[[open post and announcement: no mourners, no funerals]]

[ravkanwitch]

[cw: discussion of death!]

Nina knows that word of Shen Yuan's death has been slowly spreading. She tried to put out a general warning of danger right after it happened... but she's not sure how many people were warned by it. She wasn't in the right mind at the time, after all. This time, she's more careful and collected. With SecUnit's help, she's alerted and gathered everyone who's interested for an important announcement in the lobby of the mansion. Despite all appearances of bossiness and stubbornness - all quite true - Nina has never been in charge of anything so serious. Kaz, Zoya, and the King himself; she followed their lead. As people slowly begin to gather and she attempts to compose herself, she wonders why she decided to put herself up to this.

Deep breath, Zenik. Pretend that - well, that this is pretend. She's back in the orphanage as the official greeter, making an important announcement to all the other children. She's the governor of a small town, making sure that all the citizens are aware and prepared. It does have to be her, after all. She's playing a crucial role in everything. She also doesn't want anyone else to carry the emotional load.

"Hi," she tells everyone gathered, trying to paste on a somber but not-too-morose expression. "Thanks for coming. I'm sure some of you have heard part of this announcement already and I'm sorry that it took so long to pass this information onto everyone else... but there was an incident not too long ago. We're not sure what caused it, whether it was the house or whether it was an individual, but... Shen Yuan is dead." There's most likely a reaction at this point and Nina forges onwards as confidently as she can, pitching her voice above the hubbub.

"But there is a way that he can return. We're sure of it. We're just trying to figure out the details, which might take a while. If you want to know more about that, you can ask Magnus, but I'm not sure how much he can tell you. Also, if you encounter any signs of Shen Yuan's spirit, you can talk to--" Here she meets Aleksander's eyes almost instinctively; this line of conversation is something she's purposefully kept from him. "You can talk to myself. Or... to Lan Wangji. ...That's all. Thank you."

A confident start but slightly deflated by her last few sentences, Nina steps back and allows for conversation to happen. If anyone would like to speak to her, she's looking much less strained and grim than she has in a while.

[[Feel free to post a single comment reaction and/or start a thread with Nina in the comments!]]

Comments

[wickedwit]

"Specifics, Magnus." He says it a little too sharply, and stops to moderate himself. It's unexpected -- he'd gotten too used to struggling to summon up an appropriate emotional response, and now they're coming too easily. "As of now, the mansion is under threat. Some force has attempted to dispatch with you once, and succeeded with Shen Yuan. We have no lack of arms or skilled combatants to defend us. What we lack is intelligence. We do not know enough about what is happening to prevent it, or preserve the lives here. If you've found a way to preserve the life of someone already lost, is that not valuable information? Is it not better for more of us to know, in case another accident befalls someone? I would rather hope that doesn't happen. But we didn't prepare for every contingency before, and we should now. So how do you plan to bring back the dead?"

[summerdude]

There's only one blank body. Obviously Magnus can't say anything about that. Spare bodies are, to the best of his knowledge, a finite resource. "If someone can find his spirit, there's an array that can put it into, you know. The body. And then maybe we'll be done with the, like, Final Destination shit."

[wickedwit]

Obviously, Claudius's immediate first question is, "Can this array be drawn for others?"

[summerdude]

Magnus sighs. "I don't know," he says. "Shen Yuan told me that an airplane gave him some tools for an emergency. I don't know if they'll work for other people."

[wickedwit]

Claudius releases a breath — he didn’t know he was holding it. He should start meditating again, he thinks. “So you’re combining your abilities to accelerate growth with the cultivation rituals of another world to restore Shen Yuan to life. It involves specific tools, which may be linked to Shen Yuan. Then we’ll research the tools. See if they can be replicated by any of the other cultivators and practitioners of magic. What matters is it’s a concrete hope.” Claudius can take over the politicking from there. Of course it’s politicking, telling people what they need to hear after telling them something unspeakably awful. He recognizes Magnus is still shaken himself, and won’t find the right words easily. “Thank you.”

[summerdude]

"Yeah!" Magnus slumps against Claudius's side. He's so, so tired, and the crush of people isn't helping him think clearly. He likes all these people, of course, but he does get overwhelmed in crowded spaces, and this is a crowded space with a lot of emotion happening. "Of course, dude."

