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WHO: Xie Lian, Wei Wuxian, Eleven, Alina, anyone who stumbles on them?
WHEN: After this whole thing.
WHERE: A small area just off the farm so there's some room in case of a power burst.
WHAT: We're testing arrays and power transfers.
WARNINGS: Smooching. because this is how we roll here.

[Xie Lian wishes he had told about the whole power transfer thing before Wei Wuxian came up with volunteers, but he is so used to having other Heavenly Officials or Ghosts around for that - or doing without - that he did not even think the two possible options would be Eleven, a child, and Alina, a woman.

Just his luck.

But Maybe Wei Wuxian is right and there's another way he can do this. So they should test it out.

This clearing is far enough away from the house they probably won't disturb it, hopefully, but close enough they can run for shelters if wolves or other unsavory creatures come back.

Xie Lian sits on a tree stump and rubs his face, sighing.]

This is why you shouldn't get involved in human matters.

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I do. That's why you're still alive.

[But that was very, very foolish to propose when you barely have more power than a normal human, sir!]

The last time I did this, I completely drained the energy of a Ghost King. You barely have anything to take. You can't go around offering it like that!

( Still wheezing: )

I said test. Test! Didn't I already... say I wasn't the one? For a full pull!

( Thanks for the unexpected exhaustion and re-introduction to bondage. )

What did you... call this, anyway? ( Glancing down as he can toward the bandage. ) Ruoye?

I didn't do a full pull!

[Because if he had, you would be dead.]

I can't take energy from normal people. That's not safe. You don't have enough for me to try this with you, even just a little.

[His gaze falls on the silk bandage, who is coming back to wrap around Xie Lian's wrists, but keeps an extremity up, like it's a particularly proud snake. Or puppy. OR both at the same time.]

Yes, that's Ruoye. It's... my spiritual weapon, I guess you could call it. I used to have a sword, but it didn't make it here with me, apparently.

That kind of disclaimer would be useful! Besides, I'm not a normal person, I'm just not overabundant, I have no way to be!

( He's annoyed, but also exhausted, and feels his knees giving out on him just before he starts to fall. Nice to meet Ruoye, but he's got other issues, and other missing swords, to accompany him down, down, down. )

I told you I was borrowing power. It sort of implies you have power to give, Master Wei.

I didn't really feel anything different between you and a normal human, so if you have some power, it doesn't seem to be compatible with me.

[Ah, but he's falling down. Xie Lian's arm around Wei Wuxian's waist tightens and he hauls him back up, holding him close and tight enough he won't fall. But this will be a problem.]

I'm going to have to carry you back. You'll need to rest before you feel back to normal.

[he would attempt to give the power back, but honestly, he can't even feel it inside of him anymore, already, and he's not sure giving some of his own would be a good idea.]

Maybe Master Lan can give you some qi to help.

I think you have an issue with scale.

( He grumbles, because he is offended; Xie Lian has all the gentle touch on energy of a thirsty horse coming up on a trough and shoving its nose right in to slurp it down.

It also means when he attempts to stand, again, and his knees give out again, and he grits out: )

I'm sure he could, but it'll be fine, he doesn't need to be disturbed!

... Why not? He has a lot and he takes care of you all the time.

[Guess who Wangji hired to renovate your 'room', Wei Wuxian? that's right, this guy is why you don't have leaks in your roof.]

Because I don't need someone's qi if I'm not injured, I just need to rest.

( Though he frowns, more annoyed at all this as a situation than anything else. )

What do you mean, takes care of me all the time?

( He knows Lan Zhan takes care of him in many ways, zero of them presently financial, but he's not sure what Xie Lian thinks that entails. )

Well, he made sure you had that room away from th dog, since you're afraid of it?

I helped him clean up and patch up the roof.

[He didn't mind, he's good at cleaning.]

( .................. he sighs )

I wondered who helped with that, it was too much to think Lan Zhan really knew how... thank you, for helping him with all of it.

( Ignoring the dog thing because it's just. Just gonna be like that. )

That's alright! I've done these things a lot, and I'm pretty good at them!

[Look how proud he is of that, too. A god, proud of their DIY skills.]

... Are you a handiwork god?

( ask this in the god's arms, as you do. )

... You can set me down, hahaha, I'll be, ah. ... Fine off the ground.

You're not heavy. I can carry you back to the house.

[And besides you could barely stand a few minutes ago, Wei Wuxian.]

And I guess I'm a god of whatever people want to call me these days. I haven't been called the Flower Crown Martial God in centuries.

Huh.

( Flower crowns? Martial gods? They're not much of his life personally, though the many different gods are ones he's heard of in some villages in his travels, as he brushed more firmly against non-cultivation circles, and different aspects of the ones following teachings of older times. Where it's not simply bodhisattvas, which he's more familiar with. )

Why flower crown?

