[ 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

[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.

[kadewest]

"The xiao?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Also a flute, blown from the top."

[kadewest]

Kade laughs, rueful. "It seems my knowledge of international woodwinds is sorely lacking."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji gives him a look of just-tolerant amusement. "You are welcome to educate me on instruments from your home that I do not know."

[kadewest]

Kade's eyes twinkle. "Okay," he says, and jokes: "What instruments do you not know about?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji meets that look with a perfectly inscrutable and immobile expression of his own. "Which do you know about?"

[kadewest]

"Besides the panpipes? Not enough about enough, probably," Kade admits. "Lemme see... Guitar?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I do not know that one." There is an infinitesimal shift to Lan Wangji's posture that indicates he is interested in hearing about it, though.

[kadewest]

"It's a stringed instrument. I--have actually never had to describe one before. They're generally yay big," he gestures, "with long necks." He mimes playing one, fairly badly.

[lightbearinglord]

As a player of a stringed instrument himself, Lan Wangji can tell that this demonstration is imprecise, but he nods regardless. "There is a music room here," he offers. "It may house a guitar." He has rarely visited, because he is content with his own instrument, but he knows that it exists.

[kadewest]

"I wouldn't know how to play it if it did," Kade acknowledges. "But I could still name some things."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji glances down at the rabbits, fondly. He reaches to pet Danding's cheek, and then the top of Xiaoxue's head. "At a time when these two are not with me, I would appreciate your expertise."

[kadewest]

"Such as it is," Kade says. "Cool. I'm in."