[ closed post: the sun shines brightly ]

[lightbearinglord]

It has been a strange handful of weeks, but Lan Wangji can accept strange far more easily than he could accept the pain that rippled inexorably outward from Shen Yuan's death, seeming to leave no one untouched. The parade of visitors was unusual, and thought-provoking, but not painful. Lan Wangji enjoyed meeting most of them. Even Galahad, whose empty politeness made him feel hollow in turn -- there was a quiet satisfaction in bringing him to the rabbits and watching his stunned expression at the simple joy of holding something small and vulnerable and trusting.

As for himself, the memories are so abstract as to be incomprehensible. There is something there, enough something to assure him that Aornis had no hand in this specific strangeness. But he can barely grasp at the details. He remembers embracing Magnus, but that signifies nothing out of the ordinary. He remembers sparring with Gideon; he remembers that he needs to ask Sagramore for fresh poetry. He remembers the loss of Wei Ying, newer and crueler than it typically is these days, but when he came back to himself the next morning, Wei Ying was there, his head tucked beneath Lan Wangji's chin and his ankle hooked around Lan Wangji's hip.

The least enjoyable of his encounters, at the least, provided him with something important. He has not removed the locket from his qiankun pouch. He wants to waste no time in bringing it to its intended recipient. He performs the first of his morning routines -- his meditation, his patrol, Wei Ying's breakfast -- and then goes to look for Magnus at the camp.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." He will allow this minor deflection. "Wei Ying was all too happy to recount what I had missed to me when I became sober enough to listen."

[summerdude]

"I bet he'd like your comedy stylings."

[lightbearinglord]

"He would," Lan Wangji says, entirely sure of that. Wei Ying likes, as far as he can tell, everything about him. Half the time, he doesn't even have to speak aloud for Wei Ying to catch whatever he is thinking, sometimes from across a room, and burst into laughter.

[summerdude]

Magnus makes a mental note to get Wei Wuxian and Claudius in on the plan, because if they're in, Hanguang-jun and Galahad will definitely be in.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji gives Magnus' hand another squeeze, pressing it between both of his, and then lets him go for now. "Have you been well?" He can tell that Magnus is less overburdened than he was when they spoke with Shen Yuan, but he is more alert now to continuing to worry about him.

[summerdude]

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, it's all good."

[lightbearinglord]

That is an impressively unconvincing response, and as such Lan Wangji does not answer it aloud. He only trains his gaze on Magnus' face, stays quiet, and waits to see if there is anything else.

[summerdude]

Magnus rolls his eyes. "I'm serious, Hanguang-jun," he says. "It's a lot better now."

[lightbearinglord]

"And you will tell me if it is not," he prompts. He wants to hear it again.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, I'll tell you if it isn't," Magnus says, leaning against Lan Wangji. "I promised, didn't I? And I know that it's not all on me anymore. I just... forgot for a little while, I guess." He pauses. "Well. Some things are just on me." Like the size of Shen Yuan's dick. Which is, to be fair, a lot of responsibility!

[lightbearinglord]

"What is on you alone?" Lan Wangji asks. Claudius is helping with the growth of Shen Yuan's body, he knows, and surely that is the most pressing responsibility.

[summerdude]

"Ummmmmmmm." Magnus flushes. "Stuff? Things. Nothing you want to hear about, I guarantee you."

[lightbearinglord]

Not a single one of the followup questions that spring immediately to mind is appropriate. Lan Wangji stares at Magnus and at his sudden apparent embarrassment. What task that only he can perform could affect him in this way? Admittedly, Alex has been here for some time now. He sees his own marital duties as a responsibility, but one that he takes on willingly, even to Wei Ying's feigned chagrin. As delicately as possible, he says, "Alex will understand if you need respite."

[summerdude]

"What?" Magnus asks, absolutely totally one hundred percent bemused, fully thrown off from his thoughts about Shen Yuan's dick. "Alex? What about her, did she say something to you?" She'd promised she'd let Magnus tell other people about the secret training with Lancelot in her own time! So it's definitely not that, Alex doesn't break her promises.

[lightbearinglord]

"No," Lan Wangji says, now just as bemused as Magnus. It seems he has misread the situation. His own ears are a little hot now. "Forgive me. I made an assumption."

[summerdude]

"About what?" he asks, still confused. "What would I need respite fr--................................................................................................................................... oh."

[lightbearinglord]

Slightly agonized, Lan Wangji puts a hand over his face. He does, at least, manage some delicacy to that action, too.

[summerdude]

"We're not there yet," Magnus announces, too loud and too fast. "That's fine!!!! It's good!!!!! We're good!!!! I met Shen Yuan's evil twin yesterday and I'm feeling really weird about the fact that I've seen him all the way naked as a living breathing body that isn't covered in dirt before I've seen Alex all the way naked, that's all, but I had to take dick pics and ask a bunch of questions to make sure I'm growing him, um, desirably for him!!! That's all!!!! It's a lot of pressure, being responsible for your buddy's dick size!!!! Most people don't get the chance to pick that sort of thing!!!!!!!"

[lightbearinglord]

This flurry of words raises nearly more questions than it answers, but Lan Wangji is abruptly all too aware that he will be able to provide helpful advice for none of them. He draws a deep breath and lowers the hand covering his face, grateful that said face does not flush. Magnus is spectacularly pink in comparison. "I see."

[summerdude]

"So you can see the kind of stress I'm under," Magnus sighs, face burning.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji pauses for a long, long moment. He doesn't clear his throat, but it is the kind of pause during which one might generally do so. "The body you are growing was inoculated with Shen Yuan's blood. Does it not already know how best to grow to suit his... proportions?"

[summerdude]

"But what if he wants, um, that to be a different size??" Magnus asks, and sighs. "I tried asking Galahad but it was sad Evil Twin Galahad. So I had to ask Shen Yuan's Evil Twin."

[lightbearinglord]

It seems absurd that Shen Yuan, who is dead, would have had a double, but Lan Wangji is past questioning the logic of the mansion. "I did not realize this was to be a customizable new body for him," he says, a little dryly.

[summerdude]

"Why not?" Magnus says. "He died, he should get some perks. When I died, I got perks."

[lightbearinglord]

Predictably, Lan Wangji begins immediately to consider whether Wei Ying received any perks when he died. Thirteen years of nonspecific half-conscious agony certainly don't count as perks. Mo Xuanyu was a worse cultivator -- but he, at least, still had the potential to form a new golden core, where that had been sliced out of Wei Ying's first body permanently. That has been a great boon. "Mn," he says, noncommittal.