[ He takes the blade with a slightly wide-eyed look, glancing at her then back down at it then back at her again, baffled as to why she would even let him touch it. Unfortunately he was torn between examining the sword and watching what she was doing, and ended up watching her instead.
He didn’t say anything, trying to memorize everything he’d seen before she strode our, and he followed hot on her heels. ]
Look, great family or not, if your shrine eats people that’s kind of cause for concern.
[ He could stand to sound a little more concerned, though, rather than fascinated. ]
So you’re in the Nie family then, yeah? You must be Huaisang. [ The family was small, and she certainly wasn’t her brother. ]
[She's letting it hold you because to her brother's greatest fury, it just so happens the saber is not her spiritual weapon, Fox. Try to touch the fan though, if you want to lose a hand.
His words bring a frown to her face.]
... I don't like it either. I hate it. But that's how the place was made two hundred years ago and there's nothing I can do about it.
[She looks a bit surprised that he knows her name - but with the clue he has, why would he not know? Indeed, the family was small, and pretty famous for their unorthodox use of magic.]
What gave me away? The braids, or the saber?
[Belatedly, she holds out her hand to get the blade back as she finally leads the way out completely into the forest.]
What's your name? How did you even find this place? And do you often break into other people's ancestral shrines without asking?
... You know I'll have to tell my brother someone broke in, right?
The fact that you’re here. But yeah, the sabre helps.
[ He holds it out to her willingly, then slides his hands into his pockets and hums. ]
I’m Fox.
[ He said it casually, well aware that plenty of people claimed to be him on a regular basis, so there was no need to pretend to be anyone else. He’d never been a good liar anyway. ]
And I found it because the title deeds for this strip of land didn’t exist, according to the archives, and there was a protection spell on it strong enough to confuse satellites. Would keep out basically anyone else but to me it’s like dousing something in catnip.
[ He paused, considering. ] Is there an equivalent of catnip for foxes...? Anyway.
[ He shrugged. ]
I didn’t break anything, by the way. I was careful. I just confused the protection spell into thinking I was supposed to be there, and then my guardian spirit - [ The silver fox was starting to fade a little as it trotted along beside them. ] - kept an eye out for anything nasty.
[ He hummed. ]
I guess you could say I broke in, but that implies I was going to steal something. And contrary to popular belief, I don’t steal anything. I just study.
[ He glanced at her. ]
Does your brother really have to know? Maybe some kind of animal got in.
[Her eyes widen, going from him to the fox guardian spirit.]
Well, I guess it's no wonder you managed to get in then. Most people wouldn't even notice the place, and the few that do usually get lost in the maze array and never make it to the door.
[But if he was Fox, 'the' Fox that even the Sect Leaders spoke of with a mix of exasperation and respect, then it made more sense that he'd managed to sneak in and remain undetected for a time.
His question makes her shake her head.]
The protection charms are being remotely monitored. Once they got tripped inside the shrine, it alerted someone back home. They're not going to come here since I didn't send a flare, but they'll know someone was in and I let them out.
I don't have to tell him it's you if you don't want me to but... I'm already going to get yelled at for just letting you out. If I say it was you, I'd have a good excuse as to why I just let you go. I could just say you slipped away once we were out. They'd believe me.
[Everyone always underestimates Huaisang's abilities because of her low proficiency with the saber. And honestly, she prefers it that way. She can use her actual abilities in silence, when needed, and live a more quiet and carefree life the rest of the time.]
Anyway, it's not like my brother can just look for you and find you, right? Just go and don't come back here.
[She's about to turn away, but then faces him again.]
I'm serious about that. You got really, really lucky. If the sword spirits had actually woken up, I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything.
[ He just kind of shrugged at the question, an amused smile on her lips. She could believe it or not, he didn't really mind. But it seemed like she quickly convinced herself anyway. ]
He could try to find me. Not one's quite managed it yet.
[ He tilted his head as she turned back. ]
All magic is dangerous. [ Said in the charming way of the utterly relentless with zero self preservation instinct. ]
But alright, alright, as thanks for letting me go, I won't go back.
[ He paused, then wet his fingers with his lips, turned to look at his arms and snapped his fingers. A fire burst from his finger tips and he quickly drew a line of it around his arm. It burned through the fabric before extinguishing, and then he pulled the cuff right off his jacket, burnt edges and all. ]
Here. You grabbed me but I used a flame spell to escape, and you only got the edge of my sleeve.
