westwhere | (no subject)

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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[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. )