eastbound | Entries tagged with untamed: lan xichen

[ Mo Ran looks rough, with a few scrapes on his face and his hair disheveled, and he's quieter than usual, staring into the distance for a few moments before he finally talks. He's much more subdued than usual. ]

We don't need to worry about the Chained God anymore. [ Don't ask why. ] He called the black water stuff "a little friend below the depths" and his brother. The water wants a body, and shape, but it can't fight back. I guess that's why it takes the dead bodies, since the dead can't fight back against it, and then the water reanimates them.

[ He trails off, thinking back to his conversation. ] He also said something about someone wishing it free, but didn't offer any names or anything. It probably happened long ago, so it's impossible to say.

Oh, and don't go to the temple of the Chained God. It's dangerous. [ It's been somewhat destroyed. ]

rehandle

To whoever might find this useful, I'm now the patron-by-proxy of all Ephes' magic users.

From what I can tell they're all very eager to help in whatever their patron might ask of them, and given how many people that accounts for there's a fair chance that if there's something you need done, I'll have somebody for the task.

What I don't have is a lot of money. [ And doesn't he just sound thrilled and not at all resentful about it. ] Should anyone wish to be so kind, I wouldn't turn down any generous donations made in the interest of the betterment of the citadel's magical community.

[ Public service announcement and desert-dry plea for somebody, anybody to give him some cash aside, that's everything, and he almost cuts it there - but actually, he'll need to get a sense for this sooner or later, so: ]

While I have your attention, it would be useful to know everyone's current stance on Messalina.

silverneedles

[ Wen Qing appears, filming from one of the monk cells on Mount Nathadi. She looks stern and annoyed, with a ghostly monk in the background looking rather delighted. ]

I have been asked to provide cheer to the crowd, and when I inquired to the specifics, the monk provided me with a song to sing. [ She waves a piece of paper, scribbled on with lyrics. ] A-Ning, you are not allowed to listen to this.

[ She looks back at the monk, who gestures for her to hurry up, and turns back to the camera to launch into her song. Her voice is lovely, and she can carry a tune, but that's about the nicest thing anyone can say about her performance. ]

A rambling young sailor to Unkharil came down,
He’d been paid off his ship in old Yancai town....

[ She continues through the entire song, trying to maintain a neutral expression and mostly managing, although by the end her cheeks are red. The monk in the background looks delighted, occasionally sniggering and cackling, and provides rousing applause at the end.

As soon as she's done, Wen Qing bows to the camera and abruptly shuts it off. ]

( the full lyrics )

pepsifree

[ There're brief tapping sounds, like someone doing a mic test, and a quiet "is this thing even on?". But then a clear of the throat precedes an ever-awkward: ] Uh... hello. This is Marty. Um...

So I talked. Talked? Shared my brain with? The giant snake guy. Kharil-asuk. Kinda funny, I could never remember his name, but then we had that whole mental connection and now it's all I can think about the past couple of hours. Is that normal?

...anyway.

He wants to get married.

[ A long pause. ]

Uh. He gave me a huge bowl of his... juice... in exchange for me just kinda. Kinda asking around for. If anyone wants to marry him. So now I'm asking you guys if you'd know anyone who'd marry him. For what it's worth, he blesses you with luck and a long life and all that? It sounded like a pretty great deal! Heh.

What's so great about marriage that a magic snake wants it too? Crazy!

lanclan

I was able, with some help, to procure some spices. Wanyin, Wei Wuxian, and Xie Lian, please find me at your earliest convenience. Ruka, I have some cakes for you. Ah, and ... Wen Kexing, once you understand these devices, will you please get in contact with me too? We did not exchange details the morning after we split up. [ The morning after they shared a room, you deviants. ] Alternatively, if anyone knows this man, help me find him. He is tall and well-dressed with fine features.

Wangji. A check-in, please.

inkfire

[ For once, Mo Ran's expression is serious, bordering on troubled. his eyes are shadowed, and he looks rather morose, a rare sight for him. He looks younger than his age, more like a teenager than usual. The camera starts and he takes a moment to stare at it blankly before blinking and shaking his head as though it took him a moment to remember why he was addressing the network at all. ]

What happens when someone leaves here? At least I hope he left and didn't die somewhere, if we get to leave... [ He grimaces at that thought, though he abandons it quickly, not wanting to dwell on that possibility. ]

Do people return to their homes? I was working on a farm before I ended up here, would I go back there? Do we remember what happened here?

[ He needs answers! It'll drive him mad, otherwise. ]

rehandle

I found something in the papers in the sleeping quarters that seems to relate to our host and his guests.

[ ""Guests"" ]

There was a heavily redacted passage on a page amongst those detailing the history of necromancy that spoke of a previously revered necromancer of the court of one Doxe Cosimo at Taravast, a citadel that housed schools of sorcery and necromancy.

