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Wei Wuxian isn't the only one who gets nightmares.

Gaster is also sitting near the fire, weariness having caught up with him and forcing him to take a break from his work in his room. He's trying to stay awake.

The dancing paper catches his attention. He watches it from his chair, trying to figure out how it works.

The little man is barely a hand-span tall, the bright yellow talisman paper he's cut from contrasting with the array drawn down his front. Wei Wuxian watches it with half-lidded eyes, idly eating his fruit and nut mix, his chin propped in his hand.

Eventually it seems to notice the staring, and bows politely, his little paper arms braced in front of him.

Gaster smiles, amused, giving the paper a nod back. "Nice to meet you, too."

He then calls out softly to the human sitting in the chair.

"Pardon me - is that you, doing that?"

Wei Wuxian starts, blinking, and the little paper man suddenly falls limp and inanimate, drifting slowly to the floor. In a previous life, with his old core, he had energy enough to spare to both maneuver the little doll and manage to appear to move on through life normally, but now... it's one or the other. He supposes it's an improvement over the time in between.

"Ah, yes, sorry, did not mean to bother." He saw the smile, of course, but as he tells himself frequently, he's given to over-reading other people's emotions.

"Ah, I didn't mean to startle you." Gaster holds up a skeletal hand, gesturing that it's no bother.

"Is it magic that controls it, or something else?"

"Mmm, something like magic, yes." That's... not quite accurate, but if you're starting without an understanding of qi and cultivation and the use of a golden core, it might as well be magic.

Gaster nods, thoughtfully.

"My species are all able to use magic, though I've never seen any of them manipulate paper like that - at least, not making it move."

(Magical bullet-ridden birthday cards are not uncommon in the Underground.)

"The paper is talisman paper - with the correct markings, it can take and channel spiritual energy to create various effects. This one just happens to be more for entertainment." Wei Wuxian explains.

Entertainment, espionage, one of those. Both of those.

"How interesting." Monsters don't really use things like that - they simply channel the magic through their own bodies.

"I was about to have some tea. Would you like some?"

Wei Wuxian supposes that he could take a break on the wine - after all, the longer he's awake, the less pressing the dreams that woke him up seem to be.

"That would be very kind, thank you. Have some nuts, please - the rats brought them, I think Lan Zhan bribed them to feed me."

Edited 2021-07-21 03:32 (UTC)

"That's very kind of you, but I can't actually eat human food - only monster food."

He gestures to his skeletal body - he's wearing his cowl, as ususal, but his hands and arms are clearly bone. "Otherwise it just goes through me."

"Ah, I see, my apologies." Wei Wuxian nods, understanding. It never hurts to ask, in a place like this, as quite a number of things happen here that really shouldn't in his world. "Any number of people have called me a monster, but it hasn't changed my appetite."

Gaster gives a small huff of laughter. "Well, I certainly wouldn't. You look quite human to me." (Though it can be difficult to tell, in Milliways.)

A waitrat comes over, bearing a pot of tea.

"This tea falls under monster food, but it's safe for humans. It'll even heal you if you're injured."

"Mmm." Wei Wuxian tilts his head, considering. He's fairly sure that Lan Zhan would disapprove of him eating or drinking anything that officially qualifies as 'monster food' without a fair amount of testing.

Wen Qing will definitely stab him if she hears of it.

"That is quite a claim." He muses, as he considers his best course of action.

Gaster pours a cup for himself, and another for the human - just in case he does take some.

"Monster food is a little different from human food - it's made mostly of magic properties, so it doesn't spoil."

Golden Flower Tea is lovely, but it always reminds him of Asgore. He feels a wave of longing wash over him, and reminds himself that the king is alive and happy, at least in one timeline.

He takes a sip, and leans back in his chair.

Well that is... somewhat alarming. Entirely fascinating, but he's still not sure he won't be immediately stabbed for trying it.

"Mostly?"

"Well...that, and actual tea. It was a blend I enjoyed back home."

Wei Wuxian grins in rueful acknowledgement - yes, he should have guessed that. But who knows what goes into 'monster' tea, right?

Evidently, tea.

"Well, thank you for sharing it." He offers, picking up his cup. It certainly looks like tea should.

"You're quite welcome."

Gaster's smile wanes just a bit.

"It was made by a friend of mine. It was his favorite."

Eventually, there is a hand offered-- to the paperman, anyway -- besides the couch.

Lan Zhan has no colored charms today, no strange out of place raindows. (Certainly no holographic lipstick or highlighter.) Just his deep gold eyes and his placid calm, waiting for acknowledgement.

