( Precedent ill favours them in encounter. Lan Wangji has seen the boy — the cannibal, the unflinching monster — devour flesh before Wangjis' unblinking eyes and entertain not the mote of a shadow of regret. Perhaps his heart is drained of guilt and innocence, just as poverty and resignation have exorcised fear from the husks of these people like pestilence. Perhaps the boy simply never knew common mores, to start.
Lan Wangji does not welcome him. Barely bartered the lethargy of his step long enough to allow an addition, however faithful, in the squeezed geometries of the negative space defined by his run. He thinks, idly, to trip the boy out of sight — but Lan Wangji is no child, and before them the creature slithers as if she were a great snake, jaw unhinged and her body elastic, whipping and thrashing like distant smoke.
Had he not glimpsed her face and its jaws, Lan Wangji might not have known her human. But he saw is pallor reflected in her own, tastes the strange, animal fear that exudes from her as he — they give chase, gravel ricocheting underfoot. As the crop fields stab the skies young and golden into view, he thinks to give Kaneki direction, turns to see him and spots — ...the growth. On his back. Ah. )
You are. ( And how to best, unfailingly, unblinkingly, breath bartered with difficulty — sum up Kaneki's circumstances today? ) With child?
( Can Kaneki not once prevail over normalcy? Once? )
no subject
Lan Wangji does not welcome him. Barely bartered the lethargy of his step long enough to allow an addition, however faithful, in the squeezed geometries of the negative space defined by his run. He thinks, idly, to trip the boy out of sight — but Lan Wangji is no child, and before them the creature slithers as if she were a great snake, jaw unhinged and her body elastic, whipping and thrashing like distant smoke.
Had he not glimpsed her face and its jaws, Lan Wangji might not have known her human. But he saw is pallor reflected in her own, tastes the strange, animal fear that exudes from her as he — they give chase, gravel ricocheting underfoot. As the crop fields stab the skies young and golden into view, he thinks to give Kaneki direction, turns to see him and spots — ...the growth. On his back. Ah. )
You are. ( And how to best, unfailingly, unblinkingly, breath bartered with difficulty — sum up Kaneki's circumstances today? ) With child?
( Can Kaneki not once prevail over normalcy? Once? )