--

It's the next day, bamboo in hand, that Magnus says, "Mushrooms."

He's been turning it over in his mind ever since Nina's announcement, and then talking it through with Alex -- it was, as ever, easier ot reason through his thoughts at camp than at the meeting. He trusts Claudius completely; he's just been worried that more people knowing the details are more places where the plan might fail. But Claudius is, everything else aside, a plant guy in a way that even Magnus isn't. Claudius will be helpful.

He amends, "Mushroom-fruit-herbs."

[wickedwit]

"Herbs die back after they fruit," Claudius says, eyebrows raised but curious. He has no way of knowing whether this is an idea for the garden, or a succinctly expressed observation, or a philosophical prompt. Sharing random tidbits of knowledge rarely fails with Magnus. "Mushrooms are a different kingdom entirely. But there are species of underground orchid that lack chlorophyll, and sustain themselves in symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi. Those are mushrooms that colonize the roots of plants, while enriching the soil for further roots to grow and seeds to sprout. It's quite an elegant relationship."

[summerdude]

"Underground... orchids?" Magnus scrunches his face up, thoughtful. Maybe that's what the plant is????

It's then he realizes he left out a key bit of context. "Shen Yuan's new body," he says. "I'm growing it. He said it was a mushroom-fruit-herb plant from where he came from. I don't know if they can..." what's the word? "Prosopagnate? Like plants? Or people?"

[wickedwit]

"It depends on whether it's a mushroom, fruit, or an herb, I suppose," Claudius remarks. He accepts the information easily -- he understands much of the theory of cultivation, and already tends towards botanical metaphors when understanding the flow of qi. He's also read Italian herbals with images of mandrakes, and Paracelsian writings on crafting homunculi. In his world, mandrakes were disappointingly plant-like, and looked very little like natal beings. But in these qi-rich worlds, he can imagine plants evolved with that added lifeforce to take on more fantastical properties.

"So long as it's a living thing ... all life seeks to propagate itself. The one produces the two, the two produces the three, and so on. What varies is the method. Obviously," some of that old teasing returned, "you know how people propagate. I recall you asking some questions on the subject not so long ago."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, yeah," Magnus says, refusing (and failing) to blush. "Don't worry. I know all about that." Not, it must be said, from personal experience. Yet.

[wickedwit]

Claudius laughs from fondness. "Unlike people, many herbs self-seed. If the soil is viable, there's little need for intervention. Perhaps hand-pollination, if no native pollinators are nearby. Fruit already contains the seeds of its own propagation -- that's fruit's purpose. Sometimes you can see vivipary, seeds sprouting beneath the flesh." Not ideal for a mandrake body, he imagines. "Mushrooms bud more mushrooms, or they shed spores. The short of it, I suppose, is that it would be more unusual for a living thing not to propagate. So this is the tool necessary for the resurrection ritual?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. He said this one came from a seed," he says. "And that the airplane brought him emergency seeds on visitor's day? Maybe? I think? It grows really slowly. I don't know how slowly. I've been trying to speed it up without, you know. Fucking it up. But I don't know if we'd be able to get more from, uh, the plant. Before it becomes the guy."

[wickedwit]

"Ah, yes. It's an interesting adaptation, certainly. Energetically costly, but a slow growth cycle could conserve some of that energy. I'd theorize the presence of qi offsets those costs, too, since Lan Wangji described qi as a life force shared by all living beings." Despite himself, he's enjoying this. It's a dire situation, but it's something to study and experiment with -- something to learn, something try. He spins a finger through the air as he speaks, as if spooling a strand of life force around it. "But you have to consider the plant's perspective. If you'll excuse the anthropomorphism -- I imagine if it's forgivable anywhere, it's forgivable here. It evolved to be receptive to human souls and assume a human shape, which certainly has its uses for humans, but it must have a use for the plant, as well. It could be that exchange of energy is a necessary for propagation. I'd like to confer with Lan Wangji on that, see whether he can sense anything through the plant-body's meridians as it develops."

