Inbox for TLV

[bartenderbitch]

"Yeah, yeah, leave a message and I'll get back to you at some point."

[Text | Voice | Video | Action]

Comments

[bartenderbitch]

Luckily for Wen Ning that by this point Husk doesn't even think about what clothing is or isn't out of date since that's just the normal for Hell, anyway. Though he does raise a brow slowly at his next words. Okay, well, then he's here to talk to him of all people? He doesn't get it, but he'll at least not do something like slam the door in his face, not that he would have to begin with.

His attention slips slowly to the basket and the covered dish, opening his mouth to say something until it snaps shut at what that even is. Shit, he actually took that seriously? It is technically noon by this point, right?

Slowly he reaches out to take it, though the laughter comes not long after. "Well, fuck me, I didn't think you'd actually go and do it. But that absolutely does seem to be what it is." He shifts out of the doorway, motioning he can come in if he wants while he goes to set that down on the small table in the cabin proper, the way his tail is moving absolutely giving away how amused he is about this entire situation. "Shit, I don't think I've actually had one since I died..."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"It does seem tricky to get. Lucky the port landed is next to an ocean." He has adapted to things like electric lights, but the barge doesn't provide enough context to deduce things like delicate global trade networks delivering enormous seagoing shellfish anywhere on earth in time for cocktail hour.

"I hope it's alright? It seemed simple, but I'm a northerner. Not much seafood." He does enter the room as he dithers, which is a little bit difficult but in line with his official errand. Presentation is part of a meal. "Meltwater streams try to kill you at least twice for every skinny fish you catch."

Tada, the reveal! It's shrimp cocktail. It looked awfully plain sitting there, so he's given the shrimp a little bed of shaved curls of radish. The sauce is by the recipe but a little bit horseradish forward. Wen Ning likes strong flavors, and tends to assume everyone else will.

There are also colorful little pressed cakes, because it's a simple way to be extra. He went with red. Man is a menace since he discovered modern food dyes.

[bartenderbitch]

"Oh, believe me, someone in Hell would've found a way to get 'em some way or another or found an alternative. More that..." He trails off for a moment, hm. "Depends on the place and time period someone was from when they were alive. If I remember right, it was mostly a UK thing until we got our hands on it and mostly only Vegas cared enough to take it and run." Global trade networks and huge shellfish does sound like something the barge itself wouldn't care about and it's not something he thought much about in his time here. Better to not question it and just roll with it.

He hums to himself as he looks it over properly and it really is for the better than he's more physically expressive than anything, or that his tail does the work for him. It's more extra than he's used to, but the ones he was far more familiar with were meant to be cheap things, so he's not at all mad about it. Especially with the red touches, he certainly was paying attention.

"That's the thing about the dish, honestly, you can do as little or as much as you want with it because it's a simple thing at the core." He moves to sit properly at the table, motioning at one of the open seats for him to sit if he wants. "... The fuck's a meltwater stream?"

[verynormalturnipseller]

No idea what a Vegas is, but it's apparently low to the ground. "When the snow starts to melt in summer. The rocks are jagged and the streambeds are deep." He sounds fondly nostalgic for a moment. That fond affection for a homeland generally dead set on killing you.

And then he's got nothing left to do here. Husk has never been unfriendly, exactly, but he doesn't have the most inviting way about him, either. Or maybe he's just regular nervous. It's a fraught moment for him. Better to retreat before he can mess it up, maybe ? But he was invited. He tips his head in the direction of a bow, though it's still plausibly a nod. "I hope it's what you remember?" He sits after a beat too long, stiff but only in his formal, anxious way so far, not specifically upset.

[bartenderbitch]

Oh. That makes more sense to him, he hadn't thought about the whole... snow thing since it wasn't something that ever generally happened. "Ah. That might've been something that was more isolated to the mountains around Vegas, our climate was... more like a desert."

Just one of those things that comes with being an old man at heart and being difficult to get under that particular shell to see that he isn't as cold about things as he tends to act. He's certainly doing better here, but it won't ever completely leave, especially since he's not entirely sure how to act around him, either. A whole weird situation, indeed.

Luckily that actually spurs him into trying to eat it, quiet for the longest moment while he mulls it over. It's... well, it's better than what he remembers, if he was perfectly honest. There's the smallest hint of an actual smile, a good sign. "Honestly, better than the ones I remember. Pushin' the horseradish further does it a lot more good for a stronger flavor out of it."

