baxiasprice | Erku

Some. It's boring.

[He holds his hand out for the basket and makes a 'gimme' gesture. It's large enough that it looks like Mingjue's job to carry it. Even as he does, though, he can't help the surprise on his face or how high his eyebrows have decided to wing upward.]

Give over and pick someplace nice.

[His bemusement deepens a little.]

If we do spar, I won't go easy on you, but I think I need all of your news before we even try. Core?

I can imagine it would be without any disciples to train or war to fight.

But you've been at this for so very long, I imagine you would need a little bit of break as well. [He offers the basket with a grateful smile.]

Perhaps there are projects or something you can help with if you get too bored. People are doing all kinds of amazing things out there.

You can check out the community pantry that Peter Quill is running. I've been cooking ready-made meals for it. It is so that newcomers can have some non-aphro foods. It is a valiant effort. Perhaps they would need some help procuring meat.

[It was lovely today, being the day of the sun. There was a large tree inside. He settled down in front of it and set a blanket he had brought with him.]

Well, yes of course. I don't expect you to go easy on me. It won't be fun at all if you did. Please pass me the basket so I can set this up.

I do have a lot of news. I got my core at eighteen and that was a weak one since I developed it so late in my life. Recently I managed to fill an entire line on my card and requested the Diety for a proper one. Da-ge.

Feel my meridians. It's stronger than I have ever felt in my life, the small wrinkles I had by my eyes are gone. I can move faster and fly higher than I ever did. I'm so happy.

[Relieving A-Yao of the basket, Mingjue hums a low agreement.]

I might. The Unclean Realm only needs so much meat. Could work. [A conflicted shadow dims his expression for a moment as he furrows his brow.] I'm not good at being idle.

[But the comment is shaded with a hint of...relief, maybe, that he has been.

Once they're at the chosen tree, he passes the basket back and tries not to be too obviously gobsmacked by A-Yao's news. That's...a lot of very significant news. He'd known that Meng Yao hadn't really had a chance to cultivate, and he'd been so young. But a proper core—]

Show me when we sit.

Thank you.

[Ziyao shook his head. There was a sad expression that flitted across his face. Mingjue always had a harder time during peacetime than he did during the war. It didn't help that the war took so much from him.

He looked at him sympathetically.]

You never were.

However, If I am being honest, neither am I. If you ever need to find things to do let me know and I'll be happy to help connect you to some projects. I keep getting scolded for taking on too many things.

Alright.

[He laughed softly, Jiang Yanli has been taking him to task and he knew better than to argue with a woman of Yunmeng.

He knelt on the grass and set the food and plates out, serving Mingue first, making sure there was a healthy amount of meat there. He then set up the tea and offered him the bottle of very fancy alcohol.]

This is a gift for you. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the sheer amount of stuff you had to deal with from me. You didn't have to but you gave me stability when I didn't have it.

I'm grateful for our friendship.

Yes. [His immediate agreement is to the offer of helping him connect with tasks that'll keep him busy. Couldn't hurt.] Do. I can probably help you, anyway.

[He also seats himself after a snort at the idea of A-Yao taking on too much. It's a trait that Mingjue remembers from Meng Yao, and it's curious to see in this person and in this situtation. After letting A-Yao serve him, however, he takes the bottle of alcohol in hand and considers it for a moment. His brow creases as he gathers his words until he's frowning quite seriously at the bottle. Then he turns the serious gaze on A-Yao.]

And I'm sorry. That I haven't been here for you this last little while. We both know why, and I don't regret that part of it, but.

[A moments pause.]

I missed all of these large doings, and I missed you. I don't like it. I don't like leave you alone in hostile territory.

I would like that.

[At his words, however, there was a naked look of vulnerability on his face. Xichen sat between them like a ghost. The words from his last conversation with his second brother echoing in the back of his head. At the time when he fled from Koi Tower, he did feel like not only was he running but he was trying to tourniquet that bleeding wound by himself, as he always had.

It did hurt deeply at the end of it. It made sense. Even with this time gap Mingjue and Xichen had more mileage, who was he in that aside from the person who ruined their lives?

The crueler part of his mind whispered that no one chooses him and he shook it away. It wasn't true. He had proof of that now.

Ziyao had a hard time meeting his eyes, his smile sad.]

I... know.

