Shang Beida turns his head to press a soft kiss against Casper's neck. "Love you, baobei. Mm. That seems like uh, sort of a disadvantage to you that he didn't put you in a situation to learn French, if everyone speaks it? Does he... have something against French? Or the French?"
He snorts. "No, I know it's like a nerdy loser thing, it's fine. I am a nerdy loser. I can understand not wanting to be... more of a target. I was like, fine at school, but xianxia is more into like... an apprenticeship sort of structure? I was taught a lot more stuff one-on-one than back in my first life."
"I mean probably. I doubt he was on the front lines, but I'd be surprised if he didn't have something against the French. I mean part of France was under Axis control during World War Two but part of it wasn't. Which makes the idea of someone like him hiding in somewhere that was very much fighting against the Axis Powers at the time ridiculous, which is why it's... a smart idea. Least likely place to look and all. So he probably registered with some kind of history of schooling at an Anglo school which qualified me to go to a non-Francophone school." He's pretty sure that's how it works, at least.
The huff he gives is muffled by him shaking his head against his boyfriend's shoulder. "I mean I was a nerdy loser for different reasons. I did... okay in school - always got told I could do better - but I learn better by being self-directed and tutored than in a big class where I'm more worried about getting picked on than learning the material." Hm. "... What kind of stuff did you learn? Other than like... magic sage stuff."
Right, yeah, weird magic Nazi. His grasp of like... Europe... is not amazing. "So he... hid from people who don't like Nazis... with people who don't like Nazis?" He thinks that was the gist?
"Yeah, I mean, I probably did better at learning cultivation than I ever did in regular school. Though admittedly there was, um. A different kind of... stakes." Like, if he didn't manage to become an immortal cultivator peak lord, the System would kill him. Very motivating. "I mean, like... accounting? And construction, some--we had some, like... sort of civilian contractors... for some things, and once I became Head Disciple I didn't have to do grunt work anymore, and eventually everyone specializes anyway, but you start out learning everything so they can figure out what you're good at. Cooking, laundry, gathering herbs, making alcohol, making cultivation pills, basic medicines though anything complex would be through Qian Cao. And special alcohol would be Ku Xing, but like, low-grade stuff for cleaning or whatever. Honestly we had to learn the basics of what a lot of the other peaks do so we would know how to fix shit when they broke it. Like, I could probably build a forge for blacksmithing, though I couldn't make a spiritual sword or even a particularly good mundane one. Um. I don't know, just... stuff?"
"Basically? Who would look for him there, I guess was the thinking. Again most of this is guessing - it's not like he ever talked about his past or I ever really asked." The few times he had he'd gotten shut down, so he'd stopped asking.
He listens and turns his head to peer at Shang Beida. "I mean I don't know how to do a lot of that stuff. Cooking and laundry I can do, and I learned some accounting for helping out at the funeral home but that's about it. I learned camping stuff - how to set up a tent, how to find firewood, how to dig a hole deep enough to use as a toilet so animals don't come around - but nothing someone wouldn't learn at like summer camp or something. I can't even. Um." He clears his throat. He doesn't have to be embarrassed by this, but it's still a little... for someone who lived on an island, it's...
"... I can't swim very well. Just barely enough to pass in physical education, and then after getting a metal leg it makes it even harder. The movements are just... off. It's not like it's that heavy it just... doesn't quite bend as fluidly. But it's - it's fine, I can hold my breath and walk along the bottom of a pool or river if I have to." He would prefer to not have to, though.
"I learned like, xianxia-specific camping? There's a lot of like... qiankun pouches and talismans and stuff involved. I mean, you have to make sure you find somewhere where there aren't any unsafe plants or monsters or anything, that's a whole skill. And then you have to set it up so it stays reasonably safe and a Black Rhinocerous Python or whatever doesn't trample you in your sleep. And like the plant thing is really important, some of my shixiongs weren't careful enough one time and didn't see the heart-shaped leaves on the Crimson Smokevine and it uh... well, we did manage to rescue them, but they were very embarrassed." Describing what that plant does to his boyfriend would be embarrassing. He made it up! It's his fault it does that!
As for swimming... "Oh, yeah, it makes sense that your leg would make it harder... I can swim okay, as long as I'm not like, wearing four layers of robes. Wet silk gets heavy and it fouls your limbs and it's just, not a good scene. I'm glad you can hold your breath if you need to, though." No drowning for boyfriend, please.
