asgardchrysalis

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OTA

Who: Lan Wangji and Anyone/Everyone
What: Lan Wangji has discovered sledding. He is baffled. Come try and convince him to try it or avoid it, etc. He has a white and a black bunny hopping along with him.
When: From Jan 8 to whenever
Where: A hill I made up right outside of town.
Rating: PG for Sledding? Maybe PG-13 if Wei Ying comes along.

Lan Wangji has seen something like this, once, in Gusu. Although he spent a fair amount of time traveling on night hunts and various duties, he'd rarely spend any real time among townspeople. They were loud and rough and stared at him, a stern figure all in white. The uneasiness was mutual. However, it was impossible to wholly avoid them and there had been one winter he'd nearly been run over by a group of boys sliding down a snowy hill on what seemed to be a piece of scrap metal. It had been irritating and confusing, both.

Apparently, this is somehow a universal activity. The locals seem to have fashioned wooden implements on which to go down the steep hills around the city and it makes it no less baffling. Lan Wangji's bunnies, hopping dutifully along with him look no more impressed as he stops to watch, trying to understand. Wei Ying would be able to explain, he thinks, immediately finding himself flushing at even the thought of Wei Ying. It has taken considerable effort to re-balance his qi following their last interaction and he's certain it will be a wasted effort as soon as he sees him, again.

Life is very, very different than it was.

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There's a skeleton watching the sledders, sitting off to the side on a bench he cleared the snow off of. Wouldn't want to freeze his hipbones! It does seem that being in Asgard has made him more alive, enough to actually feel a bit nippy in the cold weather if he stays outdoors long enough... but he's warm enough at the moment. The natives are good, generous people. Not a single person has complained at him slowly collecting more things, like a nice warm coat and a little bag of dried fruit to eat, simply because it's sweet and tasty.

He's perfectly content to sit, watch the children play, take little nibbles of his goodies, and do nothing much at all. It's pretty peaceful out here. Not a bad day.

Lan Wangji was not surprised to find that Wei Ying was a part of such revelry. However, there are only so many times he can watch Wei Ying nearly brain himself on a rock or tree and is grateful to see a familiar face. He scoops both bunnies up and walks over, giving his best approximation at a formal bow while holding bunnies.

"Master Hector. May Lan Wangji join?"

Lan Wangji should count himself lucky the skeleman's not joining in, because that's about the amount of sense he's got--he'd be right there on the steeper hill too.

"Don't even need to ask. You hungry?" he says, shaking the little bag around. Only polite to offer some to the guy who actually has a stomach! Héctor's just being greedy, if one thinks about it.

He shakes his head, although he appreciates the offer. He settles the bunnies down in between them, watching them immediately start sniffing in interest at Hector.

"Am glad to see Hector," he murmurs. "Lan Wangji owes an apology. Did not mean to get so inebriated or ask such prying questions. Hope my apology will make amends."

Cats are good. Dogs are fantastic, and he'd be all over a pair of puppies. But bunnies... do they even enjoy petting? Damned if he knows the first thing about rabbits. He'll stick to looking, not touching.

"Nothing to apologize for. Blame me, I didn't think you'd get drunk so quick. Must be a living person thing, I don't know. Anyway..." A knowing smile. "You feel better about things now?"

"Not a living person thing, is a Lan Wangji thing," he admits with a tiny grimace. He wonders idly if Brother has ever had the same problem as he managed the drink at the Discussion Conference.

He looks down at Hector's smile, pleased and embarrassed and fighting his own smile. "Spoke with Wei Ying. It has been resolved, positively. Master Hector's words were wise."

He leans back, kicking his legs out and letting his smile grow. Good to be right, fantastic to watch everything turn out for the best. It's so rare he gets to see that, he's got to savor the moment.

"I'm glad you two have a second chance. I really am." Anyone can say that sort of thing, and yet he's so sincere about it. He usually is, a big ol' bony sap.

Lan Wangji nods his thanks, still very unused to talking about such matters at all, much less as they pertain to Wei Ying.

"Many, many years keeping the secret. Still strange to speak it freely. Am sorry if it is difficult for Master to speak of such matters."

"No, it's not." He flings up a hand dismissively. No biggie. It's not as if he's never seen happy couples before, and he resolved to never let his own feelings ruin anyone's good times... most days, anyway. His Yearly Madness is the one exception. "I had my shot and I blew it. Ruined it, I mean. But you two can do better."

