[pfsb] happy halloween!

[acrookedpath]

It's that time of year again.

The inn is bustling. All manner of strange outfits have been donned (some more willingly than others). Lanterns flicker ominously in the corners, pumpkins stand sentry at either end of the bar, and every order comes complete with a handful of wrapped candies.

And -- if you're Wei Wuxian -- Madam Bar has also gifted you with an enormous array of tiny cakes, each one with a little candle stuck in its center. His second birthday at the inn has arrived, and he could not be more pleased.

(He's also wearing a red T-shirt that reads, simply, I'M THE CHAOS. Just like last year, he has set his mild confusion aside in favor of delight at the bounty Madam Bar has given him.)

Comments

[acrookedpath]

"What?" he protests. "I am being kind to it! I'm giving it the attention it deserves!"

The thoat pushes its head against Wei Wuxian's palm, with the slow but inexorable force of a boulder sliding downhill. It makes him stumble back a step with a startled yelp.

[lotus_sister]

Jiang Yanli catches hold of his arm. "Perhaps we should leave it alone," she suggests, gently. "Surely there must be others we can visit?"

[acrookedpath]

"Perhaps," he says, with rueful amusement, as he wrinkles his nose at the thoat. "But I will not stop saying hello to you, my friend! You will simply have to live with it."

Wonk, grumbles the thoat.

Grinning, he turns away from the paddock -- and his smile dims as he sees the creature a few more stalls down.

[lotus_sister]

She sees A-Xian's smile fade, and instinctively turns to see what he's looking at. This beast also has wings, but much different ones; leathery, drawn tight over its bones much as its skin is drawn over its skeletal body.

"A-Xian," she whispers, drawing a little closer to him. "What is it?"

[acrookedpath]

"Ah."

Softer.

"Ingress explained them to me once. That is a thestral, from the world where Tom-gongzi was born. They are intelligent, but no more dangerous than a loyal horse -- no matter how frightening they appear."

His mouth quirks.

"And they can only be seen by those who have personally witnessed death."

[lotus_sister]

"Oh," she murmurs. "Oh, I see." Jiang Yanli reaches up to lay her hand against the side of his face, cradling his cheek.

"We've both seen a lot of that."

[acrookedpath]

He leans into Jiang Yanli's touch, his throat bobbing. He nods.

"We have," he agrees, no louder. His mouth twitches as he tries to smile. "I think there are very few here who cannot see the thestral."

[lotus_sister]

"Poor thing. It must be hard for it, if people are upset every time they see it." Jiang Yanli strokes his cheek, then turns to give the thestral a determined look.

"Can I pet it?"

[acrookedpath]

The tiny attempt at a smile firms up.

(He has missed his shijie so, so much.)

"Yes," he says. "It may fuss, but it won't do any harm."

[lotus_sister]

She nods, and then steps toward it to offer her hand, held out flat, palm up, with perfect and absolute trust that what A-Xian has told her is true and it won't harm her.

[acrookedpath]

The thestral pulls its head back, like a startled cat, its leathery wings flexing as it eyes the pair sidelong.

...at least, Wei Wuxian is fairly certain it's eyeing them. The creature's milky-white eyes would suggest blindness -- or death -- in anything living. He knows it can see; he is just never entirely sure where it's looking, when he visits the stables.

"It's all right," he murmurs to it. "We only wish to say hello."

[lotus_sister]

She holds her hand steady, and after a few moments the thestral moves forward in its stall and lowers its head to snuffle at her fingers.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything for you," she tells it, carefully rubbing its nose. "Maybe next time." She looks at her brother. "A-Xian, it feels like a lizard!"

[acrookedpath]

The thestral snorts, as if Jiang Yanli's touch tickles. Wei Wuxian huffs another tiny laugh.

"Imagine if it were the size of a lizard, too," he says. "A tiny thestral dashing across the floor, startled from its basking spot -- it would not be so fearsome at all, if it were so small!"

[lotus_sister]

"It would be so cute!" Jiang Yanli pats the thestral's nose again, then pulls her hand back and turns to her brother.

[acrookedpath]

"It would!" He beams at his shijie, then reaches to pat the thestral as well. "Wouldn't you? Ah, I wonder if anyone has ever called you cute before. You will not be offended, will you? I know some fearsome creatures take offense if they hear they are cute!"

[lotus_sister]

The thestral snorts at him, and Jiang Yanli has to stifle a laugh. "I think it understood you."

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian's jaw drops in mock astonishment. He turns a look on the thestral. "Have you been able to understand us this whole time?"

When the thestral lips at his hand (dry, cold, as much like a lizard as his shijie described), he bursts out laughing.

[lotus_sister]

A-Xian's smile bubbles as bright as sunlight on water. She's always loved the sound of it. "He outsmarted you," she teases.

[acrookedpath]

"For that, I will bring him an extra treat from Madam Bar when I visit next," he promises. Gently, he scritches the thestral's neck. "And you may brag to all your friends that you oustmarted the Yiling Patriarch himself."

[lotus_sister]

It leans into his hand, and she smiles. "I think A-Xian has made another friend."

[acrookedpath]

He grins -- but there is the smallest hitch to it this time, as he continues rubbing his palm along the spot where the thestral would grow a mane, were it an ordinary horse. "I am lucky so many people like me here," he says, lightly.

[lotus_sister]

She knows why his smile shifts, why he's deflecting. How could she not? Jiang Yanli puts both arms around him and leans her head against his shoulder.

[acrookedpath]

He lets his hand fall away from the thestral; leans against his sister, even as he murmurs a halfhearted, "I'm all right, shijie."

If it doesn't work when he says that to Lan Zhan, he thinks wryly, it will never work when he says it to Jiang Yanli.

[lotus_sister]

He's not, but he will be. She's determined to see to it, as much as she can. Especially tonight. She hugs him more tightly, then looks up at him and lifts one hand to tuck that ever-wayward lock of hair back from his face.

"My Xianxian," she murmurs. "All grown up. Why, you must be all of four years old now."

[acrookedpath]

He laughs, watery. "But Xianxian still has his shijie to take care of him, eh?"