ellipsanet | {Video; UN: scraps}

[What is it with all these people randomly transforming?! (Granted, it only happened like twice before, but even so, Hijikata dials in already agitated!)]

How'd you end up like this?! You aren't wearing a mermaid necklace, are you?

[It doesn't look like he is, from what he can see, but who knows, maybe he wore it as an anklet and it's now tied around his fin! Then again, don't people need to be in the water for the transformation to activate?]

Edited 2024-08-02 13:25 (UTC)

{Did you know that fishes are part of animal transformations? In Xie Lian's case, he is a cold water fish because...Winter. He doesn't need a necklace. He's extra special apparently.}

I'm not! {He lays back and ceases the abysmally useless flopping.} I guess I'm grateful I can still breathe?

[Hijikata knows that part - he's turned himself into a shark- or octopus merman a few times before -, but he's baffled at how people keep doing it on accident! (Could he stand to be more lenient about everybody having a different degree of control over their transformation magic? Absolutely. But he's pretty bad at being lenient about anything.)]

Yeah, that's the silver lining here, I guess.

[He mentally leafs through the other options... this is unlikely to be caused by tampered-with food or drink courtesy of the Hearts gang since, unlike those transformations, it's not a monster form, so that does only leave animal transformation.]

You need to calm down and focus on transforming back into a human. Can you do that?

{What makes this worse is Xie Lian is a martial deity. An old one at that! His fellow gods and goddesses are adept at changing their forms, but he has never tried it.

Now he has a fish tail and fins for ears.}

I...I'm not sure. {But what choice does he have? Struggling to sit up, using his abdominal muscles to see to the feat, he lays trembling hands on what used to be his legs.}

It's rather pretty, isn't it? {Not the point, of course, yet the colors are striking.} I should stay calm, you're right.

Edited 2024-08-02 14:14 (UTC)

I guess you're a koi.

[That's his subdued way of saying that he is indeed pretty! But that's more of an afterthought right now, because he actually has no idea how bad it is for merfolk to stay on land for too long.]

If you can't manage it, I'll come over and put you in the bathtub or something - unless you've got a roommate or neighbour who'd be with you faster.

[Then again, not everyone's going to be strong enough to lug a merman around!]

Oh a koi! We used to keep several ponds of koi in Xianle.

{Now he needs some rich person to take pity on him and build him a nice clean pond. He is doing what he can with his watering can, dripping the contents over his tail.}

My husband should be...somewhere? His name is Hua Cheng. I know he's strong enough to lift me, too.

{Because... Ghost King.}

[Hijikata relaxes a little - if this pretty but unfortunate koiboy has a strong husband, that's half his problems solved. Actually... could they be the couple Shang Qinghua lives with? First things first, though!]

Do you want to give him a call first of all? Or is he around the house?

[He has no problem staying on the phone with him until helps arrives, but if his husband is out and about and may not answer his phone, maybe he should get moving after all!]

{Yes, they are, actually! Qinghua was kidnapped by Xie Lian the moment his frost demon boyfriend went home.}

I... I'll try...

{He calls out for "San Lang!" and then touches a ring dangling from a chain around his neck.}

He'll be here soon. I know it.

Edited 2024-08-04 09:23 (UTC)

[Honestly, that was so good of them. Hijikata sucks at comforting others, and he and Qinghua aren't that close, but he was glad to hear that he wasn't alone for long at all.]

Okay, good. Is that the ring from Riki's shop you've got there?

[He knows about the Red String Rings, so he wonders! But maybe it's some different magical ring.]

{Not even a day. Xie Lian practically picked him up over his shoulder and carried him home!}

N-No. This is... {It's a secret.} My husband gave it to me.

{It's his husband's ashes formed into a diamond ring.}

[Okay, that's sweet... they seem to be an endearing couple. Hijikata kind of sucks at romance, too - he's really only good at slicing stuff up -, but he can recognise love when he sees it!]

You guys are cultivators, right? Is it magic from home?

I was a cultivator, but I've been a martial god for centuries. San Lang - Hua Cheng - is a Ghost King.

