blindforlove | Prismatica Inbox

[ It's much later than Xue Yang usually texts Xiao Xingchen, if he's going to text him at all. ]

Daozhang, are you still awake?

Yes, I am. No one else is here. And yes, you can come over.

[He already knows well enough what questions are coming next whenever "Candy" texts hi.]

[ Aww, it's so nice to have a routine. ]

Then I'll be there soon.

[ Xue Yang knocks on the door and patiently waits for Xiao Xingchen to open it. Once he's allowed in, it's obvious that the late hour isn't the only thing unusual.

Perhaps to a normal person it might not be noticeable, but to someone with an elevated sense of smell (say, a cultivator, and even more so a cultivator without sight), the scent of blood on him is distinct and unmistakable. Xue Yang doesn't acknowledge it. ]

Before you ask, I've already had dinner tonight.

[Xiao Xingchen notices the scent the moment he opens the door, his concern overriding his courtesy the moment the door closes behind him. Reaching out to touch the man's shoulder, his other hand carefully pats at his figure, searching for the trace of the blood.]

What happened?

[His voice is both concerned and serious, not about to treat the matter as casually as the man does.]

[ Well, not that Xue Yang didn't expect this, and he gives a soft exhale of breath that isn't quite a sigh. With his right hand he catches that hand that's patting him and laces their fingers together. He's gripping slightly more firmly than how he usually holds Xiao Xingchen's hand, both to deter him from touching more, and... because he wants to. He wants to keep hold of Xiao Xingchen. He knows it isn't entirely him feeling this but it's so much easier to give in to the impulse. ]

It's the Sanguis moon cycle, so I got in a small fight. It's nothing serious.

[ Except he's still bleeding slightly. But the smell is not entirely his own blood, at least...? ]

Even if that's true, we should take care of it right away.

[If at least to ease his own mind!

The moonlacing spreads faster through his system with both his hands on the man like this, and whatever this injury is, perhaps it'll heal with enough of his energy. Still, he's not used to such an idea, and he'd rather figure out how much his friend needs patching up.

While he doesn't pull his hand away, it doesn't deter him from searching. He resumes his search with the other hand and ignores all claims to it being "nothing serious" before he can make sure for himself.

That's when he lifts his hand to brush against the man's face, feeling patches of something rough against his fingertips.

It was on a strange impulse, usually beyond the boundaries of what he'd think of as acceptable contact with anyone, injury or not. Surprised at even himself, he wants to take his hand away and mumble his apologies while continuing to search for the source of the blood. But now that he's touched the strange texture, he trails his fingertips over it again, where the soft skin turns into something more rough.]

Edited 2019-10-04 10:19 (UTC)

[ This time, Xue Yang allows it. He did the same sort of thing himself when this first happened, after all.

It's not as intense today as it is sometimes. The visible scales on his face trail down until they're slightly under his jaw, but they don't reach all the way down his neck, so they don't connect to the scales underneath his clothes either. On his worst days the patterns form one fully connected patch that reaches all the way from his cheeks to the tops of his hands and feet, but today there's just interspersed patches, though some are rather large.

He considers teasing Xiao Xingchen about it, but the touches feel rather nice (if strange), and he doesn't want him to keep trying to find where he's bleeding. After all, part of what's bleeding is his left arm, and that's too close to his secret. ]

Moonblessing. [ He says the words with a slight sneer, careful not to put too much of it into his voice so that he doesn't accidentally sound like himself.

As if this is a blessing. ] It's annoying, but a fight usually gets rid of the worst of the urges involved.

[ Usually. Because now that he's standing here with Xiao Xingchen, watching the man he was so close with for two years and then spent eight years trying to save, he's becoming acutely aware of urges that he wasn't having to deal with when he was over yesterday.

The moon cycle really does amplify some of his worst traits... ]

[Xiao Xingchen's fingertips linger on the scaled patches, before he quickly lets his hand fall back to his side. This is a bizarre "blessing" that they have to deal with the aftermath, but at least he can help with it, somewhat.]

Come sit over here.

[He leads the man to the couch, not letting go of his hand. Then, once they're both seated, he reaches for his shoulder again.]

I won't do it if you don't like it, but if this will heal you faster...

[Pulling the man to him, he brings them together in a hug.

In their coffin home, A-Qing had no compunctions about latching onto Xiao Xingchen, and he would hug her back if he wasn't occupied with something else. He can't recall them ever having this kind of contact, perhaps aside from carrying him off the side of the road. Much less did he expect that A-Qing and the other man ever got closer than the length of her bamboo staff.

Perhaps blood now stains his own robes, but that doesn't matter right now.]

Edited 2019-10-05 00:18 (UTC)

[ Xue Yang is surprised for a moment... but really, should he be? In this place, this sort of thing is even better than bandages for dealing with minor injuries, and Xiao Xingchen is the sort of person who patches up a complete stranger when given the chance.

