OOM and EP: Bargain and proof

[hat_and_dimples]

[[OOM: An agreement kept]]


Jin Guangyao is lying on the rug before the fireplace, his hat on an ottoman behind him, teacup at his elbow. In his free hand, he holds his tablet computer, which he occasionally prods and pokes, changing things around with an expression of deep and satisfied happiness on his face.

Jin Guangyao just loves spreadsheets, and the organised plans they allow you to make.



[[OOC: This post is brought to you by the lovely doodle I received from one of the most original fan artists in the CQL/MDZS fandom. CW for the OOM for canon typical Jin Guangyao and emotional manipulation / blackmail. Also, the OOM happens several years before WWX's return; I just didn't get around to posting before.-]]

Comments

[mogget_cat]

As though pulled by the deeply satisfied relaxation going on, a soft, warm weight settles alongside Jin Guangyao, sprawling with equal parts luxurious indolence and grace.

[hat_and_dimples]

"Yrael," Jin Guangyao says, reaching out to touch the not!cat's white ears, "it's great you are here! Look how pretty and useful these are!"

[mogget_cat]

The sprawled not!cat leans its head into his hand, peering with one green eye at be tablet screen.

"Hmm - your spreadsheets, yes?" he mwrrs comfortably, accepting that some strange people enjoy mixing productivity with their relaxation. "But digital, so easily transported, and so much more easily altered than ink, and the color-coding better draws the attention where it is needed."

It's good design. He approves.

"It serves you well?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"Oh, very well," Jin Guangyao says, sipping his tea. It is still hot, so he doesn't offer any to his friend, who wouldn't enjoy that in cat shape. "We are hosting a discussion conference next months, and this time I am using a spreadsheet to keep the usual suspects away from each other. Luckily, Hanguang-jun never comes to these things. He has some very specific enmities that would poison interactions from here" -- he points -- "to here."

[mogget_cat]

The cat purrs. "Drama of that sort would likely curtail more productive discussions."

He would be lying if he said he wouldn't be curious to find out just how dramatic things could get, however.

Speaking of curiosity... "What sorts of things are you hoping to discuss at such a conference?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"New techniques and advances in cultivation," Jin Guangyao says. "Settling problems that have arisen. Watchtower schedules. Marriages. There will be a crowd hunt where the sect disciples compete. Oh, and the rumours of the Yiling Laozu's return."

[mogget_cat]

The flopped cat leans on the reclining Jin Guangyao, comfortable and warm.

"The Yiling Laozu - that would be the necromancer, Wei-Wuxian-that-was?" Yrael mwrrs. "He has been dead for quite a while though, hasn't he?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"The same," Jin Guangyao says. "There's always been the occasional rumours as his body was never found and Jiang-zongzhu kept looking. It's probably not more than that, but it should be talked about to avoid wild tales spreading."

[mogget_cat]

"People are prone to talk," yawns the comfortable cat, showing white, needle-like teeth. "If they discuss such things in the open, then perhaps the allure will fade, or explanations for the rumors will be found."

Or at least the conversation can be shaped to the answer one wants.

"Of course, fighting the current of Death and pulling oneself from its icy water back into Life is one of the true tests for a necromancer. Anyone can go into Death, anyone with a will, a bell or two and a bit of learning can raise the lesser Dead; it's another thing to raise oneself."

[hat_and_dimples]

"That is a tough test," Jin Guangyao says, "and if the erstwhile Wei Wuxian would pass it one day, it would make nobody except Lan Wangji even remotely happy. Better talk about it in the open and deal with it. It's just some junior disciples that have seen something during a night-hunt at Dafan mountain."

[mogget_cat]

"What is there to hunt on Dafan Mountain?" muses the cat, curious and not immune to rumors, himself. "What do they think they saw?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"All four kinds of ghosts and monsters; it was a formal crowd hunt with disciples from many sects. My nephew had gone as well, with his other uncle and his sect," Jin Guangyao says. "However, they encountered an unscheduled walking statue which attacked them. Dafan was the home of the Yiling Laozu's Wen remnants, so of course people immediately claimed to have seen things."

[mogget_cat]

"Terribly impolite for a walking statue to crash the party uninvited and unannounced," mwrrs the cat, its green eyes looking up at him. "The idea of a formal crowd hunt is, I admit, new to me. The sects schedule to come together to make an area safe from ghosts and monsters that would harm the locals?"

[hat_and_dimples]

"Even better," Jin Guangyao says. "The sect that hosts the event collects ghosts and monsters from all over and releases them into the designated hunting grounds. I have often hosted them, quite successfully, after the very first I organised had been a bit of a disaster, thanks to Wei Wuxian, among other factors."

[mogget_cat]

"It is entertainment, then?" the cat inquires. "Friendly competition?"

He is trying to imagine something like it being organized in the Old Kingdom, and failing. They don't exactly have mages to spare...

[hat_and_dimples]

"Friendly competition, yes," Jun Guangyao agrees. "The sects' disciples compete, but they also learn to cooperate. It's not exactly a walk in the peony fields, and if anything goes awry, they usually band together and make sure everybody gets out alive; they did so at Dafan, too, with the statue."