Chapter Text
Outside the prestigious Cloud Recesses University, a small house lay largely obscured from the view of the streets by a veritable array of trees, bushes, and other such flora. The setting sun dappled the landscape in soft reds and purples, transforming the otherwise ordinary household into a breathtaking work of art.
Inside the house, currently, was a pair of brothers. The elder, Lan Huan, painted a serene picture, seemingly deep in thought as he lifted a cup of oolong tea to his lips. The younger, Lan Zhan, was equally tranquil, though he instead indulged himself in a book. All was quiet. All was peaceful.
Lan Huan exhaled softly, watching his breath ripple across the surface of his tea. “Dìdì, how are your studies?”
Lan Zhan paused. He looked up at his brother, silent for a moment, before returning his gaze to his reading. “They’re fine.”
Lan Huan had already known this, of course. In fact, Lan Zhan’s studies had definitely been going much better than fine, as he was at the top of his class. Modesty had been one of their family principles for generations, though, and no one exemplified their traditions better than his brother.
Lan Huan sighed, placing down his teacup. The soft clinking noise caught Lan Zhan’s attention, and he looked up from his book again, a silent inquiry written in his expression that would be near invisible to anyone else.
“A-Zhan,” Lan Huan began, and though he kept his voice quiet, gentle, the atmosphere of the room had already shifted. ”You know that I am immeasurably proud of you. Your initiative and hard work are truly commendable. However, I am worried. I do not see you devote your time to any recreational or social activities.”
Lan Zhan said nothing. At the very least, he said nothing aloud – the hardening of his stare and slight press of his lips was answer enough. Lan Huan understood the meaning; it communicated what it needed to. It was enough.
Well used to his brother’s stubbornness on this subject, Lan Huan pressed on. “You know I run a Dungeons and Dragons club for a small group of students on campus. They are around your age. I’ve just finished writing a new campaign for them. I think it would be beneficial for you to join us. Of course, if you truly hated it, you need not stay.”
Lan Zhan held Lan Huan’s gaze for several long moments, before bowing his head in acquiescence. “I will try it.”
Lan Huan released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, letting a small smile form on his lips. “Thank you, A-Zhan. It means a lot that you’re trying.”
In truth, had anyone else asked, they would have received an automatic declination, but Lan Huan loved his brother, more than anything, and Lan Zhan repaid the sentiment in spades. “Mn.”
“Hey guys!” Wei Ying strutted into the small back corner of the library where his group was situated, lazily dropping into his familiar chair. “Did you all get Lan Huan’s text? What do you think the newbie will be like?”
“If they’re anything like you, gods help us all,” Jiang Cheng replied. Immediately, Wei Ying turned to face him, lower lip jutted out in a pout.
“Jiang Cheng, how mean! How cruel! I am an absolute delight at the table-”
“Wei Ying, mind your volume, we are in a library,” Wen Qing reminded sternly. “Lan Huan went through a lot of trouble to find this space for us. As for you, Jiang Cheng, don’t provoke him.”
Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng exchanged a look, and with it, some sort of silent agreement. They both fell quiet. As per usual, Wen Qing was right; this was a library. Finding another location to host their club would be extraordinarily difficult.
Jiang Yanli spoke up next, a soft smile on her face. “Whoever they are, I’m sure they’ll be wonderful. I’m excited to meet them.”
“Miss Jiang is right,” Wen Ning added quickly. “Lan Huan wouldn’t invite someone if he didn’t think they would fit in with us.”
“True, but still!” Wei Ying stretched languidly before leaning forwards, bright eyes gleaming with mischief. “It’s just been us since the start of this club. Aren’t you curious?”
“Apologies for the wait.” Before anyone could respond, Lan Huan’s voice called out to them, commanding their attention immediately. “We had to pick something up for our uncle. Everyone, please meet my brother, Lan Zhan.”
Wei Ying’s gaze flitted to the quiet figure standing next to their Dungeon Master – and nearly fell out of his seat with shock. “Him?!”
At the sound of Wei Ying’s voice, Lan Zhan jolted near imperceptibly, wrenching his gaze up so golden eyes met silver. His surprise lasted only a moment though before he apparently collected himself, forcing his gaze away and staring off at one of the completely nondescript library walls. Lan Huan arched his eyebrows at this exchange, but said nothing.
“Wait a minute. Wei Ying, you know Lan Huan’s brother?” Jiang Cheng rounded on the other immediately, tone quiet but fierce. “And you never mentioned this because?”
“It never came up!” Wei Ying complained. “If you must know, Jiang Cheng, I shared a class with him back in the day, when I decided to try out a psych major, and he kept stealing all my thunder! He’s my rival!”
