(accidental) video; un: man's greatest treasure

[reparo]

[ -- and the camera starts transmitting, as someone pulls away from being very near Hermione. The talisman does not pick up the features of that person, at first, but what it does pick up is Hermione's faintly dazed murmur or:]

A-are you truly a witch?

[There is a brief pause, from the person - woman, you can see it's a woman (Miang-Si, if you've already met her) - in front of Hermione, before she darts forward again, darkening the view completely.

Before the trasmission cuts, from bodies pressing together too tightly, there is one audible clue: the sound of lips meeting lips in a surprisingly thorough kiss.]

- L A T E R -

[OH LOOK AT THAT, IT'S HERMIONE'S FACE. She looks a little more dishevelled than usual, a bit surprised.]

Th - [Clears her throat.] Did this thing turn on? [The indignity. Her first kiss in as long as she's been here, witnessed by the whole network. (Her first kiss with a girl, too! A woman even.) Earth swallow her up.

No, this is fine. She's going to grit her teeth and smile tensely.]

Right, so - on the bright side, I don't think Quangze suspects that I am one of her accomplices? The rest of the inhabitants still think I'm a writer of books on manners - there's something to be written about shoving your tongue in someone's mouth uninvited - regardless. I'm not - I've never met her before just now.

So, in light of that... Please all do me the favour of not mentioning to anyone that I am a you-know-what.

[ooc: Please consider this backdated to Miang-Si's parade on the 25th.]

Comments

[reparo]

Right - of course. I forget too easily that you're much more knowledgeable than I in these matters.

[And also old.]

And I am in need of a distraction away from this house - so if you wanted to explore, Wei Wuxian... Count on me.

[weifinder]

Is that so?

( he claps his hands together. )

How are you with boats?

[reparo]

I don't get nauseous on them, but I'm probably not the best rowers either. What do you have in mind?

[weifinder]

Heading out towards the ladies instead of into the woods, though both are viable directions of danger. You're better than Sizhui with his lack of the stomach for boats, I see — Wen Qing might have a draught to help in his future — and I'll not sure we'll need more strength than I can provide, pending no dead waves!

[reparo]

Maybe it would be best to do it sooner rather than later, really. Before the red moon.

No need to bother Wen Qing. Unless you really just want me to row us there.

[weifinder]

Let us see! I might be able to borrow a halfway decent boat, but we should be prepared in case of sudden sinking. You swim well?

[reparo]

Yes, decently. [ She went diving in Elltheia and all.

Also, itching to do something. ]

Do you?

[weifinder]

( wasn't that also a terrible pace to swim, they're good at this )

Oh, everyone from Yunmeng does! Though not all of us strip robes first.

( sounding mildly amused. )

[reparo]

Very grateful to hear that.

[weifinder]

Are we? Maybe we are, I'm not as plush as some others of our traveling companions... but we did learn to swim thrown fully clothed into the waters, in current, and left to survive or not. Very effective learning method!

( notably, he did not visit this on any of his juniors. not in the same ways. )

[reparo]

Fear as a motivator to learn is the sign of a pretty inept teacher. [ Cough cough, here's looking at you, Snape. ]

Define plush?

[weifinder]

Er, padded. Not as lean!

( better fed, even if he's actually better fed overall than he was while living in yiling. he eats regularly here and everything! but he's still not a match for moran's mass, and it's not for lack of muscle )

Fear tends to motivate poor decisions, but I'll admit it can at times also leave an impact. Not usually the one intended.

[reparo]

I had a professor who taught by terrorising us into feeling inept, and second guessing ourselves. He had an impact on many of us, alright.

If I were to teach, I'd never use fear as a motivator.

[weifinder]

Aaah. ( a sound of the kind of understanding he wishes none of them needed to have ) I've never seen evidence of teaching methods like those producing results worth mentioning. If this professor ever appears here, tell me, ah? I'll be most curious to speak with him.

( he's sliding a person he's never met onto his shit list, but hey. no regrets )

You're already a far better teacher than he ever was.

[reparo]

[ There's a soft little laugh when he says that. Not to think ill of the dead - also, gods, the fact that he's dead not hasn't had the same emotional impact on her as other people she knew - but she'd rather not have to deal with Severus Snape in the party. ]

I'll let you know if he does.

Let us meet by the docks when you are ready.

1/2

[weifinder]

I'll call again once I've secured a boat!

[weifinder]

( AN INCENSE STICK LATER )

I've a boat that only leaks a little when it's overloaded, I'll find you at the main pier!