It's warm. The moonlacing is warm (Xue Yang has never hugged someone, or been hugged, though he's done plenty of other things) and Xiao Xingchen's body heat suddenly wrapped around him is also warm. The reptilian lean of his moonblessing means that it's even more appealing than usual.

Xue Yang leans into the hug and wraps his arms around Xiao Xingchen in return, burying his face against his chest. Behind Xiao Xingchen's back, his right hand is against his body and Xue Yang's left hand is on top of his right. Just in case. ]

Mm, I like it, daozhang. I like it a lot. It feels good.

[ I have you now, something ugly whispers inside of him, tangled between his own feelings and his moonblessing, and I won't let you go this time. ]

Oh... that's good. That must mean it's working.

[Despite being glad to hear it from the other man, he himself agreeing aloud would surely sound too embarrassing. He just holds the other man a bit closer, another light laugh rumbling in his chest that his friend has nuzzled into.]

Once everything feels better, we'll have to get you cleaned up and changed out of that.

[The only thing bothering him in this moment is the scent of blood, which won't go away with the healing.]

Mm.

[ Unfortunately, the scent of blood is part of what's keeping Xue Yang calm(er) right now, but that will be something to be dealt with later, after he's finally peeled off of Xiao Xingchen.

And Xiao Xingchen is going to have to be the one who will initiate it, because Xue Yang will happily continue to sit here hugging him, metaphorically curled up in his heat, for more or less the whole night without moving if he's allowed. ]

[Xiao Xingchen is just as reluctant to move, perching his chin on top of the other man's head. This is the closest they've ever been-- yet somehow, it doesn't feel unnatural to him at all. Though he still can't just let him sleep while covered in blood if he can help it.]

It's so dangerous to go on your own. Let me go with you next time, if you must fight.

[The blood reminds him of the time he first found the other man, but with someone who has had a spotless record in combat so far, Xiao Xingchen is sure he'd get into less trouble.]

It's not that dangerous, daozhang. We're not fighting to kill. [ Usually. ] We're fighting to injure. That's the point of it. Blood smells really, really good when I'm like this, so I find someone else who wants to fight and we fight until we're both bleeding.

[ Sanguis moonblessed are very healthy... ]

[Not that the man can see, but Xiao Xingchen's face scrunches up in bewilderment. Blood smelling good? At least this all means that the man isn't in too much danger.]

This place... when I think everything starts to make a little more sense, it's all confusing again. I suppose I don't have any of these changes that come with this moon, myself.

[With a sigh, he strokes the man's back, tilting his head to lean against the couch. It wouldn't be difficult for him to drift off to sleep at this hour, curled up together like this, if it wasn't for that disquieting scent of blood. Definitely too strange to think of it as smelling good.]

Are your wounds healed now?

You're probably connected to a different one.

[ He can't even imagine what Xiao Xingchen would be like as a Sanguis Moonblessed. Craving blood and violence, aggressive and territorial? Those traits are absolutely nothing like him.

Xue Yang likes the feeling of the hand on his back, and it's... calming is the wrong word. Placating, perhaps? Not enough to relax, but it feels like the sharp edges he gains when the red moon is in the sky have been blunted slightly.

He's reluctant to answer the question, but finally unwraps his arms from Xiao Xingchen, though he continues to lean against his chest. Xue Yang pulls back his left sleeve and gives a specific press to the red staining the skin beneath, but there's no immediate smell of fresh blood accompanying the action. He does the same to a cut on his side, but it too has closed.

Xue Yang wraps his arms back around Xiao Xingchen before answering. ]

They seem to be.

[ But he does not intend to let the two of them separate. ]

Ah, the other two...

[Perhaps he hasn't still taken too much time to learn about whatever might happen from others. As long as he can bear with it, it'll be fine, but he certainly doesn't expect to enjoy whatever's in store. He takes in a big breath and sighs, enough to make the other man's head rise and fall with it.

Hearing that his wounds are better, and yet the man still clings onto him like a spoiled child, he's at a loss for what to do.]

What? You don't want to get changed? Are you really about to sleep like this?

[That fight must have been more exhausting than the man let on.]

[ Isn't acting vaguely like a spoiled child part of what makes Xue Yang endearing, though? It's a part of his personality he deliberately played up, at the very least.

He gives a small shake of his head. ]

Why would I get changed?

[ He's slept in these clothes before, especially when staying over at Xiao Xingchen's place. ]

[Xiao Xingchen wants to point out that he himself doesn't appreciate the scent of blood, but he pauses before he figures... well, he's slept through worse. If the man likes it, then it's no big problem for him anyway.]

Ah... never mind it. You really are sticky, like a piece of candy.

[With a laugh, he squeezes the man a little tighter in his arms.

