[ 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]

"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.

[kadewest]

Kade offers half the lettuce leaf to each of them, watching avidly as they start to eat.

[lightbearinglord]

As ever, this is a charming sight. Lan Wangji watches, then returns his hands to the qin. The rabbits are used to his playing, as long as it does it with care and is not too abrupt with the sounds, and aren't particularly bothered by him beginning the Song of Clarity.

[kadewest]

"That's an interesting one," Kade observes, quietly, when the leaf is about half-eaten. "It reminds me of--" he trails off.

[lightbearinglord]

Still quiet, Lan Wangji looks up. He doesn't need to look to play this song; in fact, he doesn't even need to be touching the strings, though he currently is. He does not actually ask Kade to continue. He merely makes the space for him to do so, if he wants.

[kadewest]

Kade, of course, is remembering Nancy--once a first love, always a first love, or however the saying goes--but he shakes his head. "Hey, maybe this is similar," he says, instead: "My best friend had a bone flute made out of his ulna that only the dead could hear. He could call any skeletons to dance with it."

[lightbearinglord]

Kade is obviously changing the subject, but Lan Wangji lets it go easily. There are many things he wouldn't care to discuss with a relative stranger. If he feels any surprise at this tale of a flute that can be heard only by the dead, it extinguishes itself before it can make any alterations to his expression. "My husband plays the dizi," he says. "His dizi and my qin together lead to stronger musical cultivation."

[kadewest]

"The dizi," Kade repeats. "Another instrument, I gather?"

[lightbearinglord]

"The flute, blown from the side rather than the top." Clearly, musical education outside of Lan Wangji's own world is sorely lacking.

[kadewest]

Oh, so a regular flute then. It must be a difference in naming conventions. "And it works different in concert with your qin, huh," Kade says. "Is the effect additive, or multiplicative?"

[lightbearinglord]

That is not the question he expected, but he weighs it with all due consideration. "Additive, I believe. My brother plays the xiao¹ and the effect is similar if we work together."

¹Genuinely sorry to Kade about the cornucopia of Chinese flutes.