( lo and behold, he doth arrive in a boat big enough for three if pressed, maintained decently enough, with one plugged hole above the water line which will dip low under the right wrong circumstances. for his part, he beams, patting the bench across from him while the oars rest across his lap. )

Let's try heading along towards the wooded shoreline, ah?

ACTION, spontaneously

[reparo]

[As much as promised, she does join him. It's probably easier than sitting at home - granted the general consensus is for her to lay low, but she doesn't want to hide in fear.

She is a witch. If the villagers did accuse her of it after that... interaction with Miang-Si, they would not be far off.

And there's something about this whole thing that bothers her. The leader of the village being a man and dragging a potential witch around in bonding is a thing that bothers her. Immensely enough to go rowing with Wei Wuxian.]

I can fix that up for us when we're out of sight.

[ She gets in the boat, sitting across from him. ] And maybe a little bit of wind, to push us along, as we are further from the docks, mm?

[weifinder]

Wind along the water, why not? Can you coax your own current into being?

( more useful, he thinks, given it's a rowing boat instead of a proper sailing one. )

We've talismans for different things with boats back home, but the lack of familiarity I have with these rivers and lakes would make most ill advised.

( Though he rows then easily enough, body at first disjointed from the motion, then remembering, setting him in to an unhurried flow. )

I've put a repel dead energies talisman on the prow. Should give us an extra bit of time beyond what I do or don't feel, while we're out this way. Heading towards the woods, mm?

[reparo]

[ Well - if she sticks her wand inside the water, sitting at the back of the boat, and produces wind from the tip of it, it should propell them forward, shouldn't it? ]

Yes - We can try something.

[ But first, that concerning hole in the boat. It's not the first time - when they were crossing the seas from the Lighthouse, they certainly had to repair their boats in the middle of the voyage, and she's a swift hand at it. As soon as he's rowed them towards the woods, she slips her wand out of her sleeve and casts reparo at the hole. The plug disappears, the boat restored to new. ]

We're going to have to remember to break that spell when we return the boat.

[weifinder]

Or break the boat!

( breaking the spell sounds more sensible, but truly, let all possibilities be Known. he continues rowing, aiming them up along the shoreline, the village in its piecemeal island existence turning from view as the shore finally does. )

What did you have in mind?

( he asks, in all curious innocence, having settled into rowing with a surprisingly nice feeling to go along with it. )

[reparo]

I just want to see if I can give us a boost. [ Once sat towards the back, she sticks the tip of her wand in the water and entones very correctly: ] Ventus.

[ The boat lurches forward gently, the wind summoned from her wand in the water propelling them along. ]

I should stay here to keep it going - use the oars to steer us?

[weifinder]

( the sound of pleased surprise and interest he makes when they shift positions and Hermione inserts wand into water and the boat smoothly speeds forward. delightfully without sails!

he does, however, bring one oar down to curve the boat away from rocks ahead of them, getting a sense of how much pressure he needs to use... and how to switch sides.

ultimately, he shifts back to share the same bench, finding it easier to steer from the back of the boat. things this small don't usually have rudders, but he understands their concept and use from an the times on ships at sea by now. )

Going to work best from back here. What was this spell called? Ventus?

[reparo]

Yes - it creates wind. I have to cast it a few times, it's not an infinite kind of deal. [Honestly, she could be talking about magic all day long, so stop her if you need to be quiet.]

Unlike the reparo I used on the boat. That one's going to just stay fixed, unless I end it. It's one of my favourite spells to use, honestly.

[As predicted, she casts the ventus again, steering them towards the trees far faster than their very measly arms would handle.

Speaking of:]

Wei Wuxian, can I ask you an impertinent question? You mentioned you are not as plush as others here - do you not eat well?

[weifinder]

( there's much more he would ask about her magic, about the particulars of limitations, because it's very different sounding from the magic he's learned here, which is again different from the cultivation techniques he knows from home which aren't magic at all. knowing, knowledge, is one of his driving forces, exploring new avenues of thought, questioning assumptions.

then she asks something else, and he's redirected from where his thoughts had begun to wander. )

Ah? No, no, I eat! I'm not as thin as I was years ago, don't worry yourself! Moran hasn't had the history of not enough to eat the ways I did in the past, his husband keeps him in good health, they eat plenty of meat. Leads to bulk, ah? The same for my brother, Jiang Cheng, he's very well fed!

( the fact he matches his diet to a vegetarian one from his husband has kept it more lean, his weight gain slower, often set back by occurrences in their lives here. )

Not even Wen Qing can complain, ah?