[ glad they're both like this! he doesn't quite wince, but, he does at least look like 10% guilty that both he and molly are made from the same exact stupid cloth. give him a second to unstick himself from the instant, immediate urge to clam up and shut down - it'll work fine, is always his first answer.
the kiss to his knuckles comes, gentle. he exhales through his nose, and tries to swallow down the massive reason why he was matched to this aspect in the first place.]
Next Thursday night, there's nothing that either of you can do if I'm the only one awake, and someone chooses to target me. [ pointedly, but, not meanly.
gu yun softens, just a bit, lips pursing. ] ...I have considered it. [ it's his turn for his grip to tighten, now. ] As Molly said. [ he would have just done it. ]
...That's why I came. [ reaching out, asking for help - something he never does. ] I can survive like that, but it isn't sustainable. The more weeks that pass without my medicine, the more likely it is to become blatantly obvious. I won't be able to speak well, nor will I be able to find my way around the newer floors as they are opened to us in a way that won't be blatantly obvious. I need to have it by the end of the next week, to mitigate the potential damage.
...I thought perhaps I might make as though my liuli glass has been stolen when the week begins. It will at least cover for my sight being weaker - and the glass is useless to me when I can't see at all, anyway. I agree with you that most likely wouldn't try and target me because of it, but there's at least one wildcard who I know I could provoke into doing so without much trouble, were that route to be the one chosen. I also have no desire to lean into the fact that they're gone. I'd rather have my sight and hearing restored to me, and no one to know the wiser.
I've memorized the floors we have available to us currently, in terms of layout. I've also memorized the placement of the keys on the phones. I have ways I can communicate. [ here, his fingertips briefly tap against the top of molly's hand, tracing "okay" with slow, careful strokes of his fingers. ] Trial will be a unique challenge, too, no matter what happens next week.
But it is still only a short term solution - and there are no guarantees as to how to get it, besides the one named. I'm willing to search alternatives, and exhaust every avenue to do so.
Edited (trying to do this and play dnd at the same time im gomen) 2021-03-13 02:57 (UTC)
When the new floors appear, I'll wake with you at dawn. We'll walk them together and get you accustomed to their layout. We can return at night until you're confident. Show me now the methods you use to communicate, so I can use them easily. I'm a quick study with such things.
[Molly. . . will need to get a lot better with his letters, too.]
Losing your glass is good, and if needed I can claim to have cursed you - some sort of silence curse could do the trick.
For the record. . . I doubt we have many weeks left. When I spoke with Gluttony, they - made note of the fact that we get a new floor each week, but suggested there was a different number of floors than we might expect. I think perhaps there are only two remaining.
O-K- okay! Oh, I got that one. I'm getting better at these.
[He's been practicing! He's been practicing, sort of. He'll do more.]
This fucking place is testing you. I know that's trite, don't tell me that it's trite, because I know, but-- this is what it wants. All that shit it said in my head when we went to that cursed hotel. To push you this far.
[It isn't as if he can't see the logic here? That he wouldn't have considered it himself. He did consider it himself, for even less reason. But he'd made the mistake of not thinking to ask either.]
I'll walk with you too. And I'm very good at distractions.
[...]
Be a hell of a Pride indulgence to pull this off, wouldn't it? Not let it break you like that.
[ lifting his other hand, he reaches across the table to find harrow's hand, if she'll let him and traces "L-I-K-E T-H-I-S" into her palm. ] I've learned to adapt well enough over the years. I can detect motion fine, and my sense of smell is strong. I was planning on taking the walks, but - I wouldn't mind the company. I can speak in return to others fine, but not if I'm alone, and if someone begins questioning me or something in a trial, it will be difficult for me to parse what they're asking of me. [ if someone can get the messages across to him, though, as chang geng had done in dong ying, he can do just fine.
... he still really hates it, though.
finally, it's that last comment from molly that finally gets the corner of gu yun's mouth to lift up, in a small, wry smile. ]
It wouldn't be the first time that I did such a thing. [ after all, the last thing he did before he ended up in this place was fight off assassins without his medicine. just the feeling of air moving, his strong sense of smell, and years and years of experience.
...but even then, he'd been offered the chance to take his medicine. when it was all said and done, he mitigated the risk - the pain, the migraine, the way it knocks him off of his feet - for the immediate reward. gu yun can't stand being weak. he can't stand being vulnerable. even now, it's making him twitchy, when the temptation to have it is right there.
he huffs, a little, turning his gaze back to molly. ] I can't say that I'll be much for an entertaining conversationalist. I can shout at you, if you like.
