Hunting Under the Bone Moon [Closed]

[baiyueguang]

Character Name: Xichen and the Gang

Who: Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, Nie Huaisang, Shen Yuan
What: Closed log for their Night Hunt for Special Mushrooms
When: Late-ish November
Where: In the forest

Content Warnings: Blanket event content warnings apply, monster body horror, will add more as needed.

Starters below

Comments

Camp It Up

[baiyueguang]

They had picked a small clearing on a ridge, overlooking a thick copse of trees. It's a tiny sanctuary amidst the gnarled and twisted foliage, carefully warded with talismans and arrays to keep the dangers of Trenchwood away.

At the heart of it is a campfire, crackling merrily with something roasting on a spit, and a pot of some soup or another simmering away. For such a gloomy location, the atmosphere at the campsite is quite cheerful and optimistic.

Well, except for whatever's howling in the distance.

spooky tales

[fanfavors]

You know what other places are mostly monster-infested, spooky ridges? Qinghe. They don't call it the Unclean Realm for nothing. So while Nie Huaisang ordinarily would prefer to wait in a well-lit inn with some snacks and drinks and patiently count the hours until the capable cultivators return, ah - the city is twisting in on itself, still? By popular vote he is here, and now in a relatively cheerful campsite with three talented cultivators on all sides, he is... no longer bemoaning the journey, like he did the whole walk out here.

No, now he's amped for a fun camping excursion, and has not stopped fiddling with his fan or fidgeting around the camp since they got here. Presently he is fiddling with the fan over by the edge of the campsite, peering down over the ridge into the trees below, listening for anything particularly spooky. That howling thing is just far enough away for comfort, so— all things considered: good camp!!

"Ghost stories!" he says, whipping around to face the others. Ghost! Stories! "Why build a campfire and huddle around it without a good story? This one has a craving for a tale of spine-chilling terror..."

So, Huaisang has decided to have fun. He snaps his fan shut and moves it between the three of them, ultimately stopping on Shen Yuan, who, uh, seems like the best choice for ghost stories that don't also come with a moral lesson about studying or something. "Shen-ge, do you know any?"

[poorlittlesange]

isn't the world around them all terrifying enough already, huaisang, my god

Jin Guangyao is not particularly eager to jump out of his skin at any additional shadows this evening, but if it keeps Huaisang's spirits up (and therefore prevents him from dragging his feet or panicking at the first hint of a crisis), then by all means, trot out the nightmare fuel. In the meantime, he'll just be making his way around the perimeter of their camp carefully applying alarm talismans and shoring up the strength of the arrays that (hopefully) protect them from anything awful lumbering in to maul them in their sleep.

Silver lining: at least he's well enough to be on his feet and exerting spiritual energy to accomplish this task.

[xiaoxiuya]

Shen Yuan is also in high spirits; going on a real night hunt, with a pack of real cultivators no less, how can he not be? When Huaisang approaches him asking for a ghost story, he smiles back at and beckons him to come sit with him by the fire.

"If A-Sang wants to be frightened, then he should come sit close to me," he teased, "the best ghost stories are told quietly, so tender ears can't overhear." This is Shen Yuan's way of giving anyone who doesn't actually want an adrenaline rush to opt out; if they don't want to hear the story, they can simply not listen.

So: once Huaisang is close enough, Shen Yuan lowers his voice, smile turning ever so slightly wicked as he says, "This one should mention that this is a true story: it happened to an immortal cultivator this one used to know. He was once summoned away from his peak by a call for help from a nearby city; several women had been murdered most gruesomely, and the local authorities had no idea what to do. So he set out, with two of his disciples behind him..."

[xiaoxiuya]

Nie Huaisang ooh's quietly and leans in a little closer, and from nearby Shen Yuan can also hear faint rustling from Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao's robes, indicating that they too might be listening. He pulls out his fan and opens it silently, continuing,

"The cultivator and his disciples were offered hospitality by a magistrate of the city, who was himself near paralyzed with fear. He had just added a new concubine to his household, a young and lovely woman by the name of Butterfly, and the prospect of losing her to the killer filled him with horror."

