[PRP] Ghost of the Past (Lan and Xiong)

[oneironym]

Xiong had met few familiar faces since coming to Halloweentown, though a part of him knew that his brooding in his home in the Sanctuary was to blame. Maybe he had been afraid to go out and face what members of his Clan remained, being a soldier who had clearly failed in his duties.

Gradually, the shade of depression that demanded isolation melted away, though, and the crossbowman forced himself to venture out more and more often.

When he ran into a lady he recognized, the nerves promptly kicked in again, but at the same time, part of Xiong relaxed. She recalled his name, and the horseman immediately straightened, pressing one fist into the palm of his opposite hand in salute, smiling slightly even as he felt himself shaking slightly.

"Yes, milady," he replied; it took two tries to speak the words after his voice cracked sightly the first time, as though Xiong had not used it in a while. "Are you well?"  

[oneironym]

In retrospect, it seemed kind of a bad question to ask - of course none of them were "well", lacking their homes - but nonetheless, inquiring had felt the proper thing to do.

Xiong looked away and nodded at her response, realizing with a touch of shame that perhaps he should work harder to attend to his own duties, and spend less time hiding from them. But he could start for now with a walk with Lan.

"Yes, milady." Xiong gestured for her to lead the way.  

[oneironym]

Xiong followed, feeling a bit awkward at the small steps he had to take to avoid outstriding his companion.

"Alright, Lan." She had been a distant friend, but still someone he knew, but her request made it seem less forward. The soldier was quiet a moment, then added, "Though I hope you can forgive me if I call you by title by mistake. Any bit of the old structure I can cling to helps to put me a bit more at ease."

The sight of the familiar plants brought a faint sad smile back to his lips, and Xiong nodded in agreement. "Too much, too quickly. I must admit, I'm not even sure where to start in my own transition."  

[oneironym]

Xiong laughed once and shook his head. "I would never call you anything rude, I promise you, milady. Could never."

He studied the plants as well, feeling a bit of empathy with them, struggling to find their roots in the foreign soil. A noble battle, striving upwards towards sunlight once more....

"Trance?" he questioned, looking back to Lan. "What ... would it do? And how?" The warrior did not think himself an emotional person, but also questioned if his own losses were still too raw. He had, after all, just started to emerge into the world again.

Thoughts of fighting gave him mixed feelings, as well. It was something Xiong had long taken comfort in, but he also acutely felt that he had failed in that task, the one thing he had trained in his whole life. He was not sure he wanted to lift his crossbow again just yet.

"Perhaps I shall look into finding fear again. To reinvigorate me, so I can better lend my energy to reconstruction."