[[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]

"She was." Among other things, but Lan Wangji witnessed none of that. He remembers only how kind she was, how she laughed at him and tolerated his biting, how breathlessly he anticipated the day he would be allowed to see her each month.

[summerdude]

"Do you have any particularly, like. Special memories of her?"

[lightbearinglord]

Because his mother was not permitted to leave her house, every memory takes place inside its walls. Lan Wangji was so young when she died -- most of it must be lost. Not all of it. "She taught me to pour tea. For her, then for my brother, then for myself."

[summerdude]

Magnus is quiet for a moment, then ventures: "Will you teach me?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Of course." He has said it to Magnus before: anything he wants to learn that Lan Wangji knows how to teach. It is all available to him.

[summerdude]

Obviously Magnus knows Lan Wangji is a willing teacher -- heck, look at Galahad -- but the tea-pouring his mom taught him feels like it could be particularly poignant. Especially since Lan Wangji knows Magnus sees him as a parental figure. "Thanks, Hanguang-jun," he says, softly.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji looks at him for a quiet breath or two. The two of them are a slightly sorry pair, although he hopes he has done a reasonable job of hiding his own slight deterioration from Magnus. He is glad to be here with him nonetheless. "You're welcome. Are you ready to return?"

[summerdude]

Magnus considers the question. "Just a few more minutes?" he says, leaning against Lan Wangji again. He takes a deep breath. "Um, how are you doing? With all this?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I have endured worse." That's true enough. Lan Wangji rubs Magnus' back gently, hand flat between his shoulder blades again. "This is not my grief."

[summerdude]

Magnus squints up a Hanguang-jun suspiciously. That sounds an awful lot like a nonanswer. "Okay," he says.

[lightbearinglord]

In answer to Magnus' mistrustful expression, Lan Wangji's mouth quirks at the corner, rueful. "As you said. We were not friends."

[summerdude]

"That doesn't mean you can't have, like, feelings or whatever. Gunilla, like, hated me and threatened to kill me and I spent a whole quest trying to avoid her and I was still sad when she died."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji lapses into a lengthier silence. It is not for Magnus to take on any of his burdens. Magnus is young and laden with his own burdens. He sees Lan Wangji as, impossibly, a father figure -- something that still tightens in Lan Wangji's throat every time he thinks of it. His own father, who hardly spoke to or looked at him, passed too much onto him even across that distance. Lan Wangji won't do that to Magnus.

"I am unsettled," he says, finally. "But it will pass."

[summerdude]

"It's unsettling," Magnus agrees, and leans his head against Hanguang-jun.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji looks at the golden top of Magnus' head. He is nearly weak with affection for him, though he doesn't let it show. He only settles his arm around Magnus' shoulders again, and leaves it there as long as Magnus needs or wants.

[summerdude]

Eventually, Magnus sighs. "Okay," he says. "We should probably go make sure Sunny hasn't chewed Drosera's leg off."

[lightbearinglord]

"Young master Morozova is watching her," Lan Wangji tells him, but the general sentiment stands. He sneaks in one more kiss to the top of that beloved head before he removes his arm from around Magnus.

[summerdude]

"Young master Morozova?" Magnus thought he knew everyone here.

[lightbearinglord]

"Aleksander Morozova," Lan Wangji supplies. He has a potentially difficult conversation to broach with Aleksander later, one that he hopes will not compromise their friendship.

[summerdude]

Magnus stills at that. He secretly doesn't, like, trust Aleksander. It's because Nina is so uncertain about him -- the cautious way with which she insisted she wasn't going to name the man from her past, because she wanted him to have a chance here, but he was like a boogeyman to her; the way she struggled so much to reconcile what she knew with what others saw. He might be fine? But Magnus isn't rushing to get close to him.

A guy who did what Magnus is pretty sure are numerous atrocities... he feels weird about leaving alone with a baby. Even one who can hold her own. "Yeah, maybe we should head back in," he says.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji notices the way Magnus goes still, because Magnus is so often in some form of motion, large or small, that it would be impossible not to notice. They will have to address it later, if necessary, but he tucks it away. For now, he only squeezes Magnus' shoulder and leads him back toward the mansion.