(no subject)

[makesthings]

Sameth has taken over a booth and has bits and pieces of various clockwork creatures in front of him. Wings that look similar to a dragonfly, the form of a person and his main project while he hasn't fully figured out the shape yet, but he's working on a joint that could be a knuckle. His spiced wine has gone cold as he's forgotten about it.

Comments

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Wuxian was working on some talisman ideas, but his scribbled notes slowly degenerated into sketches of those around him. He has started sketching Sameth, his hand less practiced than it once was, but his eye for form and his knowledge of how to create accurate figures still as good as ever.

He's not exactly being subtle about it. Subtlety is for other people. Like Lans. Lans can be subtle.

[makesthings]

Sameth stretches his hand and reaches for his drink, looking up and sees the man drawing and says, "What are you working on?"

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Wuxian grins, unashamed at being caught out, and turns his paper around to show his work. Half the page is taken up with notes written in a hurried hand.

The other half is an incomplete sketch of Sameth, his partial creations scattered around him.

[makesthings]

"Oh, that's good," He shifts to get a better look to see if the notes make sense to him.

[alongfallfromgrace]

The notes are written in sloppy Chinese characters, in a shorthand of Wei Wuxian's own - his ideas often run faster than his 'neat' calligraphy, so he's learned to adapt so he doesn't lose track of what he is designing half-way through.

"Thank you, I hope I wasn't being too obtrusive."

[makesthings]

"No, not at all. I kind of get absorbed when I'm working,"

The messy handwriting feels familiar to Sameth though he doesn't recognize the language. As he shifts his chair a little closer, he notices an odd feeling about this man, maybe he's dead, this is Milliways.

[alongfallfromgrace]

Wei Wuxian laughs, rueful and bright.

"Oh, I know how that is. Watch out for a short pretty lady in red, she's interrupted so many creative sessions with her needles, she's a menace." He advises gleefully.

Someone ought to tell Wei Wuxian it's never a good idea to tempt fate when it comes to a doctor determined to keep him in one piece. Wen Qing will hear of this, somehow.

[makesthings]

"Needles? What does she do with them?"

That sounds painful, his sister at worst interrupts him with lectures.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Usually knocks me out. She's very good at it." Wen Qing actually has a wide array of skills when it comes to acupuncture... but Wei Wuxian is a shit patient, and was usually more amenable to treatment if he wasn't awake to complain about it.

[makesthings]

"That's a real skill. Does she use any magic or she knows where to poke at you?"

No one in his family knows how to do that with only a needle, with bells or fists or spells, they can.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"A bit of both - there are points on the body where the flow of energy, of qi, can be disrupted or stilled if pushed or poked appropriately. I know some of them, for fighting, but she knows them all. Wen Qing is the best doctor of our generation."

He may give Wen Qing grief like she's his actual sister, but he'll also defend her and her reputation with equal energy.

[makesthings]

"Qi, they must be useful. Did she have to do a lot of training?"

Does his sister just know things or did she have to learn it all?

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Oh, so much, she's a very gifted scholar." Wei Wuxian nods solemnly, earnest eyes wide. "Very learned."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Heck of a project," he observes, watching from the bar. "What're you making?"

[makesthings]

"I'm not sure yet. Working on some ideas to help improve a previous project and tinkering with others,"

He knows Lirael isn't as happy as she could be with her hand and wants to improve it. As he answers, he looks up and nods to the man who asked then tries not to stare at his prosthetic arm, which is beautiful.

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods back, lifting his coffee mug for a sip as he does. Light gleams from the dark finish Shuri's layered into the vibranium of the arm he's wearing, plates shifting and adjusting all the way to the shoulder under the short sleeve of the loosely-woven linen shirt he's wearing.

"Inventor?"

[makesthings]

"Yes, sort of, in my world, they call me a Wallmaker since I use Charter magic in what I make,"

Inventor seems much more like a word from Ancelstierre so not a title that Sameth would use for himself.

[nerves_of_ice]

"... so it seems obvious to say that you must make stuff besides walls," he says, after a moment and a look at what the younger man's working on.

"Is it just magic that makes it wall-related?"

[makesthings]

"No, more the history of the Charter. There hasn't been a Wallmaker in a long time and the ones we know of are known for building the Wall between the Old Kingdom and Ancelstierre. As well as other things like armor and weapons but that's where the title comes from,"

Sameth hadn't thought too much about that part of the name since he has been repairing Charter stones.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Okay," he says, slowly, absorbing that and putting the pieces together as much as he can. Charter: document or magical system or both, maybe linked to something structurally (due to Walls).

"Are the two at war?"

[makesthings]

"No, we're allies but the Wall keeps the Dead in the Old Kingdom and acts as a protection for both countries. It was created when the Old Kingdom was as a boundary and a final defense against the Dead,"

Its been a long time since he had to explain the Wall.

[nerves_of_ice]

"The dead," he repeats, thinking of some other conversations. "So - ghosts, zombies, necromancy, something else? That a big problem in your world?"

[makesthings]

"The Dead, closer to what other places would call zombies and not at the moment, but not too long ago we were dealing with a necromancer that was trying to destroy the world. Awaken something and we were only just able to defeat him. Since there's also Free Magic which is more about chaos and destruction. Enough that there's the Abhorsen, who has to fight the Dead and necromancers,"

He runs a finger along the burn on his wrist before going back to turning a piece of metal in his fingers.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh." A beat of silence falls, as he studies him. "Not a problem for you here, is it?"

[makesthings]

"Not recently. The dead who are here aren't like the ones in my world, but I did once meet someone who was far too close to a necromancer here,"

Sameth looks over to a place where nothing seems different on the floor but is about where he fell through.