[ He tapped the fabric with a finger and it shimmered, a tell-tale sign of the Queen West's specialty: textile magic. ]
[Most of the Sect Leaders know about Fox, but they tend to just leave him alone unless he gets too nosy into their business. There used to be efforts to try and find him before, until they collectively decided he wasn't a threat and more of a slightly irritating annoyance most of the time. the Sects themselves tend to be a bit removed from traditional wizarding circles, and it's not like there aren't any rogues among them anyway.
But it'd be easier for them to let him go if he didn't insist on coming to see stuff just for curiosity's sake. Like the Nie saber shrine, or the Lan Forbidden library - she heard that one from Xichen.
She looks surprised as she takes the bit of sleeve and listens to his explanation, and then smiles, holding it up.]
Thanks. I guess with this I can call us even.
[You're still alive, and she won't get yelled at too badly. Definitely even.]
Now go. I have to stay here for the rest of the night, and it'll be more believable too if I finish my shift rather than rush home now.
[ He flashed her a grin as he pulled the hood of the jacket up, his face sudden far more obscured than it should be in that small amount of shadow, two little twinkling green flecks of light where his eyes should be. He turned to start to jog away, before abruptly turning around. ]
We should hang out sometime.
[ But before she could reply, he had turned around again and was off like a shot, leaping over the nearest log and disappearing into the woods. ]
[And another cloaking spell. She's not quite sure exactly how many he has on him, but yes, no wonder he somehow managed to slip inside.
But then he's like 'We should hang out' and she doesn't have time to answer and....
Hang out with Fox? The Fox? Her? Well, first she'd have to know where to find him and that in itself is not easily done, as she mentioned... although of course, she is much better at tracking things than anyone else she knows, but...
But it doesn't feel right running after him. She trusts he'll hold to his word and not come back. That's enough trouble for now. If their paths cross again, then they'll see...
She goes home at the end of the night, gets yelled at as she predicted although the burnt sleeve and take help stop that pretty quickly. And then, she's back to slacking at saber practice, skipping classes when she can, practicing her talisman magic in secret instead and training with her fan when no one is looking.
[ That weekend, during one of Huaisang’s usual party hours and at her favourite club, the place is absolutely packed. The music is loud enough to barely be able to hear voices over it, and the crowds dense enough that you have to brush people to get past them.
And yet, as Huaisang dances, the crowd seems to part a little next to her, instinctively all turning their back on the same point, pulling apart like the Red Sea. It’s hard to actually look at where the crowd parts - or it would be - until suddenly it’s easy to look straight at the man who has walked in between them as he lowers his hood and deactivates the attention avoidance spell he was wearing. He flashes Huaisang a cheeky grin, the music around them quieter than it had been a minute ago, so he doesn’t even have to yell. ]
[She is personable and sociable, so Huaisang likes the crowds, and the noise, and the drinking.
She likes the annoying guys a bit less, but they come with the territory, and if she doesn't have Zonghui staring at people menacingly somewhere around, she has people gently reminding them that her last name is Nie and her older brother literally flattens people who look at her too long before breakfast, so usually it works out.
In a throng like this one, though, there's often a few hands that fray, but she's good with the pinching, and she has her fans in case things get real handsy.
It takes a her a little bit to realize the movement of the crowd near her is not natural, and she barely has the time to think, her mind racing, there's someone here with a cloaking spell on, why, when suddenly he appears and she ends up in a pool of quiet, blinking with her mouth open.
Okay, so he did say they should hang out, but she'd figured he was just being polite after she saved him and she hadn't bothered looking for him because int he aftermath of the shrine being broken into it's been a flurry of activity to re-secure it properly.
And now he's here, standing right in front of her and asking her to dance?
She closes her mouth and smiles.]
Sure, okay.
... you give a whole new dimension to the concept of ghosting, you know that?
I am told I make it an art form, [ He replied, grinning cheekily, before sliding up closer.
He was, it turned out, a decent dancer, though it was perhaps notable just how hands off he was, compared to most of the rest of the crowd. Not that he was adverse to touching - far from - but he let Huaisang always be the one to initiate it.
