[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]

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?

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian beams as he trades a look with his sister. One glance, and he knows: she can hear him, too.

"Exactly this," he says, and begins to laugh. "Wangye, we can understand you now! I don't know how well it will work in the forest, or on another night, but for now we do not have to transform to speak to you!"

[lotus_sister]

Really. El-ahrairah sniffs at the sketch in the path, but is careful not to disturb it, then sits up and looks at them again. More clever than I thought at first, then. Well done.

"My brother always was clever and talented," Jiang Yanli says, proudly, and the rabbit looks at her. So I've noticed. Well. Now that you can understand me properly - it's nice to meet you, too.

[acrookedpath]

"She cannot visit very often," says Wei Wuxian, "and this is the first time she has truly been able to explore the inn. What luck to see you here tonight! I thought we might have to venture far back into the forest, as Lan Zhan and I usually do."

[lotus_sister]

I wouldn't, El-ahrairah cautions. Not tonight. Not fu Inlé, at any rate. But I'm glad to see you both here all the same. He flicks an ear at Jiang Yanli. And I'll hope to see you again. You can come with Hawthorn and Moonlight to the warren, if you like.

"I'd be glad to," she replies, delighted beyond belief at the pretty impossibility of this conversation, but very willing to engage in it. "Thank you for the invitation."

[acrookedpath]

Fu Inlé pulls at the tapestry of translation energy surrounding them, plucking the same strings as before moonrise; as danger; as death. Wei Wuxian sobers.

He'd almost forgotten in his excitement over Jiang Yanli's arrival: how the forest can shift far more drastically than the inn if he does not pay attention. More than that, how it makes such a comfortable home for resentful ghosts and other dangerous entities.

"And I thank you for the warning," he says, his smile more rueful now. "We will certainly pick a better night to visit your warren, then."

He glances to his shijie, and the wryness vanishes from his grin. "Lan Zhan and I were given rabbit names," he says cheerfully. "He is Moonlight, and I am Hawthorn."

[lotus_sister]

Better for my warren to use than those long human names of yours. He flicks an ear and twitches his whiskers. Jiang Yanli manages to stifle a giggle. "Very gracious of you," she says. "It suits them both."

[acrookedpath]

"I thought so too," he laughs. " -- Ah, shijie, I didn't tell you how we received those names, did I? The temporary curse another patron placed on us, that transformed us into rabbits?"

[lotus_sister]

Jiang Yanli stares at A-Xian. He doesn't appear to be joking. "What?"

They handled themselves well, El-ahrairah assures her. Speaking of. He hops forward and nudges at Wei Wuxian's hand. Any progress on the reverse transformation spell?

[acrookedpath]

Before he can stop himself, Wei Wuxian does what anyone would do when a rabbit nudges their hand: he gives El-ahrairah, the Prince With a Thousand Enemies, a rub behind the ears.

Oops.

Well. Hopefully the prince will not be too offended!

"A little," he says, regretful, "but not as much as I would like. I am still studying the energies of the cursed food Loki gave us -- once that is cracked, though, it should be a simple matter to reverse it."

He offers his shijie a sheepish grin.

"The curse was in the form of little cookies shaped like animals. I ate one, unthinking, and became a rabbit for twenty-four hours. Lan Zhan took good care of me! And when I was human again, he was curious enough to try one of the cookies for himself."