Could this really be what he wanted? This empty, echoing city, devoid of water or life? No, no, no that can't be true. It's true that there's nobody here for him to embarrass himself with, nobody for him to hurt or make miserable with his blind fumbling, but neither is there anyone for him to please. Nobody to smile with, nobody to amuse, nobody to care for or recieve care from in return. Did he...really want to live like that?
No, of course not! Sure, he had a tendency to self-isolate when he was upset, with so many examples of that behavior in his recent history even someone as good at fooling themselves as Shen Yuan had to admit to it, but to isolate himself to this extent...he'd never have agreed to it! And...and even if he had expressed an idle with for it, somewhere deep down in his heart...any reasonable person would have known he didn't really mean it! No, he wasn't being the unreasonable one here!
"I didn't ask for this!" he calls out, his words echoing back to him in the empty air. "I don't want it!" But there is no answer.
In the end there's nothing left to do but go back into the sea. He can't stay in this empty world, he really will go mad. Perhaps he'll transmigrate to another world, one where Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen are still alive -- or Luo Binghe. Maybe even all three, he thinks somewhat whimsically, as he hikes up his robes and wades into the surf. It would be interesting to introduce them...just to see what would happen...
It takes him a moment to realize that he's shivering, and a moment more to understand why. He's back in the siheyuan courtyard, legs folded in lotus position -- and bizarrely enough, every stitch of clothing he has on is soaked through with salt water. But the implications of that will have to wait, because as soon as he opens his eyes -- and rubs away the water blurring his vision -- he realizes: he's no longer alone.
"Ge -- shige," he gasps, reaching for Jin Guangyao without a single thought for the state of his clothing or the inappropriateness of demanding a hug from a married man. Shit, Lan Xichen's getting a hug too in a hot minute if he sits still long enough. "You're back, or I'm back, or something. God. Fuck, I missed you."
An Empty City (tdm prompt, closed to LXC and JGY)
No, of course not! Sure, he had a tendency to self-isolate when he was upset, with so many examples of that behavior in his recent history even someone as good at fooling themselves as Shen Yuan had to admit to it, but to isolate himself to this extent...he'd never have agreed to it! And...and even if he had expressed an idle with for it, somewhere deep down in his heart...any reasonable person would have known he didn't really mean it! No, he wasn't being the unreasonable one here!
"I didn't ask for this!" he calls out, his words echoing back to him in the empty air. "I don't want it!" But there is no answer.
In the end there's nothing left to do but go back into the sea. He can't stay in this empty world, he really will go mad. Perhaps he'll transmigrate to another world, one where Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen are still alive -- or Luo Binghe. Maybe even all three, he thinks somewhat whimsically, as he hikes up his robes and wades into the surf. It would be interesting to introduce them...just to see what would happen...
It takes him a moment to realize that he's shivering, and a moment more to understand why. He's back in the siheyuan courtyard, legs folded in lotus position -- and bizarrely enough, every stitch of clothing he has on is soaked through with salt water. But the implications of that will have to wait, because as soon as he opens his eyes -- and rubs away the water blurring his vision -- he realizes: he's no longer alone.
"Ge -- shige," he gasps, reaching for Jin Guangyao without a single thought for the state of his clothing or the inappropriateness of demanding a hug from a married man. Shit, Lan Xichen's getting a hug too in a hot minute if he sits still long enough. "You're back, or I'm back, or something. God. Fuck, I missed you."