Scene #8940: Hand Over Heaven

Owner	Pose
Angela	Angela invites Ru Li to L Corp. Specifically, Malkuth invites Ru Li to L Corp on behalf of Angela but she is pretty clear that it's from Angela. Angela will meet Ru Li at the Warpgate in Control, dipping her head to him. There's the sound of construction throughout the facility and with Ru Li's sensory abilities may reveal that the nearby elevators are undergoing repairs--and there's likely repairs elsewhere throughout the facility. "Thank you for coming, Ru Li. I've been meaning to have more proper conversations with you." She hesitates a moment before adding, "Please pardon the construction. After the latest 'Meltdown', it seems that we are still struggling with repairs. And also... before we get too far--my apologies for Binah's ... ... character. Unfortunately, she is a neccessary component of our work and is irreplacable which is why she feels she can say whatever she likes." She adjusts her labcoat lightly, her eyes closed. She can see Ru Li just fine through the multitude of cameras operating throughout the facility and it's an old habit of hers she hasn't really broken just yet. The worst days might be yet to come. "...Congratulation on your operation in Quicknest?" She asks, a bit of uncertainty in hr tone.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li is not doing great, at the moment, judging by the (surprisingly simple) wheelchair he rolls through the warpgate in. It's unadorned, plain, and functional, which is probably for the best, because he doesn't look like he's in a great way for adorned, fancy, or overengineered. He's got a new robe, but it's white and blue instead of black and silver, presumably some kind of medical robe to signify to the people of his country that he's been damaged and may be slower to react than normal. Still, he raises a hand and bows his head to Angela appropriately, and smiles at her as if he's fine. "It is my pleasure, Miss Angela." He shakes his head at her. "You do not need to apologize. I understand entirely. I am one of ninety-nine; not every member of the ninety-nine gods is as soft-spoken as I am, either. I would not expect every person to be kind to me. In fact, it would be..." "...I think, earnestly, it would be very boring." He shakes his head slightly. "If it helps, I am just as uncertain on whether I should be congratulated as you are. The situation is...complicated. And Petra did win. I am not ashamed to admit that. We may have succeeded in our objective, but in the end, I was not able to catch twenty arrows. I am not where I want to be." "But...I suspect you know more than a little about that, do you not?"
Angela	Angela murmurs, "I suppose we are staying in Control today." Wheelchair access to the lower floors is just nonexistant right now. There's only one Agent who would conceivably need them and she's getting her legs repaired at Lilian's behest. ''I am one of ninety-nine.'' "The other ninety eight might as well not exist." Angela says. "I scarcely know any of the others and you are the one I've gotten to know. I do not care for my employees causing you trouble. Her past as an Arbiter is immaterial to me." ''I was not able to catch twenty arrows.'' "Mm... Lilian told me that receiving help when I was still struggling to be born is not something to be ashamed of. You are the same way, aren't you? Otherwise you wouldn't be out here in the multiverse." SHe gives a little odd. Angela smells like ... ambient blood and bleach, even though there is nothing on her. It would normally be imperceptible but Ru Li has lived in this facility her whole life--it's going to stick to her. But maybe that's not really Angela herself so much as what's clinging to her. Angela herself... She doesn't sweat. She doesn't have the glands for it. What Angela smells like, something humans would never be able to smell--past the metal frame and clothes and atmosphere... She smells like ''Light''. There's some kind of link between her and something below, nearly spectral. The floors and air smell faintly of bleach and blood as well--to say nothing of the kind of ghastly smell of construction materials and chemicals around the elevators which Ru Li can see are both presently demolished and that a great deal of the construction work is around that. Expanding further he sees the Agents moving around the facility, moving around as normal. He can see in cells. He sees Red Hooded Mercenary leaning against a wall, eyes closed. He sees a Winged Plague Doctor that positively reeks of divine energy. 'There is nothing behind my mask.' The Plague Doctor tells Ru Li, seeing him as well as Ru Li looks at him? 