voidtreckerexpress | Family Time, hopefully [Closed to the Lan Family]

Her first reaction to being halted from her usual bolt out of dining is defensive. Something important? That could be anything. Still, she turns to attend to him properly, even taking her hands out of her pocket.

"If it's about chores, I did mine this morning," she guesses.

"No, but I'm glad to hear it," Wei Wuxian said with a grin. "I've done mine as well."

"Actually, it's about the wedding." He paused for a moment, and took Lan Wangji's hand.

"We'd like you to be part of the Family Tea. But...we'd like to make it official. A-Qing, would you like to formally join the Lan family, and be known as Lan Qing from here on?"

WangJi, who always looked serious while WuXian rarely did, was of course there. As WuXian took his hand, he put his hand over WuXian's.

After the proposal had been made, WangJi added. "The decision is entirely up to you. It is your choice."

Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't that. Already with an argument on her tongue for a dozen things she could have been called on, she went silent instead, eyes narrow and shoulders drawn up.

Was he serious? She looked between them, gauging. She'd be a fool to refuse, pragmatically, and if she'd imagined a life among the clouds, that was her own business... A sudden thought came to her, and instead of agreeing, she blurted,

"I don't have to marry Lan Sizhui, do I?"

The moment after the thought passed, she decided that that wasn't what they'd meant at all, but it was too late, she'd asked. Too used to just speaking her mind nowadays. Crap. "Not that he isn't... ah, meaning no offence--"

"Don't put your brother down like that. He's a perfectly wonderful young man," Wei Wuxian said, trying to look stern. "Any young lady would be lucky to get him. However, as his heart is engaged elsewhere, that isn't on the table. No, we want you as a daughter the old-fashioned way, by adoption."

"If you don't like Lan Qing, you could be Wei Qing, instead," he offered with a grin.

WangJi just gave WuXian a sideways glance at that, still holding his hand. After a moment, a faint smile crossed his face at his words.

"Yes, we have spent much together since you arrived, we wanted to make this offer."

Any option she chose would be fine with him, even if she decided against it.

Disaster averted, she nodded quickly.

"Of course I'll accept," she hurried to assure them, in case they thought she was reluctant and retracted the offer. They'd looked after her, proven their sincerity. The fact that she wasn't flailing, but only hopping from foot to foot every so often, was a testament to their tutelage and time together, after all.

She looked down, then folded her arms firmly. "It's just that I have responsibilities here, as a Void Hero, so naturally I had to be cautious! Ah. What- what do I have to do?"

"You can still be a Void Hero," Wei Wuxian assured her. "It seems to be a family calling, after all."

He looks at Lan Zhan to tell her the specifics of the responsibilities of being a Lan.

"We'll get you proper robes for formal occasions, of course. And Daozhang and Lan Xichen will be your official uncles." He left unspoken that if anyone ever hurt her, she would finally have no doubt he was the Yiling Patriarch.

WangJi nodded his head. "Yes, it is what those part of Gusu Lan." Not necessarily void heroes, but cultivators.

He wasn't going to make her suddenly follow all of the rules for Gusu Lan. She wasn't a disciple after all and this wasn't home. "I do expect you to keep studying and learning. It will make you a better void hero."

He nodded his head again in confirmation that they would get her proper robes. If she was going to be a Lan (or a Wei) in name, then she would need nice robes.

"When has this one ever slacked off--" she muttered, even as she nodded agreement again and again. Except- she paused, chewing on her lip for a moment. There must be a correct and proper response, and a correct and proper choice to be made, but... She was at a loss as to what that was. If they had been man and wife, maybe... Nothing for it but to ask.

"Begging pardon, but as the elders, will you decide? Whether I take Lan or Wei, don't you have feelings about it? I've never had a family name or been able to show respects, so I don't know good from bad."

Perhaps, with a son to take on the Lan name, they'd want her to take on Wei, for his family? Who... she didn't know anything about, actually. Good start.

Wei Wuxian smiled brightly. "It's up to you. I was adopted by the Jiang clan when my parents died, but kept my name due to Jiang Fengchan's love of my parents, and A-Yuan was adopted by me when his family died, and again by Lan Zhan when I died."

"But since the Wei family doesn't have a specific sect, as my mother left the mountain where Baoran Sanren lives with her disciples, and the Lan family is very strong, I thing becoming a Lan might be the better long term choice. Plus, you and your brother would share a name."

He grinned at her. "Besides, I know you don't believe me, but the name Wei Wuxian has been used to scare children into behaving, you know."

"You have never slacked off," WangJi remarked in response to her comment. "You have been very studious."

He sat in silence as WuXian explained all of that. It was certainly all true. Wei didn't hold much strength behind it while Lan did. But Wei had its own set of interesting things.

"Yes, he was actually feared many years ago."

Believe it or not.

His mother lived on a mountain as a disciple...?

Distracted, she almost missed bobbing a quick thanks for Lan Wangji's praise, but his calm words brought her back to the moment. "You mean this guy really is the patriarch of Yiling?"

