Dinner With The Lans
3rd Person P.O.V.
The traditional Gusu colour scheme of pristine white and soft blues flowed gently from room to room which allowed everyone to relax and unwind in a serene atmosphere. A dark cherry-wood flute with a red tassel and a warm brown wooden guqin with a spectacular jade amulet and white tassel were displayed, in beautiful condition although evidence showed both were used often and well cared for.
Books, manuscripts, transcripts and scrolls lined some of the walls, filling the shelves with assortments of sheet music, historical records, journals and many more things asking to be explored. Artwork hung in each room and the pieces were widely assorted in taste and some seemed to be from an entirely different world than the one the lived in.
Tasteful flower arrangements that splashed bold colour into the apartment and decorated the snowy interior were placed carefully in their simple vases; colours in varying shades of purple in the forms of lavender, magnolia blooms and lilac, the soft white of chinese star jasmine and fragrant gardenia blooms as well as the velvety black and vibrant crimson of roses in bud and bloom.
The large table in the middle of the dining room was set for eight and the delicious scent of a traditional meal was wafting in the air, light conversation ebbed and flowed in the sitting room while they waited for dinner. Everyone looked up when a male wearing traditional white robes and the GusuLan headband appeared in the doorway.
"Dinner is ready now. Please come and eat." Lan Sizhui announced as he moved to Jin Ling and walked with him to the dining room.
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Time skip because one of the GusuLan Clan Rules is No Talking While Eating
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After the dinner dishes were cleared the group remained at the table. Lan Yibo's elder brother, Lan Xichen, had joined them both for dinner and so they could have a fresh pair of eyes and mind on the situation. Kim Mitzuki hadn't been able to get the words to come out right so Min Suga ended up explaining the issues in some detail, leaving out or glossing over the particularly graphic details so none of them would throw up their digesting meals.
If Lan Xichen thought he was horrified during the telling of the tale, he was even more-so when Suga got permission from a trembling Mitzuki to take his jacket from the brunette for a moment to expose some of the scars on his arms and shoulders. Eijirou had barely seen any of the scars on Mitzuki, only the smaller ones on his forearms and on his collarbones. The usually loud male became very quiet as some of the scars on Mitzuki's shoulders were revealed. Suga explained that what they were seeing was barely a dent on the surface of what Mitzuki had been through, that some of the scars had been carved into him in the same place on many different occassions before his vicious tormentor would think it was 'enough'.
The gathered males hadn't realized how much Kim Mitzuki had suffered. Lan Wuxian had guessed most of what had happened although he hadn't gotten it right with how severe things had been for the light brunette. Wrapping Mitzuki,his and Suga, in a huge hug he quietly cried.
"I'm so sorry I failed you, Mitzuki. I thought I'd been through some shit but it doesn't compare to what you've survived. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
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Min Suga's P.O.V.
I kept my arm around Kim Mitzuki while he was telling the eight people in front of us about what had happened to him. I knew how hard this was for him to admit to me at the time about what was going on, so for him to speak about this out loud, it showed me he was genuinely terrified about what was going on or he trusted them to not say anything - or both. When he could no longer form words because his body was trembling like a leaf being tossed in rough Autumn winds, I took over the telling of his story since I knew it as well as -if not better than- he did. It worried me so I kept one arm wrapped around him in an effort to keep him grounded in the present.
I could feel the tension filling his body as if it were being wound tighter and tighter like a spring, his body trembling and shaking so much I had to help him drink some of the calming purple tea served gracefully by Lan Yibo. I was uncomfortable telling the people here Mitzuki's story, it filled me with discomfort and made me want to get up and move around. I carefully gauged each persons reactions to what I was exposing.
"I'm so sorry I failed you, Mitzuki. I thought I'd been through some shit but it doesn't compare to what you've survived. I'm so sorry we left you to go through that alone!" The black robed male choked out around his tears.
Lan Wuxian had tears escaping from his eyes which he tried to hide by leaning into the white robed male beside him. Lan Yibo had a softly pained look on his face, then he gathered his husband onto his lap and ran his own fingers through the dark strands gently as he clung to him and cried into his shoulder.
Lan Xichen and Jinhong Eijirou wore matching looks of horror, disgust and surprise. The elder Lan hadn't known anything of this situation so it was his first time hearing any details and despite his friendship with the outgoing bartender I don't believe Mitzuki had shown anyone his scars; even the Lans who had taken him in and cared for him wouldn't have known how deeply the damage was rooted in him. From his reaction I suspect the elder Lan has never come into contact with someone as vile as Izuka Yang before, though I could well be wrong about that.
Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling both looked straight-up terrified. Probably hearing that someone like Kim's ex-boyfriend existed in this world, someone who was willing and able to hurt others for his own pleasure and/or gain... Honestly, if I had nothing to do with this world myself and just found out about it I would most likely see a similar look of fear on my own face in the mirror. I ran my free hand through my hair.
