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[downswing]

username: yiling patriarch

( Rise and shine, to coarse, near-dawn rasps from a gently borrowed quartz piece. Overheard in the background: meowling winds from the settling snow storms, the yawning bustle of early-morning trade, and the sharp gasps of a crowd. )

Bring salt, wine, water and joss sticks to the marketplace. ( Murmured: ) They've sullied their dead.

( A pause, stretching its legs, until a child cries over the 'armless men there.' )

We cannot be as animals, to leave them in indignity.

( ooc: ...response usernames will vary, depending on whether he's still at the marketplace or back at the House of Dew and hoarding Wei Wuxian's device, since he's too himself to get his own. )

Comments

Re: un: drenched kitten of heated purrs

[downswing]

( Sounds of hard steps, shuffling, a crowd. He moves. )

An arm removed of each cadaver.

[jeoha]

An arm?

[ A pause, a frown. ]

Any idea of the meaning? That does not sound like thoughtless slaughter.

[downswing]

They profaned remains. ( Yet, past indignation: ) Too clinically for anger.

( This was no crime of simple passion. )

[jeoha]

A message, then.

[ A pause. ]

What rites do they usually perform for their dead, here?

[downswing]

None I have witnessed.

( To his shame, he has too little asked. A pitiful exorcist. )

These are Lan cautions.

[jeoha]

I know well how caution can turn from tradition.

I will ask.

If we are lucky, they burn their dead.

[downswing]

( He means to laugh — breathes sharply instead. Ice-bitten. )

You ever speak of slaughter.


( A theme, with this man. )

[jeoha]

[ There's no laughter in his reply. ]

I would love nothing more than to never hear or speak of it again, Master Lan.

But if any of us are here for a purpose, then I know mine.

[ Fight the Man zombies. ]

The ancestors will forgive, to save the legacy.

[downswing]

Start penance by bringing salt.

[jeoha]

[ Now there's a huff of a laugh, dry and rough.

As if he'd ever manage to complete penance for what he had done.

Instead: ]

Your rites and mine are not the same - do you require a certain grain? Coarse or fine?

[downswing]

( They sleep among whores and start the new day in the same silks as during the one before it. He is not particular. )

Beggars do not choose.

[jeoha]

[ ... Right. He can't just get stuff by appearing and asking for it, anymore. One day he'll get used to the concept of money. Maybe.

For now: ]

Very well. What salt I can manage. I will come to the marketplace as soon as I am able.

[downswing]

...and fabric. Wine.


( Featured: a man who will never learn simply appearing and asking for things need not win him what he wants. )

[jeoha]

Fabric may be more difficult - it is a rarer material than the salt they scrape from the mines. How much do you need? Enough for shrouds?

Wine I can procure. And incense, I hope. Mingyu should have some.

[downswing]

Seven shrouds for seven corpses. Tall.

[jeoha]

I will make an attempt. We may have to make do with scraps.

As you said, beggars can't be choosers.

[downswing]

I do not intend to beg long.

[jeoha]

[ A pause. ]

You've found a means to raise coin, then?

[ Are you following in Mingyu's footsteps, Wangji... ]

[downswing]

A traditional resource.

[jeoha]

[ There is a very long pause as he categorizes 'traditional' sources of wealth in an economy, discards the one that require long periods of time (agriculture), decides not to ask Wangji if he is whoring himself out for money, and instead says: ]

Trade? Your friend's plan - selling our goods. You have something to sell?

[ The only thing he came with that was worth anything was his sword - fuck you, no - and maybe his hairpiece, but what else would he do his hair up with?? ]

[downswing]

( Not his dignity, his sword skill, his mastery of talismans. Not knowledge of war or his clan. Instead: )

Him.

[jeoha]

[ At first, it is very easy to take this the wrong way. (Slavery? Sex trade?) But given what little he knows about the two of them, he's fairly sure that's isn't what's happening. Instead: ]

Ah, he is the master of finances on your mountain, then. [ Okay he might be teasing a little. ]

[downswing]

( His... mountain. Ah, but how many li has Wei Ying's mouth run, since Wangji last paid him mind? Careful, before public scrutiny. Always careful, and not so giving with secrets not Wei Ying's own.

He should know better. Lan Wangji should begrudge both, more than a gentle pause betrays: )


He mastered his own lands.

[jeoha]

[ There's a pause as Lee Chang tries to stifle a small smile that had raised to his lips. The mountain masters were what he knew from home, the closest thing to cultivators, and he had been teasing Wei Ying with it already. It seemed Wangji was also fun to tease - literal and stoic. Ah, but if only he could threaten to annihilate people's families, still.

The thought made his blood turn cold as he realised, in Mu-Yeong's case, he very nearly had. He cleared his throat. ]

I meant that he is more adept to be the merchant between the two of you. Though that is impressive to hear, as well.

[downswing]

He impresses easily.