Open Post: Hard at Work

[sporesprouter]

Yes, Tress might have been up late charting stars, but that doesn't mean that she can't get up at dawn to start doing other work on the continued Operation Get Us Out of Here.

So it's barely light outside when she tucks herself into an out of the way workroom that she's decided to repurpose as a sprouter's workshop. She doesn't have much in the way of spores, just what she arrived with, but that was no reason not to use some. What was the point of hoarding a potential resource? Sitting on something that might be able to help? Not a great idea.

So she currently sits at a table with some supplies laid out carefully before her, carefully taking water from a bowl in front of her with an eyedropper to some pink-red spores and shaping the crystals that spring up from them with a small iron shield-shaped plate and a steel trowel. She's working slowly and incrementally, but several finished spheres sit on the table away from her active work.

On the floor to the side of the table are several full drinking water bottles that she found and commandeered, knowing they'd come in handy if she decides to move on to her next idea.

For now, though, pink crystal spheres.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

There will follow a slightly lengthy pause as Lan Wangji takes in this information. He would prefer to be certain he understands it before he ventures to make any comment on her work. She would do well at the Cloud Recesses, he thinks, as an outer disciple. He could nearly smile at the thought of Tress wearing one of the plain white forehead ribbons reserved for non-Lan sect trainees. Sizhui would adore her.

"If I see such a flare going up," he says, then, "I will know to come to your aid. My students can summon me similarly."

[sporesprouter]

"Thank you. I don't know that they'll ever actually be needed, but better to be too prepared than not prepared enough, right?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Precisely." Lan Wangji glances at Tress. She is, overtly, tired and overworked. He wouldn't need spiritual senses to know that, but he has them, and they only corroborate the impression. A barely-there frown graces his features. "Young mistress, you need to rest."

[sporesprouter]

Tress blinks. "I haven't even been awake that long."

[lightbearinglord]

"And did you sleep a full night prior to awakening?" When the occasion calls for it, Lan Wangji can be fantastically stubborn, in a placidly immovable sort of way.

[sporesprouter]

"I got to bed as soon as I could once I was done charting the stars for last night."

[lightbearinglord]

So that is a no. With gentle finality, Lan Wangji says, "You cannot work effectively without a foundation of rest. Your spirit will suffer for it."

[sporesprouter]

She's quiet for a moment. Mostly because deep down she knows he's right. When she speaks, though, it's quiet. "I think it might suffer more if I don't think I'm doing everything I can to get home."

[lightbearinglord]

"One bee makes no honey." Lan Wangji is used to shepherding several disciples; surely he can help one exhausted young woman. "Rest, young mistress."

[sporesprouter]

She pauses and thinks that over for a moment.

"One bee might make some honey..."

[lightbearinglord]

Unmoved, Lan Wangji gazes levelly at her. This is the you can't get away with this with me; I'm Hanguang-jun look and it works exceptionally well on Lan Jingyi. "Young mistress," he repeats, an entire essay's worth of firm concern behind the title.

[sporesprouter]

Well yes, but Tress is totally the captain of a ship... who really isn't particularly fond of actually asserting her will on people in any significant way unless it is absolutely necessary.

... She folds almost immediately.

Her shoulders slump a bit. "I'm not sleeping well."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji hardly needed her to tell him that. It's wholly evident. "Do you meditate, or have some other practice to calm your spirit?"

[sporesprouter]

Tress waves a hand at the work in front of her. "Just this. Or baking, I guess, but I don't know how much it counts."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't even bother to glance at the spore materials in answer to her gesture. "Your mind and body need to be still." He has already made up his mind that Tress needs some light guidance from him. "Let me show you."

[sporesprouter]

Her body is one thing, but Tress is very dubious about ever getting her mind to be still. It's practically one of her defining qualities.

Still, though, he's trying to help and it would be very rude not to give him a chance.

"All right..."

[lightbearinglord]

"Come."

Presuming that Tress will follow, Lan Wangji sweeps out of her workshop. He is in search of a quiet parlor, free of clutter and with a calming atmosphere. He himself can meditate in any circumstances, but a fledgling trainee will require a suitable setting.

[sporesprouter]

... Okay, she wasn't expecting now. It's possible nobody else will find this room while she's gone, but she can't guarantee it... She hesitates for just a moment before ripping a blank page from her notebook, writing on it, 'Please do not touch anything on this table. Thank you, I appreciate it!' and setting it face up in a prominent position before quickly standing and hastening to catch up with Lan Wangji.

[lightbearinglord]

When they reach their destination, so designated by Lan Wangji, he allows Tress to enter the room before him. It is largely empty, only a few sitting chairs in evidence, and the sun is just beginning to stream in through the windows as it creeps above the horizon.

"Sit," he instructs. To demonstrate, he assumes lotus pose on the floor, his robes floating down along with him. "As I do."

[sporesprouter]

Tress blinks. This is the first time in her life she was made to realize that it was possible for legs to do that. She blinks again.

"I'll... try?" She does not by any stretch of the imagination do anything that might be even slightly reminiscent of floating as she sits and makes a valiant if failed effort to get her legs into the correct position.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji watches her, thoughtful. There are several corrections he could make, and he will, if they continue cultivating this practice. It will not help Tress at this time, however, to focus on her posture rather than her mind and her body as a whole.

"As I do," he corrects himself, "but find comfort. However that may look for you."

[sporesprouter]

She nods and curls her legs up into a more comfortable position, shifting a bit to make sure she's as settled as she can be and then nods again. "I'm ready."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji nods, intended as encouragement. He has done the basics of this lesson many times with young disciples, who are often homesick and unhappy.

"Shut your eyes and clear your mind. That can be difficult: focus on my voice if you must." He closes his own eyes, his hands open and loose atop his knees. "Breathe in. Think only of that. Breathe out, slowly."

[sporesprouter]

Well, she's got homesick and unhappy covered, at least.

She closes her eyes as asked and concentrates on Lan Wangji's voice, taking slow, deep breaths. It's the kind of rote task that she's almost used to from washing windows or even scrubbing spore scum from a deck. Unfortunately, though, she also nearly always used that time for thinking, so clearing her mind is not coming as easily as calming her breathing. Instead, her thoughts are wandering among the various attempts she's made over the last month to figure out what is going on in this place and how to get back. She does try to discard them and just concentrate on her breathing, but they do keep creeping in despite her best efforts.

Her breathing remains pretty great, though.

[lightbearinglord]

Without opening his eyes, Lan Wangji says, "Your mind is noisy." It's not a rebuke, or not intended as one; it's merely an observation, the prelude to an attempt at helping her.

"Each thought is draining you. Banish them. As you breathe, chart the filling of your lungs. Notice how it feels as they empty. Concentrate on the life force inside of yourself: that is your qi. Think of where it begins, at the core of yourself, and follow it. Reflect on how it connects you to all that is around you. This room; the rising sun outside; the grass and the water." There is a slight pause and then he adds, "To your spores. Everything. Continue to breathe."