What were you thinking? Did this Shizun ever teach you to give up and seek your own death like this? If this Shizun has failed in everything else, was it not you who told me, you refused to accept fate? That you would crush it underneath your feet? Tell me, what is this! What is this crushing, if you kill yourself like this!
I have not made the wisest decisions at all times, Binghe, but surely I taught you no more about how to die than I ever taught you how to grieve!
I can't teach you what I don't know! I can't teach you what I'm learning to do just now! I didn't fucking want to teach you to grieve! So why is it you're teaching me twice now how to do exactly that?!
I hope you appreciate the courtyard garden. I didn't know where else to... I can't keep you inside. I can't sleep when you're in here. You're not a statue, and that's... I can't reach you. I don't know what else to do.
It's beautiful in the gardens. I'll find a structure for overhead. You don't need to be out in the rain, if it even rains inside the city. I don't know if it does. My robe should be enough for the night. Please excuse the poor mending. Many of the tears were too much for this Shizun to fix.
It doesn't make the nightmares end. I keep checking that you're there, and it's horrible every time you are. Every time you're fucking there and you shouldn't be you shouldn't be you fool why did you kill yourself after all this time why now why here why werent you strong enough why wasnt I
Found bamboo. Or closest approximation. It's beautiful. Flecked with light when the sun catches it. Planted it this afternoon. More coming over the next few days. Dirt seems to be embedded under my nails.
Found a covering. Lattice, some kind of glass-not-glass. If you could see, you could look right up through it. Can't see stars, since this city is strange and leveled, but the lights still shine like they remember what stars should be.
First day of the Sanguis Cycle. Once night fell over the city, Level One was bathed in a reddish light. From my research, Moonblessed appear to feel aggression, higher drives for intimacies and violence, and may expect to display features from any combination of wolves, koi, or snakes. The histories for the god says he favoured those who were swift and showed no fear. So the stories go, they all embraced bloodshed, and his realm of rock was turned red with it.
Ridiculous. Blood doesn't stay red after its been exposed to air for long enough. We both know that.
Spent time walking the beaches today. There are shells of kinds I've never imagined before, enough to make me wonder about the life below the waves. I know there are dragons in the mountains far from this city, but the ocean here feels like a more appropriate home for such creatures out of the oldest scrolls.
Met one of those affected by Sanguis. He had been made into something half-fish, half-man. Doesn't get thirsty. Fascinating. Giant koi are pretty, if impractical. I wondered if he could swim down and stand being in that salt water for longer than a true freshwater fish.
Why the hell did you kill yourself? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't! You weren't protecting anything, you were throwing everything away, and there's no excuse! Do you hear me? Binghe, my most disobedient disciple, who couldn't even come home when he'd crawled back out of hell! Why did you do it? Why were you so uselessly stubborn over something as simple as holding an offered hand?
The latticework arrived today, along with the pillows. This old man must be going senile to consider pillows for a crystal corpse, but it looked too bare on that platform otherwise. I couldn't
A proper incense burner isn't enough for observation of a spirit, but I don't know that spirits behave here like they do in our home. Be at peace, Binghe. You deserved so much more than that, but this is all I have to give now.
Hello, this is Luo Binghe? This is the Anon from the network. A friend of yours asked me to pass this along to you directly. In case you wanted it. Didn't give me any details, and I'm not asking. Not my business.
There's a guy named Noctis who was concerned when he heard someone had died. He wanted to let that person know they can talk to him, if they want, even if they don't know him, because he has more experience with that kind of thing than he wishes he had. Not that he died, but probably, my guess, those important to him have. He seemed to want someone to talk about it with as much as making offer for someone else to talk.
Anyway, your friend Shen Qingqiu seemed to think you'd find that relevant information, so here it is: Noctis @ Prismanet.
[ While he's gradually getting the hang of using certain portions of their devices, Binghe isn't exactly adept at all the finer skills involved. Texting is still a difficult hurdle, so he settles for the voice function. ]
Even if you aren't trying to pry, I'm sure you're smart enough to figure things out.
[ Shen Qingqiu's conversation with this person implied nothing short of a death and the failed effects of moonlacing during the dying process. One that left few guesses over who had died here when his master then decided to ask for Noctis' information to be shuttled his way. ]
No lecture this time? You were more vocal about encouraging me before you were handed this information.