Thank goodness, Lan Zhan is back to his usual level of impossible perfection, rather than that godly level he reached before - Wei Ying's face is not nearly thick enough to deal with that today!

The paperman flits easily to Lan Zhan's sleeve, hauling himself up the lacy fabric eagerly to settle on his shoulder. Before... everything, Wei Ying could have managed all of that along with carrying on a conversation (or waving, or marching through the forest, or...) but for right now, he just smiles, lazily.

"I would like to show you something," Lan Zhan says, as he lets his gaze fix on the paperman, as bright as coins and just as flat. "Would you wish to rest your body while I take the paperman?"

Lan Zhan knows this is a taxing spell. But he also knows Wei Ying is Wei Ying, and will do as he pleases. Lan Zhan hasn't been able to tame that, and now that he's older, he has no desire to.

Wei Ying would like to ride on Lan Zhan's shoulder forever, his cares reduced to hiding from the rain and discovering how many places there are to hide in those many layers of robes.

But he's pretty sure that if he tries it today, he's just going to pass out, and no one will be happy after that. So resignedly he pats Lan Zhan's cheek with his papery hand, a gesture somewhere between 'thanks for asking' and 'wait just a moment' and 'look, I'm cute and small enough to get away with this right now!' before leaping off of Lan Zhan's shoulder.

The paperman is caught between two slender fingers, and Wei Ying blinks owlishly at Lan Zhan.
"Not that it was a bad idea, riding around on your shoulder sounds ideal, but I don't want to scare the waitrats if I fall over. They might not bring me more wine." He explains as he gets his bearings.

The paperman brings to mind better times, when Lan Zhan was young and whole-heartedly believed in easy righteousness, that the future was laid out before them, that they'd be sworn brothers and...

None of that came to pass. Still, it does not make him grieve in the here and now. He is content, right here, with this. Wei Ying is returned, and so how can he not have joy? It's tempered with the knowledge of the curse, ever present at the back of his mind. But moments like this can snatch him away from that, let him feel wholly happy.

"Then we will walk together," Lan Zhan said, mouth quirking before it smoothed out again "Very slowly, as not to scare the waitrats."

"So mean to your Wei Ying." He sulks, uncoiling himself from his seat, "Here I am, being considerate of the poor hard-working creatures, and I am called infirm - such a travesty." It's not a real complaint - it's entirely too overblown and theatric for that, just teasing as he rises. "So where are you taking this decrepit creature?"

"Some place Wei Ying will be safe," Lan Zhan says as he turns to start to glide off as he does, "from the concerns of vermin."

The waitrats sort of side-eye Lan Zhan for that one, but he's serene and it's not meant in a cruel way. It's...honest. Brutally honest, which isn't polite, but Lan Zhan still has trouble caring about that sort of thing.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying admonishes as he hurries to follow in his zhiji's wake. "You know they'll take twice as long to serve you now. Besides, am I not safe now? Well, unless Jin Guangyao shows up, but I haven't seen a hint of gold robes in a while, not that I mind."

"Patience will sustain," Lan Zhan replies, flippant in the face of a wait. He's not about to be concerned about cold tea. What he is concerned about is staying within a certain range, making sure that Wei Ying is keeping up, and that it's all okay for now.

After all, he's leading Wei Ying straight for the forest.

Wei Ying follows without complaint - he's a little slower today, what with a night full of remembering everything that'd gone painfully wrong in his last life (and oh the list is long, excruciatingly so), and with the half-jar of wine he polished off before he was found. It's not enough to throw him off balance, but he's learning (slowly) that Mo Xuanyu's tolerance for alcohol is, like his tolerance for spice, somewhat laughable.

Well.

At least his tavern bills will be lower.

"Patience will sustain." Wei Ying echoes, laughing, "I'll remind you of that next time you are left waiting for a meal."

"Wei Ying will be waiting with me," Lan Zhan, not looking back. "It will be a good lesson."

He picks his way across the forest, summer stars a bright blanket over them. There's no light pollution with just the bar being there, and one can see miles and miles on a clear night like this one. It's the perfect evening, if one is too join one in the forest for surprises.

It almost feels dangerous, the surreal feeling of walking through a dark forest, without worrying about resentful ghosts or fierce corpses or enemy soldiers. For the worst thing that he might stumble across be an unexpected hole from a warren or decayed tree stump. It seems unnatural.

Perhaps, when this is all finished, he'll have to stay here long enough for that feeling to fade.

"Perhaps if Lan Zhan is nice to his Wei Ying, I will share my tea, which the rats will bring promptly. They like me."

Like may be a strong term for the tolerance he manages to get, but at least he hasn't insulted them!

