openmisc | Pagan/Huaisang

Pagan/Huaisang

"Ah! No, no. I don't need to send the messenger. Just let me go," he tells the guards at the gates, waving them away as he walks straight through with his sword at his side, his entourage behind him. They walks in with their white robes, though Pagan is in red and black, and he breathes in the Impure Realm. He hasn't been here since the death of the Nie clan leader, but he's been aiming to check on their newest leader. It's been a dark time for them, for all of them, but he still feels more than a twinge of affection for the boy.

Well, man. He's been a man for several years now, but it doesn't seem like anything has changed.

Still, he promised he'd continue to offer support, so he walks on, ignoring the protests of the guards.

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"Very," he agrees. "They like it that way."

The children giggle and dart out again, taking a peek at them.

"We take care of them."

No, it isn't fear, it's love. Nie Huaisang walks a little closer to Min Pagan. "Not so wild and savage as you'd like the rest of the world to believe, huh?"

"Not on this side of the mountains," he says with a smile. "Ishwari was - a sort of goddess to them. They worshipped her and she loved them. That helped then to see me as, not a threat, but a help. These people have never harmed me."

"A goddess?" Nie Huaisang casts a skeptical eye at Min Pagan. "In no world did you ever start a family with a goddess. What she a cultivator, is that why?"

"Not a goddess as we know them," he laughs, turning down the little dirt path to a hut set on the hill. They must have seen him coming as he can spot a ribbon of smoke from a started fire inside.

"It was more of a courtesy title. She was born with royal duties. But no, she had no cultivation experience."

“More like the inherent divinity in nobility,” he nods sagely, but with a little knowing smirk.

He sees the smoke up ahead as well and laughs. “Do you have servants waiting here for you too?”

"I don't!" he laughs. "But they saw us coming and lit the fire so we wouldn't be cold. They - might have added a bit of food there, too. They can't expect us to starve and freeze!"

It's a silly notion, that they'd do it for any other reason except he's Min Pagan. Min Pagan commands respect, and clearly - as he's beginning to see for himself - adoration.

"I wouldn't last if they did," Nie Huaisang frowns, pretending to drag his feet. "I'm so tired and hungry! Are you sue you won't carry me?"

Pagan knows he's faking, but he finds it endearing either way. He had proven himself with the magic, had shown what he can do, and that's more - alluring than anything else he'd done up to this point.

Careful of his sword, he leans over and sweeps Huaisang into a princess carry.

Nie Huaisang wasn't expecting Min Pagan to actually take him up on it. He yelps and then starts to laugh - not fake and put-upon, but real and delighted. "So strong, sect leader Min! My delicate feet will have a chance to recover now!"

"Mm, unless I take you behind the little hut and throw you in the creek," he says and actually walks past the opening with a laugh.

“Nooooo!” Nie Huaisang starts to wiggle, trying to get out of his grasp. “If you throw me into the water you’ll have to deal with a wet and annoyed sect leader! You don’t want that!”

Pagan holds him tighter, laughing, but simply orbits around the edge of the little wooden hutch and takes him inside.

The accommodations are sparse, but it's clear that someone keeps it clean. There's a low bed, a small fireplace in the corner, and a table with chairs. On the table is a spread of several dishes: spicy curry, which Pagan describes as tarkari, fermented leafy greens, Pagan calls it gundruck, and two drinks: shyakpa, a butter tea, and Chyang, rice beer.

Nie Huaisang gracefully lowers himself onto the ground, patting Pagan’s arm as he takes an exploratory step into the hut. It’s cozy, far removed from his or Pagan’s palaces, and he finds that he actually finds it charming.

He sits down in front of the table, looking for the chopsticks or spoon to eat the food before he remembers he needs to eat with his fingers.

Pagan can't help a little bit of a smile as he joins him and reaches around the bowl of lentil soup to bring it up and drink. "Try the beer," he tells him. "It's my favorite."

“You’d better not be trying to get me drunk,” he says, going for the beer with a smile. “I’m not as weak as I look.”

He takes a sip and decides Pagan’s absolutely right - it’s delicious. He takes another sip and then eagerly has another bite, enjoying the meal with quiet little hums. “Do you have cooks in your home that make this?”

"Why would I get you drunk, Nie Huaisang?" he wonders, leaning forward as he reaches for the curry. "And of course I do. I hire them for a season, then pay them enough to no longer need me. And then I get new ones."

He places the curry on his tongue and sucks his thumb into his mouth.

Nie Huaisang watches with a shrewd and rather pleased expression on his face. It’s easier now, allowing himself to flirt with Min Pagan like this, being himself for a change and not wearing the mask. He’s in the middle of nowhere - there’s no one to fool out here, no one to foil his plans or be manipulated for an end. Just this meal now, in this hut, with an old friend.

"If you want your own bed to sleep in, I can arrange for it," he tells him with a sly sort of smile, picking up the rice beer.

He shakes his head. “I think I can rough it for the night. It’ll be like back when I was a student.”

He smiles casually, looking at him across the table with half-lidded eyes. No act, just admiration. He finally looks his age.

Pagan breathes in deeply, another bite of curry and sits back. "Come and sit closer to me. It's warmer here by the fire and the nights get dreadfully cold."

Now that Pagan mentions it, he is starting to feel a little cold. He picks up his mug of tea and moves to the other side of the table, sitting close to Pagan to take advantage of the warmth provided.

“This was one of the better trips I’ve had,” he remarks. If not the best since the death of his Da-ge.

Pagan nods at that. "And it's only been a single day," he reminds him. "We arrived here just last night. And here we are in a foreign land."

“Anonymous,” he adds, smiling. “At least, it’s that way for me. I don’t have to be Nie here. There’s something very appealing about that.”

Pagan finishes off his wine. "Oh? And who do you want to be?"

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