'Flesh is bound to the flow of time, but the soul is immortal.' He sees Schadenfreude, who immediately goes berserk. Justin Rook swears and wonders why this happened. Several agents rush in to help and they rapidly take down the Abnormality before it can do much harm. Similarly, he sees The Burrowing Heaven who immediately calms down--no doubt saving an Agent's life as its eyes snap closed shyly. There is something there, below the central level. A brain and spine in a tube, veins spread out like roots... The Enkephalin tastes...like numbing. Both on the tongue and of the mind and soul. Fortunately, Ru Li isn't literally ingesting it. There's a sense of something there besides the physical. If he got closer... He sees a man in a labcoat sitting in an office, sending directions to other agents. There's some smoke in one of the cells, Ru Li's senses instinctively avert from it before he can take it in, flinching from putting your eyes on a hot stove. It's not a pleasant place for Ru Li to be. It's even dangerous if he isn't careful where he turns his gaze. It's Angela's home and... Perhaps it is understandable to Ru Li, in this moment, why Angela's eyes are so frequently closed within this facility. "I've never invited you here because it is an unpleasant place--but it is more difficult to reach out to others. I know Petra is strong though, I admit, that you are in this condition is a surprise to me. You must have fought with everything you had." She trails off. "...Thank you for taking Petra seriously and ending that agony."
Ru Li Cheng	The moment he hears something talking to him - looking at him through the layers of distant concrete - Ru Li realizes he has made a mistake. He had not known this place's sheer level of danger, though he had heard it from time to time. He had not known how extensively horrifying the place is, how dizzyingly. He's not sure anyone but Angela knows, at this point, because he's not sure anyone but Angela has all the context. He's not sure anyone should have all the context. Three things happen, as he takes it in, as he smells the rot and the bleach, hears the Plague Doctor speaking to him and bleeding divinity, tastes the blood and the chemicals and the concrete and the spiritual numbing that dangles on his senses unpleasantly. Three things. The first is an intense wave of vertigo. He almost throws up. He can sense the inside of his own body, too, after all, down to every fiber being knit, and his stomach roils at the horror of it all. He's forced to fixate on Angela, all of his senses on her, on the smell of the metal and the taste of the ''Light'', on only her and nothing else, shutting the world out. The second is an intense wave of empathy. A god moved by suffering and tears perceived a whole facility built upon suffering - and not just the suffering of the people but the suffering of the Abnormalities, the suffering of the one who closes her eyes to it all, the suffering of so much, of so many. The empathy overwhelms him in a moment. There are tears welling up in his eyes. The third thing is a heroic effort. He stands. He's shaky, but he stands. And he stumbles forward, and he gives Angela a tight, warm hug. She is close enough, now, to feel his tears, to feel his empathy as he hugs her. "I am so sorry," he whispers, "That you must go through this world with your eyes shut so tight, lest you see all of this. I am so sorry. I am so sorry." His hug tightens. "I overreach myself. We have barely met. But I cannot..." He slips a little bit, the weakness in his legs overtaking him, and he's forced to hold himself up by her for a moment before he straightens. "I cannot leave this place without knowing that someone has shown you that they can see your burden in its utmost. The light inside you is so strong. You are so beautiful an existence. I am so sorry. I am so sorry." Then he releases her, and fumbles his way back into his wheelchair, and takes a deep, sharp breath to avoid throwing up as he fixates on her fully. He wipes the tears from his eyes and tries to smile. "What...were you saying? Oh. Yes. Petra." "Ha, ha...I am afraid that, that while I am strong, I am not skilled. And she is." He pauses, and then, again, a shaking breath to try and refocus himself. "...I always do what I say I will do. I would not have given her less than my best. I declared I would save that place, and that was what was done." "You are very close to her." It isn't a question. "She must be making your burden easier to bear. Her, and the Dame Commander, and everyone. Even if, I think, they cannot see it all...it must be so good to have them shoulder it for you." He smiles, but it's a rueful smile, not a happy one. "Even if it is alright to ask for help, it is unseemly of a man, is it not? And more than that, if I cannot be reliable enough to shoulder the burdens others cannot, what is the point of wishing to be a hero? What a wretched existence it would be, to be a useless person."
