His head felt strange. One moment he had been terrified, and the next he felt almost fearless... it was strangely liberating. In all his life that he could recall, China had been at least a little afraid of something. His creator the Archmage, and that man's many other minions, had all made it abundantly clear to the Ceramic Beast just how fragile and useless he was. To such an extent had this affected him that even after being cast out by them, and even after journeying for lots and lots and lots of time (literally decades, in fact; not that China was educated enough to know this) to find the most harmless possible spot to settle in, he had still been worried by the possibility of such simple things as having a branch break under his weight and drop him to the ground, or being knocked over by a medium-sized or larger animal...
Being as frail as the china from which his name was taken, China had no lack of things to be afraid of. In the past, those 'lesser' worries had been overridden only by his hunger and by his greatest fear of all; death by starvation. China knew that his appetite could never truly be sated; that the sharp pangs of hunger he felt could only ever be dulled briefly by his meals. He also knew that he needed to feed frequently in order to fuel the self-perpetuating spell which kept him going, yet with his body digesting food almost the instant he swallowed it, he had no way of telling how much he actually required in order to sustain himself... it wasn't like he could experiment to test it out, either; for all he knew, the first sign that the magic was fading would be when he suddenly dropped dead.
For the first time, though, that worry seemed to fade away. As the light of her torch flickered on the edge of his vision, the violet flames illuminating her face whilst one small hand rested reassuringly on the unbroken portion of his head, China found his mind filled with something he had never truly experienced until this moment; confidence. The ardent belief that he truly had nothing to be concerned about at all. So long as he listened to master, everything else would work itself out.
“Yes-yes, master, me listen much-much. Me be good-nice. Promise.” he said in response to a statement she made; asking him to behave, and promising to keep him safe in return. With his mouth having vanished entirely by this point, these quiet words came with no associated movement of his jaws.
As as he spoke, the Ceramic Beast closed his remaining eye and nuzzled against the Hell Fairy like a cat might its owner. For a moment, Clownpiece seemed surprised by this reaction, but then went along with it, wrapping her arms around him protectively and holding him close.
He wasn't sure how much time passed whilst he remained like that, contented for once under the comforting light of the new master's torch... before too long, though, his peace was broken by the sound of Dane's voice.
“Are you done hugging that thing yet? We're ready to go.” both the Ceramic Beast and his master turned to face the swordsman when he spoke up. The two foods stood by his side, smiling tentatively at the pair of them...
“'We'?” Clownpiece asked, glancing between the battle-hardened swordsman and the pair of harmless-looking girls.
“Yes, these two are Cassandra Myst and Renko Usami.” he indicated first one of the yum-yums and then the other... strangely, it seemed to China that both appeared surprised for some reason that Dane had known their names... though they must surely have told him themselves, as how else could he possibly have known? “They'd like to join us for a bit, since neither of them really has anything specific they want to do right now... and I figured that would be fine, as its not like they could possibly be any more of a hindrance than that mindless pet of yours.”
“Foods coming-coming?” the Ceramic Beast responded, tilting what remained of his head inquisitively to one side.
“No. Not food.” Dane growled, glaring at the ravenous golem, “These two are not your dinner.”
“Well, whatever.” the Hell Fairy shrugged, “If you want to drag them off to wherever it is we're even headed now then I guess that's fine.”
And so, without further ado, they made their departure. Back towards the Nexus Gate they went, despite each of them having only just passed through there a short time before to reach the Green in the first place.
Their walk was, for the most part, uneventful. Throughout the entire journey, China cast many a surreptitious glance across at his master as she chatted amiably with her friend and the newcomers. He had already been awed by the raw power she possessed, but now, knowing that she could even suppress fear and provide comfort with her magic, he found himself desperate to please her... for all he knew, she might be the only person in the entirety of this strange, new world with such an ability at their disposal... and having experienced such contentment once, he longed to do so again.
He was so fixated on this thought that it wasn't until they were more than half the way to their goal that he remembered the severed leg he had left lying on the ground back the way they had come. He was so shocked by the concept of forgetting to eat that for a minute he actually couldn't even bring himself to worry about having missed a meal.
Before long, though, he recovered and begged to be allowed to run ahead and go hunt. Having a fair idea of just how effective her latest attempt at training had been on 'Afrátos', the master allowed him to do so, provided he promise not to hunt any 'people'... people was the word she used, though judging by the way she and Dane acted, he now knew that they didn't really mean by it those that he would consider people... they meant two-leg yum-yums. It seemed that the pair of them actually really did think of those foods as genuine people, just like them...
It was a strange concept to China, the idea of considering something edible to not be food, especially if it wasn't a master, like Clownpiece, or scary, like her friend... but he would have to do his best to remember it if he didn't want to upset the Hell Fairy or get hit again by Dane.