"It's not your fault, Lan Wuxian. There's nothing you could have done to stop this or change what's happened. When Izuka Yang gets an idea in his head there's nothing anyone can do to stop him from getting what he wants - short of a bullet to the temple, though even that's not a guarantee to stopping him. Izuka Yang is a poison who infects everything and everyone he touches, yes, even me for a while. I.... I am not going to talk about why I work for someone as sick as that mother-fucker." I tried to give comfort though I know I've been told I'm horrible at it.
"You don't understand!" Lan Wuxian cried out.
"Four years ago we had a chance to open an Inn or Hostel in Qīpiàn City and we decided against it. We would have crossed paths and been able to get Mitzuki out of having to experience any of this shit - I ought to have known that the fates were trying to tell us something after the second time because not more than a month later we had another similar chance offered to us and again, because of ME, we didn't go! After one more month we were offered free tickets to a concert in Qīpiàn City but we had something come up with one of our waitresses and we again chose not to go. Both of us stayed to help her through her issue. So three times in three months we were given a sign to go to where Mitzuki was and take him out of the situation he was getting in to but because of ME we turned it down - each time! I could have saved you years ago but instead you had suffered worse than I did before being sent to us from those watching over us!"
Lan Wuxian had gotten so worked up that all Lan Yibo could do was hold him and let him cry out his frustrations. I was sure that Lan Sizhui and his lover were still slack jawed and hadn't really reacted, then a comment came from an unexpected corner.
"Wasn't the waitress problem caused by BamBam getting her pregnant and then refusing to take responsibility? I recall BamBam complaining about a girl who worked at Wàng Jī trying to trap him into a relationship by pretending she was pregnant to him, if memory serves me correctly she actually was pregnant to him but she was drugged and raped one night and she lost the baby. I thought it was quite convenient for him that it happened even though he showed concern toward the event, he was very blase about the whole thing."
Jin Ling spoke up, he hadn't said much during the night at all. It surprised me since I didn't know much about him or where he might fit into this picture, honestly I'd thought he was pretty much just a spectator to this because he was Lan Sizhui's lover. I stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"When and where does that fit into this story?" I asked him curiously, trying to get as much information as I could so I can better protect the kid.
"I have been introduced to you as Jin Rulan but what you don't know is that Wei Wuxian is my Uncle, well, sort of. I help run the Lotus Pier Restaraunt with Mother and Uncle Jiang. BamBam worked for us until about a week ago. He said he was going on an extended road-trip to see his old gang in the city. We assumed that he meant he was going to take an extended holiday with friends. I certainly never imagined he wasn't who he said he was, or that he would be just as sick as this Izuka Yang."
I understood everything as the pieces of information matched themselves up in my head, the jigsaw pieces of information joining together and forming a whole picture. Even without me being sent here to check out Trancy Alois's story, Kim Mitzuki would have vanished without a trace if he'd left with the person he'd believed was Kaard BamBam. I felt cold chills slide up and down my spine... It wasn't a pleasant thought of what he might have done had I been here any later than today.
"Fuck." I swore.
I felt all eyes on me including the kids. I swallow the lump that's formed in my throat and have to clear it a few times before I can speak without my voice breaking, I give them only a few sentences before my voice does break, making Mitzuki look up at me and wrap his arms around me tighter but he began to comfort me, rubbing his hands on my back.
"If I'd arrived any later than today Kim Mitzuki would have vanished without a trace. I'm a tracker and even I can't find someone that Alois takes. He's a different kind of mechanik... He makes people vanish. Permanently. I would have only had the name and description of a dead man, if I hadn't seen Trancy for myself I'd have passed everything off as a rumor or Trancy making a false report just to get the Boss's attention. Kim would be worse than dead and given Trancy's obsession with the kid, he may have been kept for weeks, maybe months or even years."
The brunette in my arms whimpered and trembled fiercly at the brutal truth of what I was saying.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that Mitzuki, I am sorry I had to say it. I need your friends, your family, to know just how dangerous Trancy and Izuka are, honey. I'll be here to protect you this time, for BB and for your family and for me. I want to be here sweetheart and I promise that I'm not going to let him get to you again. I'll die before I let either of those bastards lay their hands on you again my sweetheart, my lo--"
Subconsciously drawing the person I valued most closer to me, I tugged him on to my lap where he curled up and burrowed into my chest. I wrapped my arms around his trembling form, running a hand through his soft hair while whispering sweet nothings to him to try and calm his anxiety. My words obviously get through to them the severity of what could have happened.
Jinhong Eijirou and Lan Wuxian looked at each other with mirrored reactions. The bartender became visibly agitated while Lan Wuxian sniffled and wiped a few stray tears, both angry, while the only reaction I could detect from the Twin Jades (Lan Yibo and Lan Xichen) was a slight furrow of their brows. I assumed this meant they were on the same page as the angry pair. The two youngest, I could practically hear the gears working in their brains as they pieced the bits of information together, including what they'd learned of Kim Mitzuki over the last year.
Jin Rulan stood abruptly, hands rustling in his sleeves and then searching his pants pockets. He pulled out his phone, staring at me he asked me one thing and demanded another.
"Your phone number, is it traceable? Give it to me."
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