"Nice shot!" Wen Ning's eyes flicker over to Wei WuXian, just as surprised by his sudden appearance as he was the first time around. This time, at least, he didn't almost shoot the other boy. He carefully releases the tension from his bow, slipping the arrow easily back into his quiver.
"Ah, sorry for disturbing you! What's your name? You're a great archer!" Wei WuXian chatters, coming out from the brush and fully into the training field. Wen Ning gives a small smile. Even though he would rather throw himself at Wei WuXian's feet and beg for forgiveness, he has to hold himself back. Act like his old, shy self. It's.. annoying, to say the least. He just wants to change everything now, before Wei WuXian can involve himself and get hurt, but he has to pace himself. He can't show his hand too early, or he'll ruin everything. A lot is on the line and he can't risk any of it.
"...Wen Ning of the Wen sect, courtesy name Wen Qionglin… What's your name?" Wei WuXian grins, sauntering closer. He has to bite his cheek to stop from saying or doing something stupid, averting his eyes to the bow in his hand. Getting back into archery after so long had been an amazing feeling and he is oh so willing to completely submerge himself in the memories of those feelings instead of the intense feelings of guilt and sadness he gets from Wei WuXian.
"'M Wei Ying of the Jiang sect, courtesy name Wei WuXian. Could you perhaps tell me where the entrance to the, ah, archery field is?" Wen Ning points, just as he had last time, and looks up just in time to catch the tail end of one of Wei WuXian's brilliant grins.
"Thanks for your help!" Wei WuXian chirps. With the slightest bow, the other boy disappears back into the brush. Wen Ning blinks, staring blankly at the spot Wei WuXian had inhabited a moment ago, just as flabbergasted by the interaction as he was the last time. Wei WuXian is much like a whirlwind, Wen Ning learned, and you simply have to let him do his thing or you'll get dragged in and torn up. A bit melodramatic, maybe, but it certainly fits his Young Master.
Wen Ning pushes the thoughts away and walks over to the target, collecting his arrows. None of them are at all broken but they are a bit duller. Not that it makes too much of a difference, they're plenty dangerous either way. He returns them to his quiver before following after Wei WuXian. When he enters the gathering area, he makes sure to stick to the shadows to escape Wen Chao's notice. He had entered much the same way last time around. It works just as well the second time since Wen Chao is just as oblivious as a rock. Probably more so. He joins the line of Wen participants easily, his eyes roaming the other lines. He finds the Lan sect's Two Jades quickly. They're both distinctive in their own way and it's easy to pick up on if you're looking for it. He finds Jiang WanYin and Wei WuXian, smiling slightly when he sees them talking quietly and friendly-like. He meets Jin ZiXuan's eyes across the way by accident. The peacock, as Wei WuXian had often referred to him, narrows his eyes and sneers. Wen Ning just lets his gaze drop, turning in time with the rest of his line to go to the competition area.
"Hold on!" Wen Chao snaps, bringing the Wen line to a halt. Wen Ning stiffens automatically before he forces himself to relax. The Wen Chao of this time has no reason to suspect him of treason, of helping the enemy. They are in peacetime, and from the same sect. He really has to just relax.
"Who's that, at the back of the line?!" Wen Ning hesitates slightly, debating with himself for half a second, before he finally turns to Wen Chao. Enemy or not, Wen Chao is technically his superior, and won't hesitate to punish him. A manservant tells Wen Chao his identity. This, he remembers. It had led to one of the many embarrassments of his life when he was younger.
"Eh, Wen Ning! What is he doing here? He's just a distant relative," Wen Chao says disdainfully. Wen Ning doesn't even blink at his tone, used to people threatening him by now. Few are as terrifying as an angry Jiang WanYin, anyways.
"Can he even draw the bow?" That- oh, that sends a shock of anger through him. Archery had been one of the few reprieves in his life and here Wen Chao was, mocking him for it. The emotion is vibrant, almost taking him by surprise. The years as a mostly apathetic dead-man-walking had certainly taken their toll. Wei WuXian's voice is what draws him back to the present.
"Who says he can't draw the bow?" Wen Ning's lip twitches, torn between amazement at Wei WuXian's pure kindness and amusement at his lackadaisical tone. Only he would talk to Wen Chao like that, especially since the Wens are currently his hosts.
"His archery seemed better than most," Wei WuXian drawls, a clear challenge. And so, the changes have begun.
