2011-07-06 - Cave Story

"She'll be fine." This seems to be the general assessment given by the medics each time someone came to ask about the catgirl. Rumors about what had happened were rampant, running through the ship like wild-fire. At first - they had claimed that the mechanic was killed - sometimes drown, sometimes slain in cold blood. Later, as the truth got out, things quieted and calmed. "We're not sure how long she was under, but there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage. We'll know more when she wakes, and we'll need to monitor her for signs of pneumonia. We had to sedate her because she kept clawing the medics." And, indeed, there were a few more of the SuiKyosha's staff with bandages on their arms because of the catgirl's failings. In her dazed state from nearly drowning - she hadn't been able to distinguish friend from enemy, and no one seemed to blame her for that.

Time passed. Ling had come by early on, bringing with him the catgirl's radio earpiece as well as some smaller projects. If she did get stuck in the medical bay for long, he knew well enough how bored she'd get. He even created a small flower out of metal parts, placing it on the nightstand next to her. Little things like this are why so many still think that the teenager and catgirl have something going on. Still, he wasn't the only visitor. Quite a few of the beastmen came to pay their regards, including more than a few of the single males who brought various tokens - tribal health charms and trinkets.

Yu Zhi Wu had taken shifts with Xiang when there were needs for his attention elsewhere - which seemed far more common than either of them probably would have liked. The events of the day had caused so much turmoil among the people, and they needed the Emporer to stand strong. And standing strong meant not hovering over the bedside of one girl while the rest of the people suffered. Sometimes, the life of an Emporer isn't easy, and the choice to do the right thing by his people probably would override his personal feelings.

It's late. Even the lights of the SuiKyosha have been darkened slightly to indicate the passage of time. There is a soft glow from nearby bioluminescent plantlife, casting a glow upon the sleeping catgirl. She's tucked underneath warming blankets, one arm wrapped in bandages and her body covered by a thin robe. She almost looked like a different person, laying there, curled up on herself. Sinya had barely moved, although the rise and fall of her chest, and the occasional rough patch of coughing, showed that she still lived - still fought. Even the medics had said it: "She's a fighter, this one." A fighter, who's first sign of waking is a small flex of her fingers.

To say that the interuptions were more common than Xiang would have liked, was certainly an understatement. He felt responsible to Sinya's current condition, even though there really was little he could have done, short of throwing Feng off of the ship earlier - which probably would have ended worse, for there was no truly 'proper' reason. And this thought kind of stuck to his mind as the Emperor visitted people, putting their mind at ease, and talked to the elders that remained about his decision about exiling Feng. He could have done better in that aspect, he wasn't as charismatic as that man after all, and the facts spoken were against him. But he refused to twist things or lie.

Other moments were spent talking to the hangar crew - of which in fact, nobody had left - as well as the people of his city in general. He'd made a grande speech across the shipwide broadcast system, to explain what happened, without letting out any details short of him and Yu Zhi Wu being able to read the minds of people, and how they'd found out about Sinya's near death. Of course, over the course of the night, more people had left his ship. And in the end, a good fifty or so people had finally left the city-ship.

But in the end, when he came back to Sinya's side, she was still asleep. He watched her quietly, and appreciated the comments from the medics, who were trying to put his mind at ease. There was a moment where people had suggested accupuncture, but Xiang had kindly reminded them not to do this, against the feline's will. And now, when she finally moves, the unmoving emperor's eyes quicky latch onto that smallest of sign, and puts his warm hands around her hand. He was worried, and people could see it through the cracks of his 'mask'. And Sinya certainly would be able to read it if she came too. "Sinya..." The Emperor whispers.

For Sinya, time had become muddled, confused. She was walking along the warf, watching the fishing vessels as she tended to each morning she spent on-board. Waiting to meet them as they arrived so she could get the freshest takes for her breakfast before starting the day. Then, something had come out of nowhere and knocked her into the water. A man... no. A monster! She had gotten a glimpse - even if only a momentary one - of the darkness within Liu Feng. The water! The cold had sapped her strength, and try as she could, there wasn't anything to grab onto. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't...

The catgirl's hands flex again, her body shivering slightly from the memory - even if she warmed eventually. Perhaps the cold, driving her close to hypothermia, had been part of what saved her. But there is warmth there. It wraps around her hand, and the girl's claws draw back slightly. She's not quite there, not yet, the surface of her mind still cloudy - as if it were still held under the water. The tranquilizers had been pretty strong, strong enough to keep her unconscious most of the day and into the depths of night.

A little growl rumbles up from the girl's chest, a sound she had never really made in the presence of others. So much of those natural sounds were suppressed to seem more human. Her tail begins to move, the tip twitching, and her lips seem to murmur sounds that don't quite form into words. Then, as she takes a breath, another round of coughing seizes her and this seems to be what finally causes her eyes to open. Luckily, it doens't last long. At the end, she simply lays her head back down onto the pillow, her hand instinctively squeezing Xiang's.