[fanfavors]

"Oh, is it a love story, too?" Huaisang interrupts, because of course he does. Does this story have love scenes in it, by chance, because some people here will make faces but those people are not Huaisang—

But okay, okay, never mind him, he's ready to get jumpscared by this thrilling tale! He waves a hand as if to say ignore that, leaning his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, truly into the narrative now. "Go on, go on."

[baiyueguang]

His eyes meet Huaisang's and there is a moment of mutual knowing that he is 'people here' that 'will make faces'. Keep it PG-13 kids, for the sake of Xichen's delicate virgin ears.

But he does like a good story and he listens in as he wanders the perimeter, checking, double checking, and triple checking their arrays, traps, and talismans.

[xiaoxiuya]

Shen Yuan pauses for an indulgent moment, fanning himself slowly while he thinks. "I suppose one might say this story revolves around a sort of love," he finally concludes, "love of the self, perhaps. A-Sang will have to tell me when it's over whether he agrees."

He continues, "The cultivator questioned the magistrate most carefully, and sent out his disciples to ask more questions besides. From this he learned that all of the victims had been women of truly exceptional beauty -- and that their bodies had been found missing their skins. Immediately he suspected the work of a demon, but before he could formulate a plan his younger disciple, a boy not older than fourteen, returned to him in tears and terror. This sweet child had resolved to stay close to his shijie, for he admired her greatly, and suspected that any killer targeting lovely young women would set their sights on her next -- but the city streets were crowded, and this shijie was prone to wandering. In but a moment's inattention, he lost sight of her, and she vanished without a trace."

[fanfavors]

"Oh," Huaisang mumbles, making a point to look at Xichen again and raise his eyebrows significantly, cover those gentle virgin ears. "It's a story about self-love, this one understands completely."

Ah, but enough making this murder mystery ghost story into something that will make Xichen blush. Demons attacking the local beauties, yes yes, that's standard ghost story fare. Huaisang tugs on Shen Yuan's sleeve, tutting in disapproval.

"Shen-ge isn't going to kill this shijie in his story, I hope! Did the demon find her?"

There's Not Mushroom In There

[baiyueguang]

There are mushrooms in these woods, tucked away in knotholes of trees, hard to spot, even harder to harvest. Besides that, the woods are full of dangers around every twisting corner, and while the paths are safer, they aren't exactly ideal for finding mushrooms.

And so the Night Hunt splits off into smaller groups to scour the region, heading off the beaten path in hopes of finding more success.

Xichen and Jin Guangyao

[baiyueguang]

It's almost normal.

They walk in silence through the woods, alert for any signs of danger. Xichen is straightbacked and his hand is on the hilt of Shuoyue and Jin Guangyao's poise is equally proper. They're being very polite.

They've always been very polite.

It feels so very much like their usual Night Hunts; so exactingly familiar and yet...

...And yet.

The silence between them not some comfortable, companionable thing as it used to be, but pregnant with things said and unsaid, things done and undone. Hope had been thoroughly dashed upon the rocky shores of reason, shattered to bits once more and Xichen didn't know if he had the strength to put the pieces back together again. It feels like he's unraveling fiber by fiber, another piece of something good and precious gone, scattered like so much debris. Maybe if he screamed he'd feel better (probably not though).

Still better than what awaited him back home.

He wishes Nie Huaisang and Shen Yuan were here. Their easy cheer would sand the sharp edges off this awkwardness between him and Jin Guangyao, but he is not due to partner with either of them respectively until the next day, and the day after that.

Xichen pauses, peering inside of a knothole to see if there's any sign of mushrooms. To his relief, there are some. The first sign of them in hours.

"A-Yao, do you have the bag...?"

