ic inbox, ryslig.

[daozhangs]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, XIAO.XINGCHEN. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** XIAO.XINGCHEN has joined 018.07.154.55 <XIAO.XINGCHEN> You have reached Xiao Xingchen. <XIAO.XINGCHEN> I am often away from my laptop, but I will do my best to answer as soon as I'm able.

Comments

backdated to meteor shower

[legbreakings]

Daozhang,

Have you been affected by the meteor shower? They seem to fall in the direction of Bavan, from what you can tell from this distance.

Jiang Wanyin

[daozhangs]

( this comes about two hours belated, since he has been out of the shitty hotel room in which he currently stays, but then: )

These 'meteors' fall indiscriminately. Many have been wounded already, limbs crushed and skin burned away, and I lack proper supplies to tend to them. Nearly a fortnight I've been here without presence of mind to gather bandaging and salves.

( perhaps he should have waited until he was a bit less frustrated with his impotence before he wrote back, but there it is. )

<SanduShengshou> early hours of August 25th

[legbreakings]

After his feeding frenzy


It smells like burnt meat.

[daozhangs]

( xingchen, as it turns out, has figured out how to make it audibly ding when a new correspondence arrives, and at this hour he's awake and meditating quietly with a steaming cup of tea.

meditation which he probably shouldn't allow that ding to interrupt, but it wasn't going nearly as well as he'd liked and xingchen burns with something between intrigue and concern over who might be contacting him at this hour.

it's sect leader jiang, with.... a very ambiguous message. the intrigue fades, leaving him wholly concerned, because he knows this man very little in all truth but he does know that ambiguity is not characteristic of him. )

Jiang Wanyin?

( it's a puzzled request for elaboration. )

Before or After JC's Feeding Frenzy? Do you have preference?

[hadthehighground]

Greetings Xiao Xingchen,

This is Obi-Wan Kenobi and I recall promising you some tea. Will you have a free moment?

probably after - i forget when i've mentioned he's for sure in bavan beforehand

[daozhangs]

Of course, and greetings to you as well. :)

( god help us, someone's taught him emoji. )

Where shall I meet you, and when?

<SanduShengshou>

[legbreakings]

September 5th

I have one more appointment in Bevan before I return south. I can make time for you if it is necessary.


September 6th, morning

I'll be leaving Bavan today. Is there anything else for us to discuss?


September 6th, evening

Xiao Xingchen, if there is anything I did to offend you, I owe you my sincere apologies. I would pay my respects in person but I have only just returned south, I can be found at Master Kenobi's house now.


September 7th, first message

Xiao Xingchen you have been ignoring me for three days! Nobody is busy or ignores their messages for that long! Even I don't take that long to respond!


September 7th, second message

Are you STILL ignoring me?


September 7th, third message

Is this a joke to you?


September 7th, fourth message

Alright, that's it! I'm done with this! If you don't want to respond I'm coming back to Bavan and demanding answers in person! I want to know what I did to warrant being disrepected like this!

september 7th, after the fourth message

[daozhangs]

Do not

( at first, that's the only reply to come, but it's only because such things take.... quite a bit longer, at this particular moment. even the cadence of his 'written' sentences reads differently, since he's doing his best to deliver short simple phrases that voice-to-text can still comprehend through his newfound mouthful of teeth. )

Please do not come. You have not offended. I meant no disrespect. Please forgive my silence and do not come here

two cultivators walk into a bar... September 14th

[legbreakings]

[ Jiang Cheng, it needs to be said once again, loathes Bavan. There is barely a single time he has visited the city where nothing terrible happened. And yet the vast majority of the people he finds tolerable in this world all live in Bavan and force him to suffer the place time and again.

Now is no different, in that he is quite seething with something very close to indignation as he stomps up to Xiao Xingchen's apartment door and bangs on the door. ]

Xiao-xiong, it is I! Open the door! You've been hiding yourself away from the world long enough!

[ Not that he had as such, strictly speaking, since he did not hide from Jiang Cheng in his transformed form - at least not once Jiang Cheng forced his hand on the matter - but still. This is a matter of principle and he won't let such small details deter him from his course, not when he has come all the way to Bavan, fucking Bavan just for him and for these plans. ]

[daozhangs]

( the knock on the door is loud and harsh, which tells xingchen quite clearly who is on the other side before he even speaks. and so he's on his feet even as 'xiao-xiong, it is i!' comes trumpeting through the door.

it's not more than a moment after the 'long enough!' ends before the door opens, and xingchen wastes no time in backing up enough for jiang wanyin to come inside. ) I didn't realize you were coming, I would've put on some tea. ( but it's laced with a note of almost amused intrigue. is there some sort of occasion? never before has jiang-xiong arrived unannounced, not that xingchen objects at all. the apartment is actually quite clean this time, not a hint of blood or hapless disarray in sight. )

September 17th

[legbreakings]

Are you still spending the fog hiding away?

As a responsible good friend, I'm not going to let you hide forever, that would be terribly sad.

[daozhangs]

( a responsible good friend.

something isn't right. with luck, it's the benign sort of 'not right' as opposed to the side which might endanger jiang wanyin or others. xingchen has seen the network - whatever it is that's occurring, some seem to be growing less dangerous while others grow more so. )

Not forever, my friend. Simply until the fog clears.

How are you feeling?

<SanduShengshou>

[legbreakings]

Master Kenobi advised me to get in touch with you.

[ Curt and to the point, and explaining nothing. Jiang Cheng at his finest. ]

[daozhangs]

Of course he did.

I am yet well enough, you have my word.

<qionglin> voice - once the fog has lifted

[deadwenwalking]

[The recording starts before Wen Ning is ready to speak, apparently. There's the sound of breathing and someone shifting around. He's adjusting the device in his lap.]

Daozhang?

[It's later in the morning, well after sunrise. He'd passed out for a couple hours after changing back and he still feels exhausted. Trying to have a conversation over text seemed far too daunting.]