"Mn." Lan Zhan remains unconcerned with that. He does, however, want to make sure nobody trips and breaks their fool neck, so he takes out a paper talisman and tosses it skyward. A fresh blanket of stars appear, much closer, floating over the pair like a canopy of soft light.

It illuminates that they have come to a warrens of the demon rabbits, but they have not yet been attacked. Lan Zhan gestures to a mossy log.

"Sit, Wei Ying," Lan Zhan bids as he pulls a parcel from his qiankun sleeve. The scent of cooked meat wafts up from it as he unwraps it. "I will teach you to hold the rabbits."

The demon rabbits. Who are all coming out to nose about their new best pal, Lan Zhan.

"Lan Zhan! Did you make friends with all off the bunnies?" Wei Ying exclaims, absolutely delighted by the renewed theme of 'animals loving Lan Zhan'. He's also pretty fond of the talisman too, as he can definitely support the use of talismans to create an aesthetic. It's gorgeous.
"What would your uncle say?" He teases cheerfully, settling on the log. "I don't think feeding them counts as suppression or eradication."

"Appeasement works," as he offers little meaty tidbits to them. He takes up a seat on the mossy log himself, and has several curious bunnies looking for snacks already. He feeds a few, until he coaxes a brave one up to him and strokes it's back as it settles in his lap.

"Learn to hold them," Lan Zhan says. "Then you will be able to handle the ones at Cloud Recesses with skill, and treat them kindly."

(Look, he's seen how Wei Wuxian treats rabbits.)

"Lan Zhaaaan, I am always kind to your rabbits!" Wei Ying protests, though he's wary of scooping up one of these creatures and jostling them - they're liable to belch fire in his face in return, temperamental little fluffballs that they are.

"Kind, yes. Need more than just 'kind,'" Lan Zhan speaks as though he's addressing the rabbit in his lap -- a gray and brown thing, not at all like the crisp white rabbits that blend with the snow that collects in Cloud Recesses. "Wei Ying is living kindness. But he needs a softer touch."

Lan Zhan's pale hands scoop up, slowly and gently, one rabbit, and cradles it to his chest. The thing settles as he strokes it, slowly relaxing into a bunny doze.

Wei Ying squeaks at just how perfectly adorable that is. Honestly! Look at it! It doesn't get cuter than that, folks!

"Pfft, living kindness. Lan Zhan, my face is not that thick! You could ask a hundred people, and not one person would give that description of me." Still, he's not going to let Lan Zhan off the hook for saying utterly ridiculous things, even if he is currently being the Most Adorable.

Lan Zhan is quiet for a moment, stroking the back of the rabbit. He thinks for a time, weighing words and feelings. He could just give another mn that could be translated at nearly anything, but ever since he spoke on the steps at Koi Tower-- he doesn't know that he can stop: I have always known.

"When we launched lanterns," Lan Zhan said, invoking a memory that is a life time ago, "I realized, then. That we wanted the same thing. To be righteous and live without regret. Without kindness, we cannot keep that promise. So: Wei Ying is kind, and has always been so. Even if Wei Ying falters, he will always return to his true self."

The self that has, yes, suffered -- but who has never forgotten to be kind, to defend the weak, to put others over and over before himself.

(Maybe he could stand be a less kind; Lan Zhan knows that you cannot pour from an empty cup. But... he won't say that. Not right now. Those are discussions for another time.)

Wei Ying makes a sound like an overheated tea kettle, burying his face his hands, his ears blushed red.

"Lan Zhaaaaaaaaan." He keens, entirely embarrassed, having absolutely no defense against this horrible onslaught of words. People don't say things like this about him! Especially not to his face!

A few of the bunnies, attracted by Wei Ying's various squeaks, nose at his boots. He hasn't really noticed yet, being too busy attempting the impossible task of melting straight into the ground.

More people should say these things to Wei Ying's face. Lan Zhan is certain it would ameliorate many things if people could just recognize Wei Ying's value.

In the mean time he takes some small satisfaction in making Wei Ying blush and stammer, and pets the rabbit in contented quietness. Wei Ying has to pat himself back together after melting, and Lan Zhan can be patient.

"So mean to your Wei Ying." He mutters as he struggles to get his emotions back under control. Honestly, how is he supposed to deal? Praise, when it came, was given once upon a time in Jiang Cheng's begrudging smiles, in Nie Huaisang's knowing chuckle hidden behind his fan, in shijie's hugs. Uncle Jiang was more vocal in his praise, but that was always... fraught.

"Oh, bunnies!" He's distracted from his embarrassment when he spots the bunnies by his boots, but they scatter when he reaches down to grab one.