Lan Xichen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ze_uwu_jun) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2020-02-11 07:15 am
ze_uwu_jun) wrote in maskormenacelogs2020-02-11 07:15 am
Untamed/MDZS catch-all
WHO: The Untamed / MDZS cast and friends (enemies, etc)
WHERE: Anywhere, everywhere, including their assigned lodgings and around all towns
WHEN: February
WHAT: Catch-all because the emotions never end
WARNINGS: The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi spoilers; canon-typical violence; event-typical violence. Will add more if it becomes necessary
ooc: Go forth and do the things as they come.
WHERE: Anywhere, everywhere, including their assigned lodgings and around all towns
WHEN: February
WHAT: Catch-all because the emotions never end
WARNINGS: The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi spoilers; canon-typical violence; event-typical violence. Will add more if it becomes necessary
ooc: Go forth and do the things as they come.
no subject
He wishes he had someone capable of destroying the things with him but he cannot deny that Miu is doing very well. "Good!" he calls to her after she takes a picture from the top of the car and a large swath of creatures slow. Dispatching as many as he can, he comes to understand that there is a rhythm to this: a surge of creatures and a flash of light, and in between he does is best to keep his and Miu's collective heads above water.
Without thinking too hard about it, he says, "A guqin would be better for this." The power of the technique could not be denied, especially when confronting large groups of enemies, even if he himself is not as good at it as some of his fellow disciples. Still, his sword is doing something, and for the most part, his presence on street-level concentrates the shadows' focus on him and, at the start, this seems to work. Miu is high enough above the shadows' heads that they do not immediately go after her.
This doesn't last. The shadows increase as the night deepens and they have discovered Miu.
Jingyi had hoped to find something like a nest of them that they could clear out, leaving a part of the city safer than it had been before he had arrived. Now, however, even using the larger forms and broader strikes, he is already starting to fall behind as more of the things flow out from the darkness surrounding them. The creatures, far more than one, climb the car and Jingyi cannot be in more than one place at one time.
"There were not this many at the ceremony," he gasps out. Had they increased in number since the ceremony? How? "How are there so many here?"
He can do nothing else but leap lightly to the hood of the vehicle and wobble there. He is tiring, and though he still has spiritual energy left, he suspects that it might not be enough. With his new position, too, his guard has changed and his stance has weakened, and several of the creatures bloody his legs.
"Find a retreat," he says, slapping one of the shadows away from him and into pieces. The creatures are short, but it feels like their claws are reaching for his chest. "You need to be able to escape, and soon. I will keep them from you if you find one."
no subject
“empty” and for the most part it was true. Sure some things came
easier—anger, for one, seemed a constant companion to her. But she’d always
regarded everything and everyone with a cold, calm indifference. Facing
down ghosts had even been more an annoyance than a fear.
She had nothing to lose, she’d told Yuri once. So what did she have to be
afraid of?
Miu could understand the question now.
“What? And leave you? Are you crazy?” She was smaller than him, lighter.
Likely she could get a nice head start but she’s also aware that her
stamina has absolutely nothing on her spiritual power. She’d be lucky to
run a block or so before she collapsed and these things were quick.
Well, she thinks. If she’s going to die here at least she’s not dying
alone. It’s a small consolation but one she’ll take.
“Oh, wait— the talisman!” She grabs for it again, standing up and flinching
away from the claws of the shadows that tear at her pants and her legs as
they climb at the car. “I’ll set it off.” It takes her a second to figure
it out, clumsy and unused to actually channeling her spiritual power in
such a way, but eventually she sets it off, the brief flare of light making
the shadows scatter briefly. But Miu doesn’t have much time to admire the
showy fireworks display, just hoping that Xichen or Wangji would see it
soon.
“We just have to hold out until they get here!”
no subject
He kicks another shadow down and off the car. This field of combat was poorly chosen by him. Next time he is going to be much more clever about where they fight and give himself many more advantages. At least he managed to give them one advantage; the talisman lights up the night sky and he cannot bring himself to feel regret for all of the handstand and copying he is going to have to do. He does not have enough hands to keep the shadows from himself and Miu any longer.
Another swipe of his sword and another shockwave of spiritual energy give him a moment to look around and he tries to spot a path of retreat. There are none that both of them can take together. Miu cannot leap far, as far as he knows, and now that he sees the creatures from her perspective, he also realizes why she protested their retreat. If he guards against these things alone, he will fall.
That is not a good plan.
Maybe...if he could lift Miu again, maybe a fire escape to a roof? Though to do that, he would have to go deeper into the shadows where these creatures are coming from. A roof, though, or even just a short running start, and he could put some distance between them and the swarm. There are shorter buildings he could try and jump on top of down the street. He is not so fragile that these things should be able to slow him enough that he cannot reach one of them. A roof would at least give them time for Hanguang-Jun or Zewu-Jun to arrive. He will just have to jump very high and hope he does not fail.
