blindforlove: (Default)
晓星尘 ⭐ Xiao Xingchen ([personal profile] blindforlove) wrote2024-03-02 11:08 pm
Entry tags:

Golden Peacock inbox

@daozhang
TEXT

AUDIO

VIDEO

ACTION

noneforyou: (69)

[action] - sometime before the bulletin board on the 5th

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-14 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's not the sort of thing they do every night, but it's not rare either: Xiao Xingchen exploring the halls of the hotel and poking into whatever nooks and crannies he comes across, and Xue Yang tagging along to do his own information gathering and keeping a close watch on just what it is that his sort-of-roommate is finding out about. Just because there hasn't been much that it's been dangerous for Xiao Xingchen to discover hasn't meant it's been nothing, after all.

Tonight hasn't been particularly exciting up to this point, a few traces of ghosts that led nowhere being the most notable occurrences. Xue Yang is just waiting for this most recent trail to go cold too, but as they follow the ghost along, what happens is anything but. Suddenly the entire space seems to shift, the temperature not truly dropping but feeling chilly all the same. Xue Yang feels a familiar pricking sensation that's not all that unlike a couple of his workshops back where they came from. Places heavy with spirits and the feeling of lingering. ]


Daozhang, do you--

[ sense that, are the words that he loses as he suddenly spots an odd shimmer ahead. Instead what comes out of his mouth isn't the end of the question, but a much more certain, ]

There's something ahead of us.
noneforyou: (37)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-15 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Lights.

[ The answer is immediate, clarification less so: even with a cultivator's sight it's a bit hard to make out until they get a little closer. Xue Yang continues to focus on making out the different shapes, letting Xiao Xingchen be the one on guard for any sudden attacks. ]

Lanterns. Lots of lanterns. People, too, I think. Not sure if they're alive. [ It's hard to tell if they're breathing from this far away. ] Most of them are in sitting positions but not really moving. There's a whole space here.
noneforyou: (19)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-15 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Xue Yang is too preoccupied with studying the space to be paying attention to see that change in expression, much as he would have loved having a new sore spot to "innocently" prod. Instead his brow furrows. ]

Yeah. It sure looks like one though. The people sitting are running stalls--sort of. They've got blankets with stuff spread out on them. I can't see any food but it looks like they're selling objects. Hey.

[ Xue Yang calls out to one of the nearby peddlers, someone with skin so aged and sunken that it's hard to tell if they're man, woman, or otherwise. They slowly lift their gaze to meet Xue Yang's, expression mostly exhausted and a bit hollow, but their eyes seem human enough. ]

What's up with all the decorations?

[ The person is silent, and after a few seconds, lowers their gaze back to continue vacantly staring at their wares. Xue Yang scowls and makes a soft tch under his breath. ]
noneforyou: (39)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-16 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Junk. A lot of it looks like it's jewelry but it's all broken and dirty.

[ He reaches down and grabs what looks like a quarter or perhaps a third of a thick bracelet. ]

Shit like this can't even be worn or put anywhere. What's anyone gonna do with this? Melt it?

[ "It binds to the ankle," the shopkeeper suddenly speaks up. Their voice is as old-seeming as their face, raspy, perhaps a touch feminine. "On the left will give you a taste of what you've long dreamed. On the right will give you a whiff of what you've recently desired. A day and a half's time."

Xue Yang stares for a couple seconds before muttering without fully meaning to, ]


The hell does that mean...?
noneforyou: (58)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-18 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
Huh? That's stupid.

[ If he'd been here for less time he'd also call it bullshit, but at this point he really wouldn't be surprised if it actually did that. He turns it over in his hands a few times idly, watching carefully as Xiao Xingchen's fingers brush over the different items.

"For those who seek not to be weighed down, a moment may their feet leave the ground," the shopkeeper murmurs raspily as Xiao Xingchen's touch traces what seems to be a broken pin or some other sort of hair accessory. The next thing seems to be some sort of gemstone set into a dull fixture, even the stone itself looking like its lost all sparkle. "Chilled to the core that one is, never to warm, no matter how flames and fire lick." ]
noneforyou: (63)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-18 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ At the response to his muttering, Xue Yang's expression screws up into a slight scowl. Something about Xiao Xingchen's statement is wrong, but he's having a hard time figuring out what it is, much less how he'd try to explain it, so instead the remark is met with silence.

When Xiao Xingchen starts to panic, Xue Yang can't help it: he lets out a burst of laughter. He definitely didn't expect to get the chance to see Xiao Xingchen flailing about tonight.

