airu 🍀

Añil said he's tired. Tiredness can stem from stress (of trying to keep Muriel's plan in the right track), from depression (of loosing his friends), etc. So, him being in the Suitcase would mean meeting new personalities (this time without needing to worry much about being erased by the Storm) and this would keep his brain active, kind of like a mental therapy.

Your ask also gave me an idea for a drabble. Kiperina's story is a little blurry in my memory, so I don't mention it in depth, but I hope you enjoy this little Añil-focused drabble 🤧

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"Muriel, good evening," Añil murmurs a greeting. He carries a paper bag in his arm. There is a distinct checkered pattern of white and black on it, as if the big logo of St. Pavlov Foundation doesn't immediately give it away.

They've been here for almost a month now. Here being a Suitcase belonging to a silver-haired señorita wearing a top hat. Lorentz Butterfly had brought them to her following the fall of the Turquoise Serpent Club and she had agreed to shelter them for the time being.

Añil reaches inside.

"Chocolate," he says, placing it on the kitchen counter. "And some sunflower seeds. Señor Name Day showed me around Laplace today. We met a team that had gone to the moon and back. Can you imagine?"

A chaotic team they were. A cheerful snake-headed señorita with her eight slithering siblings, a short-haired blonde who talked in clipped and concise sentences, an extraordinary young girl who originated from a circus, a seemingly mute girl who isn't quite human, and a tiny white lizard who is an exceptional salesman. He found out that Name Day also worked with them for that project.

"The one being sent to space was a very young señorita," Añil continues. "Reaching the moon seemed like a faraway dream, but humanity achieved that dream. Isn't that wonderful?"

His fingers lightly caress the pink petals of Muriel's daisy flower, left to bask near the window. The blue stain on one of its leaves glinting under the light.

"I guess what I want to say is, since they managed to achieve the impossible, our Depths of Myth is certainly achievable as well, don't you think?" Añil smiles, then shakes his head and sighs. "Hey, Muriel, are you listening?"

There is no response. It is just like all the times Añil visited the workshops, both in Coyoacán and in the former Turquoise Serpent Club, Muriel was the type that once he focused on something — his paintings, oftentimes — there was nothing that can break that focus.

Añil expected the silence.

He walks further into the room. There, in the workshop, lies a sizeable piece of broken plaster. Muriel's mural painting on its surface, depicting a sun surrounded by five hummingbirds and five butterflies. A crack in the middle of said sun from a bullet shot.

Añil had painstakingly carved it out from the wall of the Mexico City People's Library and brought it along. It crumbles at the edges, but the center piece is intact and that is enough.

"I'll keep looking," Añil says, solemn like an oath. He splays his palm in the center of the sun. "There is more to be studied about arcanum and the Storm. I'll keep studying."

"So, wait for me, Muriel."

"I'll free you from the dream you're trapped in. I'll look for ways to create the perfect Depths of Myth."

"When that happens, please," Añil's voice drops to a whisper. "Live."

The remains of the wall does not respond, cold under his touch.

Añil lowers his forehead to its surface.

"Please live."

I miss you.

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additional tags that i can't put in the actual tags because it would spoil the story:

This is the fate of all Miemeng birds.

They are tricked into the (outside) world by some pitiful human with a tragic fate. They would then willingly give their bone staffs and lives to buy those people a chance to change their fate. In the end, only he remains on the vast mountain.

Yanping has never descended the mountain.

He is no different from the other Miemengs; they look through the entire land, then resolutely descend the mountain, understanding their fate while collecting the remains of their kin. Yanping once thought he would be the exception, that he wouldn't linger, mistakenly believing he was only briefly passing through this scene.

Note: so they would descend the mountain to collect the bone remains of their kin, then go back to their home. Yanping thought he would just do that: collect the bones, then get out. He wouldn't linger, because lingering would mean getting involved in human business.

He was wrong.

The first time he descended the mountain, he heard the vibrations of his kin's calling in his own bones. This hum, as subtle as snow melting in a furnace, instantly conveyed the message of his kin's death in a spiritual way. Now, there was no one else on the mountain to collect the bones, so Yanping flapped his wings, leaving the locust tree where he had long perched alone, and headed in the direction it pointed.