"You must be Wei WuXian," Wen Chao sneers, rising to the challenge with a vengeance, "I hear your archery is decent." That's a vast understatement, but whatever. He's not stepping between these two.
"Decent enough to be included in the competition." Ooh, that was underhanded. Underhanded enough to stay just this side of insulting. Wen Chao ruffles even more, looking like he'd like nothing more than to see an arrow sticking out from Wei WuXian's forehead.
"Wen Ning," Wen Chao says harshly evidently unable to come up with a suitable comeback in time. "He said you can shoot. Let's see what we got." Wen Ning ducks his head in a shy manner, averting his eyes. A grin curls the corner of his mouth unbidden and he struggles to train his expression into something his old self would have shown before anyone sees. Wen Ning is ushered over to a few practice targets, and stationed in front of one a decent distance away. His bow makes it into his hands without his help (was it Wei WuXian that shoved it into his hands?) and so he knocks an arrow without a word. Wen Chao and a few others stand a ways away, and Wei WuXian and Jiang WanYin stand off to the side. The people watching him are significantly less nerve-wracking this time around- being the Ghost General wasn't exactly subtle, after all, and he got used to it. He takes in a calming breath, aims, and pulls the bow back. He exhales and the arrow soars, landing dead center. Now he just has to make sure none of them ever know that he had been imagining that he was shooting Wen Chao.
"Great shot!" Wei WuXian cheers. Wen Ning offers him a small smile. Wen Chao scoffs but Wen Ning's abilities have already been proven. He's going to compete, this time. Maybe the Wen sect won't lose as horribly and they'll postpone their campaign to take over the entire world for a little bit because they won't be so bitter. Unlikely but, hey, a time-traveling, formerly undead man can hope.
"Alright, alright," Jiang WanYin grumbles. "Let's get to the field." The boy drags Wei WuXian away, looking about as exasperated as a person could get. Wen Ning watches them for a moment before turning to Wen Chao with a respectful bow.
"May I join the competition?" He asks softly. Wen Chao snorts, waving him off.
"Yeah, whatever. But don't embarrass the Wen sect!" Wen Ning bows again, already sick of this, and quickly follows after the two Jiang sect disciples. He rejoins his sect's disciples as quickly as he could while also trying to get another look at HanGuang-Jun. Or= just Lan WangJi, he supposes, since the Sunshot Campaign has yet to earn him that name. He would like to get closer to Lan WangJi than he had been originally, in hopes that he could make his path a little easier to walk, as well. Or at least to have another ally floating about.
The competition is nothing to scoff at, certainly, and neither are the skills of some of the competitors. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi, of course, stood out for their skill with a bow but Jiang WanYin and Jin ZiXuan are also very good archers and then there's Wen Ning himself, of course. He's rusty, sort of, the time travel makes everything a bit odd, so he certainly could beat Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi but he did seem to be besting Jin ZiXuan. At least, as far as he can tell when he only has a handful of encounters with the four of them in all. He had, at one point, shot at an evil spirit and nearly hit Jin ZiXuan when he decided right then was a perfect time to move to the right. It was only a serious bit of luck that kept blood from being drawn. The completely flabbergasted expression that graced the other boy's face, however, was nearly worth it. That wasn't why he wanted to join the competition, though, it was just a nice bonus. This, the scene that he just stumbled across. He missed the actual scene itself in both timelines- had heard about it years later in the original timeline -but this time, he caught it just in time to see Lan WangJi storm off. Now, of course, it's his turn.
He tracks Lan WangJi for a while, shooting at any stray spirits he spots before Lan WangJi. Finally, Wen Ning screws up his courage and leaps down from his hiding spot, landing lightly and agilely in front of Lan WangJi. The look the boy gives him is downright terrifying but he stands his ground.
"Hello Lan WangJi," He greets politely.
Lan WangJi visibly holds himself back from snapping, biting out a cold, "excuse me," instead.
"Ah, before you go, might I ask you something? It's not anything too personal, I'm just curious." Wen Ning pushes, refusing to move from Lan WangJi's path just yet. He's curious, after all, and determined enough to get these two idiots together before Wei WuXian dies for 16 years. Not that he's planning to let Wei WuXian die again but his point stands.
"...What is it?" Now, the best plan would be to go with subtlety but, on the other hand, this boy fell for Wei WuXian and the Yiling Patriarch isn't exactly known for his subtlety. He can handle a bit of bluntness. After all, Wen Ning is aware of how long Lan WangJi has been pining after Wei WuXian. How he came across this information is another story entirely that Wen Ning prefers not to think about.
