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 Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:21 pm
It was blistering, bright even within the study as sunlight burned wooden rails and filtered through the panels of the door. Shen sat near the open window, brush in hand and head bent over a blank scroll. He remained in that position, immobile, the picture of someone waiting for inspiration, but in reality his mind was far, far away from the centre of calm he needed for calligraphy.
Missing for several days, and at breakfast Nianzu had sneered over his steamed buns while Ruolan looked nonchalant. Yang pored over his paper. It was perfectly normal behaviour for them to be at complete odds. Archetypal Cais, and Shen should be attenuated; perhaps it was the exhaustion of running on empty without even the possibility of a bath, but he'd misplaced his level temperament. Enough to slip up and send thin cracks spidering across the surface of the dining table, and mother's face had been the epitome of dignified discontent. So he was here, 'cooling off,' and Shen would gladly go several more years without feeling like such a scolded child.
He sighed quietly, laying down the brush for a lost cause and tucking an erstwhile strand of hair behind his ear. It had been fulfilling to be part of something, a pipedream maybe, but fascinating to see students like him and the way they reacted. Ivan, who fought like it was the last fight of his life; unrefined, dirty, with a desperate kind of speed, and Z, who would crash directly into darkness if not for a partner that kept him in orbit. Somehow. A study of contrasts.
Shen wondered if restlessness was catching.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:11 am
It would take him a few days of being out in the open - essentially, living on Lucien's rooftop - to get the edge off the restlessness that the Halloween Party had sparked off, and Z was less than happy about that fact, even as he acknowledged that it was the way he was wired, and there wasn't very much he could do about it. Oh, he could force himself to be inside, to suppress the unease, but that would mean not being absolutely comfortable in mind and body, and Z was too self-aware to allow himself to be in that state for long, if he could help it.
So here he was, scaling the walls of the Cai residence in broad daylight, daring even to tip the guard - was it the same one as the one that first night? - a feral grin as he scouted around, looking to find Shen.
The pale figure wasn't hard to find, seated near the window of a room that appeared to be something similar to a study. It wasn't all that difficult to get closer, climbing up the outer wall of one floor until he reached the elaborately designed windowsill. One quick heave, and he was crouched on the ledge, balanced delicately on his feet, one hand also wrapped around the edge for added balance. "Yo." There was a hint of wildness in his violet eyes as he looked into the room, eyes first scanning the contents before coming to a rest on pale eyes framed by long, white hair.
His mind flashed him back to the way Shen had appeared at the party, wearing that cute little panda suit, and Z's grin only got wider. "You look different from when I last saw you."
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:01 pm
When Shen issued the standing invitation some handful of nights ago, he hadn't truly expected Z to take him up on it, but he was fast learning that the other had a way of defying expectation. And so it was with surprise, and yet not, that Shen greeted the sudden shadow across his books, Z's back to a window heavy with sunlight, and Shen scrunched up his face a little when he tried to look up at the figure backlit with the glare of midday sun. There was a metaphor in this, he thought idly, and brought up a hand to shield his eyes.
"Isn't it undignified to be sneaking around like a truant schoolchild?" but he was smiling. Slightly disconcerted by Z's materialisation, as if summoned by the fabric of his thoughts, but he couldn't deny that his appearance was a welcome distraction.
At Z's reference to his costume though, it was everything Shen could do to keep a flush from invading his face. "As do you," he returned, tipping up his chin. "It's good to see you've recovered from our... misadventure. May I ask what brings you here today? Not curiosity, I'm sure. Nor the moon." He peered beyond Z and into the serenity of the garden, peace that wouldn't last should any of his brethren discover the man's presence.
"Come inside," he said after a moment. "You'll burn."
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