[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]

"Wings?" She hurries to join him. "Like a bird?"

[acrookedpath]

"Just like birds." He turns around to walk down the steps backward, the better to keep chatting with his shijie. "Big, feathery, set on our shoulders -- mine were black and his were white. And Madam Bar changed my eye color to gold, too!"

[lotus_sister]

"Oh, A-Xian, don't, you might fall," she protests, then shakes her head as she tries to imagine. "What a sight you must have been!"

[acrookedpath]

He grabs hold of the banister and slows down his pace, but keeps walking backward for several more steps until Jiang Yanli has completely caught up with him.

"We looked ridiculous," he laughs. "But very handsome, too, I thought."

[lotus_sister]

"I'm sure you did," she teases. "Very handsome, both of you."

Jiang Yanli leads the way across the common room back to the kitchen, letting A-Xian help navigate through the crowd, given his height. The rat with the apron and spoon is standing on a stool at another counter, and waves at them as they enter and move toward where the soup is simmering.

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian returns the wave, cheerily. "Hello again, my friend! How does the soup fare?"

"Squeak squeaker, squeak squeaken," says the rat.

...Apparently the translation talisman has worn off. Oh, well!

[lotus_sister]

She laughs, just as if she'd been able to understand the rat's reply. "Let me taste it," she tells them both, "and then if it's ready I'll give you each a bowl."

The rat squeaks again, points its spoon at Wei Wuxian, and gestures commandingly at a nearby cabinet where bowls are neatly stacked.

[acrookedpath]

The rat has begun to remind him of the bossiest grannies who ruled the kitchens of Lotus Pier. Despite himself, Wei Wuxian -- now that he knows the tiny creature's ire has cooled -- finds himself rather charmed by it.

He bows, grinning, and scampers over to where the rat indicated. Not only does it have its fair share of human-sized bowls, but ones large enough for a dragon, or small enough to suit a rat perfectly. He grabs what they need and returns to Jiang Yanli.

"How is it?" he asks.

(The answer, to him, will always be delicious. But he knows his shijie is exacting about her soup!)

[lotus_sister]

She tastes it carefully, weighing, and then nods. "It will do," Jiang Yanli decides. "Here, A-Xian, tell me what you think?"

She holds a spoonful up to his mouth.

[acrookedpath]

Immediately, he accepts the spoonful of soup, and --

It tastes --

His eyes well up, and he could no better stop the tears than he could stop the rise of the sun.

It tastes like home. Like all the love Jiang Yanli poured into everything she did, every person she cared about. Like the blanket she would tuck around his shoulders on a cold, rainy night, or the touch of her hand smoothing down his errant wisps of hair. It is that meeting in Yiling in Yiling when -- even though Wei Wuxian could no longer be a part of Yunmeng Jiang -- she found a way to tell him, You are still our family.

He has missed her so, so much, and even if she is only here until the night's end, she is here.

Wei Wuxian smiles, wobbly. "It's perfect," he whispers.

[lotus_sister]

She beams at him, even as she cups her fingers to his face and brushes her thumb across his cheekbone, wiping away the tears. "I'm glad," she tells him, softly. "Sit, Xianxian. Let me get you a bowl."

[acrookedpath]

He leans into her touch; it takes a moment before he nods, and carefully steps away to pick up the bowls.

"It's a shame Lan Zhan does not eat meat," he says. (He sounds a bit hoarse, still.) "Otherwise I would find a way to save a bowl for him as well."

[lotus_sister]

She takes the first bowl from him and begins to ladle it full. "I'll have to think of something to make for him, too," she muses.

Jiang Yanli sets the bowl down in front of the stool where A-Xian had been sitting before filling the rat's bowl as well.

[acrookedpath]

The rat's ears prick higher; it sniffs the air, lets out another squeak, and scuttles over to sit beside the larger bowl.

"And you'll have a bowl of soup for yourself, won't you?" asks Wei Wuxian as he takes a seat.

[lotus_sister]

She gives the rat its bowl and smiles at A-Xian. "I will," she promises. "Eat."

Jiang Yanli gets another bowl for herself and settles down beside him with her own serving.

[acrookedpath]

"Good." He nudges her shoulder with his own once she's sat down. "I don't want shijie to put so much work into this without enjoying any of it herself!"

And with that, he digs in. (As does the rat, with a far smaller spoon it's produced from somewhere.)

[lotus_sister]

"It isn't work," she protests, smiling at him. "It makes me happy to do this for A-Xian."

[acrookedpath]

"Well," he says, adopting a magnanimous air, "so long as it makes my shijie happy."

His smile is soft, though, and completely sincere.

"I could not ask for a better birthday present."

[lotus_sister]

Jiang Yanli smiles back at him, warm and fond. On the other side of the soup kettle, the rat squeaks; it sounds pleased.

"Do you like it?" she asks, and the rat nods.

[acrookedpath]

"Shijie makes the best soup," he declares, spooning up more of it the instant he's done speaking. "She would make it all the time for us at home."

Is he biased? Of course. Does he care? Not even a little!

[lotus_sister]

The rat squeaks something else at another kitchen worker, who scurries to a cupboard and then over to hold up a pen and a stiff piece of paper to Jiang Yanli, who takes both with visible bemusement.

She looks down at the paper, which shifts before her eyes to show a heading at the top that says 'Recipe.' She blinks.

"You want me to write how to make it?"

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian pauses mid-spoonful, eyeing the exchange with open curiosity.

Both rats nod vigorously. The newest arrival blinks up at Jiang Yanli with such wide-eyed hope that Wei Wuxian has to stifle a laugh.

[lotus_sister]

"I don't - I just make it," Jiang Yanli starts, before she breaks off, considering. She looks very thoughtful for a couple of moments, then smiles, bright and shining.

"If I tell you, you have to make it for A-Xian whenever he wants."

[acrookedpath]

The rats exchange considering looks of their own -- then nod again, decisive, and squeak in unison.

Wei Wuxian has to swallow hard around the sudden lump in his throat. "Shijie," he whispers, too overcome to say anything else.

[lotus_sister]

Jiang Yanli beams at the rats, then at her brother. "There. Now you have to help me, A-Xian, and you'll write it down as I tell you how I do it."