Most demons in my world aren't actually that bad. Some are assholes, yeah, but most just want to live. And sometimes, demons aren't bad but they can't live alongside humans. Maybe they can only eat humans, or maybe they're too much of a troublemaker to live near humans. That's not really their fault. Sure, they won't be able to live alongside humans, but it still doesn't make them bad.
I guess I thought it was like that for Qi Rong too.
[ quiet, for a moment, as he considers his own response. ]
I agree with you. [ that first. rin's compassion touches xie lian's heart, and the compassion he shows for qi rong is... undeserved, but - it's even more than xie lian can manage. ] It isn't. I have always thought spirits and ghosts and the like in our world ought to have some place they can call their home - a city, perhaps, where they might be able to live freely no matter how they choose to do so, so long as they aren't harming humans. They are not necessarily malevolent - and the ones that are the worst often choose to be that way.
I think there are parts of Qi Rong that are not bad, somewhere, but... he is the one who has made these choices. Consistently, throughout our lives, even when we were young - to seek attention, he always tried to bring harm. To avoid getting in trouble, he would always find someone innocent to blame, just like he did today. His first thoughts have always been of violence or cruelty, even when he thinks he is trying to help - and whenever we tried to help him, or put him in the correct path, it turned out much like it did when you tried to help him, today.
[ so watching rin do that was hard, because xie lian saw himself, for a moment, holding onto the bruised, beaten body of a child while qi rong wailed that the child was a monster and deserved it, desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on in his head. ]
...I have never wanted to say that he is a lost cause. I don't think he was. But whatever he has done over these eight centuries - his resentful spirit has only devolved.
[A city for ghosts, where they could live their own lives...that does sound nice. Maybe a demon city is the answer to the problems in Rin's world? It's an idea he'll have to shelve until later, when he's not stuck in this city with these particular problems.
For now, he shifts a bit in place as he thinks about what to say. A rarity from him, really.]
Well...maybe he can get the help he needs now. Or at least he can rest and nobody will have to worry about it anymore.
[They don't know how brutal the executions are yet, but Rin can't imagine that Qi Rong will be left alive. Not after what he did.]
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I know not everyone is good, but...
[...]
Most demons in my world aren't actually that bad. Some are assholes, yeah, but most just want to live. And sometimes, demons aren't bad but they can't live alongside humans. Maybe they can only eat humans, or maybe they're too much of a troublemaker to live near humans. That's not really their fault. Sure, they won't be able to live alongside humans, but it still doesn't make them bad.
I guess I thought it was like that for Qi Rong too.
no subject
[ quiet, for a moment, as he considers his own response. ]
I agree with you. [ that first. rin's compassion touches xie lian's heart, and the compassion he shows for qi rong is... undeserved, but - it's even more than xie lian can manage. ] It isn't. I have always thought spirits and ghosts and the like in our world ought to have some place they can call their home - a city, perhaps, where they might be able to live freely no matter how they choose to do so, so long as they aren't harming humans. They are not necessarily malevolent - and the ones that are the worst often choose to be that way.
I think there are parts of Qi Rong that are not bad, somewhere, but... he is the one who has made these choices. Consistently, throughout our lives, even when we were young - to seek attention, he always tried to bring harm. To avoid getting in trouble, he would always find someone innocent to blame, just like he did today. His first thoughts have always been of violence or cruelty, even when he thinks he is trying to help - and whenever we tried to help him, or put him in the correct path, it turned out much like it did when you tried to help him, today.
[ so watching rin do that was hard, because xie lian saw himself, for a moment, holding onto the bruised, beaten body of a child while qi rong wailed that the child was a monster and deserved it, desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on in his head. ]
...I have never wanted to say that he is a lost cause. I don't think he was. But whatever he has done over these eight centuries - his resentful spirit has only devolved.
no subject
For now, he shifts a bit in place as he thinks about what to say. A rarity from him, really.]
Well...maybe he can get the help he needs now. Or at least he can rest and nobody will have to worry about it anymore.
[They don't know how brutal the executions are yet, but Rin can't imagine that Qi Rong will be left alive. Not after what he did.]