eastbound | username: yiling laozu

( a smile from the man on camera, and a wave of his fingers against the backdrop of an ice wall. )

To those who know me not at all, or less well than others of our number do, I'm Wei Wuxian.

( hands lifted, he offers a polite, perfunctory sort of bow, paired to the clasping of fingers over the other hand's set. they drop out of frame, and he looks a touch more serious, dark eyes fathomless. or maybe it's all in the lighting. (the lack of proper lighting. torchlight keeps him flickering in reds and oranges.) )

The king mentioned Irenia in passing, the dragon? She was thieved away from a lord of death our group knows of, and has run into several times. His name's Anurr, he's the, ah, very slightly less horrible option for being enslaved by death lords, and from Sa-Hareth. Trailing after us with his creatures or his shifting loyalties, never trust his kind voice, Eleven can tell you about that! Five, I'm sure, can tell you more, as can Xie Lian, or Xiao Xingchen. All members of our group, as it were. Anyway!

( he claps his hands, and grins. a little crinkling around his eyes makes him almost seem truly merry, instead of merrily dry. )

Irenia lured far enough west can be called back to Anurr's dubious graces. Far enough east, and with a different strong pull on her mind, maybe, maybe we can free her. Either way, I recommend we do one or the other, because space to crash a being who never asked to be used as she is is limited, and using the keep itself in poor taste, as it defends this world from hell. Apparently. Very exciting stuff!

( ball's in your court now, chaos crew! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At the one set size, or do you have control over this bridge's opening? Can you set parameters for what may cross it, or what may not? Must you actively maintain it, does it run for a certain time, does it become unstable? I'm endlessly curious, the portal technique I know from my world demands much in qi and works for the individual alone.

( while having followed the cloaks actions with his eyes, nodding his head to it and smiling for the idea of objects gaining their own peculiar life. it is, after all, what spirit blades are in their simplified concept. )

Then I greet you both, Stephen Strange and Cloak. You should both meet Xie Lian and his bandage, it shares a certain quality.

Bandage, huh? I'll keep an eye out for them. Our greetings to you in return, Wei Wuxian.

[ Cloak abandons him altogether and the pendant obligingly scoots back with a stretch of Stephen's intention to provide a full frame as the Cloak, floating next to him now, approximates a bow of hello. Then back in on Stephen. ]

As for the spell, the size is flexible, I can ward it to determine who can pass but in its base state it admits anyone, and provided I remain in the general area the portal will stay open for as long as it isn't intentionally closed. Kind of like riding a bike, a less experienced sorcerer might need to concentrate to maintain it but a more experienced sorcerer won't require any thought to keep it running. My ability to cast is theoretically limited only by my own stamina and skill - the spells themselves draw from the environment rather than from the self, so the toll is more one of endurance and than dwindling resources. Again, experience breeds longevity.

[ But talk of his own portals, of qi... ]

You're also a sorcerer?

[ Sue him, talking magic shop with people from other worlds is fast becoming a favourite pastime. ]

... A bike?

( look some of us are from fantasy ancient China, and in the places they've been he just didn't pick up on an equivalent, though probably there was one, somewhere. )

Endurance is a factor in most things, so it makes sense it is here, while also fascinating it doesn't require your own personal resources. We've techniques that don't, and more that do, which matters mostly when your starting pool is smaller than others.

( which may be from birth, or artificial, given circumstances in his own life. )

Sorcerer? Cultivator, we call it, of... talisman arts, spiritual arts. Once sword arts, but that was the past.

[ Oh, right. He forgets some of you are from fantasy ancient China... the beginnings of a look of mild resignation. He's going to have to completely revamp his expressions catalogue while he's here, isn't he... ]

It's a vehicle, don't worry. [ Moving swiftly on, because arts. A nod of understanding. ] Technically we're also of arts. Masters of the Mystic Arts, to be specific, but it's a little niche to throw into casual conversation with the uninitiated. Sorcerer's more friendly at entry level.

[ Actually, most people are more familiar with 'wizard', but he simply Will Not Accept. ]

Talisman arts. As in paper talismans?

[ Somebody's having flashbacks to a certain stalking spectre all in white inspecting his slime child with a little collection of talismans in a desert camp. Talisman arts... sword arts... his husband's steel... ]

( meanwhile he's here going "none of these terms mean much to me but that's fine, it's presently irrelevant." and smiles, a quirk of his lips that turns into a full smile like the sun dawning over a mountain range. a touch jagged, but no less brilliant. )

Among others, yes. Paper's simply easiest to prepare ahead, and make accessible to others.

[ A huff, even he helpless but to catch an (amused, so rarely not wry) smile of his own when basked in the light of the one showing over the pendant. ]

I think I may have already met another of your number. Are there many of you here?

[ Sticking a pin in his intrigue over the functionality of talismans as described, he'll get back to that. Sometimes you just have to take the time to figure out if you've already met a new acquaintance's spouse. ]

( here, the warmth settles into something lingering, the embers of a fire that burns long after the logs that boasted greater flame have banked to ashen silence. )

A number of us from our home world, of different times. My son, my husband, my brother, my sister-at-heart, my martial uncle. I've been blessed in numbers, if this is a blessing to be brought here, but likewise cursed in our luck—for most of us, to go home would be preferred, and we have not managed it in near two years.

( Certainly... certainly met his spouse. Lan Wangji carries his own blade-sharp weight around, for that caring, large, and awkward heart. )

[ There's a moment, here, fleeting, where his expression sobers. Two years. Stephen's been in scrapes before, been lost to other worlds and trapped in cages of time of his own creation. But at length? Only ever of his own volition. All of his accidents have been brief, caught away from home by circumstance usually for no more than a week. Something like this was perhaps inevitable given his line of work, but that doesn't mean he's quite allowed it to fully dawn on him that it may not resolve itself sooner rather than later. That he might not resolve it just as quickly, if it nobody else steps in.

He shakes it off with a blink, an uptick of the same wry smile slow realisation had briefly smothered just before. ]

I'd say luck's in your favor on balance. Some of us only have the people least likely to be happy to see us of anyone from our universe for homeworld company. [ Is that a bad commentary on himself? Maybe. Let's not think too hard about it. ] I envy you your family, but I'm glad you have them.

You're all cultivators?

Oh, had those too. They just managed to get back through the gateways before we did.

( he says, still smiling, as if that's something casual to see. both were dead men he didn't see a reason to have remain alive, and knows are returned to either their horrors of sad miseries on the rest of the world around them.

he doesn't remotely appreciate the jest of that. )

We happen to be, yes. Most of us sword cultivators, not all. Wen Qing is an accomplished doctor, for one!

[ Wen Qing. He hasn't met their medic yet, but he does at least recognise the name. ]

I'm glad to hear it. We've a Wen Qing assigned to the Southern Tower's medical needs.

[ An accomplished doctor is exactly what the... other... doctor... ordered. ]

( he claps his hands, grinning. really he's apparently very relaxed for their given situation, but it's also more years of being around and his understanding that something, at all times, is actively seeking their doom. including their benefactor, if it takes down the death lords in the process. )

That's her! If you need help, or needling, go right to her. She's fantastic!

I'll be sure to tell her you said so.

[ Free brownie points, just for you.

The enthusiasm and general lack of wartime malaise doesn't go missed, less surprising than it is telling. Everyone cope with things in their own ways, but only those familiar with this kind of strife can be themselves through it without showing cracks. It's another layer in a growing image. ]

Though if we want to lessen her workload, we'll get this dragon out of the way before there's an ice sculpture gallery on the south tower.

( gesturing to his screen: )

On that point, clearly, we agree.

username: yiling laozu | video

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