All right, I'll allow for the possibility that you may come from a world in my distant future.
[ he is almost certainly not from hua cheng's actual timeline, though, or he would have known about gods and ghost kings from the get go. even the mortals in hua cheng's world have some idea of those topics, albeit not a very detailed one. ]
Tell me about your home. If I hear of someplace similar several thousand years later, I'll come and find you.
Will hearing about the place you came from before this help me find you if we're separated by the ages?
[ there's a playful tone to hua cheng's response, though. it would be far too much of a coincidence to think that he and rinne are from the same world, so he's really more just asking for the sake of keeping the conversation going. ]
You can tell me about whatever you like. Or nothing, if you'd rather keep your secrets.
I'll just have to tie a spiritual bell on you, then. Make it so I can find you wherever you go.
[ hua cheng flops onto his back again and spreads out his arms and legs. one of his arms stretches out just north of rinne's head, and then hua cheng draws it down to rest across the crown of rinne's hair instead. ]
No, thank you. I told you this the first time we met, didn't I? That the heavens tried to ascend me and I declined. [ hua cheng snorts a derisive noise, his feelings on the heavenly capital. ] If your people are going to worship me, I'll just have to meet you in secret and not let them see me.
What, like a housecat? I don't do well with bein' domesticated.
[That's a lie, but the idea of being tied down is something he resists, despite his feelings about marriage. It's complicated, really. His desire for freedom and his desire to make others happy were not always in agreement, after all.]
Yeah, I figured ya'd hate it. You and I, we're kindred souls~
If ya ever decide to look for me, you should be an idol in Japan though. I betcha I'd be the one seeking ya out.
Should I? What's the difference between being worshipped and being an idol?
[ because hua cheng, he hasn't yet had the talk with jun about their idol school, and he's never actually asked rinne exactly what being an idol entails—so when he hears "idol," he thinks of an icon of worship, someone or something celebrated, with believers who prostate themselves before it, etc. etc.
...which, really, isn't actually all that different from being a pop idol, probably, so maybe he's more on the money than he knows. ]
And for what would you seek me out, were I to become an idol?
[He says easily, and maybe that was the most honest thing he's said about himself to Hua Cheng in a while.]
I wouldn't call an idol someone I worship, though I guess for some people, they do. Idols are just people who are chasin' their dreams by making others happy, after all.
Before I knew what idols were, I thought I had no choice but to live the life someone else told me to. Doin' the same thing everyday, every night, with nothing ever changing? It was so boring I thought I was gonna live and die without meaning, y'know?
[ it is rare, that rinne answers hua cheng's questions honestly and without humor. hua cheng appreciates it, for the opportunity that it is—a chance to understand rinne a little better, even if he isn't being fully invited inside. ]
I can understand that.
[ obviously, being a ghost king is quite different than being an idol, but hua cheng can at least relate to the fear of living a life devoid of meaning, and to the desire to have the freedom to choose that meaning for yourself. ]
Do you feel that you've found the meaning you were looking for, now that you are an idol?
Hm. I suppose that's often the case, that the reality we grow into is less rosy than what we imagine in our youths.
[ hua cheng blinks slightly when rinne pushes himself up to look down at him, just for a moment before he processes what rinne has said. once he's understood, a grin spreads slowly over his face—not his usual cocky smirk, but a gentler, more genuine expression of happiness that very few ever get to see from him. ]
You have a kind heart, xiao mifeng. To find companionship even in a monster like me.
[ he's joking, mostly. ]
Even though this place is terrible, I'm also grateful to have met you.
[Like, Rinne knows comparing man with anger issues to ghost king is not the best thing, but Rinne thinks they're pretty similar. Rinne just hasn't lived long enough for it.]
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[ he is almost certainly not from hua cheng's actual timeline, though, or he would have known about gods and ghost kings from the get go. even the mortals in hua cheng's world have some idea of those topics, albeit not a very detailed one. ]
Tell me about your home. If I hear of someplace similar several thousand years later, I'll come and find you.
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I can't tell ya much about it.
[He admits, thinking about it. Even if this isn't his world, he is still after all, the protector of his home.]
But I can tell ya about the place I came from before this instead.
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[ there's a playful tone to hua cheng's response, though. it would be far too much of a coincidence to think that he and rinne are from the same world, so he's really more just asking for the sake of keeping the conversation going. ]
You can tell me about whatever you like. Or nothing, if you'd rather keep your secrets.
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[Or he might and then things might happen, like a scandal or a fight or--]
They might worship ya if they find out all that you can do though.
[He says it so seriously it's probably jarring, but he isn't lying... at least.]
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[ hua cheng flops onto his back again and spreads out his arms and legs. one of his arms stretches out just north of rinne's head, and then hua cheng draws it down to rest across the crown of rinne's hair instead. ]
No, thank you. I told you this the first time we met, didn't I? That the heavens tried to ascend me and I declined. [ hua cheng snorts a derisive noise, his feelings on the heavenly capital. ] If your people are going to worship me, I'll just have to meet you in secret and not let them see me.
no subject
[That's a lie, but the idea of being tied down is something he resists, despite his feelings about marriage. It's complicated, really. His desire for freedom and his desire to make others happy were not always in agreement, after all.]
Yeah, I figured ya'd hate it. You and I, we're kindred souls~
If ya ever decide to look for me, you should be an idol in Japan though. I betcha I'd be the one seeking ya out.
no subject
[ because hua cheng, he hasn't yet had the talk with jun about their idol school, and he's never actually asked rinne exactly what being an idol entails—so when he hears "idol," he thinks of an icon of worship, someone or something celebrated, with believers who prostate themselves before it, etc. etc.
...which, really, isn't actually all that different from being a pop idol, probably, so maybe he's more on the money than he knows. ]
And for what would you seek me out, were I to become an idol?
no subject
[He says easily, and maybe that was the most honest thing he's said about himself to Hua Cheng in a while.]
I wouldn't call an idol someone I worship, though I guess for some people, they do. Idols are just people who are chasin' their dreams by making others happy, after all.
Before I knew what idols were, I thought I had no choice but to live the life someone else told me to. Doin' the same thing everyday, every night, with nothing ever changing? It was so boring I thought I was gonna live and die without meaning, y'know?
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I can understand that.
[ obviously, being a ghost king is quite different than being an idol, but hua cheng can at least relate to the fear of living a life devoid of meaning, and to the desire to have the freedom to choose that meaning for yourself. ]
Do you feel that you've found the meaning you were looking for, now that you are an idol?
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[...]
But it was a lot of fun the last few months. Then this place happened, and I met ya.
[He turns to him, even as he pushes himself up to a sitting position, just to get a better look at Hua Cheng.]
So I can't say it ended too badly.
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[ hua cheng blinks slightly when rinne pushes himself up to look down at him, just for a moment before he processes what rinne has said. once he's understood, a grin spreads slowly over his face—not his usual cocky smirk, but a gentler, more genuine expression of happiness that very few ever get to see from him. ]
You have a kind heart, xiao mifeng. To find companionship even in a monster like me.
[ he's joking, mostly. ]
Even though this place is terrible, I'm also grateful to have met you.
no subject
[Like, Rinne knows comparing man with anger issues to ghost king is not the best thing, but Rinne thinks they're pretty similar. Rinne just hasn't lived long enough for it.]
In my eyes, yer just a man in love.