[ 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]

"You could've avoided an awkward encounter? I didn't know you were taking care of my plants."

[lightbearinglord]

"I told you that I would." In the interest of giving credit where it is due, he also says, "Crowley repaired the window." At Lan Wangji's request, but he still performed the actual repair.

[summerdude]

"Oh. I forgot."

[lightbearinglord]

"About Crowley? Understandable." In this case, he is deliberately misinterpreting Magnus in the interest of gently mocking Crowley.

[summerdude]

"Hanguang-juuun."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn?" Lan Wangji looks down at Magnus with his face perfectly expressionless.

[summerdude]

"Again with the dad jokes!!"

[lightbearinglord]

"Was that groan-worthy?"

[summerdude]

"The groaniest," Magnus assures him, and then he sobers up a little. "I know it's, like, a super low bar or whatever, but I think it's really cool that you read a bunch of baby books when Sunny got here."

[lightbearinglord]

That is a low bar indeed, and Lan Wangji's expression shifts from put-upon blankness to muted surprise. "Did Wei Ying tell you that?"

[summerdude]

"Um, no? Sunny did? It..." He pulls up that specific mental note. "Struck her as the same sort of thing her brother Klaus would do, so it made her feel at home."

[lightbearinglord]

Some additional surprise, shaded with warmth, flickers its way through Lan Wangji's eyes. The loneliness of Sunny's plight strikes him whenever he thinks of her. "You understand her, too?"

[summerdude]

"What? Oh, yeah. She's very communicative," Magnus says. "I'm teaching her sign so she can make other people -- like, besides Crowley -- understand her too."

[lightbearinglord]

"I will continue to practice sign language, then," he says seriously. There have been several other various things taking up his time, especially recently.

[summerdude]

Magnus immediately launches back into signing as he talks. "Her sign-name is Sunny," he says, and demonstrates the name they'd decided upon, a combination of sunny place and the gestures she naturally uses when introducing herself.

[lightbearinglord]

In order to give them room to see one another's hands, Lan Wangji takes a step back from Magnus. He copies the signed name for Sunny. "She used this the other evening before assisting me with dinner."

[summerdude]

"She's a quick study," Magnus says, with an extremely proud smile. "She's so smart. She understands everything everyone else says, you know, she just needs a way to say stuff back."

[lightbearinglord]

The brightness of Magnus' smile makes the warmth around them even warmer. "She takes after you," Lan Wangji suggests.

[summerdude]

"I have a way to say stuff back."

[lightbearinglord]

"You're a quick study."

[summerdude]

"Oh." Magnus blushes again. "Thanks."

[lightbearinglord]

Rather than answering aloud, Lan Wangji signs you're welcome, one of the scattering of signs he has already taught himself.

[summerdude]

Magnus grins, and then says (and signs), "She has a sister too. Violet."

[lightbearinglord]

That explains a few additional things. "She mentioned Violet and Klaus. I thought they might have died. They are alive?"

[summerdude]

"Oh, yeah, yeah, no. They're definitely alive. They're probably, like, hiding from Count Olaf still." Magnus sighs. "I really want Charlie to come here for Tress, but I also really want Violet and Klaus to come here for Sunny. But it would have to be both of them, I think. It would really suck for one of them to get left behind. So I don't know who to cross my fingers about the most."