video | orchestra one, immediately post platform

[jingyeets]

( Lan Jingyi, appearing briefly on ICP, soaked from head to toe, actively dripping water with his hair and ribbon plastered down either side of his face, his, er, nightgown likewise... plastered... against him... and it's white, this is a wet shirt contest and no one told anyone who showed up on platform, they all just suffered together. )

Look, if anyone's trying to find me and is confused why I'm not in my tiny short bed cabin, I'm staying in the "inn" carriage the next week.

( that's it, that's him wanting to inform the ones who'd probably want to know but being in a less than happy mood to track everyone down so doing it in the most broadreaching, effective way the train's got going for it. )

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[jingyeets]

( there are slips of hair escaping as he does this, but it's a nice, silly focus, and he is so determined he'll make this work, even if these are indeed very small french braids to hold in place with the length of inigo's hair. )

You make it sound like we go around beating up kids. It's not like that.

( since degrees are up to the enforcer, and he was hardly a walking bruiseball growing up, aside from what he gave himself simply living. most his were endurance based... he truly can't see why this is a lot, having lived it himself. he always knew the consequences to what he choose to do, and if he was caught. )

I'm from a martial arts clan. We don't practise or condone violence for the sake of violence. We believe in clear consequences for actions knowingly taken. If you're not clever enough to keep from getting caught, you know exactly what'll happen. It's not a surprise.

[flatteries]

I know, but...

[ Inigo's voice trails off. He doesn't want to question something when it's clearly such a normal thing in Jingyi's world, judging by the way the other speaks of it - but it still doesn't quite sit right with him all the same.

It's not like Inigo has never been scolded before in his life, but he remembers most of that just being verbal. (And even that was already bad enough for a guy who does as badly with any remotely negative words as Inigo, his feelings bruising like peaches.) Physical punishment in any way just seems.. weird. ]

I don't know. [ He finally says, the mood seeming to dip a little. It sounds a little contradictory with that 'I know' from a moment ago, but this is more an 'I don't know what to say' kind of admission. He doesn't pull away from Jingyi, letting the other still braid his hair like that, but Inigo stares down at the tips of his shoes. ] I guess it's since our worlds are so different.

[ No one thought of punishing any kids anymore when things got really bad, during that hell Inigo lived through for years. Everyone had to watch people suffer and die - and sometimes those people were just kids.

It taught Inigo a lot about the preciousness of life, and the importance of being kind and gentle with other people. ]

[jingyeets]

( Irony, in the end, that a world ending was better in its understandings of kindness and gentleness... than whole other worlds, who knew kindness and gentleness in different, but familiar still, forms. )

Mm. Cultures are enough. We could be from the same world, and still have big differences in that, right? The things we believe, the ways we act. Between cultivators and normal mortals, there's already a big difference. Between groups of cultivators, big differences. Between places sharing nothing?

( he's starting on a second braid there, Inigo. the first is holding fairly well for now, though without being bound together, it'll shake out soon enough. )

It's a miracle we can relate at all.

[flatteries]

[ A miracle.

Maybe Jingyi is right. After all, when their universal translating system is taken away, most of them can't even understand what the other is trying to say. And even when they can understand each other verbally, there's still so many customs and ideas that are unique to each world..

It's kind of dizzying.

At least Inigo is sitting up straight now he's seriously thinking about things, though he's still just letting the other guy play with his hair as much as he wants. ]

I don't like thinking about that too hard. [ He finally says, his voice gentle. He's staring ahead instead of looking over at Jingyi. ]

Not that our differences are bad, or that our uniqueness isn't good, but.. on the other hand, it feels a little lonely. Thinking about whether anyone at all out there would ever truly understand all of me..

[jingyeets]

( there are now two rows of tight little braids slowly fraying back into Inigo's usual hair style. Jingyi listens... and he wonders, what does being fully known mean to someone afraid of what that loss would be?

Kindly for the moment, he doesn't ask. )

No one can fully know another person. For good or ill, but I don't think that's lonely. Open yourself up, form those bonds, and you might find the people who see you for who you really are. See you clearer than you see yourself.

( instead of setting into a third row of tiny, tight braids, he gives Inigo's shoulder a squeeze. )

Or you might not. Kinda think being known like that means being aware of what you can lose, and wanting it anyway.

( he does not, frankly, think Inigo can actually handle that. nor does he think Inigo's alone in that. far from it, even in the relatively small numbers of their overall crew: barely a village worth of people. )