It's all right. You've never been an entertaining conversationalist.
[She'll let him take her hand, yes. And she'll spell back "U-N-D-E-R-S-T-O-O-D" She does understand - the need to avoid showing weakness, what he feels it costs him. Another of those ridiculous things that tie them together, and only make her angrier at the thought of being unable to help him.]
I'll say this. All of this, we can do. With curses in play, there are very many ways around this mess. But I also. . .
I haven't been troubled so much with madness as I have at points in the past. Occasionally something odd happens, such as I'm cursed with visions of Santa or Yuel yells the name of Ortus Nigenad at me until I pass out, but it hasn't been anything like the easily exploitable weakness I've feared.
I recognize the situations are not the same. But I have yet to find it a true liability, that a few people know.
[gross joke aside, he glances a bit worried at harrow because. Yuel did what but--] Should we come up with a phrase you can shout when you might need assistance quickly? Something you'd likely ordinarily say, with a bit of a twist, so it won't strike anyone else as odd.
anyway. he will actually, seriously think about this for a moment now, chin to his hand. ]
How about, 'whiskey'? Along the lines of 'fetch me a glass of' or 'I need a glass of'. I'd normally just say baijiu. Not so strange, since I'll drink near anyone in this base under the table at any hours of the day, but odd enough with notice that you would know.
[She feels as though she missed part of this conversation.]
If you ask for whiskey in the middle of trial, it will be conspicuous. Just send a message with the phones - any key will do. They can be set to vibrate, if that works better.
I fucking-- I can't believe. [PUTTING HIS FACE IN HIS HANDS. he's going through something.] Harrow we-- [coughing into his hand.] I'll need a sidebar in a minute.
[SWEATING. it's like fine don't worry about it, gu yun.]
[ he's like nodding along to that - the issue of just sending a message is fine, though navigating the screen to send messages to harrow or molly feels harder, but he can probably set it up to be on one of their names automatically - but then molly starts spazzing ]
[ uh ] Molly? [ what the fuck. he squeezes his hand?? hello?? ]
Okay, first of all, I like the phone buzz plan, good work all around - brilliant ideas across the board. Um. Should probably be only used in the specific circumstance of "I am in a crowd of familiar faces and I am seeking assistance." And not as a password.
[he sort of. scoots closer to gu yun because maybe he needs the protection. guess we're having this out right here.]
You know how when a lot of things happen all at once and take up a lot of space in your head and then something happens and you get a little overexcited about oaths and being asked to take-- and please do remember the Moonweaver lovely as she may be [his accent is getting thicker as he gets more nervous, by the way] she has her wiles and is -- Look fine, I'll accept oathbreaker as a title, liar doesn't bother me, the other outcome would be wor-- doesn't matter! Um. You know how this place has a way of getting in your head at certain times? Obviously you do, why am I explaining it, but, um, specifically, and I've only just remembered this so it's not my fault, it's actually possible for it to remember phrases that you might recognize, and could use them, possibly--
Shite. Okay. The man and a manticore plan is off, sorry, I think it was a brilliant idea and I was honored beyond my years but just now I've made the connection that it could backfire extremely extremely badly and I think we need to just reassess that stratagem a tiny bit, these things happen all the time, you know, best-laid plans go tits up and all of that, as you well know! As you well know. Feck.
translating the part he can translate as molly comes to scooch behind him: ]
That adventure he was on last week used a copy of me to get to him, and Molly was very clever in asking for a password to make sure it was really me. The place, however, was more clever, and used something I said against him. The fake version of me broke his nose.
[ rip ] I can't help with the man and manticore plan. You lost me there.
[ a beat, leaning his head back. ] Did you know your accent gets thicker when you ramble?
Edited (dw stop eating my tag) 2021-03-13 05:11 (UTC)
[Oh. My God? Well, she can't really say anything to this. It's just - no, she actually can't form the words?
She raises an eyebrow as Molly just sweatily tries to explain, but Gu Yun's explanation makes a bit more sense.]
Ah. I gave him a phrase to use to let me know I've been cursed, and to follow his instructions. Apparently, it didn't occur to him to bring up this incredibly relevant situation he experienced only one week ago.
[Just leaning on her hand.]
It's fine, Molly. Let's discuss it more on Monday.
[ he reaches over to pat molly's arm with his free hand. pat pat. there there. monday sounds rough for you buddy... ]
It's fine. Was rather dirty personal laundry. [ won't you be glad when he can't talk much next week, ]
I think among this group, it's probably a fine solution. It's only if you're whisked off to somewhere strange that it'll be a wild card. Just prompt me with the buzz of the phone during the trial, and I'll use it to my advantage. If I need to go along with anyone on investigations next week to keep up appearances - I'd rather not, [ because he knows... useless... ] but I'll take one of the two of you with me.
