singlelogbridge | Inbox: Ximilia

[Placing the book in the cleared off space, he pushes it over for Rosinante to peruse. It had taken a moment to find the right one—one that he's comfortable sharing, but he still feels a little awkward passing it over. As much as he'd been aware of his own artistic talent when he was younger and hadn't hesitated to flaunt it, it feels different now knowing the people who fill the pages of his sketches are all so close to his heart.]

This one is a mix. Some people from home. Some from here. Ah, there are a few of my Shijie in there too. Of Jiang Yanli. [It's uttered as a gentle warning so that his friend isn't taken by surprise. Once he begins looking, he'll find various sketches of landscapes and people. The landscapes favor lotus lakes and mountainsides, and some of them have been colored with pencils or inks. As for the people, alongside the recurring images of Jiang Yanli (sometimes sitting beneath flowering trees or standing on a dock overlooking a lake) there are a few other people who show up several times.

Familiar to Rosinante perhaps are Gwen and Itachi. Ziggy makes a few appearances as well. The child that Rosinante had seen in his drawing on E23-b is a frequent subject, and another woman appears even more frequently than Jiang Yanli, sometimes accompanied by a man who looks very much like her.

There is also a man who looks a great amount like Lan Xichen who appears many many times. Unlike Lan Xichen though, this man's expressions are mild and withdrawn.]

Right.

[It's his only verbal response to the advance warning given, but he nods. It's nice to see her again, even if it's through ink and pencil. He takes his time flipping through pages, admiring it all - for there's something really lovely about how much it must mean to Wei Wuxian despite so much of it being utterly foreign to his own eyes.

Eventually he has to stop on one of those pictures of the mysterious young man who fills up so many of the pages.]

Is this your partner from home?

[He'd made mention of someone, but he can't imagine the average work partner would spend so much time admiring and rendering someone's likeness.]

My—[What was it he'd said about Lan Wangji being his partner?] Ah, right.

He wasn't my actual cultivation partner, but we acted as partners on a handful of nighthunts—that's when cultivators go out to take care of a disturbance. [He adds helpfully, and smiles a little wryly as he stares at the image of Lan Zhan in the sketchbook.]

We were a strange pair. You've met Zewu-jun of course, you must see how refined and studious he is, and Lan Zhan is the same. More strict though. Rules were very important to him. [He laughs.] And he got partnered with me, can you imagine? Somehow, we were friends.

Yeah? I can see it though. Sometimes you need someone different to balance you out.

[Him and Law are like that for sure, and he knows it - complete opposites in some ways, but utterly inseparable. People probably wonder how it is they wound up so close.]

Hmm. You aren't wrong about that. Back when we first met, he definitely needed someone to make him loosen up a bit. [He chuckles under his breath.]

What about you? Do you have someone who balances you out?

[That feels a little like an intentional deflection of the topic - questions asked partly to learn about someone but maybe more to stop anyone from lingering too long on himself. Rosinante recognizes it because it's too often his own tactic. Then again, maybe he's reading intent where there isn't any simply because it's how he would act.

Ah well. He'll allow it, because he can't help but smile at the answer to that question before he even speaks it.]

Have you met Law? He's that someone. When I knew him at home he was just a kid, though. We come from different points in time, thanks to this place. But now that we're the same age, I think we balance each other even better. Little less uneven. Hasn't changed him as much as you'd think, though - he was a rude brat as a kid and there's still plenty of that in him.

[Said with plenty of affection, regardless. He's well-practiced at faking smiles, but this one reaches his eyes, makes him more animated.]

I haven't yet, but I remember you mentioned him. [His crewmate from back home. At Rosinante's description, Wei Wuxian's expression warms and he smiles up at him.]

He sounds like someone important to you. I'm glad you're together here. It's strange how the changes in time work here, isn't it? Both of the people here from my world are from years and years ahead of me, but I just thought that was—[He stops himself when he realizes what he was about to say and he shrugs.]

I figured it was just my bad luck! It must be strange for you two to be the same age if he was younger before. What's that like?

[Bad luck. Well, in truth, if it's that simple, then Wei Wuxian isn't alone. There are others he recalls hearing about here who come from different times purely by chance.

Not all of them were stuck at the end of their timelines, dead long before the others got to live much fuller lives. Just a few. The pause does make him wonder, if only because he knows that's the reason his and Law's timelines don't match up. His smile doesn't fade, though. He's had plenty of time to come to terms with that fact. He waves a hand in the air, casually.]

Oh, it's been an adjustment. A good one, though. I used to expect I'd turn around and he'd be a child again, but it's been months now. I love that I get to hear about all kinds of adventures he had in the future. See how much he's grown. I don't have to protect him on missions, now he's the one defending both of us sometimes! He's learned a lot.

[More importantly, Law is alive. He survived despite every card in the deck being stacked against him. He did better than just survive, in fact. Rosinante couldn't have asked for more if he tried.]

[The warmth in his smile is achingly sincere as Rosinante shares about his friend, and he chuckles more than once at the description. Aside from a-Yuan, there weren't really any young people in his life at the end of things and trying to imagine a-Yuan showing up as an adult is too bittersweet to imagine. He's glad Rosinante gets to have that with Law though, however strange it might be.]

