!!!

Wei Ying is not supposed to do that!!! It's Meditation Time, not Flopping Time. A-Zhan paps Wei Ying's cheek, in case this will prompt him to sit up and start meditating.

Wei Ying wiggles a little and nuzzles the hand. 

... this is acceptable.

A-Zhan curls up around Wei Ying and squeezes him the way he likes to hug Bunny sometimes. 

Wei Ying makes a high pleased "hmmm" noise. 

Good. If Wei Ying won't let him do a good job at meditating, they will just have to do a good job at cuddling instead.

If they stay like this long enough, A-Zhan might also accidentally fall asleep.

YAY CUDDLES. 

Wei Ying wakes up first and continues cuddling. A-Zhan is very very good to cuddle. 

Happy sleep snuggles.

A-Zhan is confused when he finally yawns himself awake, face smooshed into Wei Ying's shoulder. "Mnng?"

"Hi A-Zhan!" 

"Wei Ying." A-Zhan sits up and blinks sleepily. A tuft of hair has come loose from his ribbon and floofed over his forehead. "You meditated in-correctly."

"No. I didn't meditate at all! I napped. And cuddled."

That was not the correct thing to do!! A-Zhan punishes Wei Ying for his misbehavior by patting him very sternly on the head. Pat pat pat. "Silly."

"Yes! I am silly." 

Headshake headshake. "Wei Ying needs to behave!"

Puzzled frown. "I'm behaving. I didn't put anything in my mouth I wasn't supposed to." He glances at A-Zhan's hands speculatively. 

Hmmmmm.  "Behaved yesterday?"

"Yes! I took my nap and let Mommy comb my hair without wiggling down and I stopped tickling A-Yao even if I'm not sure if it counts when someone else says to stop. Daddy says I was very good yesterday." 

Oh.

"Then why is your mommy gone?"

"Mommy is on a night-hunt."

"...mm."

"When there's a night-hunt that's going to take long enough they don't want to leave me alone, Mommy goes and Daddy stays, because Mommy is a stronger cultivator."

"She just comes back?"

"What else would she do?"

A-Zhan shrugs.  Apparently most mommies don't go away for weeks at a time like his, but he still is not certain why that is or what the mommies are supposed to do instead. 

"I miss Mommy when she is gone. But she always comes back. And it's easier with you and Huan-ge and A-Yao and your mommies here instead of just Daddy." 

“Mm.”

"Does your mommy go on lots of night-hunts?"

“No. Mommy has to stay inside all day.”

"How come? Isn't she a cultivator?"

...A-Zhan isn’t really sure, actually. Mommy can fly and has a sword? But he’d thought she wasn’t a cultivator.

“Uncle says that Mommy will be mean if she goes outside.” A-Zhan is also very confused about this, because Mommy isn’t mean at all. But he’s pretty sure that Uncle is very smart and always right.

"But your mommy is nice!" 

A-Zhan nods, looking troubled. This is compelling evidence that Uncle might actually be wrong about A Thing. But he isn’t sure.

"Your mommy was outside before she came into the inn with my mommy!" Wei Ying realizes. "Was she mean then?"

"No!"

"I think your uncle is wrong about your mommy. And about rules." 

Loud Frown. "Not wrong about rules."

"His rules say you can't have a bunny." 

"It's okay! Now you have your Mommy making the rules and you can have a bunny. And she can go outside."

"Mhm. Will Wei Ying have a bunny?"

Wei Ying considers this. "My bunny should be a different color. So they don't get mixed up." 

Nod. "Mine should be white or blue."

"Do real bunnies come in blue?"

"Don't know."

"I think I like most colors. But I will not get a bunny that is white or blue." 

"Yellow?"

Hmm. "I think it would be cute if you had a blue bunny and I had a yellow one or you had a white bunny and I had a black one."

Serious nodding. "Wei Ying should have yellow because Wei Ying is like the sun."

"I am?"

Nodnod. "Bright."

He looks at his arm dubiously. "I don't glow. When it's dark you can't see me." 

"You smile."

"I do!" 