"If we find camp supplies I can show you some more mundane camping techniques. I mean we had stuff from the Sons of Hephaestus but they only were willing to give us so much, it's not like they were shipping a whole RV from Hawaii to the mainland." ... He has an idea as to where this is going and he doesn't like that, no thank you! "But I can identify stuff like poison ivy and oak and sumac, but that's about it. I guess I could try eating stuff but just because I won't get hurt by ingested poisons doesn't mean I can't get like a rash or something from it going down."
Mm. "I don't like being underwater, though. It... brings back bad memories. Like I can handle baths and stuff, but I would prefer if I could know how to swim better. It's not like the swimming pool on deck works, though. Even if we could get Neuvillette to fill it with whatever water power he's got it's still got a lot of plants and stuff in it right now."
“I never went camping on earth. Never even really went into like… nature. Too hikikomori. An RV is like… one of those car house things, right?” Not exactly a common sight in Beijing. “I’m in favor of you not eating random poisons. I have some antidotes and shit… I wonder if your immunity would extend to aphrodisiacs… would have been a handy ability back in my stupid webnovel… Um. Anyway.”
Shang Beida tilts his head up to press a kiss to Casper’s jaw. “I do still prefer you like, not drowned. So I’m glad you can hold your breath. I guess we could clear out the pool and ask Wet Justice to fill it? It’s probably cracked, but I’ve got sealing talismans. I can swim okay. And I can also… just like… be there for you? If that’s like… reassuring at all.” The idea of his presence being helpful seems absurd, but… it’s Casper. He loves him.
"Yeah, they are. But I - probably? I wouldn't really know. I think if it's magical it might override it but I haven't like... tested it. I've never really wanted to eat random poisons anyway - they probably taste awful." He's guessing 'hikikomori' is some kind of... shut-in? He's not sure.
He shrugs a little. It was just an idea, just... "I don't know if we're going to run into water out there anyway. Didn't the Ship say there was very much not water anywhere? So I don't think it's going to be relevant. But thanks." He reaches up and scratches at the base of the other's skull gently. He's here. He's not going anywhere.
“I absolutely do not want you to have the opportunity to test it. Sorry I just… it’s sort of the perpetual hazard it’s hard to not think about.” Embarrassing to talk about, to reveal that he’s thinking about it, that he wrote the stupid book such that he has to think about it all the time. But he really does not want Casper to ever have to deal with that. His boyfriend has enough issues with… it would be awful. He hates that he’s even thinking about the concept.
“It is definitely extremely dry out there. I wonder where all the water went? Like I dunno this isn’t earth maybe it didn’t even have oceans—no wait this is a cruise ship obviously they had oceans. So did they like… boil off? There was a storm, there’s water somewhere. Is it all in the atmosphere now? Is that even a thing that can happen? Would we even be able to see stars if there was an entire ocean of water in the atmosphere? I don’t know I’m not a fucking scientist. Um. I got off track.”
The scratching is… it feels extremely very nice and Shang Beida melts into the touch. Both from sheer touch starvation and from the affection it represents. “I love you,” he mumbles into Casper’s neck. Boyfriend is amazing. Love boyfriend. Boyfriend forever.
"... Right." He has to stop himself from chuckling. It's not very easy to do so. "Right, porn book. Or not - sorry, I didn't mean to reduce it like that, but just... there's. Porn in it." There's a difference between literary erotica and straight up porn and he's not sure where Shang Beida's writing fits.
Where the water went is a mystery... "I think... ah, shit I'm not really a space guy but I think maybe something like Mars where the atmosphere is... weird? Um, something about the ozone layer maybe? But then there wouldn't be rain... maybe we can ask later."
He chuckles and curls around his boyfriend protectively. He's got the other's back. "Love you too. I'm here. I'm not going away. ... Are you feeling any better now?"
Shang Beida sighs. This is so undignified. “Porn and dramatic battles with villains and monsters, mostly. I had a deeper plot planned, it just… people wanted to pay for papapa and I needed to make rent. I don’t even know how many wives and concubines Binghe ended up with, I stopped counting. And I had to keep coming up with excuses for them to have to er. Have sex.” And then he had to live in a world filled with those excuses.
“And the storm… where did it come from and where did it go? Did all the water that fell outside the ship just evaporate again? …and why and how the fuck was it apparently angry? Is there some kind of furious water elemental out there that stole the oceans and is trying to drown the boat? I mean shit here seems pretty sci-fi in the main but like… I don’t know.”