( Him asking as he doesn't try to haul off Xie Lian is his tacit acceptance for being helped back to the house. )

Ah.... Well, I guess it's because of who I was before I ascended.

[Which... he hasn't told anyone here before, because haha, who cares.]

Back then, they also called me Tài Zǐ Yuè Shén, His Highness Who Pleased the Gods. I was...

[He sounds vaguely embarrassed.]

I was the Crown Prince of Xian Le Kingdom.

( ... Never heard of it before. He does try to think, and it remains an unfamiliar kingdom name. Not that there are many kingdoms in their regions: it's part of why the cultivators oversee the area, defending the peoples who don't have their skillsets from the creatures which cause such disastrous havoc otherwise.

Not to mention, people generating their own chaos that slips its leash to run out of control. )

Ah, so that's it, then.

( A curious detail, and then he smiles, a touch amused. )

Makes you one of at least two former royalty here then! Lee Chang is another, from the teasing Mingyu's put out on the stone communication network.

( ........... it's not much of a reaction, all things considered, because being a god is more incredible, and being nobility is functionally unimportant to a man who didn't live under a monarchy. )

[Xie Lian didn't really expect We Wuxian to know about it anyway. The kingdom itself disappeared hundreds of years ago, and the only people who remember it are ghosts or gods.]

Oh, is he? Well, he has the looks of it, to be honest.

My kingdom is long gone. But when I ascended, people got into the habit of calling me Tài Zǐ Diànxià as a sort of shorthand because that was what they called me when I was still among them, even though there are a lot of Crown Princes and Highnesses among ascended heaven Officials. And I guess it just stuck, even though my temples said 'Flower Crown Martial God'.

[Also, yes, he said 'ascended'. And has now mentioned a lie before godhood, so, you know. These things happen to people.]

( He also said there's a lot of royalty in the heavens, which to Wei Wuxian, sounds more and more like a heavenly scam. But hey, it just reaffirms the disconnect despite understanding Xie Lian better than those of other, more visibly different worlds.

He turns to look back toward the farmhouse. )

Doesn't sound like any of you were really cultivating much before ascending. As far as I know, if you're so many royalty, you're not really in cultivation circles anyway, human rules and cultivation sects tend to not cross paths.

( A pause. )

Wait, you were human! And you haven't mentioned any cultivation sects--people ascend just like that?!

Well, there are cultivation sects. I studied cultivation as a child, with a master, and I know some people do ascend like that, but it takes years. Usually, it'll happen if you do something that is considered a great merit by the Heavenly Emperor.

[Hahaha, let's not talk about that.]

So, no, not just like that, but it happens.

... I don't see how that isn't still just like that? If one person's deciding for his own reasons?

( He snorts, hard. )

How old were you when you did this great meritorious deed, ah? Is there a list of what qualifies? Are people required to continue to prove merit after they ascend?

I was seventeen.

[Hence the looks. Ahem.]

I don't know if there is a list and yes, you should try to keep accumulating merits after ascending since they're used almost like currency. And the more believers you have, the better your standing in Heaven. Honestly not that different from a human Imperial Court, of you ask me.

Having no concept of an Imperial court, I'll take your word for it.

( Wrong context for him, and not the kind of novels he read. Empires aren't uncommon in certain eras; they just had fewer notable ones in the time he was from, and not in the regions where the major and minor clans held sway. )

What an exhausting sounding popularity contest... what about the gods in charge of all the things no one's fond of? There are gods for those things too, right?

Well yes.... they're just not very popular.

.... I'm not very popular either, really. Most of the humans don't even really remember me as anything else but the Scrap Immortal.

Humans are fickle enough by nature, they're remembering you at all, it's a compliment of some kind? I have no idea, being popular in established social circles is something I'm a little less known for the last, oh, twenty years or so myself.

( This is so conversational. Watch him smile after. )

I can think of you as the Flower Crown Martial God, if you'd like. Is there anything I'm supposed to do? Is remembering enough?

There's no need for that! I might be a god, but I'm not your god. And well...

[The one person who still thinks of him like this is not here, and a blush touches his cheeks.]

It's fine, really. Here, I'm just Xie Lian, and it's alright. Here, we're at the house. Can you stand now?

I'm fresh out of gods, so I don't mind. You seen a friendly enough sort! Though--how long have you been human?

( but he does keep his feet when set down, and while he's lightheaded, he can handle it. )

Thank you, I'm definitely going to reach that house just fine now!

( walking... slight drunken looking... away )

Well, I was human for my first seventeen years, and then since my first ascension it's been... about eight hundred years, I think?

[But well, who's counting but now...]

Get some food and some rest!

He's an immortal teenager...

( Wei Wuxian tosses a wave back at him, and a smile, before he disappears... into the house, stomping snow off his boots in the entryway. )

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