<xiao.xingchen>

[daozhangs]

( xingchen, for his part, has not yet utilized the audio messaging feature much. the audio quality is quite poor, and voice-to-text has done him well enough thus far.

but the message that comes is audio, so he will reply in turn - something like ten seconds after the message is received (the time it took to investigate the laptop's message alert, listen to the silence and then the single questioning word, and recall how to reply via voice in turn), a reply comes. )

My friend, you sound tired. ( for xingchen's part, a fatigue of his own overlays the concern in his tone. it's the sort of concern which stands in its own right, but could also pass as gentle inquiry. the fog must not have been gentle with wen ning, but it feels discourteous to ask after such a thing directly. )

(for runyu) backdated to nov 4th, early evening

[daozhangs]

( though they've kept a brisk pace, the walk back has been quite a bit longer than xingchen anticipated - but then, he had anticipated it being less walk than run, and on four legs instead of two. the choice to remain in human form was made at about the same time as the choice to offer the man he met in kulen a quiet place to stay as he gets his footing within this realm, even if only until the immediate fog has passed.

and oh, he hasn't forgotten the fog. part of xingchen's haste to return was due to that very fog, and the way that it drags him from his proper form regardless of the hour. but he has come to learn, largely through trial and error, that it's not so sudden as his nightly shift. it can be forestalled, at least for an hour or so, with vigilance and discipline. and such is precisely what he employs now as he adamantly refuses to allow his monstrous features to burst forth from his proper form until they've arrived at his home and he has excused himself to the washroom.

but it's alright. that was the single caveat he expressed to runyu in his offer - the caveat that xingchen will spend the next five days in a more monstrous form than that which he occupies now, and it only seemed proper to warn him as such. it changes nothing about the offer, of course. if he objected to guests during the fog, he wouldn't have invited one. and since runyu seemed amenable enough to that, they find themselves coming upon his house now where it sits in a small clearing amidst the trees some half-hour deep into the woods by semi-worn dirt trail. the exterior is painted wood (though he has yet to think to ask anyone what color), and it's entirely dark inside, not a light to be seen. he changes as much the moment he steps in the door, fingers finding the light switch beside it and turning on the lights for the kitchen and living area. )

The amenities here are likely quite different from that which you're used to, ( he says, reminded by the light switch but also referring to such things as the modern stove in the kitchen not far from the door, the laptop sitting on the coffeetable in front of the living room couch. speaking of the couch, he gestures in the general direction of that and the adjacent chair says - ) Feel free to sit as you please, I'll be back in a moment.

( don't mind xingchen, heading for the washroom. no use tempting fate any further and risking shifting to his monstrous form right here in front of poor runyu. behind the closed door, the water turns on (though without experience with faucets, the sound may be less identifiable) and runs for a long minute or two. it muffles the various visceral sounds of his changing features, xingchen's own pained sounds muffled even further against his own arm - and then it's over, the blood washed from his hands and his face, the teeth tidied up and discarded.

when he emerges again, he certainly looks a bit different. a good five inches have added to his height, his ears have gone pointed and furry (in fact, the fur trails down the back and sides of his neck, though his hair covers much of that), and a mouthful of larger, sharper teeth bulge slightly beneath his lips. he has traded his robes for a long white tunic with similarly billowing sleeves and a pair of extra long trousers which account for his tails (of which there are four) and his lengthier legs.

he makes no attempt to address any of this, blindfolded eyes 'looking' to runyu wherever he has settled to ask, ) Are you hungry? I'm putting on tea, and I could quite easily cook as well.

Re: (for runyu) backdated to nov 4th, early evening

[katharine_yume]

[ Runyu has taken a seat at the chair, leaving the roomier seating for his host and has spent the last few minutes examining the small room around him, specifically the magical light sources and the fabric beneath his fingers on the chair. Occasionally, he has glanced at the more calming view outside the window. The misty woods outside are not as strange as the lodgings he’s been given and give some semblance of normalcy. The landscape is soothing and offers some relief, making it easier to maintain his calm appearance.

It is not because he is attempting to disguise his emotions as he usually would with strangers. This facade is natural to him, even with those he has deigned to confide some of the truths about himself. It is easier to process everything around him with that control as well. Without his desperate emotions threatening to blind him.

In addition, Runyu does not want to trouble Xingchen with more than is necessary. Even if his companion seems sincere and quiet, he does not want to do something to jeopardize that mood. His companion seems to be going through enough as it is as well.

Hearing his inquiry, Runyu turns back to Xingchen. His form has changed, as the man had warned him it would. But the fox's appearance is not as beastly as he had anticipated. There was an elegance and regality in the change, more pronounced than what Xingchen allowed before. But the man was still there underneath the white fur.

Standing, Runyu offers him a polite bow. ]

Thank you, Xingchen. A meal would be most agreeable if it is not too much. When I understand this realm better, I can return the favor.

November 30th

[legbreakings]

I'm going to plead with Mana tomorrow.

I'm going to see if she can make me less dependent on feeding from energy.

[daozhangs]

( xingchen is pleased by this news, for certain. it's something that he himself encouraged on a couple of occasions, as a means by which to no longer kill, but of course, it would always be jiang wanyin's choice. a choice which, it seems, has been made. )

Have you chosen an alternative?

backdated to the 25th; audio

[cuscumber]

Xiao Xingchen, I've heard that the locals celebrate this date by exchanging gifts with their friends. In lieu of a physical item, I'd like to share an old folktale from my home that reminded me a little of you - I hope you enjoy it.

[As expected of the head of a scholar's peak, Shen Qingqiu is an excellent storyteller. His voice ebbs and flows as he narrates the legend of a boy growing up in a cultivator's village who unbeknownst to him had a fox spirit sealed within him as an infant, the struggles he faced as he sought to prove himself and master his power, the quests he undertook and friends he made along the way....

...yeah, it's fucking Naruto. An incredibly bastardized, non-copyright violating, ancient magical China version of Naruto. This is actually the fifth recording Shen Qingqiu's done, because he was laughing too hard the first four times to get through the whole story. He does feel a little bad giving such a trollish gift, so Xiao Xingchen will also find a hongbao with twenty solars slid underneath his door. Merry Christmas!]

in which xingchen takes this troll ass gift at 100% face value

[daozhangs]

( xingchen, for his part, listens quite avidly to the tale, even as it stretches on at surprising length. the storytellers of shen qingqiu's homeland must be profoundly skilled, to have passed such a tale along by word of mouth, though he has no doubt that shen qingqiu has embellished quite a bit as well.

once the message is finished and he's had a few moments to let it all sink in, he sends an audio response of his own: ) My friend, that was quite an extraordinary tale, and you told it so vividly. ( all with a buzz of something like muted delight, his poorly-suppressed grin quite audible in his tone. it has been quite a while since he has heard so unique and compelling a tale! ) Were you a storyteller, in your realm?

