[ 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]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji wants all three of those people to arrive, too, if possible, although he has his doubts, primarily about Charlie. Tress has been here for very close to a year with no sign of him. He doesn't care to dwell on that. "Count Olaf?"

[summerdude]

"He's one bad hombre. He was their first caregiver after their parents died, but he just wanted their fortune, so he tried to, like, trick Violet into becoming his child bride. He's been chasing them ever since they stopped that ruse." Magnus gestures to his ankle. "He has a tattoo there, which is one way Sunny can see through all his disguises." And if he shows up here, Magnus is definitely going to flyte him into a walnut shell!!!! He pauses, then ventures, "There are, like. Books about it, actually? I read a couple of them when I was a kid."

[lightbearinglord]

Obviously, Lan Wangji would be more than happy to meet Count Olaf at the door with Bichen in his hand, but he says nothing to that effect, because of the mention of the books featuring Sunny and her siblings. "Mn. There are books about many of us." He is slightly grim about this. He still doesn't care for the title of the book about himself and Wei Ying.

[summerdude]

"So I've heard," Magnus says. Weird coincidence!

[lightbearinglord]

"Is Sunny portrayed kindly?"

[summerdude]

"Uhhhhh," Magnus prevaricates. "What do you mean, kindly?"

[lightbearinglord]

"With faithfulness." He is thinking of Claudius, naturally.

[summerdude]

"Oh! Yeah, she's accurate. I mean, she's ten times cooler in person, but she's cool in the books too. She's, like, the hero." Magnus pauses. "But they're also, like, not kind. It's called the Series of Unfortunate Events? A lot of bad stuff happens. I think. I only read the first two before the wolves exploded all my books."

[lightbearinglord]

The Series of Unfortunate Events? Sunny is a baby, and she has a prominent part in a story with such a dire name? Lan Wangji's horror is evident even on his face. "We will keep her safer here."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, obviously," says Magnus. He's worried about Violet and Klaus though!

[lightbearinglord]

With nothing more he can offer, because he can't control whether Violet and Klaus arrive or whether Charlie finally stumbles his way here, Lan Wangji can only fall silent, eyes still on Magnus' face and hands.

[summerdude]

Magnus is quiet for a moment, and then: "How old was, um, Sizhui?" he asks. He doesn't bother trying to finger-spell Sizhui; he has no idea what letters to use. "When you, like, took him in?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's eyes nearly widen. He is used to avoiding the subject of Sizhui with Magnus. "He was three years old when I found him and brought him home."

[summerdude]

"Older than Sunny," says Magnus. "Sunny is the best and only baby I've ever met... what are three-year-olds like?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji directs his gaze toward the grass beneath his feet. "A-Yuan was... sweet. He clung to someone's leg if he liked them." He's aware, suddenly, that he is recounting this inadequately, that he is reciting a series of facts rather than truly evoking A-Yuan's round face with its irresistible smile like a perfect dumpling. "I didn't know him at that age for long. He had a fever when I retrieved him. I returned to seclusion shortly after bringing him to Gusu."

[summerdude]

Magnus looks up at him, quizzical.

[lightbearinglord]

He swallows back his instant urge to retreat into silence. Magnus knows enough to hear this part. "Wei Ying had just died. My grief was debilitating."

[summerdude]

"Oh. Yeah, I can see that," Magnus says, and goes to hug Hanguang-jun again.

[lightbearinglord]

Always willing to embrace Magnus, Lan Wangji accepts the hug without objection. Magnus is warm and familiar, perpetually an adolescent to the untrained eye; Sizhui, conversely, must have grown by now, since the last time Lan Wangji saw him confident and genial while he led his peers in the beginning of the night-hunt whose conclusion Lan Wangji never saw.

[summerdude]

"So Sunny is young for you, too," Magnus says, eventually. "Hence... the books?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Hence the books," Lan Wangji agrees quietly.