[centre][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/divinus-iii/images/d/df/Shengshi-logo.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/310?cb=20190112093445[/img][/centre]

[centre][h1]Shengshi[/h1][/centre]
[centre]MPs: 0/FPs: 5[/centre]

Heliopolis was beautiful this time of day, Xiaoli thought. She sat comfortably on a small silk pillow on the barely grassed, still somewhat rocky ground, ponderously sipping a cup of tea next to a low salon table and Nuhe. In all honesty, she had surprisingly enough managed to find a few aesthetically pleasing qualities in the abominable stream; however, she would wholeheartedly prefer this to be the only one of its kind. 

She had another small sip of tea. It was not the river itself that frightened her, though. Reluctantly, her mind painted the image of her master the night before. She had attempted to convince herself earlier that that creature had been no master of hers, but a demon in his disguise; regrettably, though, she had later reasoned that whatever demon had possessed her master in the moment had definitely always lived there - it had only taken the meeting with the right personality to lure it out.

She emptied her cup and refilled the teapot with hot water. She admired the unfolding leaves for a moment before lidding the pot again. As she waited for the tea to reach optimal flavour, she dipped her hand into the waters. She sighed softly. No, there was nothing inherently wrong with the river itself. The current was strong, yes, but she felt no hatred, no poison, no vengeance - there was only the pure water from Fengshui Fuyou. She voiced a quiet prayer to let the river flow in peace so that it one day could take its natural shape.

She gently placed her fingers around the handle of the teapot, lifted it up and gracefully poured her cup half full. She placed the pot back down on the table and savoured the fragrance of the dancing steam rising from her cup. The moment was interrupted by a terrible ruckus from the ship behind her and Xiaoli let out a long sigh that became a raspy groan towards the end.

After Shengshi had returned to his chambers the night before, the servants had brought ungodly numbers of wine flasks to his chambers, quantities unusually high, even for him. Xiaoli had attempted to enter the room around midnight, but had immediately been forced back out by drunken scoldings and threats. She had not heard from him since - until now.

“XIAOLI!” The call rung out from the middle spire like a war cry.  The girl took a deep breath, stood up, turned around, sat back down again and kowtowed before the dragon’s head, which now supported a tall snakeman who seemed unable to stand straight. 

“What does my master wish for?” she asked calmly, forehead still resting on the back of her grounded palms. There was a long hum from above.

“Schpeak up! I can’ hea’h you!” 

The girl sighed and sat up. “I said, what does my mast-”
“Don’chu talk back to meh!” said the snake and smashed a wine bottle against the sculpture beneath his feet, coating part of the golden head in a sickly white liquid. The girl flinched and looked down. 

“I apologise, my l-lord,” she said, her voice quivering. The snake scowled, though tears were welling up in his eyes. The girl looked up and felt a gasp escape her. The god sniffed loudly and pointed a shaky finger at her.

“Pack up yoursss… Your set! We’h leavin’!” He turned on his tail and set off, but slipped on the wine and fell over. Xiaoli felt her own tears build up upon seeing her master like this. She opened her mouth to speak, cleared her throat and tried again.

“But, but mylord! We just came!”

The snake, now partially back on his tail again, snarled and cursed. “Yesh! And now…” He paused. “We’h leavin’!” He spat on the ground below and roared out a curse. “Kalmaaaar! If you’sh ou’h there-...” He paused to lick his fingers clean of wine. “... If you’sh ou’h there, Architect curse yoouu’h!” He slithered out of her sight. Xiaoli sniffed quietly and wiped her tears away. She finished her tea, placed her rest of her tea leaves in her pouch, and reduced the table and tea set back into the dirt and stone she had constructed it from. She picked up her pillow and climbed aboard.

Upon reaching the deck on the ship, she found that Shengshi had not made it up to his room at all, but had fallen off the back of the dragon’s head and laid unconscious on the wooden deck. She rushed over to him and placed her hand on his sharp-featured face, her tears rushing across her cheeks like small rivers of their own.

“Why…” she whimpered. “Why are you like this?” She attempted to pull the god to his feet, but being only a little over half his height, she could not manage to get a proper grip around the snake. She felt a black bile of frustration build up with her as she tried to drag her master up to his room, and upon reaching his door, that bile had melted into a raging shade of red. 

“Is this why you created me? So that I could be your… Your nanny?” She pulled open the doors to be greeted by a punch of alcoholic fumes and an abominable sight unlike anything she had ever seen. The poetry on the walls had been all by clawed away; some paper walls were broken or outright missing; even the god’s priceless calligraphy station had been cloven in two. Xiaoli looked down at her master in disbelief.

“You… You did all this?”

He did not respond. Xiaoli felt her teeth grit and she lifted her arm, bringing it down on her master’s face with such force that, upon impact, her hand broke apart. She screamed in pain and fell back against the wall. She stared at her handless wrist, which was now just a cylinder of fine sand with water on the inside. She then looked at Shengshi. The snake had not responded at all. Xiaoli collapsed to her knees and hung her head in defeat. As a final effort, she pushed her master onto the floor inside her room, reshaped her hand with the sand on the floor and went down on deck. 