"But we are not going to be able to hold out here," he continues. This is not a despairing statement, but a fact. They need to retreat, and at this point they are going to have to do it together. "Since we cannot both run separately, I will try and carry you and I will jump."
Decision made, he turns and he lobs his sword at Miu. It is a spiritual sword, and it turns midair, controlled by him, to offer itself for Miu to grab and wield. She might not know how to use it, but a sword is better than no sword. He bends, scrambles up the windshield of the car, and reaches for her to pick her up.
Unfortunately, all it truly takes is one unlucky strike for a Heartless to steal a heart.
Jingyi's eyes widen and lock onto Miu's face. "Oh," he says and loses himself to shadow.
no subject
She grabs the handle of the sword, momentarily baffled by the sword being thrown at her what the fuck, and the fact he could control it midair. "S-sure--" She begins, standing up and shoving her camera into her bag so she could get a better grip on the sword. It seems to be working fine so far. The sword is heavy, but she feel she could probably wield it at least a little, short-term, if needed. Not that she'd need it, right? Because Jingyi was-- Jingyi was--
"Oh."
She feels her heart stop and stutter and everything seems to be slow motion. The heartless, seeming pleased with being able to get at least one and maybe trusting in some sort of hivemind knowledge that the bigger threat has been taken care of, mostly seem to disperse after this, but the darkness is still smothering in its completeness and she doesn't feel like she can see anything else other than the way Jingyi falls, and--
Her mind can't quite comprehend what exactly happens, baffled. It's not like she's a stranger to death. She's felt the death of hundreds before, seen countless numbers fall in the worst ways imaginable. But this hit so much closer to home. She can't even scream, the sound stuck in her throat as her instincts suddenly scream at her to move, to protect herself and she's clumsy but the sword is sharp ('please listen to me,' she pleads, because she doesn't know if there's some kind of magic bullshit about who can wield these swords but it'd be just her luck if they had souls or something and this one decided to cop an attitude or something--)
And the heartless that rises up from where Jingyi had been turns on her so suddenly she barely has time to process 'oh that was Jingyi' before she slashes at it when it jumps for her.
But the sword is heavy and Miu is light, and she stumbles backwards with a shriek of alarm and off the top of the car, bouncing painfully against the trunk and to the ground, still clinging desperately to the sword.
no subject
This was why Lan Wangji was out on the streets again - or, well, if flying around on his sword could really be called the streets. He had been careful to keep checking up on them - or have his brother check up on them - but he couldn't be in all places at once. He'd had to go and check on Wei Ying, and it had taken him a good hour to cool down after that, letting a cold shower wash over him and push the turmoil away. But that hour had cost him. As soon as he'd gone in search of Miu and Jingyi again they were no where to be found, and a quick message to either of them resulted in nothing.
It was hard not to fear the worst, after Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian. After Sizhui. So he hadn't wasted any more time launching into the sky to try to track them down.
The burst of a firework - the Lan Clan signal lighting the sky - drew his focus instantly. It was half way across the city, but he didn't care - he just leaned forward, flying as fast as he could go, Bichen whistling through the air.
He's too late. He spots them before he can get there: Miu standing on the back of an automized chariot, Jingyi reaching for her--
His heart lurches as the sword glare strikes out, as Miu falls to the ground. As what had been Jingyi a few seconds before scattered into motes of darkness.
He's there half a breath later, grabbing the collar of her shirt and pulling her in one sudden, smooth movement up off the ground and onto his sword. He wraps one arm around her waist to secure her tightly to his side, the other immediately summoning his guqin. It's too much contact, but he's too focused - his worry and his fear making his heart gallop even if it didn't show on his face. One handed, he strummed the instrument with enough force to send an entire wave of them blown backward, even the car nearly tipping over as he did so. Black motes shattered where the creatures had been.
Again, and again, the chord assassination technique ripped forward, destroying the waves of heartless as if they were glass. Only once they were gone did he stop - flying upwards to the roof above them, where no shadows lay. He let go of her as he stepped off the sword, turning to scan her quickly, his gaze sharp even if he otherwise appeared as stone.
no subject
It’s a resigned thought, and it annoys her more than it scares her. She’s going to die in this weirdo world and she’s going to truly be alone because there’s no way her mother is waiting on the other side for her here. She has nothing and no one, and she will die as nothing and no one.
It doesn’t even scare her. It just makes her angry and she clutches the sword with a grim intent that god damn it she is not dying because she fell off of a car in this god forsaken town. She’s going to go down swinging, she’s going to—
Be abruptly picked up and hauled off. There’s a flash of white in her vision, the sound of the guqin strings that seems to vibrate through to her very soul and the familiar smell of sandalwood that immediately means safety. Oh. Okay. She doesn’t have to fight anymore, because— Because he’s here. Everything will be okay.
She feels cold and lets herself lean against him fully, one arm wrapping around his wais for cling to him, the other hugging Jingyi’s sword tightly to her. She doesn’t even realize how badly she’s shaking, doesn’t open her eyes until she feels him dislodging her from him.