From how his voice still comes from above Xiao Xingchen's crouching form, it's easy to guess that Xiao Xingchen hasn't floated very high. Still, Xue Yang shifts slightly, positioning his right side a bit more prominently towards him. If the man flails enough that he tries to grab onto Xue Yang, he wants to make sure his left hand is far out of reach. ]


Guess that one works, huh? You really aren't weighed down at all.
noneforyou: (31)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-21 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
The garden and vale are probably not too bad to fly in. Too bad about our swords, though.

[ And Xiao Xingchen would certainly continue to not fly even if he had his back, or a replacement.

"For that which crowns, long shall it be."

Xue Yang isn't even paying attention to the words anymore as he turns over the item he's still holding in his hands, then almost shoves it in the peddler's face. ]


So how much are you asking for this junk?

[ "..." They're quiet for several seconds. "A day and a half's time. Or fifty chips." ]
noneforyou: (70)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-22 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really, but I figured I might as well try one of these things out to see. Better than something that just stays cold, right?

[ He turns back to the peddler. ]

Ten chips.

[ He gets a scowl in return. "What insult you levy. Forty chips." ]

Forty? This thing's garbage and not even worth half that. We'll pay fifteen.

[ "Thirty-five, and no lower." ]

Thirty-five? Who the fuck would buy your garbage? There's barely anyone here but us. Eighteen.

[ "Thirty-five, to include his." They gesture towards Xiao Xingchen, and Xue Yang turns towards him as well. ]

... Hey daozhang, do you want that thing you've got there?
noneforyou: (58)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-23 01:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Then thirty-two. Take the offer or we walk.

[ There's a long pause, during which the peddler glares at the two of them, mostly Xue Yang, or perhaps they're simply appraising the items the two of them are holding. Finally they let out a ragged sigh, like the rattling of old bones, wind through the sparse leaves of trees half-dead, or a draft rustling the paper windows of a run-down old house. A sound almost nostalgic for the place they had shared together before coming here.

"Thirty-two, and not a chip less." ]
noneforyou: (66)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-25 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Xue Yang waits for a reply for several seconds before crossing his arms. ]

What? Don't want to sell anything more?

[ There's a brief pause before the reply comes.

"Rookery is all but closed for the night. Even should you not haggle, you would not buy in time."

That catches Xue Yang by surprise. ]


Rookery? That this place? [ He gestures as he glances around. ] Don't try to pull some bullshit about closing. Things never close around here. Do you think I arrived yesterday?

[ But he's barely turned back before there's a sudden wooshing feeling. Like breath being sucked out, then returned with the odd sense that you hadn't even been breathing before. The chill of the other world disappears along with the lanterns, stalls, even the wares directly in front of the two of them.

It's abrupt enough that Xue Yang doesn't even manage to react at first. ]
noneforyou: (39)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-26 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
It's... It's all gone. The whole thing just fucking vanished. All the people and all their stuff. Not even sure what happened.

[ Was this what that old bat meant by "closed"?

His eyes fall to where Xiao Xingchen is reaching down, and it's only then that he finally notices. ]


... Daozhang, what's up with your hair? Has it always been like that?
noneforyou: (49)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-27 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, it's a lot longer now than it was yesterday.

[ Saying it in case Xiao Xingchen can't quite tell with sight alone.

But Xue Yang soon turns from it to the seemingly metal scrap that he got out of that deal. He turns it over in his hands a bit and even tries to press it to his free wrist, but nothing about it stands out and it doesn't stick. (If Xiao Xingchen is listening, he can probably hear at least a bit of Xue Yang's messing about.)

His gaze lowers to his feet and legs. As stupid as the shopkeeper sounded at first, everything else seems to have worked so far... ]
noneforyou: (60)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-30 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ Xue Yang glances over again when Xiao Xingchen lets it down. He's having similar thoughts, but he's also thinking about how Xiao Xingchen is going to walk around without people stepping on it. Well, he could probably just use a more elaborate style to put his hair up in. Some of the Jin Sect ladies managed to get their hair up entirely without any of it hanging down, so if Xiao Xingchen did something similar it should at least keep it from being long enough to drag. ]

Not really. Hey, what side do you think I should put it on?

[ He's asking more out of curiosity for which Xiao Xingchen would choose, rather than because he can't decide. That means it's not asking for help. Right? Right. ]
noneforyou: (66)

[personal profile] noneforyou 2024-05-30 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's what I thought too.

[ That was not what Xue Yang thought but it can be now.

He turns it over a few more times before finally bending down and pulling up a pant leg, then placing the metal against it. He leaves it a second then tries to take it off again, and unlike all the times before, this time it doesn't budge. Xue Yang tugs it, and it still doesn't come off.

After a moment he straightens up. ]


Huh, it really stuck.

[ Is he smelling something yet? Maybe. He hasn't gotten a good sniff quite yet but he's noticed something seemingly in the air. ]