Second First Meetings [Chapter 2]
May. 30th, 2009 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Half Prince
Summary: "Min Gui Wen, this is our health clinic's physician, Li Tian Lang."
Rating: K+
Notes: Set during the weeks spent training in chapter seven, before the tournament.
Spoilers for the sidestory/omake at the end of volume four
Ahaha! XD It's been aaaages, since I've even attempted to write any kind of fight scene.
I think I've totally mangled Gui's speech.
Still suck at endings.
Genre: Friendship/ Humour
Word count: 3,124
Status: Complete
"Zhuihun Sonic Arrow!" Three streaks of light shot past Tian Lang a second later, each of them a direct hit on the bat; it barely halted its charge and, when the smoke cleared, it didn't even look like it had been hit in the first place. Not that Gui had high attack power, but he usually left some sort of mark at least.
'Dammit.' It wasn't even a boss and they were having this much trouble with it. Over ten foot tall, jet black from head to toe and horns that were probably as long as their forearms, it certainly looked like it should have been a boss. But they had stumbled across it as it was - they hadn't seen its transformation from a regular monster. Unless someone else had triggered it before them, and they were left with the end result. Either way, whatever it was, they were still struggling to stay alive, let alone kill it.
"Rapid Healing!" he yelled, holding his staff out in front of him. Prince nodded to him in thanks before jumping back into the fray with a heartfelt battle cry. Tian Lang turned his attention back to the rest of the team - Doll had ran out of magic to summon her skulls a while ago so their defence had been weakened but Prince's stubbornness, Lolidragon's kunai and Gui's buffs had kept the bat from coming near them again. All they could do now was wait and hope that they bought enough time for-
"Incoming!" Prince and Lolidragon scrambled out of the way. "Meteor Shower!"
When the debris settled, there was nothing there but craters.
He sighed in relief, letting his arm drop a little bit. If the bat had survived that, then they could have only hoped that its life had been depleted enough to be taken down in a few more hits – as far as he could tell, everyone had next to near no magic left for fighting or healing.
Prince and Lolidragon shakily made their way back to them, Prince hobbling, favouring his left leg, and Lolidragon clutching an injured arm.
Tian Lang had enough magic for two small spells, and then he'd be completely out of magic; the two grinned at him after the green light had faded.
Prince stretched slowly before checking the area around them. Thankfully, there weren’t any other living things within sight. "Can we eat before trying that again?" Prince asked hopefully.
Everyone, unsurprisingly, agreed straight away.
* * *
Tian Lang absentmindedly rubbed his right shoulder as he walked through the university campus. When they said that Second Life was 99% realistic they meant it, to the point that his body believed that at least something had happened to his shoulder. It wasn't feeling like inch-long fangs had sunk in there though; it felt more like a big bruise, which was considerably more preferable. The good thing was, death only felt slightly worse than that after waking up, if the body 'remembered' it at all – it depended on how long it had been since the incident had happened before waking up.
He caught sight of Wu standing a little distance away from where he was, talking with someone. Tian Lang didn't think he recognised the other person - not that he could be that sure from only seeing their back.
Wu saw him, grinned, and waved him over. Intrigued, he started making his way over to them. When he was nearly there, the person Wu was with turned around.
Tian Lang nearly faltered when he saw the person's face. There was something about it that told him he was familiar with him, but he couldn't place where he'd met him, what was his name or who he actually was. Even though, he was completely certain that he knew the other man.
"Min Gui Wen, this is our health clinician, Li Tian Lang."
That's when it clicked. "Gui?" he repeated, incredulously. He didn't look like the Gui he knew... Except he did, if he lengthened his hair and changed his clothing, adding in a cloak as well. And if he had an expression on his face that wasn't casual indifference – which was now descending to annoyance as Gui (Min?) frowned at him.
"Yes?" His voice did sound similar to Gui's, but he had only spoken the one word.
He belatedly realised that he was staring and shook his head. "Never mind."
Min slanted unconvinced eyes at him (Gui had never looked at anyone like that, as far as he could remember) and then shrugged, turning back to Wu to ask a question.
Throughout the conversation, he wondered if he should bring up Second Life, but after every single time Min spoke, he was more and more convinced that he wasn't Gui and that he was. It was... disconcerting, to say the least.
