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[mannerless]

hit me with starters, image prompts, texts - anything goes.

Comments

[mannerless]

It's kind of funny. Sixteen years (dead, granted) and I've finally learned to spot when there's something I'm missing.

Perhaps in another sixteen I'll be able to figure out what that is.

[taciturnly]

Grief molds and reforms.

Death must, as well.

[mannerless]

lan zhaaaaaaan.

I've asked two questions and you've answered neither of them. All after you said to ask! What question will you answer? Do I get to ask that, or will you force me to guess again? I'm terrible at guessing, Lan Zhan, you've seen it.

[taciturnly]

( wei wuxian pls. the answer is literally right there. would you like some emojis???? )

Take heed.

What gives you the impression that you are missing something?

[mannerless]

( yes pls, he does well with pictures. borrow from huaisang if necessary. )

You told me to ask. Not 'ask something' or 'ask what you will' or any of that. Just 'ask', like there's one specific question owed whether or not I know what it is.

( he's almost certainly rereading his text, then flopping back on his bed in a dramatic huff.

....but a few seconds later, he's sitting back up and: )

What should it have said, your headband?

( is that the question he's supposed to ask? )

[taciturnly]

( over his dead body, thank you very much. or maybe one day you'll get a select few from his own personal collection.

was there one specific question, though? or a specific answer, for that matter, which he did provide, before you even asked. is it as simple and as complicated as that? )

Exposed itself. ( remember that song? unrestrained. ) I've always worn Wei Ying's colors.

"from his own personal collection" EXCUSE ME

[mannerless]

( there's a long considering pause at that. he's rolling it around in his mind, adjusting to the reality of it, fighting back the easy denial of the mere possibility of it.

he doesn't entirely know what to do with it, but he doesn't want to deny it. never that. )

What would it have done but bleed you dry? ( if it exposed itself. if lan zhan exposed the colors he wore. ) They wouldn't have stopped. We couldn't have stopped them. I couldn't even stop myself.

It protected you. I like it a little bit more for that. Tell it I'm sorry I threatened interrogation. I never could've gone through with it, I'm much too sentimental.

like i said, can't confirm or deny

[taciturnly]

And yet I still bled, for the wrong reasons.

( he doesn't resent the scars on his back, or the things he did to deserve them. it's all the things he didn't do that never stopped haunting him, and if it did protect him, he wishes he could have been strong enough to shield him.

like he does now. like he always will. ) Perhaps it should be given a new purpose.

you can, you really can

[mannerless]

( he bled, but he didn't bleed dry. call him selfish, but wei ying would rather have lan zhan here and full of regret than gone, having bled himself out for a man who would come back nearly two decades later to a world with only a shell of lan zhan left in it. if he'd still be in it at all. if jin guangshan and all the others hadn't seen him burned to ashes just for the colors he wore.

perhaps it should be given a new purpose. )

Have you one in mind?

but won't it be even better when we both find out

[taciturnly]

( he didn't bleed dry, no, but he bleeds still, wounds that healed crooked, some that never did. they shaped and carved, a reminder, a lesson.

and now, there's only one thing left. )

Devotion.

[mannerless]

( ahaha, there's that thing he's not sure how to look directly at. except this time it's coming from lan zhan instead of somewhere inside himself, so what choice does he have but to look at it? look at it and never quite look away. )

Well, yes, that's definitely one possibility. But you know we can't just go with the first idea we stumble over, that's terribly irresponsible.

( if only lan zhan were here to see his grin. )

On second thought, when have I ever been responsible?

Let's do it.

[taciturnly]

( when will technology allow him to reach through the screen and shake him until his brain cells realign?

but hey. that earned him a smile. one he can't see, sure, but it's there, faint and lopsided. )

Hardly an impulse.

Sixteen years to mull over.

( and before you, fealty to your memory. )

[mannerless]

Only sixteen? I suppose I was a bit of a pain when I was actually alive, what with my haunted flute and the way I smelled like lotus root mud. No, sixteen sounds about right, honestly.

Where are you right this moment?

[taciturnly]

You were not. I was afraid.

I am returning to the jingshi.

[mannerless]

So generous are Lan Zhan's words - but I most certainly was. Your tolerance of me despite that fact never ceased to impress me (and nearly everyone we met, I'd wager).

I've found myself in Gusu, and lucky for that. Imagine how terribly anticlimactic it would be, if all of this were said and done and I still had to trek three days on donkeyback just to see you.

I'll be there before dark.

[taciturnly]

You were bold, certainly. And brave. I was not, and you died.

No mistake will be made twice.

[mannerless]

Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, listen to me. There will be no wallowing allowed on this joyous occasion, I won't have it. You're going to be happy or I'm going to be downright insufferable until I've made you happy.

I'll do it, don't think that I won't!

[taciturnly]

You have.

[mannerless]

( give him a second to just. be way more warmed by these two words than he probably should be, whoops. then - )

So we've agreed, then. No wallowing.

[taciturnly]

( it's okay. it's fine. he's just in a glass case of emotion, and also grateful that he can't be seen. )

No wallowing.

I will honor what you have taught me.

[mannerless]

Shall I drink my Emperor's Smile on the way, or would you rather duel over my wine-based transgressions like the good old days?

Granted, my swordsmanship is hardly what it once was, so we'll have to find some other means by which to duel. I'm sure we could come up with something, what with our combined brilliance and this newfound 'devotion' we've settled upon.

[taciturnly]

Other means, new disciplines.

Several principles will be amended for your visit.

[mannerless]

Wait. We can do that?? Just up and amend the principles? Why wasn't I told this? No, scratch that question, I know precisely why I wasn't told.

Leave your alcohol rule as it is, it's no fun to smuggle wine if it's only pretend.

Notice how I'm definitely not asking which principles you're amending? That's me being polite, just as it would be polite for you to volunteer that information nonetheless so I'm not left to suffer in my curiosity.

[taciturnly]

You seem surprised. Have we not already bent a few?

To ease your mind:

1. Running is prohibited.

2. Venturing out at night is prohibited.

3. Causing noise is prohibited.

4. Smiling foolishly is prohibited.

5. Exulting in excess is prohibited.

6. Acting impulsively is prohibited.

7. Do not be picky with food.

8. Do not work after 9 PM.

9. Do not rise after 5AM.

And perhaps another one.

[mannerless]

We'll be running? You'll be running? Has anyone ever told you that you run like a deer? A very serious deer, bounding along. It's quite endeering. I suppose it does retain a bit more dignity than a proper sprint.

But excuse me, I'm not picky with food! I eat it with minimal complaint... At least out loud. Do plaintive facial expressions count? I'm not sure I can stop those.

And also. Lan Zhan, about #8. I think that if it feels like work, we're probably doing it incorrectly.

(Notice how I didn't ask again!)