November Catch-All

[outspokenlan]

⌛ Who: Lan Jingyi, Wen Qing, Ye Baiyi, and Tay
⌛ What: November catch-all
⌛ When: November
⌛ Where: Varies
⌛ Warnings: Will be marked on thread

Lan Jingyi
[Kizuna traits- Jingyi has a small streak of pink in his hair, his eyes turn a shiny emerald green color whenever he's around Jiang Cheng and a light blue whenever he's around Sizhui. New additions: Jingyi now has pale blonde ears and tail of a labrador.]

Wen Qing
[Kizuna traits- Wen Qing is slowly getting more noticeable owl feathers in her hair.]

Ye Baiyi
[Kizuna traits- Baiyi can and does usually hide this, but his chest/ abdomen is covered in thick, white bear fur. He's just gained a small, white nub of a tail too, but he also hides that.]

Tay
[Kizuna traits- Tay has cute cat ears, one white and one black, and a white, long-haired cat tail with black patches.]

Comments

For Ye Baiyi

[safesex]

Now that he was mobile, Vegas was able to explore some of this Nippon place for himself. Though Vegas often did so with Pete, sometimes (like this time) he found himself on his own. Today he'd been checking out a highly possible site for his bar. What a way to make impression: wipe out a gang and then open a business in their former territory. It was a small gang, in his defense, but he wanted others to know the Theerapanyakuls were here to stay. The message was important.

Even Vegas had to admit, for old-timey fantasy Japan, this place had some solid transit. That trainers were timely and fast which made getting from one place to another convenient even without a vehicle of his own. The only problem? The trains got crowded fast. It's even worse when the only seat is next to some asshole you've had prior bad dealings with.

[yeoldmonster]

Baiyi dislikes these trains. They're much too crowded and noisy. If he could, he'd avoid them entirely but obviously that isn't always possible. So he's been enduring this train ride in a silent brood.

This comes to a screeching halt when he senses a certain presence. It's one he's felt before and just as he's looking up to confirm who it is, the young man who Riley seems so taken with sits down next to him. Baiyi sighs.

"Your condition has improved."

[safesex]

Ugh, he wanted to talk? Vegas repressed a sigh and forced a charming smile. For Riley's sake.

"I had a good doctor."

[yeoldmonster]

'Wanted to' is a big assumption. He's not at all thrilled about their situation. And what the hell is that smile for?

"Mn," Riley hums indifferently. Could they leave it at that? He thinks of Riley and begrudgingly pushes himself. "She's the one who owned the house?"

[safesex]

"Wen Qing, mmhmm." He nodded to affirm that in case his noncommittal hum wasn't clear enough. He felt a little bad about abandoning the place when all that weird shit started, but he understood the choice. Even if the rest of the household didn't want to go East, Pete would've taken Vegas himself to keep him safe.

Since coming back, even Vegas chipped in to help with some of the repairs. Thankfully, most of the damage is superficial.

[yeoldmonster]

If he were the type, he'd offer the woman an apology for how he behaved in her house but he wasn't. Besides, he still thinks the force he'd used had been quite mild given the insult to Xie.

That doesn't mean there isn't part of him that regrets how that scene played out.

"Riley told me your family made it out of the Western Kingdom before all the trouble."

[safesex]

"My husband insisted." No need to mention he was worried about their ability to fight, if needed, with an injured man on their hands. Even if the rest of the household hadn't come, Pete would've made sure Vegas was nowhere near that danger. "We stayed as a Daoist temple in the East."

[yeoldmonster]

"You stayed at a shrine?" That seems rather odd given the energy he'd felt from these people.

It's better they stayed at a shrine though than at Baiyi's house or learn they'd somehow wormed their way into the Four Seasons Manor. At least there, he wouldn't worry too much about his descendant's safety given how capable he was.

"From what I heard that was a wise choice of your husband."

[safesex]

"Pete's a smart guy," he quipped. Especially when it came to assessing danger. Pete didn't take unnecessary risks when he decided to protect someone. "I trust him with my life."

[yeoldmonster]

He wonders what that would be like. Did he trust anyone with his life? Um.. no. He did once, but that was a long, long time ago.

"Were you married before you arrived here?"

[safesex]

"No. We did that here." Spur of the moment because Vegas said something stupid and the idea of being married made them both a little happier.

[yeoldmonster]

He frowns a bit as he thinks that over. "You both seem so young. How do you do that without speaking with his elders? Is the shrine where you had your tea and bows?"

cw: familial abuse

[safesex]

Vegas snorted. Pete's 'elders', his father at least, were a bunch of abusive garbage. Vegas would never have asked Pete's father for permission to marry him, even if were the type to do so. And Vegas' dad? That homophobic piece of shit would never have agreed. Thankfully, he's dead.

"It's not important to our culture. We eloped anyway. Asking anyone's permission would've defeated the purpose."

[yeoldmonster]

"Is it the permission part or the family part you have problems with?" Baiyi asks, looking over at the young man curiously.

[safesex]

"I don't have problems with either. It's just not important." Vegas paused and pressed his lips together thoughtfully. Family, the family he chose, is important to him. Blood ties? Other than Macau, no. "My father's dead anyway. There's no one to give permission."

[yeoldmonster]

These modern people were annoyingly confusing. He didn't understand their values at all and so far asking questions about it hasn't helped him get any closer.

At least, that's until Vegas speaks of his father. "Is this the same battle where you were injured?"

[safesex]

"Yeah," he answers slowly. His feelings about that are still... ambiguous. Could he acknowledge that Gun was a sack of shit in human skin? Yes. Did he still also crave his father's approval like his lungs craved air? Also yes.

[yeoldmonster]

Suddenly Vegas' reluctance over explaining if the battle was righteous or not makes a whole lot more sense. No one wanted to admit they were fighting on the wrong side if that was the side of their father.

"I barely remember mine," he admits. "I have few memories from back then. Besides knowing he was a respected member of the Martial Arts community I've forgotten much else about him." He suspects he hadn't been that close to the man if this was his attitude about his early years, but that was mostly a guess.

[safesex]

Gun was respected by many. Feared by many, too. But it was never enough because he wasn't number one. A belief he pushed off on his eldest son.

"No? Then who would you ask if you wanted to marry someone?"

[yeoldmonster]

Baiyi side-eyes the idiot next to him. "I'm far too old to consider marriage, young man, but I did speak with Riley's foster father, Elrond, to tell him I was taking care of the boy. I would've done the same for Xie, but he has no family here or back home."

Marriage in general didn't make a whole lot of sense to him given this realm being so detached from his ancestors and gods.

"How does one have a wedding in a place like this?"

[safesex]

"I suppose it's different for everyone. Me and Pete found a Buddhist temple, made offerings, received the temple's blessings, and made merits together." All in all, it was a very short affair. They probably could've been wed at the temple they were staying at, but it was important for them to be married in their own nominal faith.

[yeoldmonster]

Of all things Baiyi expected to hear, this was far from it.

"You follow Buddha?" Is it possible these men with the questionable auras are Buddhists?

[safesex]

"We're not devout." They eat meat and, you know, murder people.

[yeoldmonster]

He breathes a soft laugh at that and nods. Of course they aren't.

"And you don't believe in righteousness."

[safesex]

"The First Noble Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth seeks to determine the cause of suffering. The Third Truth is the end of suffering. And the Fourth Truth is the path to the end of suffering. Where in any of that is righteousness?" Vegas snorts. "Ever hear 'history is written by the victor'? That proves that 'righteous' men are simply the ones who subjugated others and get to tell their perspective."