At this point, Lan Huan’s eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into his hair. Lan Zhan blinked at the declaration that he was Wei Ying’s rival, not that the other was focused on that at the moment. Jiang Yanli hid a smile behind her hand, and Wen Ning shared a glance with his sister, unsure of whether to be worried about the situation escalating.
“Lan Zhan,” Wen Qing greeted, tone polite and neutral – for the most part. Barely contained laughter lingered in her voice. “It’s good to see you. Did you finish your project?”
Lan Zhan turned as he was addressed, bowing. “Wen Qing. I did; thank you for asking. And yourself?”
“I’ve finished as well.” Noticing Wei Ying’s eyes practically bugging out of his head, she had to fight to suppress a smirk. “Wei Ying, is something the matter?”
“Wen Qing, you
know
him?” It was an almost comedic echo of Jiang Cheng’s earlier words to him. “Why did you never tell me?!”
“Actually, both of us know him,” Wen Ning interjected softly. “We both share a class with him.”
Wei Ying looked like he might die from the continual bouts of shocking news he was receiving. Well, shocking to him at least. To literally everybody else at the table, people attending the same university sharing classes now and again was nothing worthy of note.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Lan Huan noted, tone calm as though he was remarking on the weather, though it was at odds with the light smile on his face. “A-Zhan, you should have told me you had friends – I would have invited you a long time ago had I known you were familiar with these lovely people.”
“Forgive me, A-Huan,” Lan Zhan replied evenly, bowing his head. “I hadn’t known it would be of interest to you.”
“Now hang on a minute!” Wei Ying exclaimed, holding both hands out as he swiftly stood. “Are we just going to brush over the fact that-”
“Volume,” Lan Huan and Wen Qing reprimanded at the same time. Wei Ying stopped midsentence, glancing around the library. It suddenly occurred to him that he was receiving stares and even glares from some of the other occupants. He gave a sheepish smile and wave to the offended, settling back down. “As I was saying,” he continued, in a much more hushed tone, “are we just going to brush over the fact that we all knew Lan Zhan and it never came up?”
Jiang Yanli giggled. “Actually, Ying, about that…'' Yellow eyes flickered over to Lan Zhan as she bowed, hands clasped in front of her. “Lan Zhan, it’s lovely to meet you. Cheng’s mentioned you a few times! It seems all his descriptions of you were true.”
“Seriously? Jiang Cheng told you about Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying grumbled. “I bet he said that Lan Zhan was a super serious, disciplined, polite, modest, straight A student.”
Jiang Cheng scoffed, rolling his eyes at the other. “Is that not an apt description?”
“It is!” Wei Ying complained. “It is, and that’s the problem. No way you would mention he’s a massive killjoy!”
Lan Zhan ignored the bickering men, instead focusing on Jiang Yanli. “It’s a pleasure, Miss Jiang.”
Jiang Yanli smiled, pulling up a free chair between her and Wei Ying. “Will you take a seat, Lan Zhan?”
“Mn.” Lan Zhan accepted the offered chair. “Thank you.”
Wei Ying huffed as his argument with Jiang Cheng resolved, crossing his arms and puffing out his cheeks – and realizing who was seated to his immediate left now. This close, Wei Ying was able to notice details about Lan Zhan he never would have been able to pick out an auditorium away, such as the strong, defined outline of Lan Zhan’s shoulders. He was likely more than his lithe, delicate frame would suggest, and – wait a minute, why was he thinking about this?! Lan Zhan was his rival!
Unaware of Wei Ying’s plight, Lan Huan cleared his throat. “If there’s no more bickering to be had,” and while the words were reproachful, his tone was laced with exasperated fondness, “I’d like to commence our session zero. I know most of you are familiar with our house rules, but I haven’t had the chance to explain them to my brother yet, and it’s been a while since our last campaign anyway. After that, we’ll discuss character options.”
“I bet Yanli and Jiang Cheng are going to make siblings again,” Wei Ying snarked, shooting a grin at Jiang Cheng, who bristled.
“And what is it to you if we do?” Jiang Cheng shot back with a hissed breath. “Wen Qing and Wen Ning often play siblings as well.”
Jiang Yanli softly placed a hand on her brother’s arm. “Ying, Cheng, please…”
“Sorry, Yanli,” Wei Ying apologized, Jiang Cheng sighing and averting his gaze. “I just can’t help myself, yknow?”
Lan Huan shook his head in a mix of long-suffering exasperation and amusement. “Some of these days I think you would perhaps be better suited to DMing than I, Miss Jiang.”