In this instance, however, the warning was unnecessary, as he never encountered one in any case. By the time they reached the Nexus Gate, the only food he had managed to snag was a two-foot-tall, grey-furred primate with a black and white ringed tail... the headless corpse of which he currently gnawed on as they made their way back through the portal and into the eerily white landscape beyond...
Being as frail as the china from which his name was taken, China had no lack of things to be afraid of. In the past, those 'lesser' worries had been overridden only by his hunger and by his greatest fear of all; death by starvation. China knew that his appetite could never truly be sated; that the sharp pangs of hunger he felt could only ever be dulled briefly by his meals. He also knew that he needed to feed frequently in order to fuel the self-perpetuating spell which kept him going, yet with his body digesting food almost the instant he swallowed it, he had no way of telling how much he actually required in order to sustain himself... it wasn't like he could experiment to test it out, either; for all he knew, the first sign that the magic was fading would be when he suddenly dropped dead.
For the first time, though, that worry seemed to fade away. As the light of her torch flickered on the edge of his vision, the violet flames illuminating her face whilst one small hand rested reassuringly on the unbroken portion of his head, China found his mind filled with something he had never truly experienced until this moment; confidence. The ardent belief that he truly had nothing to be concerned about at all. So long as he listened to master, everything else would work itself out.
“Yes-yes, master, me listen much-much. Me be good-nice. Promise.” he said in response to a statement she made; asking him to behave, and promising to keep him safe in return. With his mouth having vanished entirely by this point, these quiet words came with no associated movement of his jaws.
As as he spoke, the Ceramic Beast closed his remaining eye and nuzzled against the Hell Fairy like a cat might its owner. For a moment, Clownpiece seemed surprised by this reaction, but then went along with it, wrapping her arms around him protectively and holding him close.
He wasn't sure how much time passed whilst he remained like that, contented for once under the comforting light of the new master's torch... before too long, though, his peace was broken by the sound of Dane's voice.
“Are you done hugging that thing yet? We're ready to go.” both the Ceramic Beast and his master turned to face the swordsman when he spoke up. The two foods stood by his side, smiling tentatively at the pair of them...
“'We'?” Clownpiece asked, glancing between the battle-hardened swordsman and the pair of harmless-looking girls.
“Yes, these two are Cassandra Myst and Renko Usami.” he indicated first one of the yum-yums and then the other... strangely, it seemed to China that both appeared surprised for some reason that Dane had known their names... though they must surely have told him themselves, as how else could he possibly have known? “They'd like to join us for a bit, since neither of them really has anything specific they want to do right now... and I figured that would be fine, as its not like they could possibly be any more of a hindrance than that mindless pet of yours.”
“Foods coming-coming?” the Ceramic Beast responded, tilting what remained of his head inquisitively to one side.
“No. Not food.” Dane growled, glaring at the ravenous golem, “These two are not your dinner.”
“Well, whatever.” the Hell Fairy shrugged, “If you want to drag them off to wherever it is we're even headed now then I guess that's fine.”
And so, without further ado, they made their departure. Back towards the Nexus Gate they went, despite each of them having only just passed through there a short time before to reach the Green in the first place.
Their walk was, for the most part, uneventful. Throughout the entire journey, China cast many a surreptitious glance across at his master as she chatted amiably with her friend and the newcomers. He had already been awed by the raw power she possessed, but now, knowing that she could even suppress fear and provide comfort with her magic, he found himself desperate to please her... for all he knew, she might be the only person in the entirety of this strange, new world with such an ability at their disposal... and having experienced such contentment once, he longed to do so again.
He was so fixated on this thought that it wasn't until they were more than half the way to their goal that he remembered the severed leg he had left lying on the ground back the way they had come. He was so shocked by the concept of forgetting to eat that for a minute he actually couldn't even bring himself to worry about having missed a meal.
Before long, though, he recovered and begged to be allowed to run ahead and go hunt. Having a fair idea of just how effective her latest attempt at training had been on 'Afrátos', the master allowed him to do so, provided he promise not to hunt any 'people'... people was the word she used, though judging by the way she and Dane acted, he now knew that they didn't really mean by it those that he would consider people... they meant two-leg yum-yums. It seemed that the pair of them actually really did think of those foods as genuine people, just like them...
It was a strange concept to China, the idea of considering something edible to not be food, especially if it wasn't a master, like Clownpiece, or scary, like her friend... but he would have to do his best to remember it if he didn't want to upset the Hell Fairy or get hit again by Dane.
In this instance, however, the warning was unnecessary, as he never encountered one in any case. By the time they reached the Nexus Gate, the only food he had managed to snag was a two-foot-tall, grey-furred primate with a black and white ringed tail... the headless corpse of which he currently gnawed on as they made their way back through the portal and into the eerily white landscape beyond...
![[Image: chinasig3.png]](https://image.ibb.co/gG00sd/chinasig3.png)