He can't blame the man for enjoying the moonlacing so much. After all, he likes it more than he would care to admit, himself. Perhaps, if just for this cycle - where the man will need more energy for the fighting he's driven to do and recovering afterward - he won't mind them like this.]

Here, it'll be better like this.

[Still holding on, he moves himself until he lies his back down on the couch, head by the end of it. Now it'll be easier for them to get to sleep.]

[ Suddenly Xue Yang finds himself pressed against Xiao Xingchen from top to bottom, and his heartbeat picks up slightly. The excitement isn't sexual. It's darker than that. It's the twisted feeling from before springing back up fresh, the voice whispering Mine, all mine, as he adjusts his grip for the new position (but doesn't let go, oh he certainly does not let go).

This is the body he kept preserved in the coffin, but it's alive and it's warm. He worked so hard for even the slightest chance at something close to this, and now he has it.

Xue Yang isn't going to sleep like this. It's far too risky to sleep like this; all he needs is his left hand to wind up in the wrong spot when one or both of them shift in the night. But he's willing to spend the night like this, awake, feeling the warm flow of moonlacing from the contact between himself and Xiao Xingchen. Because Xiao Xingchen is his. ]

You're right, daozhang, this is better.

Mm, good. I didn't think I'd be too comfortable.

[The extra weight on him should feel like an inconvenience pushing down on him as he tries to sleep, yet the man feels like anything but that. His heart starts to race a little faster, and he can only hope that his friend doesn't make a note of it, even if it'd be hard for him to miss like this.

He feels the man's heartbeat too... but he won't think too much of that.

With another couple of strokes to the man's back, he can try to focus on sleeping. Perhaps he ought to be a little more embarrassed at doing this, but he doesn't, only noting that they're both enjoying it. If that's the case, then what is there to dislike? Of course, it could be only because of the moon, and he should try to be more considerate of their boundaries even during these strange times.

He'll just have to trust that the man will make it clear what he minds later.]

Now let's get some rest.

Edited 2019-10-05 08:58 (UTC)

[ Xue Yang feels that heartbeat pick up, but it doesn't matter to him right now. What he's getting out of this right now has little to do with how Xiao Xingchen is feeling about it.

He tightens his arms briefly, almost as if it's a hug. It is, but it's not. ]

Alright. Sleep well, daozhang.

[ This will be a lot to sort out later. There's a lot of things happening that Xue Yang is missing or ignoring thanks to the fact that this is an indulgence of some of his most twisted desires amplified by Sanguis. They'll all be things that he sorts out later, because right now, Xiao Xingchen is trapped underneath him willingly.

The way it feels almost right to have Xiao Xingchen asleep beneath him, that Xiao Xingchen is willing to indulge him so far and let the two of them get this close, even something as little as the unfamiliar feeling of arms wrapped around him for the first time in possibly his whole life... Once his mind is clear, it will be a lot to digest.

For now, all he wants to do is spend the entire night pressing down Xiao Xingchen, seeing, hearing, feeling, and smelling his sleeping form. He can nap tomorrow back at his own apartment. ]

I understand you have learned the truth about Xue Yang and Song-daozhang. Please stay as long as needed.

Hanguang-jun, I am truly grateful for your hospitality. I will contribute to this household throughout my stay in any way that is needed.

[It takes a few tries, the voice-to-text not handling his words all too well lately. Every attempt to speak comes out a little mumbled and shaky if he's left to himself and his own thoughts for too long.

Speaking with other cultivators from the great sects also still feels so foreign after the years away from most of cultivator society. He was only involved with that world for a brief period of time, but his teacher had ensured that he understood the proper etiquette and decorum before leaving the mountain. Still, he feels like he doesn't belong-- almost like he has ever belonged anywhere.]

Please let me know what I can do to help.

[Without even the chance to night hunt around here, the sense of being out of place and helpless keeps growing stronger. He has to do something.]

Not needed, daozhang. You are our guest.

(( A second message follows after a short delay. ))

If you like, you can assist with the juniors' lessons.

(( It might good for them to have a teacher other than Lan Zhan all the time. ))

When you are ready, Xiao-daozhang.

Edited 2019-11-04 23:52 (UTC)

I will gladly do so. Many thanks again, Hanguang-jun.

[He almost leaves it at that, but in the guest room on his own, his thoughts start to race even more. It's easier to ask this when not face-to-face with someone, regardless of what he can see or not.]

Forgive me for troubling you further. However, two young disciples identified me when they recognized Shuanghua. Do you know of any reason why they would know this?

[When he disappeared from cultivation society, he was sure he faded into obscurity and his fame disappeared along with it. It hadn't been too many years, but surely his impression wasn't that lasting...?]

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text; first day of Sanguis (Oct 1)

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Text; after Sizhui gets xxc settled at Chez Lan

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