voidtreckerexpress | [closed] how to have fun 101

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[closed] how to have fun 101

Who: Tidus, Lan Wangji (

longforgottenpromise)
Where: Sports gym
When: Orchestra 3
What: When a chill historian wants to learn fun, why not match him up with a just-as-inactive chill kirin?
Warnings: None!

"Hey hey! Thanks for coming!"

The thanks and greetings comes from inside the sports gym, after this arrangement had been made by Tidus to the two already. Meet on x day, at x time - and Tidus will always use a time now, now that he can. The ping-pong table has been pulled out already when the two should arrive, paddles out, the container of ping pong balls ready.

There's also extra company, for ping pong collecting - Hibber-Gibber, Tidus's higgledy companion, only visible to those pure of heart, or well-meaning. And he already has a ping pong ball to play with, throwing up in the air and then losing as it rolls away from him.

Cue tiny stubby feet ~~running~~ waddling after it.

Tidus has a paddle in one of his own hands, both resting against his sides as he smiles at the other two. But it comes out as he uses his paddle hand to gesture to the both of them.

"I already shared your names with each other, but Taiki, you're familiar with China, right? There used to be one where you lived?"

It's an invitation to speak or say as much as he likes. Hopefully, Tidus doesn't recall Taiki being hesitant about sharing his history living in two worlds.

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"Hi Tidus, Gibbers, Lan Wangji" He smiled, completely resigned to his fate. So it was being friends with Tidus. Sometimes you found yourself meeting other people and playing sports.

He didn't mind, it wasn't as if he was good at making friends himself and so letting Tidus pull him into situations such as this was a good thing.

"Ah yes. There was a China on earth and um... A lot of the culture and food of Tai and the other kingdoms are most similar to China... Or at least China in the past. If I could compare them with anywhere on earth..."

Just with magic and flying beasts.

Wangji enters with minimal apprehension for once. He knows Tidus well enough that he trusts him to have everyone's interests in mind. He is a little bemused by the ping pong, having last played it when it got into the Olympics and his students insisted he tried. He actually has more difficulty slowing down enough to play than anything else.

He see the strange creature (Gibbers) and does a minor double take, seeing how Taiki greeted it then he assumes it must be sentient.

"Hello." He nods back, listening to Taiki talk about his home. "Did you live in China or visit?" He picks up a paddle and spins it across his fingers to find a good grip. "I am somewhat of an expert on 'ancient' China. Where was the kingdom of Tai?" He has never heard that one before.

Don't mind this fate of being friends with Tidus at all. It seems they're already getting good in conversation, and he doesn't want to interrupt that question, so he simply holds out the ping pong ball he has to Taiki to take. He'll get himself another while the two talk!

Meeting is already going well..!!

He takes the ping pong ball with a smile and then looked back at Lan Wangji. "Oh um sorry... It's a bit complicated. I lived in two different worlds before coming to the train... On one of the worlds, Earth that was where China was... I never went though. I lived in Japan..."

He's not sure if such a place exists in Lan Wangji's world. "Um but my other world, there were twelve kingdoms. The geography was nothing like the China on earth but um... The language..."

It's possible to talk in a specific language if he tried hard enough, he's sure Tidus won't mind not understanding them for a moment. "The culture, the way people dress. All of that is similar to what I learned of ancient China on Earth."

Wangji can tell this conversation is going to be confusing but very interesting already.
"You lived across two worlds? Before the train? Was that normal for you?" He watches the ping pong ball a little like one who is going to war.

"Japan." He nods, visibly thinking it over. "I have been a few times, once for a conference and then to simply visit. It was beautiful in places, far too many people in others." The Chinese have had many and varied relationships with Japan, he simply saw the tourist aimed areas. "I climbed mount Fuji, it was very peaceful."

He looks back up whip fast as Taiki speaks in words he hasn't heard in a very long time.
"Your pronunciation is very good, with a small accent." He is feeling a lot of things about hearing his native tongue again, but he takes a deep breath and gestures with the bat.
"Would you like to serve?"

A Japan and China... though he's an outsider to this conversation, it's still interesting; the same way that other worlds hold any interest to him. How they're put together, what's normal. Living inside a city that both acknowledged and ignored the concept of life outside it makes it curious for him.

But where Taiki doesn't think Tidus will understand him, he does - which only makes it weirder when he suddenly doesn't understand Wangji briefly, his brow furrowing and gaze going between the two.

"Hey - I just understood you, but not you? What gives?"

It's accompanied, with a point to Taiki and then Wangji. Like they can understand why his ears suddenly stopped working (or rather, he just isn't holding his thoughts).

"Do you speak a Japan... uh, a China?"

"Oh... Um it might be because I'm a kirin. We can be understood by everyone..." Which made sense, since he could be understood even when the train translation didn't work. "We were speaking Chinese... I guess Tai must sound a little different if I had a small accent." He said to Lan Wangji with a small smile.

