Traditional Wuxia roof-sitting

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi is sitting on the kitchen roof with a large clear plastic cup of bubble tea, watching all the interesting activities going on outside.

There are sparring grounds, and even a training hall that seems still under construction, but he very much doubts that anybody here can even pose an interesting challenge. There had been that cultivator at the Tu'er Shen festival (pretty as a little jade bodhisattva but with the personality of a hedgehog in autumn) who will probably need thirteen moves before he was beaten, not just the ten he'd estimated for that brat Qin Huaizhang's disciple runs around with; but he doubts Lord Hedgehog will be up to friendly sparring. If he wants to fight him, it'll have to be an actual duel.

Then, there's the garden, full of amazing herbs and plants that Ye Baiyi has never seen or heard of, and many that he has. As both cultivators and martial artists work with refined qi and the higher functions of the human body, some basic medical knowledge is something they all have; it's just part of education. Everybody knows how to pass qi or grind medicine; professional healers will perform miracles. However, Ye Baiyi wants to know what this herb garden offers. Eventually, he'll get down, read labels and pluck leaves to rub between his fingers.

And then there's the forge! Secretly, that's what Ye Baiyi wants to see most, and so it's something he doesn't allow himself to go to. He hasn't been in a proper forge since -- decades, really, and he knows that this forge will be different. So he watches the smiths, their customers and the forge cats come and go, drawn but resisting. One day soon, maybe, he'll go there and borrow a few tools and materials to service his great sword Longbei. Nobody gets to touch that sword these days but himself. Nobody is qualified.



[[OOC: Open until it scrolls.]]

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[zenigatcha]

Dealing the quiet unpleasantness that is his back-and-forth world on the other side of the door (Albert has made another move, Zenigata is tired of being pulled back and forth between Lupin and his other rival, the ex rival) Zenigata was out at the dojo doing his labor. The floors had taken shape with the bamboo base layer, and currently he was working the timber slats into place.

It meant he was sweaty, smelly and a bit grimy, but was definitely in his happy place of hard work culminating in something valuable. Or at least, meaningful to him.

[old_monster]

In this place of magic and machines, that man is building his training hall by hand, sweating in the late spring sun. Ye Baiyi can't help but admire it.

So, he talks to the next rat that comes out from the kitchen door, and soon, a number of rats are bringing a large jug of cold kombucha brewed with osmanthus flowers, and a small carafe of potent baijiu, to Zenigata where he is working.

[zenigatcha]

When he sits back on his haunches to take a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, Zenigata finds himself with gifts. He speaks to the rats (having finally grown used to them after all this time) and they point him in the direction of Ye Baiyi.

"Thank you!" he calls out, before he settles in to drain the kombucha, as this is definitely thirsty work. The baijiu can be next, but not so quick that he wants to sacrifice the hydration he's getting so soon after working up his thirst.

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi bows where he is sitting; but after a bit, he jumps off the roof into the air and comes flying over to where Zenigata is sitting.

[zenigatcha]

There's a soft 'ah' of wonder that escapes Zenigata, as he watches the tricks of cultivators appear again.

"Are you a cultivator, sir?" he asks as Ye Baiyi approaches. "Have you met my boy yet? Wei Wuxian?"

[old_monster]

"I'm a martial artist," Ye Baiyi says. "We use our qi slightly differently. And no, I haven't met him yet, just two others, one Mo-gongzi who was serving good soup, and one Lan-gongzi, pretty as a jade bodhisattva but with the personality of a hedgehog in autumn. You probably know whom I mean, better than I do."

[zenigatcha]

"Mo-gongzi?" Zenigata's brows lift; that is his boy, but why use the body's name and not his own? Was he suspicious of the other. "I see. The other one is Hanguang-Jun, and he is a great cultivator and noble man, but he takes a great deal of time to warm to new friends, especially if approached too commonly. He is, um...."

Zenigata can't say any number of terms that would fit, because he is not rude, a doctor, or 100% certain they apply. Instead, he muddles through with the best explanation he can.

"Bound by many peculiar rules of the Lan, and though he is certainly the most flexible of them, he has quite a weight bearing down on him. Did he use his silence charm on you?"

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi laughs. "No, he didn't," he says. "Pity, it would have been fun if he tried. If it actually works on me, there would be any number of people in my world who would pay him good money for it."

Because Ye Baiyi, unlike Zenigata, is very rude, has quite decent medical knowledge, and no qualms about passing judgement.

[zenigatcha]

"He's a most powerful cultivator, and my boy's -- ah, zhiji? Is the term I am told," Zenigata said. "He's come a long way from the man he was when he arrived and the man he is now. Fatherhood mellowed him greatly, but he still is a very prickly pear! Wei Wuxian is far more free-wheeling and good natured."