... Though maybe he should say something. "You ain't gotta so formal around me, you know. This shit is just as awkward for you as it is for me. I'm just better at masking that than you are, says the shitty gambler."

[verynormalturnipseller]

He actually does feel better having it acknowledged. (And from having his cooking complimented.) Obliquely discussing your way through intricate social duels has never been a skill of his. "The formality is about usual," he admits a little hollowly. He's a minor nobleman who's used to everyone despising him. Formality was all he had most of his life and death. It's a brittle shield, but better than nothing.

"Awkward, though, yes, that's... That's specific to the moment." He can appreciate other people's directness, but he doesn't deploy it very well. He regrets putting his hair up now. It's something to hide behind. He folds his hands on his lap so he doesn't fidget.

[bartenderbitch]

It's far better than having to deal with the usual obfuscating bullshit that happens in Hell when trying to make deals, at least. Not that he ever was all that keen on beating around the bush unless he had to, either. "Is it?" He wouldn't know, not his type of thing.

A soft sigh slips past his lips as he leans back in his chair, claws lightly tapping on the top of the table. "Well, then, sounds like it's somethin' to talk about, then. I might speak a lot of bullshit, but can be direct when I wanna be. For what it's worth, I ain't awkward about the situation because it's you, just ain't... used to this kind of situation in general." Or, well, at least in the way this has been playing out. But the barge is more of an enclosed space than he's used to, unfortunately. "Not that I'm unused to the aspect of someone having multiple partners, did that shit while alive. Just not used to any of them meeting as it was usually kept to entirely separate things."

[verynormalturnipseller]

Wen Ning is slightly emboldened by realizing he might have slightly more insight, though that's such a surprise it's also disorienting. And. Doesn't bode well, given his insight is pretty bare. "It's not... Terribly uncommon back home? It's sort of down to what you can, well, afford to support in a household." He's cautious, since the arrangement he's referencing is pretty contingent on there being a much stronger power differential than he hopes there is here. Cultivation clans are generally a bit better for women than the gentry in general, since talent doesn't always respect chauvinism, and a child's chances for turning out impressive are better if both parents are gifted. But it's still not equitable.

It is, however, something. "The only person I knew well with a big harem, well, it wasn't a happy one, but he was..." Wen Ning may have poisoned the cousin in question, but he still can't bring himself to be rude. "Not a harmonious person himself. I don't know why it couldn't work."

[bartenderbitch]

Oh, now he's actually a little curious because the arrangement he had had way-back-when hadn't been... quite like that. But he'd at least heard tales of those sorts of things even if it wasn't something that really happened in the States as far as he was aware. "Huh. We didn't really... do those sorts of things where I'm from? It was more of a strictly unformal situation than anything else." Or maybe it'd changed since then, he doesn't really know at the end of the day since he'd never bothered asking about what things had changed since he'd died. Not that his marriage had been much more than just keeping the questions off of them both and be easier to go around and do whatever they wanted with less eyes on them about it.

Harem is. Certainly not a word he heard outside of fantasy and antiquity, either. "Harems were always some kind of technicality with marriage thing, right? Just making sure I'm on the same page here since we only ever heard that term in stories and the past. Multiple marriages wasn't really something that were common, either, unless you were a specific group of people, so just getting my bearings."

[verynormalturnipseller]

Well, when he says it like that, it does seem a little presumptuous. He blanches a little, which is pretty impressive in someone who's already corpse-white. "I just meant, living in close quarters and... Keeping a house together. You could certainly have concubines without a formal wife, but, most people who could keep more than one would be in the sort of family where marriages are arranged, anyway." He is now officially babbling, sure he's stuck his foot in his mouth and grasping for any qualifiers that might let him back off from the whole idea.

[bartenderbitch]

Sorry, he's interested in how all of this works now and he's the one who has some sort of answer. "Wasn't really common for us, either." He doesn't sound mad about it or anything, far more curious than anything else. "Which... considerin' Angel's from roughly the same time I'm from, I'm guessin' that's not exactly what he was getting at, either. Shit's more... equal footing, I guess?" It sounds so stupid when he tries to explain it like that an he's rubbing at his face with his palm. "Only one partner seems fucking dumb to me in general, people are complicated and got different sorts of needs, you know? And just one person being able to fulfill all of those things is pretty damn improbable. So you end up with more than one person because one person might hit one thing for you while someone else another, if that makes any goddamned sense."

