sect Leader, ( she amends after a second, taking a breath and reaching a hand gently out to him, to take his elbow. ) I'm here now. Will you walk with me?

Edited 2020-01-11 06:44 (UTC)

[ Jiang Cheng immediately brightens, still boyish and eager to please. The light touch to his elbow causes his shoulders to pull back, posture straightening as though in sudden reminder to look an act the part of a sect leader, his own sister's voice gently chiding him in the back of his mind. ]

Of course. [ He pauses, cheeks flushing, the cast of his gaze shy as he visibly forces himself to continue. ] I will only take my leave from your side if you ask me to.

We'll be together awhile, then.

( she says this while tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow, offering him the chance to lead them off. obviously she knows jiang cheng has a soft spot for her — and perhaps it's wicked to enable all this closeness while knowing what they're destined towards, but. selfishly, she keeps her mouth shut. isn't she allowed a few good memories, alongside all the bad?

while they walk she offers jiang cheng a bite of her mooncake, holding it up to his mouth. )

A month you've been here, you said. Are you adjusting well?

[ Jiang Cheng can't help the slight thrill her assertion that they'll be together for some time causes to rush through him, biting his lip because he knows better than to read too much into a young lady's words and yet...

Her touch is warm, and he can't help but imagine a lifetime ahead, walking just like this.

The offer of mooncake startles him as well, the surprise registering visibly on his face in equal measure to his delight. Is this not what young lovers do? Shyly, he takes a bite, nose scrunching as he chews and hopes he didn't look too stupid doing that just now. Then he swallows, hastily licking crumbs from his lips so he might answer her question. ]

It's been a challenge, but... It could be worse, honestly. I have a small lodging with Wei Wuxian. Perhaps you could find somewhere nearby, so you'll be close for us to help look after you...?

[ Because it is too presumptuous to ask a young lady to simply reside with two men of no familial relation, whatever the situation. But they might do well with the next best thing. ]

( she is distinctly less flustered by it, watching him eat contentedly before taking a bite of the mooncakes herself, straightening her gaze out and continuing on, as if nothing had ever happened. wen qing has never really cared about what their society dictates women should care about, but she can't deny the allure of going through her time here not alone. jiang cheng is a welcome, familiar presence, and she's fit to latch onto him.

a sly bit of amusement pokes out the corner of her eye, and she gives him a friendly nudge, just barely teasing. )

I don't need to be looked after.

( rather than be offended by the suggestion, she's just endeared to how inexplicably gentle jiang cheng is. )

But I'd like that. Maybe you'll show me the area, later.

I understand you are quite capable, Lady Wen, but it's our duty as gentlemen to offer our assistance all the same. Besides, it—

[ He flushes, giving her a much lighter nudge back, not worried that she's going to break or anything but simply... wishing to treat her well. Offer her the kindness that life has not, between the curse of her family name and the cruelties of war. He's quiet as he continues, a reverent hush to his voice. ]

—it's my genuine pleasure to help you any way I can. Without you, without your brother— I doubt I'd still have my life, never mind still have my family.

( she clutches him fractionally tighter, the tug on her emotions making her heart beat all the faster. gratitude is such a powerful device. wen qing, with the personality of a big sister, never really expects it, but — it goes a long way, softening her up. she and jiang cheng have never had much time when it's just the two of them, but the minutes feel like seconds, just moments in a grander scheme. )

Then, we'll look after each other. As we've always done.

( as they walk, there comes a small bridge overlooking a clear pond, where a pair of koi fish flirt and dance around each other. wen qing pauses at the railing, watching them swim. )

What if, ( she takes a breath, eyes stuck fast on the water. ) I rejected your advancements? Would you still look after me?

[ Jiang Cheng is so taken off guard by Wen Qing's soft assertion that he nearly pitches himself into the water, stumbling right into the railing where he was trying to join her with some measure of grace. Clutching the railing with a white-knuckled grip, he stares after her slack-jawed, making several false starts before he's even able to speak. ]

Lady Wen— I— I'm— [ He stops, swallows, and starts again, heart in a thousand razor edged shards there in his eyes. ]

I beg of you not to think so lowly of me that you would imagine my honor so thin or my motives so transparent. I— I know I've made my intentions clear, but I care for you regardless—

( she doesn't offer him a lifeline as he stumbles his way through it, because it's important to her to receive an honest answer. her gaze, which had focused on jiang cheng during the intensity of her interrogation, drifts back to the pond as he speaks, making eye contact with koi as she reasons her way through the next part.

at the end of it, she just holds her hand up, stopping him mid sentence, offering an affectionate look for however contentedly expressed jiang cheng has seen her before. )

It's not a rejection.