"Why don't you tell Wei WuXian how you feel?" Wen Ning asks, injecting just the right amount of innocence in his voice to keep Lan WangJi from murdering him. Hopefully. He's looking rather murder-y. "It's just, my sister said you should always be truthful about your feelings toward, um, friends and I thought there was a rule against lying in Cloud Recess so I- ah…" He trails off, staring dejectedly at the ground. God, if the Wei WuXian of his time knew he did this, he'd never hear the end of it. Using his sister to make someone accept and pronounce their feelings has got to be the height of ironic comedy. Lan WangJi, on the other hand, seems intent on ignoring what Wen Ning just said.
"Excuse me," He says instead, significantly colder than he was a moment ago, which is impressive on its own. Wen Ning steps out of the way this time, watching Lan WangJi. While he didn't get far in his questioning, it'll hopefully push Lan WangJi into doing something. He has quite a while anyway- Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian will return and then there'll be a few hunts before the sect disciples have to face off with the Xuanyu of Slaughter. He probably can't do anything about the Xuanyu… beyond maybe rescuing Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi a little bit earlier so neither of them get to such a bad state and so he has time to force the pair to do something about their blatant cut-sleeve-ness. Or, well, Wei WuXian is blatant. Lan WangJi wasn't blatant until Wei WuXian got brought back from the dead.
He sighs. It's going to be a long few years. He turns his attention back to the competition, all too aware of the time he's wasted on this.
"The archery championship of this year goes to Wei WuXian, of the Jiang Sect." The Jiang disciples cheer excitedly, all of them rushing over to congratulate. Even Jiang WanYin smiles proudly, instead of acting jealous or insulted like Wen Ning had expected. He's got to remember; Jiang WanYin and Wei WuXian are still as close as blood brothers, their relationship has not yet bowed and broken under the stress of war and misunderstanding.
"Close behind is Lan Xichen, of the Lan Sect. Third place goes to Wen Ning of the Wen Sect and Jin ZiXuan of the Jin Sect, who tied." Wei WuXian whistles, throwing a grin to Wen Ning. He himself is quite proud that he had managed to rank, even against archers as good as the ones gathered. It feels nice to have his talent recognized by someone other than Wei WuXian and Wen Qing.
"Fourth place goes to Lan WangJi of the Lan Sect." This will always be impressive. That Lan WangJi managed to place so high even after abandoning the competition half way through… it speaks of skill. A terrifying amount of skill. Lan WangJi, at this point, is perhaps even a better archer than Wei WuXian.
Fifth place belongs to Nie AieRou, of the Nie Sect." As soon as the announcer finishes, Wen Ning slips through the crowd towards his young master. Wei WuXian spots him moving through the crowd, waving his hand. Wen Ning finally makes it to Wei WuXian's side, smiling slightly.
"Congratulations on ranking third, Wen Ning!" Wei WuXian says before Wen Ning can get anything out. "Though I wish you could have beat out that peacock."
"Ah, thank you. Congratulations on taking the championship," Wen Ning returns, giving a respectful bow to Jiang WanYin, Wei WuXian, and the Jiang sect disciple near them that Wen Ning doesn't know. The trio copy him. He turns his attention mostly to Jiang WanYin.
"I'm Wen Ning, courtesy name Wen Qionglin, of the Wen Sect."
"Jiang WanYin, courtesy name WanYin, Jiang sect," Jiang WanYin says shortly. The other disciple also introduces himself but Wen Ning must admit he didn't pay enough attention to catch the name the boy gave. He glances away for a moment, catching Wen Chao sneering at them from across the way.
"I- uh… I should probably get going," he says regretfully. "Have safe travels. I would invite you back but… I don't think you or Wen Chao would appreciate that." Wei WuXian grins and a smile is drawn from Wen Ning almost immediately in response.
"You should come to visit Yunmeng sometime! It's great, so long as Jiang WanYin isn't ruining our fun." Jiang WanYin makes a noise that sounds insulted and resigned at the same time, digging his elbow into his adopted brother's side. Wei WuXian whines and the two devolve into unintelligible squabbling. Wen Ning smiles fondly at his young master, his heart tightening at the easy laughter exchanged among the two. This. This is what he's here for. A chance to keep this laughter, this uninhibited happiness, alive.
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~River