[rip in hell to pride because molly has just been whisked away to be shown some magical festival and told this incredibly romantic story and got shown some stars and there's no way there's no way that furby alarm isnt going to be rung im sorry to say it
molly just leans against his shoulder a bit while he tells the story, looking up at the sky and watching where he points, but mostly he's just watching gu yun's face - and not at all where he's going so gu yun better be steering the way.]
[not to be a bummer, but, he looks down a bit too after a second--]
Have to remember that one for Jester. She loves that sort of stuff.
[ pride wants to sell them all to satan for a corn chip he can enjoy some double furby slobber
luckily, these streets are familiar, for gu yun. he grew up here, in jiangbei whenever he wasn't on the battlefield, and the royal capitol is the place he loves most in the world. he could recreate the simulation perfectly, right down to cracks in the cobblestone and which shopkeeper would have the absolute best qiaoguo pastries; it means it's easy to steer them gently clear of any children running across their path. people tend to get out of the way of the marquis of order, anyhow, even if they're just ones dreamed up by this room itself. down the main promenade they go.
as he finishes his tale, he turns to look at molly's face proper, golden eyes softening a little at the mention of the name. this is a day off, from all of the numbers this place has done on molly, but...
he squeezes the hand in his, after a moment. ]
I'll write down all the details for her to read. Don't know what the stars are like in Exandria, but maybe you can see them there, too.
[ since surely, after this is all done, she'll be able to read them, too. ] Men aren't typically supposed to make an offering to Zhinu, but, this is a particular situation, and perhaps acting as a proxy will be allowed. You'll like the process, I think - it's all very artsy and involving the moon and the stars and whatnot.
[ even a local godless heathen seems willing to participate in a festival tradition or two - especially one as meaningful as that. qixi is about the love between the weaver and the cowherd, but it's a celebration for women, too - for their health and vitality, for their luck and love in the future. for the future as a whole. he only knows of jester from molly's stories, his memories, and a little more of beau from meeting her here, but the both of them deserve a future. ]
I'm not exactly a man either, so suppose I'll just have to do!
[He seems very entertained and pleased by this, especially at the moon and stars and WHATNOT that is exactly his jam. he still wears at least the earring around all the time, now, for the record.]
Besides, a story of forbidden love, a secret tryst once a year, and a celetial weaver? The Moonweaver would think of nothing but approval. Funny little parallel that. Like how the stars here aren't quite the same, but . . . similar.
Exactly what I was thinking. [ (molly voice) fuck gender! gu yun's the heathen here. he's already a nonbeliever so he'll just be extra offensive it's fine.
anyway that's super gay. he grins, pleased with his correct assessment, and tugs him along a little further down the street, towards one of the stalls. ] It is interesting, isn't it? Realms beyond our wildest imagination, each one under a similar set of stars. Makes everything feel rather small.
[ in... kind of a nice way, actually. it's a strange place to be in, standing in great liang while not standing there at all, with someone who would stand out like a sore thumb and wanting it that way. as someone who's never even bothered with the celestial, considering phrases like 'the moonweaver' as reality with a tiefling even weeks later is still a wild experience, even now. ]
You've not told me much of your Moonweaver. [ a beat. ] Short of scolding me once about it. [ that's lightly playful, as he pulls them over to a stall sporting a stack of melons nearly as tall as gu yun is. he exchanges a few words with the simulated shopkeeper, and hands him a few gold pieces, then gestures. ] Here, pick whichever you think is the best.
I try not to advertise it too much, what with the illegal worship and whatnot.
[Not that he thinks gu yun is gonna like. report him to the crownsguard. he's just not used to talking about it outloud much? And immediately going to look at the melon stack, circling it carefully, like he's taking his time picking out a very good and perfect one. Touching them all.]
Not exactly a sanctioned goddess. But it's never stopped me - I ... she brought me peace. When I was building a new person. That's all.
[ hmmmm... he stands back once he's plucked out a melon for his own choice, a medium sized one that he rests on his hip, and watches. there are so many melons. pick your absolute best one!
and after a moment, he grins, though it's a little softer than usual, then squeezes his hand. ] Well. In my completely relevant opinion, fuck any sort of sanction. Were I to go by that, I might be shaved bald and chanting my amitabhas. I think illegal worship sounds far more exciting.