[ Now all of a sudden they've decided on clamming up? That's...strange. ]
[ to start off, he connects to Luo Binghe's number and waits for his disciple to pick up the line. turns out some things are way easier to set up than others, and a spar session with a marital god and his best disciple and protagonist of his world? sure. great thing to have come up when iris has passed and..............
....................... so anyway, who knows! he's here and focussed on a certain task in the moment! each journey of a thousand li starts with a single step, right? ]
[ Thankfully these devices alert to who is making the call, because his response to a stranger phoning in would be vastly different than knowing Shen Qingqiu is reaching out to him. A fact which brings questions to mind, even if he's answering before Binghe has time to dwell long on all the reasons why this is happening now. ]
Shizun?
[ Speaking not too close or too far from the device, there's an unasked inquiry giving an added weight to Luo Binghe's voice. A near tangible level of concern over whether something has gone wrong enough to prompt a level of contact they've not had before. ]
[ His worry is in his eyes but less so his expression as he sends this call, that he intended to be just a call, as the news rolls in. It'd been on all the displays, in the holo ads, and he has a moment to wonder, to worry, to be frantic as he goes for the only means of distance communication he has. ]
Binghe? Binghe, please answer. Please don't have been injured in a spaceship crash.
[ He does not need you to jump genres into space adventure! Please! And! Thanks! ]
[ His primary concern during this event had been merely to escape it alive, if only for the sake of returning to the man who now reaches out to him in apparent fright. And he knows, despite his master's best efforts to withhold such feelings. You don't spend your best years at someone's beck and call to fail in memorizing what fear looks like etched into their features.
But the things he considers later, when the fires and strange gelatin creatures are traded for escaping a crash landing by a vessel that nearly spelled your demise? The first is to not let Shen Qingqiu know.
Something that lingers enough for him to keep this to voice while he regains his bearings. ]
...I'm here.
[ A reminder that at once time he wasn't, that he'd 'left' and there are ample reasons for Shen Qingqiu acting as he does with this information on his mind. ]
There are those here far worse off. A large quantity have minor injuries and non-fatal burns.
[ A soft package arrives for Binghe on Firialia. The paper is decorated with trees and the little card attached has a reindeer on it (since there was no horses or jinba available for selection). The card simply says "from Mikuni" on it.
Inside the package is a plush scarf in greens and blues. He tried to make it a little shorter than the horse scarves he knitted, but it's still pretty long! He picked up a skill when he first arrived and now he's inflicting it on everyone. ]
[ gratitude is always worth showing, and for the sheer amount of feeding the stray that is shino that binghe has done over the last few months, gratitude is what he wants to show. he stops by to drop off a package at binghe's door, leaving it to be discovered whenever it's discovered.
there's a plain box, and inside, a variety of spices with little attached suggested recipe cards. they're not all hot, though some are: it's a variety of different cuisines, ones he thought looked interesting. each recipe card has a distinctly cutesy sort of decoration to it, pleasing overall. there's also a good luck charm from a shrine more shinto-like in caihong. ]
Happy New Year, Luo Binghe! Thank you for your care this next year. May you have the best of happinesses and good times, thank you! The charm is for good luck over the next year. Remember to burn it when the New Year comes again!
[ Not only is the gift incredibly thoughtful, the fact it appropriately aligns with his tastes in hobbies feels like support in something not everyone has understood. ( Understandably, Demon lords who cook and bake sound downright absurd in theory and look even more outlandish in practice while bustling about the kitchen. ) While the spices as a whole nicely fit that niche interest their individuality gives him reasons to try out the delightfully new experience of different cuisines. Those encouraged all the more by the included recipes Shino has provided.
That charm is just the perfect topping to this surprising gift. All of which he'll be sure to respond to by sending a thank you card out to Shino in return, offering his own appreciation for the kindness shown his way. ]
[consider this a declaration of intent: wei wuxian, self-aware and appropriately versed in the comedies of shameless enticement, is inviting one and all (for some measure of all, as he is only one man with two hands) to take part in a little... experiment.]
as the snow thaws, as new grass springs from the earth, as the sun rises, warmer— i offer my hand to hold, without question, without judgment.
-
a favor for a favor: a confidence, a deed, or a kiss. my ask: a child's toy for gusu lan's hanguang-jun, in honor of his fatherhood.
