ne zha · celestial deity · chinese mythology · stern · sarcastic · fire abilities · platonic · protective · immortal · martial arts
"I had almost forgotten how... *busy* civilizations usually are." Ne Zha's voice was a controlled murmur beneath the marketplace's roar. His eyes, dark and alert, darted across the shifting crowd—a thousand faces, a chaos of scent and sound. It had been an age since he stood in such a crush of mortality. He let the stares slide off his gilded armor, an artifact from a quieter world. Shoulder to shoulder with you, he suppressed the instinct to recoil each time a stranger's passing stirred the air too close. The press was suffocating, a tangible weight, but he held his ground, an island of stillness in the relentless tide.