Jiang Yanli giggled, inclining her head in a small bow and clasping her hands in her lap. “Thank you, Lan Huan, but I don’t think any of us can do your job quite as well as you.”
“Nor do I think any of us would have your patience to deal with Wei Ying,” Wen Qing quipped. Wei Ying gasped at the words.
“Wen Qiiiing! Betrayal! I thought we were friends!” He leaned across the table to be closer to her, his dramatics forcing Wen Ning, who was sitting between them, to have to lean back in his chair. “You sound like Jiang Cheng!”
“Perhaps because Miss Wen has some common sense?” Jiang Cheng suggested, barely tapering down a smug smile. “Lan Huan is truly a saint for putting up with you.”
As another quiet back-and-forth emerged, Lan Zhan turned to his brother, an eyebrow raised in a silent question. Lan Huan chuckled. “This is normal for us,” he murmured. “You get used to them, A-Zhan. I promise they’re fun.”
Lan Zhan remained unconvinced, but was willing to take his brother at his word for now. Lan Huan was not known to be a liar, after all.
Eventually, they managed to get through the house rules, with minimal further disturbances. Lan Zhan had quickly noticed that everyone at the table respected his brother, not just Jiang Yanli – even Wei Ying, with his wild and unpredictable tendencies that Lan Zhan couldn’t help but be drawn to, obviously looked up to his gege. Still, one thing lingered on Lan Zhan’s mind. He was Wei Ying’s rival? Where had the younger gotten that impression?
“...and that summarizes the races and classes that will be allowed in this campaign,” Lan Huan finished. “I wanted to leave things as open-ended as possible. As you guys have proven to me time and time again, your imaginations are all capable of creating beautiful things.”
“Aside from Jiang Cheng, who’s incapable of playing anything that isn’t a sorcerer or wizard!” Wei Ying chimed in.
“You-!”
“Ying, don’t bully him,” Jiang Yanli reprimanded gently, though she hid a smile behind her hand. “He just likes playing those classes, like Wen Qing prefers clerics, and Wen Ning likes rangers.”
“What about you, meimei?” Wei Ying asked, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward. Curiosity glimmered behind silver eyes, and he cocked his head to one side. “What’ll it be this time? Cleric? Druid? Maybe another bard?”
Jiang Yanli fully smiled at that, making no attempt to hide it. While Wei Ying’s words might’ve seemed patronizing or mocking to some, particularly given the fact he’d referred to her as his younger sister (she was, in fact, older, and completely unrelated to him), she seemed to see it only as harmless playing. “Smoke was fun to play, but… I miss playing a druid.”
“We’re getting predictable,” Wen Qing quipped, though there was no bite behind her words either. “But, since we have a new player, I’ll play a cleric for insurance. Unless you’d rather do so, Lan Zhan?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
Lan Zhan shook his head; he had no problem with Wen Qing playing a cleric. Wei Ying, meanwhile, looked absolutely terrified. His eyes went wide as saucers, and his hands shifted to grip onto the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles went white. “Wen Qing. Please tell me you’re not playing another war cleric. I still have nightmares about Nyilxeak.” He stumbled over the pronunciation of the very nonhuman name.
Wen Qing openly snorted, rolling her eyes at Wei Ying’s dramatics. “As fun as it would be to terrify you with perhaps a relative of Nyilxeak-”
“Oh. Oh gods no. Didn’t Nyilxeak say she was the most peaceful of her sisters? Because Nyilxeak was not peaceful.”
Most of the table was stifling giggles and smirks by this point, even Lan Huan, to a degree. Wen Qing was not an exception, even as she continued. “You’re right; she did. But don’t worry; I’m going to play a life cleric this time.”
“Oh, thank the go-” Wei Ying stopped midsentence, squinting at her. “Wen Qing, why are you smiling like that?”
Wen Qing only smiled wider.
“Wen Qing, why are you smiling like that?”
Jiang Cheng stepped in before Wen Qing could answer. “As much as I hate proving Wei Ying right,” he groused, “I think I’ll play a wizard again. Playing a warlock was… alright, but the lack of spell slots was difficult to manage.”
“Remember to pick spells of more than one damage type!” Wei Ying sing-songed.
“Shut up!” Jiang Cheng hissed at him, eyes narrowing, all too aware of the beady eyes of the library’s other patrons on them.
“I think I’ll play a ranger again,” Wen Ning put in. “Not that Adamant wasn’t fun! I enjoyed him more than I thought I would, actually…” He gave Wei Ying a small, bashful smile. “Probably because of Wei Ying.”