<SanduShengshou>

[legbreakings]

night of January 12th to 13th, early morning hours

[ After the madness that descended upon the Iskall Resort at the stroke of midnight and Tycho Eriksen's gruesome grand finale, it had taken hours for Jiang Cheng to make it back to the room where his luggage had been taken - fortunately, he had packed his laptop, mostly because he wanted to keep his allies up-to-date in case the revelation relevant to monsterkind turned out to be something alarming that required timely intervention.

Now, he finally sinks to the floor of his room after having reassured himself he is alone, the door jammed shut with a chair. It won't hold out anyone who truly wants to enter - but then, Jiang Cheng isn't seeking to avoid a battle, he is itching for battle, he just wants to fight the battle on his own terms.

Right now, though, in order to better fight on his own terms... ]

Xiao-xiong, You need to come to the Iskall Resort right away.

The "revelation" is that Eriksen is in league with hostile creatures which seem to be intent on. I don't even know. Maybe they want to breed in us? Devour us from the inside? I don't know. But there is a night hunt here and it's not like the ones we know. After the creature enters the person, they look the same as before.

[ He can only hope Xingchen will read it soon but in the meantime, he will try to sleep, his sword clutched to his chest. ]

[daozhangs]

( one thing xingchen has come to realize since his arrival is that even in sleep, his werefox is restless. he sleeps a much lighter sleep in the hours before he shifts back to his proper form, awoken by the slightest sound - the notification sound from his laptop, for example. which is good, because he dozed off at midnight and there's no proper reason anyone should be contacting him between then and sunrise unless it's some manner of emergency.

it's jiang wanyin, insisting he make the trip that less than two days past he had insisted was fully unnecessary. something has happened - a 'something' which the message proceeds to describe. hostile creatures. hostile creatures breeding with them? breeding in them? or devouring them from the inside, however that might look. all of which amounts to a night hunt, one which (by the sounds of it) will have them hunting their own kind.

xingchen's lips press to a grim line. )

I'm coming.

( it comes quickly, within half a minute of sending it, though in the pause which follows (a pause in which he intended to decide where to begin his rapid preparations for departure), he catches the blustering sound of the wind against the side of the little house, even this deep in the woods. it had been snowing when he fell asleep. now, he can only assume it's that much worse. and so - )

Should I expect such inclement weather near the lodge? ( just so he knows if his whole trip is going to be like this or just the first segment of it.

and he sets the laptop aside to wait for a reply, dressing quickly in the meantime with attention to layers to combat the elements - only to immediately begin to undress again and stuff all of such layers into a bag, having decided to travel by fox for as long as he's able. )

January 17, evening

[fishfairy]

[ Runyu wakes to the faint scent of ashes and dust, something unseen shifting away from him, and dead grey trees all around him. His laptop, something he reached for before, lays half-hidden under a grey tree trunk. However, Runyu does not see it. In fact, when he wakes, Runyu nurses a headache, leaning against a tree seemingly disintegrating with dust falling on him. His mind swirls with images and fragments of emotions he’s long denied himself before failing at the trial at the cabin in the snow. And yet, here he is, his clothing intact and even wearing the hairpin of his office. Although he does not understand how, Runyu can’t help but accept that he must have returned to his world after this failure.

He still feels little to no power in his limbs, but that fact is brushed aside as it is possible that he has returned to his realm via the demon realm’s wilderness where powers are reduced to that of a human’s but for their immortality. Coming here of one’s own free will is sentencing one to an eternity of nothingness.

If he had had access to this place when he had ascended the heavenly throne to right the wrongs of the previous rulers, it is possible that he would have used it as the empress’ final resting place. If he had had less fear of her escaping if she weren’t suffering where he could observe it.

But being in the wilderness does not deter Runyu now. If wandering this place for years before leaving is his fate for failing his trial at redemption, he will brave it without complaint. It is not an eternity if he is still wears the crown and he is armed with his blade. Not the blade of the heavens but the same one before his ascension.

Hours fade as he moves through the place. For a while, hunger itself is kept at bay due to the turmoil in his mind and his belief in having returned home for another march of atonement.

However, his wanderings through the broken forest return him to his place of revival and this time, he spies the laptop. His eyes narrow, recalling that the Fog returns monsters to life and realizing that the new scales on his body have been pulling at his clothes.

Sighing, he retrieves it and opens it.

Somehow, it can connect.

Runyu doesn’t question it. If he is alive and still in Ryslig, he has questions that must be communicated. ]

My friend, how are you faring?

[daozhangs]

( it's hardly rational to be anxious just yet. quite honestly, xingchen can't afford to be anxious just yet. he has spent the entirety of the time since his own revival feeling very much like he treads a light path across thin ice, careful not to allow his thoughts or feelings to grow too heavy or sharp lest he fall through and drown.

perhaps they weren't fortunate enough to revive with their laptops close at hand. he revived where he'd died - but perhaps that isn't the rule of things. perhaps it was an exception. a happenstance, or a deliberate choice by the fog god herself to highlight precisely how far xingchen's efforts to thwart her workings actually got him.

(not nearly so far as he'd thought, and not even quite in the proper direction. he's choosing not to have realized that at the moment. such a thing is both too sharp and too heavy.)

all in all, he has made the carefully reasonable decision not to concern himself with either runyu's whereabouts or jiang wanyin's until well after dark. until a point at which even a long journey home should have reasonably reached its destination.

all of which means that runyu's message comes (quite mercifully) before he's allowed to worry - which does nothing to lessen the utter relief it brings him to hear the name of the sender read aloud, let alone the short message which follows. a relief which bubbles forth as - )

You're alive

( it's sent before his rational mind catches up well enough to replace it instead with something more useful, and he presses his lips together a moment. but then comes a follow-up: )

Words can't express my relief. Are you alright? ( because 'relieved' is answer enough to 'how are you faring?' by xingchen's standards, and at the very least it's entirely honest. )

January 25th

[legbreakings]

[ Jiang Cheng had known of Xiao Xingchen's birthdate ever since he accompanied him to the eye clinic in Felfri, hovering over him while his personal information was registered. It had been knowledge lingering at the back of his mind along with other mostly useless trivia, to be paid very little attention to.

Then the date approached - and Xiao Xingchen had made him presents twice already without Jiang Cheng reciprocating. At some point, such a thing was simply not acceptable anymore, his pride and sense of fairness wouldn't permit it. Or something in that vein, anyway.

