[ 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]

It sparks a little familiarity. Lan Wangji reaches for Magnus' hand, pressing it between the two of his own, firm. "I understand."

[summerdude]

"So I, like, overextended myself or whatever."

[lightbearinglord]

"I understand," he says again. He keeps Magnus' hand in his.

[summerdude]

"I think the problem with Valhalla," Magnus says, and winces -- it still feels bad and wrong to be overtly critical of the place he chose -- "is that there's not actually any, like, on the job training. It's just, like, you're dead! Time to die! And kill! And not, like, you're dead! Here's a welcome packet and a map of IKEA!"

[lightbearinglord]

Abruptly fond, and overwhelmingly glad to be in this particular Magnus' presence and no other's, Lan Wangji says, "I don't know what IKEA is."

[summerdude]

"It's, like, a Nordic furniture store, there's an enormous one in the middle of Valhalla."

[lightbearinglord]

"Is there a frequent need for furniture in Valhalla?" Perhaps it is often destroyed during the many battles.

[summerdude]

"They switch up the decor all the time to keep it fresh for everyone, and we're encouraged to keep our rooms to our tastes. Sometimes it's nice to do it yourself," Magnus says, and gestures loosely at the church all around them.

[lightbearinglord]

"It is nice." He gives Magnus' hand another squeeze, then lets him go, wary of crowding him too closely.

[summerdude]

"What was your home like?" Magnus asks then, since Hanguang-jun seems like he might be in a lore-dumping mood. "How did you, like, decorate it or whatever?"

[lightbearinglord]

A little startled by the question, Lan Wangji takes a moment to come to an answer. "My home at the Cloud Recesses is called the jingshi. Our quarters here are not dissimilar to its appearance, but the jingshi is not bound by the Western style of architecture."

[summerdude]

"Not too dissimilar how?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Much of the furniture is the same. Dark wood, white curtains and screens, and mats rather than rugs to cushion the floor. Wei Ying has a desk for his work."

[summerdude]

Magnus makes a mental note to check out Hanguang-jun's room sometime. "It's just one house for the two of you?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji, who is thinking wistfully of the jingshi with its round windows, its long porch, and the gentians growing outside, gives Magnus a politely baffled look. "We are married."

[summerdude]

"Obviously," Magnus says, rolling his eyes. "I mean, like -- there's no one else in the house? I bet that was an adjustment here."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn. It is quiet at the Cloud Recesses." Not unlike this church, in fact. "I lived alone in the jingshi for most of my life."

[summerdude]

"Even as a kid?" Magnus asks, surprised. "Wait, because of your mom? Wait, what about -- you have a brother, right?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I have an older brother." Magnus knows that, but he doesn't mind saying it again. "We lived with my uncle when we were very young."

[summerdude]

"How young? When did you move into your, um, house by yourself?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I was twelve years old when I moved into the jingshi."

[summerdude]

"Wow, that's so young," says the guy who started living alone on the streets at barely two years older.

[lightbearinglord]

"Is it?" asks the man who has no other frame of reference, often spent several consecutive days in secluded meditation as young as thirteen, and went off to fight a war at seventeen.

[summerdude]

"To live all by yourself? Yeah, isn't it?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is not the type of man to shrug, or he might do so here. "I don't mind being alone." That's less true than it once was -- or perhaps he's only more recently aware of the times at which it was less true than he believed -- but it is still true enough.