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rainbowfic2024-04-23 09:10 am
ilthit) wrote in rainbowfic2024-04-23 09:10 am
Electric Sky #18: Leave-taking (Lin Moniao Series)
Name: Leave-taking
Story: Lin Moniao Series (AO3 link)
Colors: Electric Sky #18 (Embracing the Future)
Supplies and Styles: gesso, nubs; interactive art, life drawing, silhouette
Word Count: 2,358
Rating: teen
Warnings: Reference to murder, messy polyamory, reference to sex.
Summary: Shen Shanwei must sneak out of the capital unseen; luckily, he has sneaky allies.
Note: Co-written withminutia_r . This is a scene between the events of Chasing the Bat and Mid-Autumn Festival that ended up not being included in either. Also available on AO3 here (specific chapter link), with art (not mine but really great, recommended). Back to being a silhouette due to Shen Shanwei's back-and-forthing. Last one today, promise.
*
It is dark again by the time Lin Moniao lets himself back into Master Wu's house, but the reception room is once again lit, and he can hear voices inside going back and forth, debating. They fall silent at the sound of his feet. As he steps in, instead of greeting him, Shen Shanwei stands up and holds out his arms. "Lin-shixiong, look at this! It won't work. Tell Xia-ge."
Shen Shanwei is quite obviously wearing several layered robes one over the other in an attempt to make him look wider, and his hair is collected up into a tight braided bun in Mu Liqiang's old style. Shi Jia looks up from where he is sitting by the table, on top of which there are robes in various styles laid out. Mu Liqiang is folding others away, stacking them neatly by the table. There is also a makeup kit and a set with small boxes with a lid holding a copper mirror, but so far nobody has attempted to draw a mustache on Shen-shidi.
Lin Moniao considers him for a moment. "Well, if you're traveling at night... from a distance... your hair looks all right, anyway."
Shi Jia looks up and down at Shen Shanwei as he holds out his hands and tries turning around. The robes are even short at the arms. Shi Jia sighs, defeated. "I tried, A-Niao."
"It was a good thought," Lin Moniao says consolingly.
"Welcome back, shixiong," says Mu Liqiang, the first to remember his manners. "Should I boil more water for tea?"
"Tea! Please. So, what are we thinking? You had better leave quickly, Shen-shidi, before... anyone else gets wind of what's happened."
Mu Liqiang bows--he hadn't been this formal when it was just sect brothers present!--and disappears in the direction of the kitchens.
Shen Shanwei slips out of at least three robes, leaving on his black and red. Shi Jia gathers them up, along with the others he'd laid out, looking worried. "Maybe this Xia Yang is being overly cautious, but if the house is being watched by--the Bureau--and they notice Shen Shanwei leaving and then not returning, they might go after him. Of course, even if he left here looking like Master Fa, it would seem rather odd if Master Fa never walked in in the first place."
"I would agree with Xia Yang," says Shen Shanwei, sitting down again, "and it would have been an excellent thought, if we could make me look like whoever Master Fa is. It will be even more obvious that I'm skipping town if I try to do it dressed like a third-rate comedy act."
"True." Lin Moniao drums his fingers on the table, thinking. "What if Shen Shanwei does return? He cannot look like Master Fa." He narrows his eyes at Shi Jia, looking him up and down. "Can you look like Shen Shanwei?"
The two young men look at one another.
"We aren't quite the same shape," Shi Jia says, "so I didn't think of it at first. But Shen-ge does wear his hair a certain way and carry himself a certain way. Maybe those, and clothes, count for more?"
"Especially when it's what a watcher will expect to see. Three Qilin Villa members leave the house with their visiting friend, and then come back without him, what could be more unremarkable? Of course, it would help if you then stayed a while longer, Xia-ge, so as not to arouse suspicion until Shen-shidi was well away, but I don't mind that if you don't."
"I have no appointments." Shi Jia smiles. "There is also the advantage of Mu Liqiang's proportions. Who would look very closely at anybody else's height when he overshadows everyone?" He falls into thought, turning the picture over in his mind.
"It would leave the house empty," Shen Shanwei posits, but it doesn't have the strength of a real protest. "Does it have to be three?"
