Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Aug 30, 2021 7:28:15 GMT -8
He stepped in, towards the fist that was barreling at his face.
It was not an easy fight, but it was something that he could control with enough concentration. His opponent, or rather opponents, were not taking advantage of their superior numbers. Instead one of them was doing all the combat while his companion stood off to the side, watching. He was doing his best to keep his movements small, his techniques as plain and simple as possible. If this was merely a lackey sent out to assess and weaken him before the true assassin made his move, then he would need to conserve as much of his energy as possible. Still, it was curious. All the power he felt in the area was coming from the man who fought as a wild beast. The other however. . .
The fist brushed past his cheek. He had not left the moment, but the touch ruined his speculation. As the man's body moved past him, Xiao turned, following close with it as he brought his blade up in a slash across the back. A very specific, targeted attack not to inflict lasting damage to put the man down, but restrict his ability to fight. For a weaker opponent, it might have been enough to take the arm off entirely. For this one, it simply had the effect of seeing that arm drop uselessly to the side, unable to be lifted. Xiao quickly followed with another slash to the other side of the man's back, then backed off to create some distance.
Such was the flow of battle from that point. Wait, dodge, disable. A dance between two combatants, and he ensured he was the one leading. Still, it took far more steps than he would have wanted. Even just targeting the muscles and leaving vitals alone, the man was tough. Multiple times Xiao saw he had not cut deep enough and the man was able to rouse some sort of movement from the limb, and Xiao had to dance back in just to make sure the limb was disabled entirely. A fight that took an eternity for them, that to mortal eyes was only the space of a few minutes at most.
He looked down to the weapon he had chosen, and the prone but still growling form of his opponent beyond the tip of the blade. Long, slightly curved. A single edge with a circular guard at the base of the blade somewhat shaped like a dragon chasing it's own tail. A katana, his research had said. He hated the sight of it, but couldn't answer the question of why he had made it and not anything else in his arsenal. The shaman dropped it, and as the tip met the ground it splashed out, formless as the black water it resembled should be. A snap, and the water moved yet still, surrounding the fallen combatant in the shape of symbols of binding and protection. A spell to hold one enemy in place as Xiao raced forward on a current of air to where the other waited against a wall.
Would it have served his purposes to be able to loom over or at least stare level at this supposed assassin he'd been hearing worried whispers about? Yes. Was he going to? Not with the height difference.
Xiao took a bundle of the man's shirt and pulled him down to eye level, red eyes still cold and firey until . . . "You're a kid. No, not quite, but you're barely old enough to be running more serious errands for the triads. And they sent you and your friend back there after me? I'd feel insulted if he hadn't given me that much trouble. What about you? Are you gonna keep making trouble for me, or can we have that chat I suggested?"
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 1, 2021 12:26:34 GMT -8
Josh was having a pretty strange day today. First, his favorite noodle stand was closed because the cook had had a family emergency. Then Hiraeth had insisted on tracking said guy down to make sure no one was messing with quote-unquote his noodle guy. Obviously, the doll fucking disappeared right after Josh had an awkward encounter with the cook, one that left it unclear whether he was welcome back at the noodle stand tomorrow.
Then his Boss had contacted him and asked him to come in -- something he almost never did because Boss’ friends got jumpy when Josh sauntered by (and Hiraeth was a trigger-happy bastard when given an excuse, or when awake). But the Boss had a job for him, and Josh was desperate enough for a payday that he’d shrugged off the risks.
Unlike the normal crap Josh dealt with, this time his Boss wanted Hiraeth to make a mess of things. Something about a jumped-up brat starting a rival group in the triad’s territory. Everyone would look the other way if Josh happened to disappear said idiot and he’d have enough cash to go a month or so without running errands for these guys.
Easy-peasy. Or so Josh had thought. Except the guy they’d been sent after was a little dragon, slipping away from Hiraeth’s attacks, and slowly coiling until he could squeeze the life from the doll.
Josh had watched the fight with uncharacteristically wide eyes. He’d stopped turning away every time Hiraeth pounded some poor sod into mush but that didn’t mean Josh enjoyed watching. Usually, he tried to focus on other things. Making grocery lists and silently practicing his Cantonese.
Yeah – that sort of distraction was all but impossible from the first exchange. Josh had never seen Hiraeth struggle to hit someone. And while Hiraeth was the sort to stand there while you shot at him just to laugh in your face, neither of them were expecting this tiny pipsqueak to hurt the doll.
Defeat wasn’t in Hiraeth’s vocabulary. Josh managed not to stand there with his mouth open only because his entire body was frozen in shock when the guy dropped Hiraeth and came for Josh.
Remembering how to speak came all at once, a spark in dry kindling, as Josh scowled at the brat. “Oi, I’m not some kid! You’re the one practically in grade school.”
There were few things he hated more than being called a kid. At 16, Josh hadn't been a kid for longer than a decade, and he'd gladly punch the teeth in on anyone who thought otherwise. Even psycho dragonlings with crazy strength.