In the end, all that griping and indignation leads to a small box being delivered to Xiao Xingchen's home. It isn't gift-wrapped, nor is the box particularly fancy, though it has the Jiang sect symbol carved into the lid.

Inside the wooden box, there are a number of small cloth bags holding a number of different seeds. Each of them is painstakingly labeled with a folded-up piece of paper, the name of the seeds written in thick paint which he hopes will be felt. There is everything from flowers to vegetable and fruit tree seeds that are common in China but hard to find here in Ryslig, and of course a bag with lotus seeds. No other letter accompanies the gift, he had been far too flustered for that, not knowing what would be appropriate to say. ]

[daozhangs]

( at first, it might seem like xingchen hasn't noticed the gift at all. in actuality, he's sitting with that little wooden box at the kitchen table, drawing the folded slip from each bag and feeling along the letters to identify what the bag holds. he may or may not also spend a bit of time feeling along the lotus carved in the lid, finally caving to the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

then, )

You traveled all this way and you didn't even come inside.

A bundle left behind - dated back to February 12th

[fishfairy]

[ Runyu knows that the day to honor friends is a little further into the month, but he has chosen to send his gifts early, in order to not overburden Jongdae the harpy and to keep from overshadowing any better gifts. There is also a small chance he will forget as he carved them in the woods earlier in the year. For another holiday. The reason doesn't matter. This way is simpler.

Most are carried off to places away from his home, but there is no need to deliver this one. It is the small tribute he has created for his housemate. Placing the bundle at his friend's doorway, he turns away for his usual stroll in the woods. A decent excuse to escape the initial backlash if he's somehow done something wrong. He has so little information or experience in this sort of thing.

If Xingchen notices the bundle, it's a letter wrapped around a small wooden frog.

The letter is short and pressed on the page with thicker lines of ink than usual to make reading easier on his friend. ]

Xingchen,

It has come to my attention that there is an upcoming holiday for giving gifts. It is a good opportunity for me to take the time to bestow the gratitude you deserve for your generosity to myself. I'm glad we met when I arrived in this realm and I hope I can be some source of strength for you as you have been for me.

I carved this in the woods. It is something of a past time I've developed over time and one of the few skills I can call my own. I hope it will share some of its freedom with you. Some rules are written into the heart of this world but there is a limit to the need for suffering because of them. Your identity is not shaped by them.

If I have said too much, please forgive my impertinence.

Runyu

[ The figure rests easily in the center of his hand and the wood has been roughly smoothed away. It is the general shape of a frog crouched with attention to the shape of its feet, both on the sides and on the bottom, and carefully shaving away edges on the head He has cut some rough impressions of texture on the back, too. It is not the best work he has done but hopefully it is enough.

[daozhangs]

( by the time runyu returns, the house is empty - xingchen is out for the afternoon, making a brief trip into the city to refresh some of their supplies before the fog makes cityfaring more dangerous.

but the frog and letter alike are both gone, and on the modest dining table sits a letter of his own, on which sits a small cloth pouch. the letter is written in vivid blue ink, but in a precise and practiced script. )


Runyu, my dear friend,

Of course you haven't said too much. On the contrary, it feels as though your words have brightened both my morning and some of the dim and dusty corners of my soul.

The frog is lovely, and I plan to cherish it a truly embarrassing amount. I hadn't known that you were skilled in carving. I suppose we don't speak often of such things as hobbies and pastimes, do we? But I like learning such things about you, and if you have any more such arts or activities, I'd enjoy hearing of them.

I still insist, as I always have, that you owe me no gratitude. Your presence has warmed this home far more effectively than the fireplace and I could have managed by ourselves.

You are already a source of strength, my friend. You have been strong since the day we first met, and I won't hear otherwise. If anything, my true hope is that you find it in yourself to allow that strength to rest. Your thoughts are so terribly loud, did you know? I worry and ache for you, but I'm never quite sure if it lies within my power to help quiet them.

Perhaps my own gift is a start.

Xingchen

(A post-script, I've realized I'm not at all sure what color this ink might be. If I've written to you in bright pink or some sort of vivid yellow-green, please forgive my transgressions against your eyes.)



( inside the pouch is a hand-carved 24-character charm, both faces of which are covered in the hanzi '息'. if their native written languages are at all similar, runyu will recognize that it means 'rest' and 'breathe'. )

---

( xingchen returns to the home an hour or so before sunset, arms full of groceries, a poorly-concealed smile tugging at the corners of his lips. he's only just remembered what he left to be discovered, you see, and there's a sort of delight in a well-orchestrated surprise. )

My friend, I've brought groceries, ( he calls in through the kitchen, carefully hefting the bags up onto the countertop now. ) I hope I correctly recalled you enjoying that cider from the market, since you now have quite a bit of it. ( granted 'quite a bit' by xingchen's standards is 'one standard-sized jug'. )

after Role Reversal, March 23th/24th

[legbreakings]

[ He makes it back to Lotus Pier, and confused, panicked, pained as he is by the loss of his other life and finding himself back in the nightmare that is Ryslig, his first thought is to make it to the laptop and send off a quick message. ]

Are you unharmed?

[daozhangs]

( the reply doesn't come right away, but the wait is only a few short minutes. )

I am. Are you?

Spring Offering - Backdated to April 15 - early afternoon

[fishfairy]

[ Wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve, Runyu surveys his work with a light smile, fanning his large luna moth wings out behind him. Of all the changes, the wings given him are the easies to accept, allowing him the ability to move as he has in his own realm and, at this moment, giving him the means to create shade from the sun without leaving his project. His wipes his hands on his pants again.

Runyu doesn’t know how long Xingchen would be gone, but his friend has done so much for him. And though at first, it’s difficult for Runyu to consider anything he can offer in return, his experiences in the alternate reality blending with this one, both where he hasn’t been completely alone, give him enough determination not to let his lack of worth hold him back. Perhaps that’s all he needed to find something. It is small, truly insignificant, but he makes his resolve to offer it nonetheless.

And one cautious trip to Bavan turns into more.

Now, Runyu is sitting in on the path to the house, which is no longer a beaten path, but a clearly marked wide trail with rounded stones brought here from the lake set out evenly on the sides. Pansies wave in the breeze, planted on one side of what used to be open space around the house, some ragged leaves hidden by other plants. Those are plentiful in the market and small enough to keep steady in his hands. They also come in many colors, something he wishes Xingchen could see but he will do his best to describe. Against the house are larger plants, both picked out for their strong scent more than their bulky size, purple hyacinth and yellow chrysanthemums. Finally, there’s a pot of chrysanthemums, white this time, on either side of the table and chairs.