"Not empty for very long. It's been empty for longer before," Lin Moniao points out. "And as Xia Yang says, Mu-shidi will be helpful just as a point of contrast. But I suppose I could stay behind if it will really make you feel easier."
Having finished his thinking, Shi Jia says, "It is as you like. There is some advantage to two instead of three, but it would have to be a particularly keen hypothetical watcher to spot that the Shen Shanwei that leaves is slightly taller than Lin Moniao, and the one that returns is slightly shorter."
"If it's all the same--I'd rather go," says Lin Moniao, and hopes no one will ask him to explain his reasoning. After all, both Shen Shanwei and Shi Jia have been out of his sight most of the day, and nothing bad has happened to them. But nevertheless.
That decided, the adjustments begin. Shi Jia tries on Shen Shanwei's outer robe, and the sleeve length is found unobjectionable, and their feet are the same size. Mu Liqiang returns with tea and is filled in on the plan. Shi Jia had already thought of a number of other considerations. Perhaps this is not the first time he has used this escape route. "The tunnel leads through the basement of a restaurant, and the hands of the proprietors have already been greased. The cover is quite good, and there is nothing very strange about four friends going there for a late dinner and a drink. We can change clothes in the basement."
"Your bag," Shen Shanwei says. "I will need it for my things. We can't both leave with a bag."
Shi Jia looks a little crestfallen, and pats the beloved bag at his side, but he has to admit that a bag is just a bag, and of course it's the only sensible way.
"Which reminds me, Lin-shixiong, do you know what book you picked off the Sword Goddess's table?"
"I confess I wasn't paying that much attention at the time," says Lin Moniao. What does Liu Xiuling consider light bedtime reading? If he's given Shen-shidi a book of erotic illustrations--well, that would be pretty funny, and he can plausibly claim ignorance.
"No, you couldn't know." Shen Shanwei looks around at the others. "Come on." He rocks up on his feet and beckons Lin Moniao to follow, a mirror of the night he had returned to Kaifeng.
With an apologetic backwards glance, Lin Moniao follows him.
"I'll explain in a moment why I didn't just bring it out," Shen Shanwei says when they get to his room. He lowers his voice, but leaves the door ajar; they can still see the light from up the corridor, and hear distant voices.
Shen Shanwei had already prepared a slim bag of thing, it seems. He picks it up off the bed and fished out the book, handing it to Lin Moniao. The cover is plain, but inside the first page is an illustration. It's a play from some years ago, popular in its time, about giant warriors; but more than that, it has the names of the performers listed in the introduction.
"Two of my aunts acted in this piece." He taps the list of names; though he does not go so far as to point out specific ones. "I didn't have anything from them, no keepsakes. Now I have this." He grins and closes the distance between them to kiss Lin Moniao on the cheek. "Thank you."
Now it's Lin Moniao's turn to not quite know what to do with himself. Heat rises to his face, and he half lifts his hand to touch where Shen Shanwei kissed him before dropping it again. "Well, I'm--glad," he says inadequately.
Shen Shanwei snorts, though he's still smiling. "Lin Moniao can blush?" With a wicked look, he leans in again, whispering, "Too bad I'm leaving tonight, hm?"
Then he walks past him back to the door, already calling out an apology to the others for taking so long.
Lin Moniao leans against the doorframe for a moment and drags his hands down his face. He had told Peony only an hour or two before that he wouldn't be able to get it up again for another day at least, and he'd meant it, but if Shen Shanwei--
It doesn't matter, because he isn't, and he isn't going to. He told Lin Moniao to lay off, and he is laying off. He's being good! He tucks his hair into place and takes a deep breath and follows Shen Shanwei to join the others.
Shen Shanwei's smug look melts as they return and Mu Liqiang is watching with obedient attention as Shi Jia is standing up, holding himself... differently. "I don't stand like that!" Shen Shanwei objects.
Lin Moniao looks from Shi Jia to Shen Shanwei, lips twitching. "No, Shen-shidi is right," he says. "You have to lift your chin more. Look down your nose. You're Shen Shanwei, and a cruel fortune has saddled you with a pack of fools for companions, but somehow you will persevere."
Shen Shanwei makes an affronted noise. "I--you--"
Mu Liqiang looks like he wants to speak, but presses his lips together tight and shifts his eyes to the side. He has been on the receiving end of that look recently, despite being taller. It's a feat.