Lan Wangji thinks on this, silent for several moment as he discards immediate questions and inquiries.

"Is this a subject that Master Hector would rather Lan Wangji not speak of?" he asks, raising his eyes to meet Hector's. "Or is it a subject Master Hector would like to talk more about? Forgive but I cannot always tell. Do not want to cause undue stress."

Some part of him does want to talk about it. Stand on the rooftops and scream about it, until he loses his voice or crumbles to dust--whichever. But that's not fair to everyone else, is it? There's nothing they can do for him, and it's all his own fault.

So... he shrugs. "It's over and done with. Nothing you or I can do about it, it's ancient history. I was just unlucky." He pauses, twining his fingers together. "I had a wife, I was crazy in love. I still am. Never met anyone else like her. And we had... had a daughter. Coco. She's always been the world to me."

His voice wavered a little there, oops. "The little girl in the picture I showed you. Then I had the bright idea to go traveling with my friend, play music for people, and ended up getting sick on the road before I made it back home to my family. Bad luck, that's all."

Edited (icon) 2020-01-16 04:59 (UTC)

Ah...

Lan Zhan is unsure if he should have pushed. It is often difficult for him to tell these sorts of conversation and social appropriateness. He hopes that if needed to, Hector would tell him no.

"That is very tragic," he murmurs, staring down at the snow as he folds his hands in his lap. His own suffering is nothing in the face of losing a partner and child.

"Unfair to you."

He shrugs, as if it doesn't matter, probably not fooling anyone. He could hardly appear to be more fragile, and yet he does, somehow. Smaller. Drawing in on himself, far more worn down than he really realizes.

"The world's not fair. Things happen. Gotta make the best of it."

He listens and thinks for a moment, trying to gauge how he should respond. Hector looks miserable, the kind of misery that Lan Zhan does understand, to a point.

"Mm, not fair. Agreed. But I mourned Wei Ying for years, alone. Told no one. Harder. If Master wants to speak of it, we are here."

"I don't know that there's much more to say."

No, that's a cowardly lie. It's much worse than he's admitted it to being. He's almost gone. He's sure to vanish within hours, once he's returned back to where he belongs. It's going to be over soon... and even with the extra months to think about it, he's not sure how he feels about that. He'd be relieved, glad to finally rest, if he were guaranteed to be with Coco as he faded...

Hector just gives another tired, sad smile and shrugs. "At least I've got good friends. Yeah?"

There is a tall hill, and a short hill. Most of the Asgardians seem to favor the latter, but Wei Wuxian cannot see why. The snow is thick and pillowy on the large hill, perhaps hiding a stump or a rock here and there, but what are they odds, truly, of striking one?

Wei Wuxian forgoes calculating them in favor of dragging his own sled to the very top. He runs through the thick snow as swiftly as he can, leaping from the edge with the sled beneath him. It hits the snow at a glorious angle that sends him careening down the hill, and Wei Wuxian shouts excitedly the entire way down, yelping a little as he hits an incline near the bottom that sends him sailing from the sled.

He lands in a drift, his body outlined several feet into the snow, but for the moment, completely buried from sight.

Of course Wei Ying is doing this.

Of course he is. And on the most treacherous hill on offer.

He lets out a deep, grounding sigh before he walks over, poking through the Wei Ying shaped hole with a sheathed Bichen.

"Wei Ying is still alive?"

Wei Wuxian struggles beneath the embankment, laughing as snow falls into his collar. He finally gets his knees beneath him and then his feet, launching out of the other side of the drift with a bark of triumph.

"I did not see the bump at the bottom!" he declares. "It was a happy accident."

Wei Ying bursts out of the snow, positively covered in white exclaiming and clearly alive. He walks over and starts trying to brush off the worst of the snow until he can see Wei Ying's usual black robes.

"Mm, everyone else is using the smaller hill," he points out, now simply running his fingers through Wei Ying's wet, curling hair. "Saw this once outside Caiyi Town. Looks strange."

"That one is too small," Wei Wuxian replies, rubbing his gloved hands together. He would chastise Lan Wangji for not wearing any, but Hanguang-Jun is far more used to the cold, even without a core to warm him.

"It takes so long to drag your sled up the hill! Why shouldn't you have a nice, long ride in exchange for so much effort?"