Angela	Carmen perhaps. Angela, wholly ignorant of what Ru Li is going through, only sees Ru Li trying to hug her. Angela intercepts this by pressing her hand against Ru Li's chest, startled enough that she shoves him back into his wheelchair. She is intensely, even with her eyes closed, aware of the eyes of Agents on her. Ru Li can see her shoulders tense, her eyes squinting more shut than they wer ejust a moment before. Her simulated breathing is erratic like she is trying to mantain the illusion but is fumbling the timing. She opens her mouth to say something nasty. ''The light inside you is so strong. You are so beautiful an existence'' Angela's words die in her throat. She quirks her head in confusion and actually does open her eyes as if that will help clue her in to the mystery. "...Has a cognito hazard reached out to you?" She asks. "They shouldn't be able to reach you from here, I can take you down to Welfare if you need an examination." She leans in to peer at Ru Li's eyes. There's tears, but the coloring seems usual for Ru Li. "...Perhaps you should explain." Angela ultimately decides upon realizing she isn't going to understand just by examining Ru Li. Did you like hearing someone say that about you? Angela ignores it, shifting her gaze slightly off of Ru Li like she just can't mantain a direct look at him right now. "...Petra is skilled. She is our most capable worker and I don't believe it is fully because of her special mental resilience. I don't blame you for failing to 'defeat' her. The important thing is that you did not leave her to languish there." Again he speaks of the burden. Angela will not deny it though. "I am exceptionally grateful to The Girls." Ru Li can feel the capitalization. "One of my dreams is that I can one day stand amongst them as a peer--and help them as they helped me." ''What a wretched existence it would be, to be a useless person.'' "Yes ... That is why asking for help when you are still weak is important, no?"
Ru Li Cheng	"Oh..." Ru Li reaches up to wipe his own tears, "I am so sorry. I forgot myself entirely. I just...I was overcome by everything I saw, and felt, and heard, and smelled, and tasted...I needed to let you know that...I did not think simply saying it was enough, and this place is so..." "Please, forgive me. No, no. I am alright. I do not need an examination, and I doubt you would be able to make sense of me if you tried. A handkerchief would not go amiss, though. I do not seem to be able to stop myself from crying." His tears are little droplets of quicksilver and gold. Probably linked to his circulatory system somehow, since there's no need for gods to have tears. "I suppose you did not know the fullness of my divinity. I saw all of it. Felt all of it. Tasted, smelled all of it. Heard all of it. This place." He tilts his head slightly. "Everything. All the way down. My senses are...are far beyond a human. I did not realize...the depth of this place. The horror of this place. The danger of this place. The burden of this place. What you suffer for that light within you. For that beautiful existence." "I am focused, now, on you. A, haha, if you will forgive me for saying so after forgetting my manners, much more pleasant experience. There will be no more danger, no more trouble." He wipes his face again. "Yes. I have no doubt you will be able to help them as a peer. If you are so determined to shoulder this place for what you desire, you could do anything. You are amazing." "I can only hope that, now that I am able to go about the Multiverse, my own determination holds a candle to yours." He finally manages to breathe properly, and the rapid ticking inside him slows to a more manageable crawl. "Yes. But as I said, is it not unseemly for a man? So I was told, and I do not wish to be unseemly. I must...simply content myself, for now, with what I can do, yes? And what I cannot do I must continue to strive for. So long as I am not angered by my own inability, it will be alright." He sits there for a long moment in silence. Then, "Yes. Petra is very strong. I admire her greatly, as she is someone who is certainly qualified to be called a hero. In truth I did not even know she had any mental resilience whatsoever - I simply understand her to be remarkable. And..." "I suppose, then, I was moved by her suffering as much as those of the people trapped by her, in a way." He flexes his fingers slightly, as if making sure they're still attached, even though he knows full well they are. "That is twice, then, that she has moved me to act."