Runyu rubs the back of his head, wondering if he has time to make another run to find something for the house.

The wind chimes echo throughout the clearing with another rush of wind.

Truthfully, it is a little terrifying attempting this. What does he know about making this place even more of a home than it already is with Xingchen’s presence? ]

[daozhangs]

( as tempting as it was to make this final leg of his journey on two legs and in full possession of sight, xingchen has traveled by fox for most of the way, and he has done so entirely blind. he's profoundly grateful to mana for the magic she's gifted him (he considers it such despite the coins used to barter), but he's also quite aware that the magic is deeply limited, and he won't be wasting it on the scenery on the very first day that he has it.

but once he's nearly arrived at their forest home and the time comes to shift back, xingchen finds himself hesitating nude on the forest floor with his typical robe in one hand, a bit of the new set's material caught between the fingers of the other.

the choice is hardly a choice at all - to don his new robe, and to draw forth the magic of sight to see how exactly it looks. for all that he can tell without the help of a mirror, he's quite pleased by how it's turned out. but he can't afford to waste time here, not while the clock ticks away on the spell... so he gathers his bag, as well as the long cloth-wrapped bundle similarly bestowed by mana (and formerly strapped along his vulpine back - not an easy task in the slightest), and he makes his way toward the house.

xingchen can smell the flowers well before he sees them, a floral note blanketing more and more of the woodland scents, and his heart and stomach flutter with delight at the scene he's suddenly quite sure will greet him once he arrives - but somehow, the actual sight of it still stops him smoothly but surely in his tracks.

the flowers are beautiful, rippling like the surface of a pond in the breeze where they rest now alongside the house, but it's not just the flowers that have the flutter in his chest now feeling inexplicably tight. it's-... it's everything, really. he hasn't seen the house before - not as a home, only the abandoned shell of a place from the other life. and then there's runyu, runyu and his beautiful wings - since when has he had such wings, and how is it that xingchen failed to notice? oh, but his hands and face are smudged with dirt and that's suddenly far more important than the wings, the evidence of his efforts here, as if all of these flowers weren't evidence enough. it's all so much to take in at once. in truth, xingchen's feeling just a bit overcome by it.

he makes no sound at first, no proper greeting, so it's entirely reasonable if runyu takes a bit to notice him looking nearly a stranger in robes accented with teal, hovering there just a step or two from the treeline as if entirely at a loss. either way, as soon as runyu looks his way, xingchen presses his lips together a moment and exhales a shaky, embarrassed little smile, clutching his bundle a little tighter as he crosses the distance between them. )

I think I was supposed to plant flowers for you, ( he says, attempting a teasing tone which comes out far shakier than intended - so he abandons the teasing in favor of an entirely genuine, ) They're lovely. ( a quiet smile curves the edge of each word, delight among the most prominent of the things he's feeling at the moment. he shakes his head a little and, ) That feels like a terrible understatement, but I'm finding words a bit difficult at the moment.

Stormy Season - Backdated to May 8 - evening

[fishfairy]

[ At first, Runyu welcomes the rain and even the friendly animals that come with the new month of May. He's briefly reminded of his friend, the Beast of Dreams, back home when a couple deer start following him around on his morning strolls. He doesn't attempt to pet them. That is their choice, as it was the Beast's, to trust him that far. However, the rains darken into storms, chasing away the woodland creatures and whipping old, cold memories from the recesses of his mind. At first, Runyu bears with the involuntary jerks of phantom pains from a torture session that never should have occurred as well as the echo of voices attempting to halt his descent before he's committed his final sin. But as the gloomy weather deepens, Runyu's mood continues to drop, swallowing back more and more waves of despair and regret.

Even his friend bringing the potted plants inside brings only a wistful smile of amusement, not a teasing retort, as he moves to help him situate the large flowers better.

But at least, for those hours, he's not drowning in the abyss dredged up from those memories.

Days pass into nights. And sometimes, it's too much. To endure in silence. Throwing away the blankets wrapped like rope around his legs, he strolls over to the guqin, pulling it slowly out. Laying one hand on the strings to muffle the noise, he'll start to pluck a scale or strings of notes from an old lullaby, eyes closed, regulating his breathing, before slipping back to bed.

Runyu's uncertain how to explain these details with his friend, even if he has confessed, vaguely, to destroying the woman he loved. It's more a selfish desire than he'll allow when the storm has disquieted his friend as well. But he's too tired from controlling his own demons to reach out -- for either of their sakes.

And perhaps, he should have learned that his control is no longer the same ice field that he's honed in his previous realm, that he's softened, and such tricks of hiding his turmoil won't hold here, in this realm and in this room that's a part of his home. The only home he's known for centuries.

Thus, when particularly brilliant clash of thunder and lightning rips through the sky, something breaks inside Runyu. A half-strangled cry bubbles from his lips and he jolts up from bed. Another tremor shakes the house and he clenches one hand around his opposite arm, trying to halt the shaking that's taken him. He shuts his eyes, blinking away tears, breathing, a harsh echo in his ears. His body's caught in the after effects of that torture from centuries ago, and there's nothing he can do but try to remind himself that it's only a waking memory, a ghost of that all-encompassing pain. He flinches with another strike of thunder, willing the storm away. ]

[daozhangs]

( in truth, xingchen is at a bit of a loss.

it's no secret that runyu is troubled. something about this storm seems to have burrowed under his skin with the precision of a well-honed blade, leaving him tense and haunted by things unseen. and xingchen knows far too little yet to guess at what might be troubling him, left with no real grasp of how to assist unless runyu tells him what's wrong - which he doesn't. after all that they've shared between them, of their troubles here and of much of the worst of their lives before this place, runyu still doesn't tell him. and it's not as if xingchen left him no opening to do so, either. but by now in their friendship they keep very little from one another, so if he asks if runyu is alright and his dear friend still chooses to deflect, then such is a boundary which deserves to be respected.

so at this point, all xingchen can do is to try to assist less directly. to brew runyu's favorite blend of tea, and to make certain the house remains warm despite the elements. to gently tease when he can, or to offer warm sentiments over things unrelated to runyu's current state in lieu of being able to address it directly. to offer grounding touch whenever it might be welcome - a light hand on runyu's arm as he speaks to him, or perhaps briefly leaning shoulder-to-shoulder if they both happen to sit on the couch.

