daozhangs | ic inbox, ryslig.

[ 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?!

( 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?

( The boy’s lips dips into a small pout as lifts his chin. ) Of course. I just fell off the bed. It’s high, but that’s not enough to make me cry. See?

[ Not wanting the older boy to view him as a weakling, or someone that can be bullied, Li tries to stumble up. It’s to no avail and he slips in the big robe tangled around him, falling back down. He hurriedly pulls the robe closed, hiding the bandages. No one can know about them. ]

( Li hurries to hide his mistake by waving a hand mostly covered by a long sleeve. He pushes it up. ) Mother must have put a big robe in the basket last night and I put the wrong one on because I was sleepy. ( He folds his hands before him, or, his drooping sleeves. ) It is my fault. I’ll fix it.

Edited 2021-10-14 06:06 (UTC)

( and for his part, xingchen patiently waits as the boy goes through the motions of showing all of the ways in which he's alright. the 'see?' earns an acknowledging hum and nod, because yes, he does indeed see - and as for the rest, xingchen allows the boy's fussing to run out of steam a bit before he speaks. )

I could fix it for you, if you'd like. ( after a moment, he thinks to add: ) I'm a daozhang - have you heard of them? It means I've dedicated my life to helping others who might need it. ( the smile returns, faintly amused this time, and he tilts his head a bit. ) Or those who don't need help at all, but might generously tolerate it regardless.

[ Well, even if he hasn't heard of a daozhang before the older boy explained the title to him, little Li is inclined to believe Xiao Xingchen. He has a pleasant smile and hasn't made any of the mean faces the other boys do when around him. Even when he's in this sort of disarray, the older boy just continues to be polite. But he can't. It's rude of Li after he's offered, but if he lets him help, Xiao Xingchen will surely see the bandages.

Li scuffs a foot as he pouts before folding his arms again in an apology. ]

Sorry, Xiao-gege, I can't let you do that. If I let you, I won't learn from my mistake. I'm not hurt. So I can do it. Will that be alright?

Edited 2021-10-17 10:17 (UTC)

( the offer is declined, earning no surprise from xingchen - only an acquiescing hum and nod, a hint of his smile still lingering. ) I could step out into the other room, if you'd prefer to do so in privacy. Or I could simply turn around and close my eyes. ( though the latter bit is presented with a note of humor, the offer is entirely genuine in case young runyu would feel better with some sort of company. )

( Little Li huffs as he waves his long sleeves. ) Xiao-gege can stay. I- I don't know where I am, and you're the only friend I have. If you leave the room, maybe you'll disappear like Niang. I... I don't want that!

[ He waits for the older boy, the daozhang to turn around, still wearing that smile, and then turns around himself, huffing as he pulls off the whole tangled mess of clothes, blowing hair out of his face as he does so. He shakes himself once free before looking around. The boy is still not looking. Good. He pokes at the scabbed wounds and tilts his head, wondering if he needs a layer of bandages. He shrugs and starts throwing clothes around, looking for his own robes. Why are they all so big? ]

Gege can't turn around yet. I'll find them. ( A few minutes later, he calls out. ) Somewhere in here.

[ Finally, he improvises. It's impolite to keep a 'daozhang' waiting, so he wraps a long tunic around himself with a belt, shaking his hair out to fix it next. But then he freezes as he realizes he's wearing a long necklace with a coin at the end. He pulls it up and squints at it. ]

What's this?

( it's as he suspected - runyu is lost and confused despite all attempts to act as though he has things under control, and xingchen would very much prefer not to leave him alone under such circumstances. luckily, he isn't asked to, warmly assuring: ) I'll stay, then. ( and, as promised, he's shifting around to face the door, a hand lifting to lightly cover his eyes as a gesture of good faith.

the shuffling behind him is largely unidentifiable to one who hasn't yet learned to attune himself to the nuance of sound, but xingchen is nothing if not patient, tracking the boy's general movements to and fro with half of his mind while the rest of it slips into something closer to a shallow meditative state. an impotent meditative state spurred by the long-ingrained instinct to regenerate qi anytime he feels lacking in it, a state which he exists in (by his understanding) permanently within this realm.

'what's this?' the voice draws him fully back to the present, and his brow flickers in puzzlement for a moment beneath the top of the hand over his eyes. ) May I see it? ( his other hand lifts palm-up into the air beside him, though he keeps his eyes dutifully covered until he's received (tacit or implicit) permission to open them. a daozhang is true his word, after all. )

[ Little Li frowns in thought, reluctant to surrender something that seems to belong to him. Even if it's to an older boy who's been honest with him, holding back is easier, safer, after years of bullying. There's enough fault to be found with him already. He reaches up to his hair, trying to tidy it, before letting his hands fall to his sides.

The daozhang still hasn't turned around. Li tilts his head again before letting a small smile replace his worried frown.

He shuffles in his makeshift clothes and tugs on his sleeve, holding the necklace up. ]

You can look now.

Edited 2021-10-17 11:40 (UTC)

( when the answer does finally come, xingchen allows the hand over his eyes to lower to the floor, a few fingertips resting there to assist in balance as he shifts back around to face the room and the boy within it. his gaze falls at once on the necklace, of course - it's still looped around runyu's neck, so the waiting hand drops now as well, and instead xingchen lifts up a bit from his crouch to shift a meter or so closer (a carefully unhurried movement so as not to startle), kneeling again within arm's reach of the boy and his necklace.

here, both hands lift to carefully take the coin between his fingertips, as lightly as he can hold it so as to make sure runyu knows that he doesn't plan to steal it. he recognizes the 24-character charm, of course, having made a number of his own not long ago - but those typically call forth prosperity and wealth, or failing that, protection. this one boasts the same character twenty-four times, the xī which means 'rest' or 'breathe'. and while part of him tries to maintain that he shouldn't leap to bold conclusions, xingchen is also quite certain he'd recognize his own handiwork. quite certain he does recognize it, etched into each line of the coin which runyu wears around his neck. ) It's a charm, ( xingchen says, since the whole purpose for looking it over was to be able to explain what exactly it might be. his eyes lift to the boy's, holding the edges of the coin so that runyu can see the face of it as xingchen continues. ) This character, xī, means 'to rest'. It seems that whoever gave you this coin hoped that it might help to ease your worries. ( and with this, the hand not holding the coin drops to catch the back of runyu's, a ghost of a guiding touch to lift it up so that he might return the coin to him, setting it in the boy's palm. )

[ Little Li's head lowers to the coin necklace, following Xiao-gege's return of it. Frowning, his fingers brush over the character about rest slowly. Perhaps his mother knows that he's started to cut the scales away now and spends many hours at night trying to do it right. But if she knows, is it all for nothing? What does "rest" mean? ]

( He pouts at all the questions and glances back up at the older boy, holding the coin up again. ) What does that mean? If I don't worry, Mother will. I don't want her to cry again. Did she make it?

[ If she did, he would have to apologize but ignore that. Obeying those words would hurt his mother, his only friend. ]

Edited 2021-10-18 11:21 (UTC)

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

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(cw: child abuse, mutilation)

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.