Yohoho and a bottle of rum

[scrapgege]

WHO: Xie Lian, OPEN
WHEN: All August except for the protest and the poison incident
WHERE: Around the seediest parts of Taravast
WHAT:Xi Lian is attempting to channel a Pirate King. Keyword : 'attempting'.
WARNINGS: drinking, gambling, stuff like that.


A.DARK ALLEYS

[So, Xie Lian is supposed to be a pirate, right?

Right.

What do pirates do, really? They are, supposedly, criminals who steal things that don't belong to them and resell them to other people or something like that. Honestly, he doesn't really know.

The only thing he has found as a way to pass for what he is supposed to be is to try and emulate Hua Cheng's clothing and mannerism. The clothing looks mostly fine. The mannerism... he's working on it. He simply does not have the swagger and air of superiority Hua Cheng can invoke in a second. He's also not very tall, and outwardly at least he looks pretty thin, so if not for his supposed reputation, he probably would have been mugged already.

And he decided to go to the taverns because, well it sounds like something a pirate would do.

Those alleys are dark and disreputable, and full of beggars and peddlers of all kinds, and if Xie Lian is a sucker for something, it's a person who looks like they need help. One sob story and he is taking out his money pouch to give some coin to the beggar.]

Here, have some. I know it's not much, but it will help.

[Someone please attempt to save him before he literally gets swindled out of all his money.]


B.GAMBLING

[So, once they are in taverns, pirates drink and they gamble, right? Right. This is just like in Ghost City.

And just like in Ghost City, Xie Lian's abysmal luck manifests, such as he keeps losing. A lot. Repeatedly.]

Haha, I don't think I really understand the rule of this game. Have I lost again? Really?

[Thankfully for him, the people around the table seems to be half frightened by his reputation, so his words might interpreted as vaguely threatening instead of the genuine inquiry they are, so no one has asked him to pay up yet... but they might soon.]


C.THE RUMOR

[Why oh why, did he have to go an invent that pining, unrequited love for Xiao-daozhang? He had only meant it as a soft way to discourage more female advances, and that had been the first name he thought of, but somehow the story seems to have take a life of its own, and now...]

Aaaaah, I'm going to need to apologize to Xiao-daozhang. I didn't mean to bring him such trouble.... I hope no one has been bothering him.

[Don't mind him, he's talking to himself while pacing in the garden of the palazzo.]

Comments

C. Duh.

[thesuspense]

You are the one bothering him.

[Maybe it is rude to interject himself into a conversation like this. Good. Xue Yang wants to be rude.

He is dressed in black, wears his mask and has a sword by his side, as befits his role as a champion swordsman. Coincidentally, it also befits his role as a jealously possessive man, currently glaring at Xie Lian.]

What's wrong with you, hussy?

[scrapgege]

[Well, Xie Lian was mostly talking to himself, so thankfully there isn't much interrupting going on, but his train of thoughts is certainly interrupted and he turns to the person barging in and... cocks his head and blinks at him.]

.... I beg your pardon?

[thesuspense]

You're not getting my pardon!

[Not distracted by that polite talk, Xue Yang scoffs and takes a step closer, clearly unbothered by the confused reaction. He has one focus here.]

Stay away from Xiao-daozhang, you whore.

[That seems more than clear enough.]

[scrapgege]

[Most people, faced with this level of threat and aggression, would probably back off a bit, especially since Xue yang is quite a bit taller than Xie Lian.

But Xie Lian doesn't. He just keeps looking adorably confused, and smiles gently. he doesn't even seem to register the insult.]

... I haven't seen him since we arrived here. Did something happen to him? Is he alright?

[thesuspense]

[Something happen to Xiao Xingchen? Xue Yang knows nothing has - yet - but the thought alone makes him pause, his face displaying a whole confusing array of emotion. Grief, fear, concern, until finally his eyes narrow and he focuses on the moment again.]

You happened to him. Who are you to talk as if you-- He's not like that! He's too good for you.

[scrapgege]

I... I didn't do anything to him? I told you I haven't seen him since we arrived here.

[But then, of course, he remembers what it was the man interrupted, and... ah.]

If it's about that silly rumor, I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have used his name, I just couldn't think of any other in the moment. But it's just a rumor! Nothing happened! I just needed some people to not come after me so I wanted them to think I was unavailable, and I even said it was unrequited on his part, but people don't listen...

[thesuspense]

[There's a lot of talk that sounds like excuses and things he cares little about, so he zeroes in on one thing, moving closer to Xie Lian as he does, ready to try and pin him to the wall should he have to. Should he feel as if he has to, anyway.]

Why would daozhang's name be the one you think of?

[scrapgege]

[Xue Yang moves closer and Xie Lian... still doesn't move. Doesn't step back. Doesn't, in fact, look intimidated in the least.]

