empressliu | open post: Empress Liu Mingyan

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open post: Empress Liu Mingyan

Liu Mingyan has a lot on her mind.

In the three months since Luo Binghe vanished into thin air, Xin Mo abandoned at the foot of his throne, his Empire—her Empire—has... changed. The throne remains empty, of course—to have anyone else claim it, even temporarily, would be conceding that his absence is unintentional, either accidental or, more likely, a malicious coup. Whoever did the claiming would be the prime suspect for mal intent, including Mingyan herself. So it sits, empty, at the center of his great hall, Mobei-Jun standing sentinel beside it, never to be looked at directly by any visiting dignitary or sniveling demonic petitioner.

She's been redirecting all audiences to her wing of the palace instead. Her hall is not quite so grand, but it is nearly as imposing, and her own throne no less terrible and beautiful. When Luo Binghe is in residence, she primarily uses this hall for meetings with her network of all-female spies—not because Luo Binghe doesn't know about them, in his vague and uninterested way, but because Liu Mingyan has learned from experience that if they encounter him they turn very quickly from useful and competent agents to fawning and lovestruck young maidens, and then it's only a matter of time before they join the ranks of the harem. Liu Mingyan does not resent this; there would be no point. But she prefers to conduct her business in private nonetheless.

Now, of course, even from her own throne many of her edicts must be delivered as if they're orders that Luo Binghe left for her to give. Ning Yingying has been surprisingly useful on this front; despite Liu Mingyan's disdain for what she believed a naive and trusting heart who had given up her sect loyalty to marry for love, Ning Yinging does know Luo Binghe, perhaps better even than Liu Mingyan does, offering insight into what Luo Binghe would have said, if he had in fact instructed Mingyan on how to handle this matter. Liu Mingyan does not always take this advice—she does not always want to do what Luo Binghe would have done, especially as his absence stretches from days into weeks into months, but she does not resent it, either.

In truth, what Liu Mingyan resents is the idea that Luo Binghe will return, and she will be expected to relinquish rule back to him, and everything she has built—the tenuous and confusing peace between herself and Sha Hualing, and thus the quelling of the constant threat of southern rebellion; the ease with which she receives the other wives and soothes their fears, rather than holding herself above them;¹ the shifted tenor of court itself, with fewer public displays of violence²—all of it will go back to normal, and Liu Mingyan finds she has less taste for normal every day. It's not that she doesn't want Luo Binghe to return—of course she does—but she wishes that somehow he might return different. It's a futile thought, and a disloyal one to think about a man who created this life for her, a man she cares deeply about, but she cannot deny that she thinks it.

So when she steps down a secret stairway into a corridor that should lead to her chambers and ends up in an unfamiliar hallway instead—the light entirely wrong, the architecture unfamiliar—her first thoughts are uncharitable. It seems obvious that this is the same trap that ensnared Luo Binghe. It also seems unfair to make her the one to bring him home, and be the agent of her own undoing. She'll do it—he is her husband, and while that doesn't mean the same thing to her as it does many of his wives, it does mean something significant, as undeniable as it is ill-defined—and her Emperor. But—

She sets her jaw behind her veil and wraps her fingers around Cheng Luan's hilt, proceeding silently down the hallway.

[NSFW: Susan's thread, Janet's thread]

¹ Well, sometimes she's still above them. If you know what I mean.
² Not that there has been no violence—it's just generally conducted elsewhere. Her floors are harder to clean than Luo Binghe's.

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Well, here's a woman clearly familiar with wielding authority! Susan takes in the veil and the sword, and then takes a step back so she can get a better look.

"You're new," she observes and then - nothing ventured, et cetera; it's a good day: "I'd remember if I'd seen you before."

Liu Mingyan looks her over, not bothering to be subtle about it—one of the many advantages to wearing a veil is it draws attention to her eyes, and the movements thereof—and inclines her head. This woman dressed strangely, but it suits her beauty, and there is nothing overtly threatening in her bearing. She relaxes, a little, and lets a smile touch her aforementioned eyes. "A sentiment I share." She sweeps into a graceful bow. "My name is Liu Mingyan."

It's a greeting and also a test; one can learn much from how someone reacts upon learning they are in the presence of the Empress.