It isn't the first time I've been alone in hostile territory and it isn't as if I do not have support. My brother and his wife live with me, as well as Kore...It isn't as hostile as some of the other battlefields, I've survived in. [He said quietly.]

He needed you more.

[His smile was soft and kind. His expression softening somewhat.]

I do appreciate the sentiment, however, I missed you as well. I need to tell you something important though.

[He took a breath and let it go, along with the old pain. The path he wanted to walk with his eldest brother was a different one than what he wanted before.]

I am seeing someone. It is serious even though we have been trying to take it slow.

Edited 2021-09-02 05:07 (UTC)

[If Mingjue knew the right words to say, he'd be saying them and with emphasis. As it is, he can only set his jaw and glower back down at the alcohol he's not entirely sure he deserves. He is sure of one thing, though.]

You deserve support.

[If that comes out mulish, then so be it. Because he can't argue that Xichen had. Still, Mingjue (the wrong Mingjue, maybe, considering...everything) is going to be standing in his older self's shadow until he can fight his way past it.

At the comment, however, Mingjue lets out a hard breath and takes the subject change as the deflected blow it is. He raises his eyebrows. Not bothering to hide his incredulity, he asks:]

Here? You're seeing someone here?

As do you, my friend. We can support one another now and in the future. We are connected, right? This goes both ways.

[His eyes were soft. This younger Nie Mingjue had to deal with more things than any one of them did, with the scars from the future he hadn't lived yet. It was a lot to ask of anyone, and yet he mad met it with a resolute grace.

This made Jin Ziyao respect him all the more. And if he ever needed him, he was determined to fight for this man as much as he did when he was only Meng Yao. Even if the only one he was fighting was his older self's shadow.

They can explore this later, more of course.]

Of course here. You already know my sordid relationship history anywhere else.

[He gave a small laugh, anxiously wringing his hands together.]

I hadn't expected it to happen. Not after the previous mess. But it did, I'm afraid it seemed the gods have a sense of humor. I've known him for a long time. Nearly twenty years, can you believe it?

[Okay he was beating around it when Nie Mingjue preferred directness. Okay A-Yao, you can do it. Just be direct.

He sat straight up. His shoulders square and tilting up his chin to meet his eyes. Fuck, why was he nervous? Of course, he was nervous.]

Nie Huaisang and I are seeing one another. It has been this for almost two months. Did you want to hear the bizarre story? Because I am still incredulous that this happened.

[Baffled, even more incredulous (if that were possible) silence meets A-Yao's announcement that he's dating Huaisang and it's apparently serious.]

You're what.

[His confusion routes half to anger and he can feel himself puffing up with it. Because Huaisang. Huaisang.

Who is. Not his Huaisang just like A-Yao isn't his Meng Yao. That doesn't seem to matter to his hindbrain, which is warbling at him that he needs to do something, anything, about this. He tenses, fingers clutching the bottle of booze in his hand in an involuntary twitch toward a weapon. It's not blind fury, though, which means that he can see A-Yao sitting there with a confessional anxiety in his every fiber and see him as A-Yao.

Thus the confusion wins.]

Huaisang?! [Huaisang's name is a demand and a question.] You both—he called you the enemy. You both cried on me. You—

[He yanks back a moment. Because if there would be anything the two of them were aware of it would be the ridiculous history that Mingjue had never lived. He changes tack and holds out a palm, alos demanding.]

Give me your wrist.

He did.

And I did. Our history is complicated. And because of this, we can only know one another, because of the unique path we have walked.

[It was the reaction he was expecting, though he was grateful he didn't pull out Baxia right then and there. He let a breath in and then out. The truth was always best, even if it is hardest. Truth is what he was committing to as Jin Ziyao. It was the only way he could have moved past fears that Jin Guangyao wasn't able to.

He trusted Nie Mingjue. This was a solid foundation they had built together.

He knew that Huaisang was anxious about telling his brother, and thought it best if he talks to him]

My wrist?

[He blinked a few times before holding out a small thin wrist, pushing his sleeve back as he did so.]

Your wrist.

[Mingjue's doesn't consider A-Yao delicate, per se, but his wrist in Mingjue's hand is delicate by comparison. He treats it gently, though, if firmly. It's a simple matter to test his qi and his core and get a feel for the thing, how it was different and new and strong. Despite himself, Mingjue grunts over it in satisfaction.

By way of explanation, he offers:]

We're going to spar.

