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

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot sees the flash of purple robes, out by the lake, and goes to investigate. He's wearing his sword, as he sometimes is when he's out wandering. As he gets closer, he recognizes that this man is dressed in similar fashion to Lan Wangji -- though he is clearly on guard, well-armed.

He rests his left-hand on the hilt of his sword, not ready to draw but an unsubtle reminder that the sword is there. He calls out, "Hail, sir! Are you in need of aid?"

[qingxinling]

Zidian crackles. Whatever sort of trap this is, there sure seems to be no shortage of people insistent that it's a cozy little hellhole. Jiang Wanyin, of course, is having none of that. "Obviously not."

[lanselos_du_lac]

His grip on the sword hilt tightens, but the rest of his demeanor stays loose, relaxed. The other man is probably well able to tell that this is down to training; Lancelot knows this. He stops moving closer. "Well. It is only that you seem lost."

[qingxinling]

Jiang Wanyin might not know where he is, but he knows where he's going: home. Back to Yunmeng, back to Lotus Pier, back to the responsibilities some people are all too happy to give up. "I'm not," he snaps.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He only says, "Ah. I see."

The other man bristles like a cat, and Lancelot recognizes a little of himself in that -- defensiveness, an unwillingness to let anyone (let alone a stranger) know you might be vulnerable.

[qingxinling]

"Is that all?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I suppose," a little half-shrug, though he has not yet let down his guard. "You may wish to know, however, that once you are here, you remain here. None so far have found a way back to where they came from."

[qingxinling]

"I'm not stuck," Jiang Wanyin says, confidently. He's not the kind of guy who gives up the second something gets difficult¹.


¹Well.......................

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I'm afraid you may be."

[qingxinling]

"I know exactly where I am and exactly how to leave," Jiang Wanyin snaps.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He can't help it. He chuckles a little. "Then you have every advantage on me."

[qingxinling]

This isn't surprising. Jiang Wanyin can tell from here that this guy has basically no spiritual energy to speak of, and he dresses like a lunatic. He raises an imperious eyebrow.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot stifles another chuckle. Did he not, himself, come across folk when he first arrived and default to hostility?

In an effort to be friendly, he says, "I am Sir Lancelot. If you should decide you need assistance, you may ask it of me."

[qingxinling]

And he claims to be one of the gentry? Jiang Wanyin snorts. "What kind of assistance are you prepared to offer?" he asks, after a beat. Perhaps this lunatic can direct him to the nexus of this array.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Well, I can direct you to the main room. There is a table, there, with information such that you might learn how to make yourself comfortable here, or-- well. You are a Cultivator, are you not?"

(He is very proud that he's finally properly associated Lan Wangji with Cultivation, even if he still doesn't fully understand what Cultivation is.)

[qingxinling]

Obviously Jiang Wanyin is a cultivator. The question is so inane he barely dignifies it with a response, but -- since this man is so strangely appointed, and seems to have limited understanding of the proper way of things -- he nods and says, "I am Jiang Wanyin, sect leader of the Yunmeng Jiang clan." His tone is a little pointed. Lan Wangji isn't a sect leader.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot bows a little, though not in the way Jiang Wanyin would expect and without the (presumably) proper degree of deference. "Well met, sir. I know nothing of clans, but something of leaders, and I can see you carry yourself as such."

He gestures toward the mansion. "Within, there is a hall when first you enter. That is where you will find the table. You may feel free to explore as you wish. Should you have need of a room, it should be easy enough to find one unclaimed."

He's trying to recall what folks said to him, on his first day, but he's having a little trouble so he keeps to the basics.

[qingxinling]

"I won't need one," Jiang Wanyin says, still short. "I'm not staying."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"As you like," with another of those shrugs. "I can show you, if you like. Or you may stay here, though it seems there is not much more for you to find here."

[qingxinling]

"I'll find what I need to," Jiang Wanyin growls. The center of the array, and then his way fucking out of here. He's had enough of Wei Wuxian's shitty little hideout.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot only gestures toward the mansion.

[qingxinling]

"Pass," Jiang Wanyin snaps, and stalks away.

He pauses, about ten paces, and whirls back around. He crosses his arms, even though Zidian is still loose and Sandu is still unsheathed. "You know a guy," he says; this is more demand than question. "Curly hair, beard, weird lenses on his face? Has a horse?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye," nodding, "Sagramore. What of him?"

[qingxinling]

"Make sure he passes my message along."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot looks a little puzzled, "He will know what that means?"