ximilialog | so i took a leap off of the precipice || closed

[That's a new greeting. Dante mirrors the hand over his heart, gives Blue a little respectful nod.] You haven't known her long?

[Man. They really are just dragging in whoever says yes to their deal, huh. Must be incredibly desperate, and boy, does Dante know how that feels.]

Ximilia, huh? Fancy name. Did you guys name it that or did it already have it before you all got here?

It was well established before I awoke here, yes. The mission predates us all by quite a deal of time...though I can't say I know the specifics of it. [he gestures to the area around them, this supply drop room.]

But this room in particular...will always have something new. Or familiar, if asked for. [like that noise machine of Dante's.]

Is she generous with the details or is it all just on a need-to-know basis? I can work with either, I just need to know what to expect.

[He's worked for all kinds of clients in the past, and is treating this as just another job. Well, mostly.]

Nice of her. [He pats Nevan's side, like the guitar's an old friend.] I didn't think she'd take me seriously when I said I wanted Nevan back, just to spice things up a notch around here.

Musical cultivation? What, like, your clan runs a school for music? [That's the thing you do when you cultivate something, right? You let it grow? It's a pretty fancy term for just teaching people how to play a guqin.

Dante hums in response, eyes flicking from Wangji to the instruments on display. He puts Nevan to the side and wanders over, picking up a concert flute.] This look anything like the flutes you're used to? [He doesn't try to demonstrate on this one, partly because Dante's just not as good on the flute as he is on the guitar. Not a lot of flutes in rock and heavy metal.]

Musical cultivation is not usually taught to those outside the sect. But my sect does host yearly lectures for those young masters and mistresses who are in need of broader cultivation knowledge than their own clans and sects can or will provide. We also have the most extensive library in the Jianghu. My sect values education.

[~~They run the cultivation equivalent of a finishing school.~~

His words are as calm and sedate as Wangji is while follows Dante with his eyes. There is no hint of a brag when he speaks of the library. It is the truth, though Dante will never know that the library used to be much more expansive. But in the years since it was burned it has been replenished and is, again, the most comprehensive library among cultivation society.

He remains silent for a moment while he stares at the strange flute, brows creasing, before he stands and carefully places the guitar to one side, where it should be safe from damage. Then he moves to examine the flutes before pointing at more a selection of more traditional, and less complicated looking, flutes.]

These are the ones I am familiar with.

Edited 2022-10-02 16:28 (UTC)

What if somebody outside the sects or someone who hasn't got a clan wants to pick it up? You provide for them too?

[Okay, sounds more like one of those correspondence courses some colleges offer. Probably? Dante's never been to college, he's been too busy killing demons to bother with that kind of thing. He wonders, absently, if Vergil might like this library in the Jianghu. Wherever that is.]

You mentioned cultivation. Is that just the term you use for teaching people the arts? [Because so far he hasn't heard anything otherwise.] Because where I'm from, they usually just call it "art school".

[He's pretty sure that's what they call it, anyway.]

Oh, these look nice. [He puts the concert flute back, then picks up one of the wooden flutes and twirls it around his fingers. He passes Wangji another one.] Not much of an expert in them, so you're gonna have to show me how you play. I'll follow along.

[???

Ah.

The man was not familiar with cultivation. Or cultivators, presumably. That would require a much longer explanation. Which Wangji could give, but it would be difficult for him to do so casually.

So for now, he settled on:]

I have forgotten that you are unfamiliar and in doing so, explained poorly. This Wangji apologizes for his mistake and asks that-

[He cut himself off with the sudden, horrified realization that he had never introduced himself. Where has his manners gone? He'd lost himself to curiosity and failed to act appropriately!

Wangji backed up, putting enough space between them to bow. It was deeper than strictly necessary but he hoped it would convey his sincerity.]

Lan Wangji of Gusulan.

[Wangji, huh? Hell of a family name. Dante holds his hands up, flashes a quick, reassuring smile.]

Hey, don't sweat it. I got a lot of time to kill, you can go ahead and explain what you meant, because I'm starting to think that "cultivation" isn't just a fancy metaphor for art school. [In which case, Dante definitely needs a lot of context, because otherwise it's gonna get real awkward.

The introduction's a surprise, pulling a short chuckle out of him as he drops both hands, acknowledging the polite bow with a more shallow one. His right hand tips an imaginary hat at Lan as he dips.]

Dante. [He doesn't give his last name because that's...a complicated matter.] Uh, of Red Grave City. Pleasure to meet you, Lan. Never heard of Gusulan, but then you've probably never heard of Red Grave before.

[Wangji straightens and looks somewhat hesitant beyond the otherwise neutral expression. His don't change much, but he was flustered enough by his appalling manners in the last bit of time that he cannot quite control himself to keep it from showing. The way Dante introduced himself, he isn't sure if it's a family name or a personal name. But it's the only name he has to go on, so...

He shook his head at the question.]

Mn. I have not. It is nice to meet you as well, Dante of Red Grave.

[He cleared his throat and gestured for Dante to sit while he put the flute back down, careful to ensure it was done so with the respect such instruments deserved.]

Cultivation is separate from the Six Arts in that one does not need cultivation to learn the Six Arts. But several of the Six Arts are integral to learning proper cultivation. One can learn cultivation without them, but their basis will not be as strong or clean as it could otherwise be.

