voice: old dog turning new tricks | set after everyone's things have been secreted back to them

[weifinder]

( this, sadly, starts with a moan. a very protracted one, where someone starts to speak when the moan seems done, and then: nope. onward it goes. there's an audible sigh, tapping of something against wood, and when the interference finally ends, Wei Wuxian speaks. )

Aside from a few voices advertising one means of obtaining coin, here's my question for the rest of us on this voice communication: who has anything they're willing to part with or make to sell at auction? For exaggerated stories about their origins, of course. I have somewhere lined up to store things leading up to, and there are people to try and talk with if we want to get anything into an exclusive auction. If we can invent a convincing enough background for something to make it.

( he pauses for long enough it seems like he might just have ended his talking there, before waiting for anyone to speak back. instead, he eventually adds: )

Is there, ah. Hmm. Anyone willing to help with posing for a few paintings? I'm a decent enough artist, but I've never been great at drawing from imagination, which is that or memory, really old memory, not going to cut it for what I'm thinking!

( what he's thinking: sex sells. can a guy get some clothed models for unclothed artwork, thanks? also he's not painting Lan Zhan for this, he would rather walk out into a blizzard filled with undead, thanks. )

( ooc: this is all optional for responses, but here's an ooc thread for anyone wanting to submit something for auction! i'm collecting a possible donation list (things characters can make count as donations!) so i can get it submitted for an idea of what might get bankrolled out of playing the auctions in the end! )

Comments

username: heart-fluttering... hummingbird

[downswing]

'Invent.'

Deceive.

[weifinder]

Through suggestion and omission.

( at least one of those should feel familiar to Lan Zhan. )

[downswing]

'Do not lie.'

[weifinder]

If you haven't directly said it, have you lied, or kept selectively silent?

I'm not asking you to lie, Lan Zhan! I wouldn't.

[downswing]

You ask to condone.

un: Taste of twilight’s trickled honeydew

[pinkxeno]

Oh-oh-oH!!

I have something! My acid! [ if this was video, Mina would be waving her hands. But alas ] I even have the best story for it!

[weifinder]

( Ah! Mina! He recognises her voice. )

Right, right, your—acid. what story are you thinking?

[pinkxeno]

[ ohoho mina claps her hands ]

The story I made up is that a sailor was travelling through the ocean with his ship and crew, when suddenly a HUUUGE storm hits. He loses all of his crew and nearly drowns, but he is saved by beautiful women who actually have their lower half bodies like a fish! [ GASP. MERMAIDS. She continues her tale ether Wei Wuxian knows what mermaids are or not ]

They bring him back to his ship and they decide to gift him with a special liquid that only mermaids know where it's locate, and so he brings it back to land, where he sells it and becomes rich!! [ there is a pause, as if Mina is expecting some clapping, but she quickly adds ] - oh yeah, the liquid is acid.

[weifinder]

( He blinks on his end of things, then chuckles. )

Not bad, not bad! Some kind of mermaid like creature? There are legends like that where I'm from, including some half human, half fish creatures of the rivers. There's at least one god in local folklores like that... something like that?

Or what if it's the gift of one of these mermaids to the sailor or fisher who saved them from their nets? Seems like he's winning far too much for being thrown off his ship, rescued, then rewarded... why would he be rewarded for nearly dying? How would his ship have sailed into port? Is it their apology for not being able to save the rest of his crew? "Here, have acid! It's a special product of our clan, feel better!"

[pinkxeno]

Yeah, exactly! I think sailors like that sort of thing a lot, right? [ they can make use of that, if the merchants are sailors, she imagines ]

Well, maybe the mermaids are nice and are making up for him having lost his ship, so he can buy a new one! But your version of the story is super cute!! I like that one too. [ she squishes her cheeks together even though he can't really see her doing so ]

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas

[beitangmoran]

[Let's ignore the .... ahem, background noise.]

I do have a silver hairpin with a pearl on it. I would be loath to be parted with it, but it is not more important than our lives. If it can fetch a good price, I'll give it up, Master Wei.

I am a decent enough artist, as well. Or I could pose, if drawing your own likeness would not bother you?

[weifinder]

( If they don't manage to ignore it, then they'd have to pay attention to it, and that sounds... like something he doesn't want to do, for his own sanity. What background noise? Must be the wind. )

I can investigate what it might be worth, let you decide after the local merchants' best guess. I have a feeling we're setting ourselves up for a long journey...

( In which case, things to... pawn... on hand can be worthwhile, but also, situations to maximize affordable losses. Is that even how he needs to be thinking? (He thinks so.) )

I... ah. Hahaha, either way? Or both if we were looking to have different styles, I don't know. I'd graciously concede to you should you be the more artistic—I'm out of practise, you might say.

[beitangmoran]

Let's do that then. I can entrust it to you. I am sure you can come with a very convincing backstory for it.

I am better at calligraphy than painting, but I am not too shabby if I do say so myself. Maybe I should have Xunxian pose for you.

[weifinder]

Ah, so back on my painting skills? It's true, if you're more refined with calligraphy, mine tends toward being more bold.

( Very legible. Very bold. Fits to his personality to a T. )

Xunxian? You have someone you're familiar with here, or someone you've grown familiar with here?

[beitangmoran]

Xunxian is from the same place I am, yes, and also my most trusted friend and confidant. It is a relief to have him here, to tell the truth.

He's also familiar with racy books. he's written a few himself.

un: undaunted snake in lonely gardens

[descendency]

Might you pass along that if anyone as an item they think would fetch a fair price they would prefer not part with, I can make a fair replica in exchange for a length of pure silk cord and a cut of the profits? Length of silk cord dependent on size of item.

[weifinder]

( Why there's all his attention at once, curious as can be. )

The cord required for your means of replication? Do the replicas hold form indefinitely?

[descendency]

[ Maybe he just wants people to bring him bondage supplies, A-Xian. Ever think of that? ]

Not indefinitely, but until the item is destroyed. It would have to be damage to the 'core' of the item, such as splitting it in half. My replicas can take cosmetic damage without issue.

[weifinder]

( Do you think this virgin has literally bothered thinking about that. Probably for the five minutes it was involved in some book Huaisang lent him? His sexual awakening is for some other day. )

How much force is that, in that case? What silk can handle?

[descendency]

[ Wei Wuxian you are living in a brothel. ]

Would you like to run some tests? You still have to provide the cord and a fee.

sweet lily of the hidden valley

[bearshermark]

I have a set of differently colored uh, stone eyes? ..They aren't really eyes, but they glow and look valuable.

[Fun fact: he has no idea what they actually come from and offers his favorite theory]

They could be said to be from some exotic, mythical creature?

[weifinder]

Works for me! Are you around our, ah, place of respite at the moment?

[bearshermark]

..Yes, I am.

[No need to ask where Wei Wuxian is]

I'm back in the servant's quarters. I just finished going through the rest of my things. I have a few branches of pink pine, but I don't know how to sell that as really valuable.

[He'd feel a little bad about it too, considering how little value they actually have in his own world]

[weifinder]

Pink pine? Let me see, there's always a good chance.

( It's Exotic. It's Foreign. That's valuable! Anything not of this world is... very valuable. )

I'll come find you, just a moment here...

( He's walking so it picks up other noises, mostly spoken and muffled, cut in and out as he starts casually looking through the servant's quarters for who's in at the moment. )

[bearshermark]

[Eleven can be found easily, settled on one of the cots and surrounded by a full set of metal armor, a pair of swords, and a glint of a few of the orbs he mentioned from beneath a sheet. He looks up from examining a pink twig to find a searching face and offers a smile]

Are you looking for me?