[poorlittlesange]

Jin Guangyao does what he can not to allow his feelings about this change in their relationship to show on his face, because his feelings on the matter are irrelevant. He is the one who shattered the delicate thing that they had spent years nurturing, speaking around it rather than about it, allowing it ample space to grow and flower in the limited intimacy that they could claim for themselves. There had been no reason to dash it against the ground, except that in this place, with the expectations and constraints of the cultivation world so far away from them, it was too easy for Jin Guangyao to look at Lan Xichen's gentle, attentive eyes, his soft smile, and forget himself. To forget Qin Su.

He tries to tell himself that this is for the best, that what he is feeling now can't possibly be heartbreak, because if he is heartbroken over this self-inflicted loss, then what he has felt for Lan Xichen all this time has been love.

And so he moves methodically and mechanically through the woods at Lan Xichen's side, his hand on Hensheng's hilt and his eyes anywhere, anywhere but on his er-ge's, and he tries to let his instinct for this work guide him so that he does not have to think overly much about anything. Then--

"A-Yao, do you have the bag...?"

"Here." He comes to stand beside the old tree and holds out the silk pouch he'd procured specifically for holding the mushrooms on Never Mind's instructions. It would be more than sufficient for carrying the delicate fungi without damaging them--though they will need far more than what they have gathered so far.

Jin Guangyao watches Lan Xichen at his careful work of removing the mushrooms and placing them in the bag, eyes tracking the unhappiness in his serene features, and hates himself for having put it there. For a moment, the instinct to apologize, to take it all back, to plead for a return to how things used to be is right on the tip of his tongue, and maybe it shows in his eyes--but then his paleblood decides to betray him, and he starts glowing underneath his skin like some kind of sentient, incandescent lightbulb.

"Oh--" He holds up a hand to stare at himself, then looks around them, suddenly nervous. They've managed to get by without drawing the attention of beasts so far, but if he's lit up in the dark like this, how likely is that to remain the case?

[baiyueguang]

Xichen is about to pluck another of the little fungi when a surprised 'oh' draws him from his task. He turns.

Oh.

Jin Guangyao is heartachingly beautiful with the way he glows under the moonlight, his eyes wide with surprise. His sworn brother looks like some ethereal creature emerging from the clouds, and Xichen cannot help but to stare in stunned silence.

(In a better world, they would laugh, and Xichen would take him by the hands, shelter him under his robes, until the light faded and they could get back to work.)

He takes off his outermost robe, a masterwork of deep greyish blue silk, intricately patterned with silver brocade. It's the sort of thing that looks simple on first glance, but closer inspection reveals its quality and elegance.

Xichen hands it to Jin Guangyao without second thought.

"Quickly," he urges. "Cover up as much as possible."

[poorlittlesange]

The otherworldly glow emanating from his skin does not strike Jin Guangyao as particularly beautiful, but then again, he is the one who has to inhabit this body every day, and has had to look at himself in the mirror after bloodying these same slender, now-glowing hands enough times that his own feelings on the matter are complicated. He is frowning critically at his own skin when he notices Lan Xichen's eyes on him, and in that moment everything seems to stop for one held breath.

But then it is over before he can say anything, because Lan Xichen is offering out his outer robe. Jin Guangyao's eyes widen, and though he takes it, he is in the midst of protesting, "Er-ge, you don't need to--" when there comes a low, snuffling growl from behind a nearby ridge, and Jin Guangyao's words die in his throat.

He unsheathes Hensheng and turns to put his back to Lan Xichen out of pure instinct to protect his night hunting partner's flank, but even with Lan Xichen's robes around him, only so much can be done to mask the glow that emanates from his skin. "I need to hide, I'll give us away otherwise--" he hisses, eyes already searching desperately for some place he can shelter himself where his inexplicable incandescence won't betray Lan Xichen's location to the beast that prowls nearby.

[baiyueguang]

Shuoyue is drawn with equal swiftness as Xichen tucks the bag of mushrooms safely into the fold of his robes, and in one fluid motion his back is to Jin Guangyao's.

(Perhaps some part of him should examine more closely why he so readily puts his back to a man he still isn't completely sure tried to kill him, but he cannot bring himself to care. He is choosing to trust Jin Guangyao, as he has always chosen to trust Jin Guangyao, because the one time he chose otherwise resulted in him putting Shuoyue through his belly for something he may or may not have even done and it opened a chasm of grief in him so deep, death would have been a preferable outcome.)

