gu yun looks down for a moment, at his bare hands, all callouses, at the bracelet on his wrist. they look so thin and small, without his armor - a man unmade. ]
...Mine was for Great Liang - my nation - to achieve a long lasting and prosperous peace.
[ for the fierce marquis of order and for the free-spirited gu yun, that wish might seem off. maybe he'd want to be the greatest commander of all time, living up to the footsteps of the family that came before him. maybe he'd want a legacy. maybe he'd just want a day off, a chance to laze around and drink. maybe he'd want a family and a life for himself that he'd never been promised and never even assumed he'd have.
but when asked "what is your greatest desire?" gu yun hadn't even hesitated.
it says a lot about the kind of person gu yun is. ultimately, to him, great liang is everything, and the peace and happiness of the people who live there means more to him than anything he would ever wish for for himself. he expects to die young on the battlefield, someday sooner than later, to go out like a firework, but to have the chance to provide that peace before he does is something unbelievably precious to him. every life, from a peasant on the side of the road to the emperor himself, is one he'd protect with his life. he'd give his life for his nation in a heartbeat, but here, he will survive, to keep his promise.
ultimately, people can see what they want of gu yun - marquis of order, layabout shen shiliu, son of the old marquis, but his heart isn't made of iron.
it never has been. ]
Protecting someone else isn't a promise I take lightly.
[It's a legitimate question - if Gu Yun has figured out his wish - and Molly still hasn't exactly answered it. Perhaps not out of any desire to lie as much as . . . well. Changing priorities.
All of this, of course, tracks entirely. Gu Yun, a great and important man, of course has a great and important wish that makes his seem so small and selfish. There's nothing in him that resents that. He just thinks about how rare it is to meet a person like this.]
[ sometimes you have like no personal connections of your own which is a very healthy and reasonable way for a human being to exist
he shifts, a bit, now actually looking at molly. it feels weird to have just said that - he's been fiercely protective of so many things about his life since arriving here, but perhaps none more so than his desire. the fewer people know the better, after all. ]
[Living is exactly the problem isn't it. Molly just sighs and looks back at him, inspecting his face - though . . . that's probably a little difficult to tell, because of the way his eyes are. Just that he's looking at him. Now that the blood is off he looks a little less wrecked, but there's still bruising, swelling. Beau packs a mean punch when she wants to.]
Remind me to tell you a good story when I'm not so fucking beat to hell, yeah?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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You heard all that and you're still asking? [He thinks it's fairly obvious at this point. Then again he could be being more altruistic.]
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gu yun looks down for a moment, at his bare hands, all callouses, at the bracelet on his wrist. they look so thin and small, without his armor - a man unmade. ]
...Mine was for Great Liang - my nation - to achieve a long lasting and prosperous peace.
[ for the fierce marquis of order and for the free-spirited gu yun, that wish might seem off. maybe he'd want to be the greatest commander of all time, living up to the footsteps of the family that came before him. maybe he'd want a legacy. maybe he'd just want a day off, a chance to laze around and drink. maybe he'd want a family and a life for himself that he'd never been promised and never even assumed he'd have.
but when asked "what is your greatest desire?" gu yun hadn't even hesitated.
it says a lot about the kind of person gu yun is. ultimately, to him, great liang is everything, and the peace and happiness of the people who live there means more to him than anything he would ever wish for for himself. he expects to die young on the battlefield, someday sooner than later, to go out like a firework, but to have the chance to provide that peace before he does is something unbelievably precious to him. every life, from a peasant on the side of the road to the emperor himself, is one he'd protect with his life. he'd give his life for his nation in a heartbeat, but here, he will survive, to keep his promise.
ultimately, people can see what they want of gu yun - marquis of order, layabout shen shiliu, son of the old marquis, but his heart isn't made of iron.
it never has been. ]
Protecting someone else isn't a promise I take lightly.
no subject
All of this, of course, tracks entirely. Gu Yun, a great and important man, of course has a great and important wish that makes his seem so small and selfish. There's nothing in him that resents that. He just thinks about how rare it is to meet a person like this.]
I believe that.
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he shifts, a bit, now actually looking at molly. it feels weird to have just said that - he's been fiercely protective of so many things about his life since arriving here, but perhaps none more so than his desire. the fewer people know the better, after all. ]
So there you have it. We're living through this.
[
onedirectionlaugh.mp3 ]
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[Living is exactly the problem isn't it. Molly just sighs and looks back at him, inspecting his face - though . . . that's probably a little difficult to tell, because of the way his eyes are. Just that he's looking at him. Now that the blood is off he looks a little less wrecked, but there's still bruising, swelling. Beau packs a mean punch when she wants to.]
Remind me to tell you a good story when I'm not so fucking beat to hell, yeah?
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I'll hold you to it. [ bet. ]
Think she broke your nose? I'd take someone with a punch like that in my ranks any day.
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Hope to fuck not. Would really just make my day that much better if she ruined my face on top of it all.