——— // a starter for [ hu tao ], ft. @hyaeth.
as the evening dissipates into something more, drilling more depth into the darkness, the negative energy starts accumulating. tonight, it is around the premise of the wuwang hill. one that he’s not extremely fond of, thinking about it, considering that the rear area doesn’t belong to only him, but also a certain… oddity. it isn’t that he dislikes hu tao. well, not that much, by the measures of his distaste towards the mundane. she’s certainly unorthodox, housing a business that employs morax himself. she’s certainly also… tolerable, sometimes. perhaps eccentric by the standards imposed by her surroundings, but she breaks the humdrum set by those very norms, so he doesn’t mind her as much.
still, he lingers in the outskirt of the setting in the hopes that she is not around tonight. the demons are manageable, but having humans around might not be the best idea. ( not when a human child has suffered the consequences before. ) as soon as the swarming demons come in rivulets, however, he feels her too. with her… ghost? company? he might have known the apparatus before this aeon, but… it matters none. perhaps there is an unfinished business. knows for sure that she has the ability to open the gates that separate the living and otherwise, so that might be it. xiao grits his teeth behind the mask, moving faster against the wind.
it is a battle against a dozen tonight. not a large scale; he should be able to keep hu tao out of it. should he fail, he might need to perform another combat ritual, but that’s not his worry for now. he is to exterminate the restless souls, dispersing them with his jade spear. a glow that slashes into the dark. a shriek, unheard of by humans in the villages. this is his devotion. another searing blow, and he’s almost done. he phases into the last hoard, plunging from a height. the carnage is done, a deed necessary. he huffs, wondering if she is close in the vicinity. a second later, there’s her voice, jovial. some human emotions are irritating, indeed.
hoisting himself back to a standing position, he lets his mask and spear out of the equation. she must have detected his presence, too, alongside the diminishing remains of the shadows. after all, she can feel the dead… he doesn’t comprehend per se how that works, but. it’s none of his business, for sure. “you must like singing so much,” he says, turning to face her. arms crossed, almost arrogant. “huh. it makes me wonder why, sometimes, when you sing about the hilichurl’s brother and sister.” there’s an itch to question whether she knows those hilichurl siblings personally, but he seals his mouth shut instead.
