daozhangs | ic inbox, ryslig.

( 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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(cw: child abuse, mutilation)

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