marlowemuses | The Littlest Nie Heir

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The Littlest Nie Heir

Huaisang's desperate.

His brother's murderer seems to grow more powerful and prosperous with every passing year, and Huaisang has no proof, no progress, and no real defenses against the possibility of his own murder. All he can do is keep acting clueless, and even that defense has meant that his sect grows weaker and poorer as time goes on.

History had never been one of Huaisang's passions, but in reviewing old documents about the construction of Qinghe, he found some records that referenced even older documents. They claimed that more than two hundred years ago, while the deeper cellars and storage chambers had been built into the mountain, some of the Nie ancestors had bound a spirit to protect a weapon of great power. But the spirit would only allow its power to be used by someone worthy, and more than one generation had tried to use the spirit only to find themselves deemed unworthy, until the cavern where the spirit lived had been bricked up entirely.

Huaisang wasn't clear on why they needed to brick the spirit's cavern up like that, since it wasn't doing anything (it seemed like the whole problem was that it kept refusing to do anything), and he also couldn't imagine that there was any chance that he (the disappointment of his sect) would succeed at a measurement where his ancestors had failed. But maybe the spirit just really didn't like unyielding muscle-bound swordmen. Huaisang could be remarkably persuasive. And anyway, now he was curious.

The location of the spirit's cavern was quite straightforward, off a certain storage chamber, so it only took a pair of workmen a couple of hours to open the wall.

Huaisang went in alone, dismissing the workmen and telling his attendant to wait outside. He trusted his attendants, and knew that Toutong would worry, but if there was something dangerous in here, Huaisang didn't want anyone else put at risk for his curiosity. He'd learned that lesson once before.

The chamber was a simple round cave, with an intricate carved pattern on the floor made up of sigils that Huaisang didn't recognize. At the center was a short pillar with a little jade statuette.

Huaisang strode up to it, only a little bit wary, and picked up the statuette. It was solid jade, heavy in his hand and larger than both his fists together (not that he had particularly large hands). "Tiangou," he murmured, recognizing the stylized carving as representative of a monstrous dog-spirit. He tapped the little statuette on its nose, wondering why the eyes had been painted with some old and flaking red-brown paint.

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Huaisang squeaks in fear and winces as Dieke pounces at him. What control he had gotten over his nerves fractures as the creature comes close, but he doesn't try to flee, just freezes in place and starts trembling. He knows he probably can't escape, and has no hope of fighting back, but he also doesn't understand why the situation has so suddenly shifted. They'd been getting along nicely, and now this. Whatever this is. Huaisang whimpers, eyes starting to fill with frightened tears.

The demon grabs the fabric of Huaisang's collar, but doesn't end up having to drag him anywhere, as the other resists the urge to flee. So, the hold is there mostly just to keep him in one spot and prevent him from flinching away.

He holds him still so he can repeat the first thing he'd done back down in that cave--leer close to his face and neck, breathing in the other man's scent. Taking several long moments to be absolutely sure about what he's smelling, this time.

As he'd noticed before, this "summoner" smells weird. It's wrong, and now he knows why.

After a minute or two of bullying, the demon slowly looses his grip and moves back to his side of the table... chuckling to himself. Really, he has a good little laugh over it.

He's not devoured, or even hurt. The creature is just sniffing him again, breathing him in deeply. Huaisang pouts as he's released, giving his new pet a sulky little glare. "Well," he huffs, flushed and still spooked from whatever that was. He thought that he had control of the situation, that they were negotiating to some degree, but the demon clearly wanted to remind him that Huaisang had no control at all that wasn't for the demon's amusement. "That's no way to behave if you wanted to be spoiled."

Just as the demon is deciding what to do with the fact that his leash might be looser now than he has ever experienced before, his false master makes that comment. It makes him laugh.

It's not a mocking sound, though. Huaisang's sulky admonishment is a little more ballsy than he'd expected to hear from the man, and... honestly, he finds it kind of adorable.

It earns Huaisang some points that are probably very important for the demon deciding to hang around--at least for a little bit--instead of leaping right off the balcony and bolting for freedom. He holds up his hands in an apologetic gesture, then lowers them to steal a piece of meat off the dish with his fingers.

