username: haltham

[aprescoup]

( Audio: translated through the House of Dew quartz network. A man’s voice, fairly coarse, hesitant. )

...llo? Hello there? Right. Sorry. This is a fancy —

( Fumbling, as he hunts his words and the device settings. Try again: )

Greetings. This is Haltham. I met you. Some of you. At the jailhouse. I was the one who told you...? You remember? Tall? Green eyes? You remember. Come on. Most of you were, ahhh... a little... little rougher for your wear, but you remember. Sweated blood to get you out of… and Karsa, Up the mines? Well. Doesn’t matter now. I’ve got an hour. If you didn’t know me then, you’ll learn me now.

( And softer: ) I wish I could see you. See all of you. I’m told… Tamaiu sends me word every few days. Tells me you’re all right. Handful, but... what’s that about some of you starting the old trade? True, that? Well. Well, well. Just wish I could see you. First ones we’ve gotten out, and I can’t even see — ( Laughter, bittersweet. )

...you don’t care. Look, you’ll leave Sa-Hareth soon. The old man worked long for it. He promised. And I know you must have questions, and I’ll tell you right, I do too. I’m doing my bit, but he doesn’t let on much. Think he’s afraid, he says too much to one of us, we get captured, the entire work’s at stake. And maybe he’s right. Who’s to say, eh? Who’s to say. For now, you and I, we focus on our duties. Yours: get coin. We just need a bit, and — no, I won’t be lying, not me, it’s not a little. About 100,000 pieces. Give or take, what thirty good men make at the port each month. And it won’t all go to you, either, got some pockets to fill, if we want you out without... trouble. And we do. We all do.

We’ve got options: we take you out with the old spice caravan when it comes by the next full moonrise, or we find you a smuggling ship. Either way, won’t be cozy, but you’ll live. You’re the living sort.

( He seems to catch his wits back about himself, just as the channel is briefly disrupted by the half-purred, half-moaned communication of a courtesan wooing a patron into a booking. Haltham waits until she’s done completely: )

...ladies here, they’re something else, aren’t they? If I had that kind of coin, I wouldn’t say no, myself. Sorry. Sorry, we’ve got children with us. And look after the lil’uns, will you? The pink and the furred one. The girls? They’ve got a... people here, you get all sorts. Them’s good, and then there’s them with appetites. ( A pause, pregnant. Long. )

I’ve got some tips, in any case. Some... guidelines. Give it another sennight, the fat trade starts, and every big man east comes in with his ship, and they bring anything. Everything. So much gold. And then there’re the auctions, and they waste, fellows, friends, they’re pissing that money, then, they’ll buy and sell anything. Sell them rags and tell them it’s riches, and they’ll believe you. Anyway. Anyway, there’s salt to sell, if you want. Some... other things, I’m sure you’ve got your plenty. And I’m bringing them, by the way. Your old things? We rescued some. Has to be in turns, with the House’s laundry and spice and food parcels, and we bury them deep, but. Just cast yer eye, it’ll be there. All of it. If it’s yours, it’s not mine, and I’m no thief. None of us... we don’t want anything from you.

( His voice drops to an octave, a murmur. ) Look. Advice? If you take it? Keep your head low. Let the old man sort you. Don’t go anywhere alone. Trust no one, or as few as you can. Unhalad’s people, you can tell them apart, they’re everywhere, and they’re wild. And they go wilder, the colder it gets, has them running. Look... kill them. If you can, do it quick. But don’t try it with the red sleeved’uns, though. Stay out of their way. And if you can’t... the old queen had our pillars put in for the parades, and they’re are good iron. Strong. Could berth your boat against’em. Honest. Run. Run, head first, and meet the iron where your head’s soft on the sides. Do yourself with your own hands, it’s better than if red sleeves get you. You trust me.



( OOC: post open, threadjack amongst yourselves at will. Haltham will input here and there.

