[pfsb]

[acrookedpath]

The good news: the energy-revealing array works!

The bad news --

It's not bad news, he insists to himself. It just... is. It's a complication, a hole in the road, a little snare tripping him up. That's all. It doesn't have to be more. It might not even be in the first place, yes? He is dead, Lan Zhan is alive, of course seeing just how very alive would stir something in him. That's all it is.

Right?

Never mind that he's fairly certain if he placed the same array on Harrow, or Tom-gongzi, or Ingress, he would not have been struck the same way. That -- it's ridiculous, this is all ridiculous, and that's why he's out here by the lake, standing on a flat rock with another array of talismans fluttering in his hand.

The key is not just luring resentful energy from the forest, despite the suppression around the inn. It is how swiftly he can do it. During his coffee-fueled spree of work last night, he drew up some new lures that ought to work faster than a traditional set. Now he scatters them in a wide circle around his feet, gestures sharply, and sends a bolt of red energy into the yellow paper slips.

Silently, in his head, he begins to count. One... two... three...

At the count of thirteen, something boils at the forest's edge, dark and oily.

Wei Wuxian smiles and lifts his flute to meet it.

Comments

[lightamidchaos]

Wei Ying was not in the inn's common room, when he returned to it. Nor was he upstairs in his room.

When he opens the door to the lakeside, however, the sound of the flute is instantly recognizable.

Unerringly, his eyes follow the sound, and he sees Wei Ying on the rock by the shore, surrounded by swirling black smoke amid a set of spirit lures.

Lan Wangji steps silently out of the inn, allows the door to close behind him, and starts slowly toward the lake.

[acrookedpath]

The music shifts as he approaches, winding down from the clarion call of Wei Wuxian's summoning to the firm guiding hand of Rest. It does not have the gentleness of Lan Zhan's own music, though; this is a song that will brook no argument from the spirits it commands, like a stern father marching his child to their room.

Go, it says, and sleep until I wake you again.

The cloud of resentful energy loosens its hold on Wei Wuxian, rippling back across the water to reconnect with the spirits that hover at the forest's edge. He brings the music to a close, smiles in satisfaction, and moves to tuck the flute away in his belt.

[lightamidchaos]

"Your lures worked."

It is an observation, not a question, as it is impossible to mistake either the existence of that much resentful energy, or Wei Ying's command of it.

(It does not occur to him that, given the amount of focus he had been using, Wei Ying may not have noticed his approach.)

"Is it all you hoped?"

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian yelps, whirling around to Lan Zhan so fast that a few of the lures almost go airborne.

"Lan Zhan!" He presses a hand to his chest with a nervous flutter of laughter. "You startled me. Must you always be so quiet?"

He is not going to stare, he tells himself. He will not.

[lightamidchaos]

He freezes in his tracks and stares at Wei Ying in confused surprise.

"I ... was not trying to be?"

A beat.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to startle you."

[acrookedpath]

"No no no, it's fine! It's fine. Please don't worry, Lan Zhan, I was absorbed in my work, that is all."

He kneels to sweep the lures together in a pile. If it gives him a moment where he is not looking at Lan Zhan's face, and can compose his thoughts more clearly, even better.

"These are a good start," he goes on, in what has become his standard response to any praise of his work. "They did not summon the resentful spirits as quickly as I would like, but they summoned enough to work with. And it is not just the ghosts we found before -- there has been violent death here, though not very much of it."

[lightamidchaos]

He moves forward and bends down to help collect the lures. It seems the least he can do after inadvertently helping to scatter them.

"Mn. The inn is odd enough that it would have been stranger for there not to be at least some."

[acrookedpath]

Quickly, Wei Wuxian shifts to give Lan Zhan more space, focusing on the lures farthest away from him.

"I don't know," he says, light. "I think it would have been fitting, in the strangeness of everything, for there to have been no death at all."

[lightamidchaos]

He gives Wei Ying an uncertain look as the other man jerks away, then shakes his head and focuses on carefully picking up each lure.

"True," he admits.

"But I am glad you have found what you needed."

[acrookedpath]

"So am I."

He thinks he has pulled himself together. It is worth the chance: Wei Wuxian looks up and grins at Lan Zhan.

"Now all I need to do is fine-tune the lures so the energy can be summoned by a count of five. That is still not as quick as I would prefer, but I believe it's the best I can hope for. And it will be sufficient if something happens."

[lightamidchaos]

The bright grin eases the uncertainty that had been starting to grow within him, and his expression softens as the corners of his mouth turn up in one of his faint smiles.

