[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

Comments

[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?

[strikingchords]

[slightly dry - Wei Wuxian can tell more from their closeness than from Lan Wangji's voice]

"Please ignore the discomfort."

[laughitoff]

[a little strained]

Doing my best!

[strikingchords]

[half reaches towards him, instinctive, but checks himself. it's the kind of twitch that would not have made it as far as his hands in the flesh.]

...

[the horrible ghoul amalgam is fixing to return to its previous resting spot, finally. watches it instead]

[laughitoff]

[it folds itself back into the opened tomb with an air of waiting dissatisfaction]

[strikingchords]

[careful not to repeat the reach for the moment, though Wei Wuxian had to have noticed it]

Try again, or move elsewhere?

[laughitoff]

[sharply -- it's not that he didn't notice the touch, or Lan Wangji's hurt, but Lan Wangji can sort of feel the echo chamber of his mind, so much pressure on it that he doesn't have the spare capacity for kindness]

I don't know, Hanguang-Jun!

[strikingchords]

[it's not that he's not more hurt than he was before, more that he's just trying to keep himself to himself more tightly after that abortive gesture. it's easier to betray yourself this way.]

All right.

[they'll do this Lan Wangji's way, then. returns to the level ground to survey the cliff face, lightfooted and out of sight range of the opened tomb. are there any that aren't dug into the walls like a cave?]

[laughitoff]

[all of them are mostly dug into the rock]

[strikingchords]

[cool.

he steps to the side of the entrance, still concealing his spiritual presence as well as possible, and slides a handful of talismans out of his sleeve. it's the work of a moment or two to swiftly draw a few more lines on them and then he flicks one as far away from the mouth of the cave while still in plain sight as he can get it.]

[laughitoff]

That's--!

[the attraction talismans flare! the ghoulbaby ponderously slithers back out of the tomb to check them out, getting in squabbles with several ghouls and fierce ghosts that are pulled in as well]

[strikingchords]

[it was only one talisman. he wraps the last three he altered around the shaft of an arrow and shoots it into the ground midway between this area and the garden. maybe get in a HUGE STUPID FIGHT, ghouls, or at least stop and think about it.

then he slips into the opened tomb behind the commotion, alert for tiny signs of any more traps]