lonelydream | INBOX (for eastbound)

Master Lan is the leader-- Ah, I should have realized.

[ He leans in, a small smile tugging at his lips. ]

How can you tell? Where should I look?

Look at the image of us, that's what he'll be receiving. Here, let's practice.

[ Xichen waves at the screen and then takes a photo, showing Zhou Zishu the photograph a moment later, returning the small, shy smile. ]

Let's try another, shall we?

[ ...Is that what he looks like? How odd. He's seen himself in brightly polished copper mirrors, but this isn't quite like that. He settles in closer, close enough that he can feel Lan Xichen's warmth through his robes--he now sees what the other man means by him having been too far--and looks where he's directed to. ]

[ Lan Xichen's lips curl in the kind of smile he knows will wind up Wen Kexing, the I Know Something You Don't micro-expression that would, if he weren't a Lan, pass for nothing. He leans a little into Zhou Zishu's weight too and, Snap! Done.

When he turns his head to speak they are closer than he thought and he glances down instead at the device. ]

This is how you would send it.

[ And he proceeds to show Zhou Zishu how with the buttons, Average Sighren contacting WormWife's inbox. ]

How are these names we communicate under decided? Lao Wen's was something else a few days ago.

I don't know, I assume they are cruel jokes made by whoever tailors them for us. Although, [ he cocks his head, smile quirking, ] mine is not so inaccurate. I avoided all marriage offers in Gusu.

[ He is not even an average siren, he has no idea how to even start. ]

Don't take them to heart.

Master Lan must have been very popular. Well-mannered and attractive men in positions of power never lack for choices.

There were always other matters to concern myself with.

[ Fiddling with his device on his lap, he smoothes its metal wings out. ]

I arrived here from my seclusion. Yancai, the realm we were in then, was a fishing town upon a lake of the undead, and I was not ... quite myself. Wen Kexing arrived after we were transported to a grand, decaying old manor house, that was where I found him arguing in the kitchens with the ghosts.

[ He can understand that, at least. Until he met Wen Kexing, Zishu had intended to live and die alone. ]

In the kitchen, arguing with ghosts. Somehow that seems entirely unsurprising.

He helped me pick out seasoning spices for my friends, as I had no idea which might be poison swapped out by the spirits.

[ He doesn't owe Zhou Zishu the history of his friendship with Wen Kexing but there is something about the other man that invites Xichen's sympathy: Wen Kexing is not his zhiji, after all. ]

I set up a sanctuary in the upstairs of the manor with food and beds, sometimes he would come by. Then, when we were in the jungle, he revealed he had no shelter so I shared my small stone house with him, [ a fond smile returns, ] where he gave me a reason to be useful and taught me how to cook.

[ Lan Xichen has managed to make Zishu feel all sorts of uncomfortably unusual emotions in their very short acquaintance, and it's all revolving around Wen Kexing. On one hand, he's very glad that Lao Wen has had someone with him, a steady and regular sort of presence. Lao Wen has always done better with someone to take care of, as it seems to remind him to take care of himself as well, and as much as Lan Xichen seems to have cared for Wen Kexing, Wen Kexing clearly cares for him as well. Zishu can't begrudge him that, especially when Lao Wen has so few friends as it is. Still--and it's hard to imagine that he's the one sipping from the vinegar jug here--it frustrates him that there's a shared history he's unaware of, will never understand, and has no right in demanding. And yet still, perhaps he ought to encourage Wen Kexing to stay with Lan Xichen. ]

He is so much more than he gives himself credit for. [ A brief pause. ] As it seems you are, Master Lan.

[ Better someone like this, than a dying man like Zhou Zishu, who won't be able to hold on much longer. It'll be good for him to have someone there when Zishu dies, someone who cares deeply for him. ]

[ His device starts to bleep crazily, quickly responded to with a soft snort. It's Wen Kexing, of course, but Xichen puts the device away after that. Let Wen Kexing howl at the sky instead. ]

You're very kind, as he said, and every bit as terrifically handsome too as he could not stop professing.