He's still grinning. "Sorry. I just get excited sometimes, you know?"

The demon is lying, but Huaisang doesn't have the first clue what he's lying about or why. "Oh?" he asks, archly, cheeks still flushed as he tries to recover his composure. He's lost his appetite, so he just refills his cup of liquor and sips at it, still sulky and skittish as he watches his dangerous guest. "And what were you excited about?"

Yeah, it's decided. That sulky expression on Huaisang is cute.

Like a dog ducking down into a play-bow, the demon's grin grows as he folds his arms on the table and rests his chin down, peering up at his pseudo-master with a horrible little playful expression. As if he himself is trying to look small and cute while knowing full well that he can't.

He's just playing. Everything is a joke now.

"I'm excited because I decided you smell good. I think this will be a good vacation."

'Vacation' strikes him as a strange choice of phrase for this, but he supposes it makes sense. Wherever Dieke was before coming here, whether in the cave or in the statuette or another realm entirely, this is now a more pleasant place to be.

"Hm," he responds, brow furrowed a little as he thinks. "Fine. You're to be my bodyguard for now, and we'll see about keeping you spoiled and entertained. I'll give you some rooms of your own. You're not to go wandering without asking permission, in case I need you, and you're not to harm any of my people. You may ask any of the servants for food or drink whenever you wish. Try not to destroy anything without confirming with me whether it's something that's okay to destroy. Would you rather have rooms that are colder and airier or rooms that are warmer and cozy? Both will have balconies with a view." He's noticed already that Dieke runs hot, so he's not sure what will make his demon more comfortable.

He keeps his chin resting down on his arms while Huaisang outlines the terms, grinning manically but attentive. How could he not grin at a description of exactly how lavish this trip to the mortal plane might turn out to be? And he didn't even have to do any conniving or convincing for it!

Finally, Huaisang ends on that question. The demon chuckles shortly.

"Is one option any less flammable than the other?"

"Hm," Huaisang says, flattening his lips as he thinks about that. After a moment he shrugs and looks to his poor attendant, who looks like he has several opinions that he very much wants to express. "Go and see to it, Toutong. Something near me."

The expression his attendant gives him is very nearly a glare, which Huaisang knows perfectly well is only a cover for his worry over Huaisang's safety. He knows he's being reckless, but he's not sure what else he can do, at this point. None of this is going as expected, and now it seems like his options are either to try and contain or defeat or drive off the demon--all of which seems likely to get some of his people killed in one way or the other--or to control the demon. And Huaisang has long since learned that the best way to control people is to find out what they want and then give that to them. He makes people like him, and then they do whatever he asks. It's always worked out well for him.

"What else?" he asks, refilling his cup yet again. He's starting to feel the liquor now, a looseness in his body and a blurring of his nerves, blunting the edge of his fear. "Have I forgotten anything?"

For a hedonistic demon, it's a very good way to convince him into playing nice. If he'd had a tail in that moment, it would be wagging.

Instead, he continues to grin and watch the details of his keeper's face while the man thinks and deliberates and orders his attendant around. Finally, he elbows himself more upright so he can join him in sipping his liquor.

Reaching the end of his cup, he nudges it toward Huaisang for a refill.

"...How about we add 'exploring together as new friends' onto the list? I get restless if I stay in one place too long, you know? And I'm sure you'd rather keep me company while I stretch my legs than leave me on my own, right?"

Huaisang nods his agreement to this, refilling the cup since his pet is at least behaving (mostly) again. "Yes, you'll travel with me, and I do travel rather frequently to the other sects. I'm closely allied with all of them, and that involves a lot of time and travel. And we can certainly see about some excursions along the way. My sect has grown weaker over the years, but there are always resentful spirits and monsters that need to be dealt with, so we can do some travel to manage that sort of thing as well. We probably won't be here more than five days out of the month, so there will be plenty of exploring for you to do."

He mulls over his own cup for a moment, thinking about what else is important. "Oh, you're to obey or at least cooperate with all my attendants and soldiers on any immediate issue--move, wait, attack, leave that alone, that sort of thing. Anything non-immediate I don't expect you to obey anyone other than me."