It's only once she has caught her breath that those green eyes even find him. In the half-light, he looked so sad to her, the blues of the bioluminecense casting him in a strange pallor. "So..." She tries to speak, her voice a little ragged, "Did you have to refill the harbor. I think I might have inhaled most of it." With another weak little cough, the mechanic tries to smile, although it really just twitches her lips up slightly. "Tell the SuiKyosha she needs to filter the water better. My mouth tastes like a refinery." If nothing else, at least her sense of humor doesn't seem broken.

That second flex draws a slight and hopeful smile to the Emperor's expression, and holds onto her hand a slight bit more strongly, as if he could somehow transfer some of his own 'strength' into the frail body of the catgirl. That little growl does surprise the man a little, but he says nothing, he just watches her with that same hopeful look. The coughing causes him to lighten his hold on her hand, in case she needed it. But no, instead of that, she squeezes his hand and confirms that she is concious.

"Sinya..." The man repeats her name once again when her eyes open. That sadness still in his eyes... only to be followed by laughter. He didn't expect the feline to make a joke waking up like this, and it catches him off-guard. He chuckles, and laughs, when she says this, catching the attention of the medics for a moment. After all, nobody on this ship has ever really seen this man laugh. "I think the harbor will be fine." Xiang chuckles, shaking his head slightly. Oh Sinya. How you confuse this man sometimes. "And I'll see what I can do about that filtering." Though he has no clue what a refinery tastes like. He doesn't really even know what a refinery /is/ in the first place, other than the definition from the dictionary.

"Shh-shh-shh." Xiang makes shushing sounds, trying to get the girl to quiet down. "Don't talk too much. You're still weak. Save your strength." He whispers to her, and scoots a little closer to her. "How do you feel?" Even though he /just/ asked her not to talk too much, there he goes asking her a question. But still, it is to be expected for him to be a slight bit unreasonable in this situation. That smile falters slightly, and that worry does remain. But there's a definite... relaxation in his posture; relieved.

That sudden laugh seems to bring another of those small smiles to the catgirl's features, even as she doesn't lift her head from the pillow beneath it. There is a small twitch of her nose, taking in the strange smells of the medical ward. Everything always smelled different on the SuiKyosha. Where-as a hospital in the human world had that chemical scent, things here were far more warm, inviting, calming. "Careful." She whispers, "You might just let people see there's a heart under there." Her ears are still folded back, looking like a sick kitten, even as her eyes settle on him with that warmth that seems reserved for him alone.

Those ears do twitch, though, hearing the sounds of others closeby. It was sign enough for her not to be too intimate - not to let them see. How much had he let slip already? The worried look, people couldn't have missed that. "You shouldn't trouble yourself with me, Captain. I'll be fine." She lets out a soft sigh, but her fingers do squeeze against his again, even going so far as to let those fingertips trace against his skin. The small gesture, that small sign of affection, would be almost invisible in the dim light. Sometimes, the secrecy was so hard. Times like these when she would want nothing more then to ask him to hold her - and yet... she had to keep that distance.

"Feng?" She asks, ignoring his question for the time being. Those green eyes are searching, troubled. "He came out of nowhere. I didn't have time to..." With another cough, her words get cut off, but this one at least seems to clear her breathing a bit more. Taking a few breaths, she lets her eyes close, but the movement of her fingers against his skin is sign enough that she isn't asleep. "My chest hurts." She admits, "And my throat feels like it's lined in barbed wire."

"It's alright." Xiang whispers to Sinya. "I told them I feel responsible for what happened to you." And he does. "And they can't see my expression from over there." After all, it seems the medics are keeping their distance. His voice then raises back to his normal volume. "Are you sure you will be fine?" He squeezes her hand, much as she squeezes his, only with both of his hands, and smiles when she lets him feel that small sign of affection, that little brush over his skin.

"I know. Feng has been dealt with." He pauses for a moment. "I exiled him from the SuiKyosha." Pause. "He did take quite some people with him, around fifty. Most of them the older warriors, and some of the parents with children." He continues to explain. "Nothing you should need to worry about though." In fact, he didn't even really 'worry' about it, short of hoping that under Liu Feng's leadership, they would not find themselves on the path of destruction. And he knew that he'd have to keep an eye out on them somehow, to keep them protected.

"You'll recover in time." He pats her hand and then finally lets go, putting his hands onto his knees as a medic comes by to check what is going on. "She's awake." His expression stone-faces again, as he speaks to the woman who'd just passed by. "She is complaining about her chest hurting, and her throat as well." He explains.

Sinya's eyes don't remain closed for very long, opening again into that half-darkness as she nods her head. "It's not your fault." She tells him, trying to ensure that he didn't actually feel responsible, regardless of what he told the others. She doesn't raise her own voice along with his, it would put too much pressure on her throat, "I'll be okay." She nods, and her ears twitch slightly, but still seem to remain back - an easily readable cat-like sign that she isn't feeling well. Even her tail barely moves, kept curled between her legs, beneath the blankets.