but even that grows more difficult as the week goes on. not for anything runyu has done wrong, of course - it's just that he isn't the only one xingchen is worried for at the moment. jiang wanyin's hunger is rapidly nearing a breaking point, and the weekly bloodletting of recent months has escalated to nearly every visit now to tide him over until they figure out some sort of alternative. xingchen needs to find time to visit the hospital. their best bet, he thinks, might be for him to exchange volunteer hours for enough blood to make up the difference between his own offerings and however much jiang wanyin needs -if the hospital is amenable.

it's just... a bit difficult, at the moment. even bolstered by the ambient fogborne healing, he's utterly exhausted. his joints ache, and his limbs feel much too heavy. he's halfway lightheaded at the best of times anymore, and he knows that would certainly be remedied by sight but calling forth his sight only drains the energy he has left - energy which he currently needs in order to keep any of this from concerning runyu when he's already under such duress. but while xingchen can keep up his posture, the warmth in his tone and his smile, and whatever small supportive gestures he sees opportunity to offer, there are facets of this which he can't quite disguise. he's too pale, he notices on one of his rare sighted endeavors, and his hands shake far too often now despite his best efforts to still them... hands which, he realizes, likely seem far too cold to the touch to afford the same grounding bits of contact he may have offered so far.

but a fox can't be 'too pale', nor does it fall prey to chill or tremors quite so easily - and so a fox is precisely what he has been for much of the last day or two, fortunately not an unusual occurrence during the fog (he prefers it over his night form, after all). perhaps that doesn't quite hide how much he's napping at the moment, but it seems to suffice so far.

not even the exhaustion, however, can fully combat his werebeast nighttime instincts, the restlessness which overtakes him for the first couple of hours each evening. tonight, he has hovered on the edge of sleep for nearly an hour and a half, his mind a fog while his vulpine body listlessly tosses and turns for some sort of comfortable manner in which to lay when his limbs itch to run. it's that exact tension, coiled tightly at his core under the soft and heavy blanket of fatigue, which drags him abruptly upright at the choked cry from the adjacent room. a moment of hesitation follows - of listening, assessing. weighing whether or not he would do best to allow runyu his privacy in this.

but runyu has been given his privacy thus far, and it only seems to be getting worse. and perhaps all of this has worn down xingchen's patience, or perhaps his vigilant consideration has lapsed somewhere along the line, but he finds that he can't stand for it. he can't lie here and allow runyu to wallow in his pain and his misery. he just can't.

soon, runyu might see the door to his room pushed gently and wordlessly open, from barely a crack to just wide enough for a large, slim fox to slip through. but said fox seems to skip right past any pleasantries, making his way to the foot of the bed and nosing up under the blanket and slipping up onto the mattress beneath it. he scoots up beside runyu now, tails already fanning out over the man's legs while he nudges at his friend's chest with his blanket-covered forehead. pointed, guided nudging, gentle but insistent as he wordlessly urges the man to lie back down.

if runyu acquiesces, it earns a tired but appreciative little hum, and the fox makes short work of tucking into the space between runyu's arm and his side, the side of his head coming to rest where shoulder meets chest with a deflating full-body sort of sigh.

if runyu can't be persuaded to lie down, however, the fox simply shifts to drape across his lap instead. perhaps his companion won't speak of what's on his mind - that much xingchen can reconcile, if he must - but he won't be left to suffer through it alone. )

during the first days of July

[legbreakings]

[ After returning from Pirate's Cove with the five ancient pirate coins, Jiang Cheng had returned to Mana to complete the trade, still uncertain what exactly he would be getting for the two kinds of coins he had traded in.

Nobody he knows had successfully made this particular trade of being able to shift back and forth between monster and human form, there is no one he could ask just how "human" he will actually be or feel when in truth he remains the Fog's creature. Nor did he know how long it would take, or in what state of mind he would be once he returned.

And thus, despite talks of celebration while they were exploring, he had insisted on going alone, with no contact.

Until there comes a message sent on the laptop, simply saying Come to Lotus Pier when you have time.

When Xingchen arrives, he will find Jiang Cheng on the large courtyard in front of Sword Hall, practicing sword forms by himself. With him mostly hiding his changes, the difference may not be immediately noticeable - except, of course, that he smells human again, with the scent of metal, chemicals and plastic only lingering under the slightly-off human scents.

He doesn't interrupt his training, the sword forms flowing a little hesitantly still but with a smoothness he hadn't known in a long time, and when he lifts his right hand holding his sword, it is a hand sporting human skin and no longer porcelain. ]

[daozhangs]

( it's both simple and difficult to give jiang wanyin the space he needs.

simple because of precisely that: it's what he needs. or at the very least, what he seems to think that he needs, and xingchen sees no immediate reason to question that. though it was a bit unexpected (wanyin tends to move closer in moments of unease, not farther away), the insistence on delivering the coins alone was more than reasonable. understandable as well - his companion is shifting forms yet again, and even if the change is voluntary, it's an undertaking with no certainty on the end result. xingchen certainly wouldn't so readily volunteer for his own change to be witnessed, despite having nearly a year of twice-nightly shifts to grow accustomed to it.

and knowing jiang wanyin, part of him surely doubts that they'll have succeeded at all. the notion of choosing to assume a form less monstrous than his own must seem nearly impossible, after being trapped for so long in a crude synthetic approximation of flesh and bone - and at least some part of this distance surely stems from that, from an unwillingness to face xingchen if (somehow, for the first time in their experience) mana's magic fell through.

but despite the sound rationality and, of course, xingchen's prevailing desire to respect his companion's wishes, the distance is still unexpectedly difficult to maintain. so frequently throughout the first two or three days, he thinks to compose a message to jiang wanyin without quite thinking - a 'good morning', a 'sleep well', a random thought which occurred to him and sparked the urge to share - before recalling the boundaries set and deleting the message unfinished.

by the third day, however, xingchen has begun to worry. has something gone wrong? how wrong must it have gone, that jiang wanyin still doesn't get in touch. it would be terribly drastic to worry for wanyin's life, but xingchen can't quite shake the silly romantic? notion that little short of death could induce such a silence. death or capture, that is - and how has it taken him three whole days to consider that jiang wanyin may have been captured? the circus demonstrated vividly that such a thing is well within the realm of possibility. in fact, xingchen is approximately ten minutes of failed meditation away from looking into that as a real possibility when an alert sounds from his laptop on the table nearby.

