Huaisang is quiet for a little after that. He reaches to pour wine and gestures with the jar in his hand in a silent question if the other wanted some poured to just drink some of the unease away or to go with the meal...both.
"In a way I am, but it is the right thing for my clan and it will give my brother some peace of mind that I cannot give him. I assume if you were agreeable to him you must have many strengths that will help lead the clan once..." he trails off and forces a smile. "He did this to shore up the weaknesses of his heir and it couldn't protect our clan if it was one of the other large cultivation clans and someone from a smaller one wouldn't be a powerful enough ally."
Nie Huaisang would hold the Sect Leader title but he's sure his brother intended the real leading to be done by someone else, someone who wasn't completely useless.
"I... uh, I'm only nineteen. It's not legal for me to drink in my country," Billy mumbles. So instead he pulls his tea closer. See, he can be happy with this. This is only a first meeting, after all. He has to go home after. And his mom would kill him if he got drunk because of his nerves.
But he understands enough of politics to nod along with what he's being told. Yes, he supposes he gets it. Genosha may be a small nation in the grand scheme of things, but they were large in numbers, and the power they had was not to be ignored.
"There will not be far more issue over the fact that your partner is... well, first and foremost, foreign. Secondly, unable to give you an heir of your own."
As for Billy, he can't see what his grandfather is getting out of this at all.
"It's legal here, if you want it," there is really no actual drinking age enforced and more so places that you can and cannot drink. But Huaisang simply offers and doesn't pressure. They'd both had more than enough of their freedoms taken away.
Huaisang begins to pick at his food. It's dinner but he's anything but hungry and he favors his wine instead.
"If you are powerful then it won't matter if you're foreign. And... I imagine at some point a surrogate," he grimaces a little because he has very little interest in women at all. His fingers curl around his cup and he downs the rest of the wine and refills it.
At least Billy won't be the one expected to make use of the surrogate if it comes to that. Still... If he's powerful enough? Billy sighs and flicks his fingers at the container of wine.
"Refill," he orders. Blue light wraps around the jar of wine. It floats up into the air and tilts over very precisely, pouring the liquid only as much as would be needed to fill the cup, before tilting back to standing and setting back down where it had come from.
"I'm probably not going to disappoint there at least. But... I suppose the question is more if you want this. This... arrangement."
Huaisang hadn't been trying to slight or vying for proof but he looks at the other in confusion at the finger moment, the single word and then... His brow furrows as he watches it as it moves, as the liquid pours out.
His mouth just gapes. There many such show off tricks that most cultivators can do but Huaisang isn't strong. His magic relies on his wits and cleverness, using the earth and the sky to do the work for him. It's magic that can only really be done with purpose. In everything else he is beyond mediocre.
There's a slight nod, he wouldn't disappoint at all. Somehow the proof made him feel more inadequate.
"Does it matter?" Huaisang questions and he smiles and it seems bright enough. "Honestly, I had hoped for love... I..." he exhales, he hadn't had anyone in mind anymore, he'd watched his brother accidentally murder the love of his life while under his sword's control. He had still hoped in finding someone new.
"I've always dreamed of a happy and loving marriage," Huaisang exhales, flushing. "I'm not innocent, I've had many love interests." Lovers. "But, this is my duty and it is because of my own failings and weaknesses that it is necessary."
A romantic. Just like Billy. Which of course earns a soft, pitiful smile.
"Me too. I figured, as the least important in the family I could... well, just find happiness. Find a guy who would love me for who I am and not what I can do or my family. I suppose that at the very least we're... wistful together?"
They can probably make an arrangement. One that allows for Huaisang to do what he wants. Billy? A foreigner who married in? Him being unfaithful would be seen as an act of aggression. He can't risk it.
Huaisang thinks briefly maybe it's better that they're in the same boat. He reaches for his cup and takes a sip, exhaling as he does so and not drinking as quickly as he had been at least.
"It is some comfort, at least," Huaisang says softly, looking down. "Perhaps we can find some happiness together."
Huaisang wouldn't consider going outside their marriage. He's seen the damage that can do and he has no desire to be a part of it and despite his frivolous nature once he has committed to something he doesn't stray.
Find some happiness together? Something tells him that isn't true. Because for it to be true, Billy would have to be lucky, but he's not. He knows he isn't.