The news about Feng doesn't seem to lift her mood, either. There is a sigh from her lips, and a slight movement of her head. "This won't be the end of it." That momentary touch of the man's mind to her own had given Sinya enough insight to understand that much, and Xiang's more prolongued exposure to him would certainly affirm this notion. The fact that so many others had left, though, that seems to only bring a saddened look to those green eyes. "I cause you so much trouble. Not that this wouldn't have happened anyways." No, even if it weren't for Sinya, it seems likely enough that Feng would have latched on to some other reason to oppose Xiang Yuan's rule.

There is a reluctance as he pulls his hand away, a small saddened look from her eyes that she tries to hide the moment that the medic comes over towards her. This is one of those who had a bandaged arm, so they are just a little bit more cautious about startling the catgirl. The medic shines a light in her eyes, which causes her to hiss and draw her head away. Then, a small battery of tests - asking if she can feel her toes, fingers, if she felt dizzy, lightheaded. It's all very standard, and very clinical.

Then, the medic mixes up a couple of liquids, creating a new potion that is a quite disturbing color of green, almost the exact shade of sea-foam. The medic helps Sinya into a sitting position, which doesn't take much effort at all, and then instructs her to drink it. The catgirl's nose twitches, and then she moves her head away from it. "Ulfh." The sound is disgusted, but the medic looks quite sternly at her. With a little warning growl, she takes a breath, and then quafs the potion in one gulp, trying not to taste it, or smell it. She doesn't succeed. "Bleeeech." The expression on the girl's face is probably quite amusing, with a disgusted show of her tongue.

This seems to satisfy the medic, "She'll be fine, Lord Xiang. There really isn't any further need to take up more of your time, sire." It's clear that the medic in question doesn't see the point in him blaming himself for what had happened - or continuing to waste time. And his expression settles on Sinya, as if looking to her to confirm this and expecting the same answer in return. The catgirl leans back against the pillows, quiet for a moment before she sighs. "I'm fine, Captain, really. I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time." Even as her words say one thing, Sinya's eyes speak volumes to the opposite - she most certainly did not want him to go. If nothing else, she wanted the medic to go. More-so than that, she wanted /out/ of there.

Xiang doesn't answer to Sinya's claim that it wasn't his fault. Clearly, he cannot help but feel some sense of responsibility for what happened. But he isn't going to mope around and constantly blame himself for it - mostly because Sinya now was recovering. And her assurance that she would be okay is good enough for the man to put his conscience somewhat at ease; something one might be hard-pressed to read from his expression, but the girl can read it easily from the surface of his mind - that loss of tension. The emperor observes the feline's behavior, and those twitches and down-eared mannerisms are indeed enough for him to read, along with the way her tail was expressed so easily underneath the gentle blankets.

But her comment on Feng brings him somewhat back to looking at the feline herself, meeting her gaze. "No, it will not." He agrees with her. Feng had said as much, threatening him. And he'd read from the top of his mind, within that darkness, that there was certain to be a return. An armed one at that. One based on hate and an unhealthy amount of pride. "Don't worry about it. As you said, this would have happened either way." He expresses and then shifts his gaze onto the medic whilst catching that 'pawing', that sadness, when he pulls away his hand. This secrecy... it sucked. It really did.

The whole sum of tests gets watched with a straight face from the man. He doesn't even laugh when the girl goes 'bleeech', although she could probably once again read from his mind that he was, in fact, quite amused, and doing his best /not/ to show this smile to the medic. "Thank you." Xiang tells the medic as he is told that there is nothing else for him to do, and bows his head lightly - which of course means the medic has to bow down rather far, thanks to him sitting, so he can be 'beneath' him in this reply.

Xiang's attention then returns, once again, onto Sinya as the medic wanders off. As much as she is saying she is fine, he knows exactly what is going on in that brain of hers. And he can't blame her. She didn't like being cooped up like this. He just... nods his head at her and stands up, following the medic and engages him in conversation, drawing his attention far away from the catgirl whilst talking about medicine, new supplies, and checking what Feng's people may have taken away. It appeared that some rather expensive things were missing and needed to be resupplied. And finally, after a good five to ten minutes later, Xiang finally wanders out of that medical ward and begins to walk for the guest quarters.

The fact is - regardless of how much Sinya probably needed to stay in the medical ward, the catgirl never liked being cooped up in small places. It isn't claustrophibia, as she had no trouble with her own trailer back at the Raven's Nest, but the fact of being isolated, stuck, restricted to one place. It's all too familiar of a feeling and it makes her more than a little uncomfortable. It doesn't help that most doctors - even the more trained ones, weren't as familiar with her physiology and tended to want to do scan after scan, as if the catgirl were a test subject.