[ Struck rather speechless by the announcement of a Moonblessed's recent parentage, and therefore the subsequent arrival of a child, Binghe struggles to make heads or tails of this for a while.
One of the stipulations of this world had been that none here were able to create a family. If there was any sort of balance to be had in this world, then there was a sense of logic in holding at bay not only the iron-fast grip of death, but preventing even a glimmer of new life forged between the unions here.
Binghe hadn't given it much thought at the time, his interests a far cry from those bound to produce heirs. But now it rises to the surface in stark contrast to the news. The clash of facts against this prosperous fabled child leaves his interest piqued enough to entertain the message. ]
Congratulations to Gusu Lan's esteemed Hanguang-Jun.
Since I've been so cordially invited to take part, it'd be an honor to oblige. Keeping in mind the stipulations you've offered in return.
[ Luo Binghe is in no hurry to make waves now that he's been given a new life with his Shizun suddenly alive and well. That means he's more than inclined to be on his very best behavior, including bestowing all the formal niceties he's dropped in normal conversation that suddenly seem relevant now.
...Not that any of this will him from holding the messenger to his promise of a favor in return. ]
But first, shouldn't I know if it's a son or daughter that's being welcomed? And the age of the child in question?
[ A visitor stopping by isn't something of a routine occurrence for a man who's made being a loner an entire lifestyle. This means he's still pondering the potential options of who might be behind the door when he rises from his book to address the sudden knocking. Opening more than an inch but less than a body's width, the door pries from it's doorframe just enough for its owner to lean into the space it makes; intrigue beating out his confusion but not dampening a deep-seated initial wariness around strangers. ]
Yes? [ A substitute greeting as arms casually cross, certain this has to be a case of getting the wrong apartment. ]
Are you looking for someone on this floor?
[ Of all his guesses the one he doesn't anticipate catching sight of is a stranger whose presence would bode for more questions than answers. Moreso when a flick of eyes downward gathers up the presence that reminds of Mikuni and Konoha in the best of ways; a little familiar and yet novel all the same.
He has assumptions that automatically spring to mind. Yet seeing as how it's not impossible for other Moonblessed to trot about donning centaur fashioned forms, Binghe holds that thought on pause before opening his door wider. Just enough to permit a more hospitable exchange with someone that bests even his height in spades. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The After Death Letters
27th
You're not supposed to die.
Especially not this young.
Especially not before I do.
28th
I have not made the wisest decisions at all times, Binghe, but surely I taught you no more about how to die than I ever taught you how to grieve!
28th, message unsent
29th
It's beautiful in the gardens. I'll find a structure for overhead. You don't need to be out in the rain, if it even rains inside the city. I don't know if it does. My robe should be enough for the night. Please excuse the poor mending. Many of the tears were too much for this Shizun to fix.
29th, message unsent
30th
Found a covering. Lattice, some kind of glass-not-glass. If you could see, you could look right up through it. Can't see stars, since this city is strange and leveled, but the lights still shine like they remember what stars should be.
1st, 1/2
1st, 2/2
Ridiculous. Blood doesn't stay red after its been exposed to air for long enough. We both know that.
2nd
Met one of those affected by Sanguis. He had been made into something half-fish, half-man. Doesn't get thirsty. Fascinating. Giant koi are pretty, if impractical. I wondered if he could swim down and stand being in that salt water for longer than a true freshwater fish.
3rd, 1/3
3rd, 2/3
3rd, 3/3
4th, 1/2
Will you ask again? Will you?
4th, 2/2
Just like you do.
5th, 1/2
5th, 2/2
6th
7th, 1/3
7th, 2/3
7th, 3/3
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th, warning for graphic depiction of injury
13th
14th, 1/2
14th, 2/2
15th
text | 5ever anon
There's a guy named Noctis who was concerned when he heard someone had died. He wanted to let that person know they can talk to him, if they want, even if they don't know him, because he has more experience with that kind of thing than he wishes he had. Not that he died, but probably, my guess, those important to him have. He seemed to want someone to talk about it with as much as making offer for someone else to talk.
Anyway, your friend Shen Qingqiu seemed to think you'd find that relevant information, so here it is: Noctis @ Prismanet.
voice;
Even if you aren't trying to pry, I'm sure you're smart enough to figure things out.