After a couple of minutes, they were saying goodbye to each other and Tian Lang was left to sort his thoughts about the situation.
* * *
"Gui?" The poet's face lit up when he saw who had called him, and bounced over to him.
"How are you this fair day?" Gui asked once he reached him.
Tian Lang brushed his claws through the fur covering his cheek. 'Confused?' "A little tired, I suppose. You?"
Gui unsuccessfully hid a laugh behind a hand. "Perhaps you should not be playing Second Life tonight?"
"Well...” he delayed. “There was something that I wanted to ask you."
"Oh?" Gui's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Then, please, ask your question so that you may retire to have proper rest – though you already know that my heart already belongs to Prince!"
He chuckled, despite himself. It did sound like that, didn’t it? "That's not the kind of question I was going to ask, and I am a married man," he pointed out, giving Gui a look.
Gui just smiled to his response, waiting.
How to ask though? "Are you-" He stopped when someone logged in beside him.
"Your highness!" was all the warning Prince got before being tackled from behind.
"Argh! Goddammit Gui! I just got on!"
"That makes-"
"Get offa me!"
Tian Lang shook his head at the familiar sight, smiling. There wasn't going to be much chance of talking to Gui seriously now. He'd just have to wait for the next opportunity.
* * *
'So much for the 'next opportunity',' Tian Lang mused, entering the university building. Somehow, there hadn't been another chance to talk to Gui for one reason or another.
Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes and he turned his head to focus on it. It was Min-Gui. After watching Gui the night before, Tian Lang was beginning to wonder whether or not Gui had a twin brother. Gui and Min certainly looked alike, barring the hair, but that was something that could be easily changed when a person was initially choosing what their character would look like. But their speech mannerisms and body language were vastly different from each other – not that he really knew Min well enough to say that for definite.
Well, the easiest alternate way from asking directly would be to get to know him.
"Gui!" he called out, walking faster to catch up with him.
The other man paused, and then turned around, a confused look on his face.
... He should probably make sure he was going to say the right name first before he opened his mouth.
* * *
"What's up?"
He glanced up from the plate he was staring at. It was Lolidragon, looking a little concerned.
"Hmm? It's nothing."
Lolidragon snorted. She grabbed a piece of food from one of the plates in front of him and took a bite. "Doesn't look like it."
Tian Lang mulled over the benefits of telling her, and then sighed. "I may have met someone on Second life in real life," he hedged. He still wasn't entirely sure yet, and he doubted Gui would want other people to know. Maybe. Gui might have, but Min didn’t seem so inclined about talking about himself.
"Oooh," she said, leaning forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Who?"
"Lolidragon..."
"Ah, fine." She flapped a hand, dismissing her previous question. "So what's the problem?"
He sighed, looking up to the ceiling. "He’s... not like the person they are on Second Life."
She hummed, taking another bite. She was quiet as she chewed. "Is anyone exactly like they are in Second Life and real life?" she finally asked hypothetically.
Tian Lang shook his head. "No. But..." He sighed again, in frustration. "If they didn't look so alike, I wouldn't have this problem – barring their looks, they seem to have nothing in common."
She shrugged. "He could be very good at acting."
So which life was real and which one was the lie?
"But really," she continued, waving the hand with food in it, "does it matter?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it when he realised that he didn't have an answer for that. Tian Lang leaned back on the chair, thinking it over. No, it didn't matter. And he was thinking about this far too much when he wasn't even sure if they were the same person.
Lolidragon tilted her head at him. "Came to a decision?"
"Of sorts." He would continue to observe and talk to Min and Gui in the meantime and then make his decision, if one needed to be made, once he concluded if they were different people or not.
Now finished with her food, Lolidragon reached over pick up something else. "Good.” There was a pause as she plopped down on a chair, and then took one of the plates instead and put what she’d picked up on it. She looked at him curiously. “So, do you have a training plan for us?"
Ah. He knew there had been something he'd been meaning to do.
* * *
Tian Lang was heading towards the clinic when he saw Min standing outside of the elevator, watching the number creep lower above the door.
"Gui – Min," he corrected himself hastily. It was still too much of a habit saying 'Gui' first, but at least he was catching himself faster now.
"Morning," Min said, tilting his head slightly in acknowledgement.
He didn't get a chance to say anything else as the elevator 'dinged' and the door slid open. Min stepped into it and Tian Lang averted his eyes before it seemed like he was staring again.