{Who knew gods and ghosts could fall in love?}

[Who knew, indeed! Well, Hijikata kind of did because Qinghua mentioned it, but the samurai didn't fully get it through his head that Hua Cheng isn't necessarily a cultivator ghost. The world of cultivators remains intriguing to him, perhaps because a simple swordsman like him has such trouble grasping it.]

It's pretty crazy to see how you guys just seem to get promoted into immortality all the time. Or is that the end goal of all cultivation?

[He talked about cultivation before with Xiao Xingchen - and didn't the latter make a network post not too long ago announcing his own ascension into immortality and seeking advice from other immortals? Hijikata, of course, couldn't offer any wisdom on that front, but, come to think...]

How do you celebrate it when a cultivator becomes immortal?

[Better late than never, right? (Also leave it to him to veer completely off topic from the situation at hand... but then again, maybe some distraction will help the merman relax and potentially turn back!)]

{Hua Cheng can do anything he puts his mind to. It was his undying dedication to Xie Lian that kept him going even after his death. That and he is incredibly clever and good at finding methods others either think impossible or don't think about at all. Xie Lian owes him...everything.}

For some, that is their goal. I was one of a group of Cultivators that climbed a mountain and cultivated nearer to the Heavens. But it wasn't until I fought and defeated a demon guarding a bridge that I was able to Ascend.

{And now he knows why.}

I suppose that depends on what they choose. If they are a god, you build them temples.

{No luck so far, but he is amused by a butterfly tickling his cheek with their wings. A glowing butterfly. His husband isn't far.}

I honestly don't know if my friend became a god or something else. I reckon I need to ask him.

[Even if Xingchen did become one, Hijikata won't be able to build him anything bigger than a miniature temple... but maybe he can bring him some offerings? Hold on, is it heresy if he worships a foreign god? He quickly decides that he doesn't care. A man like him is already hellbound no matter what.]

Who's visiting you there? Is that a spirit animal?

[Another thing he heard was sold at Riki's shop, but that he never considered buying - he already has his tattoo-granted dragon guardian spirit.]

It's a journey - like anything else - and there are choices to be made. I don't think everyone has the same opportunities I did.

{If there are enough gods for instance, a Cultivator might simply become an immortal that inhabits the Earth. A sort of standby, maybe?}

I guess you could say so. They belong to my San Lang. {He brushes a kiss against the butterfly's wing and they wiggle cutely.} Don't take them lightly. They are considered deadly by most gods.

[If a cultivator Hijikata cares about got turned into a standby god for a lack of open positions in the celestial sphere, he'd complain!! Surely, a new position could be invented! Aren't even the heavens full of bureaucracy? (Maybe he's approaching this too simplistically...)

But what Xie Lian says about the butterfly really intrigues him. He stares at the fragile-looking glowing insect through his phone screen.]

Are they really, though? How could a butterfly kill someone?

{Who knows what Heaven might do! Xie Lian has often been disappointed in the decisions of Heavenly bureaucracy (which is why he was kicked out twice). But now that he has more control - as the strongest god in Heaven - maybe he could help Xiao Xingchen - if that's what the man wants.

The butterfly is cradled and seems content to snuggle against Xie Lian's fingers.}

They can move in a flash and collide with their target like blades. They will sacrifice their lives and their power for their Lord. I hate it.

{Each butterfly is precious. Even if Hua Cheng makes thousands or millions, all of them are sweet towards him.}

You hate it? How come? Aren't you a martial god?

[He (re?)introduced himself like that on the network a month or so ago, didn't he?]

I think it's a neat technique. It's effective, and it looks nice.

[That last part is very important. He didn't add Sebonzakura to all his swords just for the added damage!]

Each butterfly has a soul; they choose to fight for their Master because they believe it is right. They do so out of love for him... {And for Xie Lian too.}

Their sacrifices matter. {His voice is harder now - sounding older than his seventeen year old face.} Have you had soldiers die for you? How can you not hate it?

[Well, that changes things. He nods.]

I get it. I didn't expect them to have souls. I thought they were... I don't know, constructs or summons. Are they born as butterflies, or..?

[Or were they the souls of people, in another life? Once again, he feels totally out of his depth. Genre-savvy as he thinks he is, he was sure that the butterflies were merely aesthetically pleasing companion creatures, but he was totally off the mark!]

{Video; UN: scraps}

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