He could feel Hiraeth struggling, a phantom weakness that left his muscles sluggish. Not that Josh fancied he could take this guy if Hiraeth had failed. But he wasn’t a coward either.
Scoffing, he squared his shoulders like the guy wasn’t holding him in place with just a fist. Josh’s glare was acidic. He’d had plenty of practice.
“You seem to be making enough trouble for yourself all on your own, chief. Is your sense of direction worth shit or did you intend to set up shop in territory that doesn't belong to you?"
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Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
Posts: 14
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Gender: Male
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 1, 2021 13:49:04 GMT -8
Xiao raised a brow and just looked at Josh silently for a few moments before suddenly bursting with laughter. "Right then. For your sake I'm going to pretend your cantonese broke down at that moment and you didn't say what you actually said. About gradeschool." Xiao didn't have any qualms about his height or youthful appearance. He reasoned it was just a side effect of being spiritually potent. After all, he'd seen some shinigami show up in his childhood and then show up these days without even the slightest sign of the passage of years.
And then of course hollows didn't budge in the slightest when it came to age as far as he could tell. Which was helpful at least in determining which ones had been knocking around for a little time and needed to be put down post haste.
Xiao released his hold on Josh's shirt, then took a step back and crossed his arms. "Now, as for setting up shop in someone else's territory, yes. My sense of direction is actually rather bad sometimes. Its why I set up shop around here actually. This is one of the few parts of the territory I can actually navigate without getting lost. I guess I do consider it 'my territory' in a sense, though not the way the triads think." He really wasn't getting anywhere, even to himself. The young man sighed and rubbed his temples for a moment while he thought of how he was going to make his intentions clear. Starting from the beginning?
Starting from the beginning.
With a swipe of his hand, Xiao summoned more of the black waters to swirl around his feet like a racing rapid. The ring of water shifted and warped before finally bursting, a tendril swiftly coiling up around his body and taking vague shape as it did. A dragon by any estimation, one of black water that took turns freezing to solid back crystal and liquifying once more. The head of it rested just over Xiao's shoulder, where it waited with mouth slightly open.
"You understand power, yes? I have it," he gestured to the dragon, "and so do you." he finished, indicating back to Hiraeth. "There are fights only we can take on. The triads have their own power, their own battles that they can fight, but I'm not in that class. Which is why they send you. I am a battle they thought you could take on just as surely as they know they cannot. To us, they are powerless. To them, normal people outside their gangs are the powerless. Just as a street merchant might ask a gang he has good relations with to take care of another that is messing things up for him, they sent you to deal with me. The street merchant considers his spot on the street to be his territory. That territory he considers his falls within, but is not disturbed by the territory of the gang he is on good relations with."
He hoped it didn't sound like he was talking in circles here, but he had to lay a foundation to how he saw the situation, or it was going to sound hollow when he finally delivered his point.
"The shopkeep is powerless to the gang, and the gang fights other gangs. The gangs are powerless to you, so you fight others like yourself. Others like me. The triad that sent you tried to pretend I'm on their level. That I fall within their territory. But they did not send a normal man to kill me. They sent you, and proved that I am not in their territory, they are in mine. That fact scares them, and is why they tried to kill me off so quickly. But I'm not concerned with their dealings, just like they are not concerned with the shopkeep so long as he follows certain rules."
Xiao reached up and hooked a finger under the dragon's jaw as though to scratch. He pulled it down, forming a ball of the waters between his hands and then throwing splitting it and throwing each half to the sides. The water smoked and hissed, turning to steam which held two very distinct shapes. The first of a gargantuan porcine hollow that had been running amok in these streets only a week prior, and the second of a humanoid in flowing clothes with a long, single edged sword drawn. The same that Xiao had used to take down Hiraeth. "I don't care about their territory. Their crimes, their whores, their drugs or their schemes. They are not who I aim to fight. Even others like you aren't who I aim to fight."
His head jerked to the side towards the hollow form. "This is the vermin which I expunge from my territory." To the other side towards the humanoid. "And these are the rivals I seek to evict."
"So . . . wanna help?"
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 1, 2021 15:13:39 GMT -8
The only reason Josh didn’t deck the guy after a comment like that was that he had the good graces to let Josh go. If he’d kept his hold on Josh’s shirt, stupid move or not, Josh would’ve been obligated to at least take a swing at the guy.
That’s what he told himself, at least, as he straightened and brushed himself off with a sour expression. It helped that the guy moved back, putting some space between them in what Josh could halfway convince himself was a necessity.
Before Josh thought of something pithy and no doubt idiotic to say to the guy’s face he went off on his own – and kept going. Josh crossed his own arms, eyebrows rising higher and higher, as the guy just kept talking. Was he even taking any breaths? (Josh couldn’t tell because the crazy yarn this guy was spinning took up all his focus just to make sense of the gist.)