Her eyes fly open and she looks up at him, trembling, her eyes wide. “Dad—“ She blurt sout, then pauses, then decides the slip-up doesn’t matter, doesn’t think about it. “Dad, Jingyi was— He—“ Miu looks over her shoulder and her knees feel weak, but she holds the sword tighter, the edges of it beginning to cut into her arms, but she hardly registers it. The slight sting keep her upright. Jingyi was there, and then he wasn’t.
Was it just her now that was really left of the juniors? Sizhui was still in the hospital as far as she knew, and she hadn’t really asked after Jin Ling, and Jingyi— Of all people, her?
She turns back to look at Wangji, eyes searching his face before she drops her gaze to the ground. She doesn’t know what to say, her voice hollow. “We... messed up.” Her gaze goes to his hands, half-expecting to see blood from the strings. “Are you... okay...?”
no subject
There isn’t anything to correct. It’s something he’s already felt for a little while, even if he hadn’t one hundred percent acknowledge it. But it’s the role he slipped into, and it’s the role she’s clearly accepted. What more was there to say about it?
He’s not okay. Of course he’s not okay. But there’s a thread of relief in his expression as he glances over her. She’s alright.
He failed all of them, but not her. Not yet.
“Stay here.” Is what he says instead. No admonishment, no lecture. There was no point. She had learned the lesson of their recklessness in a far more painful way than he could ever have taught her.
He backs away, stepping on his sword again. One child is safe but he can’t abandon the other. He has to check, even if he already knows he is too late. Perhaps the other half can still be found...
But there’s nothing. The heartless are gone, and so is Lan Jingyi. The only thing that catches his eye is the fluttering pale blue of a headband, caught around the door mirror of the car, threatening to blow away. Carefully, he picks it up, folding it into his palm.
The grief has been a constant companion this week, and the guilt settles firmly alongside it. But he won’t make Miu wait further. He returns to the roof, more solemn than when he left.
“Home,” he instructs, standing on his sword and reaching towards her so she could climb on, too.
no subject
She sits and quietly gets her limbs moving correctly to sheathe the sword at last and hold it to her, feeling—odd. She spends the time he’s gone—it seems to last forever and yet pass too quickly too—trying to figure it out.
‘Odd’ is the only way she can think to describe it. Off. She had seen so much death before, been ‘killed’ too often. She’d been the killer in her dreams, had felt the revulsion or the pleasure or anything else with it. But it had been easier then, when she could easily pull herself away from it, separate her feelings from their own.
What she’s killed hasn’t been human or beast. It hadn’t been Jingyi. That’s what she tells herself, but she curls her fingers around the sword and tries not to think of the look on Jingyi’s face as he fell or how she’d been so close and so useless. stupid. So stupid. Why has she agreed to this? Why hadn’t she tried harder to stop it?
When Wangji returns she scrambled to her feet with obvious relief. It’s not good news he brings with him, but she honestly hadn’t been expecting any or letting her get her hopes up. And while sword flying is still weird to her, she wordlessly climbs up and then clings to him again, pressing her face agains this chest. His grief washes over her in a wave and she shivers, remaining silent until they touch down again at.
“I’m sorry,” she finally murmured against his chest. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
no subject
He doesn’t reassure her, doesn’t tell her that it isn’t her fault. He doesn’t know if that’s true or not, so he will not speak a lie.
Instead:
“Tell me what happened.”
no subject
Beneath the serene exterior, she knows firsthand how deeply the well of their feelings truly runs, but in the surface she’ll appear calm and collected, ready to dutifully report. It’s easier that way.
“...Jingyi messaged me and said we should do something about those monster things.” Okay, ‘monster things’ was not very Lan-like vocabulary but she’s working with what she’s got, alright? “That... we should do a ‘night hunt’? That they’d hurt Jin Ling and Sizhui, so... Something like revenge, I guess.”
Miu pauses for a moment, feeling the guilt welling up in her throat again before she forces herself to continue. “...He... he didn’t know that I can’t.... really fight. But I went anyway, because I wanted to help.” She clutches at her bag and thinks against telling him the main reason wasn’t even so much a desire to help, but a desire to relieve her boredom and satisfy her curiosity. “But I can, um...”
It feels a little weird to suddenly bring up the ability now, but— “if I apply my spirit power the right way, I can slow time for a little bit. So I could slow those monsters down for a bit, and it helped. Jingyi was doing really good, but there... there were too many of them. And they realized my ability was making it easier for Jingyi so they targeted me, and... Jingyi and I were going to escape then. But... it was a mistake. I don’t know, it happened so fast...” Miu trails off, looking down at the ground at last, her brow furrowed. Even though she’s not looking at his face, though, she’s still maintaining enough contact with him to try and feel his reaction from there.
If he blames her—well. She deserved it, didn’t she?