New Plan, Step One: Provide For My Community [open]

[summerdude]

Magnus needs something to change, so when a Mansion calendar helpfully informs him that it's International Falafel Day back on Earth, he goes to the library for some cookbooks, and then to the kitchen.

He lays out ten different falafel recipes. He gathers the ingredients they list, as best as he can understand them. He has canned chickpeas and fresh chickpeas and dried chickpeas and chickpea flour and box mixes of falafel that say 'just add water!'

Cripes.

"I can do this," he says, peering at the assorted recipes intently for a good ten minutes, and then takes the dried chickpeas over to the sink to rinse and soak.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

"I am not certain," Lan Wangji admits. The thought of summoning Shen Yuan for a second Inquiry session is wearying. He will need to spend some time with his qin simply playing quiet and beautiful music in a silent room to make up for all that it has suffered. "Would you have me ask?"

[summerdude]

Magnus can see the weariness in Lan Wangji's face. "It's not urgent," he says. "Like, I can tell we're not, like, days away. Did he have a, um. A message for me?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji goes slightly more still, struck with a pang of guilt. He should have asked. He was tired, rattled from the revelation of his missing memories, and letting Claudius direct most of their questions -- but he should have thought to ask. As little as he cared for Shen Yuan, he knew that he and Magnus were important to one another. The only two times he has seen Shen Yuan set aside his disrespect for him, it has been for Magnus' sake. "I neglected to ask. I'm sorry."

[summerdude]

Magnus nods, expression resolute. That's okay. Presumably Hanguang-jun only asked the essential questions -- Magnus knows they're not close. Certainly if he asked if Shen Yuan had a message for anyone, he'd definitely include Magnus in that list, so it's fine. Magnus has been talking to Shen Yuan's future body when he's alone with it, just sharing all of his fears and hopes and other feelings; Shen Yuan can answer when his spirit is inside of it. That's enough. "It's okay. He told you what array you need?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I presumed the Evocation array would work," Lan Wangji says, slowly. Perhaps he should have asked that, too. He is not accustomed to interrogating spirits to this extent -- Inquiry is typically used for a handful of questions, pointed ones that will determine the nature and the cause of a death, not as an open conduit between the dead and the living.

[summerdude]

"We should probably double check that," Magnus says, thoughtfully. He's shifting his focus, setting aside his feelings and honing in on the task at hand. He's good at this, even if he hasn't done it in a while. Figuring out the next few steps and letting everything else fade into the background used to be pretty easy, especially in his years on the streets. "Before the time comes. He only keyed one body to himself. I don't want to, like, risk messing it up in the final-inning stretch or whatever. And I'd like to know how to tell when the body is ready, at least. I don't want to, like, overripen it."

[lightbearinglord]

Again, Lan Wangji nods. He is certainly not escaping at least one more session with Shen Yuan's spirit. That much is clear. "I will ask all of your questions," he promises. He has troubled Shen Yuan several times already; in a literal sense, he doesn't know how many times, only that he must have tried at least once every day since the death.

[summerdude]

Magnus sighs. "I should have asked him. When he showed me the bodies." Then he frowns. "Maybe I did. I don't even know why I forgot..."

He blinks and lifts his head. "Hanguang-jun," he says. "Shen Yuan showed me the plant bodies on the day he was in Ragnelle's body. And you were in Gu Xiang's." He shakes his head, trying to clear it. "Was I...?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I--" Lan Wangji manages to freeze again. It should be growing easier as he navigates his way around the reality of it. He has memories that are missing. He knows that. He reaches for the memory of that day. It is easy to recall the feeling of inhabiting Gu Xiang's body, everything almost painfully wrong and askew. He knows that he spoke with Magnus, that he admitted to the depths of his anger at Luo Binghe, that he explained that Claudius is his first friend. Magnus embraced him, and--

He pinches the bridge of his nose, hard, between his fingers. "I can't remember."

[summerdude]

"Hanguang-jun," says Magnus, carefully, putting a hand on his arm. "I didn't mean do you remember. I meant, like, do you think it's possible that I... with her... ?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is quiet. Magnus' hand on his arm is grounding. He doesn't think around the memory itself, but around the circumstances. He knew Aornis at some point. The letters referenced her by name, as if taking it for granted that he and Claudius would know her identity.

"Yes," he says, again slowly, and then he lets that hand settle instead atop Magnus'. "Shen Yuan will know. His memories have returned to his spirit. We should speak with him."

[summerdude]

"Are you sure?" Magnus doesn't want to make Hanguang-jun do something he hates.

