Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 5, 2022 23:06:14 GMT -8
"In my experience, choosing hope is often a difficult thing to do. Choosing to look for the good side. It's just so much easier to wallow and blame your circumstances." He'd done it often enough. "Am I using that word right? Wallow?"
"I didn't mean to snap. It's just- This freehold has a way of dumping its problems on Spring and expect us to fix things. Guess I'm worn out. But yeah, I hear you. It's sad that no one's reached out to you before. You'd think a community of displaced trauma survivors would do a better job at looking out for their own. The freehold has a habit of using people and then leaving them strung up. I mean, look at Mitch." He had experienced what Gavin was describing. He was hit with it every time someone didn't feel like going to the hospital to get stitches. Over the years, he had found ways to manage it, but unlike Gavin he hadn't been alone.
Yuan fidgeted for a moment, trying to find a reason why he was still looking. There wasn't one, really. "It just... never came up? People are usually in and out of my life like a whirlwind." He shrugged. "So yeah, still looking."
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Post by Gavin Graves on Jan 7, 2022 15:11:31 GMT -8
"I find it difficult to hold out pure hope. Practicality always seems to worm its way in: the worry and 'what ifs' of what's to come." He truly thought it was for the best. "Wallowing in that context is lingering in the negatives and misery of the past. So more or less, yeah, you've got the word." It wasn't a great parallel for the Razorhand's situation to his estimation though. His ruminating on the negative was usually about the present and future, as the instincts he restrained were always a current or predictable future consideration. Perhaps this was more about his companion than him. "If I'm wallowing, it's probably mostly only in my nightmares," he otherwise didn't see the thread.
"Is that so?" pausing to consider. Rowan had just finished suggesting that Gavin should take his worries to Mitch and get some help. Perhaps it was more broadly done as suggested. "Could be," he finally admitted. Though for his own part he believed he had done his fair share of community effort. "What's your experience in that area been?" returning the consideration.
"Well, let's change that. I may run around like a madman, but I keep my commitments. I mean assuming it isn't you that is running off because you can't sit still," he laughed trying to leave room for lighter mood. He'd just made a friend after all.
His fellow Beast could read that somehow a great hole in the Raptor was continuing to close after the initial rush witnessed earlier with the beam of joy coming from the dark creature.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 12, 2022 13:04:17 GMT -8
Yuan shrugged, considering how to be politically correct about his feelings.
“I have a knack for patching people up, but it’s stressful to me. Like…” He twirled his finger around his ear, implying strain on his mental health. “With Spring healing not working, I’ve had to use it a lot to compensate. The thing is, people have started taking it for granted. They have concerns over stitches and scars and whatever so plain old bandages are never good enough. No one cares that it takes me days to bounce back every time I magically heal a cut.”
“Not that I mind,” he quickly followed up, worried Gavin would take him for a whiner. “It’s just- A thank you would be nice, you know. There’s no connection.”
“I’ve been told it’s my responsibility to help the freehold, because there’s an invasion. ‘You have to do your part.’ So maybe it’ll pass. I just need to endure a little longer.”
“Nah, I usually stay still. Don’t have time to do much else. It should be fine. Thanks for agreeing, I can sleep easy now. Literally.”
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Post by Gavin Graves on Jan 14, 2022 0:28:20 GMT -8
Outlining the consequences on Spring's magic and the burden it had placed directly on Yuan, created an unsettling feeling in the Beast. He had a hand in that outcome. The nobility of Spring had thanked him for stopping their seditious brethren, but it still sat heavy with him. Here was this helpful young man suffering simply for Gavin's want to help without considering the consequences.
"I'm hoping to help fix that hiccup with the magic at some point." A pang of guilt crossed his face. "Can't speak for everyone else, but I appreciate the effort you go through. Thank you."
"Scorpio hasn't given me any strict instructions as to how to help around here myself, quite like that anyway, just the occasional assignment. Otherwise I just sort of press forward with what I do trying to help. You know, keeping busy."
Setting up the rest of the camp went smoothly for the pair. The Beast happy to finally have someone call him friend really picked up his mood and began to have a quieting effect on his ever-present mania. It wasn't like it was going somewhere, but it did take a turn toward being less prominently featured for the time being.
It was late in the season, but the weather had held out long enough for another gang of rowdy college age kids to want to spend a weekend or break on. They rarely needed a substantial excuse to party. This time it was a birthday that had happened somewhere in the midweek and they wanted to get wrecked, make some noise, and fuck around. Just what the Merchant ordered: fitful wasted potential.
This batch had brought along a pair of ATVs to rip around in. Sometimes it was a boat for tubing or knee-boarding. Other times it was a whole lot of alcohol and some firearms. There was always alcohol, upon further reflection.
Braving the flow of Necrosis from the other realm, he reinforced his mask to improve the odds of behaving normally and not accidentally turning something he grabbed into ribbons. It slipped on easier than he thought it would, despite the pain.
The ATVs would mean plenty of opportunities for someone to try and do some kind of stupid stunt for the social accolades of their friends. The trick for Gavin would be to be peripheral enough to the group to get the view for the Merchant without overly influencing the people with his Mantle.
With his fellow Beast's prompting and cues he was able to mingle, coax a few beers out of folks, and tell a few rousing stories from the homeland to fit in. Topping it off he sold the others on the features of nature that they could partake in around the area. Eventually the humans accepted the pair as a welcome presence to their celebration. Past a certain point, the alcohol loosened everyone up and the truly idiotic spectacles began. One of the guys trying to impress the crew took an ATV to try and perform a jump using a couple of inclines that seemingly had been built up for some unknown purpose by previous campers. He successfully jumped it back and forth a few times with increasing speeds. It was easy to spot the confidence growing wildly beyond his capacity to handle the vehicle. The simple pleasures of friendship, socializing, beer, nature, and watching someone learn a painful lesson in a funny way.
That's going on someone's Insta.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 14, 2022 14:01:36 GMT -8
The pain in his arm had reduced to a dull ache, enough to move around and help with the camp. It was peaceful - working with his hands forced Yuan to stop worrying about everything that was going on in his head. Truth be told, he had been like everyone else, at first.
Gavin had set him off. A healthy distance had been kept, one animal respecting another’s territory. If not for the Ashen Hunt, they would have never talked any more. Yuan wondered how many others there were in the Freehold, people like Gavin who didn’t know how to reach out to others and were left on the sidelines.
***
The kids were true to themselves. Birthday, mitzvah, what have you, they were out here partying on the fringes for the city. It was fairly easy to join them. The Playmate’s timeless features made him one of the gang. The tricky part was to get them to accept Gavin, but it was nothing Yuan couldn’t handle.
He hoped the Merchant would be satisfied. Now that he understood the assignment, the Spring could nudge the mortals in the right direction. Drink a little more, waste a little more time. He cheered just as loud as everyone when the stunts started.
Gavin seemed to handle himself quite well, which brought a smile on Yuan’s face.
Growth.
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Post by Alecto on Jan 14, 2022 20:39:19 GMT -8
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