He must have had a good teacher. [He grins and his eyes flicker back to the sketchbook still in front of Rosinante, his grin softening just a little at the sight of his friend. Without knowing his own thoughts are echoing the sentiments of some of Rosinante's, he adds] It must be nice to get to see that so many years later he's doing well.

It's hard to know how things will work for kids.

Yeah.

[His smile doesn't falter, exactly - it just weakens. Subtle enough that anyone could just assume his exuberance waned after a few seconds on the topic, as anyone's would naturally.

He has already told a few people here that the last time he saw Law before this, the kid was terribly sick. Terminally. But it doesn't feel right now to keep sharing those details now that Law is here, and now that it's his story to tell. Maybe Law expects it anyway, just as he's sure Law talks about him sometimes when he's not around, but he decides it's best to cut back on the details anyway. Besides, it shouldn't matter to anyone else here what nearly happened to poor Law as a child, because it didn't happen, and he's very much alive and thriving. That's the part that everyone should think about.]

Yeah, and not only all of that, but what he wanted most as a kid was to become a doctor. And it turns out in his time he's become probably one of the world's top surgeons! He always did study really hard. It wasn't easy to find books for him when we were traveling, back then. But he's really sharp, and he picks things up really fast!

A surgeon! [Wei Wuxian's eyes light up.] Good for him. I don't think there are many paths quite as noble as healing. You must be really proud of him.

[After a short pause, Wei Wuxian reaches over to the sketchbook and flips a few pages until he comes to an image of the other woman occurring as often as Jiang Yanli.]

This woman—her name was Wen Qing—she was the best doctor of our whole generation. Absolutely brilliant. I bet she would have gotten along with your Law. [He does not shy away from was anymore than he shies away from her name. Wen Qing deserves to have a legacy spready across the stars.] I can't count the times her skills saved my life.

[As if Rosinante's pride in Law could be any more obvious! Honestly it's best that Wei Wuxian redirects the conversation slightly, because otherwise he'd just find ways to go on too long about Law. Best terrible brat child, no question.

Instead he looks over the drawing he'd seen before, but now with renewed interest. The was, the past tense - well, she just looks far too young to have suffered some terrible fate, but reality is often crueler than any of them want it to be, isn't it?]

Sounds like you're fortunate to have counted her among your allies. Is it all right if I ask what happened?

[He nods and his expression softens, eyes drifting away. There are some things locked so deeply inside of him that it would take something catastrophic to bring them out, but Wen Qing isn't one of them.]

She and her brother—[He flips to another page of the two of them together. In the picture he's chosen, Wen Ning is still alive and looks strikingly like his sister]—were distantly related to a man who started a terrible war.

They did not fight for him and they did not support him. When that mad man's war failed and he was justly killed, the great sects in all of their wisdom—[And he can't help the way the bitterness slips into his words, into his veins]—decided that everyone who shared that man's last name was equally guilty.

Every elder, every man, woman, and child was eventually hunted down and executed. Wen Qing and Wen Ning went willingly to their executions in an attempt to save a man far less worthy than either of them. [He goes quiet for a long time before eventually sighing quietly and fixing Rosinante with a tired smile.]

There was one child who was spared. My a-Yuan. He was rescued and his name was changed. [Wei Wuxian blinks, remembering himself and he lets out another soft sigh.] I'm sorry. You probably didn't want to know all of that.

[That is the sort of story that instantly gets a genuine reaction from him, one he doesn't bother trying to cover. His expression hardens, his eyes narrow.

His is a world where execution is standard practice, especially when a point needs to be made in favor of the power of justice. That isn't what bothers him. But to punish innocent people, one a doctor, purely because of blood relationships?

He has personal experience with that way of thinking, but even if he didn't, he'd still be absolutely opposed.]

No, it's... It's fine. I'm glad you don't support that kind of bullshit. At least... [Ugh, it is kind of personal, isn't it? He rubs at the bridge of his nose.] I'm glad the kid got out safely. Your friends and their family deserved better.

They did. [He agrees in a solemn tone. Better than the world turning on them, and certainly better than Wei Wuxian as their one attempt at salvation.]

And I'm glad too. I'm told he's grown into a remarkable young man. Kind and sweet, and a strong cultivator. [It's Wei Wuxian's turn to sound proud. He hadn't known of a-Yuan's survival until Lan Xichen had revealed it to him, and a part of him still feels like it's impossible.]

I only hope that he doesn't still believe that babies grow from children being planted in the ground like radishes. [He grins and winks at Rosinante.]

[The little joke breaks through his frown. He shakes his head and allows his lips to quirk into something like a smile. Clearly Wei Wuxian doesn't want to dwell on that tragedy.]

Little round heads and a sprout of hair, hm? If only it was that easy. [He even chuckles a little, then reaches for the mirror and tucks it into the makeup kit.]

I probably shouldn't keep you any longer. Thank you, though. We'll have to do this again sometime. [He pats the kit, and really, truly, he means it. Some mission or other, maybe they can really go all out with cool looks to suit whatever world they get tossed into.]

[Easy grin back in place, Wei Wuxian rises along with his friend, tucking the sketch book against his side and seeing him to the door.]

Maybe next time we can grab some drinks too, hmm? [He laughs and waves his friend off.]

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