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[chenqing_player]

Okay so at this point I can kind of accept the memories..I even kind of understand getting back powers. But..this..

[He holds up a sleek black flute with a red tassel dangling from the end of it.]

I don't even know how to play the flute and don't really have a whole lot of interest in learning. Does anyone know if I'll just magically wake up some day with an ability to play or should I just put this up on my shelf as some sort of decoration?

[He sets it back down and then picks up a piece of paper that is a few inches wide and about eight inches long with red designs scrolled across it.]

Also, anyone know what this is because I've been drawing them all morning and have a stack of various ones now that I'm afraid to touch in case I light the place on fire by accident. I just moved in here so I'd rather not mess it up. I'm really not mentally prepared to start having magic abilities..

[Is he stressed out? He might be slightly stressed..he's had far too many memories hitting him lately and now with the addition of these magic paper pieces and a flute he is starting to panic that the whole controlling ghosts things is in his very near future.]

Comments

Video

[serpentinthegarden]

Deep breath. Those slips of paper might not mean anything more than you've taken up calligraphy.

[ He made the stab at a reasonable explanation but his tone was not so convincing, being more uncertain than definitive. ]

Were you thinking anything when you drew those?

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[inquiryguqin]

[The flute. Lan Wangji stares at the video calmly to make sure, but seeing him and the man in his past life dreams, it connects, and somehow in instant. He knew it was him.

However he doesn't seem ready, but he wanted to help...somehow]

Those are magical talismans. Can you hold the paper closer? So, I can read what it says.

Video

[chenqing_player]

I really would like that to be the case..

[He sighs and tries to think about it. He picks up the top one off one of the piles and stares at it.]

Each pile was a little different..one of them I think has something to do with fire. One might be..a shield? Or barrier? And the third one I think is the worst..I was thinking about summoning something.

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[chenqing_player]

Talismans...?

[he picks up one of them again and tries to hold it close enough to the phone that it can be seen without getting so close that it gets blurry. He has about three or four different designs on these things and each of them makes him feel uneasy.]

[inquiryguqin]

[He read the characters on the paper since he can read it, write, and speak it]

I'll translate for you. The first one said, Spirit Attraction. The second one said, repel. The other said, barrier.

[chenqing_player]

[He reaches up and rubs his face. This is too much.]

I'm guessing I'm supposed to say or do something and they will do..what is written on them. I don't mind barrier against something but I sure as hell don't want to summon anything.

[inquiryguqin]

[He reads a little more once he has a better look on the video]

Let see...that one said, "Fire" and that one said, "Seal".

[Chin hands as he stares at the man on the video and see a resemblance. He wonders why his past life self does everything he can to save him]

You know, I have a dream. That people use paper talismans like those. They would chant the character on the paper and throw it.

[serpentinthegarden]

A demon?

[ That was the first summon-able creature that sprang to mind for some reason. ]

Well... maybe we should take those papers out to a park and try them out? Or, better, that abandoned building site on 5th. There is no one around there.

[chenqing_player]

Fire...great. So I really could burn down my apartment.

[He is just going to put all these stacks away in a desk drawer and lock it away once the call is over.]

Really don't think I need these things in modern day New York. I'm not some sort of crime fighter or vigilante.

[chenqing_player]

If I'm lucky nothing would happen and they just become some weird wall paper.

[He definitely doesn't want to try them here..he just got this place so he doesn't want to destroy it.]

You offering to be my chaperone?

[inquiryguqin]

Well, I wouldn't know if they are any useful.

The talismans you have are similar in my dream. The people who creates them are called Cultivators. They fight with swords during battle and they use the paper talismans on monsters or on each other.

So I think they're a type of weapon.

[serpentinthegarden]

If you need one. Use the fire scroll first... Won't do a thing to me if that actually does work.

[ Anyway he was curious to see if these scrolls would do anything but flutter in the wind himself. ]

Meet you at the lot?

[chenqing_player]

Well I definitely do not need a weapon. So..I'm going to try and resist making any more of these and destroy these before I accidentally set one off.

[But he does listen to the description of the Cultivators and he gets a little bit of a twinge of familiarity in the descriptions.]

I guess i might have been something similar to a cultivator in the past life.

[chenqing_player]

I'll bring them all..maybe if they do work using one of these barrier spells will keep the fire from getting too out of hand.

[Worth a shot at least..]

I'll be there soon.

[inquiryguqin]

I suggest you save them, but if you don't want them then you can give it to me? I want to study them. I major in History, so you might be throwing away an important piece of history that needs to be preserved and saved for research.

Do you think you might have been? Do you have any idea what they do?

My research led me to think they do some kind of mystical practice based on daoism.

[serpentinthegarden]

Or keep the port authorities at bay when the smoke signals start flying.

See you there.

[chenqing_player]

I don't know what I was. All I know is it has something to do with ghosts.

[And he doesn't like it. He's had far too many memories at this point that are him talking to, summoning or dealing with all manner of crazy things.]

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[chenqing_player]

[With talisman in hand he heads out the door and makes his way towards the abandoned building. He really hopes these pieces of paper do nothing when he gets there but he has a sinking suspicion he is not going to be that lucky.

Once he arrives he lays them out on the windowsill whose window has long since lost all of its glass. He doesn't feel terribly comfortable in an abandoned building but it is better then nothing. He leans against the wall as he waits.]

[inquiryguqin]

[He can't tell him, not yet, because even he wasn't sure. In his recent dream, his past life, he came to study something and it has to do with cultivation]

Sound spooky, but those items you have, it's an important clue in what you used to do.

[chenqing_player]

Well..right now they are pretty useless. I guess until I have a few more memories they are just going to be odd trinkets.

[Particularly the flute since he doesn't know how to play it.]

[inquiryguqin]

[It takes Wangji a few moments of googling it]

That flute is a bamboo flute called the dizi.

[With amusement]

Why not take flute lessons? I started with a recorder and play in elementary school. It's easy to learn.

Action

[serpentinthegarden]

[ The loud roar of a motorcycle rumbled up to the curb and a few moments after that Anthony came swaggering around the protective barrier fence, stepping firmly on the 'No Trespassing' sign that had once barred the way but now lay uselessly in the dirt. ]

Nice night for some magic.

[ He approached close enough to peer down at these magical strips of paper but didn't make a move to actually disturb any of them. ]

Any idea how they are supposed to work?

[chenqing_player]

[He shakes his head and picks one up. As he has been staring at them it is like he has slowly started to understand them more. He still doesn't know why he drew them but he can start to tell them apart.]

No idea..I thought maybe I would just toss them towards an empty wall and see what happens. I feel like I've noticed these in my memories before but I never really paid much attention to it.

[chenqing_player]

I don't really have time to dedicate to such a thing..

[He is musically inclined so it probably wouldn't take him long to pick up the basics but he really doesn't have much interest in learning a musical instrument. It's not like he can use it in his show.]

Besides..I've seen what this thing can do in my memories and I'm not interested in being able to do that.

[serpentinthegarden]

Go with your instincts.

[ He spoke softly as he wound his way around Wei much like a serpent slithering its way around a tree so he could hover just there over his friend's shoulder and carefully observe whatever came of the experiment. ]

I think, deep down, you already know what to do with those. It's just a matter of remembering it.