"Like this?" Shi Jia puts his nose in the air, and adds a languid hand movement.
Lin Moniao bursts out laughing. When he finally catches his breath, he says, "Well... perhaps not that much. But you have the idea."
Shen Shanwei crosses his arms and scowls. Shi Jia observes but does not mimic it, perhaps wisely. "Shen-shixiong is very graceful," Mu Liqiang offers diplomatically.
Shi Jia catches on. "Yes, this Xia Yang will do his best to match his elegance."
"Fine, make fun," Shen Shanwei mutters, but the wind's gone out of his sails. They are, after all, helping him for no gain. "Alright, Xia-ge--look at your collar, you have to hitch it up, like this..."
--
The evening has turned well into night by the time they're ready to go, but this is still the capital, and the people are profligate with their lamp-oil. They are hardly the only group of young men out on the streets. Shi Jia's books have been left at the house, and in the bag at his side now are Shen Shanwei's few items for traveling.
The restaurant sits far from the nearest guard tower, nestled almost against the wall, and is lit up with lanterns on its outdoor balcony and at the door side; the clientele is middle-income, judging by the quality of their robes and hairpieces, and tends towards young and thirsty. Already there is singing going on in the balcony, while downstairs a more staid crowd are served bowls of food along with their drink.
Shi Jia is known here as Xia Yang, and they get a table towards the back, and a round of baijiu, and then it's getting to be time to say goodbye.
"Well." Lin Moniao looks down into his cup, turns it in his hands, and looks up at Shen Shanwei. "I suppose you had better be going."
Shen Shanwei draws in a deep breath. "You're right. Thank you, all of you." He puts his hands together for a small seated bow. "I'll keep out of trouble, so all the effort won't be in vain."
"For good fortune." Shi Jia holds up a fresh bowl of wine, and the others copy, including Shen Shanwei.
"Good fortune," Lin Moniao echoes, and raises his bowl. "Thank you. You've done--so much. I don't think I'd recognize you if you kept out of trouble entirely, but please try to stay one step ahead of it."
Shen Shanwei smiles with pleasure at first but then puts his nose in the air. "Pots and kettles!"
They drink and then Shi Jia and Shen Shanwei get up together and go towards the back, with a last look, but no wave--just in case anyone is watching. Mu Liqiang pours more drink.
"Shixiong is very devoted to his friends," he ventures, thoughtful. "And his friends to him. It is no wonder he is shifu's favorite."
Lin Moniao takes a long drink to cover for the fact that he doesn't know how to answer. Finally he sets his bowl down and says, "Yuwen-shijie and Yu-shixiong also told me why they thought I'm shifu's favorite. I think yours is the nicest." He looks to where Shen Shanwei and Shi Jia disappeared, then quickly away again. "Shen-shidi said that ordering people's lives and deaths is part of being a leader, and I suppose he's right. But I think this is too." Shaking his head, with a soft breath of laughter, he adds, "Still want to replace me, rascal?"
Mu Liqiang shakes his head firmly. "I want to follow, not lead." He smiles, rests his chin on his hand, and nudges Lin Moniao's foot with his.
Lin Moniao returns the nudge with a grin. "How fortunate for both of us."
Shi Jia takes his time to return, and when he does, his hair is precisely like Shen Shanwei's, partly collected in a topknot, the rest loose down his back. Even the inner robe visible under the black outer robe is the Qilin Villa red. At least with the boots and the robes, they would not have needed to swap trousers.
Mu Liqiang pours for everyone. One more drink, and then they should go.
Shi Jia sits down, holding himself up rigid and tall, arms close to his body, and sits down primly with his chin up in the air. Then he shakes his head and wiggles his shoulders. "How does he keep this up?"
Lin Moniao looks at Shi Jia curiously. It's not a question he's ever considered. It must be training--older and more deeply ingrained than his martial training. "Pride, I expect," he says, downing his bowl.
"It is natural to Shen-shixiong and unnatural to Shi Jia," Mu Liqiang says softly. "It's always difficult to do what doesn't come naturally."
No one accosts them on the way back. It is full dark, and fewer lamps are lit, but that means moonlight has a chance to fill the streets. Though it is still growing, the night is clear as they slip back into the house; so perhaps their efforts have not been entirely in vain.