"Liu Mingyan," Susan says. The name means nothing to her, of course, but the woman's bearing is familiar. She curtsies, precisely as deeply as one queen might curtsy to another. "Well met. I'm Susan Pevensie. Do let me know if I can be of any -" She pauses here, and tilts her head to one side. "- Service."

Liu Mingyan raises one delicate eyebrow, noting the tenor of the curtsey as well as its unusual form—and, of course, the clear flirtation in Susan's words. She's not unused to such a welcome, but she'd hardly expected to find it here. "Perhaps we might start with a tour?" she suggests, lightly. "As you note, I am new to this... house." This last with some dubiousness.

"Of course," says Susan, graciously. She draws herself up and gestures down the hallway. "There's a table with information, but nobody has managed to create a useful map yet." She knows; she's been trying during her attempts to inventory the Mansion's supplies. "Do you have any particular interests or needs? We can begin the tour accordingly."

Liu Mingyan considers this. She does have both particular interests and particular needs; her interests now include seeing where further flirtation with Susan might lead; her need, however, is concerned with finding Luo Binghe and bringing him home. But—it's not as if she fears for his safety, here, or for that matter anywhere. Presumably he has already set himself up to rule this place, and seeking an audience with him would be the fast-track out.

She feels that same resentment and resistance to the thought. Perhaps, if she indulges in her selfish interest, her inevitable return with Luo Binghe to their world will feel more sweet than bitter—a return after satisfaction won, rather than the completion of a tiresome chore.

She drifts a little closer to Susan, cocking her head. "I would prefer to see it through your eyes over my own," she says. "Show me the places you enjoy most?"

Edited 2023-12-13 18:24 (UTC)

Susan cares more for the people than for the places here. Idly, she considers taking Liu Mingyan to the Jacuzzi - that certainly was a revelation! - but instead decides to start with the cafe. "I've just the thing," she says, and offers Liu Mingyan her arm.

Liu Mingyan lays her fingertips atop Susan's arm, delicate but in no way hesitant, and allows herself to be lead down the corridor. The touch also allows her to better assess Susan's spiritual power, and she is slightly surprised to find her completely human, with no spiritual core. She'd thought from the easy authority that Susan would be a cultivator of some promise; the fact that she isn't makes her more intriguing. "Is this your home?"

"Oh, hardly," Susan says. Since she's flirting, it's easy enough to call a light little laugh. "I don't believe it belongs to anyone. We've all just... ended up here. There's plenty of resources for everyone, though; I've been taking inventory."

Liu Mingyan considers this information. An odd place between worlds, where strangers are pulled in together, and food is endless... this is clearly a dream bubble of some kind. It would explain Susan's immediate interest, as well; the other wives have told Liu Mingyan of dreams they'd been captured by, where they fall into bed with other women only for Luo Binghe to arrive and take pleasure in them both before freeing them from the dream's confines.

This—dampens her desire somewhat, though not entirely. She and Luo Binghe have no physical relationship, and she has no intention of changing that. He knows she cultivates a virginal path¹, so if he does come upon them in the course of things she will simply leave.

It must be a very complicated dream, to have kept Luo Binghe away so long—and to have swallowed him so completely, physical body and all. Unless his body is elsewhere, sleeping, as he works through the requisite trials here? But then, where? It is certainly nowhere in his Palace, and nowhere her spies have been able to search.

Still—she is walking with a beautiful woman, who clearly treats this place as real, and it would behoove her to meet her on that level. "There are resources enough, even as the population grows?" she asks. "That seems an unlikely thing, unless someone has established favorable trade with local farmers, and that seems an unlikely thing in a house with no master."

¹ Sex with women doesn't count, obviously.

"There is a queer magic here," says Susan. "Some of the cupboards yield different items every time you open them. Often it's what you're looking for, but sometimes it's not." A little crossly, she clarifies: "I've been trying to find a bow for over a week now, to no avail. The gardens are vast, and we've residents who enjoy the gardening, but I believe the source of the food to be largely magical as well. We haven't got a terribly large number of new arrivals recently, so I haven't been able to reliably determine whether the volume scales accordingly." There've been a number of new people today, but all - she suspects - like Lucy: only here for a short visit. "But it is always fresh, and plentiful."

She glances up at Liu Mingyan. There's not a lot she can see of the woman's face, but she thinks she might recognize the look in her eyes. "If you're thinking this might be a dream, you'd be forgiven for it," she adds. "I thought the same when I first arrived. But it's all quite real."