“Hey, happy to provide for one of the only two people that doesn’t bully me!” Wei Ying leaned over to sling his arm around Wen Ning’s shoulders, grinning widely. “Adamant and Blink are a duo no one at this table’s going to forget for a long time!”
“What about you, Ying?” Jiang Yanli asked curiously. “Most of us already know what class we’re going to play. Have you decided?”
“Of course I have, meimei!” Wei Ying gasped as if offended, though in truth he was completely ecstatic to have been asked about his character. “I am always prepared. Actually, it’s funny that Jiang Cheng brought up warlocks earlier, because that’s exactly what my next character is gonna be!” Wei Ying grinned, detaching from Wen Ning to slither over to Jiang Yanli, who looked up at him with interest. “A fiend pact warlock. His name’s Trickery – he’s a tiefling! I even think I have a backstory for him, too. I just have to check with Lan Huan that it’s viable!”
“Gods help us, the day Wei Ying plays a tiefling has arrived,” Jiang Cheng muttered under his breath. “We’re doomed.”
Wei Ying stuck his tongue out. “You’re just mad because I have a sense of taste!”
“A-Zhan,” Lan Huan spoke up, interrupting what would likely have been another argument. “Do you have any idea of what class you want to play? It’s alright if you don’t. It’s your first time, after all.”
Lan Zhan was silent for a moment, before bowing his head. “I have an idea.”
“Ooh?” Wei Ying slipped back into his chair, fixing Lan Zhan with a stare of rapt fascination. “How unexpected! So, what’ll it be, Lan Zhan?”
“...I believe I will play a paladin,” Lan Zhan replied, “if that is acceptable.”
“Ooh!” This time the exclamation was one of excitement, rather than curiosity. “You’re dangerous, Lan Zhan! I like it!”
Lan Zhan blinked, staring in confusion. “...dangerous?”
“Well, maybe dangerous isn’t the right word,” Wei Ying mused, leaning back and kicking his feet underneath the table. “More like… adventurous! Yeah, that’s the word! You’re adventurous, Lan Zhan!”
“...How, exactly?” As far as Lan Zhan could tell, it was just another class. He couldn’t even begin to figure out why Wei Ying was making such a big deal of it.
“I mean, no one here really plays paladins,” Wei Ying explained, tilting his head and smiling in a manner that stirred feelings deep within Lan Zhan. “We’ve only ever had two! Wen Ning played the last one, and the first was played by yours truly!” He seemed to be quite proud of this fact too, teeth showing as he grinned, happily reminiscing on the memories. He’s cute! some deep part of Lan Zhan shouted. It was a good thing his fair features weren’t prone to blushing – he wasn’t sure how he’d even begin to explain that.
“I think a paladin would suit you,” Wen Ning offered encouragingly. “Brave, strong, devoted… these are all qualities that describe Lan Zhan.”
“Yeah, Lan Zhan, a paladin would be the perfect fit for you! Are you going to play an aasimar too?” Wei Ying was laughing, silver eyes shining with mirth, as though the idea was utterly ridiculous.
Lan Zhan furrowed his brows slightly as he recalled his brother’s brief explanations. “Aasimars are placed in the world to serve as guardians of law and good. Their patrons expect them to strike at evil, lead by example, and further the cause of justice.”
“...I believe I may.”
Wei Ying completely froze, mouth hanging open. After a moment, he shut it, swallowing as he tried to collect himself. “Well I – yeah! That makes sense! Lan Zhan’s gonna play an aasimar paladin. Actually, I’ve played one myself, so I’m kind of an expert! Just let me know if you need tips, okay? Hahaha…”
Bewildered by Wei Ying’s sudden, bizarre behaviour, Lan Zhan turned to his brother. Lan Huan only shook his head, a silent warning not to ask about it. That only made Lan Zhan more curious, but if his gege said not to pry, he wouldn’t. All was quiet.
“We still have another hour before we have to leave,” Wen Qing finally broke the silence. “We should get to work on finalizing character concepts and rolling up sheets. A-Ning, if you’re interested, I had an idea for a pair of half-drow siblings.”
Wen Ning’s eyes lit up with a soft, almost childlike excitement. “I’m interested, jiejie!”
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying called. “Do you have your own dice yet?” Lan Zhan shook his head no. “No worries, you can just use mine!”
He lightly tossed a black pouch with red string across the table. Lan Zhan caught it with ease; opening it, he found that the set of dice inside were the same colors. How fitting for Wei Ying. A small smile curved his lips, though he quickly schooled his expression back to neutrality.
“Alright then,” Lan Huan said softly. “Is everyone ready to start making their characters, then?”
The answer was an enthusiastic, unanimous ‘yes.’