un: bashful bard of the emboldened flute

[consignation]

[ You know how other people are using the network to disseminate important information? Or to gather data, make connections, organize expeditions?

Well, Jiang Cheng is going to use for something equally important, to him. He is going to use it to complain. ]

I don't know why I agreed to this. I don't know what I expected.

[ No introduction, no context, no real explanation. ]

The Lans are notoriously delicate. Bland diets, soft complexions, their beauty sleep.

Why. Would he even ask for this when he's clearly never stayed up past dusk in his life?!

[ All of this is delivered in a low, hushed, seething whisper.

Then, quieter, to his mystery companion— ]

What does my brother see in you—

Comments

[consignation]

I'm saying it's a certain kind of person who elects to stop and make a big deal out of a mild annoyance instead of moving on with their day.

[ And that kind of person is Jiang Cheng. ]

[darkeststars]

Has your petty personal drama led to life-threatening peril, or is going to lead to life-threatening peril? Do you have some kind of lead on getting out of here? A warning for the group? Information to share? Anything remotely useful or actionable whatsoever?

If not, why shouldn't I complain? No one wears this quartz so we can listen to strangers grousing in the middle of the damned night.

[consignation]

Pretty sure you just like to complain.

[darkeststars]

You really did get on the damn thing by accident, didn't you.

[ his voice goes even drier ]

Or, wait, is this our little group's first drunk dial?

[consignation]

I wish I was drunk.

[ Pointedly not admitting to griping to the entire network on purpose. ]

Do you really have nothing better to do than mock me at length?

[ A little mockery he gets, happens to him all the time. But you're really milking it here buddy. ]

[darkeststars]

What, did you not send this out to all of us specifically to be mocked? Do you mean to say there's some sort of actual point to your transmission?

[ that deep drawl is drier than the Sahara at this point ]

[consignation]

I am trying to stay awake while strapped to a cursed tree alone now that my companion is dead asleep so forgive me for trying to find a way to pass the time.

[darkeststars]

........why didn't you lead with that, then? It makes about fifty percent more sense than the gibberish you were spouting before.

Though I can't imagine what possessed the pair of you to get involved in that mess. Is there even anything to gain from it? [ he's just vaguely aware of the Anurr legends, though the unease and discontent and occasional skirmish going on between the two Sa-Hareth factions right now is much harder to miss. ]

[consignation]

Why would there need to be something to gain? We are cultivators from respected families. We're duty-bound to investigate such happenings.

[darkeststars]

First of all, I assume you've been here long enough to be aware that whatever that might be, it means little to most of the people here, myself included.

Second... if you don't believe there's something to gain from it, not even from an investigation...

Then what I'm hearing is you tied yourself to a tree all night, out in the freezing forest, alone with -- the Lan, was it?-- Essentially just because you could?

[ he sounds so deeply amused at your expense, Jiang Cheng ]

I have to say, that's not a fate I would wish on anyone. Are you a masochist?

[downswing]

( Ah, but to be a conveniently timed, muted, sleeping groan caught on the periphery of Jiang Cheng's quartz piece, which may or may not resemble a 'Yes.' )

[consignation]

[ Angrily shrugs his shoulder on Wangji for making that disgusting noise. He's thinking of ripping off the Lan headband and tossing it into the woods, but that would involve touching it. ]

[downswing]

( There is a line and a threshold and a limit to the natural traffic of salt or disgruntlement one tree and tree-mate can suffer, before eyes blink bright awake and the previous humming dissolves into earnest caresses, sotto voce, of — )

...silent.

( One of you. Both of you. Heavens part and strike you. May your ancestors diligently conclude you are the spiritual equivalent of adolescent pregnant high-school dropouts, staining the collective honour. )

[consignation]

Not because I could! What part of duty-bound is difficult for you?!

[ This outraged cry is followed by a prolonged silence of Jiang Cheng making several, increasingly furious false starts before finally, he speaks again, hushed— ]

.......what's a masochist?

[darkeststars]

[ there's a brief, sharp laugh from the other end of the line. Congrats, Jiang Cheng, not many people can get that out of him. ]

Believe me, you don't want me to be the one to answer that question for you.

And who decided this particular thing was your duty? You yourself? If so then we are back to because you could. If not, I suppose that would make this someone's order? What use is duty that leads you to do something completely useless? If you don't believe anything of worth will come out of your investigation, then hang duty. In any functioning hierarchy one must know when to follow orders, and when to ignore them because they're idiotic. [ dryly again ] I do at least fully believe in the Lan's ability to issue idiotic orders.