Thread by @luuuunadiane

spirit+god au

On a stroll in the mortal realm, a dark shape in the river catches Lan Xichen's eye, and he peers closer to identify a small struggling creature - a black cat in the water, drowning.

With a turn of his heel and a push of his foot, he gracefully leaps forward,

the white-robed figure shifting into a silver dragon in the span of a millisecond and surging just above the water's surface, snatching the feline out of the river with his silver claws and landing neatly on the other side.

The cat yowls, thrashing. "No! Let me go!"

He tries to jump into the river again, but Xichen thankfully is still gripping onto him, and holds him back. "You will drown!" He says urgently, surprised at the cat's ability to speak. Clearly, it is more than a mere animal, but still weak, subject to the same mortality.

"My Bound - their family token!" The cat squirms, "It fell into the river, I need to get it back! Let me GO, asshole!" He screeches, and Xichen can see tears in its grey eyes. "If I never find it again, I-I swear I'll-" He blinks furiously.

"What does it look like?" XIchen asks,

setting the cat down from the uncomfortable grip he had on it. "I'll get it for you."

"A silver bell, with a purple tassel." The cat sniffs, wiping his eyes. Xichen nods, and dives into the river, his dragon body suited perfectly to the water.

"Tie it around my neck!" The cat demands, when Xichen returns with the silver bell inscribed with lotus patterns and a drenched purple cord and tassel. He easily regains his human form, white and blue robes pristine, and does as the cat says.

Once it is secured, the cat sighs and droops, making the bell tinkle slightly with a musical sound. "Thank you." He says gruffly, bowing his head, "but I need to go." And with little fanfare, he sets off.

Lan Xichen is immediately interested.

While he does not normally consider himself a vain man, most people - well, almost everyone he's met, save for this little cat spirit - are quick to exclaim at the presence of a heavenly dragon god, but this feline is so absorbed in his own goals that he doesn't even seem to have

noticed. "Where are you headed?" Xichen asks, following the cat on his insistent trot.

"My Bound have been separated. I need to find them." Comes the curt answer.

Bound, huh? Plural. "Why do they need to be reunited?"

"They're family, obviously." The cat scoffs.

"How are you bound to them?"

The feline huffs, not even sparing Xichen a look back. "I'm a fortune cat spirit and I'm supposed to guard them." To ward off evil from families, as his black coat suggests.

If the family was separated...it implies that ill luck has befallen them.

"Is the bell a spiritual tool?" Xichen asks, and the cat groans in frustration. "No." He says, before taking off, sprinting across ground, which Xichen easily catches up with as they cross miles and miles. "What happened? Did you see something?"

The cat is panting in exertion,

but Xichen has hardly broken a sweat in his heavenly form. "You're still here?!" The cat snarls. "What's your deal, huh?"

"I mean no harm." Xichen placates. "I am simply curious about your quest. Forgive me for being rude, I didn't ask for your name."

The cat tsks, which is a

very human noise for a feline. "What does it matter to you? Don't dragon spirits have better things to do, or whatever?!"

"I could help you, like how I retrieved your bell." Xichen says, unfazed by the brash reply.

"I already said thanks." The cat replies sourly.

"And...it's Wanyin." He replies after a pause, sounding a tiny bit guilty, already deflating despite his grumpy exterior.

"So you want to help me, huh." Wanyin considers, still moving.

His ears and tail droop. The words he murmurs next are nearly inaudible.

"Well, I can't mess up more than I already have."

"Alright," Wanyin says, louder and clearer this time, to Xichen, tone imperious "you can come along."

Xichen offers him a blinding smile, charmed by Wanyin's complete disregard of his heavenly status. "I'll do my best

to help you find your Bound."

"You'd better."

"So, who are we looking for?"

"The Jiang family." Wanyin replies, and goes on to describe the mild Jiang Fengmian, the fiery Yu Ziyuan, the gentle and sweet Jiang Yanli, and the cheerful and energetic Wei Wuxian.

"This was their family heirloom." Wanyin says, flicking the chiming silver bell tied around his neck with a black paw.

I failed them, the words go unsaid by the fortune cat spirit, but Lan XIchen says nothing, and follows the little feline on the beginning of their journey.

(end)