[ooc; just noticed the formatting is not consistent in my last tag ;;;;;; wah. sorry, dear!]
"Having children one's own age to interact with is important. A-Yuan is his senior, but I am glad they have taken to each other," Xichen says softly, brows creased slightly as he watches as A-Yuan tries to explain to Jin Ling how to feed the rabbits. The toddler seems awed, excited, but the rabbits are luckily not so wary after time spent with with both the younger disciples and A-Yuan in his younger days.
Lan Xichen is glad, that if he had no other reason, he could use the friendship of his nephew and Jiang Wanyin's to spend more time with the other man. He is evermore grateful that it does not need to come to that; that they have formed a friendship of their own that binds them beyond duty as sect leaders and caretakers.
He watches Jiang Wanyin as he settles down, lets his eyes rake over his profile for a moment and wonders if they could do this again. If enjoying afternoons together, not bound by work or it's shadow, is in the future for them. A part of him too large to voice wishes it was so. "Hm?" he misses the question, nearly, and then recovers.
"Ah-- Well. It is a trusted secret, I am afraid," he pauses then, "but as often as duty allows." The smile he wears is tinted with a glint of mischief, easy to miss. "It helps him settle and he has yet to attend classes or spend much time with his peers." It is a complicated thing, his nephew's care. Lan Yuan's father is far from well enough to take him, the caretakers who watch him while his uncle works do not indulge this habit and it is not like the Grandmaster would take his grand-nephew to see rabbits he chooses to pretend do not exists.
Often, duty does not allow, but Xichen is happy to compensate for time spent in the bunny pasture or teaching lessons that will help Yuan when he joins the junior disciples by staying up and working well past the appropriate time. The rules may discourage it but Xichen has long stopped seeing the world in shades of black and white, understands that the extra handstands, the tiredness that weighs him down through his days, is worth it. ""It also helps him remember his father."
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"Having children one's own age to interact with is important. A-Yuan is his senior, but I am glad they have taken to each other," Xichen says softly, brows creased slightly as he watches as A-Yuan tries to explain to Jin Ling how to feed the rabbits. The toddler seems awed, excited, but the rabbits are luckily not so wary after time spent with with both the younger disciples and A-Yuan in his younger days.
Lan Xichen is glad, that if he had no other reason, he could use the friendship of his nephew and Jiang Wanyin's to spend more time with the other man. He is evermore grateful that it does not need to come to that; that they have formed a friendship of their own that binds them beyond duty as sect leaders and caretakers.
He watches Jiang Wanyin as he settles down, lets his eyes rake over his profile for a moment and wonders if they could do this again. If enjoying afternoons together, not bound by work or it's shadow, is in the future for them. A part of him too large to voice wishes it was so. "Hm?" he misses the question, nearly, and then recovers.
"Ah-- Well. It is a trusted secret, I am afraid," he pauses then, "but as often as duty allows." The smile he wears is tinted with a glint of mischief, easy to miss. "It helps him settle and he has yet to attend classes or spend much time with his peers." It is a complicated thing, his nephew's care. Lan Yuan's father is far from well enough to take him, the caretakers who watch him while his uncle works do not indulge this habit and it is not like the Grandmaster would take his grand-nephew to see rabbits he chooses to pretend do not exists.
Often, duty does not allow, but Xichen is happy to compensate for time spent in the bunny pasture or teaching lessons that will help Yuan when he joins the junior disciples by staying up and working well past the appropriate time. The rules may discourage it but Xichen has long stopped seeing the world in shades of black and white, understands that the extra handstands, the tiredness that weighs him down through his days, is worth it. ""It also helps him remember his father."