[[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

[lightbearinglord]

"Magnus," Lan Wangji says quietly. He can't promise Magnus safety. He can't promise that everything will be well. What can he promise? Only himself. "I have you."

[summerdude]

He nods. His eyes are still closed.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lets out a small, careful breath. He flattens his hand between Magnus' shoulder blades, pulling him in a little closer, and continues stroking his hair with the other hand. "What can I do?"

[summerdude]

This gets Hanguang-jun the sum total response of: one shrug. But never fear, as soon as it's over, Magnus is pressed up against his side again.

[lightbearinglord]

Very well, then. If there is nothing Magnus can bring himself to ask for, Lan Wangji can only keep holding onto him, keep stroking his hair with a careful hand, keep looking at his dear, weary face with quiet attention. A face this young should not look so ragged.

[summerdude]

It would be so silly and pointless and, like, inappropriate for Magnus to ask Hanguang-jun for more time. Galahad needs him more, now. It's fine. Magnus has Alex and baby Sunny and even Claudius and maybe technically Lancelot(????). He can just soak this up right now, while he has it.

[lightbearinglord]

After some time, Lan Wangji abandons the pretense that this is for Magnus' benefit only. They will need to go back inside eventually. They both have responsibilities, and there is Drosera to collect. That knowledge spurs him to take advantage of the time they do have. He gathers Magnus into a real hug, both arms tight, almost curled around him with the force of it.

[summerdude]

Magnus shudders again. A tiny dollop of the tension shot through his body falls away.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't let go of him. Magnus feels like warmth and like summer and like hope, the way he always does, even if that brightness is fraying at its edges. He has died too many times, and came too close to dying with finality not so long ago, but he is alive. Clutching him this firmly, Lan Wangji can feel his own jade token caught between them where it hangs from Magnus' neck.

[summerdude]

Eventually, words find Magnus again. "I'm okay," he says.

[lightbearinglord]

Moved by overpowering tenderness, Lan Wangji squeezes him, hard, and only then does he release him. Truthfully, he does that only to gain the ability to tip up Magnus' chin with one sure hand and look him in the eye. "Would you tell me if you were not?"

[summerdude]

Magnus doesn't have to spend a lot of time turning that question over in his mind, even though his answer does surprise him, a little. "Yeah, of course."

[lightbearinglord]

For an extended pause, Lan Wangji continues studying Magnus, scrutinizing his face and the dark smudges under his eyes. He has always had a slightly haunted look to him, or at least he has had that since Lan Wangji met him and walked with him to the mansion library, charmed immediately by his polite talkativeness. He has never looked this fatigued before.

As Lan Wangji knows well enough, despite every little trick of the mind he does to avoid knowing it, Magnus is an adult. He has earned Lan Wangji's trust. "Thank you," Lan Wangji tells him, meaning it, and then promptly undermines his own silent assertion of Magnus' adulthood by taking his face in both hands and kissing the top of his head.

[summerdude]

Oh. Magnus flings his arms around Hanguang-jun, burying his face against his chest and hugging him again. "I miss my mom," he mumbles. Wait, where did that come from???

[lightbearinglord]

Magnus' mother took him camping. She told him to run when the wolves came to claim her life. She wanted him to live in peace. Lan Wangji thinks of her often. He thinks of her now as he holds Magnus, and he thinks of his own mother, and he thinks of how he hates it that he's asked Magnus to carry Jack for the time being. "Mn," he says, quiet acknowledgment. "I would have liked to meet her."

[summerdude]

"She would've liked you."

[lightbearinglord]

Once, Lan Wangji would have found this more difficult to believe. Once, very few people liked him, and he accepted that. He cups the back of Magnus' head again. "Mine would have liked you."

[summerdude]

"Yeah?" Magnus glances up at Lan Wangji, hoping he expands on that.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji also has to accept that he has very much set himself up for this one. "She was kind," he says, "but uncompromising. She teased me."

[summerdude]

"Teased you?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." He lets out a breath and drops his hand to Magnus' back. "I was serious. I rarely spoke." Not that any of that has changed overmuch.

[summerdude]

"And she teased you about that?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." It's a subtle expression of wistful fondness he's wearing, but Magnus has historically been good at reading him.

[summerdude]

Magnus gives him another squeeze. "You were really young, right?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I was six years old when she died." He doesn't need to ask the same question in return. He remembers everything Magnus has told him about his own mother and her death.