New excitement dawns over his face as Huaisang describes a much more mobile assignment than he'd originally been expecting. Maybe he won't end up feeling like a domesticated dog after all.

More than all of the other things that Huaisang has dangled in front of him, the thought of getting to explore and experience what this plane has to offer clearly wins out as the demon's very favorite thing in the world. It's something that his new master will easily be able to use as leverage.

Tempt the dog with a potential trip to the park, and he'll do whatever you want.

--However, the mention of there being more people for him to obey does seem to dampen his mood somewhat. His grin almost turns into a pout.

"Ugh... I guess. Sure."

The pout is cute, and Huaisang has to try and contain an amused smile. It makes the creature seem more personable, makes it easier to see that he's a handsome man despite his fearsome traits.

But that's a dangerous train of thought, for now, no matter how lonely Huaisang might be. The demon has proved itself dangerous and volatile, and Huaisang doesn't have much reason to trust that he'll obey the rules laid out. He wants a little more certainty that the demon will keep up its end of any bargain before he starts offering any more of his own vulnerability.

"Good boy," Huaisang murmurs, hoping he hasn't misjudged the amount to which his new pet should and shouldn't be treated like a dog. If praise doesn't work to reinforce his loyalty, keeping him in line is going to be much harder.

Rising to his feet, Huaisang heads back over to the balcony. Toutong hasn't returned to inform them that the room is ready, so Huaisang supposes it's best to stay put. He can start getting Dieke acquainted with the city. Beckoning his pet to come to his side, Huaisang starts pointing out landmarks, shops, barracks, blacksmiths.

There's no way to tell how reliable the demon will be when issued orders in times of stress, but for now, the light praise and simple beckoning are easily successful. Huaisang hardly has to gesture before the demon downs the rest of his drink, stuffs one more piece of food into his maw, and hops up to follow.

As he leans against the railing at his keeper's side, his ears are attentively perked, focus honed in on each locale that is pointed out to him. Absorbing the information without distraction. It's a good sign that he is in fact capable of falling into "work mode," like a well-trained hound should be able to do. However, the question remains whether or not he will do so whenever his keeper asks.

Not long after, Huaisang's attendant returns, his worried look only slightly easing when he sees Huaisang unharmed. He knows very well that keeping Huaisang alive and mostly out of trouble will continue to be a full-time job. Which is only a little more complicated with the addition of some kind of dog demon. "Sect Leader."

Huaisang smiles as he turns, taking in Toutong's expression at a glance to know that his task is done and there's no new emergency to worry about.

"All right, come on Dieke," Huaisang murmurs, turning and following Toutong up some more stairs. After the rest and food, he can manage a few more flights without complaint, since they're at least already most of the way up. Near the highest levels of the palace, there's a pleasant little hall set apart from the rest, on a high rocky ledge that juts out from the mountainside with a short stair leading up to it. Isolated enough from the rest, Huaisang notes, that a fire wouldn't quickly jump, and it's set on pure rock rather than amidst trees like some of the other halls. The doors are open and a fire is lit, cozy inside with a balcony wrapping around to gaze out across the windy mountainside. The hall is one large room, with sliding doors that close off certain areas to provide privacy as desired, and a sizable bed with red and brown silks.

"Very nice," Huaisang comments approvingly, with a nod to Toutong. "Do you like it, Dieke?"

Edited (ongoing inability to close html tags) 2023-10-14 03:21 (UTC)

"--Oh! For me?" The possibility hadn't crossed his mind until that question. He'd just been grinning to himself and gazing around in simple admiration, so it had taken a hanging moment or two for him to realize what Huaisang was actually asking.

This place is meant for him?

Before Huaisang can actually answer, the demon is already moving forward, flame-flickering down into the shape of the Hound to better explore the room with. Nose to the ground and tail wagging with excitement, he lopes into the space to happily smell everything.

"Yes. We did agree on me spoiling you, after all. A being and bodyguard as exceptional as you are should certainly have an exceptional room."

