"That does sound really nice."

"I like animals. They're much better than people. People are assholes. Animals are never assholes."

"It's true. They're not."

"I love Nie Huaisang. He's so pretty. He's the prettiest person in Shanghai enclave, I think."

Meng Yao could, objectively speaking, be an idol if he weren't instead a wizard. "He's very pretty," she agrees instead of saying that.

"Don't you just want to hold him and protect him and keep him safe from everything bad in the world and make sure he never cries ever again?"

Jiang Cheng, she thinks, not for the first time in the last five minutes, is really cute when he's drunk.

"Not really, no, but I can't say I've ever thought about it."

"You should think about it. He's really good. He draws such pretty pictures. I want him to not have to do anything but draw pictures ever again. And kiss my face."

That's also very sweet but it's not in fact the world they live in.

"That would be really good," she says, so as not to get into a fight about it with Jiang Cheng.

"I'm going to protect him from everything," Jiang Cheng says.

Good luck with that.

"He's very lucky to have you."

"No, he isn't."

"....oh?"

"I should be better than I am. So I deserve him. So I deserve all of them."

...ah. Yeah. That's a feeling she's familiar with. But being the kind of person who thinks that way hadn't been a good way to be shaped, and so she had mostly figured out how to stop.

Not that that's something it makes any sense to say to Jiang Cheng. What is a thing that it makes sense to say to Jiang Cheng.

"...I think it's still good that he has someone who wants that," she says, for lack of anything else to say more than because it's true. (It might additionally be true. She hasn't decided. It's definitely very noble, but nobility of spirit is not in fact a good or stable or safe way to be.) 

"You think so?"

Maybe! She doesn't know! Why are you asking her this!

"Yeah. It's... important to have someone who straightforwardly wants the best for you, I think."

"I love him... I love him so much... he has such a good face. It makes me so happy when he smiles."

Oh good maybe they're out of the land of questions Ayako has to come up with answers to despite having no idea what she actually thinks. "That's adorable and you're adorable. --is this your room?"

"Bye!" he says now that they've arrived at his room.

"Bye."

Great okay now it's time to go and actually for-real disentangle Lan Wangji from Wei Wuxian and then she'll be done.

Lan Wangji has Wei Ying's HEAD in his LAP. This is very important. Wei Ying is fuzzy. His fuzziness is very good. Wei Ying is also rambling at him about math which is very good. Lan Wangji tries to memorize everything Wei Ying says because it is all so important.

"Okay you two, time's up, let's go." 

He stands up. "Cool! Thanks."

He picks up Wei Wuxian and starts to carry him on his back.