[pfsb] it's so FLUFFY

[acrookedpath]

In Wei Wuxian's defense, it isn't as if he forgot one should never eat free food unless it came from Madam Bar or the waitrats. It's simply that after nearly a year where he has -- only on occasion, mind you! -- accepted food and drink from strangers with no ill effects, he may have let his guard slip. Just a little.

Besides, he was so absorbed in his work that for all he knew, a waitrat had deposited the little bowl of animal-shaped desserts on his table. It wouldn't have been the first time he failed to notice one of them trying to get his attention.

So when he absently picked up a cracker to nibble on it as he worked through a particularly thorny set of talisman calculations --

Well.

The little black rabbit that now sits on the table, a red ribbon looped around one ear, just wants it emphatically known that this was not his fault.

Comments

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian was already shivering slightly at the story of Cowslip's warren -- a guardian who is not a guardian at all, a people willing to look the other way simply because they were not killed this time, gnaws at some primal fear deep in his gut. And at this --

He turns his face into the warmth of Lan Zhan's palm, as if to hide.

Rabbits shot. Tunnels gassed. Lands plowed up to make way for a settlement of humans. His emotions have always been so big that his human body can barely hold them all, and in a rabbit body, with a human mind -- ah, it is much worse.

(And if he thinks of cultivators storming the Burial Mounds, tearing up every shred of life Wei Wuxian had tried to sow in his brief year among the rot...

Well. He cannot be blamed for that.)

[lightamidchaos]

“Wei Ying,” he murmurs, curving his fingers protectively around him. “Do you wish me to take you from here?”

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. It is only a story -- a tragic one, yes, but that is not enough of a reason to leave. Especially with Lan Zhan so close, anchoring him to reality.

He keeps his face buried in Lan Zhan's hand a little longer. Breathes in the sandalwood scent of him; the swirl of worry and love that mingles alongside.

At last, with a gentle lick of Lan Zhan's palm, he turns his face back to Saxifrage, keeping himself curled small under his zhiji's touch.

[lightamidchaos]

“Very well,” he says, softly, and keeps him sheltered close as Saxifrage continues.

…all the rabbits of Watership Down were horrified at the tale Holly told, and marveled at Fiver’s foresight and Hazel-Ray’s wisdom and leadership in bringing them safely away. And there on the down they made their home, soon to be joined by others, including a white bird from the distant sea — but that is another tale.

[acrookedpath]

I am glad they found a new home, says Wei Wuxian, softly. Did it thrive, in time? If others came to join them?

[lightamidchaos]

It did! It still does, Saxifrage beams, and El-ahrairah sits up.

A fine place. I have visited myself. In disguise, of course, he adds, as Saxifrage whirls to stare at him in shock.

[acrookedpath]

Have you?

Wei Wuxian's ears swivel forward, and he eases out a centimeter or two from beneath Lan Zhan's hand.

Before you came to this forest, or do you come and go as you please?

[lightamidchaos]

Both, El-ahrairah tells them, smugly.

[acrookedpath]

He cannot help but snicker at the pride in El-ahrairah's voice.

If only I could learn your tricks from you! he says. I cannot stray very far from the inn where I live, not without another's help.

[lightamidchaos]

El-ahrairah considers him. I don't know if I could teach you, without you being a rabbit in more than this magic.

[acrookedpath]

He heaves a sigh. Mournful: I thought that might be so. Ah well. Perhaps one day I will discover some new tricks of my own, that let me travel beyond the bounds of the inn and the forest.

[lightamidchaos]

You could ask the captain, El-ahrairah suggests. He knows human tricks. He even cheated death itself, they say.

Rabscuttle rolls his eyes. Oh not again.

[acrookedpath]

Oh? asks Wei Wuxian.

He has gone still again, save the idle twitch of his nose.

[lightamidchaos]

So they say, El-ahrairah repeats. Sensing the possibility of another story in the offing, the other rabbits have settled down with their food.

He arrived in the lake with his great black ship, which had sunk and taken him with it. Somehow he found a way out of the lake, he and the ship both, back to his world, and from the seas of the dead back to those of the living.

[acrookedpath]

I have heard stories of a River that carries the souls of the dead, says Wei Wuxian, slowly, and have met a human who insists the same river connects to the lake by the inn. I wonder if that is how he managed it.

His scuffs a paw against the side of his nose.