His eyes scour the woods and then the ridgeline and... there! On a rocky precipice, there's a dark, narrow indent, easy enough for the two of them to squeeze into and it looks relatively deep.

He lightly taps on Jin Guangyao's forearm, and wordlessly points to the gap. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the silhouette of a creature slinking ever closer, drawn by Jin Guangyao's glow.

"Shuoyue," he whispers, and his intent is clear as the sword shifts to stepping height.

[poorlittlesange]

The beast casts a long shadow in the light of the moon, and the sharp, unforgiving angles of it make Jin Guangyao's stomach lurch. He is not easily moved to terror by ghosts or monsters or demons, because those threats are rarely as dangerous to him as the threats posed by his fellow cultivators, but in this space where he is still learning what his capabilities can do to protect him and so soon after his qi deviation--

He startles slightly at Lan Xichen's touch to his forearm, meets his eyes, then follows the line of his gaze and forefinger towards the chasm in the ridge. When Lan Xichen whispers only, "Shuoyue," and the sword hovers above the foliage and scrub grass, Jin Guangyao doesn't hesitate or allow himself to overthink it.

He steps up onto the blade and puts his arm around Lan Xichen's waist to stabilize himself, and then whispers, "Go..!"

[baiyueguang]

Shuoyue soars over the tree line, just as the creature springs out of the bare foliage onto the spot they stood not even a second ago. Wind whips their hair, and Xichen leaves a trail of frost in his wake as they ascend to the narrow cave.

And it is indeed narrow; they have to go in single file, and Xichen is almost too broad-shouldered to squeeze through. Something rips, but he doesn't pay it much mind and further towards the back, the stone walls widen a bit (but not much). He and Jin Guangyao are cramped together as the beast seems to have climbed the near vertical ridge in record time and is snuffling about outside the mouth of the cave.

Xichen keeps his friend close, his body placed firmly between him and the beast, Shuoyue firmly in hand.

The cave is too tight a fit for the beast. First it pokes its deformed head in, mouth foaming and teeth gnashing angrily at its prey that is so close and yet so far. When it can't reach them that way, it scrabbles with its claws but to no avail. Xichen and Jin Guangyao are a good two meters out of reach.

And so begins the waiting game.

"A-Yao," he says, "I would rather avoid killing it."

Blood pollution and all that.

"How are your reserves...?"

Shen Yuan & Nie Huaisang

[xiaoxiuya]

Shen Yuan's mood is pensive as he and Huaisang set out. Everyone was perfectly civil as they woke up to a disgustingly chilly dawn -- Lan Xichen in particular acted as though he were long used to such things, which Shen Yuan already from the invitation to meditate with him at *5 am* but that doesn't make it any less disturbing to see it in action -- but seeing everyone like that, moving around each other...

Look, Shen Yuan knows he isn't the *most* emotionally intelligent guy in the world, but he can still tell *something's* up. And so he eventually, diffidently asks Huaisang, "Are your brothers okay? They didn't have a fight or anything, did they?"

[fanfavors]

Getting up this early is a crime, but they're already here, so - well, there they are. Huaisang is making the most of it, which is to say, his attention is split between keeping an eye out for mushrooms and an eye out for birds, and who's to say which one he'll pick up more of by the time this morning is over?

So as he and Shen Yuan walk along, that's what he's thinking about - birds, and the empty bag for mushrooms dangling from his hip. He blinks back to the present for Shen Yuan's question, which, ah...?

"Shen-ge would have to ask them about that, not me. I don't know anything," he says, with a shrug. "But I don't think so, no..." He waves a hand, like, this is just how they interact. All the time. To the shock of everyone (or: Jin Guangyao, who thinks he's subtle), Huaisang does have working eyes. "If there's something, this one would guess it's caused by something this world has done."