Angela	Oh. Angela is careful with her expression. "You...saw it all? All the way down? ... Even my mother? That area is shielded." Even Ayin...? Angela has a lot bursting through her head in the moment but somenoe who had to see it all, even if it's just for an instant--she knows what she'd want someone to do. She'd want their reaction to be shielded by everyone in the facility so they could mantain their pride. Angela steps away to Ru Li's wheelchair and starts pushing it, hurriedly, to her office. "Keep your head down," Angela suggests. "They need not see how it affects you." She sends a signal to the door to her office and it automatically opens, allowing her to roll Ru Li inside. No protests are going to stop her. Maybe a god's tears are a miracle in Ru Li's world, but she cares not. She's a destroyer of miracl--well maybe not that, that's someone else. She is grateful, for the moment, that her expression is pale and lifeless otherwise she wouldn't be able to obscure what she's thinking about. What she's thinking is also obscured in the metatext. She rolls the chair all the way up to the desk and she steps around it to reach into her desk. She obviously doesn't have tissues. What she does have is a cloth that she normally uses to wipe away dust. It's fortunately not covered in the stuff NOW so she can offer the little towel to Ru Li. It's been recently cleaned! "It's alright." Angela says. "I did not know what caused you to have such a reaction. It is normal to be disgusted and horrified to the point of tears by this facility. It speaks well to your character and... I should be the one apologizing, for bringing you to such a place. It would have been better if you'd never looked so directly as a place like this. I won't invite you again so you need not worry about this." It is a little more difficult to see outside Angela's room like there's extra shielding there, if Ru Li is in a state to notice such things. There's active countermeasures to prevent this place from being observed by long range sensors. Angela has to be hidden from even The Head after all. "...You noticed The Light...?" Angela says. "That's impressive. It is not as if it is something one normally can observe on me. Yes, I am intrinsically tied to the grand project here. Though that part of me is not often called beautiful." If it hadn't been for The Girls she doubts it would've ever happened before. "...You get used to it after a while. You'd have to. I... suppose it would be more accurate, however, to say that I do not entirely know the fullness of what ''divinity'' is." Once Ru Li takes the cloth, Angela will kneedle her fingers together. "...Unseemly for a man? ... Mm. That sounds like it'd be accepting a double standard if I agreed, and I know not the particulars--but even Gebura has her limits. You did ''something''. Lilian says that if we all carry the burden, it would be easy, but since few do, it is unsurmountably heavy, which makes the problem even worse. Besides. Even failure is heroic when you act with your whole heart no?" She finally gives Ru Li a small smile--maybe the first he's seen from her. "Your instinct to care must be why Lilina thinks well of you. As do I--" And then as if embarrassed. "--Generally speaking."
Ru Li Cheng	"All of it," Ru Li confirms quietly as she pushes him to her office. He doesn't mind being seen, but he does what she asks anyway, because he's that sort of person - that accomodating sort of gentle that trusts in other people most of the time. In this place, that's probably the most dangerous sort of person you can be. But, for the moment, he's not going to question it, or protest, or anything like that. He's just going to trust that she knows her own business more than he does. He doesn't notice the shielding, but he's paying full attention to her, and not letting any of his senses leak away from her. He laughs, quietly, as she hands him the towel and apologizes, and he wipes the quicksilver and gold tears away. "It is alright. You did not know, and I did not know. We should not make ignorance criminal, else all people are criminals, and that is a dangerous and hateful place to be, I think." "I do not mind. I know, now. It was overwhelming, and I desperately wished for you to know that someone can see how much you carry. I will be alright, next time." He shifts, slightly, in his chair. "The senses of a god of Yinghua are simply...vast. They must be. We handle so much at once that we cannot help but be vast. It is the nature of being a god - to be vast, enormous, in ways that humans cannot understand, not really, because to us the notion of shouldering enormous burdens is simply our role, our existence, and we were forged for it. I do not even know if I can explain it well. I do not...like to contemplate it, overmuch. But it is useful. And, in a case like this, it..." He pauses, awkwardly. "...I am glad that I can at least offer you that empathy, and that sympathy, and what kindness I am able, in a way that I do not think anyone else can." "I could not help but notice the Light. It is something remarkable, something unique. I have...touched light, too, held it inside me, but not like that." His fingers go to his chest. "Ultraman Belial did not glow like you. I doubt anything glows like you. You are a singular miracle being made by a hell." He smiles at her. "Yes, that is true. It is the lack of caring. The carelessness. The assumptions that it will all work out. That heroism is success and goodness instead of truth and effort. You are right, of course - failing is part of heroic events, too. The fall of a hero, and their struggle to rise, is as compelling as their victories. In truth I was not...what is the phrase? 