He doesn't actually know Chinese. The language of the kingdoms was just in his mind. Indeed when he had been a child he hadn't even realised he was speaking in a language that wasn't Japanese.

He nodded and picked up the ball, before serving a gentle tap over the net. "Um it's not normal. To have lived on both worlds. Most on earth have never ever heard of the other world and those over there only know Earth as a... almost a fairytale land. But I was swept over to earth before I was born so grew up there."

Wangji finds Tidus a welcome reprieve from the absolute wave of nostalgia he feels.
"I speak very little Japanese, Chinese has changed mostly in word usage and level of formality over the years." He was told as a teen he sounded like a text book, now as an adult he sounds even worse to the younger generations.

He smiles back at Taiki, mostly with his eyes. "It was mostly the intonation on slightly different syllables. However China is so large there are many different dialects you match perfectly. Is that part of your magic?"

The ball bounces once and he gently hits it with his bat to send it tapping back.
"So they knew of earth, but it was a fantasy? Were many surprised when you revealed its actual existence?"

Ohhh. It was surprising that even if Taiki was trying to speak a different language, it'd still translate, even if it wouldn't for Wangji. Tidus goes to lean against the nearby wall, letting his arms fold so he could listen, with his eyes watching their game.

He's quiet, just thinking. So they were both from similar-ish places? Or at least from Earths. And Wangji looked like the other Wangjis, but was from a more modern place than the other Wangji he knew. Huuh...

"Yes. It is part of being a kirin, um part of any immortal in my world actually." Part of the powers being a sage brought.

He continued returning the ball as he spoke, silent for a moment.

"Um sorry... Even though it was known as a fantasy that was because sometimes people were brought over in storms. People only were blown to earth before they were born and so would never know but people from earth sometimes were blown over to my world, becoming stuck there. So it was known to be true, just... Such a place is so foreign to those of the kingdoms it is considered a magical place even if in truth it is the kingdoms that hold magic and earth does not."

"Ah." Wangji hits the ball back. "We have immortality in common then. Perhaps that is why Tidus thinks we will get along?" He turns to look at the aforementioned with a raised brow. He is actually only teasing, he knows Tidus just wants them to be friends.

"Hm." He tries to parse that, "So it was known to be real, but considered fantastical because of the people that came? If it was akin to ancient china, most modern inventions could be seen as magical. I frequently find myself baffled by them."

"...I didn't know you were immortal." It's said after Wangji's joke, though Tidus is looking at Taiki as he says it. A dumbfounded expression that then turns to Wangji. "I didn't know you were immortal either? Did you tell me? ...I don't follow this stuff well."

And now he's lost in that 'thinking too hard' state, eyes elsewhere and he's going back in his brain, wondering if he knew? Or did he forget because it's not something that matters to him?

...

...

... life is so strange...!!

"Yes." He nodded at Tidus, who was looking a bit confused. He felt bad that they had managed to confuse him. "I... If someone killed me I would die... And if Lord Gyousou lost the way... But I won't grow old or die naturally."

It's a bit different than the striving to immortality that Lan Wangji had told him about.

"Ah. Yes. It is just like that. It is beyond what most can understand. I am lucky to have lived on earth as well, it has helped me a lot on this train."

Wangji essentially shrugs at Tidus, "I did not hide it but it did not happen to come up."
He finds the confusion a equal parts endearing and amusing. Tidus really does just say what he thinks, and Wangji likes that in a person.
"I had wondered if that was why you thought we may get along."

"I too can be killed by injury, however unless I choose to stop cultivating I will not age or die." He misses the next ball completely and has to stoop to get it while Taiki continues. He reappears and prepares to serve, smiling a little.
"It has taken me almost as many years as I have been alive to begin to comprehend it, there is no fault in your confusion. You are free to ask me any questions you wish."

He hits the ball, and redirects the next question at Taiki.
"Did you travel between worlds at will?"

He does remember a conversation with Gyousou about his ageing (or unageing) status, but it must have slipped his mind with Taiki - or, just been unnecessary to think about. Even as Wangji offers the room to ask more, he hums a little, then offers a small shrug. "Maybe later."

It was interesting - more so how it took him so long to comprehend - but he doesn't really want to interrupt from the subject present between the other two. Rather, he ends up nudging into Taiki's answer confidently:

"Even if he could, Taiki wouldn't want to unless it was with Lord Gyousou. Right, Taiki? Taiki's got a strong bond with his king. It's impressive!"

"Ah..." He made a movement that might have been a nod, or a shake of the head.

"Kirin can. We are one of the few that can move between at will but um... I've never done it... Only by accident."

A primal fear that ripped open a gate between worlds. He tilted his head and nodded at Tidus.

"Tai is very precarious, once we return we will have to focus many years to fixing things there."

Wangji looks interested, "When you said things were similar to china I wondered if that meant a particular period. You serve the king?"