Character inventory items that weren’t with them when they escaped will be brought in over three House of Dew deliveries spanning the next few days. The first shipment will come with laundry, the second will comprise small items hidden beside apothecary bottles, and the third will come with the establishment’s food carts. Up to you which belongings your character gets back first, and whether they’re in pristine, lightly chipped or damaged conditions. )

Comments

i love you and your research

[weifinder]

Hahaha, ah, is that so... we're cultivators, myself and Lan Zh... Lan Wangji.

[jeoha]

[ There's a slight smile in his voice when he replies: ]

I can believe it of Master Lan, he seems very succinct. You sound young to be a man of the mountains.

[weifinder]

( He laughs, and doesn't try to hold back: he's just as old, of course, even with sixteen years of darkness left as an inexplicable stretch of time between them. )

Immortals, not immortals, cultivators have longer lifespans, but few are truly ancient. We're of an age, but he is the man with the more richly experienced life.

( Sixteen years more of enriched experience, one might say. )

[jeoha]

[ A pause. ]

I confess I had thought the immortality a myth.

You may share an age, but age does not always account for youth. [ He should know. He'd lost his very quickly. ]

It sounds like you are close.

[weifinder]

It is, for most. I don't know if any but one master has achieved it in the last hundred years.

( But given it's his mother's master, and she's outlived any natural human lifespan, she's managed something, at least. As far as age accounting for youth... he smiles, but doesn't comment. Too true, and yet Wei Wuxian's response to the loss of his was to lean into the jokester life that threw caution to the wind, wrest what happiness he could, and not linger in the bad.

It had not, in the end, served him well. Not untempered, where sacrifice of self for ideals was repeated too often. )

Mm. In all our world or this one, he's the one who sees me.

( Seen who Wei Wuxian is, in a manner of speaking. Soulmates, such as it is, the act of knowing another person better than the rest, than themselves perhaps at times; it does not, however, mean a magical amount of clarity in communication or the other things left unsaid or unnoted. But close? Yes, closer than anyone else. )

[jeoha]

[ It strikes a strange chord in Lee Chang's chest - the acknowledgement of a longing. For someone to know you, not the facade you present. Not the commanding tone or the steady blade.

Only one person had even glimpsed Lee Chang behind that mask. And in the end, Lee Chang had not even known him well enough to believe his betrayal. ]

You are both blessed, then. [ His voice a little heavier. ]

Perhaps that was why you were brought together.

[weifinder]

( A touch solemn, and meant, if you're still lurking, Lan Zhan. )

I know I am.

( He's not claiming it's a blessing for Lan Zhan, for different reasons, but he can acknowledge his own gratitude in this absurd situation. )

Though to assume all those who haven't seen familiar faces yet are suffering that lack for some lack of visibility seems unkind. Guess we all need to work on seeing each other since we're here.

[jeoha]

It is a rare thing for one person to see another, regardless of where they stand. Here, or there.

May it grant you both strength.

[weifinder]

It is.

( He won't pretend otherwise. It's hard enough for him to believe, but at least he does now, if he still worries at it like a cat at a bit of string. )

Here, though, if we don't trust and stand by each other, don't take those calculated risks, don't try to see some of what each of us are at heart, we will fail. So it's rare, to be fully known, but if none of us try to be known in part, well.

( This world has nothing to care about them, just an Old Man and a collection of those willing to help get them away, to not add to their own subjugation. )

[jeoha]

[ Trust is a hard earned and hard won thing, Lee Chang knows all too well. But here? Here he had nothing to lose, save his life. ]

Mm. And I can see the mountain master in you after all. [ Is he teasing? Maybe a little. It's hard to tell. ]

Perhaps, then, it would be best to meet in person?

[weifinder]

( He chuckles more than outright laughs again, shaking his head unseen. )

Wisdom comes with age and living through enough follies to recognise some of the new ones. As to your question, yes! These are convenient for distance, but not so much for privacy.

[jeoha]

Privacy may be difficult to come by regardless. I keep to the House, for the most part.

For some reason, of all of us, they decided that I would require a bodyguard. She does not approve when I leave for little reason.

[weifinder]

Why, haven't you charmed her into letting you scout the market and docks with a friend equally inclined to not draw attention and also facilitate our smooth exit from this place yet?

