X Never Marks the Spot

Da Qing nodded. "Lao-Zhao's worried about the same thing. But what could they try this late anyway? If we sleep now, then we'll be awake later to catch them, whatever they're up to."

Which was uniquely feline logic, but Shen Wei could not deny that a little rest might be restorative. Or else that was just his own weakness--of his injured lung, and his heart too, when Da Qing said, imploringly, "Come on, Lao-Zhao will want me to tell him you got some sleep, and I hate lying to him..."

That was asking too much, perhaps; but Shen Wei at least changed into pajamas. He didn't go to the bedroom, though, but sat back down on the couch to meditate.

Da Qing grumbled, but sat down beside him, round and furred. Curling up with his curving spine pressed against the side of Shen Wei's leg, he said softly, "Shen-laoshi--it's going to be okay."

"Shen Wei?" Zhao Yunlan tilted the flashlight up toward his face, and Shen Wei raised his free hand to shade his eyes.

"Shen Wei, why aren't you wearing your breathing mask?" Zhao Yunlan demanded.

Shen Wei blinked back the momentary sparkles to look at Zhao Yunlan's face--his eyes were narrowed, echoing the inexplicable alarm in his voice. "My what?"

Zhao Yunlan reached to the annoying encumbrance hanging around Shen Wei's neck, gave it a tug. "Oh," Shen Wei said, "that--I couldn't properly smell the fragrance with it on."

"Yeah," Zhao Yunlan said, "wasn't that the point?"

Shen Wei tried to think. He had a vague memory of Lin Jing explaining something while giving them the masks, but the details slipped his mind now. But Zhao Yunlan was looking at him expectantly, so he hazarded, "Yes, that was the point."

"But then you took off the mask to better smell the murder flower's poison pollen."

"Yes, I did," Shen Wei confirmed, relieved to be on more certain ground.

shadowlancer_95

"The point of this, ah, game, is for you to have fun, isn't it, not for you to make yourself sick."

Zhao Yunlan rolled his eyes again. Okay, he could have predicted that among Shen Wei's myriad talents, drinking games probably weren't going to be a specialty.

Not that they had an actual game. Zhao Yunlan had tried to think of something besides beer pong--no way could he match Shen Wei's reflexes, even sober--or watching movies--Shen Wei didn't know the tropes anyway--and had done a little online research, before deciding that they were two grown-ass men and if they wanted to spend a weekend night, with their schedules carefully cleared, getting mildly shit-faced together, then they didn't need some silly excuse to do it.

...And then Shen Wei had spent the first hour doing the after-dinner kitchen cleanup between hits, because of course he did. Maybe he should have picked a game. "The point," Zhao Yunlan said, "is for us to have fun."

"Shen Wei, what's up with you? This morning--you never oversleep, I don't ever need to set an alarm anymore--"

"I know," Shen Wei said wretchedly, "I'm sorry--"

"--and then this meeting--"

"--yes, that was an unacceptable oversight, I don't know how I--"

"--are you coming down with something?"

Shen Wei blinked at him. "Am I...?"

"Do you have a cold?" Zhao Yunlan said, slow and patiently.

"If you meant it before," Zhao Yunlan said, "about keeping these kids safe--then maybe it won't be so bad, us working together."

There was a pause. Then the Envoy said, evenly and quietly enough to make it hard to read his tone, "So, I'm to understand that if I cooperate with you now, I'll find you more agreeable in our future partnership. While as if I do not, then you'll be...less amenable to work with."

"Oh, I can go way beyond less amenable," Zhao Yunlan assured him. "Try intractable. Hostile. Dissentious. One of my instructors at the academy used 'recalcitrant and intransigent' on an official review. You could pull rank all you want, but I'd make your every interaction with the SID a living hell."

"I don't doubt it," the Envoy said, but he didn't sound overly bothered.

brush_and_lantern

The figure started to step forward, and Zhao Yunlan cocked the pistol, the metallic click loud enough to be heard over the kids' whimpering. "You get one more warning," he said. "Stay back."

The figure didn't move closer, but it brought down its hand in a sharp gesture--Zhao Yunlan braced, but it wasn't calling back its weapon. Instead the black cloak and mask dissolved around it, to reveal a man--a man in glasses and a neatly tailored blue suit. And yeah, of course Dixingren could look as human as anyone if they tried, and most of them did; but still, this guy didn't look like he'd crawled up from any hellish underworld. More like he'd stepped out of an accounting office, or a university classroom.

"Zhao Yunlan, are you all right?" the man asked.

Zhao Yunlan didn't lower the gun, kept his elbows locked so his arms wouldn't shake too hard and his eyes narrowed against the vise of pain closed around his skull. "I'm just dandy," he said. "So who the fuck are you?"

sid_guardian

Shen Wei didn't blink. Didn't break or lower his locked-on gaze. "I would forgive you," he said.

"Forgive me?"

"If you broke your promise," Shen Wei said. "I would understand."

Shen Wei’s voice was even, calm; but his hand at his side was curled into a fist, just visible under the hanging sleeve of his bathrobe, and pressed tight against his thigh.

"Shen Wei,“ Zhao Yunlan said, and the way Shen Wei snapped to attention, the slight bow of his body towards Zhao Yunlan, as his too-dark gaze locked onto him–it was almost as usual, but not quite; at once appealing and disturbing. Zhao Yunlan cleared his throat, said, "If my being here makes this harder—if it’s really going to be better for you to go it alone, if you really want me to leave, then I’ll leave. I’ll clear out now and keep my distance until it’s all over.”

"It…“ Shen Wei swallowed. "It would be—you have your duties as Guardian, and this is hardly among them.”

"Not what I asked,“ Zhao Yunlan said gently.