it's hard to be charming and smart and disarming | november catch-all

[poorlittlesange]

Who: Jin Guangyao + select closed prompts + additional starters to come
What: After a near-miss with qi deviation, Jin Guangyao makes an effort to just, you know. Take it easy. This is easier said than done, because this is Trench, not a spa resort. (Also his blood is glowing through his skin occasionally, which is not ideal, and he is learning all about zealots.)
When: Throughout the first half of November.
Where: His home in the Willful Machine + The Sanctuary in Crenshaw + other locations as specified.
Notes: If you're keen on threading something, hit me up on plurk @ ragweed and we can figure something out.

Content Warnings: None currently but will update as needed.



I. Convalescence at Home (Open to existing CR)
[ooc: set during the week and a half of November.]

Jin Guangyao does not manage idleness well. Which is a shame, because idleness is what he has in abundance for the first two weeks of November.

He spends his time on mandatory bedrest for the first few days as his golden core gradually repairs the damage he inflicted upon it during his and Nie Huaisang's brush with death, able to do little more than occasionally sit up in bed and eat whatever food his friends are able to prepare after scrounging around in his cupboards. (More often than not, they simply order something for delivery, which saves everyone a lot of trouble.) But once he survives the most precarious stage of his recovery, it is good for him to get out of bed, to stretch his legs and move about his home. 'Light physical activity,' is what a doctor might prescribe, and so that is what he does, predominately in the form of some light housework, guqin practice in the courtyard, and meditative tai chi.

By the time this two-week period of homebound convalescence is up, he is chomping at the metaphorical bit to leave the house and do something useful. But he can't, and he's pretty cheesed about it.

II. The Sanctuary (Closed to Palamedes)
[ooc: set towards the end of the second week of November, after he is no longer homebound and a bit pissy about it.]

His first destination upon finally being granted a bit more freedom of movement is the Sanctuary in Crenshaw.

It is impossible not to be drawn towards the tall sakura tree at the centre of the courtyard, and so Jin Guangyao does not even try. The energy that suffuses the place is indisputably positive and balanced, and he can already feel the effects of it soothing the ragged edges of his meridians, which still feel like recovering burn wounds, if burn wounds happened to your qi. (Just little cultivation problems.)

He is hardly the only person hoping to derive some spiritual relief from the tree today, but there is space near one of the roots for him to comfortably fold himself into a lotus position, and to meditate. So that is precisely what he does.

Comments

[xiaoxiuya]

(That vibrato sent chills up Shen Yuan's spine, okay, actual chills. Jin Guangyao should absolutely be proud of himself for this.)

"Just address her like you would an older cultivator," is Shen Yuan's answer. "She likes to put on airs and talk like she's a noble lady, but at the end of the day a sword is still just a weapon, and a weapon's only as good as its wielder, right?" He opens his eyes to smile at Jin Guangyao. "After that little fiasco on the group chat, I think she could stand to learn a little humility."

[poorlittlesange]

"Then this Jin Guangyao will address the honourable Xiu Ya as 'shigu.'" He's wearing a thoughtful little smile on his lips now while he contemplates this hypothetical meeting with the sword-as-omen, as though this peculiar quirk of circumstance is a source of not-quite-amusement for him, but something adjacent to it, somehow.

The piece Jin Guangyao has opted to perform for Shen Yuan is lengthy and meandering, like most of the music in his repertoire, and so for a time he is content to let the conversation between them idle into a companionable silence while the music carries them forward through time. When the melody's final strands finally fade away into silence, he settles his hands in his lap and looks across at Shen Yuan again.

"How are you feeling now?"

[xiaoxiuya]

Oh, huh. "I think she likes that," Shen Yuan says, surprised. "I think she really likes that, wow." He didn't know Xiu Ya was capable of liking anything! But then again...

"She seems to approve of you," he informs Jin Guangyao, in an amused tone. Xiu Ya's disapproval would not be enough to stop Shen Yuan from spending time with someone he really liked -- but considering how much he likes Jin Guangyao, and following on that how much time he'd like to spend with him, it's good that Xiu Ya doesn't intend to harass him about it.

That settled he closes his eyes again to enjoy the rest of the piece, only opening them when it's over to applaud with polite but sincerely-felt enthusiasm.

"Better," he answers, and smiles at Jin Guangyao. "Jin-ge is very skilled. Listening to him play, it's like all my worries never existed in the first place."