[Blue has snapped and sent a picture of the clinic, the edges framed with people bustling about--carrying supplies and tending to patients laid out on cots. But the patient in center focus is one familiar to Di Feisheng: An unconscious Li Lianhua deposited on a cot, looking less than well and being fussed over by some unknown helper.]
[The image comes first, without caption. Another message follows a few seconds later:]
A delivery for you. Feel free to retrieve it at your leisure.
[If Iris thinks this is going to cause any kind of relevant consternation in him, relevant to her, that would be an unusually foolish assumption for her. Being so arch is wasted on him, preceded as the flippancy is by a picture that is anything but; now is not the time for the Why's She Like That puzzle except as it pertains to this less than enlightening picture. If he weren't competent at texting on the move she would likely be disappointed by the lack of engagement, but luckily for all he can multitask where delegation isn't an option, though he's likely to be on site anyway before he can get any real information.]
[It's a good thing then that she has none of that on her mind. Being so radically removed from her senses for several days has left both her attitude and humor in a poor state, the flippancy less directed at Di Feisheng himself and more at the irritation of finding a half-dead lotus in the hands of a latent psychopath. The least this awful man can do is keep it together when she's not of a mind to needle him about it.]
Delivery. The supply or provision of something to its proper recipient. My apologies for the lack of gift wrap; the arrangement was made on short notice.
I wasn't given many details. "Became ill" is hardly the explanation that you're looking for, I imagine.
[The least that awful man can do is a bar that can only be cleared in hell. Still, she isn't wrong, that explanation stinks to heaven, which is also where he directs a quick eyeroll. But it's not her fault, the lunatic is working according to her nature, so being frustrated is on him. No doubt this has been a very trying time for apothecary apprentices everywhere and he should mind his manners.]
Aren't you a professional? Who found him?
[He doesn't have a lot of native faith in any clinic, but that's probably the best he can hope for in the absence of real professionals. That doesn't mean he can't demand answers elsewhere, regardless of how unlikely that is to help. Old habits, etc.]
My profession is making and administering medicine, not diagnosing internal injuries under mysterious circumstances.
[And especially not with a liar for a patient and a liar for a witness. That's a lot of Not Her Problem.]
[The second question brings a slight delay to her texts. Given Akechi's nature, he won't want to be further contacted about this or have inquiries directed to him. On the other hand, Di Feisheng is unlikely to accept a non-answer gracefully... And ultimately she likes him better than Akechi anyway.]
I have to assume the boy Akechi found him. He was the one who contacted me. Network handle is the same as his name, though you're unlikely to get more out of him than I did. Try not to intimidate him too much.
I do recall him saying something strange, though... Does your lotus have healing abilities?
[But why were the circumstances mysterious? She couldn't ask? This Akechi he shouldn't intimidate too much wouldn't answer? Nevermind that the last question she asks falls just under having all his tendons broken for its ability to inspire dread, or maybe that's just a twinge of sense memory. Like hell 'his lotus' does. And yet.
The circumstances may not be so mysterious after all, is the bitter and shocking takeaway.]
[A lie, like an alibi? Or just the kind of thing that seems endemic here? If she doesn't even want him intimidated, she surely wouldn't even imply the former. Then again, she may well be beyond caring overmuch at this point, to do any such calculations, and underneath all his ragged fear and too-familiar frustration he can recognize she doesn't owe him anything here. To say nothing of how little she owes Li Lianhua. He should probably take this as a courtesy, and not antagonism, despite himself.
Even his real subordinates couldn't quite be threatened into working miracles, after all. And the only truth he knows is which of the two is more likely to be dishonest, regardless of what she knows of the boy.]
[A debt is the last thing she wants to be owed right now, whether he means it or not. Does she care whether Li Lianhua was hiding healing abilities? Not really. She files the information away that Akechi might have been truthful, but otherwise she has too much else on her mind.]
[A second later, she changes it.]
Actually, if you see Black Cat while you're out, let me know. His house was empty when I went to check on him. I can't find him anywhere.
[Not nearly the whole truth of the situation, but it's as much as she can explain.]
