For deprecated

[lifeban]

[There is really no logic that can explain this. With how Vidyadhara are, Dan Heng literally inhabits the body that once belonged to Dan Feng. His egg formed from the former High Elder's corpse.

But that's a bit beside the actual point, here. The point being that someone is in Dan Heng's bedroom, which, while it is technically not a bedroom and technically is a public amenity, still is left well enough alone while he's sleeping. The Nameless know to leave a resting Dan Heng well enough alone, given his position as the twitchiest member of the Astral Express Crew. So he's snapping fully awake when he hears the slightest movement, sitting abruptly upright to assess the situation.

The situation being that a far-too-familiar someone is standing in the Archive.

And since, as previously mentioned, there's no logic to it, Dan Heng just throws the whole idea out the window as another of his usual nightmares and dives for Cloud Piercer where it's propped against the console near the foot of his futon.]

Comments

[lifeban]

What do you mean "taking care of them"? They're not dirty.

[aeons help him. all of them. yes, even nanook.

he's standing his ground! stubbornly! but kind of cringing back, that's a Lot.]

[deprecated]

[the face he makes is half disgusted, half bemused, and all 100% 'i will take care of this thing because this is now mine'.

oooook he's lifting a hand and going for one of his horns--]

[lifeban]

[THERE ARE LIMITS.

Ducking, basically trying to skitter away entirely actually.]

[deprecated]

[high elders don’t skitter away you little]

Hold still!

[more undignified grabbing YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO RUN]

[lifeban]

[Good thing he's not High Elder then, huh!!

But yeah it's very much a case of he's already hemmed in by the layout of the room, and he just has sliiightly too much dignity to jump the room divider over this. Yet.]

Don't just grab!!

[whoops, caught.]

[deprecated]

Impertinent.

[clearly he has zero concept of personal space (especially because apparently they were the same person) and he crowds dan heng against the nearest shelf. at least the way he grasps one horn is gentle because he knows how sensitive the things are.]

Even fifty year old hatchlings have better maintained horns. [he sounds bewildered]

[lifeban]

[going absolutely still once dan feng has a grip, because, well... absolutely no one has touched those in any of dan heng's memories of being himself? and realistically any other memories were horny in more ways than one.

...Look, he's a man with very clearly defined personal space and this is a lot right now, so he's clamming up.]

[deprecated]

[just gonna try and manhandle him into turning around with a casual possessiveness he’d only allowed himself with one other person. if his horns were like this his tail needs immediate looking at sry]

[lifeban]

[okay no there is a disgruntled, incredulous squawk, and a momentary twitch in the direction of lunging over the divider. but he's even less emotionally prepared to be Actually Overpowered about this, so. vibrating internally. yeah the tail is not great.]

[deprecated]

Hold.

[there is a faint sound of distress and at least dan feng telegraphs his movements before trying to hold dan heng by the hip with one hand and hefting his tail with the other]

When was the last time you did a shed?

[lifeban]

I don't...?

[He's blushing all the way to the tips of his ears, the casual proprietary touch and embarrassment of his own ignorance feel a little bit like dying.]

...Three, four hundred years ago?

[not long after the first time he stabbed Blade in the heart. he'd thought it was a stress response.]

[deprecated]

[it’s ok dan fengs specialty is Making Everything Worse]

You are supposed to induce one every fifty years! This should have been one of the first dreams you had. [the sixth elder was really adamant about that for some reason. he - scritches, for the lack of a better word, at a clump of crowded scales at the base of dan heng’s tail. wow this neglect is a crime against dragon tails everywhere.]

How far along are you with the dreams? [scritch scritch the overgrown scales are just flaking off. dude] Why is it out of order?

[lifeban]

[oh, fuck, that feels-- a little bit painful, a little bit like his body is getting something it's needed for, oh, centuries, and also just. agonizingly intimate.

this whole thing is agonizing (emotional).]

I'm- not the High Elder, remember?

[again with that. but pearlkeepers and teachers surely would have taught even a "normal" child with horns and tail how to take care of himself.]

[deprecated]

Dan Heng.

[his tone has gentled from clinical detachment to something more comforting. like trying not to spook an animal. it is starting to dawn on him that something is very wrong.

the hand on his hip is starting to rub small, soothing circles into his side.]

