[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

Comments

[laughitoff]

Feel...feel around the sill for a catch...

[he is concentrating VERY HARD on NOT GETTING LAN WANGJI MURDERED]

[strikingchords]

[reaches up to the sill, also concentrating hard on doing exactly what Wei Wuxian says and not being murdered]

[laughitoff]

[his fingers touch almost burning-cold metal on the left side]

Push down when you feel it.

[strikingchords]

[pushes down obediently!]

[laughitoff]

[there is a rush of air in front of him as the wall pulls apart, and then Wei Wuxian YELLS in horror]

Get back! Get back GET BACK GET BACK!

[strikingchords]

[shoves himself away from the wall hard]

[laughitoff]

[there are white-robed children sitting inside the opened house, curiously samefaced and generic like the surrounding buildings; despite that, Lan Wangji may be achingly minded of A-Yuan for a moment when he sees them. Papa! they cry, and come running towards them. Wei Wuxian is still shouting:]

Back! Faster! I got it wrong! Fuck!

[strikingchords]

[that's both creepy and wrenching and he feels a jarring, unpleasant lurch in his stomach; wavers and nearly hesitates for a second and then shuts his eyes and obeys, more surefooted when he can't see what's going on]

[laughitoff]

[hot breath near him, the sounds of gnashing teeth and eerie giggling -- Wei Wuxian curses and YANKS on the link himself, his perception slamming into Lan Wangji's, pure horrified adrenaline]

LOOK, damn you!

[strikingchords]

[his eyes snap back open and he wrenches around to look.]

[laughitoff]

[it's am amalgamation of ghoul children, not many separate ones; they're extruding themselves out in horrifying ways from the inside of the dark stone room, reaching out for him, perilously close. he can smell the rotten blood-stink of the Burial Mounds now, see the hulking mass of tombs chiseled out of the mountain face and the red sky and curved black peaks beyond]

[strikingchords]

[Wei Wuxian can feel his jolt of reaction, his instant reorientation and the way a smooth, analytical calm rushes into the space the change in perspective left. he's as quick to adapt as Wei Wuxian could have asked for; no less than one would expect from the great Hanguang-jun.

now that he can actually perceive the surroundings without the illusion blurring even his sense of danger, he can jump back to a safe spot and draw his guqin off his back in one motion, the noise of the strings ringing out]

[laughitoff]

[Wei Wuxian doesn’t discourage this. his own fear is all subsumed into the grim directive of keep Lan Zhan alive, holding down his own bad memories]

Don’t spend too long trying to suppress them. Keep moving or you make yourself a target for everything else!

[strikingchords]

[doesn't respond in words, but when he's pulled this closely into Wei Wuxian's ambit Wei Wuxian can feel his acknowledgment like a hum in the back of his mind.

Lan Wangji does keep moving; the ghouls are attracted to his strong spiritual energy, but at the same time they're afraid of him, and a few flashy displays of power followed by him suppressing the sense of his own presence as far as possible and keeping on the move until the ghouls get confused should be able to get them to safer ground for the moment.]

[laughitoff]

[sags in relief when they do, though Lan Wangji can still feel his hyperalert tracking around them for fresh threats. he's quiet]

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji is steady, alert as well but with that calm underlying it; he takes the opportunity to look around him better...]

[laughitoff]

[they're on high ground above the tombs now I guess?? they can see the ghoulbaby monster casting around and wailing, thwarted. the other tombs are quiet. if you want more info please let me know what Lan Wangji is looking for specifically]

[strikingchords]

[nah he is just sort of drinking it in, looking at the scene as it must have appeared when Wei Wuxian was looking at before he broke in back-- when? what did he mean about always ending up here?

turns a bit of internal attention to Wei Wuxian too, after a moment, silently gauging how he's doing; presumably Wei Wuxian hasn't shoved him away again yet if he can still see this.]

[laughitoff]

[he's badly rattled beneath a veneer of vigilant protective(?) control, as might be expected, his hackles automatically up at the nearness, the bond thrown almost all the way open to allow this. he is not pushing Lan Wangji away; Lan Wangji will be in danger again if he cannot see. Lan Wangji can taste the thudding of Wei Wuxian's heartbeat behind his own, feel him swallow, the dull ache through his body and spirit]

[strikingchords]

[there is not much he can do to cover up the fact that he is appropriately unnerved by the situation and lacerated raw enough that a touch hurts -- contrary to what people think of him, concealing his feelings on purpose has never really been a priority, and he doesn't often try. what he does try to control is the shape of his actions and reactions.

he deliberately lets himself go still internally. he is a self-contained person, and all of his own baggage fits neatly inside his perception of himself. he can be as steady and quiet and immovable as a pillar to lean against even with his own stuff going on; he can reassure, or at least not make it worse.]

The suppression is slow. It will quiet soon.

[laughitoff]

[ir doesn’t make it worse!]

I remember that thing. But it wasn’t in this area...

[strikingchords]

Where?

[laughitoff]

[gives a sort of internal nudge until Lan Wangji turns in the direction of the gardens, which appear to be an area of the Burial Mounds thick with bamboo stands and thickly-swarming, visible ghouls]

[strikingchords]

[looks gravely over them with his new, updated vision]

The illusion is unexplained. It is something different from your memory.

[laughitoff]

Something the voice cooked up, perhaps?