He's rambling too, at this point. Because he's not sure if he's making any sort of sense or if it's just making things more complicated.

[verynormalturnipseller]

Well, that's also sort of the logic behind concubines, except the need is to have an additional pretty girl around who has to pay attention to you. Wen Ning was the sort of sheltered and repressed who never had any particular thoughts about any shape to relationships, other than that if his sister did manage to arrange a marriage for him despite everything, he would probably like that. Either way, equitable is definitely not the feeling one generally got from a harem. But he does sort of see Husk's point. A harem belongs to someone who is not in it. "Equitable," he echoes a little lamely, buying himself time. Equitable is... sort of more than he expected? He tries voicing that in a way that won't cause even greater awkwardness. "Is equitable what you-- I mean, you were here first." Which is childish and quite possibly not even very accurate, thanks to weird barge time. He's probably known Angel about as long as Husk, not that he knows that. It took the two of them swapping shoes and histories to even distantly discuss what brought them here. He's always in the moment with Angel.

[bartenderbitch]

Perhaps it made sense? He's hoping it made sense. Though he does let him lead the conversation at this point, ears pressed forward in a rather oddly intent form than is probably expected from him considering he's far more relaxed seeming most of the time. But then he has to say the being here first bit and he's unable to hold back a laugh, the tone very clearly amused than anything else. "Does it matter who was first? It ain't some kind of competition or anything, but yes I do mean the equitable part of all of this." That should be more than clear enough, he's sure. "Shit, my former wife would be rolling in her fucking grave if I was possessive about that sort of shit. Or calling me a massive fucking hypocrite, either one."

[verynormalturnipseller]

He'd need to be a lot more relaxed than this to smile, but he does loosen up another notch in answer to Husk laughing. "Well, wouldn't want to be a hypocrite." At least he's not surprised to hear about a wife. They're not exactly optional in his time and place unless you're a specific sort of monk or so deeply impoverished it doesn't come up. There's also no particular expectation of monogamy--for men--so it's nice to know she felt free to make her feelings known on the subject.

"I just meant..." He's still being careful, but Husk doesn't seem to mind that he's being careful, so he doesn't try so hard to hide it. "I didn't mean to come in and... take up more space than is fair." He's even rattled enough to admit. "I didn't really mean..." He didn't think Angel had anything serious at all in mind until that mess a few months ago.

[bartenderbitch]

That's progress and he'll take it. "Not in the slightest," he returns easily enough, it's not as if he really tends to be one on purpose. But he's dead and he's pretty sure she is by this point, too, though probably managed to get past Heaven's bullshit to go there, which he also wouldn't have argued was the proper choice.

"Take up more space than is fair? You ain't, I'll tell you that much. What Angel does is his business s'long as he's not actively destroying himself so why would I be bothered by any of it?" Hell, he didn't think they were really anything until he got here to begin with, so it's a moot point in his opinion. "Lemme let you in on a little something, then. Before I got here? Him and I were just fucking morons dancing around the subject given it'd be a bad fucking time for the both of us given everything. I'm long past being possessive over people and I'm not about to start dictating someone's life just because I'm involved in it." He can't help another little sigh, voice a little quieter than before. "And he deserves to have whatever he wants here while he can if things don't go the way we're hoping, without having to worry about someone fucking it all up because he's seen like property."

[verynormalturnipseller]

He doesn't know the details of everything. Someday he and Angel might have to actually do something about how little they know about each other (but then how would they repeatedly bruise themselves, trying to protect one another from themselves? it's their whole thing). He knows enough to nod and hm softly. "My first deal is... it's to do with my family?" He hopes that's sufficient, not because it's a secret, but because it's a pretty long story and he's got enough to think about at the moment. "But if I managed to get a second, he can have it, if that happens first? To make sure."

(Has Angel also offered Wen Ning a hypothetical future deal? It's their whole thing.)

It's not a solution, just one more possible lifeline. He doesn't even linger on it. It's not exactly a sacrifice, a magical wish earned by being exactly where he wants to be, the happiest he's ever been in life or death.

"But, yes, anything he wants." He really didn't mind when he thought what Angel wanted was to tease him and occasionally kiss. But. This is not exactly a hardship.

