deercountry | it's hard to be charming and smart and disarming

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

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.

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Oh no, not The Eyes. Anything but the eyes. Shen Yuan cringes and meekly says, "Yes, ge," in the hopes it will make them stop.

Getting back on his feet is a production. As Shen Yuan predicted, standing up makes his vision swim with a new crop -- or should that be school? -- of spots, and despite his best efforts he has to put some of his weight on Jin Guangyao just to make it as far as the couch. He sits down heavily with a frustrated groan, and looks up into another dose of The Eyes.

God. "I'm okay," he insists. "I just drained myself, I'll be fine."

It may be a production to get Shen Yuan back on his feet, but Jin Guangyao has always been stronger than he appears, and has often put that deceptive fragility to good use. This time, it's simply useful. He slips a steadying arm around Shen Yuan's waist the moment he wavers once upright and gently encourages him to, "Lean on me, shidi," without complaint. (His healing injury is on the inside of his left forearm, anyway, and tucked away beneath layers of silk and a clean bandage, it is in no danger of inconveniencing him now.)

He guides Shen Yuan carefully over to the couch and eases him down onto it, only releasing his grip once he's certain that his friend isn't on the cusp of losing consciousness once again. And yes, The Eyes are still on maximum power when Shen Yuan looks up at him, but this time they are only taking in his colour, whether he looks ill, that sort of thing. He leaves a steadying hand on Shen Yuan's shoulder for an additional moment.

"Let me bring you a cup of tea," he says, and it isn't a request.

There's no escaping or avoiding this time. Shen Yuan closes his eyes and braces himself to be Fussed Over. "Tea would be lovely," he says, magnanimous in his defeat. "Thank you, ge."

Once Jin Guangyao's back is turned he opens his eyes again and glares venomously at the crumpled mirror on the floor. Fuck the System, seriously. Is there anything it doesn't want to ruin for him?

In victory, Jin Guangyao merely smiles, satisfied, and then disappears into the kitchen.

There's the usual, to-be-expected sounds of a person accustomed to moving through their own space; the kettle going, the retrieval of crockery, the dispensing of the tea leaves, etc. And then, only a short time later, Jin Guangyao reappears with the tea tray in hand, which he arranges as is his wont with precision on the nearby table. (The aroma should be familiar to Shen Yuan; lapsang souchong is his favourite, isn't it?)

"Shidi had mentioned that the System appeared on my mirror?" He gives his friend a sympathetic glance while pouring the tea for him. Evidently, he isn't that fussed over losing the mirror.

While Jin Guangyao is gone, Shen Yuan wistfully contemplates and discards the idea of just making the mirror disappear while his back is turned. If only he could stand up without getting dizzy! But if he falls over again Jin Guangyao will give him The Eyes again, turned up to eleven this time, and Shen Yuan just can't deal with that. And so when Jin Guangyao eventually does return with the tea, he finds Shen Yuan pretty much exactly where he left him, which must be very reassuring for him if nothing else.

He does smile gratefully upon recognizing the scent of the lapsang, however. Just because he wishes he weren't such a burden on his friend doesn't mean he can't appreciate his kindness.

"En." Better to just get it over with as calmly as possible. "I'd managed to avoid them after taking a leave of absense from Outreach, so when it turned up while my back was turned I'm afraid it startled me rather badly. I didn't realize that just trying to pose the mirror a certain way would be enough to make one manifest."

There's very little in this world that Jin Guangyao enjoys more than being right about what pleases his friends (or his enemies, to be honest), and so he is absolutely--and discreetly--keeping an eye on Shen Yuan's expression, waiting for that moment when--yes! There it is! At that smile, he feels a familiar curl of satisfaction in his chest and smiles as well, though as always, he's careful to keep the expression humble, rather than, you know. Like he just won a bet and fleeced someone. like calm down, a-yao, it's a cup of tea my guy.