[She really must be out of sorts. He would be more curious about the specifics, if things were less dire on his side of things. What he even hopes to do, what he thinks he can hold onto tooth and nail just with his applied presence (and none of the ability that used to go with it) is not a consideration. Just the insistence that this time will be different (he always wants it to be different). Whatever wounds or disruptions she's holding will have to remain her own affair. He is distantly surprised to find himself not unregretful.
Her second message only confirms there's something off, something significant. A missing Cat would explain some of it, maybe all? How could he know. Of course he means it. Being reassuring is unfortunately not his purview, even at better times than these.]
He seems cunning enough to stay hidden, but I'll keep my eyes open.
He could stand to be less cunning right now. Or more.
[Not enough to hide from her... or enough that she hadn't found him to begin with. She still isn't sure how that happened. She was barely conscious of her actions, and her memory of it is likewise blurry and fading. She only remembers teeth and fur, thorns and blood... And then very suddenly, him.]
[She really shouldn't say more than that right now. She just needs to focus on finding Cat. And Di Feisheng will have his own bundle to take care of. She shouldn't keep him.]
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[During the April Intense Event]
[The image comes first, without caption. Another message follows a few seconds later:]
A delivery for you. Feel free to retrieve it at your leisure.
no subject
What do you mean, delivery? What happened?
no subject
Delivery. The supply or provision of something to its proper recipient. My apologies for the lack of gift wrap; the arrangement was made on short notice.
I wasn't given many details. "Became ill" is hardly the explanation that you're looking for, I imagine.
no subject
Aren't you a professional? Who found him?
[He doesn't have a lot of native faith in any clinic, but that's probably the best he can hope for in the absence of real professionals. That doesn't mean he can't demand answers elsewhere, regardless of how unlikely that is to help. Old habits, etc.]
no subject
[And especially not with a liar for a patient and a liar for a witness. That's a lot of Not Her Problem.]
[The second question brings a slight delay to her texts. Given Akechi's nature, he won't want to be further contacted about this or have inquiries directed to him. On the other hand, Di Feisheng is unlikely to accept a non-answer gracefully... And ultimately she likes him better than Akechi anyway.]
I have to assume the boy Akechi found him. He was the one who contacted me. Network handle is the same as his name, though you're unlikely to get more out of him than I did. Try not to intimidate him too much.
I do recall him saying something strange, though... Does your lotus have healing abilities?
no subject
The circumstances may not be so mysterious after all, is the bitter and shocking takeaway.]
Not here, he doesn't. Tell me or don't.
no subject
The boy said he used healing abilities, then collapsed. I took it as a lie. If anyone would know the truth of it, it would be you.
Regardless, he was nearly dead when I arrived. I didn't demand unnecessary details.
no subject
Even his real subordinates couldn't quite be threatened into working miracles, after all. And the only truth he knows is which of the two is more likely to be dishonest, regardless of what she knows of the boy.]
I'm in your debt. It may not have been a lie.
no subject
[A debt is the last thing she wants to be owed right now, whether he means it or not. Does she care whether Li Lianhua was hiding healing abilities? Not really. She files the information away that Akechi might have been truthful, but otherwise she has too much else on her mind.]
[A second later, she changes it.]
Actually, if you see Black Cat while you're out, let me know. His house was empty when I went to check on him. I can't find him anywhere.
[Not nearly the whole truth of the situation, but it's as much as she can explain.]
no subject
Her second message only confirms there's something off, something significant. A missing Cat would explain some of it, maybe all? How could he know.
Of course he means it.Being reassuring is unfortunately not his purview, even at better times than these.]He seems cunning enough to stay hidden, but I'll keep my eyes open.
no subject
[Not enough to hide from her... or enough that she hadn't found him to begin with. She still isn't sure how that happened. She was barely conscious of her actions, and her memory of it is likewise blurry and fading. She only remembers teeth and fur, thorns and blood... And then very suddenly, him.]
[She really shouldn't say more than that right now. She just needs to focus on finding Cat. And Di Feisheng will have his own bundle to take care of. She shouldn't keep him.]
Thank you. For keeping an eye out. Take care.