[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

[acrookedpath]

"That is exactly what I did," confirms Wei Wuxian. "But I was not so good at avoiding getting caught."

This is not going to help his determination to stop blushing, he realizes.

"In fact, Lan Zhan was the one who caught me my first night. How many was it I broke, did he say then?" He hums in thought, counting on his fingers. "I dispelled one of their barriers, I entered Cloud Recesses too late at night, I brought wine, I tried to bribe Lan Zhan with the wine... I'm certain there were more."

[riddleofthebelow]

Tom laughs. “It sounds like you wanted to get caught, which is even more audacious. Rules are there for breaking; so long as they get broken, bravo.”

This, of course, doesn’t apply to the rules he makes and enforces. Good heavens, no.

[acrookedpath]

"Ah, I knew there was a reason I liked you so much, Tom-gongzi," he declares. "Perhaps some day I will find a way to send you to Gusu Lan. We can have a contest to see if you break as many rules as I did!"

[riddleofthebelow]

“If they find you unorthodox, I fear I wouldn’t be tolerated.”

[acrookedpath]

"I suppose not," he sighs. "And I would not truly make you suffer so. Not every clan is as strict as Gusu Lan, but none of them were particularly fond of me."

Not even Yunmeng Jiang, by the end.

[riddleofthebelow]

“It does seem like your world’s clans and sects are more rigid than their equivalents in mine. I’m thankful for the chaotic nature of the Underside. It’s a relief to exist in a place where nothing is black or white, but is instead on a shady spectrum of grays.”

[acrookedpath]

His laugh is quieter now, more rueful.

"It does sound a relief," he says. "Cultivators work to stand against evil -- it is a noble pursuit, to seek out justice and righteousness, to help the weak. But their rigid thinking means they have committed evils, and worse, believed themselves righteous in their evil."

[riddleofthebelow]

"Exactly," he says, nodding his head. "It's the righteousness, the intrinsic belief that you must do things a certain way, because you believe so very strongly that it's the only way. And when you combine that with power over others?"

It is a continuous struggle for Tom to not let his own needs for power and control, his own righteous beliefs, bleed into the reality of London Below. He and Door could rule the Underside and make it better, so much better, for everyone, instead of continuing the nudging diplomacy they conduct. Most of the time, he suppresses these desires easily. But not all the time.

[acrookedpath]

"Yes."

His conversation with Harrow, where he scraped himself raw in the retelling of Nightless City, was not so very long ago. Wei Wuxian is quiet a moment, trying to decide how much he is willing to tell. If he is willing to tell it again. There is seeking distraction, and then there is going so far to distract yourself that you deliberately bring yourself pain.




"They murdered my friends," he says at last, simply. Quietly. "The clan I had begun to form, in peace, away from the others. I do not wish to speak much more of it. But that is the evil I swore to fight against, and the righteousness they believe they committed."

[riddleofthebelow]

"If you tell me that you fought for people for whom you cared against evil acts, I not only believe you, without hesitation, but I applaud you. I would do anything in my considerable power to protect my family. In a heartbeat. There would be no questioning and no quarter given."

He shakes his head. "If that makes me evil, even still, in others' eyes, I can't find it within me to care."

[acrookedpath]

He musters up another slight, wavering smile. It vanishes within moments.

"The best I was able to achieve was vengeance," he says. "It is how I died. I wish -- ah, but the more time I spend here, I wish I had known more people in my lifetime who saw the world as you do. The shades of grey, as you said. I would have felt much less alone."

[riddleofthebelow]

He walks over to Wei Wuxian and clasps his shoulder firmly.

"You're not alone, now," he says, "and whilst you're here, that will never be the case. I know that's not the best of comforts, all things considering, but it is the truth."

[acrookedpath]

"Yes." He dips his head in a quick, slightly unsteady nod. "It is still a comfort. It is more than I could have hoped for, coming here. I only wish I did not have to die to find so much of what I desired."

[riddleofthebelow]

"As do I."

Milliways is hardest for the dead who find themselves somehow living. He cannot imagine what it's actually like. All he can do is try to alleviate the difficulties in the ways he can.

"If you ever decide that you'd like to take up rooms in the House of Arch, please let me know. They've provided many patrons more of a, well. A home, than the rooms upstairs allow. You would be a most welcome and honored guest."

[acrookedpath]

His eyes widen. "Really? I -- "

The smile re-emerges on steady, if disbelieving, footing.

"I would be equally honored, Tom-gongzi." He steps back just enough to give him the space for a proper, respectful bow, hands clasped before him. "For now the room Madam Bar gave me meets my needs, but if this is where I am to live for a long time, a home would be very welcome."

Though it demands the next question (and the need to turn his thoughts toward what he has studiously not been thinking about this whole time) --

"My friend, Lan Zhan, would he be able to access those rooms as well? He has taken to spending his nights here. It is much more comfortable than his current quarters."

[riddleofthebelow]

"Of course. All of our residents are free to bring their own guests to and from worlds. Door and I ask that we know who is in the House, so if he's not keyed to the portal and to your rooms by then, and I see no reason why he couldn't be, we have a way of messaging through the paintings."

You know what makes Tom happy? Having formidable allies who happen to be guests in his home. He is still a Slytherin, after all, even if he's become a genuinely friendlier one than most.

"If you'd like, when the time comes, you could even go with me as we look for forgotten rooms to fit any specific requirements you might have. The Underside has rooms from all the time periods of London's history, and some may be more home like to you than others."

[acrookedpath]

"I would like that very much." By now, he's near to beaming. "Perhaps I will bring Lan Zhan along as well, if he is still spending his evenings here."

He may not be, he realizes with a sudden pang. Lan Zhan's seclusion is set to end in several weeks. What is to say he won't choose to stay elsewhere, when the choice is not between a soft bed and a cold cave floor?

No. That does not bear thinking about, not right now. Wei Wuxian will face it when the time comes, and he will face it with dignity.

[riddleofthebelow]

That is more like it. Tom is relieved to see Wei Wuxian's expression brighten.

"Brilliant. It's settled then."

He's glad Ingress insisted he come by the lake today. Very glad indeed.