A few times in there he opened his mouth to interject, (getting lost was not, in fact, an excuse the Boss was going to accept), but no – the story continued!
Josh could hear Hiraeth snickering, in the back of his mind, each burst of noise like an ice pick through his skull. Mentally giving his doll the middle finger probably wasn’t Josh’s best moment, but satisfaction was worth the pounding headache.
He shook his head hard, blinking the pain back to try and focus on what this guy was saying. Josh hadn’t met anyone other than Quincy before (no mortals that was) so the little power display, while unnecessary considering the earlier fight, still drew an assessing look.
“Okay, okay. Lemme, lemme see if I got this straight. You –“ he jabbed a thumb towards the guy, “are trying to start up some triad that’s gunning for… for what exactly? Not the traditional market. You wanna beat up on the Hollow and Shinigami? What’s in it for you?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude, but you’re meeting me today ‘cuz you’ve pissed off the wrong people. They’re the type that doesn’t care what you think you’re doing, or say you’re doing, ‘cuz to them it looks like – I mean, what it obviously looks like. And you took down Hiraeth,” Josh winced, breaking off just long enough to cast a glare at the doll. Who was still stuck in a pile of debris so really it was his fault for leaving Josh in a position to negotiate.
“Right, you took him down. But they’ll send more people. And I dunno about you, but a hail of bullets isn’t really my jam. Whatever weird kung-fu magic you’ve got on your side. You don’t want those people plotting your death. ‘cuz they’re not going to back off when you say you’re not after their terf. Hollow vendetta or no.”
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Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
Posts: 14
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Gender: Male
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 2, 2021 10:30:31 GMT -8
Xiao was dissapointed. Minorly. "Guess the pitch needs a little more workshopping." he said under his breath. He was still listening as Josh explained the situation, but he wasn't meeting the young man's eyes anymore. He was still young, probably scared out of his wits, and thus probably wasn't under the right conditions to really see what it was Xiao was aiming for with this venture. No, not venture. Mission. This wasn't some casual little side hustle he was going to embark on after all. Still, he didn't want to force others into following him, so getting the pitch right was rather paramount to reaching his goals.
Josh did raise one good point though. The triads had taken enough issue with him to send an assassin, even if he hadn't done anything to indicate he was after the things they coveted. And showing them what he was after was going to be rather difficult since the enemies he was after didn't show up to mortal perception most of the time. A spell maybe? One that could pull back the veil? But what was he going to do, kidnap the leader of each triad and perform occult rituals on them to see a hollow that he had caged up somewhere? No, the logistics were too far out there at his current level of instance. So how was he-
"Hmm? Oh right. Yeah, you're probably right." He had tuned out at some point and took a moment to reorganize his thoughts by pushing his hair briefly out of his face while running back through his head for anything he had picked up on while lost in his own thoughts. "Get out of it?" he said softly. He let go of his hair and looked back up to Josh. "What do you mean 'what do I get out of it'? You know what a hollow is, and you also know what a shinigami is, even though I didn't name either. You know both, and know what each can do." He snapped and the misty images changed and expanded to show more of a cityscape that relocated to the space between the two of them with Xiao staring hard at Josh from beyond the veil. "The destructive potential of the hollows. The impotence, negligence, and arrogance of shinigami." As he spoke, the scene showed a hollow on a rampage, and a shinigami looking on from a distance for some time before finally moving down to engage after many bodies had been left in the hollow's wake or swallowed up. "Your bosses only think I'm a threat because they can see me. They can't see the long suffering spirit of a dead john that turns into a hollow in the midst of their brothel and tears the place to shreds. They don't notice the shinigami who watched it all happen and could have stopped it but didn't."
He was probably talking too long again, rolling back into the pitch. Xiao rubbed at the corners of his eyes. "I don't do this for me. I do it so people get to go on with their selfish, petty little lives in peace. So that strong outsiders don't get to exert their power over the ignorant masses who could do nothing to stop them. I'm sure you can think of one or two people you'd rather not wake up to find murdered in their sleep. As could your bosses. The problem is just finding a way to show them how little they mean to me. They'd probably be able to grow even further if they didn't have to deal with random hollow attacks from former victims that they didn't know were following them as unrestful spirits."
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 2, 2021 18:02:55 GMT -8
Altruism was not on the shortlist of reasons Josh had drawn up to explain why this guy would want to start up a supernatural triad. Okay, any triad. Shit – altruism wasn’t even on the shortlist for most of the world, not the real world at any rate.
Scowling, he looked Xiao up and down, trying to pin whether the guy was pulling his leg. Calling him a kid and then spinning some sort of fairy tale. The magic 3-D holograph was cool and all, but Josh wasn’t born yesterday.
“Look,” he squared his shoulders, going for harsh but barely managing to keep a lid on his jadedness. “Let’s get one thing straight – I don’t really care what makes the Boss tick. Triads make money and the whole area is better off for it, this isn’t some shitty flick full of murder and drug lords. Boss says you’re messing with the flow of income – or could mess with it, then we got a problem.”