Story: Lin Moniao Series (AO3 link)
Colors: Electric Sky #18 (Embracing the Future)
Supplies and Styles: gesso, nubs; interactive art, life drawing, silhouette
Word Count: 2,358
Rating: teen
Warnings: Reference to murder, messy polyamory, reference to sex.
Summary: Shen Shanwei must sneak out of the capital unseen; luckily, he has sneaky allies.
Note: Co-written with
minutia_r . This is a scene between the events of Chasing the Bat and Mid-Autumn Festival that ended up not being included in either. Also available on AO3 here (specific chapter link), with art (not mine but really great, recommended). Back to being a silhouette due to Shen Shanwei's back-and-forthing. Last one today, promise.*
It is dark again by the time Lin Moniao lets himself back into Master Wu's house, but the reception room is once again lit, and he can hear voices inside going back and forth, debating. They fall silent at the sound of his feet. As he steps in, instead of greeting him, Shen Shanwei stands up and holds out his arms. "Lin-shixiong, look at this! It won't work. Tell Xia-ge."
Shen Shanwei is quite obviously wearing several layered robes one over the other in an attempt to make him look wider, and his hair is collected up into a tight braided bun in Mu Liqiang's old style. Shi Jia looks up from where he is sitting by the table, on top of which there are robes in various styles laid out. Mu Liqiang is folding others away, stacking them neatly by the table. There is also a makeup kit and a set with small boxes with a lid holding a copper mirror, but so far nobody has attempted to draw a mustache on Shen-shidi.
Lin Moniao considers him for a moment. "Well, if you're traveling at night... from a distance... your hair looks all right, anyway."
Shi Jia looks up and down at Shen Shanwei as he holds out his hands and tries turning around. The robes are even short at the arms. Shi Jia sighs, defeated. "I tried, A-Niao."
"It was a good thought," Lin Moniao says consolingly.
"Welcome back, shixiong," says Mu Liqiang, the first to remember his manners. "Should I boil more water for tea?"
"Tea! Please. So, what are we thinking? You had better leave quickly, Shen-shidi, before... anyone else gets wind of what's happened."
Mu Liqiang bows--he hadn't been this formal when it was just sect brothers present!--and disappears in the direction of the kitchens.
Shen Shanwei slips out of at least three robes, leaving on his black and red. Shi Jia gathers them up, along with the others he'd laid out, looking worried. "Maybe this Xia Yang is being overly cautious, but if the house is being watched by--the Bureau--and they notice Shen Shanwei leaving and then not returning, they might go after him. Of course, even if he left here looking like Master Fa, it would seem rather odd if Master Fa never walked in in the first place."
"I would agree with Xia Yang," says Shen Shanwei, sitting down again, "and it would have been an excellent thought, if we could make me look like whoever Master Fa is. It will be even more obvious that I'm skipping town if I try to do it dressed like a third-rate comedy act."
"True." Lin Moniao drums his fingers on the table, thinking. "What if Shen Shanwei does return? He cannot look like Master Fa." He narrows his eyes at Shi Jia, looking him up and down. "Can you look like Shen Shanwei?"
The two young men look at one another.
"We aren't quite the same shape," Shi Jia says, "so I didn't think of it at first. But Shen-ge does wear his hair a certain way and carry himself a certain way. Maybe those, and clothes, count for more?"
"Especially when it's what a watcher will expect to see. Three Qilin Villa members leave the house with their visiting friend, and then come back without him, what could be more unremarkable? Of course, it would help if you then stayed a while longer, Xia-ge, so as not to arouse suspicion until Shen-shidi was well away, but I don't mind that if you don't."
"I have no appointments." Shi Jia smiles. "There is also the advantage of Mu Liqiang's proportions. Who would look very closely at anybody else's height when he overshadows everyone?" He falls into thought, turning the picture over in his mind.
"It would leave the house empty," Shen Shanwei posits, but it doesn't have the strength of a real protest. "Does it have to be three?"
"Not empty for very long. It's been empty for longer before," Lin Moniao points out. "And as Xia Yang says, Mu-shidi will be helpful just as a point of contrast. But I suppose I could stay behind if it will really make you feel easier."