Shang Beida takes a deep breath and snuggles closer. “Yeah. I’m okay. Sorry I had a whole… fuckin episode or whatever.”
"I know, dear." He presses a kiss to the other's forehead. "You don't have to excuse yourself to me. At least you can write things well enough that people will pay for them." Not him, his essays are miserable. And yet he won an essay contest and that's how this all started, didn't it?
"We do have a person whom we could ask who's a water expert. He might have figured something out by now." Anyway. He shakes his head a little bit. "You don't have to apologize. You're doing just fine. I love you and I want you to be able to express all of your emotions to me, even the negative ones. They're still part of you."
Oh... kiss. He blushes a little and nuzzles into Casper's neck. "I just... it's not very like... respectable. And it's embarrassing. Cucumber-bro isn't wrong that I'm a hack." PIDW was not a good novel.
"Oh... yeah, I guess. He... I guess he doesn't seem very like... mean." He's a little less intimidated by Wet Justice since the Cornfield Incident. "I can't believe he drank rice paddy. If there's anything to learn about the water, he does probably know it."
"You're too nice to me," he protests mostly automatically. "But I... okay. I... you're safe." That's the best way he can think of to phrase it. Casper makes him feel safe. And he hadn't felt safe since he woke up as the baby who would become Shang Qinghua, so the relief of that weight is astonishing.
"Who cares if it's 'respectable' or not? People read smut and they like smut, why do you think bodice rippers have always been a popular genre? Doesn't matter if it's good enough for prizes - if it's good enough to get you paid why should it matter?"
Okay, that gets a laugh out of him. "Rice paddy... water, I'm assuming. That's weird, but... I dunno, maybe he's not like... a normal person? I could check, but it's kind of... rude to do so." People don't like it when you peek at their power levels very much.
"And I'm only as nice as you deserve, schatzi. But yes. You're safe, too. I've got you, okay? Just rest. Just... just calm down and rest a little bit. I'll hold you."
"Lots of people care about respectable?" Not that is parents would have approved even if he was, but... it didn't help that he was a shitty stallion webnovel author. "Cucumber-bro is respectable," he grumbles. "Shen Qingqiu is a scholar, a master of the Four Arts, and he got that shit handed to him on a silver platter when he transmigrated in already a peak lord, he didn't have to learn from scratch from a baby. And no one thinks An Ding is respectable. Even the lower peaks think they're better. An Ding is the fourth peak and keeps everything running and Liu-shidi the fucking War Good of Bai Zhan the seventh peak thinks he's more important to the sect than me even though all he does is fuck off for months at a time killing random monsters to challenge himself." He pauses and blinks. "Sorry, that was... not the point at all, got off track."
"Yeah, the fucking pond water, with silt in it and shit. He said it tasted like hope and that it was possible for plants to experience hope? Baobei it was so weird. That man is strange. He got lost in a cornfield like in a fucking horror movie trying to find his way to a rice paddy to drink out of it. And I just stood there on my sword staring because. Dude, what." Anyway. "You could... check? How?"
Shang Beida sighs and shifts a little, getting comfortable. "I... thank you, baobei."
Okay. Maybe this is another cultural thing, he's not sure. He just lets his boyfriend ramble, lets him get it out of his system, before responding. "Schatzi. Honey. Baby. You could work the dirtiest street corner in the most miserable city and it would still not matter to me. People should care about you, not what you do." Hypocritical of him? Yes. But still true.
"... You know what, I'm not surprised. There's gods that deal with plants and I'm... sure they can communicate with them somehow, maybe ones that deal with water can feel that stuff through water. Maybe he's a demigod or something, I don't know." Anyway. "Yes, I can use the runes on my leg and get a... general sense of where someone sits? Like 'mortal', 'Scion', 'demi-god', 'god'. That sort of scale. But it's generally something I use on unknown opponents, not. Um. Allies."
He just boops his boyfriend's nose and chuckles. They're safe. Together.
Shang Beida squeaks a little and blushes at the concept of being a street prostitute. "People liked my imaginary people a lot better than my actual person," he manages, squeakily. Actually, that's sort of depressing, Casper is also seeing one of his imaginary people and not what he still thinks of as his real self. "I don't think I'd be a very popular, um, street worker."
Oh god, Wet Justice could be some kind of god as well as being a judge? That's too many powers at once! "People can tell when you use it? ...How powerful does it say I am?" Now he's just curious.
He ducks his head, smiling, and squeezes his arms around Casper. He's so lucky.