The moment that Xiang has the medic distracted, Sinya begins to move. She's still weak - but that doesn't mean that she can't be stealthy. With the lights still low, it's easy for her to slide down off of the cot and nudge a few pillows from nearby underneath to give the illusion of someone sleeping. Then, she moves along the wall, ears flat. If this were an anime, there would be a view of Xiang distracting the medic, and little 'scootching' sounds as a chibi-fied Sinya makes her way along the wall and out of the medical bay.

She isn't exactly quick to make her way down the hallways, but luckily they are empty this time of night. Nearly everyone was asleep, so there isn't anyone to report a run-away. At the same time, the catgirl does end up a bit lost. She'd never been to the medical facility on-board before, and the floors did tend to all kind of blend together if you didn't know what you were looking for. With a sigh, she leans against the wall, letting her head cool against the glass as she waits, knowing that Xiang would find her sooner or later.

Whilst it may have seemed that Sinya had lost her way, she was in fact somewhat on track. Her road would eventually have taken her somewhere along the lines of the guest Quarters. But, knowing that she was feeling disoriented, Xiang Yuan is following the 'presence' of the catgirl within the SuiKyosha, and ensd up finds her on one of the many paths to that place. After a small while, she could probably see him, casually wandering in her direction - quite aware that nobody is around in the area she'd found to 'rest'.

"You probably shouldn't be overexerting yourself." The Emperor whispers to her, after coming within an arm's length of her, and gently taking one of her hands so that he may support her. "Come on. Where do you want to go?" He tries to make sure that she is feeling at ease, the way he speaks to her. In fact, with nobody around, he takes a moment to put a hand at her cheek and gently rubs her, confirming that love between the two of them. After all, Xiang really isn't one to touch anyone else other than her.

"Or would you prefer I carry you?" The Emperor continues on to add, smiling lightly. After all, with the girl as weak as she is, he believes that it may be best if she doesn't move too much. However, he also knows that the catgirl prefers a certain level of freedom. And that is not something he wishes to take away. With her having been 'cooped up' and laying in that hospital bed for quite a while -- though unconcious -- she probably wants to make use of her freedom for a while.

By the time that Xiang does catch up with the catgirl, her head is pressed lightly up against the glass, watching as a few fish swim by. There are some that even seem to pay some attention to her - probably the closest they could get to a cat without being eaten. She watches them almost distractedly, those green eyes following their motion through the water. Water. She is surrounded by it at all times when on the SuiKyosha. Connected to the strange spirit of the water that controls the ship. And worse - bound to it by the love she feels for the ship's captain. And yet, this had been the same force that had nearly taken her life.

Even before Xiang speaks, the girl seems to sense his presence. "He overheard me, you know. The night of the banquet. He's probably been planning this for weeks." She lets out a sigh, which causes the glass to fog up slightly, and some of the fish to swim off. Her head turns towards him as the warmth of his hand slips into her own. The girl manages to give a small smile, raising one fur covered shoulder. "I'm alright." She re-assures him, "It's more the drugs they had me under than anything else." With a small squeeze to his hand, the catgirl lets her head lift from the wall, leaning to the touch of his fingers. "I'm sorry for worrying you." It's easy to pick up on those surface emotions - the way he'd felt when she'd stayed asleep for so long. "Learning how to swim just suddenly moved to the top of my agenda." She smirks, although it doesn't really have much humor to it.

With a push off of the wall, Sinya manages to stand strait, although her balance is still a little on the groggy side. Normally, balance is never a problem for her - but her kind react a bit differently to being sedated than humans. "I can walk." She replies, nodding briefly, although the gentle pull of her emotions suggests that she appreciates the gesture. There is even a small glimmer of that thought of just snuggling up into his arms, but she pushes that to the side. This is safer, for both of them. "Take me someplace I've never gone on the SuiKyosha. Your favorite place." She suggests, ears lifting just slightly as those eyes look to him.

Xiang continues to smile upon the girl as she turns about, something that falters for a moment when she reminds him when Feng had caught onto this. He'd known the same thing, he'd read that time that the man was planning something with that information. But that smile returns once more when she re-assures him with that fanged look. "It's alright Sinya. There is no need to appologize. You did nothing wrong." The emperor assures the girl, and continues to lightly play with her hair and neck as she stands there before him. He 'hears' her thoughts and emotions as they pass by, even as she tells him that she can walk. That moment, the emperor looks past her, at those fish and the slowly retreating 'fog' on the glass.

Indeed, water was a dangerous thing - that is certainly something he'd learned even before he'd become a captain of this ship. That is something he'd learned as a child. Everyone within this ship knew just how devastating water could be, and they all knew how to swim. In fact, for most of those on the SuiKyosha, of those 'original' people, swimming came natural since a very young age. They learned how to recognize the tides, know the weather, know when a storm would be brewing. They learned to know the dangerous sea-creatures. And when she asks him to take her to his favorite place, that notion is what brings an idea to mind. He didn't really have a favorite place in the way of a place that he'd go to when he'd have to think about something - nothing like that. But there was something else.

