breaking point
@mpxposeidon
The story of Nuwa, or Nü Wa, or the Mother Goddess, or the Goddess of Creation, or the Serpent or Dragon Goddess, is a story that has been twisted and turned and changed until Nuwa barely remembers which version is the truth.
Perhaps that was the reason she began being so focused on the way she was perceived. Perhaps it was around the time she learned that people insisted she had to have had a brother, a husband, or both, in order to create humanity, that she vowed to make everyone see her true strength. And perhaps that happened so long ago that this mask she has created has become so intertwined with her previous personality that they are one and the same.
Many people have tried to get under Nuwa’s skin. But when she finally snaps, when she turns to Poseidon with something dangerous flashing in her eyes, it is not because of him. Not only, at least.
The Emperor is here. Nuwa knows what this means for Yixing, her close friend and companion, someone she trusts with more than her life. She does not know what this means for her. Probably nothing; Nuwa has never been involved with the Heavens. She knows the Emperor, of course, but she never bowed to him and he never asked her too. As the first of the Chinese deities, the second after the giant Pan Gu, she does not abide by the same rules as the others.
But, nevertheless, she worries. She doesn’t want Yixing to have to give up his life here in order to return to servitude. And she doesn’t want the Emperor showing up on this island, this island that has become Nuwa’s greatest treasure, and ruin it.
“What do you want from me,” she hisses at Poseidon. He frustrates her. Somehow, through all of his insistent flirting and joking and his horrible choice of clothes and the constant teasing remarks, he has gotten through to her. But the Emperor showing up is only a reminder of what happens when Nuwa dares to let her walls fall down.
She realizes her mistake only after it happens, only when Poseidon is staring up at her and she realizes she has shifted into her true form. Sighing, Nuwa shifts back into the human form he is used to and runs her fingers through her hair. She takes the paperwork from his hands (late, as always) and gives him a nod, and her voice is tired when she asks: “Will that be all, then?”