Having finished his thinking, Shi Jia says, "It is as you like. There is some advantage to two instead of three, but it would have to be a particularly keen hypothetical watcher to spot that the Shen Shanwei that leaves is slightly taller than Lin Moniao, and the one that returns is slightly shorter."
"If it's all the same--I'd rather go," says Lin Moniao, and hopes no one will ask him to explain his reasoning. After all, both Shen Shanwei and Shi Jia have been out of his sight most of the day, and nothing bad has happened to them. But nevertheless.
That decided, the adjustments begin. Shi Jia tries on Shen Shanwei's outer robe, and the sleeve length is found unobjectionable, and their feet are the same size. Mu Liqiang returns with tea and is filled in on the plan. Shi Jia had already thought of a number of other considerations. Perhaps this is not the first time he has used this escape route. "The tunnel leads through the basement of a restaurant, and the hands of the proprietors have already been greased. The cover is quite good, and there is nothing very strange about four friends going there for a late dinner and a drink. We can change clothes in the basement."
"Your bag," Shen Shanwei says. "I will need it for my things. We can't both leave with a bag."
Shi Jia looks a little crestfallen, and pats the beloved bag at his side, but he has to admit that a bag is just a bag, and of course it's the only sensible way.
"Which reminds me, Lin-shixiong, do you know what book you picked off the Sword Goddess's table?"
"I confess I wasn't paying that much attention at the time," says Lin Moniao. What does Liu Xiuling consider light bedtime reading? If he's given Shen-shidi a book of erotic illustrations--well, that would be pretty funny, and he can plausibly claim ignorance.
"No, you couldn't know." Shen Shanwei looks around at the others. "Come on." He rocks up on his feet and beckons Lin Moniao to follow, a mirror of the night he had returned to Kaifeng.
With an apologetic backwards glance, Lin Moniao follows him.
"I'll explain in a moment why I didn't just bring it out," Shen Shanwei says when they get to his room. He lowers his voice, but leaves the door ajar; they can still see the light from up the corridor, and hear distant voices.
Shen Shanwei had already prepared a slim bag of thing, it seems. He picks it up off the bed and fished out the book, handing it to Lin Moniao. The cover is plain, but inside the first page is an illustration. It's a play from some years ago, popular in its time, about giant warriors; but more than that, it has the names of the performers listed in the introduction.
"Two of my aunts acted in this piece." He taps the list of names; though he does not go so far as to point out specific ones. "I didn't have anything from them, no keepsakes. Now I have this." He grins and closes the distance between them to kiss Lin Moniao on the cheek. "Thank you."
Now it's Lin Moniao's turn to not quite know what to do with himself. Heat rises to his face, and he half lifts his hand to touch where Shen Shanwei kissed him before dropping it again. "Well, I'm--glad," he says inadequately.
Shen Shanwei snorts, though he's still smiling. "Lin Moniao can blush?" With a wicked look, he leans in again, whispering, "Too bad I'm leaving tonight, hm?"
Then he walks past him back to the door, already calling out an apology to the others for taking so long.
Lin Moniao leans against the doorframe for a moment and drags his hands down his face. He had told Peony only an hour or two before that he wouldn't be able to get it up again for another day at least, and he'd meant it, but if Shen Shanwei--
It doesn't matter, because he isn't, and he isn't going to. He told Lin Moniao to lay off, and he is laying off. He's being good! He tucks his hair into place and takes a deep breath and follows Shen Shanwei to join the others.
Shen Shanwei's smug look melts as they return and Mu Liqiang is watching with obedient attention as Shi Jia is standing up, holding himself... differently. "I don't stand like that!" Shen Shanwei objects.
Lin Moniao looks from Shi Jia to Shen Shanwei, lips twitching. "No, Shen-shidi is right," he says. "You have to lift your chin more. Look down your nose. You're Shen Shanwei, and a cruel fortune has saddled you with a pack of fools for companions, but somehow you will persevere."
Shen Shanwei makes an affronted noise. "I--you--"
Mu Liqiang looks like he wants to speak, but presses his lips together tight and shifts his eyes to the side. He has been on the receiving end of that look recently, despite being taller. It's a feat.
