So merciful and compassionate, yes, you might as well call him a buddha. With the boy well on his way to leaving, Li Lianhua is already thinking ahead, wondering where best to pick up the definitely fictional and completely untrue story of the Karmic bugs for the rest of the audience. It's no wonder the question then takes him a little off guard and he freezes, for a moment not looking up or reacting at all. He arrived here recently enough and has stayed out of people's affairs enough that it hasn't been asked before. Can he be blamed for assuming he wouldn't be around long enough for it to matter?
Li Lianhua is a name belonging to another life, that of the wandering miracle doctor with no fixed abode and no clear background, no attachments, no gains or losses. Then, when the past and the present hounded and haunted him to the end, it had been the name of the man formerly known as Sigu sect leader Li Xiangyi and all that was tangled up in that. He'd left both behind as gracefully as he could manage, at the end of his life, thinking he would have no need of names where he was going next.
And then he woke up in that garden, still breathing, and he continues to wake up in a derelict house he lays no claim to, and now here is a boy who wants him to have a name. It's a little funny, how unprepared it makes him feel, how exposed, one might even say... how spooked. To go from having no name to having a name feels a little like taking a step back from some oblivion, some freedom. You give something a name and it becomes that much harder to let go of, won't it?
But he can't keep the boy waiting forever, something must be done. Though what? For one thing, there's no convenient poetry to take inspiration from, this time. More importantly, this isn't a new beginning at all. What would be the point in a new name, for the short time he's got left and for people who will not remember him at all? There's no real harm in this name here, no reputation overshadowing the last rays of sunshine he's able to catch. Besides, what would he do with the lotus seedpod hairpin he's still wearing in his hair, if he changed it now?
He releases a breath, almost a sigh, with a minute shake of his head, as if apologetic for being momentarily distracted. Then he turns to look up at Inigo with a courteous smile. "Ah, it's Li Lianhua."
ooh Inigo wins first person to ask his name, i'm SO happy
Li Lianhua is a name belonging to another life, that of the wandering miracle doctor with no fixed abode and no clear background, no attachments, no gains or losses. Then, when the past and the present hounded and haunted him to the end, it had been the name of the man formerly known as Sigu sect leader Li Xiangyi and all that was tangled up in that. He'd left both behind as gracefully as he could manage, at the end of his life, thinking he would have no need of names where he was going next.
And then he woke up in that garden, still breathing, and he continues to wake up in a derelict house he lays no claim to, and now here is a boy who wants him to have a name. It's a little funny, how unprepared it makes him feel, how exposed, one might even say... how spooked. To go from having no name to having a name feels a little like taking a step back from some oblivion, some freedom. You give something a name and it becomes that much harder to let go of, won't it?
But he can't keep the boy waiting forever, something must be done. Though what? For one thing, there's no convenient poetry to take inspiration from, this time. More importantly, this isn't a new beginning at all. What would be the point in a new name, for the short time he's got left and for people who will not remember him at all? There's no real harm in this name here, no reputation overshadowing the last rays of sunshine he's able to catch. Besides, what would he do with the lotus seedpod hairpin he's still wearing in his hair, if he changed it now?
He releases a breath, almost a sigh, with a minute shake of his head, as if apologetic for being momentarily distracted. Then he turns to look up at Inigo with a courteous smile. "Ah, it's Li Lianhua."