[ being a bald monk is his worst nightmare!! terrible. ] That is to say - what helps you, helps you, yes? So long as the Moonweaver supports good hygiene. [ teasing!
he does release his hand for a moment, though, to converse with the shopkeeper and fetch them a red string of qiao guo pastries, and once molly's got a melon he wants, he gestures back towards the clearing towards the edge of the little festival. ]
Just so you know, we're not eating these. [ gesturing at the melons... ] We're going to do a little carving.
Ah. No promises! The Weaver Girl and Cowherd may smile upon their offerings, but this humble Zixi is only of mortal notions of kindness.
[ fufufu.
off they go! gu yun leads the way towards the small offering table that's been set up, wrinkling his nose for a moment and accessing whatever the simulation room does to set the table properly like an altar, covering it with a bright red tablecloth and setting a couple of bowls of hazlenuts and melon sides to the side.
after that, he picks up a small, delicate knife from the table and passes another one over, dropping down on the ground cross legged and patting the spot nearby. ] You're supposed to show how good you are at being delicate by only carving off the skin without damaging the flesh, and making patterns on it. Exotic birds, flowers. Tigers. Moons and stars. Whatever you want, really! The idea is to show off how dextrous you are, to please the Weaver Girl, since she's got to weave all day long.
[ seemed like something molly'd be good at, considering his whole tattoo thing. gu yun's alright at it - he holds the knife like a scholar would hold a brush, propping the melon he chose between his knees to try and work on it! he's going to carve some flowers, probably, because of course he is. ]
anyway immediately pulling his coat off and spreading it out on the ground before he sits right next to him, copying his posture and starting on his own, quiet actually for a little bit - starting on the same sort of patterns that are all over the coat, constellations and symbols of other, strange gods, moons and planets.]
So if I did pick a - what was it - courtesy name? Would should it be. Not the one that sounds like a sneeze.
[ the quiet is good and calm - it's strangely settling, being here in this fake version of home. something about the sights and sounds puts gu yun at ease in ways nothing else here really does, and he falls into comfortable companionship until molly brings up the courtesy name.
he snorts, though, over the sneeze bit - it's how you say empty!! - and then furrows his brow, thinking as he carves out a careful petal on the flower he's working on. ]
There are a few different ways to pick them, made up of characters and the like. I chose mine because the meaning was similar: 'Sunlight' and 'dawn'. [ which is pretty normal practice. i just did so much research for this tag i hope you know how much i love you ] But I think perhaps for you, Molly, something a little more poetic. A story for a storyteller.
[ he sets down the melon and reaches for one of the boxes, using the magic of the simulation room to pull out a bit of paper and a brush and inkstone, like it's some kind of bag of holding. then, he settles in to write a few things out in his elegant handwriting.
ć«æ first, as he's talking; ] 'HĂ n', containing. Cherishing. To hold in your mouth. 'XÄ«ng.' A star, a planet, a point of light. `Hanxing`, full of stars.
It's part of a line from the Weaver and Cowherd folktale. "Full of stars, the heavenly river stirs by paired palace gates."
Or... [ with a thoughtful noise, something occurs to him. ] Perhaps, for something a bit more tongue in cheek... [ a few more brush strokes. ćŒ„æ. ] MĂyuĂš. 'Extensive, full, complete' and 'moon' - but, 'miyue' is the first full moon after someone is born. Their second month of life.
[ with a little huff, he pulls back from the paper. ] Something like those, perhaps.
He adores both of these and it's pretty obvious in his expression - he totally stops carving to just watch gu yun write, somehow a little nervous. He doesn't know why, exactly. Just that he's hanging onto this answer like he's never waited on anything before, and is almost scared of what it could be.
The first one is beautiful, a whole story in so few symbols - but it might almost be too lovely. Romantic and gentle in a way that he's never quite able to be. The second, though. His real name is like that too, isn't it? A little tongue-in-cheek. Nonsense made up from a misheard word. A squawking seabird. A dazzling, shiny joke.
