un: absterge | video

[downswing]

( Dark and damp and Lan Wangji's pallor strained under moonlight. Behind him, flickers of broad, long temple columns — and the smoke smears of... ghosts, gathered. He seems short of breath, the silvered sheen of his sword half drawn from her scabbard, a spate of parchment papers littering the walls: active talismans. )

They have crowded their halls of the dead, to excess.

Here, the key withholds itself. Who hunts the other locations?

( And a pause, hesitant — whether to find his words or, absently, slap another talisman on the spirit that looms with a gaping maw behind him. ) Ke-Waihu stands safe?

( ooc: forwarded dated to the group's incursions in Ke-Waicai. Feel free to run into him in person, if you're also chasing the haunted temple key! )

Comments

un: yiling laozu

[weifinder]

Aside from my brother flirting with you, has anyone managed to get the third key?

( hey husband how's it going, here's an amused glance before his expression is back to serious face, and his feed goes dark while audio remains.

he trusts in what lan wangji can do. all the dead there, he knows he can handle, or will. )

[downswing]

( tmw the cynophobe steers you towards the dog house. )

Do not stoke scandal.

( And secondly: ) Five claims the forge. An army to assist.

Those who pursue the library... pledge their conviction. The temple eludes.

[weifinder]

Are more hands needed?

( do you need him there? if nothing else, he can lead a merry chase for the spirits in residence, if not make them anything more than they are now. )

[downswing]

A whistle.

[weifinder]

Care to see if it works over this?

( a curve of his lips, but he doesn't wait before he does, in fact, whistle, curious to see what amounts as near enough to effect. )

[downswing]

( A heartbeat late, but he draws the pendant, makes of it his vanguard as the spirits crowd — too fragmented and diffused for inquiry, but perhaps resent may kindle and stoke the incentive that conversation failed to supply.

They rouse; he sees them. They heed. )

Wei Ying. Urge — ( It gnaws too much of his pride to beg, Command. ) Them to guide us.

[weifinder]

( he would laugh, if he could without breaking this tune, and he might pull out chenqing if he needs the length of it, the flute under his touch a dangerous, beautiful thing. instead he shifts tone, from the collecting, the calming, the cajoling, to the request, the coalescing, the arrow aimed, around one thought, one request:

a key.

what he can do is stand here, on this end of a magical connection, and allow his husband to trace after the resentment that curls and coils and firms and flies, first staggering, as if drunk after ages of being dry, then with more aim, more purpose.

he can only hope there are not a multitude of keys, or that they spirits in their fragmentation understand the key of most importance. either way, it's lan zhan who shall now step forth, who shall determine their adequacies, in their lessened, ragged state.

wei wuxian whistles on. )

[downswing]

( The increasingly frequent benefits of keeping necromancer skills in the family.

The spirits yield; he gives chase. Then, voice dulled by breathlessness: )

Gratitude. Wei Ying has coaxed liaison.

[weifinder]

( a gesture of his hand, the softening, momentarily, of his eyes. he continues his whistling, largely out of the driving necessity of letting tattered spirits aligned to a singular cause.

these are the skills he's learned, and they've effective means particularly in this world. curious ones, too, so much more learned and in the learning, awareness of what little is known, but for now this remains enough.

the key, and fleeing, always before the worst of the storm swallows them whole.

in this, the spirits eddie, they swirl around and lift high, pointing toward an alcove high, high, higher. or no, he can see now, a ledge to some upper room? )

[downswing]

( ...of course, of course. A fine line, a stellar indication. Where the spirits lead, Lan Wangji is only thrilled to follow, until, half of a shi later, between various intersections with Moiraine and Kanesada — )

We have it.

[weifinder]

( the whistling shifts pitch, something dismissing, and respectful, but firm. discouraging any malignant lingering.

tiring, this, especially now, whistling. he rubs at his mouth, eyes wry, sigh long. )

Good. Time for our fast exit, ah?

[downswing]

I shall send the key.

Allow me cleansing rites.

( Fool's attempt, but he will make it. These walls strain. )

[weifinder]

( in answer, he holds up chenqing, the barest hint of a lopsided grin. he understands, fools errand or not. )

Let them retreat. You have my flute, to aid your song.

( he knows them, as surely as anything he does, though it's been years since phoenix mountain, months here. )

[downswing]

The Patriarch fights at distance?

( C o w a r d l y. )

[weifinder]

Hanguang-jun prefers a hands on demonstration?

[downswing]

His wants, irrelevant.

The Beastmaster. You keep safe?

[weifinder]

I avoid the, ah, wolves. Here, we hunt cures. Apply them. I listen, as he moves in particular concerns.

( safe enough, since he's capable of speaking. )

[downswing]

Lies. You seek spirits in the fields.

[weifinder]

Is that not healing, hm?

[downswing]

Crafty.

[weifinder]

Yiling was a generous proving ground.

[downswing]

See you are not followed home.

[weifinder]

My husband, that, that's easily enough promised, and easily enough done.

[downswing]

You lure ghosts.

[weifinder]

I keep them out.

( his proving grounds, alas, taught him that necessity immediately. )