{Text; UN: scraps}

[disgracedprince]

I'm looking for a specific type of flower. It's small and white and it gives off a delicious scent. Maybe it's something like jasmine? I'm not sure. Its been awhile since I had any.

I think the butterflies will like it. {Granted they aren't real butterflies, but surely phantom butterflies love sweet scents too?}

I remember them blooming for most of the year or maybe I'm mistaken? It has been so long. My mind is getting old.

I was definitely spoiled back then. If I asked for them, someone would grow them even if it was the wrong season.

I know better now.

It's just the memories that I miss.

Comments

[disgracedprince]

{He doesn't want to be rid of him! He needs friends.}

I'm glad to hear it! Otherwise I would need to talk to him.

{A long discussion about being gentle with humans would follow. Even if they look like ants to gods and demons, each one is precious! Each one should be protected!}

Clever. {He pours tea for them.} Yes, you do. Frostbite is painful. I've experienced it.

[wrotetheworld]

[Believe him, they're in the same place on that one.]

I really don't think that'll be necessary, but it's nice for you to say so.

[Honestly, a friendly chat about the soft and squishy humans might not be the worst thing? Not that Shang Qinghua really has room to complain.]

I've gotten pretty close. Job hazard when you work part time in a place called the Northern Desert.

[disgracedprince]

Sometimes immortals forget what it's like to be fragile. We forget to fear death and pain.

{Or you know...those in reverse. Usually if you're dead, you don't hurt anymore.}

Oh I lived in a desert too! The nights were freezing.

{Which is how he ended up looking after at least one homeless child. And feeding them.}

[wrotetheworld]

I sure haven't, but I guess that's the difference between different levels of immortal? Never gonna grow old versus never actually dying. Wouldn't mind the latter. It'd sure lower my stress levels.

[Not sure if he buys the whole death equals no pain thing, all considering. Buuuuuut... Gives him a smile over his tea, burrowing further into the blanket.]

Probably a different type of desert. Mobei's Northern Desert's always freezing. Not a lot of rain because it's just always frozen. I've got warming spells sewn into so many of my robes, will still be bundled up, and he's out there with his chest bared to the world perfectly comfortable.

[Might be just a little jealous.]

[disgracedprince]

Mm sometimes death is a mercy; a mercy that is denied upper level immortals. I don't always see it as a bad outcome.

{There's pain and then...if all goes well...there's a release. But Xie Lian knows that isn't the case for everyone. Vengeful ghosts are obviously still in pain.}

I've never been to a frozen desert. He is certainly in his element there!

[wrotetheworld]

Eh... I don't know if I'd really say that. Sometimes death just doesn't stick and you end up in even worse situations.

[And maybe he sounds like he's got some experience himself in that one. Not the same kind as the ghosts he's run into, but experience all the same.

The Northern Desert's a much nicer thing to think about.]

He really is. Probably why his clan took over the area. Unless the weather's a side effect of them being there for too long? Never actually thought about that one. Either way, ice demon, frozen wasteland, it fits.

[disgracedprince]

If someone truly dies, it should stick. {Otherwise it was just another tragedy in a long line of miseries.} Have you died, friend? Even temporarily?

{What's it like?}

Could be. An ice demon would be able to change the environment to a certain degree. Though your ice king must be powerful to transform a whole desert.

[wrotetheworld]

He is! But it wasn't just him, but his ancestors too. The Mobei line consume the power of their predecessor when the last one dies, so they get more powerful each generation.

[He ignores the other question for a moment, clutching his tea cup just a little more tightly.]

And... yes.

I guess Meng Po's soup must not have been to my liking.

[disgracedprince]

They are a force to be reckoned with in that case! Soon they will rival Heavenly Officials in power.

{Does that frighten him? No, not really. He is much more interested in the next part.}

Oblivion must be accepted by a soul, I believe. If you utterly rejected it and your spirit is powerful enough, you could not be reborn.

But what became of your body?

[wrotetheworld]

Ha, doubt there’s anything special about my spirit. I was practically a shut in with how much time I spent at the keyboard.

[Grimaces, holding back a shudder.]

I don’t know. Probably burned? Electrical surges usually start fires, especially with whatever cheap wiring job my apartment had.

[disgracedprince]

Keyboard? {Whatever it is, it must be interesting!} We all have our hobbies, but it is important to go outside and see the world too.

How awful. Burns are difficult to heal.

[wrotetheworld]

Ah, it's a thing we write with where I was originally from. They've actually got them here too! I bet you've seen them if you've been by the research center. Bunch of little tiles with characters on them. I used to be so fast with one, because that was how I kept a roof over my head.