--I meant to address before, that having two floors remaining is interesting. That means we really should only have one floor left that is devoted to a specific Avatar, because there's a floor where all of them have sleeping quarters.
I can't confirm it's two floors. I can only confirm Gluttony suggested I would be surprised by the number of floors that are left, in a disconcerting manner that suggested something more sinister than sleep quarters. I surmised it was one less rather than one more because Yuel noticed the ship had only seven rings. I don't think the "floors" include the ground floor or top floor - only the floors that are specific to a particular Avatar.
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the kiss to his knuckles comes, gentle. he exhales through his nose, and tries to swallow down the massive reason why he was matched to this aspect in the first place.]
Next Thursday night, there's nothing that either of you can do if I'm the only one awake, and someone chooses to target me. [ pointedly, but, not meanly.
gu yun softens, just a bit, lips pursing. ] ...I have considered it. [ it's his turn for his grip to tighten, now. ] As Molly said. [ he would have just done it. ]
...That's why I came. [ reaching out, asking for help - something he never does. ] I can survive like that, but it isn't sustainable. The more weeks that pass without my medicine, the more likely it is to become blatantly obvious. I won't be able to speak well, nor will I be able to find my way around the newer floors as they are opened to us in a way that won't be blatantly obvious. I need to have it by the end of the next week, to mitigate the potential damage.
...I thought perhaps I might make as though my liuli glass has been stolen when the week begins. It will at least cover for my sight being weaker - and the glass is useless to me when I can't see at all, anyway. I agree with you that most likely wouldn't try and target me because of it, but there's at least one wildcard who I know I could provoke into doing so without much trouble, were that route to be the one chosen. I also have no desire to lean into the fact that they're gone. I'd rather have my sight and hearing restored to me, and no one to know the wiser.
I've memorized the floors we have available to us currently, in terms of layout. I've also memorized the placement of the keys on the phones. I have ways I can communicate. [ here, his fingertips briefly tap against the top of molly's hand, tracing "okay" with slow, careful strokes of his fingers. ] Trial will be a unique challenge, too, no matter what happens next week.
But it is still only a short term solution - and there are no guarantees as to how to get it, besides the one named. I'm willing to search alternatives, and exhaust every avenue to do so.
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[Molly. . . will need to get a lot better with his letters, too.]
Losing your glass is good, and if needed I can claim to have cursed you - some sort of silence curse could do the trick.
For the record. . . I doubt we have many weeks left. When I spoke with Gluttony, they - made note of the fact that we get a new floor each week, but suggested there was a different number of floors than we might expect. I think perhaps there are only two remaining.
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[He's been practicing! He's been practicing, sort of. He'll do more.]
This fucking place is testing you. I know that's trite, don't tell me that it's trite, because I know, but-- this is what it wants. All that shit it said in my head when we went to that cursed hotel. To push you this far.
[It isn't as if he can't see the logic here? That he wouldn't have considered it himself. He did consider it himself, for even less reason. But he'd made the mistake of not thinking to ask either.]
I'll walk with you too. And I'm very good at distractions.
[...]
Be a hell of a Pride indulgence to pull this off, wouldn't it? Not let it break you like that.
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... he still really hates it, though.
finally, it's that last comment from molly that finally gets the corner of gu yun's mouth to lift up, in a small, wry smile. ]
It wouldn't be the first time that I did such a thing. [ after all, the last thing he did before he ended up in this place was fight off assassins without his medicine. just the feeling of air moving, his strong sense of smell, and years and years of experience.
...but even then, he'd been offered the chance to take his medicine. when it was all said and done, he mitigated the risk - the pain, the migraine, the way it knocks him off of his feet - for the immediate reward. gu yun can't stand being weak. he can't stand being vulnerable. even now, it's making him twitchy, when the temptation to have it is right there.
he huffs, a little, turning his gaze back to molly. ] I can't say that I'll be much for an entertaining conversationalist. I can shout at you, if you like.
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[She'll let him take her hand, yes. And she'll spell back "U-N-D-E-R-S-T-O-O-D" She does understand - the need to avoid showing weakness, what he feels it costs him. Another of those ridiculous things that tie them together, and only make her angrier at the thought of being unable to help him.]
I'll say this. All of this, we can do. With curses in play, there are very many ways around this mess. But I also. . .