"Exactly why Lan Wangji does not understand the appeal," he admits, turning to stare again at the others (mostly children) trudging back up the hill.

"Seems disproportionate the amount of work to go up for a few seconds of sliding down."

He turns back to straighten Wei Ying's outermost robe and smiles. "Wei Ying must explain."

"They are an excellent few seconds," returns Wei Wuxian at once, seizing Lan Wangji by the wrist to drag him towards his sled. It is, remarkably, still in one piece, and Wei Wuxian beams.

"Come! We will do the small hill together."

Lan Zhan follows dutifully, staring up at the small hill and then the sled with great dubiousness.

Wei Ying joining the children to play seems natural, for Hanguan-Jun to do so seems very strange indeed. Saying no to Wei Ying, however, is even more impossible now than it once was.

"Sled does not seem to be made for two grown men at once. Is such a thing not inappropriate?"

"It is snow!" declares Wei Wuxian, deciding inappropriate is far better than dangerous, which it unquestionably is, and far harder to talk his way around. "There are no rules," he says, continuing to drag him up the hill.

"It's so fast, Lan Zhan!" he says. "Like flying on your sword again, if only for a few moments!"

Lan Zhan doubts very much that this is anything like how he flew on his sword. Perhaps the way Wei Ying flew his, though. He continues to follow Wei Ying up the hill, ignoring the loud laughs and shouts of the children around them. They have garnered a few stares, likely just by being two adult men pulling a sled.

"Hm. What is the standard procedure if we are about to hit a rock or tree?" he asks, pleased this hill seems mostly clear of both. Wei Ying's taller hill seems to be a very bad idea.

Wei Wuxian has already considered this, and he grins over his shoulder. "We dive off!" he answers. While no longer as durable as the children that also swarm the hill, the snow is deep enough that they won't be hurt.

"But it won't come to that," he says with the confidence of a man who has greeted many obstacles in his lifetime with his own face. "I am good at steering."

Lan Zhan returns Wei Ying's grin with a flat stare, quite certain that he does not want to dive off into the wet, cold snow. Wei Ying must have snow in every crease of his robes and will doubtless be cold within the hour.

Lan Zhan does like the idea of warming him up, however.

"Hm, will rely on Wei Ying's steering. Appeal still alludes me. Perhaps it will be revealed."

It's true that there's snow up his sleeves and down his collar and crusted to the edges of his boots, but Wei Wuxian dismisses it all in favor of reaching the top of the hill. He pulls the sled to the edge, eying it for a moment before looking up.

"You sit in the front," he says. "Put your legs on the bit that sticks out from the end. I'll sit behind you and steer."

He stifles a long, long sigh and settles himself on the front of the sled as gracefully as he can. He feels very, very ridiculous and cannot imagine what Uncle would think to see such a thing. This may be as bad as Lan Zhan's other, recent activities in his eyes.

"If Wei Ying is steering, what am I to do?" he asks, face unimpressed as a young girl next to them points and laughs before heading down the hill on her own contraption.

"Enjoy the ride!" Wei Wuxian answers, scrambling in after him to frame Lan Wangji between his legs. "How terrible would this position have been a few weeks ago" he asks in Lan Zhan's ear to watch it pink up. He presses a kiss to the shell of it and leans back, making sure his feet are in the steering holds.

"Ready?"

Lan Zhan whips his head around to glare at Wei Ying, traitorous ears burning. Wei Ying is correct. It would have been torture. He also suspects had this happened a few weeks ago, he would have refused the sled altogether.

Maybe.

He rolls his eyes and turns back around with a small huff, unsure what he is to hold onto and finally wrapping his arms underneath Wei Ying's knees. If he falls, he is taking Wei Ying with him.

"Mm. Fine."

"Caiyi Town would be so proud," Wei Wuxian laughs, planting his hands in the snow and wriggling their sled forward. It's hard work to get it to the tipping point, but once it's reached, their combined weights send the sled absolutely flying down the hill.

Wei Wuxian screams with laughter, feet working to angle them away from a young family and oops, also the young family on the other side of them.

This is not fun. Lan Wangji does not yet have an excellent grasp of what constitutes 'fun' but this cannot be it. And if this is at all how Wei Ying flew on Suibian, he ought to receive a stern lecture.

They seem to be going at least twice as fast as everyone else on the hill and as they jerk first to the left and then the right, the sled starts to skid perilously. He opens his mouth to shout but simply holds on more tightly. If they hit the tree, at least this will be over and he will never have to do this again.

