It is a deeply unsettling experience for Jin Guangyao to meet a perfect stranger in this alien wilderness and feel, in all the ways that matter, as though he is looking into a mirror.
The mien of politic deference that masks ambition, a certainty that one was born for more than the shit hand that they have been dealt--Jin Guangyao can see it in Jordan because he saw it in himself first, felt it in his healing bones after the first time he was flung down the steps of Jinlintai. A fall can break a person irreparably, or it can break loose the determination to make falling again impossible. Does this stranger have the drive to take their ambition and make it the foundation of something with staying power?
A sharp twig snaps underfoot, and Jin Guangyao flinches, gritting his teeth. Maybe this speculative train of thought is better suited for when they're out of this forest. And clothed.
"Is that so," he answers Jordan courteously as they pick their way through the trees. "Gongzi is certainly well read. Where I am from we use lodestone, which points south." He doesn't point out the obvious, that they lack lodestone, or a needle, or a magnet. He can appreciate the need to fill uncomfortable silences with conversation, and speculating over the usefulness of a hypothetical magnet is more appealing to him than the smalltalk he would reach for in other circumstances. Trying to exchange ordinary pleasantries right now is a bit beyond him.
Not when he cannot shake the sensation that they have eyes on them. Jin Guangyao risks a glance backwards over his shoulder into the darkness. Only the darkness looks back.
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The mien of politic deference that masks ambition, a certainty that one was born for more than the shit hand that they have been dealt--Jin Guangyao can see it in Jordan because he saw it in himself first, felt it in his healing bones after the first time he was flung down the steps of Jinlintai. A fall can break a person irreparably, or it can break loose the determination to make falling again impossible. Does this stranger have the drive to take their ambition and make it the foundation of something with staying power?
A sharp twig snaps underfoot, and Jin Guangyao flinches, gritting his teeth. Maybe this speculative train of thought is better suited for when they're out of this forest. And clothed.
"Is that so," he answers Jordan courteously as they pick their way through the trees. "Gongzi is certainly well read. Where I am from we use lodestone, which points south." He doesn't point out the obvious, that they lack lodestone, or a needle, or a magnet. He can appreciate the need to fill uncomfortable silences with conversation, and speculating over the usefulness of a hypothetical magnet is more appealing to him than the smalltalk he would reach for in other circumstances. Trying to exchange ordinary pleasantries right now is a bit beyond him.
Not when he cannot shake the sensation that they have eyes on them. Jin Guangyao risks a glance backwards over his shoulder into the darkness. Only the darkness looks back.