[ open post: Lan Wangji and guests ]

[lightbearinglord]

In the wake of his disorienting and unpleasant stint in Gu Xiang's body, Lan Wangji has done his utmost to resume and enjoy all of his usual pursuits. He has, he believes, thoroughly made up for his lapse in his promise to Wei Ying. He has wielded kitchen knives, his ink brush, and Bichen with precision and enthusiasm. He has sunk into long, restorative shichen of meditation. He has, at Claudius' behest, thoroughly perused Emily Post's instructions regarding how to conduct oneself as the best man at a wedding.

There is the matter of his qin, too. The discovery of the spirit in Gideon's sword struck Lan Wangji with greater surprise than he might have expected. Such things were once commonplace for him; he hardly went two weeks, before he came to this place, without finding himself called to some night-hunt. He does not like to believe that he could become complacent, and he has always practiced diligently, but still.

The tableau is a familiar one: a certain parlor near the entryway of the mansion, one that often houses this particular cultivator along with his spiritual instrument. Wangji is balanced on a table at the center of the room, polished black wood gleaming and strings freshly tuned, and Lan Wangji sits cross-legged before it. He is not actually playing it at this precise moment, however, because he currently has guests. A small white rabbit sits next to the qin, munching his way through a piece of lettuce. An equally small brown rabbit is perched in the crook of Lan Wangji's elbow, eyeing his brother with some envy. Ostensibly, the rabbits are in trouble, because they have recently laid waste to Lan Wangji's copy of Emma. It is impossible to tell, because Lan Wangji is petting Danding's head with exactly as much solemn focus as always.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

Xiaoxue hops neatly right over Lan Wangji's qin in order to begin industriously sniffing at Kade's hand. Lan Wangji sets Danding down alongside him, so that they have equal opportunity to greet Kade. "It is unlike anything I have ever known. The year is unnaturally long."

[kadewest]

"Short weeks, long months..." Kade holds very still, trying not to twitch at the feeling of whiskers against the side of his fingers. "I've been places with remarkably different... structures to the year, shall we say, but never long enough for it to really hit."

[lightbearinglord]

"In your travel between worlds?" This reminds Lan Wangji that he is still irritated with Shen Yuan for erroneously telling Kade that his entire world is somehow named after the concept of mo dao, but that is not Kade's fault, so he keeps it to himself.

[kadewest]

"Yep." Kade slowly straightens his fingers, brushing the tips against the bunny's face. "What are their names?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Xiaoxue." Lan Wangji touches the head of the white rabbit, gentle and between the ears. "Danding." And the same identifying little tap for the brown rabbit.

[kadewest]

"Xiaoxue and Danding," Kade repeats. "They're real cuties."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says, in grave acknowledgement that the rabbits are, indeed, real cuties. He's briefly quiet, but then he decides to offer something trivial, given that Kade has taken the time to come and sit with him: "The back hills of my home are populated with rabbits."

[kadewest]

"Oh yeah?" Kade smiles at the thought. "There's a lot of critters around my school, but not a ton of rabbits. Some of my students keep pets--ESAs, really. Emotional support animals." Carefully, carefully, he strokes Xiaoxue's ear. "Would you tell me more about your home?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji tucks that phrase away to pass onto Wei Ying later. He will presumably agree that Jin Ling and Fairy qualify for that description. As Xiaoxue twitches an ear and then lightly bumps his nose into Kade's hand, Lan Wangji says, "I come from the Cloud Recesses, in Gusu. It is a remote mountain shrouded in mist. We teach and study cultivation."

[kadewest]

"Night hunts, musical communication with spirits, and addressing evil, right?" Kade remembers. He purses his lips. "The musical communication was specific to your sect."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." The rabbits are occupied investigating Kade, so Lan Wangji puts his hands lightly against the strings of his qin, not forceful enough to create any sound. "It is not only communication. I can lay spirits to rest, too."

[kadewest]

Their little whiskers are so ticklish. Kade gently strokes Danding's ear, too. "How's that?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Spirits that cannot move on will accumulate resentful energy. Rest soothes that energy." Demonstrative, Lan Wangji plucks a few low chords of Rest, gentle enough not to startle the rabbits.

[kadewest]

Kade closes his eyes, trying to parse through the sounds and see if he can pick up any phrasing, but it's pretty different to the pan music he learned in Prism, and he can only get the faintest suggestion of meaning. One thing is clear, though: "It does sound soothing."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji catches Kade's eye for a moment in a nonverbal acknowledgement of the description, then shifts smoothly into a different piece. "Evocation draws a spirit into an array."

[kadewest]

Kade's eyes fly open. "That phrase," he says. "The one you just played. It's a beckoning, yeah?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's own expression registers faint surprise. "Mn," he confirms. "You could tell?"

[kadewest]

Kade chuckles, partly in disbelief. "It's like you're speaking a totally different dialect from the pan-pipes," he says. "Same family of language, but not necessarily mutually intelligible. But some passages are still pretty close."

[lightbearinglord]

When last they spoke of this, Kade told Lan Wangji that it had been years since his time in Prism. He plays another few soft chords of Evocation. "Your pipe language. Is it for the living to communicate with one another?"

[kadewest]

"Hm? Oh, yeah. The dead are just dead, where I come from."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's interest is piqued, actually. "No matter the circumstances of their deaths?" Danding is now nudging Kade's hand with his nose, in search of either food or further attention.

[kadewest]

"Nope! Neither in Prism nor on Earth," Kade says, and then reconsiders. "I suppose sometimes the souls of the dead can be retrieved from Underworlds, if you have a Door and are singularly motivated." After all, that's how he and his friends had brought Sumi back. "But you'd need their body and their spirit, too, and if all that's left is bones, then that's all you have. Other Worlds have other rules."

[lightbearinglord]

If you have a Door and are singularly motivated. Would Lan Wangji have gone looking to retrieve Wei Ying's soul, if he could have, if such things were possible in his world? He suspects not. He believed that Wei Ying's spirit was destroyed, beyond recovery or reincarnation. Since he has lapsed into silence contemplating this, he plucks a lettuce leaf from his qiankun pouch and proffers it to Kade.

[kadewest]

"Oh, I'm not hungry," Kade jokes, even as he takes the leaf and tears it carefully in half.

[lightbearinglord]

Danding wastes no time in sitting up on his hind legs, clearly awaiting the snack he so richly deserves. Xiaoxue is huddled beside him, but his eyes are also fixed on the lettuce.