fracturarpg | [mingle] the space (january).

interim mingle

( WELCOME BACK, TRAVELERS. )

There's nothing but the clatter of train tracks, and the odd feeling of almost floating.

When you wake, it's hard to tell exactly what it is that you're missing - only that you are. There are pieces that aren't quite right, even if you're not sure where those pieces would normally be. Pieces of what, exactly....? Well, if you had to put a word to it, it would be - yourself, probably. Or did you get something back recently?

The place you've found yourself in is strange, certainly. It's probably worth exploring a bit. Though it just as easily seems that the only form of welcome or explanation that you have, comes from nothing more than a slab of marble. It might've changed since the last time you saw it.

You might have changed since the last time you saw yourself too - perhaps with a new emblem on your clothes, or a portrait on your skin.

There's no need to fret that much though. You've already gone through the ordeal once, and you might be able to see results from it. Even so, it's best that you don't get too comfortable, because there is still the unshakeable feeling:

There's still much more ahead of you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jiang Cheng is going to sear the skin from Kano's flesh when he finally learns this is a lie, but WHATEVER. Wait for that day, you absolute gremlin.]

Gel... P? [His accent butchers it, it's fine.] That sounds ridiculous. [But he has... no way of knowing whether these foil things do have souls in them like some kind of soul-housing bag.]

Fine.

[ It could be the truth! Different cultures with different beliefs, etc etc. ]

Good boy~ Now, I'm gonna have to ask for your help getting that soul back, alright? If you were an evil spirit, where would you go? Think of the evilest person you know— what would they be drawn to?

What?

[It's a dark, heavy question, full of insulted pride. That's it. That's all he can take of this. The sword rises to point at Kano.]

Keeping souls full of resentful energy is walking a crooked path. [Think of the evilest person he knows, huh.] If you're practicing demonic cultivation, stand up. I'll give you a slow, but deserved death.

Eh...

[ Maybe he deserves death, but not like this, for this reason! He does not move at all, and has to restrain himself from putting his hands in front of him because that's just asking for them to get lobbed off. ]

No, no, you're mistaken? They're souls, not demons, and I'm not cultivating them! [ just sort of shoving them into balloons, you know. the things shrink instead of grow. ]

Kept inside long enough, the souls, like, purify or something, but the containment device has gotta deflate naturally without you popping it! It's kinda like... mm... cheese? Or pickles?

[ Pickled souls, okay ]

[He takes one step forward.] Thinking you can control it. Familiar. Get up. [The tip of the sword jumps a bit, a command to rise.]

Are you trying to imitate the Yiling Patriarch? Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you. Who are you really?

[ Kano can't really find a good reason why he shouldn't be skewered on the spot. Aside from the fact that he's innocent in this case and this case only. He still doesn't get up, though, nor move to safety or anything like that. ]

Never heard of the Yiling Patriarch! But, hum, it's that question again... I'm Gel-P, one of the Burnish. I really dunno what else you want me to say about myself.

Burnish...?

[Wow, he hates this place one-hundred percent.] The Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian. [The moment of truth: does Kano know how to not step on mines in a minefield.]

I kill those who follow him down the wrong path of demonic cultivation. That includes harnessing the resentful energy of the dead.

Doesn't ring a bell. Never met the guy.

[ More like, he never learned Wei Wuxian's name after a month and a half and three threads and basically attaching himself to Wei Wuxian's left leg. It's fine! You don't need to know people's names. You just point at them and go "You!" and go from there.

Granted, Kano has heard the term "resentful energy," though, but who is he to throw an innocent man under the bus? The nameless stranger he knows surely can't be the Patriarch this man is referring to. ]

[Jiang Cheng's lips twitch irritably, but he doesn't press Kano because, honestly, he'd rather not know. At all! Wei Wuxian--out of sight out of mind. Minus the thirteen years he spent hunting the man down.]

Stand up.

[The sword lowers, but he doesn't put it away yet.]

How old are you? No nonsense, or I'll break your legs.

[ Kano stands up, slow and deliberate with his hands up above his head as if he's still held at gunpoint, because something as simple as stating his age may turn out to be a greater problem than it's worth. People keep looking at him and thinking he's twelve... across multiple games... Does he not look seventeen? Maybe he should take an average, so it sounds more believable. ]

Fifteen years old, sir. I swear on my life.

Fifteen? [Oh perfect. Most of the junior disciples are all fifteen, and so it's the perfect age to be bullied by the adults.] You're almost an adult. Stop wasting time and potential running stupid games.

[He still cannot be completely sure about these damn balloons, BUT. The last person he would trust not to be playing him like a fiddle is a fifteen year old kid.]

[ He should have gone with twelve. ]

Aw, don't say it like that~ I dunno what sort of potential you mean, but there's no such thing as a stupid game, you know? As long as someone's having fun, there's no way it's a waste!

[ It's him. He's having fun. And that's what matters. ]

[The back and side of Kano’s knee gets a sudden, firm thwack with the flat edge of Jiang Cheng’s sword, a reprimand he doesn’t follow up for now.]

There’s a time and place. Here and now are neither. Where is the owner of this shop? Every trick you try to pull, I’ll impale another “balloon,” so choose your answer carefully.

[ WHY

Kano stands up as straight as he can, and spreads his hands out wide. ]

You're looking at him~!

[It would just be too much of a waste to bloody his sword stabbing Kano. The boy's legs get another twack, and then he sheathes the sword again.]

Idiot. People will kill you for saying that if they learn you're someone here who may have answers.

[ Happy birthday, Anna, here is a free pass to stab Kano as you see fit, because it's almost world hop time so he just has to cling to life until then. If that does happen, he would be glad for a swift and painless death, maybe with the sword through the neck instead of shredding his legs that he can't help but reach down and rub a hand against, because that really smarts... Can't be good for the sword either. Be nicer to your sword. ]

Hm? I mean, I have answers, but, like, there's no way to get 'em out of me if I'm dead, right? If anything, you'd want to keep the store manager alive and safe, with unbruised legs!

[mingle] the space (january).

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