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bringingdowndisaster

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From:

bringingdowndisaster

Great.

[ He's clearly thrilled about this. ]

What do you wanna talk about?

From:

reformedsinner

Well -- I've heard some things about you from others, but it's always unfair to judge on rumor, isn't it?

Some unpleasant stories have been spread about me in the past.

What would you like a warden to know about you?

Oh, and I suppose I should let you know what my expectations are, too.

From:

bringingdowndisaster

[ Xue Yang scoffs a little. Yeah, he can only imagine. ]

Most of the rumors are probably true.

I'd rather not have a warden at all, but looks like I don't have a choice, huh? [ Some bitterness definitely seeps into his voice. No, he hasn't had a choice with much here. ]

From:

reformedsinner

[Mildly] No, you don't. Someone has to be responsible for every inmate.

Even the rumor about your being ten feet tall with eyes that flash like fire?

[That's more something he just made up than it is technically a rumor, but who's sweating the details?]

From:

bringingdowndisaster

[ That actually startles a laugh out of Xue Yang. ]

I don't think I'd fit on the ship if I was ten feet tall.

From:

reformedsinner

And I'm sure I'd have spotted you in the dining hall before now!

Ah -- let's see. Shall we meet up in the greenhouse? It's always nice to spend a little time around growing things, especially so far away from a real planet....

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Fine.

[ As some of the depressive fog has lifted from him, the cabin has started to feel a little oppressive so going somewhere else might not be so bad. ]

From:

reformedsinner

Excellent. I'll see you in ten minutes.

[He is already in the greenhouse, but he'll busy himself putting aside the trowel and dumping his bucket of weeds into one of the composting piles before he heads for the front of the area to wait for Xue Yang.]

From:

bringingdowndisaster

[ More than ten minutes later - because Xue Yang is just like that, he finally shows up in the greenhouse. When he sees the man he assumes is new temporary warden, he heaves a sigh and approaches him. ]

From:

reformedsinner

Gonou gets to his feet, dusting soil from his fingers as he smiles at Xue Yang. He's younger looking than Xiao Xingchen, although Gonou wouldn't estimate much younger, and the sigh suggests he'll at least be a little reluctant.

Or, perhaps, that he just finds the monthly routine tiresome.

"Good afternoon," Gonou says lightly. "Do forgive the mess, I've been weeding." There's not much of a mess, in truth, besides a little green under his fingernails: still. "I really haven't seen you around much recently. Where do you spend most of your time?"

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Despite having been here for over two months, Xue Yang hasn't done a whole lot of exploration of the ship. He's only been in the greenhouse once or twice before and only briefly.

"My cabin," he says without addressing anything else that Cho Gonou says. Mainly because he's been in a depressive fog for several weeks now, and he'd rather not talk about that. It's starting to lift, or he probably wouldn't have agreed to come here, but he is admittedly starting to feel a little restless.

From:

reformedsinner

"Well, that sounds boring," Gonou says lightly. "Is it because you're worried about something outside, or are you just lacking the motivation to be up and around?"

He could understand struggling to leave one's cabin, especially early into a stay on the Barge, especially with the difficulties that exist between Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen. It's nowhere near as straightforward as enmity from Xue Yang's side, that much is clear.

But it's also possible that there are people he doesn't want to see.

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Xue Yang makes a non-committal sound and shrugs, letting Cho Gonou interpret that how he wants. He's not exactly eager to get into the reasons for why he's been isolating himself lately. It's too painful to talk about. This man is a stranger to him and not someone he'd trust with his innermost thoughts and feelings.

From:

reformedsinner

Gonou makes a light and noncommittal sound back, lifting one shoulder in the slightest of shrugs as he picks up the bucket he's half-filled with weeds in one hand and his trowel in the other.

"Ah, do you mind getting the watering can?" He indicates it with a lift of his chin, where it sits beside the flowerbed. "I only ask in case there's a reason that I might help with. If it's personal, you're not obligated to share, of course."

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Having nothing better to do, Xue Yang fetches the watering can and places it by Cho Gonou. "It's personal," he says flatly before slumping down on the ground. No, getting any information out of him is going to be like pulling teeth.

From:

reformedsinner

"Thank you," Gonou says lightly, picking up the watering can and turning to fill it at the faucet nearby. "I won't ask you to tell me anything too personal, you know. Not unless you want to.

"You don't know me very well, so it would be a bit much to ask for that, wouldn't it?"

He hums softly, tipping the can over the flowerbeds.

"What would you like to do? Now that you're willing to leave your room."

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Xue Yang gives the other man a slightly wary look, nodding slowly. "Yeah." At least it doesn't sound like Cho Gonou is going to be pressuring him into talking. So that's something.

He shrugs at the question. "Dunno. What is there to do around here?" He hasn't really explored the ship much.

From:

reformedsinner

"Learn something new, take up a hobby, meet people..." Gonou hums thoughtfully, leaning down to pluck out a tiny weed he hadn't spotted before from the flowers.

"Have you seen the Enclosure yet?"

From:

bringingdowndisaster

The only thing that sounds vaguely interesting is learning something new. Xue Yang has always enjoyed learning when it's something that interests him. Maybe if he can find something like that here...

"No. But someone told me about it."

From:

reformedsinner

"That's an option, too." He casts the other man a thoughtful glance. "I'd never had the chance to travel too far in my life before I came here, but I've seen entire new planets through the Enclosure.

"Is there anywhere you'd like to see? It doesn't seem to be able to make people, but I've seen it make animals, monsters and ghosts."

From:

bringingdowndisaster

Xue Yang hesitates a moment before asking, "Can it show us places from our homes?"

From:

reformedsinner

"Yes. I don't think it shows them the way they really are, in this moment, but it can show what the place looks like.

"Is there something you want to see?"