( ...the tragedy of this circus is this: the subterfuge works. There is in Mo Ran an abyssal capacity to carelessly play pretend with identities, mannerisms, his own person. As if each day he settles a fresh face upon his bones and stretches out its stitches, breaks in its folds.
They pass the guards, largely unscathed — but for Lan Wangji's pride, increasingly chipped down to resemble either a miniature of underwater territory. No matter. He shrugs off all attempts at intimacy or proximity, only too glad to entertain a politely distant worship of the Chained God.
Together, trotting through temple halls so disgustingly overfilled by incense that he tastes the sweet, waxy print of them, in the back of his mouth, and his skin feels oiled with mattified ashes. Irritation wells and bursts with every step they take below. )
Who is Mo Weiyu to touch me freely?
( Sir, and Lan Wangji, a man wedded on multiple occasions, how very dare you, the nerve, the audacity, the horror of your lice and fleas, sir, they come in a crowd, paying no rent, filthy good-for-nothings, the real estate of Lan Wangji's shoulders will never be so well valued again — )
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( ...the tragedy of this circus is this: the subterfuge works. There is in Mo Ran an abyssal capacity to carelessly play pretend with identities, mannerisms, his own person. As if each day he settles a fresh face upon his bones and stretches out its stitches, breaks in its folds.
They pass the guards, largely unscathed — but for Lan Wangji's pride, increasingly chipped down to resemble either a miniature of underwater territory. No matter. He shrugs off all attempts at intimacy or proximity, only too glad to entertain a politely distant worship of the Chained God.
Together, trotting through temple halls so disgustingly overfilled by incense that he tastes the sweet, waxy print of them, in the back of his mouth, and his skin feels oiled with mattified ashes. Irritation wells and bursts with every step they take below. )
Who is Mo Weiyu to touch me freely?
( Sir, and Lan Wangji, a man wedded on multiple occasions, how very dare you, the nerve, the audacity, the horror of your lice and fleas, sir, they come in a crowd, paying no rent, filthy good-for-nothings, the real estate of Lan Wangji's shoulders will never be so well valued again — )