He lets Dieke explore for a bit, watching him for a moment and then wandering to the back of the room, where the door opens out onto the steep rocky slope of the mountain. There's a pool there, where the hot spring water arises from the ground. There are several hot springs that pop up around the mountain. The main pool steams heavily, but it's diverted to several smaller pools, one near Dieke's new residence, and another channel that Huaisang's pretty sure leads directly to his own private hot spring pool. The water's still hot when it gets there, so he knows better than to touch the steaming water in the main pool.

"There's a hot spring back here," he comments to Dieke, not expecting him to finish his exploring just yet but wanting him to know it's included. "Part of it is very hot."

Sounding something like a happy pony, the demon's footsteps gallop across the room until he's bounding out to join Huaisang. Tail wagging with excitement, he approaches the nearest pool first, happily breathing in the warmth and tang of minerals in the air.

Water is not exactly his favorite thing in the world, but steamy baths are an exception. Submerging in something like that would feel a lot less like he's being extinguished than it normally would.

Then, at the warning about the main pool, the Hound's ears perk up. He glances back at his keeper for a moment... before giving him the open-jawed, tongue-lolling, canine version of a grin. A moment later, he's loping off to check out that main pool, and can already tell that it feels a little more like Home, even from here.

Huaisang strolls after him, though he keeps his distance from the main pool, not wanting to risk so much as getting splashed by the scorching hot water. It's nice to watch Dieke's joy, though, since he's far less intimidating when he's having fun. Especially when that fun isn't quite so alarmingly targeted at Huaisang as the sniffing earlier. He's also glad that his new hound does seem to like the hot springs, since Huaisang was a little bit concerned about how difficult it might be to get him to bathe.

"Go on and wash up a bit," Huaisang encourages. "I'll bring you a cake of soap, and then we'll get you some fresh clothes." He nods to Toutong to take care of the latter, though he goes himself back to the hall to pick up some soap and a rag, bringing them to set down as near as he dares to get to the edge of the main pool. The main pool is almost entirely naturally, which means that it's very deep and not especially wide, disappearing into twists and turns of the cave far below, though the water pressure streaming upward would make exploration difficult or impossible.

It's almost as if the water is roiling up from Hell itself, so the demon gets much more playful than he normally would in any body of water. Paddling around, diving under the surface, just having fun splashing all by himself while Huaisang steps away.

When Huaisang returns, the hound hauls himself out of the water so he can meet him halfway and curiously sniff the cake of soap. Heat and steam rolls off the hound's fur in the open air, and Huaisang is lucky that he doesn't shake himself off and cover the man with splatters of scalding water.

"It's soap. You know what soap is, right?" Huaisang regards him a little warily, worried about getting burnt or scalded from touching him. "We'll get you some new clothes once you're cleaned up."

The demon clothes he was wearing aren't unattractive, but Huaisang does find them very strange and thinks it will be better if he fits in as much as possible.

The demon can't exactly answer while in this form, so in a flicker of light and heat, he's shaped like a man again. Skin still steaming from the hot spring, he's crouched there to look at the cake of soap, wearing a funny grin on his face.

"--Of course I know what soap is. I've just never used it before, you know? I've never needed to."

He picks up the soap with such curiosity. Holding it and turning it in his hands, looking at it as if it's a complete novelty.

Huaisang blushes as the demon changes back into human form, crouched down over the soap like that. He unfurls his fan again to hide his blush, though he at least doesn't retreat any further. "You just ... rub it over your skin to slough off any dirt and oils that have accumulated. There's a different process for washing the hair on your head, but we can go into that later. I can help you with that part."

He's more than happy to wash and play with hair. Washing other parts of Dieke, however, is an intimidating prospect.

His grin widens when he catches hints of that blush and the suggestion that Huaisang help him with washing his hair. It's a sneaking, playful expression. He's trying to keep it from looking like he's about to pounce on him and eat him up, but that's always been difficult for him.

"I have another way of getting clean, but this sounds kinda fun."

"Does the other way involve cleansing by fire? Because I suppose that would work, but I'd rather you didn't get soot on your new clothes." Huaisang bites at his lower lip, not sure what to insist on or encourage, since he doesn't think Dieke is all that dirty, necessarily, he'd just wanted to show him the pools. "Go on and try it."

The Littlest Nie Heir

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Sorry I was gone from this for so long!

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