[bartenderbitch]

If Husk remotely thought it his place to tell that story, he might have filled in any gaps if asked. But it's, well, it's not and he's not terribly keen on getting into all of it as an outsider looking in since while he fucking detests his own "owner", he's still... a lot fucking less than Valentino. Slowly he nods at the mention of his deal, he doesn't need to know the details and he does understand why someone would want to use the Admiral's magical bullshit for family of all things. But he does pause on the second deal bit, a brow raising slowly. "Ain't it funny how we both had the same idea with that. I'm just as much on a leash as he is, but at least the prick I'd have to deal with is mostly just an asshole instead of actively malicious." That's about the only positive thing he can say about Alastor.

But the fact that there is someone else who'd do that? It's a little more of a relief than he was expecting, having put the entire brunt of that on himself.

"Kid's got more people looking out for him than he thinks and dunno about you, but I might be wanting to push his stupid-ass to seeing that."

[verynormalturnipseller]

He doesn't find it that surprising. Magical wishes are sort of the standard toolbox around here. When all you have is a hammer, etc. "Well, it'd be good to have a spare, then," he says mildly, as if it's no hardship to stay happily in his kitchen with his friends on the magic boat and not return to a place where he has nothing but solitude to look forward to until he falls apart in a hundred years or however long that takes.

He should have brought tea. It'd give him something to fuss with.

"You get used to... people not seeing you." A realization had had with Angel long ago, that he's sort of thought explained the two of them despite the looks of surprise he's gotten from the few people who know. When you have a public self, whether you wanted it or not, whether it serves or not, sometimes the rest of you gets lost. "You forget what it looks like, a little?"

[bartenderbitch]

Funny that it makes it so much easier, in a way, at least in this case it certainly would given breaking a contract isn't really something that happens, if it's even possible to begin with. Might as well use some magic, or try to, it's better to try than to not. "Exactly. At least you seem to be able to even get one permanent pairing, ain't doing that great of a job on this end." He might be the tiniest bit annoyed at himself over that fact, but outside of the wish thing he's got no real reason to want off of this boat and the less he has to do then the more time he has.

"... I guess so. Never had to do any of that myself so I wouldn't really know." Except he does and he has, not that he sees it or thinks that it's remotely the same thing. As far as he's concerned, he's exactly what he looks like on the outside. "Better that he doesn't have to put that bullshit back on, he's a fucking obnoxious asshole with it on."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"It took a long time to be paired. I was even with him for a month, then on to other temps, then back together," he says, quietly conciliatory. It was a little frustrating at the time, but he can be all sanguine and meditative about it now. It will come. But he absolutely doesn't intend to poke that in case it's a sore spot. Husk is welcome to let it lie.

"Do you mean that voice he does?" Wen Ning does smile then, a small, twitchy thing. "I think I was supposed to be very, um, impressed. Not that it wasn't nice!" He doesn't want it to sound like he's denigrating the performance, but every time Angel's announced he's going to pour on the official Charm, Wen Ning has had to try not to laugh. It's goofier than any game they play on purpose, and he's never known how to participate.

[bartenderbitch]

He merely shrugs in turn about the whole pairing thing, it is a little bit of a sore spot for him, but he's mostly trying to just wait and see what happens instead of it being some sort of rush situation. It's not as if it won't happen at some point, but the wait and feeling useless due to it is frustrating.

"There's a whole other personality that goes with that shit, but yeah." Of course he would have done that and he's rolling his eyes, but it's clear that it's more of a joke than him actually being annoyed about it. "It's better here since he knows he doesn't have to, but that fuckin' voice on top of getting way too touchy feely is just too fake as shit for me. Took him a bit to take the hint, but he ain't dumb, at least." He adores him, he really does, but it still raises his hackles a bit when he uses it without any sort of warning.

[verynormalturnipseller]

"It is a little..." He trails off, unable to think of anything to say that captures that mixture of endearment and confusion Angel's moments of knee-jerk professionalism stir. It's like when he offered to show his movies, and Wen Ning had no idea why he would want that when the real Angel was right there, but he didn't want to seem ungrateful--

"Anyway, you can just play with him back," he says without perhaps quite enough thought, because this has been a very tense conversation in many ways, and even Wen Ning can't watch every single thing he says.