Cosimo's Conclave found this necromancer guilty of mass sacrifice. In excess of a hundred people murdered, to their knowledge at the time of sentencing, who were believed killed in pursuit of his work. It seems the bodies were discovered inside his house.

Whoever crossed all this out was pretty upset about it. As I assume one might be if they'd been exiled from reality for all eternity.

[ All this to say... ]

We should be careful when considering giving Lisanther the scroll pieces he seeks.

nachocheese

[ Nacho's face appears on video. He looks stressed. That's not really unusual. He often looks stressed!

What is unusual is the specific way that he looks stressed right now. It's hard to tell because the shift isn't drastic, and his skin is on the tanner side anyway, but if you closely you can see that he's... maybe blushing? A little?

He rubs a hand over the back of his shaved neck and takes a deep breath. He looks away, momentarily, from the screen. Then back. ]

Sooooo.... [ Shit. ] Hey. Uh. There's, like, a lot of kids and shit here, right? Teenagers? People who didn't go to normal school? [ He swallows. ] Wait. Hang on. I didn't mean to swear in front of... uh... in front of all the kids.

[ Nacho pauses. Tries to think about how he wants to word this. He switches tactics. Blunt is better for this. No sense beating around the bush. ]

Hey. Listen up.

I know this might not be a good time for it, but I'm not sure there's gonna ever be, and if you ask me, a lot of you need to hear it. If I don't say it now, I don't think I'm gonna, and some of you really, really should not be parents.

You feel me?

[ He hesitates. Even longer. He can't believe he's doing this. But he has become Concerned (TM). ]

You're all officially enrolled in Nacho Varga School of Sex Ed.

First thing, don't have sex. Don't have sex in the missionary position. Don't have sex standing up. Just... don't have sex. You're gonna get pregnant. And die.

But, if you have sex, wear a condom. If you don't know what a condom is because they don't have anything like that where you're from, it's like a little bag that goes over your [ he whistles, and makes a vulgar hand gesture that a lot of people would probably be able to peg as a symbol for 'boner' ]. It helps make it so you don't have kids. And if you don't know what a condom is because you're too young, then you shouldn't even be listening to this.

Next. You gotta get consent. That means you can't just do things without asking. Not unless you wanna get knifed. Do you wanna get knifed? [ Silence; slightly intimidating, knowing look into the camera. ] Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay. Last thing. Never go ass to mouth. That's how you get diseases. And die. Just don't do it.

That's, uh, yeah. That's it, I think. Peace.

[ There's one final vision of Nacho's bright-red face, and then the screen goes completely dark. ]

lanclan

[ When you turn on your comm today there is a recorded video waiting, a kind of asmr amid the fervid chatter on other channels. Have you been stressed recently? Mentally drained by timeskips and inconstancies? Do you miss home or someone special? Your family? You might want to spare a few minutes to settle your mind and let it drift to the sound of the xiao Xichen conducts. Sat alone on the end of a pier, dressed in a mishmash of his own blue robes and the plain cotton ones gifted by Wei Wuxian, he kneels with his back to the camera and the majority of the view taken up by the lotus-blooming lake ahead that glimmers in the sunshine, twinkles of ice-blue qi wreathing the instrument like living fog.

And he plays for a while.

It has an odd effect on you. Were you listening in person it might actively cause you to calm down, but the sensations the song evokes are much the same even from a distance: perhaps you relax or slow down a little, if you were anxious or in a rush. Odd, that. You can always replay it if you need it to soothe your nerves again. ]

downswing

( Two men and a xenomorph walk into a tavern —

...alternatively, stumble down a woodland road, breath staggered, seemingly drained — if not by the weight of the enormous forest creature they carry, bled and bound to a makeshift pallet of decayed logs, then by the constant, jittery effort to evade the strikes of its tail.

The Doctor drags the animal’s wooden bed by long, loosely woven strips of ripped cloth. Lan Wangji holds the pendant with one hand and his own cutting strings that fetter the beast with the other.

For their trouble, the creature’s tail lovingly smacks the Doctor on his flank, then thwaps Lan Wangji’s temple, on the swing back. It growls its thanks after, before settling into a... disturbing... purr... that seems to indicate the time to nap is nigh.

The Doctor, then: ) It's settling down a bit already! Just needed a proper looking after, really, like anything.

( Well said, Doctor. For your effort, have a nice, friendly, sleepy tail smack on the back. So Wangji doesn’t feel jealous, the snoring beast peers over his shoulder, drenching it in a sea of... drool. He sighs. )

We bear one of the Beastmaster’s creatures. Feral, wounded. Enemy of the Huntress in the woods.

( Who should have been long culled, but don’t let Lan Wangji’s long-suffering expression convince you of that. The enemy or their enemy, so on. )

It requires... healing to resume duties. We number those who know the care of animals?

