( A fast death, cruel and cunning. He watches the spectacle, transfixed between awe and awareness, and the private, selfish study of a practitioner at his craft. Talismans can execute such feats, but too often their spells lack similar fluidity. This sorcery is... flexible, elegant, strong.
...like a slap to the face, which the raven happily imitates, to the best of its winged ability. Belatedly, as if it were the legacy of another body, Lan Wangji's cheek ripens with sting. He does not shift — only, gives Magnus chase to the dais, adrift when they are inexorably stranded.
The mouth of the volcano bubbles and blooms behind them in angry, boiling wrath. He minds his step — nearly stumbles back, the raven in his hand swaying, its cage a fortress. It's clean string and the assassination cord's bite when he lays it down, so their pursuers who enter their radius of action might taste the sting of knotted or cut limbs, if (when) Lan Wangji tugs.
Then, the suggestion. He hesitates — )
To what cost? ( The gain is immediate. The payment — and there is always one, always a balancing of toll and advantage — less so. )
no subject
...like a slap to the face, which the raven happily imitates, to the best of its winged ability. Belatedly, as if it were the legacy of another body, Lan Wangji's cheek ripens with sting. He does not shift — only, gives Magnus chase to the dais, adrift when they are inexorably stranded.
The mouth of the volcano bubbles and blooms behind them in angry, boiling wrath. He minds his step — nearly stumbles back, the raven in his hand swaying, its cage a fortress. It's clean string and the assassination cord's bite when he lays it down, so their pursuers who enter their radius of action might taste the sting of knotted or cut limbs, if (when) Lan Wangji tugs.
Then, the suggestion. He hesitates — )
To what cost? ( The gain is immediate. The payment — and there is always one, always a balancing of toll and advantage — less so. )