Over the music, he added: ]
For the record I didn’t actually know you’d be here, I caught sight of you getting let in by the bouncer when I was walking by and figured I should stop and say hi.
That's nice! I honestly wasn't sure you'd even remember me after you left, to be honest.
[It wasn't like a lot of people could come and say they had Fox dropping by to say 'hi', so after some times passed with no news she figured he'd just said that to be polite and moved on. So it's a really nice surprise.
After a while, though, she's going to pull on his hand and drag him away from the dance floor towards the bar, where she orders some shots, and then muscle her way to a table where one side look from her is apparently enough to make the guys sitting there scram to places unknown.
And once the shots are brought she's going to just knock one back straight on.]
Broken into any other interesting places lately? Except here?
[Did he even pay to get in? Probably not. with cloaking that good, none of the people here probably noticed him slip in. She only noticed something strange when he was practically right next to her.]
Oh, I wouldn’t call this breaking in, [ He said with a laugh. He had not paid. Cover fees were highway robbery, anyway, as far as he was concerned. He reaches for a shot and knocks it back - someone inexpertly, though he tries to look cool. ]
But I did spend some time in the Rosedale vault. If you could really call it a vault. You think with that much money they’d be able to afford better protection spells. Can’t say it was that interesting, though, turns out a lot of their magic is based around illusions, and not even super unique ones. So I suspect any of their really complex stuff is probably held by indivuals rather than the sect as a whole.
[ He reached for a second shot, but just sort of tapped his fingers around the glass before looking at her. ]
Nah. Once I told them it was you and showed them your sleeve, they pretty much forgot about me and got into emergency planning more to reinforce the wards and maze arrays around the place. My brother did freak out a bit, but only because he wanted to be sure I was okay. Like he expected you to have attacked me, or something.
[Her brother can be a little irrational sometimes when it comes to her and her safety.]
So you really had nothing better to do tonight than come say hello to the girl who found you with your hand in the spirit jar a month ago?
[ He chuckled. ] Seems my rep is still intact, then. I have literally never once hurt anyone, but that seems to be a pretty pervasive part of the myth. Maybe it’s so that people save face, I don’t know.
[ He flashed her a grin. ] You say that like it’s a waste of time to pay my debts, [ He teased. ] Pretty sure I owe you at least one decent night out. And I said I would, didn’t I?
[ He leaned back, smiling amusedly as he looked around the club. ]
Besides, crowded places like this are always a good way to show off. Should I show you something fun? Pick an animal.
[She knocks back another shot, and then looks him up and down for a few seconds.]
I'm not gonna say you look like you wouldn't hurt a fly... more like you would hurt the fly, but then you'd feel really bad for the fly afterwards. and it's true that from the rumors I'd have expected you to be more.... I don't know. They always make you out to be this spooky, really dangerous guy.
['Really dangerous' she can believe. he'd have to be to get into the sword shrine and stay in undetected as long a she did. But mostly, he just looked like a kid her age who had too much power and time on his hands.]
Heh? Show off? Why do I need to choose an animal? A boar, I guess?
[.... Well, she is a Nie, after all, so hope you were not expecting her to choose something cute like a bunny or a bird, Fox.]
Well, better for them to think that than to think I’m a horrible nerd, [ He said with a laugh. ] People are always afraid of what they don’t understand, and are happy to other you as quickly as possible. You think my rep would protect me if they knew who I actually was? At least this way most people leave me alone.
[ He was smiling as he said it, though, warm and amused, as he pulled his shot closer toward him. Instead of drinking it, though, he dipped two fingers into the alcohol and then started tracing symbols on the table. ]
A boar, huh. Not quite as flashy as a tiger or a dragon, but it’ll do. Don’t turn to look behind you until you hear other people make noise - don’t want to project that you know what’s coming.
[ He grinned, and then started to murmur to himself as he drew, wetting his fingers a couple more times. Finally he completed it, leaned in to blow across the liquid, offering a first breath, and—
A second later there were shocked gasps from the dance floor, everyone quickly moving out of the way of the large, pale spectral boar that had appeared there. It raised its head, snorted soundlessly and waved its tusks before it started to charge around the room. People scrambled to get out of the way, but even when they couldn’t, the boar just passed through them like it wasn’t there, continuing on it’s stampede. ]
I don't even know what you need to protect yourself from. The way the Elders talk about you, you'd think you're the boogeyman or something.