And he likes that. Extensive. Full. Complete. A whole person, just new.
He reaches up to just rolling the earring between his fingers, laughing because he isn't sure what else to do.]
MĂyuĂš. I really-- [He loves that. For having just been called a storyteller, he's struggling a bit with words now. He sniffs and drops his head.] Almost match, that way.
Sounds similar enough, too. [ the syllables come easily. molly. miyue. mollymauk. melodic and pretty.
he finds himself smiling before he really gets the chance to think about it, expression impossibly soft when he glances up at molly's expression. there's a little part of him that was a little nervous, too - choosing a name for himself felt simple. utilitarian, almost - something beautiful, something his, but something born of a battlefield. trying to choose for someone else is the kind of confident move that you'd expect of gu zixi, maybe, but that confidence has always been something of a veneer to cover the vulnerability that goes buried underneath.
but. molly liked it, which is such a silly, juvenile thing to think, such a silly, juvenile thing to make that little something in his chest into butterflies. it's not really such a little something anymore, is it, after all of these weeks? he liked it. ]
The sun and the moon. [ gu yun says, after a moment, sounding - almost a little surprised. he hadn't really thought about the match, either, until right now, and now he's really smiling, having to reach up and rub at his nose with his free hand, a little embarrassed at it. it matches. that's - that's...
... ] Here, give me your hand.
[ he'll take the brush to set it gently against his palm, and wrap his hand around molly's on the outside, to guide him into writing the strokes correctly. ćŒ„æ.
and then, moves their hands to the side, and writes next to it. ćçč. ] Miyue, and Zixi.
[this is one of those moments that's always going to be too bright, more meaningful than it should be. childhood dreamlike. but at least, he thinks, he won't forget it. at least there's that.
he lets him take his hand and show him how to write it and he's - well he's instantly afraid he won't be able to master it quickly enough. memorize it so he can put it somewhere more permanent later. he doesn't have a photographic memory, or such a quick hand that he can learn to write it so elegantly it instantly, but he wishes that he did. right now.]
You pull this move with other pretty girls at the festival, Zixi?
[Just. self-defensively lashing out with a quip, it's fine.]
[ here's the thing about being witty, when you're used to having a comeback for everything; sometimes, words come out of your mouth before you're ready for them. ]
I've never really had anyone to love enough to give them a name until now, so.
[
well
there it goes! he uh. starts turning red at the ears, and accidentally blots the brush against the page at the very last stroke on 'xi' as he realizes, so there's now a black dot at the end of it. whoops. so much for pretty and perfect.
there's a brief pause, and he just. sticks with it, lifting the brush away and starting to loosen his grip. he might as well at least project the image that he's very cool and confident and smooth and keep talking. ] This is an, erm, unique situation. Tiefling in Jiangbei, too, very unique - and all that.
That mouth of yours is really going to get you in - hah - trouble one day.
[to molly's credit, he doesn't immediately just get up and run on instinct. if only because, well, it sort of solves his problem of having to say something sweet and romantic like he'd been trying to sort out for the past, i don't know, week?
reaching over to push the brush out of the way, sliding his hand in there instead.]
still very red and trying to decide how to recover from saying that and mourning the loss of face, gu yunâs shaken from that thought process by the hand sliding into his. by now, itâs a familiar sensation, and he gently splits his fingers to lace theirs together. ]
Like youâre one to talk. [ this is just for the sake of responding, an embarrassed mutter, but thatâs something he likes about molly, isnât it. the second partâs more important, anyway, and he resists the urge to quip back beyond that, instead just looking down at their hands - and then, slowly, peeks back at molly. ]
.... yeah? [ not so smooth. but, then again, thatâs part of what makes it so honest. ]
Well, I want-- I want to say something equally good, like I've never had anyone to love enough that I'd let them just give me a name--
[But other people have named him, so it's not quite the right twist of phrase. he flushes a bit himself, because if the Marquis of Order is acting embarrassed, he's starting to flounder too. Squeezing that hand.]
