蓝湛 Lan Zhan | 蓝忘机 Lan Wangji (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strikingchords) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jigokulogs2022-03-07 11:45 pm
strikingchords) wrote in jigokulogs2022-03-07 11:45 pm
(Open) March March March March March
Who ⬤ Lan Wangji and YOU (in March)
What ⬤ March 2022 Substories & Lan Wangji's day in the life (in March)
When ⬤ March (March)
Where ⬤ Various locations (in March)
Content Warnings ⬤ Drug use for High Definition! Others will be added if they come up.
1. high definition (March 2022 substory #2)
1a. body blocked
1b. civic responsibility
2. look at this sweet jacket (March 2022 substory #3)
3. welcome to the Night Parade (March 2022 substory #4)
3a. this feels familiar
3b. something fishy
3c. on the heights
4. literally anything goes here
What ⬤ March 2022 Substories & Lan Wangji's day in the life (in March)
When ⬤ March (March)
Where ⬤ Various locations (in March)
Content Warnings ⬤ Drug use for High Definition! Others will be added if they come up.
1. high definition (March 2022 substory #2)
1a. body blocked
[Lan Wangji does not prowl the streets. that word has connotations of hunting stealth, and while there's definitely something predatory about the way his sharp pale eyes take in everything in front of him, even in a city of fantastical yao there's nothing hidden about the way he contrasts with his background. he's a tall man dressed all in white, and he sweeps through the highly-saturated advertising in a shopping district in Tamamo territory like a spirit with a spotlight focused on himself.
his eyes are narrowed, as if in annoyance, and his face is blank as a statue's. the only acknowledgement he makes of the wares being offered on either side of him is a particularly intense glower whenever something especially racy catches his eye or waves to him from a window.
whatever his destination, he doesn't quite make it -- his stately progress is interrupted by someone inebriated stumbling directly into his path.]
--!
[Lan Wangji jerks aside just in time to avoid a collision and reaches to get a hand under the offender's elbow before they crash into him anyway and finish the job. it saves them from falling, but not from the fierce weight of his full attention when he glares down at them.]
...
Careless.
[do you witness this poor soul's misfortune and come to the rescue, or is the hapless Lost Soul you?]
1b. civic responsibility
[alternately, it's been several hours, and three or four blind or panicking clinical testers have caught Lan Wangji's attention. he's identified the source and dragged them all back to the gyokuto's drug testing headquarters location. Lan Wangji (tall, dignified, arguably surrounded with photoshop lens flare effects) is staring across a steel counter at the gyokuto with what appears to be a kind of high-octane Charged Bemusement. the gyokuto is gazing back at him with equal bemusement, but of a much more polite, clinical variety. I am waiting for all of this to make sense, her look seems to say, but I am a rabbit of science and willing to let the experiment play out. it must be emphasized that she is a rabbit.
you are presumably here perceiving this because you've come for your drugs or been dragged here through the streets. frankly, it is a weird staring contest to witness.]
...
Irresponsible. At least, guard those incapacitated.
[Is-This-A-Real-Doctor Rabbit does not seem to be following Lan Wangji's logic.
do you see his point? or has this straight-edged Dhaoists Gone Wild model wannabe interrupted your evening? has he been standing between you and your paid high to argue with a bunny for like, ten fucking minutes already?]
2. look at this sweet jacket (March 2022 substory #3)
[Lan Wangji is no stranger to resolving differences between humans, human spirits, and other creatures. there's a process to these things: in order to achieve the preferred outcome of liberating rather than destroying an an earthbound spirit, you need to convince it to go willingly. that means observing the evidence carefully and listening to what people say. eventually, the grudge or strong feeling at the bottom of the spirit's urge to cause mischief reveals itself, and you have something to work with when you return to lay down your demands.
in this case, he's observed the circumstances. he's heard the both sides of the story. and the answer is that everyone here is annoying.
by sheer force of personality and the tendency of others not to argue when he tells them to follow him and walks imperiously away, he's managed to get one of the hashihime and the man with the jacket to a neutral, non-bridge patch of waterfront to discuss the situation. but at this point he's listened to the man patronizingly explain to the hashihime three times over that she shouldn't be jealous of his jacket, because not everyone can wear them like he can. she has started repeating everything he says back to him in a higher voice, while making air quotes with her fingers, and while this feels understandable it is not helping. as an approach, it also just causes Jacket Guy to decide she doesn't get what he's saying, and restart his explanation.
