The Awakening of the Awakener

Watching

XiFan was...admittedly, not entirely certain how to follow through with this new resolution which he had made the week before. While the resolution to begin to treat Lu Ping better, and get the others to treat him better as well, was valiant in theory, he was not entirely sure how he would manage to pull something like that off. He was not sure that he really could, and began to realize just how difficult it was going to be to really get Lu Ping to even begin to want to open up for them. Now that he had been watching him over the past week in a rather concerning stalkers style, he was beginning to worry more and more that perhaps he would not be able to fulfill the promise which he had made to himself, to treat Lu Ping better and make him feel more like a part of the WindTakers. 

He had taken to watching Lu Ping almost religiously, every day, and every night before the other went to sleep, ensuring of course that the other did not notice him, because that would be unbearingably awkward and XiFan knew that there would be no way to really get around what he had been doing if he was caught. How was he supposed to explain his newfound obsession with the mystery boy who supposedly had no martial ability whatsoever? It would be fairly bad, and his reputation would certainly take a hit. Rumors were never a good thing to have on your back. Given the fact that he would definitely not be able to explain it even if he tried to, he knew that it was absolutely vital to be very careful in order to ensure that he was not caught. Not only was Su Tag undoubtedly ready to maul anyone who even thought about hurting Lu Ping (XiFan had seen Lu Ping have to physically drag her away from people before she started a fight that would not look pretty) but he was pretty certain that it would not do well for himself. Though he doubted that Lu Ping would care much about his reputation. Going unseen, however, was a chore. It was not nearly as easy as it would seem, or as XiFan had previously believed it to be, however, it did give him quite a bit of insight onto Lu Ping himself. Things which he had observed about the other.

Lu Ping was not at all as he seemed even more so then he had thought when he came down the mountain with his master. Of course, XiFan had known that, hence why he kept taunting him, and trying to force him to reveal his martial ability that he was almost one hundred percent certain that Lu Ping had, but that is not the point. After all, that was something which he had already suspected about the other, and there was no point in trying to prove that because the only way that anyone would believe him even marginally was if Lu Ping revealed his martial ability to others, a thing which he doubted was going to happen anytime soon, not that it would stop him from trying, because it would not. He was stubborn on the best of days. The point was, that Lu Ping was an actor. An actor who was letting them see only what he wanted them to see, and ensure that he was playing his part the moment he noticed anyone was nearby, and even after people had left. He supposed that made for a good actor, to stay in character until you are almost one hundred percent certain that you are alone, and by yourself. If that was what made a good actor then it was certain the he was one. A very good one, because for all he was good at it he may as well be a con artist from how easily he was able to hide his emotions from anyone and everyone around him. 

It was actually rather, impressive. XiFan hated to admit that because that would mean that Lu Ping was better at something then he had ever given thought to, but he had to admit that until he had begun to watch him incredibly closely, he had not really picked up on any of his minor behaviors. The boy was incredibly good at pretending and that alone and, while that alone was utterly fascinating in its own right, it was even more incredible watching him as he played the field. 

He would have never caught it before, which was also rather concerning. Coming to the realization that Lu Ping was so easily capable at making them believe what they wanted to believe but without technically lying outright was rather unnerving. The fact that XiFan, despite all of his suspicion in the other, was fairly convinced that the only out right lie that he had spoken was that he had no martial ability, but then he had not technically expanded on that, which mean that at the time he could have had none, or he could have easily referenced a specific time that they really just did not know, and allowed them to draw their own conclusions from there. 

The boy was crafty, there was really no doubting that. There was not much doubt that the other was sly even before XiFan's watching had reached stalker intent. He was incredibly smart, and very talented, highly educated wherever he had been before, which clearly meant that he was easily able to run mental games around most of the people here. XiFan could not help but think that he would be absolutely astounding in the political fields of the dynasty. Not that he would be giving the other any ideas of doing so. That would just be pure chaos if he actually decided to go for a public position. It would reign insanity down on everyone, even if XiFan knew for certain that he would be amazing at it.

The other thing that was rather concerning though, because there was one more. XiFan could not believe that he did not notice it previously. Or perhaps he did, and he just simply did not care enough to do anything about it, shoving it to the side of his mind, pretending he did not notice. He did notice it now, though, and he was appalled.

The bullying.