bang! crash! the lightning flashed!! -- that's another story, nevermind, anyway!

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin sweeps along the shores of the lake, glowering. This is not his beloved Lotus Pier. These waters are cold, foreign, uninviting. Clearly there's been some trap: he's been distracted by duty in this hunt, and when he followed the slight tug in his chest, he ended up getting pulled into unfamiliar territory.

No matter. He draws himself to full height, letting cool arrogance slip down his shoulders and suffuse him. Sandu is naked in one hand; Zidian crackles in the other. He can handle whatever monsters may arrive.

Comments

[sagramore]

"Wei Wuxian?" As it happens, Sagramore has met Wei Wuxian and spoken to Lan Wangji about him, but nobody actually said Wei Wuxian's name at any point, so Sagramore's polite confusion is entirely genuine.

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin has seen Wei Wuxian, and is unimpressed by anyone pretending he's not there. "You know," he says, holding out a hand -- to Wei Wuxian's original height rather than his new one. "So tall, messy ponytail, the worst fucking priorities you've ever seen in a man? Bizarrely obsessed with Lan Wangji?"

[sagramore]

"I know Lan Wangji. I can't say I've met anyone I'd call bizarrely obsessed with him."

[qingxinling]

Something isn't computing here. Wei Wuxian isn't a retiring kind of guy. "Wei Ying?" Jiang Wanyin tries. "Yiling Laozu? Has a dizi?" He holds his hands up, as if playing one; Sandu gets in the way.

[sagramore]

"That's different from the qin?"

[qingxinling]

"You don't fucking blow on a qin!" Jiang Wanyin's horror is mounting. What has Lan Wangji done to Wei Wuxian here??

[sagramore]

"Oh, I beg your pardon. Actually, let me ask you a question, if I may -- you seem rather powerful. Will you help me get this shoe off Fenyes? It's only half-thrown and you can see she's lame."

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin hesitates. He knows very little about horseshoes, and he hates not knowing shit. But Lan Wangji is here, and though Jiang Wanyin prefers not to think about that asshole at all if he can help it, the idea of it maybe getting back to him that Jiang Wanyin was helpful to people here will no doubt stick in his craw like so much shitty Gusu Lan food. "Fine."

[sagramore]

"You have my thanks." He bends to lift her back right hoof, bracing it against his slightly bent knee. The shoe is loose and swung outward, in part because her hoof horn is overgrown and several nails have come out. "I just need to get the rest of the nails out so the shoe can come off."

[qingxinling]

"What do you want me to do about it?" This may sound like bluster -- Jiang Wanyin hopes it sounds like bluster -- but it's a genuine question.

[sagramore]

"Can you pry them up with the flat of your sword?" blandly.

[qingxinling]

With Sandu?! Jiang Wanyin almost recoils. He hedges: "This is a spiritual blade."

[sagramore]

"Does that give you some extra leverage?"

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin grumbles -- a spiritual tool shouldn't be used for nails! -- but he withdraws his qi from the sword and focuses on constraining its glare. He really isn't interested in injuring a horse. "Fine," he says, squinting to inspect the hoof.

[sagramore]

"Wonderful." The remaining three nails require some force to remove, but it's definitely possibly for an ordinary person with the right leverage, let alone an immortal(?) cultivator(??).

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin sighs when the last nail comes out, relievedly sheathing Sandu again.

[sagramore]

Sagramore takes the bent shoe and hooks it in his pocket before letting Fenyes' foot down. She's still favoring it, but it's a definitely improvement. "Many thanks, sir." He straightens up and bows to Jiang Wanyin politely.

[qingxinling]

"Whatever." Jiang Wanyin gives the man a deeply suspicious look. "When you see Wei Wuxian next, tell him --"

He cuts himself off. He knows better than to make personal business public. Again, unlike some former shixiong he could name.

[sagramore]

He waits expectantly, eyebrows slightly raised.

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin's fist flexes. Quite frankly, everything sucks. "His nephew," he says, gritting out the word, "says he better not show up on his doorstep half-dead out of nowhere!"

Jin Ling hasn't said that, of course. Jin Ling has only stared into the middle distance while asking Jiang Wanyin if he's heard about anyone being worried that Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-jun disappeared, and then glaring at Jiang Wanyin when Jiang Wanyin said 'Why would anyone be worried?' and yelling 'Jiujiu, you know they can take care of themselves!' Jin Ling is a great kid. It's nice to know people -- besides Jiang Wanyin himself, of course -- who actually know how to communicate.

[sagramore]

"I'll be sure to let him know." Fenyes flicks at ear towards them for a moment, then goes back to cropping grass.

[qingxinling]

"And he better not show his face in Yunmeng-- I mean, in Lanling if he plans on disappearing again!"

[sagramore]

"Hmm. All right." He thinks of resisting the urge, and then decides not to resist it: he plucks an invisible pen from behind his ear and scribbles Jiang Wanyin's message into his invisible notebook.

[qingxinling]

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! It looks kind of like writing, but -- does this guy even know how to hold a brush? "Good," Jiang Wanyin snaps, scowling even more deeply.

[sagramore]

Definitely not! "Anything else?"