"Follow me then." Xiang puts a hand behind her back and begins to lead her off. Their trip is a fairly long one from where they are. They travel to the third level, then down to the second again as they reach the front of the ship, and weave through a series of halls. Things get darker as they continue, but Xiang seems certain in his lead. There are more bioluminescent plants here. They continue on, and finally arrive in what almost looks to be a coral cave of sorts. And within it, small blue creatures open their beady eyes at her and look.

"These are the Leviathans." Xiang claims, letting her go and stepping a few steps further. "They read one's mind and emotions, so they know whether to fear a Hume or not. Much like me, they make decisions based on every single creature, not to a species or a group." The man continues to walk forwards, and halts at the edge of a dark water basin. He then moves one hand forward, whilst darkness and a feint blue glow plays on his body, along with the reflection of the water's texture. And as he stretches that hand out, one of the little sea-dragons makes a preening sound and flaps its small wings to land onto his hand, wrapping its tail around his wrist like an armband of sorts. "Come." He whispers, moving his free hand.

For a time after that, Sinya is simply quiet. There is little for her to say. He was right - there was nothing she could have done to prevent this. Even if she had learned to swim, it's likely that Liu Feng would have found some other weakness to exploit - sooner or later. There is a flash of determination in the catgirl's eyes. She /had/ to become stronger. She couldn't be the one that others always had to rescue. No, her father had brought her up to be more than just some damsel in distress. The problem is - how to even start?

Luckily, there are distractions. At the very least, she can be quite thankful that the Suikyosha doesn't utilize the traditional 'medical gowns' that most places did. Instead, the catgirl ends up draped in a robe that's probably made out of silk more expensive than most of her entire wardrobe. At the very least, it didn't make her look quite like an escapee from the medical ward. Not that she had much worry about being discovered.

The more that she walks, the easier it seems to be. The drugs don't linger long in her system - which is probably why they had to sedate her quite so deeply in order to keep her from lashing out at them in that dazed state. As usual, there is little real recollection of where they are, or how they got there. Trying to map out the twists and turns of the SuiKyosha seemed almost impossible. Her bond was to Xiang, mostly - not to the SuiKyosha herself, so the internal map isn't something she can access. Not yet, anyways. When the walls start to change into that more coral texture, she can't help but reach out and run her fingers along it, being careful not to break off any pieces. She even pauses a bit behind him, looking up and around, giving a small spin as she takes in the way that the plants light things up.

As he stops, walking forward to interact with the little creatures, Sinya just pauses in the wonder of the moment. There is something strange about the way the light reflects off of his skin, and the way the little creatures follow their movements. "Leviathans?" She asks, taking a cautious step forward as she looks at the little creature curled around Xiang's arm. "I guess I always imagined they'd be... bigger." Confusion shows on her features as she leans her head towards his hand, sniffing at the coiled serpant.

The little serpent looks at Sinya and tips its head about, making another little creening sound and then moves its head towards Sinya... only to back off and sneeze softly. It sticks its tongue out, sneezes again, turns away, and then sneezes in the form of a beautiful blue fire which somehow manages to feel... cold. "Hrrm?" Xiang blinks as Sinya claims she was expecting the Leviathans to be bigger. "Well, these are still babies really. They age really slowly. And they generally only get as big as the environment allows them to. But they seem to like it here. So I doubt we'll see them getting any bigger."

The little creatures in the back have started playing around, apparently having stopped whatever they were doing earlier, as people had been approaching. They dump into the water, fly around, and wrestle with eachother. "They're also can speak into one's mind." Xiang adds on, "But they rarely do." The little one which had sneezed previously is now sniffing at Sinya again, making more of those cute little dragony-sounds, and flutters its tiny little leather wings.

Xiang then moves his hand, palm up, towards Sinya, and the little one quickly springboards right onto her shoulder, moving its tail lightly along her neck, and curls on her other shoulder after deciding that the fluff there is rather comfy. Which of course, gets a youthful chuckle from Xiang. "Guess he likes you."

At first, the exchange between the two is almost comical. Sinya's nose twitching, and the lizard's nose twitching at the same time. Of course, when the little one sneezes, Sinya draws her head back, ears slicking into her red hair. "They aren't allergic to cats, are they?" She asks, not sure what to make of those sneezes, especially the final one that seems to come with a fireball attached to it. "Sorry about that." She apologises, taking a step backwards as her tail tucks between her legs. "Where I come from, the stories of Leviathans speak of huge world-encompassing serpents who gobble up sailors who look tasty." She muses, tilting her head in a matching fashion as the tiny creature, smiling softly. "These little ones don't look big enough to gobble down even a large fish."

