Children's Hospital 2, Saigon
BEEP! BEEP!
WHEEZE!
"Uggh…"
In all honesty, that probably could have gone a little bit better than that.
And in hindsight, it was an absurdly abysmal idea with absolutely no firsthand forethought or particular planning put into it at all.
But it could not have been helped. In his defense, he was only there to purchase a few books from the store and it somehow spectacularly devolved into him getting into a scrap with big bad brutish boxers, murderous masked matadors with snake tattoos and blue beauties wearing giant steel bracers in the middle of the streets surrounded by several hundred armed officers.
Not exactly what one would have called an ideal night out on the town but an admittedly memorable one to say the least.
All that was left of him to do now was to see whether or not wherever they took him to was where he needed to be at the moment.
And with no small amount of effort to force his still aching upper body from his current lying position, the moc tinh's set of three eyes Illuminated from their empty hollows, allowing him to take an immediate inventory of the room he was in.
White walls covering every corner of the area complete with a white ceiling and floor tiles.
A baby blue curtain neatly curled up into the corner from where he rested revealing a dimly lit open field populated with wandering personnel and patients moving about in the light of the moon.
A selection of several sharp scalpels, forceps and scissors displayed orderly on a steel tray and resting on an unattended cart just a few feet away from him.
And to top it all off, an empty IV pole standing by an unmanned ventilator, not that he needed either of them at the moment seeing as he was somehow still allowed to be dressed in his red ao dai despite being in a hospital room.
But none of that grabbed the creature's attention more than the white horned woman in the blue and gold qipao resting by the wall with her arms in spiked-studded steel black braces crossed, the bright light of the room making him realize just how impossibly beautiful her features were when she was not in the middle in a life or death struggle with armed assassins, despite the still present small cuts and bruises in certain areas as she soon stirred from her short sleep and averted her brown eyes to him with a relieved smile.
"Oh, thank God, you're awake."
"If your face is the first thing I see every morning, I would have forfeited every chance I had for sleep."
An unamused glare was the woman's curt response to that statement, one that the moc tinh was quick to take notice of and correct himself with as the horns on his head dropped shamefully.
"Oh, um… my apologies for that." a short silence soon followed, broken only by a small but no less exasperated sigh from her as she made her way to his bedside.
"Forget it." she pulled out a nearby stool and positioned it next to the creature before taking a seat, her soft and simple smile returning in place of the formerly annoyed frown.
"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now." his horns beamed up at that, the creature being careful as not to accidentally have them knock over or puncture anything in the room as he nodded at her praise.
"It was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time." he did a quick look around the room to make sure that they were the only ones in before turning back to the beauty in blue.
"And speaking of being in the right place at the right time, I suppose introductions are in order." he extended a wooden hand to her, his rooted fingers shortening and now looking preferably more human sized.
"Khai Ha."
A small pause of hesitance from the woman, before she eventually took the hand in her own, making quick note of just how rough and dry the texture was on her soft skin, though seeing as how he was quite literally a walking tree, this should not have come as such a surprise to her.
"Chun-Li."
"Chun-Li. You have a nice name." a small hum escaped her smiling lips at his simple compliment to her.
"Thanks, and it's nice to meet you too, Khai."
"Good to know you as well." the two of them then promptly released each other's hands, with Chun-Li gently her thumb around her palm to release the scratchy feeling that Khai's bark hand had temporarily left her with before returning her attention to him.
"So, seeing as how introductions are officially out of the way..."
JUMP!
GRAB!
SHAKE!
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD WERE YOU THINKING!? CARELESSLY DESTROYING PUBLIC PROPERTY, INTERFERING WITH POLICE BUSINESS!? NOT TO MENTION ACTIVELY ENGAGING WITH HIGHLY DANGEROUS AND WANTED FUGITIVES!? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TONIGHT!"
…
"Are you finished?" the moc tinh was completely unfazed by the fact that the raving woman had violently grabbed him by the collar of his red dress before shaking him senseless like a ragdoll with its strings cuts for a good couple of seconds as her seething breaths soon returned to a calm enough state for her to speak.
"Yes."
"And if I tell you why I felt the need to interfere in what had happened tonight, will you agree to let me go?"
…
"No."
Khai did not seem too bothered by this however as he simply held on to the woman's wrists before gently and effortlessly prying her hands off of his collar, and it was at this moment that she fully understood what the masked matador had felt when he had his claws lodged in between the moc tinh fingers before the rest of what happened to him followed.