[There is a lot of 'information' floating around about Fox. Huaisang knows better than to believe most of it, and meeting him, she can see she wasn't wrong.
She watches the drawing with curiosity and follows his instructions not to turn around right away, and then when she does she laughs at the panic around, emptying another shot.
And then smiling at him.]
That's cute. But I hope that's not how you show off normally. Even I know how to do something like that and everyone knows I suck at almost everything.
Your cloaking spells are a lot more impressive. I wish I could make mine half as good as yours.
... Does it make a difference, drawing those with alcohol?
[She works mostly with traditional ink, even if she's dabbled in other things, and she knows that in an emergency, a sharpie works just fine. But it's interesting to see, and his rune work is unlike anything she's ever seen.]
You create your own stuff almost from scratch, don't you? I wish I could do that too.
Well, maybe I am, in a sort of way. I’m definitely a threat to their worldview, if nothing else.
[ He chuckled, then ran his fingers through the array. The boar instantly turned into a fox, who did one jump and then disappeared - his signature. Everyone burst into chatter and Fox looked amused and pleased with himself.
Small pleasures. ]
Yes, well, cloaking spells unfortunately don’t make for a good public show. I just like reminding people I exist, sometime. Though I’d be up for seeing yours - most people aren’t very good at illusion magic, you know. It requires a good imagination. But I’m really not surprised that you fit that description.
[ He took the rest of the shot and tipped it back. ]
The alcohol? Not really. It’s about the same material component value, but it leaves less of a trace. No paper to burn.
[ He grinned, and nodded. ] I think I’d get bored following everything by rote. Something tells me that you might understand that.
Yeah, but you know the difference between flashy and impressive, don't you?
[She certainly does. None of what she can do well is flashy by any means, not in the way the Nie sect is used to being flashy. Blade magic is something that requires flashiness almost as a rule. But she sucks at it and she knows it, so she's focused on other areas and just hasn't told anyone who doesn't absolutely need to know.
And as it turns our, illusion magic is one of her strengths. She smiles at him.]
You're already seeing one of mine. I'm wearing one right now.
[After all, why bother buying super expensive make up - although eyeliner can also be great for tracing runes quickly on skin - when you can just glamour your face the way you want it to look?]
[ He grinned and raised his arm, pulling down his sleeve a little to reveal one of his tattoos. When he touched it, it glowed softly, and a second later there was a similar glow in his eyes. ]
Ohh, nice. Glamour make up. Very subtle, I like it.
[ He released his tattoo and his eyes faded back to their normal green. ]
Alright, here, I’ll show you some textile magic. Watch this.
[ He hummed, tracing a couple lines on his sleeve, before slowly the fabric started shimmering and shifting. A moment later, it looked like a completely different shirt, texture, cut and everything. ]
Is that... a way to see through illusion charms? You tattooed it on yourself?
[Most people she knew would use straight qi or a paper talisman... a tattoo seemed a little excessive, unless he expected to have to use that kind of spell a lot.
She watches his next offering with wide eyes, and even wider when she touches the fabric and tests it between her fingers.]
... You actually can go down to the molecular level? That's... super precise.
[She definitely can't do transfiguration on that level.
Of course, whatever spells he's wearing means no one is really paying attention to them, but by now the noise of the club and the throng of people are just a bother, plus she's starting to get hungry.]
Hey, Let's go somewhere else. Grab some food somewhere quieter.
Not just illusion magic, [ He said smugly. This, after all, was a spell of his own design - and one he would probably be chased down for if many people knew. Which was why he was immediately bragging about it to a girl he’d met twice. ] I can see almost all sources of magic, this way. Wards, protection spells, trap spells. It has to be super advanced to be able to go unseen with this.
[ And explained how he managed to get by so many of them. ]
Not quite molecular. It’s still the same material - it won’t change cotton to silk. But weave, colour, that sort of thing is easy enough.
[ He stood up at her suggestion, stretching like a cat. ]
Sure, sounds good to me. Someplace you got in mind?
[Her eyes widen again as he explain what the design actually does, and dart down to the tattoo himself and then back up.]
.... Should you really be showing me this? Do you know how many people would kill to get this hands on a spell like that? You're crazy!
