Audience: Gu Yun

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

[i'm crying rip sisi]

You can likely guess what my answer is going to be.

[liuli]

[ me: this is probably a shitpost about outside bones
also me: BUT WHAT IF IT WASNT

gu yun sighs and and reaches for the wine bottle to top his drink off. ] I have an idea, yes.

What about the rest of the illusions. Do you think it's likely that'll happen again?

[probe]

Not sure. But I'd assume yes.

Re...calibrations. [they say this like it's a foreign word. they also wave their hand, which is still clawed.]

[liuli]

Don't have much machinery in your world, hmm?

[ steampunk means he knows what a recalibration is!!! ]

[probe]

No. Not... not anything like it is here.

Lanterns. No phones. No... televisions.

[liuli]

Lanterns for me, too. Ziliujin steam lamps are starting to become more popular, now, though, since there are watered down versions of them that can be sold for cheap.

[ gu yun props his chin back into his hand. ] It's odd, isn't it? Takes some getting used to. I wasn't going to send a single message with that thing [ nodding at his phone ] until I understood it.

[probe]

I don't like using it.

[the phone, they mean. and then, vaguely annoyed:] ... White called me a boomer.

[they're still not entirely sure what that is but they know it's not a nice term.]

[liuli]

[ when will someone teach gu yun what a boomer is

anyway he has no idea but it sounds insulting too, so, he starts snickering, amused. ]

Next time he does so, just call him emperor. He'll get really embarrassed. [ the way that this joke is never going to die because white is his favorite bullying target on gods green earth ]

[probe]

[gu yun can't see their face, but he's probably well versed in people making faces around him, which is what they're doing.]

Don't want to call anybody emperor.

[liuli]

You're making a face again.

[probe]

And it is entirely your fault. Strange how that continues to be a trend.

[liuli]

It's strange... I almost feel like I've heard that before.

[ nyehehehe ]

[probe]

I'm sure. [they are rolling their eyes.] I can't imagine I'll be the last to say it.

[liuli]

Likely not even today.

[ fufufufu. ]

Anyway, it was his fault. I'm simply calling him what he asked for. [ no you aren't you're just bullying him. ] If it makes you feel better, the technology here is wildly beyond me, too. I'm used to learning on the fly.

If I could bring even an ounce of this technology back to Great Liang, it would change the world. [ ... for just a beat there, he sounds -- really sincere. almost warm, thinking about it. ] Or, at least, my second in command would surely piss himself on sight, anyway.

[ and because he cant allow more than .5 seconds of that he has to ruin it immediately, ]

[probe]

[snort.]

It would change my world, as well. Not for the better.

[liuli]

[ interesting. ]

Why do you say that?

[probe]

Enough has happened lately that the last thing it needs is something nobody understands.

[liuli]

[ haha... he knows the feeling. ]

It's always crisis after crisis, isn't it? It tends to snowball.

[probe]

[they nod.]

The world is trying to recover. It needs a break.

[liuli]

Mm. [ a break... a foreign concept... ]

The whole world, hm? Not just your country? Must have been quite the series of events.

[probe]

Something like that.

It doesn't matter. It won't.

[liuli]

[ ah. now there's some of that pride. ]

...That sort of resolution is a good quality to have.

[ a pause. he regards his cup, again, thoughtfully. ] ...In Great Liang, the first thing anyone thought to make with ziliujin was weapons. [ a pause. ] But it's extended to much beyond that in peacetime, too.

[probe]

[they sigh.]

It's always weapons first. Power first.

[liuli]

[ ... ]

It is hard to have peace without power. [ it reminds him of emperor yuan he - a man who preferred the pen over the sword. their opinions had always clashed in the end, though gu yun never would've said it to his face. ]

Dragons and tigers will come knocking on the door once you have it, though - so power is never long lasting, either.

[ it makes his wish make lots of sense. if this place can magically bring a long lasting peace to great liang - all gu yun has ever, ever wanted - then he'll indulge as much as necessary to make it happen. ]

[probe]

[... give them more wine. they're just going to shotgun another glass of wine.]