( Cue the inevitable footage, half-trembled, of a strangely contorted, large mass in a corner of Alem's abandoned corridors, curled into itself. Covered entirely by a threadbare mantle. )
[The switch to video is quick enough to be jarring, but not as jarring as what looks like a dead person covered with a mantle. She can't help the gasp, the shudder.]
[If she weren't holding the talisman for this video, she'd be crossing her arms in concern, to prove a point. But softer, she adds:] I didn't say I wouldn't do it, Hanguang-Jun. I do need to know if I can.
[Translation: don't tell anyone you're doing this. An irony, really, considering what Wei Wuxian asked that they do not speak of with Lan Wangji, also. It feels like she's keeping an awful lot of secrets for everyone.
She is still going to do it. Apparates herself right into the corner of the Wards, and sends a message back.]
Alright, I am in the Wards now. Eastern corner. Make yourself known.
( And lo, behold: the man, his... package, mantled, held dearly in his arms. Made small and reduced by time, crumbling and pressure — beneath her fetters, so slim that she (it) has contorted nearly into dust and nothing. As if she were only her covers of blankets.
He bears her confidently, calmly, far from dissuaded. )
[There is a fragment of a second, when Hermione seeks Lan Wangji's gaze for confirmation, consent, certainty - he is as stern and steady as usual, only with a memento in his arms.
She sucks in a breath, steels herself, and nods at him in confirmation. Lessen her.
Casting a shrinking spell on a living creature is dangerous, potentially deadly if the creature resists or tries to fight it. But this is not a living creature. (And not undead, either.) She can consider the memento nothing more than an object for her to cleverly shrink in size.
She takes her wand out, and whispers her reducto carefully, ennunciating every letter perfectly, and pouring her magic into the mantled package. Slowly, and with a few more applications of the spell, she gets it down to the size of a melon.]
That's as much as I can manage without the danger of destruction, but wait. [One stasis charm, to preserve it from harm, and a protection ward of her own are both placed on the now melon-sized bundle of fetters.]
If the time comes that you want it to be restored to normal size, come find me. I will break all the spells on her and she'll be returned to what she was before.
[That out of the way, Hermione now looks up, lips pressed together in concern.]
Do you need to smuggle her unseen out of the city?
( She performs adequately, efficiently, strings of her magic like wisps and braids and binding. The corpse — shrivels. Shrinks. Assumes fresh shape, and he nearly reaches out a hand to stay the process, hesitant of its intrusion.
But it is done, before his touch might land.
It is done and this — the creature may join him. He does not nod, paralysed, the sketch of his thanks. Barely whispers. )
She must be with me a few days longer.
( Simple, wrenched from him — articulated in the way of sincere, innate and marrow-deep necessity. This is no whim, no preference, but a requirement. It msut be so. It must be so. )
[ A beat, and then a very softly muttered, mostly to herself: ] Right, that sounds healthy.
[ She clears her throat, looks towards Lan Wangji again, from the side of her eyes - like one would approach a hippogriff for the first time. At times it feels necessary to do a little bow first, and attempt to show deferrence so that this specific hippogriff does not spook. ]
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If you trust me enough to ask for help, trust me with the truth.
> video
It is not livened.
> video
That's - who?
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Do I ask boons so often?
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[If she weren't holding the talisman for this video, she'd be crossing her arms in concern, to prove a point. But softer, she adds:] I didn't say I wouldn't do it, Hanguang-Jun. I do need to know if I can.
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Where are you now?
> back to text!!
( A pause, then: ) No others need know.
IS IT
She is still going to do it. Apparates herself right into the corner of the Wards, and sends a message back.]
Alright, I am in the Wards now. Eastern corner. Make yourself known.
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( And lo, behold: the man, his... package, mantled, held dearly in his arms. Made small and reduced by time, crumbling and pressure — beneath her fetters, so slim that she (it) has contorted nearly into dust and nothing. As if she were only her covers of blankets.
He bears her confidently, calmly, far from dissuaded. )
Lessen her.
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She sucks in a breath, steels herself, and nods at him in confirmation. Lessen her.
Casting a shrinking spell on a living creature is dangerous, potentially deadly if the creature resists or tries to fight it. But this is not a living creature. (And not undead, either.) She can consider the memento nothing more than an object for her to cleverly shrink in size.
She takes her wand out, and whispers her reducto carefully, ennunciating every letter perfectly, and pouring her magic into the mantled package. Slowly, and with a few more applications of the spell, she gets it down to the size of a melon.]
That's as much as I can manage without the danger of destruction, but wait. [One stasis charm, to preserve it from harm, and a protection ward of her own are both placed on the now melon-sized bundle of fetters.]
If the time comes that you want it to be restored to normal size, come find me. I will break all the spells on her and she'll be returned to what she was before.
[That out of the way, Hermione now looks up, lips pressed together in concern.]
Do you need to smuggle her unseen out of the city?
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But it is done, before his touch might land.
It is done and this — the creature may join him. He does not nod, paralysed, the sketch of his thanks. Barely whispers. )
She must be with me a few days longer.
( Simple, wrenched from him — articulated in the way of sincere, innate and marrow-deep necessity. This is no whim, no preference, but a requirement. It msut be so. It must be so. )
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[ She clears her throat, looks towards Lan Wangji again, from the side of her eyes - like one would approach a hippogriff for the first time. At times it feels necessary to do a little bow first, and attempt to show deferrence so that this specific hippogriff does not spook. ]
Can I enquire who she is now?
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He clings to the corpse, draws her close. No, closer. So small now, she could fit in his person, he could her, a shield. Consume her. )
Dead. She is dead. ( Is this not obvious? Plain? He need not meet her gaze. ) I beg, excuse me.
( A man must retreat. )