No matter what happens. Even if this all goes tits up and we get our souls consumed or, fuck it, we can't figure out how to, what was it you were saying? Just ... hop worlds over? Like that's even a thing. Gods I hope it's a thing. But if it's not a thing, I'm still not sorry about it. I'm glad I've met you. I do love you, you know.
[He gets - a little sad at that? Because he thinks of that same conversation he'd had with Beau that keeps replaying in his head, what feels like years ago now. How they'd all gotten so much better. Become better people, become better at saying things like `Hey, um. I love you, man.`
better to just say these things before it's too late, probably.]
[ itâs been so much, to be shaken out of his pragmatic world view in this place. if you told the gu yun who arrived here the first week - yes, that purple fellow who looks like he fell in a vat of ziliujin? youâll be confessing your feelings under fake starlight in a few weeks, and might make plans to travel across worlds together! he would have laughed himself silly. the concept of being able to even consider doing that would have been so beyond him and now - now, thereâs a not so tiny, fragile feeling of want at the idea. an emotion for gu yun. something to have for himself, and not his home.
so many strange, new things. none of them bad - each as exciting and new as the last.
what molly has said is perfectly good, and really, a lot better than what gu yun did, because itâs just out there as plain as can be. as meaningful as anything.
he nods. once, twice. ]
I am too. [ and itâs not as bright and brassy as usual, (heâd barely even had a friend before this, and now - ) but just as steady, even if itâs still a little hard, not to choke on the words. ] And ...
[ from now on, whatever that means. success or failure, possibility or promise. itâs something thatâs been said, and itâs something that he meant. this is one of those times where his actions and convictions speak the strongest, when his mouth fails him properly, so, gu yun leans over and closes the small space between them with a kiss, swift and sealing, and murmurs, quieter. ] I love you too.
[Mollymauk has absolutely never been pragmatic a day in his short life, so the concept of even trying to be, just a little - protecting himself from hoping for too much, because it might hurt when he doesn't get it - is slipping away again. Why bother. Just feel the pain if it comes. Might not even have to worry about it, if he's dead. Then he wouldn't be feeling anything.
Staying there pressed in close for a moment, not really sure what to do now that it feels like everything important has been said, just wrapping a hand around the back gu yun's neck to keep him there. Trying to search his eyes from up close, but it's all just ... fuzzy at this range.
Eventually he just mutters.]
Fuck it. Pride better not mind that thing waking them up again.
[ it feels a little like he's buzzing, after getting that out in the air. gu yun's not sure exactly what to do next, staying close for that breath of a moment, too -
and then, when molly speaks, he throws his head back and just laughs. ] I think it's a little safe retribution, personally! [ and then just cups his cheeks and kisses him, in the way that you kiss someone when you're overjoyed and in love (wow) and can't contain yourself. they can roll around right here, right in front of the cowherd and the weaver's salad. ]
[it is a really lovely moment, and for just a second, he doesn't want to feel hesitant or terrified of it. joy can fill so many holes in things, he thinks, and just leans into it for the moment. will everything play out? will they survive long enough to make anything of this at all? probably not. does it matter right now? not really.
anyway wow they'd barely done anything at this festival and molly decided he was thoroughly romanced. at least he's easy? he does not care about rolling around in front of anyones salad, let alone the simulation.]
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molly just leans against his shoulder a bit while he tells the story, looking up at the sky and watching where he points, but mostly he's just watching gu yun's face - and not at all where he's going so gu yun better be steering the way.]
[not to be a bummer, but, he looks down a bit too after a second--]
Have to remember that one for Jester. She loves that sort of stuff.
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luckily, these streets are familiar, for gu yun. he grew up here, in jiangbei whenever he wasn't on the battlefield, and the royal capitol is the place he loves most in the world. he could recreate the simulation perfectly, right down to cracks in the cobblestone and which shopkeeper would have the absolute best qiaoguo pastries; it means it's easy to steer them gently clear of any children running across their path. people tend to get out of the way of the marquis of order, anyhow, even if they're just ones dreamed up by this room itself. down the main promenade they go.
as he finishes his tale, he turns to look at molly's face proper, golden eyes softening a little at the mention of the name. this is a day off, from all of the numbers this place has done on molly, but...
he squeezes the hand in his, after a moment. ]
I'll write down all the details for her to read. Don't know what the stars are like in Exandria, but maybe you can see them there, too.
