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if you know this guy —

( here, he presents a picture of lan wangji, looking pretty beat up and battered, holding up some scales. wangji does not smile, doesn't say cheese. )

he might need a little help when we get the hell out of here. i forgot my first aide kit and the things down here keep tossing him into me like a lawn dart.

and if anyone needs these lake scales, he's been talking like their important. i'm just making sure he stays alive.

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Somewhat.

( he's awake...ish. )

Awake but not really with it.

[ Good. So he probably won't notice. ]

Think he'd miss a scale? It'd be nice to know what was worth almost dying over.

I don't know if I wanna answer that for him. But if you wanna take one, now's the time to do it when he's not all the way with it.

( he's helpful. )

[ Sure, he could do that, but what are the odds that they'll show up as soon as he blinks over? ]

You're suggesting I swing by while he's concussed and take one?

I'm not suggesting anything.

( he's not gonna get himself in trouble. )

I'm neutral. Switzerland.

[ Uh huh. He might not need it, but... it's a point. ]

How far are you from the lake?

About halfway between the lake and the entrance to Gut's Bind.

( making slow progress and all. )

[ Okay, sue him for using the excuse. Even if he takes a few blinks to find them, he's still faster than the others and arrives only a minute or two later. It helps that Lan Wangji is never hard to spot.

He takes a look around to make sure that he doesn't see anyone else, then appears like he was just around the corner. His eyes fall to Wangji's sorry state and he tries to judge how much he's perceiving him as he approaches. Then he addresses Bucky. ]

Right. They should be here soon, so I'll make this quick. [ He nods to him. ] Do you have them?

He does.

( he nods at the other man since he hadn't taken the scales from wangji. he'd had a pretty intense death grip on them. )

You even have an idea of what you want with them or just because someone else has them?

[ Seriously? Five raises an eyebrow and tries to get a look at what he's refused to let go of, even half-dead. ]

You always trust secondhand information? [ Now the debate becomes if he wants to pry one out of his fingers. ] ...I have a scale, from the last place we were holed up in. I wanted to compare them.

What the hell are these scales for?

( he's not saying no but he's new here and he wants to know how important they are. )

They part of something bigger?

I doubt he even knows, but probably. [ Or they're cursed. One or the other. ]

The scales I've seen glow when they're near the undead. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to figure it out.

So what? They're zombie detectors?

( he's not even surprised anymore. )

Something like that.

[ He crouches down near Wangji, still debating. It seems odd that he'd be so attached to something that doesn't do more than what they've already seen. ]

Did these come off of whatever what throwing you around? What did it look like?

Nasty little thing with tentacles. I didn't really get to see it because it threw the guy at me.

( but he remembers it slithering out of a lake and having tentacles. )

Guessing it either came off the thing or it came out of the lake. But, they were both located in the same place.

[ So not a dragon. Five could have wrestled one free by now, but he halfway expects a fight if he grabs them and Lan Wangji recognizes him. And then there's that other thing about the lake. ]

...Did it sing?

Did it...what?

( bucky eyes him like he's gotta be putting him on or some shit. )

Did you ask me if it sang?

[ That's a 'no', but it doesn't discount the possibility. ]

What about him? Did he seem like he was in a trance?

No, he seemed like he got the crap kicked out of him and like he had a concussion.

( didn't seem like a trance. )

[ Oddly enough, that doesn't spark the kind of satisfaction it likely should have.

Not the same thing then. Still weird it involves another lake, but it doesn't sound like the scales themselves are cursed. So he looks back up at Bucky. ]

Lucky for him you were there. [ Being helpful. And fairly calm and agreeable during this whole thing. ] In that case, wrestle one of these loose for me. If I do it, he'll just get more confused than his concussed brain can handle, and we don't want to tempt fate.

So, you want me to get into some shit when he remembers eventually?

( because that's how shit always went for him. he grumbles a little and tries to reach for the scales. )

What are you gonna do with this anyway?

[ He just smiles in response to the first question and moves back to give him plenty of space that he's not associated with. For the other: ]

Depends. If I can't figure out what it does, I have people who can look into it. And if it's ultimately useless, it'll probably still work as a bargaining chip for some local witchdoctor.

So, is this like the currency of this place?

( scales instead of money? )

Grab some scales and get you a brand new car?

[ He makes a face. ]

What? No. [ Does he not see how inconvenient that would be? Although it really speaks to how recently he arrived. ]

Nobody's told you anything, have they?

I kind of just got here.

( so no, not really. )

And as soon as I got here, it was all undead and stuff like that. Are they related?

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whatever *was, ahem

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