Not the Memorable Day he Expected

[xue_yang]

Who: Xue Yang and OTA
Where: Dining
When: Day Twenty
What: Today would have been his wedding day so he is a little frustrated, a little sad, and is binge eating all the food that would have been served. Feel free to come and help him eat up all the food and stop him from destroying the entire car or all the dishes.
Warnings: Xue Yang in a bad mood can be a jerk. Other warnings will get added if necessary.


Xue Yang hadn't really thought a wedding was necessary. Never saw the point in following a tradition like this before. Didn't even really expect he would ever have one...and it seems he wasn't wrong in that respect. But this had been the day that Xingchen had chosen. The day where they would have been officially married and celebrating with everyone on the train that would want to do so. And so the fact that the man's name is in gold and he is missing, is weighing heavily on him. Even more then it has the days leading up to this or when he first discovered the man gone.

But there was food and a party had been planned. So instead of waiting around, Xue Yang has decided that he would help himself to what he should have been having anyway. He plops himself down in a car decorated in red. And he even decided to wear the red wedding attire that Xingchen had picked and had made for him. Might as well, right? This was its destined day to be worn so it should be done. He always liked the color red anyway. Perhaps a part of him thought if he actually came and everything was ready that the man might suddenly appear...

So even though he has the expression of someone who doesn't care...everything is meticulous. Perfectly set up and ready to go should the groom decide to walk through the door of the car. But Xue Yang knows that isn't likely. That isn't what he is fated for and no amount of hope is going to change that.

And so he eats. It's his party and he will gorge himself on all the food if he wants to. He sees no reason to let it go to waste. It is for him isn't it? But unfortunately the longer he sits there and eats, and waits...the angrier he becomes. Angry at himself for letting himself think that this was even possible. Angry at the train for taking people away just as easily as they are brought. Angry at Xingchen for broken promises. Just....angry.

Angry enough that an empty plate goes hurtling across the room to smash into the wall beside the door. If someone happens to walk through the door at that moment there won't be any apologies for any broken pieces that might land in their way.

Comments

[weifinder]

"Celebrations," Wei Wuxian says, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "Aren't they all about the food? That was probably what he was thinking, anyway. Still! If that's the case, let's pack up what we can and store it, ah? Then you can eat it as you like, let others eat some if you feel like, all the sensible things my shijie would tell me."

Shijie with her soup that was even better the second day, after a full soaking. He aches thinking about her, thinking about how the dead live, the dead never died, in some worlds.

His shishu deserves that too. Xue Yang... might, one day, deserve his lot in the life after. One day. He won't hold his breath, but he will give him the chance to show it, because even the worst of people might, possibly, change to be less horrid. And what authority does he have beyond the one of protecting those he cares about?

[xue_yang]

If left up to him the food would just get left and forgotten. He doesn't particularly like cleaning up. But since he has said he wants to be better, perhaps this is also like a test to see if he will be. Might as well not shrug it off and leave it behind like he had planned. So he stands up and looks around at everything that is going to have to be carried back to the kitchen car. At lest it isn't too far away...

And if he saves the food...Xingchen can eat it when he gets back. He would never admit that there is still that small spark of hope left in him but it is there and he can't help it. He starts to pick up some of the trays of food, at least being strong enough and having the balance to be able to carry several at once.

"I haven't exactly been to a lot of celebrations." Who would invite him? It's not like he has a lot of allies and those that he did have, didn't want him seen.

[weifinder]

It was progress in its own way. Wei Wuxian accepts without blinking, but he does scoff, an outlet breath.

"Would you say you believed in them as an adult? As a child, I think you might have." Children have a greater capacity for wanting in a way adults don't quite keep, no matter how great their appetites.

He likewise picks up trays of dishes, balancing two as he heads for the kitchen carriage.

[xue_yang]

He picks up a few dishes and follows, not sure he really has had a lot to celebrate in his life time. "I was a street kid, what would I have to believe in other then myself?" The gloved hand curls a little tighter around the edge of the plate he is carrying. The special glove that Curufin gave him covering up the missing pinkie that is a constant reminder of how rough of a childhood he had.

"This is the only celebration I thought I would have and even this didn't happen."

Clearly his adult life has no reason to believe in celebrations or anything good coming his way.

[weifinder]

"Food. A relatively warm, dry place to sleep. That you're faster than the rest of what's out there. That winter ends. That summers don't linger in intense heat." From one street kid to another, he knows he had the happier ending, but it's all relative and all of it not within their young hands. Wei Wuxian carries his own scars from that time. Those just happen to be unseen.

"Pretty sure you claimed to be celebrating everytime you massacred a whole clan or sect, but hey, you know what they say about my memory."

