#ain't a fix-it unless it includes found family and soft domestic settings amirite

[allmydokkuns]

I had too many things going on today so y'all get some 3zunchengning downtime interaction ideas that have been kicking around my head to decompress. Might split it up into more than one post probably this is 3zun centric and already taking approximately forever to type

Da-ge and A-Yao play an almost neverending game of chess when they're both in a good place mentally and also in the same place and the same time. Chess happens to be one of the few activities da-ge and Huaisang both enjoy and do together and Meng Yao kind of got absorbed into that dynamic. Huaisang has two boards set up in his rooms in the Unclean Realm: one for his current game with da-ge and the other for san-ge. Meng Yao, on the other hand, keeps one board only and sets it up manually from memory every single time he plays with someone else. (It's a holdover habit of keeping what little space he was allotted clear and hating things taking up space that don't need to be out.)

Incidentally, once da-ge steps down so Huaisang can get a taste for holding the reins of Qinghe, he has the most time on his hands for teaching san-di and Wen Ning (and Xuanyu, once he's old enough) things that they never had the opportunity to learn. Riding, tracking, how to reduce almost any kind of game into nicely portioned edible bits, etc. He's also very insistent on any and all of his didi learning self-defense thoroughly, but avoids any mention of just why Huaisang's first act as sect leader was to make Mingjue take a vacation like the plague until Wen Ning, of all people, loses his patience with their da-ge and his blasé attitude about his impending death.

When da-ge, er-di and san-di are spending rare time free together, the outcome is never quite the same twice in a row. Once Xichen adopts Gusu Lan's orphans and they're acclimated to the sheer amount of extended family via sworn brotherhood they now have, 3zun often spends time with Xichen's kids, their collective nieces/nephews, etc. since Xichen is a Single Dad who worries he's messing up without knowing it, A-Yao's social meter isn't overextended with just the kids around, and they both really get a special kick out of seeing Mingjue allowing himself to relax and be drowning in children ranging from one-half to one-third his height. The kids love spending time with a-die, baba and bobo and feel very safe knowing three of the jianghu's most powerful men are in the same room.

When the kids are with someone else, what 3zun does with their time together depends. The closer it is in the year to the not-anniversary of Guanyin Temple/Mingjue's death, the more likely they are to quietly shut themselves in someone's rooms or private pavilion and spend the time entangled in each other in some way. (A-Yao asked at some point before they established this routine whether he should make himself scarce around that time. Xichen and Mingjue both shoot him down unequivocally. They all cry a little. No one mentions it after that.)

Er-ge and A-Yao on their own are much more likely to spend the time on a variety of pursuits. Sometimes it's poetry. Depending on the season and location, sometimes it's flower-viewing. Other times A-Yao quietly accompanies Xichen while he's painting or playing music, taking the time to read for pleasure or copy over works he likes/is interested in. They essentially use the time to indulge the more scholarly/artistic sides of themselves. Alternatively, A-Yao plans small outings to night markets or festivals and whisks Xichen away from his worries for a few hours, or if they've had a particularly bad time of it lately, they curl up together in a peaceful spot. Tea and snacks are mandatory, observations about their mutual acquaintances delivered in A-Yao's signature barbed pleasantries an occasional guest. ("A-Yao, have you perhaps been spending a lot of time with da-ge and Wanyin lately? It's almost as if they're here speaking to me..." / "Forgive me er-ge, I never realized how much it burdened you to be reminded of da-ge and our husband. Perhaps this san-di should endeavor to emulate Yao-zongzhu instead?")

Da-ge and er-di rarely get a chance to spend time purely by themselves, but when they do it's more likely because somebody somewhere found cause for a nighthunt requiring their Sects' special skillsets than it is due to coincidence, at least right after Sunshot. Da-ge conceded to training with Baxia less but refuses to abandon her altogether, so it's not uncommon to find the two sparring when they get the chance at all, blades optional. After Wen Ning lost his temper with Mingjue, he took his Didi's collective concerns to heart and started devoting time to research his family's history and qi deviation. This puts him in Gusu more often than not to take advantage of the Library there, and has the happy side effect of Xichen's kids getting to see their bobo more often. Jingyi is especially ecstatic about this, since Mingjue usually has cool stories or hidden snacks, and is almost always down to be covered in tiny Lan children.