PERISHING STAR

Still, as her light footsteps came to a halt outside the younger Seer's quarters, her expression softened considerably. Her feet stopping dutifully just against the threshold of Wuhuanzi's room as she was warned of the misfortune awaiting her if she passed it.

Ruo spared a glance towards the staff as they begrudgingly trailed down the corridor, before turning her full attention back to her fellow kin now trapped in this foreign land. Relaxing enough to even show the jade hue of her gaze. 

"𝐴ℎ... 𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.ᐣ 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛." Her smile broadened, her voice gentle, giving a deep bow before gingerly lowering herself to a steat on her knees, careful not to let even a strand of thread from her clothes slip past the barrier the little healer had requested.

Living by such rules was simply commonplace, it was barely worth a second thought. They lacked the hypercubes available to the rest of the world, and had to live by stringent measures to ward off mania. Though Disians still scoffed at their practices, Eastia was still around for a reason.

"𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝐷𝑢 𝑅𝑢𝑜... 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑦, 𝑆𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝐼 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝐵𝐶𝐶 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐼'𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎'𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒..." Ruo carefully gathered the small book dangling from her belt, drawing open a fresh page and an ink pen. "𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒... 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠, 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.ᐣ"

❝ i see. it's a pleasure to meet you, du ruo. i haven't seen met anyone from eastia apart from the other seers here for... a while. ❞

granted du ruo's grace, her demeanor visibly eases somewhat. wuhuanzi pulls her gaze up from the floor. soft-spoken as she may be, she bears the steadiness of someone who's traveled far, and traveled alone.

❝ i was detained not long after the incident with the fête and the wisteria tree. supposedly, it is because i was practicing medicine without a licensed sanctioned by discity. but i assure you that i've committed no malpractice. ❞

in truth, something about it has always struck her as odd — or at least not entirely honest. chief, she believes, is an earnest and kindly person. it's part of why she accepted her arrest without protest, and why she hasn't bothered to press the issue aloud. but du ruo, who shares her homeland, will almost certainly understand her perspective.

better she be the instrument of bureaucracy than leave the task to hands without conscience. 

the crease between her brows wasn’t for the girl. it lingered nonetheless, directed at the beige folder in her hold——the kind still kept because no one had bothered to digitise the archives. tsubaki preferred it that way. the feel of something real. there was honesty in paper.

she opened it—the hinge gave way and the words within submit to her scrutiny.

“I see,” she said after a pause, voice low. “you were caught practising medicine without a licence.”

truthfully she would have preferred to stay in her cell — her readings for today's fortunes were poor, and at least in her quarters that bad luck has fewer things of consequence to cling to.

but 'procedure' apparently beats out omens, and so — here she is.

❝ ... these. ❞ the paper talisman flutters between her fingers when she finally answers, held up like an exhibit. ❝ my power is to infuse these talismans with spiritual power. when released, they can alter the state of matter. they work if stuck to a patient, but are more effective when ingested. ❞

an unhurried pause.

☯ | Eastian Envoy -- her official title in Dis. Lauded with praise and respect on the surface, and mired with a slog of distrust under the seemingly placid waters. Though she'd provided council to the city's favorite hound time and time again; for the Sun Crow, for the little Yao, for the crisis caused by Yugu's stories and the Wisteria tree... she still wasn't trusted.

The tug of the shackles on her mind and soul did seem to soothe the wounded egos and pride of the Outlands Affairs Bureau, that frequently went out the window every time she showed up on the city's doorstep without alerting any of their typical precautions against Outlanders. With a compass tucked in her pocket, she'd managed to make it quite far into the city before being picked up. 

Of course she smiled gently, kept her enlightened demeanor all the way to the MBCC's doorstep. Some nonsense about 'new Sinner registration protocols' spat at her on the way. 'You understand'.

"𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒. 𝐼 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦." She did... just, not in the way she was implying. She understood they were cowards who feared Seers-- no, Sinners, and more to the point... Outlanders. "𝐼𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒." Her words were slow and rhythmic, meant to lull others into a false sense of security. Even such distrustful, xenophobic men, could be soothed in such a way. It wouldn't erase their hatred, but... they were oh so quick to believe such a delicate Eastian woman would be easily dominated.

Still, she wasn't here for them. Not even here for the Eastian alliance, not entirely anyways. She'd come to see a particular Seer that was being detained without the Eastian delegation's approval-- heavens knew such an action from Eastia to a Sinner from Dis would have had a certain set of people breathing down her neck... But she was here to offer some grace and peace.

She entered the Bureau, trading Disian public officials for MBCC staff-- a welcome releif. Ruo gave a gentle bow in greeting, "𝐼'𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑊𝑢ℎ𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑧𝑖." her narrow gaze hiding her eyes from sight, but still keeping a wary lookout as she ignored the fact she'd been told she was being taken to the Bureau for "Advanced Sinner Registration Protocols."

❝ ... that's me. i'm wuhuanzi. ❞ a soft-spoken affirmation. her gaze drifts briefly, following the staffers as they step aside before blinking back to attention. this woman has the bearing of someone important. she recalls mention of chief having sought the insight of someone from eastia during the incident of the fête; perhaps this is her.

she'd heard about the ten-suns calamity that nearly razed discity some time ago, and by extension she knows, in passing, about the eastian delegation. eastians are rare enough here that some people can't help but ask 'if she knows anyone in it' or even 'if she was there'. they're absurd questions, ones she's sure are never asked of disians, but she's always sighed and let it be.

however, this is no random eastian woman, and she walks through the bureau too deliberately to be a new face to it. wuhuanzi feels cautiously secure in putting two and two together.