[old_monster]

"Zhiji is the term," Ye Baiyi says, and a moment's sadness passes over his ageless features like a cloud over the sun.

Then, his careless cheer is back.

"If the Hanguang-jun I met was the mellow version, then I'm glad I didn't meet him before. I'm sure a silencing spell would have been the least of my problems. I suspect I may be Lan incompatible."

,

[zenigatcha]

Ah; another one who has loved and lost, perhaps. Maybe Hanguang-jun could eventually warm up to him, but-- one never knew.

"As a young man he was in a terrible position; both he and Wei Wuxian were thrust into war at an early age," Zenigata said, before he waves to one of the rats and asks for another cup for the baijiu. "But, ah, listen to me go on about my boy and his zhiji! I haven't even introduced myself."

Zenigata has gotten good at the bows in the Chinese style after some. "I am Zenigata Koichi, of Japan. If you are from a China, we are probably many centuries apart."

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi bows back; his style is slightly different from the cultivators', but still very similar.

"I'm Ye Baiyi," he says, "also known as the Mount Changming Sword Immortal, and this is the sword in question, Longbei."

He points with his thumb to the large sword on his back.

"And yes, I'm from a China. When talking to your disciple's prickly zhiji, I realised already that it's not quite the same as ours. No Lan sect in our world. Of course, they might be from the future, and it's not established at my time, but their very concept of sect feels different."

[zenigatcha]

"Oh, ha! Wei Wuxian is not my disciple, he's my son," Zenigata said, starting that glow a father gets when he talks about a well loved child. "He is a cultivator, too, but his family perished when he was very small, and was raised up by another Sect. No formal adoption occurred, so when I found him, it just happened naturally, really. I took him on as my own."

Wei Wuxian is his son now. He would not demand him to leave the Wei of his name, because he knows he continues to honor his birth family, but he is the one who is baba now.

[little_pieces_of_time]

There is a girl or small young woman stalking a butterfly around the herb garden with a small box held between her hands. She is dressed in a faded pink t-shirt and grey hooded jacket and jeans, and carries a messenger bag at her hip, its strap crossing her torso to the opposite shoulder. She is intent on her quarry, but is absently careful not to damage any of the plants. They are easy enough to step around - especially that one with the ominous warning sign.

At last, the butterfly alights upon a spear of catnip blooms long enough for the girl to focus and for the box to give a bright flash. Of course, the flash startles the butterfly into flying away, but the girl is pleased at the box's whirring as it spits out a square of white paper with a dark square upon it. The girl looks up, following the butterfly's flight, and notices the very dramatic-looking person on the roof.

She visibly hesitates, but - c'mon, be brave, Max! - soon calls up to him, "Hello! Would mind if I took your photo?"

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi had been watching her with fascinated puzzlement.

"If you what the what now?" he says, saluting her with his bubble tea.

[little_pieces_of_time]

"If I..." Max is getting better at explaining what photography is at a fundamental level, these days, even if her voice still shakes a bit. "If I make a quick image of you sitting up there. Like a painting, but with a camera it only takes a moment."

She holds up her camera, as though that might help explain.

[old_monster]

"This is a machine, and on the inside, something draws a picture very fast?" Ye Baiyi tries to sum up her words.

[little_pieces_of_time]

"Yes!" She calls back, nodding. "Just like that. The pictures are called photos."

She holds up the one of the butterfly, which is still just a blur showing hints of color, but they are colors that weren't there at all when the square of paper was first ejected from the camera.

[old_monster]

Ye Baiyi peers, and nods. "It is still painting itself," he muses. "Does that machine run on purple golden elixir?"

[little_pieces_of_time]

The long pause that precedes the hesitant, "No?" may indicate a complete unfamiliarity with such an elixir.

[old_monster]

"What does it use to paint the pictures instead?" Ye Baiyi asks.

[little_pieces_of_time]

"Light-reactive chemicals in the photo-paper itself, these," she replies, not going so far as to explain film or digital photography. "It only takes an instant to take a photo, but it still takes a couple of minutes for the image to fully develop."

[old_monster]

"So it doesn't paint, but simply fix the light that hit it at one tiny moment," Ye Baiyi says. "That's a clever idea."

Something the Dragon Pool Cabinet would certainly effect with their famous purple golden elixir, if only somebody had had the idea.

Which they didn't. Welp. Idiots, all of them.

[little_pieces_of_time]

"Yes! Like that," she nods. "Painting... tends to be a more universally known thing, so it's helpful as an explanation."

[old_monster]

"But it's more like - bam, not!purple golden elixir captures the actual light in an instant," Ye Baiyi nods. "So you turn your light capturing cabinet on me, go Bam when you see exactly what you want, and then the whatever elixir is used hatches the picture that is already there. Did I get it right?"