He sets one teacup in front of Shen Yuan and then pours another for himself, but his eyes have already wandered to the crumpled remains of the bronze mirror. "The System must have startled you quite badly for you to manage this," he remarks, though he sounds almost admiring as he says it. It's a bronze mirror, hardly made of tin foil! Destroying something like that by hand is no mean feat. "I am not sure whether to be envious of shidi's strength, or worried." He's smiling as he says the words, like he's telling a joke, but the edge of concern in his expression is genuine.

"I didn't actually know I could do that," Shen Yuan acknowledges ruefully. He belatedly looks down at his hands and, despite the lack of pain, is still surprised to realize that he wasn't even scratched. That's nuts. "I suppose I've gotten stronger?" he wonders out loud. "If I can figure out how to do that without draining my qi reserves every time, it might be useful. But don't worry," he adds, picking up his teacup and taking his first, grateful sip. "This one will seek opportunities to practice elsewhere. I have no desire to break any more of Jin-ge's things."

He'll just have to be...a lot more careful until the month's over. Touch things as little possible, don't manipulate them in any way. Thank god just drinking tea isn't enough to make one of those damn faces manifest on the teacup, or he doesn't know what he'd do.

"This one had not thought to worry about such things," Jin Guangyao rejoins smoothly and smiles before sipping from his tea as well. Afterwards he sets the cup down and flicks out his sleeves--or rather, he is about to, before he realizes extremely belatedly that he does not have any long, oversized sleeves to be concerned about, because is barely decent (by his own standards anyway), having rushed to join Shen Yuan while still in his sleeping things.

Immediately, spots of colour appear high on his cheeks, and his ears burn red. "Ah, please forgive this one his impropriety, Shen-di, I should--" Should what? Abandon his duties as a host to go throw on an outer robe, a slap-dash effort at propriety? What is the greater insult, sitting here half-dressed in his sleep things, making a half-assed effort to pull himself together, or abandoning Shen Yuan for however long it usually takes Jin Guangyao to dress himself impeccably each day?

Paralyzed by indecision, he stares wide-eyed down at his teacup and does none of these things.

Oh? Oh. Shen Yuan turns slightly pink as well, and he averts his eyes as it finally dawns on him that Jin Guangyao is effectively sitting around in his underwear. He jettisoned most of his xianxia-learned standards of modesty within a few days -- more like a few hours -- of arriving in Trench; he had to, if he didn't want to look like a weirdo for blushing and looking uncomfortable when people walked around with their arms and legs bare in high summer. Shen Yuan himself had always preferred more coverage over less, and he'd kept wearing at least one of his silk robes at a time as an over layer outside of work because they were nice and he liked them -- but with all of his skin covered from neck to wrists, it genuinely hadn't occurred him that Jin Guangyao was underdressed until he realized it and became visibly uncomfortable.

"No forgiveness is needed," he says quickly. "The fault is mine, for disrupting Jin-ge's morning." Embarrassed but trying to be kind, he gestures to his own unbound hair, formerly draped over one shoulder and now disheveled from his trip to the floor. He hadn't gotten around to coming it back out and gathering it up yet, too busy processing what he'd just done to the mirror. "This one is unfit to be seen as well," he jokes. Does that help at all?

As one final salvo, he clears his throat and adds, "If Jin-ge would prefer to go finish getting dressed, this one is perfectly capable of staying out of trouble in the meantime." No more breaking things or falling over while Jin Guangyao's back is turned, he promises. "But he needn't go to the trouble for this one's sake. We are both men here, after all." It's not like he has any virtue to compromise, here!

Yes, they are both men, but--hmm. Jin Guangyao gives Shen Yuan a pensive sort of look at that observation, because... no. Surely he is at least aware of his preferences, after that awkward matter with the fox mask. Still, Jin Guangyao would of course sooner die than address the matter directly, and so instead he simply smiles and lowers his eyes.

"As shidi says," he concedes, then notes his loose hair, the remains of his mirror, and frowns quizzically. "What were you doing before the System's face appeared on the mirror?"

Shen Yuan, who has never had a preference worth mentioning in his whole entire life, puts his teacup down so he can cover his face with both hands. "Oh, it's too embarrassing," he groans. "I've -- this one just discovered yesterday that he has split ends."