There is a small, almost girlish laugh as the little lizard springboards onto her shoulder. Sinya looks one way, then the other as it hops over and settles onto the fur there, her hand reaching up to lightly scratch the little dragon-like head. "Now that he's not sneezing, anyways." She admits, purring softly to herself - obviously pleased at her new 'little friend'. But then her eyes look back to Xiang, watching him and the display of the creatures behind him. "I think the SuiKyosha has a hard enough time reaching me, I doubt these guys would have much better luck."

She takes a step forward, crouching and then settling herself near the edge of the water. The blue reflects strangely against the reds of her natural coloration, but it seems to bring out the color of those green eyes. "What was it like for you, the first time she reached out to you?" Sinya's voice is kept soft, not wanting to disturb the display of the lizards. "I mean, I've never heard her directly, or anything. Just mostly you. And I get glimpses of others sometimes. Like Feng. But I think anyone could have read his intention, with or without magic."

"They're not." Xiang explains to Sinya, and continues to say; "They don't seem to be allergic to anything really. Much like the people of the SuiKyosha." before he takes a step back himself and aims his back at the playing lizards... who decide that because the guy is standing still, he is now their new playground. So little lizards start flitting between his legs and between his arms and one suddenly is hanging along his braid like some kind of ornament, watching Sinya, and giving her another weird look. After all, her race was one they didn't know it would appear. "And I don't think it's that, Sinya. I think she is just trying to not overwhelm you." Though it must be noted, the catgirl will likely never have as big of a connection to her as its captain, though she might get rather close.

The man moves his head along with the little flitting Leviathans and then turns back to the girl as she asks him what it was like for him. SuiKyosha, talking to him. "Invasive." He explains. "She wasn't really gentle in the past. It was like a shrieking pain really..." Well, that's probably something Sinya didn't want to know about. But he doesn't sound too worried. "SuiKyosha has improved greatly with time. She wasn't very used to communicating with humans it seemed." The man lets out a little sigh and moves his arms to the front, as he ponders something.

"You see, the first time me and Yu Zhi Wu met SuiKyosha, was on the day both of us almost died. Back when I was still Jiao Long, me and her were outcast from the village. With it being a water village, that basically meant we were stuck on a boat, drifting off into the darkness. And after a while, we were pulled into a whirlpool that almost killed us. It was SuiKyosha who saved us, and gave us a second chance at life - and let us travel the world - before chosing me as its captain." Okay, so he gave her the short version.

The catgirl can't help but laugh slightly as the lizards use Xiang as a playground. Oh, she can just imagine what his people might think seeing him now, with multi-colored serpents twined into his hair. She covers her mouth, amusement showing in those green eyes as she shakes her head. "Maybe they just stick around because they like you." She offers, still scratching the little one at her shoulder, even as she twitches her ears towards the ones clinging to him. Their little heads seem to follow the motion, as if they'd never seen such a thing before. "You kind of have that effect on some people, you know." She teases, leaning forward for a moment to look down at her reflection in the water. Ripples pass over her features, but the image is still the same as always.

"It's probably a good thing. I don't know that I'd have come back if she'd tried to forge that connection too quickly. It was scary enough to begin with." She touches a fingertip to her reflection, causing it to vanish with the ripples as she turns back towards Xiang. Inwardly, as always, Sinya has her doubts. Did she belong here? Did she belong with him? But, as always, the sight of him is enough to calm some of these doubts, bringing another of those smiles to her features. "Did you ever wonder if you were just losing your mind? Or losing yourself?" She'd felt both in those early days - when the first hints of that connection started to tie themselves into her consciousness.

For now, Sinya simply remains sitting, watching the light play off of his form and off of the little bodies of the serpents. "The village..." She starts, the question stopping at the edge of her tongue. Not just 'the village', but 'THE village'. Somehow, she seems sure of that much, even without him saying so. "That's why you don't want anyone to know who you are..." Her ears twitch back, worry showing in those green eyes. Unlike some, Sinya doesn't prompt him for answers, or ask a lot of questions. His stories are his to tell, but what she does do, is set her hand upon the floor, closing her eyes. "Thank you." She whispers, perhaps for the first time really giving those words meaning, showing just how greatful she is for the SuiKyosha saving Xiang's life so that he could be here to save her's, and for being part of the catalyst bringing them together.

"See something funny?" The emperor muses, obviously knowing just fine what is amusing her so. The young emperor turns his head at the one that is playing with his braid, and is trying to play king-of-the-braid with another lizard, snapping at eachother and wagging their tiny wings at one-another to try and be intimidating. It really just comes off as cute. "Well, I do know that they enjoy my company. But they see very little of me. I try to leave them be most of the time." And most of the SuiKyosha's crew didn't even know of their existance. They were in a part that SuiKyosha personally kept locked off unless the captain gave permission.

