ximilialog | open | no boys allowed

Entry tags:

open | no boys allowed

CHARACTERS: EVERYBODY, toplevel away!
LOCATION: smushed very precariously into the North Wing
DATE: first night following the June log
CONTENT: slumber party!111!!1!!
WARNINGS: n/a - pls add to your threads as appropriate <3
NOTES: I'm posting this log OOCly, but ICly consider this a group effort rather than Yujin's doing - feel free to handwave how your character helped out :)

It's been a long, exhausting, and emotionally trying mission. It would've been enough, even without the orbers finding themselves in this strange past incarnation of the Ximilia station, forcing them all down so many painful trips down memory lane.

And yet, at the end of the day... everybody's still got to sleep!!

With the help of Iris, the infirmary staff, and any others who've volunteered, the North Wing's been outfitted as much as it can be to sleep a crew of over 40 people. Spare linens from the infirmary, whatever pillows or makeshift cots the team has been able to create: though humble, it'll sleep everyone. It's hardly luxury accommodations-- this station is older and more worn, and the North Wing is meant for half their number-- but it's cozy enough for anyone desperate for some rest to get it.

(Some of you will have to share bunks, though. Or sleep on the floor. Sorry.)

Perhaps your character:

helped set up the place, pitching in to wrangle up whatever sleeping supplies they could;

is still helping get others settled, or checking in with the injured (or, emotionally distraught?);

is too wired to sleep, their mind racing from the day's events (or, maybe they just don't sleep?);

is CRANKY about their assigned Blanket Pile On The Ground, and trying to find somewhere else to rest;

or is trying to bring the orbers' spirits up, joking or laughing or entertaining in spite of the situation they all find themselves in.

Or maybe they're doing something else like having a pillow fight or something silly. I'm not the boss of you!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

（ he snorts, not quite amusement but not quite hurt either — the statement was not intended to wound, but he is still a little raw from doctor mccoy's waylaying him in one of the corridors, fingers pressed against his shoulder as the man spoke to him in anguish. ）

Hopefully it will be temporary. It seems the other effects have been so, thus far.

Mmm. [He isn't really considering the possibility of it being anything but temporary. If it turned out that way, he'd deal with it, but that doesn't mean he wants to think about it.]

On the bright side, the orbs didn't think this one through. Can't exactly watch anyone's memories now, can I? [He snorts. The humor doesn't last though, and he slumps a little, exhausted.]

Still, I'll be happy when this is over with. [Whether he means the blindness or entirety of it isn't clear. One thing that is clear is that the mission is wearing on him, even if he's trying not to show it. He'd been on the last mission for over three months thanks to their staggered arrivals, and now this interference means it's been well over four. A third of a year gone from the station, and he knows he isn't weathering it as well as most. Not this week at least.]

（ watching something is not the only way to experience it, but there is little point in saying so. he recognizes that wei wuxian is merely speaking deflectively, and not searching for some definitive response to the situation at hand. he studies the man's face, those unseeing eyes, and then averts his gaze. it is difficult to say why this feels more personal than the memories they have witnessed of one another, only that it is. ）

Stay with me, until then. I will endeavour to keep you from trouble.

（ his tone says: might be tricky, as you are a magnet for such things. ）

[The smile that blossoms on his face isn't entirely put on, and it chases away some of the exhaustion in his features. His head tilts instinctively towards his friend though his eyes have closed by now.]

I'll put myself in your hands then, hmm? [He lets out a soft laugh.]

I'll even do my best to stay out of trouble. [He grins and then sits up straighter, reaching for one of his vambraces and beginning to unwind one of the long strips of black cloth that usually rests over it. When it's fully unwound, he replaces the strip over his eyes, carefully tying it behind his head.]

This is better. [Because he dislikes the thought of anyone meeting his unfocused gaze, and while this might signal his vulnerability to others, he's with Itachi now, so it's safe.]

（ he watches this process, and when wei wuxian begins to tie the cloth he reaches to help him, stilling the man's hand with the press of his own over it. ）

Let me. You've caught some of your hair.

[He huffs playfully and then scoots closer, dropping his hands to allow Itachi to work.]

You know, I know the station well enough that I can get around perfectly fine [mostly] but it's my image that's really going to suffer here.

I'm going to count on you to tell me when my hair is out of control. [It's a playful remark. He won't pretend not to enjoy looking good, but it's never been a priority for him when there were more important things to worry about. That won't stop him from playfully complaining about it though.]