He needed to catch Min where he couldn't get away so easily, Tian Lang mused.
* * *
It was wet. Extremely so. And he hadn't brought a hat. Tian Lang grumbled to himself, hurrying towards the bus stop, using a hand to shield his glasses from the rain, hoping his bus would come soon. As soon as he reached shelter, he shook his head vigorously, sending droplets of water flying everywhere. And that was another habit he'd picked up from playing Second Life; drying yourself meant completely different movements when you were covered entirely in fur.
"Sorry," he said to the lone person with him, looking up. The point of finding shelter was to stay dry, not to be splashed by other people. ...Oh. The other person was Min.
Min waved a hand at his apology. "I just got here myself."
They lapsed into silence, Min looking down the road for the bus, Tian Lang also doing while watching Min.
"What bus are you waiting for?" he ventured, after attempting to dry his glasses with drenched clothing. The water was mostly spread evenly now, and he could see slightly better – cars weren't moving splashes of colour any more at least.
"The twelve."
Which wasn't his bus. Well, there went that idea. There were limits to how many times he could bump into Min at university without it seeming like he was stalking him or actively seeking him out.
"Min..." he started. Min somehow heard him over the pouring rain and turned his head to look at him. Time to change tactics. Observing him wouldn't tell him much and trying to talk to him about general things –if he ever got the chance to actually talk to him properly- wouldn't answer his question either. "Do you play Second Life?"
Min blinked at him, mystified. "...Yes?"
It was a start. He opened his mouth to ask another question when the number twelve trundled around the corner. Tian Lang sighed. There seemed to be some force that was adamant to not let him figure out whether Min was Gui any time soon.
He waved to Gui as he got on the bus and hoped that his own bus would come quickly.
* * *
Tian Lang wandered through the library, no specific topic in mind. He could have gone to the canteen, but that had an entirely different atmosphere to the one that he wanted at the moment. Maybe he could try finding... His thoughts trailed off when he saw Min sitting at one of the tables hidden at the back of the library, reading a thick tome. It wasn't near the literature section, but from what he'd realised about Min, he wasn't much of a social person, to say the least.
After the last miniature conversation they'd had in real life, he at least knew that Min played Second Life. As for him being Gui however...
Being direct had worked far better than trying to see small hints of Gui in Min.
Decision made, he started walking towards Min. "Gui?"
* * *
"Ow!" Gui looked up at him, hand protectively covering the spot where he'd been cuffed. "Why'd you hit me, Wolf?" he wailed.
"That," he said, delicately, "was for being stubborn."
Gui stiffened, staring at him with wide eyes.
And that would be the only indication he could give of knowing Gui in real life, until he came to decide whether to keep the two lives separate or mixed.
-'Wolf? Gui? Are you on?'-
-'We're both on,'- he answered Prince, glancing at Gui.
-'Finally! You're both on late.'- There was both curiosity and a little bit of worry behind that statement.
He did actually have a reason for staying up late and he could guess why Min had taken a while to come on. -'I was up making some changes to the training plan.'-
-'Sweet!'- He could hear Prince's grin. -'We're by the south gate.'-
-'Okay, meet you there.'-
He didn't get a reply back, so he turned his attention back to Gui, who was eyeing him in confusion. "You're not going to...?"
Tian Lang shook his head. "It's your choice and I'll respect whichever one you make." He smiled at him softly. "That was just a one-off."
It seemed like he'd made Gui speechless again. "I... Thank you."
He raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
Gui looked uncertain, opening his mouth and then shut it again, shaking his head.
"Anyway," he said, turning, "we shouldn't keep the others waiting for long."
There was a muffled snicker behind him. Curious, Tian Lang looked over his shoulder. "That's if they're at the south gate."
That… was a good point. Better ask the others where they were before he and Gui started going anywhere.
* * *
Gui wasn't acting like Gui. He was still waxing poetical about Prince and complimenting him at every chance he could, but it seemed... off. More forced, and lacking a lot of the energy that he normally had. Prince had noticed and was shooting Gui quick glances whenever he thought he wouldn't looking, not sure what to make of the change.
He couldn't do anything about it though. He didn't think pulling Gui to the side would help – what could he say to him? 'You're acting out of character' or 'Stop thinking so much'? Doing that would probably make Gui even more conscious about what he was doing. It was because of him that Gui was like that in the first place, so he could possibly make it even worse if a comment came from him.
