fel:i still can't find a job HURRAYYYYYYYY and my parents are abusing me emotionally and i have no funds to move out hurray
Jin Ling was disgustingly good at hiding his trail when he wanted to and deep down the only person to blame for this is Jiang Wanyin for ever teaching him. "I taught you those things to keep you safe not for you to run off and have temper tantrums like a whiney little kid."
Honestly, why must both their temperaments run so hot and wild that it leads to bickering and yelling like this? Smelling at the air he can't catch any of Jin Ling's scent and more aptly neither can any of the other hounds. The kid took Fairy and his collar but without him to activate the spell it's not like it would do much.
If his hair wasn't already grey then the stress would do that to him regardless.
He shouldn't have gotten mad- no Jin Ling shouldn't have said such things. "I practically raised you. Father or not you should be listening to me," Jiang Wanyin knows he's speaking to the wind but he's pissed and stressed, and fucking worried.
For not the first time since the incident on Dafan Mountain, the thought occurs to him how Wei Wuxian would know how to handle something like this. Would know exactly what it is that Jin Ling needs and the nature of his condition and even more likely how to handle the emotionally charged teenager.
Jiang Wanyin knows he's floundering here. Knows that he's a horrible guardian despite all his effort.
I can't lose another person like that though
He just can't. Wei Wuxian had needed to eat a corpse nearly every other week to sustain himself so what of Jin Ling? What if those few drops of Lan medicine wore off and he was back to screaming on the floor?
"And what will you do when the fierce corpses run out? What will you do then?"
"It's fine."
"Is it? Is it really? What will you eat next my Dogs? My disciples? I know it's the qi you're eating. I know it's cores you actually want to eat."
"Hey, I would never do something as gross as eat a Dog! They're terrifying and I bet they taste nasty. Those are rather mean words, Jiang Cheng."
"I understand you have chosen to walk the demonic route. I respect that but it's eating you alive. Look at your body. If you stopped and returned-"
"Are you trying to treat me like Lan Wangji? Are you planning on throwing me in a cage as well? My own brother!"
"How dare you compare me as such! Never would I try to contain you. Not when you're my right hand. Not when you are of my sect."
"Then leave me alone."
He should have tried harder back than to hold him back. Should have tried to hold Wei Wuxian in a tighter grip that would have halted tragedy. But as well… the brother he knew was dead long ago.
The man they found despite everything was never the same one from before the Burial Mounds. Never the fool who smiled like the sun. The idea that a fire could be put out in Jin Ling from this spurred Jiang Wanyin to look harder because that will not happen. It's not allowed.
He forbids it.
Wei Wuxian, this is all your fault somehow. I just know it
Wei Wuxian let out a sneeze as they moved through the town the arm had lead them to. As they'd been traveling together it was both a cold comfort and an overall oddity to see Lan Wangji treat him as he would a stranger. Somehow he was both more formal and ruder than he'd ever been back when they knew each other. It was so formal but Lan Wangji held such disdain for him in certain moments that he swears the man growled at him.
One time he even tried to ditch Wei Wuxian completely while he was sleeping at the inn and that had been extremely rude. Absolutely insulting! So of course Wei Wuxian had to lecture him on the matter as he followed behind whining about how cruel it was.
"Hanguang-Jun, I'm broke and a homeless cut-sleeve. If you had left me I would surely have starved along the roadside as I begged for scraps. You would do that to such a pretty face?"
"Mn."
"The nerve! And here I thought this was a beautiful gentleman who could woo my empty heart." Wei Wuxian knows he doesn't need to play up the madman Mo Xuanyu act. He knows. But, he can't deny how fun it is to be so demonstrably shameless and have an excuse that actually works. To watch how thin-skinned Lan Wangji was towards any action he made now that he didn't know it was him.
In fact, he'd say that Lan Wangji was worse than when they were kids and in that regard it was hilarious. A real treat for him to see a Lan Wangji with an even shorter temper and who flustered ever so crasser.
"Ah Lan Zhan, could it be you think my face is ugly? That I'm just sad and pathetic?" Wei Wuxian cried as he attempted to hang off Lan Wangji's arm only for the man to keep dodging till he eventually gave up. "Do you hate me and my ugly face."