（ he combs wei wuxian's hair gingerly with his fingers, untangling a few errant knots before he reties the black cloth. he takes care not to tie it too tightly, and when he's finished he lets his hand rest just a moment at the man's nape before he drops his hands away. ）

I don't believe anyone aboard the Ximilia is so shallow as to judge you for having mussed hair. If they are, they would only be fools.

[He laughs and nods, subduing the urge to raise a hand to touch the spot Itachi's has just vacated. He doesn't even know where the urge comes from and he swats it away like an annoying fly.]

Yeah. It just makes me look attractively tousled anyway.

[He leans back into his own space, finding the wall and pressing his back to it.]

Are you sleeping out here?

Mm.

（ it isn't quite agreement or affirmation, and after a moment he clarifies: ）

I'm not of much mind to sleep, but if I do it will be away from the others, yes.

[He nods in silence, pulling one knee up to his chest to rest an elbow on top of it. As much as he loved being around people, the idea of sleeping in such cramped quarters didn't exactly fill him with bliss.

The sound of movement catches his attention and he straightens again. He hadn't heard any footsteps, no one has spoken, and Itachi isn't reacting like there's anyone there either.]

...clone? [he asks, voice tentative.]

Yes.

（ the clone drops off the items itachi had sent it in search of and dismisses it — immediately receiving its memories of what the sleeping quarters looked like. who was gently bickering with whom. the movie they seem to have been playing — what on earth is a 'gaytrix'?

itachi sets the food off to one side, and then unfolds the blanket. rather than simply sling it over the both of them, he takes one of the man's wrists and lets him touch it first to be aware of his intentions. ）

Will you be able to sleep like this?

[He allows Itachi to guide his hand to the blanket and then nods silently in understanding, lips quirking up just a little.]

Out here? [If he were blind and on his own, not a chance, but with Itachi?]

Yeah, I'll be fine. [He's confident that if Itachi needs to leave, he'll either wake him or leave him with a clone which really doesn't feel that different than if he'd stayed.]

Maybe when I wake up, I'll be able to see again. [He suggests with a lazy grin, his voice betraying the lack of confidence he has in that thought.]

Depending on the mechanism of blindness — whether it's a function of the eye itself or a severance of the optic nerve, or your brain's ability to process visual input — it can very likely be fixed with a combination of medicine and/or something Viveca will be able to bring aboard if asked.

（ he reaches up, and touches his fingers against his own brow bone, thinking of his own surgery not too very many months ago. ）

If it is that your mind is no longer processing visual stimuli, that is something I may be able to remedy with a jutsu. It would require some research, but the way genjutsu affects the mind mean that it is well within my capabilities.

Ah, I'm sure it won't come to that. [He isn't, but the truth is that he doesn't want to think about it. Not now when it's still entirely possible it'll pass. Still.]

But...if it does, I...we can talk about it then, alright? [He isn't turning the idea away and it's important to him that Itachi understands.]

Even if...I mean, I'd adapt. [he grins.] I always do!

Of course.

（ he's not offended by the subtle plea to change topics — instead, he shakes his head and reaches for the tray of food that his clone had brought for them. most of it is small finger-food, things that are easy to consume and not make much mess.

again, he takes wei wuxian's hand and guides it to the tray, indicates the manner of food and where it sits with a patient verbal explanation, and once he's satisfied the man will be able to navigate it accordingly — ）

It feels strange, to miss the Ximilia we know. But I do.

Is it strange? [He asks aloud, unsure if he himself knows the answer. This Ximilia isn't really that different when it comes down to it, but then again, it was lacking in a few critical areas. Or maybe it is more than just Viveca and Degar that he misses. He could live without the things in his room—various baubles and trinkets that he's collected from supply drops and missions—and without the luxuries of the station itself.

But he won't deny that in a way, all of those things come together to form the place he's called home these last few years.

He takes a few bites of the food Itachi had brought to him as he considers the subject.]

I miss it too. I think it's...hmm. It's nice to have a familiar place to return to.

Yes. A space that feels lived in.

（ like wei wuxian, he is not swayed by the materiality of the objects he has come to possess. but it has been many, many years since he had a space that was wholly his own, in a place he was free to return to, somewhere that provided some level of safety he did not have to bloody his hands for.

he has stopped putting tripwires across his door. ）

It is difficult to think the current state of the station represents only two months of disuse.

