[lan sizhui can distinctly remember the first time he coughed up tiny purple lotus petals; it was during a night-hunt alongside his fellow juniors where they'd ended up overwhelmed by an enemy they didn't understand. this, of course, meant it had taken them far longer to finish their task than earlier anticipated and whenever they finally arrived back in yunmeng from baling, hell broke loose—
no, it wasn't really that bad! though even after the explanation, jiang cheng remained irritated (worried in his own way), scolding jin ling some feet away but, despite their distance, sizhui had no trouble hearing. he'd smiled faintly then, abruptly and all at once, a tightness in his chest made him cough, which in turn caused him to raise his hand and cover his mouth. the disease isn't unheard of, he remembers learning about it during his studies, delving further into its subject for a few weeks until he ran out of material, yet whenever he'd turned away and coughed up flower petals, the only proper reaction was being surprised. that, thinking oh no! and being glad hanguang-jun and wei-qianbei weren't looking so he could dispose of the small blooms before they became noticeable. still, he hadn't gotten away with his sneakiness completely. ‘a-yuan!’ hearing the name from wei wuxian had all but made him jump out of his skin, except as he whirled around, it'd simply been to get his attention so they could get going.
and the moment they had taken off is when his – or so he thought! – artful discarding was brought into their conversation. lucky for him, it's to just question his cough: if he's sick, if he needs medicine or something before they leave, all of which he politely declines and, despite what he thinks isn't discreet enough, effectively plays off. since then, he's done everything within his power to keep things in check, to make certain he doesn't have another flare-up around sect leader jiang; it proves simpler than part of him likes, but his other half's grateful for no more possible awkward mishaps.
this means it would be just his luck to get called away on a night-hunt with said sect leader, of course. blessed immortals above, what sort of karmic backlash has been laid upon him? something unfortunate enough that it ends with jiang cheng getting injured and them trapped inside the cave they'd gone into after the monster fled.
(and all because he couldn't control those ridiculous flowers, ugh!) first, sizhui makes quick work of the aforementioned beast in its weakened state with his guqin, but now that they've gotten it cornered inside this oversized tunnel, there's a sudden cave-in dropping them to the very bottom of the alcove, which is where sizhui'd gotten hurt too. he, however, has nothing besides some bumps and bruises whereas the other man has actual wounds that need tending, regardless of his stubbornness.
sizhui briefly glances up as jiang cheng paces by him again.] You will exacerbate your injuries if you keep fussing. [then he sighs and downturns, still steadily working shi cao and goldenroot flowers into a thick, gritty kinda paste.]
♪ 'cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs (hanahaki, @fennu)
no, it wasn't really that bad! though even after the explanation, jiang cheng remained irritated (worried in his own way), scolding jin ling some feet away but, despite their distance, sizhui had no trouble hearing. he'd smiled faintly then, abruptly and all at once, a tightness in his chest made him cough, which in turn caused him to raise his hand and cover his mouth. the disease isn't unheard of, he remembers learning about it during his studies, delving further into its subject for a few weeks until he ran out of material, yet whenever he'd turned away and coughed up flower petals, the only proper reaction was being surprised. that, thinking oh no! and being glad hanguang-jun and wei-qianbei weren't looking so he could dispose of the small blooms before they became noticeable. still, he hadn't gotten away with his sneakiness completely. ‘a-yuan!’ hearing the name from wei wuxian had all but made him jump out of his skin, except as he whirled around, it'd simply been to get his attention so they could get going.
and the moment they had taken off is when his – or so he thought! – artful discarding was brought into their conversation. lucky for him, it's to just question his cough: if he's sick, if he needs medicine or something before they leave, all of which he politely declines and, despite what he thinks isn't discreet enough, effectively plays off. since then, he's done everything within his power to keep things in check, to make certain he doesn't have another flare-up around sect leader jiang; it proves simpler than part of him likes, but his other half's grateful for no more possible awkward mishaps.
this means it would be just his luck to get called away on a night-hunt with said sect leader, of course. blessed immortals above, what sort of karmic backlash has been laid upon him? something unfortunate enough that it ends with jiang cheng getting injured and them trapped inside the cave they'd gone into after the monster fled.
(and all because he couldn't control those ridiculous flowers, ugh!) first, sizhui makes quick work of the aforementioned beast in its weakened state with his guqin, but now that they've gotten it cornered inside this oversized tunnel, there's a sudden cave-in dropping them to the very bottom of the alcove, which is where sizhui'd gotten hurt too. he, however, has nothing besides some bumps and bruises whereas the other man has actual wounds that need tending, regardless of his stubbornness.
sizhui briefly glances up as jiang cheng paces by him again.] You will exacerbate your injuries if you keep fussing. [then he sighs and downturns, still steadily working shi cao and goldenroot flowers into a thick, gritty kinda paste.]