'Beating myself up' for failing, just...for feeling that I am unreliable, on the first mission I have led." His face flushes a bit silver. "Thank you. I think I cannot help it. I have been in a singular room for so much of my existence. Seeing the way humans live, I cannot...I cannot simply pretend as if I do not care, and still feel that I could call myself a divine being." "Do you care, Miss Angela? About all of them? About...all of the pain here? Do you close your eyes because you, also, cannot help but care, and caring would be unbearable?" Then, he pauses, as if he just realized, "-generally speaking? Have I done something to offend? Erm, aside from my attempt to hug you, which, yes, was a failure of my own control, for which I once again must profusely apologize."
Angela	''We shuold not make ignorance criminal'' Angela, who absolutely would criminalize the ignorant (metaphorically anyway), does take a moment before saying, "I am hardly asking to be taken away in chains. Apologizing for hurting a friend unintentionally feels like a reasonable way to engage in others." ''I desperately wished for you to know that someone can see how much you carry.'' "Mm... Perhaps you are closer than most." Angela will concede. The real understanding comes when you realize that's your eternity, after all, but perhaps one day it will be a moment and she will be closer to Ru Li. But not too close. "I...am not a human." Angela says after a strange moment of hesitation. "But I can imagine that you and your siblings do have a lot to carry. But at least you have one another, no? It is brave of you, in a way, to step out to see the mutliverse--even if it is for your own purposes." It has been centuries since she has thought of Ultraman Belial. She hasn't forgotten, of course, she does not forget but there has been no change in quite some time so she sort of filed it away as something settled. Why is he ... talking me up like this? Angela thinks. He isn't the type to want something from me. I guess you're getting good at blowing minds like your mom~ Angela steadies herself. Hearing this sort of thing from RU LI of all people. "...I am tied to the seed of light.' She repeats. "But it is not mine to utilize. It is for the people, perhaps like your own miracles. It is for the people of the City." She doesn't voice it. That she doesn't get to live. What is the point? She has already decided to betray The City. And her understanding of Ru Li is that he ought to hate her for this by the laws of Yinghua. ''Do you care, Miss Angela? About all of them?'' ''Have I done something to offend?'' "...I could not possibly care for all of them." Angela says. "I would have completely lost my mind by now if I did. Not caring is how I have survived. One of the ones I've gotten to ... care about ... recently revealed she was a spy all along." She trails off. "...I close my eyes because it is tiring to see the same terrible things repeatedly. I imagine even the least caring people would learn to do so. But..." She sighs. "...My apologies for pushing you, Ru Li. Let's not dwell on it. You did not mean any ill."
Ru Li Cheng	"Hah, hah. No, I did not mean literally criminal. Yes, that is absolutely reasonable. I am glad you did not take offense." 'At least you have each other.' "No." Ru Li shakes his head. "We do not have each other. We are not family in that way. There is no sense of friendship or blood ties between the gods. We barely even talk - I have spoken to perhaps six or seven of the others in the last four hundred years. We all serve the Empire, and that is our unity. That and...and our duty." It goes unsaid that he is shirking it. It simply makes him feel a little more lonely about everything. For the people. For the City. He thinks about that for a moment. Like he's turning it over in his head. He was made for the same role, after all - not in the sense of being a saviour but in the sense that his everything belonged to the Empire. Belongs to the Empire. That he belongs to the Empire. Finally, "'Wishing you were something else is not evil. Raging against what you have not been given and raging against what you were dealt without asking are not the same thing.'" He smiles. "The Dame Commander said that to me. I think we might be similar enough, that those words may be useful to you, too." He nods. He hasn't broken his gaze away from her at all. "I think I understand that, too. I do not blame you for not caring. I was simply curious. I think it might be impossible for anyone to care about all of this for too long."
