audio | un: yiling patriarch

[weifinder]

Hey, every one of us glorious abductees! A question, to those listening right now, brought to you by myself and Master Archeval due to the considerations of a friend, but: what would you make of being informed that, and here I'm quoting, "The man you trust was six years not among us?"

( A dramatic pause, for digestion purposes. )

All said and done, with that message slipped to me, I can say with certainty there's a handful I fully trust here, and there's none I trust entirely from here, no offense. However, there is one we've been forced to trust, ah? In hearing these words, what are your thoughts?

Comments

sweet lily of the hidden valley

[bearshermark]

Haltham? We trust him, I think, but I guess we don't know much about him.

lmf switches to writing

[weifinder]

If it's Haltham, then we should also note he doesn't read, and so we should be speaking in written word.

I don't know that he's our only potential, Eleven, can you think of anyone else we're trusting right now?

[bearshermark]

[Just gonna facepalm bc he should have thought of that]

I guess it depends a little on who the note is addressed to. But as a group? I don't think so. No one trusts Bloodbonnet- or shouldn't anyway. I don't think that's someone we need to be warned about.

If that's what this is. It does sound like suspicion.. Who is 'us'?

[weifinder]

Shorthand for the us would be "people interested in reclaiming the citadel for its people," but doesn't touch on favouring either twice-living overseer as preferred, at this point.

Us, either way, is linked to this city. The note, addressed to me. Trust, to the rest, is a matter of belief in information and intent. We all do trust the one funding us so far... as we haven't tried running or escaping on our own. Which is sensible enough lacking information, as we do, and with more like us trickling in over the weeks.

[bearshermark]

If only.

For its people, though. I didn't know there was much sentiment for keeping the citadel out of death's hands. I'm more curious now, but I don't think I can be much more use.

[weifinder]

Hmm, which may be the case... unless, do you have any particular closeness or back-and-forth regard with either Karsa or Haltham?

[bearshermark]

Not with Karsa, but Haltham, maybe. I've spoken with him at some length a few times and gifted him that new pick with the rest of the salvaged tools. He hasn't mentioned it at all, but I didn't expect to.

I hope he appreciated the gesture at least.

[Although those feelings are a little mixed now if they're suspicious of him as the one person he can think of that he can apply 'trust' to outside of themselves. He's always seemed so genuine from the start]

[weifinder]

Would you feel comfortable and confident in contacting him for some questions related to what we've handled up here, like why the farm was his choice when its considered cursed, and roundaboutly asking about the past handful of years?

[bearshermark]

[Roundaboutly.]

I'll give the matter some thought.

[weifinder]

As you should!

[bearshermark]

I think I've thought of a way I can do it.

[weifinder]

What did you have in mind?

[bearshermark]

I wonder where Bloodbonnet meant to send us, if that's where we're going next, why we were sent here instead.

I'm also curious about when the undead began to take over the mine, if Unhalad's undead have been strengthening or weakening in recent years..

[He's taken your lying with the truth advice to heart]

[weifinder]

Eastward is going to be the obvious answer there, and via port when they open, or via the mountains when the storms settle, so as long as those answers don't surprise you. Maybe ask what led him to think this was such a favourable place considering how many people it appears to have offended.

As to the rest, yes, why not? But be gentle, and as with most things, assume innocence before presuming guilt.

[bearshermark]

Yes, I'm hoping there isn't truly reason to suspect him of having been less than genuine.

[weifinder]

Even if he's at cross purposes, I hardly believe it is out of anything other than genuine belief in something or another.

[bearshermark]

Yes, that is probably the case.

[Which honestly helps him feel a little better about doing this]

un: drenched kitten of heated purrs

[jeoha]

If a man you've been warned to trust tells you that he cannot read, do you trust him?

Even if he may not, others can.

[weifinder]

Considering literacy with one language but no knack for another means much the same, of course not.

[jeoha]

Then I would be careful what we commit even in characters.



He's earned our gratitude. Enough so that I would know more before divesting ourselves of an ally.

[weifinder]

Making it worth communicating more with the one sending the message, if possible, and gently sounding out the other without presuming one way or another. More information is information; not factual by necessity.

[jeoha]

Distrust and discord oft breed their own rewards, for the one that sows. Fact and truth are rarely required.

How was the message passed to you?

[weifinder]

Trust in this, if little else with me: that I know, intimately.

Given all that being said, I'd prefer to say in person, ah?

--> action if you like?

[jeoha]

Mm. I'll meet you in the courtyard.

[ It isn't long before he's there, looking ever more like a northern warlord as he slowly pieces together his outfit out of pelts and furs. He's been getting better at his job - though he has never before longed quite so keenly for a musket - and the sword that Mingyu gifted him is still strung at his hip as he waits. ]

slams in later and yes good

[weifinder]

( What are guns. He'd be fascinated if introduced, since cannons are reality enough, but as it is...

Wei Wuxian finds him out there, likewise bundled up, but looking closer to citadel folk than those out in the woods. It's deliberate, such as it goes, and the patchwork of it is as well, including the increasing steadiness of the stitchwork it shows. He's had to practise on something. )

Lee Chang!

( A small smile, a hand held up to wave without waving, his flute gripped so that its tassled end shows in the motion. )