[And then he sits there for a moment, holding A-Yao's wrist, not tight but not loose, as waves of emotion wash over him. Anger, yes, but after having made sure to watch himself for these past months, knowing what he did about how he could end up, of what A-Yao had been afraid of at the very first, he can see where the cracks in his anger are. He's angry but it's...concern and confusion and frustration and annoyance and fear and a burning desire to force this news into something orderly and understood. He tries to put into words his impulse.]

We were already going to spar, but now I need to spar with you.

Edited (missed an important conjuction) 2021-09-02 22:53 (UTC)

[he watched as he felt the probing Qi, and his own ebbed and flowed in response. The Augur was generous in what he was given, it was more than he had even thought he would get which was a pleasant surprise. He looked up at him attempting to read his expression.]

I understand. [His eyes fixed on Mingjue, as he spoke. He did understand him, better than he used in their odd journey here. This was a huge thing he was sharing. There was a decision in it and it went a different way than even he had anticipated.

He continued.]

Where I communicate with words and the nuances within, you need to communicate on the field. I will help you parse this on the field. May I take a moment to cover our food from the bugs and critters before we start?

[Mingjue offers a sharp, decisive nod as A-Yao speaks. Communicate on the field? More or less. When he speaks his agreement, however, it's to the last question asked, the 'take a moment to cover the food' one.]

Of course.

[He drops A-Yao's wrist, then, a tangle of 'the pleasure of being known' adding to the condensed ball in his chest.]

It's a good core.

[Is the first thing, which he considers very important. The second, as he shoves himself up from the ground, tightly-coiled with a need to act:]

We're not destroying the park.

[Ziyao had decided it was better to put the food away in its basket for the time being. If they were going to fight. They were both going to be hungry afterward after all. After his wrist was dropped he put the food away and setting the blanket on top of it.]

I love it. My core I mean.

[He pushed himself up, dusting off his clothing. And fixing the Jin styled ponytail in his hair.]

Where would you like to fight? There is a colosseum that has a nice fighting arena, We do not have to worry about destroying anything if we spar there.

[Mingjue snorted.]

I'm glad you have a good one, then. And the colosseum would be better than here. I've fought there once. Not bad.

[He's a little terse, but the initial wave of emotion is already starting to pass now that he's not focused on The Thing that's currently in contention. Before A-Yao could do anything silly like pick up the basket himself, Mingjue did it for him, plucking it from the ground and settling it under one arm.]

Let's go.

I have never been there only passed by it a few times.

[He was indeed about to pick up the basket but apparently Mingjue wanted to be a brat about it. He hid his small fond smile and tossed Hensheng down a foot above the ground and then stepped onto her.

He had been training both with Master Shen as well as Jin Zixuan, learning the Jin style properly now, He was excited to show it. He had another power now as well but didn't know if he wanted to reveal his hands so early on.]

Please lead the way.

[Following suit by unsheathing Baxia and mounting the blade, Mingjue eyes A-Yao thoughtfully. Now that he knows that A-Yao's core has been...augmented by the Augur, he pays more attention to the way A-Yao handles his sword, and his flight, as Mingjue lifts off and starts heading for the coliseum.

The small, ridiculous part of him that has been indulging in nonsense since he'd come to this place snaps out a simple:]

Race you.

Sounds fun!

[Ziyao was smiling at the challenge, bending his knees slightly and he was off. Flying fast was his favorite thing to do when he got his new core. Before he had a hard time keeping up with both him and Xichen but now it was easy and he could be flashy as well, casually doing a loop in the sky.

When he had body swapped with Xiao Xingchen, it was the only thing he really did with the body of another before getting his own back. It reminded him of when he was a child and he would watch the Jiangs fly over Yunping and see them as immortals. He would imagine what it was like to be them, and here he was flying with a childlike wonder he hadn't felt in so very long.

He may have been dead and this place was was one challenge after another, but in this right now they can be themselves and have fun. He laughed deciding on a playful jab.]

Don't cry when this Jin beats the mighty Nies!

You wish.

[Mingjue launches a second behind A-Yao. There's a curl of amusement through the snap of his returned challenge, as well as something a little more serious than that. And if Mingjue races with a sharper edge of emotion than just play, well, he's moving and that's the important thing. He's acting. He's not sitting there, listening to A-Yao speak pretty words at him while he gets more and more frustrated.

