(Open) The Cruelest Month

[strikingchords]

Who ⬤ Lan Wangji and YOU (in April)
What ⬤ Night Parade fallout/catchall
When ⬤ throughout April
Where ⬤ Various locations
Content Warnings ⬤ Will be added as necessary!


1. food runners (April 2022 event #4B)

[before and after the assassination, food still has to get delivered. though he pointedly hasn't followed the kuidaore philosophy of the city, Lan Wangji has enough uses for money (and is unused enough to having to ration it) that it's worth earning more -- and because he's recently reacquired certain abilities, he sees no reason to limit himself to his feet or a motorbike. no, he's a cultivator who's regained his golden core, which means he can fly. if you've ever wanted to see a man carry food strapped to himself while riding a sword like a hoverboard, now is your chance.

finances aren't Lan Wangji's only motivation, either. before and during the festival, he’s also doing his best to keep his ear to the ground -- he’s making a point to deliver to the Kappa and anyone else who seems nervous or tense. sometimes, he'll even put some of that new lucre directly into delivering complementary meals to small gatherings, just for the excuse to see and hear more of the conversations happening within them.

after the assassination attempt, he’s doing the same, but now his goal is even more targeted: he's keeping a special eye out to learn the reactions of the other factions, or catch up with and reassure the Kappa who are unwilling to talk to anyone but Sutoku Alliance members.

are you a Tamamo restaurant worker, receiving your payment from the last order before giving him a new one? are you coming to your door to take your food, complimentary or not? or are you a fellow beast of burden, helping him deal with an large delivery to an equally large -- and potentially information-rich -- gathering?]

...

Here. Take this.

2. busking for spirits (April 2022 event follow-up, #6)

[in the few days immediately after the disaster, you may come across an odd sight near the city center. a man is sitting around some of the rubble still not cleared away with a traditional instrument on the ground in front of him, eyes closed, frowning.

he plucks a few notes that seem to tremble on the air. the hair at the back of your neck rises -– there something not just sound in those chords. they tug at something you can't quite explain; you feel it in your throat and behind your breastbone.

after moment, the man takes his fingers away and waits expectantly. what happens next has no immediate explanation –- all the strings on the instrument shiver at once, very softly, enough to create a helplessly muddled home of noise.

the man frowns deeper before he jerks his head up and notices you watching.]

Hm.

3. club life (April 2022 event follow-up, #1, #6)

3a. open

[later in April, Lan Wangji is still trying to find new connections with the events of the Night Parade... with the help of some connections he made along the way.

specifically, his performance among the festival's spectral cherry trees caught the interest of one of the more music-oriented club owners in a district controlled by the Sutoku Alliance. now Lan Wangji has been installed as a performance artist at a live music venue, one that specializes in a sophisticated, traditional flavor. the manager here had suspected that a smoking-hot man in hanfu, playing a seven-stringed zither under in front of a projection screen that showed drifting wind and flowers, would create exactly the kind of ambiance some customers would want. they might have been on to something.

Lan Wangji seems at peace with playing along, the gentle lighting softening his severe face. if you just wanted to listen to the music and feel calmer after these crazy weeks, it goes no further than this, and you might notice the song becoming even more peaceful as your food and drink show up.

but Lan Wangji and the club owner also have an understanding. you might wonder: is he close enough to that table full of faction higher-ups with serious expressions to overhear their conversation? are you?]

3b. closed to Sutoku Alliance

[this particular group appears to be from the Sutoku Alliance, and something about the seriousness of their conversation and the way they're sitting feels like business. they're leaned in close to each other, voices low. if you wait long enough for Lan Wangji's set to end, you'll see him lift his hands away from his guqin and watch them openly, eyes sharp.

after another few moments, he'll glance at you briefly, confirming that you're also part of the Alliance. then he'll rise to approach the table.]

4. we love an open prompt

((respond with your own prompt, or hit me up by journal PM if you want me to write a specific starter for you!

for further reference, my plotting comment can be found on the ooc post, some starters that go down specifically during the festival itself are available over this way, and Sutoku Alliance members can find Lan Wangji available for the forbidden gossip post-Night Parade IC brainstorming here.))

Comments

[strikingchords]

Yes, and yes.

[draws himself up and shifts a little, subtly blocking off Wei Wuxian's path...]

...

The Kappa escaped. I discouraged the officer. I do not believe he will press further.

[he obviously isn't sure, especially with no one there to guard his back, but there's no reason to think he's lying about it.]