[If he had his sight, he would have looked around to examine the station again, not that another glance would tell him anything he hasn't already noticed. Since he doesn't he pictures it in his mind instead, remembering just how empty it had looked. How desolate. It leaves a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he reaches out instinctively, catching Itachi's sleeve with his fingers for a second to be sure of his presence and then letting go.]

Ah. Yeah. Although it did seem this version of it might have been less lived in from the start. [Everything held an emptiness that spoke of disuse more than abandonment if anyone asked him.]

You know what I miss most? [The lightness of his tone makes it clear that he isn't speaking literally, the answer to which would be Viveca. He doesn't wait for Itachi to offer an answer either.]

The smells. There's almost always something cooking in the kitchen, and the training room smells like a training room. [He laughs.] And I miss your incense. [His was the only room on the station that made him feel like he was home.]

（ he lets out a faint huff of breath that's almost a laugh, and when wei wuxian reaches for him he is still as his friend finds him in the dark of a clouded gaze. ）

The olfactory sense is very foundational to memory. Unlike other sensory pathways that evolved as humans did, the olfactory nerve remained directly routed to the hippocampus. It has a profound impact on our perceptions.

（ it was always something he knew, but it is some of his recent reading has explained the science behind it. one of the reasons that some individuals who have natural genjutsu resistance can break an illusory hold with pepper bombs. ）

We have not had much chance to speak. How was your time within the Ndeira Complex, in the month preceding my arrival?

[What a nerd. Wei Wuxian's mouth curves into a smile. Scent and perception, huh?]

It was nice staying with Sizhui and getting to know the man he's growing into. [Despite his disappointment with most of his friends being absent, having Sizhui with him had been a bright light in his time there.]

I knew if Lan Zhan had a hand in raising him then he would be a good boy, but he is so good, Itachi. He's kind and thoughtful, slow to judge and slow to anger.

He's got a good sense of humor too. I...ah sorry, I could go on about him forever.

I've spoken with him briefly.

（ and it is easy, so easy, to care for anyone wei wuxian does. ）

He shares many traits in common with you, in fact.

[The words make him brighten despite his urge to deny it.]

Does he? [He tries to make it sound casual but the air of cautious hope still manages to shine through.]

There is a sort of... mm. （ he makes a thoughtful sound, and then: ） Righteousness, I think, to him. A care for those who are in no position to advocate for themselves. I would associate no trait to you more strongly.

（ it is not quite correct to say it is kindness. wei wuxian is many things before he is kind. but the decency, the demand for equality, for the care of those who are often forgotten or ignored — all these things ring out in him, clear as a clarion bell. ）

[Well. He asked. He did this to himself.

He doesn't deny the words, already long broken of that habit around Itachi, but he does bow his head a little sheepishly and feel his cheeks grow hot. It takes more effort than it should to keep himself from trying to attribute the qualities to some other influence on Sizhui.]

I...I'm glad to hear he has that. [It is neither agreement nor denial of the quality's source.] It's not as common in the cultivation world as it should be.

I don't know how much he remembers of his time at the Burial Mounds. We shielded him from the worst of it as best we could, but he must have understood some of it. That his people were being singled out and punished for wrongs beyond their control.

Being a Lan puts him in a position to make change. [He might not be a sect leader or an heir, but he had Lan Zhan's ear and that would be enough. It was certainly more power than he'd have ever had as a Wen.] And there's a gentleness to him that I didn't have. He'll be better at soothing ruffled feathers and making people more agreeable.

（ he makes an agreeable noise.

perhaps it is the fact that wei wuxian is currently blind that makes him study the man's face with a certain specificity. he has no need for memorization — the sharingan long copied all hints of his likeness into the vault of perfect recall — but he has never been afforded the opportunity to do it without wei wuxian being aware of it.

he looks at him. really looks. the way a blush creeps across his skin, the way his expression twists in the faint hold of microexpressions too subtle for most people to recognize. the way relief and guilt and sorrow bear down on him like the weight of worlds.

itachi reaches for the man without quite considering it, and pulls him in close. their foreheads touch, breath mingling as one. ）

Sometimes, that deft touch is needed. But there are many times it is not enough. Your approach was the result of a world that would not listen. Your act was the thing that created one that might. You were the spark. And you made a better world for it.

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