[♪♫♬]

[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

[one_note]

[it swings open soundlessly under his hand.



that's...a familiar view, isn't it?]

[weiyingdown]

[the sense of urgency he was feeling just a few seconds ago dissipates into mild confusion]

My dear Hanguang-Jun, I didn't know that you could travel with Empathy like this?

[he steps all the way inside, feeling rather convinced that they've just somehow activated a very bizarre transportation talisman]

[one_note]

[the door vanishes behind him :|]

[weiyingdown]

[weiyingdown]

I CAN'T BELIEVE I LEFT LAN ZHAN BY HIMSELF LIKE THAT!

[makes a beeline for the door of the Jingshi. m-maybe it'll go back???]

[one_note]

[outside the door is white mist, and a narrow white road leading away. he can barely see the latter.]

[weiyingdown]

[he's two seconds away from running out the door before he stops himself]

--Wait, I'll need a talisman to even get off of the mountain like this.

[and, while there is mist this high up, it looks...off? this entire situation feels off? so he decides to get his bearings first. he turns back around to dig around the Jingshi for a talisman, and see if the room looks any different from how he remembers it...]

[one_note]

[he is in the main room of the Jingshi. the windows and the door to the bedroom are closed. there are only a couple of things notably out of place in this room.

first, there's an uncharacteristic alcohol reek coming from the floorboard where the Emperor's Smile is hidden. weren't all the remaining jars tightly sealed?

second, where the books and scrolls are kept, several of them seem to be disarranged and shelved out of order.]

[weiyingdown]

[the sense of urgency has somewhat dissipated. there's no way that Lan Wangji would leave his things out of order, and he knows all of those jars were sealed! now his curiosity's gotten the better of him.

he goes for the alcohol first, because of course he does. might as well have a drink while he thinks!!]

[one_note]

[two of the jars are opened already, and still half-full. a cup has sunk to the bottom of one of the open jars; how messy!

the rest are still shut.

hm -- was there always a dirt floor under those?]

[weiyingdown]

[who's been drinking my alcohol?!]

Was Lan Zhan really drinking these after all? It didn't seem like he was lying when he said he wasn't...

[grabbing the open jar with the cup in it and just. drinking straight from the jar to get to the cup]

[one_note]

[with the first gulp, a memory, sharp in his mind and his mouth with newness:

--everything is warm and hazy, almost enough to overlay your irritation. There's a firm touch on your hands, moving them away from your ears. You allow it.

“Alright. He’s gone. You can’t hear or see him anymore," Wei Wuxian says.

You look at him, because it's very hard to look at anything else when he's in the same room. He looks back at you and grins. It's no longer jarring on his changed face.

“Lan Zhan, you’re still gonna answer whatever I ask? Do whatever I tell you to?”

You trust him. Mine, you think, without second guessing like you usually do -- the haze smooths the edges of the thought. “Mnn.”

His grin widens. “Take off your forehead ribbon.”

It's for him, so that's fine. A fine request. You reach up slowly--]

[weiyingdown]

[jerking backwards, startled and almost choking on the liquor in his mouth. it takes him a few good seconds of spluttered coughing before he can breathe again]

What the...

[he frowns at the jar, contemplative. and then he takes another gulp to see if it happens again]

[one_note]

[oh my god.

--the ribbon's on Wei Ying's palm, and while that's good, while that's somewhere it belongs, you're not quite pleased with the image.

“So there really isn’t anything so special about it, is there? And I thought that it’s hiding some sort of a gigantic secret. Back then, though, why were you so mad when I took it off?”

You're not mad now, but it should look right. You reach down and wrap it around his wrists, drawing the first knot tight.

“What are you doing?? Wei Ying sounds startled, but lets you continue, without trying to take his hands back.

Hm. You don't feel like letting him get away again, to walk into forests and meet with the one you dislike. You retie the knot, tighter this time, and add another, and start on a third.

It's good now; indefinably satisfying.]

[weiyingdown]

Che.