We aren’t on the Luofu, are we?

[lifeban]

[the tone, the gentle touch... they're working. dan heng is aware of it and hates it, but he's really too weak to any kindness and gentleness to resist the way it settles him. the tip of his tail twitching is the strongest persisting sign of agitation, at least physically.]

...We're on the Astral Express.

[something absolutely incomprehensible, for anything Dan Heng should be. surely the Preceptors wouldn't let him so far out of their reach, even stripped of the title of High Elder.]

[deprecated]

[he doesn’t recognise the name, and dan feng knew every single spacefaring vessel the high elder was allowed to board. the list was very small.]

All right.

[he seems to consider something for a moment.]

Does this Astral Express have a bath?

[lifeban]

It does.

[dan heng seems more exhausted than anything, now.]

Down the hall.

[deprecated]

[okay- gonna go and try to clasp a hand his shoulder now-]

Come. Let me take care of you.

[he has about 16254 questions, fifty percent of those might end up with him enacting violence, but also no reincarnation of his should sound so lost.]

[lifeban]

[turning around so he can simply look at dan feng for a few moments.

"you fought us your entire life" echoes in his head. the words of a mirage echo, of a preceptor. his early years were spent alternating between crushing isolation and what he, intellectually, knows to have been extremely targeted propoganda. he knows that, but it hasn't made his impression of his predecessor any gentler, even though it's not like dan feng locked him up himself. this gentleness and care has him reeling. has him having to really examine the blame behind his fucked up life. and it's not easy.

his gaze drifts away, and he nods.]

Okay.

[deprecated]

Good.

[there’s the little smile again. dan feng had not been able to take care of anyone in centuries. it’s a reprieve he did not think he would ever have but, well.

the corridor outside affords them a view of the stars he had never seen. they really are far from home…]

Tell me about the Express. [his hand drifts to settle on the small of dan heng’s back.]

[lifeban]

[he's really not used to this degree of touch. with the express crew, with March especially, he's gotten to the point where a little playful shoving or a shoulderpat or fistbump are a standard, easy thing, but this... isn't.

he's losing his conviction of this being a dream, and he's not sure whether he wants it to be.]

This was the train that Akivili, the Trailblaze, rode through the stars. Himeko [tipping his head in the direction of the next car down] fixed it up, and so it roams the galaxy with the Nameless once more.

[his voice is soft as they pass March's room, then the Trailblazer's, and finally come to the communal restroom. it is late, after all, and he's not ready for March to be a bull in a china shop about this situation right now.]

[deprecated]

[dan feng stares at the side of his successor’s face for a moment. the aeon of trailblaze meant freedom: a concept he was not familiar with, but something he had dreamed of.]

I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself. [there was the faint sting of jealousy, but he was being sincere; at least some part of him lived on to be happy, and that was the best he could have hoped for.]

In. [he sort of bullies dan hang further inside and locks the door behind him.] Strip.

[lifeban]

[It's a credit to his habitual stoicism that Dan Heng doesn't flinch with the first comment, and he's only getting up the nerve to open his mouth to respond when he hears the click of the bathroom lock, processes those orders, and then his stoicism is promptly failing as he explodes into a blush again.

One could have gotten the impression, from the archive, that a communal restroom aboard the Astral Express would be utilitarian. This would be wrong. It, like the entire rest of the Express except for the room Dan Heng chose to occupy, is sumptuous, with homey little details like the row of cups along the grand sink, each sporting its own toothbrush. Fancy, but also a home.

...Yeah, sorry, he's just bright red and speechless, give him a minute. At least the tub is enormous?]

[deprecated]

[the side eye he’s getting is magnificent.]

Your baths look like this and you sleep in. [dude.] There.

[pushing past him to turn the tap on. hot water it is. hm he probably needs a washcloth…]

[very patiently:] You can’t soak with clothes on.

[lifeban]

I prefer it.

[half-mumbled. don't @ him.

but the physical space helps get his shit a little more together, and he begrudgingly starts pulling off his pajamas. taking care not to get his shirt caught on horns that aren't normally solid enough to cause problems at this stage, because he's pretty sure he'd drop dead if Dan Feng witnessed that.]