He laughs awkwardly, in the exact tones of someone trying to get it out of the way before someone else swoops in and does it for them. "It's ridiculous, I know. It's just that where I grew up, men don't wear their hair this long anymore, so nobody taught me how to look after it. And then after I transmigrated, Shen Qingqiu's cultivation was so high that his hair looked great no matter what I did with it. It didn't occur to me until recently that I'd have to change my routine to keep it all healthy, and now...well, I suppose it's too late." He shrugs expansively to acknowledge the laughability of it all, and sheepishly uncovers his face to brace for Jin Guangyao's reaction. It's not that he thinks the other man was actually laugh at him, he's much too polite for that -- but he must be thinking about it! It's only to be expected!

On the contrary, Jin Guangyao's expression only softens at Shen Yuan's explanation, and he dips his head once in understanding. Of course he wouldn't laugh about Shen Yuan's efforts to maintain his appearance! Matters of personal grooming are deeply tied to one's dignity.

"It is not ridiculous," he calmly responds, and absently reaches out a hand to gather some of the ends of Shen Yuan's hair. He examines them with the same brand of shrewd attentiveness that he devotes to any problem he has every intention of solving. "My cultivation is also not high enough to make such things a trivial matter. But I would be glad to help you, if you will let me." And he begins to unfold himself from where he sits, gesturing with one hand towards the washroom adjacent to the parlour.

Shen Yuan shivers at Jin Guangyao's touch, ever so slightly overcome -- with gratitude, of course. He never really wanted to cut all of his hair off after all, he was just trying to convince himself that he'd be fine with it on case there would be no better options. And there is definitely no deeper meaning behind that.

"If Jin-ge thinks the situation is still salvageable, this one would be most pleased to accept his help," he says, feeling a little weak with relief piled on top of his emptied meridians. Um, speaking of. "Help me up?" he asks, sheepishly.

"Of course," Jin Guangyao replies, and obliges. He offers his hand to Shen Yuan and, once he has helped his friend to his feet, puts a steadying arm around his waist. "We shall go slowly, but lean on me if you need to."

(There's quite a lot of hidden strength in his slight frame, and he is pleased to be able to put it to use helping someone he cares about--rather than, say, coming up with new and inventive ways to torture captured cultivators for Sect Leader Wen Ruohan's entertainment during the war.)

The siheyuan's washroom is small but pleasantly appointed and includes a comfortable chair in one corner that, more often than not, has clean towels stacked upon it. Jin Guangyao deftly moves the towels and helps Shen Yuan into the chair. "Would shidi like me to retrieve his tea from the parlour?" he offers.

Edited 2022-12-11 18:35 (UTC)

It makes Shen Yuan's chest hurt a little, how kind Jin Guangyao is to him, how he just keeps giving and giving; of his time, his efforts, his personal space. Shen Yuan knows that's no easy thing for a man as reserved as Jin Guangyao, who's suffered the things that he has, but he does it anyway, because -- Shen Yuan really doesn't know why. Because something in Shen Yuan makes him want to, he has to suppose. It worries him a little, not because he suspects Jin Guangyao of having ulterior motives, of course he'd never. But not knowing where all this kindness is coming from, how can he know when he's about to use it up? There must be an end to it somewhere, but he'd like to conserve it, if he can. He'd like to keep this one nice thing in his life.

So he leans on Jin Guangyao's strength to make it to the washroom, because he really doesn't have any choice in the matter, but he smiles and politely demures the offer to bring him his tea. "I've already put Jin-ge to so much trouble," he says, and folds his hands in his lap. "What should I do first?" he asks.

His kindness and generosity spring from the same bitter root as his good manners: prove that you can be of use, prove that you can be relied upon to provide others with what they want or need, and your odds of survival go up. The Lanling Jin Sect's famous hospitality only became famous through Jin Guangyao's dogged determination to make it so; this was only one avenue of many through which he could render himself indispensable, and therefore harder to eliminate.

It helps that he's good at it. Being a host, that is. And it pleases him to provide for those he cares for.