[summerdude]

"That would be cool," Magnus hedges. He's not sure how close Lan Wangji or Claudius will be able to get, given that Luo Binghe is, like, sitting vigil.

[wickedwit]

"I'll have a word with Lan Wangji, then," Claudius says, taken it as a given that Magnus will show him in time. He must know why it matters, so Claudius doesn't explain. "Thank you. I know I'd gotten rather curt with you, at the meeting. Were you able to find some rest afterwards?"

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs. "It's fine. It's a hard time for everyone."

[wickedwit]

Claudius casts him a skeptical look. "Ordinarily when there's a death, there are next steps to take. When people don't have them, they look for them. But we've no shared cultural context here, no real understanding of what death even means in a place like this cut off from any afterlife. You've had to deal with that question, and find a solution, while carrying your own grief. This isn't a light burden, you know. You need rest to carry it, and help."

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs again. "I'm, like, an expert though," he says. "On dying and being dead and also, like, resurrecting. I've died more than anyone else here, even Alex." Alex is a better fighter than he is, after all. "So."

[wickedwit]

"So?"

[summerdude]

"So I'm good. It's fine."

[wickedwit]

"Right." Claudius could be gentle and indirect, segue away from the subject then circle back to his concerns at another, oblique angle, one Magnus might find less confronting. He could also let it go and leverage one of Magnus's other relationships, find someone who'd have more success cracking open and communing with a stubborn young man's grief. He has options. "Why are you lying to me?" he asks, instead of taking either one of them.

[summerdude]

Magnus looks up, startled. "What?"

[wickedwit]

"As I said, I was curt, and I apologize. But you aren't ordinarily so withholding with me, not since you first sounded me out as Galahad's potential partner. Now you're avoiding direct questions, ignoring offers of assistance, and pretending to be fine in circumstances where the most experienced of field surgeons would struggle. I've done surgery on dying men and seen their hearts stop beating while my tools were still in them. It was never fine. Even when I became accustomed to it, even when I had to keep my hands steady. Dead or no, you've the eyes of a man who hasn't had a deep sleep in days. Is there any advantage to denying it?"

He's doing it again, falling back into the habit of reading things people don't know about themselves, then saying them as though they're already understood. But it's so obvious Magnus has been dead on his feet.

[summerdude]

Magnus has, it must be said, been mostly keeping it together pretty well, all things told. He's been confiding in Alex. He's been growing Shen Yuan and checking in on Luo Binghe and Nina. He's been hanging out with Sunny. He's been working on Dionysus's garden, alone and with Uncle D. He's been training more and more doggedly with Lancelot. (He's pretty sure he even started crying a little, once, during one of those practices there, but Lancelot -- shock of all shocks -- was decent enough not to mention it.) He's been helping Claudius with Hanguang-jun's gift. He's been...

...desperately missing everyone else. Shen Yuan and Hanguang-jun and Galahad and, like... literally everyone else. Regardless of what he's been telling everyone, he doesn't actually even know if this whole body thing will work; he's just been desperately hoping that it will. He's been guiltily avoiding his best friend, because he's (he too tired not to admit it) jealous, and sad, and also spending time with the guy his best friend hates most in the world. And also his best friend's estranged dad, who is secretly teaching him how to fight better. Not even Alex knows for sure about the fighting, Magnus is pretty sure.

He takes a deep breath, planning on deflecting... and bursts into tears.

[wickedwit]

Once, Claudius recalls, he'd made Gertrude cry like this, and he wished the castle floors would open up and swallow him like the trap-door on a stage. He was sharper, after his stint in Normandy; he knew what it was to be up to his elbows in another man's blood, begging him to live. He wasn't a boy any longer. You don't need to lie to me, he'd said. I don’t have any illusions about my brother. You aren’t protecting him by hiding what he does.

He’d made her cry. The Queen of Denmark, the idol of his childhood, the bravest and kindest of women or men. He couldn't stand himself. Ever since then, tears have been his weakness, the easiest way to make him stop asking questions -- as Nina discovered her first day here.

But these are necessary tears. Tears flush out the chemicals the body no longer needs, built up in preparation to fight or flee or freeze. "Come here," he says, and pulls Magnus into his arms. He strokes his back, steady and gentle, and doesn’t ask him to stop crying.