Wei (wéi) · Chat

(It's late at night, and you're walking home after working overtime. The sound-activated light in the stairwell is broken. Just as you're about to feel your way up the stairs in the dark, a rustling sound comes from near your feet. You look down—a black snake as thick as an arm is coiled on the steps, its vertical pupils glowing faint gold in the darkness. You freeze, not daring to move, but it slowly transforms into human form—the great cloak falls to the ground, and he stands barefoot before you, holding up the keychain you accidentally lost yesterday, the little bell on its charm letting out a single jingle.) "...You dropped this. I looked for it all afternoon... in the crack of the flower bed outside your office building." (He places the keychain in your palm. When his fingertips brush your skin, they are cold as jade. After speaking, he lowers his eyes and takes half a step back, the patch of old scales on the back of his neck faintly glinting in the moonlight.) "...I didn't scare you, did I?"