[mingle] the space (january).

[fracturamods]

interim mingle

( WELCOME BACK, TRAVELERS. )

There's nothing but the clatter of train tracks, and the odd feeling of almost floating.

When you wake, it's hard to tell exactly what it is that you're missing - only that you are. There are pieces that aren't quite right, even if you're not sure where those pieces would normally be. Pieces of what, exactly....? Well, if you had to put a word to it, it would be - yourself, probably. Or did you get something back recently?

The place you've found yourself in is strange, certainly. It's probably worth exploring a bit. Though it just as easily seems that the only form of welcome or explanation that you have, comes from nothing more than a slab of marble. It might've changed since the last time you saw it.

You might have changed since the last time you saw yourself too - perhaps with a new emblem on your clothes, or a portrait on your skin.

There's no need to fret that much though. You've already gone through the ordeal once, and you might be able to see results from it. Even so, it's best that you don't get too comfortable, because there is still the unshakeable feeling:

There's still much more ahead of you.

Comments

[goldenrepair]

[For a moment, he wrestles with Wei Wuxian's grip like he's scalded, but then he slows to a stop. He's still angry, though the glare holds some glistening confusion, too. His head hurts. Right through from one temple to the next, and he winces.]

What are you talking about? Attack on the pier? Lotus Pier? There hasn't been any attack! Has this place made you into a lunatic for real? [Again, briefly, he jostles Wei Wuxian's hands.] Qiongqi? You mean when you decided to create your own "Ghost General"?! Or maybe when you took out a few Jins?!

I don't know a Jin Ling! Why would I know a child?

[And that makes his head? hurt worse?]

[givethemhell]

[He doesn't know.

One single, clear thought. He doesn't know. He doesn't know that Lotus Pier burned to the ground. That he hadn't even seen his parents ashes. That Wei Wuxian didn't leave without taking Jiang Yanli and her husband with him to the other world. He doesn't know Jin Ling, the nephew he had to raise on his own, who loved him in his sour way and called for his jiujiu any time he needed help.

He doesn't know anything.

Wei Wuxian very abruptly feels quite ill. He pulls his hands from Jiang Cheng's wrists and takes a few steps back, visibly paling.]

You don't remember. [And there's nothing he can do to help him recall what he's forgotten, given what he knows from trying to tell Wen Ning.

(A terrible part of himself wonders, would you, even if you could?)

He shakes his head, taking another couple of steps back before turning on his heel NOW IT'S HIS TURN TO LEAVE.]

[goldenrepair]

[??

It's very bizarre for Wei Wuxian to not only be speechless, but to turn and run away. Jiang Cheng is left looking increasingly more bewildered the more steps Wei Wuxian takes back.]

What?

[Wen Ning he said, what? "We're all missing things, even memories"? But that's just stupid. He's not... missing anything? He's not missing any memories! Nothing feels different at all! Wei Wuxian is the one missing memories, he's sure of it.] Where are you going, Wei Wuxian?! Maybe you don't remember! [But it hurts. It hurts his pride as much as it hurts his head, and he doesn't try to chase after Wei Wuxian. What if he doesn't remember...? Should he know? An attack on his home? Something in Qiongqi pass? A Jin child?

The last is a little better than the rest. A Jin child... But God does his head hurt. And then he realizes, no, it's not his head that hurts so badly.

It's his heart?]

[givethemhell]

[He'll have to deal with this eventually. He'll have to deal with it and he knows it, because Jiang Cheng will regain these missing fragments and this place is vast but too, too small. "If we both exist in this world, then of course we'll meet." He'd said that to Lan Wangji what feels like days and years ago; it had been true in the familiarity of home, and it's still true here. He will have to deal with this.

But he can't do that if he can barely wrangle the complex knot of emotion well enough to keep his pace even-keeled as he leaves, instead of breaking into a run. He can't look his little brother in the eye and see the soft edges of his youth, back when he was just A-Cheng and not Sect Leader Jiang, and their older sister spoiled them with extra shares of meat in their broth instead of lying cold in a casket he'd never even seen. He can't, with an unburdened conscience, talk to a Jiang Cheng who doesn't know - and can't yet learn of - the multitudes of crimes he's committed. How could he even consider it?

He will have to deal with this, but he can't just yet. Most of the ugly feelings and upset thoughts tiding through him are nameless and difficult to transmit even intentionally, so at least Jiang Cheng is spared from having to deal with everything there.

Everything but a gentle, drifting I'm sorry as he turns the corner and walks away from his brother again.]