“But you don’t gotta convince me ‘bout how the whole damn world’s blind to the real danger. Good luck telling the Boss he should be paying you and yours protection money against some invisible monsters and the equally invisible spirit military. True or not, that sounds like shit, and you know it.”
Josh scoffed – just laying all that out had him rolling his eyes again. What exactly did this dude think was going to happen here? To have all that power… it had to mean something, right?
Spit it out, boy.
Hiraeth hadn’t ceased his struggles. (Magic cages: 1 Hiraeth: 0) Josh was honestly amazed that the doll still had the energy to waste by sharing his opinion – then again, Hiraeth probably recharged off of insulting Josh. The twinge of pain he got for that thought was well worth it.
Don’t lie to yourself. You want something you better take it with your own goddamn hands. Put up a fight for once, boy.
Scratching the back of his head, Josh’s eyes wandering over Xiao like the guy’s face was going to tell him what was right. Fuck if he listed to Hiraeth – Josh had wanted to know before the doll spoke up, this was his idea first. It took him a moment to work up the nerve, shrugging at nothing, and fighting back the swooping feeling in his stomach that wasn’t because he’d missed out on his morning noodles.
“So… Just, speaking hypothetically. How exactly is this plan of yours supposed to work, huh? You and your people run around taking out Hollows and kicking Shinigami to the curb and then what? You all gonna live off of some warm and cuddly feelings of having done the right thing?”
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Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
Posts: 14
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Gender: Male
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 2, 2021 19:05:00 GMT -8
"The triads make money, and the area is all the better for it." Xiao parroted, taking care to capture Josh's exact tone of voice. He was more than visibly frustrated with the turn the conversation was taking, not least of all because the kid had a good point. This kind of project wasn't going to just magically take care of itself. He'd done well enough on his own and with a couple recruits. He could take small, innocent jobs that would benefit from the sort of swift completion his abilities offered. He'd even managed to keep in contact with a few of his dad's old clients that still wanted their places blessed and wards renewed. But an organization on the kind of scale it would take to actually take on the shinigami, to deal with every hollow?
He hadn't thought that far.
"I kill hollows, and the area is all the better for it." he went on, still keeping that same tone of voice. The steam facsimiles were dismissed, and the water returned to its draconic shape coiled around his body. Only for a moment though, as he soon dismissed it. He'd relied too much on mimicry already. He'd gotten this far copying what he could observe of the shinigami and adapting it to the purposes he wanted to serve, but it wasn't going to get him any further. He needed fresh eyes, which ironically made him want to recruit Josh even more. This young but so much better at seeing the hard truths of the world than Xiao.
"Lets say, hypothetically, I don't want it to be a protection racket. Not in the usual sense at least." He stepped up again, but instead moved to the wall next to Josh, and took a marker out of his pocket and began inscribing various symbols onto it. "Good feelings aren't going to feed and clothe a gang. Odd jobs and errands aren't going to put together enough scratch either." He finished his inscription and gave a little hop, immediately catching another current of air and riding it back towards Hiraeth. He turned the man over as easily as one might a toy so that his back was facing the open air. Xiao then used his marker again to make different but complementary markings on Hiraeth's back. The would be gang boss then returned to Josh.
"Lets say there was a way to let them see what goes on all around them, but at the moment its not a very practical spell because I'd basically have to take them in one by one to perform the spell. They get temporary sight of spirits, and perhaps have the two braincells to rub together to leave me alone to take care of things they can't. Staying out of my way will be help enough, but if they feel like throwing me something extra and helping my group grow, that's a decision left up to them. I doubt any would take it, especially once I made it clear it wouldn't mean preferential treatment."
Xiao then turned to Hiraeth and snapped. The initial bindings holding the man down evaporated with the dark water around him. Xiao afforded him just enough time to get up before making a sign with his hand. "Dragon's Mysteries: King Trapped Beneath the Mountain." A new binding, so soon after the last, this one aimed to send Hiraeth hurtling towards the marked spot on the wall to lay plastered against it, back first.
"I'm a shaman. My people used to be employed by the government directly. If we get big enough, maybe we can repeat the process with the government, get some proper funding, infrastructure . . ." He sighed. "But you probably just hear more wishful thinking in that. You got a suggestion?" He looked to Hiraeth. "What about you, big guy? Got any bright ideas?"
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 2, 2021 19:59:35 GMT -8
Josh snorted, eyebrows raised high, as Xiao managed to tug at the yarn of the universe and just keep spinning. He had an awful lot of fire for someone who’d just gone several rounds with Hiraeth. Hell, Josh was pretty sure the doll had gifted this guy plenty of bruises, but they weren’t stopping him from striding all over the place and back.
