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

[lonelydream]

He does, in fact, rather make himself everyone's problem, yes. Do you mean how frank he is about being a cut-sleeve?

[nothinglikefather]

[ The audio doesn't allow for transmission of Jacob's extremely confused expression, the phrase about sleeves leaving him utterly baffled.]

I can't say he's ever confided in me about any tailoring problems he's had? I imagine getting someone to make a new one of those robes who hasn't seen one before, they could get the cut wrong.

[ Why did he bring this up? With a stranger? Its really none of his business whatsoever but... he can't let go of the curiosity. ]

No one at home cares that he's not married yet?

[lonelydream]

If he were the son of a wealthy household or a young lady with a reputation to keep in mind, they might. But he's powerful in his own right, and has his own heir. [ And no one who might care would actually dare question Wen Kexing. ] People are generally more understanding of an unmarried man than they are of a woman.

[nothinglikefather]

...Seems a little unfair on the girls.

But still, no one gets stoned? Jailed?

[lonelydream]

For being unmarried? No. But the blow to one's reputation can be devastating--enough to ruin one's life. As for Lao Wen's propensity to be incredibly unsubtle about his preferences... People in the capital care more about that than those in the jianghu.

I take it that is not quite the case where you are from.

[nothinglikefather]

[ Disregarding the words he doesn't understand and ignoring whoever Lao Wen is, Jacob thinks he gets the picture. ]

People rarely like what they don't understand.

[lonelydream]

Or that which they don't believe fits within their views of the world, exactly.

[nothinglikefather]

That too. Glad he's got some friends who don't care. I can't imagine he could keep himself a secret even if he tried.

[lonelydream]

I don't think he has any intention of doing so--and I don't believe he should. He is very much himself, whatever that may mean for the people around him.

[ the of his sentence is incredibly dry. Zhou Zishu knows Wen Kexing very, very well. ]

[nothinglikefather]

I'm more concerned with what the people around him do to him, but you know your home better than others. And here... well, I've not seen anyone make a fuss. Not within our group, anyway.

[lonelydream]

[ For better or for worse, Wen Kexing has made himself someone quite difficult for anyone to do anything to. Zhou Zishu would stand at his side, in any case, and that makes it all the more difficult for anyone to target him. ]

I'm glad to hear it. He seems to have found himself friends.

[nothinglikefather]

I'm not sure if he'd call me friend. Useful, more like. But he thinks highly of you. Obviously. You know that.

[lonelydream]

Yes.

[ Because it'd be an insult to Lao Wen and himself both to claim otherwise. ]

He did mention you. That's rather high praise already.

[nothinglikefather]

Christ, I assume nothing good.

[lonelydream]

It wasn't anything bad.

[nothinglikefather]

That's a small blessing, considering everything. Then again, it's probably best we don't know the truth about people we call friends. I doubt most of us are blameless.

[lonelydream]

Man is, as a whole, terrible. Someone who has done terrible things is not necessarily a bad person, though.

[nothinglikefather]

All depends on the intention, in my experience.

[lonelydream]

The greater good, I suppose.

[nothinglikefather]

And that's just a matter of perspective. Most people don't agree on what a greater good really is.

[lonelydream]

How would you describe it?

[nothinglikefather]

I'm not the best person to ask. And I don't think you've got time to listen to the Brotherhood's bloody long-winded doctrine. But, the long and the short of it? People should be free to make their own decisions without being controlled or manipulated by others. Sink or swim under their own steam.

[lonelydream]

Peace and prosperity for the citizens, unharmed by the power struggles of those who would seek to rule them.

[nothinglikefather]

Do people need to be ruled at all? No, forget I said that. It was rhetorical.

[lonelydream]

[ Interesting. ]

Forgotten.