un: worm wife / text

[wifedup]

( There is absolutely someone out there fucking with Wen Kexing, and so if anyone mentions the state of his new name he's going to commit Attrocities. He's here for a reason ... admittedly a potential wife reason, but still! You mention being a worm one time and fate laughs at you. )

It's come to my attention we're all very demure about our own skill sets. When it comes to trying to work together that reticence might be to our detriment. Especially considering the wealth of people we have here, what if one of us is in need of a carpenter and we don't know where to go? Or a scribe, those might be handy with all the terrible meetings we have to listen to. Or a healer, even.

( A healer especially, but he is the most subtle and anyone implying otherwise needs to be quiet. )

And so, I thought it might be a good idea if we instead shared what we were good at. I can go first.

Cooking.
A pursuer of scholarly endeavours.
Passable martial arts.
Provider of wine.

If anyone needs any poetry or lessons in how not to burn water then I am certainly your man. I know these aren’t exactly the more useful of skills, but there are bound to be more capable people out there. We need to help each other in these trying times, after all.

( We also need to not be lying bastards, but oh well. )

Comments

[wifedup]

Ah.

That's a good saying, I like it. Maybe I'll borrow it.

( He'll use it to bother his husband, thank you Hermoine. )

[reparo]

You're welcome to it.

[wifedup]

( He hums in response, and then-. )

You mentioned healing potions in your list? I have to ask, what exactly it is you can heal?

[reparo]

Injuries, mostly. Cuts, burns, bruises. I can't make promises for any emotional damage.

[wifedup]

Ah, well that is certainly useful.

( Not what he needs, but he files that knowledge away anyway. )

Useful. I've always been curious about your magic.

[reparo]

Well. I would be happy to satisfy your curiosity.

[wifedup]

( Well then. )

Is it a skill learnt or innate to your people?

[reparo]

It is innate, in that the ability to perform magic is not something every living person possesses, in my world. My parents, for example - wholly non-magical. I was the first witch of our family, actually. But there are people who come from old magical families, who have always been around magic - grown up in magic communities, were around it from a young age...

So, innate to som people, but the skill part is very much learnt. When we turn eleven, all magical children are expected to attend some form of formal education, it's where we learn how to cast our spells and brew our potions.

[wifedup]

A little like the sects then, gifted children often leave their families to be taken in by a martial master. Not all have what it takes to last among them either. This means you could not teach magic to anyone who did not possess the initial ability, yes? A shame, your workload could be lessened.

( He means the potions. And unfortunately it also means Hermoine is not the healer he's looking for. )

Are you the only one here from your world, Mistress Granger?

[reparo]

...I am, yes. [ There used to be more, but they're gone now - she's gone now. ] But to your point, I could teach brewing potions to others. Anyone can stir a cauldron.

[wifedup]

Oh?

( A spark of interest there. )

For the cuts and the scrapes? Would that work?

[reparo]

Of course - it's the ingredients where it gets tricky.

[wifedup]

They're not native here?

[reparo]

No. But I was gifted a book on local medicina herbs that has been extremely useful in picking and testing out potions!

[wifedup]

Useful. Have you had the same or similar results to your own potions?

[reparo]

Yes. Although some have been weaker than what I am used to - and I believe the most I can do with others is essentially brew tea.

[wifedup]

That must be unfortunate, if you're used to a certain level of success.

You've been a part of this company for a while, haven't you?

[reparo]

I have been, yes. Not as long as some others, like Wei Wuxian or Five.

[wifedup]

Would you say you had the measure of more people here than I would?

[reparo]

Where's this going, Wen Kexing?

/ private

[wifedup]

( He considers dropping it. He doesn't know Hermoine all that well, apart from their breif run-ins. It would be easy to shrug it off with a laugh and go about his own business. And yet, she is spoken highly of by the Lans, and he has seen her involved in a great many things. He doesn't have many other options.

Also, how wonderful that he just learned the privacy feature. )

I'm in need of a healer.

( Vague enough. )

Preferably one who would understand Chinese medicine, I think, as our biology seems different. I thought about asking Mistress Wen, but I don't know her all that well, and the matter is complicated. ( And then, with a creeping hint of his earnestness. ) I need someone good, and I need someone I can trust, and I need to find them fast. I don't know who to turn to. I haven't inquired before.

/ private

[reparo]

Oh - I see. Thank you for trusting me with this. What is it that ails you, exactly? Maybe I can think on how my magic can help, if it could.

/ private

[wifedup]

I have a friend.

( More than that, but Wen Kexing is still cautious. Hermoine might be trustworthy, but he has a lifetime of suspicion up his sleeves. )

His meridians have been damaged. ( He keeps his voice steady by sheer force of will, as though it is not killing him to speak of it. ) I don't know how much you know about those, Mistress Granger, but they're how we control our life force, our qi. One ruined is bad enough, but all seven? Imagine a tree without roots, no matter how strong it is it will die quickly. And it's already been so long for him. But I don't know how to heal them. I also do not know who to turn to. He's ... rightfully cautious. ( Who wouldn't be? ) We were seeking a cure back home, but now he's here and the help we might have had isn't.

/ private

[reparo]

[She listens patiently, and it isn't hard to draw parallels between qi and magic she's familiar with. It isn't hard to understand qi meridians either - she's been around cultivators for a while now.

The problem poses a mystery, of course.]

I want to be able to help, but I am not sure my potions would do it, Wen Kexing. Perhaps if I could perform diagnostic spells...

/ private

[wifedup]

I'd have to ask him, though if he says no I could always knock him out first.

( Would Zhou Zishu trust her magic? It is both somewhat familiar and also not, the things she can do just a shade different. His naturally suspicious zhiji might take exception, however, if it saved his life ... )

Whatever help you can give I'd be in your debt for. Even if it were just ruling out that you couldn't.