Once there, she reached out to the waters below and around the ship. The ship slowly began to inch forward, then sped up, until it was tossed into the air by a rocket-like current and carried onwards by a small circulating river underneath the hull. She had to get them somewhere peaceful. Her first thought was Fengshui Fuyou - her master would be delighted to finally come home again, she thought. However, already now, she felt the strain on her body from carrying the ship by herself. No, it had to be closer. They had to find somewhere closer! She reached into her mind, and through it, memories from her master’s mind. She remembered seeing the planet through his eyes before her creation - she saw a region of the world without land. Perhaps there, as far away as possible from everything else, they could rest for a spell.

She steered the streams so the ship turned around. They set off to the southwest.

[hr]

For hours, Xiaoli had seen nothing but ocean. Yes, they had to be close now. She had recently spotted some specks of green far below, but it had likely just been some unpopulated islands. She wiped some of the sweat that pooled on her face away and looked ahead once more. Her eyes widened. What was that ahead? Land?

She had not been mistaken. There was a large island on the horizon before them. From what she could see, there were lakes there, glistening in the light of Heliopolis. She would rather not have Shengshi meet with his sister Ashalla by accident, so a lake would be a much better spot for rest than the ocean. 

Xiaoli collapsed to one knee. The strain on her mind was agonising and she felt her grip on the water weakening. She looked up again, barely seeing past the dragon’s head. Her breathing grew more frequent and she grit her teeth. They were too far away. They were not going to make it! They would crash into the oceans below and be at the mercy of Ashalla! 

Her other knee gave out and she fell onto her hands. The ship dropped from the sky. As they hurdled towards the sea, Xiaoli tried to regain control, but found that her power was spent. Even her form had begun to give out, droplets of sand and water dripping off her extremities. She felt panic well up inside her - would the impact perhaps destroy her now? She began to lift off the deck as the ship gained more momentum. She snapped around and reached for the planks below with fingers that kept disintegrating. As the water approached like an oncoming wall of stone, Xiaoli cried out for help.

“MASTER!”

[hr]

Xiaoli opened her eyes and felt the familiar planks against her skin. Was she still alive? She then rocketed to a seated position and looked at her hands. Her fingers were present, every single one. She quietly counted them just to make sure. She checked her toes and counted them as well. She assessed her every body part and found them present. She took a quivering breath and wrapped herself in her arms, keeling forward with a quiet, thankful whimper.

After a moment, she looked around. The ship was in the middle of a tranquil lake, surrounded by green plains and mountains on each side. Was this the next life, perhaps? She stood up and pinched herself in the arm. She flinched at the pain and sighed. 

“An afterlife where I can feel pain? That was unnecessary…” she muttered. 

“Indeed,” muttered a familiar voice. Xiaoli turned abruptly to the dragon’s head behind her to see Shengshi sitting comfortably on top of it, writing poetry. The snake turned his head around and gave her a sad smile.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. Xiaoli stood there dumbstruck.

“How did you save us? You were unresponsive!” she cried out in frustration. The snake sighed and stood up, slithering over to her.

“Yes, I was very much…” He tapped his chin, looking for a good phrase. “Out of it, as one would say, but-”

“No! No, you were not just ‘out of it’, do you understand?!” Shengshi recoiled as Xiaoli stabbed a finger into his face. “You were abhorrent! You were insufferable! You were-” She paused and took a deep breath. “Do you know what I had to do?”

The snake shook his head carefully, cowering somewhat. Xiaoli glared at him. “I had to pull your drunken butt -all the way- up to your room, after -you- decided that we should leave! How many floors are there between the deck at your chambres, hmm?!”

“... F-... Five…” the snake mumbled shamefully. 

“Correct! Five floors, each with two flights of stairs, because [i]someone[/i] thought it would be more aesthetically pleasing to have longer, flatter steps instead of taller ones!”

The snake deflated. “Well, thank you for putting me back in my room, at lea-”

“Oh yes! and then we come to the subject of Your Lordship’s [i]room[/i]! Tell me, how many times have you absolutely decimated it by now? Seven? Eight? Shall we say ten for reality’s sake?”

The snake was, at this point, almost lying on the floor with Xiaoli towering over him.

“N-.. Now I think that is a little unfair, my dea-”

“Do [i]NOT[/i] ‘my dear’ me, my lord. I was created to be your voice of reason, heart and advisor on morals, [i]NOT[/i] to be your nanny!”

There was a long, deafening silence, broken only by Xiaoli’s ragged breathing. The snake opened his mouth several times to speak, but could not form a coherent sentence. The girl wiped away some tears of frustration and sighed.

“I just-... I just wish you would actually take my advice to heart once in a while…” She lowered her head.