Loyalty can be hard won and not easily bought, if a being of legend chose to follow someone as his king then that person must be impressive. Taiki mentions moving between worlds on accident and Wangji does the stoic version of a wince.
"Sometimes we push ourselves in times of trial further than we thought possible." He taps the ball back. "I once walked on a broken leg out of sheer stubbornness."

He looks back up at the idea of returning.
"You are confident you will return? To the same time as you left?"

You are confident you will return? To the same time as you left?

Tidus pauses, movement in his body becoming still for a moment. A look taken between the two before it moves away, over to where his higgledy is, was rolling one of the spare ping pong balls, before looking back over at him instinctually. Curious in the stir of emotions felt by Tidus, and then received to the spirit connected to him.

He could explain for Taiki, but he keeps quiet.

Taiki glances over to Tidus, sensing that stillness and knowing somewhat why. He wants to comfort him but Tidus does not take as well to hugs and handholding as Inigo and he doesn't want to make him even less comfortable in front of Lan Wangji.

"I am not certain of anything. I believe the train said time in our world would flow as it always did." Which he had assumed. Time had never stopped before, the idea that it was was beyond strange.

"But I can't not go back. There is a kingdom that is relying on me."

To either fix things or die so the next Taiki can fix things and he can't even do that on this train where they were brought back to life.

Wangji will notice the stillness, the momentary nonverbal communication of people who have known each other. He will not comment, only linger a little on how long it has been.

"If time continues where I am from, I will not lose much. It is a shame I will have so much marking to catch up on however." He sighs. "I lose even less if I return to the moment of my leaving."

He admires Taiki's resolve, "What you do is that important to the kingdom? Is that part of being a kirin?"

"A break from schoolwork sounds good to me!"

That's all Tidus is going to comment on, arms folding, head nodding, the cheeriness slightly forced, but hopefully doing the job he hopes it to. Nope, nothing to say about how badly everything is/was/is going on in Taiki's world.

"Yes..." His voice was quiet. "A kingdom needs their king and kirin to prosper. My king was here with us but now he's lost..."

There's pain here, always. The loss of Lord Gyousou is always a pain in his heart. The knowledge of the suffering Tai is going through whilst they are gone is even worse.

"Kirin serve the king and kingdom, that is our purpose."

Wangji nods.
"It must be difficult for you to be apart. Is there anything that would help?" He knows any relief is temporary, but it is good for the soul nonetheless.

"Tidus tells me he knows all the best methods to have fun aboard. Would you agree?"

"'Course Taiki does!" Tidus defending his talent for fun? You bet. But it's not because he imagines Taiki would be anything other than complimentary, but so he can jump in and include:

"And I have a talent for sticking my nose in and getting people to have it. But speaking of fun," Tidus raises a forefinger, "--Wangji was telling me he likes reading poetry! What about you, Taiki?"

"Yes. Tidus is very good at helping others have fun."

He tilted his head, "I... Yes I like poetry. Though I haven't read all that much of it. We studied some in school on earth."

Wangji huffs a laugh at the sheer determination that Tidus has to make everyone have fun. It makes him distracted and he misses his return with the ping pong ball, sending it Into the net. He resets and passes the ball over for Taiki to serve.

“Oh?” Wangji is pleasantly surprised. “It would be considered unusual for most teenage boys. I find it soothing. I once wrote a small selection of poetry, but you can imagine my embarrassment when I found students studying it two hundred years later.”

"Wow, really?" It's the part about Wangji's poetry that gets his surprise, a glance taken between the other two before it keeps on Wangji. "Two hundred years? --what's that like? Your work lasting two hundred years... That's awesome!"

He may have fallen into distracted thought at the end there, imagining a different scenario, a different kind of work from poetry. If, say, someone was remembering his blitzball moves after hundreds of years...

...awesome...!!

"I'm not really a normal teenage boy..." He never had been, but he knew most teenagers were not all that interested in poetry. He's not so in awe as Tidus at work lasting hundreds of years, that was normal on earth and in Tai though on the former it was impossible for a person to live to see it.

He smiled at Tidus though, not quite knowing what he was thinking but able to guess well enough. "It is a long time for fame to live on."

"I would not have minded so much if they had thought to ask first." He admits, staring into the middle distance. "Or if they had chosen much better poetry." He thinks about it and smiles a little at Tidus's enthusiasm, which is infectious.
"It is unusual, but gratifying that what I had to say then still proves to be relevant. I am just lucky enough to be in the unique position to see it." If Tidus asked Wangji would be hard pressed to name a sportsman who is still talked about, but he would try his best.

Taiki's lack of a reaction is just as interesting.
"I had gathered." He says gently, hoping he had not caused offense. "I imagine our earths were similar enough for preservation to be common but what about the other world? Did people live as long as I have?"

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[closed] how to have fun 101

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cw tiny thoughts of death

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merry festivus and a happy new year