(no subject)

[fennu]

Who: Jiang Cheng & Lan Xichen
Where: Quiet carriage
When: Early Rabbit
What: Terrible confessions
Warnings: N/A atm

Jiang Cheng has never been good with words.

There are a lot of things he is not particularly good at, many things he is not adept with, and those are the things he has wrestled with his entire life. He had never been good enough for his parents, had never managed to be good enough in the eyes of the people he loved most. He had failed Wei Wuxian and his sister, had been unable to be the kind of parent he had hoped to be with a-Ling. His nephew never wanted for anything, was never really harmed, but he wouldn't call himself the best of parents.

He wants to be better, and that is what pushes him now. He had made some kind of amends with Wei Wuxian. He has managed, somehow, to be good to a-Ling, despite him not being from his own world. He is a good friend to Madoka, if not some kind of familial figure that he can't quite put into name.

Wanting to be better does not equate to being better, however, and that is the difficulty he has at the moment. He has asked Zewu-jun - Lan Xichen, and it feels strange to think it - to meet him, has tea prepared, has Sandu placed at his side, and he is prepared to just... Talk, but it isn't easy. Not even having had the conversation with Wei Wuxian, as if that would ease any of his problems.

(As per usual, it felt as though it made them worse).

He doesn't know what he's going to say, has nothing rehearsed that might help him, and that puts him in a poor situation - Jiang Cheng is rarely good, off the cuff, rarely able to say what is on his mind without there being some sort of problem with it. But he is try, and that has to count for something. He hopes.

Lifting his head, he blinks when Lan Xichen appears, bowing his head in a gentle, proper greeting.

Comments

[calmness]

In truth, Lan Xichen is surprised by the invitation to meet Jiang Wanyin for tea; mostly because each time their paths have crossed previously, it has been an accident or his doing. He knows he shouldn't think too much into it, it is only tea after all, but given the conversation he has had with Wei Wuxian and what he has been told--

'Tell him,' Wei Wuxian had said as if it were a simple thing. Xichen is not so shy or wary of approaching the subject, no, but here there is an obstacle to navigate he is not sure how to approach.

Lan Xichen isn't quite used to navigating a world where he is not the elder, where his rank does not put him high above the rest. In a strange way, an even playing field confuses him but Zewu-jun is not one to turn away from something that puzzles him.

It has Xichen feeling somewhat off-kilter as he goes toward the quiet car. Nervous, though there is no reason for such a feeling when a simple invite to tea is not grandeur or particularly out of the norm for two sect leaders. And yet--

'He's waiting for you to give the word.'

In the quiet carriage, Jiang Wanyin is easy to spot in one of the rooms. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment to gather himself and then keeps moving forward.

Xichen offers a gentle smile, dips his head before he joins him across the table where tea is already set for him. "Jiang Wanyin." They've moved closer in that, in this step for familiarity they've breached. "Thank you for inviting me to join you."