Xiao Xingchen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brightmooongentlebreeze) wrote2022-05-28 06:43 pm
brightmooongentlebreeze) wrote2022-05-28 06:43 pm
TLV (re)app
User Name/Nick: Siobhan
User DW:fiercebadrabbit
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: plurk
Other Characters Currently In-Game: N/A
Character Name: Xiao Xingchen
Series: The Untamed
Age: Early twenties
From When?: (CW: suicide) After he’s discovered Xue Yang’s use of him as a murder weapon and killed himself.
Inmate Justification: Xiao Xingchen is an unusual inmate in that he really didn’t mean to do any of it, but those people are still dead. He’s a paragon hero who lost, and was used to do horrible things. Ethically, he’s not actually very culpable for his actions, as he was tricked by a ruthless manipulator into being a mass murderer who killed his best friend and failed to protect a child under his care. But his deep naivete and single-minded belief in his own righteousness set him up to fall, and both finding a way to interact with the world where he couldn’t be used that way again and forgiving himself will require a journey.
Arrival: He did not agree to come and is not terribly pleased.
Abilities/Powers: As a cultivator, Xiao Xingchen is just a bit better at everything normal humans do and also has some magical abilities; flying around on a sword, sort of slow-jumping like early Superman in such a way as to basically fly short distances without a sword, be very good at having a sword (which is magical). He can cast small spells designed for dealing with monsters, ghosts, and undead, mostly warding them away or confining them to be dealt with via sword. A lot of his powers depend on his sword, which he will be without, and his cultivation will be suppressed, leaving him basically human, albeit with a lot of combat experience and martial art skill.
Inmate Information: Xiao Xingchen slaughtered defenseless, suffering villagers, killed his best friend, and failed to protect a teenager he’d taken under his wing from being murdered as well. In the years leading up to that, he got that same best friend’s clan murdered and the friend blinded, and saw a ruthless, manipulative killer loosed on the world. Some of that he was completely tricked into, some was the result of honest effort and failure, but all the destruction he’s left behind him comes down to seeing himself as a hero and the world as his to save, with no complexity allowed. Good intentions, road to hell, etc.
An orphan raised by a reclusive immortal on top of a magical mountain, he went into the world totally unprepared for its realities, believing simply that he was there to save everyone and the righteous path would ultimately succeed. And he failed to adjust that view at any point over the ensuing miserable years. Xiao Xingchen is painfully sincere in everything he does. He’d break himself gladly to defend any wronged stranger and pursue justice in the face of obvious corruption. A bit shy, extremely naive, and very gentle, he sees the best in everyone and is only sporadically aware of his own awkwardness and limitations. He’s good, and that’s enough.
While Xiao Xingchen was perhaps always doomed to fall when the irresistible force of his paladin nonsense met the immovable object that is reality, he set off on the path that would ruin him when he met Xue Yang. He’d already met his dearest friend and partner in idealism, Song Lan, and the two were alight with plans to form their own cultivation clan, free from the confines of bloodlines and power, when a gruesome murder needed investigating. Of course Xiao Xingchen volunteered them both. Because of heroism. When he tracked down and defeated the culprit, he thought very little of it, and handed Xue Yang over to the proper authorities. Who proceeded to protect the murderer. Understanding nothing about the politics and power plays involved and caring less, Xiao Xingchen did everything he could to see justice served and failed. On release, Xue Yang demonstrated a perfect understanding of Xiao Xingchen’s strain of heroism and martyrdom and sought his revenge by killing off Song Lan’s clan and blinding Song Lan himself. Devastated by guilt, Xiao Xingchen broke the vow he’d made never to return to his master’s mountain and prevailed on her to restore his friend’s sight at the expense of his own. When Song Lan told him to fuck off (much more politely, but still driven by grief and such), he just accepted that and disappeared back into the world that had broken his heart.
Inflexible in his ideals and terribly passive about everything else in his life, Xiao Xingchen set out to wander the world again, this time blind and alone. He could still fight to protect people, his cultivator’s senses and magic sword keeping him in the game. He picked up a scrappy kid sidekick and continued to live the life he hadn’t been quite broken of before, fighting monsters and living humbly, congratulating himself all the while on how calmly and virtuously he took the abuse heaped on him by occasional passers by who saw weakness there. And, being Xiao Xingchen, when his sidekick spotted a wounded stranger, he brought the man home, tended his injuries, and became best friends. Sheltered as he’d been most of his life (and, dear as Song Lan was to him, he wasn’t exactly a fun guy), and still bruised by his losses, he clung to his fascinating stranger. Xiao Xingchen loves to laugh and banter, though he often can’t keep up very well, and was easily overawed by the stranger’s sheer force of personality. They even went hunting together.