"Happiness is the safety of our peoples," he posits with a sigh. "We can both agree on that, right?"
Huaisang's brow furrows at the response and he reads it as not particularly receptive to what he had suggested. Would they both have to be miserable for it? That had always been Huaisang's probably, the reason he didn't want to be the Master of the Nie Sect. He didn't want to settle, he didn't want to become someone he wasn't. He's not a leader, he's not a fighter.
But he forces a smile and nods. "Of course," because it's the only acceptable answer.
He finishes off another cup and reaches for the jar to pour more again.
"They can make you something else if you prefer," Huaisang says softly and maybe he should have tried to figure out what sort of food was common where he was from but that would have meant someone would have had to tell him something. He studies Billy and then he's back to drinking.
"I can make my brother break the troth," he finally says.
He can beg, he can use every trick and push da ge to cave in but he could do it. And Nie Mingjue would rage at him and he'd have the tip of Baxia pointed at his face again. He can live with that.
"I don't think I could survive if there is no true happiness for you to find here."
"Breaking it would only anger my grandfather and insult Genosha. No, that would have too much ill effect for your people. I... I don't want them hurt."
They were innocent, in the grand scheme of things. And it made Billy tired.
"Forgive me. I've had three days warning on this," he admits. Which left one to wonder how he spoke the language. "It was a relief enough to find you to be a man, and attractive. But... I've never left Genosha. I feel so weird here. So out of place. I must look silly to you, dressed as I am. And no one where will look me in the eye. Do they fear me? Are they disgusted by me? These are my thoughts, my fears. People attack what they do not understand, what they fear.
Huaisang is quiet and his hand goes for his fan, holding it a moment in both hands and then letting it open smoothly turning it around and lightly fanning himself. He has the urge to hide behind it as he often does when he doesn't know what to say or do, when he would rather run and hide but it isn't a current option. He listens carefully and there's a flicker of a smile at being called attractive.
"There is nothing to forgive."
Huaisang starts and there is so much that is strange about this foreign prince and that he doesn't really understand. He lifts the fan a little and it only covers a small portion of his face.
"Your lands must be very different from ours. I have not traveled outside of going visit different clans and studying with some of them. But you do not look silly. I appreciated how you looked, I like clothes and I have never seen any like this before," Huaisang smiles a bit behind the fan. "My people aren't afraid of anything," Huaisang on the other hand??? "They are certainly not disgusted, why would they be? Unsure, curious and trying to respect you is far more likely. No one will attack you here."
Another clan? He cannot speak for but he doubted anyone would come to Qinghe or the Unclean Realm for an attempt.
Oh dear. Billy looks so embarrassed, his cheeks coloring deeply at the correction. This whole thing is so uncomfortable.
"I still ask your forgiveness. I've been here less than twenty minutes and already I've made it awkward. It's... uncommon for me and my brother to interact with a lot of people outside of the palace. I'm making this bad, aren't I?"
"You're in a situation in which you are more comfortable. We'd call it home field advantage," Billy says. It would be easier if he were in Genosha. But he's not the one who was the heir.
"They do. It'd be easier if this first meeting was... more casual. Meals feel so intimate."
Huaisang smiles more when the other grins and he starts to think this isn't a total disaster. He bows his head slightly and then as the other holds out his hand he takes it.
"Our gardens are beautiful, my brother allowed me to raise canaries in them as well." Huaisang loves birds. He values beauty and luxury.
"Birds?" Billy grins. Yep, he's a bit more excited now. "My family keeps gardens. My mother loves roses, and I've been helping her tend her garden since I could walk."
Billy takes the hand in his, and then curls Huaisang's arm around his. There, a proper escort.
"Show me everything. The flowers must be so different."
Huaisang hadn't expected it, the other to offer his arm like this but he with his other hand he hooks his ban to his sash to which a jade pendant and a paint brush were already set. Much to his brother's chagrin he never remembered to carry his saber but he never forgot those three things.
He leads Billy through the doors and down one of the wrap arounds toward the gardens. They weren't particularly fancy. It's modest all considering and it is mostly Huaisang's work in this particular garden. There are birds a plenty, different colored canaries, not all of them had been captured, many of them had been born right here.
There's even an attempt at growing lotuses in memory of a fallen friend -- it's not going well, Qinghe is mountainous and Lotuses need a lot of water which is not abundant there. There aren't any flowers like roses but smaller petals, more humble and some almost looking like wildflowers (and they probably were).