There are ways for the dead to return, but not the same as they were when they lived.

[lightamidchaos]

If any would know, it would be the Black Rabbit of Inle, he says. He is the lord of the dead among rabbits.

[acrookedpath]

Ah.

I see. He tucks his paws beneath himself, forming a loaf with Lan Zhan's hand still resting on his back. One ear flicks: a wry, lapine smile. No wonder you were surprised I did not know who that was! We do have lords of the dead among humans, though I've never spoken to them personally, and we do not call them the Black Rabbit of Inle.

[lightamidchaos]

I have. But it was no easy journey.

I should say not, Rabscuttle snorts.

[acrookedpath]

No journey involving a lord of the dead ever is. Some of them can guard the souls in their care very jealously, from what I've heard, and do not appreciate the interference of the living.

The sparkle in his eye, and the amusement to his voice, is as much an invitation for El-ahrairah to tell his own story as any other.

[lightamidchaos]

It was after that business with Darzin's lettuces, El-ahrairah says, thoughtfully. The younger rabbits are practically holding their breath, and on seeing this, Rabscuttle sighs and settles into a flat position to listen, his ears laid back against his head and looking almost guilty.

He was angry, to be certain, but what was worse is that he was vindictive. Some of his soldiers took Rabscuttle prisoner - don't look like that, it was an honest mistake, he tells him. They mistreated him sorely, and once we were able to manage his escape, Darzin swore to see me and my people destroyed once and for all.

[acrookedpath]

Delicately, Wei Wuxian selects a carrot from the offerings in Lan Zhan's lap and sets to gnawing. He pauses at the mention of Rabscuttle's imprisonment; shoots the other rabbit a look of concern.

Next to him, Saxifrage settles close and grabs a carrot of his own.

[lightamidchaos]

Rabscuttle heaves a sigh. He tells me not to blame myself, he says. That if it wasn't this it would have been something else. But I still think if I hadn't been so stupid as to get caught by the guards--

--then someone else would have, or something would have happened, or who knows. Darzin wasn't going to give up without a fight, that much was obvious, El-ahrairah snaps at him, before telling the rest of them, And a fight is exactly what he sought out. He brought his army and penned us up in our warren so that we could barely snatch a mouthful or two of grass to keep us alive without being shot at.

Something about his gaze indicates he's seeing another place, another time, as he says, So I swore that I would go and bargain with the Black Rabbit of Inle to save my people.

[acrookedpath]

He has seen that look before, on hundreds of cultivators. Knows he has worn it himself too many times to count.

Perhaps Wei Wuxian is wearing it now, as he thinks of the Burial Mounds again -- not a new clan scrabbling in the dirt, but falling, falling, only cushioned from certain death by the cloud of angry ghosts rising to meet him.

Quietly, he says, If there is any time to bargain with death, it is a time such as that.

[lightamidchaos]

Exactly what I thought, El-ahrairah tells him, as Cloudfoot and Bearberry hunker closer together, near the shelter of Lan Wangji's other leg.

You don't know the Black Rabbit, you said before, so you have to understand - he's a rabbit, but he's more than that. He's darkness and fear and --

El-ahrairah stops there and looks very closely at Wei Wuxian. Or maybe you do know, I see, he says, and leaves it at that. Anyway, Rabscuttle and I set out together, for I figured I'd need his help to bring back whatever it was that the Black Rabbit could grant to save the others. The journey was ... well. He turns to look at Rabscuttle, and the two exchange a silent glance that carries unspeakable volumes. I don't know how long it took, or where exactly we went as we traveled into the dark, and through it, and beyond. But eventually we reached his warren. All of stone, you know, solid stone that he'd dug with his own claws. And he was waiting, quiet as snow and smelling like clean bone, with fur darker than yours and red eyes that glowed in the dark without giving any light.

He shakes his fur all over and says, simply, He wouldn't accept my life in trade. So I thought if I could win a game or a bargain with him, I could get him to do so as the stakes.

[acrookedpath]

When El-ahrairah pauses the tale to scrutinize Wei Wuxian, he only twitches his nose, once, in silent reply. It does not surprise him to be seen clearly; he only hopes it will not frighten the others.

More than they are already frightened by the description of the Black Rabbit's warren, anyway. Saxifrage trembles a little where he leans against him. Gently, Wei Wuxian presses closer, as if to huddle against the cold, and continues listening in silence.