OOMs + mass EP from the Cultivation World

[hat_and_dimples]

OOM 1: A few months (years) ago, Wen Qing and Wen Ning decide to face the wrath of the Jin clan

OOM 2: Following Jin Guangyao's admission that Wen Qing is alive, Lan Wangji, Zenigata, Jin Guangyao and Lupin (!) go to free her and bring her back to Milliways. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, remarkably little does.

The door opens on a corridor in a dungeon, and a number of people comes through all at once: first Wen Qing, pale, dirty and in rags; followed by Lan Wangji, his white robes flawless despite the dank basement they are coming from: Zenigata, tall as Hanguang-jun but twice as wide annd muscular; then Lupin, wearing golden Jin robes and carrying a black mesh hat in his hands like a bowl, all the while talking at Zenigata until Jin Guangyao, who comes last, pushes him over the threshold, follows, and firmly closes the door.

[[OOC: We will all put our separate tags under this post so you can find us each and talk; there will also be a main thread in which everybody de-briefs together. CW for canon typical violence, sadness, and people not communicating causing problems for each other.]]

Comments

[Group Thread]

[thesecondjade]

Once the smell of Jin corruption and the dank basement it was fermenting in was behind them and the rich scents of savory food and good drink hit his senses, Lan Zhan guides Wen Qing to a small booth to gather his compatriots there.

"There will be much to discuss," he says, once they're all gathered at the booth. "But the short of it is you are safe here, for the time being. I will be seeking a safe way to bring you home to live, in time. But do not be afraid to take the time this place offers to heal and regain yourself."

Or mourn. Lan Zhan knows he had to do that himself.

Re: [Group Thread]

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao quickly detours and then takes a seat on the outside of the booth, with a large teapot and enough cups for everybody.

"I got Lushan Yunwu," he just announces and then pours for all of them. Not wanting tea is not an option.

Re: [Group Thread]

[herb_and_needle]

Wen Qing is exhausted and numb. She recognizes this as a state of shock but can't be bothered to do anything about it. She lives but has lost so much.

It's more muscle memory that accepts a cup of tea than will.

Re: [Group Thread]

[zenigatcha]

"Thank you," Lan Zhan says to Jin Guangyao.

Zenigata, however, is already scanning -- Lupin's vanished in short order.

"So, ah, did you do as I suggested?" he asks Jin Guangyao as he sits down in the booth. "For the ... enrichment. Or do I have to go shake him by his ankles?"

Sometime Later...

[thesecondjade]

Tired in a way he didn't realize he could be, Lan Zhan finds the smallest, quietest corner (there are so many; the Bar's nonEuclidean geometry causes some mild distress) and seats himself there.

Eventually he'll seek food, but first he wants to gather and re-order his thoughts. Despite how easy it was -- too easy? -- this was emotionally fraught. Wen Qing is one - was one - of Wei Ying's people, the family he carved himself up for after losing the Jiang. It brings back troubling memories. Things he wished he'd done differently.

Tea, and eventually food, will help.

Re: Sometime Later...

[yinyangwizard]

Abe no Seimei appears, holding a tray with a teapot and two cups. On the outside, the pot and cups are a speckled grayish-brown: on the inside they are glazed the blue of a robin’s egg.

“Lan Wangji, I have been absent these past several days, but I saw you come in earlier. I seem to have missed something of great import.”

[thesecondjade]

The return bow of greeting is given before Lan Zhang gestures to a seat as he retakes his own.

"A mission of mercy," Lan Zhan says, looking up at Abe with guileless eyes. "Wen Qing was alive. Now she is free. We have brought her to Milliways from the depths of a Jin prison. Jin Guangyao helped us."

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei has so many questions, it’s difficult to choose one to ask first. He sets down the tea tray and takes the offered seat. “If you will excuse me for a moment...”

He reaches out two fingers and makes a series of gestures in the air. There is a slight and very localized change in pressure. “To prevent eavesdropping,” Seimei explains, and starts pouring tea. The blue glaze inside the cups makes the tea a more brilliant green.

The question Seimei chooses first is “Does she know of Lan Sizhui? And if not, are you planning to tell her?”

There are valid reasons to tell Wen Qing about her youngest kinsman, and also valid reasons not to.

Re: Sometime Later...

[magnus_archivist]

"Oh, I... hello." Jon is caught flat-footed when his usual hiding place is occupied, the waitrat following him with a tea set squeaking in annoyance when Jon fails to move forward. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

[thesecondjade]

Well, this is-- not who he expected. Lan Zhan tilts his head and looks at him. "Is there a problem?"

Is he not supposed to be in this corner?

Re: Sometime Later...

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine is tired, herself, but it is almost a good kind of tired. The night's work was rough and long, and the only comfort against the realization that she has no time left to hope for sleep before her morning shift begins is that the night's work was successful. So Milliways' arrival behind her bedroom door, offering the chance of some additional hours, is very welcome. It's habit to look around the room for familiar faces, and her smile lights up a little recognizing Lan Wangji in his corner. Though... something in his shadows suggests there has been a change in situation - something good, but not an uncomplicated good.

