un: wide open-winged queen of butterflies | audio

[binghua]

[So. Xingchen has been out of the House of Dew for the past two or three days. He hadn't told anyone where he was going. In hindsight, this was probably not the greatest idea. And when he makes his graceless appearance over the network, it's accompanied by the ever-present dubious background noise of the House. Also, to anyone who has spoken with him before, he sounds tired. Tired, and a little...unsettled.

Mostly tired, though. He's probably fine.]

If I may offer my unsolicited opinion, I would suggest no one of our number attends any meetings regarding Anurr, or if you must, please stay vigilant or go with a companion. While none of Anurr's followers who spoke with me seemed to wish any ill-intent upon my person, they still follow a man who kills people.

[...Okay, maybe that's not the best way to start things. Or maybe it's perfect, as much as Xingchen doesn't want to use fear-mongering to influence others, as long as it keeps them safe and out of trouble.]

What I should say is that this conflict between Unhalad and Anurr is not our own. However, I can understand if anyone feels it is personal as Unhalad wished to consume us when we arrived. I know I prefer to remain among the living. But if we do end up dragged into the struggle - and I hope we can leave the city without that coming to pass - I will tell you what I've been told by some of Anurr's followers. Of course, this is just one side of the story. It could be, and probably is, extremely biased and I have no way of verifying it. But they seem to follow Anurr because of his, ah, restraint to kill just anyone. He will ask for a willing sacrifice, and a small one, at that, unlike Unhalad. It is easy to compare these two lords and fall into step with Anurr's side, but the lesser of two evils is still evil to some extent.

[He pauses here, not quite wanting to bring up this next point, but this doesn't seem like a secret that should be kept.]

During their meetings, Anurr's followers drink some concoction. It almost feels like if you were to get drunk impossibly fast, but with the side effects of added strength and heightened senses. I cannot stress enough how much I think we should all avoid this drink unless we have no other choice.

[His voice softens here, shame coloring his words.]

If you have heard news of some of Unhalad's corpses showing up within the past few nights with an arm missing...I'm afraid I am to blame. Please avoid this drink.

[Well. This is a pleasant message. Xingchen clears his throat and tries to brighten up.]

I think we have been joined by some new comrades. Those who arrived on the ship? This is not my best introduction, but I am Xiao Xingchen. I hope you are all safe and staying warm. If we stick together, I believe we will make it through.

Comments

un: yiling patriarch (sobs)

[weifinder]

( sounding... very surprised, but a voice that can be recognised: )

Shishu? You really are shishu?!

( to be fair. this is the first instance he's had of anyone he knew was definitively dead, who wasn't himself the not-definitively dead, being alive here. and he has yet to run into timeline differences to make that make sense either, but he remembers this man's voice from the market. )

[binghua]

[...Um.

Well.

This is happening, apparently.

Xingchen is absolutely unprepared to speak to the Yiling Patriarch - assuming this device has identified the other person correctly...he's still not sure how these things work - but he's been thrown into this fire, so to speak, so he better get used to it.

To be called shishu, though, as if they're familiar... But he's never met Wei Wuxian. Is the other man so bold as to assume such a relationship?

More upsetting is the fact that Xingchen can recognize that voice. They've been in the market together. He was practically hand-in-hand with the Yiling Patriarch and had no idea. But how...how can this be? Wei Wuxian is dead. Unless he really did manage to bring himself back from whatever depths his soul ended up in, just a few years later than anyone expected...

But Xingchen says none of this, just lets the short message wash over him for a time. And then, finally - ]

...Wei Wuxian.

[He keeps himself calm, not accusatory, but not necessarily warm, either. What else is he supposed to say, after all?]

[weifinder]

( It... it's him?

He has to pause, less to meet the one he's been greeted with, more to rearrange his thoughts. Xiao Xingchen was alive. He wasn't trying to cause himself harm, his soul was whole, intact. How?

But more than that, looking to his own name here, the joke he'd plastered onto this quartz because he'd considered it to be a joke, thinking it was just he and Lan Wangji here: ah, but this martial uncle of his, he never knew anything but the same slander that the world knew, believed, swallowed, delighted in. That's sobering, and so his silence stretches longer. )

Ah, yeah. It's me. Hah, you... I hadn't seen you for years, I didn't realise...

( It doesn't occur to him that there's more going on here than the certainly also true reality that he 'died' the Yiling Patriarch before Xiao Xingchen himself had passed. That, alone, would not have been something welcomed, and one day's meeting is not enough to carry the familiarity of voice across the silent years inbetween. )

There's been no lingering effects from this ritual that you've noticed?

[binghua]

[He frowns at this answer, though his expression is not visible. What does Wei Wuxian mean, he hadn't seen him for years? There's no way they could have ever crossed paths since Wei Wuxian died before Xingchen ever descended the mountain. There's no way Wei Wuxian could have found the mountain at all to ascend it, even in secret. It just doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense.

So he simply files that away for now. He'll have to meditate on it later. Otherwise, this conversation is one about information, information that has nothing to do with demonic cultivation, and therefore shouldn't be helpful to Wei Wuxian in the future with regards to that topic.

Though now that he thinks about it, there are so many corpses. He shudders to think if the Yiling Patriarch is responsible for any of them.]

The effects lasted for a few days on my person. Heightened senses and strength, but also...a disregard for others' feelings. They did fade away.

[If only his memories could do the same.]

[weifinder]

( By now he's already used the dead, dear blind not-dead uncle, but no one's talking about that, and he has no concept of just how deep Xiao Xingchen's confusion can possibly be. )

Of those others there at the time, were they part of an established group, or new to it as you were? Taking people, making them careless about others, and pointing them toward a task is...

( He trails off. In spite of what the world says, he never did that; and the one time Wen Ning had been wrested out of control had been heartbreaking to them both.

Manipulations of this nature are concerning. This war, colder as it's been, is getting warm again, ah? )

No other lingering effects you can trace?