The stranger was, in fact, Xue Yang, who thought the whole thing was hilarious. Making the sainted priest his dupe was funny enough. He pretty quickly figured out that the blind hero’s sword not only responded to actual undead but to anyone he targeted with a specific magic poison (this being the closest thing Xue Yang has to hobbies), and that if he were to go around cutting random villager’s tongues out (again, hobbies), he could easily convince Xiao Xingchen that he was simply eradicating walking corpses as usual. They lived together for years as dear friends, and when Song Lan finally tracked Xiao Xingchen down and immediately recognized Xue Yang, the same trick worked again.
When Xiao Xingchen discovered what Xue Yang had used him to do, he killed himself and shattered his own soul to prevent himself from being raised as a walking corpse. It was all very dramatic and just and of a piece with his choices up to that point. Not that he wasn’t remorseful, quite the contrary; he wanted to die to atone and to protect others. And not to live with himself. To the end, he made no choices but the abstractly right ones, never examining the root of the problem.
Path to Redemption: While Xiao Xingchen will come aboard still mostly wanting to not exist, he’ll be fairly cooperative with wardens, because he is a nerd who doesn’t actually like defying authority and because it’ll appeal to his sense of hero and villain (something to break him of, probably). He’ll also want to stay busy and will take any jobs he can get.
Xiao Xingchen needs to forgive himself before he’d be remotely capable of really fixing anything. He will not want to do this, preferring to choose sacrifice, compartmentalization, and generalized heroism for heroism’s sake. He’ll be at a bit of a loss on account of the barge lacking any monster infestations for him to break himself against and probably do a lot of aimless pining and silent gazing. (It is difficult but not impossible to gaze into the middle distance without eyes, if your hair’s that good.) He’ll achieve this not so much by being told he did nothing wrong (which he won’t believe) but by being shown ways to make it better. A warden who doesn’t have at least something of a heroic streak will struggle to get through to him, but one who’s learned pragmatism and to question both themselves and others leading by example is his best hope. Empty exoneration for the lives he’s taken would be meaningless. A way forward that could make him a real hero, not a doomed tragedy, is his best hope.
Re-application note: In his previous time on the barge, Xiao Xingchen didn't achieve much more than time to reflect and grow accustomed to his own nightmares. He's more functional, in a day to day sense, but he's done nothing to reflect on what actually caused his downfall, and feels more quiet resentment toward the barge and the admiral than anything else. He doesn't see any reason he should have another chance. He is, however, quite fond of several individuals aboard, and his old hero complex can be easily activated under the influence of most barge shenanigans.
History: Here
Sample Network Entry: Here
Sample RP: Here
User DW:
fiercebadrabbitE-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: plurk
Other Characters Currently In-Game: N/A
Character Name: Xiao Xingchen
Series: The Untamed
Age: Early twenties
From When?: (CW: suicide) After he’s discovered Xue Yang’s use of him as a murder weapon and killed himself.
Inmate Justification: Xiao Xingchen is an unusual inmate in that he really didn’t mean to do any of it, but those people are still dead. He’s a paragon hero who lost, and was used to do horrible things. Ethically, he’s not actually very culpable for his actions, as he was tricked by a ruthless manipulator into being a mass murderer who killed his best friend and failed to protect a child under his care. But his deep naivete and single-minded belief in his own righteousness set him up to fall, and both finding a way to interact with the world where he couldn’t be used that way again and forgiving himself will require a journey.
Arrival: He did not agree to come and is not terribly pleased.
Abilities/Powers: As a cultivator, Xiao Xingchen is just a bit better at everything normal humans do and also has some magical abilities; flying around on a sword, sort of slow-jumping like early Superman in such a way as to basically fly short distances without a sword, be very good at having a sword (which is magical). He can cast small spells designed for dealing with monsters, ghosts, and undead, mostly warding them away or confining them to be dealt with via sword. A lot of his powers depend on his sword, which he will be without, and his cultivation will be suppressed, leaving him basically human, albeit with a lot of combat experience and martial art skill.
Inmate Information: Xiao Xingchen slaughtered defenseless, suffering villagers, killed his best friend, and failed to protect a teenager he’d taken under his wing from being murdered as well. In the years leading up to that, he got that same best friend’s clan murdered and the friend blinded, and saw a ruthless, manipulative killer loosed on the world. Some of that he was completely tricked into, some was the result of honest effort and failure, but all the destruction he’s left behind him comes down to seeing himself as a hero and the world as his to save, with no complexity allowed. Good intentions, road to hell, etc.
An orphan raised by a reclusive immortal on top of a magical mountain, he went into the world totally unprepared for its realities, believing simply that he was there to save everyone and the righteous path would ultimately succeed. And he failed to adjust that view at any point over the ensuing miserable years. Xiao Xingchen is painfully sincere in everything he does. He’d break himself gladly to defend any wronged stranger and pursue justice in the face of obvious corruption. A bit shy, extremely naive, and very gentle, he sees the best in everyone and is only sporadically aware of his own awkwardness and limitations. He’s good, and that’s enough.