[Wangji's tone shifted while he spoke. He had been largely taciturn the entire time until now, when he seemed to enter a 'lecture mode', his posture shifting to push his shoulders back and lift his chin rather than keep his chin down and eyes averted. It was quite natural to him, as if he'd had a lot of practice speaking at length in front of others, despite his earlier recalcitrance.]

Weak vodka exists? Blasphemy.

[It doesn’t quite hit in the same way his preferred whiskey does, but alcohol is alcohol, and in the end it’s the same burn in his throat, the same result. She makes a point about the assassin, though, and his eyes flick up to possible vantage points.]

Maybe. Or maybe there’s more than one assassin here, and the one who sent the letter wants their competition taken out of the running by us meddlers. [He’s been a mercenary before, this isn’t exactly an uncommon tactic. He glances back at Yelena, and doesn’t ask how she would know, too.]

You wanna check the kitchens, see if the poison theory pans out? I can taste-test—I’m hard to kill. [And a little poison will just give him an admittedly nasty case of indigestion.]

You are right, even the implication is blasphemy. I need to repent immediately.

[Which she does by taking another swig of vodka as she considers his theory about multiple assassins. She supposes it’s possible. However:]

I still think it’s a miscalculation. The crew of the Ximilia is made up of very talented meddlers who can multitask and make things difficult for multiple assassins at a time.

[She nods at his suggestion to check the kitchens. It’s a good place to start, although the comment about him being hard to kill does give her pause.]

Are you a god or something?

[It's an absolutely serious question because her sister knows a god. It doesn’t seem impossible for one to show up here.]

Shame on you. Go to the corner and think and drink about what you've done.

[It might be a competition. It might be a team. Either way, Dante doesn't think that just taking out one person will put a stop to this whole mess.]

We know that. [He nods to the crowd.] Chances are they don't. Unless you guys meddled a little too hard in something and got in the news for it. [He'd be surprised if they didn't, frankly. There's a lot of people here, and a lot of clashing personalities.

That actually gets a laugh out of him, and he shakes his head.]

Nope. [He pauses, as if considering how much to tell her about what he really is, then:] More like half of the opposite. It's why I'm still so ruggedly handsome even after a really long nap.

[Dante's grin sharpens, just a bit. Try it, kiddo. It's there and gone, almost like it was never there at all, and he tunes Nevan up a bit with an absent hum.]

Really? So this is a new room? [He gestures to the instruments hanging from the walls.] Are these donations, then?

[And as for what he wants to do, he plays a few notes before sliding right into a heavy guitar riff, with electric bats materializing from out of nowhere and flying around, dissipating with a flash of electricity.]

Careful with those, [he says,] they got a hell of a bite.

Brand new, yes. We already had some instruments here - and I have one I purchased on a mission a while back, but they seem to have added some more.

[ Yzak, by now, is used to odd happenings and magic and generally weird shit that happens both here and on their many missions. Still, there's always something new that catches him off guard. Electric bats? One of those things for sure. ]

—what the fuck!?

[ One pops close enough to him that he automatically ducks away from it. ] What is that!?

Yeah? Can I see you play it?

[It's out of his mouth before he realizes that might not be the best question to ask, because, you know. Guy has one arm. To his credit, he winces as soon as it clicks.] Or, you know, can I just see it?

[Probably a good thing that Nero charged into Urizen's chamber in the middle of the fight, because Dante's pretty sure he'd react badly if Dante stuck his foot in his mouth about the whole one-arm thing. Quickly shifting subjects away:]

They're bats. Nevan's bats, actually. [He pats the guitar like it's an old friend of his. It sort of is? As much as Devil Arms can be friends, anyway.] She's real fond of them, I don't know why. Don't worry, they only last as long as I'm playing.

[Yeah, he probably should've gotten around to that earlier, but Dante is so used to the stench that it honestly kinda didn't really register as that bad. He answers her by...deliberately slowing down and savoring this scoop of his sundae. Once he swallows, he says:]

Sundae first. This, [and he gestures to his everything,] has been stewing for a month, it can stew a little while longer. I haven't had a good strawberry sundae in ages.

[But he does mean to get a shower soon, because his hair is a matted mess now. Fucking thanks for nothing, bro.]

It'd be better if I had pizza, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. D'you want a sundae? There's still some strawberry ice cream in the fridge. [A beat.] Probably.

[If it hasn't all disappeared down his gullet.]

[And it would be best, Dante knows, if only one of them followed the guy and it wasn't the six-foot-tall white-haired loudmouth. That's fine. He can work with that.]

If they figure it out anyway? [Sharp eyes flick around, noting the vantage points someone might perch on. Just in case.] I'm guessing once our man runs off to deal with his accident, you'll be the one right behind him? If so, I can stick around here, keep an eye out, let you know if anything changes.

Edited 2022-10-08 16:20 (UTC)

I can follow him without drawing attention. [ there isn't anything particularly smug about his tone - it's very matter of fact. he's not sure this man is capable of the same subtly. it comes with the risk of missing out on the others in the room, but hopefully he'll at least be able to nail them down during the manufactured conflict. ]

There is a low chance they will make a move until they establish whether or not the cover is blown, but if you cannot tell who they are, keep close to the king.

so i took a leap off of the precipice || closed

BLUE

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WANGJI

Re: WANGJI

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YELENA

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YZAK

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RITA

CASSIAN

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