eastbound | un: starburst, toward the end of this arc.

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un: starburst, toward the end of this arc.

( Emilia di Carlo has seen better days, by the look of her. Her battle leathers are torn, soot and cuts still on her face — but she doesn't give in to the exhaustion just yet, nor the bile in her throat. First, she addresses the people of Alem, dignified and resolute. )

Prince Haiva sacrificed himself and leaves his sister, the young Cle-Florens, spared.

I was witness.

( A pause, then, as she allows that to sink in. )

Hell is sealed.

You fought with valor so others might live. I'm glad to have fought beside you, and will remember your fallen just the same.

If you've yet to evacuate, the time is now. Hassir awaits.

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( In the privacy of their transmission, her grimness takes on a more saddened quality, something more personal. She recalls the look of haunting Lan Wangji wore, and the cries of the shapeshifter she killed.

Her hands are full of blood. )

How is he?

( there's a pause, and then his shoulders sink as his hands do, his expression more tired, more firm. he considers saying nothing, between the privacy of one relationship to the privacy of another, but this doesn't defend his husband. this doesn't protect him, to be leaving genuity with a mutual friend. )

Not well. He won't tell me why. He places himself on endless watches, and refuses to speak since Hell.

( she experiences conflict of her own, a desire not to break lan wangji's confidence and respect the hellish road they traveled. it wars with her growing concern, and ultimately, this concern wins out, alongside her trust of wei wuxian. )

I don't need to tell you Hell seeks to torment, and I would not share details he himself is unwilling, but I led him past the gates. ( the first level. ) A great wound was used against him.

( he pauses, recalling his own encounter there. it's a long pause, but it ends with something quiet, firm. )

It wasn't me.

( the reaction he's getting from his husband runs counter to that. he's seen that fear, witnessed that lingering loss, the trauma he was part of in every intention inverted.

it wasn't him. he will reflect on what it might have been, to fail and fall so heavy on his husband's heart. )

No.

( her own voice is quiet, certain for all that it may not be reassuring. )

No, it was not you. Further into his past. I'm worried about him. ( at the time... well, there'd been no time. hell had to be sealed. but he'd been a husk of himself, and she hasn't seen him since. )

He's refusing to see me right now.

( a pause, and he sighs very softly. )

Maybe he won't refuse to see you, when you've already been there. He's already threatened to run if I track him down.

( he's biding his time, is what he means. )

( she isn't certain of her odds, but she knows that she has to try. knows she has to be more than a violent force of nature, noxious as vittoria once claimed. she was the one to land the killing blow on that creature, thinking she'd be sparing her friend.

and if she was wrong, she has to help make it right. )

I'll do my best.

That you care is enough. If he lets you speak, if he listens... that's more than I hope for.

( there's a pause, and this one's longer. aches to say, because these aren't words he says easily. )

Remind him I... I love him. With what haunts him and what brings him joy.

I will.

( she swallows through the tightness gathering in her throat, can appreciate this is difficult for him. )

He might just need time, yes? We both know that love is returned.

He's less certain than he seems.

( is all he says, where he will be patient, can be the one who waits, but also is the one who isn't as willing anymore to let either of them walk away. )

He'll come back to you, Wei Wuxian. We'll make sure of that.

( possibly, she is in no condition to make such a definitive statement, but she'll power through if only with sheer will. )

As long as he wills it. I'm not leaving without him, that much I know.

( her loyalty can run deep, at times to her own detriment. she tries to do right by the people she cares for, but it becomes evident to her — quickly — her silence may not be helping matters, especially when it was never explicitly requested of her.

he was in no state to do so, she knows. but the state of him now is no better. and so. )

It was his mother.

Ah.

( quiet, this time extensive. )

I'll see what I can do. Her story was... not a kind one.

No, I did not get the sense that it was.

( her throat tightens again, but she pushes past that. )

I thought I was sparing him. But seeing me cut the shifter down only made him determined not to leave the corpse behind. I didn't know ... ( she didn't know it was still with him. )

... So he's... carrying the corpse of that demon. Who took on the form of his mother, at the wall of flame.

( so he understands clearly what he's hearing, he repeats it back. )

That is correct.

( he sighs. it's a soft, sad little affair. )

So he's hiding in silence with the form of what he knows isn't his mother, but can't let go, because it's one more person who disappeared on him with no word when she died.

Emilia, I hate to ask this, since he's avoiding me and he won't take kindly to me pointing out what I will. If you see him, will you see him, and sort of... clasp his shoulder? Reassuringly? He'll likely flinch away, Lan Zhan has difficulty with contact, but he needs it, and he won't let me near. Or pat his shoulder. Or pet his stunningly lovely hair, which is annoying because none of us have been bathing properly and it still looks good.

( the rambling of him trying to ask for someone else to provide a physical touchstone for his touch-starved, touch-avoidant husband. who is on strike. against him. )

( it's not a smile that touches her lips, not with the rue that joins the gesture, but it is perhaps fond in a sad way. she isn't unmoved by this desperation, by the strength with which he clearly loves lan wangji. the grief that, as ever, grabs hold. )

I make no promises, especially where his hair is concerned.

( quite fetching hair, it must be said. )

But I will see to him. You have my word.

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un: starburst, toward the end of this arc.

un: starburst, private.

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a few days later, still private.

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