[sidereal - the dreaming]

[laughitoff]

[for MDZS AU plot-related shenanigans]

Comments

[strikingchords]

[...

he tugs a spirit-trapping pouch out of his sleeve and opens it for them.

Come. We will search. You will see it done.]

[laughitoff]

[they enter willingly...]

[strikingchords]

[closes the pouch and carefully replaces the lid on the funerary jar before he puts his guqin away.]

[laughitoff]

...?

[strikingchords]

They wish proper burial for their children. The other remains. A better burying ground.

[he begins to gather up the sad little bones into a qiankun pouch. Wei Wuxian can't help but feel the sharp edge of his sympathy, quiet and restrained as ever]

[laughitoff]

[he can feel an echoing sympathy from Wei Wuxian...

the noise from outside escalates, however]

Uh-oh.

[strikingchords]

[possibly the ghoulbaby is noticing either its remains or its parents have been moved. Lan Wangji moves deliberately but very efficiently, working his way quickly through the meat next]

[laughitoff]

Hurry, Hanguang-Jun!

[strikingchords]

[HE'S HURRYING. OKAY TIME FOR HORRIBLE SKIN!]

[laughitoff]

[the horrible ghoulbaby is bursting in wailing GET THAT SKIN]

[strikingchords]

[yeah he finishes and unsheathes his sword with a clear ringing noise to fend it off and

it trips over the coffins as it lunges for him, clumsy with rage and rigor mortis, knocking the coffins askew and crashing into the wall.

there's a sudden grinding noise and before Lan Wangji can react with more than a grab for the edge of a coffin, the floor is yanked out from underneath him, and he falls. the ceiling rotates again above him and the light disappears.

he's actually dazed by what happens next for a moment - despite his best efforts in the confusion, he comes down hard on a pile of smooth, round, slippery somethings, and his feet go out from under him. his head slams into something as he lands, and a bare heartbeat later something else heavy crashes down on top of him.

when he comes to in a couple of moments there's a heavy chain net pinning him down, too much even for his strength to break the shackles without working the locks free. his head is pounding, and something is painfully wrong in his rib area and along one arm. he can still feels whatever was under him - something like glass marbles? they have faint sparks of gold and red light inside that don't illuminate the space around themselves.

the ghoulbaby howls from above in grief and loss now and then, muffled, as much felt as heard.

it's dark.]

[laughitoff]

[he can feel Wei Wuxian beating frantic against whatever's restraining him, EXTREMELY distressed]

Lan Zhan? Lan Zhan, wake up! Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!

[strikingchords]

[reaches out gently and rather absently to shush him. It is fine.

he's currently distracted by... frowning vaguely and abstractedly at the impenetrable darkness

:|

:|????

:|]

[laughitoff]

[oh my god. he quiets, but Lan Wangji can still feel distress! concern! distress! going up like rockets]

[strikingchords]

[--snaps out of his daze another moment later, a mental hand still on Wei Wuxian's shoulder; goes internally and externally very still. Wei Wuxian felt the shift and sharpening of his attention, though]

...

[laughitoff]

You're not supposed to be here, you're not supposed to get hurt, you're not, you're not--

[strikingchords]

[a flash of surprised hurt at "you're not supposed to be here," Lan Wangji still too disoriented to hide it; jerks back slightly]

[laughitoff]

[reaches the other way instinctively, for him, for the first time since they landed here]

[strikingchords]

[well he doesn't get shoved away?!]

[laughitoff]

What am I doing wrong?

[strikingchords]

[?! confusion!!]

[laughitoff]

I keep hurting you?! It's not like I can't feel it!

[frustrated...]

[strikingchords]

...

[closes his eyes against the dark. he's terse and guarded, even inside his own thoughts, but making a dutiful wrenching effort to answer the question. You wish me gone.]

[laughitoff]

I wish you not in the Burial Mounds! How is that unreasonable!?

[strikingchords]

[clipped, trying to hold onto his relative calm with his teeth and fingernails. "I always end up back here."]