IC Inbox for Erku

[illicitly]

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	» Age: 30s » Species: Human » A5 Card: Open » Seeking: Companionship, mainly. Friends, allies, and lovers, also welcome. » Preferences: Likeminded men and women. Not too old, not too young. » Interests: Fashion, art, calligraphy, antiques, poetry, politics, astronomy, bird collection, strategy games, and erotic literature. » Bio: Single sect leader seeking potential wife and cultivation partner, sexual companionship, and business associates. Additional benefits available.
	base code by photosynthesis
	Nie Huaisang

Comments

[illicitly]

It seems like it's been a while since I was here last. The season's changed.

[Huaisang sounds a little wistful, maybe a little regretful. He's probably missed out on a lot in however long it's been since the sea had called him home. In all honesty, he doesn't expect things to be the same as they'd always been. There's still things they don't know about each other A lot had happened for Huaisang in the months they'd been apart, after all. Maybe it's the been the same here, too.]

It has a different air than it used to. I'm not sure why. I thought that maybe it was me. Only a few days ago, I was back in Qinghe, in the true home of my ancestors. The real place this one was copied from. Maybe it feels different because my memories haven't dulled yet.

[He pauses a moment, considering.]

Do you still like living here, Shi-xiong? Are you happy?

[air_head]

[It's a dull fear at the back of Shi Qingxuan's head. Whatever has become of his real home back in the heavenly realm? Is this really a dream, after all?

His morbid curiosity would never override his fear of certainty, and he doesn't dare ask outloud.

Stretching his silence by moving this way and that, limbs taut over his head as if to shake the last of sleep off, he buys precious time to contemplate the words he's never taken care to ponder before rattling out before.]

Why, it's always lovely here, Nie-xiong! Even better now you're back!

]The evenings of drinking alone. The closed door separating him from Ming Yi. The lonely, late breakfasts and the bustle all around him that never seems to include him. Qingxuan's smile dims despite himself.]

It's... Gotten rather small, for such an unknown island. And dull. That doesn't sound too happy, does it?

[illicitly]

It doesn't sound very happy, no.

[He's good at reading subtext and noticing details like the dimming of the smile that's somehow made its way into his heart. Seeing Shi Qingxuan even a little sad makes his heart ache. He continues holding him gently, still petting that beautiful hair. It does feel nice for his presence to actually mean something to someone. He'd long since resigned himself to the dreary reality that most of his value back home is tied to being the last of a clan and a sect leader than anything that has to do with him as a person. To have someone simply miss him lightens his spirits a little.]

There's been no interesting new adventures while I was away? No new developments or changes?

[air_head]

Ah, life positively blossomed around here! [there is a brightness in his tone wholly separate from his actual mood, eyes lighting up with something akin to mischief, like a child sitting on a delicious secret.]

And feasts! They're most scandalous, but anonymous. And the young cultivator in the eastern wing has taken to running an establishment--it took off right after you've left, alas. But Nie-xiong-- [most important of all, with warmth finally seeping back into Qingxuan's shallow smile.]

You weren't around to see any of that, so what's the use of having it?

[illicitly]

[A scandalous feast and one of the residents starting a new business both sound interesting, indeed, and far more pleasant than the life Huaisang had resumed back in his world. But at least, he can take comfort in that the task is finally finished and he can move on with his own life now. His own wants and needs have been put on hold for far too long.]

Tell me more about the feast. Did you go? And the young cultivator in the eastern wing? Would that be the daozhang pair?

[He sighs a bit.]

I'm sorry I could not be to keep you company, Shi-xiong.