despite all his efforts, despite all his lord’s efforts, the karmic debt still heavily stained xiao to the point where he needed to keep it check, daily, for thousands of years. once one has lived with it long enough, it becomes more of a bothersome ache, but a bothersome ache that sometimes makes xiao cry out and double over in pain so excruciating that he felt as if he was going to die.
“cyno…did something similar for me,” he says, glancing down at her for a second before looking forward again, noting that they should arrive at the inn in about five minutes if he didn’t run into anything severe along the way. “i almost lost control, but he helped keep my karmic energies at bay by staying with me. i….karmic energies are not the same as archon residue, but they are both from the gods, and they both cause pain to those that hold them within themselves.”
collei seems like she knows that xiao is trying to keep her conscious by talking to her, and is speaking back, despite her evident exhaustion. she seems to pick up on things quickly, like cyno had mentioned when they spoke about her.
“i cannot leave liyue for very long, but the flower grove that you speak of sounds lovely.” some of xiao’s fondest memories include sitting in a field with flowers, either with his fellow yakshas or his lord morax or lady guizhong–and, sometimes, the goddess of flowers, too. barbatos brought him flowers sometimes, too, cecelias that would leave xiao’s fingers stained with scent when he would hold them for too long. “i…find myself partial to flowers myself, i always found them nice to look at, and they bring me peace.”
the archon residue seeping from her seems to grow more severe by the second, and xiao’s bared forearms feel as if they are burning now–his nature as an adeptus and something so similar to karmic debt do not mix well, and if he were built of lesser, he would have dropped collei from the pain.
but, he has a duty to complete.
Her eyebrows raise, curious of the story that went along with that. Still, she felt a sort of kinship that she was in the hands of someone who understood the pain that hid underneath her skin, harshly burning her. Her eyes dully watch the quick way the world passes by with the speed the adeptus moved, listening to the recount that he provided. ❝ … He’s very good at what he does. ❞ Her eyes flicker toward Xiao, contemplating, ❝ They sound rough to deal with … I’m glad that he was able to help you at least a little. ❞ If what he went through was any kind similar to hers, then she can’t help the sympathy that panged in her chest.
Talk of flowers continue, and she nods, ❝ Perhaps I can use that … Kamera I heard about to take a photo and show you sometime. I go there a lot to think … Whenever I’m not doing my routes, I like to sit and study there. ❞ The way he speaks of flowers speaks volumes, and she quietly nods, ❝ I get that … they are really pretty … smell nice … sometimes it’s nice to just lay in them. ❞
The heat is unbearable under her skin, the whisper of the harsh energies growing steadily louder in time. She tries to ignore it, biting her bottom lip harshly as the aches and pains settled deep in her bones.
❝ …. W… What’s your favorite flower ? I’m not sure what mine are … there are so many to choose from. ❞ She’s now desperately trying to grab a continuation of the conversation – something to focus her mind on.
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