The only thing he could do was hope that Min worked out what he wanted to do soon.
* * *
"Wolf?" Tian Lang looked back nervously, fighting the urge to take a step back; Prince only smiled like that either before they were going into a difficult fight, or when he was already drenched in their enemy's blood.
"Yes?"
"What did you do?"
"...Do?" he echoed. The smile didn't budge; if anything, it got a touch wider. "I don't follow."
"Gui's been acting funny and he keeps looking at you."
It didn't seem like jealousy. Much. It was more along the lines of protectiveness. "I gave him something to think about and he's still puzzling out the answer."
"Hmm."
He was very glad when Gui entered the room at that moment and proceeded to throw himself at Prince with his usual exuberance.
* * *
Gui sat next to him bonelessly with a heartfelt sigh, sweeping his cloak out of the way first. There was a few more seconds of movement as Gui tried sitting back on the tree, before he settled on leaning on his hands instead.
With how Gui had walked up to him and sat down... "You seem tired."
Gui ran his fingers through a portion of his hair, staring up at the leaves above them. "You ever made lesson plans?" he asked, still not looking at him.
Tian Lang raised an eyebrow at the question. So that was what Min had decided. "You're preparing already?"
Gui shrugged slowly. "Why not?"
A fair enough point. "You do remember that I'm a physician?"
"So... No."
"No," he confirmed. They were quiet over the next couple of minutes, just listening to the birds chirping and feeling the wind blowing through the clearing. It probably wasn’t going to get old any time soon just seeing how much effort had gone into making Second Life as realistic as possible. "What did you do when you were a student? Maybe you could emulate that," he suggested.
The reply was a snort. "I was extremely bored," Gui said dryly. He half-laughed softly, shaking his head. "I know what not to do, so I guess that's a start."
He chuckled at the comment. "Better than nothing," he agreed.
They stayed like that in companionable silence until the others logged on.
* * *
Prince wasn't giving him sideways glances anymore, which was far more relieving than he thought it would be. With Gui being more or less how he used to (apart from toning down his speech slightly), things were back to normal.
As normal as it got when you were a member of Odd Squad anyway.
Previous Chapter
Summary: "Min Gui Wen, this is our health clinic's physician, Li Tian Lang."
Rating: K+
Notes: Set during the weeks spent training in chapter seven, before the tournament.
Spoilers for the sidestory/omake at the end of volume four
Ahaha! XD It's been aaaages, since I've even attempted to write any kind of fight scene.
I think I've totally mangled Gui's speech.
Still suck at endings.
Genre: Friendship/ Humour
Word count: 3,124
Status: Complete
"Zhuihun Sonic Arrow!" Three streaks of light shot past Tian Lang a second later, each of them a direct hit on the bat; it barely halted its charge and, when the smoke cleared, it didn't even look like it had been hit in the first place. Not that Gui had high attack power, but he usually left some sort of mark at least.
'Dammit.' It wasn't even a boss and they were having this much trouble with it. Over ten foot tall, jet black from head to toe and horns that were probably as long as their forearms, it certainly looked like it should have been a boss. But they had stumbled across it as it was - they hadn't seen its transformation from a regular monster. Unless someone else had triggered it before them, and they were left with the end result. Either way, whatever it was, they were still struggling to stay alive, let alone kill it.
"Rapid Healing!" he yelled, holding his staff out in front of him. Prince nodded to him in thanks before jumping back into the fray with a heartfelt battle cry. Tian Lang turned his attention back to the rest of the team - Doll had ran out of magic to summon her skulls a while ago so their defence had been weakened but Prince's stubbornness, Lolidragon's kunai and Gui's buffs had kept the bat from coming near them again. All they could do now was wait and hope that they bought enough time for-
"Incoming!" Prince and Lolidragon scrambled out of the way. "Meteor Shower!"
When the debris settled, there was nothing there but craters.
He sighed in relief, letting his arm drop a little bit. If the bat had survived that, then they could have only hoped that its life had been depleted enough to be taken down in a few more hits – as far as he could tell, everyone had next to near no magic left for fighting or healing.
Prince and Lolidragon shakily made their way back to them, Prince hobbling, favouring his left leg, and Lolidragon clutching an injured arm.