"It is not much." But it's weeded and the path is well kept and there are trees in several places for shade on warm days.
Not much? It's a lot for this place that Billy has seen so little of and yet seemed so... austere. It was enough to be a true comfort. So he smiles and lets himself be led around. But it's beautiful enough for him. He pauses when they reach the small water area where there are clearly things supposed to come up.
"What is that?" Billy asks, gesturing toward the water area.
There's a flicker of sadness when he looks at the area. He lets go of the other's arm to crouch down carefully, not intending to get his robes dirty. He studies the soil and there's no sprouts still. He smiles as he glances back up.
"I'm trying to figure out how to grow lotuses here. I had a friend who grew up with the Jiang Clan in Yunmeng it is a territory filled with lakes and rivers and lotuses grow easily. The lotus flower is also their crest. He died not long ago," Huaisang explains, slowly pushing himself back up.
"I've managed to bring one seed to sprout but it didn't last. Lotuses can be stubborn and defiant in places that don't suit them just like my friend was."
"The dirty here is rocky and dry. There's no soft ground and we do not have so much water as there is in Yunmeng."
Huaisang motioned toward the mountaintops. "Growing things here is harder in general," Huaisang says. Which makes it more clear how much work he had put into this garden, growing flowers and raising birds with beautiful songs.
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secureserver2020-08-19 02:14 pm
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"In a way I am, but it is the right thing for my clan and it will give my brother some peace of mind that I cannot give him. I assume if you were agreeable to him you must have many strengths that will help lead the clan once..." he trails off and forces a smile. "He did this to shore up the weaknesses of his heir and it couldn't protect our clan if it was one of the other large cultivation clans and someone from a smaller one wouldn't be a powerful enough ally."
Nie Huaisang would hold the Sect Leader title but he's sure his brother intended the real leading to be done by someone else, someone who wasn't completely useless.
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But he understands enough of politics to nod along with what he's being told. Yes, he supposes he gets it. Genosha may be a small nation in the grand scheme of things, but they were large in numbers, and the power they had was not to be ignored.
"There will not be far more issue over the fact that your partner is... well, first and foremost, foreign. Secondly, unable to give you an heir of your own."
As for Billy, he can't see what his grandfather is getting out of this at all.
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Huaisang begins to pick at his food. It's dinner but he's anything but hungry and he favors his wine instead.
"If you are powerful then it won't matter if you're foreign. And... I imagine at some point a surrogate," he grimaces a little because he has very little interest in women at all. His fingers curl around his cup and he downs the rest of the wine and refills it.
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"Refill," he orders. Blue light wraps around the jar of wine. It floats up into the air and tilts over very precisely, pouring the liquid only as much as would be needed to fill the cup, before tilting back to standing and setting back down where it had come from.
"I'm probably not going to disappoint there at least. But... I suppose the question is more if you want this. This... arrangement."
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His mouth just gapes. There many such show off tricks that most cultivators can do but Huaisang isn't strong. His magic relies on his wits and cleverness, using the earth and the sky to do the work for him. It's magic that can only really be done with purpose. In everything else he is beyond mediocre.
There's a slight nod, he wouldn't disappoint at all. Somehow the proof made him feel more inadequate.
"Does it matter?" Huaisang questions and he smiles and it seems bright enough. "Honestly, I had hoped for love... I..." he exhales, he hadn't had anyone in mind anymore, he'd watched his brother accidentally murder the love of his life while under his sword's control. He had still hoped in finding someone new.
"I've always dreamed of a happy and loving marriage," Huaisang exhales, flushing. "I'm not innocent, I've had many love interests." Lovers. "But, this is my duty and it is because of my own failings and weaknesses that it is necessary."
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"Me too. I figured, as the least important in the family I could... well, just find happiness. Find a guy who would love me for who I am and not what I can do or my family. I suppose that at the very least we're... wistful together?"
They can probably make an arrangement. One that allows for Huaisang to do what he wants. Billy? A foreigner who married in? Him being unfaithful would be seen as an act of aggression. He can't risk it.
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"It is some comfort, at least," Huaisang says softly, looking down. "Perhaps we can find some happiness together."
Huaisang wouldn't consider going outside their marriage. He's seen the damage that can do and he has no desire to be a part of it and despite his frivolous nature once he has committed to something he doesn't stray.
