zhongli looks... sad, when laurence turns to him. sad, but fond. a warmth to his gaze as he looks at the mirrors that held the image of his youngest yaksha - his only remaining one. ]
His namebearer surmounted his misfortune, made all the stronger for it, having broken free of the shackles that had tortured him. I wanted for this Xiao to be able to have the same fate - to find happiness in his freedom, and to never find himself under the yoke of another.
He is still haunted by what he was made to do with his power, and by the residual anger and hatred of the gods slain on Liyue's soil during the Archon War. But... he is finally learning he can be happy.
[ god war?? he's still struggling to wrap his mind around it. ]
...He must have been pretty strong for anyone to want make use of him in the first place. [ laurence can think of someone like that back home. ] How... How long has it taken?
Mm. It was a thousands of years long war that swept across all of Teyvat. [ thinking of how to describe it to laurence... ]
An entity called the Heavenly Principles offered seven seats of power, one for each element, that would become the source of an Archon's enhanced affinity and powers once they were connected to it. Many gods went mad in their conquest for power, or resorted to cruelty, in attempt to eliminate competition, to control everything.
... Xiao was one such victim for his own power, yes. It's been two thousand years since the war ended, but 500 since the Cataclysm, a much smaller but still impactful period of strife. But he's made new bonds in recent years, ones that have coaxed him out of his shell.
Seriously...? [ THOUSANDS OF YEARS?? ] But why would they do something like that? They had to know how bad it would get.
[ then again, he's learning that many in power don't care about these things. and that it's not just a human problem, just like using others who are different isn't. ]
That's... good. [ genuinely. ] I'm glad he had the chance to get better.
[ maybe that means iris has a chance, too, once they get him back to somewhere safe. ]
... we know very little of how the Heavenly Principles thinks, especially as we haven't heard from them in 500 years now. I had no interest in fighting for a seat, only in protecting Liyue, but I came out victorious in the end, regardless.
At the cost of losing so many, over the millennia. Generations of human soldiers that fought by my side, and the adepti that sacrificed themselves in the name of their nation.
[ absolute power corrupts absolutely, whether you're mortal or immortal. he sighs, an almost tired, ancient breath of noise, all 6000 years old in the moment. ]
But they fought for the future. We all did. And he does have the chance to get better - I will take it.
As long as you don't have to go through something like that again, anyway. And I thought demiflora could be dangerous...
[ but gods? that's really on another level entirely. a whole new scale of destruction he couldn't have imagined if not for seeing a fragment of zhongli's life. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Xiao...?
[ did he really name someone for their trauma.............
no but his tone is questioning. peepaw explain. ]
no subject
zhongli looks... sad, when laurence turns to him. sad, but fond. a warmth to his gaze as he looks at the mirrors that held the image of his youngest yaksha - his only remaining one. ]
His namebearer surmounted his misfortune, made all the stronger for it, having broken free of the shackles that had tortured him. I wanted for this Xiao to be able to have the same fate - to find happiness in his freedom, and to never find himself under the yoke of another.
He is still haunted by what he was made to do with his power, and by the residual anger and hatred of the gods slain on Liyue's soil during the Archon War. But... he is finally learning he can be happy.
no subject
[ god war?? he's still struggling to wrap his mind around it. ]
...He must have been pretty strong for anyone to want make use of him in the first place. [ laurence can think of someone like that back home. ] How... How long has it taken?
no subject
An entity called the Heavenly Principles offered seven seats of power, one for each element, that would become the source of an Archon's enhanced affinity and powers once they were connected to it. Many gods went mad in their conquest for power, or resorted to cruelty, in attempt to eliminate competition, to control everything.
... Xiao was one such victim for his own power, yes. It's been two thousand years since the war ended, but 500 since the Cataclysm, a much smaller but still impactful period of strife. But he's made new bonds in recent years, ones that have coaxed him out of his shell.
no subject
[ then again, he's learning that many in power don't care about these things. and that it's not just a human problem, just like using others who are different isn't. ]
That's... good. [ genuinely. ] I'm glad he had the chance to get better.
[ maybe that means iris has a chance, too, once they get him back to somewhere safe. ]
no subject
At the cost of losing so many, over the millennia. Generations of human soldiers that fought by my side, and the adepti that sacrificed themselves in the name of their nation.
[ absolute power corrupts absolutely, whether you're mortal or immortal. he sighs, an almost tired, ancient breath of noise, all 6000 years old in the moment. ]
But they fought for the future. We all did. And he does have the chance to get better - I will take it.
no subject
As long as you don't have to go through something like that again, anyway. And I thought demiflora could be dangerous...
[ but gods? that's really on another level entirely. a whole new scale of destruction he couldn't have imagined if not for seeing a fragment of zhongli's life. ]
no subject
But even humans without power can be dangerous. It depends entirely on the individual - evil is what we do, not what we are.
[ ok philip pullman. ]
no subject
Obviously, or there wouldn't be spawncampers.
no subject
[ you use terms he doesn't understand.
also it's so fucking funny that vel still uses spawncampers when the mechanics of ctc changed. do you ever think about that. ]
no subject
People who hunt demiflora and harvest body parts for their powers. They sell them for money.
no subject
So there are those in your world that would see you not as people, but as... items. Vile.
no subject