[lightbearinglord]

"Yes." Lan Wangji is tired, but not so tired that he cannot do this -- for Magnus, but also for additional answers. He gives Magnus' hand a fortifying little squeeze. As with breaking the news, there is no need to waste additional time. "Would you rather do it outdoors?"

[summerdude]

"We can do it wherever you're most comfortable."

[lightbearinglord]

Truly, it doesn't matter. Lan Wangji has some preferences, but he has played Inquiry in crypts, in cramped farmhouses, in misting rain. "Outdoors," he decides, for Magnus' sake, and makes promptly for one of the mansion's side entrances.

[summerdude]

Magnus trots along next to him.

[lightbearinglord]

Outside, it is a crisp and lovely day. The lake glistens in the distance. By the time Lan Wangji pushes through the door, he has Wangji out, balanced across one hand and its wrappings stowed in his sleeves, but he does stop and give himself one and then two breaths to take in the landscape and let appreciation soften the edges of his urgency.

Subsequently, he sits on the steps, legs crossed, and settles his qin in place. He retrieves the spirit attraction flag and, for once, has only to plant it in the soft earth. He waits for Magnus.

[summerdude]

Magnus sits down next to him, automatically assuming the position he does when he meditates. He breathes, and watches Lan Wangji like a hawk.

[lightbearinglord]

There is no way of knowing how many times he has asked this question. He can nearly picture Shen Yuan rolling his eyes with impatience. Nonetheless, Lan Wangji breathes alongside Magnus, relaxes his shoulders, and plays, Who are you?

He looks toward Magnus nearly before the answer has concluded. "Shen Yuan is here."

[summerdude]

Magnus breaks into a smile. In the late-morning light, this, more than anything, probably underscores just how exhausted, how drawn he looks. "Hey, bro," he says. "Really trying to overtake the bachelorette party plans, huh?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lingers just for a moment in gazing at Magnus' smile. He looks so tired still, as if that typical summer glow has gone from him -- but the smile is worth it all regardless. For his benefit, he explains, "I will ask whether you exchanged bodies with his killer that day." He takes in another breath of the spring breeze and directs his qi, along with the question, to the strings. Did Magnus wear your killer's body when you showed him the Sun and Dew Moon Mushroom?

He is startled by the length of the answer, but for Magnus, he remains calmly patient. It is easier this time; he has not just come off the revelation that little pieces of his memories have been stolen, day by day. Once he is certain that the qin is silent, he begins to translate. Because he is with Magnus, he makes his best effort to do so faithfully. "Yes. The two of you discussed being girls. That is when you realized that this woman could sense her name. He believes you forgot about the mushrooms because you were in her body that day and she took every memory of herself. He does not believe she knows about the additional bodies. He asks you to be careful anyway."

[summerdude]

"I'll be careful," Magnus promises. "I'm being careful. And Luo Binghe has a bunch of, like, I think wards? Up too."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't let his expression flicker at the mention of Luo Binghe. It is the one principle he knows Luo Binghe has: loving Shen Yuan. Of course he would protect him. He proceeds with the questions he promised to ask for Magnus, a careful slow breath and then a return to the hushed sound of the qin. Will the Evocation array work to place you within your future body?

"Evocation will work," he confirms aloud for Magnus. "I will ask how to know when the body is ready." He does, strings humming, and listens for Shen Yuan's response.

"Shen Yuan's knowledge is theoretical. He has read of these plants, but not used them himself. Before the body ripens, his soul can be placed within it. The soul will help its growth, and he will awaken in it when it is ready. He asks that we refrain from doing so until his killer is dealt with, because of the possibility that she might take his memories afresh."

[summerdude]

"Does he--" Magnus shakes his head and stares into the middle distance. "Shen Yuan, do you want me to keep, um, ripening you after your spirit is back inside you? And, like, are there any signs that it's going too fast and we should, like, slow down? And do you think she's going to try and attack anyone else?"

This last question is posed with more of a grim tone. Magnus survived. Shen Yuan didn't. Magnus doesn't have a lot of faith that other people could.

[lightbearinglord]

At the rapidfire nature of those questions, Lan Wangji casts a fleetingly fond glance at Magnus. He will take them one at a time, in order. He begins, as such, with the first. A moment or two later, he says to Magnus, "Yes. Continue to ripen him."

The second, then. What signs will indicate that the body is growing too fast? The answer comes with such vehemence that Lan Wangji could almost be amused. "Stop if it begins to grow extraneous limbs." He waits, to let Magnus absorb that, before embarking on the third question.