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[calmness]

// zewu.jun

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO

XIMILIA

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un: qishan

[silverneedles]

[ sometime shortly after their return to the ship ]

Zewu-jun Your health is satisfactory?

[calmness]

Lady Wen. It is. My injuries have healed.

How are you fairing?

[flauntist]

Zewu-jun, thank you for your help before, with the guard. It was and still is much appreciated.

[calmness]

No need to thank me, Master Wei.

It was the only way to ensure Wangji's safety.

12/24

[ruinously]

[ A little basket of cupcakes appears at the door Christmas Eve.

There's a note attached that says:

Yeah, I made these, yeah, they're cute as hell. Eat the heads first, that's what I do. Enjoy.

-Dean ]

text; un: lanxichen

[calmness]

[some time later in the day.]

Is there a reason for decapitating them? [and then, because the text system will send whatever it is you're thinking if you're not careful.] Whywhywhywhywhywhy. No.

Stopthinkingaboutthat. Why.

XMas delivery from Hermann

[homeostatic]

[Xichen will find a small box of various tea blends Hermann picked up from Gyeongje with a note that reads:]

Xichen,

May this small gift find you well and in good spirits.

– Dr. Hermann Gottlieb

text; un: hgottlieb

[bijective]

I hope I am not interrupting anything important.
Consider this an extension of my sincere gratitude for your assistance the other day.

[calmness]

The interruption is welcome. The horses will not mind waiting to be washed.

I was happy to help. This time and if you wish to continue to learn. How did your performance go?

text; un: doctor.disco

[attackbrows]

Are you the Flute Man?

text;

[calmness]

That is not my title but if you are asking if I play the flute, then yes.

Voice | UN: Star-Lord | During the Upstairs/Downstairs mission

[spacedisaster]

Ey, hi, Lan Xichen. Are you busy? This city is pretty dangerous, so I wanted to check on how you were doing. 

voice;

[calmness]

[it takes a while to get a response, the line opens and then closes.] I am not busy at the moment, no.

Thank you for checking in, Peter, but I am alright. Simply trying to help those I can and learn more about Entr'i and her aim here. Are you alright?

actions in here

[firstroar]

Lan Xichen...

[finally, a spark of familiarity rising up out of the dense, relentless sea of foreign minds. it gives Blue cause to sit up in bed and watch the light of that mind grow nearer. did Yzak ask him to check on Blue while he was out doing military things? most likely. either way, he won't refuse the company.]

[calmness]

[xichen worries for blue, has worried over his state of health and being since scorpion's bend. it is not his place, perhaps, but he cannot help himself.

he is not well himself, looking more fatigued and pale than he had when they'd last seen each other. he coughs now, showing signs of what may seem like a severe cold to those from other worlds.] Blue. [he offers a tired smile as he joins him, sitting down in a chair by the bed with hands settled in his lap.] How are you feeling?

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

What do you think is going to happen? If we're lucky, we can avoid a war, but if we're not... people will die. And I don't know if we're going to be able to stop things.

At least Entr'i knows about V'rizz's stupid plan.

[calmness]

[it takes a bit for him to answer, some time to calm the paranoia and worry plaguing his mind to the best of his abilities.] I do not know. The war here was set in motion before our arrival and while I hope we can avoid it, we must be careful. While I believe Entr'i is in the right... we do not know what deals have been made here.

Death is a consequence of war, ugly as it is. The people in Taeum and Sedorum both believe in their causes, their deaths won't be on our hands. [hard as that is, he hopes she will not blame herself for it if they are not able to stop what may be inevitable.]

There is that. I hope the betrayal can be avoided. [and there, in that moment, there is an edge in his voice. a sharpness that does not normally colour it.]

voice; un: clarke

[romancekiller]

Hey— I think the communication is going through now.

Are you doing okay over in Sedorum?

[calmness]

Clarke? It is good to hear your voice.

[that is easier to say than to answer the question.] Given the state of things here, I am alright. Sedorum can be described as chaotic at best.

Are you well?

text - un; nightmoves

[ruinously]

[ sometime in the middle of the fuckin' night-- ]

u up?

[calmness]

[not immediately because the answer was nearly no, until he was contacted.] i am.

are you alright?

sunlight room;

[blackfire]

（ they are sitting together on a flat, raised rock. sunlight dapples them through the crown of high trees. the air is fresh, the nearby babble of the water is acceptable.

as genjutsu goes, it is flawless. he has long since given up his annoyance that as illusions go it is unbreakable — he is still not comfortable here, but he acknowledges that the sunlight is of psychological benefit.

he is seated agura on the rock, hands resting lightly on his knees. there is a tray of tea between them, but they have been here for some time already, and the teapot is long empty. perhaps ten words have been exchanged between them in this time, and the lull is comfortable and easy.

eventually, though — ）

It seems that there are new arrivals on the station. Have you spoken with any as yet?

[calmness]

[ the silence is welcome between them. it is not awkward, not forced. xichen appreciates that with itachi, he does not have to exchange pleasantries or idle conversation.

he is good at them, with decades of leading a gentry sect behind him but even he finds such conversations tedious. it would be impolite to stop them most of the time, but he does wish for some to end.

still, when itachi does break the silence it is not unwelcome either. xichen opens his eyes, he'd been resting them but not letting himself slip away into a meditative trance. the fact that he could slip away now is one he has shang-chi to thank for, even if recent events have undone some of what he'd gained back with the younger man's help. ] Only one of the new Cybertronians.

Since returning to the station and what unfolded with Netwon, I have not felt the energy to greet newcomers. [ or to socialize, really. time with itachi does not count. ] Have you met any of them?

text. un: 10-54

[construing]

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

By Robert Frost.