( he's, ah... amused? curious? is this. why are you escorted, sir, what did you Do. )

You need to know the town as much as any of us. If we need to leave, fast, to protect this House or otherwise, you being informed is better than not. Surely any guard would agree!

[jeoha]

She earns her coin far easier when she guards a room. [ He sounds wry. ]

But ultimately I think I can convince her, if you are interested in taking such a walk.

[weifinder]

Always interested, there's far too much to try and understand and avoid beyond the grace granted within these walls.

[jeoha]

I'll meet you out front, then.

to action! late! like everything i do tbh

[weifinder]

( LO AND BEHOLD SO DID HE walk out front while wrapped in a well patched cloak, his hair braided back and tucked underneath, which was not his usual or even preferred way of wearing his hair, but is an easy way to go disguised as other than he would have been depicted during their capture, earlier on.

Meaning he is there, casually waiting, in fact even leaning against something convenient as he waits, mentally cataloguing what needs to happen today, if he can make it happen. It's still a balance of avoiding the patrols of formerly-living, and so forth, but it's a necessity.

Plus, letting this man have an idea of the lay of the city himself is indeed important, in Wei Wuxian's eyes. )

[jeoha]

[ Lee Chang's garb is... well, eccentric, to put it easily. Wearing layers and layers of saucy womens attire handed down to him from the generous courtesans of the House of Dew, he has somewhat of a shimmering layered look thanks to the transparent silks. His hair is tied back into a tight topknot, banded around the brow and then held in place with a small lacquer comb.

He sees the man at the same moment he realises he never got a name - only Lan Wangji's - and grimaces a little. So. Well... ]

You are Master Lan's compatriot? [ Hopefully he got the right guy... ]

[weifinder]

( He grins after having a moment where he looks torn between choking or laughing over the greeting, waving his hand in front of him to dismiss a, well, truth, but what a way of saying something. )

You could call me that, yes, and that's nicer than some I've heard.

( Seducer of the bright light to evil is another way, but hey, it was also wrong. He in fact was very much attempting the opposite, and evil was highly relative and largely based on other people's actions instead of his own machinations, which were admittedly... not all machinating. Such as it was. )

Wei Ying, courtesy Wuxian. Wei Wuxian will work, unless you feel like being particularly intimate, though I'm adapting to whatever people are deciding names should be around here.

( He flicks his fingers, easy motion as he steps forward and adjusts the cloak around his shoulders. It's patched, looking well cared for and utterly unremarkable once outside the realm of the brothel they're staying within. )

Care to see the lay of the streets or simply the market place and exits off the water?

[jeoha]

I am similarly getting used to our current situation, [ He agreed a little wryly. ] I don't think I've heard my name so many times in my entire life.

But I am glad to meet you face to face, Master Wei. [ Someone has to give some weight to titles around here. ]

Show me anything you deem of interest, [ He replied. He was just as interested in Wei Wuxian's opinion as he was in Sa-Hareth itself. ] I'm sure I have much to learn.

i made this into a touring montage

[weifinder]

( I'm going to cheap ass describe where he'd take him having largely congenial conversation making note of places as they go with "don't breathe through your nose" as they get close to the docks, but in short:

The markets, both the more expensive one and the two with a good spread of available wares that are less expensive. Down toward the piers for the merchant boats, the fishing, and the thralling that can be found there, 'idly' noting prices across a number of them. Makes a nod to an area they don't directly pass by, for thralling of different sorts; takes them around to weave past bars for sailors and taverns and inns and none of them feel right and familiar to what he knows, and he suspects the same for Lee Chang, no matter their differences all the same. He takes him by the public bath houses, and in the course of all this walking, has marked out the gates, the main roads to them, noted a few side roads that will weave there to. The waters as an escape, yes, but cold, so cold it steals the breath from lungs, but it's still worth knowing.

IT WAS A VERY WALKING INVOLVED CHATTY LOOK AROUND, and he always made it seem as if they were on their way somewhere, or having stopped to pick up basic supplies twice, as if they were carrying things with purpose. Blending in is in not thinking too hard on where one's going, and their quartz keeps them understanding what's said around them, easy as it might be. )