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（ the simulation is a high mountain pass. it would be perilous were it real — were he not who he is — but as it happens, it is simply mildly taxing. he and wei wuxian have been in the room for nearly half the time allotted to the security lock — and in that time they've gotten a substantial way up the cliff face, at times moving from place to place by metal steps driven into the rock, others simply by navigating a path worn by many feet.

they've found a place that overlooks the valley below, where lush greenery extends for miles and beauty sings in the air, and are sitting down with their feet dangling over what feels like endless nothingness. itachi passes over a water bottle, content in the moment with the company alone and not especially inclined to conversation. ）

[In spite of how talkative Wei Wuxian usually is, it's easier for him to sit in the calm quiets with Itachi than it is for him with most people. He isn't sure if it's because he doesn't feel the need to fill the silences with conversation or something else, but either way, it's nice. For a while at least.

He takes the proffered water bottle and takes a long drink of his own, passing it back and allowing his gaze to linger on the vast emptiness beneath them.]

I've always wondered what would happen if you fell in here. Or drowned or...you get the picture. Do you think the simulation would end? [Alright, he likes the calm quiets but his mind is an unending chaotic mess of curiosity.]

Would you like to find out?

（ it's said a bit dryly, with a sideways glance as he accepts that bottle back. ）

[His gaze immediately snaps back up to Itachi and he glares, only barely concealing the amusement that threatens to break open across his face.]

No one understands the bullying I endure...[He bemoans, shaking his head and then finally giving into the smile tugging on his lips. The smile is short lived though as his eyes settle back on Itachi and he spots a deep purple bruise on his throat.]

Aiya, what happened to—[He cuts himself off abruptly as his eyes find a few more similar bruises along Itachi's neck and throat, now that he's looking. It's the presence of multiple bruises in similar shapes that alerts him to what they are. (He's seen them before, many a disciple had come sneaking back into Lotus Pier late at night after seeing their beaus, but it's their presence on Itachi that he is having trouble wrapping his mind around.]

Edited 2023-02-18 03:59 (UTC)

[His jaw falls open and closed and he whips his gaze away, face flushing red.]

Aha...never mind.

（ he does not immediately make the connection.

itachi, you see, tends to avoid mirrors for a myriad of reasons. he does not especially care what he looks like, and hardly requires one to brush his hair or put it up. bemusement shows in a faint lift of his eyebrows, and then he realizes the terminus of wei wuxian's attention, and lifts a hand to his neck, fingers pressing in against one of the marks. the ache of them has faded enough it did not occur to him to notice or care for what evidence remained.

but he has nothing to say to wei wuxian's truncated question, or the fluster that follows, and so he simply takes a drink of the water, and then stands. ）

We should continue if we're to reach the summit by the time the room's locks disengage.

Edited 2023-02-18 04:08 (UTC)

[A dozen questions clutter his mind and he voices exactly none of them. He doesn't want to know. (Except for the part of him that is dying to know but that part of him can shut up.) Still, his eyes flicker back to the marks a few more times and the flush doesn't fade.]

Ah, mn. Yeah. [He rises and takes a moment to close his eyes and open them again, not that he's making sure his eyes are working right or anything ridiculous like that.

Itachi made out with someone. Itachi maybe did more than make out with someone. (Itachi knows how to make out with someone.) This is none of his business.

(Some of those were teeth marks.)

Maybe he should let Itachi push him off the edge to see what happens.]

How much time do we have left? [He asks and is relieved when the words come out right instead of turning into "did the teeth feel nice?"

What is wrong with him?]

Eighty-six minutes. Presumably you don't require the seconds.

( but he does look at wei wuxian, expression unreadable, for a heartbeat longer than needed before turning away and taking the lead up the narrow path. )

Don't fall.

( it's a warning, tossed over his shoulder. wei wuxian is acting strangely, perhaps he needs the reminder. )

Don't fall. What am I, a chil—[he swerves quickly to avoid tripping over a branch hanging over the path that he almost missed and immediately shuts up.

Shut up, Itachi. ANYWAY.] How are your wounds healing.

[The bad ones, not the newly discovered bite-y ones, he does not clarify.]

（ where wei wuxian cannot see it, he forms the signs for a clone. rather than manifest beside them, it does so below, just under the jutting lip of their path so that, if needs be, it can catch this fool if he does decide to fall. he says nothing overt about the trip itself. ）

Adequately.

（ but wei wuxian must know he would never give any answer but that. it is hardly in his nature to acknowledge his myriad hurts except as manageable and that is a tendency that far exceeds any discomfort the pain may bring. ）

You are unsettled. Why?

[Predictable answer or not, Wei Wuxian is reassured at least by the knowledge that Dr. McCoy is probably aware of the injury and the worst of it must have been seen to. Of course that does nothing for the distraction tactic that he was hoping would take. (To distract himself, that is.)]

I'm not unsettled. I'm just...I'm surprised. ["Unsettled" carried a weight he wasn't willing to subscribe to this context.]

It's not a big deal!

You are making it one.