[ since surely, after this is all done, she'll be able to read them, too. ] Men aren't typically supposed to make an offering to Zhinu, but, this is a particular situation, and perhaps acting as a proxy will be allowed. You'll like the process, I think - it's all very artsy and involving the moon and the stars and whatnot.
[ even a local godless heathen seems willing to participate in a festival tradition or two - especially one as meaningful as that. qixi is about the love between the weaver and the cowherd, but it's a celebration for women, too - for their health and vitality, for their luck and love in the future. for the future as a whole. he only knows of jester from molly's stories, his memories, and a little more of beau from meeting her here, but the both of them deserve a future. ]
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[He seems very entertained and pleased by this, especially at the moon and stars and WHATNOT that is exactly his jam. he still wears at least the earring around all the time, now, for the record.]
Besides, a story of forbidden love, a secret tryst once a year, and a celetial weaver? The Moonweaver would think of nothing but approval. Funny little parallel that. Like how the stars here aren't quite the same, but . . . similar.
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anyway that's super gay. he grins, pleased with his correct assessment, and tugs him along a little further down the street, towards one of the stalls. ] It is interesting, isn't it? Realms beyond our wildest imagination, each one under a similar set of stars. Makes everything feel rather small.
[ in... kind of a nice way, actually. it's a strange place to be in, standing in great liang while not standing there at all, with someone who would stand out like a sore thumb and wanting it that way. as someone who's never even bothered with the celestial, considering phrases like 'the moonweaver' as reality with a tiefling even weeks later is still a wild experience, even now. ]
You've not told me much of your Moonweaver. [ a beat. ] Short of scolding me once about it. [ that's lightly playful, as he pulls them over to a stall sporting a stack of melons nearly as tall as gu yun is. he exchanges a few words with the simulated shopkeeper, and hands him a few gold pieces, then gestures. ] Here, pick whichever you think is the best.
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[Not that he thinks gu yun is gonna like. report him to the crownsguard. he's just not used to talking about it outloud much? And immediately going to look at the melon stack, circling it carefully, like he's taking his time picking out a very good and perfect one. Touching them all.]
Not exactly a sanctioned goddess. But it's never stopped me - I ... she brought me peace. When I was building a new person. That's all.
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and after a moment, he grins, though it's a little softer than usual, then squeezes his hand. ] Well. In my completely relevant opinion, fuck any sort of sanction. Were I to go by that, I might be shaved bald and chanting my amitabhas. I think illegal worship sounds far more exciting.
[ being a bald monk is his worst nightmare!! terrible. ] That is to say - what helps you, helps you, yes? So long as the Moonweaver supports good hygiene. [ teasing!
he does release his hand for a moment, though, to converse with the shopkeeper and fetch them a red string of qiao guo pastries, and once molly's got a melon he wants, he gestures back towards the clearing towards the edge of the little festival. ]
Just so you know, we're not eating these. [ gesturing at the melons... ] We're going to do a little carving.
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[So it could be never bathing. Molly eventually picks a melon and obediently follows, this is all great fun to him.]
Never done much before, so you'll have to not make fun if I do a terrible job.
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[ fufufu.
off they go! gu yun leads the way towards the small offering table that's been set up, wrinkling his nose for a moment and accessing whatever the simulation room does to set the table properly like an altar, covering it with a bright red tablecloth and setting a couple of bowls of hazlenuts and melon sides to the side.
after that, he picks up a small, delicate knife from the table and passes another one over, dropping down on the ground cross legged and patting the spot nearby. ] You're supposed to show how good you are at being delicate by only carving off the skin without damaging the flesh, and making patterns on it. Exotic birds, flowers. Tigers. Moons and stars. Whatever you want, really! The idea is to show off how dextrous you are, to please the Weaver Girl, since she's got to weave all day long.