"Well, to answer your question regardless, one does not simply invade this country and expect to walk away without so much a slap on the wrist, as the people of yours can most certainly attest."
He eventually let her go, the woman most certainly not satisfied with the creature's casual demeanor of the situation he had put himself into tonight as she crossed her arms with a scowl at his historical jest.
"Very funny." a small sigh escaped her as she returned to her seat in the stool, looking at him with concerned eyes.
"You still shouldn't have interfered, even if I'm grateful for you saving my life. You have absolutely no idea just how dangerous those two individuals were."
"I think I already felt just how dangerous those two individuals were." he turned his hand around for her shocked eyes to see, the various broken bits of scratched and torn up bark he injured when Vega's blades cut through his fingers revealing the soft and slightly punctured cambium as well as a few leaks of orange sap resembling that of a bleeding wound that was slowly reconstructing itself back together.
"Oh God." she held the damaged hand within her own two, loosening her grip a little after noticing his horns retracting and loosening abruptly as if to signal a sharp sting of pain.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not as much as not knowing whatever happened to those two." a serious scowl adorned the woman's face.
"Safely in police custody and currently charted for a plane to Lyon where they'll stand trial for their crimes."
Khai tilted his head slightly at this revelation.
"You are an Interpol agent?" a short in response.
"Been so ever since I was eighteen." the creature whistled impressively at such an achievement, though not without following it with another one of his light jests.
"Well, as far as international law enforcement agents go, you certainly do not dress like one, nor fight like one." the Interpol agent merely huffed a humorless hum at that as she continued gently holding onto his hand, rubbing the untouched palm and sides to sooth his pain.
"And I've never met a creature who could fight as well as you do." she looked up at his trio of white eyes in momentary curiosity.
"How did you learn to fight like that, anyway?" the moc tinh responded appropriately by gently leaning in closer to Chun-Li's face.
"You would be surprised by the things I like to do in my free time." although a little bit cryptic and slightly creeped out by how close his face was to hers, the Interpol agent decided it would be best to just simply take his word for it.
"That, and a few hours of Mortal Kombat as Scorpion did not hurt as well."
…
Mortal Kombat.
Mortal. Kombat.
She had to repeat herself because she was sure that had misheard him but she did not.
The moc tinh dressed in modest red sitting in front of her learned how to hone his martial arts skills because of Mortal Kombat.
"Out of all the reasons why anyone should learn how to hone their skills in martial arts at all, be it for improving their health or as a simple hobby, how could an ultra-gory arcade video game involving the ripping of spines and tearing the still beating heart from another man's bloody chest before setting his entire body on fire ever possibly be a reason?"
"Can a man's hobbies not inspire him to pick up another?"
"I just didn't expect your hobbies to be so violent."
"Sounds like a motto we used back in the sixties."
…
Despite the admittedly dark turn, the two could not help but share a small chuckle and head shake with each other from their silly banter, especially Chun-Li. It was nice to be able to move away from all the dangerous fighting and mundane desk work every once in a while to take a load off and have someone sitting next to her in a room all to themselves as they both chatted away about stupid topics and interests without a care in the world.
Unless the world itself decided to intervene.
OPEN!
STEP! STEP!
The two looked away to turn to the opened door as two individuals entered the room, one seemingly young and dressed in an all white lab coat and glasses with a stethoscope hanging around his neck and the other more aged while dressed in dark military green complete with a badged peaked cap and epaulets on his shoulders.
"Oh, good. You're finally up." the doctor moved in to tend to Khai, with Chun-li allowing him her seat so he could check on the moc tinh while she turned to greet the fellow officer.
"Captain." she shook his hand, the officer nodding sternly in response.
"Agent Chun-Li. I trust that everything is in good hands."
"I should be asking you that." her eyes narrowed seriously for a moment. "How are the suspects?"
"Safe and ready for transfer to Lyon as early as tomorrow morning." the captain grinned in admiration. "You have done well to protect the livelihoods of this city today, agent. Your actions are to be commended."
The Interpol agent had a humble smile at his praise.
"Well, not all of it, sir. In case you haven't heard, I had a little help." she stepped aside to reveal to the captain the moc tinh in red seated on the bed, having just finished being checked up and cleared of any other signs of possible long lasting injuries by the doctor and was now looking his way.
"Ah, of course. The unexpected hero of tonight." the officer smiled as he marched toward the creature and extended his hand, to which he gladly accepted.