[laughitoff]

[his frown deepens, but he seems to accept this particular truth without questioning everything about it; it's easier to do so when it's about something not himself or the Wens, it seems. he doesn't think Lan Wangji would rebreak his leg for a lie, anyway.]

Let's get you out of here, then.

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji hesitates. where, he could say. I was on the way to my lodgings, he could say. I am not sure why I am supposed to go with you while injured when the last time I saw you, you nearly attacked me again after I literally pushed you out of the way of a bullet, he could say.

after a couple of moments, he'll quietly say instead:]

All right.

[if Wei Wuxian leads off or prods him along in a direction, he'll follow, without resistance.]

[laughitoff]

[his step stumbles in surprise when Lan Wangji agrees, though if asked he'll say the wound in his leg twinged.

incredibly, despite Wei Wuxian knowing Lan Wangji's house is in the area somewhere close by, he...is just leading him to his own building instead of going over there, or even asking him where it is if he's forgotten?

(it's panic. he's panicking.)]

[strikingchords]

[he could laugh. he could cry. Wei Wuxian is such a helplessly righteous person that the moment he sees Lan Wangji as an object of pity, he's trying to help him. maybe if he were more vulnerable, more often, he'd have been less hated to begin with; but it's not that the knowledge does him any good. he's someone who doesn't usually show these things, and he's never been able to be less himself.

he does go even quieter in surprise, when Wei Wuxian takes them to an unfamiliar place and starts fumbling with the door. he didn't expect this, even in the context of Wei Wuxian's urge to be kind to the broken-winged.]

[laughitoff]

[IT'S A GOOD THING NEITHER OF THEM CAN READ EACH OTHERS' BRACKET TEXT INTROSPECTION TO ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THE OTHER PERSON IS THINKING BECAUSE INSTEAD OF HELPING ANYONE UPON HEARING THAT WEI WUXIAN WOULD JUST PITCH HIMSELF OFF THE NEAREST BALCONY.

as that isn't the case, the door opens easily. the lock's not great, and no matter what other favors the higher-ups might have granted him by now, it's clear that returning his ability to create wards wasn't one of them. he beckons Lan Wangji in ahead of him.

to paraphrase from an earlier writeup: the room's small and mediocre, the cheap faction-subsidized quarters that are all newbie-level Sutoku can afford. Wei Wuxian hasn't done much to improve it, though there are a few personal touches. the narrow desk is littered with papers, some covered in haphazard shorthand and illustrations that aren't immediately decipherable; a corkboard's been set up on the wall above it, with a couple of loose ink drawings pinned up on it. there's a small glass bowl resting on the windowsill, a few carnation flower heads floating on the water within.

there's a couple of chairs pushed up at the desk; the extra is probably for a guest. the kitchenette smells predictably of spice.]

[strikingchords]

[cheap or not, it's still a lot more homelike than Lan Wangji's, which Wei Wuxian has witnessed in all its spartan glory. he stops awkwardly in the door to quietly drink it in, no less startled than before; it still seems impossible that he's seeing the inside of Wei Wuxian's space by invitation, and he more than half-expected until they were actually inside that he was being taken to some third location. but this is unmistakably Wei Wuxian's room. it breathes him from the walls.

the guest chair and the evidence that Wei Wuxian has had other people here give him a pang, but it's not a surprise, after all. it's not Wei Wuxian who is the lonely, unsociable one. that's been Lan Wangji, always.

he makes note of the carnations.]

[laughitoff]

[he'll find later, if he investigates the city's relevant shops, that carnations are one of the cheapest options for a flower that still has a reasonably strong pleasant scent; they don't have a deep meaning, otherwise, beyond Wei Wuxian simply liking flowers. Lan Wangji has no way of knowing that second part, though...

Wei Wuxian pokes him in the back with surprising gentleness, when he doesn't move into the room right away.]

Go sit. I'll get some bandages and things.

[strikingchords]

[he's a simple man* and if he sees flowers in Wei Wuxian's presence he wants to put more of them near him, okay,,,

* lying is forbidden. he is not.


he tears his eyes off the environment to nod again a little, and goes to sit awkwardly in the guest chair, back extremely straight. his hands are flat on his knees. if he was an ounce less self-possessed you'd swear he had no idea what to do here.]

