[ open post: Lan Wangji, training ]

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is upside-down.

This is not unusual for him, although he is more used to practicing this in the company of students, his brother, or his husband.¹ Recently, however, his mind has come up against more turmoil than he would prefer, and turmoil of a variety that is unusual for him. It can't go amiss to return himself to the basics of his training.

He is in a small enough room, largely bare aside from the stick of sandalwood incense² he has set burning on a side table. Its scent drifts into the hallway, and anyone who follows it to the source may see a white-clad cultivator standing on his hands.

Well: standing on his hand. Lan Wangji needs one only to keep himself aloft, his body straight as an arrow. His hair is pulled into a ponytail so that it may pool off to one side over his neck and onto the floor rather than spilling in all directions, the long ends of his forehead ribbon tucked into the same tie and falling in the same way. He is in trousers and an undershirt of a decent heft, in deference to the fact that he is arguably in public.³

With the hand that is not currently holding him up, Lan Wangji is holding an ink brush. He is copying, from memory, the lines of a sutra.

¹Wei Ying is not good at it. Particularly not in his second body.
²This may explain it to anyone who has been wondering why he always smells faintly of sandalwood himself.
³If he does this in their quarters, Wei Ying insists it must be done with nothing on his torso at all. Lan Wangji invariably becomes distracted. Now anyone else is welcome to distract him (in a different way, ideally).

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

Again, there is the slightest flicker of amusement to Lan Wangji's face. "Valhalla?" he asks.

[summerdude]

"Odin's halls of the heroic dead," Magnus explains. "They love a strong, talented warrior there."

[lightbearinglord]

Ah. Lan Wangji recalls that Magnus himself is dead. Magnus appears calm about the matter, but it does pluck a note of sorrow in Lan Wangji's chest to remember it.

"I am not dead," he points out.

[summerdude]

"No," Magnus agrees. "But they have visitor's passes." Plus, most gods can show up without too much difficulty. They don't, usually -- territories, or whatever -- but they can.

[lightbearinglord]

"We are going nowhere anytime soon," Lan Wangji says, a little heavily. The fact of their confinement here weighs on him in fits and starts. "But if we are released, I will accept one of those visitor's passes. To ensure you are well."

[summerdude]

"Oh cool," Magnus says. He's blushing. He wonders what kind of labels gods from other pantheons get. Mortals get a sign that says "Still alive!! Do not kill!" but surely a god's visitor's badge would look different?

[lightbearinglord]

"You would be a welcome visitor to the Cloud Recesses," Lan Wangji informs him. He could nearly smile to picture Magnus interacting with Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui. "There are several rules that must be followed on the premises, however."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah?" Magnus asks, hiding his eagerness at this information pretty well, considering what an open book he tends to be. Maybe he can use this to help pin down some final bits of Lan Wangji's mythology. "Like what?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji could recite these in his sleep, so he goes to refresh the incense as he speaks. "Alcohol is prohibited. Sitting improperly is prohibited. Arrogance is forbidden. Do not say one thing and mean another."

[summerdude]

"Sounds like these Cloud Recesses are, like, the opposite of Valhalla," Magnus laughs. "Where there's mead with every meal and everyone's full of their own prowess." He doesn't want to sound disrespectful, though, so he adds, "I like the sound of it, though. Are they very peaceful? The Cloud Recesses?"

[lightbearinglord]

On anyone else, this would be a wistful expression. Lan Wangji masters himself and manages, mostly, neutrality as he says, "Very. There is constant mist, and we live on a remote mountain. It is quiet."

[summerdude]

"Sounds great, dude," Magnus says. "And people are just doing handstands like this all over the place?"

[lightbearinglord]

"For training or disciplinary purposes as appropriate," Lan Wangji corrects. He himself was very rarely punished as a child -- a fact that Wei Ying continually finds uproariously funny -- and so he primarily did this task for meditation and training.

[summerdude]

"Sounds a far sight better than Velvet Painting To The Death," Magnus says. "I don't even know what the point of that is."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji allows his blank expression to speak for itself as an entreaty for Magnus to explain what he means by that. In the meantime, he uses a tiny burst of qi to light the fresh stick of incense.

[summerdude]

"Oh, in Valhalla pretty much every activity is also an opportunity to prepare to die in the final battle," Magnus says. "So there's Battle Practice, obviously, every single day, followed by an enormous feast once everyone revives. But then all the other activities are to the death, too." He smiles, fondly. "My girlfriend has been taking me to Pottery To The Death classes and defending me so I can stay alive long enough to to learn how to do more than roll coils out."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lifts his eyebrows a little. This sounds extremely far from peaceful. Wei Ying might enjoy the chaos, but Lan Wangji would not allow him to participate in any activity that is to the death. "Would this visitor's pass compel me to join in?"

[summerdude]

"No, the visitor's pass usually prevents any harm from coming your way," Magnus assures him. "And there's no violence allowed at dinner or, like, in most lobbies."

[lightbearinglord]

"I can enact violence," Lan Wangji says, as though this is not wildly obvious, "but I prefer it to have a purpose."

[summerdude]

"Big respect, my dude," Magnus says. "I live in Valhalla but my dad's whole thing is peace, and personally I think there are so many things that can be resolved without, like, disemboweling a guy. So I feel you."

[lightbearinglord]

"Your father's 'thing' is peace and yet you live in a place where every activity intentionally courts death?" Lan Wangji actually does look mildly but notably alarmed, and gives Magnus a look of concern. The air quotes are audible.

[summerdude]

"Oh, it's fine," Magnus says. "The first time I helped save the world, when we stopped Fenris Wolf from getting free and starting Ragnarok? Odin offered me a choice between being returned to life, being sent to Volkswagen^* which is Freya -- my dad's sister -- her place for heroic dead, so I could be at least in his world? It has real hippie commune vibes over there. Or staying in Valhalla. I chose Valhalla. My friends were all there."


*Folkvanger.

[lightbearinglord]

Well, perhaps Lan Wangji can understand the impulse to stay close to one's loved ones. He is lucky that his are often in the same place. He lets his concern subside. "As you say."

[summerdude]

Magnus almost tells Lan Wangji that he's the nicest god Magnus has ever met, his own father included, but then he decides that would probably make things weird.

Instead, he decides to launch himself into another handstand attempt. "Like this?" he asks, referring to his form as he tries to initiate the handstand.

[lightbearinglord]

Quietly, Lan Wangji watches for a moment. He keeps nearby to ensure he can catch Magnus if he tumbles in a disadvantageous manner. "Close. Tuck your head in. Do not rush the learning process."