Tian Lang had enough magic for two small spells, and then he'd be completely out of magic; the two grinned at him after the green light had faded.
Prince stretched slowly before checking the area around them. Thankfully, there weren’t any other living things within sight. "Can we eat before trying that again?" Prince asked hopefully.
Everyone, unsurprisingly, agreed straight away.
Tian Lang absentmindedly rubbed his right shoulder as he walked through the university campus. When they said that Second Life was 99% realistic they meant it, to the point that his body believed that at least something had happened to his shoulder. It wasn't feeling like inch-long fangs had sunk in there though; it felt more like a big bruise, which was considerably more preferable. The good thing was, death only felt slightly worse than that after waking up, if the body 'remembered' it at all – it depended on how long it had been since the incident had happened before waking up.
He caught sight of Wu standing a little distance away from where he was, talking with someone. Tian Lang didn't think he recognised the other person - not that he could be that sure from only seeing their back.
Wu saw him, grinned, and waved him over. Intrigued, he started making his way over to them. When he was nearly there, the person Wu was with turned around.
Tian Lang nearly faltered when he saw the person's face. There was something about it that told him he was familiar with him, but he couldn't place where he'd met him, what was his name or who he actually was. Even though, he was completely certain that he knew the other man.
"Min Gui Wen, this is our health clinician, Li Tian Lang."
That's when it clicked. "Gui?" he repeated, incredulously. He didn't look like the Gui he knew... Except he did, if he lengthened his hair and changed his clothing, adding in a cloak as well. And if he had an expression on his face that wasn't casual indifference – which was now descending to annoyance as Gui (Min?) frowned at him.
"Yes?" His voice did sound similar to Gui's, but he had only spoken the one word.
He belatedly realised that he was staring and shook his head. "Never mind."
Min slanted unconvinced eyes at him (Gui had never looked at anyone like that, as far as he could remember) and then shrugged, turning back to Wu to ask a question.
Throughout the conversation, he wondered if he should bring up Second Life, but after every single time Min spoke, he was more and more convinced that he wasn't Gui and that he was. It was... disconcerting, to say the least.
After a couple of minutes, they were saying goodbye to each other and Tian Lang was left to sort his thoughts about the situation.
"Gui?" The poet's face lit up when he saw who had called him, and bounced over to him.
"How are you this fair day?" Gui asked once he reached him.
Tian Lang brushed his claws through the fur covering his cheek. 'Confused?' "A little tired, I suppose. You?"
Gui unsuccessfully hid a laugh behind a hand. "Perhaps you should not be playing Second Life tonight?"
"Well...” he delayed. “There was something that I wanted to ask you."
"Oh?" Gui's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Then, please, ask your question so that you may retire to have proper rest – though you already know that my heart already belongs to Prince!"
He chuckled, despite himself. It did sound like that, didn’t it? "That's not the kind of question I was going to ask, and I am a married man," he pointed out, giving Gui a look.
Gui just smiled to his response, waiting.
How to ask though? "Are you-" He stopped when someone logged in beside him.
"Your highness!" was all the warning Prince got before being tackled from behind.
"Argh! Goddammit Gui! I just got on!"
"That makes-"
"Get offa me!"
Tian Lang shook his head at the familiar sight, smiling. There wasn't going to be much chance of talking to Gui seriously now. He'd just have to wait for the next opportunity.
'So much for the 'next opportunity',' Tian Lang mused, entering the university building. Somehow, there hadn't been another chance to talk to Gui for one reason or another.
Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes and he turned his head to focus on it. It was Min-Gui. After watching Gui the night before, Tian Lang was beginning to wonder whether or not Gui had a twin brother. Gui and Min certainly looked alike, barring the hair, but that was something that could be easily changed when a person was initially choosing what their character would look like. But their speech mannerisms and body language were vastly different from each other – not that he really knew Min well enough to say that for definite.
Well, the easiest alternate way from asking directly would be to get to know him.
"Gui!" he called out, walking faster to catch up with him.
The other man paused, and then turned around, a confused look on his face.
... He should probably make sure he was going to say the right name first before he opened his mouth.
"What's up?"
He glanced up from the plate he was staring at. It was Lolidragon, looking a little concerned.
"Hmm? It's nothing."