While Xiao Xingchen was perhaps always doomed to fall when the irresistible force of his paladin nonsense met the immovable object that is reality, he set off on the path that would ruin him when he met Xue Yang. He’d already met his dearest friend and partner in idealism, Song Lan, and the two were alight with plans to form their own cultivation clan, free from the confines of bloodlines and power, when a gruesome murder needed investigating. Of course Xiao Xingchen volunteered them both. Because of heroism. When he tracked down and defeated the culprit, he thought very little of it, and handed Xue Yang over to the proper authorities. Who proceeded to protect the murderer. Understanding nothing about the politics and power plays involved and caring less, Xiao Xingchen did everything he could to see justice served and failed. On release, Xue Yang demonstrated a perfect understanding of Xiao Xingchen’s strain of heroism and martyrdom and sought his revenge by killing off Song Lan’s clan and blinding Song Lan himself. Devastated by guilt, Xiao Xingchen broke the vow he’d made never to return to his master’s mountain and prevailed on her to restore his friend’s sight at the expense of his own. When Song Lan told him to fuck off (much more politely, but still driven by grief and such), he just accepted that and disappeared back into the world that had broken his heart.
Inflexible in his ideals and terribly passive about everything else in his life, Xiao Xingchen set out to wander the world again, this time blind and alone. He could still fight to protect people, his cultivator’s senses and magic sword keeping him in the game. He picked up a scrappy kid sidekick and continued to live the life he hadn’t been quite broken of before, fighting monsters and living humbly, congratulating himself all the while on how calmly and virtuously he took the abuse heaped on him by occasional passers by who saw weakness there. And, being Xiao Xingchen, when his sidekick spotted a wounded stranger, he brought the man home, tended his injuries, and became best friends. Sheltered as he’d been most of his life (and, dear as Song Lan was to him, he wasn’t exactly a fun guy), and still bruised by his losses, he clung to his fascinating stranger. Xiao Xingchen loves to laugh and banter, though he often can’t keep up very well, and was easily overawed by the stranger’s sheer force of personality. They even went hunting together.
The stranger was, in fact, Xue Yang, who thought the whole thing was hilarious. Making the sainted priest his dupe was funny enough. He pretty quickly figured out that the blind hero’s sword not only responded to actual undead but to anyone he targeted with a specific magic poison (this being the closest thing Xue Yang has to hobbies), and that if he were to go around cutting random villager’s tongues out (again, hobbies), he could easily convince Xiao Xingchen that he was simply eradicating walking corpses as usual. They lived together for years as dear friends, and when Song Lan finally tracked Xiao Xingchen down and immediately recognized Xue Yang, the same trick worked again.
When Xiao Xingchen discovered what Xue Yang had used him to do, he killed himself and shattered his own soul to prevent himself from being raised as a walking corpse. It was all very dramatic and just and of a piece with his choices up to that point. Not that he wasn’t remorseful, quite the contrary; he wanted to die to atone and to protect others. And not to live with himself. To the end, he made no choices but the abstractly right ones, never examining the root of the problem.
Path to Redemption: While Xiao Xingchen will come aboard still mostly wanting to not exist, he’ll be fairly cooperative with wardens, because he is a nerd who doesn’t actually like defying authority and because it’ll appeal to his sense of hero and villain (something to break him of, probably). He’ll also want to stay busy and will take any jobs he can get.
Xiao Xingchen needs to forgive himself before he’d be remotely capable of really fixing anything. He will not want to do this, preferring to choose sacrifice, compartmentalization, and generalized heroism for heroism’s sake. He’ll be at a bit of a loss on account of the barge lacking any monster infestations for him to break himself against and probably do a lot of aimless pining and silent gazing. (It is difficult but not impossible to gaze into the middle distance without eyes, if your hair’s that good.) He’ll achieve this not so much by being told he did nothing wrong (which he won’t believe) but by being shown ways to make it better. A warden who doesn’t have at least something of a heroic streak will struggle to get through to him, but one who’s learned pragmatism and to question both themselves and others leading by example is his best hope. Empty exoneration for the lives he’s taken would be meaningless. A way forward that could make him a real hero, not a doomed tragedy, is his best hope.
Re-application note: In his previous time on the barge, Xiao Xingchen didn't achieve much more than time to reflect and grow accustomed to his own nightmares. He's more functional, in a day to day sense, but he's done nothing to reflect on what actually caused his downfall, and feels more quiet resentment toward the barge and the admiral than anything else. He doesn't see any reason he should have another chance. He is, however, quite fond of several individuals aboard, and his old hero complex can be easily activated under the influence of most barge shenanigans.
History: Here
Sample Network Entry: Here
Sample RP: Here