[he puts the jar back where it was before. not because he isn't curious--he is, and this is kind of fun--but it isn't doing anything to help him get out of here]

Tying me up can't possible be that fun. I should teach him how to have some real fun sometime.

[getting up, he goes to inspect the messy books and scrolls]

[one_note]

[there's a faint, brief undertone of blood to the alcohol scent, but it fades as he moves away from that spot.

the scrolls are just HELLA DISORGANIZED, it seems? everything seems to be there but some are out of order and some have been shoved in upside down or sideways. there's also a faint rustling coming from behind some of them, in the corner of the shelf.]

[weiyingdown]

Hmm?

[he highly contemplates going back to the alcohol and just drinking it all instead of dealing with this

so instead of doing anything at all to organize the shelves, he searches out the rustling sound and pulls away the books from there to see what's behind them]

[one_note]

[it's a little black bunny! it tries to hop out and away as soon as you pull the books blocking it in aside.]

[weiyingdown]

[snatching it up by its scruff super fast]

Where are you going, little guy? Lan Zhan will be upset if I let you out. Come to think of it, are you supposed to be in here to begin with?

[one_note]

[it snuffles wordlessly, kicking its legs a little.]

[weiyingdown]

Hmm...

[there's nowhere for the little bunny to go in the room, so he sets it down to see where it tries to scramble off to.

with one eye on the bunny, he picks up the books he moved and puts them on their proper place on the bookshelf. there, it's a start?]

[one_note]

[a note of...tension...? in the atmosphere of that area smooths out, though it was subtle enough not to really notice until it was gone.

the bunny hops over to the Jingshi's door, but since it's shut tight it just kind of crouches there, nosing at it.]

[weiyingdown]

[easing...tension...

ugh fine, he gets to work reorganizing the scrolls and books so that it's less messy. but he's grumbling under his breath the whole time that he does it, and scolds the rabbit.]

Did you mess all of this up? I should cook you!

[he stops at a random book and flips through it to see if it has anything interesting in it]

[one_note]

[Immediately, in the front, Lan QiRen slammed the scroll onto the ground and smiled bitterly, “I am only repeating this one by one because nobody reads it, even though it was carved onto the rock wall. Hence, nobody will be able to violate them using ignorance as an excuse again. Even if I do this, there are still people who do not pay attention. Very well, I will proceed to talk about something else.”

Although his words could be applied to everyone in the room, it was a warning directed at Wei Wuxian. Lan QiRen spoke, “Wei Ying.”

Wei WuXian answered, “Here.”

“Let me ask you. Are yao, demons, ghosts, and monsters the same things?”

Wei WuXian smiled, “No.”

“Why not? How are they differentiated?”

“Yao are formed from living, non-human beings; demons are formed from living humans; ghosts are formed from dead humans; monsters are formed from dead, non-human beings.”

“‘Yao’ and ‘monsters’ are often confused. What is an example that distinguishes the two?”

“That’s easy.” Wei WuXian pointed at the viridian tree outside of the room and replied, “For example, a living tree was tainted with the energy of books, cultivated into a conscious being, and causes mischief, it would be a ‘yao’. If I took an axe and cut it in the middle, so that only a dead tree-stump was left, and then it cultivates into a being, it would be a ‘monster.’”

“What was the profession of the progenitor of the QingheNie Sect?”

“A butcher.”

“The heraldry of the LanlingJin Sect is a white peony. Which type of white peony is it?”

“Sparks Amidst Snow.”

“Who was the first in the cultivation world to focus on the rise of his clan rather than his sect?”

“The progenitor of the QishanWen Sect, Wen Mao.”

it's written out, not a memory, but it's kind of a confusing thing to find in what looks like regular study materials? it looks like the whole book is that sort of account, too!]

[weiyingdown]

[CLOSES IT

puts it back on the shelf

he does not need to re-read Lan QiRen giving a lecture]

Aren't there any memories without me in them? I didn't think we were that close in the past.

[out of curiosity (he can't help it) he picks up a scroll closer to the end--surely that's more recent in Lan Wangji's memory, and not something he would have been around for]