[PRP] Tea Leaves (Fai/Lan)

[Ice Queen]

He hadn't started his garden. He hadn't asked for a grant yet, either, even though he had a partner willing to cosign for him. In fact, the longer Fai was there, the more he knew he would be leaving--if only for a short time--to see where and what they were now. Everything had been taken from him, practically--but another world had been given.

Well, if not GIVEN, he was damn well going to TAKE it. In fact, the only thing that was keeping him here at the moment was that he'd made a commitment to do a few things with the school. Once his obligations were over, Fai thought as he crouched down next to a tree in the woods, he would gather his meager belongings and head out. He really should warn Sal... Perhaps even mention it to the protectors.  

[Ice Queen]

Fai glanced up as the conquest horsewoman came into his area. He was honestly still not certain about the conquest horsemen, especially the ones that had that air about them. Oh, of course that was a misleading statement, he thought with a hint of amusement, ALL conquest horsemen had that air about them, practically.

"If you wish to murder your enemies I can get you a discount price," Fai commented as he watched her pick the leaves. "And something that would leave far less traces than that."  

[Ice Queen]

"I see," Fai said. "So you didn't mean to pick that. Shame," he said. "Perhaps, though, some things really are best left to people accustomed to dirty work." Honestly, he should show her the difference between the herbs, he knew--he just didn't care after that comment about making others do it for her. Although the trying part was less offensive.

"Not all famine horsemen are accomplished with herb gathering," he said, instead. "Those that are not find work that they are accomplished in, and do that, instead. What was your job title in Conquest, if I might ask?"  

[Ice Queen]

"Actually my job is cultivating various, often deadly plants and crops, as well as finding out the most efficient way to destroy them," Fai said mildly. "Precious is one of the first projects I helped with, and is, till this day, my favorite," he said, reaching up to stroke one of the larger carnivorous heads coming from his hair.

"I do appreciate a good cup of tea, though," he said. "Although it seems interesting that you list it as one of the abilities you are most proud of."  

[Ice Queen]

"Of course you should pick both," Fai said. "And keep them separated for future use. There is no better thing to do than prepare ahead of time, you see. Perhaps you might have unexpected visitors that bother you to the point where you wish to... politely deal with the problem," he added, a slight smile on his face as he went back to picking his own herbs. "In a way which makes you look perfectly innocent. For everyone knows that while you have great experience in making the tea, your experience in picking the leaves is... less than stellar."

iStoleYurVamps

 

[Ice Queen]

iStoleYurVamps

"Our greatest tradition is to survive," Fai said a bit dryly. "To adapt, and to move on. We are doing our best in all of those things, but I do believe those are traditions that the new Lost Clan has taken on as well. As for the other... more... traditional type traditions," he said quietly, "it is difficult to celebrate the beginning of a horseman, when no new horseman has come into being. It is difficult to celebrate the victory of a scientific discovery when we have lost all of our notes on the ones we were working on. It is difficult..."

He fell silent, looking at the plants in front of him. "We are a very... tight knit group," he said quietly. "There were no personal sleeping places in our clan, we slept together. We ate together. We laughed and we cried together. And now we cannot help but notice all the voices that are no longer there. All the bodies that are no longer there. It is... like losing a part of oneself."  

[Ice Queen]

"Yes, I am sure that such a situation is easier, now," Fai said quietly. He could see that, he supposed. The Famine Clan was always the... different group. With each conversation that he had with one of the other clans he began to recognize that more clearly.

But it changed nothing for him. It just alienated him more from this new attempt at a clan. They would never understand exactly how deep the bonds that the famine clan had lost. They were different. He had known that mentally, but only now was it sinking in emotionally. He should cling to his fellow famine members, seek to begin again with that deep bond--

But all he felt like doing right now was leaving all of this behind. He had not properly mourned in his heart. He knew it. There should be true mourning, wailing, sobbing, a verbal and visual expression of the loss that they felt--not some silent, emotionless viewing of the death of all their people. For Fai, though, before he could even think of beginning anew, seeking new life for the horsemen, he needed to separate himself from the old.

Wait. He was getting off track again. "Yes, of course," he said, meaning nothing by it. "But I have gathered what I need here. I wish you joy in your scavenging, Noble Lan," he said politely, bowing to her before slipping further into the woods, and out of sight.