INBOX (for eastbound)

[lonelydream]

Zhou Xu

missives | encounters

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[lanclan]

[ With a grateful nod, Xichen's smile softens. ]

I expected you to be somewhat different than you are, but I'm glad that isn't so.

[ Wen Kexing painted quite the picture. ]

[lonelydream]

Now I'm very curious. Just what has Lao Wen been saying about me?

[lanclan]

In his retellings, you always seemed ... very forceful. Like a towering shadow of a man whose beauty made the birds ashamed to sing. A more obnoxious version of a softer, pleasanter reality. [ Chuckling, he gives a small shrug. ] I was worried you might hold less tolerant values.

This is all because he was very excited to speak of you, when he finally did.

[lonelydream]

[ He really...doesn't know what to say to that, taken aback. For one thing, he doesn't think he's ever been called soft or pleasant before. And then, because he's always protected himself by making himself incredibly forgetful, the idea that he'd been described as a great beauty is just very, very odd. ]

[lanclan]

That was something like the face I'm sure I had while he waxed lyrical about you.

[ Mmm, tea. ]

[lonelydream]

[ He presses a few finger into the bridge of his nose, sighing. ]

I feel as though I ought to apologize.

[lanclan]

There's no need. I'm curious as to how he described me to you, in return.

[lonelydream]

He called you a very good friend. Indirectly, he spoke about what you've done together, and between that and what you've told me, Master Lan... I am very good at reading between the lines.

[lanclan]

[ He blinks a little, mildly confused. Still, he admits, ]

He is possibly, between this world and my own, one of the only true friends I have ever had. Besides my brother.

[lonelydream]

[ He wonders, briefly, if he should ask--but then asks anyway: ]

Do you resent me for coming here?

[lanclan]

[ His smile warms, dark eyes crinkling as he shakes his head. ]

No. You make him very happy and I can see why. I hope we can work together to help your condition, then I might one day be able to host the two of you at Cloud Recesses. That is what I want.

[lonelydream]

Master Lan is too kind.

May I make another request?

[lanclan]

Of course, please.

[lonelydream]

If I don't survive...

[lanclan]

There is no need for such a conversation, one way or another.

[ The patient look he weighs on Zhou Zishu speaks volumes (he would try to be there for Wen Kexing to help him through his grief, offer a home, a poor consolation of a friend in place of a zhiji but one there all the same). Xichen would. ]

You are here now, so bend all your efforts towards remaining with us. That is my last request today of you.

[lonelydream]

[ He exhales, soft. ]

You are very like him, in some ways.

[lanclan]

[ Xichen hums. ]

I think I am more like you, which explains why he was first kind to me.

[lonelydream]

[ Zishu certainly doesn't see it. Lan Xichen is kind and supportive, warm, gentle, which Zhou Zishu has never been, and a powerful enough martial artist that doesn't balk at handing his weapon to someone else. ]

I think Master Lan holds me in far too high regard.

[lanclan]

Not at all, I'm going off what I've learned of you today.

[ At this tea-room, meeting for a little chat. He remembers his duties as host, then. ]

Would you like something to eat? More tea?

[lonelydream]

[ He shakes his head, and then explains before he can risk offending the other man: ]

Since we are being rather frank with my situation... It isn't worth wasting good food and tea on me. I can't taste it.