（ he says that pointedly, with annoyance colouring his words. it is not as if he cannot weather the man's being... strange in his general direction, but his patience is worn and frayed from days of convalescence, and he would just as soon not trouble himself about it. if he persists, itachi will simply end the simulation and leave. ）

[He can't help his quiet huff of exasperation. How was he supposed to be prepared for...that? Still, he shakes his head and slaps lightly at one of his cheeks, willing the red flush to finally leave his face. He is being stupid about this and he knows it, and Itachi isn't the kind of person who'd react well to someone being dramatic about it.]

It's not. [He reaffirms.] It took me by surprise is all, I mean it. [After a pause.] I mean you don't even like it when people touch you, can you blame me for being surprised?

To be clear. We are no longer speaking of the injuries sustained in Alydhion, correct?

（ he is going to make you say it, coward. ）

[Well so much for the flush fading away. It returns in full force.

The edge of the mountain is getting more enticing by the second.]

We don't have to be talking about anything. We're going to run out of time if we linger, right?

Then climb.

（ if it were anyone else, he would have simply ended the simulation. as it stands, wei wuxian is lucky it's his only proclamation, and itachi continues onward without a word. ）

[He exhales quietly and climbs, trying to ignore the awkward tension that's settled on his shoulders. It's not like he's trying to be nosy, it's a normal reaction to have, he reasons to himself as they climb. At this point in the journey upwards they're half scaling the mountainside though it's not entirely vertical, and the work of it takes enough of his concentration for a while at least.

Eventually though the silence gets the best of him and he begins talking again about less fraught topics this time.]

Hey, I've been meaning to ask. There are so many people here who speak your language. Would you be willing to help me learn some of it?

（ annoyance sloughs off as he climbs, lost in the physicality of the act. his side burns where the wounds are healing, and the muscles along his side are producing a steady, low-level discomfort. not enough to make him cease, just... he is occupying an awareness of his own body in a way he has not needed to in some time.

the clone lurks beneath them. it cannot see or feel what he does, but he can sense the familiar thrum of its chakra. it's almost a comfort, given the months spent without it. ）

If you wish. I imagine you would pick it up quickly.

[Relieved that Itachi takes the change of subject with grace, he leans more fully into the topic having wanted to ask him for a while now.]

The written form has some shorthand for the characters, you've mentioned before. I tried to give my name to someone but he couldn't read most of it. Would the shorthand be able to account for that?

（ sounds like a personal problem for them. imagine not knowing something, ayy lmao???

he considers that a moment. then: ）

There is no direct transliteration of your family name in hiragana or katakana. The kanji is pronounced 'Gi' or 'Gwe' by itself and would not be helpful. The closest I can think of would be antiquated forms, but those are not perfect — and they may not be known by those that （ aren't fuckin' nerDS LIKE ME ） are themselves not familiar with older scripts. That being （ and he sends: 片仮名/かたかな: `ヱ` 平仮名/ひらがな: `ゑ` ）.

（ there is a considering pause, and a huff of breath as he hoists himself from one part of the path to the barely-traversable next. then: ）

A modern way might be （ヱー） with your courtesy name being written as （ウーシエン ū•shi•e•n. ）. You would not achieve perfect pronunciation with it, but it would be near enough any correction would not be arduous.

Edited 2023-02-20 05:37 (UTC)

[He's quiet as he listens to the explanation, concentrating on the climb with the rest of his focus, and frowning at the less than satisfactory sounds of his name. He'd have thought that a language so reminiscent of his own in so many ways would have the capacity to form his name, but he supposes it isn't that surprising with how languages evolved across time and distance.]

Hmm. Maybe I should just teach those who don't know the characters of my name how to say them instead. [He smirks over at Itachi, one eyebrow raised. It isn't his fault they didn't have as many characters as his language.]

Still, I'd like to learn yours. Maybe I should start with understanding these "kana."

If they were to attempt it based on the kanji you use, it would say 'Gi Musen'.

（ shared for #horrorterror reasons. hey, buddy, how's the kanji for 'weasel' pronounced? ）

I can teach you kana easily enough. How would you prefer to learn?

[He misses a handhold on the mountain and has to catch himself on a lower one, but he doesn't care, he's too busy staring at Itachi in horror.]

Gi Musen? [Sorry, did you say something else? He wrinkles his nose and repeats the horrible name under his breath before shaking his head and finally processing the rest.]

Ah, hmm. It'll be difficult with the translator. How many kana are there? Maybe I can study them and then you can test me? [He needs something to engage with even if it's written, otherwise he'll get too bored.]

（ that scandal is Noted, perhaps for later use. ）

Hiragana and katakana are the main ones you should concern yourself about initially. Hiragana is representative of all the sounds you might find in my language that are native to it — katakana is most often used for expressing words in other languages. It also conveys names, and is sometimes considered... （ his expression sours faintly. ） 'cuter'. Hiragana should be learned first. It has forty-six standard characters, and several that are non-standard or obsolete, as well as some variations that affect sound. If you include those variations, it becomes 71.

（ so, what does he do? just. sends him the fuckin' list. why is he the world's worst overachiever. ）

[But does it have the stroke order???]

Seventy one shouldn't take too long. [Especially given how simplified they appeared. It makes sense for something that represented a sound rather than a word though how effective that would be in a written language is still somewhat foreign to him. He's sure that must be where the combination of more complicated characters familiar to him came into play. But also]

You know, I can understand the beauty of a character especially when written by a skilled calligrapher, but I fail to see how...cuteness should influence a language.

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