[ seemed like something molly'd be good at, considering his whole tattoo thing. gu yun's alright at it - he holds the knife like a scholar would hold a brush, propping the melon he chose between his knees to try and work on it! he's going to carve some flowers, probably, because of course he is. ]
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[stop
anyway immediately pulling his coat off and spreading it out on the ground before he sits right next to him, copying his posture and starting on his own, quiet actually for a little bit - starting on the same sort of patterns that are all over the coat, constellations and symbols of other, strange gods, moons and planets.]
So if I did pick a - what was it - courtesy name? Would should it be. Not the one that sounds like a sneeze.
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he snorts, though, over the sneeze bit - it's how you say empty!! - and then furrows his brow, thinking as he carves out a careful petal on the flower he's working on. ]
There are a few different ways to pick them, made up of characters and the like. I chose mine because the meaning was similar: 'Sunlight' and 'dawn'. [ which is pretty normal practice. i just did so much research for this tag i hope you know how much i love you ] But I think perhaps for you, Molly, something a little more poetic. A story for a storyteller.
[ he sets down the melon and reaches for one of the boxes, using the magic of the simulation room to pull out a bit of paper and a brush and inkstone, like it's some kind of bag of holding. then, he settles in to write a few things out in his elegant handwriting.
ć«æ first, as he's talking; ] 'HĂ n', containing. Cherishing. To hold in your mouth. 'XÄ«ng.' A star, a planet, a point of light. `Hanxing`, full of stars.
It's part of a line from the Weaver and Cowherd folktale. "Full of stars, the heavenly river stirs by paired palace gates."
Or... [ with a thoughtful noise, something occurs to him. ] Perhaps, for something a bit more tongue in cheek... [ a few more brush strokes. ćŒ„æ. ] MĂyuĂš. 'Extensive, full, complete' and 'moon' - but, 'miyue' is the first full moon after someone is born. Their second month of life.
[ with a little huff, he pulls back from the paper. ] Something like those, perhaps.
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He adores both of these and it's pretty obvious in his expression - he totally stops carving to just watch gu yun write, somehow a little nervous. He doesn't know why, exactly. Just that he's hanging onto this answer like he's never waited on anything before, and is almost scared of what it could be.
The first one is beautiful, a whole story in so few symbols - but it might almost be too lovely. Romantic and gentle in a way that he's never quite able to be. The second, though. His real name is like that too, isn't it? A little tongue-in-cheek. Nonsense made up from a misheard word. A squawking seabird. A dazzling, shiny joke.
And he likes that. Extensive. Full. Complete. A whole person, just new.
He reaches up to just rolling the earring between his fingers, laughing because he isn't sure what else to do.]
MĂyuĂš. I really-- [He loves that. For having just been called a storyteller, he's struggling a bit with words now. He sniffs and drops his head.] Almost match, that way.
[gay?]
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he finds himself smiling before he really gets the chance to think about it, expression impossibly soft when he glances up at molly's expression. there's a little part of him that was a little nervous, too - choosing a name for himself felt simple. utilitarian, almost - something beautiful, something his, but something born of a battlefield. trying to choose for someone else is the kind of confident move that you'd expect of gu zixi, maybe, but that confidence has always been something of a veneer to cover the vulnerability that goes buried underneath.
but. molly liked it, which is such a silly, juvenile thing to think, such a silly, juvenile thing to make that little something in his chest into butterflies. it's not really such a little something anymore, is it, after all of these weeks? he liked it. ]
The sun and the moon. [ gu yun says, after a moment, sounding - almost a little surprised. he hadn't really thought about the match, either, until right now, and now he's really smiling, having to reach up and rub at his nose with his free hand, a little embarrassed at it. it matches. that's - that's...
... ] Here, give me your hand.
[ he'll take the brush to set it gently against his palm, and wrap his hand around molly's on the outside, to guide him into writing the strokes correctly. ćŒ„æ.
and then, moves their hands to the side, and writes next to it. ćçč. ] Miyue, and Zixi.
