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.

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[daozhangs]

( the message gives him pause, though perhaps not for the reason it should. it's not suspicion, but the briefest sting of something deeper even than the cold can touch.

xingchen should have been there by now, shouldn't he? or quite a bit closer.

he's disappointing him. )

I have. A number of miles, by my estimate.

( a beat, and then - )

I've given you my word, haven't I? I will be there, as quickly as I'm able. All you need to do is stay alive until then. If anyone stands capable of that, it's you.

( because this irritation, it's fear, isn't it? this wouldn't be the first time jiang wanyin has gotten snappish when he's anxious, and he has ample cause to be quite anxious right now. )

[legbreakings]

You have given me your word, yes. I'm going to need you to keep it.

Everyone here is exhausted and injured. We need more fighters to turn the tide but most of the guests and staff are useless. Soft, spoiled common folk who have never held a weapon.

[daozhangs]

I understand.

My respite will be brief.

[legbreakings]

Make sure it remains so.

People are dying here.

[daozhangs]

You're right.

Forgive me.

I will push onward.

[legbreakings]

[ Well. Now it's getting fun. ]

Good. As you should.

You are stronger than them. They deserve your protection.

[daozhangs]

( is he stronger? jiang wanyin's previous words echo through his mind, that he will be useless in the hunt if he arrives weakened.

but the situation is dire (people are dying), and 'weakened' is largely a state of mind - or at least it can be rendered as such, for a brief time. long enough to finish this. xingchen will make certain.

as such, he doesn't answer. not for another couple of hours, anyway.

then, )

alright?

( because of course that's the pressing matter here. not at all the news he's about to have to break - that he's resting properly this time, even if only briefly. he has to. )

[legbreakings]

[ In these hours, it has learned something new about itself: it does notlike waiting for its prey to return to be toyed with. ]

I would be better if you were here already. Why is it taking so long?

[daozhangs]

resting. i've no choice

forgive me

[legbreakings]

[ The prey is doing WHAT?! ]

How can you rest now?

[daozhangs]

( a distinct pause before this answer comes, because it comes with great reluctance. )

my legs

legs refuse to carry me

( it's picking up the words that double on a shiver, but he doesn't quite have it in him to fix that. )

i'm coming. i'm coming

just need need a few minutes

and fire

[legbreakings]

[ Fire! This keeps getting better!

The nerve of this prey! ]

Worry about fire later. For now, worry about getting here at all.

[daozhangs]

( another pause, this one longer. suffice to say that it's filled with xingchen's absolute best attempt to reason out how he might once again manage to establish forward movement. but his thoughts won't untangle, and he finally lets out a helpless half-choked sound that the laptop mercifully fails to transcribe. )

i





i'm not certain which way

i don't understand

( and he does know that it won't get better without a fire, but he's just spent something like five or six seconds wondering why it is that he can't reach the ground despite sitting on it before it hit him that he just plain can't feel it. a thick and oppressive numb, like he's slept on his arm incorrectly. teeth close on his lip (too sharp, he forgot which form he was in - there's blood there now instead of just his cheeks) but his thoughts refuse to unmuddy enough to tell him how to start a fire if he can't even feel for kindling. )

[legbreakings]

[ And meanwhile the creature which is now alone in Jiang Cheng's body - the host's pointless resistance has long since gone silent, its mind destroyed and body put to better use - seethes with impatience.

No, it does not like to wait for its toys. It just wants to spread, why are these things making it so difficult when their doomed fate is already certain? ]

Then figure it out. Are you a cultivator or not?

[daozhangs]

( it's just- it's too much, he can't stop shaking, he'd be okay as a fox but every time he tries to grasp for it, the shaking jostles it back out of reach. )

told you i would be there

just need to warm my legs i'll

i have to be there

i promised

i told you it wouldn't be you

[legbreakings]

Yes, you told me. You gave me a promise. I'm going to hold you to it, so it is on you now to keep it.

Do you want to know you broke it and people paid for it with their lives?

[ Is this pushing too hard? Is this something the host would say? Maybe not, not quite like this, it coddles this prey so much in all the memories the parasite has of them, but it has been waiting so terribly long already. ]

[daozhangs]

i'll find you

( but even as he fumbles the laptop shut and makes to get up, he realizes anew how devastatingly impossible such a thing actually seems to be.

people are going to die. jiang wanyin is going to die. why did xingchen ever think he could change that? he can’t even save himself.

regardless of what else is said, no follow-up messages come. )

[legbreakings]

Where are you? I'm still waiting. It keeps getting worse. It isn't safe anywhere now. There are no places to hide left. They are everywhere.

[ Yet for all the impatient waiting, there is no response. ]

I need you. Why are you not here?

[ How dare this prey defy it? ]

I'm injured. They are hunting me. Answer me! Stop hiding in your failure.

[ Fury. Such fury now, the thing is ignoring it. How dare he? Oh, he will pay. Just as soon as he arrives, he will pay. If he arrives. ]

I need you