( ooc: ...sorry, cave buddies, just going to park Fido in the back real quick! Any veterinarians in the house? )

ghastleye

[ enter one (1) startlingly (...supernaturally) attractive young man: long dark hair in a slightly crooked braid, very fine red clothing, silver jewelry.. though he's missing an eye, the other hidden behind a patch. and his skin is, well, completely bloodless. corpse-white, you might say. dead, someone else might agree.

and behind him, puttering around in the background at the stove, a certain well-meaning culinary disaster. hm. ]

If one has questions about powerful ghosts-- [ the corner of his mouth lifts, smile polite. ] --one might ask a ghost.. of some small strength. Yes? I won't claim that the ghosts here are precisely the same as my kind, but they seem like enough. [ he taps a black nail against his cheek, smile curling a little higher. ] I do suggest not throwing salt at them if you'd rather not be eaten out of sheer affront.

[ a pause, a shift, fingers trailing down his braid to rub absently over a small coral pearl wound into it, the action obviously contemplative. ] I.. may.. be able to detain one of these ghosts next it appears. If you agree which you'd like. I promise nothing. [ particularly if it would distress his highness in any way.

a brief glance back at xie lian, a wave of his hand to indicate him. ] My husband can verify most of what I say, should you not trust a Calamity's word. [ .. see, xie lian, he's being helpful. ]

inkfire

[ Mo Ran again, this time looking somewhat worn. His eyes are shadowed, and his usual smile is gone, his face serious for once. ]

Miang-Si talked about wanting to be queen. Not just of the village but of the whole world. Talked about how she's everything. She sounded fierce about it, too. Wants more than this.

[ He trails off, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks out beyond the camera. ]

I didn't encounter her when the elders were parading her around the village, but something happened to her between now and what we originally saw. Maybe they kept her locked away because she went insane with all of this talk.

[ He shakes his head, bangs falling into his eyes, which look more purple than usual, and then he sweeps them away and looks at the camera. He finally smiles, dimples showing. ] They had terrible tea, and served it lukewarm. Can't even impress her suitors. I don't think her parents are as rich as they might let on.

vdovy

[ Yelena stands before a countertop strewn with baking supplies and utensils, her apron stained from various ingredients, looking equal parts annoyed and frustrated as she uses a rolling pin to massage the tension from her forehead. This shouldn't be that hard.

At first, she thought that she could get away with pretending. Her bakery had recently burned to the ground and reconstruction would take time. Now, it's three years ago and the bakery is miraculously intact. There's just one problem... ]

Okay, I have put this off for long enough. Does anyone know how to bake?

aprescoup

( The party's second, more elusive, revived witch appears on everyone's devices — enjoying a steaming, bubbling bath, in a sign that comfort is only unattainable for the unattractive. )

...now, aren't you beautiful, my sweets? And so many more than before, and lively, your flesh teeming with... youth.

This one is only an honoured and unworthy servant, so spare a moment, won't you? There's nothing to fear, I hardly bite, unless... have we still... virgins, each way the eye sees? ( Short, knowing laughter. ) We must relish in innocence.

( If her smile were thinner, it would be the ghost of the party's coin purse. )

Of course, this isn't why I would presume to take up your time, no, not your Hatisse. I only wish, with utmost respect, if I may. A humble warning.

( Her voice briefly ices, while she picks up a diminutive sponge to slowly, sloooooowly rinse her right arm. )

Here, in this gods-forsaken quaint little pedestrian village, where husband is uncle and brother and of the same blood as goats, you do not cross paths with... true witches, no matter what they name themselves. 'Ladies' of... 'lakes.' Remember, the clumsiest, easiest sorcery is the elements, and if they rule water, in a land of waters, don't be impressed.

( Briefly disgusted, as if she prepares to spit out a soured thing: ) They're hedge witches. Primitive, barely trained, and of course, your Hatisse is the daughter of a school, and so perhaps there is the lightest... prejudice, but may I say. Time is not the work of witches who, if rumour is to be believed, can do no better than play in puddles. There must be more. Something or someone.

( And now for an interlude where Hatisse raises herself from the bath, and much of the more risque parts of her body are strategically covered in foam. )

Now... we are friends here, all friends, friends of convenience, but friends. And Hatisse has shared what little was hers to give. But this is a land of the dead, and she cannot do more for you, if she is unknowing. Tell me, my sweets: how many of you are mired in death? How did you come to it?

( ooc: threadjack away! Hatisse will be regrettably available. )

lanclan

[ The scene is one of steam and muffled, echoing male voices from elsewhere, tiles covering walls. Xichen's face is in shot, hair unbound and soaked where it falls down his bare shoulders, pink from the hot water (no fear, he has a thin robe shrugged off but tied about his waist out of shot) where he is leaning over the edge of the bath. ]

This is rather unorthodox, in many ways, as first meetings go. Pardon my appearance, robes are somewhat contradictory to my surroundings. [ But he's out of seclusion, in a strange realm, and this is the only way he knows to prove the bathhouse is safe: by using it. ] Some of you already know my younger brother, Lan Wangji. You may call me Lan Xichen.