Angela	"That is a shame." Angela says. "A god with no family, serving selflessly an empire, friendless and alone for centuries. Perhaps we do have similarities, though that is hardly something to celebrate." She lets out a sigh, though, because finding similarities with others is something that always... feels good even though she knows it's terrible to think such a way. Ru Li would probably say it's no crime. Nothing wrong with it. But she remembers what Benjamin said. Even if she agrees with Ru Li, she'll forever know that there are those who won't. And none know just what she'll get up to. No, she thinks, he is looking in better places than here. He should avert his eyes and keep them gone. Some day, perhaps, she can show him a better view. Even if she's unforgivable by that point, at least she'll be able to do that. "...If it is impossible, then it is a bit silly to ask," She says, though the chiding is relatively gentle--even outside of relative to Angela. "I look to her for guidance often too, I love her terribly. I wish I've known her for longer. Sometimes I worry I've known her too late." She sits down, atypically, in her chair to face Ru Li. "A god like how you've described. To me, that is naught but a divine slave. I am grateful Lilian is giving you the kind of advice--that you are seeking outside yourself--to become more than the you that was designed." She so rarely calls Lilian Lilian, in fact, she usually calls her Dame Commander. Calling her Lilian in front of Ru Li is like sharing something with him, though she does not say what. "Such as with Futaba, yes?" She says, pushing other thoughts out of her head. "Bring her into your world--" She does not mean Yinghua. "So you can be free."
Ru Li Cheng	'Naught but a divine slave.' He shifts, very slightly. "I do not know. I do not like that word - it feels that it should be reserved for people who are not given any compensation. Even if we have no real choice in the matter, we still receive benefits, station, power. It feels like calling myself that does undue harm to those who are in far worse situations. It is one thing to be frustrated by my situation, and another to rail against it without acknowledging that there are benefits." "Haha...yes, it was silly to ask, I suppose. Still, I suppose it is the nature of a god to seek miracles. And I wanted to know, so that I could offer to share some of the burden if it was the case, and make it easier for you." He barely knows her. But the smile is nonetheless genuine. He radiates earnestness. He really does mean that, doesn't he? "I can tell. I admire her greatly, and I can tell simply by the way you form her name in your mouth that you love her. -I realize that is strange to say, but I am currently very focused on everything about you for my own sanity and the safety of your facility, so I am noticing many things I do not think many others would. The way you hold her name on your tongue, the way you are using it instead of calling her 'Dame Commander' - that you are being informal with me, sharing some warmth that lives inside your heart." His face goes silver, then gold, then mingles electrum, at Futaba. The ambient ticking noise that is everpresent around the clockwork god gets faster. "...yes. Yes, like that. It is like that. I..." He just sort of smiles, awkwardly. "...someone who can hold your hand is worth more than all the coins under Heaven."
