( The shark is, through no merit or struggle of its own or even of its species, somehow proceeding with life as it knows it.
...and as no creature should, ideally, ever know it.
But it strides onwards and, Lan Wangji, bereft of opportunity to gently steer it towards a righteous path, only surrenders to sinking down. Pressure rakes his temples, seizes and clenches tight. Past a threshold, he knows, the mind will stay willing, but the body will oppose a deeper dive.
He moderates his breathing, as if the suit yet required his cooperation, and simply thins his gaze to a fine line, when the darkness of the sea's depths spread rich around him, and he is inured to the diminished visibility.
He sees it, scattered before the ship — coral, braided, rot-black and inquisitive. Waving in water, gentle but somehow... remiss. A strange thrum of wicked hunger within it. )
Caution. ( He cannot say why he urges it, only that it resonates in him, a warning crystalline and clear. )
no subject
...and as no creature should, ideally, ever know it.
But it strides onwards and, Lan Wangji, bereft of opportunity to gently steer it towards a righteous path, only surrenders to sinking down. Pressure rakes his temples, seizes and clenches tight. Past a threshold, he knows, the mind will stay willing, but the body will oppose a deeper dive.
He moderates his breathing, as if the suit yet required his cooperation, and simply thins his gaze to a fine line, when the darkness of the sea's depths spread rich around him, and he is inured to the diminished visibility.
He sees it, scattered before the ship — coral, braided, rot-black and inquisitive. Waving in water, gentle but somehow... remiss. A strange thrum of wicked hunger within it. )
Caution. ( He cannot say why he urges it, only that it resonates in him, a warning crystalline and clear. )