It wasn’t all fun and games. Josh knew under his wisecracks that this guy was dangerous. He’d put Hiraeth into the ground. They could stand here chatting all day and Josh would never move past the sight of the doll hitting pavement.
That explained the flinch when Xiao strode back into Josh’s space. It wasn’t fear, per se. More a seasoned wariness.
Josh tried to cover the motion up by turning, acting like he had known Xiao was going for the wall all along. Though when the guy doodled some weird shit against the concrete Josh forgot about his fears and reconnected with his disbelief.
That feeling only tripled as the guy sauntered over to Hiraeth and started drawing on his fucking back. Josh couldn’t help it. He really couldn’t. He doubled over, snickering so uncontrollably that it nearly drowned out the doll’s incensed howling.
Cursing, Josh winced and snapped upright – squinting at the guy on his return route and pretending like Hiraeth wasn’t pouring all that rage through Josh’s skull.
“Yeah,” he agreed roughly. Josh wasn’t too sure the triads wouldn’t want to pay a group like the one Xiao was outlining, if only out of fear their competitors were. In a sense, this guy had a cornered market.
If he could convince the bosses there was an unseen threat they didn’t have the capacity or capabilities to handle.
“Wait!” He tried to warn the guy before he released Hiraeth, a wasted syllable. Josh took a step forward, to do God only knows what, as the doll lunged for Xiao like he hadn’t seen a throat he didn’t want to rip out.
For a second everything went fuzzy. Josh wobbled. His eyes may have popped out of his head for all he knew. He definitely almost swallowed his tongue when he turned away from the sight of Hiraeth plastered against a wall to stare at Xiao.
“…Can you teach me to do that?”
Hiraeth snarled, and this time it wasn’t just in Josh’s head. “Fool! You think working for this little shaman will let you protect something, boy? If you had the guts, you’d have challenged him already – instead of waiting for him to pat you on the head and say even whelps like you can be good.”
As far as low blows went Hiraeth was pretty good with them. This one landed like a sucker punch and Josh grit his teeth. It shouldn’t bother him anymore, the shit Hiraeth said, or how much of that vitriol was an honest attempt at fending off Josh’s biggest weaknesses.
He already knew he was a monster. Hiraeth's existence proved that on the daily -- there wasn't any need for words.
Ignoring Hiraeth pissed the doll off more than any backtalk ever would so Josh stayed focused on Xiao. Proving he wasn't the only part of this duo fueled purely off of spite, that was when Hiraeth decided to interject like he was capable of having a halfway normal conversation or some insanity like that.
The doll relaxed against the wall, leaning back carelessly, all nonchalant and suddenly calm. "You're a tough little bastard. You want money? Food? Then get good enough at this that the rest of the city's more afraid of you than what Hollows and Shinigami would if you weren't around to cull them. That's how you survive."
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Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
Posts: 14
Likes: 10
Gender: Male
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 3, 2021 6:22:27 GMT -8
He tried not to perk up too much when he heard Josh ask him to teach. He really, really tried not to perk up. For the most part, he succeeded. He just hoped the small intake of breath and slight lift of his hair prompted by a rise of spiritual energy went unnoticed. He tempered that feeling with the one brought on by the construct's words. There was a subtle tap of his foot, and he opened his senses of the spiritual, focusing again on the pair of them. Hiraeth practically radiated power, but the shine of his star was equally matched by the chasm that was Josh. Every mote of energy, even those that slipped from himself, was sucked in without hope of escape and added to the construct.
It was not unlike the feeling he got staring directly at a hollow's hole, though split in two. Not merely summoner and summoned it would seem. There were some allusions in the notes Xiao's father left behind, but it was his first time encountering one.
"I could teach you." Red eyes flicked between Josh and Hiraeth. "I could teach both of you." he finished. He reached down, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "How I move when I fight, how I ride the wind. How I bind, how I cast." His eyes sharpened then, pupils stretching into slits with small points at the center like a stretched diamond. Xiao lifted his shirt, revealing the area where Hiraeth had caught him good at the start of the fight, a solid hook into his ribs. What should have been a fairly ugly bruise was instead a faint discoloration on his side, like the last vestiges of a fading rash. "I can teach you the ritual that will either let you recover from an enemy's blow in moments, or make your body so hard they cannot harm you in the first place." His shirt was dropped back and Xiao crossed his arms, eyes returning to normal shape and focusing on Josh again.
"If you want to protect something, protect it. The only thing stopping you is your own will. Every scrap of time you spend biting and clawing at the forces arrayed against you is time your charge spends safer than they would without you." He refocused on Hiraeth. "Fear will only take you so far. And more often than not it just leads to those afraid of you seeking more and more desperate means to be rid of you. The local triad feared me," he looked to Josh again, "So, they sent the two of you here to eat me." A silent understanding. Yes, he knew, and he had already offered to teach the both of them knowing that. Even with one of them openly violent mere moments ago and the other verbally hostile to this point, he would accept them both.