[ He sighs, nasal and soft. More of an exhale. His smile hitches back up. ]

I now live above the bathhouse. Technically, [ here he glances over blandly to a pair of guffawing sailors in the background, lips pursing as he holds back his real opinion, ] this is a private residence, but it would be rude to deny access to those who wish to use the downstairs, so I would like to invite over anyone who wishes to bathe in something other than cold lake-water — if my housemates wouldn't mind, I should like to meet all of you, too.

There is a separate area for women, of course. Please use the rinsing stations before entering the main baths and wear something discreet, for the sake of others.

[ Xichen glances around as someone calls his name and there is a momentary wider shot of him soaked to the waist as he straightens to nod in answer, raking back his hair so it isn't stuck to his chest ~~you're welcome~~. He looks again to the video and smiles warmly, tilting his head in apology for the break in his attention. ]

It is seemingly busier in the afternoons.

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.]

weifinder

( The recording shows a small toad, black and red and gold, sitting in the palm of one hand. In another hand a brilliant emerald green toad is held, pointed in the direction of the smaller toad.

The smaller toad shifts to look "toward" the display, lifting up on front legs to address the one recording by pendant. )

I don't want to kiss the toad, Lan Zhan! Hnnngh.

( The toad, who spoke in Wei Wuxian's voice, shifts his legs and tiny bulk back around to stare down the larger toad. Who inflates its throat and offers a long, wheezing croak. )

Ugh. Fine. For the sake of proving this works before anyone else suffers through this —

( He abruptly leaps forward, smashing his small toad face into the larger toad's face. How does one kiss a toad when one has no notably amount of lip? Both Wei Toadxian's front feet plaster against the larger toad's face, attempting to keep the other toad respectable. Holding the awkward position for excruciating seconds. He falls backward, kicking off the other toad, to flop back into Lan Wangji's open palm. )

Was that long enough? I don't —

( Abruptly the image shakes with a yelp of Wei Wuxian's surprise as the screen is filled with pale flesh, mud, and the sudden forward falling scramble of a man who has now found himself with a palm filled with the weight of an adult human male. Welcome to the darkness, shifting, squelching sounds of mud and an irate toad expressing its displeasure even as Lan Wangji's equally excruciatingly dry voice ends the video with a: )

... efficient.

consignation

[ stripping out of his robe, jiang cheng bumps his device and leaves it with his heap of clothes. it's understandable, really, with what a rush he's in to dive off the pier. he's stripped down to nothing more than his thin innermost robe, a white slip that falls barely past his (shapely) buttocks, sashed by a single flimsy tie on his left side just above his hip. gloriously bare, elegant legs carry him in a sprint away from the broadcasting device, and then the sect leader takes a picturesque dive in a shallow arc to hasten through the water to his target. throughout, there's the excited murmuring of a crowd from somewhere just behind the device, but once jiang cheng is in the water they start to stage whisper in the earnest.

there's hushed delight about his hair, his jawline, his cheekbones, his physique. there's tittering of how his children might look, peppered with suggestions of which villagers have had the good fortune of warming his bed. the chatter grows increasingly lewd until two parties claim to have been with their beloved village rescuer just this last night, neither willing to back down until there's screaming and shouting as a fight breaks out.

just as someone can be glimpsed out of the corner of the frame being held in a headlock, the subject of the gossip reemerges from the water in a now entirely translucent robe that is also falling off his shoulder, a sodden puppy held carefully in his arms which he hands off to a little boy waiting anxiously near the edge of the water. the fight and crowd disperse at once, though a few people do come by to compliment jiang cheng, some inviting him to dinner or to spend the night at their house and other such niceties.

only after all this does jiang cheng go to retrieve his clothes and notice his device on and recording. ]

Oh, sorry. I hope this hasn't been on too long making too much noise. Um.

Is everyone well?

groundrules

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Page generated May. 23rd, 2025 09:11 am

exit, stage e a s t

Entries tagged with untamed: lan xichen

un: pillar of the heavens | video

voice, un: strange

video | un: qishan

voice | un: a wheely good time

video | un: average sighren

un: pillar of the heavens | video

audio, un: strange

VIDEO ➤➤➤ UN: OIL CHANGE

un: average sighren, video

un: absterge | video

video | un: water you docking aboat

un: pillar of the heavens | video

video | un: wooden sword

un: hatisse | video

video: average sighren

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

un: xianxian of yunmeng jiang | video

un: sect leader jiang | the dreaded accidental video

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