And in fact he can feel the frustration bleeding off of him as he pushes Baxia hard with the promise at the fight and the end.

They didn't declare a finish line, so Mingjue's doesn't particularly care so much about that part of the race. What he cares about is keeping watch over A-Yao and trying to keep ahead of him. That and the loop that he does. The speed that he goes.

And A-Yao is fast. Bendy little Hensheng is also zippier than Baxia. Mingjue's fast out of brute force and spiritual 'muscle,' and it shows even in a (complicated) friendly race.

The island isn't overly large either. They're not that far from where they need to land already.]

If I win, lunch is on you next time! I want to eat roast pork over a campfire.

[He felt those sharp eyes analyzing his movements as he moved and he didn't mind. He didn't really know his new limits as of yet.

This was for the fun of flying, and it felt good to move. This was a warm-up before the actual spar. Hensheng buzzed with excitement, it had been so long since she was pushed and she was hungry for it. They really were neck in neck. But it was fine. This was fine, a language they both knew. He knew Nie Mingjue was a powerhouse, fast and strong. The strongest of their entire generation. A bright light that burned so fast and so hard.

Towards the end now the colleseum was within reach, He moved down making his way towards the entrance, with the grace of a dancer.]

[With the coliseum within sight, as well as its entrance, Mingjue hurtles toward it nearly in tandem with A-Yao as they descend. And it is a race, at least for Mingjue, not just because he's feeling the bite of strong emotion, but also because he's...well, the best word for it is testing. Pushing. Trying to see where A-Yao's limit is.

The wager, however, makes Mingjue glance over at A-Yao even as he inches ahead for a breath. A split second later, moments from landing, he pulls hard on the metaphorical reins of his headlong flight. He doesn't so much let A-Yao win as decisively opts for the prize that A-Yao had declared they'd both get if he won.]

[He hadn't reached it yet. It was an odd sensation to not even be winded when he used to be so out of breath with much less. Ziyao huffed out a bit of air as he hopped off Hensheng, gracefully, picking her up in one motion. He was very aware that Mingjue pulled himself back. He looked over at him with a hand on his hip looking rather indignant.]

You brat! You really want to cook that bad for me, do you? Fine, it better be as wonderful as the charred pork you used to make when we were on campaign.

[Placing Hensheng in her sheath, he moved his hands up to take the guan from his hair, taking the second band at the base off as well. If he was going to fight, he could have his hair up in a better way. He pushed it back into a loose bun like he used to wear it when he was younger and reattached his guan. This was better for a no bars held-back fight.]

You better not hold back on the field.

[OOC: Breaking with Erku here!! /////// Don't worry if you don't find time to hit this one! Tasty charadev aside, I mostly wanted to make sure I got this particular reply out since I had it all planned. *heart*]

[Mingjue's not quite in the mood to laugh, but he does huff with something almost like laughter as he shoves Baxia in her sheath. A brat. Him.

He reaches out to grasp for A-Yao's arm, though, as A-Yao takes down his hair and starts fixing it so his flashy jewelry doesn't become more of a liability than a decoration.

Letting out his breath in a rush, he furrows his brow and gives A-Yao an intense not-quite-glower.]

I won't. Because that was a guarantee. That there's an after. [He's cooled down enough that words suck less.] I'm not changing things. I'm learning your changes.

[It was strange, in the past he would have run from an expression like that. However, it must have spoken volumes of how far they had come together. He allowed him to grasp his arm and looked up at him.]

I understand.

Shall we get going? The grounds seem empty so we will have plenty of room to spar. [There was a time once the three of them, Mingjue, Xichen, and Meng Yao were something to behold on the battlefield but there was so much strife between them now.

And both of them were different people.]

[Disgruntled and not quite sure why, Mingjue lets him go.]

Fine. Yes.

[Because yes. There's room. And no people. Which suits him for this...whatever this is. Venting mixed with an urgent desire to test A-Yao and A-Yao's new gifts.

Then it's Mingjue's turn to make sure that he himself is ready to fight. Once he is, after a quick check, he strides his way out into the center of the space. It's only once he's actually out there, far enough from A-Yao to make it clear that he's doing it in context of a spar, that he draws Baxia again. The power he's using to wield her thrums in the air around him; he's very much not going to be holding back. He throws a glance at A-Yao, evaluative but dispassionate about it, the fury that spikes and drives him already being redirected.]

Ready.

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