So it happens that tea and some light snacks eventually arrive at his table, accompanied by a baker. She is dressed in red sneakers, green jeans and a yellow t-shirt decorated with a winking loaf of bread amid fluttering dollar bills, saying, 'Call me yeast 'cause I raise the dough!' (fond swag from some long-ago fundraiser), and is is freshly showered and thoroughly scrubbed, though scrubbing does little for bruises. Her red hair is still slightly damp and smells only of her lily-of-the-valley shampoo.

"Good evening, Lan Wangji," she greets him. "May I join you?"

[thesecondjade]

Lan Zhan rises to bow, his eyes cast down and respectful. "Please join this one," he says, before he gestures to another seat and retakes his own.

There is a glance to the food, and then a curious glance. "What have you brought?"

[zenigatcha]

Once they start to break apart and head their separate ways, Zenigata heads to the bar to make sure there's plenty of Money on the still-there "Wen" fund. It's all Wen Qing's now, and she's going to need clothes, and supplies, and who knows what else.

Then he goes looking for two things: Lupin, and dinner. They may or may not happen at the same time. He's got to wrangle the thief somewhere, and talk to him about things that happened weeks before this but have since remained unaddressed.

[skyhigh_seance]

What has remained tragically unaddressed is how fine Zenigata looks in his 'be gay, do crimes' get up. Klaus' wolf-whistle fixes that problem. Klaus, sitting perched at the Bar with a bottle of tequila, is cheerfully and hungrily eying Zenigata.

Kobe beef, it's what's for dinner.

[zenigatcha]

Zenigata is actually, despite everything Lupin related (which is so full of conflict) feeling pretty good. A good deed was done, Jin Guangyao said a nice thing to him, nobody got hurt, he got to be 'bad' for a good cause. You know, all in all a good day.

Then Klaus just plugs in the confidence booster and Zenigata goddamn glows, pink in the face and his smile big and bright.

So he siddles up to Klaus with his grin on, and sits down at the bar next to him.

"Don't you know cat-calling in public is rude," he says, not meaning a damned word of it.

[hat_and_dimples]

After talking with the others, Jin Guangyao walks to the bar and retrieves the tablet computer he'd been given a while ago. He mostly plays Plague Inc. on it, but it has many other uses. Spreadsheets, for example. Or photos.

At some stage, he will seek out Lupin in order to get a list of what the thief took from Jinlintai. If the guard's tally on the damages does not add up to what he knows is missing, Jin Guangyao will be happy to remind them.

[electro_kinetic]

"I have never seen someone who has that many spreadsheets," Noriko intones from her seat, where she's tidying up her hair with a pair of gloves and lots of little bowls of dye in shades and hues of blue.

She pauses with what looks like a little paintbrush halfway to her head, carefully watching him and the mirror aimed at her scalp. "That's impressive."

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao smiles at her. "At home, I keep them on large sheets of paper," he says, settling on a sofa with some tea and his tablet, "but here, I can keep them in light and change things around as often as I want to, until they're perfect."

Pause.

"Why are you painting your hair in public?"

[mogget_cat]

If Jin Guangyao seeks a comfortable place to settle with his tablet, he might notice at least one of the throw pillows on the couch has ears.

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao sits right beside the floofy pillow and stretches out his hand to touch the ears.

"My very favourite not!cat," he says, "and cat, at that. I have had a day. Thank you for being here."

[lupintrois]

Like any smart thief, Lupin skedaddles fast as soon as they're out of danger. First off, he's not sure if Pops is gonna want to search him for any of the many, MANY things he took off the Jins. Secondly, he wants to go do the squirrel thing and hide his loot somewhere immediately. Thirdly, there's...that man. (Fourthly he still looks like Jin Guangyao from the neck down and he'd really like to go put proper shoes back on, thanks.)

He misses the conversation between Klaus and Zenigata entirely, and is not particularly pleased to discover they had one to begin with. It's not that he's jealous of Zenigata getting tail on the side, poor guy deserves it and it's not like Lupin ever mastered the art of monogamy. (Did a lot of practice, mind you.) It's that the guy looks...just enough like him to be insulting.

Instead, he comes back a few hours later and leaves a note for the guy with the barmice.

Klaus - Want to have a chat. I'll buy the drinks. Sincerely, Lupin III

Hopefully the offer of free booze will assuage any sore feelings.

[skyhigh_seance]

Klaus is equal-opportunity in his feelings. He can take Lupin's liquor and still dislike the guy.

He sends back a note when he eventually wanders by for waffles.

Do you like me as a:
[ ]friend
[ ]boyfriend
Pick one. Or just come down here and talk, whatever.

[lupintrois]

When Lupin finally catches up to him, he puts the note down in front of Klaus. There's an option that's been added, then checked, in blue pen to indicate Professional Associate.

"Parley?" he says, hoisting himself onto a bar stool and setting a white bottle in front of Klaus. "Jin Clan's finest. Stole it myself, so I can guarantee it's at least the kind of thing people with more money than sense drink. He seems much more friendly than the last time they met.

[hat_and_dimples]

Jin Guangyao quietly turns up with his tablet computer and gives Lupin a polite smile.

"So," he says. "I do hope you took the zodiac cups. I find them atrocious and do not wish to inherit them."

[lupintrois]

"Don't worry, they have a loving home now," says Lupin, briefly flashing the Jin Guangyao Trademark Smile, which looks freakish on the noodle man's face.