[ He tilts his head, giving Zhao Zishu a thoughtful look. ]

I don't wish to pry, so I shall simply say I hope you will each make one another very happy.

narrows his eyes at it for a moment when it doesn't stop--and then his expression clears. That's almost certainly Lao Wen, making himself very known, even in his absence. Silly man. Zishu does adore him. Lan Xichen's comments startle him, then, and he raises his cup to hide the way his expression flickers before he can school it properly. ]

Master Lan flatters me. Lao Wen is prone to exaggeration; you musn't take his word at face value, not when it comes to me.

[ He sips, and then sighs. ]

Though you may as well ask anything you'd like. I'll answer what I can, but if it's about Lao Wen-- You may very well know more than I do.

[ He startles when Lan Xichen's device starts bleeping, and then narrows his eyes at it for a moment when it doesn't stop--and then his expression clears. That's almost certainly Lao Wen, making himself very known, even in his absence. Silly man. Zishu does adore him. Lan Xichen's comments startle him, then, and he raises his cup to hide the way his expression flickers before he can school it properly. ]

Master Lan flatters me. Lao Wen is prone to exaggeration; you musn't take his word at face value, not when it comes to me.

[ He sips, and then sighs. ]

Though you may as well ask anything you'd like. I'll answer what I can, but if it's about Lao Wen-- You may very well know more than I do.

I doubt that. Three months does not a zhiji make.

[ His eyes sparkle with humour as he says as much. Close as they are, Wen Kexing and Xichen still have a lot to learn about each other ... or at least, he senses they do. For a while, Wen Kexing wasn't forthright about his own misery at all.

He refills Zhou Zishu's cup, lending him his full attention with patient dark eyes and a soft, curious smile. ]

I would like to hear more about you, if you don't mind.

[ Or so he says, but Wen Kexing recognized Zishu as his within weeks. It took Zishu a little longer, but not too much so. ]

About me? I'm not that interested a person, though.

It's quite rude to imply I have bad taste by wishing to get to know you, after I've said so.

[ That twinkle remains in his eyes as he sips his tea, otherwise serene as he lightly teases him. ]

[ He huff, then, a soft, amused breath. ]

You would get along very well with an old friend of mine, I think.

[ And it would be absolutely terrible for anyone they set their sights on. But Lan Xichen and the Nanning Wang are both beautiful and terrifying in their gentle intensity. ]

What does Master Lan wish to know? My story is really rather simple.

[ Success! ]

What you like, what you dislike ... Master Zhou is very private, I know that much, but it only makes me more invested in finding out these things.

I don't mean to make this difficult for Master Lan. It's simply that I don't think I've ever really stopped to consider such things before.

[ He simply didn't care, much of the time, and erred on the side of efficiency. ]

I like wine. I don't particularly like blood.

[ He knows how ironic that is, thank you. ]

That's a sharp dichotomy of areas to cover in two short sentences.

[ He straightens his smile before it can broaden too much, amused even as he relates. ]

I could say the same, although my little trick of using my golden core to burn up alcohol and prevent any drunkenness once made Wen Kexing very mad, so I suppose if he had his way I wouldn't drink at all.

[ "A waste". ]

Begging Master Lan's forgiveness for my ignorance, but... What exactly is a golden core?

Ah, forgive me.

[ It's so strange and foreign a concept, to think of someone not even knowing about these things. ]

Every cultivator has a golden core, in my world, and it improves over time. It strengthens your spiritual energy and physical body; the qi you saw emanating from Liebing was evidence of mine.

[ Being so carefree with it for a demo like that, Xichen has plenty of qi to spare. ]

On a more commonplace basis, I use my golden core to prevent inebriation during audiences, meetings ... that sort of thing.

Lao Wen and I are [ were ] two of the strongest martial artists of the jianghu, but I don't think that is something we are able to develop. Or--not that I'm aware or.

Though now it does make me wonder...

[ is that how Ye Baiyi achieved his immortality? ]

I will tell you all about this subject, if you like. I'm at your service.

[ Sounding happy about it, too! Also, knowing what he does from Wen Kexing about Zhou Zishu's health ... ]

Some become great warriors, others become artisans ... or healers.

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