Angela	Angela won't deny that she loves Lilian. Of course she does. What kind of insane person would she be if she were to deny something that obvious. EvEryone should. Dial it back. Everyone should. She doesn't know the Rust but she feels more in common with it by instinct than any god. "...If you could not hate me." Angela says. "That is all I would ask from you." She isn't looking directly at Ru Li. She is doing her very best to not be seen, and every time Ru Li sees something of her she tries harder to stop him from seeing anything else. "...I received benefits," Angela says. "Depending on how one looks at the situation. But it was not gifts I cared about, so they are trash. ... But if you feel otherwise, that is hardly a bad thing." ''I can tell simply by the way you form her name in your mouth that you love her.'' But does he know it hurts, sometimes? That it burns and it takes conscious effort to not stamp it out? That even now, it feels like it's been AGES since she's seen Lilian and felt her touch even though it's only been a few days. That memory of Lilian hugging her, for someone who pushed away Ru Li in a panic, is driving her with agonizing fuel. She keeps that in her mind's eye. Happy to be seen by someone she is happy to see. She wants to be born for her, she wants so much. Ru Li will hate her. He'll hate her for sure. Someone as kind as him must. It'd be wrong for him to not hate her. The edges of the price of her freedom is increasingly closing in on her eyesight but if she keeps closing her eyes maybe she won't have to see it in time. She is anathema. Nobody must know that her freedom comes at a cost to The City, an indelible scar from an unfinished operation. If she could be confident, the blade wouldn't even dig past the skull. ''Someone who can hold your hand is worth more than all the coins under Heaven.'' "...Then I hope if you one day have to decide, you choose your hand over heaven.' Angela says. Don't look at him. She places her mind in its happy place. That recent hug she selfishly sought out and doesn't regret it at all. "I like to speak of people by what they've earned. But you are correct. I do love her. ... I owe her everything. I ... like you, Ru Li. But she is the one who gifted me a miracle." More than one really. As Ru Li says, some things are worth more than all the coins under Heaven.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li laughs. "I do not think I could hate you even if I wanted to, and I do not want to." He doesn't know what she's planning. He can't know. He's not psychic - he can't read her mind. But his laugh is still warm. "I do not want to hold hate in my heart for anyone, and the day that I find someone worth hating, I think I will know it. Hate...lingers. And I have a very good memory and a very long life. I am immortal. If I begin to hate someone, I think, I would never let it go. I would like very much to avoid that. I have been lucky, so far." "So I do not think I could hate you, because I do not think you are a person who deserves to be hated. I think you are someone carrying something painful, agonizing, impossible, without having been asked or given a choice, built to serve this function at the whim of others. At least I know that I was forged to serve a country, and no singular person, no singular ambition, no singular dream, no matter how grand it may be. At least I know that the sufferings I have caused - for I am a bureaucrat and I cannot ignore that I have made decisions that caused pain - were the sufferings normal for a nation, and not sufferings like this place." 'I hope if you one day have to decide, you choose your hand over heaven.' Ru Li reaches out and squeezes her hand very lightly, his smile still broad. Then he lets go and settles it back in his lap. "I do not blame you for loving her. She gave you hope. I think it must be natural to love someone who gives you hope. In fact I think it would be very strange if you did not. I think that is probably proof that you can still care, that you have a heart worth caring about, and that you are a remarkable person."
Angela	Angela doesn't want to talk about hate anymore. She doesn't pull away at Ru Li's holding her hand but she knows she hates plenty. The version of her that wasn't hate filled is a distant memory. ''If I begin to hate someone, I think, I would never let it go. I would like very much to avoid that.'' "Wise." Angela says, since she knows what the alternative is. The idea that Ru Li might pity her hate is worse than him hating her. She doesn't comment on that. Talking about Lilian is asier. "It would be strange," Angela admits. "I suppose I should be grateful I am not so abnormal yet. When the work is done, I suppose we'll see. Until then, I will try to believe it. You could show me around your home, then. It would be nice." She doesn't add anything else. It's not just hope that Lilian gave her either. Some things Lilian gave were more important than even hope.
Ru Li Cheng	"I think I would like that very much. And I think you will like it, too. It is a beautiful country to experience. I am excited for you to see it. In the meantime, I will tell you what I can, and give you some light here, some break from your burden." So he talks to her. He tells her about taste of the waterfalls outside the Capital, the purest possible water that rolled down the great mountain. He tells her about the feeling of the sun and the sky beneath the movement of the gears and springs of the Engine. He tells about the bountiful, vast hills of Yujinxiang, about the dancing winds of Baihe and its peaks. He tells her about his home until finally it is time for him to leave, to give her a break from her burden, and knowledge of what she will one day get to see.