He wasn't that old. But doubt wouldn't get her any closer to her goal, so she visibly put the matter to one side. The important thing was that both had their benefits, and they clearly weren't phrasing it as a test. The Lan were a well-known and well-respected clan, with several family members aboard, but...

"Never mind all of that. Wouldn't it be bad if your name ended with you? I can be a Wei, it isn't as though you aren't a part of the Lan clan. If you take teacher's name one day, I can change too!"

Maybe she liked the idea of having a name people feared, okay?

Wei Wuxian laughed. "See? I told you! I know that in this body I look too young and cute, but I am the same person as I was before."

He shrugged at her suggestion. "If that is what you want. I have made a lot of enemies in my life. Yes, most of them are dead now, but I don't want my name to hurt your future. So if you chose to use my name, that is fine, as long as you know what you are getting into."

He can't fault that! He isn't above using his reputation for his own purposes!

WangJi didn't say anything about WuXian being 'young and cute' but there was certainly a faint smile at that. Yes, he did think that WuXian was cute. How could he not? Really?

"It is admirable that you do not wish his name to disappear. If you wish, you can take his name."

Her nervousness at his apparently very real reputation was shattered within moments, their flirtation an effective antidote. She even restrained herself from further comment for the sake of future harmony. Besides...

"Hurt what future?" She asked, frankly. "Anyway, I might not be the Ghost General, but I'm definitely stronger than before. If your enemies come here, I'll be the one helping you."

She paused, and then nodded, firmly. "I really am grateful! I won't let you down." Even if she now had to block off a few hours for grilling Lan Sizhui on behaviour that afternoon.

"Of course you won't," Wei Wuxian said with another grin. He knew her pretty well, after all. "Our precious daughter could never let us down!"

Which reminded him. "Mm, I should mention. In Yi City, when you were helping us defeat Xue Yang, your ghost allowed me to see all of her memories. So...there is that." He felt better for confessing, though a little nervous how she would react. His fingers tightened on Wangji's.

"No, you couldn't let us down." She was a good student and he enjoyed her being around... even if she had likely stolen all of the sweatshirts. Not that he ever really wore them. It was fine.

"Hmm..." WangJi took WuXian's hands in his as WuXian squeezed his hand. He was there; he wasn't going to leave you.

She severely doubted that. There was plenty she could do to disappoint them, she just hadn't found the limits yet. Still, she appreciated the white lie.

Until Wei Wuxian just... casually mentioned that about her alternate self. Was this how life was going to be? Offhand revelation after offhand revelation? She blinked, and blinked again, and then narrowed her eyes. They both knew, but she'd 'allowed' it, in the future. So she'd had no choice? Having seen Xue Yang's work, and experienced it firsthand, she could guess why.

"I'm not going to be angry at you for keeping that secret," she decided, after a long moment. "I know what that guy is like, it must have been the only way to tell you, right? Such unpleasant things, who would want to talk about them?"

A dramatic, put-upon sigh. "I just thought you were good at reading people, but it turns out my ghost spilled the beans instead."

"I am good at reading people!" Wei Wuxian protested. "But knowing what good care you took of my uncle did pre-dispose me to thinking you were an incredible person, I will admit," he said with a grin. Honestly, her attitude would have driven his brother insane, which also endeared her to him. He was very happy he got to call her daughter now, even if she hadn't decided on a name yet.

Her ability to cause mischief, well, with their son taking so firmly after Wangji, it was nice that their daughter favored his side of the family.

"He does seem to be better than most," WangJi remarked. "I only know what he has told me."

He hadn't seen it. He had been too busy fighting different forces to keep WuXian and the juniors safe.

So only he had seen anything. It was a little reassuring. With their forces combined, and faced with outrageous flattery, she subsided in a theatrical huff.

Then paused. Uncle? Ah, right. He was related to Xiao Xingchen-- they were martial family. But daozhang's only martial sister was... So... Ah! Several thoughts occurred at once, and she almost bounced.

"I'll be a Wei," she decided, again. If nothing else, it would ensure that the beautiful, outstanding cultivator of daozhang's story would get to feel some satisfaction. "Having seen so much, you might as well be family already..."

Wei Wuxian couldn't help but grin. Honestly, A-Qing would make a great Wei. He could just see the kind of migraine she'd give Jiang Cheng if he ever showed up on the train.

"My mom would have loved you. And his uncle," he said with a nod to Lan Wangji, "won't. He didn't approve of her or me, either, so you are in the perfect company. Remind me to tell you, after we make this official and it is too late for you to back out, what she did to Lan Qiren's beard." He added a wink for good measure.

WangJi smiled faintly watching as A-Qing out of nowhere beginning to bounce excitedly. Whatever she had decided had clearly made her excited.

And that decision was a good one. There were plenty of Lans (even they weren't all directly related to him) but as far as they both knew, the name Wei would die with him. Even if his uncle would have disapproved like WuXian had said, WangJi approved.

"I think that is a good option," he said after WuXian a look somewhere between 'really?' and amused for wanting to tell her about what his mother had done to his uncle.

Family Time, hopefully [Closed to the Lan Family]

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