"It was just to make a point, dear." He nuzzles the other gently, smiling a little bit. "I mean... I could check. It doesn't hurt. ... Really the only indication other people would get is that my leg glows a little bit, and that's another reason I keep it hidden. As for other people being able to tell, usually no... but I wouldn't put it past someone on this boat to be able to tell when I use it."
He closes his eyes and his pant leg gives off a small glow. Hmm... "Around my level, then."
Shang Beida peers interestedly at the glow. If he focuses, he can feel something in the currents of spiritual energy, but it’s pretty subtle, and he wouldn’t be able to call exactly what it was doing if he didn’t know. He wouldn’t even notice if he wasn’t looking.
“Equals. That’s… nice.” He likes that. He’s used to being below people. He likes being on a level with Casper. Pants diagnosed with demigod. It makes sense, really, since he’s around Nascent Soul and that’s at least halfway to ascension if he put his mind to it.
"Mm. No, you're nice." He leans back to smile at Casper besottedly. It's just so... nice. "You're wonderful." He would definitely not object to being kissed.
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He snorts. "No, I know it's like a nerdy loser thing, it's fine. I am a nerdy loser. I can understand not wanting to be... more of a target. I was like, fine at school, but xianxia is more into like... an apprenticeship sort of structure? I was taught a lot more stuff one-on-one than back in my first life."
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The huff he gives is muffled by him shaking his head against his boyfriend's shoulder. "I mean I was a nerdy loser for different reasons. I did... okay in school - always got told I could do better - but I learn better by being self-directed and tutored than in a big class where I'm more worried about getting picked on than learning the material." Hm. "... What kind of stuff did you learn? Other than like... magic sage stuff."
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"Yeah, I mean, I probably did better at learning cultivation than I ever did in regular school. Though admittedly there was, um. A different kind of... stakes." Like, if he didn't manage to become an immortal cultivator peak lord, the System would kill him. Very motivating. "I mean, like... accounting? And construction, some--we had some, like... sort of civilian contractors... for some things, and once I became Head Disciple I didn't have to do grunt work anymore, and eventually everyone specializes anyway, but you start out learning everything so they can figure out what you're good at. Cooking, laundry, gathering herbs, making alcohol, making cultivation pills, basic medicines though anything complex would be through Qian Cao. And special alcohol would be Ku Xing, but like, low-grade stuff for cleaning or whatever. Honestly we had to learn the basics of what a lot of the other peaks do so we would know how to fix shit when they broke it. Like, I could probably build a forge for blacksmithing, though I couldn't make a spiritual sword or even a particularly good mundane one. Um. I don't know, just... stuff?"
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He listens and turns his head to peer at Shang Beida. "I mean I don't know how to do a lot of that stuff. Cooking and laundry I can do, and I learned some accounting for helping out at the funeral home but that's about it. I learned camping stuff - how to set up a tent, how to find firewood, how to dig a hole deep enough to use as a toilet so animals don't come around - but nothing someone wouldn't learn at like summer camp or something. I can't even. Um." He clears his throat. He doesn't have to be embarrassed by this, but it's still a little... for someone who lived on an island, it's...
"... I can't swim very well. Just barely enough to pass in physical education, and then after getting a metal leg it makes it even harder. The movements are just... off. It's not like it's that heavy it just... doesn't quite bend as fluidly. But it's - it's fine, I can hold my breath and walk along the bottom of a pool or river if I have to." He would prefer to not have to, though.
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As for swimming... "Oh, yeah, it makes sense that your leg would make it harder... I can swim okay, as long as I'm not like, wearing four layers of robes. Wet silk gets heavy and it fouls your limbs and it's just, not a good scene. I'm glad you can hold your breath if you need to, though." No drowning for boyfriend, please.
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Mm. "I don't like being underwater, though. It... brings back bad memories. Like I can handle baths and stuff, but I would prefer if I could know how to swim better. It's not like the swimming pool on deck works, though. Even if we could get Neuvillette to fill it with whatever water power he's got it's still got a lot of plants and stuff in it right now."
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Shang Beida tilts his head up to press a kiss to Casper’s jaw. “I do still prefer you like, not drowned. So I’m glad you can hold your breath. I guess we could clear out the pool and ask Wet Justice to fill it? It’s probably cracked, but I’ve got sealing talismans. I can swim okay. And I can also… just like… be there for you? If that’s like… reassuring at all.” The idea of his presence being helpful seems absurd, but… it’s Casper. He loves him.
