un: heart-fluttering hummingbird | audio (forward-dated: 24 May)

[downswing]

( A silence to his mouth, begrudging. The words, when he does speak them, gravel between teeth: )

...apologies. The blood in the northern halls will want more hands for the washing.

We made insufficient attempt.


( ooc: posted today for ooc ease, but assume this comes up after Sizhui/Eleven/Mingyu speak with the miners, around 24 May. Alina and Lan Wangji have given the miners their mercy kill, before they could fully transition, and removed the bodies from where they were kept... but clean-up. )

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[downswing]

( Sirens, directed. Wei Ying, dragged along, while Wangji handled the less fortunate matter of Jiang Wanyin. No words shared. Of course.

May the heavens bless kindly strangers, the lone cure to Wei Ying's foolishness. )

I thank your care.

[darkeststars]

[ oh boy, did he just get Wuxian in trouble? Well, if Archeval wasn't supposed to tell any concerned friends about it, the man probably should've warned him in advance. ]

It's fine. The lot of a medic is to drag along every idiot who manages to overexert themselves. [ at least with someone of Wuxian's particular skill set, Arche had no concern that the man would wake up afterward nauseous with the feel of the Dark Side used to sustain his lifeforce. ]

[downswing]

He keeps light for purpose.

( Dragging. Fainting. )

[darkeststars]

[ bone-dry again: ] You know, sometimes I really can't tell if this translator is on the fritz or you just enjoy being that cryptic.

Regardless, I didn't mind the effort. I don't intend on leaving any of us behind. I wouldn't give our kidnapper the satisfaction.

[downswing]

Spite need not be all that fuels you.

[darkeststars]

Oh? Winding up for a lecture now, are you? [ just this once, he chooses to find amusement in it rather than annoyance. So many allowances he's made Lan Wangji today, gosh. ]

Spite has kept me alive this long. No need to abandon what works.

[downswing]

Spite dedicates your life to thwarting others. ( No: clearer — ) To them.

[darkeststars]

Thwarting others happens to be one of my very favorite hobbies, thank you. [ there's that humorous drawl to his voice for just a moment, surprisingly light even, before he sobers again ]

We must all have a reason to get up in the morning. Right now the rest of mine are half a galaxy away. Revenge, at least, is close. ...and frame it how you like, but my revenge includes getting us all out of here.

[downswing]

The end does not justify all means.

[darkeststars]

What, going to start fretting about the innocence of Darth Imperius too now? Believe me, that ship left port many, many years ago.

The Sith have our ways. As I'm sure your order does too.

[ not that he gives two shits about Sith tradition most of the time, but it's easier than baring his heart to a half-a-stranger right out on the network. ]

[downswing]

( He... does not understand, inevitably. )

The ship left port mere weeks ago.

[darkeststars]

[ squint. ]

I knew this thing was mistranslating. Ugh, what I wouldn't give for just one protocol droid on this rock.

[ he doesn't explain whatever it was he actually said. Let Wangji think what he wants. ]

[downswing]

Handle Eleven and Wei Ying, and name your job done.

[darkeststars]

[ sigh ]

I don't particularly expect your friend to listen to me of all people, but very well. I'll give it a go.

[ a second's pause, and then finally, grudgingly ]

.......if no one else comes around to meet you and the girl at all, though, then I suppose call me up. I'm decent with bloodstains.

[downswing]

Gratitude.

( A man not so embittered, after all. )

un: yiling patriarch

[weifinder]

Handle who, now?

[downswing]

( One job, Archeval, you had one job.

One.

One and name it done. )


No matter.

[weifinder]

Ah, so I'm no matter, then?

( What, handle him to keep him away from... death? Blood? The earmarks of their maturity? His mixture of confused emotions over all this, and the increasingly bizarre realisation that he's not the one fucking up the most, which is admittedly an experience he's still getting used to. )

Kind of liberating, I've been that matter for so long, to be fading into obscurity must be some kind of blessing.

[downswing]

We claimed them. They suffered.

We took responsibility.

[weifinder]

You hardly claimed them alone, and I'd already spoken on this with Archeval—if things were not possible to change, if the end conclusion was like this. Why did you and Miss Alina feel so compelled?

( He didn't have to. It wasn't a sole responsibility, and he said nothing. )

[downswing]

...enough.

( Called to account, like a child. )

You. Them. Myself. What difference?

[darkeststars]

Respectfully to the both of you, [ and that's not a sentence you'll hear out of the Dark Lord very often, ] but Lan Wangji, I most certainly do not want to be in the middle of this.

Regardless, however. I suppose our mutual services are no longer required whether we like it or not.

[weifinder]

( Here stands Wei Wuxian, embarrassed that Lan Zhan's pawning him off as a problem for someone else to handle THANKS LAN ZHAN, REALLY )

Ah, hah, yes, that is true at this point. If we were lucky and in a world less riddled with undead armies, maybe our services never would end up being, but as it stands... that's a for now, I guess.

[darkeststars]

Until next time, presumably. [ sigh ]

I'm a stranger to all of this, of course, but if I were to venture one opinion. Perhaps let him have this one. They went to the trouble of arranging this by themselves, so just as well they clean up their mess by themselves.

[ and, well. He also knows something about wanting to protect somebody even when you're well aware it's a futile gesture. ]

[weifinder]

He's already handled it.

( Is his (sighed) and offered conclusion, because it's not these particular people being killed per the mercy they merited that bothers, in the end, but other concerns he's not sure he should be concerned by, and it's not related to anyone but himself and Lan Zhan in the first place. )

Personal responsibility is admirable, that is always true.