[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

[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?"

[lotus_sister]

"Of course." She smiles at him, and then brightens at an idea. "I could make you soup for your birthday?"

[acrookedpath]

Instantly, Wei Wuxian perks up.

As hopeful as if he's been handed a wagonful of gold: "Would you?"

[lotus_sister]

"Yes!" Jiang Yanli's smile brightens into utter delight as she beams at him. "Let's go to the kitchen and get it ready, and then while it's simmering you can show me more things."

[acrookedpath]

"A perfect celebration!" he declares. Giving Jiang Yanli one more squeeze, he grabs her hand to pull them back toward the inn. "Where should we go afterward? Maybe the rabbits are still awake, so you could meet El-ahrairah -- "

[lotus_sister]

She lets herself be drawn after him unresisting, smiling at his joy, and as she does something flashes across the path ahead of them. Something small, near to the ground, with a soft gleam of light to it. Jiang Yanli blinks, startled.

"A-Xian, what--"

[acrookedpath]

He draws up short, gripping his shijie's hand a little tighter as he peers ahead. Without thinking, he takes one step to the side, placing himself between Jiang Yanli and whatever just crossed their path.

It did not look like anything dangerous -- not the fire-breathing rabbits that live nearby, nor an unfamiliar spirit drawn close to the inn. (He would be able to tell if it were a malevolent spirit, after all.) In fact, it almost looked like...

"I'm not certain," he murmurs.

But it sounds as if he might have an idea.

[lotus_sister]

There's a rustle in the long grass beside one of the paddock fenceposts, and then a large rabbit hops out into the path in front of them and twitches an ear.

An ear that gleams with the same soft light of the stars above them. Jiang Yanli draws in a soft breath and stays still, trying not to frighten it.

[acrookedpath]

"I knew it," Wei Wuxian breathes. As a broad smile crosses his face, he lets go of Jiang Yanli's hand and crouches down. "Wangye, you are very far from your warren tonight. I am glad to see you! Shijie, here -- "

He beckons for her to kneel down next to him.

"This is El-ahrairah, the prince of the forest rabbits."

[lotus_sister]

She does as he indicates, her eyes wide and wondering. Jiang Yanli brings her hands together in front of her and offers a small bow to the rabbit with the gleaming ears, who's looking at them just as if he understands every word A-Xian said.

"I'm so glad to meet a friend of my brother's," she says, politely. "I'm Jiang Yanli."

El-ahrairah twitches his ears again, then takes a slow hop forward and sniffs in their direction. It's nice to meet you too, not that you can understand me like this, I know. Hawthorn, I'm here to meet another rabbit tonight that it'd be best your sister not see, I think, but he's not due to arrive for a while yet.

[acrookedpath]

Perhaps it is because Wei Wuxian spent some time as a rabbit himself. Perhaps it is because they're far closer to the inn than usual, or that the strange magic of tonight -- the kind that thins the boundaries between worlds -- holds sway over language as well.

But like a whisper at the very edge of hearing, so soft he can't catch it all, he hears: meet you. Hawthorn. rabbit.

His eyes widen. "Wait," he says, and in the dirt path, he scribbles a line of characters with a fingertip.

A basic translation talisman forms beneath his hand, one he has used a hundred times before. Its sigils and characters have served as a base for all kinds of work -- even tasks as complex as breaking the wards of the House of Arch. But here, when they are so close to understanding El-ahrairah already, perhaps even at its simplest it will be enough.

They will see.

He slaps his hand over it, and a wash of red light billows out with the rising dust cloud. Wei Wuxian looks up at El-ahrairah, grinning, and says, "Say that again?"

[lotus_sister]

Jiang Yanli watches as the rabbit sits up tall on its haunches -- and then her eyes fly wide open in surprise as she hears, Clever trick, Hawthorn. What's it intended to do?