[♪♫♬]

[one_note]

[after Yi City and the second time Wei Wuxian gets Lan Wangji drunk, it takes about a day for them to reach the Garden of Annual blossoms. this curious incident takes place in the space of that day.

outside of appeasing the corpse pieces they've been collecting each night, it's not uncommon for Lan Wangji to take the time to practice on the guqin. he doesn't play entire songs, since he's not trying to interact with any spirits at the moment, but safely broken-up sections of Inquiry and Empathy (was Empathy always a musical technique? it is in this timeline, shut up) and the other songs he uses for battle hum through the walls of the rest stop they've paused at on the road.

it's partway through a passage of Empathy that there's a notable shriek of strings, and then silence; when Wei Wuxian goes to check, he'll find Lan Wangji half-collapsed over the instrument, his breathing harsh and a strange fluctuation of energy around him.

a qi deviation...? oh no.]

Comments

[weiyingdown]

[PUTS THE JARS BACK TOO???]

[one_note]

[the compartment starts to smell like blood, on top of the alcohol reek.]

[weiyingdown]

[blood is a worse smell

TAKES THEM ALL BACK OUT

SETS THEM ON THE TABLE

and downs all of the alcohol, from all of them, so that there's nothing left]

[one_note]

[now he is drunk and the problem has not resolved itself

weird how that happens]

[weiyingdown]

[NO REGRETS!!!! it's good alcohol

goes back to the compartment and opens the second compartment back up, and starts taking out all of the rest of the broken shards of the jar]

[one_note]

[he can do! his coordination is not super good right now.]

[weiyingdown]

[those shards are probably cutting his hands then, oops! OH WELL, IT'S FINE, he just takes it slowly and makes sure to put them all on the table where he's not going to accidentally step on them. he also takes a minute to smell the compartments once they're free of alcohol jars. are both of them reeking of blood and booze?]

[one_note]

[yes??? the blood smell is STRONGER now that he's added his blood??? there's an aura of wrongness and distress]

[weiyingdown]

[i am either not drunk enough for this or not sober enough for this

can he fit into the second compartment, he's gonna try to sit in it]

[one_note]

[now he is drunk, has triggered something very distressing, and has wet dirt all over his butt

he is very uncomfortable]

[weiyingdown]

You're so picky, Lan Zhan!

[gets out of the compartment and goes to search around the room for a bucket. or something bucket-shaped.

nevermind he found the empty jars of Emperor's Smile, he grabs one of those and is now on the hunt for WATER. is there any inside of the room or does he have to go outside]

[one_note]

[he has to go outside,,,]

[weiyingdown]

[he is absolutely leaving his mess and going outside to find a water source,,,]

[one_note]

[THERE'S ONLY THE ROAD

there's a soft nudge against his leg; the rabbit has actually just grabbed the hem of his robe in its teeth to try and stop him]

[weiyingdown]

[it's effective, on account of him being all wobbly. he frowns down at the rabbit]

I'm going to come back! I need something to clean those compartments with.

[one_note]

[TUG :|]

[weiyingdown]

[is tugged back inside by a tiny rabbit]

What? Do you have a better idea?

[one_note]

[it puts a paw on his shoe earnestly :((((]

[weiyingdown]

That's not a suggestion.

[goes back to sit at the table to make the rabbit stop making those sad bunny faces at him though]

[one_note]

[the jars draw his eye.]

[weiyingdown]

[sets the jar he was carrying back on the table only to pick up another one and idly inspect it]

[one_note]

[it's an empty vessel but it needs to be filled? it should be full, for when Wei Ying comes back]

[weiyingdown]

[was the water plan not good enough for you, jar]

Hmm...

[holds the jar in both hands and tries to focus on a memory of his own, of him and Lan Zhan. the first one that comes to mind is their first meeting, since that was in one of these jars before. he tries to hold onto the sight of Lan Wangji standing in the moonlight looking like he was carved out of jade, of the spike of surprise at getting caught settling quickly into an eagerness to gain a co-conspirator willing to let him off.

he's also still inebriated and his memory has never been the greatest, so it's a wobbly attempt at best.]

[one_note]

[...liquid sloshes in the jar, and the oppressive feeling gradually lessens...]

[weiyingdown]

Ah.

[pros: could make unlimited alcohol like this
cons: drinking memories is too weird for it to be worth it

he grabs the other jars and tries to fill them up too. memories of days spent copying rules in the Library Pavilion with his endless teasing chatter until he was silenced by a spell, with the smell of parchment and ink and sandalwood forever hanging in the air. memories of Caiyi Town and the gleam of sword slicing through water ghouls; the sounds of boats gliding through water and girls selling loquats laughing. memories of dumping soft, fluffy rabbits in front of Lan Wangji and calling them a gift for him to keep. his own vibrant, unrestrained laughter as he was thrown out time and time again.

he tries to focus on what he deems good memories, which is mostly ones that are from his stay at the Cloud Recesses. even with his bad memory and his tipsy state, there's a strong feeling from all of them that makes up for the lack of clarity in spaces. Lan Wangji's so serious. Lan Er-Gege's so fun to tease. Lan Zhan is so cool.

some conflicting memories slip in too--what he finds a fond memory of sharing the freezing cold springs with Lan Wangji tugs his memory back to dragging Lan Wangji outside of the wall in a scuffle, and the ensuing beating the next day. he abruptly pulls himself away from that memory and sets the jar down.]

Well, that should be plenty.