"You never actually answered my question from earlier about joining up, so I'll still be awaiting your answer. I was actually on my way to get some breakfast, so you're welcome to join me. Heavy talk breeds a hungry belly." he said grinning.
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 3, 2021 13:33:11 GMT -8
Hiraeth glared at the little upstart, his lips peeled back in a silent snarl. Josh watched them both cautiously, not entirely believing Hiraeth couldn’t break free if the doll put his all into escaping.
Rather than biting Xiao’s face off verbally or otherwise, Hiraeth tossed his head and began to laugh. He had the sort of deep chuckle that filled the air, boisterous and rich with humor. There was nothing mocking to the doll’s mirth.
“You’re an arrogant little shit,” he rumbled, amusement curling at the edges of his words. “I like that.”
Teeth flashing white against his dark skin, Hiraeth cast a smirk towards Josh. “Hear that, boy? This one knows what it means to act. Maybe you can learn from him. Do whatever you want, I don’t care – but don’t expect me to come and save you if you back away from the decision.”
Josh rolled his eyes and made some vague noise of recognition. The tense coil inside his chest had loosened a bit, though, making space for his lungs to expand. Hiraeth was a mercurial demon; good humor didn’t necessarily mean the doll wasn’t about to lash out.
It just made the odds of violence slightly less likely.
“The same goes for you, shaman. Better not slip up or I will follow through on eating you.” Hiraeth strained, muscles rippling, and the magical bindings around him began to fissure and crack. He made as if to lunge at Xiao and before it was clear whether he’d broken free or not the doll disappeared.
Josh was fairly certain Hiraeth’s laughter was only in his head. He exhaled roughly, feeling Hiraeth slip beneath his skin. It made his brain crawl, but the actual sensation was one of fullness. Josh was steadier when he and the doll were one.
Running a hand through his hair, Josh planted his feet to avoid letting on as to how tired he was. He muttered a curse under his breath and shook his head. Incredulity calcified into words thrown more hastily than he would have liked, “To be clear – you know what we are and you’re inviting me to breakfast?”
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Xiao Bolin
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Mortals
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Gender: Male
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 4, 2021 15:53:14 GMT -8
Laughter was the last thing that he might have expected out of the construct. Still, he wasn't going to turn down this gift. It was a sign. He was getting somewhere with both halves of his newest (potential) recruit. If he hadn't been able to do that, then it was just going to make things needlessly difficult from there on out. Still, it was just so conveniently and horrifically symbolic. He wouldn't have been surprised if he coughed up some bone in the shape of the yin and yang. Xiao decided not to tempt fate and stopped thinking down that line, instead settling back to listen once more.
Not even Xiao would so foolish as to let his guard down even when Hiraeth was doling out the backhanded praise for him and advice for his summoner. He had his hands behind his back, but his fingers twitched, just a bit. Almost forming into the signs he would need. Signs that would make the single droplet of water hovering above his index finger into something . . . excessive. As Hiraeth then began to strain against the bindings once more, his hands twitched even further. Suggestions of signs were now half signs. That droplet of water was spinning on several different axis at once, and compressing just a tad. Xiao could see the state of his bindings. How their integrity waned with Hiraeth's progress.
He didn't have time to look for the point that said for sure Hiraeth had broken free. So he acted. The self drilled actions and instinct brought his hand out from behind his back, formed the sign fully, then flicked the water towards the wall Hiraeth once occupied. Obviously where he would have been between the two had he still been corporeal. A first sized hole was simply now there in the wall. No bang, no crunch, no flash of light. Blink and you'd miss it.
"Ah." It dawned on Xiao, as did the look of emberassment he quickly tried to hide away. "He figured out the trick. My spells need a form to focus on. Without it, he is free. Though in doing so he has to give up the fight momentarily. Seems this Wukong is more intelligent than his counterpart." he noted with something of a giggle. He quickly turned and began walking towards the nearest good noodle place he knew. Had to keep moving and keep Josh's eyes on him and away from the hole.
The proper route was already in mind, but the shaman paused briefly for that question. "I have a vague idea what you are based on notes in the margins of my dad's old books. But, given you are not a ghost, I reason you have enough of a real body to enjoy a decent meal, even if that alone might not sustain you. And if I'm wrong . . . we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." he said after a few moments more consideration. "If you join me, then it becomes my responsibility to look after your needs. Actually-" Xiao immediately spun on his heel, stopped, and stuck out his hand. "If you join me, we can't be friendly strangers. We should formally introduce." he said with a grin.
"Hi. I'm Xiao Bolin."
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 4, 2021 18:14:48 GMT -8
Josh eyed the crumbling cement of what had formerly been a concrete wall, watching the pieces bounce until they hit the ground. It wasn’t any worse than the property damage Hiraeth unleashed whenever the mood struck – but that was with his fists, not… had that been water? The same stuff the guy had been playing with earlier?
He decided, doggedly, to ignore what had just happened.
