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

[legbreakings]

I always have intent to break your legs.

[ Even just minutes of this banter are a relief. A reminder that there is something beyond the paranoia of the hotel. ]

[daozhangs]

You understand how concerning that is.

[legbreakings]

I hope so! I would be alarmed if you weren't alarmed!

[daozhangs]

I'm not.

I'm concerned.

They're quite different, you know.

( the pauses between each text are slightly longer now - xingchen has made the mistake of smiling with wind-chapped lips, so now they're a bit less numb in exchange for stinging terribly at the spot where his upper lip has cracked a bit.

it's quite possible that he's still smiling, albeit a bit more carefully. )

[legbreakings]

[ The pauses between the messages don't go unnoticed and they have him frowning, remembering what Xingchen let slip before. ]


Can you shift into fox again?

[daozhangs]

I cannot.

[legbreakings]

Is the snow still too high?

[daozhangs]

More so by the hour.

[legbreakings]

Rest if you need to. I can hold out.

[daozhangs]

So can I.

( he doesn't plan to rest, not yet. not nearly. he'll rest as a fox while he dries his clothes, whenever that ends up being. and perhaps he might benefit from putting the laptop away so that he might tuck his hands somewhere warm, but he'd rather his fingers be numb than whatever sort of numb it is that sets in between jiang wanyin's messages. it's quite easy to lose grip on the world at large, at times such as those. to forget that anything exists beyond the concept of cold and the urgent need to keep moving onward. )

But should it

Should you need to return to the hunt, that's fine.

( he's decided he doesn't care quite enough to delete the misheard ones, anymore. choosing his battles and whatnot. )

[legbreakings]

[ Sloppy half sentences? This keeps getting more and more alarming and Jiang Cheng grits his teeth, glaring at the screen while helpless frustration bubbles uselessly away in him.

Too far away to do anything. Too busy with greater problems to focus on just one person. It's always the same story. He hates this story. ]

Soon. I have to return soon. Something needs to be done, though I'm not sure what level of organizing ourselves could hold out against the paranoia and dissent. It's difficult.

[daozhangs]

There's a safe zone.

Created by a man named Stan.

Runyu claims it's fairly secure.

[legbreakings]

Maybe I will go there and help. I don't need protection but I know it is my duty to give it to others.

Either way, I will manage.

But you are not well.

[daozhangs]

Well enough to keep moving.

I'll rest when I'm able.

[legbreakings]

Do so. Keep in mind you will be useless in this hunt if you arrive weakened.

[daozhangs]

I haven't forgotten.

( xingchen can't help but wonder if perhaps it's best that he postpone any further unnecessary sharing until after this ordeal is over. he extended the offer as a gesture of trust, but all it seems to have done is sow doubt in jiang wanyin regarding his capabilities. )

[legbreakings]

[ Not doubt. Concern. He is concerned for his friend but he doesn't know how to voice it. ]

Good. I won't hesitate to ask much of my people but I don't ask for wasteful sacrifice.

[daozhangs]

( 'my people.' all of a sudden, he finds it quite a bit harder to regret. )

It wouldn't be.

You asked me to come.

It couldn't possibly be wasteful.

[legbreakings]

It could be wasteful if I pushed you too hard before the battle, simply because of my own discomfort or desire for convenience.

I did ask. And you had no reason to heed it. I will honor what you do for me.

[daozhangs]

( he has no obligation to heed it. not no reason. but these are nuances that he isn't sure he could eloquently argue right now even if it were the time to do so, and so he refrains. )

Should put this away for a bit.

Warm my hands as best I'm able.

( it has occurred to him, quite belatedly, that he'll need to be able to feel his fingers to start a fire. )

Thank you as well.

It's warmer with company.

( or so it feels, but jiang wanyin will have to make due with these short, clumsy renditions of what xingchen properly means to say. )

[legbreakings]

[ Oh. Oh. He doesn't quite know how to... Well. ]

Your company makes it better here, too.

But warm your hands now. We will speak later.

[ Little that he knows he won't be himself anymore by the time "they" speak next. ]

[daozhangs]

( xingchen would very much prefer for his company to be making it better there in person, but that's fine. he will arrive as soon as he's able. he has hardly reached the extent of his patience just yet.

but as cold as it is, there's one last thing that seems important to convey before his friend steps away from the laptop and back into the fray. )

Wanyin.





No more burns.

( but before jiang wanyin can answer, )

I know

Please try.

( and then he's closing his laptop and fumbling it back into his bag, arms crossing to tuck ten frigid fingers into his armpits under the outer layer of robe. )

[legbreakings]

[ The next message doesn't come until hours later, written from Jiang Cheng's laptop but by something that only wears his skin. ]

Where are you? I need you here.

[daozhangs]

( the reply takes a moment - xingchen has to shift back from fox form, to feel at the clothing draped around the modest fire (as best it's able in the small cave he's found) to figure out which is the dryest, and to wrap it around himself so that he can use the laptop without freezing solid. )

I stopped not long ago to dry my clothes. It shouldn't take more than an hour.

( based on the length of the response, he's also regained feeling in his face (and his fingers, one can assume) in the process. )

Has something happened?

[legbreakings]

[ Good. The bait has been accepted. ]

It's getting ever more dangerous. There are more of them and less of us.

Nobody can be trusted.