[xiaoxiuya]

"Oh?" Shen Yuan nods thoughtfully to himself. "Yes, I suppose that would make sense...Trench does rather enjoy throwing people into troubling situations." See also: those damned System-faces that have been apparently springing up behind him all month like mushrooms, or the visions that apparently everyone's dealing with.

"It's odd though," he muses out loud. "When I saw the together for the first time in the Red, I'd have thought there were no two closer friends in Trench. Now it seems like they can barely stand to look at each other."

[fanfavors]

"I really don't know anything," Huaisang repeats, shuffling ahead a bit to crouch down and peer into a promising-looking tree. He retrieves a stick to give the innards of these roots a gentle nudge-around, frowning... any mush here... it's looking like no.

"Shen-ge's perspective is different from mine," he adds; being the government-mandated Littlest Brother, and with the benefit of years of knowing them, he doesn't, ah, keep such careful track of their moods. Sorry to er-ge and san-ge, except they'd probably be embarrassed, so not totally sorry. Huaisang leans back from the tree roots, wiggling the stick up at Shen Yuan.

"It's unbecoming to speculate." Haha, he doesn't care though, not gossiping is for nerds. "But really, it's not like this one knows everything that goes on between them."

[xiaoxiuya]

"Oh?" Shen Yuan tilts his head at Nie Huaisang with amused suspicion. Suspicious amusement? He doesn't know Huaisang well enough to know if he really doesn't know or he just doesn't want to talk about it, which Shen Yuan supposes would be fair if that's the case. The two of them do look a little silly, don't they, standing out in the woods like this gossiping about two grown men? Alright, enough of that then. "Fair enough," Shen Yuan says, and takes another look around at the woods, closed fan in hand.

"So," he wonders out loud, "if I were an over-powered medicinal mushroom, where would I be?" It's ironic, honestly; he knows about the locations of thousands of rare and magical mushrooms, plants, and animals, but they're all specific to Proud Immortal Demon Way or other novels he read over the years. Throw him out into the woods and ask him to identify a generic tree, and he's lost. Especially now when most of them have lost their leaves.

[fanfavors]

Huaisang looks up and over his shoulder at Shen Yuan, tapping his stick against his chin. Hmm, "Did you speak with that local deity?" Or whatever Never Mind is supposed to be, does this place even have a heavens? Ridiculous. "This one heard 'oak,' although if Shen-ge doesn't know how to spot an oak tree..."

Sad for Shen-ge. Huaisang waits for one whole beat before assuming that, no, Shen Yuan can't ID an oak tree at a glance, but luckily he can! Thanks again to Qinghe for squatting in the middle of a well-treed area. He taps the tree in front of him, pointedly.

"Like this— take note, or we'll be out here for hours." Another beat. "Shen-ge isn't much of an outdoors type, is he...?"

[xiaoxiuya]

No, of course he doesn't know how to identify an oak tree, what does Huaisang take him for? Instead he puts on his best 'thoughtful shizun' face and nods, saying "Of course I expect Huaisang to know these things. After all, this is technically his night hunt."

...It is, right? Huaisang was the one who talked to Never Mind first, Shen Yuan's pretty sure. Really he'd just been going along for something to do, since he couldn't work with Duty for a while, and he hadn't been paying attention to the details.

He comes over to kneel down next to Huaisang. "So, it's an oak tree," he says leadingly. Which means what, exactly?

Exit; Pursued By Mystery Beast (CW: Monster body horror)

[baiyueguang]

For all their protections, for all their cunning, for all their skill at dealing with monsters, they have not been able to completely avoid catching the attention of some manner of beast.

Their Night Hunt has just taken a somewhat ironic turn.

They are packing up to go when it lunges from the trees, snarling with its twisted jaw and gouging with its gnarled claws. It might have been a bear once, before the blood pollution turned it into this. It's enormous but clearly emaciated body is dotted with patches of scraggly brown hair and marked with oozing mange. Thorn-like bones protrude along its spine and its teeth are yellowed and too numerous to count and it stares at the world through a pair of mad red eyes, knowing nothing but hunger.