[ it isn't often that hua cheng lets the full extent of his ghost kingliness be known, but it's there in the way he smiles, his too-sharp incisors on display and his visible eye flashing briefly crimson. ]
Good. [ good, that arlong got his ass kicked. good that the village is free, that nami is free. hua cheng doesn't often involve himself in the affairs of mortals, but once he's decided someone matters to him, there's very little that will prevent the gruesome end of anyone who fucks with them.
not that arlong is here, and anyway hua cheng might not even have any power in nami's world, but still. he's satisfied knowing that nami won in the end. ]
You really are something fierce, aren't you, xiao jie.
[ Despite the air of fierceness hanging in the smile he gives her, Nami feels herself relaxing at his response, exhaling a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding as she nods along with that assessment, right up until he calls her fierce and leaves her chuckling quietly. ]
I don't know about fierce. The maps and charts I drew for Arlong helped him hurt a lot of people. [ Something she'll make peace with in time, but for now– ]
[ hua cheng shrugs. he understands her, at least intellectually: for someone gentle, it can't feel good to know that in the pursuit of your own goals, you've inadvertently allowed others to become collateral damage. but hua cheng is not gentle, and he's also allowed others to become collateral damage as he chases after his own ends, so he can't hold it against nami for a second.
she changes the subject, though, and quickly enough that hua cheng takes it to mean that the previous topic has drawn to a close. just as well—far be it from him to pull open old wounds still healing. ]
Gongzi, if you wanted to be formal. It means "young master." [ and the idea of being called gongzi seriously makes hua cheng laugh. ] I'm also called chengzu by the denizens of Ghost City—it means "city master." And by those who live near gege's shrine, I'm called xiao hua, "little flower."
[ Not for the first time, she's grateful for him. This time for the easy way he indulges her, switching topics and allowing her to steer them back into safer territory and grant herself a reprieve after telling a story she rarely, if ever shares. Pet names are easier, simple, and sweet, and while Nami's usually too practical to appreciate things like that regularly, some part of her appreciates a gentler continuation of the familiarity she's been left with after telling him the truth about herself. ]
Chengzu. [ It's the second one he offers that really sticks out to Nami, who still privately marvels over the concept of ghost kings and ghost cities in the first place. ]
[ well, isn't that a funny question. hua cheng considers it, then shakes his head slightly; his expression remains fairly placid, but if she looks closely there's a hint of something more solemn at the corner of his eye. ]
Friends... [ he doesn't really have those. not back home, anyway—when he was a ghost fire he lacked the corporeality for it, and then when he became a malicious ghost his time was dedicated to keeping xie lian from self-destructing utterly into his own madness. it was only when he became a supreme that he had the capacity at all, but then he became the ruler of ghost city, became a calamity with a reputation for terrible violence, and who wants to befriend a creature like that? ] Black Water calls me Crimson Rain. From my title, Crimson Rain Sought Flower.
[ he shrugs again. ]
I didn't have friends, at home. And those friends I've made here call me Hua Cheng.
[ Didn't have friends at home – for reasons Hua Cheng is already privy to, Nami gets it. Maybe that's why there's an easiness to getting along with him, her reputation wasn't for terrible violence, but it was still pretty terrible, and her world's hard enough that she doesn't doubt what he's capable of, or the things he'd do for his other half. ]
Gongzi or Chengzu? I like the second one, and I can't call you Crimson Rain Sought Flower, you're already a mouthful, remember?
[ She'd said a lot of rambling, heated things while his fingers fucked her beneath one of the casino's card tables during their night of derailed gambling, but she can recall poking fun at him back then, all while coming undone without their fellow players catching on.
Glancing back down at her sketchbook, she realizes she's abandoned her drawing and sighs at herself as the thought of all she revealed today rolls back around in her mind. There are a few strokes of her pencil that follow the thought, finishing up the drawing in an effort to tamp down those thoughts before she turns the book around for him to see. ]
I'm going to add more detail to this one later, I think.
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Good. [ good, that arlong got his ass kicked. good that the village is free, that nami is free. hua cheng doesn't often involve himself in the affairs of mortals, but once he's decided someone matters to him, there's very little that will prevent the gruesome end of anyone who fucks with them.
not that arlong is here, and anyway hua cheng might not even have any power in nami's world, but still. he's satisfied knowing that nami won in the end. ]
You really are something fierce, aren't you, xiao jie.
no subject
I don't know about fierce. The maps and charts I drew for Arlong helped him hurt a lot of people. [ Something she'll make peace with in time, but for now– ]
If I'm xiao jie, what do I call you?
no subject
she changes the subject, though, and quickly enough that hua cheng takes it to mean that the previous topic has drawn to a close. just as well—far be it from him to pull open old wounds still healing. ]
Gongzi, if you wanted to be formal. It means "young master." [ and the idea of being called gongzi seriously makes hua cheng laugh. ] I'm also called chengzu by the denizens of Ghost City—it means "city master." And by those who live near gege's shrine, I'm called xiao hua, "little flower."
no subject
Chengzu. [ It's the second one he offers that really sticks out to Nami, who still privately marvels over the concept of ghost kings and ghost cities in the first place. ]
What about your friends? What do they call you?
no subject
Friends... [ he doesn't really have those. not back home, anyway—when he was a ghost fire he lacked the corporeality for it, and then when he became a malicious ghost his time was dedicated to keeping xie lian from self-destructing utterly into his own madness. it was only when he became a supreme that he had the capacity at all, but then he became the ruler of ghost city, became a calamity with a reputation for terrible violence, and who wants to befriend a creature like that? ] Black Water calls me Crimson Rain. From my title, Crimson Rain Sought Flower.
[ he shrugs again. ]
I didn't have friends, at home. And those friends I've made here call me Hua Cheng.
no subject
Gongzi or Chengzu? I like the second one, and I can't call you Crimson Rain Sought Flower, you're already a mouthful, remember?
[ She'd said a lot of rambling, heated things while his fingers fucked her beneath one of the casino's card tables during their night of derailed gambling, but she can recall poking fun at him back then, all while coming undone without their fellow players catching on.
Glancing back down at her sketchbook, she realizes she's abandoned her drawing and sighs at herself as the thought of all she revealed today rolls back around in her mind. There are a few strokes of her pencil that follow the thought, finishing up the drawing in an effort to tamp down those thoughts before she turns the book around for him to see. ]
I'm going to add more detail to this one later, I think.