[calmness]

All things must end but the death of this planet is hard to see.

Are you faring alright?

[farr]

[ one morning on the station, on each orber's door, the following hand-written note (in fancy calligraphy) will be taped:


the orber can choose to attend or simply listen in to the meeting when it occurs, or they may ignore it altogether. ]

file send

[firstroar]

[a file is sent - gentle music, not on lyre but on violin.]

Yzak helped me reproduce the melodies I listened to in Shangri-La and record them. I wanted to share them with you.

sometime soon after, not as late as this tag in /sweats

[calmness]

This is beautiful, Blue. I am honored.

It may take me some time but I would like to share some songs in return, ones different from what I have played before.

text; sometime during the first few weeks of Xrisora

[singlelogbridge]

Zewu-jun, there's something I need to speak with you about in confidence. Can I have your word that you'll listen to what I have to say and won't mention it to anyone, even if you don't believe me?

[calmness]

Please go ahead, Master Wei.

I will always listen. ( if nothing, he is fair. )

[farr]

[ yet another flyer ends up on every orber's door, evidently by the same culprit as last time, except now it's a more colorful display:


the back of the flyer features more details about the play and its characters, and soon enough, an announcement from rita herself goes public, giving more context about the event, which all can sign up for. ]

after the underwater mission;

[eschewings]

[ it is not the first time either of them has been to it, the memorial that stands hidden behind a thicket of trees in the sunlight room; only, they've not crossed paths before, instead each coming to incense burning that the other had set up.

it is not unexpected, then, that this time their visits coincide. the start of it passes in silence, as both huaisang and xichen pay their respects to nie mingjue... but then, after a moment, huaisang speaks, his voice the slightest bit shaky. ]

Do you think there will ever come a day I won't miss him, Xichen-ge? [ it's rhetorical, of course; huaisang knows very well a day like that will never be. he breathes in, out. decides to say nothing more; and yet, words escape him, a quiet murmur of something that is not a lost little brother mourning for his older brother, but laced with something sharp, poisonous. ]

... it's not fair. [ what a childish notion, that: fair. so many things in life are anything but fair, and most of them, huaisang will not lift his finger about... but this? this is more than "not fair". that the worlds keep turning after nie mingjue no longer draws breath is an injustice. ]

[calmness]

[ it was only a matter of time before he was caught here, xichen thinks. it has never been an impossibility that it would be by huaisang, who had the bravery to set a memorial up when xichen could not bring himself to even as he mourned continuously; mourned with new knowledge and guilt.

the incense he has lit is half burned, he normally waits to speak and leave until it has burned through but he will not disrespect huaisang with silence under mingjue's gaze. ]

He has your love, a-Sang, and unfortunately that means it would be a lie if I told you that day will come. [ it would also be a lie to say that it will grow any easier, especially when the truth is revealed.

he wishes to soothe, still, for hauisang is as much a little brother to him as wangji is but xichen pauses, careful, as he catches that bit of sharpness in hauisang's voice that reminds him of a sharp cry in guanyin's temple, of the way he denied it later. it's different, not the fluttering man he knows. ] No, it's not. He should be walking beside us back home.

[ not in this place, of course, never here. for mingjue is not the one with blood on his hands belonging to two sworn brothers. ]

[gusurules]

[Wangji had been there about two hours (four small as they he'd managed to learn they were measured here) when his wandering of the corridors of the sleeping quarters brought him around a corner to see his brother leaving one of the rooms. It took him a moment of blinking in shock and a quick circulation of energy through his meridians for him to realize that he was unlikely to be hallucinating. Which meant his brother - who had turned the opposite direction out the door and was walking away from him - was really here.

What did his brother have to regret?]

Xiongzhang.

[Wangji's voice was raised just enough to be heard at the distance between them and no more. It sounded formal, of course, but Xichen would recognize the shock and uncertainty in the way he called out.]

[calmness]

[ there is a voice calling to him that lan xichen knows in his bones, has heard it all of his life. he helped raise his brother after all, played brother, playmate, friend and guardian when their uncle was busy and their visits to their mother ceased.

he'd heard it call out 'huan-gege' before it morphed ever more formal and polite.

'xiongzhang.'

he'd missed wangji in a way that only an older brother could. had hoped to see him again and never to see him here, but regret had brought wangji here once and xichen is only surprised that the orbs did not try to dig their claws into him much sooner.

he takes a deep breath, turns to get a look at the other twin jade, to try to see what he can decipher from the man before him. ]

Wangji. [ his own voice is steady, the warmth reserved for his younger brother there as xichen steps closer toward him and swallows the dread threatening to overwhelm him; it settles in his stomach like an iron weight. wangji looks as he last saw him at guanyin temple, yes, but he's looked like this since he'd left youth behind him. it tells xichen little; the way he carries himself tells him more, for his brother looked more at ease once wei wuxian's name had been cleared to the great sect's if not the world. there is still rigidness in this man's shoulders.

xichen steps closer, glad for a moment that he chose to dress in the robes he'd arrived in instead of more modern attire. he's been here too long, there is probably much his brother will not recognize in the man before him even if he looks the same. ]

While I selfishly wish we were not having this reunion, it is good to see you again. [ which is a curious thing to say, he knows. ] Forgive me. [ a small, wry smile paints his features. ] I've been on the station a year's time.

text ↪ un: うちは

[blackfire]

Zewu-jun. What is your personal goal for this mission?

[calmness]

It is to assist someone with theirs. Are you in need of help to achieve yours?