jikan_rpg | Where does the time go?

⌛ Who:

jc_superstar and YOU
⌛ What: Jiang Cheng idles around town, trying to find purpose
⌛ When: All through September
⌛ Where: Various locations around the game with highlights from the TDM
⌛ Warnings: Any warnings will crop up in subject lines as needed. The Grape is shy~

[In Nihonbashi, an exclusive new sweets shop called Suipara...]

Jiang Cheng decided that he needed a break and try something different. Suipara looked promising until he noted the regulations on entering the establishment. Really? He tried to be subtle and look around him. Were these people serious? Was everyone here a couple? What about parents to children? Didn't the kids around here like treats?

Clicking his tongue in irritation, Cheng tries to not let his disappointment show too much as he starts to walk away, too prideful to pretend he was anything to anyone just for a sweet treat.

[Random Bathhouse]

It's been three days and Cheng had waited long enough. Gathering what supplies he had, Cheng strolls into one of the common bathhouses to wash and hopefully enjoy a soak. The man always carried stress in his shoulders and it was long overdue to sit in a bath and just try not to think about anything.

While it looked a little strange with the modern slant on things, a bathhouse was a bathhouse. He went to one of the semi-private stalls to strip and wash before heading to the soaking area. He was not prepared for nearly walking headlong (and naked) into...

[Fashion Forward Kohaku, Yokohama]

With all the interesting fabrics and styles, Cheng goes through the shop, scrutinizing the fabric and looking at how the clothing is. He misses his own robes but he isn't ready to really ask for help. But the silk was very fine, he had to admit. Maybe he should see about something new? Maybe he should see to something that was comforting. It was hard to try and adapt to the place when all he could think of was his people. Sure, everyone was saying that time was frozen and no one left behind knew what had happened but he knows what's going on now. And it was agonizing.

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Mingjue had let his beloved know that he was going to head out for a bit, more so Xichen didn't worry than anything else. It would also give the man time to spend with his brother. Xichen and Wangji needed that time together. Well, them and the rabbits.

He doesn't, however, expect to have a very naked Jiang Wanyin walk right into him. Something that he raises a brow at. "I'm not that hard to miss," he states. Whether he's teasing or not is anyone's guess. Xichen was the main one to get his rare smiles, but even Mingjue knew how to tease. Sometimes. It depended on his mood. The lack of Baxia (who was hidden away) actually helped with those moods.

This place? In general, had been good for him.

Cheng hadn't been expecting walking into anyone so... solid. He nearly bounced back in surprise and was ready to berate the man and then stopped dead in his tracks.

Nie Mingjue!

He knew that the man wasn't dead but... "Redblade Master!" And then in a sudden fit, promptly turned around. "I did not expect to see you here!"

He really hadn't. With all the strangeness of the area, he had all but forgotten how many of his numbers were here.

No, he wasn't dead. If it hadn't been for Lan Xichen taking him from the healers of this place, however, he might have actually gone into qi deviation. It was what had been happening before he showed up. His beloved had been worried and rightfully so, especially when he'd been at death's door.

"It is a public place, isn't it?" Mingjue asks with a shake of his head. He does, however, turn slightly and his pearly white scales hit the light in the place causing the opalescent colors to hit the wall. It was still weird to know that he had scales.

He's also, though it doesn't show, slightly amused," Are you going in or staying out here?"

Cheng is still off guard so much so that he can't even fathom a tease or a joke from the other man. "I was planning on going in," he bristled, catching the light on the walls and then turning to look--what the hell?!

He wanted to ask but even Jiang Cheng had some bit of civility left in him. What had happened to the Nie warrior to grant him such a thing? It couldn't have been good. He never heard of anything like it back home.

"What're you waiting for then?" Mingjue asks with a raised brow. Other than the fact that Cheng was staring at him. He has a good idea of what the other man is staring at too. It's not like he's hiding the scales. Why should he?

He could, very well, banish any worries the other might have," They don't hurt or harm me."

Yes, he was staring. Yes, he knew it was rude but...Cheng had never seen anything like it before! Part of him even wondered if it was some sort of yao thing--because he was sure that when bad spirits got a hold of the dead, they could twist them like this.

"How'd you get it?" The question was out of his mouth before he even thought to keep silent.

He knows that the young Jiang is staring. Though, he's not overly surprised by it. Even if he knows that Jiang Wanyin has more tact than that. The question, however, has him raising a brow. Not because it came out of nowhere, but because of how abrupt it was.

"This place is interesting in and of itself. When bonds form, people can change with those bonds," he states simply. "A Kizuna bond, they call it. It's the magic of this place."

Edited 2021-09-04 07:25 (UTC)

"A what?" He may or may not have been in the mental shut down stage when he was processed through orientation. A moment later and he was walking through into the bathhouse, more than ready for a soak.

"And this place bonded you to...what?" He's assuming to a creature with scales. Why else would he have them?

"A Kizuna bond. It's a bond that is formed between two people who are close," Mingjue states simply. Honestly? Jiang Wanyin needed to look it up, read about it. Or ask the network and see what they said about it.

"Not to what to who. It bonded me to Lan Xichen," he tells him. "The bonds that are formed, however, can lend to different things for different people. Some with animal features and some with other types of features altogether."

Lan Xichen was here? Which meant nearly all of the Great Sect Leaders are here. And suddenly, at least according to Jiang Cheng, the place became all the more sinister. "Guangshan isn't here, is he?" He ...didn't want to know what that would imply.

And he couldn't face Mingjue any longer, either. Everyone seemed to be finding a new life here and he certainly could not judge Mingjue for that. The best thing to do was to start the bare minimum washing before he could go and soak in the baths. At this point, it was the one small luxury he could allow himself to have.

Yes, his Xichen was there with him. He would be dead if not for Lan Xichen showing up at the hospital when he did. It wasn't like he would allow a bunch of strangers work on him, much less ones who knew nothing about qi deviation. Something he'd been in the middle of when he'd shown up in this place. He does, however, raise a brow at the question asked. The question alone raising his hackles a bit.

"No, he's not. And if he ever shows he won't like it." Guangshan. Guangyao. Either of them show their face and he's liable to put his saber through them.

He doesn't want them showing up, either. The low warning in Mingjue's tone was clear enough. Cheng wasn't about to press it. "No, I reckon he wouldn't." He would make it clear as day if Guangyao showed his face that he would be smart to keep away from their nephew if he valued his pathetic life.

"Is everyone here expected to gain this... bond?" Redirecting the RedBlade master was a good idea and he hoped it would work.

Where does the time go?

Bathhouse

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