Lolidragon snorted. She grabbed a piece of food from one of the plates in front of him and took a bite. "Doesn't look like it."
Tian Lang mulled over the benefits of telling her, and then sighed. "I may have met someone on Second life in real life," he hedged. He still wasn't entirely sure yet, and he doubted Gui would want other people to know. Maybe. Gui might have, but Min didn’t seem so inclined about talking about himself.
"Oooh," she said, leaning forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Who?"
"Lolidragon..."
"Ah, fine." She flapped a hand, dismissing her previous question. "So what's the problem?"
He sighed, looking up to the ceiling. "He’s... not like the person they are on Second Life."
She hummed, taking another bite. She was quiet as she chewed. "Is anyone exactly like they are in Second Life and real life?" she finally asked hypothetically.
Tian Lang shook his head. "No. But..." He sighed again, in frustration. "If they didn't look so alike, I wouldn't have this problem – barring their looks, they seem to have nothing in common."
She shrugged. "He could be very good at acting."
So which life was real and which one was the lie?
"But really," she continued, waving the hand with food in it, "does it matter?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it when he realised that he didn't have an answer for that. Tian Lang leaned back on the chair, thinking it over. No, it didn't matter. And he was thinking about this far too much when he wasn't even sure if they were the same person.
Lolidragon tilted her head at him. "Came to a decision?"
"Of sorts." He would continue to observe and talk to Min and Gui in the meantime and then make his decision, if one needed to be made, once he concluded if they were different people or not.
Now finished with her food, Lolidragon reached over pick up something else. "Good.” There was a pause as she plopped down on a chair, and then took one of the plates instead and put what she’d picked up on it. She looked at him curiously. “So, do you have a training plan for us?"
Ah. He knew there had been something he'd been meaning to do.
Tian Lang was heading towards the clinic when he saw Min standing outside of the elevator, watching the number creep lower above the door.
"Gui – Min," he corrected himself hastily. It was still too much of a habit saying 'Gui' first, but at least he was catching himself faster now.
"Morning," Min said, tilting his head slightly in acknowledgement.
He didn't get a chance to say anything else as the elevator 'dinged' and the door slid open. Min stepped into it and Tian Lang averted his eyes before it seemed like he was staring again.
He needed to catch Min where he couldn't get away so easily, Tian Lang mused.
It was wet. Extremely so. And he hadn't brought a hat. Tian Lang grumbled to himself, hurrying towards the bus stop, using a hand to shield his glasses from the rain, hoping his bus would come soon. As soon as he reached shelter, he shook his head vigorously, sending droplets of water flying everywhere. And that was another habit he'd picked up from playing Second Life; drying yourself meant completely different movements when you were covered entirely in fur.
"Sorry," he said to the lone person with him, looking up. The point of finding shelter was to stay dry, not to be splashed by other people. ...Oh. The other person was Min.
Min waved a hand at his apology. "I just got here myself."
They lapsed into silence, Min looking down the road for the bus, Tian Lang also doing while watching Min.
"What bus are you waiting for?" he ventured, after attempting to dry his glasses with drenched clothing. The water was mostly spread evenly now, and he could see slightly better – cars weren't moving splashes of colour any more at least.
"The twelve."
Which wasn't his bus. Well, there went that idea. There were limits to how many times he could bump into Min at university without it seeming like he was stalking him or actively seeking him out.
"Min..." he started. Min somehow heard him over the pouring rain and turned his head to look at him. Time to change tactics. Observing him wouldn't tell him much and trying to talk to him about general things –if he ever got the chance to actually talk to him properly- wouldn't answer his question either. "Do you play Second Life?"
Min blinked at him, mystified. "...Yes?"
It was a start. He opened his mouth to ask another question when the number twelve trundled around the corner. Tian Lang sighed. There seemed to be some force that was adamant to not let him figure out whether Min was Gui any time soon.
He waved to Gui as he got on the bus and hoped that his own bus would come quickly.
Tian Lang wandered through the library, no specific topic in mind. He could have gone to the canteen, but that had an entirely different atmosphere to the one that he wanted at the moment. Maybe he could try finding... His thoughts trailed off when he saw Min sitting at one of the tables hidden at the back of the library, reading a thick tome. It wasn't near the literature section, but from what he'd realised about Min, he wasn't much of a social person, to say the least.
