"It wants to be fed," Shen Qingqiu murmurs. "Like the thing attached to you."
He gives himself a hard, steadying shake and straightens up, saying in a more business-like tone, "That being the case, I suppose the natural next step would be to post suppression talismans on the door and walls of the building, facing the cardinal directions. They would hopefully, ah...'dampen' the compulsion, so you could stop worrying about break-ins. It would also add an extra layer of security over the rest of these things." He gestures at the other artifacts on their shelves -- god, he doesn't even know what they are yet.
He clears his throat awkwardly. "I hope you won't think me too crass if I ask for a little assistance with the cost of materials. It's just that cinnabar is a luxury item here, and --" His voice gets a little more clipped with embarrassment and remembered annoyance -- "I found someone willing to refine it and press it into drawing sticks for me, but the quality just isn't as good as I could get it in my old world so I have to use more of it, and he's still charging me out the nose anyway! And normally I could just use some of my own blood as a cheaper substitute, but!" He laughs awkwardly. "I really don't think that's a good idea here. At all. Even remotely."
no subject
He gives himself a hard, steadying shake and straightens up, saying in a more business-like tone, "That being the case, I suppose the natural next step would be to post suppression talismans on the door and walls of the building, facing the cardinal directions. They would hopefully, ah...'dampen' the compulsion, so you could stop worrying about break-ins. It would also add an extra layer of security over the rest of these things." He gestures at the other artifacts on their shelves -- god, he doesn't even know what they are yet.
He clears his throat awkwardly. "I hope you won't think me too crass if I ask for a little assistance with the cost of materials. It's just that cinnabar is a luxury item here, and --" His voice gets a little more clipped with embarrassment and remembered annoyance -- "I found someone willing to refine it and press it into drawing sticks for me, but the quality just isn't as good as I could get it in my old world so I have to use more of it, and he's still charging me out the nose anyway! And normally I could just use some of my own blood as a cheaper substitute, but!" He laughs awkwardly. "I really don't think that's a good idea here. At all. Even remotely."