the message is brief but not quite curt, overall promising in the grand scheme of things - and xingchen spends the better part of a minute with one hand clasped around the other, staying his fingers as he pushes past effusive relief and a variety of other similarly unhelpful things to the more reasonable: ) I'll be just over an hour. ( and that's that.

he arrives at lotus pier right on time, slipping in the gate only to find jiang wanyin training right there in the courtyard. after just a moment's pause, he shuts the gate softly behind him, dipping down to set his bag soundlessly on the stone below. wanyin doesn't seem to have noticed him yet - he trains facing the main hall, for the most part - and for the length of a few practiced forms, xingchen simply observes. admires, really. though he has been present for parts of jiang wanyin's training sessions, he's witnessed none since bartering for his sight, at least not more than a couple of forms before training was abandoned in favor of greetings and tea. now, though, he observes quite appreciatively for the seconds it takes for the forms to steer wanyin back toward the main hall.

this is precisely the point at which a terrible notion strikes.

no, that's not quite true - said notion has been percolating since the moment he realized that he'd slipped in unnoticed. it's precisely why he silently set down his bag... so that now that he has the proper window, brisk, near-silent steps carry him across the space between them, hand lifting to grasp at frostwork's hilt. and when jiang wanyin's next form has him turning back toward the gate, he'll hear the abrupt draw of a blade, and what's meant to be a slice through the air is parried gracefully by frostwork instead.

xingchen takes a half-step back then, giving frostwork a twirl before tucking it up (and at ready, if need be) behind his shoulder. and despite his best attempt to swallow it down, a mischievous smile plays at the corners of his lips. )

[fishfairy]

[ It’s been too long since Runyu and Xingchen have fed — both are reluctant to deal with that side of this realm again. It’s something they can’t change, can’t control, and Runyu hates it. He can deal with most prices that have come of his decision to seek peace in this realm, but the tension and foreboding that come with feeding are agonizing. His luring of a human to a certain location, one of ethereal beauty, reflect careful planning, mirroring the destruction he crafted in his former world. The trap of the faerie ring is more abhorrent than the actual taking of their life to him for that reason. However, the brutality his friend can never escape wit his feeding is on another, unspeakable level. It would be naive to believe that someone actually killing the human first eases most of his pain.

There is much to ponder — to loathe — as the hunger starts to strangle him, and such turmoil sets loose other demons. Filling his mind with possible steps towards this goal. Of the positive aspects that outweigh the difficulty of the task of enticing a human towards him. Of the possible achievements of choosing the worst of the area around him. That of being in a position to judge and erase the corruption in this world, as he has before. Of using his power to do good as should be done with such abilities. To rewrite his wrongs.

The seduction of such possibilities should be easy to resist. The disgust from the blood already staining his hands should drown out such thoughts. Her voice and his vow should terminate such ambitions.

But the hunger gives more power to the whispers — frays his convictions. It’s as terrible as the grief, the fury that controlled him in the past.

Runyu despises this part of himself.

Perhaps that’s why, one evening when he can still hear his friend pacing in his room, he abandons the attempt of meditation and sits at the table by the window where the guqin rests, the strings glistening in the moonlight. He takes a breath, at first hesitant to touch the music when this much darkness is still churning inside him. But he’s desperate for it to stop, to be able to help again, and to not be a slave to others once more. His sighs and plucks a string, his other hand resting on the table not the instrument, letting the sound echo forth this time. ]

for my own reference: this is set sept. 2-3ish

[daozhangs]

( were they to speak of any of these things, xingchen might have somewhat differing opinions. he thinks himself lucky, for example, for the manner in which he feeds - for the fact that his hunger demands the end product of flesh rather than the act of killing. runyu can't help but kill. before he gained the ability to feed by way of blood as well, neither could jiang wanyin.

he also thinks, however unexpected such an opinion might be, that the temptation to seek and consume only the most incorrigible of the humans is entirely reasonable under the given circumstances. xingchen can scavenge, can access the dead by way of hospital or morgue or even a stroll down bavan's back alleys at night. someone can bring him a meal of flesh, and he can accept it, and it is enough. but were he in a position which forced him to decide who lives or dies (as runyu is), it would be senseless and unreasonable to expect him to leave such a thing to fate. not a single one of them has any right to take life or death into their hands, but they also hold the responsibility of minimizing the damage they cause. and if runyu were to mention such a thing to him - the fact that he struggles with the urge to hunt the wicked - xingchen might not condemn him as quickly as runyu would likely expect. in fact, he might very well agree to the unfortunate necessity of it, if only for the sake of harm-reduction. that said, he would strongly urge runyu to undertake the unpleasant task of such judgment before the hunger grows too strong. because perhaps his companion handles it all much better somehow, but in his own brief considering of that precise thing, he came to the undeniable verdict that his judgment can't be trusted while the hunger tears at the edges of his mind. not with matters of life or death, of judgment and corruption, when something so overwhelmingly desperate as this hunger would be satisfied if he were to only decide that the nearest passably-unpleasant person deserved to die.

but of course, no such conversations are being had. instead they meditate - and failing that, they pace. or at the very least, xingchen paces. especially at night. tonight may very well be the night which he locks himself away again. he hasn't yet decided. he should, perhaps, but a shudder of disgust ripples through him at the thought of it. of the captivity, and the helpless desperate regret which he feels each and every time once he drops off the far end of the plateau of his principles and plummets into a place beyond the light of rationality, a place in which he would gladly consume the first stranger who crossed his path.

then comes a deep and resonant thrum. a guqin string plucked, just the one but it's enough to stop his pacing short. he should leave runyu be, xingchen knows. the man is as tense as he himself is if not more so, and xingchen is laughably bad company at the moment. and yet he finds himself tugging open the cracked bedroom door just a bit further, slipping out just enough to lean mutely against the door frame, even his temple resting (tense but weary) against the wood.

he doesn't speak just yet. simply listens - for more such strumming, or perhaps for evidence that his presence has intruded on said strumming and he should go back inside his room. )

Ruminating -- Late September

[fishfairy]

[ It comes one day when Runyu has retreated for a walk in the woods, carving more animals in solitude, after taking another life. When looking to his right wrist again, recalling the coins saved and his initial plan after sacrificing the bracelet. ]

My friend, I find myself hesitating. May I ask some foolish questions while I sit under the trees?

