[OOM] Blood on on the Snow

[thesecondjade]

[ Punishment. (Mild gore warning.) ]

Stumbling out of the backwoods in the evening, Lan Zhan's energy flees him for a moment in a cool November evening. With the dangers of the wood behind him, he drops to the heather for a moment. He reaches out for one frond of the nearest shrub, curling his fingers into it, assuring himself of it's reality with the feel of it, the scent it gives up as he crushes it in his hand.

It is real. He is here.

He climbs to his feet and indeterminable time later, and begins to walk toward the bar, pale as a ghost and stinking of blood and herbs. Already, he's tearing open his scabbed up wounds, but it doesn't stop him. He walks, one foot in front of the other with graceless steps, toward the bar.

Lan Zhan must reach his son. Nothing else matters.

***

Some time later, after he knows A-Yuan is safe, and he has time to rest, he can be seen outside on the porch. What can be done for him has been done -- now it's just waiting for him to have the strength to get back and face what is waiting for him in Cloud Recesses.



[ Care has already been arranged for Lan Zhan, but people outside the A-Yuan plot are more than welcome to tag in while he rests at the bar! ]

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

There is a note for Lan Zhan at the bar, with directions to Sunshine's room. Considering the labyrinthine possibilities of the place, her room isn't far from the stairs. The door the directions lead him to has a large, stylized sun hanging from it in dark wrought iron, and is possibly the most solid-feeling door one could encounter. With the weight of the wards upon it, the door may as well be a door carved from rock.

There are faint voices from within. Someone is telling a story.

[thesecondjade]

"Where are they?" Lan Zhan asked the bar. Bar told him. "Give me the robes of a Gusu Lan discipline, for a small child." She gave him that, too. With those held to his chest in one arm, he left the bar behind.

It's good that it's close, though -- he doesn't have the energy to wander about looking for something. The sun is a clear indicator he's in the right place. He bangs on the door shortly after, using what strength he has.

"Rae Seddon?" he says, voice cracking over the words after being unused for days. "R--Rae Seddon!"

[sunbaked_baker]

The voices cut off at the banging on the door, and there is silence for a moment. Possibly steps being taken to make sure something would not be directly seen were the door to be opened.

Rae doesn't immediately recognize the voice calling her name, and the look on her face the moment she opens the door suggests very strongly that if he is not the right person he will not live to regret it very long. But her open and expressive face changes quickly when she recognizes him. A wave of relief, first, for he is alive. Fear and concern rising when she sees his state.

"Lan Wangji! Come in, come in!" At the hurried invitation, the stronghold feeling that permeated the entryway melts as though it hadn't existed.

[yinyangwizard]

The bathroom door opens slightly to reveal a stripe of Abe no Seimei’s face, and then all of him, along with a cranky and confused A-Yuan in his arms. He is at first relieved, and then very worried. “Rae-san, please help him to sit down before he falls over.”

[thesecondjade]

"Don't touch me," Lan Zhan says, and those three words are firm, if soundling like the rasp of scales over sand. He steps forward, one step at a time, and--

--he's there. He's there and a life, but he's there. "A-Yuan!"

That? That he cares about, as he heads toward Abe without even thinking of sitting.

[sunbaked_baker]

Against her immediate urge to reach out and offer what strength she can, Rae makes herself step back, letting Lan Wangji into the room. It isn't a large space. The room smells of the incense quietly smoldering before the Buddha statue on the dresser opposite the foot of the bed. Supplies litter the top of the small bookshelf between the bedside and a wide, low chair strewn with pillows.

"What happened to you?" His shadows only tell her so much.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei suspects that they will not get anything out of Lan Zhan until after he has reassured himself that A-Yuan is all right. He holds the child out so Lan Zhan can get a better look at him. A-Yuan, for his part, seems happy to see Lan Zhan, calling him “Rich-gege!” very enthusiastically.

[thesecondjade]

Abe no Seimei is right. Lan Zhan does not stop until he has his hand in A-Yuan's.

"He is well?" he asks Abe directly, looking up at him with empty, tired eyes. There's a flicker there, that could be the spark of something like joy. At the very least, he is hoping for relief from fear - let the boy be alright, let him live and grow and be strong.

[yinyangwizard]

“He is much better, though not entirely recovered.”