Stepping over the bits of freshly made gravel, Josh lengthened his stride to catch up with Xiao. No way was he letting someone that short outpace him.
Hiraeth maintained something of a grumble, displeased with the guy’s comparison and unable to do anything about it in his current form. It was a predicament Josh had no pity for and honestly intended to take advantage of. He hadn’t chatted with someone normal in… too long, honestly. Other than the occasional greetings and whatnot.
What was his world coming to that a guy like Xiao was normal? (That Xiao reacted to an assassination attempt by inviting him out to a meal was part of it – Josh was tired of fighting everyone for every scrap of success.)
Josh snorted, quickly drawing alongside the other only to skitter to a halt when Xiao stopped moving.
“Your Dad?” He reflected on the fact that he may want to pay more attention to conversations if he was going to continue them – it only took Josh a moment to remember Xiao’s comments about his family traditions. “He’s the one who taught you?”
That might explain the skills. This guy was insanely strong. If it ran in the family, he could be like those pureblood Quincy snobs -- born with the tools and support to reach his full potential. Xiao didn't exactly strike Josh as a fellow guttersnipe, hardscrabble attitude or not.
Nodding along, faintly amused at such a chivalrous outlook but not so much that he’d turn down a meal, Josh shrugged. “I know your name already.”
Tugging his hands from his pockets, Josh grasped Xiao’s in a firm shake. Trust wasn’t something Josh offered easily. It had never come naturally to him and life sure hadn’t convinced him to try. His heart was as calloused as his hands and yet Josh couldn’t toss out what the guy had said earlier.
He could do will – his least endearing trait to practically the entire globe as Josh had been told many a time. Stubbornness was something Josh had in spades. Deciding to apply it was a different question. That required shit like trust and hope. Or maybe, Josh considered, matching Xiao’s confident stare, it just took guts.
“Nice to meet you, Xiao. I’m Josh – the other one goes by Hiraeth.”
It was probably the dumbest thing he’d ever done but the adrenaline rush that accompanied his poor decision had him grinning. Josh could roll with the punches life sent his way so what was a little extra ammunition? Goading fate was what made life exciting.
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Xiao Bolin
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 7, 2021 15:15:18 GMT -8
Xiao took the hand in a firm shake. His own grip wasn't nearly so calloused, but that probably came from the regeneration that he had demonstrated earlier. He looked distracted a moment as he released the grip and glanced down to his pocket. A soft buzz could be heard coming from it and the dillema of whether to address it or not played out on his face for all to see. In the end, something won out, and Xiao pulled out the buzzing item.
His phone.
Confirmation flickered over his features before he ignored the call coming through and put the phone back in his pocket. Immediately he brightened back up and looked up to Josh before turning and giving a tilt of his head. Back on their way to breakfast. "To address your question from earlier, sort of. My dad wasn't very strong, or skilled, but he was determined. We're not part of the main family of shamans. Really we're many times removed from the main line. The spiritual power in our blood had nearly vanished entirely with his generation." Xiao kept his eyes forward and tucked his hands behind his back as he walked. "But he was determined. The first time he met a hollow, the man actually tried to do what his ancestors did and banish it. Didn't work, but its rather obvious what my mom saw in him."
Xiao's shoulders lifted and fell in short order. "By that point he'd only taught me the basics. I've spent the past decade building on those using what I've seen of the various ghosts bouncing around, and his notes from research and family records." He looked back to Josh finally, grinning. "Its good, yeah? But don't worry, you won't need shaman heritage to learn. Its one of the things I focused on. And they do say you don't know a thing until you can teach it." The shorter man stopped suddenly in front of an unassuming building with a sliding door. There was no sign above it or outside the door, but Xiao pushed it open and quickly ushered Josh in before closing the door back.
Inside was a small but well furnished and humble restaurant. A couple tables, a wall counter with stools, and of course the main counter behind which an older man and woman were busy at work preparing various ingredients. "Josh, welcome to the best restaurant in Hong Kong. Run by the twin siblings Fa Zhao and Fa Ju. Or Zane and Judy if you'd prefer."
{We do.} the twins piped up in unison without looking up from their work.
"No, they don't do that all the time. Just when they want to make a point. So, what are you hungry for? If its food, the Fa twins can cook it."
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Post by Bái Yan Láng on Sept 8, 2021 17:08:55 GMT -8
Josh turned away as Xiao’s phone began to ring, checking their direction against his mental map of the area. Work had him wandering all over the place – people who thought they could get away with stiffing the Boss existed in all parts of society so he had a vague idea of where they were.
Hiraeth had cornered Xiao here for a reason. That didn't exactly mean Josh shared the same comfort with this neighborhood.
Glancing back, Josh held a flat expression in the face of the other guy’s cheerfulness. No point asking who that had been - or why Xiao hadn’t taken the call. Josh split his attention between the galivanting shaman and the sideroads in case they were headed for company.
