[PALACE GAME - LAN WANGJI RUN]

[laughitoff]

Everything is red. You are dying, somewhere far beyond pain, the very essence of yourself going to pieces. You’re shattering so badly you don’t know if you’ll ever find all of yourself again, if you’ll ever put yourself back together. There are teeth on you, ripping, tearing, devouring. There are teeth inside you, carving their way out, and those are worse.

This is a memory, happening at a remove. It is not yours. This is not happening now.

Everything is grey. You wake up in a prison cell, eyes wide, the ceiling flat and blank and unfamiliar above you. For a moment you simply think, no. You think, Please, wasn’t it over? Wasn’t it enough? You consider closing your eyes again and refusing to get up, until oblivion reclaims you. Even if you’re no longer dying, everything hurts.

This is a memory, happening at a remove. It is not yours. This is not happening now.

What is happening, then?

You–

–sit up.

Comments

[laughitoff]

[Feels about the same! It's still representing the same thing but he's left it in better shape.]

[strikingchords]

[UNSURE... IF... ACCURATE? HE'S NOT SURE HE TRUSTS BONE AS A CAGE MATERIAL OVER METAL, frankly, if "put whatever Chenqing represents in a cage" is even a great way to handle this. but it's better if it's not corroding, hm. he could try to use his remaining Orthodoxy again to change it back, or try to change it into another form, but he's not sure if he wants to do that yet either.

...he'll put Chenqing back in the pouch and back in the cage for now...

again just for now, he's going to hang the bell over the cage lock, so it will sound if something tries to rattle the lock and get out >:|a]

[laughitoff]

[This all seems legit!

What now?]

[strikingchords]

[lets his fingers linger on the bell, feeling that gratitude and loss; what do you want, little chiming thing? he doesn't know how to reassure Wei Wuxian that he could still have a family after all of this. it's as much about him being willing to accept one as it is about the people around him.

he'll go look at the bed, since he hasn't yet, he guesses]

[laughitoff]

[The bed is a poor affair indeed. You can’t imagine sleeping on this thing and not waking up in pain.

The pillow turns out to be a rolled-up robe, ragged and grey. There seems to be something in one of the deep pockets of the sleeves.

The blankets are clumped with black and white animal fur. One is as thin and ragged as the pillow, the other is newer, good quality and warm. There’s a weird little carving on the rock underneath the blankets, half-covered but obvious. It looks like two stick figures kissing, but someone's made an attempt to scribble it over with some dark substance that looks like charcoal.

The food tray on the foot of the bed is much neater than everything else, but…odd. There's a milkshake from the diner (someone's drawn a cute caramel design of a flower on top); a cup of pale, almost leafless tea that smells somewhat like alcohol; a bowl of appetizing meat, vegetables and fishcakes. However, these are next to a plate heaped with gobbets of fresh raw meat and bone, and a little dipping bowl for sauce that holds two human-sized eyeballs.

There's also a mussed prison uniform shoved to one side. The stripes on it flicker between Basilisk-green and black, with an occasional, rare touch of Phoenix-red.]

[strikingchords]

[.......huffs at all of this

he'll immediately unroll that "pillow" and check the pockets first, yeah]

[laughitoff]

[The thing in the sleeve is a small animal skeleton! A rat, to be precise.

At the touch of his bare hand it comes to life and starts to struggle and try to get away and out.]

[strikingchords]

[IS THIS THE THING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO IN THE SMALL ANIMAL CAGE????????

he's going to go with his original plan and try to emotionshare calm with it, regardless]

[laughitoff]

[It does not calm. He feels a surge of immense anxiety, only briefly pushed back by the use of his power and then resuming again.]

[strikingchords]

[hm. HE IS PRETTY GOOD AT HOLDING ONTO SMALL ANIMALS, AT LEAST. not letting it go even if it bites him >(

if he tucks it in against his body, continues trying to push calm at it, and retrieves the bell to put on it, does that do anything, or does the bell just have nothing to do with calming small animals down in this context after all]

[laughitoff]

[The bell has absolutely nothing to do with calming small animals. His power is the only thing that's keeping this at HIGH BUT CONSTANT LEVEL rather than CONTINUALLY RISING LEVEL.]

[strikingchords]

[well okay! it was an idea! he'll leave it where he had it originally on the bars then and return to the bed.

time to try TOUCHING OTHER THINGS to see if anything here feels calming,]

[laughitoff]

[The blankets feel like comfort; the fur feels like nostalgia; the carving feels like desire overwritten with massive feelings of inadequacy; the food tray feels neutral unless he's running his hands all over the food and drinks. The uniform feels like a sense of uncertain identity, not quite settled? Is he part of this group or isn't he? It doesn't seem super bad, just...a nagging worry.

With a cool nat 20 he's able to power through touching all this on top of the anxiety without adverse effects, though it's really starting to feel like a strain!]

[strikingchords]

[THANKS FOR THE LAN WANGJI VIBES DIE YOU GAVE ME, WITH LOVE ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. COOL BEANS FOR THIS INITIAL CHECK.

CAN HE JUST WRAP THE RAT UP IN THE GOOD BLANKET LIKE A BURRITO FOR A MOMENT TO SEE IF THAT GIVES HIM A BREAK]

[laughitoff]

[It struggles in the blanket.

The edges of the blanket begin to fray, slowly.]

[strikingchords]

[NO!

HE REMOVES THE RAT AND CUDDLES IT AGGRESSIVELY AGAIN >(a

actually, can you press on a rat's acupoint and cause it to pass out,]

[laughitoff]

[Skeletons do not have acupoints.]

[strikingchords]

[oh I thought you said "comes to life" like "has a body again" not "becomes a reanimated skeleton"




(WAS THE CAGE ACTUALLY RAT SIZED? COULD HE PUT IT IN THERE INSTEAD OF CHENQING OR WOULD IT JUST SLIP OUT THROUGH THE BARS)

(shit if it started to erode his control of his powers that would be bad though but we're just RUNNING THROUGH PLAUSIBILITY HERE)]

[laughitoff]

[It can feasibly be locked in the cage.]

[strikingchords]

[all right he's going to try that (REMOVING CHENQING BUT LEAVING IT IN HIS CIRCLE FIRST) to try to give himself some time,,,,,

CAREFULLY WATCHES IT TO SEE IF THE BONES ARE GOING TO START TO ROT AGAIN INSTANTLY OR SOMETHING AAAA]

[laughitoff]

[The rat runs in frantic circles around the inside of the cage. The cage seems to be fine.]

[strikingchords]

[TO THE RAT]

One moment.

I apologize.

[he's going to grab another piece of paper for this yeah

"How can Wei Ying's fears be calmed?"

trying to get the answer to that puts him back at Orthodoxy 3x so he needs to start destroying shit soon, probably]

[laughitoff]

[How can Wei Ying's fears be calmed?
Time, familiarity, reassurance.

Sometimes they cannot be calmed.]

[strikingchords]

[it's not that that's unfair, but.




sighs, shifts to a very tiny dragon indeed, and slips inside the cage through the bars :(a]

[laughitoff]

[OH NO!]