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WHO: Jiang Wanyin (Cheng) +open (Closed starters for Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian and others on request)
WHEN: After the night hunt
WHAT: General stuff/meeting people/connecting dots
WHERE: Around Gazin and the forest
WARNINGS: TBD

Around town

After the hunt, he'd returned to the inn and was back at work the next morning although he left a little early to start exploring the town a little more, looking for a suitable place to claim as living space, because as much the inn was useful, he wanted something that didn't mean he was surrounded by people who he didn't know or trust.

So he'll be checking empty buildings as he wanders the town, coming in and out of anything that looks remotely habitable and abandoned.

The forests

His nights are spent out in the woods hunting solo or with at least one companion depending on the night, so feel free to run across him working his way through the local monster population.

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He'd wanted privacy for this meeting, so he'd just told Wei Wuxian where he'd be and a time before they'd parted after the hunt and he was waiting there the next morning. It was close enough to town they wouldn't be interrupted by monsters but open enough it'd be easy to spot anyone approaching.

And maybe he was a little paranoid but this place was odd and he didn't want people who had no bearing on anything involved in his private business and considering how many questions he had, it was going to need that space.

He'd woken early the morning after the hunt and after cleaning up and getting dressed for the day, opting for the clothes he'd managed to pull together after arriving here over his clan robes, he's gone from the inn, heading for the apothecary.

Because he'd been an idiot last night and there was a mistake he needed to rectify now that things had calmed down. The doors are already unlocked so he heads inside and up the stairs, although he does knock lightly on her door.

In case she's still asleep.

She had, in fact, chosen to sleep in after getting home late from the hunt and then having too many thoughts in her head to fall asleep. The knock has Wen Qing cursing under her breath, untangling herself from the blanket and rushing to the door just wearing a night shift, her hair standing up every which way.

She yanks open the door, her eyes startled and wide. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I thought I had asked to have the morning off. I will be down in a moment! Just let me get dressed and I'll..."

She finally registers the man on the other side of her door and blinks, eyes going from startled wide to downright huge.

"You're not my boss."

Edited 2020-03-01 22:20 (UTC)

Admittedly, he hadn't quite expected to see her fresh from bed and his own eyes widen as he takes her in before he forces his gaze somewhere over her shoulder.

"I just...I thought you'd be up already. I can come back later." When it's not this awkward, at least.

"I was coming to see if you wanted breakfast..."

"Yes!"

Her mouth snaps shut and she just stands there, utterly mortified while her face turns as red as her usual robes are.

Then, the door slams shut in his face. Actually slams, with a deafening bang.

"Don't go anywhere." Her voice comes muffled through the door, as she is moving around.

The door slamming in his face doesn't really surprise him since it hadn't exactly been his plan to catch her that off guard. She's usually up well before now, after all and while he shifts a little uncomfortably while he waits, he does wait.

And tries not to think about what he'd just seen.

It takes a while for the door to open again to the sight of an only slightly less frazzled Wen Qing. She has slipped into a plain white underdress and red overdress, the lacings tight but knotted sloppily enough to obviously be done in a hurry. Her hair is in much the same state, detangled but just plain brushed back with no topknot in sight. Used to being called out of bed by medical emergencies, she pays no mind to her state.

She heaves a sigh of relief when she sees Jiang Cheng dutifully waiting. "Good," she says, "I was afraid you'd left." Now with that out of the way, her fingers clench and unclench around the door handle with a nervousness that is unrelated to her state of dress. Her eyes flit around, avoiding him. "So. Breakfast."

"Yeah, but also I wanted to give you something. I should have done it before the hunt last night but I didn't think and you need a weapon of your own aside from your needles." And he has his sword which is plenty effective on it's own.

But he does hesitate for a moment before he reaches for her hand, finger brushing hers just long enough for Zidian to transfer itself over.

"Until we can get you a proper sword or something a little more effective, I...you can use this."

Give her something? Sounds intriguing, though she finds herself quickly distracted by the touch...

