[ 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

[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.

[summerdude]

"Frankly, I'm doing a lot better than Valhalla. At least I'm asking people if the perks are wanted."

[lightbearinglord]

With, potentially and hopefully, the worst embarrassment of that conversation behind them, Lan Wangji is able to meet Magnus' eye again. "You know how I feel about Valhalla."

[summerdude]

"That's why I'm being the change, Hanguang-jun," Magnus says, and firmly decides not to ask if he'd want any bodily changes if Magnus had to grow a Lan Wangji plant.

[lightbearinglord]

Somberly, Lan Wangji contemplates the many ways in which friendship remains mysterious to him. He has had to accept that Shen Yuan truly loves and cares about Magnus; it was evident before his death, and it is unavoidable now. He still can't imagine how this specific concern occurred to Magnus in the first place. "Very noble," he says, aiming for inscrutability regarding his level of sincerity.

[summerdude]

"It's okay if you don't get it, Hanguang-jun," says the Lan Wangji-understander. "But, like, from what I can tell I can't grow it or shrink it after he's, like, alive again, probably, so."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lets another grim pause stretch out. He is trying valiantly not to make the deadpan joke he would almost certainly make if he were having this conversation with Wei Ying or Claudius instead. Finally, he says, "Is that the only part of him whose size is cause for concern?"

[summerdude]

"That's why I measured the rest of him too," Magnus says. Look, Hanguang-jun, it all makes sense in his head!

[lightbearinglord]

"You measured him?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, his whole body? I wouldn't want him to be put into the plant and become dysphoric or dysmorphic or anything."

[lightbearinglord]

"How much control do you have over the way that this body grows?" He had assumed it would simply form into its intended shape with the guidance of Shen Yuan's blood, but Magnus is making it sound as if he has fine control over every detail.

[summerdude]

"I mean, I assume I have the same control as I do over all plants," Magnus shrugs. "I haven't exactly gone around messing with his body, but since I had the opportunity to see what it should look like, I figured quality control wouldn't, like, hurt or anything, you know? So I know what to look for in case I do need to fix something."

[lightbearinglord]

"You're a thoughtful friend," Lan Wangji tells him, because it is true. It also seems less rude than asking whether Magnus is sublimating some suppressed desire for Shen Yuan into this responsibility.

[summerdude]

Magnus scuffs his foot against the edge of the trampoline. "Thanks."

[lightbearinglord]

Fond despite his background bafflement at this new fixation, Lan Wangji presses his shoulder against Magnus' for a moment. It's still so good to see the Magnus who loves him.

[summerdude]

"Hey," Magnus says, brightening, sitting up straighter. "Wanna see the new plants?"