( she says, just to clear the air. it's a confirmation, before she goes any further with this, with him. she continues on. )

If my brother did something ... outrageous, how would you think of me then?

[ At her next words, Jiang Cheng's alarm is replaced by open confusion, both at her disclaimer that he's not being rejected—does that mean the opposite is true? that he is being the opposite of rejected? does that even make sense? what's happening—as well as... Wen Ning? ]

...what could your brother possibly do that would reflect poorly on you?

( a beat. and then, )

Murder. Accidental, but still a life taken.

( she takes a half a step closer to him, more intense than intimate — this overbearing presence that wen qing can sometimes have, despite her height. she lifts her chin up, staring down the eye of the barrel. )

You've forgiven me for many of my family's sins. Would you forgive another?

[ From his distant vantage point, Jiang Cheng struggles to imagine Wen Ning taking anyone's life, even by accident. As far as he knows, Wen Qing's brother is nothing more than a sickly, easily frightened child. So of course, if it was an accident—and surely it must have been—what is there to place blame for?

He turns to meet her, head lowering in instinctive deference, gaze flicking down. ]

Someone of consequence, or...?

Yes.

( comes an immediate response. she could bother to explain a bit more, but even the bigger nuances of the problem at hand are irrelevant to her — her brother is as much a part of her as an arm or a leg. his faults are her own, and family will always come first and foremost in her heart.

can she welcome jiang cheng into that specific group? time will tell. these answers are important. )

[ Pausing, Jiang Cheng feels a swell of anxiety as a question bubbles to the surface of his mind. The one thing he might not forgive, that would give Wen Qing reason to worry for his intentions, for their— for the future. ]

Lady Wen.

[ His voice is soft but grave, uncharacteristically somber for someone of his passion. ]

Was it my family?

( she can do little more than look at him for a moment, gaze flickering from one eye to the other. the heaviness of the moment doesn't escape her, but wen qing has lived life with weights far worse than this on her shoulders. or maybe she hasn't really — because the name gets stuck in her throat, jin zixuan, for all the name entails. his sister's husband, sect leader. in reality, wen qing doesn't know how she'd respond in his position, but ... hope is a damnable, painful thing that clutches her heart like a vice.

hope is useless.

she nods her head, once. )

[ His heart stutters, stops, goes cold in his chest. No. Who of Jiang sect could be left for this tragedy to play out? Apart from those who fell at Lotus Pier, there's only distant relations of their mother. His sister. Wei Wuxian, Someday, Jin Ling. But if Wei Wuxian killed Jin Ling's parents both, and Jiang Cheng slew Wei Wuxian, who is even left for Wen Ning to bring tragedy to?

He doesn't understand.

He's felt like he's had nothing since his parents died, since his home was desecrated, occupied by Wens. His very core taken and then reforged. He feels like he has nothing, but every vision of the future shows him with less still.

He sways, crashes to his knees. He chokes on his breath, the beginnings of a sob. ]

Lady Wen. [ Her name comes out a harsh whisper, a mourning cry. ]

Are you telling me we have no future because your family took everything else I had?

( she doesn't expect it, but as jiang cheng falls she goes down with him, strong hands bracing his shoulders to keep him from tumbling all the way down to the bridge. it'd be inappropriate to see him as a younger brother, but she knows he is a younger brother, and can see this kind of devastation as clearly as she would across wen ning's face, the world having been too cruel to both of them, left too much space for tears in the waterlines of their eyes.

firmly, she pulls him into the crook of her shoulder, protectively covering him, glowering at anyone who has the misfortune of walking by to observe this. she points her nose into his temple, voice kept low so only he can hear. )

It's not your siblings, Jiang Cheng. I would've known ... what that feels like. I wouldn't have asked.

( to her, of course, jiang yanli is the furthest thing from dead possible, and weiying is only as dead as wen qing had permitted him to be, prior to her death. squeezing him, she continues on, )

It's — it's your sister's husband. Jin Zixuan. ( gripping him tighter. ) But we'll pay for it, Jiang Cheng, I swear to you. I never wanted to make problems for you or for Wei Wuxian. My brother and I ... we give all that we can, in begging for your forgiveness.

That's why we have no future. I do not exist for there to be one.

[ But that doesn't make sense, Jin Zixuan is supposed to—

Wen Qing keeps speaking, and then it doesn't matter what happens to Jin Zixuan or by who. An accident— Didn't she say it was an accident? And yet they both— He sucks in a breath, sharp and panicked.