[They've literally met twice and the first time was when he was breaking into her family's ancestral shrine and now he's showing her something that would put a target on his head three times over if anyone knew he had it?
Boys really are stupid. In some sort of way, because to tell the truth, if he put on his cloaking spell and left she wouldn't be able to catch him but still!
And she knows no one will be listening in, but it still doesn't feel comfortable talking about this here.]
Let's just find a place with good burgers. I'm hungry.
[And unlike most girls her age, dieting is not in her vocabulary. Maybe she's lucky in terms of metabolism - her brother does lament that she can't seem to bulk up or gain the muscle mass needed for the saber. So when she eats, she eats.
She goes to garb her coat at the entrance and slip out after waving good bye to a few people. Once outside, she sighs and looks up at the night sky, then quickly checks her phone before putting it back in her pocket.]
.... You're lucky I'm not as blade-happy as most of my family, I hope you know that. And that I know I don't even have enough qi to work something so complicated. If i were someone else, they might have already tried to cut off your arm.
[ He activates his cloaking spells and seems to disappear from her side, but when she’s back outside again he is suddenly right beside her, grinning. ]
I wouldn’t talk to anyone else in your family. And even if they took my arm, it wouldn’t do them any good. The enchantment would be broken and there’s a lot more to it than the design, so they wouldn’t be able to replicate it.
If you were ever going to cut off my arm, it would have been when you could just feed my corpse to your shrine and have me disappear off the face of the earth. I think I’m safe.
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He didn’t say anything, trying to memorize everything he’d seen before she strode our, and he followed hot on her heels. ]
Look, great family or not, if your shrine eats people that’s kind of cause for concern.
[ He could stand to sound a little more concerned, though, rather than fascinated. ]
So you’re in the Nie family then, yeah? You must be Huaisang. [ The family was small, and she certainly wasn’t her brother. ]
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His words bring a frown to her face.]
... I don't like it either. I hate it. But that's how the place was made two hundred years ago and there's nothing I can do about it.
[She looks a bit surprised that he knows her name - but with the clue he has, why would he not know? Indeed, the family was small, and pretty famous for their unorthodox use of magic.]
What gave me away? The braids, or the saber?
[Belatedly, she holds out her hand to get the blade back as she finally leads the way out completely into the forest.]
What's your name? How did you even find this place? And do you often break into other people's ancestral shrines without asking?
... You know I'll have to tell my brother someone broke in, right?
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[ He holds it out to her willingly, then slides his hands into his pockets and hums. ]
I’m Fox.
[ He said it casually, well aware that plenty of people claimed to be him on a regular basis, so there was no need to pretend to be anyone else. He’d never been a good liar anyway. ]
And I found it because the title deeds for this strip of land didn’t exist, according to the archives, and there was a protection spell on it strong enough to confuse satellites. Would keep out basically anyone else but to me it’s like dousing something in catnip.
[ He paused, considering. ] Is there an equivalent of catnip for foxes...? Anyway.
[ He shrugged. ]
I didn’t break anything, by the way. I was careful. I just confused the protection spell into thinking I was supposed to be there, and then my guardian spirit - [ The silver fox was starting to fade a little as it trotted along beside them. ] - kept an eye out for anything nasty.
[ He hummed. ]
I guess you could say I broke in, but that implies I was going to steal something. And contrary to popular belief, I don’t steal anything. I just study.
[ He glanced at her. ]
Does your brother really have to know? Maybe some kind of animal got in.
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[Her eyes widen, going from him to the fox guardian spirit.]
Well, I guess it's no wonder you managed to get in then. Most people wouldn't even notice the place, and the few that do usually get lost in the maze array and never make it to the door.
[But if he was Fox, 'the' Fox that even the Sect Leaders spoke of with a mix of exasperation and respect, then it made more sense that he'd managed to sneak in and remain undetected for a time.
His question makes her shake her head.]
The protection charms are being remotely monitored. Once they got tripped inside the shrine, it alerted someone back home. They're not going to come here since I didn't send a flare, but they'll know someone was in and I let them out.
I don't have to tell him it's you if you don't want me to but... I'm already going to get yelled at for just letting you out. If I say it was you, I'd have a good excuse as to why I just let you go. I could just say you slipped away once we were out. They'd believe me.
