Note, 31% of the [Voice of Lust]’s commentary has been muted in order to facilitate ease of reading and because it servednmo narrative purpose.
The remaining 69% has been deemed, and I quote,"too funny to remove".
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reading.
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(Un)fortunately for Zhen Liu, Zhen Xing hadn’t bitched out on purpose as he had initially believed. In reality, the dumbass had somehow fallen asleep in the middle of a bath the night before and had caught a wickedly bad cold. Therefore, Zhen Liu was the one to go see Bellona next.
Zhen Liu had initially looked forward to punching Zhen Xing in the face for being a bitch, but refrained against doing so once he had learned the latter had gotten sick.
This was partially due to it not being cool to punch a sick guy, but also because he didn’t want to catch whatever Zhen Xing had caught.
The fact that there were common diseases that could affect basically magical super warriors, was both reassuring and disturbing to Zhen Liu. Reassuring because it made the magical super power warrior thing more "human", disturbing because this had implications there were probably diseases that could wreck higher graded people.
’I sincerely hope this world doesn’t have...phoenix flu? Ivory Plague?...Supernovavirus.’
[Ya know Maestro, I think this is the nicest I’ve seen you dress in my entire life,] Hurricroak interjected, derailing Zhen Liu’s train of thought. That said, he was mildly amused at the comment.
’Hurricroak, you’ve only been alive for about a week.’
[My statement still stands.]
[She’s not wrong,] Nepherage added. [Most of the time you’re either wearing training clothes or fighting clothes. This is the second time we’ve seen you wear fancy clothes.]
Zhen Liu was actually dressed rather nicely for the occasion. It was a three piece suit done in the Stampeding Bison style (read: Western), a marked difference from his Roaring Tide style clothes(look up ao dai men). The only thing about this outfit that made Zhen Liu feel a little weird, was the fact that Jin Fang was the one to pick it out for him...and dress him.
After being informed that he his date[of emotional execution] was moved up, his mother had Jin Fang immediately, and literally, pick his ass up and change him within the span of a few minutes. He also wasn’t entirely sure, but his underwear might have gotten swapped in that flurry as well; he wasn’t sure why though. {SHE. WAS. SMELLING THEM.}
Zhen Liu was initially going to protest, since he was dating Jin Fang and it felt wrong to essentially cheat on her, but never got a chance to do so when Jin Fang kissed him and wished him luck on his date. It was all very confusing.
’I am aware of the former but the latter is weird... to me at least. I’m more used to the idea of "one true love" and all that jazz. I was raised on that’
’I see it, I see it.’
The initial plan for today was that Zhen Xing was to meet Bellona at Granite Plaza, one of the four main plazas in Stone Claw City and go from there.
As Zhen Liu arrived to the plaza, he saw the young mistress of Ecaredies already waiting at the intended meeting spot.
’Oh fuck me. I’m not late right?,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself.
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’So I’m meeting with Zhen Xing today? Hmmm.’
Bellona’s impression of the Zhen Clan young men so far was not so great. For the most part, the men she was meeting had already matched her initial impressions of them.
Zhen Hai was about as stiff as a brick with the mannerisms of more akin to a ruffian than a young master. How he had managed to charm that Telana girl, she had no idea.
Zhen Guo was about as vain as he was pretty. Credit where credit was due in terms of physical attractiveness, she just wished there was a bit more to the pretty package.
But above all of that, they were both just so...boring. She’d probably have given their quirks if they were at least mentally complex to read, but so far, nothing.
’Zhen Xing was another one of the "rude" ones from what I recall. But unlike Zhen Hai, who was just oblivious, this one seemed more willfully-"
/Oh fuck me{please}, am I late?/
’Wait. Those aren’t Zhen Xing’s thoughts.’
Bellona stopped her train of thought and turned about to see where this source of voices was. As her eyes landed on a somewhat familiar face in a new modern styles suit, a conversation of sorts began to play out in her head.
[Why...is she....early?,] a deep rumbling voice asked.
[Oooh! I bet she showed up early to try and mess with the Maestro’s cousin!,] a melodic yet croaking voice answered.
[Okay, but why though?,] a confident sounding voice asked.
[Oh please,] the croaking voice answered once more, [haven’t you heard of the phrase "tease the ones you love?" It’s like that one comic about the girl who teases their, what’s the word, "senpai"?]
/Why do you know that word?!/ {Call me that in bed.}
Bellona had kept her eyes firmly locked on the approaching Zhen Liu and had heard basically that entire interaction from start to finish. What made it interesting to her however, was the fact that the young man, despite sounding animatic and a bit mad in his mind, seemed utterly calm and focused on the surface. It was contradictory, but... interesting.
"Good afternoon Miss Ecaredies. I do hope you haven’t been waiting too long."
<"I do hope-" who are you, Mr. Darcy?>
/Shut up, it felt appropriate and we’re going to have a serious conversation about how much of my brain you have access to./{How deep inside are you?}
Bellona was about to provide greetings in return, but was forced to stifle a laugh instead.
’Well then! I think this afternoon will be more interesting than anticipated!’
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