[daozhangs]

( it's quite unusual, to receive a message from runyu via the laptop like this. what with their cohabiting, they tend to have more than enough time face-to-face for such conversations.

but xingchen reserves his concern, for now. the question seems light enough in tone, for as little as that truly says with one so skilled as runyu at acting unbothered. and so: )

You may, provided you're alright with foolish answers.

Waking up away from Home - backdated to mid September in the morning

[fishfairy]

[ Little Li rolls over and falls off the bed before jolting up and making sure his bandages are secure, freezing a moment later when he realizes that the wounds from last night’s work to remove his scales aren’t throbbing. Nor are his fingers from pricking himself on the sharp blade. In fact, Li pulls open his robe and views fresher wounds that have already scabbed over. He pokes at the nearest one. The cut doesn’t reopen. He tugs the robe over him again, frowning as he hugs himself.

Did he somehow heal them faster this time? Did he use his powers again?

He glances up at the window, hoping the schools of tiny fish passing over it will calm him, and flinches. Quickly, he stumbles and trips over to the wide window overlooking a giant forest. He can’t even hear the hush of the waves of the lake surface from here. Where is he? What did he do this time? Li spins around and yelps as his robes tangle further and his body crashes down. He winces but swallows the urge to draw more attention to himself. He’s such a mess today. Huffing, he yanks at his robe and glares are the longer sleeves. Did he shrink now?

Wait! Li reaches up to his face, feeling for the stubs of his horns. A white band falls out of his hair but nothing else. He slumps down in the strange room. He’s still not a fish. Li sits up as the door opens from the other side, schooling his face. His eyes widen as an older boy in white stands in the doorway. ]

Who are you?!

[daozhangs]

( it's the thump from the adjacent room that first draws his attention. he stills in place where he sits on the bed, cycling quickly through alertness to a flicker of hope (could it be zichen?) to the more practical truth: runyu. the messaging device sitting open before him has offered a surplus of information (granted without any context), not the least of which being that xingchen - the older xingchen whom this house belongs to - shares his residence with a man named runyu. the device yields terribly few correspondences between them in the time frame which xingchen has managed to read back through so far, but they seem to be fairly close. and if runyu is currently at home (a thought which hadn't quite occurred to xingchen before this moment), he stands to be a much simpler means by which to gather insight on the circumstances at hand.

and so he closes the device and rises from the bed, making his way out the door to his room and through the sitting room to the other door he spotted in his earlier survey. a hand lifts to knock, but the door sits open a crack so xingchen instead opts to set a palm on the wood and press it open a bit further. not far, just enough to offer greeting.

but the boy on the floor beats him to it. 'who are you?!' xingchen brow flickers briefly into puzzlement, gaze lifting just for a moment to confirm that the room is indeed empty but for this boy. and then to runyu (whom this must be, cursed(?) just as xingchen himself is) he offers a reassuring little smile, kneeling down to eye level. ) Forgive me, I should have knocked, ( he offers, his tone warm and steady. ) My name is Xiao Xingchen. Are you alright?

About halfway through September event

[legbreakings]

[ It is a perfectly nice, sunny afternoon at Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng is using it to wade in the shallow waters and throw fish at his boyfriend.

Because that's what they call it here, as he has learned - this thing that they are, not the fish throwing, which is justly deserved but probably doesn't even have a specific term in a place as weird as this. ]

That one didn't even count! [ he exclaims, his voice at that loud and obnoxious pitch that speaks of playful outrage rather than actual outrage. Which he expects - or hopes - Xiao Xingchen to understand, on grounds of the whole boyfriend thing, even if neither of them has actual memories of how that has come about in their-future-that-is-the-past. ] You caught it with your hands! You're supposed to catch them with the net!

[ Catching fish with your hands is actually more impressive than with the small makeshift nets they have fashioned for scooping up dinner in, but he's not going to admit that. Not without a fight, at least.

There is a bright smile on his face as he wades closer towards him, and maybe the beginnings of a blush on his cheeks because this whole flirting business still flusters him when he tries it. Even though he likes it - a lot. His older self has impeccable taste in choosing boys, and miraculously enough, going by the conversations he has read Xiao Xingchen's older self likes him back. ] How are you going to make it up to me for cheating?!

[daozhangs]

( it's a perfectly nice, sunny afternoon - but to xiao xingchen, it feels just a little bit surreal. as though he's been lifted from his life and placed neatly into another... one built for someone who knows much better than he how to release his responsibilities, how to banter and to play. how to let someone close to him when he himself isn't at all sure what lies beneath his principles and duty. he's never really had the chance to find out, nor the desire to - at least, until now.

in so many ways, xingchen's good sense is fully intact and sharper even than ever - but in other ways, it feels very much like he's lost his senses altogether. how else could one explain this? him, waist-deep in the lake with a live fish gripped between his bare hands, being scolded for cheating by what xingchen has quite objectively decided is the prettiest boy he's ever met, whom he happens to be courting (in some terribly hapless way). or perhaps he's receiving the courting? he hasn't yet figured that out, and their older selves yielded spectacularly little assistance on that front.

the outrage has him glancing back at the fish he's tossed onto the pier as if briefly considering putting it back to right his mistake, but then he's exhaling a laugh-breath (he's been doing that quite a bit, these last few days) and: ) I wasn't aware that we were competing. ( and the crisp formality which has long since permeated his natural tone wars terribly with a warm, bright new note of fond humor, however terrible he may yet be at it.

but now jiang wanyin is approaching, marching his way over to no-doubt continue the scolding, and xingchen himself is currently a far cry from the paragon of poise and dignity one might expect - hair and robes both largely soaked through and cheeks reddening faintly just by virtue of being grinned at like that - but he nonetheless shifts his stance neatly to square up to wanyin's approach, even as the grin on the boy's face drags that much more of one to xingchen's. he tries and fails to swallow it back for a moment before simply tilting his head to ask, ) Is this not some manner of Yunmeng courtship - assailing me with your finest catch? ( oh, that was a good one. perhaps he's getting better at this already. )

text

[legbreakings]

after his first message to Elias

There is no hunger in the Ryslig of the past.

Have you considered what it would be like to stay there?

[daozhangs]

I hadn't. What are your thoughts?

<AquilasShadow>

[aquilasshadow]

Runyu's three days are up. Where is he?

<xiao.xingchen>

[daozhangs]

Forgive me - when I spoke with you, I had thought that Runyu was out for the afternoon and that I might have a chance to speak with him that evening.

I've not seen him nor been able to make contact with him since that morning.

If you describe to me what you seek, I could see if I have any luck in finding it here.