"Shidi must make himself comfortable, of course." This Jin Guangyao says with a smile that dimples his cheeks and brightens his eyes a bit--he's teasing! very gently, but he's teasing--then turns and reaches for a small basket which contains a collection of supplies that accompanied him into Trench in his qiankun bag. "I should comb your hair before we consider trimming the ends." He lifts out a small wooden comb, moves to stand behind Shen Yuan's chair and draws the length of his friend's hair across his shoulder.

"May I?" Lifting the comb, he tries to catch his friend's eye in the mirror.

There's so much context for Jin Guangyao's actions that he's missing -- and yet, seeing the whole picture, Shen Yuan's opinion wouldn't really change. He'd still value Jin Guangyao's friendship, and want him to feel valued in return. He'd still want to avoid taking too much and risking it all. But of course it's hard to convey all that, between his own thin face and the polite language Jin Guangyao prefers, so instead Shen Yuan just smiles at him and teases back, "This one is never anything but comfortable in Jin-ge's presence."

Of course it's just a tease! What else could it possibly be?

"Go ahead," he says in response to the offered combing, sitting up a little straighter and squaring his shoulders so his hair will lie flat and evenly on his back. "I won't blame Jin-ge if it turns out there's nothing he can do with this disaster," he jokes.

What else indeed, Shen Yuan. What else indeed.

"Shen-di must endeavour to be less pessimistic," Jin Guangyao replies dryly, and already he is looking over Shen Yuan's hair, considering. Really, it isn't that bad--nothing a trim and a bit of hair oil won't be able to fix. Without a core--really, Jin Guangyao still can barely work his mind thoughts about that one--he will have to be more mindful of his personal grooming routine, but that shouldn't be much of an adjustment.

He touches his fingertips to just below Shen Yuan's chin, along with the gentle instruction, "Please tilt your chin up for me," and, "thank you," once his instructions are followed. Then, he gently works the teeth of the comb through Shen Yuan's hair in a single, steady motion--and he's more than practiced enough at this (perhaps from aiding Huaisang), that any snags he hits, he works through quite gently.

Well it's not like it could be flirting, they're both men after all! And Shen Yuan at least is one hundred percent straight, and also much too polite to speculate on another man's sexual habits. So friendly teasing is pretty much all it can be, for lack of other options.

"But if I prepare for the worst, I'll never be disappointed," he says with a smile. He has no ready explanation, however, for the way his smile falters (but not because he feels upset with Jin Guangyao touching him, certainly not that) and his face warms, especially around his cheekbones and the spots on his chin where Jin Guangyao's fingers rested. What is that? Seriously, what the hell is that??

"Life can always disappoint you," Jin Guangyao murmurs more to himself than to Shen Yuan, though once he has said the words out loud, he finds himself wishing he could call them back again. He purses his lips into a line and carefully does not meet Shen Yuan's eyes in the mirror for a time, instead simply focusing on his chosen task: carefully guiding the comb through Shen Yuan's hair until he has satisfied himself that all of the kinks and knots have been worked through.

(A brief glance at their shared reflection, and he does spot that look, the colour high on Shen Yuan's cheeks, and this time when he presses his lips together, it is to stifle a smile. He has no idea, does he. He really doesn't.)

"How much length did you wish to take off?" he asks as he retrieves a straight razor from the basket. Yep, that's right, he's going to straight razor the ends off your hair, Shen Yuan.

Mm, yeah. They're just going to let that...sit where it is, for a while. Just going to work around it for a bit, it's too early in the morning for genuine heart to hearts. Shen Yuan sits quietly and does what he does best: pretends he didn't hear anything and he can't see anything (especially not the blush on his own face in the mirror).

Eventually Jin Guangyao brings up his hair again, which is a welcome change of pace. "I'm not sure," he answers truthfully. "In my first life it only came down to here," and he places his hand next to one of his ears, glancing at Jin Guangyao's face in the mirror to see what kind of shocked expression he makes. "But that was years ago. I think it'd feel too strange to go that short again."

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

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