audio | un: yiling patriarch

[weifinder]

We've just heard from our friend Haltham about the fighting between Unhalad and Anurr forces nearby, so here's a question for everyone, brought up originally by our companions who got themselves drugged and fight-happy against the second living: what actions do you think we should or shouldn't take?

In Haltham's encouraging words, think wisely. Whatever we're doing or not doing has an effect by merit of choice. Also, a reminder that we still need to not end up in either's hands or revealing our location, given the reason we were summoned here has not changed, and our deaths can be a benefit to either side. Our lives benefit ourselves and our rescuers and the peoples here, by keeping us out of warlord hands.

( He's not opening up with his thoughts because he doesn't want it as a discussion against his take, but as people offering their thoughts after he asks the question. )

Comments

un: heart-fluttering hummingbird | audio

[downswing]

( Rare instance of his voice, rasped and rushed, as he possibly blitzes back from the citadel — an unlucky hour to be alive out. )

Let the dead play their politics. Captives go free.

[weifinder]

Can we do so without making it appear as if a third party is involved?

[downswing]

( He stops — )

...unlikely. ( Only to carry on. ) We make attempt.

voice ; un: knelt lady of swallow and song

[sankta]

At least somebody's talking about it.

There are people out there who need help.

[downswing]

( Ah, the dulcet sounds of gratefully sighed relief, because someone else is articulating what he cannot. )

Not our people. Still our duty, unto justice.

un: sweet lily of the hidden valley - handwritten

[bearshermark]

They're both undead forces turning the living into their armies, aren't they? I can't say I'm interested in taking either side.

[weifinder]

Neither am I, more to the point that I'm not looking to be drafted into any armies, let alone having my self stripped of everything and used as someone else's weapon, which would be inevitable here.

Then your thought is to stay uninvolved entirely in these skirmishes?

[bearshermark]

I'd say yes, but.. I don't think I could stay idle if there are lives at risk.

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas [voice]

[beitangmoran]

This conflict is not ours, and choosing a side without enough information is not smart, especially when we've been told we will be used against the other side no matter which of them gets their hands on us.

[Moran knows he might not make any friends in choosing this stance, including that the hostages are none of their concern, really, but he's fine with it. He's had to make this kind of decisions before, and there are always lives lost.]

[weifinder]

Agreed, personally. We know too little, and in personal experience, when you take responsibility for a party of people, you can't simply walk away when it gets inconvenient for you.

( That, in reference to the captives. )

Moreover, we're not staying here. We've known that for the last month and then some.

un: heart-fluttering hummingbird | audio

[downswing]

And the caught? We forsake them?

un: deft hand of little deaths [Voice]

[scrapgege]

Uhm, should we really get involved in this? What are they even fighting for?

[weifinder]

The usual things, I suppose. Power? Resources? I'm not sure if it needs to be any more nuanced than that to our point of view.

voice ; un: knelt lady of swallow and song

[sankta]

Are you the one that can create a confusion array? I was told to reach out to you.

text ; un: knelt lady of swallow and song

[sankta]

why are we not talking about the captives more?

[weifinder]

Depends which conversation we're following, but to that point: your thoughts on how to get them free and also not paint a target on us? I'd prefer to get them out and leave the Anurr and Unhalad to fight each other, but that needs quick planning and quicker action and more finesse than how we helped with the rescue from everyone on that ship.

un: bashful bard of the emboldened flute, also text bc he's embarrassed by his handle

[consignation]

[ For FUCK'S SAKE Wei Wuxian WHAT KIND OF USERNAME IS THAT he's going to SNAP YOUR LEGS LIKE TWIGS— ]

And your stance, Yiling Patriarch?

[ Can the text convey Jiang Cheng snapped his writing instrument in half scribbling out your dumbass cursed demonic cultivator title, Wei Wuxian? Because he did. ]

put your lips to service jiang cheng COME ON

[weifinder]

( IT'S THE BEST JOKE THAT NO ONE but Lan Wangji WAS SUPPOSED TO GET, AND NO ONE DID! For like. A month. Because he didn't figure out Xiao Xingchen was Xiao Xingchen because he was both alive and a man he'd met just the once before, and also because no one else from home was around until that slaver ship came to port, and he's only learned after.

Anyway it's claiming the world's worst joke, he had to do it sometime. )

Lead the two sides into fighting each other through the use of misdirection or a confusion array, get the captives out and send them freed to their homes. Leave a trail away from the farm and heading out toward the mountains.

un: wide open-winged queen of butterflies | audio

[binghua]

[He still doesn't approve of Wei Wuxian's necromantic methods, but Xingchen isn't so stubborn that he can't play well with others or use this discussion as a sounding board. Besides, this question of loyalties really does seem to weigh heavily and kind of does need some solution.]

I still say we need not get involved with either side of the conflict. If one side could prove themselves righteous, that might be different, but from what any of us have seen, they simply...aren't.

That being said, innocents are involved and they should be our main concern. Furthermore, I suggest only those of us who are able to protect ourselves should get involved even that much. Everyone else should remain safe in the house, perhaps with some of us to watch over them should any suspicion be cast in our direction for any reason.

[weifinder]

( He pauses because he considers that possibly his martial uncle wants other people to respond and discuss, so he holds off for a moment before he also engages. )

And your advice for how those assisting with the captives will do so as covertly and misleadingly as possible?

( A pause, then... a memory that's not his, but also his, now. )

How sensitive has your sword been to the energies of the dead here? Have you noticed any difference between those of different, ah, origins?

un: first blush of tender youth | audio

[somebadnews]

[ He's been listening for a while. They're going to make this into something bigger than it needs to be, he can tell. ]

Is this going up for a vote?

[weifinder]

I would hope so, and that depends on how willing people are to listen to a vote they don't agree with, which, ah...

( He trails off into a dry laugh. )

un: heart-fluttering hummingbird

[downswing]

( This man, still somehow running all the way back from the citadel — )

Not all thoughts stand equal.

[handmaiden of unsheathed swords] voice posted:

[darkeststars]

Wei Wuxian.

[ just briefly, a greeting. They met long enough to sic some mermaids and a lightning storm on a slave ship together, but Archeval hasn't gone to find the man after hauling him, unconscious, back to the House of Dew some days back with a bit of healing to leave him to rest. Arche's voice is at least a little bit the lighter to note that Wuxian seems fully recovered from his exertion. ]

Need we be involved in this at all? We certainly aren't going to do local politics any good by sticking our noses in, and the potential to do ourselves a great deal of harm is high. If they came straight to our doorstep that would certainly be one thing, but--

Hn. Even if we only went after their captives, it seems just as likely we'll rescue them only to have to turn straight around and behead them all once they turn. Unless you have some further insight into the situation? [ this one's all yours, Yiling Patriarch. His specialty is ghosts, absolutely not zombies. ]

[weifinder]

Right now, I don't, but what influences how they turn, where loyalties lie if they're not under one or the other directly at the time, how much of their awareness is preserved without outside influence versus with, if they're still feeding regularly—I have answers for none of those things if it proves true, but they have no decision to make at all remaining with Unhalad's forces. Moreover, I don't know if it's right to claim them in any way if they are actually turning. I don't know enough about the hows or whys, and the way that the Unhalad undead feel is notably different from the Anurr.

Still, send them on with hot beverages, if anything that's what they all seek out, heat in some form. Given where we are, not surprising, but it could be more part of their nature.

But sending people home, where at the least maybe they can make their farewells for whatever's coming... they won't evade the forces here, any side, indefinitely. Just as we can't. But we can give them a chance to make a choice they didn't otherwise have.