Liu Mingyan blinks. "Either my thoughts are more transparent than I am used to, or you are as insightful as you are beautiful," she says, amused. "Perhaps both. I will prevail upon your forgiveness for my doubt—it's only that much of my day is spent on the business of import and export, on negotiating with suppliers for this or that foodstuff for this or that ceremonial feast." Weddings, especially. An inordinate number of weddings. "I find myself... dizzied at the idea of how much time I would have if it were not."

"It really does leave a woman at loose ends," Susan agrees. She hesitates. "Do you know if you're here for good, or just for the day?"

Liu Mingyan raises her eyebrows. It's an odd way to put it; as if it were not her choice which it was, but up to some caprice of fate. A realization makes her steps pause. She turns to Susan and touches her chin, searching her eyes, her own face gone serious. "Susan. Are you a prisoner here?"

Susan gives Liu Mingyan an assessing look. "In a manner of speaking," she says, frank. "But likely not the one you're imagining. I'd thought everyone here stuck, unable to return - some of the others certainly gripe about it! - but due to the odd magics, not due to any captor. Personally, I have stopped minding it so much: there is a mystery to unpick, and the people here have their charms. Recently, my sister came and said she was granted a single day's window to stay, so I suspect there are some few others who are also just here for the moment." She hesitates. "Are you here to see anyone in particular? That may clarify some things."

Liu Mingyan gives her face one last searching look, then—reluctantly—releases her chin. "I seek Luo Binghe, eventually," she says. She checks over her shoulder; at the end of the corridor, she can still see the winding steps leading up to her audience hall. "And I can see my exit. I assume you cannot?"

Objectively, this is fascinating. Susan looks in the same direction Liu Mingyan is facing. "All I see is a window," she says. But she's pretty sure - "Luo Binghe is here. I'm afraid I don't know him very well, but we have met."

This makes Liu Mingyan look at her sharply in an entirely new way. She is as beautiful as she is, and has met Luo Binghe, and yet speaks of him perfectly neutrally, with no lie in her voice or eye, as if it meant nothing to her—as if they hadn't even slept together.

"I see," she says, and files this away to be puzzled over later. She sighs, lightly. "It appears I am here for a day, then. A shame, to have such limited time."

"It is a shame," says Susan, but she's looking at Liu Mingyan with renewed interest. The worst thing about this place is that you might run into former assignations anywhere! Luckily she hasn't had any that she regrets, but still. The place and its population are both small.

She hasn't been so openly bold with a woman right off the bat before, but she's still riding the high of reconciling with her sister. And if Liu Mingyan is truly not going to stay, there's really no downside to continuing her overtures! "I should have liked more time to get to know you."

Liu Mingyan nods at this, and gently takes both of Susan's hands in hers, turning them over as if examining them for something. "I suppose," she says, raising an eyebrow, "we must make good use of the time we have."

Susan hesitates for the barest of moments. "I'd thought to show you the cafe first on your tour," she says, and clarifies: "A gathering-space of sorts. Food, drink, broader companionship... but I am equally happy to show you my rooms. So far I have enjoyed these spaces equally."

Liu Mingyan lets go of one of her hands to tuck a strand of hair behind Susan's ear. "If you wish broader company, we can find some," she says, "but I admit I will find it difficult to give anyone but you my full attention."

Edited 2023-12-15 12:42 (UTC)

Susan lets her eyelashes flutter at the touch; she smiles up at Liu Mingyan flirtatiously. "In that case," she says, "we shall have to double back." And she starts to lead Liu Mingyan back the way they came, toward her rooms.

"Would that I could take you to my own chambers," Liu Mingyan muses, "arrayed with all the wonders of the three realms. There are silks there whose threads are spun by spiders so small a thousand of them fit in a single drop of water,¹ necklaces hung with gems that form only in the deepest fissures of the Endless Abyss. So red they put burning coals to shame; so black they swallow light rather than reflect it."

¹ Yes, this typist knows spiders don't spin silk. The question is, does Airplane?

"Doesn't that sound luxurious!" Susan exclaims. "I'm afraid my rooms here are ever so rustic in comparison. They're comfortable, though. I've got the essentials."

Her rooms aren't terribly far off, and soon enough, they're at the door. Susan opens it with an ironic little flourish.

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