[xichen cannot picture how small that is, but he does not doubt there are things so small he cannot see. there are plenty of things he cannot see, that he knows exist.
so he does not protest nor push back on the explanation, does not try to reframe it in terms he knows until he has listened to it all. for a moment, it reminds him of lectures at cloud recess but with an instructor who was much more enthusiastic than any teacher he'd had or the sort of teacher he'd been himself. there's merit to it and it's nice to learn like this. it's been a long time since xichen has been the one learning, not teaching. it earns a smile which means--
the milk and explanation are both salves to the wound, distraction enough that he does not realize he's not in pain at the bottom of the glass and at the end of it.] Is this similar reasoning behind any salve or medicine that stops the pain from a wound? Though not with the same compounds?
[he figures it is not limited to the milk, thankful as it is for it. he wonders if this sort of thing can be done for emotions, if such pain as sadness can be blocked out as easily as jim kirk describes. or if it is different for emotions.
his brows knit for a minute as he considers the whole concept.] By the understanding of our scholars, it is qi that makes up and binds all things in the universe. It sounds like atoms, then.
no subject
so he does not protest nor push back on the explanation, does not try to reframe it in terms he knows until he has listened to it all. for a moment, it reminds him of lectures at cloud recess but with an instructor who was much more enthusiastic than any teacher he'd had or the sort of teacher he'd been himself. there's merit to it and it's nice to learn like this. it's been a long time since xichen has been the one learning, not teaching. it earns a smile which means--
the milk and explanation are both salves to the wound, distraction enough that he does not realize he's not in pain at the bottom of the glass and at the end of it.] Is this similar reasoning behind any salve or medicine that stops the pain from a wound? Though not with the same compounds?
[he figures it is not limited to the milk, thankful as it is for it. he wonders if this sort of thing can be done for emotions, if such pain as sadness can be blocked out as easily as jim kirk describes. or if it is different for emotions.
his brows knit for a minute as he considers the whole concept.] By the understanding of our scholars, it is qi that makes up and binds all things in the universe. It sounds like atoms, then.