we_bring_hell: (Paint: Daughter of the Tomb)
Harrowhark the Ninth ([personal profile] we_bring_hell) wrote2020-09-26 12:26 pm

(no subject)

Harrow is having a slow-motion argument with the Bar over breakfast. She wants water and a little bread, and the Bar does not agree that this is a breakfast.


She has rejected an omelet, a breakfast sandwich, and biscuits and gravy. The Bar is trying a bowl of porridge on her and she's considering it. (She hasn't noticed it has raisins in it yet.)
acrookedpath: (rueful)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't know."

He seems to be saying that quite a lot in this conversation, he thinks, and they have only been speaking for five minutes.

"It may not be? It would be unexpected for a cultivator of his standing to pursue men instead of women. That is all."
acrookedpath: (rueful)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"I suppose not."

There's an odd little spark of hope in his chest as he says that. No reason to make assumptions. He has made truly a lot of them in the last day, hasn't he? Not just in Lan Zhan's preferences, but in, well. Everything. His own actions, Lan Zhan's responses, a steadfast belief that he must know what the other man is thinking...

It might be a foolish hope. But it is more hope than he had a moment ago.
Edited 2020-10-02 17:42 (UTC)
acrookedpath: (slight smile)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"So you do think me beautiful? I wondered if the similarities to Mianmian extended that far," he says with a small laugh. "But ah, I should not tease -- I am sorry, Harrow."

He waves an apologetic hand, then tucks it back against his cheek.

"It is not an unheard-of thing in my world; only one that is not often spoken about. It's the providence of notorious gossipers, not polite company."
acrookedpath: (....go on.)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
He frowns slightly, puzzled.

"How do you mean?"
acrookedpath: (serious)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"I see. Well, ah..."

He straightens up a little. (So to speak.)

"A sect leader would need to marry their opposite for the sake of an heir. That is the face they present to the world -- if they wish to have a relationship with another in private, that is their business, so long as it does not bring harm or disrespect to their family. Which is difficult," he adds, "but not impossible, I suppose. Anyway, some find the idea more scandalous than others, which is where the gossip comes in."
acrookedpath: (hm?)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
He blinks.

"How else would we...?"

Honestly, he isn't sure he wants to know the answer to the question, but. Damn his eternal curiosity.
acrookedpath: (side eye)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Wei Wuxian did not get as far as he did by being unable to adapt swiftly to new elements, ideas, and environments. He's exceptionally good at taking things in stride. So it says a lot that this is the first time he has ever looked at his friend as if to ask, What the hell, Harrow?

"Huh," is all he manages out loud, after a long moment.

This is so far outside any possible framework he might have that he doesn't know where to begin.
acrookedpath: (serious)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. If it is something done for health, then that, he can understand: he has seen the infirmary and knows the healers work with tools far beyond his current understanding. It is still very, very strange to think of a child growing wholly separate from its mother, planted in such a cold and barren field. Decanted, said Harrow, like wine.

"They may be," he says, finding his thoughts. "I think there will always be risks when a woman is with child, but I have never heard of them being so -- extreme, as the ones in your world. I see why it would require measures of that nature."
acrookedpath: (foreheadsmack)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
He cracks a lopsided smile. "He is that," he says, "and he is also very stubborn. It may be."

The smile fades, and he drags his hand down his face.

"Of course he is also very used to following endless, meaningless rules that dictate everything from when he can rise in the morning to when he can sleep at night."
acrookedpath: (lwj: night and day)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
He could crack a joke about how those rules cost him a very nice bottle of Emperor's Smile once, but he knows that is not what Harrow means. (And even if it was, one could further argue that he and Lan Zhan barely knew each other then.)

"No," he says, quietly. "No, I have not." He lifts his hand as if in a shrug. "And he has already broken them for me, in the eyes of his sect. He did not reject the crooked path."
acrookedpath: (wan)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)




"That he will turn away from me."

He cannot look at Harrow any longer.

"That I will -- ruin this."

That I will lose my last piece of home. The one good piece remaining. The one who knows me best, even still; even after all I have done.
acrookedpath: (rueful)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Though he is still looking down at the bar, he cannot help but crack a smile at her brutal honesty.

"So I will only have to live at the bottom of lake for several days, not forever," he says.
acrookedpath: (hm?)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-10-02 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
His head snaps up.

All words have fled; all he can do is stare at Harrow in pure shock.

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