Inbox: Ximilia

[singlelogbridge]

// Wei Wuxian

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO

XIMILIA

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[blackfire]

（ do you think he wouldn't include that??? smh, what is wroNG with you. ）

It's the province of schoolgirls. I have no opinion on such things.

[singlelogbridge]

[He snickers and looks away, mindful of the more precarious climb.]

No, I didn't think you would. [It does give him pause though as his mind fixates on the concept of aesthetic writing and his own thoughts on it.]

I don't suppose you put much stock in calligraphy either. Do you? I've always been terrible at it but, I appreciate its beauty.

[blackfire]

（ there's a bit of a barehanded climb ahead, and so itachi shifts his pack more cleanly over one shoulder, looping it crossbody — it would be cheating to use chakra, so he doesn't. simply chooses the handholds with care, making it evident which ones are safe to grab by the trajectory of his path. as he scales the cliff face: ）

I enjoy it, as art forms go. I find it meditative.

[singlelogbridge]

[He brightens at that though his eyes remain focused on the cliff face. He hadn't expected it, but it's fitting. It's too easy to picture Itachi with a calligraphy set before him working in solitude.]

Can I see some of your work sometime?

[blackfire]

（ he crests the top, lays flat along the edge and then reaches down for wei wuxian's hand to pull him up alongside. ）

If you wish. It isn't private.

（ well, it isn't private to the extent he keeps it hidden away intentionally — more that he is simply private by nature, and the calligraphy he does is thus kept secret by a sort of default state of being. ）

[singlelogbridge]

[He takes the proffered hand with a smile, pulling himself up the rest of the way to the top and then exhaling with gusto as he turns to greet the view. It isn't real of course, but it feels real enough to be appreciated. Eventually he turns back to Itachi.]

Mmm, I'd like to. Of all four arts, it was the one I could never quite get down. Too impatient, probably. [He grins.] I took to painting more, and then of course to music. [A hand settles fondly over the flute ever present at his side.]

[blackfire]

Music suits you more. Calligraphy is more — settled.

（ frenzied work on talismans aside, he cannot imagine wei wuxian sitting still long enough to refine his scripts. his perfectionism comes in other ways. but what is exciting about drawing the same lines over and over again, until one is indistinguishable from the next? no — he would find that to be a form of stagnancy, not faultlessness. perfect to him comes from making a friend smile, or getting a crying child to dry their eyes. it is the feeling of trying something new, and having it work impeccably at first blush.

itachi gives him a sidelong glance, and then lifts a hand to his neck, working his fingers against a knotted up muscle in his shoulder. ）

I never cared for music, in my world.

[singlelogbridge]

[He might have joked about that being the nicest way anyone ever called him hyperactive in his life, but Itachi's next admission sweeps the thought away.]

No music at all? There was nothing that caught your interest? [His face fills with surprise although Itachi has never shown any particular joy in any kind of music since he's known him. It's still a shock to think that there was no single song or instrument that spoke to his soul the way so many do for Wei Wuxian.]

[blackfire]

I found the koto to be... inoffensive, but I cannot say that I prefer it to silence.

（ he shakes his head somewhat, lifting one leg up partly so he can drape his arm across it as they sit. ）

Music is often a weapon in my world. Used to create illusions. It was not a threat to me — but as a result, the shinobi world was strict about such performances.

[singlelogbridge]

The koto...that's similar to the guqin I believe. [He never had any training in it unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Itachi since he would have immediately tried composing something for him.

His eyes fall to Baiyun again, this time with contemplation.]

Weaponizing music isn't as common in my world. The Lan clan was the only clan to have managed it and even then their musical based skills are used for interrogation of the dead more than actual attacks.

[He's quiet for a moment.] When I was alone in the Burial Mounds without a golden core or any means to protect myself from the resentful energy that meant to consume me, it was the Lan techniques I drew inspiration from in learning to control it.

But the music I play for that isn't beautiful. It's barely music. Still...[A faint smile touches his lips.] Music has always had way of taking hold of my heart.

[blackfire]

I think the dead trouble us less in my world than in yours.

（ a wry smile. ）

Perhaps that is a good thing. The resentful energy must be immense in most areas. （ almost a thousand years of war. small pockets of peace. the uchiha and the senju alone had wars that decimated entire swaths of land, left thousands dead before the village was born from the bones of both families. he thinks of izuna, sacrificed to madara's mad quest for power, and how perfectly he had pretended the same to sasuke.

he does not, generally, regard his actions with any amount of shame. they are done. but the way that fight filters back to him now has him curling his fingers in against his palm, jaw set. to distract himself — ）

Music is subjective. You do not have to consider it such. I would.

[singlelogbridge]

[He cringes and nods in agreement with Itachi's assessment. In a world like his, areas like the Burial Mounds would be everywhere. War torn lands always suffered the worst of demonic and spiritual attacks. There would be no keeping up with it, that's why the Burial Mounds was warded off and left to rot. The cultivation world decided the job was too big and left it to grow behind a wall instead.]

Would you really? [It's asked in earnest, curiosity obvious. Anyone else he would make fun of their taste. With Itachi, he counts it as a win.]

I play other music too. Lately, I've even been attempting to compose. I don't know yet if I have the talent for it.

[blackfire]

Talent is irrelevant. Do it until you are satisfied with your progress.

（ what is talent, but hard work distilled into a metric by which others judge you? wei wuxian is not one afraid to do the work. ）

[singlelogbridge]

[He snorts and shakes his head, not in disagreement exactly.]

Alright, alright. Then if I can come up with something I'm satisfied with, you'll have to hear it. [He grins and stretches his arms above his head before moving back to the edge of the mountainside to look down.]

We should start back to finish on time. You might be able to get down there in a flash if needed, but I'm afraid I have to do it the old fashioned way.

[blackfire]

( in a sort of lazy drawl — )

I could carry you. If needs be.

( teasing? absolutely.

and leaving it at that, off he goes. )