onthewillowsthere: (serious business)
[personal profile] onthewillowsthere
The day after Evil Twin Magnus leaves, Galahad shows up for his training with Lan Wangji exactly as he always does (although later in the day, because Lan Wangji asked him to wait until afternoon to meet) -- if Lan Wangji were going solely on his appearance, he'd see absolutely nothing out of order. He throws himself into the sword forms with his usual focus. But he's gripping the hilt of his sword too tightly, and his movements are tense; he's never graceful, but today he's almost clumsy, and each failure or misstep only seems to pull him tighter, like an overwound watch.

Date: 2024-07-24 07:26 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (changyang)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
For now, Lan Wangji doesn't say anything. All of the components for tea are laid out on the table, neat and ready for use. He draws a talisman from his sleeve to heat the pitcher of water, with silent gratitude to Wei Ying, then drops a cake of tea into the pot and fills it with water. While it steeps, he dips each cup in the hot water with the tongs, one by one, and sets them aside. He knows Galahad won't mind the silence.

Date: 2024-07-24 08:13 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (ornamented)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
After a little time, when the sharp and herbal smell of tea is drifting on the steam to join the ever-present sandalwood scent of the room, Lan Wangji holds back the drape of his sleeve and pours them each a cup of tea, precise about it so that not a drop is spilled. They'll need to wait for it to cool, now. It's another thing he likes about the ritual of serving tea: the enforced pauses, like taking slow breaths. It would be possible to cool the tea with cultivation, but he prefers not to. They can wait.

Date: 2024-07-24 09:27 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (pensive with bunny)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
Lan Wangji settles in, holding his own tea and watching the steam curling away from its surface. He is still silent; he can break this silence in time, if it becomes necessary, but in this moment, it has the feeling of something necessary, something that tucks them safely away from the outside world.

Date: 2024-07-25 12:48 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (against the world)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
It is on the very tip of his tongue to protest that Galahad's double was not evil, but dwelling on that is pointless. He already knows that Magnus was using the term generally. "I did," he says. "Do you remember anything?"

Date: 2024-07-25 12:53 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (hanguang-jun)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
That is one, somewhat blunt, way of putting it. Lan Wangji studies his tea, thinks for a moment, and then says, "He was sad. It was an untouchable sadness."

Date: 2024-07-25 01:52 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (love interest)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
"Mn." He frowns down at his tea, rather than directing it at Galahad. The older Galahad, the melancholy king, told him how he wanted to be buried with Percival, but Claudius did not speak of Percival as someone dead. He opts to tread lightly. "Who is Percival?"

Date: 2024-07-25 02:37 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (eyes down)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
"You had lost him. King Galahad had lost him." It was clear how hollow he had become in answer to that loss.

Date: 2024-07-25 03:59 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (yunmeng)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
Lan Wangji feels an echo of that same ache he felt when he spoke with that older, much sadder Galahad. It is not so acute now, because he is sitting across from his student, who is young and determined and who wants to live, but he can recall how it was to be even younger than that. He can recall the implacable sense that there was something holding him forever apart from nearly everyone else. Wei Ying chose him, as furiously as Lan Wangji fought it. He was the first person, aside from his own brother, who looked at Lan Wangji's unsmiling demeanor and wanted more of him.

"I understand," he says, meaning it. He hesitates, but not for long. "Tell me about him."

Date: 2024-07-25 05:48 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (over the shoulder)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
Galahad tells a story much in the way that Lan Wangji himself does, as a concise series of facts, which comes as no surprise, but which strikes some now-familiar chord of fondness within him. He listens quietly, the tea cooling in his hands, and tries to imagine Percival, a boy who lived in the woods until he was nearly grown. "You met him there?"

Date: 2024-07-26 01:36 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (sparkly)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
He thinks of Galahad, even younger than he is now, waiting for his friend, the first person to claim him. Percival sat vigil for his knighthood; Galahad did the same for Percival. He swallows his own sip of tea. "You loved him," he says -- quiet, almost hushed with it, but not a question. To love someone is to wait for them.

Date: 2024-07-26 04:52 am (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (moonlight)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
He makes people feel important. With inevitability, Lan Wangji thinks again of Wei Ying, whose warmth can flood a room like the sun framed perfectly in a wide and open window. He thinks of Wei Ying winking at the women of Caiyi, catching loquats, nudging Lan Wangji with his shoulder and saying, Ladies, isn't this young master terribly handsome? He thinks of Wei Ying in the Burial Mounds, the lean and terrible Yiling Patriarch smiling at the old women and the farmers with their patchy beards, planting A-Yuan in the ground like a radish and laughing. He thinks of Wei Ying with Wen Qionglin, refusing to accept the Ghost General's subservience.

He takes the first sip of his own cup of tea. "You had no choice but to love a boy like that."

Date: 2024-07-26 02:03 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (peerless)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
Lan Wangji looks up from his tea, directly at Galahad. His back is straight, his face serious. "I understand," he says again, tight with the sincerity of that understanding.

Date: 2024-07-26 03:16 pm (UTC)
lightbearinglord: (pensive with bunny)
From: [personal profile] lightbearinglord
The tea is cool enough for drinking, but still warm in Lan Wangji's hands. "I was."

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onthewillowsthere: (Default)
Galahad son of Lancelot

April 2025

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