We spoke several times... actually got into trouble together when we both first arrived and that was pretty embarrassing, haha. We get along pretty well, but still, that was a bit inconsiderate of me. That's why I said I should apologize to him.

But really, I assure you, it's just people gossiping.

[thesuspense]

You should never go near him again. What's he need you for?

[Xue Yang sneers, not deterred by Xie Lian being undeterred. At least they are on the same page in that one regard.]

Just get him into trouble, dirty his name. Stay away from Xiao-daozhang. He has who he needs.

[scrapgege]

... Listen, I understand you might be concerned if you're his friend, but he's not in any danger from me. And if he really wants me to stay away from him, he can tell me himself.

[Please find your chill, young man. A tall order, apparently, but Xie Lian is around people who have no chills all the time.]

If you're that worried about him, shouldn't you be finding him instead? Ah, unless you're on the other team. Is that why you're worried? He won't be left alone to fend for himself, you don't have to worry about that.

[thesuspense]

I know where he is!

[What does he take him for?

Even if, yes, he is on the other team. But that hasn't kept him from visiting.]

How far is he going to walk by himself? He's blind and they have channels everywhere. If I can't find him, I just listen for the splash. He's clumsy.

[scrapgege]

... Really? I've seen him fight. He's not helpless, far from it. And besides, why would we not help him out if he needs it?

[They're not barbarians, Xue Yang.]

You must be really worried.

[thesuspense]

I'm worried about you using him. You already are!

[And he is determined to protect Xingchen's honour. In a way.]

Don't. Touch. Him.

[scrapgege]

And I said I didn't mean to and I would apologize to him for it.

[Really now, this is ridiculous.]

I'm sure he doesn't need you to fight his battles for him.

not here shhh

[binghua]

[Somewhere, perhaps on the other side of the city entirely, Xiao Xingchen sneezes quite violently.]

A!

[sergeant_slick]

[The seedy parts of town aren't easy to navigate, but he'd wanted to check out what was going on off the main streets. Sure, it was probably dangerous, but it was worth knowing this stuff. See what was on offer where the law wasn't watching. And more importantly, just watch the places. After what'd happened on Christophsis, he was never gonna be without an escape route again. To do that, he had to get used to the unfamiliar logic of the streets.

But then he spots something vaguely familiar. Someone, rather. All he knows is that this one is an offworlder like him, and they're playing opposite sides right now. He'd memorized the assignments, then done his best to stay out of the spotlight, because he didn't have a damn clue how politics happened.

But one thing he did know was how to act innocent. He'd gotten good at that in the army, and that beggar over there was positively the most innocent son-of-a-hutt the galaxy had ever seen.

So obviously this offworlder was getting taken for a ride here.

Fortunately, he had another talent he could use right now: being a stern, unbendable sergeant.]

What are you up to? [He's all steely eyes and set jaw, and apparently he's done a thorough enough job to make the beggar pack up and leave. He stays focused on the offworlder.]

I knew we'd need to keep an eye on you. [A total lie.] A pirate like you can't be trusted.

[scrapgege]

.... Excuse me? Why did you do that?

[Xie Lian looks down at his hand and then in the direction the beggar hurriedly left.]

Hey, wait, you forgot your money!

[sergeant_slick]

[He lowers his voice, drawing closer to the other offworlder.] That one was acting, like we're supposed to be. You're set up to be a pirate, yeah?

[scrapgege]

.... Ah, yes. I'm not quite sure what pirates do, really, though. But I was about to give that poor man money and you scared him off!

[You might have to explain with more words, Slick.]

[sergeant_slick]

[Well, good thing he'd come along when he did. Not that he has any real idea what pirates do either, but he knows it's not this.]

Yeah, I did, because he was lying to you. Besides, you're supposed to be ruthless! At least threaten to string him up if he looks at you again or something. [He might not be clear on details, but he was pretty sure that was on the pirating agenda.]

[scrapgege]

Well, even if he was, if someone is hungry and needs a meal, I don't care if they lie to get it.

... And I don't like threatening people.

[Xie Lian would make a very bad pirate.]

yo, if you're up for backtagging my brain has finally returned from the war

[sergeant_slick]

[This was all way outside his expertise. Sure, he'd run into troopers who wanted to follow every rule in the book, but all of them had the capacity for mayhem in them somewhere. This, though? He wasn't sure there was any mayhem in this person. Possibly not even mischief.]

Then we've got to work on getting you some subtle menace or something, otherwise this isn't going to work.

Or... I don't know. Keep a list of who you've acted pirate-y at, and pay them back once our job's done. That'd even things out, right?