He grins and holds his hands in front of his face, peering at them to see if they shed reflected light. 

A-Zhan is pretty sure that they do.

"Well, I don't see it," Wei Ying says, dropping his hand. "But I believe you. Do you also hear things when I smile? Is that why you said it was loud?"

Slow headshake. "It is -- big," he tries to explain. "It takes up all the seeing and all the listening."

He considers this. 

"Like when you really really need a hug and then you get one?"

"Only if the hug is big enough."

"Woooooooooow. That's big. I didn't know my smile was that big."

A-Zhan nods and holds his arms out wide to demonstrate how big.

Wei Ying wildly misinterprets the gesture and hugs him. 

Surprised peep!

Wei Ying is nice at hugs.

Huggle. 

"You're my favorite," he announces. 

- A-Zhan pulls back just enough to blink at him. "Favorite?"

"My favorite out of all the new friends! You and Huan-ge and A-Yao and your mommies." 

"Gege is better at friends."

"Your gege hugs you or A-Yao. You hug me." 

Mostly Wei Ying hugs A-Zhan, though, not the other way around. Wei Ying could hug Brother instead and then get hugged that way.

A-Zhan doesn't feel like pointing this out.

"And you disagree with me about stuff but you're not mean and I think about more things. And you like bunnies." 

Nodnod. He DOES like bunnies.

"I wanna meet lots of bunnies with you." 

"Where are all the bunnies?"

"There are bunnies in lots of places! I wanna go to all the places with you and meet the bunnies there." 

"How many bunnies can we have?" He should probably ask Brother. Wei Ying doesn't actually know anything about rules.

"I dunno. Daddy might." 

"Gege knows." They should go find him together.

"Okay!" They can go to find Huan-ge. 

"Hello, A-Zhan and A-Ying." Hugs for baby brother. 

HUG.

A-Zhan will let Wei Ying ask the questions, since Wei Ying likes talking and A-Zhan is focused on Hugging.

"How many bunnies can we have, Huan-gege?" 

"Hm." This is a question he probably ought to bring in parents for but that might require letting go of A-Zhan. "I think probably one to start, to prove you can take care of one bunny responsibly, and then more later if that goes well." 

"That makes sense. Huan-gege do bunnies come in yellow and blue?"  

"Not really. But you can tie colorful ribbons to them, if you're careful and gentle about it." 

Hughug. "Do bunnies like blue ribbons?"

"I don't know if all bunnies do, but I think we could find a bunny who does." Hugsnuggle. 

Studious nodding! "My bunny. The bunny who likes yellow ribbons is for Wei Ying."

AWWWWWWWWWWWW. "Why yellow ribbons for Wei Ying's bunny?"

"Wei Ying is like the sun."

SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE. "We can get any color of ribbons you like," he says agreeably. "Do you want to tell Mommy about your bunny plans?"

A-Zhan bounces. He does want to tell Mommy about the bunny plans! Maybe Mommy can pick a bunny ribbon color too.

AWWWWWWW. 

He scoops up A-Zhan to carry him to Mommy. 

A-Ying toddles after them. 

Aww! Baby delivery!

She holds out her arms for A-Zhan. "Hello, darlings. What have you been up to?"

"Mommyy." CLING. 

"Hi hi, A-Zhan." Hug the baby!!! "Have you been having fun? Playing well with A-Ying?"

Nod. "We are picking the bunny colors."

Wei Ying decides to sit on the floor at her feet and hug her calf. "I'm the sun," he announces. 

"A-Zhan wants to put a blue ribbon on his bunny and a yellow ribbon on Wei Ying's."

"Mommy can have a ribbon bunny too," he says into Mommy's shoulder.

"Aw, thank you A-Zhan." She bounces baby A-Zhan in her arms and pats A-Ying's hair. "What color ribbon would you like to put on my bunny? Maybe Meng-guniang can make us some nice ribbons."

"Mommy-bunny is... blue. To be my bunny's mommy."

"If your mommy's bunny has the same color ribbon the bunny's fur should be a different color," Wei Ying opines. Legsnuggle. 

"Or they could be different shades of blue."