[ Shen Qingqiu's conversation with this person implied nothing short of a death and the failed effects of moonlacing during the dying process. One that left few guesses over who had died here when his master then decided to ask for Noctis' information to be shuttled his way. ]
No lecture this time? You were more vocal about encouraging me before you were handed this information.
[ Now all of a sudden they've decided on clamming up? That's...strange. ]
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call; prior to september event
....................... so anyway, who knows! he's here and focussed on a certain task in the moment! each journey of a thousand li starts with a single step, right? ]
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Shizun?
[ Speaking not too close or too far from the device, there's an unasked inquiry giving an added weight to Luo Binghe's voice. A near tangible level of concern over whether something has gone wrong enough to prompt a level of contact they've not had before. ]
...Is everything alright?
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sept 7th, video
Binghe? Binghe, please answer. Please don't have been injured in a spaceship crash.
[ He does not need you to jump genres into space adventure! Please! And! Thanks! ]
voice;
But the things he considers later, when the fires and strange gelatin creatures are traded for escaping a crash landing by a vessel that nearly spelled your demise? The first is to not let Shen Qingqiu know.
Something that lingers enough for him to keep this to voice while he regains his bearings. ]
...I'm here.
[ A reminder that at once time he wasn't, that he'd 'left' and there are ample reasons for Shen Qingqiu acting as he does with this information on his mind. ]
There are those here far worse off. A large quantity have minor injuries and non-fatal burns.
permavideo
permavoice
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special delivery
Inside the package is a plush scarf in greens and blues. He tried to make it a little shorter than the horse scarves he knitted, but it's still pretty long! He picked up a skill when he first arrived and now he's inflicting it on everyone. ]
gift | backdated to jan 1st
there's a plain box, and inside, a variety of spices with little attached suggested recipe cards. they're not all hot, though some are: it's a variety of different cuisines, ones he thought looked interesting. each recipe card has a distinctly cutesy sort of decoration to it, pleasing overall. there's also a good luck charm from a shrine more shinto-like in caihong. ]
Happy New Year, Luo Binghe! Thank you for your care this next year. May you have the best of happinesses and good times, thank you! The charm is for good luck over the next year. Remember to burn it when the New Year comes again!
- Shino
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That charm is just the perfect topping to this surprising gift. All of which he'll be sure to respond to by sending a thank you card out to Shino in return, offering his own appreciation for the kindness shown his way. ]
no subject
as the snow thaws,
as new grass springs from the earth,
as the sun rises, warmer—
i offer my hand to hold,
without question,
without judgment.
-
a favor for a favor: a confidence, a deed, or a kiss. my ask: a child's toy for gusu lan's hanguang-jun, in honor of his fatherhood.
no subject
One of the stipulations of this world had been that none here were able to create a family. If there was any sort of balance to be had in this world, then there was a sense of logic in holding at bay not only the iron-fast grip of death, but preventing even a glimmer of new life forged between the unions here.
Binghe hadn't given it much thought at the time, his interests a far cry from those bound to produce heirs. But now it rises to the surface in stark contrast to the news. The clash of facts against this prosperous fabled child leaves his interest piqued enough to entertain the message. ]
Congratulations to Gusu Lan's esteemed Hanguang-Jun.
Since I've been so cordially invited to take part, it'd be an honor to oblige. Keeping in mind the stipulations you've offered in return.
[ Luo Binghe is in no hurry to make waves now that he's been given a new life with his Shizun suddenly alive and well. That means he's more than inclined to be on his very best behavior, including bestowing all the formal niceties he's dropped in normal conversation that suddenly seem relevant now.
...Not that any of this will him from holding the messenger to his promise of a favor in return. ]
But first, shouldn't I know if it's a son or daughter that's being welcomed? And the age of the child in question?
A Delivery!
♥ Sorry for the delay!
Yes? [ A substitute greeting as arms casually cross, certain this has to be a case of getting the wrong apartment. ]
Are you looking for someone on this floor?
[ Of all his guesses the one he doesn't anticipate catching sight of is a stranger whose presence would bode for more questions than answers. Moreso when a flick of eyes downward gathers up the presence that reminds of Mikuni and Konoha in the best of ways; a little familiar and yet novel all the same.
He has assumptions that automatically spring to mind. Yet seeing as how it's not impossible for other Moonblessed to trot about donning centaur fashioned forms, Binghe holds that thought on pause before opening his door wider. Just enough to permit a more hospitable exchange with someone that bests even his height in spades. ]
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