//sounds good!!!just hmu at any time. I've been continuously dying bc work but I'm still here!

//i agree, but for now, know that we are all here for you 🫂

I'll be here if you ever want to write with someone! I'll even be XXC again for you ☺️

(I might not make a whole account tho bc that is exhausting)

//Charlie! I always think you're fantastic!!

I will admit the space here is a bit different, perhaps quiet at times, but I don't think that's a testament to your skills. You're a great writer and I love plotting with you 🥺

It was not that she didn't trust her mother, she was just so accustomed to one way of thinking and feeling.

Still, that didn't stop her from feeling some guilt.

"It's been... Troublesome, at times, but the most important thing is that Wangji is able to live the way he wishes to."

Xichen was... Well, she was out of her element.

She was never one to pour out her heart to anyone. Instead, she was often the shoulder that was leant.

To have someone listen, to have that someone be her own mother, was...

Well, it was just a bit too much.

"I... Have been fine."

So she defaults.

"Xue Yang."

Her tongue was sharp as she glared at him directly.

"I'm done playing your games. We've been over this before, have we not?"

"Why would I not be?"

Her answer was so simple, so blunt. Although she answered with a question of her own, the words said it all.

As did that ever so gentle expression, which had not left her face since he approached.

"I see no reason to abstain from meeting with a fellow Sect Leader."

- hearing a faint rustling, peaking through the leaves at a little bunny that munched away at one of the plants.

"... It seems we have a visitor."

She paused at her mother's reminder, that slight haze clearing from her eyes. Of course what had been instilled in her from birth would be second nature, but since her mother had been gone for so long, she simply defaulted to what she knew.

"I have been well. The weather is warming a bit."

She doesn't hear any argument, setting her hand gently on his arm to guide him over to sit at the table with her.

After steeping some jasmine tea leaves, she gracefully poured them both a cup, their surroundings peacefully quiet.

Pulling her skirt beneath her legs, she sat down beside her mother in perfect uniform fashion. Ever the pinnacle of elegance, as a good Gusu Lan clan member should be.

"Thank you, mother."

"Have you not been resting?" Lan Xichen questioned, meeting his gaze with a gentle look of concern. "Sect Leader Jiang, with all due respect, no leader can function on lack of rest. Come, sit. Join me for tea. If you need aid, you only need to send a message."