[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

Comments

[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.

[strikingchords]

[does that obediently, moving slowly enough to give Wei Wuxian time to direct him if he's doing something wrong]

[laughitoff]

[he guides him around what must be a giant-ass hole in the ground and then back onto his original path]

[strikingchords]

[he continues up the little trail towards the buildings, steady and silent.]

[laughitoff]

[soft and unsure]

You shouldn't be here.

[strikingchords]

[doesn't stop or change his pace]

No?

[laughitoff]

No.

[strikingchords]

[he's silent again. he's here. even if Wei Wuxian was to try to send him away again, he does not see what there is to be done about it.]

[laughitoff]

[he seems to reach this conclusion too, because he just sighs after a while]

Step carefully here. There's thornbrakes all along the path.

[strikingchords]

[he steps carefully.

dispassionately, after a bit, as statue-blank as Wei Wuxian's ever heard or felt him:]

Did you hear the voice before?

[laughitoff]

Yeah...

[strikingchords]

Mm.

[what a conversation]

[laughitoff]

I didn't really answer it? I just said, I want to get out of here...

[strikingchords]

This was the response.

[laughitoff]

What did you tell it?