He knows well the hostility the world feels for the Qishan Wens. Feels it himself, like a sickness in his chest, choking the life from him with every bitter breath. Even an accident, the other sects would demand blood. Jiang Cheng rules Yunmeng Jiang, but he is only one sect. Those responsible for Jin Zixuan's fate, the one legitimate heir to Lanling Jin, would not be spared for any protest, not even if Jiang Cheng rallied Qinghe Nie and Gusu Lan behind him. Lanling Jin would sooner go to war again than bow.

And Qinghe Nie would not back him, not for this. Gusu Lan would fall in line behind the other two, ever law-abiding, ever favoring stability to turmoil.

Jiang Cheng imagines he would not have even spoken out, would have seen it all play out from beginning to end and held his tongue. The killer of his sister's husband, father of her infant child. How could he hurt her by speaking for those who brought her life to pieces?

But right now, right here, in Wen Qing's arms, listening to her swear to him, plead her case, he doesn't feel anything but his own coward's heart.

Of course he killed Wei Wuxian.

When has he ever done what was right over what was easy in his life?

He remembers the blame he cast at Wei Wuxian for involving himself in the cave with the beast, that he should have looked after his own and no one else.

You'll never be anything compared to him.

And he isn't. He isn't.

He isn't anything compared to Wei Wuxian.

His arms go around her in return, tight and desperate, letting out the kind of broken wail that comes from the bottom of his lungs. He sobs into her, rocking, so paralyzed with agony that he can't speak. He's helpless, completely helpless, unable to save anyone or anything. He can't even save himself. ]

No, [ he gasps between his cries, voice lost, but then— His anger returns, his grief sparking into fury. ] No!

[ He pulls himself off her, gripping her by the shoulders, his tear-streaked face fixing into a look of fierce determination. ]

I won't— I won't accept it! The future, or— Or your life!

You're here, aren't you? You're right here, and— Wei Wuxian is here, and I won't let it happen...! Any of it, do you understand...?!

I won't lose anyone else important to me again!

Edited 2020-01-14 07:39 (UTC)

( she's firm to hold him, a tight grip that refuses to be broken, although it's possessive mainly for anyone eyeing them as they walk by, wen qing's glare made of daggers she sends out freely. that said, when jiang cheng tugs her off, she meets him with ... some kind of awestruck look, sandwiched somewhere in between adoration and complete anguish.

if he asked her why she went down this line of questioning, she'd say it was to measure his opinion on her brother, who sometimes feels more a part of her than herself. but — there's a more selfish reason, if wen qing feels like being honest with herself, opening a door where behind sits all the emotions she never lets herself feel, all of them stolen from to her family name.

all she really wanted was to hear him say, i didn't want you to die. regardless of what the sects demanded, regardless of the role he played in her execution. if she knew someone would mourn her, someone beyond wei wuxian, it would've been enough.

instead, she has this. a sect leader on his knees, looking more passionate than wen qing has ever seen him. he can get red in the face from yelling at wei wuxian at times, but she's never seen him channel all that tense, fighting energy into ... well. into what makes a good sect leader. denying the story and writing his own. demanding change. wen qing lifts her hands up gently, palms flat on his cheeks, thumbing away the streaks of his tears. )

If —

If you don't like the path you're set on, ( she says it slowly, careful of her words, drawing her knuckle across the corner of his eye, soothing him. ) then we'll change it. Together. I swear this to you.

[ Her voice is soft, as it has always been, but the words she speaks are fire and steel. He presses himself against the heat of her, wishing for the flame of her resolve to forge him into something better, something stronger, more worthy. He nods in answer as he struggles with his voice, with his weakness, another wall coming down inside him as she dries his tears as no one's done since he stopped being a boy and instead took up the mantle of sect leader.

Before her, he is laid bare. He is laid bare, and she sees him, and she does not look away. Throat so raw he's not sure he doesn't taste blood, Jiang Cheng pulls in another tight breath, catches both her hands to hold them in his own. ]

There's a future for you, for you and your brother both. The sects are not in power here. Your hands— [ He grips them tighter, clasping them to his own chest. ] —are not stained by the Wen name. And I—

[ He blinks back the last of his tears, forces them down with a hard swallow. He steels himself, straightening where he kneels, shoulders pulling back and head held high. He meets her eyes at long last, this time unyielding. ]

...I'm beholden to nothing. In a world where I can choose to what I swear myself to, Lady Wen—

Let me swear myself to you.

▶ TDM .011

he'll never deserve it

work in progress!!!

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