"Like this?" Shi Jia puts his nose in the air, and adds a languid hand movement.
Lin Moniao bursts out laughing. When he finally catches his breath, he says, "Well... perhaps not that much. But you have the idea."
Shen Shanwei crosses his arms and scowls. Shi Jia observes but does not mimic it, perhaps wisely. "Shen-shixiong is very graceful," Mu Liqiang offers diplomatically.
Shi Jia catches on. "Yes, this Xia Yang will do his best to match his elegance."
"Fine, make fun," Shen Shanwei mutters, but the wind's gone out of his sails. They are, after all, helping him for no gain. "Alright, Xia-ge--look at your collar, you have to hitch it up, like this..."
--
The evening has turned well into night by the time they're ready to go, but this is still the capital, and the people are profligate with their lamp-oil. They are hardly the only group of young men out on the streets. Shi Jia's books have been left at the house, and in the bag at his side now are Shen Shanwei's few items for traveling.
The restaurant sits far from the nearest guard tower, nestled almost against the wall, and is lit up with lanterns on its outdoor balcony and at the door side; the clientele is middle-income, judging by the quality of their robes and hairpieces, and tends towards young and thirsty. Already there is singing going on in the balcony, while downstairs a more staid crowd are served bowls of food along with their drink.
Shi Jia is known here as Xia Yang, and they get a table towards the back, and a round of baijiu, and then it's getting to be time to say goodbye.
"Well." Lin Moniao looks down into his cup, turns it in his hands, and looks up at Shen Shanwei. "I suppose you had better be going."
Shen Shanwei draws in a deep breath. "You're right. Thank you, all of you." He puts his hands together for a small seated bow. "I'll keep out of trouble, so all the effort won't be in vain."
"For good fortune." Shi Jia holds up a fresh bowl of wine, and the others copy, including Shen Shanwei.
"Good fortune," Lin Moniao echoes, and raises his bowl. "Thank you. You've done--so much. I don't think I'd recognize you if you kept out of trouble entirely, but please try to stay one step ahead of it."
Shen Shanwei smiles with pleasure at first but then puts his nose in the air. "Pots and kettles!"
They drink and then Shi Jia and Shen Shanwei get up together and go towards the back, with a last look, but no wave--just in case anyone is watching. Mu Liqiang pours more drink.
"Shixiong is very devoted to his friends," he ventures, thoughtful. "And his friends to him. It is no wonder he is shifu's favorite."
Lin Moniao takes a long drink to cover for the fact that he doesn't know how to answer. Finally he sets his bowl down and says, "Yuwen-shijie and Yu-shixiong also told me why they thought I'm shifu's favorite. I think yours is the nicest." He looks to where Shen Shanwei and Shi Jia disappeared, then quickly away again. "Shen-shidi said that ordering people's lives and deaths is part of being a leader, and I suppose he's right. But I think this is too." Shaking his head, with a soft breath of laughter, he adds, "Still want to replace me, rascal?"
Mu Liqiang shakes his head firmly. "I want to follow, not lead." He smiles, rests his chin on his hand, and nudges Lin Moniao's foot with his.
Lin Moniao returns the nudge with a grin. "How fortunate for both of us."
Shi Jia takes his time to return, and when he does, his hair is precisely like Shen Shanwei's, partly collected in a topknot, the rest loose down his back. Even the inner robe visible under the black outer robe is the Qilin Villa red. At least with the boots and the robes, they would not have needed to swap trousers.
Mu Liqiang pours for everyone. One more drink, and then they should go.
Shi Jia sits down, holding himself up rigid and tall, arms close to his body, and sits down primly with his chin up in the air. Then he shakes his head and wiggles his shoulders. "How does he keep this up?"
Lin Moniao looks at Shi Jia curiously. It's not a question he's ever considered. It must be training--older and more deeply ingrained than his martial training. "Pride, I expect," he says, downing his bowl.
"It is natural to Shen-shixiong and unnatural to Shi Jia," Mu Liqiang says softly. "It's always difficult to do what doesn't come naturally."
No one accosts them on the way back. It is full dark, and fewer lamps are lit, but that means moonlight has a chance to fill the streets. Though it is still growing, the night is clear as they slip back into the house; so perhaps their efforts have not been entirely in vain.
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