If he wanted us hurt he would have done it already. Hiraeth rumbled, his arrogant certainty a one-sided trait. The doll had done the mental equivalent of rolling over in bed, consciousness sitting near the surface, but eyes closed.
Xiao had already shown he wasn’t driven by power. People like that were harder to predict. Sure, Hiraeth would have taken out his prey as soon as he had the upper hand, but not everyone was that simple-minded.
A twinge of pain informed Josh of the doll’s irritation and he huffed lightly in response. So goddamn touchy.
He tuned back into Xiao’s trip down memory lane, fielding another twinge that had nothing to do with Hiraeth this time. No matter how lightly Xiao shared shit like that the implications were obvious. Josh felt a bit like a jerk that his first reaction to learning Xiao’s dad died was a surge of resentment.
(He certainly didn’t have fond fucking memories of his own to trot out around practical strangers.)
“Sounds like a good guy.” Josh shrugged at Hiraeth's snort - what else was he supposed to say?
There were other dots to connect – like the fact that Xiao’s dad had documented enough to give Xiao a place to start, and more from what it sounded like, all while lacking the power to interact with the sort of world he was researching. Had his family helped? That 'main line' crap sounded like more of the same the Quincy had gone on about. So that was a big fat no, most likely.
“You in contact with any of your relatives, then?” Josh tossed this out casually like he wasn’t fully aware of the potential swamp he was wading into. Better to ask now, when questions were still tolerated, than to wonder about it for the rest of his life.
He wasn’t looking to see if Xiao’s whole extended family had the same ambivalence towards Josh’s kind. Or hell, whether they were friendly with the local Quincy.
Making a noncommittal noise, more a grunt than anything, Josh eyed his loony tour guide – this guy grinned like it was going out of style. (Or like it was his equivalent of Josh’s scowl, and Josh wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. He wasn’t some kinda shrink.)
“Should I take that to mean you haven’t tried teaching before?” He muttered, scouring the outside of the building Xiao had led him to before shrugging and following the shaman in. Trap or not he was hungry.
Casing the interior with a few swiping glances, Josh settled his stare on the only other visible people. The fact that they were spending far more time scrutinizing their work than sizing him up was reassuring. Telepathy less so, but Josh kept his reaction to a muted grunt. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of anything more.
Hiraeth stirred, watching the two intently. Without the same hunger that gurgled in Josh’s stomach as the lady diced chicken with quick efficient movements. So, there was that.
“Hey,” he greeted evenly.
A sidelong look at Xiao failed to reveal whether the guy’d expected a show. He certainly pulled off the earnest shtick without a glitch. Josh was just grateful the offer of food was sincere; he could put up with one-upmanship any day of the week.
“I’ll have a bowl of ngau lam mein,” Josh told the twins. It was late enough now that he’d skip his congee craving, and beef brisket noodles was a real common dish, which avoided any awkwardness of asking for something they didn’t have. He didn’t mind the jockeying for respect and authority that came from meeting someone new, but Josh also wasn’t a complete jerk – making these two lose face wasn’t part of the contest.
Striding past Xiao like there was nothing to giving the other guy his back, Josh plopped down in a nearby chair. “And lemon tea if you’ve got it.”
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Xiao Bolin
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Post by Xiao Bolin on Sept 16, 2021 12:42:03 GMT -8
At the order the twins finally looked up from their work. Their was a brief hesitation in their hands, but it was a blink and miss it moment. Just as quickly their eyes were back down and their hands moving once more. The two of them twisted and turned in the limited space, but there was never the sense that either was in the other's way as they grabbed ingredients, chopped, sliced, threw things into the wok to fry and so on.
"You'll be taking similar, but with pork." Judy said, and it wasn't a question. Xiao nodded regardless and took a seat next to Josh and stretched. "Black?" An actual question and Xiao nodded again.
"So long as there's no more surprises for the day, it wouldn't hurt." he said with a shrug. The young man leaned back in his chair, eyes on the twins in the kitchen with their dance. They almost seemed to pick up speed as they went on, giving the impression of a beast with no back, two heads and eight limbs at work to make made to order meals for the two young men. Eventually he pulled his eyes away and settled them on Josh. They were slitted again as a serpent's once more, and remained that way as he started to speak.
"So, rolling back to the questions from earlier, No, I don't have contact if I can help it. I haven't even looked up what the family name of the main line is." He shrugged and with his next blink his eyes were back to normal. "And I've tried. A little. I taught a few of my friends the hand to hand martial arts I've developed, but that was way back when I still didn't have the basics nailed down myself. More recently I've started teaching a couple spiritualists in the area, but its slow going. They're pretty set in their ways and don't have much knack for the spellcasting side of things. Pretty good with the hand to hand and weapon skills though, so that's a small victory."
He leaned forward onto the table, studying Josh. "Have you had a teacher before? They do anything that made the lessons stick? Or have you just been winging it like I was?"
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