I haven't been troubled so much with madness as I have at points in the past. Occasionally something odd happens, such as I'm cursed with visions of Santa or Yuel yells the name of Ortus Nigenad at me until I pass out, but it hasn't been anything like the easily exploitable weakness I've feared.
I recognize the situations are not the same. But I have yet to find it a true liability, that a few people know.
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[gross joke aside, he glances a bit worried at harrow because. Yuel did what but--] Should we come up with a phrase you can shout when you might need assistance quickly? Something you'd likely ordinarily say, with a bit of a twist, so it won't strike anyone else as odd.
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[ looks into the camera like this is the fucking office ]
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because
well. there's multiple reasons that he's like taking a moment to look at his hands a bit sweatily. Um.]
Not a password, a codeword. And not 'Lie back and think of Great Liang.`
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[ sorry harrow
anyway. he will actually, seriously think about this for a moment now, chin to his hand. ]
How about, 'whiskey'? Along the lines of 'fetch me a glass of' or 'I need a glass of'. I'd normally just say baijiu. Not so strange, since I'll drink near anyone in this base under the table at any hours of the day, but odd enough with notice that you would know.
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If you ask for whiskey in the middle of trial, it will be conspicuous. Just send a message with the phones - any key will do. They can be set to vibrate, if that works better.
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I fucking-- I can't believe. [PUTTING HIS FACE IN HIS HANDS. he's going through something.] Harrow we-- [coughing into his hand.] I'll need a sidebar in a minute.
[SWEATING. it's like fine don't worry about it, gu yun.]
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[ uh ] Molly? [ what the fuck. he squeezes his hand?? hello?? ]
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[What. Looking back and forth at the two of them. Looking at Molly sweating.]
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Okay, first of all, I like the phone buzz plan, good work all around - brilliant ideas across the board. Um. Should probably be only used in the specific circumstance of "I am in a crowd of familiar faces and I am seeking assistance." And not as a password.
[he sort of. scoots closer to gu yun because maybe he needs the protection. guess we're having this out right here.]
You know how when a lot of things happen all at once and take up a lot of space in your head and then something happens and you get a little overexcited about oaths and being asked to take-- and please do remember the Moonweaver lovely as she may be [his accent is getting thicker as he gets more nervous, by the way] she has her wiles and is -- Look fine, I'll accept oathbreaker as a title, liar doesn't bother me, the other outcome would be wor-- doesn't matter! Um. You know how this place has a way of getting in your head at certain times? Obviously you do, why am I explaining it, but, um, specifically, and I've only just remembered this so it's not my fault, it's actually possible for it to remember phrases that you might recognize, and could use them, possibly--
Shite. Okay. The man and a manticore plan is off, sorry, I think it was a brilliant idea and I was honored beyond my years but just now I've made the connection that it could backfire extremely extremely badly and I think we need to just reassess that stratagem a tiny bit, these things happen all the time, you know, best-laid plans go tits up and all of that, as you well know! As you well know. Feck.
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translating the part he can translate as molly comes to scooch behind him: ]
That adventure he was on last week used a copy of me to get to him, and Molly was very clever in asking for a password to make sure it was really me. The place, however, was more clever, and used something I said against him. The fake version of me broke his nose.
[ rip ] I can't help with the man and manticore plan. You lost me there.
[ a beat, leaning his head back. ] Did you know your accent gets thicker when you ramble?
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She raises an eyebrow as Molly just sweatily tries to explain, but Gu Yun's explanation makes a bit more sense.]
Ah. I gave him a phrase to use to let me know I've been cursed, and to follow his instructions. Apparently, it didn't occur to him to bring up this incredibly relevant situation he experienced only one week ago.
[Just leaning on her hand.]
It's fine, Molly. Let's discuss it more on Monday.
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[the rambling is new to him! He doesn't get that nervous around people! THIS HAS MADE HIM VERY NERVOUS. The threat of Monday looms.]
... Sorry. I was preoccupied with the hole in my chest! [...] Not an excuse.
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It's fine. Was rather dirty personal laundry. [ won't you be glad when he can't talk much next week, ]
I think among this group, it's probably a fine solution. It's only if you're whisked off to somewhere strange that it'll be a wild card. Just prompt me with the buzz of the phone during the trial, and I'll use it to my advantage. If I need to go along with anyone on investigations next week to keep up appearances - I'd rather not, [ because he knows... useless... ] but I'll take one of the two of you with me.
--I meant to address before, that having two floors remaining is interesting. That means we really should only have one floor left that is devoted to a specific Avatar, because there's a floor where all of them have sleeping quarters.
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