"We can't thank you enough for what you did. A lot of good officers would have lost their lives if it weren't for you." Khai simply shrugged at the officer's commendation to him.
"I just did what needed to be done, sir." the captain nodded approvingly at the creature's honesty.
"Good, because I was hoping you would be able to do one more thing for us."
"Oh, and what would that be, sir?"
The response came in the form of an ominous white sheet of paper detailing the monumentally murderous payment of several million dong for the damages he had caused during his fight with the suspects in Nguyen Hue Street.
The creature merely took one look at the Interpol agent standing behind the captain, who could only offer him a sad smile and shrug with her hands up in response, then back at the sheet held in his face before exhaling an exasperated sigh.
"Let me go get my wallet."
—
Gods & Demons around the World - Qilin
Elusive, elegant and endearing, the Qilin is as equal in its majestic appearance as it is in its mysterious nature. Described to be an odd combination of certain creatures including a single horn on its forehead, a golden stomach, a myriad of colors lining its back and the body of a deer topped with an ox's tail, these gentle and generous creatures scale the Chinese plains and waters, bringing luck and goodwill to those who believe in them, which is why many people decorate their houses with statues of the creature to welcome its beneficence.
—
Pham Ngu Lao Street, Saigon
UNLOCK!
OPEN!
STEP! STEP!
CLOSE!
…
FALL!
"Uggh…"
Chun-Li never knew just how good the frail and flimsy bed in her cheap, poorly lit hotel room felt until what had happened tonight, made only more worthwhile when the perpetrators that had put her through the wringer were finally put to papers and were on their way to pay their dues, even if her hopes of them ever staying put were not exactly the most sound given their illustrious track records.
But regardless, she could not have been bothered to even care at this point. It was just another sleepless night on the job that she had successfully survived long enough for her to finally catch up on said sleep.
And it was all thanks to him, the creature in red who came to her serendipitous rescue when he was only looking to make off with a couple of well purchased books.
The Interpol agent rested her weary head on her white pillow as she soon allowed her already muddled mind to wander for a while with him.
Khai Ha.
He was certainly the most intriguing individual she had ever had the pleasure of meeting, and that was already excluding the fact that he was a literal walking human sized dead tree with horns longer than her own.
Although admittedly a little bit annoying with his endless need to occasionally sneak in dry humor and blatant sarcasm in every sentence he said out of those hollows of his, she also saw in him a genuinely gentle soul who would not have dared to hurt so much as a fly on the wall unless someone was to force his hand, and that she already had a full front row seat of when he excessively dealt with Balrog.
Her tired head tilted to the side for a moment, brown eyes landing on the small opened window in her already cramped room. The hustle and bustle of the various vehicles and markets from the streets down below was just as boisterous and bombastic as they were in the early morning.
She was quick to close it as she returned to and simply sat there on the side of her bed, hands curling onto a knee resting her head as she thought of the moc tinh that had saved her life with closed eyes.
Sarcastic in his sense of humor.
Straightforward in his sharp statements.
Sincere in his unmistakable compassion to others.
And all while living a life as harmlessly humble and honest as the next man could, if not without a few odd twists and turns along the way just to make it more or less interesting for someone else passing by to take notice.
In her eyes, the perfect man.
And escaping from her smiling lips, a small and solemn sigh.
"God damn it, Chun-Li. The first man that catches your eye and he's a tall, dark, three eyed eldritch horror."
Her eyes moved up to the ceiling of her room, the single light flickering and flashing as she stared aimlessly at it along with the imaginations in her head.
His long, firm branches resting atop his head like an bontanical crown.
His three, pure white eyes staring intently back at her brown pair from the pits of those deep dark hollows.
His long, crimson red ao dai running down his firm form like a regal coat to fit in with his pair of black brogues.
And his hands. Those firm yet gentle hands that could wrap themselves around her body in a warm and welcoming embrace, his arms never ever letting her go as he sheltered her from any and all manner of malevolent forces that could ever try to hurt her.
And just like that, he was gone, the mysterious creature in her mind disappearing from view like a passing cloud of white dust in the wind as she finally collapsed onto her bed with a hard thud and a soft smile.
Her hand ran tiredly across her face and her fingers clenched tightly around her cheeks, as if trying to fight off the intrusive thoughts that were running rapidly through her mind and to simply get it out of her head.
But the more furiously she fought it, the more it stayed put in her mind, until the last finger slipped uselessness off of her face and allowed her to simply accept the fact that she could no longer deny with a small sigh.
"I'm in love."