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 have been narrowing down the suspects by suspicious behavior, but they are very good and it is difficult when you don't know the people affected, and everyone is acting frightened and irrational.

[ Fortunately, something cultivators are well used to, and when you have dealt for it long enough, you learn to recognize the patterns in people's irrational behavior. Nothing turns a peaceful village into a frightened mob like mortal danger descending on them. ]

Best we can determine, they will try to get you alone for assimilation. Last night was the exception with public ones.

But fire is the only way to tell for sure.

[daozhangs]

( a long pause - he's considering, but he's also encountered a snow-buried log that he hadn't anticipated so he's working his way over that with an arm full of laptop. then, )

You're alone now

( is jiang wanyin endangering himself further just in the act of ducking away to speak to him? xingchen doesn't like that idea in the slightest. )

[legbreakings]

As long as I remain alone, it is no problem. When I'm no longer alone, I will fight.

I don't trust these people in battle. They aren't like us. They need to be protected but they are, at best, a liability.

You are very taciturn.

[daozhangs]

My lips have gone numb.

Nothing of concern. Simply difficult to enunciate clearly enough.

[legbreakings]

Are you telling me you are suffering from hypothermia and you haven't told me?!

[daozhangs]

I don't think that I am.

( hopefully that doesn't change, though xingchen is quite realistic enough to know that it's not unlikely. )

The rest of my body is warm enough. ( make no mistake, he's cold even with all the layers he's wearing, but it doesn't feel as though he's dangerously cold. like the temperature at his center is any lower than it typically is. only his skin, especially the bits exposed to the wind as well as the cold... like his lips. and his hands, though he has taken to tucking one at a time into a warm pocket between his layers while he holds the laptop with the other. )

I would have told you.

[legbreakings]

You would not have told me until it means failure is unavoidable. You wouldn't want to worry and distract me.

[daozhangs]

If I had it, it would only get worse.

A liability for when I arrive. I would have told you.

[legbreakings]

Yes. You would tell me if it affects your ability to be of use at the resort. You wouldn't tell me if it is any less than that.

[ Which, honestly, is fair. It is Xiao Xingchen's prerogative to keep his suffering to himself. He just doesn't have to like it. ]

[daozhangs]

( another pause, this one just considering. it seems obvious, what jiang wanyin is saying - of course that's when he would tell him. what use would it be to do so otherwise?

what a stupid question, xingchen realizes almost as soon as he's asked it, his amused huff fogging the moment it reaches the air. or if not stupid, then terribly hypocritical. because he would certainly want to know such a thing regardless of whether or not it affected jiang wanyin's capability. is it truly so different now?

and so, )

Would you like me to?

( to tell him such things, even when there's no practical reason for doing so. it goes against so much of the person xingchen has long since learned to be, but jiang wanyin has long since earned the right to choose whether or not he's burdened with something. )

Can't promise that I always will. But I can try

[legbreakings]

[ The response is so surprising and heartwarming all at once that it startles a sharp laugh from Jiang Cheng. In the little cranny he has hidden himself away in, he sits and laughs while staring at the screen in faint incredulity, and then finally gives an amused shake of his head. ]

I would like it if you tried.

[ Even if he can't quite explain why - or rather, why he should even permit himself to care about such matters. But he wants to. One indulgence for himself. Just one. ]

[daozhangs]

Alright.

( and that seems like that, at least for a few seconds - the duration of a half-dozen trudged steps through thigh-deep snow - but then, )

I can't quite feel my fingers, either.

[legbreakings]

[ Deep breaths. Deep breaths. He did ask for this.

He will not scream.

Okay. Maybe a little screaming on the inside. ]

I don't know how well the fog would heal frostbite. And you will need your hands when you get here.

[daozhangs]

Shouldn't get to that point. I've taken to warming one while the other carries the laptop.

I'll have to stop this evening, shelter permitting. Not for long. A couple of hours, three at most.

Just long enough to build a fire and dry my clothes. They're damp nearly all the way through now.

I'll make up the lost time once they've dried.

[legbreakings]

I understand. Make sure you arrive in a state which is suited to combat. There is no point in it otherwise.

[ As in: take care of yourself. Drive yourself hard, but not too hard. ]

We can hold out. It isn't pretty but nothing about this peninsula is pretty.

[daozhangs]

I intend to.

In return, please see that the burn is the worst of the damage you sustain.

[legbreakings]

You know I can't promise that.

But I can promise to try my best.

[daozhangs]

I suppose that will have to do.

[legbreakings]

Thank you.

For coming. For keeping me company.

[daozhangs]

Of course.

I told you that I would, didn't I? Simply not out of duty.

( if jiang wanyin hadn't expect such bold assurances to come to fruition, he might be as naive as xingchen. )

[legbreakings]

[ That's the thing, though, he doesn't expect much follow-up from words. Life has taught him it is better to give little weight to promises. ]

You did say so.

[daozhangs]

And you declared intent to break my legs.

( no matter how carefully he enunciates, these longer messages are getting increasingly tricky to compose - but he'll manage for just a bit longer. )

Unless you've reconsidered?

[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!