Lan Zhan's hands are like a vice around his legs, but Wei Wuxian presses down hard with his right foot, sending them deeper into a sideways skid but avoiding the tree. Apparently enjoying itself, the skid continues until they've turned a complete circle, absolutely thrilling Wei Wuxian, who is still laughing when they reach the bottom and sail far past the other revelers.

"It is so much better with two!"

They end up facing up the hill which is surely not at all what is supposed to happen. Lan Zhan is grateful neither of them have injuries but such so-called success seems to have only energized Wei Ying.

He brushes off the wet snow now stuck to his front from the skids and turn back to look at Wei Ying's delighted face. It is no use. He is entirely helpless in the face of a happy Wei Ying. "Glad Wei Ying enjoyed it," he murmurs, unclenching his hands from Wei Ying's legs. "Perhaps once is best."

Wei Wuxian throws his arms around Lan Zhan's wet middle and squeezes, cheek pressed to his back as he grins. How delighted would he have been to encounter a Lan Zhan who would go sledding with him when they were both youths? It is an intriguing thought, yet Wei Wuxian cannot feel sorry for learning his Lan Zhan in layers.

"Yes," he agrees, "That kind of ride is wasted on the small hill. It could be four, even five times longer!"

Lan Zhan stifles a sigh as he folds his cold hands over Wei Ying's. That is not at all what he meant. He looks up at the other hill, steep and dotted with far more rocks and trees.

"Other hill is too dangerous," he says, trying to sound resolute but faltering as he can feel Wei Ying's smile against his back. If it meant running into a tree to make him happy, Lan Zhan would do it. But the idea of Wei Ying running into a tree is unacceptable.

With having been coped up thanks to the snow, Felicity's all but eager to get outside. She had joined some of the boys in a snowball fight (well, rather one threw a snowball at her and she had to retaliate), but then someone brought up sledding and eventually all of their attention was turned towards that activity.

Felicity stands by, asking one of them for a sled as well, or perhaps she'd wait when someone already had a turn. The answer was the latter, and she waits, for once patiently for a sled to come her way.

Lan Wangji is pleased to see that although the children are rowdy and excited, there seems to be some semblance of order. There is a girl waiting in line, something he is glad exists and so far, there seems to be no need for interference.

He folds his arms behind his back and watched, black hair standing out among his white robes and the background of white around them.

Peter, being the grown-up kid that he is, Peter has been playing around the snow with some of the locals. Snow is a rare thing to see in space, you need to be in planets with very specific conditions like Contraxia, and he missed it.

This morning, he had asked one of the local to lend him one of the wood sleds and they have given him one big enough for two people. His familiar Sandy, int eh shape of a flying Russian squirrel, sits perched on top of his shoulder and they are careening down the hill, a huge smile on his face. The smile doesn't go away when he sees Lan Wangji.

Peter wants to check on him after their last awkward conversation they had during the Christmas party and this seems like a good opportunity. Standing up and making sure Sandy isn't going to fall, Peter brushes some snow off of his trousers and walks over to the other man, dragging the sled behind him.

"Hello! A wonderful day for some games, don't you think?"

Lan Zhan bows, ears already burning to see Quill-gongzi again. It is somehow even more embarrassing considering all that has happened, since.

His rabbits immediately bounce over, interested in the man and his tiny companion.

"Mm," he murmurs, staring at the sheer amount of snow still on the man and the contraption he is dragging. "Do not entirely understand the game. Do not understand the appeal."

Peter is oblivious to what Lan Zhan did by the end of the party but by the now, he's resigned himself to accidentally embarrass the other man with his presence alone. He's trying to show there's no reason to feel awkward so he keeps the friendly demeanor. It's easy for him because he does want to get to know the other man better.

"Sledding is one of those things that need to be experienced to be fully understood. Like dancing or riding a bike. I could explain the basics and you can use my sled to give it a try..."

His attention goes down to the rabbits when Sandy runs down his arm and joins them on the ground. "Ooooh, those are adorable. Friends of yours? Or they're part your power, like Sandy is to me?"

He doesn't crouch down and touch the rabbits but it should be obvious that he wants to pet the fluffy creatures.

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/comes 15 Minutes Late With Starbucks

Re: /comes 15 Minutes Late With Starbucks

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