[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

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[laughitoff]

[calm; calm. it's hard to tell if what Lan Wangji is doing has the direct effect, but Wei Wuxian's terrified breathing slows too.]

[strikingchords]

[at least he knows he isn't making anything worse this way.

he waits a moment more for them to both settle, then reaches out to explore the rough wood walls with the pads of his fingers. is there anything that feels like a door or a panel to be pried away?]

[laughitoff]

[there is an inside seam between the walls around him and the panel on top of him; he is in a coffin, of course]

[strikingchords]

[OF COURSE???????????

unlatches the lid, if he can.]

[laughitoff]

[there is a beautiful blue sky above him, and swaying tree branches just visible past the coffin-edge. birdsong fills his ears. Wei Wuxian makes a faint despairing noise]

[strikingchords]

[hesitates. something about this feels wrong but Wei Wuxian's distress is more immediately important.]




Wei Ying.

[laughitoff]

Ah, I always end up back here . . .

[strikingchords]

[he sits up and looks around him, careful]

[laughitoff]

[he doesn't recognize the place, though it bears a certain semblance to the Cloud Recesses; a lush green mountainous landscape, replete with trees and birds and flowers

he is just seated in a little grassy hollow, very cool and pleasant -- so why can he still feel rough wood underneath him?]

[strikingchords]

...

[closes his eyes and assures himself of that feeling under his hands. very measured:]

Wei Ying. Where?

[laughitoff]

What do you mean, where?! We're in the Burial Mounds!

[strikingchords]

[even with the resentment liberated and a couple of decades to regrow and heal, the Burial Mounds would not look like this, Lan Wangji thinks. everything is too smooth and pristine. the Burial Mounds would show its scars, mourn its dead.]

We see different things.

[laughitoff]

????!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!

[strikingchords]

[he opens his eyes again to check if he sees the same thing now that he's looking for the Burial Mounds...]

[laughitoff]

[he still sees the beautiful, peaceful landscape]

An illusion? --I can't move...

[strikingchords]

I cannot see you, either.

[it doesn't feel like Wei Wuxian is there with him; he's not sure he can sense another person's physical presence. it feels like Wei Wuxian is in the back of his head.]

[laughitoff]

What the fuck is going on?!

[strikingchords]

[he doesn't bother responding. he doesn't know.

he does stand up and look around to see what this (illusory?) landscape is showing him, though.]

[laughitoff]

[the grassy hollow is in a bit of a neutral clearing filled with more grass and trees! but there is, roughly

- a rocky path to the right that leads out into a haze of mist
- a little cluster of white buildings in the distance to the north, uphill
- a tangled, undisciplined garden in the distance to the left]

behind him is a stark cliff]

[strikingchords]

[before doing anything else he's going to close his eyes again and try to seek more deliberately after that elusive presence in the back of his mind.]

[laughitoff]

[it's held still in the back of his mind, like it too is trapped in a coffin.  they're connected by--something, a bond, a link, gossamer-fine, that Lan Wangji can use to feel his way towards Wei Wuxian, like he's pulling himself hand over hand along a rope.

when he gets close enough his perceptions start to shift -- a stink of blood instead of grass in his nose, the howling of ghouls in his ears, Wei Wuxian's own thundering heart and the feel of his nails clenched into the flesh of his palms -- before there's a red flare of defensive hostility that shoves him away to a distance again, snapping his eyes back open to the illusion]

[strikingchords]

[hurt, in spite of himself; sternly tamps that down too.]

...

[starts up the path towards the buildings, for now, feeling his way along very carefully indeed. he keeps his eyes closed more than not, straining his sense of touch, at least, to try to avoid pitfalls. he stays quiet.]

[laughitoff]

Stop.

[strikingchords]

[he stops dead.]

[laughitoff]

...move to the right. There's a pit in front of you.