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He shrugs a little. It was just an idea, just... "I don't know if we're going to run into water out there anyway. Didn't the Ship say there was very much not water anywhere? So I don't think it's going to be relevant. But thanks." He reaches up and scratches at the base of the other's skull gently. He's here. He's not going anywhere.
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“It is definitely extremely dry out there. I wonder where all the water went? Like I dunno this isn’t earth maybe it didn’t even have oceans—no wait this is a cruise ship obviously they had oceans. So did they like… boil off? There was a storm, there’s water somewhere. Is it all in the atmosphere now? Is that even a thing that can happen? Would we even be able to see stars if there was an entire ocean of water in the atmosphere? I don’t know I’m not a fucking scientist. Um. I got off track.”
The scratching is… it feels extremely very nice and Shang Beida melts into the touch. Both from sheer touch starvation and from the affection it represents. “I love you,” he mumbles into Casper’s neck. Boyfriend is amazing. Love boyfriend. Boyfriend forever.
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Where the water went is a mystery... "I think... ah, shit I'm not really a space guy but I think maybe something like Mars where the atmosphere is... weird? Um, something about the ozone layer maybe? But then there wouldn't be rain... maybe we can ask later."
He chuckles and curls around his boyfriend protectively. He's got the other's back. "Love you too. I'm here. I'm not going away. ... Are you feeling any better now?"
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“And the storm… where did it come from and where did it go? Did all the water that fell outside the ship just evaporate again? …and why and how the fuck was it apparently angry? Is there some kind of furious water elemental out there that stole the oceans and is trying to drown the boat? I mean shit here seems pretty sci-fi in the main but like… I don’t know.”
Shang Beida takes a deep breath and snuggles closer. “Yeah. I’m okay. Sorry I had a whole… fuckin episode or whatever.”
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"We do have a person whom we could ask who's a water expert. He might have figured something out by now." Anyway. He shakes his head a little bit. "You don't have to apologize. You're doing just fine. I love you and I want you to be able to express all of your emotions to me, even the negative ones. They're still part of you."
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"Oh... yeah, I guess. He... I guess he doesn't seem very like... mean." He's a little less intimidated by Wet Justice since the Cornfield Incident. "I can't believe he drank rice paddy. If there's anything to learn about the water, he does probably know it."
"You're too nice to me," he protests mostly automatically. "But I... okay. I... you're safe." That's the best way he can think of to phrase it. Casper makes him feel safe. And he hadn't felt safe since he woke up as the baby who would become Shang Qinghua, so the relief of that weight is astonishing.
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Okay, that gets a laugh out of him. "Rice paddy... water, I'm assuming. That's weird, but... I dunno, maybe he's not like... a normal person? I could check, but it's kind of... rude to do so." People don't like it when you peek at their power levels very much.
"And I'm only as nice as you deserve, schatzi. But yes. You're safe, too. I've got you, okay? Just rest. Just... just calm down and rest a little bit. I'll hold you."
that got longer than I expected it to
"Yeah, the fucking pond water, with silt in it and shit. He said it tasted like hope and that it was possible for plants to experience hope? Baobei it was so weird. That man is strange. He got lost in a cornfield like in a fucking horror movie trying to find his way to a rice paddy to drink out of it. And I just stood there on my sword staring because. Dude, what." Anyway. "You could... check? How?"
Shang Beida sighs and shifts a little, getting comfortable. "I... thank you, baobei."
it is his Way
"... You know what, I'm not surprised. There's gods that deal with plants and I'm... sure they can communicate with them somehow, maybe ones that deal with water can feel that stuff through water. Maybe he's a demigod or something, I don't know." Anyway. "Yes, I can use the runes on my leg and get a... general sense of where someone sits? Like 'mortal', 'Scion', 'demi-god', 'god'. That sort of scale. But it's generally something I use on unknown opponents, not. Um. Allies."
He just boops his boyfriend's nose and chuckles. They're safe. Together.
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Oh god, Wet Justice could be some kind of god as well as being a judge? That's too many powers at once! "People can tell when you use it? ...How powerful does it say I am?" Now he's just curious.
He ducks his head, smiling, and squeezes his arms around Casper. He's so lucky.
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He closes his eyes and his pant leg gives off a small glow. Hmm... "Around my level, then."
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“Equals. That’s… nice.” He likes that. He’s used to being below people. He likes being on a level with Casper. Pants diagnosed with demigod. It makes sense, really, since he’s around Nascent Soul and that’s at least halfway to ascension if he put his mind to it.
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Don't make him kiss you again -
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