we_bring_hell: (Graphic: Hail to the Pumpkin Queen)
Harrowhark the Ninth ([personal profile] we_bring_hell) wrote2020-10-27 10:55 am

This is Halloween!

The Bar loves her holidays, but she is also capable of respecting religious strictures. That's why she put a lot of thought into finding a Halloween costume for Harrow that works with her face paint and general insistence on the monochromatic.

Harrow, for her part, is baffled by the white-pinstriped black suit and the oversized bow, but the gloves are very cool, and the buckled shoes suit as well. She has no idea what's going on but she can live with this.

The Bar seems even more unusually populated than usual, and there are a lot of gourds around. Hm.
acrookedpath: (halloween: sunglasses at night)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
She really does. Wei Wuxian eyes her over the top of the sunglasses, which displays his changed eyes to great effect, but his grin is as bright and easy as ever.

"It seems so!" he laughs. "Either I have lost track of time or Madam Bar's calendar is very different from my own. But who am I to argue with this?"

He spreads a hand to indicate the cupcakes.

"Would you like one?"
acrookedpath: (cheerful conversation)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Ah well. It was worth a try! Maybe he can convince her to try half a bite of one if he scrapes all the icing off first.

"Oh?" Curiously, he accepts the... femur? No way to tell if it's more than a femur unless he unwraps it, he supposes, and he sets to work doing just that.
acrookedpath: (bright grin)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
Wei Wuxian's jaw drops. Carefully, he turns the bone flute in his hands, running a finger over its polished white surface. Instruments made of animal bone are not uncommon, but he has never seen one of human bone before. It would fit very well with the Yiling Patriarch's reputation, he thinks -- and as wry as the thought may be, he still cannot help but marvel at the craftsmanship.

"If it is a family heirloom -- " He looks up, beaming anew. "Harrow, are you certain I can have it?"
acrookedpath: (bright grin)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
He nods, still looking a bit stunned by the enormity of the gift.

"This is remarkable. Harrow, I am honored." He holds the flute in both hands as he bows to her, and does not stop smiling for an instant of it. "I would hug you, but I know you dislike them -- truly, thank you."
acrookedpath: (like lizzo but with more zombies)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 03:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Experimentally, Wei Wuxian lifts the flute to trill out a quick melody. Its tone is deeper than his bamboo flute, with a resonance to match a true craftsman's work rather than a quickly-carved substitute for Chenqing. Though he's grown quite attached to his current instrument, he has to admit this is much finer; he will have to see how much of a difference it makes in his work.

And even if the difference is negligible: a new instrument to play! A fantastic instrument.

"I wonder," he says as he takes it away. "Considering everything you told me about the qualities of bone, do you think this may make it easier to summon thanergy as I do with resentful energy?"
acrookedpath: (tools of the patriarch)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
He nods. Though Madam Bar swapped his robes for this costume, she left his now-ever-present portfolio inside a pocket of the suitcoat; he sets the flute aside so he can pull it out and make a few notes.

"That does seem more likely," he says. "I still cannot help thinking of thanergy as something to draw out rather than something to transform; I'm sure that is why I have kept getting stuck. But yes, having a spiritual tool that also works as a thanergy reservoir -- " He beams. "That opens up all kinds of possibilities!"
acrookedpath: (cheerful conversation)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Wait.

"Wait."

Is that why -- is she --

"Harrow." He leans in, eagerly. "Is there more news?"
acrookedpath: (bright grin)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-01 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Wei Wuxian does not make any kind of excited high-pitched noises, because he is a grown man and can comport himself as --

Who are we kidding, there is absolutely a wordless exclamation of delight that trails into another, "Harrow!"

His smile is almost incandescent by now. "Congratulations are in order, yes? My friend, I am so happy for you both."
acrookedpath: (cheerful conversation)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-02 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
It is, truly, a startling change. Harrow is -- Harrow, sharp and brittle and brilliant, awkward but true in her kindness, and Wei Wuxian became so used to the sorrow at her heart that he hardly noticed it any longer. Now it is gone, and she is lit so bright by his absence.

"I hope you will not conjure a skeleton to smack me," he says as he sets his chin in his hand, "but... ah, what was it you said?"

He affects Harrow's deadpan -- or tries to, when he still cannot stop smiling.

"What a lovely and extraordinary surprise that none could have foreseen."
acrookedpath: (halloween: sauntering vaguely downward)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-02 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Lan Zhan hated me when we first met," he says with a shrug that stirs the wings at his shoulders. "But -- you are right, I should not tease."

His smile softens.

"I am glad for you. Truly. That you are sworn to each other now in more ways than one."
acrookedpath: (red ribbon)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-02 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
He laughs. "Because I pestered him incessantly and never met a rule of Gusu Lan's I did not try to break. He drew his sword on me within five minutes of meeting. I cannot count how many times he called me 'obnoxious' and 'boring' when I was at lectures. I think by the time he had known me a year or two, I had climbed in his esteem to 'tolerable, but only just.'"

And then, as the years continued on... well.
acrookedpath: (slight smile)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-02 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Cheerfully, "It must be why I get along with her so well."

Though he has only met Gideon the barest handful of times, they clicked as if they had known each other for ages.

His smile grows more crooked as he adds, "I do remember you saying you cheated, when the two of you fought."
acrookedpath: (slight smile)

[personal profile] acrookedpath 2020-11-05 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah." The lopsided smile persists. "That would explain why she asked first if I had sown the field with bones when we sparred."

Honestly, it's the sort of battle strategy Wei Wuxian might use himself, if he had Harrow's particular necromantic talents. Jiang Cheng might have even had to deal with a surprise skeleton jumping out of the ground to startle him every now and then, while Wei Wuxian laughed and laughed out of sight behind a door.

But there is a difference between lighthearted pranks or hard-fought wars, and the acrimony that marked Harrow and Gideon's relationship for so long.

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-05 16:06 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-05 17:16 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-05 17:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 14:56 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 15:26 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 15:54 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 16:03 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 17:14 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 21:55 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 22:07 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 22:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 22:46 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-06 23:00 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-07 01:25 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-07 01:40 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-07 01:47 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-07 02:28 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-07 02:53 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-08 02:37 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] acrookedpath - 2020-11-09 13:26 (UTC) - Expand