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[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.

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[legbreakings]

[ He needs to think about that for a while, trying to puzzle out what could actually help, or if there is anything at all. In the end, he gives a little shrug and just shifts, settling himself more comfortably on his seat.

He can still enjoy the lakeside view but in this body of his, the wind that ruffles his hair doesn't feel as it should on his skin. It's far from perfect but Xiao Xingchen's presence makes it better. ]

You help by being here [ he says simply, pointedly keeping his eyes focused on the lake and not the man sitting next to him. ] Just stay.

[daozhangs]

( 'you help by being here,' jiang wanyin says, 'just stay.' and that answer doesn't quite surprise him, even after so long a considering pause. in fact, he finds that his lips curl a little at the corners, his smile perhaps a little dry and a little tired but otherwise thoroughly genuine. ) I'd meant something I didn't already intend to do, though I suppose that's my mistake for not being more specific. ( he's teasing just a little bit, despite... well, everything.

his attention shifts off over the lake as well now, voice softening now to just above a murmur. ) I'll stay as long as you'd like. ( in case he hasn't quite made it clear. not 'as long as you need', because jiang wanyin hardly needs him, and xingchen certainly isn't here out to dutifully meet an ailing man's needs or anything of that sort. this benefits the both of them - or at least, he hopes it does. and he'll stay for as long as his company pleases wanyin. )

[legbreakings]

But what you are doing is already what I want you to do. [ This is what I want and need of you, he would maybe add if he were more inclined to putting such things into words. But putting his heart on his sleeve doesn't come easily to him - at least not doing it on purpose, he only does so when his emotions betray him - and so he keeps silent.

What he does instead is scoot a little closer towards Xiao Xingchen and nudge him with his shoulder, then simply remain right there in his space, shoulder to shoulder. ] This is good. You could tell me another story. Like the ones from your books. [ He swallows hard. ] In the other world. [ The first tentative acknowledgment of just how close they were there. ]

[daozhangs]

( though he retracted his own touch as a courtesy, the brush of shoulders has been initiated by jiang wanyin - and that makes all the difference, really. this one, he allows himself to lean into just slightly. enough to reciprocate, to show that such a thing is welcome, because it is.

'you could tell me another story, like the ones from your books.' it's a suggestion he didn't quite expect, and were he capable, he'd be blinking as he adjusts to the reality in which he'll have to follow it through. (of course he will. how could he possibly not?) xingchen's next exhale carries a quiet, bracing sort of chuckle. ) I could, ( he says - slow, bracing here as well, but his voice is a bit more resolute when he says, ) I will.

I'll just need a moment to come up with one. ( xingchen has never been especially creative, and right now he's drawing a bit of a blank on possible stories that aren't just thinly-veiled retellings of all of that which is on his mind right now. tales of a man to whom the world feeds lie after lie about who he truly is. the one he treasures most prefers him that way - prefers the lie. but he has never been good at lying, only ever at believing them, just as he's never been good at crafting up make-believe stories to tell. )

[legbreakings]

[ He hums his acknowledgment at that, quietly happy with the acceptance of what touch he has initiated and content enough to wait for his story... And also willing to offer a little bit more of his own, maybe, so he suggests, ] Or I could tell you one. But I'm not much of a storyteller.

[ This is not strictly true. It's just that his stories are all of the educational, cautionary sorts to be told to juniors who need to be schooled on the dangers of night hunts. Plus the noble history of Yunmeng Jiang, who to be passed on to younger generations the best he can, since there are no elders to share them. ]

I'm a sect leader. I don't tell stories to entertain. [ But if Xiao Xingchen wants to hear about the founding of Yunmeng Jiang or all the gruesome ways foolish young juniors will get themselves eaten in the woods if they don't listen better, he can do that. ]