The snake was lost for words. He reached out to her, but his arm retracted itself against his will, or possibly in coherence with it. He slowly pushed himself to his tail again. As he looked his creation in her clear, misty eyes, he felt his heart shatter. What had he done? He looked down at his palms and felt his breathing accelerate.

“I…” He started a sentence, but stopped talking when Xiaoli placed her hands in his and squeezed gently.

“I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry, my lord.” She looked into his eyes and smiled softly. “Just remember what I said and just-...” She paused. “Just ease down on the drinking, alright?”

The snake looked at her and then at the nature around. The water’s gentle song; the grass dancing in the wind; the mountains glistening in the light. Where had she taken them, actually? All he remembered was waking up at the sensation of flying before hearing Xiaoli’s scream. He had then taken them to the closest body of freshwater and placed them down. He had found Xiaoli unconscious on deck, her body reduced to her torso and her head. He had fixed her as accurately as he could have in his state and had then proceeded to sit on deck and wait until he sobered up.

Now that he was, he felt his chest filling with thick, heavy liquid guilt. The machinations in his mind twisted and turned as he tried to fashion some words to say.

“Xiaoli,” he said quietly. The girl blinked and looked curiously at him. The snake let go of her hands and jumped overboard. The girl stood dumbstruck for a second before rushing over to the railing of the ship. “Wai-! My lord!” The snake was already too far away to hear her. He swam over to the western bank of the lake. From her spot aboard the ship, Xiaoli could see her master perfectly - and see, she did.

The snake slithered onto land and took a deep breath. The scars he had cut into Xiaoli could not be healed in a day - for all he knew, her memories of the monster within him could perhaps never fade. However, he could at the very least show her how much she meant to him. He would make things right in time, but for now, this was the best he could do.

The snake gently rocked the waters around the riverbank with his tail. Once they began to move, he beckoned them over to the sandy shore. The waters danced and jumped with glee as the snake moved his hands gracefully like a painter with a brush. The waters washed ashore, dragging sand and clay along with them. The snake pulled gently at the polluted dirtier waters, making them hop out of the stream and form delicate patterns along the bank. The main river itself curved softly across the grassplains - it did not even drown the grass in its path; it merely pushed it gently aside and let it settle at its banks. There were no cracks as the waters sanded away the ground below; there was only the calming sound of the flow. 

The snake slowly slithered along as the river rolled ahead. Obstacles in the way were respected dearly, the waters swerving around them on one or both sides. The water carrying mud and sand tossed themselves onto the banks, sprouting flowers, reeds and shrubberies in intricate patterns. The mud that remained in the water became small fish, amphibians and insects. The snake continued playing his watery instrument and his performance gradually played along with the harmonies of the wind. As he danced along the verdant grass, he began to laugh and sing. Xiaoli, who at this point had brought the Jiangzhou along to witness her master’s work, felt tears of joy well up in her eyes.

There the snake spun and hopped to the music of nature and tranquility, painting the most beautiful landmark upon the world.

[hr]

Heliopolis sat calmly on the horizon. Shengshi and Xiaoli sat in silence along the bank of the new river. The occasional frog came over to inspect the curious creatures, and Xiaoli would let out a sweet giggle and pat the little frog on the back, prompting it to skip right back into the water.

“I have a name for her,” Shengshi finally said. Xiaoli gave him a smile and a curious look.

“What would my lord like to name his new creation?” she asked playfully. Shengshi held his hand over the water and a small fish hopped over it and back into the water on the other side.

“This is the most beautiful river I have ever made…” he said softly. “There is only one name I can think of…”

Xiaoli giggled. “Jiangzhouhe?” she proposed playfully.

Shengshi gave her a warm smile. “Lihe.”

Xiaoli’s eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a moment. Then, her lips parted in a wide smile complemented by misty eyes.

“Yeah… I like that name too, my lord…”

[hider=Local Girl Saves Snake - Lives To Tell the Tale]
Xiaoli drinks tea in the sun. Gets interrupted by her alcoholic father/self.

Shengshi decides that they should go make their own sanctuary for life, with blackjack and hookers, so he tells Xiaoli to pack up and get going. Proceeds to pass out promptly thereafter. Xiaoli is about 120% done with Sheng’s shit after pulling him all the way up to his room. Realises her master may in fact be the worst.

Xiaoli takes the ship to the most tranquil place on the planet: The Southwest, which, as it turns out, actually has an island. She loses control of the ship on the way, though, and the screen fades to black.

Xiaoli wakes up to find Shengshi writing poetry on the deck. She gives him a roast so well done that it’s practically a brick at that point. 

Shengshi decides that the best way to say sorry is to make Xiaoli a fancy river, which he calls Lihe. (Li’s River or ‘Beautiful river’.)

[/hider]

[hider=Might Summary]
1FP on the river Lihe.
1FP on the ecosystem in Lihe.
5FPs left.
[/hider]