[ 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

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, yes, I didn't think I'd have to. I was just curious. It's... just basically about moderation, right? Even if it's specific in that case."

[lightbearinglord]

"Self-restraint," Lan Wangji agrees. He touches the fingers of one hand to his forehead ribbon and the cloud insignia at its center. "Asceticism and simplicity allow for focus. Focus allows for a calm mind and greater virtue."

[sporesprouter]

"That makes sense," Tress replies, nodding. "There can be a lot of distractions anyway, so why deliberately add more?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lapses into silence momentarily. His attitude toward this mansion has been changeable recently, not a common feeling for him. There are days when he yearns for the Cloud Recesses so keenly the ache borders on a physical pain. And there are days when he covets the relative peace of this place, the ability to focus every part of him singly on one building, one set of people, one husband. He has been here long enough now, formed his habits and grown sentimental enough toward enough of the inhabitants, that to be torn back to the Cloud Recesses without warning would be its own kind of pain.

Distractions, indeed.

He looks at Tress and thinks of how he would miss her if they were to be parted. Just as he misses the bright-eyed juniors he left behind. "You say you become caught up in things, to excess. What things?"

[sporesprouter]

She opens her mouth, at first intending to talk about how she can get with her sprouting work, but hesitates once she realizes that's not it exactly. She pauses, thinking it over before actually answering. "I think... solving problems. Especially if it's a problem that affects other people too."

[lightbearinglord]

There's a little softness to Lan Wangji's expression, just around its edges, in answer to that. "I am drawn to the problems that affect others as well. But if my own reserves are depleted, I can't be of use." His reserves, admittedly, run much deeper and more powerfully than Tress', but that's through no fault of her own.

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "I know, and it makes sense; it's just... it's harder to remember when I'm in the middle of it, if that makes sense."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji returns the nod easily. It makes perfect sense. "That is why I endeavored to teach you mindfulness."

[sporesprouter]

"So then, practicing makes it harder to lose track in the moment?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn. Will you?" His face is as frosty as ever, but this is an expression of genuine concern.

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "I'll do my best, anyway." By which, of course, she means she's already mentally scheduling meditating into her mornings, right between waking up and going to brush Fenyes.

[lightbearinglord]

There's a banked light of approval in Lan Wangji's eyes, then. Tress can probably, by this time, read the fact that he is pleased into this expression. "Good."

[sporesprouter]

She smiles a little. "Well, I haven't done all that much yet. But thank you."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji nods once more, fond. He considers this discussion concluded, and he pitches forward, kicking his feet back up easily, to resume his work and his handstand -- but he will be checking on her.

[sporesprouter]

And Tress ducks out of the room to leave Lan Wangji to his work and find a different quiet spot for her own.