A dry look to Xue Yang as they head for the kitchens, and then to set the trays down to work on finding containers for the fridges. "The trick to it is finding your own not-murderous things to celebrate. Like good meals. Good wine! Seeing someone else succeed. Getting your own bag of candy—why wait for others to celebrate the things you find enjoyable or important?"

Setting the containers on the counter, he pauses, then starts coaxing food into an open one.

"Everyone has to grow up when they realise there are things more important than themselves in the world, things they want to fight for. Now that you know what that is, celebrate every day that you're here." Putting the top on the container, he continues on. "Being here is the only way you keep a fighting chance for the man whose soul you shattered. I don't know about you, but to me? That sounds worth celebrating."

[xue_yang]

"I suppose that was a celebration in away. I got what I wanted out of it." It wasn't the killing he enjoyed so much as the satisfaction the revenge obtained got him. He did enjoy the killing...he can't really deny that. But he always killed for a reason. Even if those reasons were only known to him and not really understood by anyone else. So...yes...perhaps he did celebrate a little in his teenage and adult years.

"Why would you celebrate a meal? That is something that happens every day. It's mundane and boring." Xue Yang likes excitement. Small victories like that have never really occurred to him.

But he does listen to what Wei Wuxian is saying int his last part. Celebrate that he is alive and gets to keep searching for xingchen. That is something closer to what he can understand.

"Celebrate life..." He murmurs it a little as if weighing the words and seeing if it is something he is capable of. A life that is now dedicated to finding the man he was determined to spend that life with.

[weifinder]

He snorts, not bothering to point out they both know that meals were never guaranteed. He didn't like remembering, and it wasn't going to mean anything to Xue Yang in the moment.

"Celebrate life," he says instead, echoing the echo. If there was going to be any motivation, it had to focus on that, not on Xue Yang's horrid attention span and even more horrible sense of entertainment.

"Also, what are your thoughts on the moving pictures in the one carriage?"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang hasn't forgotten about his inability to have a normal meal as a child. He has a constant reminder of that missing from his hand. But it has been awhile since he has had to deal with such things. He doesn't want to think about what it was like to enjoy the few bites of food he did get when he was little.

But his attention span is short and so it is easy to move from that topic to the movie car. "I've only seen a few of them." He vaguely recalls something when he was...not an adult...while on the train and then the fact he saw part of a movie when he encounter A-qing after she came back from the dead. For the most part he hasn't spent a lot of time in there.

"I've only watched two of them. They are strange. Why?"

[weifinder]

"I'm wondering if you might not find some of the fast and exploding ones fun."

Tucking containers into the fridge, he waits for Xue Yang to finish before heading back for more of the remaining food. Waste not, want less.

"It's borrowed violence. You could critique technique the whole time."

[xue_yang]

He finishes with what he has and then follows him back for more. "Are there any like that? I'm only aware of ones that aren't worth paying attention to. Something about...bees on a train." Granted he didn't really put much effort into figuring it out.

He picks up a few more of the plates. He wonders if cleaning up his own mess is considered doing chores...something he normally doesn't bother with.

[weifinder]

"I have seen nothing about bees on trains, but yes, there's plenty of loud, fast, explosive, violent ones. I wouldn't say it's all that real, but it's very attention grabbing."

Realistic violence wasn't needed in either of their lives. Sweeping more plates back toward the kitchen, he flashes Xue Yang a wry, dry smile. "Might be worth trying."

[xue_yang]

Since he can't use violence himself, perhaps it would be satisfactory enough to watch it happen to someone else. He considers this silently for a few moments and then nods.

"Alright. I will try it. Are you going to watch it too?"

[weifinder]

He pauses, then shrugs. "Why not?"

Worst come to worst, he'd take a nap; he was learning some remarkable ability to sleep through noise in very specific settings.

[xue_yang]

He nods and sets down the last of the plates. It would be better then being alone even if they are doing nothing but sitting there silently. "You can pick the movie." Since he seems to be more knowledgeable in the library of movies available.

[weifinder]

Great. He had a movie date with a dead man he got on with as a matter of necessity. He wonders if popcorn will work as a bribe there—or if he should pick up some candy.

"Since you insist! Don't complain if you don't like it."

He grins, already thinking of the one adventure with the archaeologist who kept running into people wanting to kill him and ridiculous traps in ancient, strange temples leading to dramatic engagements.

[xue_yang]

"I just have to make sure you can't hear my complaints." Xue Yang smirks slightly. He can complain under his breath or as quietly as possible. He can't imagine that any of the things the train has will be very interesting.

He is curious what kind of movie that his senior will chose for him to watch. His experiences in that room have been brief and very few movies have been viewed in their entirety. He has a hard time sitting through things sometimes. He is going to try and stay and pay attention this tie though.