A-Yuan is recovered enough to make a grab for Lan Zhan. Seimei places him on the floor in a sitting position and he clamps onto Lan Zhan’s leg, ignoring Seimei’s admonishment to “be gentle.”

[sunbaked_baker]

"He's getting stronger each day," Rae confirms, quietly. She has closed the door, and leans on it as she watches A-Yuan hold onto Lan Wangji, feeling the pull of the relief welling up in her but not feeling able yet to let go of everything else knotted up inside her.

[thesecondjade]

This is cue for Lan Zhan to be on the floor with him, no matter how undignified it is. Every moment is pain, but gathering up the boy who will now be his son -- that's a bliss that makes everything else fade from his senses.

It isn't stopping his back from starting to bleed through his bandages, though, little red dots starting to soak through to taint his white robes.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei, who is standing right above Lan Zhan, cannot help but notice.

“A-Yuan,” he says gently, “As we helped take care of you for Lan Wangji, we must now take care of Lan Wangji for your sake. If you are up to it, you can help.”

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine can just be glad that the child probably can't see her expression, as the white robes are spotted with spreading red. It must have taken so much effort for him to just get this far. It is hard not to reach out and touch him, send her power to do what good it can.

"We can offer healing. Or... there's fresh bandages, here, and... medicine to help wounds heal cleanly." Painkillers, too, for that matter.

[cook_the_rude]

Whenn he is resting on the porch later, Lan Wangji is approached by Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the man who had served him congee at breakfast a few weeks ago.

"Good afternoon, Lan-gongzi," the man says (having, apparently, no idea that it should be 'Lan-er-gongzi'.)

[thesecondjade]

"Lan-er-gongzi." The correction is quick, perfunctory. Not meant to be rude, but he's too tired for much else. Including standing. He bows -- poorly, stiffly -- from his seat.

A-Yuan is resting before the journey, as the others make preparations, but there was too much. Too much noise, too many people; coupled with the pain, he had to retreat. So he sits in silence. There is no music -- not now. He is not sure when he'll play again, if ever.

[cook_the_rude]

"Oh, is it," Dr. Lecter says. "Who is your older brother?"

[thesecondjade]

"Sect Leader Lan Xichen," Lan Zhan says. Short, to the point answers are the name of the game today.

[cook_the_rude]

"He sounds important," Dr. Lecter says, all conversationally. "How much older than you is he?"

[thesecondjade]

"Four years," he says. Voice is flat, tone is empty. He's trying to focus on the body, keeping it upright, pain at bay so he can be functional. They've treated him, but he knows that his candle is burning down. He can't push himself for too much longer.

[cook_the_rude]

"He doesn't come here, though, does he?" Dr. Lecter says, tilting his head as if that question was actually important. "Only you and Jin Guangyao and the necromancer in red and black? I haven't actually talked to him, but you probably know who I mean."

Pause.

"I heard what happened to the Wens, and I am sincerely sorry to hear that. I quite liked Wen Ning. If there is anything that I can do to help deal with the people who killed him, let me know."

[thesecondjade]

It is not possible for Lan Zhan to get anymore stiff, but his eyes narrow a fraction at the news. He doesn't like the description of Wei Wuxian, either. Just a reduction. Necromancer in black and red! As if that was all he was. Reduced down to a fragment of his talent and the colors he wore as an exile.

"There is nothing to be done," he says. "Sect justice is Sect justice."

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter takes a deep breath as if to think about it for a moment.

"I am willing to help when that justice is not enough, or miscarried," he clarifies. "Sometimes, groups of helpers from Milliways go and help with issues like that in people's world."

Pause.

"You seem rather tense, which I can understand. The Wen were your friends. Can I get you some tea?"

[thesecondjade]

"I have helpers," Lan Zhan says, keeping his words as steady as he can. "Your assistance is gracious, but unneeded."

It's a politic answer -- or as much as one as Lan Zhan can muster.

"Your tea is always welcome," he offers, allowing Lecter to help in some form.

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter steps into the kitchen and returns five minutes later with a celadon tea service on a tray, which he puts on a nearby table to pour a lovely golden liquid into two of the tiny cups.

"Golden osmanthus oolong," he declares. "A tea that fits the current season, giving a little more warmth and substance than the green or white of before."

[thesecondjade]

Osmanthus cakes were a favorite of Wei Ying's, but Lan Zhan does not speak of it. Instead, he dips his head slightly.

"My gratitude," he says as he accepts the cup.