[scrapgege]

[The truth is, there is a lot of potential for mayhem in Xie Lian. he is only too aware of the fact himself, and he chooses, deliberately, to not set it loose, at all, ever. Mostly.]

... Do I have to? Most people don't really care, to be honest. Ever since that silly rumor started, they've only been asking me about my love affairs anyway, no one wants to hear stories about pillaging.

And they keep inviting me to play dice because I'm very bad at it.

[sergeant_slick]

What rumor? [What do non-clones even start rumors about? Aren't the real things they do weird enough already?]

And--look, I'm not great at this either, but I'm trying to keep my head down, alright? Other people can do the political stuff, I'm just trying to be too boring to notice. If they figure out we're not who they think we are, I've got no idea what will happen. [Probably nothing good. In his experience, people finding out who you really are tends to go very badly.]

[scrapgege]

... The one about my one-sided love affair with renowned chef Xiao Xingchen. You haven't heard?

[It's all over town.]

I don't think I've bene attracting attention to myself too much. And so far I haven't had too many problems with bad luck.

[sergeant_slick]

Not ringing any bells.

Well that's...good, I guess. That they're not asking about the rest, I mean. [Better a pirate that's terrible at gambling and sleeps with chefs than one that gets suckered in by charity scams.] They keep asking me about battles I haven't been in.

[scrapgege]

... you might be the only one. People keep hounding me about it. It's doing wonders for my reputation.

[Although with battles, well...]

You can always invent something, no?

[sergeant_slick]

Well, now I know about the rumor. Sorry, I guess? [He doesn't understand why it's a huge deal, though. Sure, if he was in this guy's squad he might give him shit, but...]

Not when they start telling me their uncle was commanding a force there. [He could lie, sure. He was pretty good at that. But he wasn't good enough to recover from "misremembering" the name of somebody's famous relative.]

[scrapgege]

hmmm maybe you can say you had a head injury that gives you a bad memory? that's believable for a soldier, isn't it?

[Xie Lian has done it often enough himself when he was in various armies.]

[sergeant_slick]

...I mean, I might actually have one, so that could work. [But he wasn't forgetting things any more than normal. ...Right?]

[scrapgege]

[Immediately, Xie Lian looks concerned.]

Oh no, did you get hurt here? What happened?

[sergeant_slick]

What? No, not here. I am actually a soldier, not just playing pretend for these people. Got my bell rung a few times, it happens. [He doesn't think it should, not without a really good reason at least. But brushing it off is his knee-jerk reaction anyway.]

[scrapgege]

Oh. Ah yes, well, getting hit on the head does happen a lot in battle, haha. So it should be fine to use it as an excuse?

I didn't know you were a soldier. What army are you from?

[There's a few people trained for combat that he has seen, but he doesn't remember seeing Slick fight during the farmhouse siege.]

[sergeant_slick]

Yeah, I guess you're right. I can make that work. [He's not entirely fond of the idea, playing up injuries more than he actually got hit. ...But if it gets him out of difficult conversations with the locals, he'll take it.]

I'm a clonetrooper. [Has anybody here actually recognized what that means when he says it? No.

Has he gotten used to that? Also no.]

[scrapgege]

[... Do you see that slightly confused headtilt, Slick?]

... What does that mean? Did someone else make you?

[He is, in fact, familiar with the concept of clones, because gods do that. But not being used as an army because it requires too much energy.]

[sergeant_slick]

Wh--? Oh. You don't know either. Alright. [Does nobody on this planet check the news? Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.]

Right, so, the quick version: the biggest government in the whole galaxy ordered the creation of an army, grew us, and then gave command over to the most powerful Force users in the galaxy. They neglected to pay us or give us an option to leave. [And when he puts it like that...]

I'm the only idiot I know of who decided that was wrong, and I tried to take on the whole system. It didn't go well. [And he was even more of an idiot for wanting to go back and try again, but he had to. There really wasn't another option, as far as he was concerned.]

[scrapgege]

[Well, Xie Lian doesn't know what army of what government this is in reference to, but it's actually not that important.]

... Yeah, armies are like that. It was a bit like that the last time I was conscripted in one. I also tried to get in the middle of things and ended up basically trampled to death.

[sergeant_slick]

Well sorry to hear that, [Because that does sound like it sucks], but you've got it wrong. Conscription would at least mean the Republic was sending its own people to fight, but they aren't. We're slaves they had cloned for the army. The Republic treats us as disposable so their people don't have to sacrifice anything.

[scrapgege]

Haha, the Banyue army didn't really pay either, to be honest, but they didn't make clones, at least. The only people who can are Heavenly Officials or ghosts, and even they couldn't make enough for a whole army. Plus, a clone isn't really an actual person where I am from, they're just a being sustained by energy, and they dissipate if not taken care of.

... I guess people are people everywhere, huh?