He thought he would only collect the bones, but when he flew to the palace on the high mountain, he saw the sorrowful, living faces of his people, transformed into human form. The sorrow was so immense that it obscured everything; he thought he would see bones, but for the first time, he saw their skin (physical appearance?) instead of their bones.

Question: Does this mean that after giving up their immortality, they would completely become human-looking?

“Yanping.”

His clansman called to him without opening their eyes. The one called did not answer. After a long while, Yanping only uttered the word: “Why?”

Why? To exchange your life for another's, why? He failed, was it worth it?

He only asked the question, then flapped his wings and flew away. He flew so forcefully that he startled the guards; but he didn't care. He needed to escape this tomb called Yong'an Palace as quickly as possible; inside were buried living people, his former clansmen.

On his second descent down the mountain, he did not heard his bones resonate. He only knew that he would descend, and then exchange the locust wood for the remains (of his kin's bones). He did all this with practiced ease, because he had rehearsed it beforehand, and because he knew there would be no more exchanges after this (because he is now the last Miemeng alive).

He carefully wrapped the remains in a cloth, and watched the magnificent procession carried the locust wood (casket, I think) floating away. After a long time, Yanping softly spoke:

“Was it worth it?”

The bones hummed softly, before falling silent.

"(Someday) you will understang, Yanping."

Note: In a way, his story is similar to 6, a struggle against fate. A Miemeng's fate is predetermined, but Yanping did not want that. He did not want to exchange his immortality to alter a human's fate, but all of his clansmen did. Why? He didn't understand.

Notes:

燕平 finally i get the correct CN characters with certainty...! (don't laugh, i really can't read CN) 😂 The meaning is indeed "Swallow of Peace"

The tree where Getian lived is a locust tree 槐树. Other names: Styphnolobium japonicum, the Japanese pagoda tree, the Chinese scholar tree

Allies in the Suitcase

The Miemeng bird is said to be able to read people by their bones, able to see the texture and shape of a person's bones through their eyes. They believe a person's bone structure is connected to their destiny, and that it can reveal their past and present lives. Legend has it that the Miemeng bird can forgo immortality to alter the fate of others.

Udimo

A near extinct bird species. Extremely rare. Large in size, with sharp claws, and very low aggression. Its wingspan is approximately seven meters. Its feathers are soft and easily shed, especially when frightened, but its call is melodious.

Observations suggest that it is strongly attracted to flashes of lights and bone-like objects when no one else is present.

is this written by Name Day? lol

Historical record: Currency established by the Getian clan

A traveling merchant from the foot of the mountain, citing classical texts, held up several copper coins engraved with reliefs of black birds and earnestly described how the Getian clan used them. Getian found this amusing and traded them for baskets woven from willow and cattail reeds.

From the Manuscript

After setting the story in Pei City, we realized that "accidentally entering Peach Blossom Spring (Notes on Shuori)" needed an introducer. Otherwise, if the protagonists from the foreign land (Miss Bessmert and Yenisei) were to directly went to the heart of the story (entering Pei City directly without meeting Getian first), it would become "invading Peach Blossom Spring" instead of "accidentally entering," losing the charm of a "chance discovery" in a supernatural tale and becoming somewhat nonsensical. Therefore, Getian became this introductory character.

In Getian, ​​we attempted to convey the concept of "going up and down the mountain," or "leaving and entering the world," a question that has remained unanswered for a long time. Another topic is mentioned more frequently in various works: what would it be like to observe all living beings from the perspective of an "immortal"? Perhaps the answer is often to bridge differences and integrate into the community.

We hope to give Getian a choice, a path still to be explored, rather than a predetermined answer. Only after he descends the mountain, traversing the vastness of the world and knowing its limitations, can he find the freedom that truly belongs to him.

To distinguish him from the typical mysterious elder, besides designing his image as a bird-like half-human, we also used Getian and Jiu Niangzi as contrasting figures. Getian is someone who lives in seclusion but whose heart yearns for the fire (excitement?) below the mountains, while Jiu Niangzi is a someone who lives in the city but whose heart is in the seclusion.

On the mountain, he had witnessed countless partings, and only on this day, hundreds of years later, did he truly understand the meaning of reunion. Just as his character's storyline, "The Wind Rises in the World," says, it is "the wings that flap after countless partings." He can fly, and he is no longer lazy in flapping his wings.

Left:

Over 600 years old

Very sensitive and is easily frightened/startled when someone visited

Right: