Eastbound Contact

[weifinder]

Wei Wuxian
missives | encounters

Comments

[downswing]

Neglect him. He will wish as you wish, for you wish it.

[weifinder]

He's so easy to please, it leaves me at a loss!

( he might even chuckle when he says it, but there's a stark honesty in those words. )

Do Lan Zhan and Lan Wangji trust in this, as one? That I'm yours, willingly and knowingly, whatever spoken in public or private, whatever assumed by others?

[downswing]

( Ah, what a pretty thing, to lie by omission. )

I do.

[weifinder]

( so sly lan zhan has become, in all these interim years of separation. )

Good.

( .................... and that's it, because he has no idea what else to say, instead clearing his throat and repeating: )

Good.

[downswing]

( But with the stiff awkwardness of disuse: )

In Yunmeng, flaunting shows pride. ( Of regard, of sentiment. ) I do not ask silence out of shame.

[weifinder]

( another pause... and a sigh, that turns into a soft, low laugh. )

Lan Zhan, I'll never expect you to be a man of loud proclamations. Presence, ( he says, with an inhalation and exhalation that turns the following into a wistful sigh: ) sustains me.

[downswing]

To survive is not to thrive.

[weifinder]

Do you thrive?

1/2

[downswing]

( Grant him the moment. )

[downswing]

I do.

[weifinder]

As do I.

[downswing]

There are times I wish you closer than bone marrow. Times when you prickle beneath my skin.

I beg patience.

[weifinder]

No need for begging, unless it pleases you.

Take your time, Lan Zhan. Seize the moments as they come.

[downswing]

I know the difference in that also. The... ease of Yunmeng.

[weifinder]

Hunting at its roots is about patience, even if we preferred otherwise.

( a little amusement in his voice. easy was fought for, a pretense he sold and dug out, later found in the depleting jars of wine that salved when his head couldn't silence.

these days, he can feel a different sort of freedom, for a different kind of doing off impossible things. never give up on trying, simply change angles of approach. )

Knowing the moment to act was my favourite part, ah? Less flashy these days. For the most part.

( did he shout from up high on the ship, shhhhh. )

[downswing]

'Hunting.'

[weifinder]

A man likes to eat!

( a pause, belated realisation, then awkward laughter: )

Or so they say, ah? It's not, you know it's not, nothing bad, right? Right!

[downswing]

You come too thin.

[weifinder]

And you're thick enough, ah?

[downswing]

Thick enough dogs cannot peer through me.

[weifinder]

( IF ONLY DOGS WOULD IN FACT IGNORE HIM HE'D LOVE IT, THANKS HUSBAND )

So you're for going on all fours?

[downswing]

I am for seeing you strong, before.

[weifinder]

Lan Zhan.

( a pause. )

You have a tendency to presume certain lacks of strength of the body, where I run... not fortunately lean, but not weak.

( ... )

... Unless you're teasing me, you're so sly with that tongue of yours anymore!

[downswing]

You seek to tell me you are not delicate.

[weifinder]

( some wiser men might temporise... but he is not those men. blithely: )

Not a day in my life, except when bedbound!