"Good."

He holds out the collected lures.

"Is there something I can do? To help?"

[acrookedpath]

"Ah -- "

Well, there goes his composure again.

He drops his gaze with another nervous, involuntary laugh, taking the stack of paper from Lan Zhan. (Carefully, so as not to touch his fingers by accident.) "I will have to think about it," he says. "Do you have any ideas? For how I could summon the energy more quickly?"

[lightamidchaos]

"Mn."

He thinks about it, giving the problem his full attention as he stands upright once more. Absently, his right hand goes to the small of his back, his posture poised and relaxed at once.

"An element of repetition? To enhance the effect of each lure?"

[acrookedpath]

Should he stand up if Lan Zhan's standing up? He probably should. Wei Wuxian rises and stuffs the lures into his robes -- which promptly leaves him with nothing to do with his hands. He settles for tucking them behind his back in a not-quite mirror of Lan Zhan.

"Maybe." He considers this. "Some sort of amplification, to be certain. I wonder if there would be a more succinct way to do it than repetition."

[lightamidchaos]

He shakes his head, uncertain.

"... reflection?" he offers, at last. "Between the lures? Perhaps?"

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian makes an intrigued noise, eyebrows lifting as he looks out over the lake.

"Reflection," he echoes. "Like a candle set between two polished mirrors. That might work! I will have to test it first on something less dangerous so I do not accidentally call more than I can handle, but that may work very well."

[lightamidchaos]

"That seems wise."

It brings up another question, one he's not sure quite how to ask, but all the same he feels that he must try.

"Do you know? How much you can handle?"

Without the Stygian Tiger Seal, he does not say.

[acrookedpath]

He exhales. Shakes his head, reluctantly, after a moment.

Quieter: "I will run less risk if I call only as much as I need. No more. And I do not expect to be fighting any armies here."

He turns a lopsided, largely humorless smile on the ground.

"At least, I hope I will not."

[lightamidchaos]

There is only one possible response he can give, so instinctive and deeply rooted in his soul that he cannot say anything else, or even stop to think before the words spill out.

"Not alone."

A beat.

"Should you need to fight. For any reason. It will not be alone."

Not ever again.

[acrookedpath]

His eyes widen.

He cannot help it: even as his face starts to flush, even as every thought or word flees his head, he turns back to Lan Zhan. He keeps his hands laced tight together, lest he make the mistake of reaching out. All he can do is stare in mute shock.

[lightamidchaos]

Wei Ying looks at him, eyes wide and stunned, and Lan Wangji turns to face him fully. He will not turn away from this, will not hide or seek to explain or defend himself for his lack of action in the past, but he has to be sure Wei Ying knows. That he understands.

"Not alone," he repeats, low and weighted with the certainty of stone. "Never again."

[acrookedpath]

He swallows, hard enough for his throat to visibly bob. His whole stomach has transformed into dragonflies vibrating their wings at top speed; he cannot look away from Lan Zhan's eyes, or the softness of his mouth. Not alone, echoes over and over in his suddenly empty mind. Not alone.

"Good," he finally manages, and immediately wants to smack himself in the face for saying something so asinine. And yet he says it again! "Good. Ah -- "

He clears his throat, wrenching his gaze back to the lake. His whole chest feels warm -- his face even warmer, embarrassingly so. "Have you eaten? Shall we -- ?"

[lightamidchaos]

Good, Wei Ying says, and he feels the shock of the blow knock all the air out of him.

Good. As if chiding a disciple who has failed to live up to expectations and is earnestly promising to do better. Which, in a way, is the truth, is it not?

He can only be grateful that Wei Ying, in kindness, did not say anything else to point out how Lan Wangji's promise is too little, too late.

Wei Ying turns away, unable to look at him, and he makes himself turn to face the water as well, sparing Wei Ying from his ill-done sincerity.

"Mn. As you wish."

[acrookedpath]

All the warmth congeals into a lump of ice. The fluttering in his belly isn't so pleasant any longer -- it's frantic, nauseating, and if it wouldn't hurt Lan Zhan even more Wei Wuxian would simply make his excuses and leave.

"Ah, Lan Zhan -- " He drags a hand down his face, still too afraid to look at him. "I'm sorry. I..."

What can he even say? I'm sorry but if I think about you too long I may blurt out something I regret and destroy the little friendship we still share? If he loses Lan Zhan --

"I am not thinking clearly today. I am sorry. Forgive me."

[lightamidchaos]

"Do not apologize."

Low, but clear. He keeps his gaze fixed on the water.

"There is no need. None."