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he lets him take his hand and show him how to write it and he's - well he's instantly afraid he won't be able to master it quickly enough. memorize it so he can put it somewhere more permanent later. he doesn't have a photographic memory, or such a quick hand that he can learn to write it so elegantly it instantly, but he wishes that he did. right now.]
You pull this move with other pretty girls at the festival, Zixi?
[Just. self-defensively lashing out with a quip, it's fine.]
It works, I'll tell you that.
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I've never really had anyone to love enough to give them a name until now, so.
[
well
there it goes! he uh. starts turning red at the ears, and accidentally blots the brush against the page at the very last stroke on 'xi' as he realizes, so there's now a black dot at the end of it. whoops. so much for pretty and perfect.
there's a brief pause, and he just. sticks with it, lifting the brush away and starting to loosen his grip. he might as well at least project the image that he's very cool and confident and smooth and keep talking. ] This is an, erm, unique situation. Tiefling in Jiangbei, too, very unique - and all that.
[ cool and confident and smooth (?) (fuck) ]
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[to molly's credit, he doesn't immediately just get up and run on instinct. if only because, well, it sort of solves his problem of having to say something sweet and romantic like he'd been trying to sort out for the past, i don't know, week?
reaching over to push the brush out of the way, sliding his hand in there instead.]
I liked what you said.
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still very red and trying to decide how to recover from saying that and mourning the loss of face, gu yunâs shaken from that thought process by the hand sliding into his. by now, itâs a familiar sensation, and he gently splits his fingers to lace theirs together. ]
Like youâre one to talk. [ this is just for the sake of responding, an embarrassed mutter, but thatâs something he likes about molly, isnât it. the second partâs more important, anyway, and he resists the urge to quip back beyond that, instead just looking down at their hands - and then, slowly, peeks back at molly. ]
.... yeah? [ not so smooth. but, then again, thatâs part of what makes it so honest. ]
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[But other people have named him, so it's not quite the right twist of phrase. he flushes a bit himself, because if the Marquis of Order is acting embarrassed, he's starting to flounder too. Squeezing that hand.]
No matter what happens. Even if this all goes tits up and we get our souls consumed or, fuck it, we can't figure out how to, what was it you were saying? Just ... hop worlds over? Like that's even a thing. Gods I hope it's a thing. But if it's not a thing, I'm still not sorry about it. I'm glad I've met you. I do love you, you know.
[He gets - a little sad at that? Because he thinks of that same conversation he'd had with Beau that keeps replaying in his head, what feels like years ago now. How they'd all gotten so much better. Become better people, become better at saying things like `Hey, um. I love you, man.`
better to just say these things before it's too late, probably.]
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so many strange, new things. none of them bad - each as exciting and new as the last.
what molly has said is perfectly good, and really, a lot better than what gu yun did, because itâs just out there as plain as can be. as meaningful as anything.
he nods. once, twice. ]
I am too. [ and itâs not as bright and brassy as usual, (heâd barely even had a friend before this, and now - ) but just as steady, even if itâs still a little hard, not to choke on the words. ] And ...
[ from now on, whatever that means. success or failure, possibility or promise. itâs something thatâs been said, and itâs something that he meant. this is one of those times where his actions and convictions speak the strongest, when his mouth fails him properly, so, gu yun leans over and closes the small space between them with a kiss, swift and sealing, and murmurs, quieter. ] I love you too.
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Staying there pressed in close for a moment, not really sure what to do now that it feels like everything important has been said, just wrapping a hand around the back gu yun's neck to keep him there. Trying to search his eyes from up close, but it's all just ... fuzzy at this range.
Eventually he just mutters.]
Fuck it. Pride better not mind that thing waking them up again.
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and then, when molly speaks, he throws his head back and just laughs. ] I think it's a little safe retribution, personally! [ and then just cups his cheeks and kisses him, in the way that you kiss someone when you're overjoyed and in love (wow) and can't contain yourself. they can roll around right here, right in front of the cowherd and the weaver's salad. ]
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anyway wow they'd barely done anything at this festival and molly decided he was thoroughly romanced. at least he's easy? he does not care about rolling around in front of anyones salad, let alone the simulation.]