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"Happiness is the safety of our peoples," he posits with a sigh. "We can both agree on that, right?"
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But he forces a smile and nods. "Of course," because it's the only acceptable answer.
He finishes off another cup and reaches for the jar to pour more again.
"Does the food suit your tastes?"
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"It's nice," Billy agrees, and honestly he clearly hasn't touched it.
To nervous.
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"I can make my brother break the troth," he finally says.
He can beg, he can use every trick and push da ge to cave in but he could do it. And Nie Mingjue would rage at him and he'd have the tip of Baxia pointed at his face again. He can live with that.
"I don't think I could survive if there is no true happiness for you to find here."
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They were innocent, in the grand scheme of things. And it made Billy tired.
"Forgive me. I've had three days warning on this," he admits. Which left one to wonder how he spoke the language. "It was a relief enough to find you to be a man, and attractive. But... I've never left Genosha. I feel so weird here. So out of place. I must look silly to you, dressed as I am. And no one where will look me in the eye. Do they fear me? Are they disgusted by me? These are my thoughts, my fears. People attack what they do not understand, what they fear.
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"There is nothing to forgive."
Huaisang starts and there is so much that is strange about this foreign prince and that he doesn't really understand. He lifts the fan a little and it only covers a small portion of his face.
"Your lands must be very different from ours. I have not traveled outside of going visit different clans and studying with some of them. But you do not look silly. I appreciated how you looked, I like clothes and I have never seen any like this before," Huaisang smiles a bit behind the fan. "My people aren't afraid of anything," Huaisang on the other hand??? "They are certainly not disgusted, why would they be? Unsure, curious and trying to respect you is far more likely. No one will attack you here."
Another clan? He cannot speak for but he doubted anyone would come to Qinghe or the Unclean Realm for an attempt.
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Oh dear. Billy looks so embarrassed, his cheeks coloring deeply at the correction. This whole thing is so uncomfortable.
"I still ask your forgiveness. I've been here less than twenty minutes and already I've made it awkward. It's... uncommon for me and my brother to interact with a lot of people outside of the palace. I'm making this bad, aren't I?"
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"Am I any less awkward?" Huaisang laughs. It comes easily, his laugh usually does even when it shouldn't.
"I think the circumstances make this difficult."
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"They do. It'd be easier if this first meeting was... more casual. Meals feel so intimate."
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"Is that why you won't eat? Should we take a walk through the gardens instead?"
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"Yeah, thanks. I'm... a little too nervous to eat. Maybe if we walk I'll settle my stomach."
He rises a little and stands. And after a moment, he half holds his hand out to Huasiang.
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"Our gardens are beautiful, my brother allowed me to raise canaries in them as well." Huaisang loves birds. He values beauty and luxury.
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Billy takes the hand in his, and then curls Huaisang's arm around his. There, a proper escort.
"Show me everything. The flowers must be so different."
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He leads Billy through the doors and down one of the wrap arounds toward the gardens. They weren't particularly fancy. It's modest all considering and it is mostly Huaisang's work in this particular garden. There are birds a plenty, different colored canaries, not all of them had been captured, many of them had been born right here.
There's even an attempt at growing lotuses in memory of a fallen friend -- it's not going well, Qinghe is mountainous and Lotuses need a lot of water which is not abundant there. There aren't any flowers like roses but smaller petals, more humble and some almost looking like wildflowers (and they probably were).
"It is not much." But it's weeded and the path is well kept and there are trees in several places for shade on warm days.
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"What is that?" Billy asks, gesturing toward the water area.
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"I'm trying to figure out how to grow lotuses here. I had a friend who grew up with the Jiang Clan in Yunmeng it is a territory filled with lakes and rivers and lotuses grow easily. The lotus flower is also their crest. He died not long ago," Huaisang explains, slowly pushing himself back up.
"I've managed to bring one seed to sprout but it didn't last. Lotuses can be stubborn and defiant in places that don't suit them just like my friend was."
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It was normal for a betrothed to give a gift, right? Maybe this can be his.
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Huaisang motioned toward the mountaintops. "Growing things here is harder in general," Huaisang says. Which makes it more clear how much work he had put into this garden, growing flowers and raising birds with beautiful songs.
"It's silly to try."
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and of course no notif
dw is the worst lately
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Good closing point?