"Oh. Huh. A-Zhan, your gege is smart." 

Nod. A-Zhan has said this before several times, he doesn't know why Wei Ying didn't understand before now! 

"Different shades of blue are usually very pretty together. I think that's a great idea, A-Huan." She smiles at him. "Would you like a bunny also, if we get a couple? What color ribbon?"

"White." 

He sits beside his mom and hugs her and A-Zhan. 

Wei Ying attempts to climb A-Zhan and Huan-ge's mommy.

She gives Wei Ying a helpful scoop up.

Hugs are very good and A-Zhan is glad to be having them.

Wei Ying attempts to hug EVERYONE AT ONCE. 

"You're nice, A-Zhan's mommy." 

AW. "Thank you, A-Ying. It's good for mommies to be nice."

Everyone can be hugged!

A-Zhan pats Wei Ying's hand to communicate that he is correct about Mommy being nice.

Nod nod. "You are nice and my mommy is nice and I think A-Yao's mommy is nice but I don't think I have seen her being nice for myself yet." 

"A-Yao's mommy is nice." 

"Oh good." 

Cangse returns a few hours later, sweeping in looking windswept and cheerful. 

"A-Ying!" she exclaims when she sees him, and scoops him up to smooch kisses onto his face. 

A-Ying giggles and hugs her. "Hi mommy! We are going to put ribbons on the bunnies." 

"Is that so?" 

Nod nod. "Mine is yellow and A-Zhan's is blue and A-Zhan's mommy's is a different blue and Huan-gege's is white," he announces. 

"Awwwww. Why yellow?" 

"I'm the sun!" Snuggle. 

Snugglesqueeze. "Yes you are, you're my little ray of sunshine," she coos. 

Awwwwwwww. "Welcome back."

(Wangji refastens himself to Mommy with both arms the moment he no longer also has a Wei Ying to hold onto. He smushes his face in her shoulder instead of looking up at Wei Ying's mommy.) 

"Whose idea was all this?"

"The ribbons were Huan-gege's idea because Huan-gege is smart. The colors were A-Zhan's idea. A-Zhan says I am like the sun because my smile is big." 

"You do have an adorable smile," she says sagely, and pats A-Zhan on the head. "Good boy A-Zhan, A-Ying does have a great smile, doesn't he."  

"Mm," he says into Mommy's shoulder.

She laughs. "He says yes."

"You are also adorable," she tells him seriously. "There's more than one way to be awesome, and if everyone was like A-Ying and me, the world would be a duller place." 

A-Zhan doesn't think a world filled with Wei Yings could possibly be dull. It would probably be too loud, but not dull.

Gentle rocking of the baby. "How was your trip?"

"It was good! The monster I set out to deal with will never hurt anyone ever again." 

"Did you kill it with your sword!?"

"I did!" 

"Good."

Yes it is. They're still going to have to deal with Wen Ruohan, but that's going to be significantly more complicated. Still, Jin Guangshan was absolutely horrible and now he is never going to hurt anyone ever again. He decides to hug A-Zhan about this. 

Okay.

(This is so much hugging, and A-Zhan is happy about it. He hadn't known it was possible to have so many hugs in just one day!)

There are footsteps on the stairs, and Meng Shi appears carrying A-Yao in her arms. "We thought we heard -- ah, Cangse-sanren! It gladdens me that you have returned to us safely."

She smiles, though her lips are rather tight and her face is rather pale.

"Well, I could wish I hadn't had to leave in the first place." She squeezes her Wei Ying, then puts him down on Lihua's lap again where he resumes hugging A-Zhan, and then Cangse hugs Meng Shi. 

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." To Meng Yao: "How are you, kiddo?"

"A-Yao is well," he chirps. "Did you have fun on your trip?"

"Well, not really," she admits. "Sometimes night-hunts aren't fun, but they need to happen anyway."

"Thank you for your eff-forts," says A-Yao. "How many monsters did you find?"

"Just one. But it was a big monster." She shifts to more actively include A-Yao in hug. 

Yay, hug! "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Gentle hugsqueeze. "Do you want a bunny?"