But Blade will be allowed to loom for a few seconds before there's a quiet sigh from Dan Heng's huddled figure, head raising from where he'd pillowed it atop his arm and knee.]
Didn't I tell you to look in on Jing Yuan?
[His voice is tired, his pallor still pale, and there's just the tiniest hint of irritation and surprisingly, shame about him.]
[Things Blade will notice: the faintest scent of blood lingering about Dan Heng, even though he seems perfectly fine aside from the pallor and the tight grip on his own arm.]
It was not an order. It was a favor. Do not try to tell me you do not care about him.
[And... there's clear tension in Dan Heng's body language. The faintest trembling. He desperately wants to reach out and touch, but the reason why is only more reason for him to hold back.
He is keenly aware that Blade of all people probably knows better than anyone how he looks when he's vulnerable, thanks to their history.]
[questioning, though he leans back enough to assess Dan Heng visually again. he smells like he should be injured, he's holding his arm suspiciously, but not like it hurts.]
[There's a quiet, pained noise when Blade sits back on his haunches, pulling away from proximity. But if this is what it will take for Blade to listen... Maybe he'll leave and focus on Jing Yuan if he tells him.
(he doesn't want him to leave, he wants to reach for the man and cling as tightly as he can until he feels less like crawling out of his own skin)]
He will not want to see me. I tried to help him avoid Dan Feng... and failed. Dan Feng... made a lesson of it and made him watch.
[The very second Blade touches him has Dan Heng reeling. He cannot feel it entirely, but it's too much and not enough because of it. He's managed to hold himself together in absence of the balm physical touch would provide, but with it right there?
It's probably a little alarming how he seemingly collapses into that grip.]
[it is extremely alarming, in fact. he's not withdrawing, but going very still again instead, not even breathing as he tries to figure out what the fuck this means.]
Not that Dan Heng is thinking much of anything as he burrows his head against Blade's shoulder, breathing heavily. One hand comes up to fist into his sleeve, as if to anchor him there.
He wonders if this is what it feels like for regular people, to rise to the surface after drowning. It's only after a few moments for his body to adjust that Dan Heng can manage to speak.]
...His healing has side effects. It... hurts, not to touch.
[And he will not ask that of anyone, not when it is his own fault.]
[There's another quiet noise of relief when Blade crushes him closer, his body sagging into that hold like a puppet with cut strings. It hasn't stopped hurting once since he'd left the shrine.]
[His voice is a quiet but exhausted growl, because Dan Heng is probably just as bad in some ways as Blade is when it comes to Feelings, at least with vulnerable ones like these. Fingers twist into Blade's coat tightly, just as much out of desperate need as anger.]
I promised I'd help him and I made everything worse!
...I am fine. As far as I can tell, I seem to be resistant to Dan Feng's... condition infecting me. And Jing Yuan seemed lucid, if furious.
[Vidyadhara were not prone to Mara besides, unless influenced by something more than time. Their reincarnation cycle was a protection against that.] Contact with Dan Feng has not been an issue for me.
Re: Day 15, ass o'clock in the morning
Blade finds him, of course. and just kind of quietly looms in the entry to his hideout.]
Re: Day 15, ass o'clock in the morning
But Blade will be allowed to loom for a few seconds before there's a quiet sigh from Dan Heng's huddled figure, head raising from where he'd pillowed it atop his arm and knee.]
Didn't I tell you to look in on Jing Yuan?
[His voice is tired, his pallor still pale, and there's just the tiniest hint of irritation and surprisingly, shame about him.]
Re: Day 15, ass o'clock in the morning
[flatly, crowding his way into the nook to look Dan Heng over closely.]
no subject
It was not an order. It was a favor. Do not try to tell me you do not care about him.
[He isn't in the mood for lies.]
no subject
no subject
He is keenly aware that Blade of all people probably knows better than anyone how he looks when he's vulnerable, thanks to their history.]
What?
no subject
[questioning, though he leans back enough to assess Dan Heng visually again. he smells like he should be injured, he's holding his arm suspiciously, but not like it hurts.]
no subject
...Not anymore. I was healed.
[It's just blood loss, and that's not an injury but the aftermath of one. And his arm... well.]
no subject
[gaze sharpening, fixing on that arm.]
no subject
...Yes.
[Why did Blade have to be so prying?]
no subject
[Dan Heng doesn't seem marastruck, but an Emanator doesn't use their power without leaving their mark, least of all an Emanator of Abundance.]
no subject
[He lets out a sigh. There is no throwing Blade off the scent, is there?]
It is my fault. I acted with too much haste and too little planning. But what he is doing to Jing Yuan... I cannot abide it.
no subject
You're asking me to look after him. Why not lick your wounds together?
[What Did You Do]
no subject
(he doesn't want him to leave, he wants to reach for the man and cling as tightly as he can until he feels less like crawling out of his own skin)]
He will not want to see me. I tried to help him avoid Dan Feng... and failed. Dan Feng... made a lesson of it and made him watch.
[There is the source of the shame.]
no subject
then he's in Dan Heng's space, bandaged hand gripping the shoulder he isn't favoring, eyes wild.]
What did he do?
no subject
It's probably a little alarming how he seemingly collapses into that grip.]
no subject
no subject
Not that Dan Heng is thinking much of anything as he burrows his head against Blade's shoulder, breathing heavily. One hand comes up to fist into his sleeve, as if to anchor him there.
He wonders if this is what it feels like for regular people, to rise to the surface after drowning. It's only after a few moments for his body to adjust that Dan Heng can manage to speak.]
...His healing has side effects. It... hurts, not to touch.
[And he will not ask that of anyone, not when it is his own fault.]
no subject
[with a note of frustration. but it's simple enough to hear the problem and wrap his arms tight around Dan Heng, crushing him in closer.]
no subject
You asked what he did. I told you.
[Sorry he's like this, Blade.]
no subject
[half-snarled, but he's only holding tighter now, seeing how it gives Dan Heng relief.]
no subject
[His voice is a quiet but exhausted growl, because Dan Heng is probably just as bad in some ways as Blade is when it comes to Feelings, at least with vulnerable ones like these. Fingers twist into Blade's coat tightly, just as much out of desperate need as anger.]
I promised I'd help him and I made everything worse!
no subject
no subject
[Well.]
...I am fine. As far as I can tell, I seem to be resistant to Dan Feng's... condition infecting me. And Jing Yuan seemed lucid, if furious.
[Vidyadhara were not prone to Mara besides, unless influenced by something more than time. Their reincarnation cycle was a protection against that.] Contact with Dan Feng has not been an issue for me.
no subject
Okay.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)