After the last miniature conversation they'd had in real life, he at least knew that Min played Second Life. As for him being Gui however...
Being direct had worked far better than trying to see small hints of Gui in Min.
Decision made, he started walking towards Min. "Gui?"
"Ow!" Gui looked up at him, hand protectively covering the spot where he'd been cuffed. "Why'd you hit me, Wolf?" he wailed.
"That," he said, delicately, "was for being stubborn."
Gui stiffened, staring at him with wide eyes.
And that would be the only indication he could give of knowing Gui in real life, until he came to decide whether to keep the two lives separate or mixed.
-'Wolf? Gui? Are you on?'-
-'We're both on,'- he answered Prince, glancing at Gui.
-'Finally! You're both on late.'- There was both curiosity and a little bit of worry behind that statement.
He did actually have a reason for staying up late and he could guess why Min had taken a while to come on. -'I was up making some changes to the training plan.'-
-'Sweet!'- He could hear Prince's grin. -'We're by the south gate.'-
-'Okay, meet you there.'-
He didn't get a reply back, so he turned his attention back to Gui, who was eyeing him in confusion. "You're not going to...?"
Tian Lang shook his head. "It's your choice and I'll respect whichever one you make." He smiled at him softly. "That was just a one-off."
It seemed like he'd made Gui speechless again. "I... Thank you."
He raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
Gui looked uncertain, opening his mouth and then shut it again, shaking his head.
"Anyway," he said, turning, "we shouldn't keep the others waiting for long."
There was a muffled snicker behind him. Curious, Tian Lang looked over his shoulder. "That's if they're at the south gate."
That… was a good point. Better ask the others where they were before he and Gui started going anywhere.
Gui wasn't acting like Gui. He was still waxing poetical about Prince and complimenting him at every chance he could, but it seemed... off. More forced, and lacking a lot of the energy that he normally had. Prince had noticed and was shooting Gui quick glances whenever he thought he wouldn't looking, not sure what to make of the change.
He couldn't do anything about it though. He didn't think pulling Gui to the side would help – what could he say to him? 'You're acting out of character' or 'Stop thinking so much'? Doing that would probably make Gui even more conscious about what he was doing. It was because of him that Gui was like that in the first place, so he could possibly make it even worse if a comment came from him.
The only thing he could do was hope that Min worked out what he wanted to do soon.
"Wolf?" Tian Lang looked back nervously, fighting the urge to take a step back; Prince only smiled like that either before they were going into a difficult fight, or when he was already drenched in their enemy's blood.
"Yes?"
"What did you do?"
"...Do?" he echoed. The smile didn't budge; if anything, it got a touch wider. "I don't follow."
"Gui's been acting funny and he keeps looking at you."
It didn't seem like jealousy. Much. It was more along the lines of protectiveness. "I gave him something to think about and he's still puzzling out the answer."
"Hmm."
He was very glad when Gui entered the room at that moment and proceeded to throw himself at Prince with his usual exuberance.
Gui sat next to him bonelessly with a heartfelt sigh, sweeping his cloak out of the way first. There was a few more seconds of movement as Gui tried sitting back on the tree, before he settled on leaning on his hands instead.
With how Gui had walked up to him and sat down... "You seem tired."
Gui ran his fingers through a portion of his hair, staring up at the leaves above them. "You ever made lesson plans?" he asked, still not looking at him.
Tian Lang raised an eyebrow at the question. So that was what Min had decided. "You're preparing already?"
Gui shrugged slowly. "Why not?"
A fair enough point. "You do remember that I'm a physician?"
"So... No."
"No," he confirmed. They were quiet over the next couple of minutes, just listening to the birds chirping and feeling the wind blowing through the clearing. It probably wasn’t going to get old any time soon just seeing how much effort had gone into making Second Life as realistic as possible. "What did you do when you were a student? Maybe you could emulate that," he suggested.
The reply was a snort. "I was extremely bored," Gui said dryly. He half-laughed softly, shaking his head. "I know what not to do, so I guess that's a start."
He chuckled at the comment. "Better than nothing," he agreed.
They stayed like that in companionable silence until the others logged on.
Prince wasn't giving him sideways glances anymore, which was far more relieving than he thought it would be. With Gui being more or less how he used to (apart from toning down his speech slightly), things were back to normal.
As normal as it got when you were a member of Odd Squad anyway.