[Clears his throat.]

Yeah... Thankfully didn't have to deal with it. Got a new body when I woke up again. Sure, growing up again sucked, but I obviously made it!

[disgracedprince]

Oh yes! I have seen those. So that's their name. {Keyboard. How strange!} Tile-board makes more sense to me. Or letter-board?

{Not the point. He clears his throat too, apologetically.}

Writing with one would take practice and skill. I would be very slow even if I recognized the characters.

{Xie Lian nods thoughtfully.}

You re-entered the wheel. It is remarkable that your memories remained intact. Usually they don't - as we discussed. Your fate must be unavoidable; thus an exception was made for you, friend.

[wrotetheworld]

Eh, there's probably some history to the name, terms sticking around as technology changes and all that. And I guess you could say the speed comes with muscle memory? You stop having to look for where the keys are as you type. Like sword forms! Once you get used to them, you don't really need to think about each step.

Least I've heard that's how it works. An Ding doesn't focus on fighting nearly as much as some of the other peaks.

[At the mention of fate, however, his smile distinctly loses most of its shine.]

Ah... yeah. Fate. Probably a bit of bad karma too. Or a lot of bad karma.

[disgracedprince]

Muscle memory is very important! Are all the keyboards the same size? If that differs, it could be like trying to train with an unfamiliar sword.

I'm glad everyone doesn't focus on fighting. We should retain some hope for peace, for the arts, for literature.

{Bad karma you say. Xie Lian has a mountain or two of that.}

We are cut from the same cloth, my poor friend. We mustn't die.

[wrotetheworld]

There are some different sizes, but most of them are pretty similar. The big problem is when you run into ones with different languages.

[Literature. Right. Clearly his strongest point.]

I try not to. Once was enough. Especially with what happened after.

[disgracedprince]

I'm thinking that would be a handy way to learn a new language, however. Not all at once, of course, but over time with assistance.

{As a lover of the arts, Xie Lian has no issue with that.}

What happened?

[wrotetheworld]

Least to learn the different characters. Then you get into the Latin alphabet and you get around fifty different languages that use the same characters but with different arrangements and meanings.

[Shang Qinghua chewed on his lip, debating with himself. Maybe... maybe it'd be nice for someone to know?]

How... good are you at keeping secrets?

[disgracedprince]

I've never heard of Latin. Is it an old language? {What's a few thousand years, right?}

I like to think I'm very good at keeping secrets. Especially when the secret refers to a friend.

I won't betray you.

[wrotetheworld]

Yeah, pretty old. But the writing system it used is still used a lot. Adjusted here and there. It's a lot different from ours, almost entirely based on how words sound instead of meaning. So the Hua for my name and your friend's name would be written out the same way. Someone actually wrote a full poem that used the same three characters repeated again and again when written out with the Latin alphabet!

[Is he stalling? Maybe he's stalling. Come on Qinghua, out with it.]

I didn't think you would. So, ah, you know how I said I used to be a writer? Least, I think I did. I've got so many things to remember that some things get mixed up. But anyway!

Before I... I died, I was writing a book. A very, very long book. Was still working on it when I stupidly got myself electrocuted, actually. Died because I ate at my desk, can you believe it?

[disgracedprince]

That's... That's amazing! A whole poem, really? That would be almost impossible with our alphabet - unless you are relying on numerous meanings for one word? It would be an interesting project.

{It wouldn't sound very good, but the meaning behind it would be clever.}

Are you going to continue your book? {It would be a shame if his friend gave it up!} I'm sorry that happened to you. We truly have little control over our fates, but that's all the more reason to do our best while we're here, right?

[wrotetheworld]

They've only got twenty-six regular characters that they mix and match to make words. It's a big difference.

[Probably above his level of writing ability, that's for sure.]

And, well, the book did get finished. I guess? Protagonist got their love interest, villains got reformed or vanquished.

...cannon fodder side character cultivator cleared up things with his ice demon king boss...

[disgracedprince]

How did they narrow it down so much?

{They have hundreds - if not thousands - of characters!}

You don't seem happy with the outcome? I think your book sounds very exciting.

[wrotetheworld]

Don't think they started with as many?

[So not his field of study.]

And, well, it's sure exciting. But considering I've been living in it for the last sixty years, I could do with a little less excitement. [Pauses.] It was an accident?

[disgracedprince]

I see! So they started with few and expanded.

{Quite the opposite of their language.}

You... {Wait, had he heard that correctly?} You are living in your own book? How?