[Everyone always underestimates Huaisang's abilities because of her low proficiency with the saber. And honestly, she prefers it that way. She can use her actual abilities in silence, when needed, and live a more quiet and carefree life the rest of the time.]
Anyway, it's not like my brother can just look for you and find you, right? Just go and don't come back here.
[She's about to turn away, but then faces him again.]
I'm serious about that. You got really, really lucky. If the sword spirits had actually woken up, I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything.
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He could try to find me. Not one's quite managed it yet.
[ He tilted his head as she turned back. ]
All magic is dangerous. [ Said in the charming way of the utterly relentless with zero self preservation instinct. ]
But alright, alright, as thanks for letting me go, I won't go back.
[ He paused, then wet his fingers with his lips, turned to look at his arms and snapped his fingers. A fire burst from his finger tips and he quickly drew a line of it around his arm. It burned through the fabric before extinguishing, and then he pulled the cuff right off his jacket, burnt edges and all. ]
Here. You grabbed me but I used a flame spell to escape, and you only got the edge of my sleeve.
[ He tapped the fabric with a finger and it shimmered, a tell-tale sign of the Queen West's specialty: textile magic. ]
Should be proof enough, I think.
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[Most of the Sect Leaders know about Fox, but they tend to just leave him alone unless he gets too nosy into their business. There used to be efforts to try and find him before, until they collectively decided he wasn't a threat and more of a slightly irritating annoyance most of the time. the Sects themselves tend to be a bit removed from traditional wizarding circles, and it's not like there aren't any rogues among them anyway.
But it'd be easier for them to let him go if he didn't insist on coming to see stuff just for curiosity's sake. Like the Nie saber shrine, or the Lan Forbidden library - she heard that one from Xichen.
She looks surprised as she takes the bit of sleeve and listens to his explanation, and then smiles, holding it up.]
Thanks. I guess with this I can call us even.
[You're still alive, and she won't get yelled at too badly. Definitely even.]
Now go. I have to stay here for the rest of the night, and it'll be more believable too if I finish my shift rather than rush home now.
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[ He flashed her a grin as he pulled the hood of the jacket up, his face sudden far more obscured than it should be in that small amount of shadow, two little twinkling green flecks of light where his eyes should be. He turned to start to jog away, before abruptly turning around. ]
We should hang out sometime.
[ But before she could reply, he had turned around again and was off like a shot, leaping over the nearest log and disappearing into the woods. ]
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But then he's like 'We should hang out' and she doesn't have time to answer and....
Hang out with Fox? The Fox? Her? Well, first she'd have to know where to find him and that in itself is not easily done, as she mentioned... although of course, she is much better at tracking things than anyone else she knows, but...
But it doesn't feel right running after him. She trusts he'll hold to his word and not come back. That's enough trouble for now. If their paths cross again, then they'll see...
She goes home at the end of the night, gets yelled at as she predicted although the burnt sleeve and take help stop that pretty quickly. And then, she's back to slacking at saber practice, skipping classes when she can, practicing her talisman magic in secret instead and training with her fan when no one is looking.
And clubbing, of course.]
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And yet, as Huaisang dances, the crowd seems to part a little next to her, instinctively all turning their back on the same point, pulling apart like the Red Sea. It’s hard to actually look at where the crowd parts - or it would be - until suddenly it’s easy to look straight at the man who has walked in between them as he lowers his hood and deactivates the attention avoidance spell he was wearing. He flashes Huaisang a cheeky grin, the music around them quieter than it had been a minute ago, so he doesn’t even have to yell. ]
You wanna dance?
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She likes the annoying guys a bit less, but they come with the territory, and if she doesn't have Zonghui staring at people menacingly somewhere around, she has people gently reminding them that her last name is Nie and her older brother literally flattens people who look at her too long before breakfast, so usually it works out.
In a throng like this one, though, there's often a few hands that fray, but she's good with the pinching, and she has her fans in case things get real handsy.
It takes a her a little bit to realize the movement of the crowd near her is not natural, and she barely has the time to think, her mind racing, there's someone here with a cloaking spell on, why, when suddenly he appears and she ends up in a pool of quiet, blinking with her mouth open.
Okay, so he did say they should hang out, but she'd figured he was just being polite after she saved him and she hadn't bothered looking for him because int he aftermath of the shrine being broken into it's been a flurry of activity to re-secure it properly.
