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[illicitly]

« sandpiper » TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION Nie Huaisang ✦ Mo Dao Zu Shi
RESIDENCE ✦ 4 BR House in the Sumar Province
GEMBOND ✦ Amethyst

35. Male. Bisexual. Crushes on handsome male friends who touch him a lot and has no idea what to do with a woman besides get awkwardly drunk, cry into her bosom, and ramble about his hobbies. Professional hot mess with secret aspirations of guiding his home society into being less of an infighting shitshow. Powerful 'step on me' energy. Unfulfilled boyhood dreams of being a useless trophy husband and pillow king.

INFO ✧ PERMISSIONS ✧ KINKLIST ✧ OVERFLOW

Comments

[surexpose]

I can imagine. You did well, though--here, lean in. [Once Huaisang does, he leans in to adjust his collar before sitting back, nodding with pleasure.]

I can order for us, if you like--this food is similar to that of my own country. Fairly close, in fact. Unless there's something that catches your eye...?

[He turns the menu to face Huaisang, seeming almost absurdly at home here..]

[zidianing]

[He gives a sigh.]

All right. Well. I suppose he'll reach out to one of us later on, then.

[illicitly]

Don't give up so easily! If we're already here, we might as well just break in. If he's inside and it's just a false alarm, I'm sure he'll understand if we frame it as concern for him.

[It's not even a lie. Huaisang's a little worried about his counterpart, too. Besides, he dressed this way for a reason and that reason was in case he had to get his hands dirty.]

Do you see any points of entry other than this door?

[zidianing]

[Well. Okay. He could frame it as concern for his friend.]

Possible for the balcony on the other side. I suppose--

[He looks down at his hand]

I could create a bridge from one balcony to his. Or use Zidian to swing over.

[illicitly]

A bridge would work. Or you could fly up on your sword! You have your sword, don't you?

[Someone doesn't seem to have clued into the fact he can fly on his own yet. Then he pauses a moment, head tilting to side.]

You can fly on swords in your world, too, right?

[Listen, he's still trying to process everything about the situation, okay. Potentially dumb questions might get asked.]

[zidianing]

[He narrows his eyes]

Yes, we do.

[He pulls Sandu out but clutches at the sword still sheathed in its scabbard. Would it work?]

I'd have to bring you over by your hand or collar.

[illicitly]

My hand is fine. I'm not a kitten that needs to be carried around by the scruff.

[He's a sect leader! He has some dignity! Sometimes! Occasionally!]

It beats trying to scale the side of the building. What floor is this? It'd be bad to get the wrong window.

[In the meantime, he's counting the number of doors and calculating roughly where his counterpart's apartment should be from the outside.]

[zidianing]

[For some reason, he has a hard time believing that Nie Huaisang doesn't need to be carried by the scruff. He rattles off the floor number and looks around for the exit outside ]

[illicitly]

[Once Huaisang's worked out approximately which balcony should be the right one, he waves Jiang Wanyin over to the elevator. Now that he's no longer living in fear of being eaten by what had used to appear to him as a maneating door, he's quite comfortable with riding in them.]

Over here! This way! We'll ride it down and go over to the side of the building where his balcony is. His should be the sixth one down.

[illicitly]

[Huaisang beams under the encouragement like a student receiving praise from a teacher and does what he's told.]

Oh, I'm fine with you ordering for us. I wouldn't know know where to begin!

[It's honestly a recurring theme for Huaisang in this world, just stumbling around unsure of himself, taking each day as it comes.]

There's still so much to learn and process.

[But he's truly grateful to those being kind enough to aid him.]

[zidianing]

[He looks...uneasy for it but goes with Huaisang]

I can't believe how quickly you've adapted to these things so easily.

[illicitly]

[The sound of the phone ringing startles Huaisang out of his frantic door pawing at his apartment door in an attempt escape and find help somehow. He quickly realizes that his current form presents a bit of a problem. He barely knows how work the device with his hands. How is he supposed to operate it with paws? So after several rings, Huaisang carefully extends one claw and tries to tap the touch screen, wincing as he feels the screen crack beneath it, but at least, he successfully manages to answer it, voice coming very odd and distressed to his own ears.

H..Hello? Madam Jin? I've changed into something and I don't have any hands! I'm trapped in here and can't get out!

[He might be sounding near tears with his frustration at trying to navigate a world without thumbs.]