"This is in a way, the safest place within this ship." Xiang continues on to claim, before he looks up at the little lizard which is raising its head and rubbing its neck against Sinya's fingers, making delighted sounds as she does so. Xiang slowly goes through his knees and then sits down besides the water, watching it as Sinya plays with the reflections within it. "I did." He finds it easy talking to her about these kind of things. "Even then, when you were just introduced to it, in that situation, even I felt for a moment, like I lost myself. Because you had thoughts and feelings I was not used to."

He turns his head back so that he can look at the girl."Correct. It is why I was amused when mister Feng decided to say that I didn't feel like I could understand the people here, because I was not of their blood." He shakes his head. Bloodlines. Invisible bonds that only family could see - and in a ways, meant little, yet so much to some. He blinks when the girl suddenly thanks him. "Hrrm? I haven't done anything in particular to be thanked for. If anything, I have been quite selfish." But id didn't seem like he cared about being selfish or not. "Ah... you mean the ship." Xiang then finally gets it. And that moment, Sinya probably 'feels' an elated sound from the ship.

"Mmmhmm." Sinya chuckles to herself, "A couple of lizards playing 'king of the mountain' with your hair." Her own eyes turn back to the crooning creature at her shoulder, letting a finger slide down along its body. "It's probably better left that way. Leaving them be." A thoughtful look passes on her features. "The more people spread out, the more the wild places end up being lost. Even in La Gias, for people like mine, who try to live within nature... we get pushed out of our hunting grounds and our lands for human greed." A hint of sadness lingers into her voice as she watches the young leviathans at play. It's odd that a culture that tends to be more nature oriented brought a girl who spent most of her time around humans and machines.

"Go on, little one, go play." She muses, and somehow the tiny creature seems to understand - or at least it takes that same moment to flex its wings and join the others in the water. Pulling up the shoulder of the robe, Sinya leans forward slightly, watching the play of those bioluminescent lights along the walls. "I'm still not so sure about all of this. I mean... I've never been good at letting people in. You're the first, but it feels like once one wall comes down, all the rest seem to start cracking right along with it." It is somewhat true - Sinya had become more open lately. She smiles more, is even a bit more playful and less serious with the hangar crew.

Scootching along the floor, Sinya nudges herself up against him, laying her head to his shoulder. She's quiet for just a moment, and then seems to gather her courage for the 'big question', "So... what did you do that got you exiled in the first place?" There is a hint of something in those surface emotions - a little worry, although it doesn't reach as far as her voice. Sure, there is some still cautious part of her that is expecting something terrible. Even so, there is also a self-assurance that no matter what it is, she'd love him just the same.

"Indeed." Xiang agrees with Sinya's statement. He has seen the results of human greed as well. And though he may be human, and certainly no saint, he tries his best not to disturb too much. Still, the SuiKyosha probably has some level of effect on the Earth's delicate climate, and its sealife. Though one could hardly call what Xiang did 'greed'. The young captain peeks down at the little lizards, then grabs his braid somewhere half-way and moves it to the front of his body and rubs along its length - smoothening the hair and nudging the two lizards, to show that it is time to start playing with his hair.

The two of course protest for a moment, but then finally dive into the water. One remains seated on his shoulder however. And when the man finally gets on his knees, the ones that had been clambering around on his legs just lay down on his lap. "Just let it happen. If it doesn't feel right, I am sure your soul will tell you." Xiang continues on to comment, smiling as the girl admits to having opened up to people. He could see it, and the people on the SuiKyosha could too. Though of course, some think it was Ling.

As for the big question. "I was chosen as the Emperor by lottery, as the former one died. I was very young, and my parents were... well, not great rulers. They kind of forced me and convinced me to make certain rulings that were unfair. After a while, after my parents had put through so many things to make their own lives better, the people got fed up with me. So I was exiled. Yu Zhi Wu, formerly my next door neighbour, came along with me." Xiang speaks so casually about it. It's so far in the past, that he hardly gets bothered by it anymore. "My parents shifted the blame on me back then. Now... well... now they work on board as a cleaning crew."

"My soul, huh?" Sinya muses, her ears twitching slightly. "Sometimes I wonder. Talking to Solis or his sisters, I doubt they'd much believe in the idea of a soul. And then there's Archangel... R... whatever he wants to call himself. He's all machine parts and fancy programming, but he's just as much human to me as anyone else." Ahh, the immortal question - can a soul be created? Is it something that lies only in human consciousness, or is there more to it. Luckily, the catgirl is not a deep thinker or one to wax philosophical. Instead, she just shrugs her shoulders. "Guess it's just as mystical as the idea of a 'heart', but I love you anyways."