[laughitoff]

[Lan Wangji is so uncomfortable in his space, Wei Wuxian reflects. as well he might be; Wei Wuxian's made it clear he's a threat to him, and there's plenty of places in his own space where he could stash weapons, where he could try to kill him more easily. he doesn't even know why he's not doing that himself. he is not, contrary to what Lan Wangji thinks, unable to kick someone he hates when they're already down.

(but seeing Lan Wangji hurt and disheveled, a human with human limits instead of some jade god, feels disquietingly wrong, too. this means nothing, he tells himself. he can restore that status quo, and then he can go back to hating the man.)

with that firmly in mind, he brings over bandages, and antiseptic, and a small basin of water, and some gauze, pushing some papers aside to put them on the desk by Lan Wangji's elbow. he's reasonably well-stocked to treat himself, after the mess of the assassination.]

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji doesn't think Wei Wuxian incapable of kicking someone while they're down. he was there for Wen Chao's death; for the era of the Sunshot Campaign that followed. he just has trouble remembering that Wei Wuxian hates him enough now for that reaction with all parts of his mind and heart at once, at the same time. Wei Wuxian might be familiar with the problem.

(he does, truly, believe kindness comes more easily to Wei Wuxian's hands than cruelty; or at least, that Wei Wuxian would prefer it be that way. even after everything.)

he looks up at Wei Wuxian leaning down over the basin, studying his beloved familiar face in this new setting. a place to rest, if not a home.

quietly:]

My thanks.

[laughitoff]

[huffs, an uncomfortable sound, and starts dabbing the dirt off Lan Wangji's face with a damp cloth, as much to interrupt more of those sentiments as anything else...]

None of that. I owe you one.

[more than one.]

[strikingchords]

[...

now he might cry again. the relatively gentle gesture is so unexpected and so wrenching that Lan Wangji just closes his eyes and lets it happen, relaxing a little.]

You do not.

[laughitoff]

Sure I do.

[it helps that he doesn't sound angry, perhaps. the knot of this interaction has tied up too tight and too complex in his head for angry, at least for now.]

Is your leg broken?

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji hums dissent to both points, soft. he keeps his eyes closed. if Wei Wuxian's tired expression and smudged dark eyes go chill and red, he doesn't want to see it happen.]

A rib, perhaps.

[he hasn't investigated enough to identify a bruise or a crack yet.]

It is fine. A day's rest.

[laughitoff]

Hah. I never thought I'd see the great Hanguang-Jun in such bad shape again--but then, they only give you back your capabilities a little at a time too, don't they.

[it's a statement, not a question.]

Anything else more serious?

[strikingchords]

[he'll shake his head... his voice is still low, eyes closed. he's going to cling to this sense memory, to the softness of the cloth and the slosh of the water and the sting of chili in his nose from the kitchen.]

I think not.

[he wants to know the answers to a million questions, find out what abilities Wei Wuxian has back, hear more about his life in this strange new place, but he doesn't think he's permitted to ask. he sticks with one.]

Your leg?

[laughitoff]

It's fine. It's healing.

[it'd probably heal faster if he rested more, but who has time for that? gotta hustle.

Lan Wangji's face is clean enough; Wei Wuxian fiddles around, and then drops a tube of antiseptic ointment into his lap. he hasn't quite forgotten himself enough to start dabbing that onto Lan Wangji's face by hand]

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji opens his eyes again at the movement and the tiny thump of the tube on his leg.

question for science, how close is Wei Wuxian's face, still?]

[laughitoff]

[it's like, less than six inches away? dangerous.]

[strikingchords]

[oh yeah, then he's absolutely just staring up into Wei Wuxian's beautiful orbs or whatever transfixed for a second. thanks.]

...

[laughitoff]

[his beautiful tired bloodshot orbs. Lan Wangji, please. your taste is very bad.

Wei Wuxian seems to realize they're a little too close to each other after a moment, jerking back a bit and then making an impatient motion at him]

Let me see the rib, we should be sure.

[on the one hand Lan Wangji apparently does have some of his core capabilities back! on the other they don't have much in the way of real healers to verify, as far as Wei Wuxian knows, so a second eye will have to do.]

[strikingchords]

[his taste is Wei Wuxian, and he would disagree with your assessment, narration. he hesitates at the request, though. taking off his robes... in Wei Wuxian's room... CERTAINLY FEELS LIKE A LOT...]

[laughitoff]

[huffs at him]

I'm not going to stab you in my own rooms.

[strikingchords]

[he'll straighten up, haughty with embarrassment, and respond in a cool voice:]

I did not suspect it.

[huh?]