[illicitly]

You haven't? What have you been doing with all your time?

[Huaisang doesn't mean to cast shade, he really doesn't, but learning his way around their new environment and gaining a little more understanding on just how to simply live in such a place has been his primary focus from the start.]

I've had help from my neighbor. Master Ignis has been really kind and patient with me since our arrival. It's thanks to him that I've learned as much as I have.

[Once they're in the elevator, Huaisang punches the button for the ground floor, looking a little proud of himself. He'd been so scared the first time he'd ridden in one of these and look at him! He's a man who takes the elevator on his own now!]

[zidianing]

[He glares at Huaisang]

I'm not sure of the Jiang Wanyin of your world but I am not one to socialize so easily.

[He snaps at him and grosses his arms, waiting uneasily as the thing goes down.]

[illicitly]

Oh, don't worry. He doesn't either.

[Huaisang sighs heavily.]

Actually, he's pretty grumpy.

[He manages to leave off that 'too'.]

You can relax. It isn't going to fall. I ride in it all the time. It's perfectly safe.

[zidianing]

[Huaisang doesn't say it but Jiang Cheng definitely hears the "too" and frowns deeper]

Safe until it falls.

[He's been on it a handful of times as well and still doesn't trust it.]

[illicitly]

If it falls, it falls.

[Huaisang shrugs.]

There's no sense in worrying about it until then.

[When the reach the bottom floor, there's a ding and the doors open.]

Dinner after moving into new house first week of April

[curtails]

Standing over the stove in the kitchen, he's eyeing the knobs with a hint of distrust before looking at the paper Yanli had given him with directions. The dish itself was a simple one, fish and rice with a side of steamed vegetables, but he's still getting used to these new machines.

"It shouldn't take more than half an hour if everything works like Shijie said."

[illicitly]

It hadn't taken nearly as much time to save up for a proper home as Huaisang had expected it would. The two story, four bedroom house might have some peculiarities here and there and be built in an unfamilar style but it's still an improvement over the apartment he'd been living in previously. The furniture might be rather basic but as long as he lives here, Huaisang now has house and land of his own and that's comforting. There's still a lot of work and decorating that needs to be done but enough progress has been made toward making it livable that he's satisfied enough for now.

Presently, Huaisang is sitting on the same stool he's occupied during most of the moving, content to leave most of the actual labor to Jiang Cheng when he directed the proceedings and occasionally rearranged things as best as he could to his personal liking.

"You and Madam Jin are learning these things faster than I am. I still don't know how it all works."

[curtails]

"Being able to cook is a necessity. As varied as the food seems to be here, I don't think we'll find anything that tastes like the dishes we're used to." Not that the food is bad, but it's not necessarily something he wants to make a habit of eating.

"What was your favorite meal at home, anyway?"

[illicitly]

"I don't know. Braised pork with chestnuts, I suppose. Or steamed dumplings filled with mutton to snack on."

He's partial to meat and seafood dishes and the food in Qinghe tends to be on the salty side or have delicate flavors.

[curtails]

He files that away for later, glancing over his shoulder. "I'll see what I can do." That said, his attention returns to the food in front of him, at least for the moment.

"I'll finish unpacking after dinner. There's not that much left."

[illicitly]

"Thank you."

Lazy as he is, Huaisang's not so self-centered that he can't thank those who labor for him, especially those of equal rank.

"I'll handle the organizing later."

It's usually a better application of his skills.

"Once another payment arrives, we can go do more shopping if you like. There has to be better furniture than this."

Huaisang waves a hand toward the incredibly low quality furniture that been all he could afford. The house and land itself and used up most of his current savings. But at least, they have beds to sleep on, a table and cushions to sit on for meals, and enough housewares to get started here.

[curtails]

"It serves its purpose." It's not like their furnishings at home, but they're serviceable, even if the beds are too soft for his tastes so far. But he'll get used to it.

"I don't know if they'd have anything close to that, anyway."

[illicitly]

"I wonder if there's any artisans that would be willing to take commissions. The shopkeepers at Razzle Dazzle seem eager enough to try to recreate fashions from other worlds. I already put in some requests for clothing more like what we're accustomed to."

More clothing, too, is something he intends to pursue with future payments. He has enough for the time being, minus suitable garments to where when he's transformed. For now, he's willing to focus on the housing situation.

"Maybe there's others who would be willing to take on similar requests."