"Haven't decided."
It is both infuriating and amusing how much he's despised. "Well, I should hope you decide to like me. There are many benefits to being my friend."
Wei Wuxian didn't catch the twitch in Lan Wangji's face at those words or know the pain that might have shook Lan Wangji. But then again, he's an idiot when it comes to emotions and even he will admit to that under the right pressures.
He didn't expect the reply that he got though, "I shall consider."
Lan Wangji considering friendship with him under a false name. And Wei Wuxian hadn't even offered any incentives upfront. Oh, how the turn tables.
Where was that attitude when they were kids? Honestly, Lan Wangji learn to express oneself better. But then again, there isn't the idea that he's the founder of demonic cultivation and a cannibal that went insane and turned into a monster bouncing around in Lan Wangji's head affecting his judgment. Just a stranger from Dafan Mountain.
That's fine. This is fine. The arm had guided them all the way into the Qinghe Nie Sect before going silent which left them casually wandering around looking for clues.
Though, the sight of Lan Wangji rather deterred people from going near them. Whisperings that he was some sort of monster or maybe even a spirit of sorts brought to earth by the heavens.
"Well, there have been strange sightings lately."
"Oh? Do tell?"
"Well, I heard from a messenger that a Qilin has been spotted roaming across the kingdom."
"Nonsense."
"It's true. I hear some are even seeing it as far as Meishan."
"Whispering nonsense like this only leads to trouble. Close your mouth and return to work."
How interesting indeed. Looking at how fast Lan Wangji's skin had paled in only a few days back to white did seem to give the illusion he was something unnatural even with his striking beauty. Although the whispers about Wei Wuxian perhaps being a victim or a vassal…
Come now, once upon a time people thought I was a strange demonic entity. Must I put on powders again to be more than Lan Zhan's potential next meal?
Yes, I am a snack, but neither Lan Zhan nor I would be interested in that kind of meal.
Although the thought of it left him snickering. Lan Wangji raised an eyebrow. "Oh, don't mind me just caught in my own musings. Is this normal? The way normal people avoid you?"
"It's fine."
"Is it really?" Because it rather upsets Wei Wuxian to see people shy away from such a shining beacon of light. "Then again, I guess if you had a thin face then you wouldn't be able to walk in public through all of it."
Mn.
Lan Wangji never ceases to amaze. It makes him smile thinking of Lan Wangji fighting for justice and to defend innocents even as people walk around him in fear.
I guess we are alike in that regard
"Your face is also rather thick all considering," and the response surprised him because he was so used to absolute silence and being ignored.
"You think my face is thick? I hope you think that it's equal to that in my beauty."
"Then never mind."
"So what? Lan Zhan, do you think I'm ugly? Am I unattractive to you?"
And the absolute silence as Lan Wangji refused to make eye contact just had him reeling.
"You do! You think I'm ugly!"
"Mn."
"That is not an answer, Hanguang-Jun! Am I ugly, yes or no? None of this 'mn' business."
And to his annoyance, he receives absolute silence. Absolute crushing silence. "Horrible. You're so horrible."
"Adequate."
Somehow that's even worse.
As they're walking through the street a charlatan cultivator is calling out for people to buy his evil prevention talismans of the Yiling Patriarch and it's rather amusing and again insulting to know they specifically believe the version most suitable was the monstrous form he'd gained. Wei Wuxian might have been somewhat out of it at the time but excuse you he had six legs, not four.
"Also where are the horns and the third eye! If you're going to draw scary pictures of the Yiling Patriarch at least get the details right. I mean, honestly, this is just insulting. Not to mention you forgot the other tails."
"What would you know about the monstrous nature of the Yiling Patriarch?"
"I know that it's insulting that you practically just drew Táowù. Ignorance and lack of curiosity was not what was going on here. At least make it look like the Qióngqí."
"They both have tiger features along the face and are evil. What difference does it make?"
What differences!
Excuse me it is the thematical implications. Why, at least with the Qióngqí it be an association with pure wickedness which is far more on brand. If people are going to associate me with evil creatures, I want it to at least be a good one that matches the air and reputation I do so deserve. Not to mention that a Qióngqí has wings. How could anyone forget the wings!