And now he's here, standing right in front of her and asking her to dance?
She closes her mouth and smiles.]
Sure, okay.
... you give a whole new dimension to the concept of ghosting, you know that?
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He was, it turned out, a decent dancer, though it was perhaps notable just how hands off he was, compared to most of the rest of the crowd. Not that he was adverse to touching - far from - but he let Huaisang always be the one to initiate it.
Over the music, he added: ]
For the record I didn’t actually know you’d be here, I caught sight of you getting let in by the bouncer when I was walking by and figured I should stop and say hi.
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[It wasn't like a lot of people could come and say they had Fox dropping by to say 'hi', so after some times passed with no news she figured he'd just said that to be polite and moved on. So it's a really nice surprise.
After a while, though, she's going to pull on his hand and drag him away from the dance floor towards the bar, where she orders some shots, and then muscle her way to a table where one side look from her is apparently enough to make the guys sitting there scram to places unknown.
And once the shots are brought she's going to just knock one back straight on.]
Broken into any other interesting places lately? Except here?
[Did he even pay to get in? Probably not. with cloaking that good, none of the people here probably noticed him slip in. She only noticed something strange when he was practically right next to her.]
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But I did spend some time in the Rosedale vault. If you could really call it a vault. You think with that much money they’d be able to afford better protection spells. Can’t say it was that interesting, though, turns out a lot of their magic is based around illusions, and not even super unique ones. So I suspect any of their really complex stuff is probably held by indivuals rather than the sect as a whole.
[ He reached for a second shot, but just sort of tapped his fingers around the glass before looking at her. ]
Did I get you in a lot of trouble?
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[Her brother can be a little irrational sometimes when it comes to her and her safety.]
So you really had nothing better to do tonight than come say hello to the girl who found you with your hand in the spirit jar a month ago?
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[ He flashed her a grin. ] You say that like it’s a waste of time to pay my debts, [ He teased. ] Pretty sure I owe you at least one decent night out. And I said I would, didn’t I?
[ He leaned back, smiling amusedly as he looked around the club. ]
Besides, crowded places like this are always a good way to show off. Should I show you something fun? Pick an animal.
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I'm not gonna say you look like you wouldn't hurt a fly... more like you would hurt the fly, but then you'd feel really bad for the fly afterwards. and it's true that from the rumors I'd have expected you to be more.... I don't know. They always make you out to be this spooky, really dangerous guy.
['Really dangerous' she can believe. he'd have to be to get into the sword shrine and stay in undetected as long a she did. But mostly, he just looked like a kid her age who had too much power and time on his hands.]
Heh? Show off? Why do I need to choose an animal? A boar, I guess?
[.... Well, she is a Nie, after all, so hope you were not expecting her to choose something cute like a bunny or a bird, Fox.]
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[ He was smiling as he said it, though, warm and amused, as he pulled his shot closer toward him. Instead of drinking it, though, he dipped two fingers into the alcohol and then started tracing symbols on the table. ]
A boar, huh. Not quite as flashy as a tiger or a dragon, but it’ll do. Don’t turn to look behind you until you hear other people make noise - don’t want to project that you know what’s coming.
[ He grinned, and then started to murmur to himself as he drew, wetting his fingers a couple more times. Finally he completed it, leaned in to blow across the liquid, offering a first breath, and—
A second later there were shocked gasps from the dance floor, everyone quickly moving out of the way of the large, pale spectral boar that had appeared there. It raised its head, snorted soundlessly and waved its tusks before it started to charge around the room. People scrambled to get out of the way, but even when they couldn’t, the boar just passed through them like it wasn’t there, continuing on it’s stampede. ]
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[There is a lot of 'information' floating around about Fox. Huaisang knows better than to believe most of it, and meeting him, she can see she wasn't wrong.
She watches the drawing with curiosity and follows his instructions not to turn around right away, and then when she does she laughs at the panic around, emptying another shot.
And then smiling at him.]
That's cute. But I hope that's not how you show off normally. Even I know how to do something like that and everyone knows I suck at almost everything.
Your cloaking spells are a lot more impressive. I wish I could make mine half as good as yours.
... Does it make a difference, drawing those with alcohol?