She nuzzles her head against his shoulder, slipping her arms around his in an affectionate manner. Like most times, when she listens to one of his stories, the catgirl simply closes her eyes, catching those little glimpses of the memories that flit through his mind's eye. "You really do have trouble with fate, don't you?" She murmurs, going from one debated topic to the other with a soft laugh. "Chosen to be an Emperor, exiled, then chosen to a greater task as the SuiKyosha's captain, only to find yourself right back where you started." The whole idea seems to somewhat amuse her as she opens her eyes again.

"Normally, I try to stay out of arguing against people's traditions or practices, but your people have some strange ones." She'd never heard of choosing a leader by lottery before, and it's clear from the skeptical look on her features. "There's so many ways that could have gone terribly wrong. You were just a child. I don't care if you had the perfect ass to fit in the imprint the previous Emperor left on his throne. You were way too young to carry that burden." Sinya, too, had to grow up too quickly. Days other children would have spent playing, learning, growing, she spent under the weight of Zaibach's yoke, struggling to survive. She's quiet though, for a time, listening to the splashing of the little lizards. Then, she murmurs, "I wonder if they regret what they did..."

"Who knows." Xiang claims. "Yu Zhi Wu has met constructs with souls attached to them - that behaved much like humans. Loved like humans. She believes that R too, still has a soul. Even if it is duller than a true human's." The young Emperor shrugs his shoulders. He isn't one to doubt Yu Zhi Wu's instincts on such things. He's never doubted her instincts, and with that, has always found himself on the right path. But a heart... that is different in a ways. A capability to truly love.

As Sinya leans up against the Emperor, he puts an arm around her and pulls her closer against her, which means that the little dragons suddenly have 'extra space' on his lap, spread their wings and sprawl out partially along the girl. "And fate... fate leads me somewhere. I don't know where yet. But it led me back to my people. It led me to this ship. And it will lead me to a great battle far in the future." That much he knew. That much, SuiKyosha had told him. "One I am fated to be victorious in." Or so he'd like to believe. There is some hesitation in that though.

The man shakes his head. "Far in the future. And something I don't want to think about. So... traditions. Yes. We /do/ have rather odd ones. But that one was not a tradition. It was the late emperor's choice. He believed greatly in fate, believing that the right emperor would grace his seat. Well, maybe he did, but he graced that seat a few years too early." The man pauses. "But then, had I not, then I might never have found the SuiKyosha. Who knows?" The man shakes his head... "But I do know that my parents regret it. Not what they did to the empire, but just that they caused me to die. Or well... so they think." He shrugs his shoulders.

"Hrm." Sinya seems to consider his words, although she keeps her thoughts to herself on it. There is some worry at the surface of her mind, replaying out R's words about how artificial intelligence had always gone 'wrong' somehow. Reaching her hand down, the catgirl lightly strokes the leviathan, and then lifts her head up off of Xiang's shoulder, if only long enough to look at him. What was one just that surface worry seems to deepen slightly. That great battle - that destiny that belongs to him and to the SuiKyosha - what part did she have to play in it... if any at all?

She even picks up on that hint of hesitation, and it causes her ears to droop slightly. Even if their love did manage to make it that far, would he fall in that foretold battle. The thought, alone, is enough to give her a small pang in her chest. Looking out across the water, Sinya sighs to herself, and then just shrugs. "Can you take me back to your place?" She asks, her voice softer now. "I'd like to spend the night here with you. Maybe I'll go home in the morning." She gives the tiny lizard one final scratch under the chin, and then pushes herself to her feet, listless.

Xiang on the other hand, has no such doubts. He is certain that the catgirl will remain within him throughout his entire life. A life lived together - even through his line of fate that would carry him to that final battle. One he knew he would succeed in. "Don't worry." Xiang comments, at the same time as the Leviathan on their lap turns its head up and looks at Sinya with big pearly eyes, before it dives into the water. Her desire to 'flee' from this place had been obvious to it, so it had gotten out of the way for her.

"Sure. I will take you to my place." Xiang continues on to say and slowly gets up, right after Sinya. He catches that listlessness. So, without warning, he puts a hand at her ass and her shoulders and lifts her up. "Oppa." Xiang claims as he does so, and continues to carry her off through those winding ways within the SuiKyosha, to his quarters. "Don't worry Sinya. My life-line has been predicted to run really long." Xiang adds.

There is a slightly glance backwards towards the pool, the catgirl's eyes lingering on the flashing shapes as they move against the darkness. Then, all too quickly, she ends up up-ended and pulled into Xiang's arms with enough surprise to bring a small vocal 'nya' from her. Blinking, the catgirl looks up, and then just smiles softly. "No walking this time, huh?" She asks, but she already knows the answer. "It better run a very long time, otherwise I'll have to find a way to come into the afterlife and kick your butt." There's no real threat in her voice, but it certainly makes her affections quite clear. Without any real complaint, she leans in against his shoulder, purring softly. Soon enough, she'd be asleep again - a real sleep this time, rather than the drugged state she'd been in. A sleep that would carry her all the way back to his place, and likely all the way until morning.