...and then by the sight of the spiritual weapon Jiang Cheng wears around his wrist to come alive and slither over to her, curling itself neatly around her wrist before going still again and looking like nothing but a very fashionable snake bracelet connected to a ring.

Her frantic thoughts stutter to a halt and she looks at her arm as if it doesn't even belong to her anymore. Or might start biting her... which is not as outlandish a possibility as it was a minute ago.

Jiang Cheng is really a little too much before you've even had a single cup of tea.

Slowly, her eyes go up to his face. "You're serious," she says, quietly, slowly. "This is no joke." There's his family heirloom spiritual weapon at her hand and he just... "You didn't even wait to get breakfast."

"It was my mother's. If I'd waited, I might not have been able to do it." His voice is quiet.

"But the monsters around here are different and they're not as simple as the corpses we'd find at home and if you're going to be hunting with me, you should have some form of defense." And the whip at least is less likely to kill than a sword.

"We can go get breakfast now, though."

Breakfast? He is thinking of breakfast now?!

Well, she had brought up breakfast but...

"I..." She looks down at Zidian again, swallowing hard. His mother's... It's impossible not to recall the haunted man she had nursed in the supervisory office; it's been many months since for him but just three for her. To give up something which connects him to his family, to willingly give it to a Wen... Her heart aches with grief and affection and a flutter of hope for impossible things, even as the world continues whirling around her at dizzying speed.

"Jiang-zongzhu." She licks her lips. "I... Thank you." Instead of risking words which might just hurt them both again, she bows deeply and holds it.

"I...you should be safer with it than without it." It's an excuse and his fingers flex, the familiar weight gone but she had needed something that allowed her more range and would protect her when she decided to go on hunts.

The bow has him silent for a moment before he reaches to lift her hands up and lift her out of it. "You needed a weapon."

But it wasn't your obligation to provide me with one she almost says. She swallows it down. It's true but their conversations are still such painstakingly careful affairs, she can't trust him not to take it as criticism.

Her fingers flutter over the smooth metal before she meets his eyes again. Her lips shape into a smile, small and hesitant still, uncertain. "Thank you." The smile widens a little. "Thank you for watching out for me when you didn't have to." And for so much more, for everything this gift in particular means, which it is easier not to put into words.

He felt like it was, especially after the fight last night, and finding out who else was in town had caught him off guard but he was addressing that later in the day. Still, the way Xue Yang had reacted to her being there, giving her the knife was an indication of some level of familiarity.

"Do you want to go to the inn for breakfast." It's mild enough, but he's trying to think of how to phrase the next question he wants to ask so it doesn't come off as an attack.

She nods. "I would like that." She looks down at her hand, unable to keep from fiddling with the powerful new piece of jewelry she is wearing. "Or we could have breakfast here. Whichever one you prefer."

It wouldn't bother her anymore to invite him into her room but there is also the ease of being in a public place to make a get-together feel less formal. Between the shock of being given Zidian and having only just woken up, it doesn't occur to her yet he might have words to say about Xue Yang and her familiarity with him. Even if she did realize, it might not even occur to her that he would think this strange, with her coming from a point in time when they both served the same sect.

"...We could talk more freely here." Specifically about the previous night and what he'd seen even in passing. Xue Yang was a problem they'd need to handle eventually, he was sure of it but for now, he needed a better idea of what was actually going on.

And what her involvement is.

"And your food does tend to taste better than the inn's."

"Then we will eat here." Her voice was firm, permitting no room for argument, though she was mostly just glad to have a purpose after the embarrassment of the show she had given him.

"Come along," she said and walked towards the kitchen to get them tea and food.

It was a small kitchen but no less humble than you would expect from any regular civilian home's kitchen back home, and very neat since Wen Qing was the only one who used it regularly.

"We will have to eat in my room." She paused while stoking the fire in the oven to heat up tea water, looking at him. "I hope you don't mind."

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Locked to Wei Wuxian (and Lan Wangji eventually)

Locked to Wen Qing

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