"Hmph, given the appearance of your friend are you sure he's not the real evil."
"Excuse me Hanguang-Jun is nothing like the Yiling Patriarch. He's a pearl among men and a good soul with a heart of gold. Don't you recognize a Baihu when you see one."
"I see a strange creature calling themselves a cultivator. Maybe even the next beast to rampage through the land."
The nerve!
Wei Wuxian was about to continue arguing and potentially beat the charlatan senseless when the barking of a dog nearby startled him and made him jump at Lan Wangji to guard him.
It was somewhat the last thing in the world he expected to bump into Jin Ling and a terrifying black dog that glared at him with their tongue lolling and eyes of murder. "Lan Zhan, don't let them near me! Don't. I'll die. I just know it."
But the dog stopped a fair distance at a simple glance from Lan Wangji probably more than aware of who and how much power this one man commanded. He didn't feel sorry for the charlatan's stand being destroyed or his posters going everywhere as Jin Ling spat.
"What a surprise seeing you all the way out in Qinghe. Don't tell me you're here to night hunt in another sects territory?" Wei Wuxian said looking over his nephew who held himself with the same arrogant pride and gusto as their last encounter.
"So what if I am? I- I happen to be chasing down a very particular target." Jin Ling spat.
Wei Wuxian raised a brow, "Oh really? Is… is Sandu Sengshou with you as well?"
He would rather avoid Jiang Cheng and the emotional heartache if he could for now.
"I am not some child who needs to be watched all the time. I am perfectly fine on my own thank you."
The tone spoke measures about the situation. "So you're fighting then?"
Jin Ling went pale. "Excuse me! You don't know anything."
"I can read your face." Wei Wuxian gestured to the twitch in the brow and the grit of the teeth. "You share many of your Uncle's quirks."
"What would you know about that you lunatic cut-sleeve?" Jin Ling turned away and the stones rolling and turning in Wei Wuxian's gut moved again.
"I guess I shouldn't know a lot." No… because he doubts Jiang Cheng would ever want to know him again after everything. Still… "You've been eating and taking yourself properly though, right? As grown as you think you are, you're still a child. Oh, I know! Lan Zhan let's all get a meal together my treat."
Lan Wangji stared him down coldly. "You don't have any money."
"Right, then it's your treat." Wei Wuxian went to wrap an arm around Jin Ling only to be shoved away.
"Why would I ever want to be around a loser like you? And look at you, sucking up to a high ranking Gusu Lan disciple now. You really have no shame." Jin Ling stormed away and just before he could leave sight, "And for the record, I have been taking care of myself. I can take care of myself perfectly well."
Wei Wuxian couldn't help but wonder what sort of fight was going on between the two of them. Certainly nothing pleasant. No, not at all. He could chase but really it seems Jin Ling had a distinct hatred towards Mo Xuanyu.
Wonder what he did to make the boy so venomous towards him?
But then his thoughts turned back to the charlatan picking up his wares muttering himself. "Hey, tell us any weird rumors and such going on."
"What's in it for me?"
"Well for starters I won't deck you for insulting Hanguang-Jun."
It was nice to know the sham had enough sense to recognize such a renowned name and pale.
Jin Ling huffed in annoyance as he walked through the winding woods and annoying maze array. His nose twitching as he stopped to smell the air. Something…
Something smelled good. Something smelled- drool dripped down his lips, eyes dilating- delicious. Something smelled delicious and suddenly he felt hungry. "Fairy, what do you think that is? That smell…"
I'm hungry
And his hands ached and seeing the stone structure a thought occurred to him that something was wrong with him. Very wrong that he should run and find Uncle.
But then that little voice of bad decisions and ill ideas clouded in his head and he swung his sword against the wall breaking the wall open and following his nose inside the stone castles.
i did a pic of wangxian as cute rabbits. it's very adorable and i am proud. look at them and reblog or whatever. please feed my fragile ego
twit t er Feloney_Felinis / status/ 1291965865563508738?s=20
felinisdoesart . tumblr post /625827085345308672 / look-i-just-really-like-bunnies-edit-this