[She works mostly with traditional ink, even if she's dabbled in other things, and she knows that in an emergency, a sharpie works just fine. But it's interesting to see, and his rune work is unlike anything she's ever seen.]
You create your own stuff almost from scratch, don't you? I wish I could do that too.
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[ He chuckled, then ran his fingers through the array. The boar instantly turned into a fox, who did one jump and then disappeared - his signature. Everyone burst into chatter and Fox looked amused and pleased with himself.
Small pleasures. ]
Yes, well, cloaking spells unfortunately don’t make for a good public show. I just like reminding people I exist, sometime. Though I’d be up for seeing yours - most people aren’t very good at illusion magic, you know. It requires a good imagination. But I’m really not surprised that you fit that description.
[ He took the rest of the shot and tipped it back. ]
The alcohol? Not really. It’s about the same material component value, but it leaves less of a trace. No paper to burn.
[ He grinned, and nodded. ] I think I’d get bored following everything by rote. Something tells me that you might understand that.
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[She certainly does. None of what she can do well is flashy by any means, not in the way the Nie sect is used to being flashy. Blade magic is something that requires flashiness almost as a rule. But she sucks at it and she knows it, so she's focused on other areas and just hasn't told anyone who doesn't absolutely need to know.
And as it turns our, illusion magic is one of her strengths. She smiles at him.]
You're already seeing one of mine. I'm wearing one right now.
[After all, why bother buying super expensive make up - although eyeliner can also be great for tracing runes quickly on skin - when you can just glamour your face the way you want it to look?]
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[ He grinned and raised his arm, pulling down his sleeve a little to reveal one of his tattoos. When he touched it, it glowed softly, and a second later there was a similar glow in his eyes. ]
Ohh, nice. Glamour make up. Very subtle, I like it.
[ He released his tattoo and his eyes faded back to their normal green. ]
Alright, here, I’ll show you some textile magic. Watch this.
[ He hummed, tracing a couple lines on his sleeve, before slowly the fabric started shimmering and shifting. A moment later, it looked like a completely different shirt, texture, cut and everything. ]
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[Most people she knew would use straight qi or a paper talisman... a tattoo seemed a little excessive, unless he expected to have to use that kind of spell a lot.
She watches his next offering with wide eyes, and even wider when she touches the fabric and tests it between her fingers.]
... You actually can go down to the molecular level? That's... super precise.
[She definitely can't do transfiguration on that level.
Of course, whatever spells he's wearing means no one is really paying attention to them, but by now the noise of the club and the throng of people are just a bother, plus she's starting to get hungry.]
Hey, Let's go somewhere else. Grab some food somewhere quieter.
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[ And explained how he managed to get by so many of them. ]
Not quite molecular. It’s still the same material - it won’t change cotton to silk. But weave, colour, that sort of thing is easy enough.
[ He stood up at her suggestion, stretching like a cat. ]
Sure, sounds good to me. Someplace you got in mind?
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.... Should you really be showing me this? Do you know how many people would kill to get this hands on a spell like that? You're crazy!
[They've literally met twice and the first time was when he was breaking into her family's ancestral shrine and now he's showing her something that would put a target on his head three times over if anyone knew he had it?
Boys really are stupid. In some sort of way, because to tell the truth, if he put on his cloaking spell and left she wouldn't be able to catch him but still!
And she knows no one will be listening in, but it still doesn't feel comfortable talking about this here.]
Let's just find a place with good burgers. I'm hungry.
[And unlike most girls her age, dieting is not in her vocabulary. Maybe she's lucky in terms of metabolism - her brother does lament that she can't seem to bulk up or gain the muscle mass needed for the saber. So when she eats, she eats.
She goes to garb her coat at the entrance and slip out after waving good bye to a few people. Once outside, she sighs and looks up at the night sky, then quickly checks her phone before putting it back in her pocket.]
.... You're lucky I'm not as blade-happy as most of my family, I hope you know that. And that I know I don't even have enough qi to work something so complicated. If i were someone else, they might have already tried to cut off your arm.
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I wouldn’t talk to anyone else in your family. And even if they took my arm, it wouldn’t do them any good. The enchantment would be broken and there’s a lot more to it than the design, so they wouldn’t be able to replicate it.
If you were ever going to cut off my arm, it would have been when you could just feed my corpse to your shrine and have me disappear off the face of the earth. I think I’m safe.
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