Lan Wangji stares at the tableau in front of him with his hands tucked into his sleeves. he is a picture of majestic and intimidating calm. he has a headache and wishes deeply to throw them both into the river.
does anyone with a better command of words (or fewer inhibitions about river tossing) see this and care to come along andhelp him outmake his life worsehelp him out?]
3. welcome to the Night Parade (March 2022 substory #4)
3a. this feels familiar
[obviously, booze is going to flow like water on the night of the Night Parade. just as obviously, those who want to be selling it at marked-up prices during the event don't want people slipping illicit BYOB goods through the checkpoints around their businesses.
Lan Wangji gives the latest enterprising would-be smuggler a flat stare across the box of decorations and other materials he's just examined. he tugs a piece of cloth away to reveal the shine of a bottle, not breaking eye contact. more boxes to check are stacked up next to him on either side, making it clear that this offense is just One More Fucking Thing in his evening. thanks.]
Alcohol is forbidden.
[do you care to comment from your own duties nearby, or are you a booze criminal?]
3b. something fishy
[like many Lost Souls barred from the Kappa's parade route have found, Lan Wangji hasn't found the explanations given for why the area is off limits very satisfying. he did climb to a higher vantage point one night to try to observe any illicit activities, but wasn't able to see much from there -- and he isn't unaware that stealth missions aren't his strong suit. with the rest of the Sukotu Alliance's tacit disapproval of doing anything that might sour relations with the Kappa hanging over his head, he's not inclined to push that route further on his own... but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to know what's going on.
he's decided to try to pry more into the cover story instead. what's so special about the city's utilities that the Kappa can use them for whatever they're doing, anyway? why would they be positioned in a way that makes them a good excuse here? are there actually vulnerabilities to guard, incidental or not?
unfortunately the only way to get information like deeds and records is to petition the city's administration, which they discourage by any means possible. which is why you can find Lan Wangji either glaring down a bored clerk in one of the lower floors of Kaigo no Bou, or tucked into a small eating-house with a window that faces the disputed part of the parade route. once in a while he'll look up and rest his eyes on the uninformative water of the river; then he'll return to filling out the stack of forms an inch thick in front of him.
the bureaucratic peanut gallery -- or the other seat of the booth -- is open.]
3c. on the heights
[of course, if you had been standing on the roof of a tall building to observe what you could of the Kappa activities on the same night as Lan Wangji proved great minds thought alike... you might have seen someone else on the skyline, doing the same thing as you nearby. uh oh! your new spy friend is dressed in white and if he steps out one more foot he's going to be really obvious.]
4. literally anything goes here
((respond with your own prompt, or hit me up by journal PM if you want me to write a specific starter for you! from fights to gambling dens to street theater to host clubs to more dangerous info gathering, there's an opportunity to meet Lan Wangji there and get judged for your life choices.
more event-related prompts available here.))
no subject
No need.
[he would do it again a hundred times.]
no subject
A moment of pity would have been better spent in the Burial Mounds, however.
I'm at least capable of defending myself.
no subject
[Lan Wangji bows his head. his voice is very soft.]
You were not.
[he could not have defended himself last night. he was not able to defend himself, in the end, at the Burial Mound.
only one person escaped that siege, and it was not because there was anyone there who could defend him. not himself; not his family; not Wei Wuxian.
not Lan Wangji, for all that he arrived to find the pieces.]
no subject
That's not for you to judge.
[he is, now, moving for the door, choosing to brush carelessly past Lan Wangji instead of trying to keep distance, show apprehension. why should he? Lan Wangji can't do anything worse to him than has happened already.]
no subject
something could be said here; some explanation that Lan Wangji feels his own failures as one and the same for everyone who was trapped at the Burial Mound... Wei Wuxian included. but it would have to be someone other than Lan Wangji saying it. arguing and pushing back about his own feelings, making himself believed, forcing someone else to understand when they don't wish to... he doesn't have it in him.
he still doesn't move when Wei Wuxian's hem touches his cheek, when the breeze of Wei Wuxian's too-close passing stirs his hair. he just waits.]
no subject
he's alone again.]
no subject
Lan Wangji tips his head back and watches the sky through the window for a few minutes longer. then he'll return to diligently copying out the precepts of a distant sect no one else in the city knows or cares about, very far from home with his ballpoint pen.]