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Entry tags:
Please welcome your resident god ..... street performer?
WHO: Xie Lian, Open
WHEN: Odile's reception
WHERE: Taravast's main Piazza
WHAT: Someone decided Xie Lian was going to perform and forgot to tell him in advance.
WARNINGS: superhuman strength? he is a god, for people who still don't know.
[This wasn't exactly something Xie Lian had done before, acting as the retinue of a mariage hopeful, even in his long, long life. But it's not too bad. The cut of the clothes he chose make him think of Hua Cheng, and the mask is almost oddly nostalgic and reminiscent of his time in Yong'An.
He's not really paying very close attention to the formalities, only noticing that a few of his fellow travelers are putting up quite nice shows, when suddenly someone shoves him and he stumbles into the empty area in the middle of the piazza, and people start applauding and looking at him expectantly.
Well, he's done street performances before, it should be too hard, right? Right.]
Excuse me, do you have a rock?
[The question is met with polite puzzlement before someone brings a polished stone from a flower bed and Xie Lian shakes his head.]
Ah, no, bigger, please.
[Rocks of varying sizes are then brought and likewise rejected with requests for 'bigger, please', until finally three servants struggle to bring in a small boulder and Xie Lian nods.
And then he just picks up the rock as if it weighs nothing and smashes it against his chest where it basically just explodes and disintegrates into small bits of rock.
... Sorry, that's the only public performance he can do right now on such short notice. next time give him some advance warning and he'll dance.]
WHEN: Odile's reception
WHERE: Taravast's main Piazza
WHAT: Someone decided Xie Lian was going to perform and forgot to tell him in advance.
WARNINGS: superhuman strength? he is a god, for people who still don't know.
[This wasn't exactly something Xie Lian had done before, acting as the retinue of a mariage hopeful, even in his long, long life. But it's not too bad. The cut of the clothes he chose make him think of Hua Cheng, and the mask is almost oddly nostalgic and reminiscent of his time in Yong'An.
He's not really paying very close attention to the formalities, only noticing that a few of his fellow travelers are putting up quite nice shows, when suddenly someone shoves him and he stumbles into the empty area in the middle of the piazza, and people start applauding and looking at him expectantly.
Well, he's done street performances before, it should be too hard, right? Right.]
Excuse me, do you have a rock?
[The question is met with polite puzzlement before someone brings a polished stone from a flower bed and Xie Lian shakes his head.]
Ah, no, bigger, please.
[Rocks of varying sizes are then brought and likewise rejected with requests for 'bigger, please', until finally three servants struggle to bring in a small boulder and Xie Lian nods.
And then he just picks up the rock as if it weighs nothing and smashes it against his chest where it basically just explodes and disintegrates into small bits of rock.
... Sorry, that's the only public performance he can do right now on such short notice. next time give him some advance warning and he'll dance.]
no subject
Wherever here was.
When the final boulder was presented Zuko's eyebrow raised beneath his mask, skeptical that Xie Lian was going to be able to do much with it, without being an earthbender.
A single, surprised chuckle escaped him when Xie Lian crushed the rock against his chest, and he had to clap, at least a few times in appreciation.
After that stunt, he waited for Xie Lian to return to where the rest of the group they traveled with was lingering in, approaching him as he raised his mask enough to identify himself before replacing it. ]
Can you do that with other things or just boulders?
no subject
[And at least, Zuko is no radiating disapproval the way Master Lan is and seems to enjoy the performance for what it is, the same way the rest of the audience is.]
They pushed me in the middle and I just couldn't think of anything else to do. Are you going to perform something?
no subject
It's better than singing, I guess. [ He considered his uncle with a frown. Iroh had earned gold for them while they were traveling towards Ba Sing Se by singing like a beggar - something Zuko had hated at the time. ]
Me? No. I uh, don't have any talents like that.
[ He had refrained from using his bending so far, uncertain how something like that would be received - whether people recognized him or not, the reputation of the Fire Nation was bad enough he wasn't willing to tempt fate. ] I just have swords. [ He felt stupid as soon as he said it, and was grateful for the mask he wore, concealing the way he winced. ]
no subject
[Xie Lian gives a gentle smile to the teenager
who actually looks about the same age as him because immortality at seventeen will do that]They might enjoy a demonstration, but I don't think you have to perform if you don't want to. There's probably enough people volunteering.
no subject
[ Zuko smirked at Xie Lian without actually smiling. Somehow managing to convey a trace of amusement despite maintaining a neutral expression. ]
Besides, I don't see a tsungi horn anywhere either.
[ Not that anything in any world, his or this one, or any other one, would actually get him to play the tsungi horn in public without his uncle goading him on. ]
no subject
[He looks around at the next words, then comes closer to ask.]
What's a tsungi horn?
no subject
[ His eyes narrowed under his mask when the other man stepped closer and he tilted his head to listen to the question. ]
You know, it's kind of shaped like a spiral and wraps over one shoulder, and gets really big on the bottom?
[ Zuko gestured with his hands as he described it. Maybe Xie Lian knew it by another name. ]
no subject
[But the description of the horn does not ring a bell, and he shakes his head.]
Well, we should be fine. that's probably enough performances anyway.
no subject
[ He gestured at Xie Lian's top. ] That? Woven from the rarest thread and swindled off a rival. Pirates talk, reputation is everything.
no subject
[Even at the height of his glory, he's never bene vain or conceited, and the only times it happened was when he was at his lowest point... not a good place to get resources from.]
I'll figure something out.
no subject
[ He gave a little shrug. ]
Or your crew. So it doesn't have to be about you.